(“Everybody in the car, we’re going out for some celebratory gabagool!!” via Chris Weidman’s Instagram)
The struggle to bring MMA to New York has been a long, frustrating, and well-documented one. It’s a battle that has largely been fueled by a general ignorance of what the sport actually is, a corrupt union, and a group of even more corrupt politicians. First it was Bob Reilly comparing it to dogfighting, then it was that literal fraud Sheldon Silver shooting the MMA bill down at every turn. It’s been nothing short of a Sisyphean struggle since day 1.
As the years passed, so did the hope that our beloved sport would ever be legalized in one of the country’s biggest markets. And for the majority of yesterday’s absolutely bonkers Assembly meeting, it seemed like the bill was destined to fail once again.
But somehow, someway, it did the opposite of that.
Full story after the jump.
The first person to speak up in this kangaroo court was Daniel O’Donnell, who began his argument against MMA in New York by comparing the sport to gay porn, stating “Two naked hot men rolling around on top of each other trying to dominate each other. …that’s gay porn with a different ending.”
We kid you not. Those are literally the words O’Donnell — who it’s worth mentioning is an open homosexual — used to *begin* his argument against MMA.
This fucking sport, you guys…it really brings out the weirdest in people.
Next on the floor was Assemblywoman Deborah Glick, who attempted to scale things back a bit by displaying the more common ignorance of the sport that we have become used to. After comparing MMA to “fight clubs” as part of a point that I still haven’t been able to determine and breaking out the classic “WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN?!!” argument, Glick then put her ignorance on full display with the following statement.
“No headgear. No gloves. Bare knuckles on the side of your head. That seems like a pretty serious situation.”
Glick then took to Twitter and verbally argued with an Edmund Tarverdyan parody account because this sport and everything it touches is pure lunacy.
Next up was Charles Barron, who likened mixed martial arts to slavery-OH COME ON NOW!!
But when the dust had settled, the bill to legalize MMA in New York had passed 113-25, lifting a 19-year ban on the sport. The UFC sent out a press release on the unbelievable news shortly thereafter, stating their intentions hold four annual events in New York for the next three consecutive years.
Per @ufc press release, New York can expect four annual events for first three years after Gov. Cuomo approves. pic.twitter.com/emXfoeq1Ad
— John Morgan (@MMAjunkieJohn) March 22, 2016
Speaking with reporters afterward, Lorenzo Fertitta was the closes thing to ecstatic as we’ve ever seen from him. (via MMAFighting):
“I think it’s gonna be an epic moment for the sport and for our company,” Fertitta said. “Obviously, right now all of our focus is on trying to put together the matches for UFC 200, but when we go to New York and we eventually debut at Madison Square Garden, me and Dana [White] and the rest of the team are gonna be very focused on delivering for the fans. We’re gonna put together the best available matches that we can. You’ll have the biggest names that we can possibly put on, the biggest names that are available at the time. Believe me, we want to knock it out of the park and we want to deliver for New York in a big way.”
“We are hopeful that we will be holding one, possibly two events [in New York] before the end of the year here in 2016,” Fertitta said. … “We’re hopeful that we’ll be able to get in at least two in before the end of the year.”
While the MMA bill has made it through the State Senate many times before, yesterday marked the first time that it ever passed on the Assembly floor. Now, we wait for NY Governor Andrew Cuomo to sign the bill into law, which he is expected to do.
It’s finally happening, you guys. It’s finally happening.
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