MMA pinned by legislature

Via Bob Conner comes word that during the flurry of state budget activity this week, the legislature put a headlock on the legalization of mixed-martial arts fighting -- in large part due to the efforts of local assemblyman Bob Reilly. (A writer in the UK last year ventured that Reilly might be "the most hated man in MMA.")

Comments

Nice. Chalk one up for the little guy!

"Nice. Chalk one up for the little guy!" - Wha?

I don't know what the status of it is, but I was told some weeks ago that the bill to legalize MMA that was passed by the Senate and sitting in the Ways & Means Committee was separate from the provision that was in the state budget. So really, it was just defeated from one route, but could still alive in another.

Reilly's not the most hated man in MMA (I'd say Jerry Millen takes that one), but he's up there. And for good reason: he doesn't take umbrage with boxing being legalized and never took steps to express his opinion on it, even though the physical consequences (especially in the long term) are far more damning. Same with football, which has produced its fair share of deaths and paralyzations.

It's frustrating because Reilly is basing his view on the early days of the UFC, which could barely be considered MMA and bears little resemblance to the sport today. Watching footage of one and then the other would demonstrate that. It's also meticulously regulated, as any state (especially New Jersey) could testify to. And the men in the sport are, by and large, sportsmen and not bloodthirsty fiendish thugs.

What's more frustrating, though, is that Bob actually knows all these things and as been told them repeatedly. It's just that he doesn't care.

The inconsistencies and lies are indicative that this isn't about a moral high-ground. There's something else behind this.

Time to go do some digging.

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