“So many ridiculous arguments that MMA is somehow anti-woman. Fighting is not a man’s thing, it’s a human’s thing,” Rousey said to Roberts. “To say it’s an anti-woman I think it’s an anti-feminist statement, and the UFC. I’m the biggest draw in the sport and I’m a woman. How is that anti-woman?”
For the last six years, MMA has gotten enough votes to be legalized in the Senate. However, it hasn’t even been brought to vote in the Assembly due to Speaker Sheldon Silver’s views on MMA. Silver feels its too barbaric and his own political agenda against the UFC and its owners, Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta. Silver was doing the bidding for the Las Vegas Culinary Union local 226, which has a long hatred with the Fertitta’s as they own Station Casinos, which is not unionized.
Silver was ousted as speaker when he was arrested in January for allegedly taking $4 million in bribes and kickbacks. After talking with Cuomo, Rousey feels this will be the year MMA gets passed and we see legal fights in New York.
“I really feel optimistic this year,” Rousey said. “I have a really good feeling about it. I’ve talked to the governor. I feel like he’s in our corner, fingers crossed. Its passed six years in a row in the Senate. Its never been brought to a vote yet in the Assembly. I think it will this year.”
Steven Muehlhausen is a boxing and MMA writer and contributor for Sporting News. You can email him at [email protected] and can find him on Twitter @SMuehlhausenMMA.
