Reilly is considering introducing a compromise bill that would legalize the sport while requiring it to be less violent, perhaps by making it illegal for a fighter to hit an opponent when he's down and limiting the use of elbows.
"That's just one of my strategies," said Reilly, who has received calls from mixed-martial arts opponents in several states as well as Canada and England seeking his advice on scuttling the legislation.
Reilly vowed to go to the mat if need be on the Assembly floor. "If it doesn't get taken up at conference, I'm going to lay it aside on the floor," he said.
It is interesting that Reilly speaks to the coalescing of anti-MMA forces. I have written in the past about labor union Unite Here's opposition to the UFC and how that has played out in the state of NY. Unite Here also has ties to Reilly, having contributed his campaign coffers in the past. As the UFC/MMA continues to face opposition in places like West Virginia and the Canadian province of Ontario, it would be interesting to see if similar connections can be made. Reilly clearly states that he is aiding this opposition.
While Reilly vows to take his fight to the Assembly floor, at this point his fight seems like so much pissing into the wind, to borrow a term from Jim Croce. The tide of the Assembly seems to have turned in relations to MMA, the bill for MMA taking large steps towards passage in 2009 before being derailed by an unrelated power grab that scuttled much being done at the close of the last session. The monetary arguemnet made for MMA seems to have won the day, as the quoted article intimates that a UFC Albany sellout would generate about $100,000 in county tax revenues. Contrasted against those dollars and cents terms, Reilly's moralistic argument against MMA will seem like little more than long-winded barking at the moon.
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