From The Political Ringside
by Jim Genia
The Democratic Conference of the New York State Assembly met Monday night to discuss the legalization of pro mixed martial arts (MMA) and after 90 minutes of closed-door talks, no decision was made on whether or not the MMA bill should be allowed to go to the floor for a vote.
As per State of Politics, no one has said anything about what the hold up might be.
Speaker Carl Heastie declined to say what concerns were raised by rank-and-file lawmakers in the closed-door meeting.
“I would say I don’t like speaking about what was spoken on in conference,” Heastie said. “We’ll come out with a final decision on where the conference is.”
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It is unclear whether or when the Assembly will make a determination on holding a vote for the bill.
“This might be round one, this might be round two. But there’s no final decision,” Heastie said.
On the downside, the fate of the sport in the state won’t be decided today, as was expected. On the upside, the battle isn’t over yet.
June 17 is the last day of the legislative session.
Jim Genia, The MMA Journalist and author of RAW COMBAT, is a New York-based journalist who has covered professional and underground MMA shows since 2001. Follow him on Twitter: @jim_genia.
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