NY Senate votes to legalize MMA, for the 7th time
The MMA bill has once again passed the Republican-controlled Senate. A companion bill is gathering sponsors in the Democrat-controlled Assembly.
“Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
-Albert Einstein
We’re nuts, and it may be working.
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 plague has since been convicted and sent to fail.
The new Assembly Speaker, Carl Heastie, is a supporter of the bill. However, last year the bill again passed the Senate, in multiple versions, but it did not get sufficient support in the Assembly, again.
So New York remains 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.
The MMA bill has once again passed the Republican-controlled Senate. A companion bill is gathering sponsors in the Democrat-controlled Assembly, which has never the legislation before.
The legislation has some new provisions that would increase required insurance for injured fighters, and would authorize state authorities to recommend a funding mechanism for long-term care of fighters who develop degenerative brain conditions due to trauma suffered in the ring.