Bill to legalise MMA in New York fails

FAST becoming one of the biggest sports in the world, find out why mixed martial arts is still illegal in one of the biggest cities in the world.

MMA illegal in Big Apple

THE UFC will likely go another year without a trip to New York after the state assembly failed to bring the MMA bill that would legalise the sport to a vote during the final legislative session for 2015.

Mixed martial arts has faced an uphill battle trying to get sanctioned in New York for the past eight years, but it appeared a path was cleared after former speaker Sheldon Silver, who opposed the bill, was ousted on corruption charges.

Unfortunately, despite having the votes when the final voting session began, the MMA bill never made it before the assembly to officially pass the order and legalise the sport in New York.

“My big challenge today is that a number of members who are counted as supporters were just unavailable today because of the scheduling, that we weren’t expected to be here this long,” Assembly Majority Leader Joseph Morelle told the Albany Bureau on Thursday.

“So we’ll keep working, and I’m confident that the next time we reconvene, I’m going to redouble my efforts.”

The New York State Senate has already passed the MMA bill — as they’ve done for the past six years — but the assembly still has to vote on it before Governor Andrew Cuomo could officially sign it into law.

On Wednesday, UFC supporters, fighters and celebrities all took up the cause to try and get the bill on the floor of the assembly so representatives could vote to make MMA legal in the state. UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman penned a passionate letter to the assembly via The Players’ Tribune to make a final plea so he could potentially fight in his home state this December.

“For me to be able fight in my home state of New York would be a dream come true,” Weidman wrote.

“Ever since I got started in mixed martial arts, I’ve dreamt about walking into the Octagon at Madison Square Garden. After fighting so many fights across the country, I can’t even begin to imagine what it would feel like to finally come home to have my Uncle Jimmy and the rest of my family, friends and supporters in the seats watching me, and to have my dad in my corner with me when I fight. I get chills just thinking about it.

“I’d like to live that dream this winter. I’d like the first-ever professional MMA fight in the state of New York to feature one of its own, and I’d like it to happen in the most famous venue on earth, Madison Square Garden.”

The timing of the assembly session was supposed to end last week, but several days were added on to get a number of issues settled before the legislative season came to an end.

As each day passed, more and more representatives were called away from the voting session for personal or business reasons and in the end, the MMA bill just didn’t have the votes necessary to bring it to the floor where it could be officially legalised.

New York stands as the only state left where MMA is still banned.

It didn’t take UFC president Dana White long to hear about the news and express his displeasure about New York once again failing to pass the bill to sanction MMA in the state.

The corruption in NY politics is DISGUSTING!!!!

— Dana White (@danawhite) June 25, 2015

Another year with out MMA in New York. I don't know about ya'll but I'm pretty bumbed about this. Thoughts? #LegalizeNY

— MMA Latest (@MMALatestNws) June 26, 2015