Tuesday was an enormous day for Mixed Martial Arts, as it was finally legalized in New York after an extremely long battle. New York is the last state in the U.S. to finally legalize the sport, but as the old saying goes, better late than never.
Big promotions like the UFC and Bellator plan to jump all over the bill being passed to overturn the 19-year-old ban, and they plan to do it quickly. The UFC has a night reserved at Madison Square Garden in November, and they plan to make that an enormous event. Of course, the UFC is currently planning for UFC 200, which will take place in Las Vegas, but it is never too early to start planning for the first fight card in the biggest media market in the country.
As for whom the UFC is eyeing to potentially headline that card, the first name that jumps out is former middleweight champion Chris Weidman. Weidman is a Long Island native who became a star when he defeated Anderson Silva twice to take, and then retain, the title. Unfortunately Weidman fighting in the first New York event in November is unlikely because he is set to have a title fight with Luke Rockhold at UFC 199 on June 4.
UFC chief executive officer Lorenzo Fertitta said that a name that comes to his mind as a headliner in New York's first event is Ronda Rousey. Rousey hasn't fought since losing her title to Holly Holm at UFC 193, but she doesn't plan on getting back in the octagon until late in 2016, which happens to be perfect timing for when this event could take place. Fertitta said that Rousey draws a lot of attention and that anytime she fights, "that is clearly a big event."
An issue that the UFC may run into is the fact that new bantamweight champion Miesha Tate does not want to wait that long for a rematch with Rousey. Tate defeated Holm at UFC 196 to get the title, but she says that she wants to defend her title before Rousey returns late in 2016. An option that the UFC does have is having Rousey fight Holm again to see which fighter will get the next title shot after Tate's title defense. Holm is the only person to have ever beat Rousey, so a rematch would definitely draw a lot of attention, whether it was for a title or not.
This is all great news for the UFC and all MMA promotions. Having New York available to host events will help grow a sport that is already rising exponentially at the moment. While nothing is planned just yet for the first New York event, all of these possibilities should make for a great card when MMA does come to the "Big Apple" for the first time since 1995.
