UFC FIGHT NIGHT MAIA vs CONDIT LONG ISLAND MMA PREVIEW

     In recent news the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) has rescheduled a bout between Damian Maia and Carlos Condit from its original booking on UFC 202 to now headline the fast approaching UFC on Fox 21 which will take place on August 27th. While both men are well rounded mixed martial artists both are known for their specialties which for Maia is certainly his Jiu Jitsu while for Condit it would be his striking skills. This bout will likely come down to the man that is able to establish greater control of his opponent and as Maia has shown in his recent fights he is absolutely been able to do just that. However, although able to control well, as the fight ages into the later rounds Maia has shown that he is vulnerable to skilled strikers assuming they also possess skilled wrestling abilities. This was displayed in his bout against Long Island MMA’s Ryan LaFlare. As the rounds passed it began to sway more and more in LaFlare’s favor although in this instance Maia was still able to achieve victory.
          Under the circumstances that Carlos Condit is able to drag Damian Maia into deep water and consistently stand up or avoid the takedown all together this could be a dangerous match up for him. However, this begs the question of whether Condit possesses the Jiu Jitsu skill set to survive the early onslaught of grappling that Maia is undoubtedly going to bring to the octagon that night for the main event? Who will be able to enforce their will come August 27th? If Maia is able to win what does this mean for him and a possible title shot? If Condit wins where will he find himself in the rankings after breaking the prominent win streak of Maia? Sound off below with your feelings and opinions about this match up!

Nate Diaz gets the golden ticket to fight Conor McGregor at UFC 196 | Long Island MMA

Nate Diaz gets the golden ticket to fight Conor McGregor at UFC 196

Yesterday news broke that Rafael Dos Anjos was out of the UFC 196 super-fight with Conor McGregor. There was no shortage of people who lined up to get the fight with Conor McGregor; amongst the list of the possible contenders was Long Island MMA’s Chris Wade. Unfortunately Chris Wade was not the winner of the Conor McGregor fight but instead just as Long Island MMA predicted Nate Diaz will step in for the injured Dos Anjos and challenge McGregor.

UFC president Dana White revealed late yesterday that Diaz would step in for RDA. Dana also revealed that not only will Diaz be fighting McGregor but he will be fighting him at 170lbs instead of 155lbs the weight he was going to fight RDA at.

According to the UFC’s president the fight was also offered to both former featherweight champion Jose Aldo and fan favorite Frankie Edgar who both turned it down.

Although Long Island MMA would prefer to have seen RDA vs McGregor we are excited to hear the verbal fight before the physical one on March 5^th! 

Dos Anjos out of UFC 196 Chris Wade asks for fight! | Long Island MMA

With Rafael Dos Anjos out of UFC 196 fight Long Island MMA’s Chris Wade throws his name into the hat to Fight Conor McGregor.

Today it was reported by many news sources that Rafael Dos Anjos is out of the fight with Conor McGregor. RDA suffered a foot injury that will most likely sideline him from the March 5^th super fight against fan favorite and UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor.

With only 11 days until UFC 196 the list of prospects to fight Conor are slim, Twitter is clamoring for Donald Cerrone or Nate Diaz to take the fight since both opponents are down for a scrap any time. 

Well there might be another man who is more than willing to fight the “Notorious” one, Long Island MMA’s Chris Wade announced today on Twitter that he was more than willing to head down to Las Vegas on March 5^th and try to take out the sport’s biggest draw.  

Out of all the options available Donald Cerrone, Nate Diaz or Wade, Long Island MMA believes that Chris has the best chance to beat the 145lb champion because of his strong wrestling and grappling ability. We suspect the UFC will pick Diaz because of the trash talking aspect but we can dream can’t we?

BREAKING NEWS: RDA out of UFC 196 with foot injury

Rafael dos Anjos out of UFC 196 with Conor McGregor.

The biggest MMA fight in history was set to for Saturday march 5^th in Las Vegas, Conor McGregor the UFC featherweight champion of the world was set to fight Rafael Dos Anjos the UFC’s lightweight champion. This fight was going to be the first time two current UFC champions faced off inside the octagon.

However there have been multiple reports today saying Rafael Dos Anjos is out due to a foot injury. The UFC has not made any official announcements about the fight but a broken foot will side line RDA. It is also unclear if McGregor will stay on the card, but Long Island MMA believes it is more than likely that Conor will fight on the card.

This is not the first time something like this has happened to Conor, on July 11^th 2015 Conor was set to face the Jose Aldo who held the 145lb belt, but Aldo was sidelined. The UFC offered Conor Chad Mendes an almost complete opposite stylistic match up and Conor took that fight without hesitation. So if we had to guess we would imagine Conor would fight someone at 155 on March 5^th the question is who?

Long Island MMA on UFC 197 | Long Island MMA

It has been confirmed!  On April 23rd 2016 we will see the highly anticipated rematch between Jon “Bones” Jones and Daniel Cormier, as well as a matchup between Demetrious Johnson and Henry Cejudo.  The UFC had hoped that 197 would be held at Madison Square Garden in New York City, being the organizations first event held in the state of New York.  The federal court has not yet ruled on Zuffa’s appeal on New York’s MMA ban, causing the preliminary injunction UFC was hoping for to be denied by a federal judge.  In light of all this the UFC has moved the event to Las Vegas. At UFC 197 Jon Jones will be looking to regain the Light-Heavyweight Championship that he never lost from Daniel Cormier.  DC is the last person Jones fought inside the Octagon before he was stripped of the title due to his hit-and-run incident in New Mexico.  At the time Jones was scheduled to fight Anthony “Rumble” Johnson, but was replaced by Daniel Cormier after his incident became public and UFC was forced to take action.  DC had defeated Johnson and successfully defended the title against Alexander Gustaffson, and he feels this time around he is ready for Jones and the fans will see different results than their previous bout.  Jones on the other hand is confident he will defeat DC again, regain his championship, and give Rumble Johnson the fight he deserved last year. The Co-main event we will see the UFC Flyweight Champion Demetrious Johnson against the Olympic gold medalist Henry Cejudo.  Mighty Mouse Johnson has been one of the most dominant champions the UFC has ever seen.  He is on a 9 fight win streak and has been the only Flyweight Champion the UFC ever had. Henry Cejudo on the other hand has had a very successful career himself, not only was he a 2008 Olympic Gold-Medalist, but he is currently 10-0 in his MMA career.  Demetrious has dominated all of his recent fights, making it seem as if no one is on his level.  Cejudo is in for the biggest fight of his life; let’s see if he is ready for the test. UFC 197 is building to be a card you don’t want to miss.  BJ Penn has announced his return to the UFC in the Featherweight division, and they are planning for this comeback to be at UFC 197.  His opponent is TBD at the moment, but it is exciting to hear that such a legendary fighter will be returning.  Let’s keep our fingers crosses for BJ to find a good opponent, and for Jon Jones to keep himself out of trouble!

What’s next for UFC Bantamweight Division??

On January 17th 2016, the UFC Bantamweight Championship Belt was returned to Dominick Cruz after his split-decision victory over TJ Dillashaw.  Cruz dominated with footwork and totally took Dillashaw out of his element, never letting him get comfortable.  TJ Dillashaw has been known for having amazing footwork, being very light on his toes.  It was quite the opposite this time, in his fight with Cruz he appeared flatfooted and sluggish, not able to land any of his shots.  Watching Dillashaw’s fight against Renan Barao, many people have compared Dillashaw’s style to that of
Dominick Cruz.  Cruz had a lot to say on that matter before their fight saying “When people make a comparison, they don’t know what they’re comparing.”  Cruz believes that he created the style that Dillashaw tries to mimic, so there is no way that Dillashaw would have a chance at beating him. Cruz was also questioned often about his potential “ring-rust” because he has only had one fight in the past 4 years.  When questioned after the fight Cruz responded with “There is no such thing as rust.  Rust does not exist unless you don’t train hard enough.”  This says a lot about the mental strength of the
champion.  After being out for so long with so many injuries, Cruz has the perseverance to come back, still be the most agile fighter in MMA, and win the championship belt that he never lost in the first place.  Who is next for the Champion?  Uriah Faber issued his own challenge to Cruz, but the more exciting match-up would be Uriah Faber vs. TJ Dillashaw.  Faber and Dillashaw have some bad blood since Dillashaw left team Alpha Male to train with Duane Ludwig.  Thanks to Connor Mcgregor’s antics on The Ultimate Figher, Dillashaw was labeled as a “snake in the grass” and pushed Uriah Faber to fight him. Barao just lost his last two title fights, so the only other potentials are Raphael Assuncao or Aljamain Sterling.  Only time will tell who’s next to step up to the plate, the bantamweight division will have to step up their game if they plan to dethrone the current Champion.

Pound for Pound Best Fighter in the World Returns to UFC!! | Long Island MMA

Pound for Pound Best Fighter in the World Returns to UFC!!

On October 23^rd 2015 the UFC announced the reinstatement of #1 light-heavyweight in the world, Jon “Bones” Jones.  Jones had pled guilty to his felony charge of a hit-and-run incident that left a pregnant woman with a broken arm.  As part of his plea agreement, Jones was given an 18-month probation stint and 72 community appearances.  Jones is eligible to return to competition immediately and the UFC expects him to meet all terms of his plea agreement as a condition of his reinstatement.  UFC Chairman and CEO Lorenzo Fertitta said “There are significant expectations we have regarding his conduct moving forward.”  And Jones had issued a statement saying “I am thankful to be able to do what I love once again and I look forward to proving myself as a champion in and outside of the Octagon.”  The future looks promising for Jones, hopefully he learned from this experience and will work to be the role model and inspiration that this sport needs.  Upon his return it is expected, though not confirmed, that he will have an immediate title shot with the current champion Daniel Cormier.  DC had lost his title fight against Jon Jones, but later replaced Jones in his fight against Anthony Johnson, where DC dominated Rumble Johnson on the ground and pulled out a submission victory in the 3^rd round to win the vacated Light-Heavyweight title.  The exact return date for Jones is yet to be determined but we are all looking forward to it, including Cormier, who congratulated Jones on his reinstatement to the UFC and said “I can’t wait to compete against him again.”

Marine subdues gunman using Jiu Jitsu | Long Island MMA

Original Article

For some time the martial arts community has scrutinized the art of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for being an art that is “street ineffective”. However, there have been several instances to date which have proven otherwise, these instances range from sexual assault cases to robberies etc. This is something that the martial artists at Long Island MMA believe in whole heartedly. In recent events possibly the most eye opening instance of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu’s effectiveness on the street took place on a train traveling from Amsterdam to Paris. During that trip, as the train was passing through Belgium an armed terrorist began to attack passengers. He was heavily armed with firearms such as an AK-47 assault rifle for which he also carried nine magazines of ammunition (that alone should be indicative of the type of evil that he had planned) a 9mm handgun as well as a box cutter to use as a melee weapon.

     Two of the three heroes that took down the assailant that day were military men; Spencer Stone of the US Air Force, Alek Skarlatos of the Army National Guard and Anthony Sadler whom is a college student. Spencer Stone is stationed with the Air Force in Portugal where he trains Brazilian Jiu Jitsu at the Gracie Lisbon branch. He was the first of the three to reach the assailant and was able to grapple his way into a tight rear naked choke.  As his friends disarmed the twenty six year old El-Khazanni of his firearms he began to attack stone with his box cutter and was able to sever his thumb as well as cause lacerations on his neck, Stone briefly lost the choke but was able to re-apply it and eventually choke the terrorist unconscious. As the attack unfolded several other passengers came to their aid in subduing the man by bludgeoning him with his own weapons.

     There are several things to take note of when analyzing what happened on this train. While Spencer Stone’s Jiu Jitsu training undoubtedly played a huge role in bringing down the attacker it may be more than just the techniques that did him in. As is stated quite well by Rener Gracie in his “Gracie Breakdown” of the incident “in Spencer’s case it was to their advantage especially when he said I am going to rush this guy, he has an AK-47 but that’s only good if we stay back, if we rush him it has no value and they were right”. The advantage that he is referencing is to the lack of space in the train car. However, to Spencer and all others that train Brazilian Jiu Jitsu the lack of space that other passengers on the train were intimidated by is a welcome opportunity to put to use that which he as well as other Jiu Jitsu fighters are trained to do.

     Another point that is made in this Gracie Breakdown is that it is also fair to note that Jiu Jitsu as well as other combat sports fosters a mentality of “going down fighting”. Every day on the mat as they are placed in dangerous and uncomfortable positions martial artists believe that there is always a way to achieve victory. Even coming back from the deepest depths in a losing battle, that battle may yet be won. And it is this “I will not bow down” mentality that possibly saved all of those lives that day. The fact that Spencer Stone and others that day refused to accept their fate, they fought back. The natural and unwavering instinct to fight back is something that is ingrained in a martial artist through their hard training, and in this case Spencer Stones instinct may be attributed to the art of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

Jiu Jitsu Technique - The Ninja Sweep from triangle

Jiu Jitsu Technique - The Ninja Sweep from triangle

     This sweep is a true testament to chain grappling! Professional MMA fighter Eric Uresk teaches us a counter to a counter off of the triangle choke that he calls the ninja sweep. This technique is excellent to apply during a scramble such as this and will help you maintain dominant position when you are in a tricky spot! We hope you can all apply it to your game.

Wrestling Technique's from coach Kyle Cerminara | Long Island MMA

 In these two videos Long Island MMA coach Kyle Cerminara teaches us some cool techniques one set on techniques from a collar tie and one set of techniques from a fake single.

We see how to manipulate our opponent by creating a dominant angle and there by executing either the throw by to single leg, or the knee pick. Each take-down is excellent for its own particular application and we hope you are all able to add these to your drilling. Remember, perfect practice makes perfect execution!

The second set of techniques is from a fake or failed shot. Coach Kyle enlists the help of UFC fighter "The Menace" Dennis Bermudez to help him demonstrate the technique. First you get your opponent to step back using a leg touch or a single leg attempt and then when your opponent steps away you use superior footwork and some specific positioning to  get to a high crotch take-down.