For the promotion, putting together what they are billing as the ‘biggest, baddest card ever'. For Conor McGregor, aiming to become its first dual-weight world champion.But most importantly, for the sport of mixed martial arts as a whole.
The event is set to break a host of records and that is because it is a night that represents a defining moment in the world of MMA and its journey from obscurity to the mainstream.
After a long, arduous road, the company finally makes its bow in a city and a venue that has shut them out for so long.
Following a nearly 20-year battle, New York lifted the ban on mixed martial arts in April, joining the other 49 states that already allow and regulate the sport.And now, a show that has long been spoken of in the abstract, will become a reality as the stars of the UFC descend upon the legendary arena of Madison Square Garden.
So why the wait? Why such a struggle to break into a city that was once the fight capital of the world?
Well let’s rewind. The UFC has been trying make the Empire State its home ever since it was founded in 1993.
For more than 100 years, New York, and particularly The Garden, was the go-to place for fight fans, hosting classic bouts between the likes of Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier to Rocky Garciano and Joe Lewis.
UFC 7, held in Buffalo in 1995, was the promotion’s only appearance in the state to date, and was the most successful event in their short history.
However, what looked to be a bright future for the company in the area suddenly took a messy turn.
MMA in the 1990s was more spectacle than sport with the former owners overly aggressive in their marketing of what was a young and relatively unknown product.
Promoting policies of ‘no rules’ and ‘no weight classes’, they would advertise the UFC as ‘the bloodiest, most barbaric show in history,’ and resistance soon followed.
Source: Dailymail
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