(Oh, you DID NOT just deny my Facebook friend request, Reilly.)

In an interview given to MMAFightCorner, Dana White didn’t beat around the bush when discussing the possibility of finally legalizing mixed martial arts in New York. If you recall, the UFC recently filed a law suit against New York, claiming that the “Empire State” was in breach of their first amendment rights to peacefully assemble. Specifically, Zuffa lawyers have been attempting to prove that mixed martial arts is a form of entertainment, like any other sport, and therefore cannot be criminalized.

Well, it seems we may have finally reached the mountaintop, so to speak, as the UFC President seems more than confident that 2012 will be the year that New Yorkers near and far will finally be able to sit down and watch MMA from somewhere other than their couches:

We’re so close. It’s going to happen, and I guarantee you it’s going to happen this year. It’s going to depend on when it happens, timing and everything else, but obviously, it would be nice to go in there with, probably, Jon Jones.

(When this charming bastard speaks to a group of women, that sound you hear after he’s done ain’t nothing but panties dropping.)

Our old friend Bob Reilly is back in the MMA news.  This time it isn’t just for his completely nonsensical reasoning for opposing MMA regulation in New York State, but because of untruths he’s been telling about union campaign contributions.  MMA Payout picked up on Reilly’s assertion in this USA Today story that he doesn’t know, nor did he ever receive campaign contributions from UNITE HERE, the union that’s beefing with the Fertitta-owned Station Casinos in Las Vegas and which may be partially behind the attempt to block the UFC in New York.  Trouble is, there are at least $5,500 in documented campaign contributions from UNITE HERE to Reilly.