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The political turmoil for MMA continues in New York, Canada

By Zach Arnold | March 26, 2010

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USA Today has a new article talking about the stalling of legislation in the state of New York for regulating Mixed Martial Arts. Bob Reilly continues to draw big media attention given that UFC has a closed circuit event at Radio City Music Hall this weekend for UFC’s New Jersey PPV event. Jim Genia has an update.

Regarding press coverage of the upcoming UFC event, everyone is focused on Georges St. Pierre. Very few people are taking Dan Hardy as a serious challenger heading into the fight. Try this on for a headline: Elegance important to St. Pierre in his fights.” I have found the coverage of the Mir/Carwin fight to be shocking low in the national media, which surprises me given that Frank Mir is normally such a strong draw. Plus, I expected the media to focus on him given what he said on Mark Madden’s radio show. Instead, he’s been relatively quiet. There are a few Shane Carwin profile articles here and there, but I notice a lot of the broadsheet writers are treating him as if his appeal is bland or vanilla-ish. Mir vs. Carwin is a really important fight on a lot of levels. Local Jersey boy Jim Miller has been getting some good press coverage about his upcoming fight.

While New York remains an unsettled matter, Vancouver is also unsettled but settled enough to give UFC a temporary event promoting license for their June 12th event in British Columbia. However, the temporary license does not mean that politicians in the province are sold on Mixed Martial Arts. In fact, an MMA trade show promoter got the heave-ho for his non-fighting event in the town of Abbotsford due to “concerns about gang violence.” The town’s mayor is quoted as saying, “We are absolutely focused on making our city as inhospitable as possible to the gang element. We want to make certain that message is delivered consistently and with singular clarity.” The belief by the mayor is that rival local gangs would show up at the event.

The Chicago Tribune reports that amateur MMA has been deregulated in the state. In other words, everything from rules to blood testing is now up to promoters. It’s a reversal in a tidal wave of various states, including next-door neighbor Iowa, passing legislation to regulate MMA.

How about this? Abu Dhabi MMA shows are getting attention now that UFC is coming to town. Interesting.

Media notes

MMA Live will reportedly air on ESPN2 starting on May 6th. It will be the second ‘big’ ESPN Internet show to transition to ESPN2, as Fantasy Football Now made the transition last year on Sunday mornings.

Kyle Noke got a profile article in the Sunshine Coast Daily publication in Australia. He is scheduled for the next season of The Ultimate Fighter.

The Colorado Springs Gazette has a profile article on native son Ben Henderson.

The wife of Big John McCarthy is set to start promoting some MMA events… in Canada?

Some of the better MMA articles in the newspaper circuit deal with profile articles on up-and-comers and the Clifton Journal’s article on Michael Medrano is no different.

The Fresno Bee tells the miraculous story of Lavar Johnson, as it is a profile article that also serves as a hype piece for his upcoming fight tonight in the city for Strikeforce.

Topics: Canada, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 7 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

7 Responses to “The political turmoil for MMA continues in New York, Canada”

  1. jim genia says:

    Zach, according to the Albany Times Union, USA Today has got it wrong – the legalization and taxation of MMA is in the Assembly’s budget proposal. Unfortunately, I can’t confirm that because I can’t get a hold of the Assembly’s entire proposal. Only the summary is available online.

  2. Phil says:

    about NY.

    The last thing I read said that Reilly had a petition of 48 members of the Assembly (out of 150) that he was going to present to the governor asking him to remove it from the budget, but that getting the budget done was important so he wouldn’t hold up the budget to get it taken out, so it’s probably going to get done.

  3. Beau Dure says:

    I spoke with the Times-Union’s reporter — he was given incorrect information. The MMA provision isn’t in the Assembly’s resolution. Reilly and a staff member at the Ways and Means committee’s chairman’s office also confirmed.

  4. jim genia says:

    Damn. But good work, Beau Dure.

  5. Jack says:

    Just a word on the MMA live tip. It’s actually airing on espn here in Australia already. Not sure how long it’s been going for but i noticed it on today.

  6. […] update from our item last Friday about an MMA trade show getting booted out of Abbotsford, British Columbia — the back-up […]

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