FanHouse Bob Reilly

In a key victory in the fight to legalize mixed martial arts in New York, a state assembly committee voted to allow the New York State Athletic Commission to regulate MMA, and even Bob Reilly has acknowledged that he's "not optimistic" that he can keep MMA out of the state.

On Tuesday night, ESPN's E:60 investigative reporting show profiled UFC President Dana White, behind the central question: "Can UFC get to the next level with Dana White being Dana White?"

I have a question, too: At what point can we all just admit UFC has already reached "the next level" while corporate America was sleeping on the job?

The fallacy these days is that UFC somehow needs to be legitimized by mainstream media or major advertisers. The fact is that either or both would enhance their position rather than validate it.

The long-awaited ESPN E:60 profile of UFC President Dana White will air tonight at 7 PM ET, and this afternoon I got an advance look at the full 12-minute profile. It is, as E:60 correspondent Tom Farrey said it would be, a portrait that shows both sides of White's personality: The intense worker who has turned the UFC into a huge success, and the man who has infuriated his competitors and drawn criticism for his temperament.

Will we ever see a UFC event at Madison Square Garden?

Definitely, if UFC fans get their way -- so many fans are clamoring for it that the UFC could sell out the Garden in minutes. But definitely not, if Assemblyman Bob Reilly gets his way -- he is the chief advocate for keeping mixed martial arts illegal in New York, and he says he's not giving up the fight.

The New York Times' editorial board has posted an online editorial, titled, "The Disturbing Rise of Ultimate Fighting," that shows an appalling ignorance of MMA and the issues surrounding the effort to get it legalized in New York.