UFC
There was a point in recent years when my interest in The Ultimate Fighter was superseded by the number of TUF installments, and the waters were further muddied by all these international versions of the show. But this upcoming season of TUF Brazil... this one might be cool.
March 9 on UFC Fight Pass, folks.
Thursday, February 27, 2014
Bellator Flashback: Nick Pace Almost Kills a Man
BELLATOR
The tenth season of Bellator MMA starts tonight with Bellator 110 at Mohegan Sun in Connecticut, and though I won't be there in person, you can bet I'll be watching all the action on SpikeTV.
To get you motivated to tune in, here's a highlight vid featuring New York-based fighter Nick Pace practically murdering someone back at Bellator 11. This particular card also had Lyman Good, Uriah Hall, Jimmie Rivera and Dave Branch all racking up wins, so it was a pretty good time for the home team.
The tenth season of Bellator MMA starts tonight with Bellator 110 at Mohegan Sun in Connecticut, and though I won't be there in person, you can bet I'll be watching all the action on SpikeTV.
To get you motivated to tune in, here's a highlight vid featuring New York-based fighter Nick Pace practically murdering someone back at Bellator 11. This particular card also had Lyman Good, Uriah Hall, Jimmie Rivera and Dave Branch all racking up wins, so it was a pretty good time for the home team.
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
A Look at the New York Fight Exchange's Upcoming Card
NEW YORK
The New York Fight Exchange's second event is set for March 15 at Club Amazura in Jamaica, Queens, and they posted the card - which looks pretty badass - over at Tapology. Here's how it stands two and a half weeks out (and note that champ Jerome Mickle's title defense isn't on there for some reason - not sure why):
Featherweight Championship
Featherweight Championship
- Rob Scotti vs. Felipe Carlos
Main Card
- Fady Medani vs. Romeo Valdez
- Wade Werosta vs. Ken Sweeney
- Pedro Villa vs. William Joya
- Elija Punzone vs. Eric D'Arce
- Nick Olson vs. Omowale Adewale
- Mike Kuhn vs. Brandon Baez
- Karim Ibrahim vs. Uniah Banks
- Alfred Jones vs. Rich Pabon
- Eric Olson vs. Levy Reyes
- Rashad Clarke vs. Constanine Gremales
- Robert Diggle vs. Antonio Quinones
- Israel Martinez vs. Ahmed Aboras
- Rick Schaffer vs. Juan Rosario
- Kenny Sweeney vs. Matt Shamloo
Ithaca Journal Not Willing to Bet on MMA in New York This Year
NEW YORK
According to the Ithaca Journal, the road ahead is still pretty foggy when it comes to the future of MMA in the state. But in the article they posted on Monday, they did a good job of getting quotes from the sport's detractors.
Here's one women's group chiming in:
According to the Ithaca Journal, the road ahead is still pretty foggy when it comes to the future of MMA in the state. But in the article they posted on Monday, they did a good job of getting quotes from the sport's detractors.
Here's one women's group chiming in:
“We will continue to be opposed to this and do everything we can to make sure that New York state doesn’t make this a legal event,” said Zenaida Mendez, president of the state chapter of the National Organization for Women.
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
7 Days in NYC: Monday - 2.24.14
NEW YORK
To an outsider, it must be confusing. Professional iterations of the sport are banned here, but still the UFC comes, holding press luncheons, excursions and photo ops. The reasons for that are pretty obvious - regardless of New York State's stance on MMA, New York City is the center of the media universe, and depending on how the battle to get sanctioning here plays out, it can be one of the most fertile and verdant landscapes for MMA in the country.
It's Monday, Day Seven of 7 Days in NYC, and the UFC is celebrating Black History Month with a week-long media tour featuring stops in Atlanta, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and, of course, New York City. Today's festivities include a visit to the Boys and Girls Club in Harlem, so I pick my 6-year-old daughter up from school and drive on over.
The Boys and Girls Club is where kids go after school to study, do homework, or stay busy doing something constructive in lieu of wandering the mean streets tipping over cars. My daughter and I arrive early, so when UFC champ Demetrious Johnson, TUF star Uriah Hall and media personality Karyn Bryant get there, they see us doing sprints back and forth on the gymnasium floor.
It's Monday, Day Seven of 7 Days in NYC, and the UFC is celebrating Black History Month with a week-long media tour featuring stops in Atlanta, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and, of course, New York City. Today's festivities include a visit to the Boys and Girls Club in Harlem, so I pick my 6-year-old daughter up from school and drive on over.
The Boys and Girls Club is where kids go after school to study, do homework, or stay busy doing something constructive in lieu of wandering the mean streets tipping over cars. My daughter and I arrive early, so when UFC champ Demetrious Johnson, TUF star Uriah Hall and media personality Karyn Bryant get there, they see us doing sprints back and forth on the gymnasium floor.
7 Days in NYC: Sunday - 2.23.14
NEW YORK
The Underground Combat League has always been about unique experiences. In the "Dark Ages" of 2003 to 2012, that experience was the simple act of seeing an MMA fight in New York City. In those days, it was the most clandestine of all clandestine affairs, with event info coming via text message only days before and a doorman keeping out those not on "the list". Times have changed, of course. Now the city is full of MMA shows going down in the full light of day, and you can follow the UCL on Facebook, where everything you need to know to attend is posted for all to see.
Still, in this brave new world of amateur MMA everywhere, the UCL remains unique - unique in ways that would be impossible to replicate elsewhere. Unique in ways that are just fine remaining the sole province of the 11-year-old unsanctioned MMA promotion.
The Underground Combat League has always been about unique experiences. In the "Dark Ages" of 2003 to 2012, that experience was the simple act of seeing an MMA fight in New York City. In those days, it was the most clandestine of all clandestine affairs, with event info coming via text message only days before and a doorman keeping out those not on "the list". Times have changed, of course. Now the city is full of MMA shows going down in the full light of day, and you can follow the UCL on Facebook, where everything you need to know to attend is posted for all to see.
Still, in this brave new world of amateur MMA everywhere, the UCL remains unique - unique in ways that would be impossible to replicate elsewhere. Unique in ways that are just fine remaining the sole province of the 11-year-old unsanctioned MMA promotion.
Monday, February 24, 2014
7 Days in NYC: Saturday - 2.22.14, Part 2
NEW YORK
Like the Gregorian calendar's demarcation of the birth of Christ as the starting point for the numbering of years, the timeline of MMA in New York has its own very special Year Zero - a time of rebirth, change and hope. That year is 2012 of course, when, during the course of litigation of Zuffa's lawsuit against the State of New York, the State Attorney General was forced to concede that amateur MMA is and always has been legal. Yup, that was the year that it all began for the scene that exists today - a scene that includes massive 2,000-spectator events in Midtown concert halls and armories, and 1,000-spectator shindigs in high school and college gymnasiums in the Five Boroughs.
The numbers themselves tell the whole story. In 2011, there seven amateur MMA events in the state; in 2012, there were 24 - a number that doubled in 2013.
The floodgates, as the say, have been opened.
Of the 19 different promotions who put on events in 2013, one has managed to navigate the sudden rushing waters to greatest effect, holding seven MMA events over the course of the year (four more than their nearest competitor). That promotion with the most shows: the Aggressive Combat Championship.
It's Saturday night of Day Five on my week-long odyssey through the New York City MMA scene, and ACC is holding an event at the Fitzgerald Center at Queens College. After a day spent at a judging seminar in Manhattan, I head on out to the borough I call home.
Like the Gregorian calendar's demarcation of the birth of Christ as the starting point for the numbering of years, the timeline of MMA in New York has its own very special Year Zero - a time of rebirth, change and hope. That year is 2012 of course, when, during the course of litigation of Zuffa's lawsuit against the State of New York, the State Attorney General was forced to concede that amateur MMA is and always has been legal. Yup, that was the year that it all began for the scene that exists today - a scene that includes massive 2,000-spectator events in Midtown concert halls and armories, and 1,000-spectator shindigs in high school and college gymnasiums in the Five Boroughs.
The numbers themselves tell the whole story. In 2011, there seven amateur MMA events in the state; in 2012, there were 24 - a number that doubled in 2013.
The floodgates, as the say, have been opened.
Of the 19 different promotions who put on events in 2013, one has managed to navigate the sudden rushing waters to greatest effect, holding seven MMA events over the course of the year (four more than their nearest competitor). That promotion with the most shows: the Aggressive Combat Championship.
It's Saturday night of Day Five on my week-long odyssey through the New York City MMA scene, and ACC is holding an event at the Fitzgerald Center at Queens College. After a day spent at a judging seminar in Manhattan, I head on out to the borough I call home.
Sunday, February 23, 2014
Aggressive Combat Championship - 2.22.14
NEW YORK
Kickboxing bout results:
Kickboxing bout results:
- Steve Inoshima def. Renzo Mendoza via TKO at 1:04, R3
- Joshua Nielsen def. Hung Nyugen via Unanimous Decision
- Erin Blachfield def. Destiny Quinones via TKO at 1:37, R2
- Louie Walter def. Alex Valasco via Majority Decision
- Nuchem Fisher def. Shamir Arias via Unanimous Decision
- Kat Morales def. Samantha Abrams via Unanimous Decision
Combat Jiu-Jitsu result:
- Mike Roseli def. Luiz Razuri via Unanimous Decision
MMA results:
- Isaias Guerra def. Stephen Ramos via Submission (Guillotine) at :28, R1
- Edwin Nicholas def. Florentino Laureno via Split Decision
- Luis Gonzalez def. Jackson Farjardo via Split Decision
- Paul Grant def. James Clark via Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 1:42, R1
- Erick Taylor def. Matt Roman via Split Decision
- Oswald Perez def. Johnny Castillo via Submission (Armbar) at 2:04, R2
7 Days in NYC: Saturday - 2.22.14, Part 1
NEW YORK
Thankfully, there is some kind of training of officials going on in New York. Thankfully, there's Rob Hinds, an experienced official with numerous commissions, and the man who trains others on that stuff.
In the 1980s show "The A-Team", the eponymous group of semi-outlaws traveled around the country dispensing justice when the law could not. Hinds and his crew are like that, although instead of justice, they're doling out knowledge. (Also, they're not fugitives. I don't think.)
It's Saturday, Day Five of my week-long journey of MMA in New York, and Sambo Steve is hosting one of Hinds' seminars. I make my way to Midtown Manhattan for the 8am class.
There have been 81 completely legal MMA events in New York State since 2010. And yet, as of today, the New York State Athletic Commission has overseen the training of zero referees, zero inspectors and zero judges. Obviously, this wonderful dichotomy exists because of the outdated statute banning pro MMA, and the battle to change that law continues to rage. But regardless of what is legal or not and budgeted for in the State's annual budget, 81 events is a lot of shows to have with no uniform standard for officiating fights.
In the 1980s show "The A-Team", the eponymous group of semi-outlaws traveled around the country dispensing justice when the law could not. Hinds and his crew are like that, although instead of justice, they're doling out knowledge. (Also, they're not fugitives. I don't think.)
It's Saturday, Day Five of my week-long journey of MMA in New York, and Sambo Steve is hosting one of Hinds' seminars. I make my way to Midtown Manhattan for the 8am class.
Saturday, February 22, 2014
7 Days in NYC: Friday - 2.21.14, Part 2
NEW YORK
It's an odd sight, seeing an MMA champ with an unblemished 9-0 record - with some of those by spectacular, crushing knockouts - don a gi and a white belt and learn the basics of judo. But that's just how it is for Jerome Mickle, who owns the gold straps for the Underground Combat League and the New York Fight Exchange, and who'll be defending his NYFE welterweight belt on March 15 against a champion kickboxer and Team Renzo rep. Jerome, you see, is at the vanguard of top talent in the suddenly alive and vibrant New York amateur MMA scene - a scene that didn't exist when Jerome first started fighting here years ago - and this new paradigm in competition and training means fighters can find coaches and camps where none existed before.
It means that Jerome, who for much of his career studied under the tutelage of UCL promoter Peter Storm, often training in Storm's attic until the two parted ways, now has other options.
Today is the fourth day of my seven-day New York City MMA roadtrip, so I boogie back up to the Bronx to catch one of Jerome's training sessions. His new school? Iglesias MMA, whose head coach, Dr. Richard Iglesias (he's a chiropractor, hence the "doctor" prefix), has accepted the already accomplished MMA champ with open arms.
It's an odd sight, seeing an MMA champ with an unblemished 9-0 record - with some of those by spectacular, crushing knockouts - don a gi and a white belt and learn the basics of judo. But that's just how it is for Jerome Mickle, who owns the gold straps for the Underground Combat League and the New York Fight Exchange, and who'll be defending his NYFE welterweight belt on March 15 against a champion kickboxer and Team Renzo rep. Jerome, you see, is at the vanguard of top talent in the suddenly alive and vibrant New York amateur MMA scene - a scene that didn't exist when Jerome first started fighting here years ago - and this new paradigm in competition and training means fighters can find coaches and camps where none existed before.
It means that Jerome, who for much of his career studied under the tutelage of UCL promoter Peter Storm, often training in Storm's attic until the two parted ways, now has other options.
Today is the fourth day of my seven-day New York City MMA roadtrip, so I boogie back up to the Bronx to catch one of Jerome's training sessions. His new school? Iglesias MMA, whose head coach, Dr. Richard Iglesias (he's a chiropractor, hence the "doctor" prefix), has accepted the already accomplished MMA champ with open arms.
Friday, February 21, 2014
Flashback: Aggressive Combat Championships 1
NEW YORK
The next installment of the Aggressive Combat Championships is tomorrow night at Queens College, so in honor of that, take a stroll down memory lane. Here's what went down at their first full amateur MMA card in New York City, back in January of 2013.
The next installment of the Aggressive Combat Championships is tomorrow night at Queens College, so in honor of that, take a stroll down memory lane. Here's what went down at their first full amateur MMA card in New York City, back in January of 2013.
7 Days in NYC: Friday - 2.21.14
NEW YORK
It's Friday morning, and ringing my doorbell is a process server for the Office of the Attorney General of the State of New York with some papers that must be hand-delivered. Guess who's been subpoenaed for the Zuffa vs. NYS lawsuit?
It's Friday morning, and ringing my doorbell is a process server for the Office of the Attorney General of the State of New York with some papers that must be hand-delivered. Guess who's been subpoenaed for the Zuffa vs. NYS lawsuit?
Another Obligatory UFC 170 Post
UFC
Because I can't just ignore the fact that Ronda Rousey is fighting. I just can't.
Anyway, here's Dana White doing the media day scrum.
Because I can't just ignore the fact that Ronda Rousey is fighting. I just can't.
Anyway, here's Dana White doing the media day scrum.
7 Days in NYC: Thursday - 2.20.14
NEW YORK
If I had to describe "Sambo Steve" (born: Steve Koepfer) in one word, it would be "ubiquitous". Why? Because when it comes to MMA in New York, the dude is everywhere.
Want to learn sambo? Go to his New York Combat Sambo school in Midtown Manhattan. Want to fight on a local show? He'll hook you up and manage you. Want to put together an event, hire a fight judge, organize a refereeing seminar, make a movie or help with the movement to get MMA sanctioned here? Steve's your guy, the Leonardo Da Vinci of combat sports, the Renaissance Man of all things fighting. The U.S. Army Special Forces uses a computer program that crunches the social media of terrorist cells and determines which individuals are the focal point of that particular group of bad guys; if that program was fed the info of those in the New York combative sports scene, Steve would be point where all lines intersect.
Since it's Thursday - Day Three of my "7 Days in NYC" whirlwind tour - I hop on the subway into the city to pay him a visit.
If I had to describe "Sambo Steve" (born: Steve Koepfer) in one word, it would be "ubiquitous". Why? Because when it comes to MMA in New York, the dude is everywhere.
Want to learn sambo? Go to his New York Combat Sambo school in Midtown Manhattan. Want to fight on a local show? He'll hook you up and manage you. Want to put together an event, hire a fight judge, organize a refereeing seminar, make a movie or help with the movement to get MMA sanctioned here? Steve's your guy, the Leonardo Da Vinci of combat sports, the Renaissance Man of all things fighting. The U.S. Army Special Forces uses a computer program that crunches the social media of terrorist cells and determines which individuals are the focal point of that particular group of bad guys; if that program was fed the info of those in the New York combative sports scene, Steve would be point where all lines intersect.
Since it's Thursday - Day Three of my "7 Days in NYC" whirlwind tour - I hop on the subway into the city to pay him a visit.
Thursday, February 20, 2014
Obligatory UFC 170 Post
UFC
Because it's hard to ignore these big UFCs when they roll around, no matter how preoccupied with New York I get.
Because it's hard to ignore these big UFCs when they roll around, no matter how preoccupied with New York I get.
7 Days in NYC: Wednesday - 2.19.14
NEW YORK
If you say the words "jiu-jitsu" and "New York City" together, usually the first thing that comes to the average fight fan's mind are the big name instructors - like Renzo Gracie, John Danaher and Marcelo Garcia. But in a city with almost 8.5 million residents, there's bound to be more than the big names teaching that beautiful-yet-badass Brazilian art.
Carmine Zocchi is one of those unsung instructors. And his story harkens back to the days when the UFC was small, and the outlets in the Big Apple where one could learn how to fight like they did in the cage were scant. Back in the mid- to late '90s, you could train at Renzo's growing academy, maybe Fabio Clemente's tiny operation set up in the yoga room of a health club, and that was it in terms of destination schools. But if for some reason or another those places weren't for you, you needed a bit of luck - which is what Carmine had when he found a purple belt to teach him what it meant to effectively execute the chokes and armbars and escapes that form the backbone of the style. (Yeah, you could say we take for granted today what was a scarce commodity back then.)
Eventually, Carmine hooked up with UFC 20 veteran Marcelo Mello, an old school jiu-jitsu black belt fresh off the boat from Brazil, and with Mello teaching out of the basement of a health club in Astoria, Carmine earned a purple belt himself. Eventually, Mello would award him a black belt of his own.
It's Wednesday, Day Two of this whole "7 Days in NYC" thing, so I'm driving out to Carmine's school in a distant part of Queens (Maspeth to be exact, which is hella far from any subway station). For insight on what it was like to train and fight outside of Renzo's circle back in the day, Carmine's perspective is both unique and invaluable.
I first met Carmine in 2001, when I strolled into a budding MMA school called Combined Martial Arts, which at the time was on the second floor of a building in Jackson Heights. Outside the window, maybe only 20 feet away, the 7 train was a constant distraction as it rumbled either towards Flushing or Manhattan, but the school was a gem, complete with a ring, mats, and plenty of space to create fighters. One such fighter was Kaream Ellington, and there was Carmine, putting him through his paces on the ground. It was someone else's academy back then, Carmine was just on staff as an instructor.
Oh how times have changed...
If you say the words "jiu-jitsu" and "New York City" together, usually the first thing that comes to the average fight fan's mind are the big name instructors - like Renzo Gracie, John Danaher and Marcelo Garcia. But in a city with almost 8.5 million residents, there's bound to be more than the big names teaching that beautiful-yet-badass Brazilian art.
Carmine Zocchi is one of those unsung instructors. And his story harkens back to the days when the UFC was small, and the outlets in the Big Apple where one could learn how to fight like they did in the cage were scant. Back in the mid- to late '90s, you could train at Renzo's growing academy, maybe Fabio Clemente's tiny operation set up in the yoga room of a health club, and that was it in terms of destination schools. But if for some reason or another those places weren't for you, you needed a bit of luck - which is what Carmine had when he found a purple belt to teach him what it meant to effectively execute the chokes and armbars and escapes that form the backbone of the style. (Yeah, you could say we take for granted today what was a scarce commodity back then.)
Eventually, Carmine hooked up with UFC 20 veteran Marcelo Mello, an old school jiu-jitsu black belt fresh off the boat from Brazil, and with Mello teaching out of the basement of a health club in Astoria, Carmine earned a purple belt himself. Eventually, Mello would award him a black belt of his own.
It's Wednesday, Day Two of this whole "7 Days in NYC" thing, so I'm driving out to Carmine's school in a distant part of Queens (Maspeth to be exact, which is hella far from any subway station). For insight on what it was like to train and fight outside of Renzo's circle back in the day, Carmine's perspective is both unique and invaluable.
I first met Carmine in 2001, when I strolled into a budding MMA school called Combined Martial Arts, which at the time was on the second floor of a building in Jackson Heights. Outside the window, maybe only 20 feet away, the 7 train was a constant distraction as it rumbled either towards Flushing or Manhattan, but the school was a gem, complete with a ring, mats, and plenty of space to create fighters. One such fighter was Kaream Ellington, and there was Carmine, putting him through his paces on the ground. It was someone else's academy back then, Carmine was just on staff as an instructor.
Oh how times have changed...
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
7 Days in NYC: Tuesday - 2.18.14
NEW YORK
There are coaches who make jiu-jitsu competitors and coaches who make MMA fighters. Justin Garcia - whose school, the Jungle Gym, is nestled under the elevated tracks of the 6 train in the Bronx - makes warriors. I know this because I've seen his "tribe" go to war, at Ring of Combat in Atlantic City, N.J., and at nearby amateur MMA shows. The chants, the cheers, the ferocity, the unity - it's not hard to imagine that in another time and another place, the walls of the Jungle Gym would be adorned with the ears and scalps of foes long since vanquished.
Of course, I don't actually expect to see dangling ears or scalps today. Such savagery has no place in the modern world (the gym's Bronx location notwithstanding), and Justin's more about the whole "pressure to power" philosophy than crushing enemies and hearing the lamentations of their women. No, on the short drive across the RFK Bridge and up the Bruckner, I'm anticipating a friendly vibe and a chat with one of the best instructors in the Five Boroughs.
I first met Justin (a.k.a. "Master Chim") in 2005, at a Sportfighting event in Hoboken. Sportfighting was the short-lived MMA venture of Brian Cimins, the man behind Grapplers Quest, and just prior to Justin's dramatic and intense entrance, some kid named Frankie Edgar had choked out a local fan-favorite named Jay Isip. But all that came before on that night and all that came after paled in comparison to the fire Justin brought into the ring with him, and the audience packed into the gymnasium at the Stevens Institute of Technology responded in kind. And if, by some strange miracle, a reporter from the New York Times or ESPN had wandered into the venue and sat through the whole show on that chilly December evening (and it was fucking cold outside, believe me), the sum of the resulting article would've been about the god of war from the Bronx and the devastation he had wrought.
But it's 2014 now, and as I enter the gym and am directed into Justin's office, I'm greeted by the natural evolution of jiu-jitsu black belt and fighting badass-turned wise instructor. Sure, his walls are adorned with weapons - a Spartan spear, a katana, a pair of rapiers, an axe, and even a Klingon bat'leth - but his shelves are thick with books on a wide range of subjects, and the framed picture on his desk of his wife and three young sons in jiu-jitsu gis speaks volumes of just how that erupting volcano of a temperament was cooled.
There are coaches who make jiu-jitsu competitors and coaches who make MMA fighters. Justin Garcia - whose school, the Jungle Gym, is nestled under the elevated tracks of the 6 train in the Bronx - makes warriors. I know this because I've seen his "tribe" go to war, at Ring of Combat in Atlantic City, N.J., and at nearby amateur MMA shows. The chants, the cheers, the ferocity, the unity - it's not hard to imagine that in another time and another place, the walls of the Jungle Gym would be adorned with the ears and scalps of foes long since vanquished.
Of course, I don't actually expect to see dangling ears or scalps today. Such savagery has no place in the modern world (the gym's Bronx location notwithstanding), and Justin's more about the whole "pressure to power" philosophy than crushing enemies and hearing the lamentations of their women. No, on the short drive across the RFK Bridge and up the Bruckner, I'm anticipating a friendly vibe and a chat with one of the best instructors in the Five Boroughs.
I first met Justin (a.k.a. "Master Chim") in 2005, at a Sportfighting event in Hoboken. Sportfighting was the short-lived MMA venture of Brian Cimins, the man behind Grapplers Quest, and just prior to Justin's dramatic and intense entrance, some kid named Frankie Edgar had choked out a local fan-favorite named Jay Isip. But all that came before on that night and all that came after paled in comparison to the fire Justin brought into the ring with him, and the audience packed into the gymnasium at the Stevens Institute of Technology responded in kind. And if, by some strange miracle, a reporter from the New York Times or ESPN had wandered into the venue and sat through the whole show on that chilly December evening (and it was fucking cold outside, believe me), the sum of the resulting article would've been about the god of war from the Bronx and the devastation he had wrought.
But it's 2014 now, and as I enter the gym and am directed into Justin's office, I'm greeted by the natural evolution of jiu-jitsu black belt and fighting badass-turned wise instructor. Sure, his walls are adorned with weapons - a Spartan spear, a katana, a pair of rapiers, an axe, and even a Klingon bat'leth - but his shelves are thick with books on a wide range of subjects, and the framed picture on his desk of his wife and three young sons in jiu-jitsu gis speaks volumes of just how that erupting volcano of a temperament was cooled.
Welcome to "7 Days in NYC"
NEW YORK
It may be the last state to resist sanctioning the sport, but as it is, New York already has a ton of MMA and MMA-related stuff going on within its borders. So much so in fact that stuff can be written about it daily - which is why, for the next seven days, I'm going to be going out and gathering news pertaining to MMA in the Big Apple and posting it here on MMA Journalist. Expect a bunch of interviews, event coverage (there are two MMA shows in New York City this weekend), videos... the works.
Welcome to "7 Days in NYC" (#7DaysInNYC on Twitter).
It may be the last state to resist sanctioning the sport, but as it is, New York already has a ton of MMA and MMA-related stuff going on within its borders. So much so in fact that stuff can be written about it daily - which is why, for the next seven days, I'm going to be going out and gathering news pertaining to MMA in the Big Apple and posting it here on MMA Journalist. Expect a bunch of interviews, event coverage (there are two MMA shows in New York City this weekend), videos... the works.
Welcome to "7 Days in NYC" (#7DaysInNYC on Twitter).
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