Why Can’t New York Get It Together and Legalize MMA?

The sport of mixed martial arts (MMA) in its short history has made many significant strides to become the must watch combat sports platform in the form of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).  It has come a long way from John McCain’s “Human Cockfighting” statement to even acknowledging that MMA has made some significant strides.  When MMA was first born in the U.S. in 1993 the only places where the event could be held were places that had no state athletic commission, no laws banning the type of competitions the UFC was back then and a willing venue to allow them to use their facility.

After the first UFC event 36 states passed legislation to ban the initial form of the competition where two people fight until one submits or gets knocked out.  These states deemed that the sport was too violent and should be outlawed.  But around 2007 the popularity of the sport has taken off and the UFC was growing under the ownership of Zuffa and Dana White.  Under Dana’s leadership they took a sawdust floor blood sport and added what some may call civility to the sport.  They added more rules to protect the fighters safety, added weight classes, did away with the one night tournaments, and built the premier combat sports institution in the world.  They have built a brand with value of more than $3 billion and a worldwide distribution and holding events across the globe, just not in New York.

The UFC absolutely does not need New York, it became a multi-billion dollar company without having access to the market and it would continue to grow without it.  Also while the  UFC is not alone in this manner, it would be the biggest beneficiary if professional MMA becomes legalized in The Empire State.  The UFC is doing its part and has made multiple gestures of generosity in the form of political donations in excess of $1.6 million with the largest receiver of these donations going to Governor Mario Cuomo.  So why has this state continue to be the last holdout for the MMA world?

How could this be?  Sometimes politics can cause some stupidity that just baffles the mind.  You have the fastest growing sport in terms of fans worldwide still be shut out of New York.  How could a political body that declared that July 29 would be “Chicken Wing Day” still be the only state in the union to keep sanctioned MMA from its boarders?

Some claim it is too brutal and should be banned and people are entitled to their opinions, but they should consider the following:

• The rules of the UFC has changed since its first event back in 1993.
  • There are more rules in the cage than the first two, no biting and no eye gouging, these rules are to keep the fighters safe in the ring.
  • The referees have full control of the cage and can stop the fight, and they do such a good job, to protect the fighter.
  • There is an ever growing athlete drug testing regimen to make sure the fighters who fight in their events are clean of both recreational and performance enhancing drugs.
• No one has ever died in a UFC, Bellator, World Series of Fighting, Invicta FC or ONE Championship event.
• There have been more deaths in Boxing in the past 15 years than the entire time after the first UFC competition.
• The state of N.Y. currently has multiple that is not safe, which is underground and unsanctioned.  N.Y. these events are occurring. but by the very fact they do nothing to prevent it from happening, endorse them.

Politics make strange bedfellows, but is also baffles the mind how do things get done.  In the past the Culinary Union, Local 226 decided to get involved because Zuffa LLC, the owners of the UFC, have non-unionized workers in their Station Casinos.  They even rolled out a special website, http://www.zuffainvestoralerts.org, to keep people updated on what Zuffa does, definition of the troll at work.

This year was the most promising year yet with the legalization law going through the state senate and with what they have done in the name of fighter safety and sport integrity.   UFC’s Marc Ratner believed the MMA bill would get 95-100 votes in N.Y. legislature.

But this year it fails, like other years, in the N.Y. legislature.  This year some are claiming corruption, like some in the press and Dana White, or the legislature is so incompetent it is a manner they can get anything done besides pay homage to the Chicken/Buffalo Wing.  The first attempt to make MMA legal was attached to an omnibus bill nicknamed, “The Big Ugly” which the very name smells like a pile of pork.

Then the legislative session ran out of time, even when the legislative session was extended you would think that a bill that can add much needed revenue towards cash strapped state services would at least be voted upon.  It was not, even when 95-100 votes was a possibility for an institution that requires 76.  What type of chicanery was used to prevent this from going onto the floor?

So now it is no MMA for 2015.  The UFC will go back to the lobbyists to keep working the N.Y. political body to try again for 2016.  Fans of MMA could make a difference by rattling the cages of their state representatives, their donation dollars and more importantly their votes.  Keep in mind that the UFC does not need N.Y., the legislature feels like it does not need the UFC, but we all should be able to agree that both would be a heck of a lot better off with professional, sanctioned and safe MMA in N.Y.  Imagine what a MMA event in Madison Square Garden would be like?  But until professional MMA is legalized in N.Y. it will only ever be imaginary.