MMA in New York is official, first UFC event Nov 12
Gov. Mario Cuomo signed the new bill into law during a ceremony at Madison Square Garden.
For nine years UFC representatives went to NY’s capitol Albany to try to get mixed martial arts legalized and regulated. Five times it passed the Senate but Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver refused to bring it to a vote. Last January, Silver resigned as Speaker, following his arrest on corruption charges; the wicked witch has since been convicted and sent to fail.
New Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie is a supporter of the MMA. However, last year the bill again passed the Senate, in multiple versions, but it did not get sufficient support in the Assembly, again.
Thus New York remained the only state or province in North America where MMA is prohibited. But amateur MMA contests are taking place, often without blood tests. It is known that fighters with Hepatitis and even HIV are competing in New York, but without regulation, nothing is stopping them.
At long last the legislation passed, and today at 10:00 a.m., with Ronda Rousey and Chris Weidman in attendance, Gov. Mario Cuomo signed the new bill into law during a ceremony at Madison Square Garden.
Cuomo said he was thrilled at the coming economic benefits the state will receive.
#MMA2NY is OFFICIAL!!! pic.twitter.com/qY86hnszy6
— UFC (@ufc) April 14, 2016
“Madison Square Garden is the international icon for great sports events,” he said. “MMA is going to happen in this Garden.”
ZUFFA COO Lorenzo Fertitta was on hand, and announced the UFC will be holding an event at MSG on Nov. 12. A second event will be held in upstate NY later in the year. There were no further details on either show.
“It’s been a long hard process,” said Fertitta, whose company spent $2,000,000 on trying to bring sense to the state. “But the fact is we’re finally here and we’re very happy about that. This is a great market for us, and we look forward to doing business here.”