2023 Texas Statutes › Occupations Code › Title 13 - Sports, Amusements, and Entertainment › Subtitle B - Sports › Chapter 2052 - Combative Sports › Subchapter A. General Provisions › Section 2052.002. Definitions

Sec. 2052.002.  DEFINITIONS.  In this chapter:
(1)  "Amateur" means a person who has never received or competed for any purse or other thing of value, including reimbursement for expenses related to training or to participation in a combative sports event, that exceeded the maximum amount established by an amateur combative sports association.
(2)  "Amateur combative sports association" means an organization that has nonprofit status under the laws of this state or under federal law and that produces, arranges, advertises, conducts, or stages combative sports events in which all the contestants are amateurs.
(3)  "Boxing" means to compete with the fists.
(4)  "Combative sports" means sports, including boxing, kickboxing, martial arts, and mixed martial arts, in which participants voluntarily engage in full contact to score points, to cause an opponent to submit, or to disable an opponent in a contest, match, or exhibition.  The term does not include student training or exhibitions of students' skills conducted by martial arts schools, or associations of schools, where the students' participation is for health and recreational purposes rather than competition and where the intent is to use only partial contact.
(5)  "Commission" means the Texas Commission of Licensing and Regulation.
(6)  "Contest" means a combative sports engagement in which the participants strive earnestly to win.
(7)  "Department" means the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.
(8)  "Elimination tournament" means a combative sports contest in which contestants compete in a series of matches until not more than one contestant remains in any weight category.  The term does not include an event described by Section 2052.110.
(9)  "Executive director" means the executive director of the department or the executive director's designated representative.
(10)  "Exhibition" means a combative sports skills demonstration.
(11)  "Event" means a contest, match, or exhibition.
(11-a)  Repealed by Acts 2021, 87th Leg., R.S., Ch. 663 (H.B. 1560), Sec. 2.01(2), eff. September 1, 2021.
(12)  "Judge" means a person who is  responsible for scoring the performances of the participants in a match.
(13)  "Kickboxing" means to compete by delivering blows with the fists, arms, feet, legs, or any combination thereof.
(14)  "Martial arts" means any one of the individual disciplines described by rule adopted by the commission in which the contestants engage in unarmed combat using the applicable techniques to grapple with, kick, or strike an opponent to win a contest by causing an opponent to submit or by scoring points against or disabling an opponent.
(15)  "Match" means any contest or exhibition.
(16)  "Mixed martial arts" means unarmed combat involving the use of a combination of techniques from different disciplines of the martial arts including grappling, kicking, and striking and may include the use of full, unrestrained physical force.
(17)  "Professional combative sports contestant" means a person who competes in a combative sports event in this state conducted for a purse or compensation.
(18)  "Promoter" means any person who produces, arranges, advertises, conducts, or stages a combative sports event.
(19)  "Referee" means a person who:
(A)  is present in the ring during a match; and
(B)  exercises general supervision of the match.
(20)  "Ringside physician" means an individual who has an unrestricted and unlimited license to practice medicine in this state and who, by agreement, is assigned as the physician for a combative sports event.
Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 388, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1999.  Amended by Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 816, Sec. 7.001, eff. Jan. 1, 2004;  Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 1276, Sec. 14A.501(b), eff. Sept. 1, 2003.
Amended by:
Acts 2005, 79th Leg., Ch. 35 (S.B. 796), Sec. 1, eff. September 1, 2005.
Acts 2007, 80th Leg., R.S., Ch. 467 (H.B. 1293), Sec. 1, eff. September 1, 2007.
Acts 2013, 83rd Leg., R.S., Ch. 41 (S.B. 618), Sec. 1, eff. September 1, 2013.
Acts 2021, 87th Leg., R.S., Ch. 663 (H.B. 1560), Sec. 2.01(2), eff. September 1, 2021.