Ban Lifted! MMA Finally Legalized in the State of New York – BREAKING NEWS
By JM “Shade” Daguio
After 20 years of waiting, the state legislature of New York finally passes the bill that lifts the ban on MMA being held in the Empire State. The State of New York is the 50th and last state that finally gave in to the promise of great MMA competition revenue that will be brought to the state. The battle wasn’t easy though as it took exactly 23 years (since MMA’s inception in 1993) for the holdout to retreat and 6 years worth of lobbying to get the sport into New York. Politics clearly was the issue not the nuances of the sport, since every argument such as revenue, fighter safety, rules, regulations and mainstream appeal were all at the side of MMA, however in the last 3 years, although the state senate voted to lift the ban, the state assembly never gave it a thought and never brought it up for voting.
It took quite sometime to bring the matter again in the legislature but it was never seriously considered up until the arrest of assembly speaker Sheldon Silver in January of 2015, Silver was known to be an opponent of the bill and had an iron grip on the assembly’s agenda, Silver was subsequently arrested for corruption charges by the FBI.
The proposed bill was once again taken into consideration in the senate with the endorsement of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, however, for some reason the bill wasn’t discussed in the assembly level. The UFC/Zuffa LLC., headed by CEO/Owners/Brothers Lorenzo Fertitta, Frank Fertitta III and UFC President Dana White, wanted to exploit a loophole by filing an injunction on the MMA ban in New York courts, however the motion was denied. The MMA community and Zuffa honchos did not lose hope since the leadership of the state assembly from speaker Sheldon Silver has since been replaced by speaker Carl Heastie, a staunch supporter of MMA legalization, in 2015.
Under Heastie’s leadership, the pro-MMA bill wasn’t taken up by the assembly but Heastie promised it will be brought up again in the near future. The bill was finally passed this tuesday (March 22, 2016) that lifted the ban on professional Mixed Martial Arts being held in the state of New York, with a vote of 132-25 in favor of legalization. The UFC brass thanked the major players for the passage of the bill, the state of New York and of course New York residents who staunchly fought and lobbied for the legalization. The bill is set to be signed into law by Gov. Cuomo in the coming days, observers suggest that Gov. Cuomo’s signature is “a mere formality” relating to the fact that Cuomo endorsed the legalization of MMA.
UFC fighters such as former Middleweight Champ, Chris Weidman; former Welterweight Champ, Matt Serra; and Former Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones, all of whom are homegrown New Yorkers, also expressed their heartfelt thanks for the never ending support for legalization; now, both Weidman and Jones have the chance to fight in front of their hometown in the near future.
Note: Chris Weidman will attempt to regain his title versus current middleweight champion, Luke Rockhold. While Jon Jones will clash with current light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier, after Jones was stripped of his title due to misdemeanor charges.
[si-contact-form form=’2′]