NY could OK mixed martial arts

ALBANY – Since 2007, the owners of Ultimate Fighting Championship -- the major promoter of professional mixed martial arts bouts -- have spent $2.3 million lobbying state lawmakers, urging them to lift an 18-year-old ban that has kept their sport out of New York.

Year after year, their efforts have been rejected. This year, however, advocates of the combat sport say they have reason for optimism: the Assembly's first new leader in 21 years.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, was forced to resign his powerful post after he was arrested last month on federal corruption charges. And the man who replaced him, Assemblyman Carl Heastie of the Bronx, says he's a "personal supporter" of the sport.

The UFC is hoping the Assembly's leadership shakeup could be enough to end the state's ban on professional bouts, which dates back to 1997 and has kept the promoter from booking fight cards in the nation's largest media market. But opponents, including women's rights groups and some of the Legislature's most-senior members, say they won't go down without a fight.

"Speaker Heastie has long been a sponsor and strong supporter of the bill to have New York join the 49 other states that legalize and regulate MMA," Lorenzo Fertitta, UFC's chairman and CEO, said in a statement. "We are cautiously optimistic that 2015 is the year that New York's huge UFC fan base will have the opportunity to see some incredible live events from Brooklyn to Buffalo."

Silver has long been viewed as the UFC's biggest obstacle in New York, a state that has produced its biggest star: Jon "Bones" Jones, the light-heavyweight champion who was born in Rochester, grew up in the Binghamton area and trained in Ithaca.

The battle over a bill to repeal New York's ban -- the only statewide ban in the country -- has become an annual tradition at the state Capitol: The Republican-led Senate passes it, only for the measure to stall in the Democrat-heavy Assembly without coming to a vote.

Heastie had been a co-sponsor of the legislation, which would repeal the ban and allow the state Athletic Commission to regulate bouts. But in the days after he was elevated to speaker on Feb. 3, Heastie removed his name from a number of bills.

He's pledged to work by gauging the consensus of Assembly Democrats.

"I'll still give my preference, but really it's the conscience of the conference," Heastie said. "If the conference wants to move the bill forward, we'll do that. And if not, then we won't. But my personal opinion is I'm still a personal supporter of MMA."

Lawmakers are split on the issue.

Some point to the popularity and ubiquity of MMA, with UFC events attracting huge pay-per-view audiences and selling out arenas across the country. Professional fights are frequently televised on cable networks, and amateur bouts and training are currently permitted in New York.

Others point to the violence of the sport, in which fighters repeatedly strike, clutch and wrestle their opponents while making use of various chokeholds and other maneuvers within an eight-sided cage.

"The aggrandizement of violent behavior is quite concerning," said Assemblywoman Deborah Glick, a longtime Democratic lawmaker from Manhattan. "The goal of the activity, if you will, is to severely damage the other person. Now, that may happen in other sports, but it's not the goal of the sport."

Sonia Ossorio, president of the New York City chapter of the National Organization for Women, called MMA an "an incredibly violent sport that is notorious for its unacceptable culture of sexism and homophobia."

"Allowing MMA in our state sends the wrong message to our young men and boys and to women," she said in a statement.

The Assembly's 105-member Democratic Conference is expected to meet in private later this year to discuss whether the bill should be put to a vote, though no date for the meeting has been set. In previous years, the conference has discussed the issue behind closed doors in June, with Silver emerging to announce a consensus that no vote would be taken.

Assembly Majority Leader Joseph Morelle, the lead sponsor of the bill, said he has yet to speak to Heastie about it. But he said younger members of the conference appear supportive of the bill.

Morelle said the goal would be to legalize MMA but to also regulate it to ensure safety and cut down on illegal matches.

"I'm certainly optimistic that it's going to be given a new look, and a lot of the newer members seem to be very enthusiastic about it," Morelle said.

JCAMPBELL1@gannett.com

Twitter.com/JonCampbellGAN

Albany Bureau Chief Joseph Spector contributed to this report.