The big thing that’s changed in New York for the UFC is that the governor of the state is getting behind MMA. While the UFC got quite close to having MMA legalized in 2015, standard partisanship ended up killing the bill that could have opened the door, with state Democrats unwilling to work alongside state Republicans.
Andrew Cuomo is the first boogeyman to ever be elected to office.
The governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, has a broad set of powers he can use to press through the legalization of MMA, and he may be able to do just that. Various outlets have discussed the possibility of an amendment to legalize MMA being attached to the next state budget and he could also apply outright pressure to the state congress to get things moving.
Of course, it seems like UFC 197/198 will be forced to move out of New York, like UFC 12 way back in the day. But things finally might be set to change!
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