New York State Assemblyman Bob Reilly has drafted a document outlining his arguments against the legalization of MMA in New York state.
This week, the paper was distributed to members of the Tourism, Arts, and Sports Development Committee, according to a source in Reilly's Albany office. The committee, chaired by Assemblyman Steve Englebright, is expected to vote on bill that could regulate the sport by the year's end.
A vote on the bill, titled A.2009-A, has been delayed due to legislature addressing the state's budget shortfall.
The budget was passed last week, but the bill has yet to be put on the committee's agenda, according to sources MMAInsider spoke to.
Last June, a similar bill titled A.11458-A did not pass the committee after it was unable to come to a formal vote.
Subsequently, Mr. Reilly emerged as a self-proclaimed "accidental opposition" to the legalization of the sport. In January, Mr. Reilly gave an interview to MMAWeekly.com where he outlined many of the arguments now formalized in the document.
In addition to the arguments outlined in the paper, Mr. Reilly claims he was verbally threatened by mixed martial arts proponents and reported the threats to New York State Police.
MMAInsider has posted a copy of the paper here, just click on the link to download it in PDF format.
ReillyMMA.pdf
8 comments:
Haha, those "threats" were probably forum postings by the trolls over at sherdog.net. Sissy.
this guys is clown and has no clue what he is saying. When did he go out and survey New Yorkers asking if they liked MMA or not?
How would UFC hurt the economy of NY and localities?
I love how he picks and chooses his quotes.
He is a typical NY tax and spend politician.
Threats were issued? and the reason we have not heard of arrests related to such threats? oh yeah, because they're made up! Mr Reilly can hold comfort that if New York doesn't allow MMA, they might be able to sneak in that bill removing free choice and voting for women, minorities and senior citizens. Keep it going Nazi York.
Now to be Fair Mr Reilly...I think Matt Serra should now be able to goto his Gym and have a Survey and show the statistics.
As I am sure you directed your survey to the crowd of your choosing.
I could spend all day tearing apart your statement...But I got an MMA Match to watch.
Well this guy is a big bag of stupid. If he is so concerned with the well being of new york he should look at the profits that an mma event brings to each state that holds events.
And these threats are not serious at all. This guy most likely goes to the police for every little thing. Douche.
you should all google and read the study (Incidence of Injury in Pro MMA Competition by Bledsoe)that senator reilly selectively quoted. Here are the quotes he left out.
from the ABSTRACT section:
"The injury rate in MMA competitions is compatible with other combat sports involving striking. The lower KO rates in MMA compared to boxing may help prevent brain injury in MMA events."
from the DISCUSSION section:
"Though initially promoted as brutal, no-holds-barred contests, MMA compettions in the US have changed dramatically and now have improved regulations to minimize injury. ...Fighters... must fight within a predetermined weight class, and are allowed only one fight per night -- all important changes that were implemented with sanctioning."
later...
MMA events should be differentiated from infamous 'Toughman' competitions... (that) feature amateur fighters who often have little or no training."
later...
"As opposed to professional boxing, MMA competitions... enables the participant... to 'tap out'. This unique characteristic... is thought to explain a KO proportion in MMA competitions that is almost half of the reported 11.3% of pro boxing matches."
later...
"With MMA competitions, the opportunity to attack the extremities with arm bars and leg locks... could serve to lessen the risk of Traumatic Brain Injury."
the best thing to do is check who reilly's political contributors are. maybe don king?
--THE BRO
This guy is a real piece of garbage. That is the most poorly written statement I think I've ever seen. A sixth grader could do a better, more accurate job. He talks about Pride - which oh, by the way, is no longer in existence. He talks about injuries that occurred before the unified rules. Who is Ian Severn? I'm pretty sure Dan is spelled with a "D". He uses quotes from people on MMA who are not experts in the sport. He prefers to use the term Ultimate Fighting over Mixed Martial Arts. There are no unified rules of Ultimate Fighting, only Mixed Martial Arts. His poll question was worded in such a way to get his desired result - which completely invalidates the poll.
Oh, and I forgot his whole economics argument - again totally bogus. It's up to the legislators to decide how a sport or event should be taxed. If he wasn't happy with the way the wording was put into the measure, that's on the politicians not the sport of MMA. How they structure the economics of the legislation has nothing to do with Dana White, the Fertitta brothers, or the great sport of MMA. That complaint falls straight on his own shoulders.
He says in one part that the overall harm to an MMA fighter could be greater than the study that he quoted suggests because they are not measuring the effects of a knock out - which oh, by the way, helps to differentiate MMA from Boxing. Had those numbers been included in the study, you'd see that Boxing is much more dangerous than MMA.
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