In a historic day for mixed martial arts, New York became the final state to legalize mixed martial arts. The 19-year ban was lifted by a vote of 113-25. The UFC held a media conference call earlier today to talk about the good news.
UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta says that the UFC is still waiting for the governor to sign the legislation into law and for the New York State Athletic Commission to start adopting the unified rules. Once that is done, the UFC can hold events and have stated that they would like to not only go to New York City, but cities like Syracuse, Buffalo, and Rochester too.
However, this has not stopped Fertitta from talking with venues already and have a set goal on the number of events they want in New York by the end of the year.
“The governor still has to sign the bill, the athletic commission needs to adopt the rules, promulgate regulations, 120 days from when the governor signs the bill before we could hold an event,” Fertitta said in a media conference call. “So we’re hopeful that we’ll be able to get at least two in by the end of the year.”
Some of the UFC’s top fighters come from the state of New York. These fighters include Jon Jones, Chris Weidman, Uriah Hall, and Aljamain Sterling.
