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UFC Denied Injunction to Hold UFC 198 at New York's Madison Square Garden
The Ultimate Fighting Championship had hoped to host its first event in New York on April 23 at Madison Square Garden. That will not be happening.
Judge Kimba Wood denied the fight promotion's request for a Preliminary Injunction that would have cleared the way for UFC 198 to move forward in the “Big Apple.” MMAPayout.com first reported the news on Monday.
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Judge Wood cited the 1941 Supreme Court case Railroad Commission v. Pullman Co. in the ruling. The case, according to Wikipedia, “determined that it was appropriate for United States federal courts to abstain from hearing a case in order to allow state courts to decide substantial Constitutional issues that touch upon sensitive areas of state social policy.
“This form of abstention allows state courts to correct things like equal protection violations for themselves, thus avoiding the embarrassment of having state policy corrected by the federal courts. Under Pullman abstention, the federal court retains jurisdiction to hear the case if the state court's resolution is still constitutionally suspect.”
The UFC released a statement on Tuesday about the ruling and reaffirmed plans to move forward in its efforts to bring MMA to New York.
“We are disappointed by the District Court's denial of our motion for a preliminary injunction and its effort to redirect the litigation to the state courts,” UFC COO Lawrence Epstein said. “One thing, and one thing only, prevents Madison Square Garden and other New York venues from hosting UFC events that are allowed in the other 49 States in the Union — that is the New York law that we believe violates the federal Constitution.
“Today's decision, while disappointing, only underscores the importance of UFC's pending appeal to the Second Circuit. UFC will evaluate this decision with an eye to pursuing every effective avenue to bring New Yorkers the same live events available to spectators throughout the United States.”
Epstein added, “We are very hopeful that the New York State legislature, either through a stand alone bill or via the Governor’s budget, will approve MMA in NY as soon as possible.”
