UFC boosting NY Gov candidate Andrew Cuomo

speeds · Oct 5, 2010

The guy he is running against is nuts but it sounds like it will be a tight contest. Hopefully dumping dollars into Cuomo's war chest will help the UFC get sanctioned in NY down the road.

http://espn.go.com/extra/mma/blog/_/name/mma/id/5651105/ufc-cashes-new-york

According to Monday's edition of The New York Post -- picked up by FightOpinion's Zach Arnold -- the UFC's parent company, Zuffa, has dumped nearly $75,000 into the campaign of governor's office candidate Andrew Cuomo. You do not need a flow chart to understand that Zuffa would like Cuomo to be its muscle in the state when legislation for legalizing MMA comes up again. (It was shot down earlier this year by the state assembly; New York remains one of only two states with specific laws prohibiting MMA.)

Cuomo, the state's current attorney general, is the Democratic nominee. His rival, Republican Carl Paladino, has been under media scrutiny for making unfounded accusations about Cuomo's fidelity during a prior marriage. As usual, politics make MMA seem tame by comparison.

Is this the final furlough in what's amounted to a 13-year struggle to get the sport recognized in one of the most economically viable states in the nation? Cuomo hasn't issued a statement revealing his views on the subject one way or the other, and Paladino is said to have "reservations" about MMA. Funding politicians is no guarantee they'll be sympathetic to your cause. Polls show Cuomo may have as much as a double-digit lead over Paladino.

Either man would have to navigate around the efforts of Bob Reilly, a state assemblyman who holds some influence over the assembly and who has a draconian view of combat sports fed by a child's understanding of the activity. Reilly's "Chicken Little" act will eventually be tossed, though the state's MMA fans might have to wait until he retires or moves to a new career. Someone has to keep that Elvis off TV.
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UFC boosting NY Gov candidate Andrew Cuomo

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UFC boosting NY Gov candidate Andrew Cuomo

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