Cage Potato has the rundown on Bob Reilly (update: MMA bill passes first test!)

Today is the first of hopefully many steps toward legalizing MMA in New York, and the one man to beat I think has his work cut out for him, although nothing is certain. Cage Potato has all the relevant information you need to sort out Bob Reilly's argument; I understand it's not for him, but when you have boxing as a huge draw at places like Madison Square Garden, why is mixed martial arts given the special beat down? It's simply the mix of disciplines, the Western bias (probably) against other types of combat sports, and overall different look that I guess gives this man no choice but to stand his ground.

Check out the list of ignorance here: Cage Potato - The Many Fallacies of Bob Reilly

The look of love is in her eyes, photo by Cage Potato.

Update from CP, it passed! Here's their article:

"The New York State Assembly’s Tourism, Arts, and Sports Development Committee finally voted on bill A02009 this morning – known to you jokers as the thing to move MMA towards legalization in New York State – and it passed with a 14-6 vote. The bill has been referred to the Codes Committee for another vote, which means MMA is now closer to being sanctioned in New York than ever before.

The bill still has to make it past the Codes Committee and a vote by the State Assembly, but at least it survived the opening onslaught by Assemblyman Bob Reilly, who reportedly tried to sway other committee members yesterday in a twenty-minute presentation on the brutality of the sport and the unsavory nature of its proponents with a video featuring Brock Lesnar vs. Randy Couture, Corey Hill’s broken leg, and Dana White’s video blog tirade against Loretta Hunt.

The bill passed anyway, suggesting that just maybe those fourteen members of the committee thought Lesnar/Couture was a pretty decent little scrap. We now raise our celebratory flutes of champagne or, failing that, a can of Miller High Life (the champagne of beers), and toast a small, though important victory for our side. Salud, Potato Nation."

MMA In New York: Hearing to push a bill to a committee who hands it to another committee who submits it for a vote

Cage Potato has the breakdown of the push for a MMA regulation bill for the state of New York. For those who are out of this political loop, New York, for example, has laws and commissions set in place to regulate boxing, but MMA has yet to be included in the discussion. According to the original MMA Weekly story, this hearing on June 3rd, if it turns out favorably, will allow a draft of the bill to enter into the committee process (both legal and financial) before getting put to a vote (if it gets that far).

To check out the story, click here.

Bringing MMA to New York: I Don't Like Bob Reilly

"Kickboxing...sport of the future"
- Lloyd Dobler

Really, who is to say anything against Lloyd Dobler? The man is DA MAN. Say Anything could be a perfect movie.

The friends at Cage Potato have been covering the Bob Reilly factor when it comes to sanctioning MMA in New York. There has been much debate and talk over this issue but as a excitable MMA fan The KCB doesn't like the logic that Mr. Reilly uses in his arguments. Sure it's not for everyone but to deny a sport that would bring millions of dollars into the local economy (say if there were cards at MSG) and also totally ignore how the sport has developed into a legitimate enterprise really shows how idiotic Reilly is being. I'm all for arguments even for stuff that I enjoy or back, but none of the words coming out of this guy's mouth remotely make sense or show that he did his homework (which often comes from very staunch 'opinions' that don't respect MMA as much and therefore have a skewed view, such as ESPN or Sports Illustrated). Dinosaurs....

What's worse is that he represents Albany, the area from which I'm originally from. That sucks. Next time I'm up there I'll let him know that he has illegitimate reasoning. And then I'll go to the track to mullet-watch.

Anywho, CP is suggesting a bridging of Reilly's political interests with his lack of support for MMA and the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) more specifically. Check out the article here.

Such is a tricky situation if this is the chain that leads to Reilly's perspective on MMA in New York. In the end greed sort of wins out on either end, and that's sad, because as a fan you hate to see an intellectual argument (or not) to validate the sanctioning of MMA in this state pared down into political and financial tug-of-war.