Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Smokin' Joe and Classy Adam

Lots to catch up on. It's been a busy week and it's only Wednesday.

Adam Graves was bestowed a well-deserved and long-overdue honor, a tribute that saluted not only a key player in the Rangers' Cup run in 1993-94 and once the franchise record holder for goals in a season (52), but a very classy, humble and tremendous human being.

Joe Lauzon is fighting Jeremy Stephens Saturday night in Tampa. It was supposed to be Hermes Franca until Franca was forced to pull out with a torn ACL. Bad blood was exchanged between the two on The Underground. Good-natured kidding was blown completely out of proportion in this case.

Speaking of Franca, he met with Dr. Paul Meli today in Fort Lauderdale. Next Tuesday he's seeing Miami Dolphins Team Physician, Dr. John Uribe to discuss the inevitable surgery that he expects will keep him out for six-to-10 months. I'm working on a full report for Junkie.

Anthony Johnson's fight against Luigi Fioravanti has been moved up to Saturday's main card. This is a great chance for Rumble to showcase his skills, writes my Junkie colleague John Morgan. A win will further boost Johnson's profile, not to mention my story for FIGHT appearing in either March, April or May.

Dr. Johnny Benjamin, has a great argument for MMA to finally get sanctioned in New York State. In a nutshell, one crusty clown of a state Assemblyman named Bob Reilly is stuck on the outdated perception that MMA is human cockfighting and "barbaric" when in fact it's far less dangerous than boxing. All this ignorant character needs to do is review the 37 states that have legalized the sport, including our neighbors in New Jersey. Holding events in this state and seeing the UFC work its way into Madison Square Garden will open doors to a huge fan base, not to mention slap life into the failing economy.

As a wise man once said (Charley Steiner): "If it's too logical, it never gets done."

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