There were actually two underground shows in New York State yesterday, with the UCL rocking the secret location in the Five Boroughs and an event going on in Upstate New York near Albany. Since cloning technology is where it is, I opted to go only to the UCL - something about riding the subway to a vale tudo event just makes it that much more appealing to me. Anyway, it was an entertaining show, with James from Ozone Park utilizing both striking and grappling to take the four-man heavyweight tournament. Also, the folks from CNN Money seemed pleased. Check out their website in the next couple days for some sort of news piece.
Monday, June 7, 2010
ROC Amateur Show Postscript
Some very impressive performances by some very impressive fighters, including Kempo-stylist Robert Plotkin and Team Endgame's Hector Mercado. But TSMMA fighter Mike Fischetti's sheer dominance in the cage illustrates an issue that's arising in the amateur league: if you're a badass and you clean out your division, who are you going to fight? I mean, once you've gone through everyone locally, how financially feasable is it for promoters to fly in a capable fighter from out of state? Ultimately, as the competitors are amateurs, it might not be that feasable at all (at least in the long-term). So then you've got the Fischetti's of the world (and guys like Julio Arce and Al Iaquinta when he was an amateur) just wrecking people with no one really coming close to putting them in danger. The solution to this problem absolutely does not involve forcing anyone to go pro - an amateur fighter should be allowed to compete at that level for as long as he and his team feel he needs to, as that's what the amateur leagues are for. And really, there might not be any solution to this problem. But it is something I thought about while watching Fischetti dispatch Team Serra/Longo's Eddie Lenoci.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Liveblog: UCL Part 3
UCL veteran James Keane returns to take on Dave - a classic striker vs. grappler match-up that sees Dave clinch quickly, side-suplex his opponent and then work into mount. James taps out from the punishment at 1:38 of Round 1. Next: Elia the Wing Chun dude steps back into the ring to face Jerome the Bull. This one is a bit more competitive, with Jerome and Elia trading quite a bit on the feet. But Elia slips about halfway through the round and Jerome stands over him and simply whallops him. Elia taps out at 2:36, but he's definitely redeemed himself. Oh, what do you know, James from Ozone Park and Dave are now fighting. I guess this was a 4-man heavyweight tournament. Dave closes in, picks James up and slams him, but James has an arm-in guillotine locked in. Dave does his best to resist, but he ends up tapping at 46 seconds of Round 1. That's it.
Liveblog: UCL Part 2
One other thing to add: CNN is here, filming something for CNN Money on the business aspect of the whole thing. How many media outlets is that now for the UCL? From the New York Times to Newsday to FoxNews to CNN, and everywhere in between. Pretty impressive. First fight and it's a Russian Wing Chun kid named Elia vs. a bruiser from Ozone Park named James. Elia manages about one kick and one punch before James clobbers him. It's all over in 14 seconds via TKO. Next up: Fighter X against Joseph. Fighter X doesn't want his identity revealed, so, you know how that goes. This one is all grappling, and as Fighter X is from Team Renzo, he has the edge. He taps out Joseph with an armbar 47 seconds into Round 2.
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