Sheldon Silver puts kibosh on MMA bill

According to the New York Daily News, Assembly majority leader Sheldon Silver has essentially killed the bill to legalize MMA for this legislative session:

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver yesterday appeared to KO the latest bid to legalize ultimate fighting in New York, despite its mounting momentum in the state Capitol.

“There does not appear to be widespread support in the Assembly for this legislation,” Silver said when asked if the proposal would be approved before the June 20 end of the legislative session.

Disappointing but not altogether surprising, as this was the expected result due to the influence held by some key opposition to the measure as well as the precedence taken by the effort to legalize gay marriage and the proposed ethics bill.

I do urge folks to continue to call and/or e-mail your Assembly representatives to let them know you want MMA in New York. I’m still hopeful that it’s not too late for this session, and if anything, we need to keep the momentum going.