New York Does Not Budget For MMA; Why Not Use A Tax On NY Bankers' Record Profits For Crippling The Global Economy?

MMA Not Budgeted For In NY State!  No Problem California, Nevada, and many other states and provinces are already taking the lead.  Why Not Use A Tax On NY Investment Bankers' Record Profits For Crippling The Global Economy?  For a discussion on why Canadian Governments should continue to support MMA see http://mmafightingwords.blogspot.com/2010/06/legalizing-mma-in-canada-every-great.html

Every great movement must experience 3 stages: Ridicule, Discussion, Adoption. John Stuart Mill, famous philosopher of law)  ***Sign our petition to allow MMA as a global sport at http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/MMA



Mixed martial arts (MMA) is no different and is in all three stages depending on the jurisdiction.

Cuomo leaves MMA out of New York's budget, UFC done with predictions for sanctioning

by John Morgan and Steven Marrocco on Feb 02, 2011 at 10:55 pm ET

LAS VEGAS – Hopes that recently elected governor Andrew Cuomo could speed the process of getting MMA to New York were dashed by the recent release of his 2011-2012 budget proposal.


Conspicuously absent from a host of measures that aim to close the state's $10 billion budget deficit is language to legalize the sport.


The news drew frustration today from UFC president Dana White, who said he is "done with predictions in New York."


"Absolutely," White told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) when asked whether the exclusion was a setback. "It's just one of those things.



"At the end of the day, do we really need New York? No. But New York should be open. We should be able to do it."



Just three weeks prior, the promotion held a rally at storied sports venue Madison Square Garden to announce the results of a self-funded economic impact study that claimed two UFC events could generate $23 million in revenue for the Empire State.



White said feedback on the promotion's current lobbying efforts has been "all positive."



Clearly, though, today's news revealed a divide between rhetoric and the political realities of the financially strapped state.



"New York is just such a crazy place to navigate politically," he said. "We all know it's ridiculous that this thing isn't sanctioned in New York."



Previous governor David Paterson included legalization language in his 2010-2011 budget proposal before it was removed, as one legislator said, because of "strongly divided opinions" on the sport.



The UFC had hoped Cuomo would re-introduce such language, and it donated $74,600 to the governor's election campaign.



But even MMA supporters in the state legislature said it could be a long time before the sport is able to shrug off its controversial past. New York banned the sport in 1997 when the UFC's previous owners, Sephamore Entertainment Group, attempted to hold UFC 12 in the Empire State.



The UFC has drawn stubborn political opposition since it began ramping up its legalization efforts.



One opponent, recently re-elected state assemblyman Bob Reilly, a Democrat, is believed to be at the heart of several roadblocks the promotion has encountered in the state assembly.



"It's scary," White said of Reilly. "It's unbelievable that this guy has been battling this for so long and is so uneducated about it."



MMA legislation has yet to receive a vote on either the assembly or senate floor in the previous three legislative sessions.



"If we were able to get it to the floor, we'd probably pass it with Republican votes," said Steve Englebright, who chairs the assembly's Tourism, Parks, Arts and Sports Development Committee, in an interview with MMAjunkie.com this past June. "But there is a desire, I think, on the part of many of the members of our Democratic majority to resolve this matter satisfactorily within our own [party] before submitting it to the uncertainties of a debate."



With Cuomo's snub of MMA, the fate of legalization rests on three MMA-related bills currently on the docket for this year's legislative session: two bills in the assembly and one in the senate. The state assembly bills are awaiting review in the Tourism, Arts and Sports Development committee, while the senate bill has been refereed to the Cultural Affairs, Tourism, Parks and Recreation committee.



While White executive refuses to give up the fight to get UFC events into New York, you won't hear him giving any predictions on when that will become a reality.



"Whenever it happens, it happens," White said.