ALBANY – Supporters of Mixed Martial Arts have again lost the fight to legalize the sport in New York.
The Assembly was set to end the legislative session Thursday night without taking up the bill, meaning New York remains the only state in the nation that still does not sanction the sport.
With a change in Assembly leadership, MMA supporters hoped this was the year the legalization bill would clear the Assembly.
Assembly Majority Leader Joseph Morelle, the bill’s main sponsor, believed he had enough Democratic votes to bring the bill to the floor. But on the last day of the legislative session Thursday, a number of supporters were not in Albany, dooming the bill’s chances, Morelle (D-Rochester) said.
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Marc Ratner, vice president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship league, said he was “very very disappointed.
“This is the closest we’ve ever been,” Ratner told the Daily News. “But we’re a fighting organization and we’re going to keep fighting. We’re not going to give up. It’s still a question of when, not if.”
To improve the bill’s chances, Morelle negotiated a new bill with the Senate that would create an insurance fund to deal with fighters who suffer serious injuries.
The Senate has passed the bill the past five years. Gov. Cuomo has said he is open to signing it should it clear the Legislature.
MMA was banned in New York in 1997 under then Gov. George Pataki, who called the then no-holds-barred sport “barbaric.”
Since those days, the sport has implemented a host of rules and created weight classes. Pataki now endorses its legalization.
But critics in the Assembly say MMA is still too violent, calling it anti-woman and anti-gay. Supporters deny the charges and note one of its top stars, Ronda Rousey, is female.
