Middletown, New Jersey product Chris Liguori is far from a newcomer to the big time MMA scene. Early in his career he took a tough loss against Keith Rockel in the UFC. However, it was later wins over Dorian Price and current UFC fighter Matt Brown that propelled his career. Recently, Elite XC came calling and Liguori delivered a convincing second round TKO win over Jim Bova on the Kimbo Slice undercard. Click through to read the full story.

Brazil’s Gilson “The Barbarian” Oliveira (now based in NYC) has trained some of the best in MMA including; Fabio Clemente, Marcelo Garcia, Tarsis Humphreys, Mo Fowzi, Rene Dreifuss, and Matheus De Oliveira. TSF caught up with Oliveira recently in midtown as he was teaching - “the art of countering the sprawl” - in a take-down attempt. Click through to watch this video. Quicktime is required to view this video.

Dana White has made it a priority to dominate the Times Square landscape with a UFC billboard prior to each big Pay Per View event. We are just three days away from the big showdown between Rampage Jackson and Forrest Griffin in Las Vegas. TSF got some super pics of the monster UFC billboard blending in with some ‘only in Times Square’ characteristics. Click through to take a look at this off-beat photo gallery.

Yours Truly of TriStateFighter.com appeared on the FoxNews.com MMA show “Fight Game” Monday afternoon. A big thanks to host Mike Straka for the invitation. We discussed the growth of MMA blogs, a couple of up and coming fighters to watch from the Tri-State area and about the potential of MMA shows on the broadcast networks. Click through to watch the video.

If you are a serious New York based MMA fan, you know that a key cog in UFC President-Dana White’s growth plan is to harvest the potential of New York City and specifically Madison Square Garden. While a majority of states now allow MMA competitions, New York still opposes the sport despite the lobbying efforts of the UFC and even appearances in Albany from former UFC world champion and Long Island native Matt Serra. The UFC and New York fans had high hopes Albany would act on the Bill in June and legalize MMA in the Empire State. Click through to get the link to Bill A11458.

Noted MMA photographer Matthew Kaplowitz was on hand for TriStateFighter.com and captured the big moments from Ring Of Combat XX in Atlantic City Friday night. Click through to see this amazing photo gallery including shots of Nick Catone, Tom Gallicchio, Doug Gordon, and Eric Tavares. Click on photos to enlarge and read captions. Click through to view gallery and get link to Matthew Kaplowitz.

Ring Of Combat XX did not disappoint at the Tropicana Hotel in Atlantic City on Friday night. ROC vets and New Jersey boys Nick Catone and Tom Gallicchio looked very strong yet again. Catone was a monster on the ground Vs. Eric Tavares and Gallicchio avenged his last lost at the hand of [...]