Mixed martial arts legalisation in New York is almost there with Assembly vote expected next week

Moving in the right direction

Darragh Murphy

Mixed martial arts legalisation in New York is almost there with Assembly vote expected next week

It’s getting there. Slowly but surely, it’s getting there.

The fact that mixed martial arts is illegal in New York is something that has baffled and frustrated fight fans in equal measure for years but those days could soon be behind us with the news that the New York State Assembly will vote next week on the motion to legalise MMA in the state.

MMA has been banned in New York since 1997 and the world’s biggest MMA promotion, the UFC, has only ever held one event in the state, a card headlined by Ken Shamrock and Oleg Taktarov back in 1995.

New York is currently the only state in which the sport is illegal but the efforts to redress that could be kicked up a gear if the proposition is approved, which is likely according to Newsday’s Mark La Monica who broke the news after speaking to a representative of Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie.

Michael J. Britt, the UFC’s Vice President of Global Business Development and Government Relations, released a statement on Tuesday in which he lauded the breakthrough.

“We want to thank Speaker Heastie, and of course we also need to thank Majority Leader Morelle, who has worked tirelessly to educate his colleagues and build support on both sides of the aisle, but particularly among Assembly Democrats,” the statement read.

“Our thanks, as well, go to those legislators in both houses and both parties who have supported this effort over the years.

“This is a big step forward for MMA, the athletes and the huge fan base the sport enjoys in New York, however, there are still more steps before New York finally crosses the hurdle to legalize professional MMA. We look forward to working with the chairs of the committees and all Assembly members to provide them with any information they may need as they address the bill to legalize and regulate MMA.”

The bill has passed through the State Senate in each of the last seven years but has failed to get past the Assembly on each occasion.

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— danawhite (@danawhite) March 15, 2016

The biggest stumbling block in making it through an Assembly vote had been the influential Sheldon Silver, the former Assembly Speaker who was convicted last year on a number of corruption charges.

His conviction inspired the UFC to up the ante in their pursuit of a New York event and they had even provisionally booked Madison Square Garden for an event on April 23 but that fell by the wayside after a federal judge rejected their proposal.

If the vote is passed on the Assembly floor, it will arrive at the desk of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo who has hinted in the past that he expects MMA to be legalised in the next year.