Sunday, December 27, 2015

The Top Five of 2015 Countdown - #4: The USMTA

NEW YORK


We're counting down the top five most notable aspects of New York MMA from 2015, and we're up to...

#4: The USMTA - By now the story is so old it's growing grey hairs: The UFC filed a lawsuit against the State of New York in late 2011, claiming the law banning MMA was Unconstitutional, and in early 2012, in a legal brief that was responding to those claims, the State Attorney General offhandedly admitted that amateur MMA wasn't banned at all. Thus the modern amateur MMA scene in New York was born, and with that birth came the inclination for some promoters to "do things by the book" and be sanctioned.

The Top Five of 2015 Countdown - #5: The Revised MMA Bill

NEW YORK


The timekeeper has given us the ten-second warning, and the clock is running out on 2015. That means it's time to count down the top five most notable things pertaining to New York MMA from the last 12 months. Because although we can't have a UFC here - yet - we sure as hell have a ton of mixed martial arts.

#5: The Revised MMA Bill - This year was not politics as usual when it came to the seemingly never-ending slog to get the law banning pro MMA changed. First, longtime hater Sheldon Silver fell prey to corruption charges, which prompted him to step down as Assembly Speaker. He was replaced by Assemblyman Carl Heastie, a supporter of the sport, and while the sudden shift in power may not have forced a recalculating of the legislative math, it did create an opening.