MMA in New York

Madison Square Garden is known as the single greatest sports venue in the world, playing host to the Knicks, Rangers and the Liberty and hosting musical icons such as Jay-Z and Beyonce. With all of its rich history and memorable moments, MSG is still missing one thing, MMA. The fastest growing sport in the world has yet to be legalized in the state of New York, thus stunting the growth and slowing down the MMA express. New York is the biggest market in the world, and it only makes sense to legalize the most popular sport in the world. Can you imagine if Lesnar and Velasquez had fought at the Garden? It would have been the single greatest, most significant fight in MMA history.

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The fans of NY are rabid and clamoring for their MMA fix, myself included. I have traveled around the country, following various MMA shows and it would be nice for once not to have to take long, exhausting road trips. I cannot wait until the day when we (NY) get the chance to host the most entertaining sport in the world. An example of just how popular MMA has become in NY can be linked back to UFC 101 in Philly and UFC 118 in Boston. I attended both shows and was one of thousands of NY fans who made the trip to see the MMA experience firsthand. Now if they were all willing to travel to Philly and Boston, I can’t even begin to imagine the turnout at a show at the Garden, or even Nassau Coliseum! It would be monumental. We want to chance to welcome home and cheer on our hometown boys such as past champions Matt Serra (East Meadow, NY), Rashad Evans (Niagara Falls, NY) and Lyman Good (Manhattan, NY), and future stars such as Jon Jones (Rochester, NY), Chris Weidman (Baldwin, NY) and Gian Villante (Levittown, NY).

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The fact that MMA is not legal in NY definitely hasn’t negatively affected its popularity within the state. If anything, it has increased it. There are schools throughout Manhattan, Long Island and Upstate NY that have been filling up with athletes who have the passion and drive to one day become world champions. I truly hope that these aspiring fighters will one day get the chance to represent NY in front of a hometown crowd. New Yorkers, being as tough and dedicated as we are, will continue to support MMA, even if it were to never come to our great state, but we’re certainly hoping we will one day get the chance.

By Anthony Forgione
ProFighting-fans.com MMA Staff Writer