Friday, February 4, 2011
Liveblog: ROC 34 Part 3
Main card time and it's Giedrius Karavackas of Logi International against last-minute fill-in Josh Key. Karavackas is a tough opponent when you have time to prepare, so Key's got an uphill battle ahead of him. The bout opens with Karavackas all over Key like white on rice, and though Key manages to muscle an escape, the Lithuanian is relentless. He gets the rear naked choke at 3:36 of Round 1. Ariel Sepulveda of NEMMA/Lotus enters the cage to take on late replacement Steve Durig of Wreck Room. If Sepulveda is anything, he's a badass striker, so Durig wisely takes him to the ground. Unfortunately for him, though, Sepulveda's been working his ground game, and Durig taps to a triangle/armbar combo at 2:24 of Round 1. Next up is Crazy88 Muay Thai instructor Aung La Nsang vs. Wreck Room sensei Mitch Whitesel. Whitesel gets Msang down and employs some ground and pound, but Nsang slithers out from the bottom and takes Whitesel's back. The rear naked choke comes at 3:09 of Round 1.
Liveblog: ROC 34 Part 2
First bout and it's Manny Millan of Team Stryker and Mike Benoit of Bellmore Kickboxing in a featherweight contest. It's a dogfight from the opening bell, with both men blazing away on the feet and tagging each other until Benoit starts mixing in takedowns - then it's all about Benoit beating the bejeezus out of Millan every which way to Sunday. When time runs out Benoit takes the unanimous decision. Next: Team Vendetta's Jimbo Hoffman vs. Eagle Martial Arts' Yaser Shaukur in another featherweight pairing. Hoffman was a kickass amateur, but this is his pro debut. Can he make the transition seamlessly? Um, yeah. From takedown to mount to a storm of punches to a guillotine, it's all Hoffman, and Shaukur is tapping at :47. Last prelim and it's Vitor Shaolin student Sergio Da Silva against St. Charles MMA rep Alp Ozkillic at bantamweight. Round 1 is all Ozkillic, whose wrestling superiority enables him to stifle Da Silva's game and drop leather from above. Perhaps sensing he's in dire straights, Da Silva comes out for Round 2 throwing fists, knees and kicks with reckless abandon, and it serves him well in making Ozkillic know he's in a fight. But the judges aren't convinced, and Ozkillic ends up with the unanimous decision.
Liveblog: ROC 34 Part 1
MMA Journalist is here at the lovely Tropicana Casino & Resort in Atlantic City for Ring of Combat 34, the Northeast's best and purest expression of state-sanctioned unarmed combat. There are 13 bouts on tap, four of which are championship bouts featuring the likes of Kurt Pellegrino-trained Steve DeAngelis, Bill Scott-trained Ryan Vaccaro, Andre Pederneiras-trained Gabriel Migliolo, and a chick fight between two ladies who I assume were trained by someone but I just don't know who. (Of course, it is possible they trained themselves - you know, by living in the woods and wrestling bears, or by watching a lot of episodes of The Ultimate Fighter. That is, however, not likely.) Anyhoo, it should be a good night of fights. Stay tuned.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
NYC MMA Legalization Roundtable Postscript
Assemblyman Dean Murray arrived with his chief of staff, and Murray was the voice of optimism. "This is the year," he said. "If we're going to do it, it's going to be this year." He went on to talk about how attitudes toward the sport have shifted among other Assembly members (shifted positively), and he played down the impact of Governor Cuomo's budget proposal (and its lack of MMA legislation), stating that what the governor submitted was merely a proposal and a wealth of budget hearings and discussions awaited it. Other points he brought up: how packaging is important in terms of the rally scheduled for February 8 (i.e., no riots, please), how effective (or ineffective) the revenue-generation argument truly is, and the underground show scourge that must be regulated into oblivion. Was there Kool-Aid being dispensed? I don't think so, but I'll drink anything when it comes to MMA, so maybe I'm not the best person to judge. It was, however, a worthwhile roundtable. Props to Sambo Steve for putting it together.
Liveblog: NYC MMA Legalization Roundtable
MMA Journalist is here at Sambo Steve's school in Midtown Manhattan for an MMA legalization roundtable. The discussion is (of course) centered around the issues pertinent to getting sanctioned in New York, and the participants include gym owners Sambo Steve, Steve Katz and Steve Kardian, journos Eddie Goldman, Justin Klein, Bruce Kivo and Pete Lampasona, insider Paula Romero, and a rep from State Senator Lee Zeldin's office. In light of recent legislative events, Lampasona is advocating the "V for Vendetta" mode of attack, but calmer folks are talking him back from the ledge and disassembling his pipe bombs. Other topics discussed include educating the public on the safety of the sport and its utility, and countering negative propaganda and rhetoric.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
More New York MMA Legislative Stuff
Although Governor Andrew Cuomo delivered a hearty knee to the midsection of the "sanction MMA in New York" movement yesterday with his 2011 budget proposal, there's still some hope. Last week the State Senate introduced a bill to legalize pro MMA (which MMA Journalist broke down for you), and not long after, Assemblyman Clifford Crouch introduced a similar bill in the State Assembly. Yesterday, Assemblyman Steve Englebright - who spearheaded the MMA bills that came close to passing the past two years - did the same. So the scorecard is: no love from the governor (and a move to get rid of the position of Chairperson of the State Athletic Commission), one bill in the Senate, and two bills in the Assembly. Keep in mind that both legislative houses have to give their thumbs up and then the governor has to sign the bill into law. Also, keep in mind that last year the Senate passed their MMA bill while the Assembly relegated theirs to subcommittee purgatory, and the year before that the Assembly passed their bill while the Senate had an unrelated political meltdown and did nothing. One last note is that both current Assembly bills have been referred to the Committee on Tourism, Arts and Sports Development, which is where Assemblyman Bob Reilly has been waging a pitched battle to keep "human cockfighting" out of his state - and in 2009 and 2010, Assemblyman Reilly got his ass kicked by a wide margin. The bottom line is, just because the Governor Cuomo refused to "backdoor in" some MMA legislation, there's still hope. Just like there's hope that the Beatles will go on tour with Menudo as their opening act.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
New York State Budget Proposal 2011 = MMA Fail
If you were at the UFC's Madison Square Garden presser a few weeks ago, you heard loud and clear how Dana White and company were banking on New York State Governor Andrew Coumo including a bill to legalize MMA in his 2011-2012 budget proposal. Well, that budget is out today (go here: http://publications.budget.state.ny.us/eBudget1112/fy1112littlebook/BriefingBook.pdf ), and the bad news is that there's no mention of our lovely sport anywhere in there. What does this mean? Basically, it means that if an MMA bill is getting passed this year, it's not sneaking in via the budget and it's getting passed the old fashioned way by going through the State Senate and Assembly - and getting voted on by a lot of people who think these kind of fights are to the death. And that mode hasn't worked so well in the past few years. However, on the plus side, it will be somewhat interesting to watch Lorenzo Fertita send his "boys" over to Governor Coumo's office to get back that $74,000 Zuffa donated to his election campaign. Hijinks! (On a side note, the budget proposal also calls for the elimination of the salary for the Chair of the State Athletic Commission. Rut-roh.)
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