Dana White guarantees that MMA will come to New York in 2012, hopes to debut with Jon Jones bout

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

The UFC has been lobbying for years to get MMA sanctioned in New York state, but to date have failed in their efforts to get MMA regulation passed through the New York State Assembly. The inability for the state government to get a bill through, despite the support that is already there for the regulation, led the UFC to take the unprecedented step of suing the state of New York.

With the lawsuit claiming - among other things - that New York's MMA ban constitutes a first amendment violation against fighters, they're hoping to circumvent some of the political maneuverings that have held it back in the past.

Whether that works or not remains to be seen as it is still in the early processes, but UFC President Dana White believes that - one way or another - the sport will be legal in New York by the end of 2012.

In an interview with MMA Fight Corner on Fox Sports Radio (transcribed by MMAFighting.com), White revealed he not only believed it would happen, but he outright guaranteed it would.

"We're so close," White said. "It's going to happen, and I guarantee you it's going to happen this year."

"I guarantee you it's going to happen this year."

If the UFC is finally given a chance to run an event at New York City's historic Madison Square Garden, the targeted headliner would be UFC Light Heavyweight Champ - and New York native - Jon "Bones" Jones. Of course, that's as long as schedules line up.

"It's going to depend on when it happens, timing and everything else, but obviously, it would be nice to go in there with, probably, Jon Jones," White said.

Penick's Analysis: If this process can move quickly at all, one massive fight that could come together would be the grudge match between Jones and Rashad Evans. Say Jones returns in March against Dan Henderson and wins, and assume Evans defeats Phil Davis on January 28 in Chicago; if New York can pass legislation un-banning the sport of MMA early in the year, or be forced to by some court ruling in time for the UFC to run an event around August, a Jones-Evans headliner at MSG to close out the summer would be absolutely massive. Now, that's contingent on that process going that quickly, when in reality if it's going to happen this year it will likely be towards the conclusion of the year, but that would be a way to make a huge splash in their first New York event should it happen earlier.

[Dana White art by Travis Beaven (c) MMATorch.com]

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_12073.shtml

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