Daniel Grskovic rallies for Golden Gloves win; Heather Hardy takes step toward return trip to Garden

Ken Goldfield for New York Daily News

Heather Hardy (l.) takes home the win over Robin Percyz at Xaverian High School Wednesday night.

By Stephen Lorenzo / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Daniel Grskovic (NY-MMA) and Jonathan Neves (Willis Ave BC) might have arrived in Brooklyn with a full tank, but by the third round of their 132-pound novice bout, they were both running on fumes.

Wednesday night, the Daily News Golden Gloves came to Brooklyn's Xaverian High School, where the 132-pounders and 125-pound ladies went to work.

Neves seemed to control the bout with Grskovic early, keeping the challenger off balance with frequent jabs. Each boxer landed his share of clean shots during the fight, but a holding penalty on Neves and a late rally by Grskovic in the third were pivotal. Grskovic emerged as the winner with a 4-1 decision and took home the P.C. Richard and Son Boxer of the Night award.

"In the first two rounds I felt great," he said. "But my trainer told me there were 45 seconds left (in the third) and that took an eternity. I tried to maintain my breathing and keep my hands up. I was trying to just finish the round strong and I went to the end."

Heather Hardy (Gleason's Gym) entered the ring from the gold corner and exited one step closer to the golden goal that eluded her a year ago. The action from 125-pound women's division was the tournament's first female bouts since opening night at B.B. King's Blues Club on Jan 19. Hardy, a 2011 runner-up, began her fight with Robin Percyz (Hevyhitters BC) with a defensive focus, but came out firing in the third showing the determination she'll need to get back to the Garden.

"It took me a round or two to shake the nerves," Hardy said. "In the third round I came around and I started punching with intent."

Hardy owned the third, pummeling Percyz and dishing out two standing-eight counts. Just 20 seconds into the fourth and final round, another right hand would give Hardy a stoppage and the Empire City Casino Punch of the Night.

"That was not a typical Heather Hardy fight," she said. "I don't get nervous. (But) I don't want to lose anymore, so the pressure to win is very, very high."

Hardy will fly to Colorado next week to defend her 125-pound national title.

The Gloves bounce back Thursday with heavyweight action from the novice and open classes at the New York Athletic Club at Central Park South. Bouts begin at 7:30.

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.

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.

11-Year-Old Jiu Jitsu Hero Attacks Kidnapping Suspect, Saves Himself & Younger Sister | 30 Days FREE Jiu Jitsu Classes in Queens NY

11 Year Old Jiu Jitsu Student Protects Himself and Sister from Kidnapping Suspect

Jay Yano didn’t have the day after Thanksgiving off, so he planned to take his two young children to work with him. As his son Jonah (who trains Brazilian Jiu Jitsu) and his daughter Brooklyn loaded into his truck, parked right outside their home, Yano left the vehicle running as he quickly walked to the truck’s rear.“That’s when I noticed the guy walking from across the street, coming over,” said Jay Yano. The truck quickly began to pull forward, with 9-year-old Brooklyn and 11-year-old Jonah inside.

He ran to the driver’s side door. “When I opened the car door, I saw my son holding the guy down with his left hand,” said Yano.

 “I just grabbed his shoulder and started punching his face, telling him to get out of the truck,” said Jonah Yano.

Jonah Yano, a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu practitioner said he wasn’t scared

his younger sister was in trouble and he needed to help her. Despite being much smaller than the 35-year-old man, Jonah gave his father enough time to pull the suspect out of the truck. “If my son didn’t jump in, he would have just taken off with her down the street,” said Jonah Yano.

After making sure his children were safe Jay Yano caught the suspect and held him until police arrived.

Jonah Yano’s parents said their son’s years of jiu jitsu practice came in handy but beyond that, it was a brotherly love, which can’t be taught. “I’m proud of him,” said Jay Yano.