What’s the story?
The UFC is set to make a return to Buffalo with UFC 210 after more than 20 years on April 8, 2017. The event was announced during UFC Fight Night 103, where BJ Penn made a comeback against Yair Rodriguez.
It has been a long fight to see MMA finally legalised in New York, after former Governor George Pataki first banned the sport, in 1997.
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In case you didn’t know...
UFC 7: The Brawl in Buffalo was the last event organised by the UFC in Buffalo on September 8th, 1995. UFC 7 featured an eight-man tournament and a UFC Superfight Championship on PPV broadcast. The UFC Superfight Championship was fought between UFC champion Ken Shamrock and UFC 6 tournament winner Oleg Taktarov.
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There were no rounds, just a 20-minute time limit for the quarterfinal and semifinal fights, and a 30-minute time limit for the finals of the tournament and the Superfight.Marco Ruas defeated Paul Varelans to win the tournament, while the Superfight ended in a draw after 33 minutes.
Michael Buffer served as the guest ring announcer for the night and the referee for the main card was ‘Big’ John McCarthy. The UFC finally returned to New York last November for UFC 205, after the state legalised the sport in 2016.
The heart of the matter
Back in the early days of the UFC, there were not many rules for the safety of the fighters. It was simply a no-holds-barred fighting, with no weight limits or divisions. In those days the organisation was synonymous with the term ‘human cockfighting’, as there were no rules or safety precautions in place to make it a sport.
That was the reason any MMA event was banned in the state of New York, and it was the last state to legalise it after 22 years.
The Unified Rules of MMA were instituted in New Jersey in 2000, and the sport gradually evolved with many states making it legal. Many sanitising measures were introduced, as rounds, weight classes and gloves, as well as many striking moves were deemed illegal for the safety of the fighters.
What’s next?
UFC 210 will be held in The KeyBank Center at Buffalo on April 8, making it the third event in New York, since the legalisation of MMA. No fights for UFC 210 have been announced yet but more will be revealed in the coming weeks.
Sportskeeda’s take
One of the UFC’s greatest strengths has been its ability to innovate, to go with the punches. UFC definitely has made quantum leaps since it’s inception in the early nineties, it is no longer the blood sport it used to be.
With rules and regulations in place to safeguard the health of the fighters, and to make it more interesting for the viewers, it is rapidly becoming one of the mainstream sports. It is good to see MMA being legalised in all 50 states in the US, and also gain popularity at the world stage.
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