RUSHVILLE —

Andy Means was on the job when he spent a recent Friday night in a saloon, watching men in a cage engage in unarmed combat. He was there as Indiana’s designated regulator of a spectator sport better known as mixed martial arts. His job: To make sure the people paid to fight are protected by new state rules governing what promoters say is the fastest growing sport in the nation. “You’re talking about the safety of human beings here,” said Means, interim director of the Indiana Athletic Commission. “It can be a dangerous sport if it’s not regulated right.” In April, the commission adopted a set of emergency rules governing professional “unarmed combat” competition, defined by the state as a sport that combines the martial arts techniques of “grappling, kicking and striking” into a single style of fighting. The April rules revised those in place since October 2009, which licensed professional fights and put into place on-site physical exams, blood tests and drug testing. The rules are part of an evolving effort in Indiana to bring laws and legitimacy to what has become a venue for serious athletes and a big money-maker. The sport now out-grosses professional boxing in pay-per-view revenue. Indiana is one of the last states in the nation to put rules in place for competition that was once illegal but widespread. The current rules only cover professional competition, but regulation of amateur bouts is in the works. Some of the most vocal proponents of the new rules are promoters and fighters eager to alter the violent public image of the sport. “We’ve gone beyond the archaic form of fighting that was little more than beating your brains out,” said promoter Dave McDaniel, vice president of Premier Cage Fighting, whose competitions are broadcast by Comcast on Demand on cable TV and staged at large venues, including the Indiana State Fairgrounds. “It’s changed in the last 10 years,” McDaniel said. “The notion that our fighters are guys who spend their nights in a bar looking for a fight isn’t true anymore.” McDaniel and his partner, Aaron Sullivan, are police officers. One of their best fighters, Chris Lytle, is a firefighter. Lytle, 35, is a former high school wrestler who took up martial arts after college to keep in shape. “This is a sport just like baseball, football or boxing,” he said. “You don’t have to be a Neanderthal to do it.” He credits regulation for cleaning up the sport, and says Indiana’s previous lack of rules had attracted a dubious crowd of fight promoters. “It was like the Wild West here,” Lytle said. “We had promoters coming in who knew they could do whatever they wanted.” He fears they still can in amateur competitions, absent regulations that would ban the no-holds-barred style of fighting that has long marked the sport and lead to its marketing of extreme violence. “Without those rules in place at the amateur level, it’s almost the most dangerous sport there is,” Lytle said. Regulation of amateur competition is expected to come late this summer, after the Indiana Athletic Commission is formally dissolved and then re-created as a division of the Indiana Gaming Commission, which has more than a decade of regulatory experience in the gambling industry. Already, regulation of professional bouts has significantly diminished the number of competitions scheduled for this summer. The commission staff attributes the decrease to promoters unwilling to meet what the commission considers the “minimum safety standards” they’ve put into place. Lytle and McDaniel concur. “Probably 60 to 70 percent of the promoters who’d been operating in Indiana have dropped out since the rules went into effect,” McDaniel said. “That’s OK. It helps us get rid of the bad apples.” Maureen Hayden is statehouse bureau chief for CNHI's Indiana newspapers. She can be reached at maureen.hayden@indianamediagroup.com. An Indiana law that went into effect last year sanctioned professional mixed martial arts competition, triggering the development of rules to cover “unarmed combat” matches and exhibitions. The new rules, which cover only professional bouts, require: -- On-site physical exams by a physician, pre- and post-fight. -- An on-site ambulance, staffed with medical personnel. -- Mandatory blood tests for HIV and hepatitis; also pregnancy tests for female competitors. -- Insurance that would cover up to $5,000 in medical coverage for fighters. More details about the new rules adopted by the Indiana Athletic Commission can be found on the website of the Indiana Gaming Commission, at www.in.gov/igc.