MMA FINALLY about to be legalized in NY!!!!

Basically a done deal except for the formalities.

Awesome news!!!!

Quote :

Hell might have just frozen over, as New York on Tuesday became the final state in the U.S. to legalize mixed martial arts.

While the bill to legalize MMA in New York (S05949A)has passed the State Senate for the past seven years, prior to 2016, it had never gotten to the Assembly floor for a vote. It finally found passage through the necessary committees – the Tourism, Arts, Parks and Sports Development Committee; the Codes Committee; the Ways and Means Committee; and the Rules Committee – before moving to the Assembly floor.

Assemblywoman Ellen Jaffee spoke out against passage of the bill, encouraging her peers to join her in voting to continue the ban on MMA. Hon. Charles Barron joined her, vehemently arguing that “this sport should remain banned.” Assembly Majority Leader Joseph D. Morrelle argued in favor of the bill’s passage; as did Hon. Dean Murray, who vouched for the professionalism that he has witnessed in mixed martial arts, but also argued about the dangers of not having proper oversight at events.

The arguments by the few against the bill were wide-ranging, likening MMA to slavery, questioning how the bill to legalize MMA would stop child sex offenders from assaulting children, and calling it much more violent that boxing, football, or other professional sports.

Murray closed his argument for the bill with a passionate, “It is time to legalize mixed martial arts in the State of New York,” and that is what happened.

When the votes were tallied, the bill to legalize mixed martial arts in New York passed the State Assembly with 113 voting for the bill and 25 voting against it.

The bill still needs Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s signature to become law, but that is considered all but a formality, as Cuomo has shown strong support for legalizing MMA in his state.

05-Chris-Weidman-UFC-194-w 750According to Newsday’s Mark La Monica, Cuomo included funding for the New York State Athletic Commission to oversee mixed martial arts in his 2016 budget.

”New York is the only state in the nation that does not allow professional Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) contests,” read Gov. Cuomo’s proposal for legalizing MMA in his State of the State book, according to Newsday. “Thousands of New Yorkers attend dozens of unregulated amateur MMA events in New York each year and unlicensed promoters organize and promote amateur MMA contests in all corners of New York State.

“The Governor seeks to authorize both amateur and professional MMA and will ensure that contests happen under either the supervision of the New York State Athletic Commission or an alternative authorized sanctioning entity. It will place firm controls on MMA, its participants and promoters that ensure the protection of fighters and fans.”

Now that legislation has met with approval of both the Senate and the Assembly, Gov. Cuomo’s signature will open the door to MMA in New York.

“I do support MMA because it is an economic generator,” Gov. Cuomo told Newsday on Tuesday.

The UFC has been lobbying for this day for many years, and already has a date penciled in for an event at Madison Square Garden sometime this fall.

http://www.mmaweekly.com/new-york-becomes-final-state-to-legalize-mma

its great news and I'm so stoked but I don't really expect much greatness from this.

big fights don't happen in ny because of the taxes. that's why guys like Mayweather don't fight here.

I hope I'm wrong but I cant see guys like McGregor or ronda campaigning to fight in ny just to get ripped off tax wise. it makes all the sense in the world to keep big fights in vegas.

but I'm pretty sure that the ufc will get some of these guys a nice locker room check to fight at the garden and I will 100% be sitting cage side no matter who is on the card.

bellator already looking at the Barclays center!!!!!

great news

good deal...but at this point....who cares......im glad for the advance of mma and all but while im in California the mma ban in ny is silly because if that were here it would be as if 1 county banned it....the point im getting at is size of the state....when your state is that small, its easy enough to leave the state on a half day trip to see a fight.......and then the above mentioned facts about the taxes and that it may be tough to get bigger names to fight there....I see the first few events being a big deal but the elure of nyc is going to fade away......its not like ny needs the tiny economy boost a ufc event brings for a few days.....don't get me wrong...im glad its happening but I don't see it as big a deal as it would have been 5 years ago..

man you really make some great points.
I live in the city and it is really easy to jump on a train and go to to nj to watch the fights there. door to door in under 90 minutes. you could very easily drive there too in no time whatsoever. I'm all for ny mma and I do think it is a great thing and the first few fights will be huge but I agree that this is kind of a little to late and I think that "MMA mania" or "hypetrain" has passed. you will still get the garden sold out but I don't think this will be as profitable as it could have been

Dana and the Fertittas are seeing dollar signs, and I'm sure they've factored in the tax issue. That's very likely not news to them, and they have a plan in place.

It's big news for New Yorkers because we felt like we were being left out of the fun, so to speak, and we're missing out in a sense. Sure, I could easily go see fights in NJ or Massachusetts, but I couldn't see them in my
home state, which was pretty bothersome on sheer principle.
Also, I think it was a problem just from an image standpoint that such a high profile and trend setting state such as NY was somehow the only state not moving forward on this. It was kind of an ugly blemish for both MMA and NY.
Also, while some fighters might not be thrilled from a financial standpoint about fighting in NY, it's still a very big stage, and fame is its own currency. Not to mention there are several marquee fighters who are from NY (Chris Weidman and Jon Jones, for starters) who would be thrilled to finally get the chance to headline in their own state, and would probably do so without hesitation every time they were presented the opportunity.

I guess my point is that this is a very good thing more for general reasons than for specific reasons.

Bout fuckin time!

Plus, if the UFC is trying to position itself for an eventual sale, lifting the NY ban only adds value to the promotion.

Slavery? The NCAA.... now that's slavery....
Be that as it may, glad NYer's will finally get a chance to go to the big show.
Hopefully with the numbers we'll see more shows out of NY.