[trustkill]

Link to full article: Mixed Martial Arts KO'd Again in New York | MMAWeekly.com

Another year and once again mixed martial arts fans in New York will have to wait for the sport to arrive at Madison Square Garden… or anywhere else in the state for that matter.

The New York Daily News is reporting that the New York Assembly Democratic conference, behind closed doors, discussed and denied bringing MMA sanctioning to the floor for a vote this year. Speaker Sheldon Silver determined that the votes weren’t there for a bill to pass, according to the report, so it will not go to the floor for a vote.

“It will not come to the floor this year,” Silver told the Daily News. The conference, he said, “was pretty evenly divided.”

He went on to say that he felt MMA legislation in New York was evolving and that it could pass within the next couple of years, but currently felt support was about a “50-50 proposition.”

UFC president Dana White believed years ago that MMA sanctioning was on the cusp of passage in New York, but year after year it gets stalled out along the way.

It isn’t just a matter of infighting among politicians of New York over mixed martial arts, according to White. In his view, the UFC’s problems in helping get sanctioning for the sport passed in the Empire State has nothing to do with the sport; it has to do with unions… one in particular.

“In a nutshell, my partners, the Fertittas, own a company called Station Casinos. It’s the fourth largest gaming company in the country,” White explained recently as a guest on the Mark Levin Show. “They’re non-union. So the union, the Culinary Union in Las Vegas, has been using their pull in New York to keep us out of there.

“It really has nothing to do with mixed martial arts. It has to do with culinary business in Vegas.”

Regardless of who, why, when, where, or what, the simple fact is mixed martial arts in New York is once again non-existent, at least for another year.

Link to full article: http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dai...ing-this-round

The Assembly Democratic conference discussed behind closed doors whether to bring a bill to legalize the controversial sport in New York before Speaker Sheldon Silver determined the votes weren’t there for it to pass.

“It will not come to the floor this year,” Silver told the Daily News afterward.

The conference, he said, “was pretty evenly divided.”

Silver didn’t rule out passage in the next year or two.

“I think it’s evolving,” he said. “I don’t think two years ago it was a 50-50 proposition.”

Assemblyman Micah Kellner (D-Manhattan) expressed disappointment at the decision.

“This is legal in [most] states, it’s highly regulated and it generates economic activities for small business and creates much needed revenue for the state,” Kellner said.

Queens Democratic Assemblywoman Aravella Simotas, a self-proclaimed fan of the controversial sport, dismissed talk of the violence played up by detractors.

“Mixed martial arts is an art form,” she said. “I don’t believe there is inherent violence in it.”

But longtime Assembly Majority Leader Ron Canestrari (D-Troy) called ultimate fighting a “barbaric exercise.”

The decision not to bring the bill to the floor helped highlight a growing split between younger members of the Assembly and older lawmakers, insiders said.

“Shelly is still siding with a dwindling number of aging veterans,” one source in the room griped.

The source said after eight people had spoken in favor of legalizing MMA and eight against, Silver called on members who don’t support the bill to raise their hands. About 25 members did.

Then he asked for a show of hands of those who support it before saying that it looked even, the source said.

An upstate member who supports the measure complained it didn’t look even to her, the source said. When Silver asked what she wanted, a city Democrat joked, a “slow roll call.”

The speaker took another informal vote, with 25 again raising their hands against. The “ayes” seemingly had more than 60, the source said.

Silver then said others had expressed opposition privately and that the votes weren’t there to move the bill.

Update: A “very, very disappointed” Marc Ratner, vice president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship league, said he was looking for was an up-or-down vote.

“I feel 150% if we had a vote on the floor of the Assembly we would win,” Ratner said. “Not to get a vote is un-American.”

I was cautiously optimistic that MMA would be approved for New York state. Now I know better.