The Ground -N- Pound

2010-06-28T08:11:00.001-07:00

BIG ARTICLE ON UPCOMING UFC 116 THIS SATURDAY:
http://ping.fm/VFRtq

EVANS v. RAMPAGE aka LANG v. CREED

2010-05-21T18:41:00.000-07:00

As we approach the 1 week and counting mark of UFC 114, there was something that I realized when I was watching this week’s UFC: Primetime. The Evans/ Rampage "beef" started in 1982 actually and is finally coming to a head .

What do I mean? Well if you think back a long time ago (you 80’s babies will remember this), a little movie called Rocky III featured a brief exchange of words between a brash and powerful fighter named Clubber Lang and a smooth, polished Apollo Creed. It would have been nice to see them go at it, but of course the film was called Rocky and not the Creed/Lang show. Anyway, fast forward 28 years and now you have 2 real life versions of these characters finally coming to blows. Here is the break down:

RASHAD EVANS aka APOLLO CREED

Rashad like Creed is a fighter that relies on his speed and technique to get him through fights. In addition, he is the more eloquent and refined of the two fighters. This will be his first fight since UFC 108 in January where he barely escaped winning via decision over Thiago Silva. Similar to Creed he’s a bit cocky, has a ton of swagger, and is not afraid to show it. However, the one glaring weakness that Evans shares with Creed is that he has a problem with power punchers and can’t take a good shot. Creed’s speed and skill often got blunted once he got hit hard enough by Rocky, and it actually ended up killing him when he faced Ivan Drago in Rocky IV.

During his fight in January, Evans knew that he was facing a man known for his power in Tiago Silva and did his best to out wrestle him and keep the fight in his wheelhouse. However, after some taunting by Silva in the 3^rd round to engage, Evans got rocked pretty well almost to the point that he could’ve have been KO’d.

RAMPAGE JACKSON aka CLUBBER LANG

James “Clubber”Lang and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson are almost like mirror images of each other. Strong as hell, big power punchers, that came from tough neighboorhoods. Ironically, Jackson will be starring as B.A. Barracus which was the very same character that made Mr.T(Lang) famous back in the 80's when the A-Team movie comes out this summer. Just like Clubber, Rampage is stubborn and unwilling to change his game plan; often seeking the quick knockout rather than the trying to pick his opponent apart. This was evidenced when he fought Forrest Griffin for the Light Heavyweight championship back in 2008. Griffin while not a very high level fighter, was able to land key low kicks that often went unchecked by Jackson and slowed down his power and explosiveness just enough for Griffin to eek out a decision that cost Rampage his title.

I often wonder what would have happend if Lang and Creed had actually fought who would come out the winner. I guess we'll find out on the 29th.

UFC 112 Review

2010-04-11T13:29:00.000-07:00

Hey MMA Nation:
Ok so here is my recap of the 3 main fights which took place yesterday in Abu Dhabi.
UFC 112 was a pretty historic event when you consider these 2 facts:

- It's the first outdoor UFC event under the Zuffa management. The previous owners, SEG,had a very forgettable outdoor event back in the day.

- As the company continues to expand it's brand dominance, it's the first event in Abu Dhabi.

Overall, I must say that I was not impressed with the card. Here's a little breakdown as to why:

RENZO GRACIE v. MATT HUGHES
Background:This is a match between 2 MMA legends. Matt Hughes is a former welterweight champion. Basically, he was GSP before GSP destroyed him to take his title a few years back. He was dominant and looked to be unstoppable in his time, but with all great fighters eventually someone finds a way to beat you.

Renzo Gracie is part of MMA royalty. As you may have guessed, he is a part of the legendary Gracie family, who are responsible for starting the UFC and the growth of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in the US.

This had the makings of being a decent matchup considering the history between the two camps. Hughes had beaten Renzo's cousin Royce about 5 years ago as well as Renzo's student Matt Serra.

Recap: Snoozefest. Once again the Gracies fail to deliver in the UFC since it's early days. The fight was fairly inactive till about the last round where Hughes really went to town on Renzo's leg with low kicks. Gracie looked tired, old and ineffective throughout the match, which was mainly on the feet. This really annoyed me since these 2 were supposed to be know for their ground games. FIGHT RATING: 1/5

BJ "The Prodigy" PENN v. FRANKIE "The Answer" EDGAR(UFC Lightweight Championship)

Background: BJ Penn is the greatest Lightweight in MMA history period. He has talent in spades, but until his fight with GSP for the 170# title last January, he never really focused on training hard. After the GSP loss, he realized that he needed to start training better and incorporating a strength & conditioning program.

The changes really started to take effect as he destroyed both Kenny Florian and Diego Sanchez with relative ease. He seemed unbeatable and Frankie Edgar just looked like another stop on Penn's path to greatness. Everyone thought so but Frankie Edgar.

In many ways, Edgar actually mirrors Penn. Scrappy, strong stand up skills, and fearless.

Recap: Upset. Edgar was quicker and more explosive than many thought he would be including BJ Penn. Although Penn landed good clean punches. Edgar in my opinion was more active, had good head movement, and managed to get a few takedowns on a guy who is damn near impossible to bring down. After 5 rounds, it went to the judges decision, and Edgar shocked the world by becoming the new Lightweight Champion. FIGHT RATING: 3.5/5

ANDERSON "The Spider" Silva v. DAMIAN MAIA (UFC Middleweight Championship)

Background: Anderson Silva is what many consider the Pound 4 Pound greatest fighter on the planet. His striking is incredible, his ground game (if the fight ever gets that far) is solid and he's fast as hell. This was his first fight since last August when he humiliated former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Forrest Griffen in a "Superfight"(Silva moved up to 205 to fight him). It should have been a no brainer that Maia would be just another victim, but then again maybe that's the problem. As predicted, Maia was no challenge to Silva at all. It actually got to the point that Silva began to clown Maia because he really couldn't touch him in anyway.

Recap: Letdown. At first it was amusing to see Silva toy with his opponent in such a way, it really showed how good Anderson really is. However, at some point in the match it got to the point that Silva just got bored with the whole fight and just became a bit of a douche. He showed poor sportsmanship in not really trying to finish his opponent instead trying to blame Maia for not running headfirst into a knockout. Silva won via decision, but it was a bit annoying to watch.

FIGHT RATING: 2/5

In my opinion, Dana White needs to start forcing these guys into tougher fights. If the UFC wants to start cementing themselves as a top draw worldwide, they need to make a better showing than this.

THE GNP: NEWSLINE

2010-03-18T16:17:00.000-07:00

Ok MMA Nation, here is my take on some of the latest happenings in MMA so far this week. Enjoy!

MOUSASI/ STRIKEFORCE DEAL

Strikeforce Light heavy weight Champion Gegard Mousasi is getting ready for his upcoming fight on April 17th with up and coming fighter Muhammad “King Mo” Lawal. This fight has some pretty big implications on whether Mousasi decides to re-sign with the organization.
For those of you who don’t know, Strikeforce is currently the only other MMA organization around which has a legitimate shot at taking a piece of the UFC’s marketshare.. In my opinion, Strikeforce needs to hold on tight to a star like Mousasi, who has indicated that after his title defense next month, he will most likely re-sign. He’s a strong, fast, and an exciting fighter to watch. This is the type of fighter which you can build your organization on. To top it off he’s a smart fighter. He’s proven how smart he is by dumping the career killing M-1 team as his managers and beginning to negotiate his own contracts. I see big things on the horizon for this guy wherever he ends up.

For more info on Strikeforce and Mousasi, check out the links below:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strikeforce
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gegard_Mousasi

EVANS v. JACKSON … FINALLY

Well , better late than never. The coaches from the UFC’s Reality Show, “The Ultimate Fighter” are finally gonna go at it. This fight was supposed to happen in January but, Quentin “Rampage” Jackson had his obligations to filming the A-Team movie ( which will suck outside of the fact that Jessica Biel is in it).
I gotta say that I am only mildly excited about the fight at this point. Traditionally, what happens soon after each season of The Ultimate Fighter is a match between the 2 opposing coaches. This is the formula that the UFC has been following for quite a while now and it’s what has been pushing it to new levels of popularity over the last 5 years.
When the man they call “Suga” Rashad last fought in January against Thiago Silva he looked pretty soft, nearly losing the bout in the final seconds of the 3rd round. I personally believe that he has not fully recovered mentally from losing his title to Lyoto Machida last May.

Nevertheless, I will still check it out just in case….

For more info check these links out:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ultimate_Fighter:_Heavyweights
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rashad_Evans
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinton_Jackson

UFC 110 RECAP

2010-02-21T19:12:00.000-08:00

Hey there fight fans. Last night (or this afternoon if you live in Australia) was UFC 110: Nogueira vs. Velasquez. This trip marked the UFC's first trip to Australia.

CO MAIN EVENT

• Middleweight Bout: Wanderlei Silva vs. Michael Bisping
Silva defeated Bisping via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28).

Summary: This was Silva’s first match since he dropped to the 185lb weight class, and I must say that he looked awesome. Slimmer, quicker, and still just as aggressive. Overall the fight was pretty even throughout until the 3rd round where Silva really turned in on and landed a take down with some ground and pound to finish the round.

• Heavyweight Bout: Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Cain Velasquez
Velasquez defeated Nogueira via KO (punches) at 2:20 of round 1.

Summary: One word … Power. This is the only word that I can use to describe the way that Cain Velasquez used his extremely effective standup to take care of MMA Legend Antonio Nogueira. This bout has direct implications towards the interim heavyweight title chase. Right now Velasquez has placed himself in the top spot to face the winner of next month’s interim heavyweight title match between Frank Mir and Shane Carwin.

IT’S BEEN A LONG TIME … I SHOULDN’T HAVE LEFT YOU

2010-02-18T22:05:00.001-08:00

Hello fight fans! Your friendly neighborhood MMA man is back from his ridiculously long hiatus and is ready to roll out with a whole new year of Mixed Martial Arts news and insights. I will be introducing new topics throughout each week, and welcome any feedback that you may have. I am really excited about what this year will bring in terms of fights and my continued training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Bring on a new year and a new decade for the most exciting sport in the world!

THE WHITE BELT CHRONICLES VOLUME 1 - # 3

2009-12-13T22:04:00.000-08:00

Seasons greetings GNP followers. Since this will be my final Chronicles entry for the year, I would like to start it off with by quoting the theme song from an old favorite:

Well we're movin on up,
To the east side.
To a deluxe apartment in the sky.
Movin on up,
To the east side.
We finally got a piece of the pie.

Today was the semi annual promotions ceremony at my school : Lotus Club Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and I was pretty excited. I had a feeling that I might get a stripe, but didn't wanna get my hopes up cause to be honest getting promoted is all about the Master's discretion. It's about how he or she feels that you've progressed as a student of BJJ.

THE ANTICIPATION

As the names were called I was eager to hear my name to see what I would get. The school was packed with a ton of students, some of which I had seen on a regular basis, and others I had never met since they were from other Lotus locations.

THE ASCENSION

Once my named was called, I was pretty surprised that I got not just one, but 2 stripes added to my belt! This puts me 2 stripes away from blue belt and now really fuels my fire to train even harder.

WELCOME SUPRISES

There were students who were on the cusp of being moved to the next belt color, but had not been moved yet. One of our strongest female students, Louisa Santos (Blue Belt) had been really eager to get promoted to purple but till today was still not getting moved up. She was the final student to be called up for her promotion, and while she assumed she'd be getting a few new stripes added to her blue belt our master pulled out a belt which totally caught her off guard --- PURPLE. It was awesome to see the joy on her face as she was given access to the new level.

THE BEATDOWN

As the final part of the promotion, all the new color ascended students were lined up for the traditional belt flogging by all the students at the ceremony.Basically your belt is at the end of a gauntlet where you gotta run through and get smacked on the back. Here is a picture of what it looks like:

All in all it was a good day. A celebration of all the hard work and sacrifices made for this awesome sport.

THE WHITE BELT CHRONICLES VOLUME 1 - # 2

2009-11-29T21:42:00.000-08:00

Today was my first tournament in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. It was a school tourney held by my club, Lotus Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. To be honest, in the days leading up to the event, I had a mixture of nerves and excitement at the fact that I would be pitting my skill against others in a true competitive environment. I had no idea what to expect and how I would do so I decided that I was just going to get in there and do my best as well as what I knew from training.

FIRST ROUND
For those of you who know me, I'm not what you would consider a small guy. At 6'1", 235lbs. I got placed in the heaviest weight class which is Ultra Heavyweight. There were a total of 6 guys in my division including myself, and all I was really hoping to do was make a good showing. In the first round, I faced off against a fellow student named Jerry who had about 20 pounds on me. The rules stated that we had to start from the standing position, which meant that I needed to try to take my opponent to the ground..... yikes. I never really worked on take downs using the Gi, but I got a good tip from a fellow student prior to my match, which was to stay low.

The 5 minute match, started pretty quickly. I grabbed the lapels on Jerry's Gi and tried to pull him into my guard. This did not work as I hoped, since he dropped down into side control on me. I tried to escape, and managed to get a reversal on him which allowed me to get in his guard. Not wasting any time, I immediately passed his guard and got into side control. At first I was gonna go for an arm bar, since I managed to get full mount on my opponent, but he started bucking quite a bit to keep me unsteady. I decided to go back to side control since that was all he was giving me. Now here is something really important that any of you future BJJ players need to remember, look at the expression on your opponent's face while your in control of him or her. I learned this on the fly, and realized that Jerry was tired out from trying to control me. In addition, I was putting all my weight on him from side control so it was getting even harder than him to breathe. I decided to go for a choke I had learned earlier this week, which is basically a baseball choke. For those who don't know, a baseball choke refers to the hand positions you have on your opponents Gi. You basically grip the top of their collar with one hand ( thumb inside) and slide your other hand inside their Gi on the other part of their neck. The goal is to close the space around their carotid artery which causes immense pressure and can be pretty painful. See the diagram below:

After a few seconds in this hold, I felt Jerry tap and the match was over. I was victorious. and on my way to the finals.

FINALS
In the finals of my weight class I was facing the defending champ from the previous school tournament - Chris. He is a 3 stripe white belt who has great closing capabilities. For those who are not aware, each color in BJJ has stripes to indicate your progress within the color. Usually 4 stripes is a requirement before you get promoted to the next color.

The start of the match we circled each other, and I tried to use the same takedown technique as in my previous match with Jerry. Due to his experience, I wasn't able to get him down and he mounted me immediately. I managed to get a reversal near the out of bounds line and the ref stood us up. This was my crucial mistake. I stupidly shot in on him for a single leg take down and got caught in a Guillotine choke which for those who dont know looks like this:

Lets just say that this is pretty uncomfortable and Chris had it locked in pretty deep. I didn't wanna tap but at some point I had to. I was really disappointed at the loss but learned a lot from it.

THE MEDAL
Once the tournament matches came to a close, the judges added up all the scores from the matches and announced the winners. In my weight class I am proud to say that I took second to the defending champ. My instructors said that they were pretty impressed with my performance considering it was my first tournament. I learned alot about myself today. Considering that I haven't competed for something athletic since high school, I'm pretty pround that I went out there, remained calm, and showed what I know. This gives me even more motivation to learn more and do even better next time.

IN THE INTERIM.....

2009-11-17T10:06:00.000-08:00

By now I'm sure you've all heard that UFC Heavyweight Champ Brock Lesnar is very ill with an intestinal infection, which is why he pulled out of the UFC 106 card that is supposed to take place this weekend. While I feel terrible for Brock considering that he just unified the title with his impressive win over Frank Mir at UFC 100 during the summer, Dana White needs to act quickly inorder to keep the Heavyweight division relevant.

WHAT WE ALREADY KNOW
1 - Some reports are saying that Lesnar will be out for while, and others are saying that he's so sick he may never fight again. Either way what we know is that the champion had a title defense coming up this month and he is unable to defend it against Shane Carwin.
2- In the event that a champion cannot defend his crown, i.e. - Frank Mir after his motorcycle accident in 2004 or Randy Couture during his contract dispute with the UFC in 2007, an interim title is created so that a defending champion can exist.

WHAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN
While being sensitive to Brock's current condition, the show must go on and Dana White needs to get moving. I believe that the easiest and quickest way to resolve this matter while Lesnar heals up is to create an interim title and have the following two fighers go for it at UFC 108 in January:

Cain Velasquez

VS.

Shane Carwin

WHY THIS SHOULD HAPPEN AT UFC 108
The fighters listed above would be the best possible choice at this time for a number of reasons:

1- Cain just came of a great win against former IFL standout Ben Rothwell, and had little to no damage during that fight, so he should be pretty fresh to go in about 8 weeks.

2- Carwin was the man set to face Lesnar at UFC 106 anyway so this gives him the shot that he deserves.

3- It will help salvage a fight card which keeps changing by the day. With Nogueria out due to a staph infection the main event will now be Rashad Evans v. Thiago Silva. While this will be a good fight, the first PPV card of 2010 needs something else to really start the year off right.

4- If Lesnar can make it back from his illness, he gets to face the current interim champ and the drama from that alone will increase the UFC ticket sales & PPV buys rather effortlessly.

IN CLOSING
I wish the best for Lesnar, and hope that he makes a speedy recovery. I liked him as a wrestler and like him even more as a Mixed Martial Artist. Dana White and the Fertitta brothers are smart men who know how to make money so I am pretty confident that they'll make a smart and quick decision on this one.

THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER RECAP- WEEK 9

2009-11-11T21:01:00.000-08:00

The Quarter Finals. The field of 16 has now been whittled to 8. Seven fighters are out of Team Rashad's and one from Team Rampage. Evans felt that the most democratic way of handling the training for his fighters was to just ease off and let them do their own training. Here are some highlights:

MEAT MASHED
Team Rashad's Matt Mitrione spent the majority of this episode is a daze from getting his brains knocked around in his fight with Scott Junk.

COCK TEASE
I gotta admit that I found this pretty funny. Rampage and his coaches decided to play yet another joke on Team Rashad by putting roosters in the coach's cars. Needless to say they left quite a mess.

FIGHT TIME

Roy Nelson

Justin Wren

Round 1: Even

This was a pretty even round. Both fighters kept it standing and spent most of the time and simply traded. I would say that Wren was the more aggressive throughout most of the round while Nelson began showing signs of a comeback towards the latter half.

Round 2: Nelson by a slim margin

This round was pretty much more of the same but this time Nelson was able to capitalize on Wren's fatigue.

Winner: Roy Nelson by decision

This was questionable as to whether it should have gone to the 3rd round. Many believe that the fight was too close to call.

My Take:

Overall this episode was pretty boring outside of the rooster prank and the fight which wasn't all that exciting to begin with. Hopefully next week will feature some more action. On a scale of 1-5 I give this week's episode a 3.

THE FEDOR EFFECT ......

2009-11-07T23:51:00.000-08:00

Ok MMA fans, now that Halloween is all over and we now enter the last 2 months of 2009, the world of Mixed Martial Arts is really trying to go out with a bang. Tonight Strikeforce hosted another one of it's major events on CBS. This was made extra special due to the fact that it was the major debut of the legendary MMA fighter Fedor Emelianenko. For those of you who do not know Fedor is, he is regarded in many MMA circles as the pound 4 pound greatest mixed martial artist ever. This man has only been beaten once and it was due to a referee stoappage based on cuts to his face. He dismanles people while fighting; breaking them down by analyzing them and then taking them out once they show weakness.

STRIKE FORCE GOES FOR THE BIG HIT
Fedor vs. Rogers was actually more entertaining than I thought it would be. Rogers put up a pretty good fight and showed some serious versatility for a guy who is still relatively new at MMA. Here is the breakdown:

ROUND 1- Rogers comes in hard and fast
The start of the round was fairly strategic on the part of Rogers, who drew first blood with a hard jab to Fedor's nose, which caused him to bleed profusely from his nose. He took the fight to Fedor and got him up against the cage which lead to an assortment of knees to the legs. Fedor being the master fighter that he is, remained calm and tried to take the fight to the ground a number of times, but Rogers managed to also keep a cool head and avoid leaving himself open for any submissions.

ROUND 2 - K.O. Rocky style
Although I am really annoyed with Fedor and his management team for screwing up the offer to fight in the UFC, I gotta hand it to him. Fedor is a bad, bad, man....
In this round, it was a bit more of the same from an aggressive Rogers, trying to take the fight to the king of MMA. However, Rogers made one fatal mistake that probably cost him the match: He Relaxed.

There was a split second in round 2 where Brett Rogers dropped his hands inorder to reset and prepare to re-engage with Fedor. That split second was all it took for the man known as "The Last Emporer" to launch an overhand right which leveled the 6'5", 260lb Rogers. The crowd erupted with awe as Fedor's opponent dropped to the ground and referee "Big" John McCarthy called the match.

THE AFTERMATH
With the move to aquire Fedor, Strikeforce launched it's own battle cry against MMA powerhouse UFC. So far everything seems great with this victory, but let's get one thing straight here:

IN ORDER TO AVOID THE FATE OF ELITE XC AND AFFLICTION, STRIKEFORCE NEEDS TO DEVELOP OTHER FIGHTERS.

If they follow the same model of banking all of their money on one fighter Strikeforce will be dead soon enough. The bottom line, Fedor is the man, and that is undeniable, but eventually someone will take him out. It remains to be seen who that will be though...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN MMA STYLE !!!!

2009-10-30T17:57:00.000-07:00

THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER RECAP- WEEK 7

2009-10-28T22:05:00.000-07:00

Hello MMA Fans. We are back on the scene with yet another installment of TUF for The Ground - N - Pound. Here is a recap of what was on Episode 7:

"I GOT KNOCKED OUT BETTER THAN YOU"
The episode started out with a verbal tit-for-tat on who got knocked out worse by their most challenging opponents. For Rampage that would be Wanderlei Silva during the old Pride days, and with Rashad it was the more recent knockout at the hands of the current 205# champ Lyoto Machida which cost Evans his title. Frankly, I think that Rampage's K.O.'s were much worse, and if you don't know what I'm talkin about, look it up on you tube.

I HATE HOLLYWOOD
After the fight announcements, Rampage and Evans started up their usual trash talk again. However this time it got a bit more heated than usual. It seemed like the two really wanted to go at it, and what makes me upset the most is that we as MMA fans won't get to see this happen due to Rampage's new found passion for acting. That A-Team movie is gonna tank so bad that it's going to make Transformers 2 look like The Departed.

MEATHEAD
Matt "Meathead" Mitrione (Team Evans) is kind of a scumbag. The guy was a fomer NFL player turned MMA athlete who if you remember earlier in the season told some Team Rampage members about his coach's gameplan for choosing fights. Apparently this guy is more intersted in causing issues in the house than focusing on his upcoming fight. He wrote a note to about Mike Wessel regarding him being fearful of fighting various members in the house which Wessel did not appreciate much at all. This basically cemented Mitrione's fate in the house as a supreme douche.

In the next segment Meathead as Matt is called gets into it with fellow teammate Jon Madsen during what was supposed to be a light sparring sesion. The backstory on this is that Jon and Matt had been having a conversation at the house, and it pretty much ended with Jon threatening to slap Matt in the face(once Matt was out of the room ofcourse). Well Matt got wind of it prior to the practice and was holding on to quite a bit of rage, to the point where he blew up and had to be restrained.

Rashad reemed Mitrione for his actions considering that he hadn't even fought his first fight yet. The guy's got mental problems.

FIGHT TIME : JUNK(team rampage) v. MITRIONE(team evans)
Round 1 : Mitrione won this round. He kept it standing the whole round and used his slight reach advantage to land some pretty good strikes on Junk which was surprising. Junk made a valiant comback towards the end of the round and the two just traded shots blow for blow till the bell. Even Mr.White was impressed.

Round 2 : I would say that it was a draw. Junk played it smart by taking Mitrione down early in the round and proceeded to work the ground and pound( yes, I see the irony here). However, once it was moved back to the feet again. Matt was able to keep laying shots into Junk.

Winner By Decision: Matt Mitrione - Team Evans - Record is now 7 wins in a row.

"KICK IN THE DOOR, GET OFF THE CAGE FLOOR, ALL YA HEARD WAS RASHAD DON'T BEAT ME NO MORE!"
After the decision was announced and yet another loss was served to the Rampage team, Jackson flew into a rage and totally destroyed the locker room door. In all honesty though, I've heard that the door has been purposely constructed to be easily destroyed even by a small child. However it was amusing none the less.

On a scale of 1-5, I give this episode a 4. The fight was pretty good and all the back stories were fairly entertaining. Can't wait till next week!

2009 NYC MMA EXPO

2009-10-25T22:11:00.000-07:00

This weekend was pretty MMA packed for me. Aside from the obvious UFC 104 event, on a local level, NYC held it's first MMA Expo at the Jacob Javits Center. While it was two day event, I only attended the Saturday portion which in most cases for weekend expos is always the best day.

THE OPENING

My buddy and I got there just as the doors opened to the general public, and after a brief walk around I have to say that it was pretty underwhelming. To be fair, this was the first year for the expo so it's to be expected that that the organizers were probably winging it with regards to what they thought that the needs of the audience are.

THE BOOTHS

Overall most of the booths were a mix of some small time MMA T Shirt companies which I've never heard of and some more well known brands within the fighting/fitness community like Everlast, Combat Sports International, and Bodybuilding.com.

One booth which stood out the most for me, and that I made a point to find while at the expo was a startup company called RED ARME. Prior to attending the event I noticed this company while looking around the expo's website and, the first thing that caught my eye was it's logo. It was really unique which is a refreshing change from the other MMA clothing start ups which have no real orginality to the way they position their brand. My main problem with alot of these other companies is that they tend to go with obvious names like "Beatdown Clothing" or "Busted Up" along with a really crappy logo. Top that off with the fact that most of their marketing collateral consists of the stereotypical overly busty model posing provocatively or the heavily tattooed muscle freak, and in the end the design of the clothing gets lost on it's target audience.

As we approached the Red Arme booth, we were greated by the company's founder Darryl Heslop. I really liked his energy and the way that he presented his brand as MMA Lifestyle clothing. Since it was pretty early in the day, he was able to take some time to shoot the breeze, and tell us about his passion for MMA and what inspired him to start his own company. I was happy to learn that my buddy and I were his very first customers of the day, which seemed to really get the ball rolling for them as I saw more and more attendees stopping by their booth throughout the day. On my way out, I decided to stop by the booth one more time to pick up another shirt which was called "Insignia". Heslop and the rest of the Red Arme crew were so excited to have a repeat customer that they gave me the inside scoop on some of thier upcoming designs due to be released some time next year. Needless to say, from what I saw they were great looking shirts, and I can't wait to pick them up. I actually wore one of the shirts out today and it fits really well. I have a good feeling that this company is on it's way to big things, and wish them the best of luck. When you get a chance, take a look at their site: www.redarme.com

(Here is a pic of me(right) and Heslop in his booth)

SEMINARS & DEMOS

We only atended one seminar which was presented by 2004 Judo Olympian and Athletic Trainer Rhadi Ferguson. The topic of the seminar was "Preparing to Compete" and I gotta say that this guy was awesome. He kept the session really lively and informative. Plus as an added bonus, he happens to be Kevin Ferguson's distant cousin, aka Kimbo Slice.

The demos were pretty cool to watch, as I got to see Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Black Belt Vitor"Shaolin" Ribeiro in action with some of his students. The fluidity of their movments reminded me how much I love BJJ. Also in the the demo area was Kru Phil Nurse. Nurse runs The WAT thai boxing school here in NYC and has been most recently known as the striking coach for UFC Welterweight Champion George St-Pierre. Watching Nurse during his demo was a real treat, the guy and his team move like ninjas on the mat. They are so fast and powerful, that it's no wonder that GSP is able to dismantle his opponents in the Octogon.

After his demo, I was fortunate enough to meet Nurse and the guy fits the mold of many members in the MMA community: HUMBLE. That's probably what I love about this sport so much. Even with MMA growing exponentially everyday, these guys still continue to remain really down to earth and accessible.

WANDERLEI

The highlight of the day had to be an autograph signing with the great Wanderlei Silva. The session was later in the afternoon, so by then it was a bit more crowded and the line to see Silva was pretty long. We paid $20 to get an autograph and a picture with him, which was pretty reasonable. I got a kick out of my buddy Chris getting asked by the former Pride champ about his arm injury(he's wearing a brace), to then see the priceless expression on his face as he learns that it was not "Joooo Jitsooo" (as Silva pronounced it) that caused the injury, but a mechanical bull. The guy is pure class.

PARTING SHOT

Overall the Expo was pretty decent for $20. I think that there could have been more recognizable brands there, but for a first show not bad. The turn out was pretty good, and makes an excellent case for the ongoing fight to legalize MMA in NYC. I'm pretty confident that next year will be even better.

UFC 104 RECAP

2009-10-25T01:11:00.000-07:00

At last ladies and gentleman, the time has come for another UFC Event. UFC104 has come and gone and here is the low down:

PRELIMS
The preliminary fights actually aired on Spike TV which was a smart way for the UFC to get you hooked into the action the same way that a drug dealer get your hooked on their product... give you a free taste to reel you in and then get you to buy the big show.

The were only 2 real bouts worth mentioning from the undercard. The first was between Patrick Barry and Antoni Hardonk. These two guys kept it mainly a stand up match due to their Muay Thai backgrounds. Barry looked impressive in the stand up, and showed some signs of improvement in his ground game. His emotions after the fight were a bit much, but it's what makes MMA a great sport.

Result:
Barry defeated Hardonk via TKO (strikes) at 2:30 of round 2.

The next fight is the UFC's latest golden boy, Ultimate Fighter season 8 winner Ryan Bader. He took on MMA veteran Eric Schafer. While I like Bader, and think that he's got good head on his shoulders, I noticed some weaknesses in his game during his fight tonight:
- Bader needs to work on his endurance and stand up skills. While he has the punching power to knock people into the next zip code, the 1 punch swingin' for the fences technique is not gonna cut it as he gets deeper into his career and moves up the 205 ladder.

Result:
Bader def, Schafer via unanimous decision.

THE MAIN CARD
(Note: This recap only covers some key fights which I feel were worth mentioning)

Anthony"Rumble"Johnson v. Yoshiyuki Yoshida(170#)

Round 1: Johnson came aggressively and beat Yoshida quickly and early. It was discovered that he came in 6 pounds over the limit for the fight. I am pretty impressed with his KO power though.

Result:
Johnson defeated Yoshida via TKO (punches) at 0:41 of round 1.

Joe"Daddy"Stevenson v. Spencer Fisher (155#)
This is Stevenson's 2nd fight since joining the Greg Jackson's Mixed Martial Arts Team. He was able to beat Nick Diaz (who is such a little punk) and will now test his new skills against MMA journeyman Spencer Fisher.

Round 1: Stevenson looked really fluid and light on his feet. This round was pretty much a lot of the two fighters feeling eachother out and making occasional exchanges. Spencer's excessive scar tissue caused a cut to open above his eye, and the round ended with Stevenson preparing to mount Fisher for a rear naked choke.

Round 2: This round started off pretty much the same way as the 1st till Stevenson went in for a takedown. Joe "Daddy's" skill on the ground allowed him to easily dominate Fisher to move in for the finish with elbows to the head.

Result: Stevenson defeated Fisher via Submission (elbows) at 4:03 of round 2.

Cain Velasquez v. Ben Rothwell (265#)

Round 1: Velasquez owned Rothwell the whole round. He took Rothwell down fairly easily and proceeded to ground and pound him for the majority of the round.

Round 2: Velasquez continued his dominance of Rothwell through a series of takedowns and cage control. He finally ended ended it with a ground and pound to the face.

Result: Velasquez defeated Rothwell via TKO (punches) at 0:58 of round 2

Main Event : Lyoto Machida v Mauricio Rua (205# - Championship Fight)

Round 1: Started out pretty even with both fighters stalking eachother and attacking cautiously but aggresively with leg kicks.

Round 2: Machida made a better case for winning the round as he was able to get the better of the exchanges.

Round 3: Machida got Rua in the corner and made strikes but Rua was able to punish Machida with leg kicks to keep his elusiveness to a minimum.

Round 4: Rua took this round with more smart striking to the legs of Machida. While he did counter with leg strikes of his own, Lyoto really didn't do that much damage.

Round 5: This went back what went on in Round 1. While Rua did expose some flaws in Machida's game, it was not aggressive enough to ensure a victory .

Result:
Machida defeated Rua via unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 48-47) to retain the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship

Summary:
Overall, the card was pretty good with some pretty entertaining fights.

THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER RECAP- WEEK 6

2009-10-21T21:15:00.000-07:00

Hey folks, here is my latest entry for The Ultimate Fighter. I know I have been away for a bit, but I’m back with a vengeance!!!

OCTOBERFEST
The episode starts off with Team Evans’ Darrill Schoonover being teased by fellow cast members about his alcohol consumption. I will agree though, 8 AM is way too early to be drinking beer for anybody especially if you’re supposed to be an MMA athlete. However, if you’ve seen Darrill Schoonover, you’d know that there is no way that you could mistake him for any kind of athlete.

STAND UP!
Once again Rashad Evans has proven that he is not only a successful coach, but he’s a smart one. He’s brought in the well known Muay Thai specialist Kru Phil Nurse as a guest coach to help his team work on their stand up. Now for those of you who don’t know, Phil Nurse is the guy who works on George St. Pierre’s stand up training, and we all know what a beast GSP is in the stand up game.
Nurse’s Thai school is actually based in my neck of the woods here in NYC so if you’re ever looking to learn from a great Muay Thai trainer, you know where to go if you’re ever in NY.
(To Learn More on Phil Nurse check out this Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kru_Phil_Nurse)

DRUNKEN MONKEY
While Darrill was sparring Brendan Schaub the coaches immediately noticed that he looked sluggish and weak. Doing what a good team does, the rest of the Team Evans members told their coach about Schoonover’s excessive drinking.
Rashad and the rest of his coaching staff pulled Darrill aside and let him know what he needed to be doing to be successful in the house, and needless to say Schoonover agreed.

“TITIES”: Attack of the coach
The title above alludes to part of the episode where Rampage being the jokester that he is started ripping into Darrill for being around while his team was preparing for their practice. Rampage continued to used the nickname that he bestowed on Darrill from episode 1 due to the sad combination of a tight rash guard shirt mixed with manboobs. Schoonover feeling a little confident that his team will simply steam roll Rampage’s again in the next fight and that he’ll be the cause, proceeded to talk a lot of smack to Rampage including going as far as threatening to beat down the coach if he was to drop down to 205(Rampage’s weight class).

“TITIES” Part II: Drunken Monkey gets tough
I gotta hand it to Schoonover. The dude’s got guts not backing down from Rampage despite the fact that he would get knocked the hell out if they actually fought. Personally I think that Rampage’s little verbal attacks during the fight announcement between him and Zak Jensen, was uncalled for. Rampage needs to show a little more maturity as a coach. I think that he’s just frustrated cause he’s lost 5 in a row and just sucks as a coach. Thank God that Rashad had the good sense to step in and clear it up.

ALL TEASING AND FIGHTING MAKE ZAK JENSEN A CRAZY BOY
Zak Jenson can’t catch a break.
1- Everyone in the house rips on him endlessly
2- Rampage is his coach (nuff said)
3- While sparring with Wes Shivers, he gets cut.
4- Kimbo is like a shark looking for his next fight.

A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS
Rampage’s and his coaching staff thought it would be funny to have a collage created of charicitures of Team Evans. While this was funny, it’s a bit sad. Rampage is just a bumbling moron of a coach who can’t coach to save his life and it’s really starting to show. Rashad once again had the good sense to hide the picture so that Darrill would not be distracted by it.

“TITIES” Part III: ZAK JENSON v. DARRILL SCHOONOVER
In this one round battle of the disrespected Darrill managed to stick to the game plan and rough Zak up pretty well in the stand up before Zak decided to take the fight to the ground. Big mistake. Once the fight went to the ground Schoonover instinctively got Jenson into a triangle choke. It was only a matter of time before Zak passed out from loss of air.

6 – 0. Nothing much has changed since the start of the season. Team Evans is living up to my proclamation that they’ll win the season.
On a scale of 1 to 5, I give this episode of TUF a 4 just for the entertainment value.

THE WHITE BELT CHRONICLES - VOLUME 1 - # 1

2009-10-11T19:55:00.000-07:00

For those of you who are unaware, I have started to take Brazilian Jiu Jitsu classes again. I've just recently started up about a month ago after a 1 year lay off. I feel great to be back training again, and am really looking forward to continuing my quest to black belt. At age 30, my ultimate goal is to get my black belt in 10 years. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu or BJJ, is what many MMA fighters employ when the fight goes to the ground. It's a mixture of locks and chokes that are geared to force your opponent into submission. It was designed to level the playing field between a smaller fighter and his much larger opponent or it can make a much larger fighter use more of his technical skill rather than brute size and strength. I equate it to physical chess.

THE ADJUSTMENT
The first thing that I noticed in my first month back to BJJ is the adjustment that the body must make to the type of training that it offers. Jiu Jitsu involves tough and rigorous training which kind of breaks down the body. You are stretching your body in different ways, relying heavily on your core, and testing your endurance.

The classes usually last for about 90minutes, and the first 30 involve the warm up which is so crucial to preventing injury and preparing the body for the training to come.

DRILLS
Post warm ups, you will learn a few techniques and work on them with your training partner. The goal is to really concentrate on perfecting your technique for proper execution.

THE ROLL
This is what I love most about BJJ, the fact that you're able to immediately take what you've learned during drills, and apply them in live sparring. From what I've learned so far, the toughest part about rolling is letting go of your ego. Your desire to not get tapped rather than simply trying to execute technique is the constant battle. I am still learning that,and from what some of my classmates have told me, it took them about a year or so to learn how to calm down. Hopefully this will take me less time.

All in all, my first month back went pretty well. I am really looking forward to month 2. If any of you are ever in the NY Metro Area, you should try to stop by Lotus Club in Astoria. It's a great place to train and learn from some excellent Jiu Jitsu Practitioners.

See Ya Wed!

THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER RECAP - Week 4

2009-10-07T21:16:00.000-07:00

Hey there fight fans. So I've decided to up the ante and start adding to this blog more frequently. I'm starting with a more immediate post episode recap.

This week's TUF episode was actually a bit more entertaining than the big Kimbo fight of the week before.

KIMBO: ON THE HUMBLE
I am really impressed with Kimbo thus far. His never say die attitude makes me like him, and I truly hope that he gets another shot on the show.

MARCUS HITS THE SWEATBOX
Former NFL Defensive End Marcus Jones had some freaky sweat attack going on. Honestly that guy freaks me out a bit. He's seems like the type to go completely nuts and kill someone in the Octagon. After watching this dude spar with some of his teammates, this guy could be a sleeper pick if keeps his head in check and his body in shape.

SNITCHES GET STITCHES
Can someone please tell me what the hell is the matter with Matthew Mitrione? Why would you snitch on your team by telling the opposing team what their game plans are? That is unacceptable. From what I understand, this guy was also a former NFL Player. If this is true, he should know better. The team is family, and you don't ever go against family.

THE MATCHUP: Demico Rogers v.Brendan Schaub

This was a pretty good match considering how short it was. This one rounder was a good mix of stand up and ground game from both fighters. They were both pretty athletic for their size and it showed.

Demico Rogers of Team Rampage, has some previous MMA experiance with a 4-0 record. He's explosive, strong, and seems to be Rampage's favorite target cause he reminds him of Team Evans coach Rashad Evans.

Brendan Schaub is a member of the Greg Jackson training camp along with his coach Rashad, so there is a really big desire to see a win from this former NFL practice squad athlete.

The round started off with a flurry of strikes and eventually went to the ground with Rogers actually controlling most of the action and dominating most of the round. However, one crucial error that Rogers made was lying face down and nearly flat towards the end of the round. It was here that Schaub was able to capitalize with an "Anaconda Choke" to finish the fight.

This is exactly why I love this sport, one split second of weakness and you're finished.

"STAND BY ME"
What I found to be pretty sad was what happened after the fight. With Damico Rogers standing there in the Octogon alone after his loss, there was no attempt by the Rampage coaching staff to get in there and console their fighter. The suprising twist was that Rashad actually did Rampage's job for him by being there to console a fighter that he's not even responsible for. That shows true leadership and sportsmanship.

I know that Rampage doesn't like to lose, but come on man you gotta step up and be a leader. As a salesperson, I know that when I am doing poorly or under performing, if my Manager is not there to offer some words of wisdom or support, I am not going to be as motivated to push myself. I can only imagine what Rogers felt.

BOTTOM LINE

On a scale of 1 to 5, I give this episode of TUF a 3.5. See ya Sunday!

KIMBO: THE AFTERMATH

2009-10-04T21:02:00.000-07:00

Now I know that I’m a little late on this one, but hey that’s just how I roll. No worries, I’ll start making more frequent posts after this week’s Ultimate Fighter.
Well the big fight has come and gone. Here are a few things that I noticed about the long awaited “superfight” featuring Kimbo Slice:
1- Rampage is still a garbage coach.
2- Kimbo, needs a tone of work on his ground game.
3- Roy Nelson is trying to become this season’s Junie Browning.
The entire episode was pretty good at building the excitement for the Nelson/Slice matchup, but as expected, the fight didn’t really live up to the hype that it generated.
ROUND 1
The first round was pretty uneventful till about the midway point where there was a decent exchange between the two fighters, and Nelson took the fight to the ground ASAP. It was on the ground that it clearly showed how much work Kimbo has to do to become even a decent MMA Fighter. Nelson, who is a Jiu jitsu Black Belt , owned him to the point where he had Kimbo in a crucifix hold and spent the remainder of the round making a punching bag out of Kimbo’s head. If it weren’t for the fact that this was the big Kimbo fight, the ref would have stopped it, but much to Nelson’s protest the fight went to Round 2.
ROUND 2
The second round was pretty much more of the same, to where Nelson got tagged with a few of Kimbo’s punches before taking it to the ground. Once again, Nelson easily laid his 265 pound mass all over Kimbo to get him into yet another crucifix.
THE RESULTS
Apparently the episode did really well in the ratings, with over 6 million viewers, it was the highest rated episode of the ultimate fighter ever. Apparently, Kimbo is not 1 and done, the producers have alluded to the fact that there could be an injury where Kimbo could make another run, but even if that does happen, I think that Kimbo needs to be less cautious when he fights. He’s gotta let his hands go and use that punching power that made him famous. Everyone knows his weakness is the ground game so as a coach Rampage should be working more of his takedown defense than anything else.
The only issues that I have with Kimbo’s lack of a ground game is that fact that he’s been on this MMA journey for about 2 years now, and one would think that he’d be at least decent at it by now. I mean I just started taking Jiu Jitsu myself, and I think that I could probably beat Kimbo on the ground at this point, and I don’t even train everyday like he does…. Dude, hire a jiu jitsu instructor!
What will happen to Kimbo going forward is totally up to the producers and the UFC, but they’ve managed to one thing… they’ve made Kimbo likeable which the first step to becoming a UFC superstar.

THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER SEASON 10 – ENTER THE KIMBO

2009-09-27T21:00:00.000-07:00

Well we are 2 episodes into Season 10 of The Ultimate Fighter, or as I like to call it the KIMBO SHOW. So far nothing major has occurred outside of finding out what we already knew about Rampage’s coaching skills: He Still Sucks. The man couldn’t coach his way out of a wet paper bag to be honest. Which is why I am calling this right now: TEAM EVANS WINS SEASON 10.
There, I said it and I mean it. Whether you love ‘Sugar’ Rashad Evans or hate him, you cannot deny the intelligence of his coaching thus far. The most impressive thing he’s done is having Greg Jackson (Rashad’s trainer) serve as an advisor during the assessment session in episode 1.
For those of you who are unaware, Greg Jackson is like the Phil Jackson(No Relation) of MMA. He knows how to take talent and create a game plan for them to win. They hand picked a combination of athletes that mirror Rashad somewhat . These guys are noticeably smaller than Rampage’s team yet they are more agile, better wrestlers, and much faster.
Coming up this week with Rampage’s team down 0-2, and Rashad with full control of picking the fights, we have the most anticipated fight on The Ultimate Fighter ever…. KIMBO SLICE vs. ROY “Big Country” NELSON. Now this is what we’ve all been waiting for since it was announced that Kimbo was going to be on the show. Finally this internet street fighter was going to get a chance to fight in the pride and glory of MMA – The UFC, and be seriously tested with a legitimate heavy weight. For those of you who don’t know, Roy Nelson is no pushover. This guy was the first and last heavyweight champion in the now defunct International Fight League(IFL). He’s a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Black belt under Renzo Gracie and the dude can take a hit.
From what I have seen so far, Kimbo is exhibiting some decent grappling ability with a very coachable attitude. However I am not sure if that will be enough to keep him from getting beaten by Nelson. The only thing that I can see happening is that Nelson, who is acting like a lazy primadona, gets gassed and Kimbo capitalizes and knocks him out.
Either way the build up during the episode should be good enough to ensure that the ratings rival those of the 1st Season Ultimate Fighter Finale. However, I can’t help but think what will Dana White will do once Kimbo is beaten? Where will the interest in this all Heavyweight season be once The Kimbo Show rolls out of town? They better start working on another Junie Browning fast...

Round 1

2009-09-20T21:20:00.001-07:00

Can you remember the moment when you realize that you’re in love? It kind of sneaks up on you out of the blue , and without warning. It happened with my wife a long time ago. For a while I knew I liked her, then I grew to like her a lot, and finally it just got to the point where I couldn’t see my life moving forward without her. I can tell you the exact date that I knew that my affection for MMA went from just casual observer to full blown fan…. November 15^th, 2008. What is so significant about this date? Well it’s the date of one of the biggest nights in MMA history… UFC 91- Brock Lesnar v. Randy Coture for the UFC heavyweight championship.

Now I’ve been to UFC’s in the past, but only in my neck of the woods on the east coast. Going to an event in Las Vegas is whole different animal all together. The atmosphere in Vegas amplifies the importance of any UFC fight 10 fold, and for those of you that have yet to experience a UFC event in Vegas, I highly recommend it.