Greg Sirb (right) poses for a photo with Jesse Romano after his victory at Maverick MMA 22 - March 2023 - Photo by William McKee
Greg Sirb, Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission executive director, set to retire at end of the month
Greg Sirb has notified MyMMANews.com that he will officially retire on September 29, 2023.
Greg Sirb has served as the executive director of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission (SAC) since January 29, 1990, making him the country’s longest-tenured executive director of a state’s athletic commission.
Currently, Sirb is serving under his seventh Pennsylvania governor and his 14th Secretary of the Commonwealth.
A native of Sharon, Pennsylvania, Sirb has deep roots in the Keystone State. He received a bachelor’s degree in communications from Edinboro University where he wrestled in the early 1980’s and was named a two-time all-American. He also earned a master’s degree in public administration from Penn State University.
His influence on boxing and related sports has been vast. Sirb was involved in drafting language to amend the State Athletic Commission’s laws in 1992, which was an overhaul of the original 1989 SAC law.
As the State Athletic Commission’s executive director, Sirb has overseen and sanctioned events such as boxing, wrestling, mixed martial arts (MMA), and athlete registration. He is one of the founding members of the Association of Boxing Commissions and served as president from 1996 to 2001.
In 1994, Sirb worked with Senator John McCain of Arizona to craft two major pieces of legislation that shaped how professional boxing in the United States is handled. This legislation – the Professional Boxing Safety Act of 1996, and the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act of 2000 – contained some of the first national laws and regulations that dictated how the various state and tribal boxing commissions govern professional boxing. He was also instrumental in crafting the Unified Rules of Boxing that are still used today.
It is estimated that Sirb has regulated more than 2,000 boxing events and 1,100 MMA events during his 33-year tenure with SAC and has supervised boxing events not only in Pennsylvania but in 21 other state and tribal jurisdictions as well.
There are more than 300 licensed boxers and more than 450 licensed professional and amateur mixed martial artists in Pennsylvania, making the commonwealth’s SAC one of the most active in the country.
In 2022, Pennsylvania was one of the most active states for professional boxing and MMA. SAC regulated 40 professional boxing events, the fourth most of any state in the nation, and 30 MMA events. The commission also sanctioned 71 amateur boxing events, nine kickboxing/Muay Thai events, and 353 professional wrestling events.
