Mixed martial arts athletes in California received their pension funds on Wednesday. Maybe there will be more people than boxers.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 1136, the nation’s first mixed martial arts retirement benefit fund. The bill by Rep. Matt Haney (D-San Francisco) would benefit the more than 400 mixed martial artists currently licensed by the California Athletic Commission.
In order for fighters to contribute to their retirement funds, they will need to win 39 scheduled rounds (approximately 12 to 14 bouts) in commission-regulated MMA events starting next year. The law will take effect on January 1, 2024, but will not apply retroactively to combatants.
“Mixed martial arts promotion has experienced significant growth over the past 30 years, and fighters who come to California to compete will be compensated after they retire,” Andy Foster, executive director of the state athletic commission, said in a statement. It’s worth it.” “It’s time for MMA fighters to play their part.”
This fund is not paid for using taxpayers’ money. Instead, funding is provided through ticket sales, sporting goods and memorabilia. For every ticket sold, $1 goes toward the fund.
The California Professional Boxer Pension Plan is the only state-operated retirement plan of its kind in the United States and began making payments to eligible boxers in 1999. To date, the program has provided more than $4 million to at least 235 retired players. But a further 200 boxers are not claiming unpaid pensions, often because they did not know they were eligible.
The Times examined hundreds of state documents and interviewed dozens of fighters, promoters and retirement plan experts about the California Boxer Pension, which includes the retirement accounts of more than 1,900 current and former boxers. The study found that pension systems are often underfunded.
Around 200 boxers could have claimed pensions in 2022, but only 12 did. The Committee is unable to increase the income received from the pension to ensure that the program is adequately funded, and the program does not include any reduction in the amount that combatants who become eligible in the future will receive. There are not enough funds to pay all unclaimed pensions. Of the $2.1 million owed to the boxer, only $294,000 was secured.
The state athletics commission announced it will start sending annual statements to all vested boxers next year and has brought in investigators to hunt down athletes with unpaid money.
Haney read the Times investigation and amended a bill that would require future entitled MMA fighters to send annual reports to the commission informing them of their account balances.
