The Pancrase Organization recently released a statement concerning Marcelo Tigre's fight against Yoshiki Takahashi in the 2001 Pancrase Proof Tour event on September 30th in Kanagawa, Japan, which most of us heard about through NHB reporter, Eddie Goldman. Pancrase's results stated that Tigre was disqualified for eye gouging Takahashi in the second round of the Pancrase heavyweight tournament. There was also an alleged low blow in Tigre's first fight against Tim Lajcik. This incident led the Pancrase Organization to ban Tigre from fighting in future Pancrase events. In his article, Goldman cited Tigre's two previous matches with Egan Inoue and Cabbage Correira at Super Brawl to support Pancrase's decision to ban Tigre from Pancrase after his first alleged offense in Pancrase.

I have seen the fight clip on the Pancrase web site and was able to obtain a bootleg copy of both of Tigre's fights in the Pancrase tournament and in my opinion it could be viewed for or against Tigre. A lot of fighters in the guard slip their forearm in between their opponent's face or neck and their body to create space when a fighter is holding on tight. I had to talk to Tigre, just to get his side of the story if nothing else. Tigre explained to me after this interview that instead of using the forearm, he uses his hand on his opponent's face in order to create space, while blocking his opponent's view of his next punch, which he throws as soon as there is space. It seems like a very good strategy when you see it done. If you cannot visualize this, it may be difficult to understand.

Tigre's fingers were definitely in the area of Takahashi's eye on numerous occasions and Tigre could have been more careful to keep his fingers away from Takahashi's eyes, but we have to step back and remember, THIS IS A FIGHT. This is not a casual grappling match, I am sure that every fighter sees a lot of things that they could of or should have done differently in every one of their fights. However, the deciding factor, again, in my opinion, was the overall course of the fight. Tigre was dominating Takahashi from start to finish. What reason would Tigre have to eye gouge an opponent who posed absolutely no threat to him in a fight? Some people say that the reason is because he is crazy and crazy people do crazy things. I have gotten to know Marcelo Tigre very well over the past few and he does have his moments, but for the most part he is a lot more intelligent than he leads people on. He understands the concept of self-promotion, basically the marketing of one's self. He always keeps me informed of any fights that he has coming up in order to do an interview and keep his name out in the public's eye. Does that sound like the actions of a crazy man? Although he does like to get hit, which in my opinion is a bit crazy.

Tigre also mentions in the interview below that he feels that Pancrase could be trying to protect one of their poster boy fighters. Everyone has seen cases were Japanese events have given their fighter the nod, in favor of another country's fighter (Sakuraba-Royler, Takada-Coleman, Sakuraba-Mezger, Sakuraba-Conan, boy there sure are a lot of Sakuraba examples). In Goldman's article, it is reported that Tigre's management has not released a statement explaining their side of the story, creating the illusion that Tigre has not responded because he knows that he is in the wrong. The backstage footage shows that they offered the Pancrase contact the opportunity to review the tape with the officials. The Pancrase contact assigned to Tigre was very polite, but seemed uninterested to investigate the case further and stood firm on the referee's decision. In the bootleg copy of the tape, there is backstage footage that shows Marcelo Tigre and his team trying to explain what happened and what are the proper channels to be taken in order to solve this situation. I feel that there was probably a finger that got into Takahashi's eye, but I also feel that this time it was purely accidental and they are rushing to burn Tigre at the stake without a trial. This article is by no means taking a shot at Eddie Goldman. Eddie writes them as he sees them, but in this case, I believe that only one side of the story has been available until now. Please read the interview to get Tigre's side of the story.

FCF: What happened in your Pancrase fight?
Marcelo Tigre: This was not a big event, it was a small event. I went there for pleasure, just to fight. I didn't care about the money, I just wanted to fight and show how much power I have. I am too [highly skilled] to be in this tournament. I fought two tough guys, which they put purposely against me. I fought Tim Lajcik, everybody knows Lajcik, he is a tough guy. I beat him fast. I knew that Takahashi was going to win because in Japan, they try to make their fighters [the Japanese fighters] win and become their champions. It is difficult to win in Japan. I beat him up standing, then I put him down [took him down] and I was beating him. At one time, he almost tapped, but I let him go because I wanted to fight more. I want to see the blood. I wanted to show everybody that I can do more, but I forgot that I was in Japan. Everybody saw this tape and that I was winning the fight. I was playing with him. He tapped. It [the eye gouge] was an accident. I did not do anything wrong. He was tired and almost knocked out, that's why he asked to stop the fight. They used this to try and give the fight to him. I want to fight with him again, but next time I am not going to play with him. I am going to finish him fast, so that nobody has any doubts. There is always going to be doubt, but that is okay because everyone knows that I am a tough guy. I can beat who ever I want. Anyone who wants to fight with me, I am available.

FCF: Are you basically saying that Pancrase is using this disqualification as a reason to ban you from fighting so their favorites can win?
MT: Yes, that's right. That's true.

FCF: So bottom line, you didn't intentionally eye gouge Takahashi. Anything that happened was an accident?
MT: Yes, it was an accident. Like I told you, I wasn't in trouble. I was in good shape and I was winning the fight. I don't have any reason to do this. I was not in trouble. After that fight, everyone clapped. Everyone loves me in Japan and I am so proud about this because they can make a Japanese champion, but everyone knows who was the winner of the tournament.

FCF: Right now, promoters are weary to put you into their events because of all these DQ's. Are you saying now that you are never going to do anything to disqualify yourself again?
MT: Like I told you, maybe they don't want me to fight in their event anymore because I am a tough opponent and I am going to beat everybody. That is okay because I don't really want to fight in their event anyway because I should be in bigger events.

FCF: Any last words?
MT: I want to tell all my fans, the people who respect how Marcelo Tigre fights, I didn't do anything wrong. I was beating him. Everyone knows that I am a strong fighter and I don't get involved emotionally, I always do everything right. I am ready to fight right now. I am working on a contract with the UFC in Las Vegas next year. I am waiting for that. I am also waiting for Pride. I cannot fight in the smaller events anymore. I am going to train more and make sure everything is right. If I want to be a champion [for a large organization], I have to be able to finish the guy because if I leave it to the referee, I am going to lose again because it is their tournament. I don't make my own tournaments. I fight in someone's tournaments. You can see this when the Gracie family first started fighting. The best fighter in the world, everyone knows is Rickson Gracie, but before today, he slapped someone's face [Hugo Duarte] on the beach to show everyone why Jiu-Jitsu is the best. This is the way that I trained before I started fighting to represent Jiu-Jitsu and show everybody. Today, Jiu-Jitsu is a big sport. Everyone knows about Jiu-Jitsu, but before you fought for honor. You fought to survive. You fought to show everybody that Jiu-Jitsu had the power. I am a professional fighter now, but before I always fought like Royce Gracie, with no rules or very little rules. Now there are a lot of rules, but I am learning and doing everything right. Like I told you, I did not do anything wrong. If somebody does not want to get hurt, don't do freestyle. Guaranteed that anyone that does freestyle is going to get hurt. Don't go inside the ring if you don't want to get hurt. The ring is a place for warriors to go to war, like fighting Osama bin Laden. Freestyle is not like this tournament today [Note: I interviewed Tigre at the Relson Gracie International BJJ tournament], this is only technique. This is only Jiu-Jitsu. With freestyle, the name says everything already, it is like a street fight with some rules.

FCF: Thanks Tiger.
MT: Thank you my friend.