June 2002 News Part 1
Quote
of the Day
"Everyone
who got where he is had to begin where he was".
Robert Louis Stevenson 1850-1895, Scottish Essayist, Poet, Novelist
|
Minotauro
vs. Naoya Ogawa maybe
Rodrigo 'Minotauro'
Noguiera will face Antonio Inoki protege Naoya Ogawa on the August
8, 2002 UFO show.
The appearance
of Noguiera on this event puts his next date for Pride in question
as several contenders wait in the wings (Frye, Schilt, Herring,
Coleman).
Antonio Inoki
is the promoter of UFO and has sculpted Ogawa, a pro wrestler,
into presumably the biggest Japanese star. Many Japanese fans
argue as to whether or not Sakuraba has the drawing or star power
of Ogawa.
Many have attempted
to put the Rickson Gracie vs. Ogawa match together for the last
year but no one seems to know what is happening. Inoki claims
it could happen in November or on his New Year's Eve show but
in the meantime Ogawa gets 'Minotaro.'
Ogawa is 'undefeated'
in MMA competition (although there are strong hints at worked
fights). He is also 'undefeated' in pro wrestling for the last
several years so his drawing power is strong.
This throws
hints of 'works' into the mix. The fight could be 100% legitimate
but many will have doubts. One would think that if they want
Ogawa to face Rickson later this year that they would want to
keep him undefeated. This would keep him a high drawing card
and build more star power going into the Rickson fight which
would mean HUGE money.
Then again,
if the fight is legit, Noguiera should win from all insider predictions.
We'll wait and
see what develops.
Source: Fightworld |
The
Hawaii Martial Arts International Society Martial Arts Expo
2003
4th Annual Hall of Fame Awards Banquet
Masters Seminar
Martial Arts Tournament
August 9 & 10, 2003 - Honolulu, Hawaii
Plan your summer
vacation to Hawaii and come see the most exciting Martial Arts,
Bodybuilding & Fitness Expo in the Pacific.
SEMINAR: The
Masters Seminar will be held on August 19, 2003. The first three
(3) hours of the seminar will feature all the grandmasters, legends
and pioneers in the martial arts from Hawaii and abroad, who
will each show 5 different techniques before the actual seminar
begins. Each class will be one (1) hour in duration - hands on
training in many different styles and systems. Participants (pre-register
only) at the seminar will recieve a 2 day general addmission
pass for the seminar and the tournament, event patch, a program,
and a event T-shirt.
BANQUET: The
4th Annual Hall of Fame Awards Banquet will be held on the evening
of August 9, 2003. This is the event you don't want to miss!!!
Many of the legends will be present. Visit our website in the
Hall of Fame section to nominate those you feel is worthy to
be inducted. Banquet tickets will not be sold at the door - advance
sale only.
TOURNAMENT:
The Hawaii Martial Arts International Society will host it's
first Tournament on August 10, 2003. There will be an Open Martial
Arts, Filipino Stick Fighting and a Sports Jujitsu Tournament.
All contestants will be rated nationally under the HMAS Black
Belt League and listed in our website and soon, our very on magazine
distributed worldwide. For Rules, Registrations, Spectors informations,
Schedules, visit out website for updates. Participants (pre-register
only) in the tournament will receive a 2 day pass, a program,
event patch, and a event t-shirt
EXPO: There
will be lots of activities going on during the 9 & 10. There
will be The Aloha Muscle Bodybuilding and Fitness Champioships,
various of booths, displays, sponsors and much much more. For
sponsorship packages, please write or call us.
For more information,
visit our website at www.hmasociety.com or call Prof. Jaime Abregana at
(808) 674-8443 or (808) 271-0225 or you may write: Hawaii Martial
Arts International Society, P.O.Box 2106, Ewa Beach, Hawaii -
USA
2003 Expo is
being set-up right now!!! Hawaii is the Premier Martial Arts,
Bodybuilding & Fitness destination in the country!!!!
 |
Quote
of the Day
"One
of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all
of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical
rose garden over the horizon--instead of enjoying the roses that
are blooming outside our windows today."
Dale Carnegie, 1888-1955, American Author, Trainer
|
Sorry
for the late post
I apologize
for the late post, but I got KO'd by way of 5 shots and a number
of beers while celebrating Malcolm's win and my "fatherly"
duties the next day.
I also wanted to thank all of those who contributed to Malcolm's
impressive victory: Shane, Al, Tori, Rex, the guys at Professional
Training Center, Shanelle & Hard Knocks Hawaii, Bloodline
and the Aiea Academy guys. Of course Malc was the one who put
everything in action, but in those short 44 seconds, everyone
of his trainers and training partners saw their contribution.
|
Warriors
Quest 5: New Blood Results
Blaisdell Arena, Honolulu, Hawaii
June 7, 2002
By Chris Onzuka - Chris@Onzuka.com
As with a lot of events that
feature new or up coming fighters, some times you get a night
of action packed fights and sometimes the fights are duds. This
night had a mix of both. A couple of notable matches was the
impressive KO from new comer, Mark Mareno, the 44 second submission
by Malcolm Ahlo and Bozo Paling's inspiring performance of being
knocked out on his feet (or on his back in this case), surviving
the last 10 seconds of Round 1 and coming back and arm locking
a tough Mike Haltom.
Welterweight 70.0kg Class B
Jim Kikuchi (808 Fight Factory, 5'7", 69.4kg)
Def.
Justin "Mercs" Mercado (Grappling Unlimited, 5'7",
67.85kg)
Majority decision after 2 rounds [(20-18), (19-19), (20-19)].
Light Heavyweight 83.0kg Class B
Kolo Koka (Grappling Unlimited, Kaneohe, 5'7", 76.55kg)
Def.
Aki Tago (Team Assassin, 5'7", 77.55kg)
Submission via rear naked choke at 1:19 minutes in Round 1.
Welterweight 70.0kg Class B
Jacob Vela (Koden Kan, Kaneohe)
Def.
Robert "The Piranha" Ilae (Professional Training Center,
Waianae, 69.65kg)
Submission via guillotine neck crank at 55 seconds in Round 1.
Welterweight 70.0kg Class B
David Padilla (Gamebred, Waipahu, 5'6", 69.2kg, 1-1)
Def.
Ed Newalu (Koden Kan, Kaneohe, 69.3kg)
Unanimous decision after 2 rounds.
Welterweight 70.0kg Class B
Abe Rodriques (Grappling Unlimited, Honolulu, 5'8", 69.9kg,
5-1)
Def.
Roland Fabre (Team Renzo, Long Island, New York, originally from
France, 69.5kg)
Unanimous decision after 2 rounds.
Light Heavyweight 83.0kg Class B
Mark Moreno (Bulls Pen, Waipahu, 5'10", 79.4kg, Hawaii 3x
Golden Glove Champion)
Def.
Bob Ostovich (Jesus Is Lord, Nanakuli, 5'10", 81.65kg)
KO at 2:14 minutes in Round 1.
Super Heavyweight Class B
Malcolm Ahlo (Professional Training Center, Ewa Beach, 5'9",
145.5kg)
Def.
Maloka Sasa (HMC, Kalihi, 5'9", 111.5kg)
Submission via Americana key lock at 44 seconds in Round 1.
Welterweight 70.0kg Class B
Jon Weilder (Team Hybrid, New York, 5'7", 69.75 kg, 5-1)
Def.
Dave Yueng (HMC, Honolulu, 5'7", 69.60 kg, Warriors Quest
#2 Rank)
Unanimous decision after 2 rounds.
 
Main Event
Lightweight 65.0kg Class A
Stephen "Bozo" Paling (Jesus Is Lord, Nanakuli, 5'5",
64.45 kg, Warriors Quest Champion)
Def.
Mike Haltom (Team Meyers, Indiana, 5'6", 64.45 kg, 20-2,
18 K.O.'s)
Submission via arm lock at 1:00 minute in Round 2.
(This one is for you Brennan.) |
Lewis
KO's Tyson in 8th Round
Looks
like Tyson's lack of quality opponents did not prepare him for
boxing's best heavyweight. Tyson had an incredibly controlled
demeanor and I have never seen a more respectful Tyson. Interesting...
The Real
Mike Tyson
By: Frank Mullis
The
latest reports on the Lewis-Tyson fight this Saturday is that
it is not sold out. Many tickets are still left. The Upper Level
Balcony tickets are going for $650 each all the way to Floor
Chair Seating at $6,500 each, but cheaper tickets can be found
on line. Maybe the World Cup is hurting more than expected or
is it the fact that most people are afraid that Tyson will flake
out in the first round. As I thought about this fight, I asked
my self, 'Who is the Real Mike Tyson?'
As
I did my research, I found out that Mike Tyson currently trains
out of Phoenix, Arizona and Las Vegas, Nevada. His fight record
is 46-3-0-1 (40 KOs), He is the former WBC Heavyweight Champion,
former WBA Heavyweight Champion, and the former Undisputed Heavyweight
Champion. He is currently ranked No.1 by WBO and No.4 by WBA.
He is managed by Shelly Finkel and co promoted by Frank Warren
and is trained by Tommy Brooks. With all of this known, I asked
my self, 'Where did he come from?'
Mike
Tyson was born June 30, 1966 in Cumberland Hospital, New York
City; he grew up poverty-stricken to a single parent in the heart
of Brooklyn. Mike seemed to be a fighter from early on when he
would knock people out who mad fun of his situation. Mike raised
pigeons early on as a hobby. When he was nine years old, someone
stole one of his pigeons. Mike did not take kindly to this as
he hunted the boy down beat one of the rival gang leaders senseless,
for stealing his pigeon.
Later
in his life Mike would find a life of crime and was eventually
sent to Tryon School for boys in upstate New York. Mike Tyson
used this time to learn to box. He learned the basics from Bobby
Stewart. He was the first who realized Mike's potential in the
boxing ring. It was Stewart who later introduced him to the legendary
boxing trainer of the Catskills in New York, Cus D'Amato. The
great D'Amato had worked with legendary fighters such as Floyd
Patterson and Jose Torres. Patterson was of course the youngest
champion to date an irony would play to Mike's legend.
Mike's
professional career began in 1985, were he destroyed Hector Mercedes
by a first round KO. In his first nineteen fights he destroyed
all of his opponents by knockout in six rounds or less, most
in the very first round. In all of his fights, he as only made
it to decision five times. This is why many feel that the fight
this weekend will not go any further.
February
11, 1990 was a pivotal moment for Tyson; Buster Douglas destroyed
him in Japan. This is what many say sent him in to a nose dive,
However, others see the death of Cus D'Amato as that moment.
Tyson's career, to say the least, has been a major news event,
from a failed marriage with actress Robin Givens, to a 'suicide'
attempt when he drove his car into a tree, to street fights,
a rape conviction, road rage conviction, another failed marriage,
an ear biting episode in the ring, a leg biting episode, to wanting
to eat Lewis' children. This is the real Mike Tyson. Some claim,
he is bi-polar, some say, an excellent marketer, others say,
a boxing legend. None of these can be denied. If he wins cleanly
Saturday night, he will surprise many and if he loses cleanly,
the same. If there is another breakdown, well that is what we
paid for isn't it?
Source: ADCC |
Baret
Yoshida is out of UCC title bout
I talked to Baret at the fight and he told me that he had a couple
of major infections, one on his ear and one on his leg. It looked
pretty nasty and he was limping due to the pain. He said that
he couldn't even make it to the gym in over 2 weeks. Hopefully
he takes care of this and reschedules a fight.
Baret - Get to emergency to check that out! |
BTT
Recovering from injuries
Arona
Injured, Minotauro and Sperry
Recovering Well!
By Marcelo Alonso
DSE seems to
be having all sorts of problems in putting the fight card together
for the PRIDE 21 show. With only a couple of weeks until the
event another fighter who was considered to compete at the event
is injured and won't be able to fight in the upcoming PRIDE.
FCF found out yesterday that Brazilian sensation Ricardo Arona,
who is coming off a very important win against Dan Henderson
at PRIDE 20, injured his leg in his last fight and won't be able
to compete at the next PRIDE show. Arona threw lots of kicks
to Henderson in their fight, and apparently the kicks cause a
small damage to a bone in Ricardo's leg, forcing him to stop
training for a while until everything is recovered. Arona is
supposed to get back to training soon, however won't be able
to compete for a while. Also, despite some rumors published on
the Internet, Rodrigo "Minotauro" Nogueira is still
injured and won't be able to fight at PRIDE 21 by any means,
as FCF first reported around a month ago. "Minotauro"
is doing lots of stretching to recover from his back injury,
but so far hasn't been able to resume full training yet and couldn't
even think of preparing properly for a fight at the next PRIDE,
therefore he is out of the event. "Minotauro's" brother,
Rogerio "Minotoro" Nogueira, who just won his PRIDE
debut at the last event, is still waiting for a possible appearance
at PRIDE 21. It's not certain that he will fight, but there's
still a good chance of it happening.
On the good side of news for the Brazilian Top Team members,
"The Zen Machine" Mario Sperry is recovering well from
the knee surgery he took after his fight with Murilo Ninja Rua
at PRIDE 20. Sperry injured his knee in the first round of the
fight and was forced undergo surgery around three weeks ago.
The doctors are impressed with Sperry's fast recovery, and he
is already running and training some Muay Thai. Sperry told FCF
this week he still feels some minor pain in his knee, and he
believes in around 10 days or so he will be able to start to
increase the pace of his training, and resume some serious ground-fighting
training once again. As always FCF will continue to keep a close
look at both Sperry, Arona and Minotauro's recovery.
Source: ADCC |
Quote
of the Day
"Doubt
whom you will, but never yourself."
Christian Nevell Bovee 1820-1904, American Author, Lawyer
|
3
More Matches in Pride 21
PRIDE.21
DATE: June 23rd, 2002
OPEN: 2:00 PM START 4:00 PM
PLACE: Saitama Super Arena (Saitama-Pref , Japan)
Newcomer
Takashi Sugiura, who is squaring off against a new GRACIE!!!
Announced
Official Line Up:
Don
Frye vs Mark Coleman
Renzo Gracie vs Shungo Oyama
Latest
Matches Announced:
Semmy
Schilt (Golden Glory,Holland) vs Emelianenko Fedor (Russian Top
Team)
Gary Goodridge (Free) vs Labazanov Arhmed (Russian Top Team)
Takashi Sugiura (Prowrestling NOAH) vs Daniel Gracie (actually
Simoes, not Gracie, Renzo Gracie Competition Team)
Source: Booker K |
News
From the Land of the RISING SUN
By: Sensei Juji
The fight world
in Japan is abuzz regarding the 'future rivalry' the upcoming
event called UFO is being built around. Rumors are floating around
that Rodrigo 'Minotauro' Nogueira may take on Jpanese pro wrestling
legend Naoya Ogawa in the first show, which is scheduled for
August 8th, 2002 in the Tokyo Dome. The UFO camp is getting the
word out that this will be the biggest event Japan has ever seen!
Adding luster
to the card is former UFC Champion Jens 'Lil Evil' Pulver, who
is signed to fight a yet unspecified opponent. All indications
are that American manager Monte Cox has also scored a spot for
Pat Miletich on this show as well.
Brazil will
be represented by Brazilian TOP TEAM members, beside the Minotaur.
Mario Sperry and 3 other fighters whose names were not released.
Word is that
Murilo Bustamante is working on a renewal with the UFC, but there's
an offer from UFO to get the UFC champ. The fourth and fifth
representative from BTT are hush hush.
Another Brazilian
fighter rumored to fight on this show is Marco Ruas, who reportedly
would retire after this fight.
Seems that UFO
is gearing up to be an event to watch!
Source: ADCC |
Latest
Pancrase Rankings
as of 6/4/2002
Open-weight
the 9th Open-weight K.O.P. Semmy Schilt (Holland/Golden Glory)
#1 Yuki Kondo (PANCRASEism)
#2 Yoshiki Takahashi (PANCRASEism)
#3 Kiuma Kunioku (PANCRASEism)
#4 KEI Yamamiya (PANCRASEism)
#5 Sanae Kikuta (Pancrase GRABAKA)
#6 Tim Lajcik (U.S.A./Gladiators Training Academy)
#7 Osami Shibuya (PANCRASEism)
#8 Jason DeLucia (U.S.A./Pancrase Hybrid Budokan)
#9 Katsuhisa Fujii (V-CROSS)
#10 vacant
Heavyweight(199lbs.?under
221lbs.)
the 1st Heavyweight K.O.P. Yoshiki Takahashi (PANCRASEism)
#1 Katsuhisa Fujii (V-CROSS)
#2 Jason Godsey (U.S.A./I.F. Academy) *IN!
#3 vacant
Light
heavyweight(181lbs.?under 199lbs.)
the 2nd Light heavyweight K.O.P. Sanae Kikuta (Pancrase GRABAKA)
#1 Yuki Kondo (PANCRASEism)
#2 Mitsuyoshi Sato (Pancrase GRABAKA) *UP from #4
#3 Ikuhisa Minowa (PANCRASEism) *DOWN from #2
#4 Yuki Sasaki (Pancrase GRABAKA) *DOWN from #3
#5 Eiji Ishikawa (Pancrase GRABAKA)
#6 Daisuke Ishii (PANCRASEism) *UP from #7
#7 Akihiro Gono (Pancrase GRABAKA) *UP from #8
#8 Paulo Filho (Brazil/Tough Brothers) *DOWN from #6
#9 Kosei Kubota (PANCRASEism)
#10 Omar Bouiche (Sweden/Mixed Martial Arts Stockholm)
Middleweight(165.7lbs.~
under 181lbs.)
the 2nd Middleweight K.O.P. Kiuma Kunioku (PANCRASEism)
#1 Nathan Marquardt (U.S.A./Colorado Stars)
#2 Chris Lytle (U.S.A./I.F. Academy)
#3 Shonie Carter (U.S.A./AIKI Training Hall)
#4 Yuji Hoshino (RJW/CENTRAL)
#5 Daiju Takase (Wajutsu Keishukai Tokyo Hombu)
#6 Takafumi Ito (PANCRASEism)
#7 Kazuo Misaki (Pancrase GRABAKA)
Welterweight(152.5lbs.~
under 165.7lbs.) VACANT
Lightweight(141.4lbs.~
under 152.5lbs.) VACANT
Featherweight(under
141.4lbs.) VACANT
Source: Mr. Oitate |
Warriors
Quest Weigh-Ins
Warriors
Quest
Blaisdell
Center
7:30 PM
Friday, June 7, 2002
Everyone made weight
comfortably and only one fighter was not present for the pictures
and press conference. This is the first official Shooto sanctioned
event for Warriors Quest so the veteran referee and probably
the best referee in the business, Suzuki-San, is here in Hawaii
to ref and officiate. Bozo Paling who is known as the hardest
puncher in his division is going to face Mike Haltom, a relative
unknown to Hawaii fight fans. Mike has told the promoter, Brennan
Kamaka, that he will stand up and trade with Bozo. If he does,
this fight will have the fans on their feet. Dave Yeung looked
relaxed as usual as he faces a fit Jon Weilder. Aiea Academy
student and resident big man, Malcolm Ahlo, picked up a meal
before coming to the weigh-ins since it did not matter what he
weighed in at. He faces Haru Shimanishi and HMC's Maloka Sasa.
Both of these big boys are ready for war. Malcolm has been training
like a madman and should have a lot of supporters backing him.
Of course I'm biased for Malcolm, but he is an incredible athlete.
Don't let the belly fool you. It is very hard! He can do walking
hand stands, has great balance, and incredible endurance for
a man of his size (he weighed in at a slim trim 320 lbs). His
ground game is solid and is comfortable in all positions. Chris
and I will be cornering him for his first official pro fight
and I know the fans will not be disappointed. Thre rest of the
card has solid local fighters like Bob-O Ostovich from Jesus
is Lord, Abe Rodrigues and Kolo Koka from Grappling Unlimited,
and David Padilla from Gamebred facing a mix of local and mainland
fighters. If you don't have your tickets, get them now!
 Stephen "Bozo" Palling vs. Mike Haltom |
Maloka Sasa vs. Malcolm "The Freight
Train" Ahlo |
Jon Weilder vs. David Yeung |
Roland Fabre vs. Abe Rodrigues |
Fight Card
Main Event
Lightweight
65.0kg Class A
Stephen "Bozo" Paling (Jesus Is Lord) 64.45 kg
Warriors Quest Champion
Vs.
Mike Haltom (Team Meyers) 64.45 kg
20-2 18 K.O.'s
Welterweight
70.0kg Class B
Dave Yueng (HMC) 69.60 kg
Warriors Quest #2 Rank
Vs.
Jon Weilder (Team Hybrid) 69.75
5-1
Super Heavyweight
Class B
Malcolm Ahlo (Professional Training Center) 145.5 kg
Vs.
Maloka Sasa (HMC) 111.5 kg
Light Heavyweight
83.0kg Class B
Bob Ostovich (Jesus Is Lord) 81.65 kg
Vs.
Mark Mareno (Bulls Pin) 79.4 kg
Hawaii 3x Golden Glove Champion
Welterweight
70.0kg Class B
Abe Rodriques (Grappling Unlimited) 69.9 kg
5-1
Vs.
Roland Fabre (Team Renzo) 69.5 kg
Welterweight
70.0kg Class B
Ed Newalu (KodenKan) 69.3 kg
Vs
David Padilla (Gamebred) 69.2 kg
1-1
Welterweight
70.0kg Class B
Jacob Vela (Koden Kan) Not present
Vs.
Robert Ilae (Professional Training Center) 69.65 kg
Light Heavyweight
83.0kg Class B
Aki Tago (Team Assassin) 77.55 kg
Vs.
Kolo Koka (Grappling Unlimited) 76.55 kg
Welterweight
70.0kg Class B
Jim Kikuchi (808 Fight Factory) 69.4 kg
Vs.
Justin Mercado (Grappling Unlimited) 67.85 kg
|
Quote
of the Day
"Stand
up to your obstacles and do something about them. You will find
that they haven't half the strength you think they have."
Norman Vincent Peale, 1898-1993, American Christian Reformed
Pastor, Speaker, Author
|
Full
Contact Fighter Shirts in Hawaii
We still
have some Full Contact Fighter shirts in stock left over from
the Super Brawl event, so if you are in Hawaii and am interested
please email us at info@onzuka.com. This is a great way
to get FCF shirts or the retail price without paying shipping.
This is for Hawaii residents only because we do not want to steal
biz from FCF.
|
Tyson-Lewis
Stories
From: Frank
Mullis
This Saturday's
historic Mike Tyson - Lennox Lewis Heavyweight Championship Boxing
Match marks the first time in history that a boxing event is
co-produced between mega-cable channels HBO and Showtime.
Besides the
behind the scenes wheeling and dealing, there will be a noticeablw
effect on the broadcast. This event is being announced by two
of the most famous boxing announcers in the world - Michael Buffer
and Jimmy Lennon, Jr.. will share the ring for the Lewis vs.
Tyson introductions! This is the second time they have worked
together. They shared the ring in Vegas on March 13, 1993 for
the Carbajal and Gonzalez championship fight.
Michael Buffer
will introduce the champion Lennox Lewis, and Lennon will introduce
Mike Tyson. Michael will start the announcement with his famous
'Rumble' before the referee gives center ring instructions. In
the event of a knockout or disqualification, Michael will declare
Lewis the Champ or Lennon will declare Tyson Champ. However,
in the event of a decision, a coin will be tossed to determine
who announces the winner, so as not to be obvious as whom the
judges voted for.
As a side note,
Bruce Buffer, Michael's businessman genius brother, wanted everyone
to know that The Buffer brothers are also stepping into the world
of E-Casino's. They will launch Rumblebets.com on June 21, but
this Thursday everyone may place bets on the fight. Bruce said
if Tyson wins it will be early, but the late rounds lean toward
Lewis. I still think the DQ is still the best bet!
Boxing: TYSON-LEWIS Preview
The long awaited heavyweight boxing title bout between challenger
Mike Tyson and current champion Lennox Lewis is just days away.
The Memphis Pyramid will host the fight this Saturday, June 8th.
This fight is
being watched throughout the world, with only the World Cup getting
more attention across international borders. Just a few short
months ago, after the scuffle between Tyson and Lewis in which
Tyson bit the champ on the leg during the press conference; no
one actually thought that this fight would happen.
There are many
who still expect Tyson to breakdown in the middle of the fight
if he falls behind on the score cards which will end the fight
in a DQ. Other boxing critics are predicting the fight to end
with a KO, mainly because Tyson has not been to a decision since
1991. The Great boxing writer Burt Sugar is boycotting the fight
because of Tyson. However most will not boycott, according to
Pay Per View estimates, predict the fight will be one of the
most watched boxing events to date even possibly surpassing Tyson-Holyfield
II. Whether you love him or not he is getting his shot at the
title this Saturday night.
Source: ADCC |
4X
NCAA Division 1 Wrestling Champ Cael Sanderson Nominated
CAEL SANDERSON NOMINATED FOR BEST ATHLETE AT 10TH ANNUAL ESPY
AWARDS
by: Eddie Goldman
Wrestler
Cael Sanderson has been placed among an elite group of athletes
including cyclist Lance Armstrong, baseball player Barry Bonds,
basketball player Shaquille O'Neal, and golfer Tiger Woods by
being nominated in the category of Best Male Athlete at the 10th
Annual ESPY Awards. These are ESPN's awards for the very best
in sports.
Cael
is also nominated in two other of the 35 awards categories: Best
Record-Breaking Performance, for his 159-0 college record and
four straight NCAA championships, and Best Male College Athlete.
Tiger Woods is also nominated in three categories.
The
only other wrestler to win an ESPY Award was Rulon Gardner, who
in 2001 won the award for Male U.S. Olympic Athlete of the Year.
The
ESPY Awards show will be hosted by Samuel L. Jackson and broadcast
live on ESPN Wednesday, July 10 at 9 p.m. ET, from the Kodak
Theatre in Hollywood. It will be preceded by a one-hour program
'Live From the Red Carpet: The 2002 ESPY Awards' at 8 p.m. on
E! Entertainment Television.
Between
now and the ESPY Awards show, Cael will be competing in freestyle
wrestling at the 2002 U.S. World Team Trials June 21-23 in St.
Paul, MN. Cael is seeded number one at the World Team Trials
because he placed first at 84 kg/185 lbs. at the U.S. Nationals
April 26-27. He also finished first at the 2001 Nationals and
World Team Trials. The winners in each weight class at the 2002
World Team Trials will represent the U.S. at the 2002 World Wrestling
Championships. The 2002 Freestyle Wrestling World Championships
will be held in Tehran, Iran, Sept. 2-5.
Source: ADCC |
Quote
of the Day
"Trust
yourself. You know more than you think you do."
Benjamin Spock
|
Help
us name the Aiea Academy
We got some great suggestions already. Keep them coming. Nothing
that really sold us 100% yet. You can email more than one. You
can put in a Brazilian, Hawaiian or even Japanese name in there,
but it has to be easy to pronounce and fairly easy to spell (so
we don't get all kinds of bad spellings).
Shoot us an email at info@onzuka.com with your suggestions
and again, if we use the name you made up, we will give you a
Full Contact Fighter shirt and stuff.
|
Team
HK's website is up
Whoops it
is actually www.teamhk.net not .com. I corrected the link.
Check out Todd Tanaka's academy's web site at www.teamhk.net. It is a pretty cool
website. My bad the HK doesn't stand for Hobbit King or Hawaii
Kai. You can read what it stands for on his site. Check it out.
|
Great
Interview with Yogui Santiago
Interview by Luke Beston
This
interview with Marcello 'Yogui' Santiago was conducted at the
Ipanema Jiu Jitsu Club, Rio de Janeiro on my recent training
vaction to Brasil.Yogui is a black belt under Carlos Gracie Jr,
and the head instructor of the Ipanema Jiu Jitsu club.
Thank
you to my friends at www.mma.tv and www.fightsport.com for their
help in the preparation of this series of interviews.
LB:
Yogui, please tell us about your martial arts training background.
Yogui:
I first started training 21 years ago, because my father had
a good relationship Carlos Gracie Sr, the man who first brought
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu to the world. Carlos was a man who would
use Natural Medicine to treat people with herbs, or tea to help
many things like sick skin. Carlos Gracie was good friends with
my father and one day I had dinner with my father and Carlos
Sr.
Carlos
asked me, 'why don't you train Jiu Jitsu?'. I said I had never
had contact with it, so Carlos gave me a card for his son Rillion,
and I started training in his house. It was a big house and during
the weekdays all the family and others would train there - Rigan
Machado, Rillion Gracie, and many others.
Later
there were problems because of so many guys visiting the house
having
to pass the daughters bedrooms, so we had to find another place
to train.
This is when Rillion started teaching in Ipanema, but Rillion
moved to the
south of Brasil so the rest of us started training at the Gracie
Academy in
Copacabana, which today is the Carlson Gracie academy.
After
Rolls Gracie died, my teacher took his group students and we
started Gracie Barra.
LB:
What is the history behind your academy here, the Ipanema Jiu
Jitsu
club?
Yogui:
Renzo Gracie first started this academy, with my teacher Carlos
Gracie Jr.
I lived in Barra at this time and taught with Ralph at another
academy we
had started called 'Gracie Tijuca'. We started there, but Ralph
had business problems with some guys in the club, so we stopped
there and Royler took over the academy. I had to come to Ipanema
sometimes because my old girlfriend would play football on the
beach so I started training with Renzo here, as well as my other
classes at Gracie Barra.
I
asked Renzo if it was possible for me to start a class at the
academy during the day when no one else was teaching, from 3
until 5, and Renzo said no problem. Sometimes Rezno would call
me to say he was coming late so my classes would become 3 until
6, 3 until 7, 3 until 9.
I
would teach here with Roberto 'Gordo' Correia and Ralph and Marcio
Feitosa would teach here sometimes also. Now here at the academy
I am teaching with Bruno Severiano, who is a very good champion.
Cafe 'Dantas' is here too, he is still young but already a very
good fighter and has a very good future. I also
have Caneca who is a black belt, and many other good students.
LB:
Yogui, you are very well known for both the students who travel
here to
train with you in Ipanema, and also your academies overseas,
please tell us about that.
Yogui:I
have had students from everywhere. Japan, France, Belgium, Ireland,
Scotland, England, Australia of course, and Norway, Sweden, Finland,
United States, Barbados, Argentina, Switzerland, and Portugal.
Most of my visiting students come from Scandinavia as this is
where I have the S.B.J.J.A., the 'Scandinavian Brazilian Jiu
Jitsu Academies'. Richard my student runs that, he is a very
good fighter who is a champion in NHB, Submission Wrestling,
and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
LB:
How many academies do you have in Scandinavia?
Yogui:
Seven. I have 4 in sweeten, 2 in Norway, and on in
Finland.
LB:
And when you are there you give seminars in other
locations?
Yogui:
Everywhere. My own academies, sometimes in shoot fighting academies,
Judo academies, all different martial arts.
LB:
What your impression about the organisation of Jiu Jitsu here
in Brasil
right now?
Yogui:
In Rio, BJJ is getting so big now, very popular, so it is getting
very
difficult to control. Some people just put a black belt around
their waist
and start saying 'I'm a very good fighter' and everything. My
teacher, Carlos Gracie is working to improve this organisation,
and standards. Now when they grade they have to speak about the
history of Jiu Jitsu, and after have to do to an exam by the
confederation. Right now it is only in Brazil, but maybe later
it will go to the rest of the world, because Carlinhos is also
the president of the international federation. I think this is
good for Jiu Jitsu to become more professional because right
now it is too easy for anyone to just put down some mats in a
playground and start teaching.
When
you are teaching Jiu Jitsu it is very important to teach it properly,
things like a correct warm-up and stretching to prevent neck
and other
injuries. Also it is very important to have good control within
the group.
Everybody must understand that is just training and it is ok
to sometimes
tap out. The academy is the right place to make mistakes, when
it is just
yourself, and not in a competition. Of course it is important
to train hard, but not as enemies or any bad feelings within
the academy. Inside the academy it should feel like a family,
a united group.
LB:
And what are your thoughts on your students of Jiu Jitsu in other
countries, outside of Brazil?
Yogui:
I have a very good impression of my students from other countries.
Sometimes they guys in Rio can be lazy when working positions.
However when
I teach in the other countries the students recognize that is
important to
be able to do the moves as a reflex. I see that these overseas
students are
very dedicated. In Brazil we have many good dedicated guys also,
but outside the country I see lots of dedication and interest.
LB:
I've heard many discussions lately on the differences between
the 'New
Jiu Jitsu' and the 'Old Jiu Jitsu'. What is your opinion on this
topic?
Yogui:
We have what we call 'traditional positions', don’t say
'old positions'.
People talk about the Relogio or clock choke, the triangle, the
arm lock,
Americana. You recognise these as traditional positions and see
people use
these a lot because they work.
Also
you have the new moves, which are changing all the time because
Jiu Jitsu guys are very creative.
It
is good to have both the basic or traditional techniques, and
the new ones. This is what makes Jiu Jitsu big, because there
is always something different and fun to train.
Everyone
knows that I have my positions that I use most of the time, like
the 'cervical' neck lock and some flips - these are my positions.
Everybody
has their own special positions that they have to use. Jiu Jitsu
is like
chess.
LB:
It appears to me that because of competitions like Abu Dhabi,
people are now focusing on other elements of jiu jitsu more,
like training without
the kimono, takedowns, and foot locks. What are your impressions?
Yogui:
Before when we had BJJ competitions, people did not like people
who used
leg locks, people would shout at them and call them 'redneck'
or 'farmer'.
Now we have so many competitions without the gi, where people
can make very
good money, like Abu Dhabi and No Rules fights like Pride. Since
they are
allowed in the rules, people must know how to use them. The only
down side
of this is it limits some of the techniques from the guard, so
it is more
boring for the people watching the fighters because they have
to be more
conservative. Any technique that you can use is a good one to
use.
LB:
Who do you think BJJ will be different in 10 years time
Yogui:
I think BJJ outside brazil will get a lot bigger, because the
students
there have very good respect for Jiu Jitsu and its masters, and
like I said
before, the students are very dedicated. It will get bigger in
Europe, America, and Australia, where John Will is doing a very
good job. His students are very serious, and he is doing things
the right way I think.
LB:
What do you think of the other grappling styles like shoot fighting,
submission grappling that are taking jiu jitsu and mixing it
with other
martial arts?
Yogui:
I'm going to tell you something about all martial arts. When
you are a
fighter it is just like everything else in life, the more information
you
have, the better for you. I think a fighter can benefit from
any martial
art, you take the best from everything. Every martial art has
its good
positions. Learning wrestling and also judo can benefit you in
BJJ
competition. For the street it is good to learn some boxing and
Thai boxing
so you can learn to strike hard, and the defences against these
strikes.
Every martial art has something good to teach.
LB:
Aside from the academy itself, one of the big attractions for
foreign
students to train with you is your tourist support business.
Can you
describe that for us?
Yogui:
When people first start to come here I noticed that people coming
from
other countries found Brazil very different, and sometimes needed
support.
This is for my students, and also students from any other academy.
Because
Brasil can seem quite different sometimes these guys would need
help and
that’s where I can give support.
Now
for anyone coming here I can do things like arrange a place for
the
guys to stay, show them around the area to make their time here
as easy and
enjoyable as possible. Things like where to eat, where to go
at nighttime
to have fun, even where to get their haircut. I also tell them
the places
not to go. If the guys get into any trouble, or have any problem
they can
call me on my cell phone any time, and I'm always going to help
them.
By
picking the guys up at their airport, I make it so there is no
opportunity for a mistake. Guys come with money, with camera,
and I don't
want people to come to Brasil and have a mistake in their first
hour and
leave with a bad impression of the country.
I
want the guys to come here, have a good time, and leave with
many good
memories. Right now I'm working with politicians here, supporting
a woman
standing for election. When she wins this election, we are going
to try and
make better support for all tourists coming here. Things like
a free number
that anyone can call and get information on things they will
need. I hope
we win this election, and we will use this opportunity to make
things
better here for all tourists. We want to make the name of Brasil
bigger and
better. We don't want people leaving saying 'Brasil only has
thieves and
hookers'. This is a very beautiful city, and we have to take
very good care
of it.
LB:
Is there anything else you would like to say to people reading
this
interview?
Yogui:
Hello, and all my best regards to everyone including
my friends from Australia, especially John Will, Luke Beston,
and
friends.
Source: ADCC |
Quote
of the Day
"When
defeat comes, accept it as a signal that your plans are not sound,
rebuild those plans, and set sail once more toward your coveted
goal."
Napolean Hill, 1883-1970, American Speaker, Motivational Writer,
''Think and Grow Rich''
|
Help
us name the Aiea Academy
We are kind
of in a bind. Our academy has gone under the name, the Relson
Gracie Aiea Academy for the over seven years that it has been
in existence, primarily because we never thought about giving
our academy a name. Now we would like to give the academy a bit
of a uniqueness that comes with a name. And shorten that damn
thing!
Can you help us pick out a name for our academy? For instance,
Ronn Shiraki's Kaneohe affiliate is named "Kaneohe Team"
for obvious reasons. And Todd's academy is named "Team HK"
due to the fact that Todd is the real life Hobbit King. Just
a joke, HK stands for Hawaii Kai, which is where a lot of Todd's
friends who train their live or grew up.
We wanted something unique, but not limiting by including the
name Aiea in it, just in case we move. A Hawaiian name in it
would be cool to represent our state or even a Brazilian name,
but it has to be easily pronounceable. And we would prefer that
it includes "Jiu-Jitsu" in it too.
Shoot us an email at info@onzuka.com with your suggestions
and if we use the name you made up, we will give you a Full Contact
Fighter shirt and whatever else we can scare up.
Now get cracking! |
808
Fight Factory Submission Tournament
Place: Farrington High School Gym
Date: June 29, 2002
Weigh ins: 8:30am-11am
Grappling starts at 12 noon
Cost: $30 Pre-Registration and $40 for day of the event.
3 Divisions: Novice, Intermediate and Advance.
The venue is already signed so there will be no canceling this
time.
Weight Classes:
130 and under, 131-145, 146-160, 161-175, 176-190, 191-205, 206-220
and 220 and above.
Time limits:
Novice - 4 minutes
Intermediate - 5 minutes
Advance 6 minutes
In case of a tie:
There will be a 2 minute overtime for all divisions until there
is a winner.
Point system:
Takedown 2 points
Pass the guard 2 points
Sweeps/Reversals 2 points
Knee to the belly 3 points
Mount 4 points
Back mount 4 points
Rules:
No heelhooks in novice and no leglocks at all in the kids division
Fastest submission will be given $75 cash for Novice, Intermediate
and Advance
Pre-Registration can be mailed to:
98-413 Ho'okanike Street, Apt C
Pearl City, Hawaii 96782
We would really appreciated a volunteer from every school to
referee to ensure fair and unbiased officiating. We are trying
to get 1 from every school.
Source: Kai Kamaka |
Pride
breaking into the US Market
PRIDE
FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIPS DELIVERS THE NEXT GENERATION OF SPORTS
ENTERTAINMENT
PRIDE Fighting
Championships Bring Cutting Edge Full-Contact MMA Competition
to the U.S.
Los Angeles,
CA – June 3, 2002 –PRIDE Fighting will rock U.S. audiences
with PRIDE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIPS: DEMOLITION, the definitive
next-generation sporting event coming to Pay-Per View on June
30, 2002* from Dream Stage Entertainment Inc. Already a colossal
success in Asia and Europe, PRIDE Fighting is growing exponentially
in North America as a sports-entertainment experience, drawing
in not only massive pay-per-view audiences, but a large body
of American athletes as well. The leading international mixed
martial arts (MMA) competition, PRIDE Fighting brings an explosive
combination of boxing, kickboxing, judo, Jui-Jitsu, wrestling
and other martial arts to audiences craving cutting-edge sports
entertainment.
“The U.S.
audience for PRIDE Fighting Championships is growing with every
event and we’re thrilled with the worldwide enjoyment of
our sport,” said Yukino Kanda, Dream stage Entertainment’s
Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Talent Relations. “PRIDE
Fighting Championships: Demolition will feature many of the greatest
talents in the sport, including several American fighters who
may represent the United States at the 2004 debut of Pancration,
origin of MMA, as an Olympic sport.”
Taking place
at Saitama Super-Arena outside of Tokyo, Japan, the exciting
line-up of matches will include the highly anticipated re-match
between Don “The Predator” Frye vs. Mark “The
Hammer” Coleman and a clash of jiu-jitsu styles when champion
Renzo Gracie battles Shungo Oyama. Other fighters that will compete
include Semmy Schilt from Holland and Canadian competitor Gary
Goodridge.
“PRIDE
continues to raise the bar for sports entertainment by bringing
together the world’s greatest fighters in a sport that combines
karate, judo, Jiu-Jitsu, kickboxing, wrestling and more in one
ring under one set of rules,” added Kanda. “Our goal
is to expose audiences to the most exciting competitions featuring
the most highly skilled international athletes.”
For more information
on PRIDE FC visit www.pridefc.com
*Pay-Per-View
Networks include: DIRECTV, DishNetwork, TVN, Bell Express Vu
and Viewer’s Choice Canada
* The actual
event will take place on June 23, 2002 - the start time is 4:00
pm Japan time
ABOUT PRIDE
FC
Originating in Japan, PRIDE Fighting Championships combine the
most highly skilled MMA competitions with a 21st Century entertainment
philosophy to create the next generation in cutting edge sports
entertainment. PRIDE competitions include athletes from across
the globe, including the United States, Japan, Brazil, Europe,
Russia and many other countries. PRIDE allows techniques from
a myriad of martial arts and combat sports, solidifying its place
as an authentic and unique fighting style that is built on tension
and excitement, appealing to the growing audience of 21st Century
entertainment fans.
Source: Pride |
Frank
Shamrock's right hand man,
Crazy Bob Cook
This is
a long interview/story about Crazy Bob. It introduces you to
the man behind Frank and the other fighters at the American Kickboxing
Academy and even mentions BJ Penn's training. He is a genuinely
nice guy and very knowledgable. Great read.
CRAZY--OR JUST CRAZY BOB?
By Helen Miller
There
have been a ton of interviews that take the voice of a fighter
and that focuses on everything from their trials and tribulations
to their personal goals. When you think of it though, that fighter
didn't get there on his/her own. There's always a team of people
behind him/her that have assisted in the success. A huge factor
to a fighter's success is their trainer--the one person who continues
to motivate the competitor when the body is feeling broken down
or when the mental capabilities are simply lagging. The trainer
is that little (big) voice in the fighter's mind that never stops
aiding in the focus of the day. I like to think of a trainer
as a knife sharpener. It's the trainer's job to keep the fighter's
mind and body sharp at all times. So, what kind of an individual
does it take to become a successful trainer who produces champions?
Would it have to be that drill sergeant who consistently yells
out "what is your malfunction?" Or does this person
have to sound like a broken record, constantly slewing out redundancies
and annoying clichés? Could it be possible that this person
has to be slightly crazier than the fighter because he/she always
has to be one step ahead of whomever he or she is training? It's
almost as if the trainer has to have a strong sense of determination.
What does it take a fighter to respect a trainer? Does the trainer
have to have a resume that marvels years of successful competition
or does the fighter just have to be around the sport for so many
years, that there's a ton of knowledge just waiting to get out?
Whatever it takes, I do feel that the person has to have certain
strong characteristics in order to be somewhat of a guide in
a fighter's career. They do seem to possess eyes in the back
of their heads, they do have a ton of patience, and mostly, they
have to believe, not only in what they're doing but whom they're
training.
When
I think of trainers, there are so many names that come to mind,
but if I had to pick one that really stood out in my mind because
of the intense dedication and maybe even the slight possibility
that this trainer may be a bit on the crazy side (in a good way),
the name that rings a true bell is Bob Cook or better known as
"Crazy" Bob Cook. So, the million dollar question would
be--why do they call him "Crazy Bob?" According to
Bob, "if you knew where I lived, I think it would make more
sense. I live three hours away from the gym. When I first started
doing this, I was driving every day, to and from, and I also
worked a full time job. So, that was kind of the main reason
for the name." And if you're wondering what his full time
job was, it happened to be timber falling, otherwise known as
logging. He still makes that commute from Norfolk, California.
It's up in the mountains, in the Sierra's above Fresno, but only
on Monday's and Thursdays now.
Bob
Cook, after his UFC win, showing off his battle scars with teammate
Dave Velasquez.
So, what was it that made "Crazy" Bob, who was sure
to dominate his weight class, stop competing? There were a couple
of reasons as told in his own words. "I had a couple of
nagging injuries that persisted on. Second, my fighting was very
goal oriented so the injuries started to become more of an issue
and then also, one of my goals was to go to the big show and
do well and I felt that I did that." From here on, "Crazy"
Bob took on a new role in MMA and that was to switch sides from
being on the inside of the fence to being on the outside. He
had proven himself and felt that what he had set out to accomplish,
was accomplished without a hitch. Now, his role as a trainer/coach
would become a new challenge and bring out some interesting experiences
along the way. Currently, Bob has made a name for himself as
a trainer/coach at one of the most prestigious MMA schools--American
Kickboxing Academy (AKA) owned by Javier Mendez. Some famous
names that have come out of AKA are the likes of Frank Shamrock,
B.J. Penn, Bobby Southworth, Brian Johnston and many more. Some
of the fighters that Bob currently trains or have helped train
are a list of names such as Josh Thomson, Kelly Dullanty, Eric
Duus, Rich Crunkleton, Paul Buentello, Bobby Southworth, Dave
Velasquez and so many more. He also helps Frank too. Furthermore,
for Bob, "I help out with the guys on Team Fresno when I
can but I've been super busy lately and have been gone almost
every weekend, which makes it tough to be with the family as
well." With all this on his plate now, you're probably wondering
why the transition from somewhat simple to hectic? His transition
from fighter to trainer started, according to Bob when, "Frank
moved down to L.A. and I was kind of left in charge of what was
Team Shamrock. It started growing from there. Before Frank left,
there was Team Shamrock. We weren't all really working together
but when Frank left it kind of brought Bobby together and Bobby
brought in J.D. (B.J.'s brother), who brought in B.J. We kind
of made it a fuller circle. And when Frank came back, he became
a part of that also." When asked about "Crazy"
Bob Cook as a trainer from the words of Javier Mendez, "when
he started cornering people, he didn't know what he was doing,
I had to give him pointers, but he picked it up real quick and
went above what I do sometimes. He learned from me. He didn't
know a lot of things--the preparation beforehand. Now, he's really
exceptional. He's a great student in whatever he gets involved.
The biggest thing is his love for the fighters. He sacrifices
himself for his fighters. Where I won't, he will. He'll do things
for them that don't necessarily make it right for him but he'll
do it. For instance, B.J. didn't want to go out and I was trying
to get Bob to go out, not wanting to leave him, Bob basically
stayed with B.J. cause he didn't want to leave his side. When
I go to the fights now, I just tell Bob to take over. I used
to do all those things, and now, he does everything. He does
it right. He does everything right. The most important thing
is his love for the fighters. He sacrifices his family situation
for his fighters. Another thing he does is no matter what decisions
he makes, he always goes through me, always asks. He's extremely
respectful and is not full of himself. He doesn't have the attitude
as if he knows everything. He asks and knows his weaknesses and
is not afraid to admit his weaknesses. He's humble. He's not
doing what he's doing to become a great coach. He's doing it
because he cares about people. He wants to make sure they're
going to be okay. Another example, Eric Duus gets knocked out
and they wanted him to fight again. Bob comes to me to ask--"should
he be fighting so soon?" I said "no"--too soon,
regardless if there's no commission there, cause that would never
happen in Nevada. He asked me one time, and learned from it.
Now, he probably knows more about coaching fighters than most
coaches. He has the fighter's trust in him."
When
a fighter makes that transition from fighter to trainer, it's
usually pretty hard not to get motivated to want to get in and
compete once again. "Crazy" Bob seemed to have his
ways of dealing with the occasional void of not fighting and
just training competitors to do the work. "Occasionally,
I miss fighting. When they do well, it's easy for me because
I'm proud of them and it kind of fulfills that but when they
lose or don't do so well, and it seems obvious to me what needs
to be done in the ring, then it's hard and I want to be like
"hey, let me show you." So, what does he do to condition
that mind to stay in trainer mode? "Crazy" Bob claims
that the best way is to "stay out of shape. If I'm in good
shape then I want to fight if I'm out of shape and I'm training
with those guys and they're kicking my butt and I'm gasping for
wind, then I say "okay, I don't want to fight." When
asked about the likelihood of Frank Shamrock fighting again and
if he would help him train for it, he responds "Well, if
he fights again, I'll definitely be helping him with that. It's
not like there's one specific trainer at our gym. There's a bunch
of us and we all have ideas and we all add to it. You know, I
have my areas; Javier has his areas, Bobby and so on. Everyone
has their areas that they're really good at and we all kind of
pull together." The big question was if he thought that
Frank would ever fight again as many have all ready asked. Bob
"suspects yes. I don't know when. There'll probably be a
time when we'll see him in the ring again." If Bob had to
give props to some of his up and coming fighters, it would be
because they possess some unique qualities or skills that he
feels we should be aware of. One that really took him by surprise
was "Pat. It's not that I didn't expect him to do well it's
just that I didn't expect to see him do as well as he did. He's
got 2 fights--one, a three second KO and the other one right
at 5 minutes by KO. As his confident level grows with each fight,
I think he'll do well at 170lbs. He needs some more experience.
And then of course there's Mike, Eric, Josh, Rich and all the
other guys that deserve recognition cause they're all up and
coming. The fighter that he feels has the most discipline would
be "in the off-season, Bobby Southworth. He trains the hardest
out of any of the fighters when he has nothing planned or scheduled.
When a fight is coming on, Bobby of course trains consistently
but Frank trains like a mad man and Josh Thomson does also, when
he has a fight coming on. The rest of the time, it's like pulling
teeth with Josh but when he has an actual date, I have to tell
him to stop. And then, of course, myself."
Josh
Thomson testifies that as a trainer "Crazy" Bob is
"Crazy Bob is the fucking man! As a trainer he's awesome.
He can always put the beat down on anyone of us at anytime. For
an old man, he still moves pretty good. He raised my level a
lot about on how to be patient and work for position and kind
of slowly go where you need to go. I look up to him in some way
as a mentor. Despite the age difference, we're more like best
friends. We're really good friends. You can tell that other fighters
respect him. You can see it when you go to other events. They
say "hey, that's Crazy Bob." He's the guy that trained
us and brought us up. He's earned respect and therefore his fighters
have earned respect. He's tough as a trainer; he's firm but fair.
He doesn't crack the whip. As long as you do your business, he'll
get you a fight. But you have to show it in training, that you're
putting in the work. He's like the guy from "King of the
Hill," cause he's kind of the boss but he's one of the guys
too. The one quirky thing he does is he never takes any nice
clothes. His idea of nice clothes is a pair of four-year old
wranglers, his flip-flops, and his cowboy wrangler shirt with
the silver buttons and a silver lining. He wears the really tight
jeans. He doesn't wear the cowboy shirt very often but he does
wear the wrangler jeans. Bob is mountain man Bob. He's just Bob.
I always have to bring nice clothes for him and dress him up
to go out. He always asks me "what slacks am I wearing or
do I have a belt." He even wears my shoes, socks, the only
thing he doesn't wear is the underwear." All in all, training
fighters is something Bob enjoys doing but it also seems to be
growing into managing fighters. "It just seems to be easier
for me to do it then have a second party do it."
When
people hear the name "Crazy" Bob, they for some reason
associate him with what they call a "shit-eating grin."
When asked about this so-called smirk or grin, he simply replied
that he's not trying to tell us something and it's not on his
face for any particular reason, "it's a Crazy Bob signature."
His training partner Bobby Southworth, when asked to choose a
cartoon character that best marvels "Crazy" Bob best
describes that smirk. According to Bobby "As a cartoon character,
"Snoopy" best represents Bob. Snoopy always plays it
off that he doesn't know anything but he actually does. Bob always
tries to play the dumb country bumpkin but he's really not. That's
why he always has that smirk on his face." It doesn't stop
there as Bobby Southworth tell us a little story that would help
us have a better understanding of "Crazy" Bob. "My
definition of Crazy Bob--why he is Crazy Bob to me is because
he was never raised like us. He was raised on a boat (growing
up) for the first 14-15 years of his life, sailing from island
to island. He's like one of those guys that you read about in
history, trying to conquer the four corners of the world. The
term "jack of all trades, master of none" doesn't apply
to Bob. Bob is the "king of all trades," cause he's
mastered pretty much everything he's ever done. He feels that
he missed out cause he doesn't have an education, but the stuff
that most people learned in books, Bob accomplished hands on.
They should call him "Super Bob" not "Crazy"
Bob. He's more like pioneer. In MMA, he's a pioneer, 2nd generation,
along with Frank Shamrock. He's really the first guy to come
out of that system, that line from the Lion's Den. No one else
really came out of there except for Frank and then, Bob. My association
with him has helped my career. He became my manager and I'm definitely
staying busy thanks to him. My plate is really full. He's so
much more involved in what I'm doing. He's there to see what
our style is and our strengths."
Bob
with Frank Shamrock and Ryan Bow at AKA.
Training some of the top fighters of today, Bob has had the insight
on things the rest of us could only guess on. Helping train the
likes of B.J. Penn has been a positive experience, despite the
outcome of his title shot. The question here is, will B.J. be
coming back to AKA to train? As Bob states, "I don't think
so. They have a ring in their place now in Hawaii and he's got
a bunch of good guys to train with from home. I think they learned
how to train for what they needed to do. Other than, if he just
wants to come back to San Jose to train for a while, but I don't
think there's any real reason why he needs to. I think he has
most of what he needs in Hawaii. I don't believe he's blaming
us for his loss. Everybody reacts to a loss differently and it's
hard to really know, but of course I'd like to see him back in
the gym because I like him as a friend and as a training partner,
he's a lot of fun." Of course, a lot of people would dread
to have to be B.J.'s next opponent for reasons other than him
coming off a not-so-anticipated loss. Bob's comments on that
were pretty clear that it doesn't matter, "whether you're
the next opponent or an opponent in general. It's not going to
be easy treatment."
American
Kickboxing Academy has made a name of itself for being the ideal
training facility in MMA. Team AKA seems to have grown steadily
throughout the years, stemming from Team Shamrock to a combination
of fighters becoming one solid team, representing AKA. As more
fighters come through those training doors, it's almost as if
there has to be some type of quality control based on the level
of fighters that want to be a part of the team. So, what does
one do when facing situations like this--have tryouts or continue
to accept walk-ins that want to be a part of an elite team? Bob's
answer is simple, "we do both. And even if you walked in
with the skill, one way or another, you're going to get some
kind of tryout whether it's informal or formal. For a formal
tryout, they have to go through a bunch of conditioning and cardiovascular,
which breaks the bodies down and then at the end of it, they
have to do the fighting aspect of it, wrestling, kickboxing,
boxing, no holds barred. Mainly the tryout in the past has been
more geared to checking their heart and motivation in terms of
how bad they want it. As times have changed, that's pretty much
no longer enough. Now, you need to come in with heart, with desire,
and the skills. Because it takes too much a time investment to
train someone from zero at this point and time. Hopefully, you're
coming in with an existing background." So, for all you
potential hopefuls looking to be a part of a rocking team, be
prepared! There's always that element of some sort of initiation
for newcomers. As "Crazy" Bob states, we don't have
anything formal. Informally, they seem to end up unconscious
a lot and I don't know whether that's on purpose or part of the
learning curve."
Bobby
Southworth is considered one of the veterans at AKA and is also
the jiu jitsu instructor at AKA. Unfortunately, he suffered a
loss that was considered quite an upset. Most people classified
that knockout a "lucky punch." In Bob Cook's mind,
a lucky punch is defined as "Bobby got caught and he was
hit hard and was knocked clean out and there was no recovery.
But on the other hand, I don't think he has anywhere near the
stand up where he could hang with Bobby so I guess with that
definition, he did get lucky." On a recap of his match,
Bob wouldn't classify it as a "lucky punch" because
"luck doesn't happen by accident. I saw his opponent shooting
and throwing the overhand right when he was warming up. So, obviously
it was something in his arsenal that he was planning on using.
It did catch Bobby by surprise but at the same time, I would
say those guys could probably fight 10 times in a row and I'd
be surprised if that happened one out of ten times." At
a recent event, Team AKA competed as a team against Chris Brennan's
team. Bob states that "we did well. We had two wins and
one loss. The part that I thought would be the for sure win ended
up being the loss. Eric Duus got cracked on the feet and that
was the fight. They were mixing it up and Eric got a couple of
takedowns. I thought all three fights were competitive. Pat's
fight was good. Once he got his confidence in the ring, he just
smashed his opponent. Rich's fight was awesome from beginning
to end. They had a war. Bobby was supposed to fight but that
wasn't part of the team bouts. But then the riots broke out and
Bobby didn't get to fight."
As
a trainer, it's essential to know what they're training regime
is all about. For Bob, "I try to look at each fighter as
an individual and there's not one set formula, that this fighter
needs to do a, b, and c and then, they'll be ready. I look at
it as well, we may be able to pick up d, e, and f and that would
make them complete. I try to do everything according to their
body type, skill level and not one style of fighting. We have
a large variety of fighters in our gym. We have professional
kickboxers, boxers, and of course MMA specialists, jiu jitsu
people at our gym, and submissions people at our gym. We also
have Muay Thai kickboxing as well. We can utilize it all."
Bob hopes people "continue to keep an eye on our guys and
I hope we have a few more champions out of our gym. Of course,
B.J. would be the first choice. He was real close to getting
it the last time. I think the next opportunity he gets at the
title, he'll take it. As for the rest of the guys, they have
a bit of fighting to do before they're looking at a title shot.
I know B.J. will get to see another title shot pretty quickly."
"Crazy"
Bob is referred to in more ways than one. However, it seems to
be the general consensus that he is a man of true selfless dedication,
determination, patients, a big heart, and definitely a bit crazy.
His compassion for the sport and for others is best summed up
by his longtime friend and teammate--Frank Shamrock:
"He's one of the best trainers in the world because he always
gives 100% of himself, including his body. Originally he came
to me at the Lion's Den and he was one of my first students.
When I left, he was my first student in San Jose. He helped me
find the school (co-found it) and he is the lead trainer of our
fighting team. As a student he picked things up really fast.
He trained in Martial Arts his whole life. His dad was a black
belt under Ed Parker and his granddad was a professional boxer.
He all ready had 20 years of martial arts training when he came
to me. So, he was a very ready student. He searched me out. I
fought in the UFC's and he literally called me on the phone one
day and I told him to come on down and he showed up in his logging
stuff. His Levis was covered in sap. He looked like he just crawled
out of a meat grinder. He drove a giant truck and had his steel
toed boots. He never said anything he just came and trained and
left. He was a traditional student in that way. I found out what
he was doing later on. Bob is a real mountain man. He carved
his house out of a side of a mountain. He carved a road. It's
amazing. A funny story that I'll never forget is when we went
to Washington at an event out there. We only had one hotel room
to share between the three of us--Kelly, me, and Bob. We were
the first athletes that arrived. We were really tired and we
just wanted to crash--get a nap. I got a bed to myself and Bob
and Kelly had one bed to share. They were too tired to care.
They crashed out and I woke up cause I was hungry and the funny
thing was I saw Bob had Kelly perfectly spooned (not touching
him or anything), dead asleep. I started laughing really loud
and they woke up and they looked at me, looked at each other,
and then crashed back down. They looked like husband and wife.
Let me tell you about just how compassionate he is. We had a
fighter named "Joe Walsh." He was prepping Bob for
a fight--sparring. I was giving Bob advice on what to do and
he completely knocked him out to the point where he was out for
several minutes--kicked him in the neck. I said "Bob--what
the hell are you doing?" He immediately became highly emotional.
I ended up consoling Bob. You could see it in his eyes that he
was completely traumatized. He felt absolutely terrible. Shows
you the compassion inside the man. Instead of gloating and having
a power trip, he was traumatized. Me, I'd be dancing around the
guy. When I saw that, I realized how compassionate he was. He
didn't mean to hurt him. "Crazy" Bob does this for
the essence of the sport, certainly not for the money cause he's
not making any."
Today,
you'll find Bob Cook training K-1 and Pride fighters flown over
from Japan, his own team of fighters from AKA, or submission
class to the beginners on any given night. Cook is a trainer,
a fighter, and one of the greatest all around human beings in
the sport of MMA who is giving back to the discipline every day
that he's not on the road home to his wife in the mountains of
Central California. Bob is still "Crazy".
Source: MMA Ring Report |
Quote
of the Day
Anger is
a condition in which the tongue works faster than the mind.
You
can't change the past, but you can ruin the present by worrying
over the future.
Anonymous |
Warriorsquest
5 Weigh-ins
Weigh-in
Announcement
www.WarriorsQuest.tv
Warriors
Quest Weigh-ins will be on Thursday, June 6, 2002 at Neal Blaisdell
Maui Room. The weigh-ins will start 3pm sharp, fighters and media
check in will be at 2:30pm. The Maui Room is located on the exhibition
side on the 2nd floor of the Blaisdell. Everyone is invited to
come meet the fighters.
Source: Brennan &
Edwina Kamaka |
Baret
Yoshida fighting for the UCC Championship!
THE COUNTDOWN IS ON!
Montreal (Canada)
- There is now only two weeks left until the most star studded
MMA event in Canadian history becomes reality. UCC 10™ has
created a huge media buzz on both sides of the Quebec/Ontario
border which has prompted fight fans from all parts of Canada
to anxiously cross the days off their calendars as the time creeps
closer and closer.
UCC 10: BATTLE
FOR THE BELTS 2002 will feature a double World Championship main
event! Renzo Gracie's disciple, Pride and ADCC veteran SEAN ALVAREZ
will go toe to toe with the newest member of Team Extreme, 6'4
- 290 pounds wrestler MIKE RADNOV. This fight will see the first
time in UCC history that two athletes of such great size have
faced each other… can the UCC "Ring of Fury" handle
over 540 pounds of aggression? In
the second main-event, UCC fight fans will have the chance to
witness a first in MMA history as two Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black
belts will go to war with the UCC World Super Lightweight championship
up for grabs. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu world champion WAGNNEY FABIANO
worked his stand-up for the past two years and feels more than
ready to go to war with the Challenger. BARET "THE FINISHER" YOSHIDA is currently ranked #5 in the
world and guarantees he will not miss this great opportunity
of becoming a world champion. This bout has captured the imagination
of the entire fight community as well as the global grappling
community.
Scheduled to
fight in the main event, UCC World Middleweight champion JESSE
JONES will unfortunately not be able to defend his title as he
has torn his triceps during training. Jones was preparing for
his first defense against UCC superstar, DAVID "THE CROW"
LOISEAU. Loiseau says he will train harder this summer and be
even more dangerous for this fight now scheduled for September.
The main events
keep coming as UCC Canadian Light Heavyweight champion JEROMIE
SILLS returns to defend his title against none other than UCC
Canadian Middleweight champion STEVE "LION HEART" VIGNEAULT.
These two fighters have a combined 8 knockouts in their UCC careers
and are known from coast to coast as explosive striking machines.
On June 15th, the bombs will fly as these two great champions
meet in the ring. It will be champion vs. champion!
UCC Canadian Welterweight champion JUSTIN "LOAF" BRUCKMANN
will be in action to face up and coming star, GEORGES ST-PIERRE
with the title on the line. St-Pierre is one of the top young
guns in the UCC roster with his superb conditioning, massive
strikes, and solid ground game but will all that be enough to
overcome the proven devastation and experience of the champion?
RICHARD "MONKEY"
NANCOO swings back into action once again as he is looking for
his third straight defense of the UCC Canadian Super Lightweight
title. Standing in his way is Team Tompkins member, North American
Kickboxing champion, and Canadian Pankration champion MARK "THE
MACHINE" HOMINICK. Mark has developed quite a name for himself
outside of the UCC and now is his chance to prove that he is
ready to hang with the big boys of MMA.
UCC and UFC veteran C.J. FERNANDES is back after a devastating
35 second KO win at UCC 8. He will go head to head with none
other then PAIN PETERS. After investigating on some of the facts
that happened between Pain Peters and a journalist of a local
Ottawa newspaper, UCC President Stephane Patry decided to lift
Pain's suspension and the "Bad Guy" will be able to
compete and face the toughest challenge of his career. Pain has
left a path of destruction behind his UCC journey and promises
to bring the hurting onto Fernandes and show the fans in Hull
what he's all about.
Also in action will be the former UCC World Welterweight champion
SEAN "PIMP DADDY" PIERSON as he is set to get it on
with Renzo Gracie student MARK COLANGELO. Ottawa's flamboyant
warrior ANDY SOCIAL will make his UCC debut when he faces golden
glove boxer FREDERIC POIRIER.
Don't miss your chance to see first hand why the UCC is the hottest
ticket in Canada! Claim your spot in MMA history and claim your
seats today!!!! TICKETS AVAILABLE ON TICKET MASTER (1-613-755-1111)
OR AT THE ROBERT GUERTIN ARENA
COMPLETE
FIGHT CARD
WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT
CHAMPIONSHIP - VACANT TITLE
MIKE RADNOV (Dallas, Texas) vs. SEAN ALVAREZ (New York, New York)
WORLD SUPER
LIGHTWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP - CHAMPION: W. FABIANO
BARET YOSHIDA (Honolulu,
Hawaii) vs. WAGNNEY
FABIANO (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
CANADIAN LIGHT
HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP - CHAMPION: J. SILLS
STEVE VIGNEAULT (Îles de la Madeleine, PQ) vs. JEROMIE
SILLS (Niagara Falls, ON)
CANADIAN WELTERWEIGHT
CHAMPIONSHIP - CHAMPION: J. BRUCKMANN
GEORGES ST-PIERRE (Montreal, PQ) vs. JUSTIN BRUCKMANN (Toronto,
ON)
CANADIAN SUPER
LIGHTWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP - CHAMPION: R. NANCOO
MARK HOMINICK (London, ON) vs. RICHARD NANCOO (Toronto, ON)
WELTERWEIGHT
CHALLENGE
C.J. FERNANDES (St-Louis, Missouri) vs. PAIN PETERS (Brampton,
ON)
WELTERWEIGHT
CHALLENGE
MARK COLANGELO (New York, New York) vs. SEAN PIERSON (Toronto,
ON)
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
CHALLENGE
RICH FRANKLIN (Cincinnati, Ohio) vs. YAN PELLERIN (Sherbrooke,
PQ)
MIDDLEWEIGHT
CHALLENGE
DREW MCFEDRIEF (Moline, Illinois) vs. CLAUDE PATRICK (Toronto,
ON)
LIGHTWEIGHT
CHALLENGE
JEFF CURRAN (Moline, Illinois) vs. IVAN MENJIVAR (Montreal, PQ)
LIGHTWEIGHT
CHALLENGE
FREDERIC POIRIER (Québec, PQ) vs. ANDY SOCIAL (Ottawa,
ON)
LIGHTWEIGHT
CHALLENGE
PHILLIPE SIMONEAU (Victoriaville, PQ) vs. STÉPHANE VIGNEAULT
(Îles de la Madeleine, PQ)
Source: Stephane Patry, UCC |
Rumina
vs Javier Vasquez
& Gomi vs Leo Santos
Those
are going to be two incredible matches. Vasquez is a BJJ brown
belt and stud on the west coast. Both have super agressive styles
and this makes for an action packed match. Gomi is considered
in the top 5 in his weight class in the world. Some people have
him in the top 3. Leo Santos is a BJJ black belt who has been
ripping up the BJJ world and this will be his second NHB fight.
Santos' stock will explode if he beats Gomi.
SHOOTO Loads Up For June 29th, 2002
Rumina Sato to Face Javier Vazquez in June!
SHOOTO in Japan
is preparing a 'big' show for June 29th, 2002. Sponsored by SUSTAIN,
the event will take place at Kanaoka Park Gymnasium in Osaka,
Japan. The return of the legendary Rumina Sato, and appearances
by champions Takanori Gomi and Masanori Suda nad rising star
Mishima on the same card have attentions focused firmly on Osaka
for the end of June!
SHOOTO awaited
the May 25th, 2002 results in HOOKnSHOOT between Takumi Nakayama
and Shaolin Ribeiro - the intent was to offer the winner of the
bout a match with Rumina. Shaolin made short order of Nakayama,
but turned down the bout due to a commitment with Jon Lewis'
new WFA show.
The card for
the Osaka show isdeveloping. Dave Strasser and Australian Chris
Brown add some muscle to the card. The fans await the announcement
of Mishima's opponent - look for the winner of Mishima's bout
to take on the winner of Gomi / Santos for the coveted welterwight
title.
OFFICIAL SHOOTO:
Card Subject To Change:
CLASS B (Cruiserweight):
Kaichi Tsuji v. The Great Naniwa
2002 Rookie Tournament Semi-Final (Middleweight): Yoichi Fukumoto
v. Yasuyuki Tokuoka
CLASS A (Middleweight): Seichi Ikemoto v. Dave Strasser
CLASS A (Welterweight): Rumina Sato v. Javier Vazquez
CLASS A (Welterweight): Dokonjonosuke Mishima v. TBA
CLASS A (Lightheavyweight): Masanori Suda v. Chris Brown
CLASS A (Welterweight): Leo Santos v. Takanori Gomi
Source: ADCC |
Rumina
Sato Interview
May 21, 2002
A Rumina Sato
Q&A is not something that English speaking only MMA fans
have the opportunity of reading everyday. As one of the most
prolific lightweights in the world, this cornerstone of the Shooto
association is only now, in the later half of his career, rumored
to be venturing out into other organizations away from Japan.
The king of the lock flow, frequently running like water through
submission attempt after submission attempt in MMA bouts, might
be coming to the States.
With memorable
losses to Uno and a recent loss to Gomi in Shooto's year end
event last December, he once again has to settle with being #2.
Rumina is still on a quest for the Shooto Title that has eluded
him for so many years. He has made it clear that this is his
number one priority. In addition to that, nagging injuries have
kept him from competing in All Japan Combat Wrestling for the
first time in his long career submission grappling career and
has kept him sidelined for most of 2002. Originally rumored to
be slated in a UFC this year, his original quest and his injuries
might keep him from the American public any time soon.
We would like
to preface this interview. We had to conduct this interview through
more than one translator, without our ability to follow up on
questions where his answers led or did not safice. In anycase,
we are greatful to Mr. Hiroaki Tsukamoto and everyone at the
Shooto Organization for their help with this task. We hope that
it will give some of his English speaking fans a little insight
and a little more knowledge about this much loved fighter.
MMARR-Since
your last Shooto fight, tell us what you have been doing since
then?
Rumina Sato - The days have been the same as usual. Nothing has
been changed- Just training!
MMARR-What
kept you out of All Japan Combat Wrestling this year?
Rumina Sato - No Comment.
MMARR-Even
though you lost a tough decision to Gomi last December, what
did you experience from that fight that you think will help you
in future competitions?
Rumina Sato - Only that it was indeed one of the greatest experiences
in my entire fighting career.
MMARR-Do
you think that fighting Gomi might actually prepare you for fighting
in the USA, because Gomi has a similar style to many American
fighters?
Rumina Sato - I do not think that it is the style only for American
fighters but also for Japanese fighters these days here in Japan.
I see more Japanese fighters who choose to adopt the similar
style, and the opportunity I had with Gomi told me I need to
better prepare for it.
MMARR-In
your opinion, what makes the distinct styles of Japanese fighters
and American fighters so different?
Rumina Sato - I believe that American fighters prefer to punch
while Japanese fighters like the submission techniques. That's
because Japanese, in most of martial arts, like to see the series
of techniques for the clean finish without seeing blood.
MMARR-With
Sakurai and Nakao both losing in the Ultimate Fighting Championships
36 (UFC), many people are wondering, even more now, if Japanese
fighters have problems fighting in a cage (octagon) as opposed
to a ring. What is your opinion of this?
Rumina Sato - I agree with you. Japanese fighters like us who
wishes the fighting opportunity inside UFC octagon have to do
everything we could do before entering the cage - in the area
of day-to-day training method and tactics development. But the
most important thing is that Japanese fighters should take every
opportunity in UFC they can, until it becomes a part of fighting
career.
MMARR-Many
U.S. gyms are constructing both a ring and a cage into their
facilities. Do you think that cages might start appearing in
Japanese gyms or schools any time soon?
Rumina Sato - There are very few opportunities here in Japan
that the promoters run the show with cages until today. I am
not sure how the situation might be changed in the future…I
hope to see some gyms in Japan will start constructing a ring
plus a cage into the facilities in the near future as our fever
for the UFC is becoming hotter than ever!
MMARR-How
do you feel coming to the U.S. to fight in the Ultimate Fighting
Championships (UFC) at 155 lbs.? What do you think of the weight
division right now?
Rumina Sato - Yes....I only wish that UFC would have 1 or 2 more
weight categories so that more Japanese fighter could actively
participate in the UFC.
MMARR-I
am going to mention a few famous mixed martial artists names.
Please comment on them and tell us what you think of them:
Rumina Sato -
· B.J. Penn
Excellent ground techniques and "gifted" punching techniques.
I admire his great potential, and have a feeling that BJ would
become the top 1 amongst these 5 fighters.
·
Matt Serra
Looks very powerful. Probably number 1 fighter in the ground
technique area.
·
Caol Uno
I admire him-a well-balanced fighter in striking, throwing and
submission. Having lost twice in the past, I am looking for another
chance for revenge.
·
Takanori Gomi
Similar type to Matt Hughes - excellent techniques based with
wrestling and punching.
·
Jens Pulver
Total fighter just like Caol Uno.
I admire his punching techniques.
MMARR-What
is a typical training day like for you?
Rumina Sato - Weight training between 2:00pm - 4:00pm.
Gym work with a spar between 8:00pm - 11:00pm.
MMARR-Specifically,
what do you still want to accomplish in this sport?
Rumina Sato - To become Shooto Welter Weight Category Champion
and defend the championship as long as I can. To let the people
in the world know how wonderful Shooto is.
MMARR-You've
been competing since 1994. Most of the fighters that succeeded
in the mixed martial arts world from 94' to 98' are nowhere to
be found and are considered "dinosaurs" or old. What
separates you from them?
Rumina Sato - Very difficult question to answer, but my response
would be very simple - because I love Shooto!
MMARR
-How much longer do you want to spend in the sport as a competitor?
Rumina Sato - I have no idea!
MMARR-
Who is your trainer/coach?
Rumina Sato - For the physical trainer it is Mr. Yoshida of The
Strongs Co.Ltd. For Shooto it is Mr. Kusayanagi, President of
K'z Factory Shooto Gym.
MMARR
-Who is the one person you truly respect and owe a lot of your
fight success to and why?
Rumina Sato - It is Mr. Noboru Asahi, the former Shooto Light
Weight Category Champion. He was the one who trained me when
I started Shooto. Without his hard training I could not have
come this far.
MMARR
-Where in Japan do you come from?
Rumina Sato - I come from Odawara City of Kanagawa Prefecture,
south of Tokyo metropolitan area. I grew up with a nice view
of the Pacific Ocean.
MMARR
-Where do you live now?
Rumina Sato - In Yokohama City.
MMARR-Do
you feel that Japanese fighters have a harder training discipline
than American fighters?
Rumina Sato - No, I do not feel that way. Every strong fighter
at the top level would train hard regardless his nationality.
MMARR
-What will you do after you are done fighting?
Rumina Sato - I have an unlimited curiosity and interest over
almost anything. So I would be busy challenging many things every
day.
MMARR
-Do you have any comments you would like to add or say to the
fight fans outside of Japan?|
Rumina Sato - I am looking forward to showing my fighting style
in front of you in the near future. Until then I will continue
to work hard and stay fit for my best performance. See you then!
Source: MMA Ring Report |
Quote
of the Day
Love ......and
you shall be loved.
God
always gives His best to those who leave the choice with Him.
Anonymous |
RoughMan
Cancelled!
World Cafe,
Honolulu, Hawaii
Saturday, June 1, 2002
It turns out that the inaugral event was a bomb, not Da Bomb,
just a bomb. The promoters could not put on the show due to a
lack of a ring. There was some confusion with the delivery and
accessibility of the ring, so at about 7:30PM, the event was
officially cancelled.
It
was suggested that the fighters fight on mats, but that created
way too large a safety risk. We will let you know when the next
event is scheduled.
|
Kyle
Olivares IS Team Gracie Aiea?
Our resident Anti-Juvenile Delinquent (that means he is the opposite
of a bad kid, for you slow folks), Kyle Olivares, flew over to
Kauai to enter Bruno's BJJ Tournament on Kauai.
Kyle at the tender age of 14, entered the adult men's blue belt
division and earned a Silver medal. That was either not enough
for the kid or his dad wanted to get the full value of the cost
of Kyle's plane ticket, so Kyle entered the Open division, which
combined white, blue and purple belts all in one division. Kyle
fought his way to earn a third place finish there.
With Kyle's performance, the Gracie Aiea Academy was awarded
the 3rd place team title. The incredible part is that Kyle was
the only fighter to represent the Gracie Aiea. How good is that?
|
Warriorsquest.tv
Launches!!
June
1,2002 - Warriors Quest will launch a new look for the website. It will carry video
clips, fighters rankings and also fighters statistics. If you
want to know what is going on with Warriors Quest, check it out.
It will also have the fastest weigh in pictures and results along
with fight results and pictures!
(I think a challenge was just issued to Onzuka.com on this
last item. heh heh)
Source: Brennan
& Edwina Kamaka |
Warriors
Quest 5: New Blood Fight Card
Blaisdell
Arena, Honolulu, Hawaii
June 7,2002
Starts at 7:30pm
Tentative
Fight Card
Please note fights subject to change!
Main Event
Lightweight 65.0kg Class A
Stephen "Bozo" Paling (Jesus Is Lord)
Warriors Quest Champion
Vs.
Mike Haltom (Team Meyers)
20-2 18 K.O.'s
David "Kawika" Pa'aluhi (Hard Knocks)
Vs.
TBA
Welterweight
70.0kg Class B
Dave Yueng (HMC)
Warriors Quest #2 Rank
Vs.
Jon Weilder (Team Hybrid)
5-1
Super Heavyweight
Class B
Malcolm Ahlo (Performance Training Center)
Vs.
Maloka Sasa (HMC)
Welterweight
70.0kg Class B
Abe Rodriques (Grappling Unlimited)
5-1
Vs.
Roland Fabre (Team Renzo)
Light Heavyweight
83.0kg Class B
Bob Ostovich (Jesus Is Lord)
Vs.
Mark Mareno (Bulls Pin)
Hawaii 3x Golden Glove Champion
Welterweight
70.0kg Class B
Ikaika Tiger (Team Tiger)
1-0
Vs
David Padilla (Gamebred)
1-1
Welterweight
70.0kg Class B
Jacob Vela (Koden Kan)
Vs.
Robert Ilae (Performance Training Center)
Light Heavyweight
83.0kg Class B
Aki Tago (Team Assassin)
Vs.
Kolo Koka (Grappling Unlimited)
Welterweight
70.0kg Class B
Jim Kikuchi (808 Fight Factory)
Vs.
Justin (Grappling Unlimited)
Source: Brennan
& Edwina Kamaka |
Pride
21 Rumors
by: Sensei
Juji
PRIDE
21
June 23rd, 2002
Saitama Super Arena, Saitama-Pref , Japan
MATCHES ANNOUNCED:
Don Frye vs Mark Coleman
Renzo Gracie vs Shungo Oyama
There are strong
rumors that wrestler Kevin Randleman, long time friend and training
partner of PRIDE Grand Prix Champion Mark Coleman is bound for
PRIDE. Randleman was last seen fighting Renato 'Babaloo' in the
UFC, however it appears he was dropped by ZUFFA due to failure
to turn up for several promotional appearances. Other Americans
who may be returning to PRIDE are Alex Steibling and Jeremy Horn.
Renzo Gracie
is already confirmed, and it appears that Rodrigo Gracie will
be on the card as well, possibly facing Sanae Kikuta.
The Chute Boxe
Team will be represented by Murilo Ninja, Vanderlei Silva and
possibly the long awaited debut of Anderson Silva. There is much
interest in SHOOTO Champion Anderson fighting in PRIDE.
Another big
surprise involving Brazilians involves Daniel Simoes. This BJJ
World Champion is cousin to Renzo Gracie, and a student to Renzo
as well.
The rumored
'exchange' with UFC involving Pedro Rizzo facing Igor Vovchanchin
will not happen - apparently Rizzo is still nursing a leg injury
suffered in his last matchup (in UFC against Orlovsky).
Source: ADCC |
New
Grappling Ranking System
Nothing is up on their site yet, I just checked. Check back later.
If anyone visits their site and info is up, let us know.
MMA.tv announces RANKED -
The National Ranking System for the sport of Grappling!
www.nationallyranked.com
www.sportjiu-jitsu.com
Mission Statement
The intent of Ranked is to stimulate greater interest in Grappling
at all levels, to recognize each of those athletes who achieve
success, and to hasten the recognition of our sport as one of
the world's greatest.
What is Grappling?
Wrestling is the world's oldest, greatest sport. The heart of
wrestling, in each of its hundreds of forms, is efficient control
of the opponent. Historically, this control has been recognized
in one of three distinct forms - pinning, throwing/lifting, and
submission. Across continents and through time, matches have
variously ended when there is a pin, when one player is down,
or when a player submits. The greatest exhibition of control
not just in wrestling, but in all of sports, is forcing your
opponent to submit. While there is a long tradition in various
cultures of jacket wrestling until one player quits, organized
matches to submission without a gi or equivalent have only recently
gained widespread recognition. This sport is called Grappling.
Benefits of
Ranked
While there are now over a hundred grappling events in the US
each year, many thousands of grapplers, and several premiere
events, there is no nationally recognized ratings system. Until
now.
There
is no credible sport in the USA without a national and regional
ratings system. A ratings system is not just a helpful addition,
it HAS to happen. The benefits are countless, but include:
A ranking system brings credibility with the media, potential
sponsors, arena managers, and virtually everyone else that is
not already inside the sport.
Athletes will compete more often, to earn more ratings points.
Winners will get their due recognition.
A national database of grapplers will end 'sandbagging' and bring
fairness to the sport in a number of other ways.
A national pool of athletes can pool resources for lower prices
on products, insurance, and a host of other resources.
Tournament coordinators nationwide will be more able to associate
and share successful steps they have taken.
How does it
work?
When competitors enter an event, he or she characteristically
fills out a form with name, age, sex, experience, and contact
information. The event coordinator will register each new competitor
into the online Ranked Grappler Database.
The
event coordinator then enters the winners, using either pre set
divisions, or completely customisable categories. Athletes who
have competed before are already entered.
Contact
information about the competitor can be edited by that player.
In addition, players can check that they have been accurately
credited for wins.
Points
are tabulated for each place, and the score is weighted by the
number of entrants at that event. A larger event is worth more
ranking points.
The
resulting scores can be displayed by the various combinations
of age, sex, skill level, state, region, and nationally. There
will be separate rankings for grappling (no gi) and BJJ (gi)
rules.
Rankings
are available online 24/7/365. In addition, year-end final rankings
will be published in national martial arts publications.
What does it
cost?
It is free. There is not charge for the competitor. There is
no charge for the promoter.
I
am interested! What do I do next?
Forward all questions and concerns to Ranked@mma.tv
Will this work?
We are delighted to announce that Nationally Ranked has signed
up Kipp Kollar's North American Grappling Association, the largest
in the country. This gives us great momentum from the very beginning.
Further,
the NAGA is putting its considerable resources behind the effort.
Kipp will serve as Ratings Editor, and will reach out the grappling
community to get our entire sport behind the effort.
Source: Maxfighting |
John
Lewis Interview
John Lewis Speaks About the UFC vs. WFA Rumors
By Mike Sloan
I
was able to briefly chat with legendary fighter/ trainer/ promoter/
all-around good guy John Lewis today about the recent rash of
rumor circulating about Zuffa's alleged plans to dispatch the
WFA. According to the rumors, Zuffa's Dana White supposedly has
been sending out nasty emails, trash-talking and trying everything
in his power to rid Las Vegas, and the mixed martial arts world,
of John Lewis' own World Fighting Alliance.
Since
I've been friends with both for quite some time, I decided that
it was best to speak with at least one of the two people in question
to set the story straight. John and I sat down at the Blue Ox,
right across from his famous J-Sect Jiu Jitsu Academy and WFA
office (3071 S. Valley View, right next to 24-Hour Fitness),
and chatted over some cheeseburgers to get to the bottom of the
rumors.
Mike
Sloan: Obviously you've heard and read the rumors about Zuffa's
alleged plans to dispose of your WFA. How true are these rumors?
John
Lewis: Well, I saw that article that was written and Zuffa never
called me and said anything negative like that. We go back a
long way. I consider Frank, Lorenzo and Dana good friends, very
good friends, of mine. But, you know, business is business, too,
for them as well. I understand that. They have a huge investment
to protect. As far as those rumors, I don't believe they came
from them directly. They are my good friends and they've only
been helpful to me since the beginning.
Mike
Sloan: What was your initial take on the rumors when they first
came out?
John
Lewis: I thought it was interesting. I laughed. In a way, somebody
knew some information that was going on to a point about some
of the things that were going on, but some holes were being filled
just to make the story good. So, I kind of laughed at it because
it was a little bit exaggerated, you know?
Mike
Sloan: In that article that was posted, it stated that your relationship
between the guys at Zuffa has gone sour. Is your relationship
with Zuffa still friendly, or has it really gone sour?
John
Lewis: No, it's totally fine. You can't listen to those rumors
on the Internet all the time and take that stuff seriously or
take it to heart. If you did that, you'd be an unhappy person.
So, I take everything like that with a grain of salt and I'm
sure they do as well. We're totally fine. I can't wait to see
their next show and I'm sure they'll be at my next show as well.
Mike
Sloan: It also stated that Dana was spreading rumors about slow
ticket sales, which led to your show's cancellation. Do you know
off-hand if this is true? Did Dana spread these rumors about
the "slow ticket sales?"
John
Lewis: You know, I'm not sure for a fact about that, so I wouldn't
want to comment on that. I don't know for a fact, so I would
never make a statement like that. What I do say, once again,
is that we do go way back and I would be shocked if they would
do something like that to me. I'd be disappointed.
Mike
Sloan: I've spoken with Dana and Lorenzo on numerous occasions
and I've interviewed them both. Whenever I talk about other MMA
organizations, specifically the WFA, they are nothing but respectful,
have always said that they'd help you out with anything and they're
always there for you and vice-versa. After reading this article,
and of course I don't believe everything on it, but I was somewhat
shocked to hear about this. Were you surprised as well, or did
you not believe it?
John
Lewis: I wasn't too surprised because I take it all with a grain
of salt. It's not written from Lorenzo, who I have a lot of love
for, you know? It comes from somebody on the Internet who, I
guess, maybe has their ear to the floor and they're hearing some
things. There are some accuracies in there that I've heard. I
can't say that they (Zuffa) have said it, but I have heard it
from other people as well. But overall, like I say, they have
been very helpful to me. Whenever I ask Lorenzo for anything,
he's always been there for me and helps me out as well. I take
it with a grain of salt and I would never let any words from
an outside source influence my perception of my friends or anybody
else.
Mike
Sloan: In the light of this rumor, does it bother you at all
or do you think it's a good thing for the WFA and yourself?
John
Lewis: Well, it's good. All publicity is good. I think it's good
to see that people are putting us on the same level. I think
our show has a very strong concept and my card is very strong.
My cards are always going to be very strong. I like to see how
far we've gone with just one show. I take it as a great compliment
that if something like this were to be happening, that we're
put in that same category (as the UFC). It's a compliment to
us.
Mike
Sloan: Sometime last week, you publicly announced that your next
show, WFA: Level 2, which is a "Contenders" show, will
be held on July 5th at the Hard Rock. A few days later, Zuffa
announces their own sort of "contenders" show to be
held on June 22nd at the Bellagio. What is your take on this?
Is it just a coincidence?
John
Lewis: Well, I'm a little bothered by that. Speaking with them
earlier, they didn't mention it to me at all, which was right
before my release. I would think that they would've wanted me
to know that, you know? I feel strong that our show is going
to sell out fast because our card is too good. It's on the Club
Rubber weekend, the 4th of July weekend. I'm not really worried
about the sales, but I wish we weren't directly competing with
each other, as far as audience goes, because I'd love to help
them with their audience and vice versa, as opposed to pulling
from each other's audience.
Mike
Sloan: In this article, Dana is supposedly quoted as saying that
he'll do whatever it takes to shut you down, to stop the WFA,
he'll put UFC shows on the same days as your shows, he won't
allow his fighters to fight on your cards, etc, etc. What do
you think? I don't really see Dana saying these things, considering
how good of friends you are.
John
Lewis: Zuffa has already let me use a fighter or two that are
in their show or that are still signed to their contracts. I
don't think Yves Edwards is currently signed with them right
now, but back in February when were supposed to have our last
show, I asked Dana to borrow Yves for the show. He let me borrow
Yves, no problem. Aaron Riley, who is now fighting in the UFC,
is signed to us for a three-fight deal. Unless it's directly
affecting a plan of our shows, we're pretty good about letting
us use each other's fighters. I have no problems with them using
our fighters, as long as it doesn't directly affect a plan that
I have for my fighter.
Mike
Sloan: Have you spoken with anybody at Zuffa since this rumor
broke out?
John
Lewis: Yeah. Dana called me the day after he heard about it and
we laughed on the phone about it. We teased each other a little
bit. He said he was going to shut me down, I said to not mess
with us and that he wants nothing to do with us. We laughed back
and forth and we're fine. We're totally fine.
Mike
Sloan: So far, is Zuffa the only organization that has allegedly
been doing this? Has Pride or King of the Cage had any rumors
like this with the WFA?
John
Lewis: Rumor-wise, I only heard it through Zuffa. But, that's
probably because we're so close, we're in the same town. Our
shows do compete on the same dates, we have a lot of the same
fighters, our show is getting that credibility already. So, you
know, at this point, it's only been that organization, but I
tend to think it's just because we're so close to home.
Mike
Sloan: Ok, John, thanks for your time. Hopefully this will clear
the air a little bit on this messy situation.
John
Lewis: Thank you, Mike.
Source: Sherdog |
Din
Thomas Interview Part 2
By: Keith
Mills
Part 2 of our in-depth catch up with one of the top 155 lbers
in the world today....DIN THOMAS.
Before
surgery
KM:
How your injury is progressing?
DT:
At the time when I pulled out of the fight it was really bad.
There were days when I couldn't even walk; waking up in the middle
of the night…it was pretty bad. Now I've been doing a little
biking and working out. It's getting better.
KM:
What did the doctor say as far as how long to not train strenuously?
DT:
He didn't really give me a specific time, their just telling
me to take it easy but I'm really hard headed.
KM:
My concern is if you train too hard too fast that might end the
career.
DT:
I'm trying to be really careful though. That's why I'm trying
to limit myself to low impact exercises.
KM:
You're still ranked #5 on FCF's poll, congratulations by the
way.
DT:
Thank you.
KM:
Your only losses are to the #2 ranked BJ Penn and #4 ranked Caol
Uno while you've beaten a couple of the other big names including
#1 Jens Pulver. Matt Serra on the other hand isn't even listed
but the last UFC match was going to be you against Serra. He's
a rising star but it seemed like almost a step down for you:
I was surprised they didn't put you against a Shooto star.
DT:
First off I'm really happy to be ranked #5, that's pretty good.
Uno, he hasn't really done much lately to be ranked ahead of
me I would think. His last couple fights he's lost and he hasn't
really done anything that impressive in the last year. I would
think I've done more than him in the last year that I should
be ranked above him. Matt Serra, to me he'll probably get by
Uno to be honest with you and he'll get ranked up there pretty
high. I wasn't really looking forward to fighting Matt as much
as I'm looking forward to fighting Jens just for that reason.
Me fighting Matt is taking a step down, he's not even ranked.
It's a big fight to be fighting someone who's not ranked.
KM:
It seems like as far as manipulating your ranking that you'd
probably make the most progress since the Shooto stars dominate
your weight class that you'd probably see some action by taking
on somebody like Gomi, Sato, or Ryan Bow. I take it you've thought
of this before?
DT:
Actually the only one in Shooto that I would think would advance
my status would be Gomi. Sato is so inconsistent to be honest
with you he should be ranked top 10 but he's been knocked out,
beaten by a lot of people recently…for me to fight Sato
would be a fan's pleasure. To me it wouldn't do anything to help
my career because he's lost so many times if I beat him I'd be
just another guy who beat him. It'd probably be a good fight
but as far as advancing my career it wouldn't really help much
in my opinion.
KM:
One of the things that impressed me so much about you is you
started out with some Shooto matches but when we saw Sakurai
and Uno coming over their first bout in the octagon, in a cage,
they didn't seem to really know what to do, that the different
environment had a great affect on their style. You don't seem
to have had that problem: you've handled both a ring and a cage
pretty well.
DT:
The reason why I can work in a cage is I have a cage in my school.
That's something we work on a lot in practice. Working in a ring
is just something natural: I go to boxing gyms all the time to
practice in the ring. I have the advantage of being able to train
in both so it's pretty easy for me to adapt to either of them.
KM:
Any other words about the Top 10 before I move on?
DT:
To me they need a real body to analyze the situation. To me it
seems like more of a popularity contest. In any other sport when
some guy looses he normally drops down pretty low. That's why
I'm not really disappointed in being 5th because I did loose
to BJ but the fact Uno has lost twice, he first lost to Jens
and then he just got knocked out in 11 seconds by BJ, and he
drops 1 spot…there's other guys coming like Ryan Bow and
Mishima, all these other guys out there who are damn good fighters
don't get the recognition just because they're not on TV and
many people haven't seen them fight.
KM:
Getting back to your weight class being dominated by Shooto,
have you thought about returning to either Shooto in Japan or
a Shooto event in the US like Hook-n-Shoot?
DT:
Yeah, actually Jeff Osborne (owner or Hook-n-Shoot) offered me
a fight in Hook-n-Shoot. I still keep in touch with Shooto; they
want me to fight for them. Right now I'm just concentrating on
the UFC and if things fall through with that then I'll go back
to Shooto.
KM:
So about the new management…who are you being managed by
right now?
DT:
Right now I'm not being managed by anybody, I have some advisers
who are looking out for me and doing what they think is in my
best interest. I can't really say on record now.
KM:
It seems like you have a lot of training options down in Florida…the
Silvera Brothers down there…who do you usually train with?
DT:
Right now I'm doing a lot of my training at my own gym. We have
a lot of good guys. Everybody thinks I don't have many people
to train with. My guys are just unheard of. We have a lot of
good guys that I'm training with and the Silvera Brothers have
been very gracious to me, they've opened their arms to me, I
do go down there and train with them. My buddy Chad Saunders,
I'm doing some training with him too. I got my hands full.
KM:
Are the people at your gym interested in getting into MMA?
DT:
Paul Rodriguez has been in MMA. He's been hurt for a little while
but he's back now training. I do have a couple guys that are
still young, still want to come up.
KM:
Whom should we look out for? Who are the up and comers at your
gym?
DT:
There's still Iricarry, Glen Mincer, these are really young guys
and I don't want to just rush them out there. I want to take
my time for them and let them come up right.
KM:
Have you thought about doing any managing or even promoting yourself?
DT:
I thought of doing some promoting and I still may once everything
in Florida gets situated. I don't really want to do any managing.
I can't even manage my own career right.
KM:
When you said you didn't want to throw your fighters out there
too early I wan wondering how much of a sense of control you
were trying with these fighter?
DT:
They do trust me, trust my instincts, but I don't want to be
managing them and ruin their career.
KM:
You were also a referee in one show in West Virginia. Have you
thought about doing more?
DT:
After I'm done fighting I wouldn't mind doing refereeing. It's
not as easy as a lot of people think and there's actually a lot
too it and you don't realize it until the people in the audience
are yelling at you because they think you made a bad call.
KM:
Any final words?
DT:
I want to congratulate William Bittencourt, he's a Jiu-Jitsu
instructor at my gym, he just received his black belt. And just
check out my website www.dinthomas.com .
KM:
Are you going to put more videos on there?
DT:
Yeah, we're working on that. I just put a new one up like a week
ago with Mishima.
After
surgery
KM:
So you had the surgery…how did everything go?
DT:
It went good. Doc says recovery is going to be a little bit longer
but in the long run my leg is going to be 100%. I'll be ready
to go in a few weeks.
KM:
Can you train at all on crutches?
DT.
Yeah, I work my upper body and I'm doing certain different movements
to help my other leg out, keep my abs tight.
KM:
How long before you can train your injured leg again?
DT:
I'm going to be off these crutches in about a week so I'm going
to start training as soon as I can walk.
KM:
Probably what, a couple weeks of training before we can see you
fight again? The earliest we could expect to see you fight would
be July or so?
DT:
It's possible July, maybe August or September.
KM:
We were earlier talking about London and Pulver then Pulver walked
from the UFC but the injury is taking longer than expected?
DT:
The thing is if I was going to fight Pulver in July I was still
going to do it regardless and I was going to push myself. Since
Pulver got dropped or whatever it's not worth me fighting somebody
else.
KM:
You're pretty much the only person to beat Pulver. With Pulver
gone and the title open now it seems like the UFC is going to
hold a fight for the belt before you recover.
DT:
I don't care. Doesn't bother me at all. Whoever has the belt,
I'm chasing them. To be honest with you it'll work out a little
better because if I just beat Jens again and got the belt everybody
would be (fighting other people) to beat me but now it's going
to be better because I get to beat everybody now and prove I'm
going to be the best. I don't want to take no shortcuts and have
people talk, I want to show everybody I'm the best. If I have
to beat everybody I'm just going to have to beat everybody.
KM:
Any final words?
DT:
Just be patient and keep checking my website at www.dinthomas.com.
Source: ADCC |
Quote
of the Day
Everyone
needs to be loved...especially when they do not deserve it.
The
real measure of a man's wealth is what he has invested in eternity.
Anonymous |
RoughMan
Tonight!
World Cafe
Saturday, June 1, 2002
Doors open at 7:00PM
Tonight is yet
another variation on the Toughman events that are being popular.
There is a $1,000 cash prize and a chance to win a new car. There
are two weight classes: Lightheavyweight & Heavyweight.
I was just notified that our resident big man, Shane Ahlo will
be competing in the Heavyweight class. We will be there, hope
you will be there too.
|
Shaolin
& other BJJ guys fight descriptions at HOOKnSHOOT
HOOKnSHOOT 'Relentless'
Becomes Submission Exhibition
By Joe Hall
EVANSVILLE, Ind.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
black belt Vitor "Shaolin" Ribeiro simply walked through
his tough Japanese opponent, Takumi Nakayama. The lightweight
fight began with Nakayama throwing a punch, but by the time it
was extended, Ribeiro was already underneath him. After completing
the takedown, Ribeiro began to pass Nakayama's half guard. Catching
a side choke, Ribeiro choked his foe all but unconscious while
still in the position. As soon as he completed the pass, Nakayama
slumped asleep, and Ribeiro stood untouched.
American Top
Team brought an intimidating contingent to support team members
Dustin Denes (light heavyweight) and Hermes Franca (lightweight).
Both fighters delivered victories; from his back, Denes submitted
Tom Jones with an armbar, and Franca dominated Yohei Suzuki with
a flurry of punches followed by a guillotine choke.
Source: FCF |
WFA
2 is back and on its way
World
Fighting Alliance Championships Level 2
Hard Rock Hotel and
Casino, Las Vegas, NV
July 5, 2002
LAS VEGAS (May
28, 2002) - Kicking off the holiday weekend with a bang, July
5th marks the return of mixed martial arts at its best. The World
Fighting Alliance Championships: Level 2 promises to top its
predecessor with even more electrifying sights and sounds to
rock "The Joint" at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino.
Fans are once again invited to go "where the fight club
meets the night club". At the heart of MMA's most unique
viewing experience are seven of the sport's most anticipated
match-ups, including the WFA's very first title fight of the
year. Spanning the globe for MMA's hottest talent, the card boasts
the return of a legend, the slick styling of an “international"
ladies man and the power of a "hurricane". The Playas
are ready to put it all on the line and fans won't have to look
to the skies to take in the fireworks.
In the main
event, sparks will fly in the WFA’s first-ever Middleweight
Championship. Kickboxer supreme Jermaine “Bamm-Bamm”
Andre locks horns with New Mexican scrapper Joey "Poncho"
Villasenor. Both men are devastating strikers known for never
backing down. Expect a brutal face-off to see who can get the
KO first.
In the co-main
event, the legendary heavyweight brawler Kimo makes his return
to the cage after a four year hiatus. Facing him will be the
always tough Californian Gladiator Tim Lajcik. Will ring rust
and the “Bohemian’s” wrestling and boxing prowess
be too much for Kimo?
The WFA Championships:
Level 2 Playas -
WFA Middleweight
Title Bout
Jermaine Andre vs. Joey Villasenor
WFA Co-Main
Event
Kimo vs. Tim Lajcik
Frank Trigg vs. Shonie Carter
Gilbert Yvel vs. Aaron Brink
Marvin Eastman vs. Paul Calhoun
Vitor "Shaolin" Ribeiro vs. Yves Edwards
Tiki Ghosen vs. Kit Cope
Don't miss out
on the next level in MMA competition. Tickets go on sale the
week of June 3rd and can be purchased through the Hard Rock Hotel
and Casino's box office (702-693-5000) and through all Ticketmaster
locations (www.ticketmaster.com). Visit the WFA's official web
site in the coming days for exclusive interviews and bio information
on the entire card (The World Fighting Alliance website).
Source: Sherdog |
Din
Thomas Interview Part 1
By: Keith
Mills
Even
though Din Thomas hasn't fought in the cage for almost 6 months
he has been through a lot lately. After his 25th birthday wins
over Fabiano Iha at UFC33 he was supposed to fight at UFC35 until
the bout was cancelled. He then was supposed to fight Matt Serra
in UFC36 but Din injured his meniscus in training and had to
back out, leaving Matt Serra to fight and win over Kelly Dellanty
instead. Din usually fights in the Lightweight class, which is
155# but he sometimes goes to 165 with the largest he's weighed
being 175. Fighting out of Florida 5'10' Din is not only one
of the best MMA fighters on the East Coast with a 15-2 record
but also a tireless champion of the other East Coast fighters,
not hesitating to share the spotlight with his training partners
and even other manager's fighters in the scene. This interview
is a combination of three interviews, the most recent taking
place at HOOKnSHOOT 'Relentless' on May 25th.
Late
last year after a win at RSF
KM:
How was the birthday at the UFC?
DT:
It was terrible! I'm in Vegas, it's my birthday, I get to fight…the
only thing that went right for me is I won. Afterwards I was
so beat down I didn't get to celebrate. I still had a good time,
I'm happy with my win. I wasn't really happy with my performance,
I did a lot of things wrong. I could have finished him. I'm working
on that stuff now.
KM:
I had to watch the show on PPV in DC. I'm bummed they didn't
show the prelims. I would have much rather seen that fight. I'm
not trying to kiss you ass but you're one of the 2 or 3 fights
I wanted to see on that card. Turns out I was more impressed
with the other fights than I thought I would be but considering
you're in the top 5 I'm surprised they showed the fights of people
that aren't ranked.
DT:
Me and Fabiano were just coming off losses. You come off of those
you kind of have to start over. I don't gripe about that, I understand.
I'll do whatever I have to do to get back in the position I was.
Me and Fabiano knew we had to win to come back, so our fight
we basically went balls to the wall with each other. Tried to
kill each other.
KM:
I've only seen 5 of your fights, 3 live and 2 on tapes. I believe
all of them ended in the first round. Hearing about this bout
with Fabiano but not seeing it I was wondering about your endurance.
It seems like you come out so hard in the first round and usually
win while this one I heard you looked gassed after the first
round.
DT:
That's a great question. Basically it's not that, I kind of play
possum and get guys to make mistakes. That's how I win in the
first round. I kind of just relax, they make a mistake, and I
capitalize on it. With the Fabiano fight I didn't do that at
all. I really went at him, I thought I had him knocked out, and
it didn't happen. Another thing is a couple days prior to that
I was weighing close to 170. I cut about 15 pounds in 3 days.
I think that had a lot to do with my win not up to par. Besides
that I thought I had him knocked out a couple times and I was
hitting him as hard as I could basically. God bless Fabiano,
he doesn't have the chin like I thought he did. He was really
determined not to get knocked out. He was coming back, swinging
back. The second round I was tired but I could have still fought.
He was holding me down on the ground and I trying to grab the
fence and get back up and Big John said 'don't grab the fence'
and they had a no stand-up rule in UFC in Vegas and my corner
is going 'stand up, stand up' so I'm thinking 'if I just sit
here he's going to stand us up and he wouldn't stand us up. (Note:
they changed the 'no stand-up rule since Din's fight).
KM:
Do you usually play the weight cutting game?
DT:
Nah. That's the first time I really did it. I'm thinking Fabiano
is coming from that weight so everybody's saying 'he's going
to be big' and thinking that Dennis Hallman is coming down from
like 175, Jens was talking about being 175 or 180 and I'm like
'man these guys are going to be bigger than me so I need to get
my weight up' so I talked to a nutritionist and got my weight
up and tried to cut it. It was a bad idea; I'm not doing it again.
KM:
I think the fight in the UFC against Penn was the first time
I started seeing you use better boxing skills.
DT:
When I fought Penn I really overestimated my self a little bit.
Everybody's like 'he's working on his hands' and I thought that
would be his mistake, working on his hands and not being able
to catch him. He caught me getting a little lazy. I threw a pretty
wide left hook and tried to come back with the right and as I
was coming back he timed the knee and it just happened to catch
me in the right spot. Now I'm really working on keeping my hands
up, not under estimating anyone or over estimating myself, just
being a student to the sport.
KM:
We were talking once before right after you fight in West Virginia
against Scott Johnson and I was asking you about how you had
this guy mounted and it looked to me like 1 or 2 more strikes
and the ref would stop it and you went for an armbar instead.
You were saying you didn't want to inflict more punishment on
this guy than you had to but it could be a chance for them to
escape. At a higher level of competition like the UFC would it
be something you'd still consider?
DT:
UFC, the competition is so high you can't afford to make that
kind of mistake. If a guy's eyeball falls out in the ring you
better pick it up and eat it. You don't let nothing go in the
UFC because these guys are great. This is all we do at this level…train.
You give a guy 1 second and he's all over you.
KM:
After talking to you about that 1 RSF fight and then seeing you
against Penn in the UFC, that's why it seemed to me you were
working on your hands. Did you change anything the way you trained
when you got into the UFC?
DT:
I look at myself as a real professional; I'm trying to just get
with professional people. Before I was letting my friends work
my corner but when I go to the UFC I only want guys who know
what they're doing, not just guys who want a better seat. If
I want someone to have a better seat when I fight then come watch
me train. When I'm in the ring at that level you need professional.
KM:
It seems like you most famous fight even after Iha and after
Penn is still Jens Pulver from WEF New Blood Conflict 8/26/2000.
I heard you broke his leg?
DT:
Jens, he kind of underestimated me. Before he fought me he didn't
lose for a long time. I don't think he thought I was going to
be a slouch but I don't think he thought I had the ability to…uhh…
KM:
That he was full of himself?
DT:
Yeah.
KM:
That he thought of himself like you did with Penn?
DT:
Exactly.
KM:
I never saw your fight against Uno in Shooto in '98 or '99. I
heard he got your back?
DT:
He was a lot more savvy and experienced. He played me like a
fool. We fought for 2 rounds, 3rd round came and his pace was
just too fast for me at the time. Now it would be a different
fight because I understand the game a lot more. At the time he
was better than me.
More
to come
Source: ADCC |
Alliance
Leader, Jacare Cavalcanti Interview
Alliance Leader Jacare Cavalcanti Speaks
From Rebecca Mote:
I
recently attended a brazilian jiu-jitsu seminar taught by Romero
'Jacare' Cavalcanti and hosted by Professor Luis 'Sucuri' Togno
at his academy located in Charlotte North Carolina. The seminar
was awesome and very informational and Professor Togno has a
wonderful academy with a lot of really good students to train
with. After the seminar I had the opportunity to interview Jacare
as well as photograph a technique which can be viewed at Professor
Togno's website: http://www.sucuribjj.com The interview is as
follows:
Rebecca:
When and why did you start training in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu?
Jacare:
I grew up in Copacabana in a tough neighborhood and because I
was very active playing soccer, volleyball and body surfing I
felt I needed to learn jiu jitsu to defend myself, I was a skinny
kid and you know I had to survive, plus I grew up with the Gracies
and It was love for the art as soon as I saw how well it worked
in a real situation.
Rebecca: What made you choose Atlanta Georgia for your academy?
Jacare:
First i went to Miami for a while then had an invitation to open
one school in Atlanta by Dr. John Keating a guy that owned MARS.
a company similar to the UFC. in 1996 and after passing some
difficulties in the beginning everything started to go well and
here I am.
Rebecca: Who do you consider to be your greatest influence in
Brazilian Jiu-jitsu and why?
Jacare:
The biggest influence in my opinion was ROLLS GRACIE he transformed
the old jiu jitsu into the one the world knows today.
Rebecca: I have noticed that in a lot of martial arts schools
in various styles other than Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, the higher
belts and instructors appear more as 'figure heads' within the
academy, you never really see them doing anything to put their
skills on the line so to speak. In Brazilian Jiu-jitsu it seems
the opposite is true. Every academy I have visited and every
seminar I have attended, the black belt instructor seems to be
in excellent shape, training constantly, and always gets out
on the mat and grapples with the students. There seems to be
the necessity for the Brazilian Black Belt instructors to continuously
prove their skills instead of just SAYING that they are skilled.
Why do you think there is this difference?
Jacare:
In BJJ. the mat time is very important and I don't know any real
black belt that doesn't have to keep himself in shape and roll
with the students on a regular basis, of course we have some
that receive their belts because they mean business to the instructor,
that I don't know, but a real one that really loves and spends
the right amount of time to receive the belt from a QUALIFIED
INSTRUCTOR don't care to much about the belt just on getting
better and learning the real thing.
Rebecca: When the Brazilians first came into the mixed martial
arts scene, they took the world by storm -- beating every other
stylist with ease much to everyone's surprise. Now, I hear comments
that Brazilian Jiu-jitsu has leveled out or may even be on the
decline, since other fighters have made a come back and started
beating the Brazilians. However, my observation is that these
other fighters have started training in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu in
order to accomplish these wins. So, I am not clear what these
fighters are bragging about since THEY are using Jiu-jitsu to
improve their game. What is your opinion on this?
Jacare:
My opinion on this matter is before it was about which martial
art is more effective and jiu jitsu proved to provide more tools
than any other art then with all fighters learning BJJ.and some
being experienced in other styles as well we don't have nothing
to prove anymore but if you look at the best NHB. fighters you
will see some of the best like Rodrigo Minotauro, Murilo Bustamante,
BJ. Penn, Shaolin and others are primarily BJJ. experts.
Rebecca:
There are a lot of tournaments popping up everywhere for the
grappling arts. It seems that every one you go to has a different
set of rules. How do you feel about this and what rules do you
prefer to 'play by'? What rules are the most advantageous for
a traditional Brazilian Jiu-jitsu stylist.
Jacare:
Well we have been having grappling tournaments since 1970 in
Brazil and we've developed very good rules that if enforced by
good referees it's just perfect, but a lot people here try to
make their own rules it's valid to experience new things but
we have to be very careful not to dilute the art otherwise in
a little while it's gonna be difficult to control, you know,
look what they did to the traditional Karate now they have American
Karate, Bla Bla Karate etc... JiuJitsu is Jiu Jitsu we perfected
in Brazil but then we don't call Brazilian Jiu Jitsu there, we
call Jiu Jitsu and that's it.
Rebecca: How do the tournaments in America compare to those in
Brazil?
Jacare:
In Brazil they are bigger with more competitors, we have been
doing longer there than here and we are more organized already,
but things are growing here, in a few years it's gonna be the
same, if the real but the real instructors get together and plan
things well.
Rebecca: I saw your Team Alliance compete at the Pro-Ams 2000
in Raleigh NC and most recently at the ISCF Submission Grappling
Tournament in Simpsonville SC. The rules at these two tournaments
were about as different as you could possibly get, however, your
team dominated at both events. How do you train them to be so
diverse?
Jacare:
If you are a good instructor and know what you are doing the
rules don't matter too much, we adapt to them, so since i started
to teach on my own in 1985 my Alliance Team has been very successfull
always winning many types of tournaments no matter what: sport
jiu jitsu, no gi, NHB. submissions you name and we always do
well, is what you train, who do you train with and the tradition
you carry what makes the difference and of course some secrets
you will just find out if you train with us.
Rebecca: I was very impressed with your fighters skills and also
their apparent comradery . They seem more like a 'family' than
individual Fighters. Is this something that YOU promote and instill
into your team?
Jacare:
Despite what some people say we are a real family, we care for
each other, we train together, we do a lot of things together
too, and I try my best to instill a good team spirit, so we are
very close to each other,we really care.
Rebecca: Your Team Alliance is world recognized as the most formidable
fighters to go up against, some of the most technical fighters,
and one of the most successful winning teams. What factors do
you feel are the most important contributing influence on the
success of your competition team?
Jacare:
As I said before I came from a good background my teacher was
Rolls Gracie a legend and I put many years to study and train
with the best, now I'm just collecting what I planted before,
I have graduated some of the best figthers in the world, is more
than 35 years dedicated to train and teach the art, jiu jitsu
is my passion, is my life.
Rebecca: You are renown for being one of the best available instructors
in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu and also as one of the best coaches in
the world. Some people are good instructors but can't coach,
some the other way around, how is it different being a coach
versus being an instructor? Which do you enjoy doing the most?
Jacare:
I enjoy both going to the school everyday or going to a tournament
makes no difference to me when you love what you do, is the way
of life I choose to live, jiu jitsu is what makes me wake up
everyday and feel alive.
Rebecca:
Watching your fighters compete - they never look as if they get
tired or out of breathe, or nervous & tense. They are always
relaxed and focused. It has to be grueling training to maintain
the superior physical fitness and the mental focus level they
appear to have. How do you motivate your team to train this hard
and maintain the level of dedication required to compete?
Jacare:
Well we train hard everyday, the level of my classes are very
high, I try to push my students to do their best in class, so
when we compete is just another day, they are prepared for everything,
and the rest only coming to try one class you will find out,
we have our secret weapons, classes are never boring in my schools,
they are always fun and exciting.
Rebecca: You train your fighters in no-gi as well as gi. What
do you feel are the merits of each style and is it important
to train in both?
Jacare:
We train both it make no difference to us, when you are good
and know what to do there is no difference, it's fun to train
gi, and no gi.
Rebecca: I don't know how to ask this without sounding negative,
but it seems that in America, martial arts students are 'in a
hurry' to get their training or their next rank level, as opposed
to the Brazilians who seem to be unconcerned about the time required
to rank and put more emphasis on details and technical perfection.
It seems that there are a lot of 'submission wrestling' classes
popping up everywhere as a result of this desire to see progress
'quickly'. How do you feel about this and how does it effect
the reputation of true Brazilian Jiu-jitsu?
Jacare:
Well I got my black belt at 32 years old, back then it was very
hard to achieve that honor, nowadays with more tournaments and
more improvement in other areas such as physical, suplements
and many other things it can be quicker to achieve your goals,
however if you look around in general people are in a hurry to
get belts and that is totally wrong, you have to be patient to
get there, train with a qualified instructor, check his background,
his credentials, be aware that many schools don't teach the real
deal
Rebecca:
I understand that you are considering organizing a Brazilian
Jiu-jitsu Federation in America similar to the Confederation
in Brazil. What are your plans for this? What goals are you hoping
to accomplish with this organization?
Jacare:
Yes to organize, to have standards similar to the BJJ Federation,
to have decent tournaments, to recognize the real instructors,
to show to the general public who is who in BJJ. in America.
Rebecca: I recently read an article in Grappling Magazine about
the need to regulate or certify jiu-jitsu instructors in order
to govern the legitimacy of the academies and instructors claiming
to teach Brazilian Jiu-jitsu. Are you in favor of this and do
you think it will actually be successful?
Jacare:
Its gonna be a long war, some instructors as I said before for
business they will do anything, i know cases of people going
to seminars and getting graduated to new belts, this is ridiculous
but happens all the time, I even heard cases of people promoting
themselves, so my advice is check truly your instructors background,
ask questions, see who he is under who was his instructor and
only then make up your mind who to train with.
Rebecca: I know that there are a lot of Americans that are awarded
their blue belts in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, then go out and start
their own academy. If these instructors are affiliated with a
legitimate black belt like yourself, I can see the benefit of
these academies since there are few places in America to get
Brazilian Jiu-jitsu instruction. However, many of them have no
affiliation, nor do they pursue their training under a legitimate
black belt instructor. They justify their credibility to teach
by saying 'a blue belt in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu is equivalent to
a black belt in any other style'. How do you feel about this?
Does this type of thing occur in Brazil?
Jacare:
If the student don't check their background and support these
fake instructors they only will loose, the real ones even if
they are low ranked have to be under someone capable a real black
belt otherwise they are risking a lot and maybe gonna spend money
for nothing.
Rebecca: What are some of your goals for your Academy in Atlanta
Georgia and for your competition team?
Jacare:
My goals is to be one of the best instructors of all times, is
to leave a legacy, is to continue to teach and evolve and to
have the best team or one of the best always and last but not
least to enjoy life and have a good time.
Rebecca: Do you have any other comments that you would like to
make.
Jacare:
Just to advise everyone to be aware of the non qualified instructors
around, also when you join a school work hard to achieve your
goals, respect your teacher and partners, have honor and pride,try
everyday to be a better person and never give up.Just to finish
thanks for the opportunity is always an honor to talk about jiu
jitsu.
Thank you for your time, it was truely an honor to talk with
you about your life and jiu-jitsu. I am already looking forward
to your next seminar. For details about Jacare or for upcoming
seminars visit his website: http://www.alliancebjj.com
Source: ADCC |
News and Rumors Archives
May 2002 Part 3
May 2002 Part 2
May 2002 Part 1
April 2002 Part 3
April 2002 Part 2
April 2002 Part 1
March 2002 Part 3
March 2002 Part 2
March 2002 Part 1
February 2002 Part 2
February 2002 Part 1
January 2002 Part 3
January 2002 Part 2
January 2002 Part 1
December 2001 Part 2
December 2001 Part 1
November 2001 Part 2
November 2001 Part 1
October 2001 Part 2
October 2001 Part 1
September 2001 Part 3
September 2001 Part 2
September 2001 Part 1
August 2001 Part 2
August 2001 Part 1
July 2001 Part 3
July 2001 Part 2
July 2001 Part 1
June 2001 Part 2
June 2001 Part 1
May 2001
April 2001 Part 2
April 2001 Part 1
March 2001
February 2001
January 2001
November-December 2000
October 2000
August-September 2000
July 2000
March-May 2000