"You've heard me say this many times, and I'm going to say it again: I'm very confident that it might happen this year. I'm actually really confident this year. Lorenzo (Fertitta), Lawrence Epstein, Marc Ratner and a bunch of our other guys went up (to New York) and they had great meetings. Again, every time we've gone up there, it's been very positive. Everybody up there loves the UFC. Everybody wants to see it happen. Hopefully now, with the recent events that have taken place, maybe it'll get done this time."
"You want to know how confident I am? We're holding a date. That's how confident we are. I don't want to be cocky, but we're being confident, so we're holding a date. Imagine if we can do that this year. We're already having the greatest year we have ever had in the history of the company out of the gates here, and if everything holds together, people stay healthy, fights stay in place, we're in for an unbelievable year and that would be a great way to top it off."
For years Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) brass have fought tooth and nail to have mixed martial arts (MMA) legislation pass through the New York State Assembly and become fully legal in order to schedule monumental events inside the legendary Madison Square Garden. UFC President Dana White has consistently noted he and his colleagues were making headway in the discussions, but every successive year MMA in New York was shot down. With notorious MMA opponent and New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver being arrested on corruption charges earlier this year, White is "very confident" MMA will finally have its place in New York by the end of 2015. In fact, White slipped to Kenny Rice in a recent interview with Inside MMA that UFC brass have a date for a major event towards the end of the calendar year. Could champions Jon Jones and Chris Weidman potentially share the spotlight in their home state later this year, or is White simply crying wolf once more?
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