I’m sure I’ve said it here on several occasions. I am an old school ECW fan. I was such a hardcore ECDub fan that to this day if I hear Walk by Pantera, I mark out for Rob Van Dam. So to have a chance to participate in an MMA show at the old ECW Arena (recently rechristened as The Arena is a very special occasion for me. Its up there with places like The Blue Horizon and The Spectrum in my heart for favorite venues in the city of Philadelphia. So a special thank you to the Migliarese brothers and Jimmy Binns Jr letting me be a part of this show. For this show I sat up in the balcony above the front door, which gave me a chance to observe the packed house (around 1500, maybe more) during the event. And the crowd was a typical Philly crowd, and I mean that in the very best possible way. Aside from one drunk asshole who tried to steal an inspector’s seat in the red corner, the crowd was fantastic. They were loud for everybody, and even gave referee Kevin Mulhall a respectful round of applause. The fights, which were booked by 5 Ounces of Pain‘s Sam Caplan were all very evenly matched. in the main event Matt Makowski was paired with a former Muay Thai opponent in LeVon Maynard. With the Bellator season coming up, you’d expect Makowski, who’s been out of action for 8 months, to get one of those “tune up matches”. But he banged on Maynard like he stole his lunch money, and Maynard gave it right back to him. But it was an outstanding night of fights, and if you missed the show, you missed a show. No date was announced for return engagement, but in the program an ad teased that Matrix 2 will be coming back in June to The Arena. With all that said, the following results are unofficial until confirmed by the PSAC, and were originally brought to you (first and fast) by MAMMA Online at our Twitter account.
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Popularity: 10% [?]

I’m busy, its late, this will be short.

For this weekend, Atlantic City is the place to be. The Boardwalk once again stakes its claim as Fight City USA with two of New Jersey’s top promotions running different casinos back to back. For Philly fans who hate the bridge tolls (as I tend to), The Arena (ex-ECW Arena, ex-New Alhambra, ex-Viking Hall) is the scene for Matrix Fights 1, run by Balance Studio’s Phil Migliarese and his partner Jimmy Binns Jr.
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Popularity: 4% [?]

See, I posted this because it snowed...a lot.

There’s an old saying, the best laid plans are not always the best plans to get you laid. Or something like that. I think it was in an Earnest Hemingway novel, or whatever. But as we all know, a nasty little weather front pushed through the region, dumping over two feet of snow in some parts of the Delaware Valley. Both local shows were postponed. PA Fighting Championships 2 was pushed back less than 24 hours, and jumped off yesterday as a 1PM matinee show in Harrisburg PA. New Breed Fighters played it a little more cautious, pushing their first show of 2010 one week. That show is now highlighted as the only relevant MMA action of the weekend. And as I Twitted on Friday, tickets labeled Feb 6th will be honored on the 13th.
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Popularity: 12% [?]