Lift the Ban Watch: the UFC Fires Back Edition

Assemblyman Bob Reilly, D-Colonie, of New York managed to cajole others into defeating a bill in the Assembly Tourism committee that would legalize MMA with such informed opinions as, "We ban cockfighting and dog fighting — should we allow humans to enter a cage to knee, kick, and punch each other?" In an effort to prove there is some sort of consensus about how unsafe and immoral MMA is, Reilly then touted the "fact" that MMA is banned in 20 states. But is that true? Apparently not :

The Ultimate Fighting Championship said Reilly is wrong, and that the sport is banned in only 10 states: Connecticut, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

Now, the difference here is that in some states the sport is banned and in other it's completely unregulated. There are 32 states where it's outright legal and sanctioned and I believe a handful more that have approved bills to legalize it, but have yet to actually be host to regulated events, e.g. Maryland. And events are held even in states where the sport is banned like in Connecticut where promoters are able to go to the Indian reservations like the Mohegan Sun in Uncassville.

Whether or not this matters for the UFC's purposes in New York is yet to be seen, but let this serve as an illustration of the propaganda detractors will stick to in order to make their case. More information here.