MMA Day in NYC!

From this point forward, February 8th should be a holiday in New York known as MMA Day. It was on this day that the first ever rally was held in New York City in the push to get Mixed Martial Arts sanctioned and legalized in the state. While the turnout could have been better, the cold winter air was warmed with the hope that our goal will be achieved.

Much props have to be given to Stephen Koepfer, who heads up the Coalition to Legalize Mixed Martial Arts in New York, for organizing the rally and for spearheading the grassroots effort to get the sport sanctioned. Along with Stephen, speeches were given by local combat sports guru, Eddie Goldman, MMA fighter, Tara LaRosa (pictured below) and MMA pioneer, Frank Shamrock (pictured above). Frank said he is moving to New York just so he can focus on helping to get the sport legalized here. Say what you want about Frank, but this proves how much he cares about the sport. Overall, the rally was a solid first step in the right direction.



MMA Day continued with an excellent event at the legendary Roseland Ballroom in midtown Manhattan. Strikeforce served as the host and brought all 8 of the participants in their upcoming HW tournament for a meet and greet.

Fedor Emilianenko, Alistair Overeem, Josh Barnett, Sergei Kharitonov, Fabricio Werdum, Bigfoot Silva, Andre Arlovski and Brett Rogers were all in the building. Frank Shamrock was also there as well and the event was MC'd by gravel voiced Scott Ferrall. We were also treated to the skills of Queens native, DJ Clue, on the wheels of steel. The place was packed with very enthusiastic MMA fans. The rally downtown needed that kind of turnout. Someone dropped the ball by not somehow combining the two events. All the fighters were introduced on stage and most were interviewed. Rogers and Werdum also showed some of their skills onstage with technique demonstrations. Werdum was the surprise star of the event by revealing his comedic side, throwing out some very funny lines about Overeem, who he will be meeting in the first round of the tourney.

It was very apropos that Rockstar energy drink co-promoted the afternoon's festivities because these guys acted like and were treated like rockstars. The crowd was really giving them a lot of love. This was a very well run event and everyone there seemed to really enjoy it. Let's hope Strikeforce can continue to build off of this and keep pushing their brand forward. This heavyweight tournament is pure genius and should do wonders for the advancement of the promotion.





All in all it was an excellent day for New York MMA fans! If this in any indication of how excited and enthusiastic the New York MMA fan-base is, imagine how hype we'll be once we  are actually able to attend fights. It still might take some time but Albany has to sanction the sport at some point. Every individual style of fighting that makes up the sport of MMA (karate, jiu-jitsu, judo, wrestling, muay thai and boxing) are all completely legal on their own, it's just when they are "mixed" together that they become illegal. It's absolutely ridiculous when you think about it in those terms. We'll see if Governor Cuomo can get this done already. If we keep our heads up and our voices loud, they won't be able to deny us!