Dana White and Zuffa in people's corner for MMA in NY

Jon Kopaloff/Getty ImagesGeorges St. Pierre laid a beating on Dan Hardy in '10 -- just a stone's throw away from Manhattan.

 

NEW YORK -- In some ways, the point of the UFC's news conference at Madison Square Garden was answered by a media member who hit Dana White with this doozy: "If you're adding kicking and punching to mixed martial arts, how can you regulate it so that there isn't serious injuries?"


Say huh? Adding kicking and punching? What?


Just like that, for all the advancements the sport of mixed martial arts has made since the Fertitta brothers purchased the UFC almost 10 years to the day, the eight-sided cage revisited square one.


So it made sense that the buzzwords of the day, as the UFC continues its attempts to sway favor in legalizing MMA in New York, were "education" and "revenue." With economic impact study charts and black-and-white intentions, White and Lorenzo Fertitta, along with lightweight champion Frankie Edgar and the president of Madison Square Garden Sports, Scott O'Neal, took turns prodding New York officials to do what 44 states have already done. That is, get onboard with MMA and pass it through legislation.

Not because it's everybody's "cup of tea," as Dana White said, but because the state would profit by it, just as close-by states like Pennsylvania did with UFC 101 (enough to pay the entire athletic commission's payroll for the year) and New Jersey at UFC 111 (which did a $4 million gate). And also -- more importantly -- to point out that it no longer makes sense to censor something that can be found on television for free, on pay-per-view or at the nearest bar. What is the state protecting its denizens from?

"And what's the difference in them opting to buy a ticket and go watch it live?" asked Lorenzo Fertitta. Nobody yet has the answer to that.


Spelling it out in plain language, White's point was to emphasize a much evolved MMA, a sport that, when sanctioned, concerns itself first and foremost with fighter safety. In over 2,000 individual fights, it was pointed out, there has never been a serious injury or a death with the promotion. The UFC has rules (31 in all), which is a far cry from the anachronistic notion that certain New York officials -- particularly Assembly member Bob Reilly, who has been the most vocal about the sport's violence -- still view as no-holds-barred fighting.


In other words, Dana White and company were doing a house call to say, "alright, let's go over this again."


"We've made it a point to do things the right way," said Lorenzo Fertitta after the news conference. "Meaning that the health and safety of fighters is the first most important thing. We've put provisions in place to make sure that that happens. We're working with athletic commissions, the most prestigious state athletic commissions around the world. And to hear legislators that don't understand it, aren't informed and whose arguments really don't have backing to them, it's frustrating, yes."


Those arguments, Fertitta said, don't add up to logic. Taken piecemeal, all aspects of MMA are legal. Kickboxing is allowed. Boxing is allowed. Olympic Judo is permitted, with submissions. Same with grappling and wrestling. Yet put it all together and suddenly it becomes too much. Rather than taking it as a larger, more-involved art form, many still see it as just more ways to draw blood.


Which is old thinking from a bygone day. Even the former chair of the New York state athletic commission, Randy Gordon -- the one who banned the sport statewide in 1997 before the unified rules were in place and the sport gained mainstream popularity -- has come around to see the legitimacy and safety of MMA. Now he is a fan, and says the MMA of his day and the MMA of now are night and day.


Unfortunately, Reilly of 2011 echoes Gordon of 1997.


"It's a little frustrating to hear people talk who haven't educated themselves on what the sport is really about and what's really going on," said White on how illogical it's gotten. "But the reality is, this isn't 1974. We don't have Channel 3, Channel 4, Channel 8, Channel 13. If you don't like it, change the channel. But as far as not educating yourself and trying to fight against it&it's a very safe sport with incredible athletes. We've had 10 years of safety."


The other thing MMA in New York means is the generation of much-needed revenue, and that was obviously the larger point of the media-only conference. In an economic impact study done by New York firm HR&A Advisors, it was speculated that at least two fights in New York -- which Dana White vowed to put on annually, one at Madison Square Garden and one upstate in Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse or Albany -- would generate $23 million in economic activity, and produce 212 jobs, to match Manhattan's area code.


Showing up to lend support to the UFC's attempt to break into New York was Dean Murray, who represents the 3rd Assembly District in the south-central portion of Suffolk County in Long Island. He showed up on his own accord, without the UFC asking.


"The fact of the matter is, in this economic climate, we don't need more tax increases; we need a chance to raise revenue," said Murray, who spoke as much as any of the scheduled panel. "And this is a wonderful chance. I've actually contacted the Governor's office and asked him to include this in the Governor's budget this year, so we'll wait and see if it is and include it in the budget, and if it's not I'm hoping that we'll bring it to the floor for a vote.


"New York needs to step outside of the box and look for new ways to generate revenue," he told ESPN.com. "This is a fantastic way -- 44 states are saying yes; why are we saying no?"


That remains the million dollar question.


Nobody knows if recently elected Gov. Andrew Cuomo, like his predecessor Gov. David Paterson, is in favor of mixed martial arts or not, but Murray is optimistic that if it's in the budget, that it'll stay in the budget. Staying out of the political mumbo-jumbo, Dana White said the bottom line was that with the UFC's proven track record, the huge MMA fanbase in New York and the state's need of revenue, it's just time.


"There's some hard economic times here and all over the country, and New York is trying to figure out how to impose more taxes," White told ESPN.com after the news conference. "The financial study [that HR&A did] is incredibly conservative. In that study we priced tickets cheaper than New Jersey, and we bring a lot of money into that state. We also conservatively projected only two events -- one big PPV at Madison Square Garden, and one upstate, which would be a fight night or a finale or something like that. But who knows -- maybe we come into New York and we do three events, and you triple whatever that number is. It's absolutely insane and asinine for this not to be sanctioned."


In many ways, after being shot down again in 2010, the news conference was a response to the opposition. It was geared toward answering Reilly's concerns, and the idea was to clear misconceptions up. In other words, to educate. Reilly had stated in 2009 that he was fearful that White and the UFC would run the show rather than the New York athletic commission, comparing him to boxing promoter Don King.


"We want the New York State Athletic Commission to regulate us, and be in control of the fighters, the testing, all the health and safety of the fighters," said Fertitta, purposefully reiterating the UFC's policies. "We have a history of working with state regulatory agencies."


Of course this was a one-sided event -- there weren't a lot of cons around to balance the scales of debate. But the underlying tone of the conference was that it's inevitable that MMA will be sanctioned in New York. However long it takes. Guys like New Jersey-native Edgar, who shared that it was his childhood dream to fight at Madison Square Garden, hopes it's soon. O'Neal, who told a story about him seeing the light at UFC 111 of all the UFC's excitement and possibility, called White & Co. the "best promoters in the world," and promised the first MMA event at Madison Square Garden would be a UFC card.


But for that to happen, the people in Albany need to get on board.


"It's an education process," White said time and again. "I think anybody who would call this brutal or barbaric hasn't done their homework. For the last 10 years it's been an education process."


And if the officials in New York aren't learning at the same rate as the 44 of 48 states with an athletic commission?


"One thing about us, man, if we start a fight, we keep fighting 'til it gets done," White said. "We're here until we're here."


And there we are.

Props to: http://www.espngo.com/