Muay-thai, jujitsu, wrestling and boxing. Put them together and you've got mixed martial arts, or MMA. Yet, so far, the sport has been unsanctioned in New York State. But as our Neil St. Clair tells us, that could soon change and MMA fighters are ready to hit the mats rolling.

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. -- Jason Porter's not the kind of guy you want to tangle with. A mixed martial artist for more than 30 years, he runs one of Central New York's only MMA studios. He wants the state to sanction his sport, one that he says gets an unfair wrap.

"The holdup has been the perception that it's a brutal sport, which is not the case any longer," Porter said.

And Porter may get his wish. Governor Paterson is said to be considering MMA sanctioning in his 2010 budget.

"Given the state's historic fiscal difficulties, we're looking at a broad range of options. We have a $7 billion deficit we have to close, but no final decision has been made," said Matt Anderson, a spokesperson for Governor Paterson's budget office.

Sanctioning would mean fights like this one in Vegas could be held in Madison Square Garden or venues upstate, bringing big-time money to the local economy.

"I went down to Scranton, Pennsylvania to a tournament about a month ago and there were 5,000 people in the stands, selling pizza, buying beer. That's money," said Ed Deitch, a 70-year-old mixed martial artist.

New York is one of just eight states that doesn't sanction MMA and some state legislators want to keep it that way.

"I think it's a violent activity and it's dangerous to the fighters that participate and it's detrimental to our society," said Robert Reilly, a state assemblyman from Clifton Park.

Despite these concerns, Porter says that mixed martial arts, as a legitimate sport, helps funnel aggression away from street fighting and towards a more constructive setting.

"We have a youth program and what we preach is just the opposite. The kids gain so much confidence and how not to use it in a negative aspect," Porter said.

An earlier MMA sanctioning bill was approved in committee. The full legislature would have to vote if Paterson opts to include it in next week's budget address.

A spokesperson for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), one of the sport's ruling bodies, said in a statement that the group was excited about the possibility of bringing MMA to New York.

The UFC commissioned a study in 2008 that indicated a single fight upstate in area like Buffalo could generate as much as $5 million in local revenue.