Post by Logan on Feb 1, 2016 17:55:13 GMT -6
A week after top Ultimate Fighting Championship officials and a former middleweight champion came through the Capitol, the state Senate passed for a seventh consecutive year on Monday legislation that would legalize and regulate professional mixed martial arts fights.
Given that the Senate has passed the legislation again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again (for the record, it passed legislation twice last year for a total of eight times in seven years), the action was not a shock. The final vote was 48-14.
“Hopefully this fall … in New York City at Madison Square Garden you may get that premier match (at) the Mecca of all sports,” state Sen. Joe Griffo, R-Rome, the bill’s sponsor, said on the floor.
Former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman visited the Capitol last Tuesday for his second and what he said was his final lobbying mission. Such confidence isn’t unwarranted given that the 76 Democratic votes needed to bring the legislation to the floor appeared to be in line last year. But, of course, the legislation still didn’t pass and it’s not as if the Assembly is ready to go today on that bill.
Read more: blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/245778/in-familiar-vote-state-senate-passes-mma-bill-for-a-seventh-year/
Given that the Senate has passed the legislation again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again (for the record, it passed legislation twice last year for a total of eight times in seven years), the action was not a shock. The final vote was 48-14.
“Hopefully this fall … in New York City at Madison Square Garden you may get that premier match (at) the Mecca of all sports,” state Sen. Joe Griffo, R-Rome, the bill’s sponsor, said on the floor.
Former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman visited the Capitol last Tuesday for his second and what he said was his final lobbying mission. Such confidence isn’t unwarranted given that the 76 Democratic votes needed to bring the legislation to the floor appeared to be in line last year. But, of course, the legislation still didn’t pass and it’s not as if the Assembly is ready to go today on that bill.
Read more: blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/245778/in-familiar-vote-state-senate-passes-mma-bill-for-a-seventh-year/