Ratner still hopeful for NY and Mass
UFC official still bullish on possibility of New York City and Boston events in near future Despite the legislation process…
UFC official still bullish on possibility of New York City and Boston events in near future
Despite the legislation process in New York and Massachusetts providing one headache after another, UFC officials are still bullish on the possibility of events happening in New York and Massachusetts in the near future.
Although 39 states now regulate MMA (or have passed legislation that soon goes into effect), New York and Massachusetts are two of seven still in the discussion stages.
But one UFC official is hopeful legislation could still be passed in both states by the end of 2009.
Things were looking good in New York, a state the UFC has aggressively targeted. On June 3 the New York State Assembly’s Committee on Tourism, Parks, Arts and Sports garnered a favorable vote for Bill 2009-B, which would call for the New York State Athletic Commission to regulate MMA. The legislation had never advanced past the committee, and the rest of the process was considered a mere formality.
However, things fell apart in New York before the legislation session recently ended.
“This is really an unfortunate thing that happened there,” Ratner told the MMAjunkie.com Radio Network (www.mmajunkie.com/radio) on Wednesday. “This has nothing to do with the sport. They had a political upheaval there. A couple of Republican senators decided to vote with the Democrats, so it’s complete chaos. It’s dysfunctional as can be, and the Senate has not come back into session.”
Despite the problems, Ratner is holding out hope.