MMA Fans Get Ready For Big Night At MSG
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Fans of professional mixed martial arts in New York City have been waiting two decades for this weekend.
The sport, which was banned in New York in 1997 with critics calling it dangerous and barbaric, arrives in the Empire State on Saturday night with a packed house at Madison Square Garden.
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"It's an awesome thing -- revenue, tourists, it's going to bring more money here," one fan said.
"A lot of people love the sport, it's great for the city," another fan said.
The bars and restaurants in the immediate area around MSG plastered with ads to come watch, drink and party on Saturday night were as ubiquitous as the Duane Reades on every corner.
"This place is going to be a zoo on Saturday,'' one lunchtime fan at Walter's told a bartender.
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Ultimate Fighting Championship is also stoked for its legalized return and loaded UFC 205 card with three title fights and some of its biggest stars, with featherweight champ Conor McGregor and lightweight champ Eddie Alvarez headlining the event.
Fans are confident McGregor will prevail.
"McGregor's gonna knock him out," one fan told 1010 WINS' Glenn Schuck. "He's going to win and all the Irish are going to have a parade on Seventh Avenue, it's going to be a party of Sunday."
UFC morphed into a global phenomenon, become a staple on network television and ran PPV cards that hit 1 million buys during the ban. New York had been the lone state running against the trend of holding regulated MMA cards and made New Jersey its marquee fight home on the East.
State lawmakers and Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo agreed in April to end the two-decade old ban following years of failed efforts by MMA supporters. The law authorizing the sport took effect in September. Cuomo concluded the move would boost the economy by luring bouts to the nation's largest city as well as upstate venues, with one estimate that MMA could generate $137 million in annual economic activity.
UFC 209 will be held at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Feb. 11. No fights were announced.
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