Ever since its formation waaay the hell back in 1993 , the UFC ’s held its increasingly popular MMA events – over 300 of them – in urban center like LA , Salt Lake City , Tampa , Pittsburgh , Houston , Chicago , and Boston … but oddly enough , not NYC . Until now .
Held in Madison Square Garden , UFC 205starts at 10 pm EST and will mark the company ’s Big Apple debut with an telling title calling card match-up : Conor McGregor , the predominate UFC featherweight champion , will challenge Eddie Alvarez for his lightweight championship belt . This is only the 2d metre in UFC history that two current champions in different weight unit classes confront off for the same title .
It ’s gon na be a killer whale fight , andan even bigger event , but why has it taken so long for the UFC to fare to New York ? To find the answer , you ’ll have to await at Culinary Local 226 : the powerful Las Vegas union that ’s fought to keep MMA illegal in the Empire State .
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Why was the UFC banned in the first place?
AlthoughUFC President Dana Whiteis the governing body ’s most placeable figurehead , co - owners Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta were the real targets of the culinary union ’s ire . In addition to the UFC , the Fertittas also own Station Casinos , a Vegas - based gaming holding that also happens to be anti - Federal – a fact Culinary Local 226 has been none - too - glad about .
As a result , the Vegas union funneled considerable resources into nominate trusted the UFC ( or any other MMA promoter , for that matter ) would be ineffective to manoeuvre in New York State , in an attempt to coerce the Fertittas into allow their workers to unionize . MMA was in the first place outlawed in 1997 , butNew York assemblyman Sheldon Silveris aver to have continually prevent the MMA number from reaching a base vote at the behest of Culinary Local 226 .
If this sound louche as hell , that ’s because it actually was : Silver was storm to resign from his position as Speaker of the New York State Assembly in 2015 amid a tolerant swathe of federal corruption charges . He was eventually convicted on all enumeration , drop off his buttocks on the Assembly as well as his right to do law , and was sentenced to 12 geezerhood in prison ( along with a $ 7 million fine ) . With Silver out of the way , the MMA banning was liftedin short order earlier this year – and thus , we have our inaugural MSG showdown this Saturday .
How to watch UFC 205
If you desire to be there in person for this historic event , be prepared to make up through the nose . The few tickets left on Ticketmasterare going for upwards of $ 1,300each , although you ’ll be able to find something a bit sleazy throughStubHub– cheaper as in $ 700 . peradventure just head toa local barroom that ’s screening the fight ?
If you ’d rather not go into debt OR struggle to come up a seat at a bar , though , there ’s always the PPV choice : Pony up $ 50 for the SD watercourse , or $ 60 for glorious HD through your transmission line / satellite provider ( TWC , Comcast , Dish connection , DirecTV , etc ) .
Bottom line : The UFC is at long last coming to New York , and you ’re gon na want to see what happens when it does .
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