New York lawmakers fend off legalization of MMA fights

Ultimate Fighting Championship, the Las Vegas-based fight promotion company, came up short again Tuesday in its attempt to persuade New York state lawmakers to legalize professional MMA fights in the Empire State.

UFC has seen it before. For a fourth consecutive year, the New York Senate approved a bill legalizing mixed martial arts fights, but the state Assembly never got a chance to vote on the proposed legislation.

UFC celebrated recent MMA legislative wins in Connecticut and Canada but lamented that New York Assembly Democrats blocked the bill from reaching the Assembly floor. The legislation did not even get out of the Democratic Conference.

“While our disappointment cannot be overstated, our commitment to seeing New York legalize the fastest-growing sport in the nation and the world is intact and undeterred,” UFC chief executive Lorenzo Fertitta said in a statement.

“We continue to strongly believe that legalizing and regulating MMA in New York is the right thing for the state economically, the right thing for the millions of fans in New York and the right thing for the safety and benefit of the thousands of professional and amateur MMA athletes across the state,” Fertitta said.

Marc Ratner, UFC director of regulatory affairs, said the Assembly bill had 64 co-sponsors.

“We get right to the brink of passing the bill, but we never get over the goal line,” Ratner said Wednesday. “It circumvents the democratic process when we have the votes if we can get it to the floor.”

Dana White, UFC president, put it this way in a text message to the Review-Journal: Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver “continues to make democracy a joke in the state of NY.”

Opponents of the MMA bill argued that the sport is barbaric and anti-women while fostering a culture of violence.

“Cage fighting has no place in a civilized society,” said Assemblywoman Ellen Jaffee, a Democrat from suburban New York City.

“Except for those who stand to profit from this barbaric entertainment masquerading as sport, cage fighting causes great harm. It harms impressionable children as well as young people who are taught to believe that human brutality is a spectator sport. In fact, cage fighting is being actively marketed to children,” Jaffee said. “While the economic projections for legalizing cage fighting remains uncertain, the health and human costs associated with the sport are unquestionable.”

Fertitta lashed out at those types of arguments.

“This year’s new, absurd, offensive, and completely erroneous charge used to justify the defeat of MMA legislation was that MMA is anti-woman and leads to domestic violence. This is a deception fabricated by a Las Vegas union that is recklessly and callously trying to use an important societal issue to try and punish the UFC. It isn’t honest and doesn’t work,” Fertitta said.

He was referring to Culinary Local 226 and was blaming the 60,000-member union for using its political muscle to stop legalization of MMA bouts in New York. The union has battled Fertitta and brother Frank Fertitta III, because their Station Casinos are nonunion properties.

UFC officials have lobbied lawmakers in Albany for years and have argued that the fights would generate millions in spending in New York, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and other cities. They point out that New York is the only state in the country that outlaws MMA fights.

“If New York’s leaders really do have a commitment to fanning a growing business climate in the state, they have a heck of a way of showing it. We genuinely feel bad for the hotels, restaurants, gyms, and other businesses that support our effort and have championed this cause,” Fertitta said.

“We also feel bad for New York’s arenas — large and small, particularly those upstate — that are struggling and have worked alongside us to pass the legislation. I guess New York’s loss will continue to be New Jersey’s, Massachusetts’, Pennsylvania’s, and Toronto’s gain,” he said.

Assemblyman Francisco Moya, a Democrat from Queens who co-sponsored the MMA bill, expressed disappointment.

“It is a shame that New York will remain the last state in the union to outlaw mixed martial arts. This is an extremely popular sport that would be regulated for safety and generate significant revenue,” Moya said. “At the very least, this bill should have come to a vote on the Assembly floor. I hope next session there will be some movement on this issue and New York MMA fans will be able to enjoy the sport in their own state.”

UFC officials said they will return to Albany in 2014 for more MMA lobbying.

“Speaker Silver said legalizing MMA in New York is ‘inevitable,’ and we agree,” Fertitta said. “It is discouraging that the Speaker does not yet believe that the bill has garnered the support of his conference, however, we appreciate that he has brought it to conference for the last two years and we are convinced that the third time will be the charm. To paraphrase a famous movie line, ‘We’ll be back.’ ”