Last night, tournament-style MMA promotion Bellator made its MTV-2 debut with the first round of its season four welterweight tournament. After all four of the quarterfinal bouts were decided, the welterweight tournament became the first event of its magnitude to be an entirely east coast affair. The tournament opening round proved a good one for The Empire State, as Manhattan local and former Bellator welterweight champion Lyman Good along with long-time Long Island native and MMA veteran Jay Heiron both advanced with dominant victories over their opponents. Bostonian Judo Olympian Rick Hawn also earned a decisive win. The odd man out, Kentuckian Brent Weedman, still locates his home and f...

As the UFC makes its third appearance on Versus this Thursday, the bout on the minds of all New York fans is not the main event, but the potential breakout fight between veteran fighter Alessio Sakara and Long Island's own fighting pride, Chris Weidman. A Baldwin, New York native and hot prospect out of Team Serra/Longo, the undefeated Weidman has a huge and unexpected step up into the limelight this weekend with his UFC debut occurring on a televised main card. The question remains if the former Ring of Combat champion and one of the most fan-supported young fighters in New York will be able to capitalize on this career opportunity against a fighter as seasoned as Sakara. Those on the...

Following Fedor Emelianenko’s second consecutive defeat, much has been made about the future of the Russian superstar. Will the greatest heavyweight the sport has ever seen retire, or does he have another run in him? While these are certainly important questions to fans, fighters, and promoters, this writer poses another question: is Fedor Emelianenko really the greatest heavyweight of all time?

Sunday, February 13th, one of the most random sprees of violence in New York's recent memory was brought to a Hollywood-like ending, when mass murderer Maksim Gelman's rampage was stopped by MMA practitioner and Gelman's final attempted victim Joseph Lozito. As documented by the New York Times, Gelman underwent a 28 hour rampage of random murder and assault throughout New York City before pulling a knife on Lozito at a train in Pennsylvania Station. Lozito, according to the Times report, improvised a single leg takedown to immobilize his attacker until police inside the train were able to come to his aid and arrest Gelman. Lozito required several stitches after the attack, bu...

A litany of adjectives have been used to describe Strikeforce welterweight champion Nick Diaz during his nine-plus year mixed martial arts career.