What Now For New Jersey Amateur MMA?

With the loss of Paul Rosner, whose USKBA played a huge role in overseeing amateur MMA in New Jersey, comes the question: "What happens now?" Referees and officials sporting USKBA patches are a fixture at the multitude of Garden State amateur promotions. Will another sanctioning organization step in? According to the NJSACB's Nick Lembo, there's no need, as the commission itself will carry on with training and licensing the inspectors, judges and referees. In other words, it will be business as usual. Rosner may be gone, but his work - and crowning achievement - will live on.

Rest In Peace Paul Rosner

The Northeast MMA community has lost another one: United States Kickboxing Association president Paul Rosner passed away. Rosner worked alongside NJSACB's Nick Lembo to develop the amateur MMA rules that are used today, and the USKBA has sanctioned countless kickboxing and MMA bouts over the years. Every amateur who steps into the cage owes a debt of gratitude to Rosner. He will be missed.

A Brief History of Underground Shows in New York

Yesterday's Gladiator Martial Arts show in Brooklyn was a bust ("organization issues" cited the promoter), so as a consolation prize, MMA Journalist will instead delve into the history of unsanctioned underground shows in New York. Yay!

A little background: New York State banned professional MMA in 1997. However, when approached, the New York State Athletic Commission's official opinion on such fights was "as long as it's not the UFC, we don't care. Do what you want." This led to a pair of tournaments at Borough of Manhattan Community College, organized by kung fu legend David Ross, where competitors wore pads and headgear. It also led to promoter Lou Neglia judiciously placing MMA bouts on some of his kickboxing cards (bouts labeled as "exhibition grappling"). These were USKBA sanctioned, took place at Vengeance at the Vanderbilt and at a one-off event in New York City called "Battle on Broadway", and curiously, when the athletic commission reversed its position, a law banning alcohol at shows with MMA bouts was used to push Neglia's non-kickboxing endeavors out of state (which, more than anything, speaks of the amateur MMA loophole in the law). And so, the timeline:

• International Fight Night - promoted by Gene Fabrikant in the heart of Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, this 2001 series of events had fighters like Christian Montes, Nardu Debra, Vlad Koulikov and Brazilian Rodolfo Amaro taking on Russian fighters in a nightclub before an audience of Russian high-rollers. Montes described it as the most surreal of experiences, as he'd hop on the subway, change at a waiters' station and then fight, and it was like he was in Moscow. Allegedly, Amaro was offered money by the promoter to take a dive against his crowd-favored foe; he refused, and won by armbar. Fabrikant's unsanctioned New York efforts bit the dust when he tried to run a pro eight-man kickboxing tournament in 2002 and city agencies lined up to shut it down.
• Vengeance at the Vanderbilt - Neglia's seminal MMA event, which ran from 1998 to 2002, saw Matt and Nick Serra submit fools left and right, Phil Baroni pound on opponents, and fighters like Joe Scarola, Rodrigo Gracie, Jon Weidler, Pete Sell and Jose Rodriguez rack up wins. This was also where future MMA fighters like Luke Cummo and Elvis Garcia would polish their kickboxing skills in Muay Thai bouts. Note: the name "Vengeance at the Vanderbilt" came from the name of the venue, a Long Island nightclub called the Vanderbilt.
• Battle on Broadway - Neglia's New York City show in 2002. At the lone Battle on Broadway event, which took place in the ballroom of a hotel in Times Square, Nardu Debra submitted Brad Daddis.
• Underground Combat League - Peter Storm's long-running vale tudo underground show began in 2003, the result of a political climate that had the athletic commission actively trying to shut unsanctioned events down. The UCL still holds events to this day, has garnered the attention of the New York Times, Newsday, the Daily News, the New York Post, Fox 5 News, film producers and documentarians, and has seen the likes of UFC lightweight contender Frankie Edgar, IFL heavyweight Bryan Vetell, and fighters like Andrew Montanez, Kareem Ellington, Jay Coleman and Rob Guarino compete in its ring.
• Aggressive Shoot Championship - an event orchestrated by Jerry Mendez in 2005, this one was a pretty successful outing that followed shootfighting rules (no closed-fist strikes to the face, no strikes to the face on the ground, one rope-escape allowed). Carmine Zocchi, Tom Velasquez and JA Dudley were among the winning competitors who later went on to fight pro.
• Empire State Warrior Challenge - an upstate New York event that's been holding events since 2007, the Empire State Warrior Challenge is where schools with legitimate MMA programs go to prey upon traditional martial arts schools who are curious about this whole MMA thing. And I mean that in a good way. The amateur rules and medical precautions have done well in ensuring no one has gotten hurt.
• Clash in the Cage - a Long Island-based monthly smoker, this one is more hush-hush than most and doesn't like the attention, so all I'll say about it is that it's a good place for aspiring grapplers, kickboxing and MMAers to get their feet wet in a cage.
• Martial Arts Madness - a Brooklyn-based promotion, this bad boy had a lot of bells and whistles attached to their event a few weeks ago (a staff, concessions, ring card girls, etc.). Competitors wear pads and headgear, and seem more like the YouTube generation in the ring, but given time some real gems might emerge.

I've left out an Eastern Long Island show that held a couple events last year before folding (its name escapes me, but when I spoke to the promoter he seemed like a well-intentioned guy). I've also left out the events organized by Michael Tome, aka "Snake", on an Indian reservation in upstate New York; the athletic commission has no sway over what happens on reservations.

Preliminary Lineup for Saturday's Brooklyn Underground Show

Here's the lineup for tomorrow's Gladiator Martial Arts event, an underground MMA show in the deepest, darkest recesses of Brooklyn. This is from info I've gleaned online; whether this version of the card comes to fruition is another story entirely.

• Rafi (kickboxing and BJJ-165lbs) vs. Mighty Mouse (Krav Maga-145lbs)
• Greg (grappling-168lbs) vs. The Bully (streetfighting-155lbs)
• Braveheart (jujitsu-150lbs) vs. Malik Saldana (Muay Thai-150lbs)
• Lionheart (Muay Thai and MMA-125lbs) vs. Knightwing (Muay Thai-130lbs)
• J-Roc (Hulk Combat-170lbs) vs. Antonio "The Beast" Ramchelawon (wrestling and MMA-172lbs)

Apparently Joe "Heavy Hands", a 260-pound boxer, is still looking for an opponent.

Normally, I'd be concerned about the weight difference between Rafi and Mighty Mouse, which spans two weight classes. But as Mighty Mouse is a cartoon character from the 1940s with invulnerability, super-strength and the power of flight, he should be okay.

MMA Journalist will likely be there to liveblog the event.

Informative Article on MMA Magazines

Veteran writer and lensman Keith Mills has an informative article up at ADCC News analyzing the current crop of MMA magazines on the market. Mills' longtime day job has been in bookstores, so he knows the magazine publishing industry pretty well. Check it out here : http://www.adcombat.com/Article.asp?Article_ID=18835 .

July 2009 Independent World MMA Rankings

July 17, 2009: The July 2009 Independent World MMA Rankings have been released. These rankings are independent of any single MMA media outlet or sanctioning body, and are published on multiple web sites. Some of the best and most knowledgeable MMA writers from across the MMA media landscape have come together to form one independent voting panel.

These voting panel members are, in alphabetical order: Zach Arnold (FightOpinion); Nicholas Bailey (MMA Ratings); Jared Barnes (Houston Chronicle); Jordan Breen (Sherdog); Jim Genia (Full Contact Fighter, MMA Memories, and MMA Journalist Blog); Jesse Holland (MMA Mania); Robert Joyner (MMA Payout); Todd Martin (CBS Sportsline); Zac Robinson (Sports by the Numbers MMA; Leland Roling (Bloody Elbow); Michael David Smith (AOL Fanhouse); Jonathan Snowden (Author of "Total MMA: Inside Ultimate Fighting"); Joshua Stein (MMA Opinion), Ivan Trembow (Freelance); and Dave Walsh (Total MMA).

These rankings are independent of any single MMA media outlet or sanctioning body, and are published on multiple web sites. The rankings are tabulated on a monthly basis in each of the top seven weight classes of MMA, from heavyweight to bantamweight, with fighters receiving ten points for a first-place vote, nine points for a second-place vote, and so on.

The rankings are based purely on the votes of the members of the voting panel, with nobody's vote counting more than anybody else's vote, and no computerized voting. The voters are instructed to vote primarily based on fighters' actual accomplishments in the cage/ring (the quality of opposition that they've actually beaten), not based on a broad, subjective perception of which fighters would theoretically win fantasy match-ups.

Special thanks to Eric Kamander, Zach Arnold, and Joshua Stein for their invaluable help with this project, and special thanks to Garrett Bailey for designing our logo.

Inactivity: Fighters who have not fought in the past 12 months are not eligible to be ranked, and will regain their eligibility the next time they fight.

Disciplinary Suspensions: Fighters who are currently serving disciplinary suspensions are not eligible to be ranked.

Changing Weight Classes: When a fighter announces that he is leaving one weight class in order to fight in another weight class, the fighter is not eligible to be ranked in the new weight class until he has his first fight in the new weight class.

Catch Weight Fights: When fights are contested at weights that are in between the limits of the various weight classes, they are considered to be in the higher weight class. The weight limits for each weight class are listed at the top of the rankings for each weight class.

July 2009 Independent World MMA Rankings
Heavyweight Rankings (206 to 265 lbs.)
1. Fedor Emelianenko (30-1, 1 No Contest)
2. Brock Lesnar (4-1)
3. Josh Barnett (24-5)
4. Frank Mir (12-4)
5. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (31-5-1, 1 No Contest)
6. Randy Couture (16-9)
7. Alistair Overeem (29-11, 1 No Contest)
8. Shane Carwin (11-0)
9. Brett Rogers (10-0)
10. Andrei Arlovski (15-7)

Light Heavyweight Rankings (186 to 205 lbs.)
1. Lyoto Machida (15-0)
2. Quinton Jackson (30-7)
3. Rashad Evans (13-1-1)
4. Forrest Griffin (16-5)
5. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua (18-3)
6. Rich Franklin (25-4, 1 No Contest)
7. Keith Jardine (14-5-1)
8. Dan Henderson (24-7)
9. Renato "Babalu" Sobral (32-8)
10. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (17-3)

Middleweight Rankings (171 to 185 lbs.)
1. Anderson Silva (24-4)
2. Yushin Okami (23-4)
3. Dan Henderson (25-7)
4. Nathan Marquardt (28-8-2)
5. Demian Maia (10-0)
6. Jorge Santiago (21-7)
7. Robbie Lawler (16-5, 1 No Contest)
8. Gegard Mousasi (25-2-1)
9. Vitor Belfort (18-8)
10. Thales Leites (14-2)

Welterweight Rankings (156 to 170 lbs.)
1. Georges St. Pierre (18-2)
2. Jon Fitch (19-3, 1 No Contest)
3. Thiago Alves (16-4)
4. Jake Shields (23-4-1)
5. Matt Hughes (43-7)
6. Josh Koscheck (12-4)
7. Martin Kampmann (15-2)
8. Mike Swick (14-2)
9. Carlos Condit (22-5)
10. Paulo Thiago (11-0)

Lightweight Rankings (146 to 155 lbs.)
1. B.J. Penn (13-5-1)
2. Kenny Florian (11-3)
3. Shinya Aoki (20-4, 1 No Contest)
4. Eddie Alvarez (17-2)
5. Joachim Hansen (19-7-1)
6. Tatsuya Kawajiri (24-5-2)
7. Diego Sanchez (21-2)
8. Frankie Edgar (10-1)
9. Gray Maynard (7-0, 1 No Contest)
10. Satoru Kitaoka (25-8-9)

Featherweight Rankings (136 to 145 lbs.)
1. Mike Brown (22-4)
2. Urijah Faber (22-3)
3. Wagnney Fabiano (12-1)
4. Jose Aldo (15-1)
5. Hatsu Hioki (19-3-2)
6. Leonard Garcia (12-4)
7. "Lion" Takeshi Inoue (16-3)
8. Dokonjonosuke Mishima (19-6-2)
9. Raphael Assuncao (13-1)
10. Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto (17-2)

Bantamweight Rankings (126 to 135 lbs.)
1. Miguel Torres (37-1)
2. Brian Bowles (7-0)
3. Takeya Mizugaki (11-3-2)
4. Masakatsu Ueda (9-0-2)
5. Joseph Benavidez (10-0)
6. Akitoshi Tamura (14-7-2)
7. Will Ribeiro (10-2)
8. Rani Yahya (14-4)
9. Damacio Page (11-4)
10. Manny Tapia (10-2-1)

Lest These Good Quotes Go to Waste...

Here are two quotes from New Jersey's Nick Lembo, quotes which didn't make the cut for an upcoming FCF article I just wrote but were too good to go to waste. The first is in response to why the Garden State hasn't had a big show recently. "The UFC has a difficult time finding an open date at the Prudential Center or Boardwalk Hall, which are really New Jersey's only two big venues. We do not have a lot of big-scale venues in New Jersey. Even Affliction had difficulty obtaining a desired open date at the Prudential Center. The WEC and Strikeforce have not come anywhere on the East Coast to date."

The next quote is in response to the question of if New York legalizing MMA is going to impact the number of New Jersey events. "I don't think it will hurt. More events and more venues will only make the sport grow. Boxing is legal in New York and that has no effect on the number of New Jersey boxing events."

Liveblog: Strikeforce NYC Presser Part 3

"What role do you think your size and power will play in the fight?" someone asks Cyborg. She then rips out that person's spine a la Mortal Kombat. Someone else asks Carano about how she got into MMA. Her answer contains nothing about whether or not Kit Cope has a sex tape with her. A reporter then asks Cyborg if she feels any added pressure due to the magnitude of the bout. The Brazilian eats her translator. There's going to be some sort of open workout outside after the presser, but I have to get back to the office.

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Liveblog: Strikeforce NYC Presser Part 2

Gina Carano and Cris Cyborg are called to the podium individually, like they were coming to the cage for their fight. Carano gets the bigger pop from the crowd, but Cyborg clearly has her fans (werewolves, demons and other creatures that prey upon humans). Both fighters are cordial to each other, and even share a laugh when the Showtime exec sprays them down with a garden hose for the wet t-shirt contest. Nothing Earth shattering is said when Carano gets the microphone. She pretty much thanks everyone she's ever met. Cyborg, meanwhile, eats the microphone and urinates on the podium.

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