updated 2:52 p.m. ET June 21, 2008

Efforts to get mixed martial arts legalized in New York market stalled when a key committee failed to advance legislation.

The Assembly Committee on Tourism, Arts & Sports Development had the bill on its Wednesday agenda, but it was pulled without a formal vote. Assemblyman Bob Reilly, a panel member, says he opposes the "glorification of brutality," and a majority of lawmakers on the committee agreed in an informal vote last week.

"The bill was defeated in committee. I hope it stays dead until next year," said Reilly, a former track coach who said he has seen it a few times on television. "Embracing this barbaric sport would have sent the wrong message to our children and our families."

New York is a top pay per view and TV market, but venues like Madison Square Garden remain off-limits for professional mixed martial arts, which combine boxing, kickboxing, wrestling and jiujitsu inside an enclosed area.

Considered a billion-dollar business nationally, New York stood to receive 3 percent of receipts for events here, Reilly said, though less than the 5 percent in Rhode Island. "I don't want to descend into money, which is the driving force behind this," he said.

Supporters say the sport is legal in 35 states, most recently Tennessee and Maryland, with Hawaii set to start regulating it. "We are highly optimistic that mixed martial arts is the fastest growing sport in America and will be regulated in New York in the near future," said Julie Wood, whose lobbying firm helped Ultimate Fighting Championship officials try to influence lawmakers.

They say the sport now has many rules to protect competitors, it has far fewer serious injuries than boxing and many other sports, and it's popular, with gyms springing up across the state.

Former UFC champion Matt Sera, who visited Albany to lobby in early May, said he had 500 students in each of his two gyms on Long Island. If his last fight had been held in New York instead of Montreal, where the 21,000 seats quickly sold out, he would have heard cheering instead of booing, he said.

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