Observations From My Couch: UFC Fight Night "Shogun vs. Henderson 2"

UFC

• Hans Stringer, Kenny Robertson, Michel Prazeres... remember the good old days when you'd watch a UFC and recognize the fighters in the cage?
• Is it me or has the badass, ultra-dangerous Scott Jorgensen fallen off the face of the Earth and now we have this version that kind of sucks?
• Steven Siler got hosed pretty bad with that stoppage. Like, super-duper bad.

This is What Happens When Patricky Pitbull Fights the Best

BELLATOR

Patricky Pitbull is making his way through yet another lightweight tournament, and he literally punched his ticket to the semifinals on Friday night by knocking Dave Rickels out in sudden and violent fashion. Okay, cool, Pitbull is tough. Now let's not forget what happens when he faces the absolute upper echelon of fighters in the organization's 155-pound weight class...

Sunday Link Dump - 3.23.14

NEW YORK

There's some pretty crucial stuff going down with the Zuffa vs. New York lawsuit lately. The discovery phase is in full swing, witnesses are giving depositions, duels with swords and pistols every other day - it's exciting!

Anyway, today's link dump is a mixed bag of stuff that's very relevant to Northeast MMA. Read it and learn something.

• Nevada is still looking for a replacement for Keith Kizer on the athletic commission, and New Jersey's commissioner, Aaron Davis, made the short list of candidates. Well, scratch his name off. He's staying right here.
• Marcus Surin is Victory Combat Sports' welterweight champ. Here's a little something about him.
• Take a walk down memory lane and recall the momentous occasion when New York State finally admitted that amateur MMA is legal.

New York State Senate Bill Tackles Amateur MMA... Sort Of

NEW YORK

Amateur MMA competitions are turning into big business in New York State, with 2013 seeing close to 50 such events happening compared to 24 the year before (and seven the year before that). However, thanks to how the combative sports law is written, amateur MMA - while legal - is completely unregulated by the State. If State Senator Timothy Kennedy (63rd District) has his way, that won't be for long.

The bill Senator Kennedy has introduced is S06795, and it proposes the regulation of amateur martial arts (not just MMA). Here are the salient points of the proposed legislation:

Flashback: Chris Weidman Day

NEW YORK

What do you get if you win the UFC middleweight belt in dramatic fashion? If you're Long Island native Chris Weidman, you get a day named after you by local politicians. Here's a look back at Chris Weidman Day, which was made official on July 17, 2013. Note Weidman's teammate Al Iaquinta, who's stuck wearing a suit and tie.

Flashback: Bellator 95

BELLATOR

It's always a joy when Bellator comes to Atlantic City - if for no other reason than it gives a bunch of local fighters an opportunity to fight on television. Anyway, here's a flashback to their April 4, 2013 show, which took place at the Revel Casino.

Did Invicta FC Have a Four-Woman Tournament That We Didn't Know About?

AWESOME


This tournament has it all: Wanderlei Silva-like striking, great guard work, a knockout, someone shouting "Worldstar! Worldstar!" What more can you ask for?

The Manup Standup vs. UFC Saga Continues

UFC

When last we left Novell Bell, The Black Taoist and Manup Standup, home to our favorite kung fu fighters, were embroiled in a trademark dispute with the UFC over the use of the shape of the octagon in Novell's logo. Videos were posted, impassioned pleas for justice were made - the whole shebang.

Well, the saga continues. Now Novell is trying to rustle up some cash to pay for a trademark attorney to represent him. Which is smart, because a lawyer is the only thing that can really halt the UFC's efforts to remove the trademark on Novell's Urban Bagua logo (videos won't do much in terms of forcing Zuffa's attorney's to change course).

UFC Fight Night 38 Primer: Dan Henderson's KO of Fedor

UFC

UFC Fight Night 38: Shogun vs. Henderson 2 is on Sunday, so to get you excited for Dan Henderson's return to the cage for this rematch, here's a video clip of his epic destruction of the legendary Fedor Emelianenko in Strikeforce.

If you'll recall, Fedor was one of the most feared fighters on the planet for a very long time - and with good reason, as he was absolutely killing everyone he faced. But by July, 2011, the Russian's aura of invincibility had faded (he's just gotten old, which happens), so when he faced "Hendo", he was a shadow of his former self.

Oh well. Such is life in the fight game.

Throwback Thursday: Frankie Edgar vs. Eric Uresk

NEW YORK

Picture if you will an underground fight show in a rundown boxing gym in the South Bronx, the venue packed with fans screaming like banshees while two very tough dudes battle it out in the ring. What I'm describing could be any number of underground fights, but in this instance, the scene is July 10, 2007, at the very Underground Combat League where Frankie Edgar made his MMA debut against Eric Uresk.

All you need to know when you watch the video after the jump is that Frankie was the underdog going into this fight and that headbutts were legal. Enjoy.

Best. UFC Poster. Ever.

UFC

Really, isn't it cool?

Flashback: Bellator 74

BELLATOR

Bellator has been a great platform for local fighters to make a name for themselves. Case in point: Lyman Good, who was their inaugural welterweight champ. Here's a flashback to Bellator 74, when Good returned after a layoff to beat a Brit judoka named Jim Wallhead.

More NYFE 2 Vids and Pics

NEW YORK

The NYFE 2: "Ides of March" show on Saturday kicked ass and got a bit of well-deserved press. However, I'm not done writing about it - or at least, I'm not done posting video and pics.

Already, one NYFE alum is moving on to the bigger leagues. I'm talking about Felipe Carlos, of course, who's slated to fight at the next Ring of Combat pro show in New Jersey in May.

Big Dan Miragliotta is Building an Ark - Should We Worry?

NEW JERSEY

I don't know about you, but when someone starts building an ark, I have the urge to check up on the weather forecast.

Such is the case with "Big" Dan Miragliotta, who can often be seen refereeing bouts in the UFC, Bellator and in smaller shows around the country, but who lately has been building something wooden and capable of holding two of every animal.

After the jump, check out the pics of his handiwork (and yes, I'm pretty sure that's Russell Crowe with him in some of the photos).

Ring of Combat 48 Card Shaping Up Nicely

NEW JERSEY

Ring of Combat 48 isn't until May 16, so a million things can happen between now and then that could change the card, but there is a preliminary version up, and it looks awesome.

The first thing that sticks out in terms of tantalizing match-ups is the pairing of Chris Wade and Frankie Perez. Wade is the current 155-pound champ, Perez is undefeated, and together they make for a bout that's going to have their respective extremely-sizable cheering sections going wild.

Flashback: Cage Fury Fighting Championship 16

NEW JERSEY

I'm not going to lie - I've covered so many shows in my 13 years of reporting on the sport that sometimes I have to get creative just to stay interested. Yes, sitting cageside is always awesome, but do a million stories from that vantage point and you become stale and complacent. Which is why this flashback to Cage Fury Fighting Championship 16, which took place in Atlantic City on August 25, 2012, is a good one. For this CFFC, I followed around a NJSACB inspector. The perspective was enlightening.

Long Island-Based UFC Fighter Database is Noble But Sad

UFC

Generally, when you look for a fighter database to use as a reference tool, you want something with depth, i.e., a lot of fighter entries. That's why mixedmartialarts.com and Sherdog have good ones, and even Wikipedia is servicable. But Newsday put together a database of all Long Island-based fighters who've made it to the UFC, and while the cause behind it is noble - celebrating the hometown heroes who made it to the big leagues - there's something fundamentally sad about the whole thing.

There are only 13 entries.

Sure, our sport is just 20 years old, and the pool of talent as a whole is still relatively small. But 13.... damn.

Anyway, check it out. It worth looking at to remind you who those lone 13 guys are.

UFC Fight Night 38 Primer: Gian Villante

UFC

There's a UFC this Sunday night (!), and headlining the card is a rematch between Mauricio "Shogun" Rua and Dan Henderson - two guys who probably don't have much fight left in them, but so what, right? Anyway, since the event takes place in Brazil, the undercard is of course stocked with a ton of Brazilians. But tucked away in there somewhere is Long Island native - and former Ring of Combat champ - Gian Villante. Hooray!

In case you don't remember, throughout 2009 and 2010, Villante was widely considered to be the next superstar coming out of the Northeast. And though his friend and training partner Chris Weidman ended up being "that guy", Villante remains one tough S.O.B. capable of thrilling us.

Below is probably one of the worst videos ever of Villante fighting in ROC. Still, it's better than nothing. Enjoy!

New York Fight Exchange 2: Mess with the Bull, Get the Horns

NEW YORK

If you mess with the bull, you get the horns. This was the lesson learned by Jonathan Lopez, who took a fight on short notice to challenge New York Fight Exchange welterweight champ Jerome "The Bull" Mickle at Saturday night's NYFE 2: "Ides of March" show.

Observations From My Couch: UFC 171

UFC

• I'm not going to come out and say Bubba McDaniels sucks, because that would be cruel to a fighter who's dedicated so much to the sport. But he sucks.
• Dennis Bermudez is now far more successful than Diego Brandao, who beat him to become the winner of TUF 14. Think about that.
• Kelvin Gastelum won. To those of you who had the TUF winner losing within two Octagon appearances in the "The Ultimate Fighter Stinks" pool, sorry. He's definitely beating the odds.
• Look at Ovince St. Preux slowly creeping up the rankings. What a sly dog.
• Hector Lombard is a great two-round fighter. That third round is a tough one, though.
• Add Jake Shields to the list of fighters who are faded and should retire soon.
• Oh God, please, no more fights for Diego Sanchez. He's going to die out there.
• Tough break for Carlos Condit, but I'm still not sold on Tyron Woodley.
• Johny Hendricks versus Robbie Lawler is the closet an MMA bout has come to re-enacting the fight scene in a '70s kung fu flick. They literally stood in front of each other throwing strikes while blocking and parrying. It was ridiculously awesome.