Team NYC got its ass kicked.
It almost feels like this shouldn't happen - the Big Apple is home to many high-level MMA schools, so many in fact that if you were to toss a four-ounce glove in any direction on a Manhattan street, it would hit someone who knows how to throw a punch and nail an armbar. But when it comes to the statistical history of "downstaters" going against "upstaters", it appears as if those who live south of the Tappan Zee Bridge are invariably coming up short.
Let's consider the facts:
- At last year's Fighters Source season finale at the Javitz Center, Josh Mayville - a salty veteran of the Gladius Fights promotion - dispatched Long Island native Stuart Gordon in 21 seconds (for the purpose of this study, we're grouping Long Islanders in with New York City folk).
- When Brooklynite Omowale Adewale trekked up to Albany to fight in Cage Wars twice last year, he beat a fighter from Vermont but lost to local.
- At Saturday's Fighters Source show, the Syracuse Gladius gang won four out of five bouts against downstaters, and the New York City team included Victory Combat Sports champ Rob Ovalle and the always-tough Aaron Sifflet, so there was no shortage of talent on the "City-side". Only Long Island denizen Edwin Rivera scored the "W", taking out Elmira's Dillon Yarka via TKO.
Why is this happening? Are there simply more fights available for fighters in Albany, Syracuse, Buffalo, et al. to hone their craft? I know that my sample size is limited - there are definitely more upstaters and downstaters who've fought each other, but a lack of accurate and centralized records makes pinpointing who they are an impossible feat. However, the seems to be a real problem.
If it truly is, it needs solving.
1 comment:
Honestly, its because the GMMA team is not an elite team, who organizes the LI/NYC team each year. They seem to be a handful of green guys who are always posting videos of strength and conditioning routines, not mat work. If the Long Island/NYC team had guys from Serras, Renzos, Bellmore Kickboxing, Long Island MMA, or established coaching, etc then they would do much better.
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