Mixed martial arts is a legal, regulated sport in at least 20
states: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia,
Idaho, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Nevada, New
Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Utah and
Washington.

The sport is not regulated in at least 20 states: Connecticut,
Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri,
Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, North
Dakota, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West
Virginia, and Wisconsin. These states have banned mixed marital arts,
have left regulation up to local communities or have taken no action.

The six states that do not have athletic commissions — Alabama,
Alaska, Delaware, Minnesota, South Dakota and Wyoming — either allow
local communities to make the call or defer to Nevada or New Jersey,
the most respected regulatory commissions in the country.

The athletic commissions in Maine, Maryland, Pennsylvania and
Vermont have not made a ruling either way.

So is MMA legal in South Dakota? Yes but not in Sioux Falls. The
martial arts have endured for 1000s of years even if training had to
be done in secret. You can train in MMA in Sioux Falls but MMA
fights/tournaments are banned in the city. Who knows what impact
this will eventually have on the rest of the martial arts here in So
Dak. We'll have to wait & see.