There must be an election coming up because Bob Reilly seems to be pulling out all of the stops to make sure that he does everything possible to make sure Mixed Martial Arts does not come to New York. Bloody Elbow quotes Reilly as saying:
“There is overwhelming, widespread opposition to [MMA],” Reilly says. “Many of my constituents come up to say, ‘You’re doing the right thing. How can we have this?’ It’s a violent sport that is harmful and damaging. Violence begets violence. It helps create a culture in our society of domestic violence, of bullying, of violence against gays, of illegal gun use. It’s the job of state legislatures to pass laws against that sort of stuff, and then we put something like ultimate fighting as our form of entertainment?”
Reilly has made weak comparisons to violence begetting violence and MMA in the past, and he continues to do so. In an article written by Ben Fowlkes for Sports Illustrated Fowlkes asks Reilly, “…harming your opponent to the point of unconsciousness is one of the ways you win a boxing match, isn’t it?” Reilly’s reply is, “It’s not a stated goal, though.”
Again, I repeat from a previous post, one of boxing’s stated goals is harming your opponent to the point of unconciousness. I am not understanding how Mixed Martial Arts has anything to do with domestic violence, bullying, violence against gays, or illegal gun use. This guy is a joke. He must have a weak agenda because he can’t find anything better to fight for.