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.