Earlier this morning the UFC and a handful of other interested parties (UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones, UFC Lightweight Champion Frankie Edgar, Brian Stann, Matt Hamill, Gina Carano and Beth & Donna Hurrle of Gals Guide To MMA amongst 14 plaintiffs overall) have decided that enough is enough with trying to get MMA legalized in the state of New York through the legislature; now they’re going to the courts. But it’s on a curious basis: first amendment issues.
The UFC is alleging “Specifically, the lawsuit alleges the Ban infringes upon the rights of the fighters who want to publicly exhibit their skills as professionals and express themselves before a live audience, the rights of fans who would like to experience live professional MMA events, and the rights of those who train, publicize or otherwise advance MMA in New York.”
An interesting bookend to all of this is an interview with Ariel Helwani of SB Nation’s MMA Fighting with Barry Friedman, an attorney working on the case. You can read it in full here but here are some of the salient points:
When did Zuffa decide that this would be the best course of action?
The UFC is continuing its legislative efforts — there’s no question about that. They’re ongoing at the same that we filed the lawsuit. Just to give you a sense of our situation in New York, it’s passed our State Senate a couple of times, it’s passed through some of the relevant committees in the Assembly or House. There was a petition last year with almost the majority of Assembly members saying that they would support repealing the ban. We’ve had at least one Governor say he would support repealing the ban. So we’ve just been in this weird political situation here where we can’t get it up for a vote. So at that point, not unlike a lot of other situations, when you can’t recourse in the legislature, the courts are often where you go.
