The Ultimate Fighting Championship has tried everything to get Mixed Martial Arts — banned in New York state for nearly 15 years — declared legal again.
It’s tried teaching politicians the basics of the sport. It’s tried suing the state attorney general to have the 1997 law banning MMA overturned on First Amendment grounds.
But last week, the UFC might have stumbled on its best strategy yet — a seven-year deal to show fights on Fox.
A TV deal to show four live fights a year on Fox and another 32 fights on FX, the network’s cable channel, may be able to do what lawyers and fans have not — bring MMA into the sports mainstream.
“People have very fertile imaginations and they often picture a barbaric spectacle, says Jonathan Snowden, author of the “The MMA Encyclopedia.” That is a far cry from what actually happens in the UFC.
“I think it helps anytime people have a chance to actually see the sport,” he says.
MMA’s reputation for brutality stems from the sport’s early days — when there were no unified rules and 250-pound wrestlers pummeled much smaller opponents in fights so violent that they couldn’t even be shown on pay-per-view.
However, with the introduction of boxing-style weight classes, timed rounds and regulation by state-level athletic commissions (in states where MMA is legal) that oversee boxing, MMA claims it is much safer.
Despite the sport’s exploding popularity, the UFC has not been able to shake in Albany the sport’s violent reputation, according to the UFC lawyer, Barry Friedman, who is also a constitutional law professor at NYU.
The sport has gotten a bill to lift the ban through the Senate in Albany, but hasn’t gathered enough support to get the bill through the complicated approval process in the state Assembly.
“I think a lot of the reaction that people have to MMA is cultural,” Friedman says, “You look at these people tackling, grappling and kicking, and someone from the United States would say, ‘That’s weird’ — but for someone from Brazil, it is completely normal.”
The first UFC fight on Fox drew nearly 6 million viewers — not “Monday Night Football” territory, but good enough for second place on TV’s least-watched night of the week.
“Eventually, there will be MMA in New York.” says Friedman, “because it is hard to comprehend how the home of entertainment and sports for the world is just going to keep its doors shut to this comer.”
“I mean, how bizarre and post-modern is this,” he argues.
“People go to Madison Square Garden to watch the UFC on a screen, but you can’t actually do it there,” Friedman said.