mixed martial arts news for the free fighting aficionado|
mixed martial arts news for the free fighting aficionado |
|
|
You gotta read this! FFI Returns to the Combined Martial Arts Academy 7/18/02 11:00PM EST Two nights ago we returned to one of the best mixed martial arts training centers in New York City, Combined Martial Arts Academy located in Jackson Heights, Queens NY.(78-14 Roosevelt Ave, tel (718)478-6900). While not a lot of fighters like to be bothered a few days before a fight, we promised Master Instructor of CMA Steve Katz we would not disturb the workout. Steve even let us take a few photos of Themi Papadimitriou who's preparing for this weekends fight against Donny Croad at REALITY FIGHTING in Mass. this weekend, and Kaream Ellington who's fight with Alexandre Ferreira was cancelled a few days prior. After taking a few photos of Themi and Kaream sparring with Carmine Zocchi (CMA's BJJ trainer), we even got to see a few of the CMA fighters sparring. Every fighter we saw was in top notch shape, none seemed to gas out even after going 3, 5 minute rounds with out stalling. As for Kaream and Themi, it's like these guys run on nuclear energy, they're non-stop, extremely intense, and faster than some ranked pro's fighting today. Kaream made it very clear to us that he's got "a statement to make in his next fight", it seems that no one cared to step up and take Ferreira's place for this card. Themi who keeps a low profile says he does all his talking in the ring, "he'll fight anyone" say's Steve Katz his manager and trainer. If Donny Croad comes to REALITY FIGHTING this weekend in about the same physical condition, and with an arsenal similar to Themi's, this will be one fight you don't want to miss. The Combined Martial Arts Academy Fighters The following photographs are the property of Free Fighting Illustrated and are copyrighted. Please do not use these photographs on any other websites. If you'd like to use any of these photographs please contact us. From left to right: Kareem Ellington, Themi Papadimitriou, Carmine Zocchi, Steve Katz
Kareem and Themi
Click here for more photo's taken at our visit to Combined Martial Arts.
FFI Visits the SITAN Thai Boxing Gym in Astoria NY 7/12/02 5:30PM EST A few nights ago I had the opportunity to visit the SITAN Thai Boxing Gym in Astoria Queens) NY. If you're from New York City, it's located a few blocks off of the Grand Central Parkway on Steinway Street. (25-73 Steinway Street, tel# 718-932-5000).While the place is on the small side, it's as real as it gets when it comes to a hard core Muay Thai fighters gym. While there I had the chance to speak with the current Muay Thai WKA US and USKBA International 139lb Champion Rami "Arabian Nightmare" Ibrahim, who's 10-2 as a Pro Thai Boxer, he's also the Philly Novice Golden Glove Champ in the 139lb weight class. I watched while the crisp punching and sharp kicking "Arabian Nightmare" prepared for his upcoming title defense later this week in Minnesota. Being a Muay Thai practioner for 7 years, Rami says he's looking for real competition in his weight class in this area, he says there is none. We'll keep you posted on how his title defense goes. Also that night at SITAN I ran into Combined Martial Arts Head Instructor Steve Katz, who's preparing Themi Papadimitriou for his July 20 fight against Donny Croad at REALITY FIGHTING in Worcester MA, (MASS DESTRUCTION Promoter Kipp Kollar's event). Themi who's coming off of a decision loss to RENZO fighter Nardu Debrah(it's the same guy who Themi submitted in a recent submission tournament) looked extremely sharp and in peak condition while sparring with SITAN Thai Boxing Gym's Head Instructor Aziz Nabih, who's also helping prepare Themi. Themi who keeps a low profile and is somewhat of a really quite fighter has all intentions of winning big on July 20th and by all the indication I saw he's ready. Wait!! there's more.....Did you know that Kareem Ellington's opponent for REALITY FIGHTING, Alexandre "Cacareco" Ferreira pulled out of the fight on Monday. Steve Katz who also manages Kareem asks "any takers on Kareem". As for Kaream's recent loss, bringing his MMA record to 5-2, this is mixed martial arts, the sport where anything can happen, so don't count him out. FFI will be at the Combined Martial Arts Academy next week for a lot more information on Kareem and Themi's upcoming fights on July 20th. The SITAN Thai Boxing Gym Fighters The following photographs are the property of Free Fighting Illustrated and are copyrighted. Please do not use these photographs on any other websites. If you'd like to use any of these photographs please contact us. Luis Forteza, Micham Elalaoui, Hassan Belkhatir, Hiroshi Takamatsu, Carlos Zevallos, Steve Bridwell, Themi Papadimitriou, Aziz Nabih(Head Instructor), Steve Katz(CMA Head Instructor)
From left to right: "mrOLi", Themi, Steve Katz
SITAN THAI BOXING GYM'S HEAD INSTRUCTOR/MANAGER/TRAINER "AZIZ NABIH"
FFI Visits Combined Martial Arts in Queens NY
I had the opportunity to visit
the Combined Martial Arts Academy located in Queens, New York City the other
night. If you’ve ever taken the number 7 subway in Queens, you’ve had to
have seen the Academy through the subways windows. It’s at 78-14 Roosevelt
Avenue (tel 718-478-6900). This place is huge, and with its location in
Jackson Heights Queens it really stands out, you just can’t miss this place.
Once we got there we where greeted by a smiling and most attractive
receptionist who kindly directed us to Steven Katz, Combined Martial Arts
Academy’s owner and Master Instructor. He was at ring apron intently looking
at Themi Papadimitriou spar with his Muay Thai trainer Hassan. When I asked
him about Themi, Steven told us that at 170lbs Themi was a well rounded
fight prospect who had a good standup game (we witnessed this ourselves) and
also was well versed in submission grappling naming Carmine Zocchi as his
Brazilian Jiu-jitsu instructor. Themi’s from Middle Village Queens and has
been training seriously for about a year and a half. He said “once I heard
about mixed martial arts the training started” he also told us about his
first fight “I tapped the guy in less than a minute”. Themi’s workouts
consist of an incorporation of weight training, Muay Thai boxing and BJJ.
When I asked him which he preferred open hand or closed fist style fighting,
he said “ being that I like to fight, either one is ok, but I like closed
fist fighting better”. He also told us he was ready to go, 1000%, but was
very upset that Sportfighting (Scheduled for 12/7/01 in NJ) had been
cancelled, he was on the fight card. He also told us he will keep training
and be ready when called upon to fight again.
Talking with Steven Katz and his assistants let us see the sport from a New
York City based Mixed Martial Arts managers perspective. After constantly
hearing horror stories about bad managers I can assure everyone that this
guy’s not one of them, not only does he know his fighters very well, he
really takes care of them. The fighters I spoke with had nothing but praise
for him.
Steve wanted to make it clear to everyone that there are great fighters on
the East Coast and that the problem was that they just don’t have enough
venues to showcase there talent, nor do they pay fighters enough. ”The local
promoters need to put the money up for good fights, that’s why Serra and
Baroni are not fighting local events anymore, no one’s paying”. He also said
“the difference between the East Coast and the West Coast, as far as
promotions is that the West Coast has more venues and easier sanctioning
bodies to deal with”. He then explained that New York and the Tri-state area
are very tight to have a fight show in, explaining having the show and
making it legal in there eyes was very tough. Steven went on to tell us that
there are many good fighters in the Tri-state area that are in training
right now but have not been given the opportunity to show everyone what
they’ve got because the promoters have not seen them, nor do the fighters
know about the shows that take place. He then said, “once made aware of the
shows, they’ll come out of the wood work”. This is something we at FREE
FIGHTING ILLUSTRATED will be working to correct by visiting the schools,
fighters, trainers and promoters and letting everyone know what’s going on
with the sport in this area.
During our time at Combined Martial Arts, we where also given the opportunity to interview one of the East Coasts most feared and respected fighters Kareem Ellington. Yes, the same Kareem Ellington that was supposed to fight Vernon “Tiger” White at Mega Fights 1 on August 10th of this year, if you didn’t know, White decided on a safer opponent. If you’ve ever seen Kareem fight, it’s easy to see why the “Tiger” chose to change opponents.
Here’ a little information on Kareem Ellington’s fighting experience.
Boxing 1-0
Muay Thai 2-0
Mixed Martial Arts 3-1 The interview was done in its entirety at Combined Martial Arts. Here’s the interview:
FFI:
Kareem, let’s talk about you, where are you from?
KE: I’m from the Bronx, NY, but I train out here in Jackson Heights,
Queens.
FFI:
Do you live in the Bronx, what part?
KE: I live actually two blocks away from Yankee Stadium, right across from
the stadium, do you know where the track is right across, and that’s where I
started training.
FFI:
How long have you been training in the martial arts?
KE: Since I was two years old.
FFI:
Really?
KE: Yes
FFI:
Who was your first instructor?
KE: My uncle and my dad, and various bullies at school, (laughs) my uncle
because
of his
time in the service, he learned Judo when he was over there and was into
wrestling, and got into that. My dad, my dad was a big fan of kickboxing, he
was never a good kickboxer, but was a fan of it so I was exposed to it at a
young age and the bullies at school let’s just say they helped me develop my
fighting spirit (laughs) and my gameness.
FFI:
What are you accomplishments as a martial artist?
KE: Right now? Controlling myself, because living in New York is a
constant test on your patience and your will power.
FFI:
When was your first formal martial arts training?
KE: First formal training? I would say when I first started taking Tae
Kwon Do. FFI: When was that?
KE: A couple of years back, I started in that, I wanted to go to the
Olympic level with it but basically it wasn’t working too well with my
personality and everything and I
felt that I was
more than capable of kicking people, I liked elbows, knees, joint locks
(laughs). FFI: When did you first hear about mixed martial arts?
KE: The first time I ever heard about mixed martial arts I was sitting at my
friends house and we where watching the first UFC and I saw Royce Gracie
tapping guys out and I’m like hey, I know that stuff, it’s modified Judo,
but later on I figured the complexities of Brazilian Jiujutsu upon learning
it, and began appreciating it and I expressed an interest in Mixed martial
arts. I like the fact that that you can punch, kick, knee, elbow, submit the
guy, it’s like the ultimate form of freedom of expression as far as beating
the crap out of somebody. FFI: When did you start to train for mixed martial arts?
KE: That’s a funny question right there. Specifically mixed martial arts I
would have to say about two years back seriously, but when I was thinking
abut mixed martial arts I think of mixed martial arts as being as close to
reality as possible and being that I’ve had a lot of encounters in the
street in the past, I kind of take the question in a grey area but as of six
years ago I started training for the sport aspect of mixed martial arts
seriously.
FFI:
When was your first mixed martial arts fight? KE: My first mixed martial arts fight amateur was at Rhode Island Vale Tudo, basically I learned the ropes pretty well. My first pro fight was at IFC Battleground 2000.
FFI:
Your first fight how’d it go?
KE: My first amateur, it was a good lesson on things I needed to work on,
but I had a lot of fun in the process. My first pro fight it was a new
experience non-the less, but I was satisfied with the way it went (paused
for a second) it made me hungrier (laughs).
FFI:
Who do you think is the best mixed martial artist today, most well rounded
fighter? KE: (laughs) Besides myself?
FFI:
Besides yourself, like a Roy Jones Jr. of mixed martial arts, the best pound
for pound, the complete fighter.
KE: Who ever wants it the most, and has a good day.
FFI:
So to you, there is no best fighter?
KE: Everybody has there off days, everybody has their good days and who
ever’s hungrier, whoever trained hardest for it, get’s it. There’s no
mistakes, just the better man wins that day and if anybody doesn’t like it
they can train harder and step up. FFI: If given the chance to fight anyone in your weight class, any of the top 10 ranked fighters, who would you call out?
KE: All of them, but anyone of them? It’s tough to say cause there are so
many cool people to fight (laughs) I would have to go and say the man at the
top, Tito or
Vanderlie Silva, they look like they can take what I’m ready to give. I was
suppose to fight Vernon White in August at the Shamrock show but that didn’t
materialize. I look forward to anyone they pit across from me.
FFI:
Kareem we’ve got to ask you this question, rumor has it that Phil Baroni
will fight Ricardo Almeida sometime in the future, what’s your take on this
one? With your reasoning behind the answer if you don’t mind.
KE: I’m not very good at fortune telling, I left my crystal ball at home,
but I would say that each fighter has his tributes, I would say that Ricardo
Almeida is very good at jiu-jitsu on the ground, his NHB fights he did
pretty well, but I think he’ll have a lot of fight on his hands with Baroni.
I train with the guy and, I know definitely that nobody wants to play with
him with the hands. Almeida’s tough too, I saw his fight with Lindland, not
many people can deal with Lindland like that, so all I’ll say is it’s going
to be a good fight and I look forward to seeing it. FFI: Besides martial arts training what else do you like to do?
KE: (smiling) Eat food, sleep, girls and cross training basically like
running lifting weights, stuff like that.
FFI:
What’s your dieting like?
KE: My dieting? I try to keep a high protein diet keep the fat minimal,
carbohydrates, just a simple diet.
FFI:
Now that we’re on food, what’s your favorite?
KE: Junk food (laughs) or I would say anything that’s not moving and
nutritious that’ll keep me going. FFI: Being a pro fighter do you think dieting is essential?
KE: Yes, if you look at a lot of the more successful athletes in our sport,
they keep on top of there diet, there training, overall conditioning as well
because you’re not just another person out there throwing a couple of hands
and kicks trying to knock someone out, you’re a machine basically out there
to destroy whoever they pit in the cage with you, so you got to treat your
body as such.
FFI:
If it’s possible give us a brief breakdown of you training.
KE: My daily training consists of waking up, getting a snack, running a
couple of miles, I take a rest, eat another snack, high protein of course,
then I go hit the weight room, take a rest for a couple of hours then I come
back and train technique.
FFI:
Here’s a question I’m asking a lot of fighters, close hand or open hand,
which do you prefer?
KE: Well when you “bitch slap” someone it sounds much cooler, but close
handed punches ends the fight rather quick (laughs). FFI: What do think of kicks and knees on the ground to a grounded fighter?
KE: I’ve done it before, but (smiling) I wouldn’t say that (pauses) It
makes you more aware of knees and kicks on the ground if it’s there because
you have to be a little more careful about things you do in the ring, just
like open and close hand, if it’s open hands your hands won’t be the same as
if it was close hand, and knees and kicks on the ground makes the fight a
lot more dangerous and you’ve got be more versatile with your game and if
you know the rules before you get in there train for them. FFI: Cage or Ring?
KE: I would say that the Cage is a lot more safer for the fighters, because
I’ve seen a couple of times in Superbrawl a couple of other shows and
especially Pancrase that fighter go out the ring trying for the shoot or
somebody catches a high kick and is off balance. It’s a lot safer in the
cage because A, it’s a little more dramatic for the audience so they get to
enjoy and see right through it. Also there’s no being tangle in the ropes,
no re-adjusting by the edge like in Pride, if a fighter get stuck by the
ropes they push and slide them down and a fighter might lose their advantage
that they might have. A cage’s a lot better, you can bring your opponent
down and use it to your advantage. I like the cage a lot better.
FFI:
What do you think is the single most overlooked aspect of training when it
comes to mixed martial arts training and fighting?
KE: I would say the most over looked aspect when it comes to training with
fighters I’ve seen in the ring is “expect the unexpected”. If you know the
guy you’re fighting is good with his hands, train for him being on the
ground with his hands and everything. Assume everyone’s the most dangerous
man in the world so train for it. Be prepared so you don’t get caught out
there.
FFI:
What would you like to tell all those who support you? KE: Thank You, first of all, and there’s a lot more to come and thank you for sticking with me, for those who hate me, hey show up for the fights, try to watch me get my ass beat, but if I disappoint you, hey so what, it’s all good.
FFI:
What would you like to say to the local fans who are always asking about
you?
KE: To all my fans, I say thank you, train hard, hey, come stop by the
school to say what’s up. To all my fans that are fighter’s train hard for
those in my weight class train harder. To all those who want to see me on
the top busting skulls in Pride, the UFC, the IVC whatever, write the
letters to the promoters, let them know, you’re the ones who keep this sport
going and growing, you’re the heart of this sport, you speak they’ll listen.
Thank you.
We would like to thank Steven Katz, Themi Papadimitriou, and Kareem Ellington and everyone else at Combined Martial Arts Academy for making the visit enjoyable and the interviews possible Enrique Olivieri
|
|
Send
mail to
info@freefightingillustrated.com with questions or comments about this
page.
|
