New York in photo by Carlos Ozório
One of the dreams of the UFC’s overseers is to hold events in New York, with the time-honored Madison Square Garden as the venue. Efforts to legalize the sport in the city have been ongoing for years and this week a major stride in that direction was made.
By 42 votes to 18 the New York state senate handed another victory to MMA fans. However, the story is not over yet. The date for the next hearing at the New York state assembly has not yet been scheduled.
It does look like politics are leaning in the sport’s favor, though, as a number of state senators spoke in favor of legalization. The heads of the UFC are pleased about the way things have gone so far.
“It’s time to bring the fastest growing sport in the world to New York,” declared Lorenzo Fertitta.
“Every month that goes by our sport becomes more and more popular throughout the country and in New York. We want to thank the state senate and we’re confident that, when the members of the assembly analyze it they’ll deem it to be a safe sport and see the popularity among their constituents and the economic and employment benefits it will bring to the state, we’ll finally have live UFC events in NY,” he said in closing.