There will be threats, curses, fist-fights, blood, an assortment of tattoos depicting four-legged animals, and a brawl in the parking lot to cap off the night. If the above description reminds you of a 2003 New Jersey fight show featuring Pitts Penn fighters, you're wrong - it actually depicts a typical weekend at Six Flags Great Adventure, which on Saturday night is hosting the inaugural "MMA Mayhem" event. There are, however, a trio of Pitts Penn old-schoolers featured prominently on the card, three grizzled veterans in the form of Chris Liguori, Jose Rodriguez and Adam Fearon, and as MMA pioneers go, it doesn't get any more historical than them. Each got their start at the BAMA Fight Night shows Dan Miragliotta used to run, in a time when the sport was new and fights began in the ring but only finished after some Jersey Shore kid tried to run you down with his beat-up Nissan Ultima after the event. Thankfully, it's a kinder, gentler and more civilized sport today, and the only post-fight antics we'll likely encounter on Saturday night is when some drunken redneck named Cletus tries to ram his truck into a rhinoceros on the Wild Safari. But how things were "back in the day" made for some interesting (and fun) times, and Pitts Penn - with their hard-charging fighters leaving it all in the ring - played a big role in making Garden State MMA what it is now. Although they currently rep places like RABJJ and AMA Fight Club, expect Liguori, Rodriguez and Fearon to kick ass and take names, or at the very least, go down swinging. That was the Pitts Penn way.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Observations from My Couch: UFC 115 "Ultimate Chuck Takes a Nap"
- Mac Danzig got screwed and he got screwed hard. Referee Yves Lavigne should’ve restarted that one.
- Where the hell did that ref come from in the Ricardo Funch/Claude Patrick fight? Has he ever seen an MMA bout before? Don’t they teach grappling in Canada?
- Evan Dunham and Rory MacDonald – two youngsters who are scary-good. Watching them is like watching Georges St. Pierre circa 2004, i.e., you just know you’re gazing upon the future of the sport.
- It’s good to see Mike Pyle get a chance to showcase his skills without him getting clobbered.
- For an old horse way past his prime, Gilbert Yvel can still throw down.
- I had no problem with CroCop and Pat Barry hugging during their fight. You don’t have to hate someone to fight them, and *gasp* it’s even possible to respect the person you’re fighting.
- So is Rich Franklin going to be remembered for his run as champ? Or is he going to be remembered as the guy who retired Chuck Liddell?
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Saturday, June 12, 2010
ROC 30 Postscripts
This one was definitely one of the top five ROCs of all time. The Jenkins/Porkchop fight was a thriller, Brooks vs. Sepulveda lived up to the hype, and it was good seeing Wing and DeBlass rack up wins. As for the title fights, everyone in press row was predicting Hall, Barboza and LaFlare to score victorities, but Pace/DeAngelis was an absolute toss-up. If Pace isn't in something like the WEC soon, then WEC matchmaker Sean Shelby is just a straight-up hater.
Friday, June 11, 2010
Liveblog: ROC 30 Part 6
TSMMA stand-up assassin Uriah Hall is up and he's facing some grappling specialist named Roger Carroll, who hails from Team Superior. How superior is Team Superior? Well, we're about to find out, and with the ROC middleweight up for grabs no less. Ugh, this one is just as savage as the Barboza/Guidici bout, with Carroll unable to match Hall's power, unable to take Hall down, and unable to do anything but wait to die. Instead of dying, though, Carroll taps out at 3:01 of the first round. Hall now sports a shiny piece of hardware around his waist. Last bout of the evening and it's Bellmore Kickboxing's Ryan LaFlare against AMA FC's Mike Medrano, LaFlare defending his welterweight championship title against someone short but powerful. This one is furious, frenetic and fast-paced as both men throw down with fervor (see what I did there?). Unfortunately, genetics make this contest an uphill battle for Medrano, whose height makes it easier for LaFlare to land strikes while avoiding the AMA FC rep's heavy hands. The end comes when LaFlare delivers a knee right to the bread basket and follows Medrano down with a barrage of leather. Referee Kevin Mullhall steps in at 4:07 of the first round, giving LaFlare the TKO win. And that's a wrap.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)