If you’re not big enough to have a Washington lobbyist, it’s hard to take you seriously. According to lobbyists.info, there are currently more than 22,000 registered federal lobbyists, representing everyone from the Thai Frozen Foods Association to the Religious Broadcast Music License Committee. Now the Ultimate Fighting Championship has hired a lobbyist, as well:
Brownstein lobbyists don’t face any big fights on Capitol Hill. They say their mission is to let lawmakers know how far the sport of mixed martial arts (MMA), which combines karate, jiu-jitsu, boxing, kickboxing, wrestling and other forms of martial arts, has come. “The sport that McCain objected to many years ago is really a sport that doesn’t exist anymore,” said Lawrence Epstein, general counsel for the UFC. In the mid-’90s, mixed martial arts were marketed as a sport with no rules. There were no time limits, rounds, weight divisions or judges. But Zuffa now says it has turned MMA into a highly regulated sport that emphasizes the safety of fighters. Zuffa purchased the UFC in 2001.
Who knows — maybe someday the National Hockey League will be big enough to merit D.C. representation.
