New York One Step closer to MMA

The New York state Senate passed legislation to sanction mixed martial arts events throughout the state.  The legislation now faces its biggest test in the state Assembly.  New York is one of only a handful of states that do not sanction mixed martial arts.  New York is the biggest state, economy-wise, to not sanction MMA.

The debate in New York on whether to legalize MMA or not has been heated to say the least.  Some New York politicians have called MMA “the Four Loko of sports” (gothamist.com).  Some have also considered MMA the sport of barbarians.  The sport of barbarians?  Let’s break MMA down.  Mixed means multiple components together as one.  Martial arts is anything from boxing to wrestling, karate to judo, muay thai to jiu-jitsu.  Correct me if I’m wrong but I’m pretty sure some of the martial arts are in the Olympics, and the Olympics are not barbaric.  Now when you put the components of MMA together you get Mixed Martial Arts, literally meaning multiple “fighting arts” put together as one.  If you look at it in the right light, it could be viewed as a sort of super Olympic event.  The sport of barbarians?  MMA has been consistently proven to be safer than boxing.  MMA’s lighter gloves mean less weight hitting a fighter in the head.  MMA event’s less rounds mean less time spent getting hit in the head.   MMA’s quicker knockouts mean less time a fighter spends getting hit in the head.

It is about time the lawmakers of New York State are beginning to realize how ridiculous they have been.  Finally somebody opened their eyes and saw the great economic impact MMA events could bring to the state.  It is estimated that an Ultimate Fighting Championship (biggest MMA production company) could bring New York as much as $1.4 million in an event held at the historic Madison Square Garden.  How many times were those New York politicians going to watch New Jersey steal all of their events and revenue? 

Tune into UFC 130 Rampage vs. Hamill this Saturday May 28^th at 9pm on PPV.

For more on the growth of MMA and the UFC, check out this recent SBJ article http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2011/05/23/Leagues-and-Governing-Bodies/UFC-main.aspx. 

-Written by Kevin Rossi