A slight deviation from Yankees baseball to provide a commentary about a campaign that if successful will take the New York sports landscape to new heights. The movement to bring Mixed Martial Arts to the state of New York that has gone over, under, around and at times through every obstacle in its path is one step closer to Celebration Day. The New York Senate on Monday voted 42-18 in favor of Bill S1707A to sanction the sport and allow the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) to make its splash in New York City, Buffalo and wherever it wants in the Empire State.
Robert Louis Stevenson famously wrote, “And miles to go before I sleep.” The Senate has approved the bill in the past, only to see the it stall in the New York Assembly, so if you’re a New Yorker starving for MMA, you can’t get too excited yet, for it’s the sport’s biggest opponent, Bob Reilly and the Assembly that remains the biggest roadblock of them all.
There are 12 business days left in the current Assembly session that ends June 20, so the time to strike is right now. This link explains how you can get help by calling your Assembly member and ask to include the regulation of Mixed Martial Arts in the budget. My buddy at YES, David Alfreds, produced a feature on the movement for the latest episode of Forbes SportsMoney. UFC president Dana White explains the growth of the UFC here. And while in this clip Reilly gives his side of the story, White counters with reasons why MMA in New York will be prosperous for the state’s economy.
Besides Reilly, the reasoning behind a few others who oppose is really puzzling. Senator Liz Krueger said she’s against a sport in which the aim is the do the “most damage possible” to another person while proclaiming New York “should be proud” it has not legalized MMA. Senator Krueger obviously is stuck 18 years behind the rest of us who have watched the sport evolve from underground beginnings to a thriving, invigorating industry that last month produced the UFC’s biggest event in history. UFC 129 set records in terms of attendance (55,724 packed Toronto’s Rogers Centre) and live gate ticket sales that totaled $11 million.
Just last week I had a conversation with a young colleague that led to Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini, one of my favorites growing up, and his 14-round TKO of Duk Koo Kim in 1982 that tragically led to Kim’s death at 23 years old. Kim is unfortunately neither the first nor last to either die or suffer brain damage while competing in the ring, yet boxing is still around and legal in New York State.
Mancini vs. Kim was one of the last championship fights scheduled for 15 rounds. When Zuffa LLC took over the UFC in 1993, it worked rigorously to move away from WOW Promotions’ “There are no rules” marketing hook to regulate the sport to meet safety standards. One example is how referees err on the side of caution by stopping a fight at the first sign one cannot defend himself, a big jump from the barrage of punches to the head absorbed by boxers in an effort to continue fighting. To people like Krueger and Reilly, for reasons logical only to themselves, MMA is more violent and dangerous than boxing, hockey and football put together.
UFC light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones was in Albany lobbying for the measure and best summed up how practicing Mixed Martial Arts helped him and why it will help countless others.
"Since I've become a fighter, I've become way more relaxed, way more confident as a young man and way more peaceful," Jones said. "It's been great for me. It's changed my life."
It’s made a difference for so many, including Yankees catcher Russell Martin. For those who missed it, I wrote about the benefits Martin received from offseason MMA training, also documented in this YES Network feature.
Follow Jon Lane on Twitter: @JonLaneNYC
