(Photo courtesy of Newsday.)

Great news, fight fans — we now officially know more New York State Assemblymen who support the regulation of MMA in New York than those who are against it.

A lifelong resident of Long Island, Rob Walker has been a member of the New York State Assembly since 2005 and currently sits on the Assembly Committee for Tourism, Arts, and Sports Development. And like our friend Jonathan Bing, Walker is a co-sponsor of the bill to lift the MMA ban in New York. We called Assemblyman Walker at his office yesterday to discuss the public support for MMA in Long Island and why it’s finally time for New York State to say "yes" to safe, sanctioned competition.

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CAGEPOTATO.COM: How did you become involved with the Tourism, Arts and Sports Development Committee?
ROB WALKER: Prior to my election, I was the deputy commissioner of parks in the town of Oyster Bay, so it was just logical that when they handed out committee assignments, I’d wind up on the committee that oversees parks, recreation and tourism. I took my role in local government and brought it to the State Legislature.

What initially drew you to the MMA regulation issue?
First and foremost, I actually have some constituents and friends that have been fighting in New Jersey and everywhere else, and they brought it to my attention that we can’t even hold events because it’s not sanctioned in New York State. So that was the first knowledge I had of the sport, and then with the bill that was coming out last year we got more intimately involved and gained some more knowledge of what it’s about. We’re just trying to learn all we can before we take some action.

Why is it a good time to finally lift the ban on MMA in New York?
I think there are a couple reasons. First, the economic advantages are quite apparent. And it’s also what we’re competing against — New York is competing against many states that border it, and we’re losing out. Our residents are going across state lines to compete, and why should New York be one of five or six states that don’t allow participation in MMA? What’s ironic about this bill is that it’s not even demanding that the athletic commission remove the ban; we’re simply giving the athletic commission the ability to go in and see if they want to provide sanctions.

What do you think of Assemblyman Bob Reilly’s arguments that MMA would breed more violence in society, and that it would be economically harmful to New York?

(Oh, you fickle lady, you.)

In the old days it used to take something near to a seismic event to get the Associated Press to move a story on MMA.  That’s slowly changing, and this new report on the UFC’s legalization efforts in New York is a great example.  It’s all the same rhetoric from all the same interested parties that we’ve heard before, but once again Assemblyman Bob Reilly doesn’t disappoint when it comes to opening his mouth and allowing idiotic sounds to escape:

"What the people from Ultimate Fighting will tell you is that ‘We’ve changed the rules and it’s no longer this brutal, no-holds-barred sport that it was in the past,"’ Assemblyman Bob Reilly said. "That’s far from the whole story. What they don’t tell you is what is allowed. Kicking to the head. Kneeing them. Sitting on top of them and repeatedly punching them in the head and face. They don’t tell you those things."

They don’t?  Are they somehow hoping to keep it a secret?  

You have to love Reilly’s almost child-like understanding of what goes on in an MMA bout.  Sitting on someone and punching them.  Yeah, that’s a nuanced perspective if you’re an eight-year-old and you only recognize the mount position as that thing your older brother does to you when he finds that you rifled through his stash of nudie magazines.  And this is the man trying his best to keep the sport out of the state of New York.

But in case you’re wondering where Reilly’s peculiar little grudge against MMA comes from, he’d like you to know that it’s not really that big a deal to him: