We could probably assemble a top ten list of all the articles we published on MiddleEasy over the years of the UFC lobbying to get MMA fully legalized in New York only to fail weeks later. It’s just not going to happen, at least not in our lifetimes. There are tremendous forces at work preventing the UFC from holding an event in the state of New York, and most of them originate from the Culinary Union’s beef with the organization.
Now it appears the UFC placed their own obstacle in their attempt to get MMA legal in New York by allegedly appointing a convicted sex offender Michael Boxley as a representative to get MMA legal in the Big Apple. Check out this excerpt from the New York Post about the gargantuan PR blunder.
The promoters of Ultimate Fighting have damaged their chances of legalizing the sport in New York with a knockout p.r. blunder — having convicted sex offender Michael Boxley participate in an Albany reception aimed at winning votes from state lawmakers, sources told The Post.Even supporters of the Ultimate Fighting Championship and mixed martial arts were stunned to see Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s disgraced former aide at the Jan. 27 pro-legalization campaign event.
Boxley was convicted in 2003 of sexually abusing a legislative staffer but has re-emerged as a lobbyist. The firm that employs him, Brown & Weinraub, represents UFC-Zuffa Entertainment, the main promoter of MMA bouts.
Needless to say, Michael Boxley will most likely have an adverse effect on getting MMA legal in New York, at least that’s what Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal told the NYPost.
Regardless of if Michael Boxley was used by Brown & Weinraub to represent the UFC, don’t be surprised if the Culinary Union leaches on to this NYPost news item and create another bizarre anti-UFC campaign.
Also, why the heck would you allow a guy that pleaded guilty to having sex with a 22-year-old legislative staffer without her consent in an event in which you’re trying to convince politicians that UFC isn’t misogynistic? Perhaps the textbook definition of a ‘knucklehead move.’
