Friday, December 30, 2011

MMA Journalist's "Best of 2011" List - Accept No Substitute

Pete Lampasona over at TheFightNerd has put together a pretty decent list of grand and exciting things that went down in the Northeast scene in 2011 (read it here: http://www.thefightnerd.com/2011-north-eastern-regional-mma-awards/). But it ain't MMA Journalist's official "best of" list, which is recognized as law in four different states and gospel in various religions and cults throughout the world. So! Best of 2011!

-Best Transition to Pro by an Amateur: Jimbo Hoffman - Hoffman capped off 2010 (and a long and fruitful amateur career) with a win via guillotine over the always tough Kenny Rivera, and then two months later stepped into ROC's cage to make his pro debut. Whereas it took Hoffman and minute and five seconds to put Rivera to sleep, his ROC fight against Yaser Shaukat was all of 47 seconds. He followed that win up with another submission victory in June. If Hoffman keeps it up, he's going to be fighting for a featherweight belt soon.

-Best Meteoric Rise to the Top and Shoe-In for When the UFC Comes to Town: Tom DeBlass - While you and I were doing mundane things like working in offices and watching The Ultimate Fighter, Ricardo Almeida-trained black belt DeBlass was racking up wins via quick sub, knockout and hard-fought decision against UFC veterans, local trashtalkers, and ex-powerlifters. Now DeBlass is a ROC light-heavyweight champ, a huge ticket seller and draw, and a total shoe-in for some Octagon action if and when the UFC comes to town. I feel inadequate now - how about you?

-Best Meteoric Rise to the Top and Shoe-In for When the UFC Comes to Town, Part 2: Aljamain Sterling - Five pro fights in 2011, and all of them won in convincing fashion. Yup, that's Sterling, who rocketed up the ranks of the "little guys" to become the Supreme Ruler of Munchkin Land. If the UFC comes to town (like, in June, for instance), homeboy is their local bantamweight badass for sure.

-Best Knack for Inducing Convulsions in an Opponent: Lucas Pimenta - Gold Team Fighters rep Pimenta started off the year a bit "meh", but in his last two trips to into combat, once at Cage Fury Fighting Championship and once at a Bellator undercard, he hit his foes so hard they had seizures. That's, uh, some pretty damn hard hitting, no? Watch out for this guy. No, seriously, watch out. He will freakin' kill you if he punches you.

-Best Clear and Convincing Win in a Rematch: Al Iaquinta vs. Gabriel Miglioli II - At ROC 36 lightweight stud Iaquinta and Brazilian dynamo Miglioli went to war, and the close decision that went to Iaquinta left a bad taste in the mouths of some. Their immediate rematch, however, eradicated all doubts. At ROC 37, it took Iaquinta just 26 seconds to plant a kick to Miglioli's face with surgical precision and TKO the stunned fighter with punches. After that, the only bad taste in anyone's mouth was Iaquinta's foot, which left Miglioli begging his corner for some mouthwash.

-Best "Oh My God, He's Dead" Moment: Chris Liguori vs. John Salgado II - I'm not quite sure why Liguori and Salgado rematched at ROC 37, as Liguori had beaten him convincingly before, but instead of a decision win, this time around Liguori blasted Salgado in the chops so hard Salgado spun around and dropped to the canvas like a mannequin thrown from a third-story window. Of course I knew Salgado wasn't dead, but I was still left wondering if he had a last will and testament in place.

-Best Underground Fighter Ready to Transition to the Sanctioned Scene: Jonathan Rodriquez - Sometimes the UCL will give us fighters who are talented and ready, sometimes it will give us fighters who need a bit more seasoning before making the leap into sanctioned fighting (where the competition can sometimes be steeper). With his seemingly unstoppable triangle choke, Rodriquez is the former. If you're old school like me, you might remember when Jutaro Nakao was tapping EVERYBODY with triangles - Rodriguez reminds me of that.

-Best League Clinging to the Ideal that Kung Fu is All You Need: Manup Standup - Way out in Jamaica, Queens, there's an underground full-contact kung fu tournament where the competitors can summon lightning bolts and fireballs, and the injured are treated with judicious applications of chi. Or so they think. Regardless, it's awesome.

-Best Post-Fight Victory Celebration: James Funaro - Funaro made his pro debut at CFFC 7, and after smoothly guillotine-ing opponent Billy Dee Williams in a little over a minute, he jumped to his feet, pointed at his twin brother on the other side of the cage, and screamed "Fuck you, Joe!" No one is quite sure why, so let's just chalk that one off to sibling rivalry. Or something.

-Best Recovery from an Accidental Eye-Gouge: Igor Gracie - What happens when you poke a Gracie in the eye? Well, if it's Igor, he waves off the doctor, and promptly gets his CFFC 9 opponent Quinton McCottrell down and subs the crap out of him. Literally, there was no crap left in McCottrell after that.

-Best Future Champ: Artur Rofi - Romulo Bittencourt-trained Rofi has staked out CFFC as his territory, and thus far, everyone who's faced him has had been brutally subbed or brutally KO'd - or both. Until someone figures out how to douse the flames of his burning, aggressive jiu-jitsu, Rofi is going to keep racking up wins, and if he keeps it up, a championship belt around his waist is inevitable.

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Dramatis Personae: Carlos Moreno

I really wanted Carlos Moreno to be in RAW COMBAT but the timing wasn't right. You see, when I was doing interviews with local Northeast fighters, fighters who helped make the scene what it is today, "The Tyrant" was a guest of the state, and incommunicado (to me, at least). But damn, when it comes to raw talent, intensity and ferocity, few have been able to match Moreno in the cage - which makes his friendliness and likeability outside of the cage such a stark contrast.

If you take Moreno and his record at face value, you'll only get half the story. A glance at his stats and one can see he was a product of "Big" Dan Miragliotta's BAMA Fight Nights, and all of his wins have come from hitting his opponents so hard they either went to sleep or wished they were asleep, and that he was a Ring of Combat and Battle Cage Xtreme heavyweight champ. However, the tale not told by mere stats is a tale only told by the details, details seen when you're a fixture at shows. There was the time he duked it out with UFC vet Kevin Jordan, and when he got dropped by a knee, his mom was frantic as she rushed the cage. There was also the time teammate Tom Gallicchio showed up for a fight with the words "Free Carlos" written on his back, an open plea to the world about Moreno's legal plight. And there was the time when Moreno took a fight on an EliteXC undercard against Carlton Haselrig, which, due to the short notice (really, only a few days), meant the Latino version of "Tank Abbott" had enough gas for one round of fending off Haselrig's wrestling before he was forced to call it quits.

But those losses, and time spent away from the scene, don't mean much in the grand scheme of things, especially when you're a heavyweight with the ability to break someone's orbital bone with a jab, or when you can overwhelm nearly everyone with sledgehammer fists, and provide a fight card with one heck of an exclaimation point.

Moreno is out now and keen on getting back into the cage, and that's pretty freakin' cool to hear. He was, without question, the Northeast scene's first true heavyweight knockout artist. And it doesn't matter whether there's still TNT left in his fists or not, because ultimately, the scene is far more interesting with him around.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Dramatis Personae: K-Rod

If ever I had the urge to pack a fat bong with herb and smoke up, without question the first person I'd pass it to after puffing large would be K-Rod. Known as "Kevin Roddy" to those who keep official records or write stuffy articles on Northeast MMA shows, K-Rod has been a fixture in the local circuit since about 2005 - and with his jiu-jitsu (courtesy of Kurt Pellegrino) and tight guard game, he was, for a spell, one the top five lightweights in the area (his contemporaries were Frankie Edgar, Jim Miller and Deividas Taurosevicius, which says a lot about his skills).

Covered in tattoos, skinny as fuck but game as hell, and one of the coolest dudes you will ever meet, K-Rod still gets into the cage every now and then. This year he was on a Strikeforce undercard, last year he lost a decision to Dennis Bermudez (yes, the TUF 15 runner-up) at an M-1 Global show, and a couple years back he fought on an Indian reservation in Upstate New York in a venue that was a cigarette factory by day (according to him, the joint reeked of tobacco so bad, he just wanted to get paid and get out). He was even the Battle Cage Xtreme champ back when BCX was cranking out shows.

Nowadays, because of his propensity for hunting for subs from the bottom, K-Rod is losing decisions more than he's catching opponents in armbars and triangles. But that's okay. He's there to fight, and if he's at an event and not there to fight, it means he's there to have a good time. And really, there's nothing wrong with that, either.

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Dramatis Personae: Muslim Adam

I've met a lot of people cover the sport over the years, so many of them cool and interesting and the kind of characters you'd likely be talking about twenty years after you last saw them. Hey, why not start profiling them here! (Note: that was me talking to myself.) Okay, I will! First up: Muslim Adam.

Muslim Adam is a denizen of the Underground Combat League. Sure, he's a fighter, a street scrapper with some decent standup skill that's enabled him to knock opponents out with precision high-kicks to the neck or just stand and bang. I'd say he's won about as many as he's lost, although two losses stick out... Once, he fought UCL promoter Peter Storm, and spent the entire first round within Storm's guard, trying to get some ground and pound going. But when the bell rang signaling the break in between rounds, Muslim Adam stood up and said that was it. He was very apologetic, turning to the crowd with his palms up, shaking his head while telling them that his knee was hurt, that a few days before the event he got into it with a police officer and the cop whacked him in the leg with a baton (hence the injury). Everyone was cool with Muslim Adam's explanation, and the audience applauded him for his effort.

That fight right there paints half a picture of Muslim Adam. The other half of the pic comes from his recent loss to Gracie Barra rep Chike Obi. Obi got him down and was unloading on him with punches, and while he was getting hit, Muslim Adam was yelping "Allah Akbar! Allah Akbar!"

Muslim Adam, with his shaved head, Taliban beard and kind, respectful demeanor outside of the ring, is white. Like, "if he grew his hair out and wore a suit, he could work on Wall Street" white.

Brazilian MMA Link

Here's a link to a Brazilian MMA site - http://www.lutamma.com/. I don't read Portuguese, but hey, why not post a link, right?

Great Muay Thai Article

There's a great Muay Thai article over at The Classical - link here: http://theclassical.org/articles/fighting-otherwise-part-1. The author (now, tragically deceased) went to Thailand and documented his experiences there. I loves me a good travelogue...

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

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New York MMA Expo Postscript

This past weekend was the third annual MMA Expo at the Javits Center in Manhattan, and I ran panel discussions on the underground fight scene both days and sat on the panel discussion about the legalization of MMA in New York. Good times were had by all. On Saturday I had as guest panelists Big Dan Miragliotta (who used to run the old BAMA Fight Night events - New Jersey's original unsanctioned event), photog Anil Melwani, and underground fighters Israel Martinez, Jonathan Rodriguez and Kenny Rivera. On Sunday, the "underground" panel had fighters Harley Flanagan, Joe Funaro and Eric Blasich. (The "legalization" panel on Sunday was run by Justin Klein and had Nick Lembo, Dr. Sherry Wulkan and myself.)

I was big on audience interaction, so to encourage the asking of questions I gave out a copy of RAW COMBAT to anyone who raised their hand and asked something. Of course everyone loved Big Dan - as a UFC ref he's pretty much a celebrity - and lots of people seemed into the discussion. There were only a couple crazies (crazies are to be expected, especially when martial arts is involved), although on the second day some guy stood up and spoke incoherently for like two minutes. I gave him a book to shut him up.

So like a said, good times. Good times.

Turkey Showing Some Love

Here's Hurriyet, the largest newspaper in Turkey, showing RAW COMBAT some love. I think. I don't read Turkish so they could be hatin'. http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/yazarlar/19489738.asp

Sunday, December 11, 2011

UCL Postscript

Another Sunday in New York City, another installment of the only unsanctioned, illicit and totally freakin' cool fight show around. From an undisclosed location in the Five Boroughs, the Underground Combat League provided us with a round-robin grappling tournament plus a six-fight MMA card. Veteran New Jersey pro fighter Josh Key was there to take part in the grappling portion, and there were a lot of new faces mixed in with the familiar ones. Some thoughts:

-Promoter Peter Storm dusted off the blue judo gi to take on kung fu exponent Blackie Chan. It took some work, as Blackie is no slouch when it comes to hitting and moving out of the way, but eventually Storm got him down and kimura'd him.

-Rene Driefuss-trained jiu-jitsu beast Chad H. put in another dominant performance, this time against the rookie Miguel Dozler. Dozler was game, but Chad controlled position from the outset, and eventually worked into the rear naked choke that left Dozler with no option other than tapping out.

-Doug "Lionheart" Ahammer and Tommy Diaz went to war in a back-and-forth battle that saw them scrapping on the feet and the ground. Diaz seemed to have more in his gas tank, however, and that enabled him to secure the decision when time ran out.

-Mike Brenkert of Fusion MMA looked smooth tapping out Antonio with an armbar. The bout was contested under New Jersey amateur rules, which meant no hitting the head on the ground and whatnot. Still, it was entertaining, and Brenkert's clearly got technique.

-Junior Lubin and "Smash" Evans went at it hard, with Lubin getting some licks in early but Smash punishing him later on. Lubin can take a punch and Smash can certainly deliver one. The end came when the New Generation Karate rep could no longer overcome Smash's sprawl, which resulted in the Advanced Fighting Systems fighter pounding out the win via TKO. Solid showing by both men, though. Very solid showing.

-It took some hard work, but the veteran UCLer Kirkland Campbell managed to grind out a much-needed win - this time against the Gracie Barra-trained Chike Obi. Just like in the "old days", Campbell repeatedly put his foe on his back and racked up points with fists and forearm smashes. He took the decision when time ran out.

As UCL's go, this one was pretty damn good - and made better by the grappling tournament, which attracted the new faces. Also, kudos to Captain Zorikh, who cast his hat into the ring for the grappling portion and gave everyone hell.

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Friday, December 9, 2011

The Definitive Greg Soto Post

New Jersey-based superhero Greg Soto headlines CFFC 12 this weekend, challenging Chip Pollard for a belt that will undoubtedly be resting on the mantelpiece of the Soto household come Monday morning. Now, I could extoll the virtues of Soto and list the notable accomplishments that make him one of the better fighters to ever come out of the Northeast circuit - things like the fact that he fought (and won) at the first ever sanctioned amateur MMA event in New Jersey, that his only two career losses came in the Octagon (one of which was a disqualification for an inadvertent bout-ending foul), that he's a jiu-jitsu brown belt under Kurt Pellegrino, etc. But I won't. Instead, I will tell a story about how Soto headlined a small show in the arena of a community college in Lincroft, New Jersey, and how he totally set the place on fire.

Battle Cage Xtreme debuted on May 12, 2007, and like all newborn promotions, the first event was a struggle to find its legs. Ed Hsu put the card together, and after assembling a number of cards for his own Combat in the Cage shows, he knew that success hinged upon getting local guys to compete. So he did. Everybody's friend Eddy Rolon was there (in what would be his last MMA bout ever), as was Joe Andujar of the Rhino Fight Team, Carlos Moreno (a.k.a., the Latino Tank Abbott), the budding Tim Troxell, and the piece de resistance: Pellegrino MMA's Soto versus Ricardo Almeida-trained Sergio Vinagre.

The worst case-scenario for any promoter is when a card is short and the fights go quick, and BCX only had six bouts to offer fans. Worse still was the fact that none of them were going to decision, and most were ending in the first round. The audience was being fed quick, violent and sudden endings, but was it getting its money's worth?

Then Soto and Vinagre entered the cage, and the crowd came alive. There were hints of rivalry there, something about Pellegrino eschewing training with Almeida to go to the Armory in Florida and then venture out on his own, and if you've ever seen the two Garden State fight teams assemble for their fighters, you know they become passionate. So that was the stage that was set, and when Soto and Vinagre began mixing it up, things started to get crazy. Both men were undefeated as pros, both were great on the ground (the edge in subs probably went to Vinagre, the edge in wrestling to Soto), and both were content to duke it out on the feet. And that's what they did - Vinagre planting himself to wing punches, Soto leaping in to swing and jumping back out to avoid eating a counter. From outside the cage Pellegrino was shouting instructions, as was Almeida and even the revered Renzo Gracie (who was also there to corner Vinagre). Then, at about three and a half minutes into the first round, BAM! Soto hit the sweet spot, and down his opponent went.

The audience went wild.

BCX went on to do a couple more shows, with their last event taking place in Atlantic City and featuring dudes like Jim Miller and UFC vet Kevin Jordan. But on that night in May of 2007, Soto was the center of the universe to everyone who'd gathered around the cage in that arena in Lincroft. As usual, he delivered the goods as needed. If there's a moral to this story, it's that Soto - when he squares up against Pollard at CFFC on Saturday night - has been there before. He kicked ass then; there's no reason he won't kick ass now.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

CFFC 12: Unbridled Awesome

Installment number twelve of the Cage Fury Fighting Championship is this Saturday night in Atlantic City, and as usual, matchmaker Arias Garcia Jr. has assembled some of the Northeast's best regional talent and forced them to fight for their lives on a gyrating platform riddled with spike and surrounded by an endless void of a moat. Oops, sorry, Flash Gordon flashback. No, in CFFC they fight in a cage. Anyway, here are fives reasons why CFFC 12 unbridled awesome and worth checking out.

-Greg Soto -I guess, being that he started out doing amateur MMA back in 2006, you could call Soto an "old schooler". But really, that just means the wrestler-turned-MMAer is seasoned as all hell. Soto has only lost twice, with both of those losses coming during his stint in the UFC, and I've seen him knock dudes out, submit dudes, and win wars. He's facing Chip Pollard for the CFFC belt, and all I have to say about that is Pollard better bring that belt in immaculate condition. Otherwise, when Soto takes it from him, he's going to be pretty pissed it's not shiny and sparkling.

-Chris Liguori -I've written a lot about Liguori through the years, and that's because he's been fighting for a heck of a long time (since about the beginning of MMA in the United States) and he's really good at it. I'm not going to say "The Story" will have an easy fight against wrestler Don Carlo-Clauss, but, uh, no, I will say that. Carlo-Clauss's last convincing win was against Peter Kaljevic back in 2009, and 2009 is ancient history in MMA years.

-Artur Rofi -Romulo Bittencort-trained Rofi has a certain kind of viciousness in the cage that makes for exciting and violent (and, sadly, brief) fights. I've seen him break arms, transition smoothly to chokes, and punch the dickens out of people - all which means that Brian Kelleher (who is himself a very tough individual) is going to be in for a war.

-Ozzy Dugulubgov -With hard punching and an aggressive ground game, Dugulubgov is a pretty hot prospect in the Northeast - although he did hit a speed bump with his surprising loss via guillotine to Mike Wade at CFFC 10. Can he right himself? I think so. I mean, he was slaying cats before, and I doubt all that awesomeness he's shown us in the cage before was a fluke.

-Ariel Sepulveda - I can't help but like Sepulveda. After all, he is the only former karate/kickboxer guy I know who goes for things like Peruvian Neckties and inverted triangles, and very nearly gets them. That kind of gusto takes balls, which is something everyone can respect.

Monday, December 5, 2011







MUSU Postscript

As unsanctioned, underground and illicit full-contact multi-style kung fu events go, yesterday's Manup Standup was pretty balls (old person translation: cool). I tend to lose interest when competitors don headgear for their fights, but thankfully most of the bouts were sans headgear and provided plenty of action. Some thoughts:

-I dig what I'm seeing out of San Bao practitioner Willy Cavali, although thus far I've only seen him twice, and both times he was smashing Hun Gar dude Jesse Upton.

-It's amusing that MMA keeps coming up whenever you talk to these guys about their fighting. Some of them ardently believe that the key to defeating an MMA fighter lies deep within their particular kung fu style, and that it's just going to take a pure practitioner to bring that prowess out.

-What the heck are the rules? They make a show of counting to ten whenever the fighters clinch and go to the ground, but how was all the rolling around down there scored? And why was the lightweight champ warned for hitting with "malice"? And there were a lot of decision, so what was the judging criteria? Maybe that's just the "sanctioned-show reporter" in me talking, but I was at least curious.

-It was a good event, and just like attending a UCL is a one-time must for any fight fan, so too is checking out one of these MUSUs. I loves me some underground fighting, and this was that with extra duck sauce and soy sauce.

Sunday, December 4, 2011

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MUSU Liveblog

ManupStandup bare-knuckle kung fu tournament, why can't I quit you? Yes, folks, MMA Journalist is back at the secret location in Queens for the MUSU underground event - an event featuring a bunch of dudes who rep styles like Wing Chun, Urban Ba Gua, San Bao and Hun Gar, and then they throw those styles out the window and just start wailing on each other when it's time to fight. Lightweight champ Willy Cavali is here, sadly sans wicker hat, and middlweight champ Darryel Johnson is here, supposedly set to fight whoever wins a mini-tournament. There's so much chi flying around, I think I was just simultaneously afflicted with liver cancer and cured of it. So yeah, pray for me.
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

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