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The last vestige of opposition to MMA was New York. Despite the presence that boxing has held in the state, MMA has never received support. However, after some legislation in July, the state finally has decided to allow MMA events in the state. Here are five major reasons why.
1) It’s actually safer than boxing
Seriously, if Dana White says the words, “We’ve never had a death or serious injury in the UFC,” one more time, he should get some free award. He mentions this at every single press conference with members of the non-MMA community.
(We get it Dana. Though we have no idea how that works, it's safer then boxing.)
But he’s got a point. Unlike boxing, MMA contains multiple ways to win, as a person can attempt to get his opponent to submit, have a referee stop the fight, or just have a good, old-fashioned KO.
Most of the headshots are aimed at the jaw, not at the temples. In addition, the referees stop the fight as soon as they determine that a fighter isn’t intelligibly defending himself. In fact, they will cut a fight short based on the fighter’s reactions, regardless of what he can actually do
Isn’t that healthier than two guys bashing each other’s heads in for a half-hour?
2) Everyone else is doing it
Before July, New York and South Carolina were the only major states that wouldn’t allow MMA. By contrast, the UFC has hosted events in California, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida and Nevada.
Oh, and let’s not forget Canada, England, and Dubai.
(This makes the decision to go to Syracuse regrettable)
Yes, MMA is now a global sport. It’s time for New York to get involved.
3) It’s smart economically
Not only does the UFC sell out every event it holds, it’s also become the king of pay-per-view. It’s not unheard of to have over a million buys on pay-per-view, and the amount is usually over five hundred thousand(Note: These figures are rough estimates). Take each of those at the $45 it costs per event, and as every economics major knows, that’s a lot of cash.
If the UFC made a trip to Madison Square Garden, or even the Carrier Dome, it would allow for money to flow into the city through pay-per-view buys and ticket sales to help stimulate an economy that desperately needs it.
4) They are incredible athletes
There’s a video of B.J. Penn jumping out of a pool. Seriously, go ahead and try to do that. It’s nearly impossible.
He’s not the only impressive athlete though. Collegiately, most of the fighters were All-American wrestlers. This is essentially a
league for them to showcase their talents after college, much like the NFL or NBA.
There’s also the Brazilians, led by Anderson Silva. He once put a man in what is known as a triangle, a maneuver that involves trapping his opponent’s arm and neck inside his thighs, while attempting to cut off oxygen flow to the brain. Silva also simultaneously pummeled the man in the face.
And yes, that all actually happened in about a five-second span.
(Note to self: Don't ever mess with Anderson Silva)
5) It's the most exciting sport in the world
Fighter Shane Carwin had five fights in the UFC. He knocked four of his opponents unconscious in under four minutes, and almost took out the fifth the same way.
He lost to Brock Lesnar, who once hit a man so hard that he broke his orbital bone and sent him flying into a cage. He does this when he’s not attempting to spear people so hard that it’s unsure if they will survive the impact.
These are just two examples. Silva, above, had one fight where he embarrassed an opponent to the point that the opponent ran out of the ring after the fight.
But words don’t do this justice. So, here’s a video with Dan Henderson and Michael Bisping. It’s important to note that Bisping had called out Henderson the entire week, while Henderson merely kept quiet.
Until this happened.
(Sorry the quality is bad. But Dear Lord, that's an insane knockout)
With that, welcome to NY, MMA.
