By David Pitt
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — The State Senate took a giant step Wednesday toward legalizing “ultimate fighting,” with proponents, including Gov. David Paterson, arguing that it would bring in millions in sorely needed revenue, but which critics say amounts to little more than “human dog fighting.”
The legislation, approved in a narrow 32-to-26 floor vote, would lift a long-standing state ban on the controversial sport and empower New York to regulate it along with wrestling and boxing.
But unlike those forms of combat, ultimate fighting permits all manner of below-the-belt actions, ranging from low kicks to punches, choke holds and body slams. And while combatants are required to wear gloves, they resemble baseball batting gloves more than the heavily padded gloves worn by boxers. Proponents say the light gloves are designed to limit the number of punches fighters throw.
The bill now goes back to the Assembly’s Ways and Means Committee, which gave a preliminary nod to the legislation earlier this month.
Paterson has argued that sanctioning the sport — described by serious aficionados as a Mixed Martial Art (MMA)— would generate some $2 million in tax revenues, not to mention millions more in income for hotels, restaurants and sport centers.
“It’s a revenue generator that would boost economic development,” said Austin Shafran, a spokesman for the Senate Conference leader, Brooklyn Democrat John Sampson.
At the same time, Madison Square Garden and the New York City Hotel Association have been outspoken supporters, the New York Post reported.
“We anxiously await the sanctioning of MMA in New York and feel it will be an outstanding addition to our calendar of events,” the Post quoted the president of MSG Sports, Scott O’Neil, as saying.
For its part, the New York State Catholic Conference called ultimate fighting the equivalent of humans fighting each other like murderous dogs.
“We should be ashamed of ourselves as a legislative body,” fumed Republican State Sen. Bill Larson, who dismissed ultimate fighting as little more than a form of training for hoodlums.
After the vote, Larkin declared that “I’ll be able to look at my grandchildren and say, ‘I won’t let you watch it on TV and I didn’t vote for it in Albany.’”
According to the Global Strategy Group, which sponsors the Ultimate Fighting Championship, New York would be the 45th state to license MMA, a group that includes New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
