NYMMA'S Asst. Coach

  The ufc is one of my favorite things to watch. MMA is not only violent and exciting but its also very technical and surprising.  MMA has been interesting to me since I first watched it. But at first I really didn’t understand everything that was going on. A lot of the things the announcers would say were things I didn’t understand. I didn’t know what the difference between the guard and a half guard. But when I started learning mma all those things seemed simple.

 I first started to learn mma when my last wrestling season finished. It was febuary in my seinor year of high school. My season ended with a third place medal in divisionals. I could’ve done better, I should’ve done better but that’s the way it ended up. That year they decided that third place didn’t get to go to the city championship. So I was done that Saturday.3 years of wrestling taking over my life months at a time was over. It was a crazy feeling, it was good at first because I had no practice the next Monday and I could finaly eat like a normal human being. But that good feeling ended in a few hours because I wasn’t happy with third place.
 I was pretty good at wrestling and after one day of not being a wrestler me and one of my friends looked up a gym to go to. That Monday we went to ny-mma and signed up. In a few months we knew about all types of submissions and all types of moves. Wrestling made some things easier to learn, like certain takedowns. But other things were harder to get used to, like not going to my stomach when I fall. But it was something I got used to.
After all that watching the ufc was different, better. I understand whats going on all the time. I understand what everyone is doing and why their doing that. It really makes watching it more enjoyable. Not only is learning mma a good workout but it teaches you to enjoy things you already like even more.

UFC Hall Of Famer Matt Hughes

  Matt Hughes is considered to be one of the best fighters in ufc history. He had the welterweight title twice and defended it a record 7 times. He beat ufc legends Bj Penn and George St-Pierre, to this day Matt Hughes is one of the two people to ever beat George St-Pierre. Matt Hughes has the second most fights in the ufc with 25 fights, behind tito Ortiz who has 26 fights.

                Matt Hughes has a sister and a twin brother Mark Hughes. Matt and Mark both played football and wrestled in high school. Matt Hughes also wrestled in college, he made the all-american team every year he was in college. Hughes was a two-time 155 lb IHSA (Illinois High School Association) Class A state wrestling champion. He won in 1991 and 1992 while attending Hillsboro (IL) High School. Furthermore, Hughes is a two-time Division I All-American wrestler, with an 8th and a 5th place finish in the 157 lb division. Hughes has competed in the prestigious ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship, in which he held a record of 2–2. This consists of wins over Ricardo Almeida and Jeremy Horn, and losses to Jeff Monson and Tito Ortiz.

                Like Matt Hughes I wrestled in high school. Matt Hughes said that he was never a very good student, that in college he just tried to stay eligible to wrestle. One day I hope to wrestle in college, and even though I’m in a community college with bad grades I can do good enough to transfer to a four year school and try out for the wrestling team. Matt Hughes wasn’t a good student either and he managed to do it so maybe I can too. 

UFC 142 results

  UFC RIO ended in Brazil with a satisfied crowed as headliners Jose Aldo and Vitor Belfort both claimed victorious in their home crowd. On the main card, Edson Barboza and Terry Etim put on a technical striking clinic until the third round when Barboza landed a spectacular spinning back head kick, knocking Etim out cold. Both fighters earned fight of the night bonuses while Barboza earned knock out of the night award. Carlo Prater earned a controversial disqualification win over Erick Silva. Silva caught Prater early in the round, but landed a few punches to the back of the head as he attempted to finish the fight. Leg lock specialist Rousimar Palhares defeated Mike Massenzio with a heel hook in the first round, earning submission of the night. In the Co-main event, Vitor Belfort took on Anthony Johnson. Johnson did not make weight for his fight against Belfort, giving up 20% of his purse and must weight less than 205 in order to remain in the fight. Belfort defeated Johnson in the first round via rear naked choke, Johnson was released by the UFC after the fight. In the main event, featherweight champion Jose Aldo took on undefeated Chad Mendes, Mendes was unable to takedown Aldo, with only a few seconds remaining in the round, Aldo broke free from the cage and took advantage of a split second and landed a devastating knee on the chin of Mendes, finishing the fight at 4:59 of the first round.

Check out the Gracie's breaking down UFC 142
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAFIAeiGzX0

UFC 142

  UFC 142 will be returning to Rio de Janeiro on January 14, 2012. Jose Aldo vs. Chad Mendes will be headlining the event, while Vitor Belfort will square off against Anthony Johnson in the co-main event. Jose Aldo, ranked the #1 featherweight in the world, is also considered by many to be one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world. With a record of 20-1, Aldo was the last WEC featherweight champion and is now the UFC champion of his division. He has defended his UFC belt twice against dangerous fighters such as Kenny Florian and Mark Hominick. On January 14 however, he will be facing Chad “Money” Mendes, a former NCAA division 1 wrestler, is undefeated and has dominated all of his opponents, controlling them with takedowns and top control. Although Mendes has won most of his fights via decisions, he has proven to the fans had he does have knockouts and submissions.
The Co-main event features a middleweight bout between knockout artists Vitor “The Phenom” Belfort and Anthony “Rumble” Johnson. Both fighters left with a knockout of the night award in the last fight. Belfort, knocking out Japanese superstar Yoshihiro Akiyama in the first round at UFC 133, is Campaigning for a rematch with the current Middleweight champion Anderson Silva, they both met at UFC 126 when Belfort was knocked out with the first ever front kick to the head, He hopes to be granted that chance when he faces “The Rumble”. Anthony Johnson is currently on a two fight win streak, domination both Dan Hardy and with a TKO finish of Charlie Brenneman, has moved up a weight class to face Vitor Belfort. Johnson has always been a dark force in the welterweight because of his skill set and size. He aims to takeout the former heavyweight champion in Vitor and move up to contender status. Other notable fighters who will fight on the 14th include Rousimar Palhares, Erick Silva, Edson Barboza and Sam Stout.