British jiu-jitsu expert grabs Central Park 'purse snatcher' before New Yorkers could lay a hand on him

This guy ought to register his hands as lethal weapons.

A tough-as-nails jiu-jitsu expert made such quick work of a purse snatcher in Central Park Thursday, a group of other would-be crime-stoppers could only stand by and watch his martial artistry.

Gaston Cavalleri, a 32-year-old British tourist, used his skills to hold 16-year-old accused crook Charles Williams until cops came.

Unfortunately for Williams, Cavalleri had studied jiu-jitsu at one of the world’s best schools in Brazil — meaning he needed about as much help as Batman would have needed from a group of Gothamites.

NY Post: Bill Sanderson

PINNED: Gaston Cavalleri has an alleged Central Park mugger easily under control as bystanders await cops.

“You’re going to have to wait until the police arrive,” Cavalleri told Williams after the teen yelled, “Let me go! I can’t breathe!”

The excitement began just before 8:30 p.m., when Williams allegedly ran off with a bag containing cellphones, credit cards, and other items from two German tourists who’d been laying out in one of the park’s grassy spots.

Cavalleri chased down the suspect near the entrance to Wollman Rink and tackled him.

Other good Samaritans also ran after the suspect, but Cavalleri had the situation well in hand.

“I didn’t want to hurt him. I wanted to secure him, so he wouldn’t run away,” said the park hero, who studied jiu-jitsu at the highly respected Gracie school.

“One of the moves I had him in was a bit tight around his neck,” Cavalleri said. “He said he was having trouble breathing. So after a while, I put him in a different move.”

Williams promised he wouldn’t run away, but Cavalleri kept him tightly gripped with his legs.

“I had him controlled,” Cavalleri said.

Officers were on the scene within minutes.

Williams is charged with grand larceny and criminal possession of stolen property.

Cavalleri, who grew up poor in British public housing, caught a lucky break when his mother won a lottery prize worth more than $35 million.

Cavalleri, who’ s just written a book about his life called “Gaston’s Secret,” arrived in New York three weeks ago.

His Central Park experience hasn’t soured him on the city or its people.

“People are friendly,” he said. “It’s one of the friendliest places I’ve been to, actually.”

Additional reporting by Kirstan Conley

Chad Trabuscio and Jose Cales to meet in Golden Gloves final

By Stephen Lorenzo / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS                                                                                    

 It seemed as though Ronniel Vargas (Atlas Cops N Kids) only threw one punch, but one punch was all he needed.

Just 58 seconds into Round 1, Vargas connected with the Empire City Casino unch of the ight — a lefthand haymaker — that dropped David Tirado (Suffolk PAL) and landed Vargas his spot at Madison Square Garden.
“I felt like the first few fights I could take my time to observe the tournament in general,” Vargas said after winning his Golden Gloves 152-pound novice semifinal at Holy Cross High School in Flushing Friday night. “As I got closer to the Garden, there was no more playing around, it was time to get serious.”
Benjamin Baez (White Plains Youth BC) earned the right to face Vargas after a bruising three-round battle with Maxito Sainvil (Extreme Fight Club). The 152-pounder was able to bob and weav his way out of trouble, and was named the P.C. Richard and Son Boxer of the Night.
“I think it will be one hell of a 152-novice final,” Baez said.
Chad Trabuscio (Atlas Cops N Kids) and Daniel Grskovic engaged in a 132-pound semifinal thriller. The two went toe to toe for two rounds, but Trabuscio was magnificent in Round 3, leaving no doubt for a 5-0 decision.
“It’s an amazing feeling,” Trabuscio said. “I’m one step closer to what all of the all-time greats like Sugar Ray Robinson and Mark Breland did.”
Trabuscio’s opponent will be Jose Cales (Brotherhood BC), who earned a stoppage over Abdulmageed Yahya (Atlas Cops N Kids).
De’Vaun Lee (New Legend BC) and Leshawn Rodriguez (Veteran’s Memorial) both took 5-0 decisions to set up a strong 178-pound open championship match. Isaiah Gervais (Morris Park BC) and Paul Nevarez (Unattached) will duke it out for the super heavyweight novice crown.
Tickets are on sale for the Golden Gloves finals at the Theater at Madison Square Garden on March 29-30. Log on to thegarden.com for details.

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 143 Diaz Vs. Condit

On February 4, 2012, two of the top ranked welterweights will face off in the Mandalay Bay Events Center for the interim welterweight belt. Nick Diaz and Carlos Condit are two of the most exciting fighters today in the world of mix martial arts. Nick Diaz, who was originally scheduled to faced current welterweight champion George St. Pierre back at UFC 137, however, being unable to show up to multiple pre fight conferences, the opponent was replaced by Carlos Condit, while Diaz was rescheduled to face BJ Penn in the co main event. Then a week prior to the event, the champion suffered a knee injury that forced him out of the fight, the bout was dropped and the co main was then promoted to the main event. Although the changes to the card displeased many fans, both BJ Penn and Nick Diaz put on a great fight for the fans, both fighters were awarded the fight of the night award, and with Diaz solidifying his number one contender status.
Carlos Condit was the last WEC Welterweight champion before the organization dissolved the division. He has won his last four of five fights with two knock out of the night and one fight of the night bonus. While Nick Diaz was the reigning Strikeforce Welterweight champion who is riding on a eleven fight win streak with three title defenses. After the UFC brought out Strikeforce, Nick Diaz vacated his belt in order to face St. Pierre.
Although the fight card for UFC 143 is not complete, other announced bouts will be scheduled to the fight card, such as Josh Koscheck,who was Condits original opponent, against Mike Pierce and Roy Nelson vs. Fabricio Werdum.

Halloween Party

This year for Halloween we wanted to have some fun with the kids. So what's better than a party? A Halloween Costume party!

                As our adorable, pint-sized patrons arrived, they were greeted by bowls of chips, candy and other treats! Later on we would all enjoy more candy, soda, chips, and  pizza!

                 Games included Pin the Tail on the Black Cat (Congrats to Yameci!) and Witch Hat Ring Toss. I think it's safe to say that everybody's favorite part of the party was the pumpkin pinata. For arts and crafts, we made ghosts and drew on our very own pumpkins to keep. We also had a face paint and tattoo station.

                As for our Instructors and assistants: Head Coach Butch Rinaldi was the grim reaper , Coach Amanda was a cat, Wrestling coach Louie was Pauly D and assistant Gus was Mayhem Miller (hence the red streak in his hair and the mean black eye), Jennifer"Smalls" Rubin was a rather convincing nerd.

                Everybody wore pretty cool costumes but the grand prize had to go to Marcus, 10. He was a terrifying zombie-surgeon with guts and gore spilling out of his surgical attire. His prize was an assortment of 120 temporary tattoos-which he took with a pretty satisfied grin.

                We want to thank everyone for coming and celebrating with us and look forward to next years Halloween party-now on to Christmas!

Why Should New York Legalize Mixed Martial Arts?

The legalization of mixed martial arts in the state of New York has become a hot topic for the past five years.  Each year numerous states are legalizing this once banned sport because of the lack of rules and no holds barred mentality attached to it.  In November of 2000, the UFC broke ground by establishing unified rules to the sport and getting sanctioned by the state of New Jersey.  This has of course become a growing trend for the past eleven years due to increases in safety for the fighters and of course the increasing amount of revenue that is generated by the sport.  States on average earn about         $5 million dollars in economic activity from hosting a mixed martial arts event by the UFC.  As of the writing of this article only three states have not legalized mixed martial arts and in fact made it illegal: Vermont, Connecticut, and New York. 

            Politicians in the state of New York have been at a tug of war over whether to legalize mixed martial arts in the state of New York.  Some politicians argue that to legalize mixed martial arts would open the door to “giving them clubs with spikes on the end.” said by Herman Farrell chairman of the Ways and Means Committee.  The media also portrays mixed martial arts in a negative light by showcasing it as a brutal blood sport with no rules.  A recent segment on Fox 5 news by Andrea Day took a look at an underground mixed martial arts club (http://www.mmafighting.com/2008/09/11/fox-5-does-its-part-to-keep-mma-illegal-in-new-york/).  The whole report focused on the injuries to the fighters such as a swollen eye or a broken nose, injuries very common in hockey and boxing. 

            The positive effect of mixed martial arts is the amount of economic revenue a state can obtain from one event.  New York in an essence could hold three to four events a year plus a fan expo thereby achieving economic revenue of $20-$30 million.  Mixed martial arts have had two fatalities since the sport has been on sanctioned ground.  Mixed martial arts though are not the only sports in the United States to have fatalities.  American Football since 1976 has had over three hundred fatalities but yet it is still considered an American past time next to baseball which has had more fan fatalities than player fatalities.  No fans who observe a mixed martial arts event have to worry about hockey pucks or baseballs traveling a hundred miles an hour at them.  Mixed martial arts are also different to boxing in relation to the knock down rule.  When a fighter in boxing is knocked down they receive a ten count but in mixed martial arts the fights over.  Mixed martial arts have been noted to have a reduced risk of traumatic brain injury because of this practice.  Underground fight clubs are seen as a negative because of the lack of regulations applied to them.  They are only underground though because a sport pretty much legalized across the country has still not found a home in New York.  If you watch the bold link in the previous paragraph you would see that the underground fight club reported for Fox 5 news looks very similar to amateur mixed martial arts events held in other states that have legalized mixed martial arts and thus regulate these events.

            Why should mixed martial arts be legal in New York? Why do you think it is illegal at this point in time? Please feel free to comment.