ALBANY — Bring it on!
Momentum is growing to legalize professional mixed martial arts in New York.
Nearly half the state Assembly has signed on to a bill that would sanction and regulate the sport.
The growing support comes after red-faced Assembly members learned in The Post that one of their own staffers mixed it up in an amateur MMA bout just blocks from the Capitol.
The bill now has 64 backers, the most it’s ever had, in the 150-member Assembly, proponents noted yesterday.
“It’s a recognition of the fact there are a growing number of members in favor of regulating it and bringing it to New York,” said the bill’s sponsor, Assembly Majority Leader Joseph Morelle (D-Rochester).
He said Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) promised to bring the bill before the 106-member Democratic conference before the end of the legislative session in June to “see if there’s a consensus.”
But with just 49 Democrats backing the bill right now, Morelle cautioned, “We don’t have a majority of members in our conference.”
The Post reported last week that 334-pound Assembly aide Joe Brady got into the cage at Albany’s Washington Avenue armory for a legal amateur MMA match as his bosses hemmed and hawed on the bill
The measure, which would make New York the 49th state to legalize professional MMA, has passed the Senate each of the last four years.
Gov. Cuomo has said he’d be open to legalizing the sport if it could be shown to create economic activity and generate revenue.
“We know that MMA will help bring jobs, revenues and economic development to New York and will allow our fans to see the fastest-growing sport in the nation in arenas close to their homes,” Ultimate Fighting Championship Chairman and CEO Lorenzo Fertitta said yesterday. “More New Yorkers view UFC events on pay-per-view than residents of any other state.”
Silver has said he thinks legalization is inevitable.