It looks like the odds of the UFC short cutting the New York legal system to put on an April MMA event in New York just hit the skids.
New York sits out there, just like a new glove design to prevent eye pokes, and a better system for weight cutting, as a problem the UFC has been talking about for years, but seems to have made very little real headway on. Last year was supposed to be the year we got a UFC event in New York. They announced that they were going to Book Madison Square Garden (MSG) for a year end show and all eyes were on the state legislature to pass a bill making MMA legal.
It didn’t happen. So, this year, the UFC hoped to make progress taking another route, not through state government, but through the courts. They once again announced that they were going to MSG, but not at the end of the year. This time it’d be early. The end of April, and they were hoping to get a preliminary injunction against the NY MMA ban to make that happen. At least for as long as the UFC was in town, MMA would be legal. And in the meantime, the UFC would continue challenging the anti-MMA law’s constitutionality in court.
The UFC set a deadline by which they wanted Federal Judge Kimba Wood, to deliver a verdict on their injunction, so that they could go ahead with planning their April event. That deadline was today. That verdict was, injunction denied. Fightland procured a copy of the judges statement:
“Plaintiff Zuffa LLC (“Plaintiff” or “Zuffa”) has moved pursuant to Rule 65 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure for a preliminary injunction against Defendants Eric Schneiderman, in his official capacity as Attorney General of the State of New York; Vincent G. Bradley, in his official capacity as Commissioner and Chairman of the New York State Liquor Authority; and Kevin Kim, in his official capacity as Commissioner of the New York State Liquor Authority (collectively, “Defendants”). Zuffa seeks to prevent Defendants from enforcing New York’s Combative Sport Law, N.Y. UNconsol. Law 8905-a, and a related provision of New York’s Liquor Law, N.Y. Alco. Bev. Law 106(6-c)(a), until a trial on the merits can be held to resolve Plaintiff’s constitutional challenge to those laws. For the reasons listed below, the Court DENIES Plaintiff’s motion for a preliminary injunction.
“The Court has decided that it should exercise Pullman abstention in this case.
“The Court abstains in this case, but retains jurisdiction pending a determination by a state court as to the meaning of the challenged state laws. Pullman, 312 U.S. at 501-02. Plaintiff’s request for injunctive relief is DENIED without prejudice to its renewal.”
Of course, that doesn’t mean that the long term dream of MMA in New York is dead, just that it’s back to working its way through state legislature and back to the UFC’s bid to challenge the law itself. And while the state legislative action might happen this year (maybe) it’d come too late to put together a show in April.