ALBANY, N.Y.—New York is poised to end its ban on professional mixed martial arts, the last state to prohibit the combat sport.
Conducted inside a cage or other enclosure with a referee present, MMA bouts end when one fighter quits or gets knocked out, or else judges decide after 15 or 25 minutes of fighting who the winner is.
The New York Assembly plans to vote this week, following years of leaving the ban intact after critics complained the sport is too violent. That Democrat-controlled chamber approved it in 2007 then subsequently balked. The Republican-controlled Senate, initially reluctant, has voted to legalize it for the past seven years.
Assembly committee votes are scheduled on Tuesday, with a floor vote expected later in the day, Assembly spokesman Michael Whyland said.
One opponent was UNITE HERE, the hotel and restaurant workers’ union, publicly citing American Medical Association opposition and the potential social costs of teens imitating fighters. One consistent advocate is Ultimate Fighting Championship, the sport’s largest U.S. promotion, whose backers are major owners of non-union Station Casinos in Las Vegas.
