Liveblog: Ring of Combat Part 2

First bout of the evening is a prelim match between Jim Tomczuk of Ricardo Almeida's Den of Jiu-Jitsu and Howard Longus of Alex Wilkie's Scary Motorcycle Gang. As predicted, Longus seems more than capable of taking his opponent's head off with punches, while Tomczuk seems more than capable of getting it to the ground and forcing a tap out via rear naked choke in about a minute. Reubens Lopes of Gold Team Fighters and Chris Weidman of Serra/Longo are next in the cage. Lopes is another one of those Brazilian ringers who have been popping up lately here in New Jersey, but Weidman has got something very few Brazilians have an answer for: a monster Greco-Roman lateral drop, which he uses to send Lopes flying. Weidman's subsequent kimura ends it at 1:05 of the first round. Now it's time for Randy Durant to take on Bellmore Kickboxing's Gian Villante. Those out there with any sort of memory (or access to Sherdog's fighter database) might know Durant as a dude who's been fighting since the age of the dinosaur, but he's more experienced than that. He actually trained with Cain before Cain's biblical bout against Abel. Unfortunately, Durant seems to have peaked about 1,800 years ago, and Villante needs only 35 seconds to toss Durant around and bloody him the heck up for the TKO.

Liveblog: Ring of Combat Part 1

MMA Journalist is cageside for Ring of Combat 23 here at the Tropicana Casino & Resort in Atlantic City. The card is set at 14 bouts and it's reportedly a sold-out show, so already the night is shaping up nicely. As Dan Miragliotta and Kevin Mullhall are off to officiate the UFC in London tomorrow, Ohio-based ref Mark Matheny has been brought in, and he's been instructed by the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board that all bouts on the main card are to the death. So, yeah, tonight should definitely be interesting. In attendance are East Coast MMA alumni Pete "Drago" Sell and Kurt Pellegrino, Jay Silva (wearing a Gold Team Fighters shirt - I guess as a consolation prize for that decision that he was robbed of two weeks ago), Long Island bad boy Chris Schlesinger and the usual collection of Jersey Shore ruffians and bandits (Tom Gallicchio, Steve DeAngelis, Kevin Roddy, Lester Caslow). Lyman Good is here, too, and apparently his Bellator FC fight may be in the second week of April - and it could be held locally. The cafeteria features fried chicken that looks like it was cooked three days ago, boiled potatoes, some potentially deadly pasta and mixed vegetables.

Predictions for UFC 95: "Ultimate Joe-Silva-Not-Even-Trying-Anymore"

Man, the excitement for Saturday's UFC 95 star-studded gala event just builds and builds. MMA Journalist has popped a few Xanax to calm down and has formulated these predictions for the mega-super-ultra-uber-event:

• Josh Koscheck and Paulo Thiago are going to go at it and go at it hard, and I'll probably take this time to sit on the toilet and read the rest of "Blood in the Cage" by L. Jon Wertheim. Maybe I'll take a shower.
• Demian Maia and Chael Sonnen will battle. I think I'll use that time to watch an episode of the "West Wing" on DVR.
• Wilson Gouveia and Nate Marquardt should be a contest of wills and clash of styles. Another episode of "West Wing" on DVR, thank you very much.
• Dan Hardy and Rory Markham will square off in what could be an utter war. Chances are, though, that I will stare at the TV for about 20 seconds, realize I could be eating that leftover pad thai in the refrigerator, and remedy the situation.
• Diego Sanchez vs. Joe Stevenson could be a big ball full of "wow!" so I might actually watch this one at normal speed and not fast-forward (remember: I have DVR). We'll see. I might surf the Internet instead.

Carmine Zocchi: New York's Unsung Jiu-Jitsu Coach

You won't find an academy bearing a sign with his name on it. There isn't one. But if you live in the Northeast and you've fought at a grassroots-level show - or even just watched one - chances are you've witnessed Carmine Zocchi's handiwork. He's the guy who was brought into schools like Combined Martial Arts, Thaisport and New York Sanda to teach grappling, and he's the guy who helped diversify their training programs into the MMA-heavy entities we know today (Combined Martial Arts is the home of New York's Rhino Fight Team; Thaisport is now MFS NY). He's taught all over. And while he's won some and lost some in the ring in events like BAMA Fight Night and Ring of Combat, there's no denying the black belt under Marcelo Mello has got skills, as well as a wealth of wisdom to impart. With their massive schools, giants like Renzo Gracie, Alliance, Ricardo Almeida, the Serra brothers and Alexandre "Soca" Freitas may dominate the jiu-jitsu instruction scene, but there is someone very capable teaching submission escapes at that karate school down the street or teaching guard passes at that judo school in Queens. His name is Carmine Zocchi.

Free UFC 95 Card Worth Every Penny

This Saturday is UFC 95, another magnum opus from London, England broadcast for free on SpikeTV, and based on the line-up alone, this baby will clearly be worth every penny. In the main event, Diego Sanchez will pit his top-level submission skills against those of Joe "Worst Jiu-Jitsu Ever" Stevenson in what promises to a barn-burner (that is, a barn that you're currently living in, and when it catches fire all the animals panic and trample your stuff as you make your escape). In the co-main event... heck, I can't even tell which bout is the co-main event. They're all so worthy of that title! Josh Koscheck is fighting no one of importance, Rory "I've Only Fought in the UFC Once" Markham is taking on one of the Hardy Boys (I think it's the one with the long hair that fooled around with Nancy Drew on that class picnic), and Wilson Gouveia and Nate Marquardt are set to clash in a donnybrook that should determine who gets to eat at Applebee's for the next month and who's stuck eating ramen noodles. And the under card... wow. Just wow. The mere thought of fighters I've never heard of, like Stefan Struve and Evan Dunham and Brian Cobb, getting a crack at their share of Octagon glory... I'm so excited about it I can barely think straight. Hey, I know this UFC is free, but is there someplace I could just mail a check to? I'm going to feel like I'm robbing Zuffa on Saturday, and I don't know if I can live with that.

UFC 97 in Montreal Still On But With Key Concessions

Canadian newspaper La Grande Merde is reporting that an agreement has been reached between UFC brass and the Quebec athletic commission, and that UFC 97 on April 18th will go on as planned - albeit, with some key concessions. The event was in jeopardy thanks to Stephane Patry's Strike Box debacle and the commission subsequently wanting to ban knees and elbow strikes, but after emissaries from Zuffa were dispatched to salvage the situation, things have apparently been ironed out and the show will go on. The concessions the UFC had to agree to are:

• Georges St. Pierre's beloved moose "Matilda" will be honored in a ceremony before the Anderson Silva/Thales Leites main event.
• All fighters exiting the locker rooms and making their way to the Octagon to compete must wear flannel.
• Water bottles must be diluted with maple syrup. Yummy maple syrup.
• Announcer Bruce Buffer must end every sentence with "eh?"
• Fighters will be penalized for cross-checking, high sticking and slashing. Penalty shots will be awarded.
• Commission officials will operate from an igloo set up cageside. No one is allowed to make fun of the igloo. No one!

Mike Easton to Wear Speedos, Maybe Less

This Saturday the Ultimate Warrior Challenge returns to the Patriot Center in Virginia, and the event is headlined by Mike Easton - perhaps the best MMA fighter to ever come from the Nation's capital - taking on former WEC champ Chase Beebe. It'll be Easton's toughest test to date, but with his ultra-deadly striking and sharp-as-hell grappling, he should be ready. And as usual, he will be wearing his Speedos. Maybe even less. "I want to show my fans the best of me," said the Lloyd Irvin-trained phenom, who's knocked out opponents in Brazil while wearing hardly anything and won hard-fought wars in the States in practically just his birthday suit. Pending approval from the Virginia Boxing & Wrestling Commission, Easton may even wear only a thong this Saturday, although for now it's too soon to know for sure. "I've got more to offer than Chase," said Easton. "A lot more. You'll see. Everyone will see." The UWC's "Man 'O' War" event will also see local bruiser Antwain Britt taking on Team Renzo Gracie jiu-jitsu stud Jamal Patterson, a whole bunch of lesser known dudes fighting each other, plus a battle between two chicks I've never even heard of. MMA Journalist's Adam Butterworth should be on hand to capture the magic.

ROC 23 Bouts to Watch

Ring of Combat 23 is this Friday night at the Tropicana Casino & Resort in Atlantic City. Woot! Anyway, the 14-bout card features some seriously intriguing match-ups so MMA Journalist has a compiled a list because... because... well, because that's what I do.

• Jay Isip vs. Jeff Lintz - What more can I say about Isip except that he's exciting as hell? Hopefully he'll dish out more ass-kicking than he'll receive, but either way there should be some sparks.
• Al Iaquinta vs. Mervin Rodriguez - Iaquinta's pro debut has been a long time coming, as he was a killer as an amateur. Keep an eye on this guy. He could be the future of the sport around these parts.
• Greg Soto vs. Shawn Forman - Soto was another killer amateur, and his transition to pro was pretty seamless. Though a wrestler and jiu-jitsu dude, he ended up winning a Battle Cage Xtreme belt via knockout, so he's more than capable of banging.
• Aaron Meisner vs. Constantinos Phillippou - Not only are these guys two awesome strikers, but they're two awesome Muay Thai strikers who function best in the clinch. Anyone sitting too close to the cage is getting splattered with blood in this one. Count on it.
• Sergio Vinagre vs. Matt Makowski - Vinagre is a solid jiu-jitsu guy and Makowski is an ace striker with a great sprawl. Both are coming off of bad losses (Vinagre was on the other end of that Soto knockout and Makowski got handled by Erik Apple at a ShoXC on Showtime) so this should be a good gauge as to who's bounced back the most.
• Brendan Barrett vs. Ricardo Romero - Two of the best light-heavyweights in the Northeast. What's not to like about this bout?

Stephane Patry Screws Pooch; UFC Stuck with Vet Bill

Longtime shady character Stephane Patry seems to have screwed the pooch with his disastrous Strike Box event in Montreal, and the subsequent athletic commission backlash is jeopardizing Zuffa's UFC 97 Quebec show scheduled for April 18th. The heart of the matter centers around Patry's attempt to hold an unsanctioned striking-only affair, but things went awry when British behemoth James Thompson brutalized some hockey star, causing fans to go bananas. Now the commission up there (called Les Poissons du Chats et Souris ou Fromage - or something like that) is forbidding the use of knees and elbows, which, given that UFC 97 is supposed to be headlined by Anderson Silva and has 12 other strikers on the card, sort of throws a monkey wrench into the works. What's going to happen? One of three things, most likely: UFC Vice President of Being Old and Respected Marc Ratner is going to talk the commission down from the ledge, UFC 97 is going to be held somewhere else, or UFC 97 is going to be cancelled. Either way, the UFC is stuck paying a veterinarian bill that Patry is responsible for. One thing is for sure, though, and that is that this is seriously going to effect Patry's complimentary VIP tickets to UFC 97.

More "Return of Macaco" Photos

More photos from Saturday night's "Return of Macaco" event, courtesy of photographer Stephen Reiss. This was Reiss' second MMA show; his first was the WCA the night before.