Sitting here at Southwestern Florida International wrapping up my first real MMA road trip. And before I get started I have to thank Dan Miragliotta and Mark Shopp. Dan put me in touch with Mark, who brought me down to check out the show. Originally I was going to give it the typical hamfisted Mid-Atlantic MMA treatment. Take some out of focus pictures, video random fights from a poor angle, and then do a little liveblog where I drop obscure pop culture references and piss off mediocre trainers, and sand bagging fighters. Continue Reading
The NAGA team of Joe Cuff and Kipp Kollar set up shot for their annual amateur MMA show Reality Fighting: Battle at the Beach at the Wildwood Convention Center on Friday. The show piggy-backs their South Jersey grappling tournament of the same name. With the venue paid for and the concentration on the heavily attended tournament on Saturday, the MMA show on Friday was a little overlooked. The show opened up on a sour note with a long delay waiting for the EMS crew to show up (which, obviously, was out of Kipp & Joe’s control), but the first two fights were lopsided mismatches that went a combined :44 seconds. Got impressed by Dain Dixon, who looked like a high school freshman compared to Jason Ward. He did try a cheap shot coming in with a punch immediately out of the glove touch to start round 1. But nobody was expecting him to take Ward into minute 2, much less round 3. The kid got out into deep water, and kept fighting. Disappointed Jimbo Hoffman couldn’t get an opponent. At this point though, the only fight left for him in the amateur ranks is Jordan Stiner, which I heard was offered, but rejected because of camp affiliations. Hoffman vs Stiner would be an absolute barn burner, and one of the first fights I want to see these guys get when they go pro. But at this point, Jimbo may have to consider taking the kick pads off and going pro, get a rematch with Pat Sabatini to avenge his only loss, or moving up to the 155 region. He’s all but blown out the region’s featherweights. A feat his Team Vendetta teammate Robert Fabrizi is well on his way to doing at lightweight. All that being said, lets hit the official results for Reality Fighting‘s Battle at the Beach from August 6, 2010. Continue Reading
Our buddy Dan Miragliotta will be on tonight’s episode of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon where he’ll be officiating an Ultimate Mustache Fighter bout between the flavor savors of Dr. Phil and John Oates. From what I understand, Oates’ mustache has been training with Mark DellaGrotte at Team Sityodtong in Boston, while Phil’s lip-fuzz has been in Albuquerque working out at Greg Jackson’s camp. Should be an outstanding fight.
Or at the very least, not the worst bout Dan’s been assigned to referee…
The video above is from Dan’s first appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Jimmy Fallon from last year.
(Thx to Helwani for breaking the story.)
Rough night in Atlantic City as some iffy matchmaking leads to six fights ending via KO or TKO in the first round, with three finishing in under a minute. A seventh fight was finished in just over a minute via submission. An eighth fight was stopped in the first round when Joshua Keys fell through the ring ropes landing squarely on the back of his head, and was ruled unable to continue by NJSACB doctors. If you want the play by play on how it went down, you can read the live blog archive.
And now, the official results from the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board. Continue Reading
In April, NJSACB levied nearly a thousand dollars in missed-weight penalties for the first M-1 Global show at Bally’s Casino in Atlantic City. The intrigue continued at weigh-ins for M-1′s rerack, scheduled for tomorrow night. Mike Conners was fined $500 and suspended for 100 days for failing to appear at this evening’s weigh-ins. Conner was booked to fight Mike Foster at 205 pounds. Josh Key was slapped with the other $500 penalty for failing to make 155 pounds for his lightweight dance with Josh Bacallo. Key came in at 160.4 pounds, 4.4 over the 156 allotment.
Wesley Welch also failed to make weight, but was a lot closer to his target, missing weight by only four ounces. Shane Primm showed a lot of heart by taking the match despite the crushing six ounce weight difference between the two men.
M-1 shows this year have been marred not only by missed weights, but intrigue. First Brian DeMura did everything he could to avoid fighting on the April card (DeMura came in 7 pounds overweight, resulting in what would have been upwards of $640 in fines, then complained of what some consider phantom injuries during the prefight physical). Now, this show is already shadowed already with Conners’ no-show.
Of the situation, M-1 Director of Operations Evgeni Kogan said, “Even though this is a marked improvement over the first M-1 Selection event in April. As professional athletes, fighters need to prepare themselves professionally – respecting their opponents, fans, promotion and the State Athletic Control Boards for enabling these opportunities.” Continue Reading
6 Flags Great Adventure was the venue for last night’s MMA Mayhem. The show, which was put together by Steve Rivera’s Elite Wrestling and the Jackson Twp PBA had some issues. Between the appearances by Matt Serra, Frankie Edgar and Kimbo Slice, and a grappling tournament, and a pro fight card out under the stars, it seemed like the promotion team just bit off more than they could handle. Troubles with injuries thinned the bout sheet from 9 fights to 6, and the North Star Arena was just a little too big for the show. But, those problems aside, the six fights that did jump off in the Dead Serious hexagon were outstanding. It could be a case similar to October’s Extreme Force Show (which has since turned into Locked in the Cage) where a rookie matchmaker stumbles into a good fight card, but regardless, a good fight is a good fight. Continue Reading
