New York Fight Scene: NY MMA Expo Edition

Lil Warren

Saturday, August 2, 2009. First ever New York Mixed Martial Arts Expo. Uniondale (Long Island), NY. Pouring rain…on and off. As I await the arrival of my friends, one of the most famous rappers in the world passes by me. I say, “What’s up Wayne?” He looks a bit confused, then nods. I had a camera and an iPhone on me, but couldn’t get a picture off. I wonder if I could have sold that picture. I wonder what it might be like to be that famous. My boys arrive. We enter the expo. Jens Pulver (pictured above with AMG) is in the cage in the middle of the room taking shots with fans. He’s energetic and a bit goofy. He refuses to take a picture with a straight face, which is the shit. There’s a sign in the cage that reads, “HELP LEGALIZE MMA IN NEW YORK”. It’s the only indicator of the day that this event has something expressly to do with assisting in the legalization of the sport here. I take a pic of Chuck Zito. I am informed by event organizers that Clay Guida will not be attending the expo as planned because his management, MMA Stop, would not allow it…which allegedly pisses off Silver Star. Sidebar: I believe Silver Star (who’s booth was dead throughout the event) could actually be the next big thing if they would go with their more innovative designs (I dig the Rich Franklin and Urijah Faber’s Tees) and scrap all that played-out skull shit and Affliction-rip-off crap. Jamie Varner hops from booth to booth, signing stuff and taking photos with fans. I take a pic of Tim Kennedy. My friends and I speak with Dan Ostrower of Manumission Fightceuticals. He sends us away with a big bag full of soap and other products. Dear Dan: If I end up beating someone to death with said bag of soaps, I believe you to be an accomplice. There. Fair warning. Big line to take pix with the great Andrei Arlovski. Huge line to take pix with Sean Sherk who was the last fighter to arrive (12:30-ish?). Then we bounced. I hear no demos were performed in the cage as advertised. Not sure why. Perhaps someone could shed some light on that subject. Thx to the organizers for holding this event. I believe the fans in attendance really appreciated the opportunity.

Check out my few pix from the event here. Oh, and here.

New York MMA Expo This Sunday: Be There or Be Octagonal

NYFS will be in the house; live-blogging/twittering/facebooking and just being on the phone in general (so if you can’t make the event, tune into this site…although you should really try to attend…this is all/mostly about promoting the legalization of the sport we love in the state we live in…and yes, I realize that the content within parenthesis should theoretically be shorter than that of the content outside of parenthesis, but I’m a fucking rebel yo!). Politics and grammar aside, this should be a great event for any MMA fan and a chance to meet, greet and take pix with some sick fighters (Jens Pulver, Andrei Arlovski, Clay Guida, Jamie Varner and Tim Kennedy to name a few). PLUS…this just in…Jean-Claude Van Damme’s arch-nemisis, Chuck Zito, will be making an appearance. For more, go here and we’ll see yous there.

UFC 94; What the Fuck Happened!?

Author: Warren Piece

January 31st, 2009 marked not 1, but 2 big events; UFC 94 and my editor, AMG’s, 31st birthday party, both of which took place at The Village Pourhouse in NYC.

Prior to taking on the this thankless, non-compensatory second job as an MMA critic, I used to watch fights just like everyone else; drunk and stoned…but that all came to a halt the moment I became self-obligated to report on what I see and think….until Saturday.

It all started innocently enough with a few beers a couple hours prior to the big show. Around the Diaz/Guida bout, which Clay took via decision, I switched to Long Island Iced Teas and shots of God-Knows-What. Still a big Diaz fan…classic that he borrowed his brother’s pseudo-crane-kick-psych-out move on Guida.

Both, the Bonnar/Jones fight and the Parisyan/Someone fight, I don’t recall. I hear Jones and Parisyan won…decisions I believe. More drinks…

I made a concerted effort to pay extra-close, special attention to the Silva/Machida bout in which Machida finally sat me on his bandwagon with a WHOPPER of a ground and pound KO! More drinks…

The Main Event is still pretty fuzzy, but I believe it involved GSP making me look like an ass by destroying Penn for 4 rounds. Now, this part I hope I hallucinated…did BJ Penn quit?! Very disappointing. If BJ loses his LW title to Florian later on this year, he may just off himself. This whole scenario is a picture-perfect example of the saying, “Be careful what you wish for.” I vaguely recall Thiago Alves coming out after the fight to hype his upcoming bout with GSP. Hear he looked like a heavyweight. Good.

Post PPV, some of us went out to Cafe Noir (via Biny’s and the Soho Grand) where I promptly ordered Absinthe on the rocks and, as I have seen pictures of myself drinking them, am forced to believe that I indulged in a few Irish Car Bombs as well. 

Post Cafe Noir, we went back to my friend’s crib where we drank champagne and ate guacamole. I passed out at approximately 5 AM, was woken at 12:30 PM Sunday, handed coconut water and coffee, put in a car and driven to my apartment, where I discovered that my wife was not home and would not be for at least 4 hours, that I had no keys and my phone was dead. 

So, of course, I went to see Paul Blart: Mall Cop, which was not as bad a people say and featured a Bas Rutten cameo. After the movie, while taking a dump, I wrote this story in my head and decided that I’d like to see Paris before I have children.

PS: I want to thank all my various handlers for taking such good care of me over the weekend.

Happy New Year, Asses!

Author: Warren Piece aka Glass Joe

You’re welcome. Also, do us both a favor and checkout my 2 most recent articles (“Mir vs Lesnar 2 or This is What Happens When Bad Meets Evil” and “TWOTHOUSANDNINE“) at mmaratings.net…and RATE THEM! Thanks all.