Grapple at the Garden Hype Reel

NEW YORK

In less than two weeks, the arena in Madison Square Garden will be packed with wrestlers shooting for takedowns and sprawling like their lives depend upon it, while music blares and extremely partisan sections of the crowd cheer for their respective teams/heroes. To stand on the floor for that is the ultimate in sensory overload, so yeah, The MMA Journalist plans to be there once again for the event. In the meantime, here's a hype reel for us to savor.

Aggressive Combat Championships 9 Primer: The Ascent of Hannah McGuckin

NEW YORK

Kat Morales may have the "top female fighter in all of New York City" spot sewn up, but there's another name worth noting: Hannah McGuckin. McGuckin, of Maxum BJJ, returns to the ACC cage on Saturday night for a main event bout that will pit her against Jillian DeCoursey of East Coast United. Yes, there's a strawweight belt up for grabs. Yes, McGuckin can scrap, so odds are ACC 9 is going to be capped off by a pretty entertaining battle. And yes, I do have video of McGuckin in action.

Watch and enjoy.

Dead Serious MMA 13 Poster

NEW JERSEY

Aggressive Combat Championships 9 Primer: Christian Medina Kicking Ass

NEW YORK

The last big MMA show in New York City for 2014 will be this Saturday's Aggressive Combat Championships 9, which will bring with it all the combative goodness you've come to expect from an ACC event. There are a bunch of reasons why this installment is worthwhile, and they include the polished production, the talent-rich pool of camps that sends competitors into the ACC cage, and the always exciting fights. But instead of laying it all out in boring words, I'm just going to show you a video of one of the fighters on Saturday's card in action. Christian Medina is his name, and here he is, kicking some ass at an ACC in May.

New York Fight Exchange 5 Poster

NEW YORK

Underrated Fighter Finally Gets His Due

NEW YORK

Aaron Sifflet may not have a perfect record, but he's put in the hard work in the gym, fights hard in the cage, and wins when it matters. At Victory VII at Madison Square Garden, he rose to the occasion by tapping out a tough Yuting Hong with an armbar - proving to the world what many already knew: Sifflet is a pretty damn dangerous fighter.

Below is a short video on him. Watch it, absorb it, enjoy it, and gain a little insight on one of the people that makes the New York MMA scene what it is.

Christmas in the Cage Poster

NEW JERSEY

The New Jersey Martial Arts Hall of Fame Dinner is Friday

NEW JERSEY

The annual New Jersey Martial Arts Hall of Fame awards dinner is Friday night, and though I won't be attending, I'll be there in spirit. Notable honorees this year include UFC fighters Chris Weidman, Dan Miller and Nick Catone, a badass cageside physician in Dr. Steven Oxler, Frankie Edgar's boxing coach Mark Henry, and MMA pioneer Chris Ligouri. The full list of inductees is below.

Ring of Combat 50 Poster

NEW JERSEY

Now This Is A Victory Dance

NEW YORK

ICYMI, Here's Me on Gross Point Blank

AWESOME

In case you missed it, I was on my old chum Josh Gross' Gross Point Blank podcast this week talking MMA at Madison Square Garden and the New York scene in general. Listen to it here.

Five Fights To Be Thankful For This Year

AWESOME

The strong scent of roasting turkey wafting through the air, the sounds of family bickering over things irrelevant and silly, unattended kids eating paint chips in the corner - it must be Thanksgiving! So what are you thankful for this year?

Fans of fighting in the New York/New Jersey area have plenty of things on that list, especially since there have been a ton of decent scraps in 2014. Here, then, is a list of five fights I'm thankful I got to see in person.

Official New York City Fighter Rankings - November '14 Edition

NEW YORK

There's just one more MMA major event scheduled for New York City before 2014 comes to a close (Aggressive Combat Championship on December 13), but it looks like all of the top amateur fighters in the area are done for the year - which means it's time for one last edition of the Official New York City Fighter Rankings!

Some Really Cool Victory VII Photos

NEW YORK

Although she had never shot a fight show before, I think Leeza L. did a fine job capturing some really cool moments at Friday's Victory VII show at Madison Square Garden. Of course, it helped that she was right there on the ring apron and had zero concerns about getting splattered with blood...

Anyway, here are a handful of her pics. Enjoy.

Victory VII: Kicking All Kinds of Ass at MSG

NEW YORK

Victory Combat Sports brought it very special brand of action to Madison Square Garden on Friday night, cramming nearly 4,000 people into the Theater for a mixed Muay Thai/amateur MMA card that ended up kicking all kinds of ass.

Though the kickboxing matches provided much excitement - thanks to such rising stars as Chris Kwiatkowski, NJ Mac, Codie Payne and a spirited battle between Jason Van Oijen and Paul Banaslak - it was the historic, first-ever MMA bouts at the venue that were the focal point of the evening. And man, did those fights deliver.

Victory at MSG: Anthony Giacchina vs. Chad Hernandez

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Victory at MSG: Aaron Sifflet vs. Yuting Hong

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Victory at MSG: Kat Morales vs. Victoria Makarova

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Victory at MSG: Chike Obi vs. Ariel Abreu

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Victory at MSG: Jason Van Oijen vs. Paul Banasiak

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