UFC Holding Date For An Event At Madison Square Garden In 2015

[Lover Boy]

UFC President Dana White told “Inside MMA†on Friday that the UFC is so confident about MMA being legalized in New York in 2015 that the promotion is holding a date for an event at Madison Square Garden near the end of this year.

“Imagine if we can do that this year,†said White during his appearance on the AXS TV program. “We’re already having the greatest year we’ve had in the history of the company out of the gates here. And if everything holds together, people stay healthy, fights stay in place, we’re in for an unbelievable year and that would be a great way to top if off.â€

One of the main reasons White is so confident is due to the arrest of New York State Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver. While the bill to legalize MMA in New York has made it through to the state’s Senate every year for the past few years, it always got held up in the Assembly because Silver wouldn’t even allow it to be brought to a vote.

Regarding the Silver situation, White said, “You can pick up the paper and read about [Silver] and you can understand why we didn’t get into New York. Now he’s got bigger problems than UFC. Hopefully we can get through.â€

On the subject, White concluded, “We don’t want to be cocky, but we’re being confident. I’m very, very confident it’s gonna happen.â€

MMANews

This would be pretty awesome if it managed to happen, the atmosphere at MSG would be absolutely insane.

 

[Austin Bates]

Madison Square Garden is obviously awesome so it would be a cool get for UFC.

 

[Postman Dave]

Wonder what WWE will have to say about it. Vincent kept WCW away from the building, wonder if he sees UFC in the same light.

 

[Apoho Creed]

I think New York is out for UFC to take away from the other sports, because The Knicks suck, Brooklyn sucks and their Baseball and Football teams aren't doing so well lately. UFC comes in like a Hawk and swoops that audience, it's just a matter of time.

 

[The Great Cochrane]

To be perfectly honest with you, MSG is not even that great of an arena. Seriously, its full capacity is that compared to any other hockey/basketball arena. In terms of grabbing a huge audience, the Melbourne card or even the 55,000+ of the Skydome (fuck Rogers and their marketing of it) would make a better audience.

The thing that makes this so great for the UFC is the iconism behind MSG. They made it to Toronto, they made it to Melbourne, and now it's safe to say that the UFC is a withstandable market in today's economy. They're obviously making noise if they can make it to New York, and that's only better for fighter pay.

I'm hoping they do a superfight with Jon Jones and Chris Weidman, if Jones beats Anthony Johnson he has practically no competition left at 205. And Weidman stepping up is pretty iminent.

 

[Lover Boy]

To be perfectly honest with you, MSG is not even that great of an arena. Seriously, its full capacity is that compared to any other hockey/basketball arena. In terms of grabbing a huge audience, the Melbourne card or even the 55,000+ of the Skydome (fuck Rogers and their marketing of it) would make a better audience.

The thing that makes this so great for the UFC is the iconism behind MSG. They made it to Toronto, they made it to Melbourne, and now it's safe to say that the UFC is a withstandable market in today's economy. They're obviously making noise if they can make it to New York, and that's only better for fighter pay.

I'm hoping they do a superfight with Jon Jones and Chris Weidman, if Jones beats Anthony Johnson he has practically no competition left at 205. And Weidman stepping up is pretty iminent.

The problem with the iconism is that MSG is iconic for the WWE events that have happened there, will a UFC event be seen in the same light?

 

[The Great Cochrane]

The problem with the iconism is that MSG is iconic for the WWE events that have happened there, will a UFC event be seen in the same light?

That really all comes down to the quality of the fights. I think from the UFC's perspective, it's not so much of a victory due to the fact that it's in MSG, but the fact that it's New York in general. UFC struggled to get to places like Vancouver only to have them written off, mind you the card was less than stellar (the UFC seems to jip us more and more everytime they come to Canada). Unlike any of the MMA promotions in the past they don't have things like theatrics and lighting to appeal to a broader audience, so if they get a good fight then yeah, I don't see why it wouldn't do good.