Glory 9

        With the legalization of mixed martial arts in New York constantly being shot down by our elected officials year after year there has been a void in combat sports in "The Big Apple". Due to this New York's fighters and fans have had to cross the river and take the 3 hour journey down the coast of New Jersey to Atlantic City to be a part of their favorite sport. In the meantime kickboxing promotions have been popping up throughout NYC such as Take on Productions and Friday Night Fights capturing the combat sports market. This has helped grow the sport of kickboxing, especially in the tri-state area, giving fight fans the fast paced and action packed stand up aspect of mma without the methodical human chess match that is the ground game. Prior to this past weekend "the city that never sleeps" has never had the opportunity to host an internationally viewed, high level production fight card besides boxing. This past Saturday night that all changed.

          On Saturday, June 22^nd the premier kickboxing promotion, Glory invaded New York and hosted their highly anticipated event “Glory 9” at the Hammerstein Ballroom at the Manhattan Center. The fight card was stacked with the best fighters and coaches from around the world. Leading up to the event many participants spent time training and teaching at some of the local gyms in New York. The Glory 9 Light Heavyweight tournament’s winner Tyron Spong’s head striking coach Henri Hooft spend a lot of time at Long Island MMA running a seminar and offering private lessons. Henri had cornered Long Island MMA’s Ryan LaFlare 2 months prior in his UFC debut.

          The event kicked off with a preliminary card that featured local amateur and pro fighters including Andrew Ball, Andrea DeAngello and UFC vet Nick Pace all scoring victories in front of their hometown. After the prelims the main fight card began to air on CBS Sports with a tournament reserve bout between Randy Blake & Koichi Watanabe. The fight went all three rounds with Blake winning a unanimous decision. The next fight was for the other reserved spot in the tournament, Glory paired up Artem Vakhitov vs. Luis Tavares. Vakhitov made quick work of Tavares with body shots halting the action at the 1:06 mark of the first round. The next bout put heavyweights Anderson Silva up against Daniel Sam in a competitive fight that gave Silva the unanimous decision by the score of 30-27 on all 3 judges’ score cards. The nights first tournament fight matched the #1 ranked light-heavyweight Danyo Ilunga across the ring from Mourad Bouzidi. Ilunga came out to the ring in traditional warrior attire with spear and shield in hand. Danyo Ilunga won the unanimous decision to advance into the tournament. The second light-heavyweight tournament match had the two Americans Brian Collette vs. Dustin Jacoby paired up in a technical display of striking. In a split decision Jacoby advanced in the tournament. In one of the closest fights of the evening Filip Verlinden edged out Steve McKinnon in a narrow split decision by the scores 29-28,28-29,30-27. In the final quarterfinal matchup “The King of The Ring” Tyrone Spong fought tournament black horse Michael Duut in the hardest hitting 31 seconds of the evening. In the opening moments of the round Duut connected cleanly sending Spong to the canvas shocking the crowed. Spong collected his bearings got to his feet and the fist began to fly with Spong knocking out Duut with an over hand right in one of the most impressive looking knockouts of this year.

           In the first semi-final bout Dustin Jacoby met Danyo Ilunga and both men left it all in the ring. Both men were aggressive moving forward with each of them landing some solid shots. At times in this fight you had to wonder how they stayed on their feet and could continue to push such a frantic pace. When all was said and done neither fighter would go down and the bout went to the judges’ scorecards. The judges awarded the bout to Ilunga by the scores of 29-28 on all cards advancing him into the finals of the tournament and one step closer to the $200,000 grand prize. In the last of the semi-final bouts combat sports superstar Tyrone Spong fought Filip Verlinden, winner would advance to the finals in the tournament. The way these two men got here couldn’t be more different with Spong knocking out Dutt in 31 seconds and Verlinden in an all-out war and squeaking out a split decision over McKinnon. Spong pushed the pace keeping Verlinden’s back against the ropes throughout the fight coasting to a unanimous decision victory.

In the final of the “Glory 9 Light-Heavyweight Tournament” we saw the two favorites square off in a highly anticipated match between Danyo Ilunga(46-5, 36ko) vs. “The King of The Ring” Tyrone Spong(72-6, 45ko). This fight was a kickboxing super fight; it featured one of the top heavy-weights in the world moving down in weight to fight the #1 Light-heavyweight. Ironically, Ilunga trains under Remy Bonjasky which Spong knocked out in March at Glory 5. Unfortunately, the fight didn’t live up to what everyone had hoped for both fighters came out and through heavy leather. Spong connected, stunning Ilunga for a moment. The referee jumped in between the fighters to stop the action, waiving the fight off just 16 seconds into the first round shocking Ilunga and the fans. Spong celebrated in the ring with his corner men, Blackzillian’s head striking coach Henri Hooft and former UFC light heavy-weight champion Rashad Evans. Tyron was presented the tournament belt and the $200,000.00 check by co-promoter Lou Neglia, WKA representatives and Glory execs.      

Numbers Don't Lie, Long Island MMA Destroys The Competition

Are you looking for a safe bet?  Long Island MMA fighters have been stacking up wins one after another, and it doesn't look like they plan on losing momentum any time soon.  

Blasting their way onto the MMA scene since they opened their doors less than three years ago with fighters such as the UFC's Ryan LaFlare and Dennis Bermudez, Long Island MMA has amassed an unprecedented 90% winning rate on amateur and professional Mixed Martial Arts fights.  This unbelievable success rate didn't happen at some third rate event in someones backyard either, the vast majority of the wins LIMMA earned were at top tier shows including Ring Of Combat, Bellator, and the UFC.

The secret to their success? "There is no secret" says Long Island MMA coach Gregg DePasquale. "Hard work, an open mind to accept evolving technique, and a never quit attitude that has become synonymous with Long Island MMA fighters is what gets us on top.  MMA insiders know if they are fighting a Long Island MMA guy it is going to be a long night."

With what one fan calls "The breakout MMA team of the year" Long Island MMA has found the recipe for success, and with one of the highest winning percentages in the MMA world, has proven they can hang with the best

Long Island MMA's Dennis Bermudez at UFC 160

                 At UFC 160 there was a highly anticipated matchup between raising featherweights Dennis Bermudez (11-3) and Max Halloway (7-2).Both fighters are fan favorites with their aggressive style and endless conditioning. Entering their bout both fighters were coming off impressive wins and riding respectable win streaks.  Max Halloway trains out of Gracie Technics in Waianae, Hawaii and Dennis Bermudez trains and teaches at the premier mixed martial arts gym in New York, Long Island MMA in Farmingdale, NY.  This fight could push one of these fighters into the UFC’s top 10 of the stacked 145lb division.

The first round was a display of impressive striking for Halloway, while forcing Bermudez to keep the fight standing he landed several big kicks. Throughout the opening round there were several exchanges that had the fans on their feet expecting an early night for the fighters but they continued to throw hard shots always moving forward.

                In the second round Bermudez came out and displayed his always evolving striking, landing big punch combinations and effective kicks to the lower body of his opponent.  “The Menace” used great foot work and head movement to get inside of his opponent’s longer reach while landing crisp clean shots that appeared to hurt Halloway several times. The round ended with Bermudez securing a single leg, taking Halloway down and landing a couple big elbows

               The final round began with both fighters coming into the center of the cage and exchanging strikes before the Long Island MMA fighter shot in with another single leg putting Halloway on his back. Bermudez landed several strikes before Halloway was able to escape and get the fight back on their feet where he was more comfortable.  The two featherweights continued to stand in the center trading kicks and punches. Halloway shot in on Bermudez, showing his superior grappling, Bermudez shook off the attempt with ease. Just after the 2 minute mark, Bermudez clinched with his opponent, sweeping him on to the canvas.  Bermudez created space between him and Halloway and began to rain down big elbows. In the closing moments of the third round Bermudez was able to advance his position to half guard and utilize his dominant grappling landing punches and elbows to a bloodied Halloway at the end of the fight.

              This close fight went to the judges’ scorecards and “The Menace” Dennis Bermudez was awarded the win in a split decision by the scores of 29-28, 29-28, 28-29. Halloway had his three fight win streak come to an end and felt his second defeat since signing with the UFC. Dennis is now on a four fight win streak, was a part of a potential fight of the year with Matt Grice at UFC157 and has been making a huge impact in the featherweight division.