• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

MMA Payout

The Business of Combat Sports

  • Home
  • MMA
    • UFC
    • Bellator
    • One
    • PFL
  • Boxing
  • Legal
  • Ratings
  • Payouts
  • Attendance
  • Gate

Zuffa contributed $35,000 to New York legislators since January 2013

July 16, 2013 by Jason Cruz 5 Comments

New York’s The Citizen (Cayuga County) reports that Zuffa contributed $35,000 to New York state legislators according to the latest released campaign finance filings.

In addition to the various legislators supporting the bill to legalize MMA it also contributed $104,000 to the re-election campaign of Andrew Cuomo for the 2014 cycle.

According to the state filings, Zuffa contributed to the following from January 2013 to July 15, 2013:

Committee to Re-elect Assemblyman Joe Morelle (Democrat) – $2,500

Friends of Carl E. Heastie (Democratic State Assembly)- $500

Friends of Francisco Moya (Democratic State Assembly) – $500

Jeff Klein for New York (Democratic State Senator) – $5,000

New York State Democratic Senate Campaign Committee – $5,000 (Feb. 2013)

New York State Democratic Senate Campaign Committee – $10,000 (July 2013)

Republican Assembly Campaign Committee – $2,000

Friends of Joe Griffo (Democratic State Senator) – $2,500

Friends of Mike Gianaris (Democratic State Senator) – $1,000

Friends of Noam Bramson (County Executive) – $1,000

New York State Senate Republican Campaign Committee – $5,000

Morelle and Griffo sponsored the MMA bill.

H/t:  Robnashville

Payout Perspective:

With the recent release of information that it spent $620,000 last year on lobbying activities, another $35,000 in the last six and a half months for New York and another $104,000 to the governor’s re-election campaign, Zuffa could near almost $1 million in less than two years alone.  The spending has ramped up but has it seen anything for its investment?

Filed Under: UFC

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Tops of says

    July 16, 2013 at 7:58 pm

    Desperate times calls for desperate measures…..no ROI lol….

    Reply
  2. Aintitthetruth says

    July 16, 2013 at 10:31 pm

    At least Zuffa lowballs politicians as well as its fighters.

    Reply
  3. Machiel Van says

    July 17, 2013 at 1:35 pm

    That’s really not a lot of money as far as lobbying is concerned.

    Reply
  4. AK says

    July 18, 2013 at 3:11 am

    Hmm, PERFECT logic. Keep donating to shameless Dems who are virtually universally all in bed with the scumbag unions as well! Then again, Dana already sold his soul to Harry Reid. Dan, every hear the saying “you play in mud, you get dirty”?

    Reply
  5. aintitthetruth says

    July 20, 2013 at 3:13 pm

    dems are the lesser of two evils. They can’t be called fascist like the republicans by definition.

    Reply

Leave a Reply to Aintitthetruth Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Featured

Senate makes mockery of Ali Act hearing

Wrestlemania 42 attendance dips from 2025

How will WWE’s big weekend turn out?

UFC 327 attendance, gate and bonuses

Plaintiffs seeking $270K from Dominance MMA

UFC Seattle attendance, gate and bonuses

Archives

MMA Payout Follow

MMAPayout

Senate makes mockery of Ali Act hearing #boxing #TKO #UFC #Zuffa #ZuffaBoxing https://mmapayout.com/2026/04/22/senate-makes-mockery-of-ali-act-hearing/

People who do martial arts will laugh and tell me it’s fake. But then I ask them why they do martial arts? 😉

Fightful Wrestling @Fightful

Fox Sports Host Rob Parker Doesn't Understand How Grown Men Are Into Wrestling https://www.fightful.com/wrestling/fox-sports-host-rob-parker-doesnt-understand-how-grown-men-are-into-wrestling

I saw Tamaso at SeaTac airport last Thursday

Roman Reigns SZN 💥 @reigns_era

Good god.

#AEWDynamite

Retweet on Twitter MMA Payout Retweeted

Per WWE,

#WrestleMania 42 became one of the highest-grossing events in company history, with record or near-record performances across gate, sponsorship, merchandise, WWE World, On Location VIP experiences and digital.

WrestleMania Saturday was the most-viewed telecast of the

Retweet on Twitter MMA Payout Retweeted

I should point out that according to those at TKO that the ESPN/MVPW boxing deal is a revenue sharing agreement similar to the original AEW/Turner deal in 2019 and not a full paying media rights deal which Top Rank had and wasn't renewed.

Load More

Copyright © 2026 · MMA Payout: The Business of Combat Sports