New York MMA: Revisited

*originally published in the Dec ’04 issue of Full Contact Fighter*

Part III

“We have no jurisdiction over amateur events,” says Jerome Becker, who is one of the three commissioners on the New York State Athletic Commission. “We only have jurisdiction over events where the competitors are paid.”

When Becker speaks, he speaks sympathically on the plight of kickboxing and MMA in his state. But the law is the law, as the saying goes, and in New York the law prohibits professional “combat sport” events. In shutting down the shows, the NYSAC is just doing its job (a job mandated by the Legislature – who drafted are responsible for drafting the law). “I can’t tell you how many calls we got,” says Becker on the fallout his office had to deal with. “The sport was sort of hamstrung by the legislation, and we were limited by the statute.”

All is not doom and gloom for promoters, fighters, and fans, however, for Becker claims more favorable legislation looms on the horizon. “We’ll basically be deregulating it,” he says, “making it easier for people to do it.” He adds: “We’ll deregulate it like we did with wrestling. You know, the whole ‘free market’ concept.” And when can we expect this deregulation of professional combat sports to happen? “I hope some time after the summer. But,” he cautions, “in terms of the State’s budget, kickboxing is not at the top of the list.”

* * *

Ellington had agreed to fight without any concern for money, and even after the show was over had still not spoken to the promoter about it. “If I did make any money,” he says, “it would go towards books anyway.” Besides fighting, he’s also an undergraduate student at New York City Technical College. Ellington has designs on competing for the bigger shows someday – particularly the UFC, which pays its athletes in the thousands for each fight – but he got in the ring in that boxing gym in the South Bronx to help bring locals a taste of his sport. He got in there to show them what a real MMA fighter could do.

“I was happy,” Storm says over the phone a few days later. “Kaream Ellington saved my show.” As it turns out, Storm’s arm wasn’t broken, but he does have to keep it in a sling for a while.

Promising another event in June at a different location (“The boxing gym was good – for a bomb shelter.”), the trials Storm went through to get the first Ground Zero going seems to have given him little pause. Hopefully, his next event will go off at least as well as this one – so the seeds of MMA in New York can continue to grow.