According to a recent interview with Jack Encarnacao of The Patriot Ledger, Dana White says the UFC will hold an event in Boston, MA or New York, NY by the end of 2008.
“I’m going to be as bold as to say I guarantee you either we’ll be in the Boston [TD Banknorth] Garden or Madison Square Garden,” Dana White told The Patriot Ledger.
White is currently in the Bay State to attend a local MMA show tomorrow night in Wilmington, MA. The fight card promoted by World Championship Fighting and is headlined by Dan Lauzon, a former UFC fighter. White will be on hand before the event for an autograph signing alongside Marcus Davis, Kenny Florian, Jorge Rivera, Alex Karalexis, Sean Gannon, Tamden McCrory, and Murilo Rua.
White was born in Connecticut, but lived and attended college in Boston for a few years. Massachusetts currently does not have any official mixed martial arts rules approved by the state athletic commission, with local towns regulating the shows instead.
The state of New York will be much tougher to crack than Massachusetts as laws on the books prevent MMA events from taking place. Some amateur events have taken place in New York over the past few years, but professional MMA is banned.
With former Nevada State Athletic Commission executive director on board, the UFC has gotten 32 states to officially regulate the sport including a total of 13 new states in 2007.
Holding an event in Boston or New York will be a huge success for the UFC and provide a much larger payday than events in Atlantic City or the Connecticut casinos ever could.
White has made “bold” claims in the past about holding events in Canada and signing broadcast deals with HBO, so it will come as no surprise if a Northeast event doesn’t actually happen in 2008. But, things don’t look that unlikely for an event in Boston, and I’m sure local MMA fans would relish having an event in their backyard.
I know I would.
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