During my days of managing an MMA academy, I’ve spoken with plenty of first-time students about their apprehensions to starting their training. Of course, these concerns sometimes have to do with how friendly the other students are, how much a membership package will cost, etc. But I find that once a student has decided in […]

The recent UFC fight between Ben Askren and Demian Maia had that special selling-appeal of unstoppable force vs. immovable object. Askren has been on a tear with a record of 19-1, mauling his opposition with superior wrestling and positional control. Maia’s record of 27-9 doesn’t sound as impressive at first. However, when you consider who […]

Whether in a movie or a cartoon of some sort, you’ve probably seen a Rube Goldberg machine without knowing its Wikipedia definition, which is: “a machine intentionally designed to perform a simple task in an indirect and overcomplicated fashion.” A picture is worth a thousand words, so check out this guy’s hat on the right. […]

If you bring up Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu or “submission wrestling” at the water cooler, your listeners are going to have many different (and many false) impressions of what you’re talking about. They could imagine something like this suplex to flying armbar by Demetrius Johnson. But what you could be trying to communicate is something along the […]

Big losses and long stretches of inactivity can do strange things to fighters. Some of them will develop a new shtick, or use an old one to set off the media drama that will win them another fight and possibly a bigger paycheck. But the strangest thing it can do to a fighter is to […]

At last, Jose Aldo and Conor McGregor are going to fight. The trash-talk, wordplay, and toughguy-drama (mostly fueled by McGregor) is settling down, and this is the quiet before the storm that will go down tonight at UFC 194. Unless one of these guys plays an unexpected takedown game, we’re going to see a brutal […]

Fighters and politicians are so different that I probably use different brain cells just to think about either of them. However, their one commonality is that they’re both often masterful excuse-makers. Sure, plenty of them aren’t (Randy Couture, Matt Hughes, etc.). However, plenty of them are, and I’ll admit that if I sacrificed all of […]

There’s no shortage of internet videos detailing the effectiveness of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. There’s also no shortage of internet trolls (i.e. pranksters and agitators) who make excuses for punks who get choked out and twisted into pretzel-shapes. Sometimes these trolls are simply in it for the lulz (for their own amusement), but many others actually believe […]

If you didn’t get a chance to see the Matt Brown vs. Erick Silva fight from UFC Fight Night take 15 minutes of your time and check it out! Lots of Mixed Martial Arts action both on the feet and on the ground!

Hey guys, just a reminder, we’re having a party for the UFC on FX card at NJ United Mixed Martial Arts this Friday night, 1/20/2012. Fights start at 9pm. All NJ United MMA members are welcome to attend to watch what should be a great night of fights. Fighting on the card will be Team Lloyd Irvin’s own Mike Easton. […]