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<h3><a href="/go=news.detail&gid=450667" target="_blank">
DFW confident enough to book date at MSG
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<a href="/go=news.detail&gid=450667" ><img class="photo" src="http://img.mixedmartialarts.com/method=get&rs=33&q=75&x=6&y=63&w=310&h=165&ro=0&s=statue-of-liberty-06-19-13-10-29-35-147.jpg" /></a>
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<p><em>At last<br />
My love has come along
My lonely days are over
And life is like a song
-Etta James
Modern MMA was born in Colorado, where there was then no government athletic commission to regulate it. Then powerful Sen. John McCain infamously dubbed it "human cockfighting" and many states passed laws prohibiting it. Then the tide turned, and leading ACs, from California and New Jersey, began to regulate the sport, and it was saved.
It is now allowed everywhere in North America, except for New York. In The Empire State, amateurs are unregulated and fighters with Hepatitis and HIV are known to have competed. Pro MMA is prohibited.
For nine years the UFC has journeyed to New York's capitol of Albany, to push for the regulation of MMA. Five times the bill got through the Senate; each time, then Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver refused to bring it to a vote.
Silver was arrested on corruption charges, and resigned as Speaker in January. SIlver has been replaced as Assembly Speaker by Carl Heastie, a past supporter of the bill.
Earlier this week Bill No. S2159, sponsored by Sen. Joseph Griffo (R-Rome), went through the State Senate Committee for Cultural Affairs, Tourism, Parks and Recreation by a vote of 9-4.
***Take a second and tweet thanks to Sen. Griffo***
Next the bill goes to the Finance Committee for a vote, where it was expected to pass. Then it will likely go to the Senate for a vote.
UFC president Dana White appeared on AXS TV’s Inside MMA on Friday and expressed a fair degree of optimism in the bill passing, and MMA being legal in NY by the end of 2015. In fact, White was confident enough to hold at date around Christmas at Madison Square Garden.
“You wanna know how confident we are?" said White as transcribed by Jeremy Brand for MMASucka. "We’re holding a date."
So things are looking good for MMA in New York, at last.
And lastly, no discussion of MMA in New York should pass without thanks to the extraordinary work done in New Jersey by Nick Lembo and the other regulators in The Garden State, who have led the way since ever since.
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