{"id":66821,"date":"2016-03-31T18:21:36","date_gmt":"2016-03-31T22:21:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=66821"},"modified":"2016-03-28T23:28:27","modified_gmt":"2016-03-29T03:28:27","slug":"griffo-bill-passes-to-legalize-mma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=66821","title":{"rendered":"Griffo bill passes to legalize MMA"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"Assemblyman<\/a>
Assemblyman Joseph Morelle, Senator Joseph Griffo, former UFC middleweight champ Chris Weidman and UFC Chief Operating Officer Lawrence Epstein during a press conference earlier this year calling for New York State to legalize professional MMA.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a7 <\/span>After Senate approved Sen. Griffo\u2019s legislation 7 years in a row, Assembly finally votes in favor of regulating combative sports in NY<\/span><\/i>
\n\u00a7 <\/span>Now awaits approval by Governor, who has offered support for legalizing MMA<\/span><\/i>
\n\u00a7 <\/span>Would ensure safer competitions, allow athletes to compete in home state and provide economic boost for communities that host events<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Sen. Joseph Griffo announced last week that the state Assembly has finally joined the Senate in voting to legalize mixed martial arts in New York state.<\/span><\/p>\n

For the past seven years, Senator Griffo has continuously sponsored legislation to allow New York MMA fighters the privilege of competing professionally in their own home state, with the same strict safety guidelines that regulate other professional sports.<\/span><\/p>\n

While the State Senate has repeatedly voted each of those years to approve Senator Griffo\u2019s bill (<\/span>S5949A<\/span><\/u><\/a>), the Assembly has never taken up the bill in the past. But with overwhelming support this year, the Assembly finally did the right thing in allowing its members to vote their conscience, Griffo said. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt took us seven years, but now New York State can finally make these competitive fighters proud by showing that we never gave up until they were allowed to compete in their own home state,\u201d said Griffo, R-Rome. \u201cI am proud to have led the charge in the Senate from the start to lift the statewide ban on professional mixed martial arts, and I thank the Assembly for finally joining us in this fight.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

This legislation now must be approved by the Governor, who has already expressed his support for legalizing MMA in his proposed budget earlier this year. By allowing professional MMA competitions in the state, a 2013 economic impact study estimated that these events could provide an economic boost of $135 million each year: \u00a0$68 million annually from these events, including $33 million generated in upstate cities alone, along with MMA training centers that could generate an added $67 million each year from their operations.<\/span><\/p>\n

Most importantly, however, Senator Griffo noted that this legislation would ensure greater safety measures for combative fighters in NY by providing the same oversight as other professional sports through the New York State Athletic Commission.<\/span><\/p>\n

The bill also includes a number of provisions regarding the health, safety and financial welfare of the participants in combative sports, as well as their spectators.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAs this competitive fighting continues to grow in popularity all across North America, it made absolutely no sense to maintain New York\u2019s status as the only state that bans professional MMA,\u201d Griffo added. \u201cFans could watch it anytime on TV or attend the events in other states, and our own up-and-coming fighters would be limited to amateur competitions in New York that did not always guarantee the safest conditions for athletes and spectators. These athletes and their fans deserve better in New York, and I\u2019m glad we can finally give them that opportunity.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0Griffo also thanked Assemblyman Joseph Morelle, D-Irondequoit, for his persistence as companion sponsor in bringing this bill to the Assembly for its long-awaited vote.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis long-standing ban served no purpose but to put New York at a disadvantage on every level in the MMA arena \u2013 athletes were deprived of the honor and safety they deserved, fans were deprived of the enjoyment they demanded and communities were deprived of the economic benefit that would come from hosting these events,\u201d Senator Griffo said. \u201cI commend Assemblyman Morelle for recognizing how important this opportunity is to our state and its dedicated fighters, and I thank him for his support in leading this bill through the legislative process.\u201d
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Tenney: MMA\u00a0legalization overdue<\/strong><\/p>\n

Assemblywoman says MMA should have been passed years ago<\/em><\/p>\n

Assemblywoman Claudia Tenney (R,C-New Hartford) supported today\u2019s vote in the state Assembly to legalize MMA in New York. The vote is a major milestone for the sport, its competitors and supporters following a 19-year ban and seven years of the state Assembly refusing to join the state Senate in voting to legalize it.<\/p>\n

\u201cLegislation that would legalize MMA was repeatedly blocked by former Speaker Sheldon Silver,\u201d said Tenney. \u201cSilver used his centralized power to block this legislation for a vote despite overwhelming support for MMA from both sides of the aisle. This bill has broad, bipartisan support within the Assembly and today\u2019s vote puts New York up to speed with the rest of the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the legalization of mixed-martial arts, the unsafe reputation the sport has acquired will finally be put to rest,\u201d said Tenney. \u201cWe will now be able to regulate this sport so our kids can safely practice it and learn proper technique. Additionally, the economic potential from the legalization would be felt state-wide. The state Senate has passed this legislation multiple times and I am thankful the Assembly has decided to provide the people what they\u2019ve wanted for years.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is estimated that legalization of the sport would have an estimated $135 million impact on the state. The sport would be closely regulated to ensure the safety of athletes. New York is the last state to legalize MMA.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a7 After Senate approved Sen. Griffo\u2019s legislation 7 years in a row, Assembly finally votes in favor of regulating combative sports in NY \u00a7 Now awaits approval by Governor, who has offered support for legalizing MMA \u00a7 Would ensure safer competitions, allow athletes to compete in home state and provide economic boost for communities that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":66822,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[94,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","category-top-story"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/madisoncountycourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Griffo-Morelle-MMA.jpg?fit=4297%2C3100&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p43meu-hnL","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=66821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66821\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/66822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=66821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=66821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=66821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}