UFC Fight Night: T.J. Dillashaw vs Dominick Cruz | Long Island MMA

UFC Fight Night: T.J. Dillashaw vs Dominick Cruz

UFC is heading to Boston, Massachusetts on January 17th 2016 with another exciting Fight Night card, airing exclusively on Fox Sports 1.  The headliner for this one is going to be an exciting battle for the UFC Bantamweight Championship.  T.J. Dillashaw will defend his title against former Bantamweight Champion Dominick Cruz, who had never actually lost the title in the first place!
Dominick Cruz was stripped of the Bantamweight Championship due to inactivity caused by repeated long-term injuries.  Upon his return, Cruz finished Takeya Mizugaki in an explosive knockout, 1:01 into the 1st round.  Cruz has defeated many great opponents and is actually the last person to defeat the Flyweight Champion Demetrious Johnson.  Dominick feels he is the rightful Champion of the division until someone can beat him inside the octagon, and Dillashaw believes he’s the man to do it!
T.J. Dillashaw’s most notable feat is when he took the title from the former champion, Renan Barao. Barao was on an undefeated win streak that lasted 9 years, at the time he was at the top of the Pound-for-Pound list.  Barao had the odds to win 20 to 1, but Dillashaw put on such an impressive and dominant performance that finished the former champion halfway through the 5th round.  Barao got his rematch a year later and Dillashaw put on an even better performance, this time finishing Barao in the 4th round.

There are some other matchups that evening that are very promising as well.  Eddie Alvarez vs. Anthony Pettis is bound to be an exciting war.  This is Pettis’s first fight since his loss to Lightweight Champion Rafael Dos Anjos, and Alverez will be riding off of his victory against Gilbert Melendez, both men trying to get there shot at the UFC Lightweight Championship.  Another match to pay attention to is Chris Wade vs. Mairbek Taisumov, both of these men are extremely explosive and have the potential to finish fights.  Chris Wade is a strong up-comer in the division fighting out of Long Island MMA in Farmingdale, New York.

The entire Fight Night Boston card is an exciting one, but make sure you really pay attention to the fights mentioned here, you will not be disappointed!

Long Island MMA Technique Series: Boxing | Long Island MMA

Long Island MMA Technique Series:

If you are from Long Island and in any way involved in the boxing community the name Herman Williams should ring a bell. Coach Herman is Long Island MMA’s head boxing coach. One of the things that make coach Herman unique is that although he is unquestionable a skilled boxer and boxing coach Herman is also well skilled in many other martial arts as well.

Coach Herman wrestled in his high school days as well as participated in many Brazilian jiu Jitsu classes shortly after.  Coach Herman has a deep understanding of the ground game when it comes to fighting which makes him an ideal boxing coach for a mixed martial artist. On Long Island it’s difficult to find a better suited coach for a MMA fighter.

In this video series coach Herman shows us some of the finer points on how to throw a Jab. Coach Herman teaches us how to defend a Jab as well. This is a great video for those of you starting out in mixed martial arts. The Jabs is one of the most fundamental strikes in MMA and you cannot be a good MMA fighter without a successful jab.

UFC’S BEST STRIKING COACH COMES TO LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK!

UFC’S BEST STRIKING COACH COMES TO LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK!

Renown striking coach, Henri Hooft, had made his way back to Long Island this past weekend for a kickboxing seminar at “Long Island MMA and Fitness Center” in Farmingdale, NY.  Hooft has trained some top fighters such as Anthony Johnson, Rashad Evans, Eddie Alverez, Vitor Belfort, Tyrone Spong, and Long Island’s own, Ryan Laflare.  It is never wise to miss an opportunity to train under such a knowledgeable coach.  With a style that blends the disciplines of Muay Thai and Dutch Kickboxing, there is no better way to take your striking game to the next level.

Henri Hooft left the soccer fields as a child to start karate lessons, and soon found his way into kickboxing.  After years of kickboxing he had moved to Thailand while still competing in the Netherlands.  The cross training helped attribute him to be such a well-rounded trainer with the ability to blend styles as needed.  Hooft holds 89 Kickboxing matches in his professional career, and has earned World and European titles.  He currently works as the head striking coach of Blackzillians fight team in Boca Raton, Florida.  We are lucky that we are able to host a Henri Hooft seminar, here at Long Island MMA in Farmingdale, once a year.  I know many people are looking forward to his next visit to New York

The turn out on this seminar was excellent.  There were enough people for everyone to work with many different partners of different skills and sizes, and Henri had made a point to give each person enough attention to help them advance their own game.  After almost two hours of cleaning up our fundamentals everyone had the opportunity to join in some sparring sessions at the end.  Asking around the gym afterwards all you could hear was positive reviews!  “It was a great experience and I will definitely be coming to the next one” says Long Island MMA’s Mike Morris.  “It was really awesome to work with such a renowned trainer who has worked with so many great fighters, some of the tips he gave me are going to have a big impact on my technique” said Keiran Kirk, member of Chris Weidman and Ray Longo’s Power MMA in Garden City, New York.   It’s good to see practitioners from all over Long Island to gather for such an event, everyone is looking forward to the next time Henri Hooft can make his way here!

Long Island MMA teaches us how to do an armbar from the mount | BJJ Technique

   
 This technique is taught by Long Island MMA’s own Brent Appiarius; a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. The arm lock from the mounted position is extremely efficient being that it allows the offensive man to maintain his position on top. Unlike other arm locks which require you to fall to your back, this variation lessens the chances of being reversed and ending up in the bottom position. Brent emphasizes that pulling up on your opponents head when in S-mount will nullify their ability to bridge you out of position. We hope that you are all able to make good use of this arm lock; stay tuned for more great techniques from Long Island MMA!

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.

The BEST MMA GYM on Long Island New York | Long Island MMA

     I am sure that most of us have heard the term “McDojo” before. It is a term used to describe a chain or individual martial arts establishment that lacks legitimacy or one could even say is poorly managed. As the sport of Mixed Martial Arts exploded into mainstream entertainment the martial arts world experienced a flood of these so called McDojos attempting to hop on the band wagon of Mixed Martial Arts popularity. To the untrained eye it is hard to tell a legitimate school from a farce, especially when they are toting flashy equipment and a clean facility. But time has shown that simply hopping on the popularity train does not prove enough to maintain a successful gym. Schools were opening under individuals with martial arts experience but no business sense, vice versa.

     When the dust settled from the excitement of the opportunity that MMA presented, schools were failing due to lack of business experience, or lack in legitimate training credentials. Certain gyms were forced to downsize and some even forced to close. But there are always exceptions to the norm. These came in the form of gyms run by professional trainers or fighters themselves; those that had the passion, experience and love of the sport. These gyms excelled where others failed. Long Island Mixed Martial Arts is one of those gyms and is a prime example of the criteria previously stated. They first opened their doors in November of 2011 and have been steam rolling the New York MMA scene ever since. Owned by now current UFC Welterweight Ryan LaFlare and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Blackbelt/ MMA Coach Gregg DePasquale; Long Island MMA was bred of a true love for the sport of Mixed Martial Arts and it truly shows in the way that members experience their training.

      There are other successful gyms in the Long Island area however, a key point that sets Long Island MMA apart is the fact that everyone that comes in to L.I.M.M.A. receives attention and is treated with equal priority. This is likely a big part of why the team of amateur fighters at Long Island MMA is so talent rich. Everyone has potential and the coaches at Long Island MMA make it their mission to bring out the best in all of their students! Aside from the more than qualified coaching staff another key part of running a gym, like any business would be an education in such an area. While Ryan LaFlare is a professional athlete, he also has a college education. Ryan graduated from Farmingdale State College with a business degree; a degree which has helped turn his once small gym from Lindenhurst into a massive 12,000 square foot facility located in Farmingdale NY. It is the business know how of its owners that has kept Long Island MMA constantly growing and improving, rather than downsizing like so many other schools have had to do.  At Long Island MMA classes are constantly being improved; be it adding more of them or simply improving existing ones. Needless to say, with the foundation and care that makes up Long Island MMA the only place that it will be going is forward to even greater things!

UFC's New PED policy | Long Island MMA

     The UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) has recently announced that they will be spear heading reform of drug testing for all fighters on every card. Yes that is right, the UFC would like to have every single combatant on every card moving forward to be tested for PED (performance enhancing drugs). They are currently working with all athletic commissions to sanction their events in order to accomplish what they have dubbed the “drug testing call to action”. The UFC has certainly taken up the call to action, they have also stated that in respect to the athletic commissions they will cover any and all costs associated with the new policy that may fall outside of the state or federal budgets for such issues.

 
   In doing so the UFC has taken nearly the full responsibility of fighting PED’s on themselves as an organization. This type of oversight will most certainly be heavy on the UFC’s wallet seeing as there are a total of five hundred and eighty five fighters under contract with the UFC. Each fighter will be tested by the commission when they are to compete. While the UFC has agreed to supplement any state or federal budget shortcomings in order to accomplish this goal they have taken their commitment a step further. Other than the supplementation of state PED testing the UFC will also be randomly testing every single one of their contracted athletes outside of competition. Keeping in mind that this movement will not replace any of the testing that is currently taking place, it will simply be added on. These additions could possibly amount to several millions of dollars, so it is very clear that the UFC means business.

    One might wonder “just because testing has increased doesn’t mean anything will be fixed, what is the penalty”? It is arguable that the current penalties being assigned for those having failed drug tests are simply not enough. A fighter collecting a legitimate purse and only looking at a couple months suspension has no real reason not to use PED because the risk is quite below the reward. However, the thought has been raised by the UFC to instate failure penalties that “could be career threatening” according to UFC President Dana White. A minimum of two years suspension seems to be the goal, however, depending on the severity of the circumstance suspensions may even reach up to four years long. With the threat of possibly career ending suspensions at hand this could be the beginning of the end of the current PED issue.