(Time to put some new heroes on that boring old rock. Illustration via Sherdog/Erik Ebeling)

On July 1st of this year, South Dakota will officially become the 46th U.S. state to regulate mixed martial arts. The news was broken on Friday by reporter David Montgomery at the Argus Leader, who confirmed that S.D. Governor Dennis Daugaard will sign the bill creating an athletic commission in the state, despite his personal distaste for cage-fighting.

“One thing I’ve learned about this cagefighting, it’s going on now, and it’s going on in an unregulated fashion,” Daugaard told Montgomery. “I know some of the proponents of this bill made the argument that regulating it would create more safety than exists today, and I have to agree that’s true…Would I like this kind of thing to not occur at all in South Dakota? I would, yes. It doesn’t deserve the word sport in my mind.”

If you’ll recall, the proposal to regulate MMA in South Dakota was the subject of controversy last month, as Daugaard blasted “the bloody violence that those kinds of spectacles create,” while State Representative Steve Hickey torpedoed any chance for a civilized debate when he compared the sport to child porn, then got into an ill-advised blog war with Seth Falvo. Nevertheless, the athletic commission bill was passed overwhelmingly by votes in the South Dakota Senate and House of Representatives, and will now be signed into law by Daugaard. Score one for the good guys.

With the addition of South Dakota to the MMA map, only New York, Connecticut, Montana, and Alaska remain as the holdout states that don’t formally regulate professional MMA competition. Alaska lacks an athletic commission, though MMA events are still regularly held there. (Remember Gerald Fike getting slinky-KO’d? That happened in Fairbanks.) And of course, Montana remains a hotbed of flying-motorcycle vale tudo.

(We hear you there, bro.) 

In a move that is sure to upset hundreds of thousands of dozens of people, the Oklahoma State Athletic Commission, and specifically its Executive Director Joe Miller, recently issued the following statement to promoters statewide that has more or less banned MMA from the land of fried okra:

The purpose of this letter is to inform you the Oklahoma State Athletic Commission will not be accepting applications for event permits for events scheduled after March 31, 2012. The Commission is faced with an out-of-state threat that, if successful, could greatly affect the Commission’s ability to provide for the public safety and for the health and safety of the athletes for future events throughout the state of Oklahoma. The Commission is currently trying to address legal and legislative efforts which have given us serious concerns about how we move forward with adequate oversight of Oklahoma’s boxing, mixed martial arts, and professional wrestling events. As you know, the primary focus of this agency is to make sure the athlete’s health, and safety is not compromised. We take this charge very seriously. The Commission and I will be working diligently to address these issues and develop a plan of action to return to a normal course of business.

Now why, pray tell, do you think Oklahoma would do this to us? Here’s a hint: Dana M.F. White.

Join us after the jump for more on this story as well as a great piece of Pro-NY MMA propaganda. 

(Video courtesy of WNY)

New York State Assembly isn’t scheduled to resume until January, but that isn’t stopping politicians in the Empire State from rallying in the meantime for legalizing mixed martial arts when the next session starts.

Several senators and Assembly members have spoken out publicly in support of the sport in recent weeks, which could bring the issue to the forefront when Assembly is back in session in two months.

Buffalo Senator Mark Grisanti, who met with UFC chairman and CEO Lorenzo Fertitta yesterday, says that it’s ridiculous that New York is dragging its feet when it comes to sanctioning the sport that is regulated in all but a handful of states in the U.S. and less than a half dozen Canadian provinces. Grisanti pointed to the economic benefits of having MMA in the state, noting that it could create jobs and inject an influx of cash into the New York economy as one of the big reasons for giving the popular combat sport the nod.

“Being that we’re so close to Toronto and southern Ontario, I would suspect that we would get a lot of that draw from our neighboring country [as well],” Grisanti explained.

(New York State Assembly: where dreams are squashed.)

The man in charge of the Assembly floor in New York, Democrat Speaker Sheldon Silver yesterday put the big kabosh on the hopes of MMA supporters who were optimistic that the sport will be made legal in the Empire State this year.

Silver intimated to the New York Daily News that the bill may not even be brought to the Assembly floor for a vote before the current legislative session ends on June 20 because the support isn’t there, which is curious considering votes in the other levels of government have all swung considerably in favor of approving legalization.

(“Reach into my back pocket there and take out that envelope marked, ‘Housewarming gift for Senator Robach.’”)

State senators voted 42-18 today in favor of passing a bill that could lead to mixed martial arts being  sanctioned in New York. The bill will now go to the New York State Assembly where a final vote on the matter will be cast by members of the group that includes opposition stalwart Bob Reilly.

 
("This one. Right up your ass.")

Despite a high-profile appearance at Madison Square Garden last month in which the UFC announced its intentions to bring MMA to New York State — as well as a reported $75,000 in palm-grease to Andrew Cuomo’s gubernatorial campaign — MMA Payout broke the news last night that Governor Cuomo neglected to include a provision in the state’s 2011-2012 budget that would sanction MMA in New York. In fact, Cuomo’s Executive Budget actually proposes eliminating the chairperson of the state athletic commission altogether. So not only is the Governor not backing MMA as Zuffa had hoped, he doesn’t seem to have a high opinion of combat sports in general. 

At this point, the MMA ban in New York can still be lifted through the more traditional route of a legislative bill — of which there are currently two in the assembly and one in the senate, all awaiting review — but we saw how well that worked last time. Making MMA part of the state budget was supposed to be the easy way in, and it just ain’t happening. If I were Dana White, I’d be furious right now. Money has been donated. Big press conferences have been held. And now, the current timetable of MMA regulation in New York is: Who freakin’ knows?

(When will Ontario see its first event?)

It wasn’t the fact that the province’s Liberal majority government finally decided that MMA was on par safety-wise and skill-wise with other sports that are legally contested in Ontario, making it a no-brainer to legalize that threw so many people off; it was the fact that the announcement came without much warning or fanfare.

The then-Minister of Consumer Services (she was shuffled to a different cabinet position four days after the announcement) Sophia Aggelonitis tweeted the news early on the morning of Saturday, August 14. Within an hour of sending out her brief message, that simply stated “Ontario will move to allow mixed martial arts,” Aggelonitis’ office posted a press release regarding the decision pointing to “competitor safety and boosting local economies” as its main reasons behind its landmark decision.

(So the UFC is too brutal for New York, but children are allowed to see "Mamma Mia"? Explain that one to me. / Photo courtesy of graciemag.com.)

NYDailyNews.com breaks the unfortunate turn of events:

ALBANY – The push to legalize ultimate fighting in New York is on the ropes. Assembly Democrats stripped approval for the wildly popular violent sport from a budget bill that lawmakers will take up as soon as today.

Gov. Paterson sought to legalize mixed martial arts, saying fights could pull in more than $2 million in tax revenue for the cash-strapped state.

"The majority of voices who spoke about this issue in our conference were not supportive of approving it as part of the budget," said Assemblyman Steven Englebright (D-L.I.), a fight fan. Englebright said it’s a long shot the Assembly will revisit the issue. The state Senate has already approved the sport.

("All those for MMA in New York State, say ‘Aye’. All those against, say ‘duh’.")

New York’s MMA bill S 2165 made it over another major hurdle today by passing a third senate reading and vote and being referred to ways and means.

If this sounds familiar, its because the parallel bill, A 2009-C was recently passed by the Committee of Parks, Tourism and Sports Development onto the Codes Committee for a June 14 vote, where it was passed on to ways and means as well.

Bill
(How ’bout best two out of three?)

A-2009c, the bill that calls for the sanctioning of combat sports in New York State was referred to the Codes Committee by the Committee of Parks, Tourism, and Sports Development once again today, meaning if it can pass just two more hurdles, the sport will be legalized in the state.

You may recall that the same committee already voted to pass the bill back in June of 2009, however thanks in part to pressure by opposition leader Bob Reilly who sits on the committee that voted on A-2009c today, the group was made to vote on it again. Reilly stated that Governor David Paterson, who included MMA sanctioning in his executive budget proposal for this year was  “attempting to circumvent the legislative process" by including MMA in the budget rather than bringing the issue to the sub-assembly for vote.

(Press conference?…In Canada?…Wait….Canada has press?)

The UFC has announced that Dana White and Lorenzo Fertita will be holding an impromptu press conference at the Rogers Centre on Tuesday in Toronto to make a "major announcement" that will be broadcast via satellite to news outlets across North America.

(An open mind, and the ability to pull tall chicks. Gotta love this dude.)

From NYDailyNews.com:

(Props: EckoMMA)

As longtime supporters of MMA regulation in New York, we’re thrilled that 2010 could finally be the year the sport loses its outlaw status in the Empire State. But there’s a long way to go before we can start celebrating. In this new short film from Bobby Razak and Marc Ecko, a host of fighters and other MMA personalities discuss the legalization efforts and challenges that they’ve faced in New York, as well as in Ontario, Canada. "Legalize MMA" highlights the inherent irony of the MMA regulation struggle in NY — that such a famous fight town, which is progressive on so many other issues, continues to marginalize the most modern and pure form of combat sports. Unfortunately, many of New York’s athletic commission officials remain the least educated about MMA as it exists today, clinging instead to outdated stereotypes of the sport’s brutality. "Madison Square Garden is a validator of great, iconic sports and athletes," Ecko says. For him, as well as interviewees like Frank Shamrock and reporter Ariel Helwani, the building stands as a symbol of the mainstream acceptance that MMA is closing in on, but hasn’t quite captured yet. Part two of the film is after the jump.