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Where things stand right now for MMA legislation in New York and how to advance the cause
By Zach Arnold | July 18, 2010
Josh Gross had an excellent interview with Eddie Goldman this week on his SI radio show. Unfortunately for those using iTunes, the tech side on their web site for the last month has been screwing around and not posting links to Josh’s new radio shows. They are at least a week behind now (for the last month) in creating a link to a new show. Josh is getting the same treatment that Ariel Helwani has been getting from AOL for The MMA Hour in how the iTunes feed isn’t getting updated or isn’t being updated correctly.
Nevertheless, I provided an audio link here to go get the show. Great show by Josh this week, including discussion about why Fedor doesn’t belong in a pound-for-pound best fighter list any more.
As for his interview with Eddie, I thought it was really interesting. (Lasts about 20 minutes.) I’ve included a transcription of a 7-minute passage from the interview about what’s going on in New York state and what it will take to get MMA regulation passed by both the state Senate and Assembly. The larger question raised during the interview is how will proponents of MMA regulation be able to made the argument to critics who are changing the goalposts in their arguments as to what the standards and conditions should be before any regulation is considered.
EDDIE GOLDMAN: “You know, some New Yorkers are very narrow-minded, including some of these politicians we’ve got here in New York that still are just talking about this… A friend of mine that, there are, what’s the number now, 44 states now, have regulated MMA in the United States and there are only one or two states that actually have that athletic commissions that have not regulated Mixed Martial Arts. New York is one of them and there’s a very backwards bureaucratic stupid culture that exists particularly in places like New York City that just does not get MMA. Not only just doesn’t get it, but has a very authoritarian view that if they don’t like it, we ought to outlaw it and it’s reflected in a certain type of parasitic individual that’s often against sports in general and really hates the combat sports. I think a lot of the people that, the politicians that are against Mixed Martial Arts would get rid of boxing if they could because all the usual arguments, it’s safer than boxing, you know which has become a little more debatable today, but even if you say it’s safer than boxing, that doesn’t fly well with these kind of people because they would, boxing is too entrenched to get rid of in New York but they would just assume get rid of all that stuff and it’s largely a cultural battle at this point. So to say the arguments that have been raised are very weak arguments in defense of the sport. Well it’ll bring in so many millions of dollars and their response is, well, so will if you had beheadings in Times Square it might bring in some money and the defense of the image of the sport culturally is something that has not been successfully done because there’s still, I’ll tell you, a lot of people in New York City that think it is a barbaric sport.”
JOSH GROSS: “So, Eddie, let me ask you, how would you frame it? If you were trying to sell Mixed Martial Arts to a politician in Albany and saying, this is why you need to regulate it, how would you frame the issue?”
EDDIE GOLDMAN: “I think it’s very difficult when it’s UFC framing the issue because UFC hired a very powerful lobbying firm that did next to nothing to educate the legislators. The legislators are asking questions like, well are there referees in this sport? When the bill that was put forward and passed the NY Senate and never really made it again to the Assembly and is supported by the current Governor (David) Paterson clearly says that it would follow the Unified Rules with the commission allowed to make some modifications in those rules, so obviously the sport in New York state would look virtually the same as it does just about everywhere else in the United States. But you’d have to present the sport as martial arts, as something that promotes respect, as something that’s honorable, and I think all the people that are against it and that don’t understand it and are ignorant about it have to just look at any episode of The Ultimate Fighter and see whether it presents itself that way and I think that type of thing, the opponents of it like this Assemblyman Reilly from upstate have started talking about a lot of the statements and behavior and activities of (Dana) White, the President of the UFC, and people like that and using that against the sport. They’re talking about the death that recently took place of Michael “Tree” Kirkham in a show in South Carolina in his pro-debut. They’re talking about a lot of the mistakes in the sport to condemn the whole sport and it’s going to require more of a sophisticated defense of this sport and people, a lot of the people involved in the sport haven’t really stepped up to do that, so I don’t… it’s very possible that next year it could get in because we’re going to have a new Governor, Paterson is not running for re-election and perhaps a new Governor and a new legislature will finally get this thing through but there’s still a lot of opposition to it. Again, as I said, mostly based on ignorance and prejudice but also taking advantage of a lot of mistakes that a lot of the promoters have done.”
JOSH GROSS: “Well, that doesn’t sound so different, even though we’re in a totally different time period and so much has changed, that doesn’t sound much difference from what your experience may have been in ’93, ’94, ’95, and ’96 where you had these politicians, you had regulatory bodies, you had police, maybe there was a huge perception, a misperception issue. I mean, why do you think this continues to follow MMA despite it’s growth, despite it’s coverage in places like Sports Illustrated, on ESPN, on all the mainstream outlets. Why do you think this continues to exist?”
EDDIE GOLDMAN: “I think it’s different in New York than it was, I’m not sure [about] the situation in Ontario, but it’s different because in the mid-90s when this was going on, I remember covering the sport and going to a lot of the UFC live events and I did an interview with Bob Meyrowitz, the head of SEG which is the parent company in those days of the UFC, and he said he had been interviewed by numerous mainstream news outlets and I was the first person who interviewed him who had actually seen the event. The people didn’t even watch it in those days, they said oh we know what it is, we’re against it without even doing it. Now you can’t say that with these opponents. I’m not saying that they’ve all seen it, but a number of them have seen these events. Maybe not live but they’ve seen it on television and video and I think that certain problems in this sport have caught up with it. I don’t think it’s just simply ignorance any more because it’s a more supplicated argument that’s being used by these politicians against it and it’s up against an ingrained culture that has no respect for the combat sports and the martial arts anyway. They don’t like it. They don’t want to train people to defend themselves. They don’t want the youth to learn these things. They’re not going to like wrestling, either, if you say well [MMA] uses Olympic wrestling and judo and taekwondo and all that, they don’t like those things either. So, you’re going up against a very entrenched parasitic culture by a certain section of the pseudo-intellectual and educational and Governmental elite and that’s existed for a quite a long period of time. It’s very detrimental to the overall culture of the city in New York and the state of New York, so if you’re going to convince people you’re going to have to present something much more honorable and compelling than they’re doing and it’s sort of, you know, half-assed attempt of hiring some fancy lobbying outfit to do it is not going to work.”
Topics: Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 8 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
[…] The recent blind side from politicians in the state of NY, who recently pulled the plug on MMA legalization, caught UFC President Dana White by surprise. When I spoke to Marc Ratner, VP of Regulatory Affairs for the UFC, he said he had a sense it was coming all along. For a different perspective of what also may need to get done in The Empire State, check out this transcript and radio interview. […]
Is this the same guy who was whining the other day about Too Cold Scorpio not being allowed to “fly”?
Yes, it’s the same guy.
What example of New York senators complaining about Dana is he talking about? The only UFC executive behavior that has remotely hampered regulation is the Casino Union lobby railing against Station Casinos. Geez, now he’s complaining about imaginary Dana issues.
F#ck New York. F#ck ’em.
MMA is on multiple channels. There is a solid track record in place right now. New York is a$$ backwards far too often.
People in the northeast at least aren’t deprived due to NY. Fans in the southern part of the North East will have MMA in Philly. Fans in the northern part of the North East will have MMA in Boston.
I’m sure the UFC will continue to throw money at lobbyists and lawyers to get this going…. but as a fan, I’m at the Manny/Floyd level of interest right now…. Which is that the drama makes me not care anymore.
There are still fights in New York state, just on the Indian lands?
How is this different than MMA in the regular besides the fact that it cannot be in MSG?
The Reservations are all Upstate. Way away from NYC. And that also means no fight cards in Buffalo, Albany, Schenectady, Syracuse, etc.
MSG is where the big money attendance gate is at in NY state, and running MSG is a symbol of cultural acceptance into domestic sports mainstream America.
“…running MSG is a symbol of cultural acceptance into domestic sports mainstream America.”
That sound venal.
But the future is here when they’re ready.