Zuffa is in Andrew Cuomo's corner
At left, Republican candidate Carl Paladino attends a meeting at Elks Lodge in Riverhead. At right, Democratic candidate Andrew Cuomo speaks to students at SUNY Old Westbury. Paladino and Cuomo are running for governor of New York. (Sept. 10, 2010 / Sept. 7, 2010)
Zuffa Llc, the parent company of UFC and WEC, has been pushing for the legalization of mixed martial arts in New York for several years.
Each year, the premier MMA company owned by Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta, who also own the Station Casinos in and around Las Vegas, gets closer and closer. This past summer, the bill made it through the State Senate but failed in the Assembly.
"It's a matter of when, not if" is the company motto.
According to the latest documents of campaign contributions released by the New York State Board of Elections, Zuffa Llc made three separate donations to state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's campaign for governor, detailed below.
July 5, 2010: $36,800
July 5, 2010: $36,800
March 16, 2009: $1,000
Cuomo, a Democrat, announced his bid for governor May 22, 2010, and is the favorite in all polls thus far. He is running against Carl Paladino (above, right), a Republican from Buffalo.
Of course, three contributions to a campaign do not mean a thing in overturning a law on the state books since 1997. Zuffa needs more votes in the Assembly for that. But a little political pressure in its pocket can't hurt matters in the quest to bring MMA to Madison Square Garden and elsewhere across the state.
West Coast Productions, the parent company of the No. 2 MMA promotion Strikeforce, has not made any campaign contributions, according to the documents.
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