“30-27, Leonard Garcia”

The latest political maneuverings straight from the Bob Reilly MMA Cock-Blocking For Dummies handbook are coming courtesy of the sleepy town of Watertown, South Dakota. Once again, a knee jerk reaction to emotional appeal has triumphed over common sense to help ban our sport from another city’s stage. While a serious, tragic event has shaped the decision in this case, the actions of Mayor Gary Williams and Watertown City Council are not just an affront to MMA, but to logic itself.

What we know is this: Late in the evening on March 13^th, local MMA trainer Jerrin Stulken was involved in a street fight with Justin Jaton. Both men had been drinking in “uptown” Waterford. Jalton was severely injured in the fight, and this past Thursday he died as a result of those injuries. Stulken now faces charges of either second-degree murder or first-degree manslaughter. What we also know, but can’t at all understand, is that entire sport of Mixed Martial Arts has now been put on trial and found guilty by the city’s local government, which has banned promotions from staging events at the city’s event centers while it pursues full-scale prohibition. As you can imagine, we respectfully disagree with their 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.

(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.

(Props: twitter.com/danawhite)

After a 6-3 vote yesterday, the Vancouver City Council passed a resolution to regulate MMA for a two-year trial period. Though a handful of MMA events were sanctioned by the Vancouver Athletic Commission before 2007, the city council put a halt to the sport that year due to concerns over liability in the event of an injury. Since then, unregulated MMA events have popped up around the British Columbian city, some of which were funded by gang money. Now, Vancouver is giving mixed martial arts another chance. Said city council member Tim Stevenson about his "yes" vote:

Reacting to the news, UFC general counsel Lawrence Epstein told the Vancouver Sun, “We’re very pleased with the result. It’s important for this issue to be considered. Once people understand what this sport’s all about, they generally reach this conclusion.”

Following two successful events at Montreal’s Bell Centre, the UFC has long had an eye on Vancouver, and now plans to hold an event at the 19,000-seat GM Place (home of the Vancouver Canucks) in June 2010. And after that? “Ontario’s an important market for us and we’re hopeful we’ll get some momentum from what’s happening in British Columbia today,” Epstein said.

(New York Governor David Paterson. You’d think a guy who lost his eye in unregulated vale tudo matches in the late ’80s would have more sympathy to our cause.)

I doubt many of you follow New York politics, but it’s a freakin’ mess out here right now. Virtually nothing constructive has gotten done in the NY senate over the last two weeks, and as an emergency session comes to a close today — ending the legislative body’s 2009 schedule — one bill that will be left out in the cold is our beloved S2165A, intended to regulate mixed martial arts in New York State. Originally, the bill was on the docket for a June 9th vote. Unfortunately, things fell apart on June 8th. MMA Weekly has the story: