Updated 11:03, August the 14th, 2009
Choke hold
MMA still tangled in N.Y. legalization battle
$11.3M
Total local economic activity generated by an event in NYC, according to a UFC study.
The Ultimate Fighting Championship is still pinned down in New York.
The UFC, one of the fastest growing sports organizations in the world and the biggest name in mixed martial arts, won’t be hosting events at Madison Square Garden anytime soon. New York is among a handful states that has not legalized the sport. It is one of eight states that does not recognize the UFC.
“I can’t understand the rationalization for it not being allowed in New York at this point. What exactly would be the rationalization?” asked Dave Meltzer, who covers MMA for Yahoo! Sports. “If you use the argument tha it’s not good for kids to see, kids can watch Spike any night of the week in prime time and see this, so you’re not protecting them from anything.”
There is currently a bill in Albany to legalize the sport, but it’s on the back burner while the Legislature deals with more pressing issues. Julie Wood, a New York City based UFC spokeswoman, said the bill might not be voted on until next year.
One of the primary sticking points of the bill will be how much to tax MMA. Boxing and professional wrestling are taxed 3 percent on their gates. The Legislature, though, could charge an 8 percent tax on regulated MMA gates in the state.
“The original number they talked about was 10, and UFC would not come in at 10,” Meltzer said.
“So now the number is eight, which I think is completely unfair because they only tax boxing three and have a $50,000 ceiling. It’s really ridiculous.”
In addition to lobbyists and MMA executives, New York state Athletic Commissioner Melvina Lathan is among the driving forces behind the battle to legalize MMA. Lathan’s bottom line: It’s good for the economy.
The UFC has done great business at the box office and a major show in New York could boost the sagging economies of the city and state. An estimate by Nick Lembo, Counsel to the New Jersey state Athletic Control Board, showed that a UFC show could generate $25 million to $50 million into a local economy, pointing at dining, retail and hotels as among the major beneficiaries.
“The first Garden show would sell out or come close to selling out,” Meltzer said. “It would probably do $4 million to $5 million, live gate.”
With its inherent violence, is MMA too dangerous?
MMA, and by proxy, the UFC, has an uneasy peace with boxing. The relationship between the communities can best be described as tenuous at best and contentious at worst. The MMA community views boxing as out-of-touch with the current societal mores, while boxing community has often charged MMA as a savagery disguised as sport.
Two years ago, a study reported that there were 116 boxing-related deaths in the United States
between 1993 and 2007. The study did not differentiate between professional, amateur, underground and bare-knuckle boxing. There have been three confirmed MMA deaths since 1998, only one in America, which took place on November 30, 2007, when Sam Vasquez suffered a stroke during surgery, following a non-UFC fight with Vince Libardi. There have not been any deaths in the UFC.
Iif MMA us to be delineated as dangerous, there are other so-called mainstream sports that should be categorized as such.
"Since 2000, we oversee 25 professional shows a year and 50 amateur shows a year. It's a combative sport. Any combative sport is dangerous. Boxing is dangerous. Football is dangerous. Car racing is dangerous. Hockey is dangerous," Lembo said. You're going to have injuries in combat sports. It's not fair to single out mixed martial arts. People get hurt in all kinds of sports.
"In boxing, you have two targets: the body and the head. Mostly the strikes are to the head. The fights are longer, they're up to 12 rounds. Mixed martial arts competitors take many less punches to the head. There's no standing eight count in mixed martial outs. In boxing, you see a fighter get knocked down two or three times in a round, knocked down five times in a fight. That doesn't happen in mixed martial arts."
However, there have been recent instances where fighters have taken advantage of a prone, defenseless opponent. Meltzer brought up Gilbert Yvel's brutal first round knockout of Pedro Rizzo on June 27. Rizzo was unconscious for an indeterminate period of time following repeated shots from Yvel during the fight.
An even more egregious example occurred during the Dan Henderson-Michael Bisping match at UFC 100. In the second round of their fight, spawned following a rivalry born during the UFC's Ultimate Fighter 9 reality program, which aired earlier in the year, Henderson connected with a right hook to Bisping's jaw, almost instantly knocking out the British fighter. With his opponent laid out on the mat, Henderson threw a forearm to Bisping's unprotected face. Afterward, Henderson admitted to reporters that the additional shot "was just to shut him up a bit."
While not condoning Henderson's secondary shot, Lembo said there will not be an increase in fighters taking liberties with a defenseless opponent.
"That's the referee's job to stop the fight when it's prudent, irregardless if the combatants have ill will towards each other or not," Lembo said.
Added Meltzer: "I hated seeing it. I wish Henderson hadn't thrown that forearm when he had the guy knocked out. I wish he hadn't said what he said."
UFC 100: Success? Controversial? Both?
The 100th pay per view in the UFC history was broadcast from the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas last month. The biggest show in UFC history was marked by one of the most star-studded cards in the organization's 15 year history, including Henderson-Bisping and Lesnar-Frank Mir.
The result juxtaposed financial success with public disparagement.
While final numbers have not been released, it is widely believed that the show did 1.72 million PPV buys in the United States bought the event. When the final numbers are officially released, it is expected that the event will be among the highest grossing PPV rates in history. Meltzer thinks that only a handful of boxing cards outdrew UFC 100.
"The impression I have is that it did tremendous, much bigger than anything they've ever done before. I don't know if that means 1.3 million or 1.6 million buys, but it was a tremendous amount of buys," Meltzer said. "The biggest boxing show was 2.4, which was De La Hoya-Mayweather.
"Several fights beat 1.5. I think De La Hoya-Trinidad was right around that number. If you take out Tyson, Holyfield and De La Hoya-and it would be one De La Hoya, actually-realistically, except for Tyson fights and there may have been Lewis-Holyfield, it may have been the biggest in history. They beat all the non-Tyson fights except for Lewis-Holyfield and De La Hoya-Trinidad. Those would be the only ones."
Undoubtedly, UFC 100 proved to be a commercial hit. Yet, there had been pointed media criticism toward the sport and the organization in the event's aftermath of UFC 100. Most of those were directed at heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar. A NCAA Wrestling champion at the University of Minnesota and a former professional wrestler, Lesnar became the undisputed UFC heavyweight champion following a second round stoppage in his fight against Frank Mir.
Lesnar taunted Mir after the fight and then proceeded to unleash a vitriolic post-match interview in which he flipped off the fans, criticized a major sponsor and implied that he was going to have sex with his wife. Lesnar's pro wrestling-esque antics drew the ire of the assembled media away from Henderson's potentially dangerous forearm to an unconscious Bisping.
"Personally, I think (Henderson) should be getting criticized a lot more than Brock Lesnar,” said Meltzer, who noted that Lesnar is "a lightning rod" for controversy due to his background. "If the roles had been reversed, and it had been Lesnar who threw the punch after the guy had been knocked out, Lesnar would be lynched. Henderson is getting a pass because Lesnar is a pro wrestler."
Rising from the ashes
Founded by Rorion Gracie in 1993 in an attempt to determine which combat discipline would be the most effective, which included, but were not limited to, boxing, kick boxing, wrestling, karate and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, the Ultimate Fighting Championship is worth an estimated $1 billion
today.
The UFC runs some of the biggest event centers in the world. UFC events are broadcast nationally on cable television and on pay per view worldwide. Its athletes grace the covers of magazines and video games. Action figures will soon be on the shelves. Major celebrities count themselves as fans.
By any stretch, the UFC and the sport of Mixed Martial Arts are hugely popular. However, that wasn't always the case. In its infancy, UFC was banned on pay per view, in part due to being thought of in the same realm as Toughman fights and the organization's then-limited rules.
Sen. John McCain famously charged the UFC as "barbaric" and "human cockfighting" in 1996. In an email to METRO, McCain spokeswoman Brooke Buchanan wrote "Senator McCain has the same stance on UFC fighting." Lembo told METRO that McCain's statement hurt UFC in the short term, but may have forced MMA to changes its rules, and in doing so, saved MMA.
"In the short term, it did amazing damage. In the long term, it helped the sport to regulation, acceptance and growth. What I mean by that is that it wasn't able to survive as it was. No one would have accepted it, in terms of letting it occur in their state," Lembo said.
In 2000, New Jersey became the first state to legalize MMA under the unified rules, a list of 31 regulations that are followed to this day. Lembo helped in the drafting of the rules.
"The criticism led to changes in the sport; accepted regulation and led to it growth."
Meltzer disagrees with Lembo’s stance.
"You can make that argument. I don't buy it. Short term, it almost killed the sport. I think these rules would have naturally come into effect. The sport was eventually, if it was going to make it, have to be sanctioned," said Meltzer. "To be sanctioned, they were going to have to go to the (state athletic) commissions, and have to have rules that the commissions would allow.
"That was not because of John McCain. That was the natural evolution of the sport. I do not think what John McCain did saved the sport. As far as being a big time pay per view thing, if it was not for (UFC President) Dana (White) and (Chairman and CEO) Lorenzo (Fertitta) buying it and sticking with it, it would be a very tiny, niche, underground sport. It would not be anything like it is now. They were the ones who saved the sport."
What does the future hold for the UFC?
The organization has major events scheduled through January 2010, including UFC 101 which took place last weekend at Philadelphia's Wachovia Center. For a company that seemed to be on the brink of collapse in the 1990s, the UFC may have reached its amount of mainstream acceptance. UFC shows events are covered by newspapers, magazines and ESPN, while its athletes have made guest appearances on primetime episodic television programs including HBO’s "Entourage."
"I think it's going to be at the level it's at right now, honestly. I said that last year and it got more popular. In 2006, I didn't know what level it would reach, pique at (and) level off at. I think we're at that level now. When there's a really big fight, it's going to be a real big deal. When there isn't, I think it's going to be something where people are interested in the shows," said Meltzer. "The (increased) coverage is why business is up a little bit. As there is more coverage, business kind of (increases). If there was no coverage, I think it would have stayed at the level it was a couple years ago. I think all of that helps, absolutely."
Those factors along with arena and event center management openly praising the UFC's business personnel and showing no hesitation towards the UFC running shows in their buildings, indicates that the organization's future should be a financial success.
Bob Yalen, the director of sports and entertainment for Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Conn., noted the casino has a positive affiliation with the UFC. The UFC has run four events at the Sun, the last taking place in 2005.
"We've always had a good working relationship with the UFC. The guys are pleasant to deal with," Yalen said. "With any negotiations, there are always sticking points, but they were always willing to work to get the points taken care of."
When asked would the casino would allow the UFC to run an event there in the future, Yalen responded, "Absolutely. No reason not to have them back." When a similar question was posed to a spokeswoman for Atlantic City, her response mirrored Yalen's: "Why wouldn't the UFC be welcome?"
It is a question that is soon to be pondered in Albany.
DENIS GORMAN
