It takes less time to do things right that to explain why you
did it wrong.
Henry
Wadsworth Longfellow
Relson
Teaching at Team HK Today
Relson Gracie will be teaching a seminar at Todd Tanaka's Team
HK, a Relson Gracie Association School on University, right across
the street from Puck's Alley and Kinkos. It will be held at the
IKF Karate school on the third floor at 12:00 noon - 1:30 pm.
It is free to all Team HK members and visitors pay a small fee
of $15.
When:
Friday, September 20, 2002
Where: Team HK (IKF Karate School 3rd Floor)
Across the street from Puck's Alley and Kinkos
Time: 12:00 noon to 1:30 pm
Cost: Free to Team HK members and $15 for visitors
Hawaiian
State Grappling Championship (NAGA) Details
This Saturday!
If
anyone has folding mats that they would like to bring to increase
the mat size, this would be greatly appreciated. Please contact
Eric
Goo if
you have mats to bring. Thanks in advance!
Be
sure to come and support this independent organization!
(NAGA Submission
Tournament)
WHEN: Saturday, September 21st (10 AM TO 4 PM)
WHERE: Honolulu, HI (Farrington H.S. Gymnasium)
Tenative
Schedule
EVENT SCHEDULE –
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21ST, 2002
TIME
EVENT SPECIAL NOTES:
10:00 AM
DOORS OPEN to general public (Registration & Weigh-in begins
and lasts all day)
NAGA events
are not based on the BJJ Point System. The intent of our judges
decision making criteria is to entice fighters to win by submission
rather than by points. The primary difference is that NAGA fighters
obtain advantages for attempting submission. Please read the
following outline of how a judge selects a winner in an NAGA
event for both GI & Non-GI Competition when the contest does
not end in submission.
Q&A ON JUDGING
AT A NAGA EVENT
Q#1. How do
you decide who won a match?
A#1. The winning
player in a NAGA-sponsored match is the one who makes his opponent
submit. If there is no submission, certain things happen in a
contest that gives one player an “Advantage” over the
other. For example, if one player takes the other down, anyone
watching can tell that person is ahead. NAGA uses a sophisticated
version of this commonsense approach, recognizing specific (1)
Minor Advantage, and (2) Major Advantage.
Q#2. Okay, that
makes sense. What is a Major Advantage?
A#2. Major Advantage
(2) is awarded for:
A full and strong
submission attempt. This is evident when one or more of the following
occurs: The opponent takes time to escape; Upon escaping, does
not instantly move to an attack of his own, but instead assumes
a defensive posture; the defender is ‘In Danger’, i.e.
the finish has the potential for completion (if a knee bar, the
hips have to be placed correctly, if a choke, the neck must have
been reached, etc.); The finish in question is not a low percentage
submission (wrist lock, body scissors, etc).
A clean takedown,
ideally with amplitude, that ends with the opponent controlled
(Cross Side, Mount, any number of freestyle wrestling rides,
among many others), or with a submission attempt.
A sweep from
Guard that is followed by control of the opponent, of sufficient
duration to set up a submission. As noted just previously, this
can take any number of forms. Aggressively passing the Guard
to any form of control that lends itself to submission, of sufficient
duration to set up a submission. The pass must be aggressive,
and not initiated against a sweep or submission attempt on the
part of the player who has Guard.
Q#3. I am still
with you. What is a Minor Advantage?
A#3. Minor Advantage
(1) is awarded for:
A submission
attempt, takedown attempt (notably to within guard), sweep from
Guard, or Guard pass (notably against someone who is trying a
sweep or submission) that does not meet the standards defined
above. It can also happen that one of the above is so unsuccessfully
executed that no Advantage what so ever is recognized.
Getting the
opponent into an aggressive Guard (bottom player noticeably is
attempting a submission or further positional gain). Simply holding
a static Guard is considered Timidity, the exact opposite of
Effective Aggressiveness. Guard can be gained from standing,
or from the ground.
Ground Control
of the opponent of such a form, and for such a period of time,
that submission attempts are readily available. Note that gaining
any particular position repeatedly is irrelevant as it misses
the point of control, which is to set up a submission, what ever
the form of control may be. Note further that once control is
achieved, you have to stay active. Reversing a position also
constitutes a Minor Advantage.
Q#4. How is
this different from just giving points?
A#4. Advantage
is a tool used in choosing a winner; it is not as a strict numerical
crutch. The tail must not wag the dog. Players must continually
strive to defeat the opponent, not try to sway the judges by
making repeated, half-hearted attempts at Advantage.
Q#5. I am almost
done. What if they are even?
A#5. If players
are equal in Advantage, judges will determine Clean Grappling
by considering who controlled the pace, place, and position on
the mat. If they are still equal, Judges should give the decision
to the player with less warnings or cautions. If still even the
edge shall be given to the fighter who better exemplifies the
sport as an exciting, colorful, viable contest. If the situation
yet remains equal, the judges will turn to Effective Aggressiveness,
Mat Generalship, and Defense. Each of these are described in
the NAGA Rulebook. If the players are still equal, then an overtime
period can be called for.
Source: Nagafighter
Website
UFC
Preview: LINDLAND v. SALAVERRY
Ivan Salaverry
is ready to continue his winnings in the UFC but Matt Lindland
stands in his way.
Salaverry, the
HOOKnSHOOT champion said 'I am focused upwards, on being champion.
There really is no other spot!'
'Personally,
he is a really cool guy (Lindland). Professionally, he is a little
one dimensional, but his ground and pound wrestling are his one
dimension and he is totally elite at what he does' said Salaverry.
Salaverry speaks
fluent Spanish and works as a social worker for the State of
Washington. He has taken the next year off to pursue his dream
of becoming UFC champion and now calls himself a 'full-time fighter.'
Lindland, who's
only loss in UFC is to champion Murillo Bustamante, is also ready.
Lindland is the ONLY fighter to defeat Phil Baroni and one of
the few to hand Pat Miletich a decisive loss.
The two have
trained together off and on for some time (both are from Washington/Oregon
area) and know each others game. This will be a true test for
Salaverry as well as Lindland.
Source: Abu
Dhabi
Dave
Menne Interview
Brett
Herman spoke with Dave Menne after his conversial bout with Robert
Ferguson. Menne is facing Phil Baroni at the next UFC.
Brett
Herman: You weren't 100 % when you fought Bustamante, any comments
on how that affected your fight?
Dave
Menne: Yeah, I definitley wasn't 100 %, I caught the flu that
everybody had, like the half people got there. I'm not using
it as an excuse, I don't know if I would have won if I had been
healthy, so time will tell. Hopefully I will win my next fight,
I'll get to fight him healthy and we'll find out. But, he's a
tough opponent, you know, I give him all the respect...I'd like
to fight him healthy.
Brett
Herman: Let's talk about a guy who recently said he can handle
you within 1 round, Phil Baroni.
Dave
Menne: He's a strong, tough guy, he can turn the fight to his
advantage pretty quick, so I don't take him lightly. I think
he also makes a lot of mistakes, so it's the kind of situation
where the fight can go either way. He's very aggressive, he comes
at you, but I think he makes a lot of mistakes. The fight could
be won either way...quick.
Brett
Herman: Did you get a chance to see Weir's KO in England?
Dave
Menne: Yeah, I got a chance to watch Weir, I think it's a situation
where he's got great attributes, but I don't think the fight
said much. Anytime anyone wins a fight under ten or twenty seconds...even
if they win two or three, I don't think it says much about them
as a fighter. He might be a great fighter, but you don't get
to see that until he's fought a great fight isn't thirty seconds.
It's when they fight the diffficult 15 minute fights and they
find a way to win. But, a ten second knockout, he's obviously
got some skills and he's talented, but I think the verdict is
still out on how good he really is.
Brett
Herman: Take him three or four rounds and see what happens?
Dave
Menne: Yeah, he definitely has skills and he has great attributes
having such a long body. It'd be nice to see him go past ten
seconds I guess, you can't say much about a fighter in ten seconds.
Everybody gets knocked out.
Dave
Menne works for position against Gil Castillo on his way to victory
in UFC 33.
Brett Herman: You are from Minnesota right? How's this epic California
weather treating you?
Dave
Menne: It's actually nicer than Minnesota has been, it's been
frickin' incredibly hot and humid, so this is actually a recovery
form what I've been training in, I've had like 90 % humidity,
on top of that in my gym it's probably twice as bad! So, it's
actually kind of refreshing...I went to a cooler climate for
a change.
Brett
Herman: A lot of great pro-wrestlers came out of Minnesota, do
you ever watch WWE?
Dave
Menne: No, I don't watch pro-wrestling, no. I just basically
train at the gym.
Brett
Herman: What do you do to relax and chill out?
Dave
Menne: Watch movies, read, cook every once in a while or BBQ,
stuff like that. I play games with my girlfriend every once in
a while.
Brett
Herman: Did you have any input on your entrance theme?
Dave
Menne: In the UFC? Yeah, I brought it to them, yeah. It was all
me.
Brett
Herman: Anything to say to your fans?
Dave
Menne: Hopefully we'll have a good showing next time, keep watching,
and I am not a man of a lot of fancy words I guess...just keep
watching!
Source:
Sherdog
Zuffa,
LLC Announces
UFC 39: Return of the Warriors
Will Not be Carried on Echostar's
Dish TV Satellite Service
Echostar
and Zuffa's Agent Not
Able to Reach Agreement in Time
LAS
VEGAS, NEV., September 19, 2002... Zuffa, LLC, the owner of the
new Ultimate Fighting Championship® (UFC), the world's leading
Mixed Martial Arts sports association, announced today that its
pay-per-view distribution agent was not able to reach agreement
with satellite provider Echostar (the Dish TV Network) in time
to air the next UFC pay-per-view, UFC 39: Return of the Warriors,
scheduled for Friday, September 27, 2002.
The
live sports event will feature a heavyweight championship showdown
between Randy Couture and Ricco Rodriquez, and will be available
virtually everywhere in the cable TV and satellite universe domestically,
Echostar notwithstanding. Live from Mohegan Sun in Uncasville,
Connecticut, it promises to deliver a much-anticipated title
bout, as well as a full fight card, starting at 10 p.m. (EST).
"It's
always regrettable when a fight fan can't get what they want,
when they want it and where they want it," said Dana White,
President of the UFC. "That's why they're called fight fans
in the first place. We don't ever like to disappoint them but
we are placed in an awkward position between our distributor
and a provider who has supported UFC since the beginning. We
hope this is resolved expeditiously but unfortunately we don't
believe that will be in time for next Friday's event".
The
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), headquartered in Las Vegas,
Nevada, is the world's leading mixed martial arts sports association.
Owned and operated by Zuffa, LLC, the UFC programs pay-per-view
product, both live and taped, through cable and satellite providers.
In addition to its US distribution on iN DEMAND, DIRECTV and
TVN, UFC events are distributed internationally through British
Sky Broadcasting, WOWOW, Inc., in Japan, Globosat in Brazil and
Modern Sports and Entertainment in Scandinavia. UFC licenses
video games for all major playing platforms through Crave Entertainment.
Source:
FCF
Roy
Jones Jr Moving Up in Weight Class?
After
his latest fight last week, Roy Jones declared that he sees no
real challenge for him in this weight division, the light heavyweight
division. Jones appears to be forced into fighting Heavyweights
in an effort to test himself and is being linked with a possible
match against WBA champion John Ruiz.
Jones
said. 'I feel pretty good and if I get in shape, I could do that
for the title. I just want to see how the public is going to
react, I want it to be a big event.' stated one of the best boxers
ever with regards to battling Ruiz.
'If
the public wants it, that is what I will do.' Jones also raised
the possibility of meeting highly regarded light-heavyweight
contender Antonio Tarver, who represented the United States at
the 1996 Olympics, however Jones moving to heavyweight seems
to be only a matter of time.
Source:
Abu Dhabi
Internet
Voting Is Closed; Professional Super Fight Brackets Decided
Internet voting is closed and the Professional Super Fight brackets
for the US Grappling Association East Coast Championship Tournament
have been decided. In Bracket 1, we see Marc Laimon (Nova Uniao)
vs. Shawn Williams (Renzo Gracie) and Rick Migliarese (Balance Studios Not sure if
he still associates himself with Relson) vs. Todd Margolis (Linxx Academy). In Bracket
2, we see Ken Florian (Boston BJJ) vs. Ken Kronenberg (Tai Kai)
and Stephen Haigh (Fight Factory) vs. Winner of Eddy Rolon (Team
End Game) and Justin
Garcia (Relson Gracie Bronx).
These champions in their own right will be competing for a $2000
cash prize.
The US Grappling
Association East Coast Championship Tournament will be held on
Saturday, September 21, 2002, at the renovated Ewing High School,
'it was necessary to move the tournament to a more strategic
location to accommodate more competitors,' said Promoter, Joe
Priole. Ewing High School is located at 900 Parkway Avenue in
Ewing, NJ 08618.
'There are currently
over 150 pre-registered competitors from as far away as Canada
and Brazil,' exclaimed Priole. With that in mind, pre-registration
has been extended through Thursday, September 19th.
The cost is
just $50 for pre-registered adults and $40 for pre-registered
children with $20 for extra divisions and the open division.
$15 covers pre-registered spectators. Pre-register online at
www.USGrappling.com.
Over 400 competitors
are expected this Saturday. Weigh-ins begin at 8:00AM and the
Children's Division will begin at 9:30AM.
Points are easy.
Take Downs or a throw from a standing position, Knee-on-belly
position and Sweeps (from guard or half guard) earn 2 points.
Passing the guard is 3 points. Gaining Full Mount (with hooks
in) and Back Mount (with hooks in) earns 4 points. Advantage
points are awarded for serious submission attempts, almost takedowns,
a pass and taking the back. Deductions will be made for stalling
for more than 30 seconds, or no activity for more than 30 seconds.
Time limits
for Beginner/White Belt is 5 Minutes, Intermediate/Blue Belt
is 6 Minutes, Advanced/Purple Belts is 7 Minutes and Brown Belts
is 8 Minutes.
All proceeds
benefit ONE VOW (Organize Now To End Violence On Women)
Source: Abu
Dhabi
WILL
ONE STYLE OF WRESTLING BE DROPPED FROM THE OLYMPICS?
By: Eddie Goldman
An
international shockwave reverberated throughout the world of
wrestling when the Olympic Programme Commission recommended in
late August that one of the two styles of wrestling be dropped
from the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
While
there has been a lot of confusion on just what they said, here
is the text of the portion of their report, issued by commission
chairman Franco Carraro to the executive committee of the International
Olympic Committee (I.O.C.), concerning wrestling:
Wrestling
(FILA) exclusion of one discipline The low public and media comprehension
of differences between the two wrestling disciplines currently
in the Olympic Programme were noted by the Commission, which
has resulted in relatively low broadcast and press coverage.
In comparison to this lack of global popularity, the Commission
noted the high athlete quota and number of events in the sport
of wrestling.
The
Commission therefore recommends the exclusion of one of the wrestling
disciplines from the Programme of the Games of the XXIX Olympiad.
Notice
that it does not specifically recommend dropping Greco, just
'one of the wrestling disciplines.' However, since women compete
in freestyle and not Greco, and women's freestyle will be added
to the Olympics in 2004, if one style were chosen for exclusion,
it would likely be Greco.
The
reaction was swift from the wrestling community. Rafi Martinetti,
the only candidate for FILA president at its congress this week
in Moscow, was scheduled to have a meeting with Dr. Jacques Rogge,
I.O.C. president shortly after the commission's report was released.
But in typical fashion, FILA has released no press releases,
no statements, or reported no news about these developments or
this meeting.
Under
the present regime of Milan Ercegan, FILA president for the past
30 years, FILA has thus far barely entered the Internet age.
Its web site (http://www.fila-wrestling.com/) has little information
except a calendar, whose English section lists the information
in French, and a popular database, which is actually administered
in Leipzig, Germany; FILA's headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland.
FILA's
failure to enter the electronic age is also seen in the traffic
rankings for its web site by Alexa.com, a service that ranks
all web sites in the world. Though Alexa.com's rankings are admittedly
not perfect, they do provide a rough idea of the relative popularity
of a web site. FILA's site ranks at number 593,261. By contrast,
TheMat.com ranks at 50,385, while the ADCC News ranks at 59,145.
A web site in the top 100,000 is generally considered to be popular.
(Yahoo.com ranks number 1, msn.com number 2, and so on.)
But
the relative success of a web site like TheMat.com and the coverage
of wrestling in the U.S. demonstrate that the I.O.C. commission's
assertion about 'relatively low broadcast and press coverage'
may be exaggerated, or at least not universally applicable.
'Obviously,
you can dispute that, the low press coverage, based on the fact
that the number one story out of the most recent Olympic Games
was a Greco-Roman story,' said Rich Bender, executive director
of USA Wrestling, referring to the defeat of Alexander Karelin
by Rulon Gardner in the heavyweight finals in Greco-Roman wrestling
at the 2000 Olympics. 'I'm not sure of the validity of that statement.'
Even
long after the Olympics, Rulon Gardner has remained a media celebrity
in the U.S. He won an ESPY award in 2001. When he was hospitalized
following his snowmobile accident this year in February, NBC's
'Today Show' interviewed him live from the hospital just days
after he was rescued. Sports Illustrated wrote another feature
on him this year about this accident, and Rulon's announcement
that he was returning to training was reported widely by the
Associated Press and other media outlets. And he hasn't even
started competing again!
'For
a non-mainstream sport, never has there been that kind of coverage
for any individual athlete,' said Bender. He also wondered aloud
'if the programme committee understands Kareline-Rulon was a
Greco match.'
Bender
does not think many of this commission's recommendations, which
also included cutting baseball, softball, and modern pentathlon,
as well as events and disciplines in equestrian, rowing, sailing,
canoe-kayak and other sports, will pass.
'It
takes a two-thirds majority of the general I.O.C. board to drop
or add any sport. Wrestling has 150 countries that are members
of FILA. And most of those countries have a Greco-Roman program,'
he said. The I.O.C. has a membership of 199 countries.
'So
the fact that it lacks global popularity is simply untrue. Compared
to what?' asked Bender. 'I would venture to guess that Greco-Roman
wrestling has as high a global participation as just about any
sport. Traditionally there are more countries participating in
the World Championships in Greco than freestyle.'
Another
factor on wrestling's side, Bender continued, is that 'it's the
oldest Olympic sport. Greco-Roman was the discipline that was
contested in the first modern Olympic Games. So I think we're
in pretty solid shape. Certainly FILA has assured us that they're
not going to let this go, just let this pass.'
Support
for wrestling is also growing in the U.S. On Sept. 16, Marty
Mankamyer, the president of the U.S. Olympic Committee, issued
a public statement supporting keeping both freestyle and Greco-Roman
wrestling in the Olympics. That statement read:
'The
U.S. Olympic Committee supports the inclusion of both freestyle
and Greco-Roman wrestling in the program of the Olympic Games.
Wrestling has been included in both the ancient and modern Olympic
Games. Greco-Roman wrestling was featured in the first modern
Olympics in 1896. Freestyle wrestling was added to the Olympics
in 1904. Both styles of wrestling are practiced all around the
world, and both have been instrumental in building the popularity
of the modern Olympic Games. We support the efforts of FILA,
the international wrestling federation, and USA Wrestling, the
U.S. sport governing body, to retain both styles of wrestling
on the Olympic program.'
If
Greco were eliminated from the Olympics, Bender argued, 'It would
devastate that discipline. Without collegiate support like we
have in freestyle, or support at the high school level, it would
really make it very difficult for that sport to survive in this
country.' It would also create major problems for wrestling as
a whole. 'It would have a huge negative impact on USA Wrestling,'
Bender said, citing the recent success of the U.S. junior national
championships in Fargo. 'We had over 1000 kids wrestling Greco-Roman
at the Greco-Roman national championships in both Cadets and
Junior. To eliminate that part of our organization would have
a huge impact, not only obviously on the Greco end of things,
but certainly also on the freestyle end of things.'
Greco
might not be entirely dead if it is eliminated from the Olympics,
however. 'There's a couple of things that could happen,' said
Bender. 'If it's knocked off the Olympic program, it could continue
as a Pan Am sport, Pan Am-only. There is a designation as Pan
Am-only, although that might be somewhat difficult. Usually the
process is for Pan Am-only sports to take the next step to the
Olympic level, not from the Olympic level to Pan Am-only.'
All
this comes just at a time when Bender believes that wrestling
is enjoying a huge upswing in popularity in the U.S. 'We're excited
about the position that our sport is in right now,' he said.
'We certainly domestically never enjoyed the amount of success
that we've had recently. The strength of USA Wrestling, our membership's
at an all-time high. We just have an unbelievable core of volunteers.
The sport's fortunately been blessed with that for quite some
time. Obviously wrestling on the high school level continues
to grow. Efforts are being made to address the Title IX issue.
I think the sport's in great shape, and we just need to vigorously
defend that Olympic designation for the Greco-Roman team, and
just move forward.'
The
timetable for the I.O.C.'s consideration of the commission's
report calls for the executive board to decide on what sports
to cut at its next meeting in late November in Mexico City. The
executive board will then take its recommendations to the full
I.O.C. meeting on Nov. 26-29, which will have the final say.
All
this means that the new FILA leadership, which is expected to
take over at this week's FILA congress, has little time to gather
support and demonstrate that it indeed can expand 'broadcast
and press coverage.' If FILA fails at this task, then the sport
of wrestling will be affected for a long time to come, and will
have to plot a new course that is less dependent on the Olympics
for support, respect, recognition, and coverage.
Source:
Abu Dhabi
HOT
NEWS: UPDATE ON THE 2002 GRECO-ROMAN WRESTLING WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
By: Eddie Goldman
According
to information on the official web site of the 2002 Greco-Roman
Wrestling World Championships, this year's competition will have
a total of 214 wrestlers from 50 countries. A total of 12 countries
will have full squads at all seven weight classes: Belarus, Bulgaria,
China, Cuba, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine,
U.S., and Uzbekistan.
Since
the teams have now had to list the names of their competitors,
I am clarifying my pick for 96 kg/211.75 lbs. Russia listed as
its entrant Alexandre Bezrouthkine, and not five-time world champion
Gogi Koguachvili. I had picked the Russian entrant, which means
now I am picking Bezrouthkine. My original prediction at this
weight read:
'96
kg/211.75 lbs. - Gogi Koguachvili of Russia, that is, if he wrestles.
If not, Russia's Alexandre Bezrouthkine. Koguachvili is a five-time
world champion, and won this year's Europeans. Bezrouthkine was
world champion last year. Whichever man represents Russia takes
gold.'
The
wrestling starts Friday morning, Sept. 20, in Moscow.
As
expected, Raphael Martinetti was elected the new president of
FILA, the international wrestling federation, on Thursday, Sept.
19. According to Pravda, he held a press conference in which
he vowed to fight to keep both styles of wrestling in the Olympics.
According to the article, FILA formed a committee to deal with
this issue. 'The committee scheduled a meeting in October with
the IOC President Jacques Rogge. In the course of the meeting
the committee plans to revise the decisions made in the end of
August by the Executive Committee in Lausanne concerning the
programs of the Summer and Winter Olympic Games. According to
Martinetti, it is impossible to reduce the wrestling programme
at the Summer Olympic Games, since it was the wrestling, which
opened Olympic Games,' the Pravda article said.
The
event web site also reported that, 'The Championship will be
broadly covered by Russian and International Mass Media. By the
moment requests from 200 reporters and representatives have been
received. 18 Mass Media Agencies, 12 TV companies, 5 radio stations,
57 print medias have been accredited by today. The TV translation
of the Championship will be conducted by RTR (host-broadcaster
of the Championship) and NTV+Sport. Eurosport Channel and Eurovision
TV-organization have signed a contract about demonstration of
the preliminary and final duels. The official site of The Championship
www.wrestrus.ru has been inaugurated.'
The
English-language page of the official web site is at:
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
Chinese
Proverb
Mike
Teaching at the Kaneohe Team Tonight
Mike will be guest performing at Ronn Shiraki's Kaneohe Team,
a Relson Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Association, tonight! He will be showing
a variety of techniques mainly based on what Ronn and his team
wants to cover. He may also be going over strategy for the upcoming
NAGA tournament and try not to bore everyone to death.
If
you are in the area, stop by to check out Ronn's place!
Relson Gracie will be teaching a seminar at Todd Tanaka's Team
HK, a Relson Gracie Association School on University, right across
the street from Puck's Alley and Kinkos. It will be held at the
IKF Karate school on the third floor at 12:00 noon - 1:30 pm.
It is free to all Team HK members and visitors pay a small fee
of $15.
When:
Friday, September 20, 2002
Where: Team HK (IKF Karate School 3rd Floor)
Across the street from Puck's Alley and Kinkos
Time: 12:00 noon to 1:30 pm
Cost: Free to Team HK members and $15 for visitors
PRIDE.22
DATE: September 29th, 2002
OPEN: 2:00 PM START 4:00 PM
PLACE: Nagoya Rainbow Hall, Japan (Aichi-Pref , Japan)
Today in Japan
, DSE/PRIDE releced announced all the match ups for PRIDE.22
on September 29th.
CARD SUBJECT
TO CHANGE:
1st Match: Michiyoshi Ohara vs Kevin Randleman
2nd Match: Norihisa Yamamoto vs Guy Mezger
3rd Match: Alexander Otsuka vs Anderson Silva
4th Match: Akira Shoji vs Paulo Filho
5th Match: Heath Herring vs Kotchkine Icuri
6th Match: Mario Sperry vs Andrei Kopylov
7th Match: Igor Vovchanchyn vs Quinton 'RAMPAGE' Jackson
8th Match: Shungo Oyama vs Ryan Gracie
Source: Abu
Dhabi
KOTC
cancel NM show, details on 10/19
KOTC have been
going through a very busy time lately, resulting in the Albequerque
show originally salted for September 19th and postponed until
October 10th to be postponed again until December. According
to promoter Terry, 'the casino is having some financial problems
and they are not allowed to spend any money until December at
which point they have a loan coming to build their hotel and
their parking structure. Starting in December we'll be there
end of February for Pay-Per-View, we'll be there in May, and
one time later in the year. We have 4 shows coming up there.
December 15th is the date for the first show there.'
This means that
roughly half the original NM show going to Soboba on 10/19 and
Reno on 11/1 while the other half will have to wait until December.
Soboba has Aram/Stevenson as the main event hopefully with the
winner facing Mark Hallman on 11/1. As Terry explains, 'if the
winner gets hurt and can't fight if the looser is healthy the
looser will fight Hallman. If not it could be several people'
but no matter what happens Hallman fights on 11/1. 'Hallman's
getting the first shot at this because they'll hold the title
and Hallman will be the contender.' 5-0 Romie Aram has been standing
out lately with 2 TKOs, 2 decisions, and 1 submission but the
much more experienced Joe Stevenson will be no pushover. Stevenson's
4 losses are to Jens Pulver, Chris Brennan, Ronald Jhun,
and Brad Gumm-all tough opponents while Gumm he beat in a rematch.
In most of 2000 and '01 Stevenson was on a decision streak with
his only win that wasn't a decision being a submission against
Kai Kamaka, so although his decision streak
seems to be over; look for Stevenson's conditioning to not be
in doubt.
Charlie Kohler
also makes his return on 10/19 but his opponent has not yet been
named. Kohler last fought in WFA 1 where he lost to Vitor Ribeiro
by TKO (cut). Charlie is currently 2-2-1, his only other loss
being to Joe Hurley in KOTC 7. Terry explains, 'I have 2 or 3
guys that are willing to take the fight but Charlie wants somebody
that is willing to stand and bang with him that has good stand-up
skill because he wants to prove he can stand and bang with anybody.'
In the first
women's match in KOTC history breaking news is that 3-0 Debi
Purcell's opponent will be Nicole Albrecht, a stand-out fighter
recently fighting in Mark Hall's shows. With a reported but unconfirmed
5 wins to her credit and strong stand-up and BJJ skills this
may be Debi's first real test of her skills on the ground. Albrecht
doesn't have Debi's experience or level of training but she'll
be coming in with around a 30 lb weight advantage putting her
in Remix vet Erin Toughill's weight class, a factor that will
probably at least slow down Debi. Debi will need to finish this
fight fast and without injury as her much anticipated belt shot
against Judy Neff if it does happen in the November HOOKnSHOOT
show will only be 2 weeks away.
The complete
card is:
- Romi Aram
Vs. Joe Stevenson
- Fernando Vasconcelos
Vs. Churuto Verissimo
BJJ Black Belt/World Champ vs BJJ Black Belt and 3rd Place
in Worlds
- Todd Medina Vs. Edwin Dewees
- Charlie Kohler Vs. TBA
- Art Santore Vs. Thomas Kenney
- Jason 'The Punisher' Lambert Vs. Brian Stromberg
- Freddie George Vs. Cliff Jacobs
- Thomas Denny Vs. Aaron Anderson
- Debbie Purcell Vs. TBA
- Mike 'Rhino' Bourke Vs. Brent Stevens
- - Cipi Gamino Vs. Dave Rivas
- Richard Soliz Vs. Ricky Libertini
- Chui Vs. Josh Lewis
- Shad Smith Vs. Chris Jeffers
- Mark McLelland Vs. Raymond Young
For the November
1st Pay-Per-View card Daniel Bobish will face Eric Pele, a rematch
of the KOTC 12 fight. Also Severn, Hallman, and 3 other Heavyweights
will appear.
Source: Abu
Dhabi
Carlson
Gracie and Anotnio Inoki: A Partnership
It
appears that Carlson Gracie is now working on a fight team with
Japanese icon Antonio Inoki. The word is that Carlson has spent
some time building up a stable of new fighters that the two old
masters believe will impact the Mixed Martial Arts scene.
The
deal is still being negotiated, but look for an announcement
soon. Part of the deal appears to involve Carlson instructing
and assisting at the Inoki Dojo in Los Angeles. The rest hinges
on Inoki acting as the 'manager' for the fighter.
More
to come on this budding relationship...
Source:
Abu Dhabi
8/18/02
Quote
of the Day
"To love and win is the best thing. To love and lose, the
next best."
William M. Thackeray
SuperBrawl
26: UCC Hawaii Results
Blaisdell Arena, Honolulu, Hawaii
September 17, 2002
By Chris Onzuka - Chris@Onzuka.com
Stephane Patry's UCC is one of the fastest growing and well-run
MMA events. Paltry filled his first few shows with some up and
coming Canadian fighters. After gaining some hard-earned experience,
Patry introduced a tough challenge to the Canadian fighters by
bringing in members of Team Extreme. Monte Cox's team of fighters
primarily hail from Pat Miletich's school. Team Extreme has secured
a foothold in the UCC by either gaining UCC titles or by earning
the right to be next in line to fight the UCC champion for the
title. This not being enough for Patry, he brought his show to
Hawaii with the help of Monte Cox and SuperBrawl promoter, T.
Jay Thompson. They have put together a fight card that could
have been dubbed: "Team Hawaii versus Team Canada."
Some of the best Hawaiian fighters were pitted against some of
the best Canadian fighters. The celebrities that were in the
house were professional wrestler, The Rock, former boxing champ,
Jesus Salud, former UFC Lightweight Champion, Jens Pulver and
the man in charge of the action, this time as the referee, was
none other than UFC Welterweight Champion, Matt Hughes. There
was a lot of action, some impressive knockouts and a couple of
upsets. Ivan Menjivar showed Hawaii fans why you don't blink
during a match as he performed a textbook German suplex on Jay
R. Palmer, all but knocking him out. Potvin pulled off the upset
of the night by submitting Ron Jhun after a being able to gain
good position at times, but paying for it by Jhun unloading on
him for two rounds. Potvin stuck it out and seized an opportunity
by rolling into a knee bar and then transitioning to a toehold,
submitting Jhun. What happens when you put two MMA fighters that
are primarily boxers in the ring together? Exactly what you would
expect, a war. Laverne Clark and Donald Ouimet threw some huge
punches at each other. After the dust settled Clark's takedowns
and higher landing percentage won him the match. I read that
Rich Franklin is the next rising star, but I have never seen
him fight. Tonight, I understand why people are talking about
him. Franklin can do it all, punch, kick, clinch fight and take
down. Anthony Rea made Franklin use his whole arsenal and looked
to have the upper hand until Franklin stood his ground and unloaded
a punch-kneeing combination from hell, knocking Rea to the canvas.
The final match of the night brought together two fighters known
for their strong BJJ ground games, but it would be Jeff Curran's
superior striking that would bring him victory as his accumulated
right hands took its toll and eventually knocked out Baret Yoshida.
Right after the match, Relson Gracie stood up in Jeff Curran's
corner and taunted Yoshida in what can only be described as distasteful.
The Grappling Unlimited students exchanged words with Gracie
and Gracie had to be escorted off the ring apron. This show of
unsportsman-like conduct left a black mark on a great show. The
team of Patry, Thompson and Cox put together a solid, evenly
match card that had a lot of action and kept you on the edge
of your seats.
Light Heavyweight Challenge
Yan Pellerin def. Mike Malone
Submission via rear naked choke at 1:36 minutes in Round 1.
Middleweight Challenge
Kolo Koka def. "Pain" Peters
Unanimous decision after 2 Rounds.
Welterweight Challenge
Ivan Menjivar def. Jay R. Palmer
TKO due to German suplex (belly to back suplex) at 1:03 minutes
in Round 1.
Heavyweight Challenge
Kerry 'Meat Truck' Schall def. Kumu Cambra
Submission via heel hook at 2:48 minutes in Round 1.
Middleweight Challenge
Stephan Potvin def. Ron 'The Machine Gun' Jhun
Submission via toehold at 3:18 minutes in Round 3.
Welterweight Challenge
Laverne Clark def. Donald Ouimet.
Unanimous decision after 2 Rounds.
Light Heavyweight Challenge
Falaniko Vitale def. Pasquel Gosslin
Submission via arm bar from the guard at 2:00 minutes in Round
1.
Light Heavyweight Challenge
Rich Franklin def. Anthony Rea
KO at 2:46 minutes in Round 1.
Super Lightweight Challenge
Jeff Curran def. Baret Yoshida
KO at 2:08 minutes in Round 2.
One extra picture.
Special thanks to the King. I guess the girls were smelling what
the Rock was cooking while the Rock watched the fighters lay
the smack down on the jabronies. Ok ok, I'm done.
Captain
Harris' Post Fight Party
After the NAGA tournament
When: Saturday, Sept 21
Time: 1800-2200 (that's 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm for you non-military
folks)
Who's Invited: All Relson Gracie JJ practioners from all of Relson's
schools along with spouse/significant other.
Where: The "Party Deck" at Harris' apartment
Honolulu Park Place, 8th Floor, Long House
1212 Nuuanu Ave
Across from Calvary Chapel on Beretania and Nuuanu with the waterfall.
On the edge of beautiful Chinatown.
Parking in garage for the first 6 cars, otherwise park on the
street.
It will be a potluck like usual with our parties so bring some
food and drink. Harris said that he'll provide the flesh and
beverages, but encourage people to bring stuff (everyone else
can provide sides and dessert). It will be a relaxed affair that
we can just hang out and talk shop.
After 2200 (10:00
pm), the remaining survivors can meet Harris at Murphy's Bar
and Grill (Mai Tai Bar for White folks) and he'll teach us locals
how we haoles party!!
Shoot me an email to get some contact numbers
if you need it!
Saulo
fights unknown fighter
FightZone: SAULO RIBEIRO vs JASON IRELAND
The TFC FightZone returns to the Toledo Sports Arena September
20, 2002 with Four Championship Matches.
In attendance will be Royler
Gracie, Mark Coleman, Kevin Randleman, Xande Ribeiro, Regis Libre,
Caique, and many more.
Super Fight Championship:
- Saulo Ribeiro (Six-time World Jiu-Jitsu Champion) vs Jason (The
Irish Tornado) Ireland
Super Heavyweight Championship:
-Maurice Walker vs Don Richards
Middleweight Championship:
-Thomas (Wild Man) Denny vs David Garcia
Jr. Lightweight Championship:
-Steve (The Weasel) Hallock vs Travis Wright
Plus see:
-Dave Knaggs vs Dan Gilbert
-David Gardner vs Vince Gresham
-Travis Phippen vs TBA (waiting
on confirmation)
-Eddie 'The Enforcer Sanchez' vs TBA (waiting on confirmation)
-Aaron Miller vs Jeremiah Combs
-Dan Graham vs Cody Watkins
-Tommy Lee vs Jason Meyers
-Todd Slater vs Sean Bonner
-Quinn Valley vs Bob Morgan
One person with a belief is equal to a force of ninety-nine with
only interests.
John
Stuart Mill
Super
Brawl 26/UCC Tonight!
Neil Blaisdell Center
Fights start at 7:30 PM, possibly earlier
You do not want to miss this one. The card is packed with good
fights. Come early to avoid the parking nightmare that is Blaisdell.
See yesterday's news for the fighters.
Remember,
there is no class in Aiea tonight! We'll be at the fights.
MILETICH
VS TRIGG
MMAWeekly
has learned that Pat Miletich will fight again soon and it looks
like it will be for a title. Editor Scott Petersen is reporting
that Pat Miletich will fight against Frank Trigg for the WFA
middleweight title. This show will be held in Las Vegas and it's
unknown if the show will be held in October or November. Either
way it looks like the WFA will have a very solid show coming
up and to have Miletich Vs Trigg fighting one another for the
title, should be very exciting and a great fight for the fans
all the way around.
This
has been confirmed by Monte Cox who manages Miletich when I talked
to him during the Super Brawl press conference. They are ready
to sign.
Source:
MMA Weekly
UFC
Wrap Up - Looking forward to UFC 39
Not since May
1998, at 'UFC 17: Redemption' in Mobile, Alabama, have we seen
a scheduled tournament in the UFC. On Friday, September 29, 2002,
at 'UFC 39: The Warriors Return,' we'll see top lightweight contenders
BJ Penn, Matt Serra, Din Thomas and Caol
Uno compete for the vacant Lightweight Championship. Different
from tournaments of SEG days, the winners of these Semi-Finals,
if you will, are expected to meet at 'UFC 40: Vendetta' in Las
Vegas, NV on November 22, 2002.
Props have to
be given to Joe Silva, Director of Talent Development for Zuffa
Sports Entertainment, in developing this Lightweight Championship
Tournament. He has outdone himself with these match-ups.
BJ Penn, a veteran of 5 UFC's, sports
a 4-1-0 record. The 23-year-old from Hilo, HO, is known for his
submissions. Penn, known as The Prodigy, is the 1st non-Brazilian
to win the world championships at the black belt level. In his
last fight, Penn won a TKO over Paul Creighton at UFC 37: High
Impact.
Matt Serra,
a veteran of 3 UFC's, sports a 2-1-0 record. The 28-year-old
from Long Island, NY, is known for his ground game and superb
submissions. Serra, known as The Terror, is the 1st American
black belt under Renzo Gracie. In his last fight, Serra defeated
Kelly Dullanty by triangle choke tap out in the first round at
UFC 37: High Impact.
Din Thomas,
a veteran of 2 UFC's, sports a 1-1-0 record. The 25-year-old
from Orlando, FL, is known for being well rounded with good submissions
and striking. Thomas, known as DinYero, earned the first ISCF
World Lightweight Championship by defeating Pulver at WEF 10.
In his last fight, Thomas won a unanimous decision over Fabiano
Iha at UFC 33: Victory in Vegas.
Caol Uno, a
veteran of 4 UFC's, sports a 2-2-0 record. The 27-year-old from
Kanagawa, Japan, is known for his chokes and other submissions.
Uno is an Abu Dhabi veteran, having place 2nd in the 1999 ADCC
Submission Wrestling World Championships. In his last fight,
Uno defeated Yves Edwards by unanimous decision at UFC 37: High
Impact.
Will we finally
see Thomas vs. Serra? Only if Thomas can avenge his early career
loss in SHOOTO to Uno and Serra takes Penn back to his only career
loss, suffered against former UFC Lightweight Champion Pulver,
at The Mohegan Sun.
Other matches
that make up the card on September 29 include:
For the vacant
UFC Heavyweight Championship, Randy Couture (7-3-0) of Gresham,
OR returns after his loss to suspended Josh Barnett to face Ricco
Rodriquez (8-1-0) of Las Vegas, NV.
In the second
Heavyweight match, UFC veteran Pedro Rizzo (11-3-0) of Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil, is put against Gan McGee (10-1-0) of San Luis
Obispo, CA.
In a third Heavyweight
match, UFC newcomers Tim Sylvia (15-0-0) of Davenport, IA, meets
Wes "Cabbage"
Correira (7-2-0) of Hilo, HI.
In a Middleweight
match, former champion Dave Menne (35-4-1) of Forest Lake, MN,
returns to face Phil Baroni (5-1-0) of Long Island, NY.
In the second
Middleweight match, Matt Lindland (7-1-0) of Eagle Creek, OR
will meet Ivan Salaverry (9-1-0) of Seattle WA.
In a Lightweight
match, exciting newcomer Benji Radach (11-0-0) of Olympia, WA
faces veteran Sean Sherk (20-0-1) of Brooklyn Park, MN.
UFC 39: The
Warriors Return will take place on Friday, September 27, 2002,
at The Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville
PRE
FIGHT INTERVIEW: Róbson Moura
INTERVIEW Róbson Moura - Pre SHOOTO September 16th
After
placing first in the 2001 Abu Dhabi Brazilian Trials, third in
Abu Dhabi 2001, and winning 5 BJJ WOrld Titles as a Black Belt,
Róbson Moura will take the next important step in his
fight career. On September 16th, he'll make his debut in Japan's
most traditional MMA event, SHOOTO. Like all true fighters, Moura
doesn't choose his opponents. He'll be facing MAMORU, the former
champion, in his first fight. This makes for an interesting match-up
as MAMORU brings experience and crowd support to the ring, while
Moura brings the determination to prove his abilities in MMA.
FIGHTWORLD.com
Brazil- You're going to Japan to do something you never did before,
to fight NHB. What are your expectations? Moura- I've been preparing
myself very well for this fight, André Pederneiras has
been demanding my best during in training. I'm with good expectations,
in spite of the handicap that my background is all in Jiu Jitsu.
I started training Muay Thai in 2000, and I'm feeling good about
that kind of training. Obviously I need that training because
I want to win there.
FIGHTWORLD.com
Brazil- Are you getting good at Muay Thai? Moura- It used to
be only a hobby, but now I train very hard in Boxe Thai Team
and with Pedro Rizzo and Gustavo 'Ximú' Machado in Ruas
VT System to prepare for the fight against MAMORU. I can tell
you, at the beginning of the training I had difficulties common
for an athlete that isn't very used to that type of workout,
but now with the fight approaching, I've been better in the Muay
Thai training.
FIGHTWORLD.com
Brazil- And besides Jiu Jitsu and Muay Thai, what more have you
been training? Moura- I've been training here with the Nova União's
teammates and with some support of the wrestlers of the Ruas
VT System. But I can tell you that ADCC2001 was important for
me, not only to get my name out, but also as experience in Wrestling.
That event gave me a lot of base.
FIGHTWORLD.com
Brazil- In Abu Dhabi you weighed less than 60kg in the category
up to 65kg? Moura- [laughs] Of course, that was one of the best
experiences that I had there. I was the lightest and I fought
against stronger guys than me, like Joey Gilbert. I also remember
that you, me, Márcio 'Pé de Pano' Cruz, Nino 'Elvis'
Schembri and Leonardo Santos in the airport of Germany going
to Abu Dhabi. Everyone weighed themselves in those baggage scales.
'Pé de Pano' simply weighed 61kg more than me, everybody
laughed a lot. He could fit two MOURA's inside him [laughs]!
FIGHTWORLD.com
Brazil- The fight against MAMORU will be up to 56kg, did you
consider turning the fight down to wait for an opportunity in
the 60kg division? Moura- That weight isn't ideal because I like
lot of chocolate and then it is hard to stay with 56kg. But I'm
very concentrated and thinking a lot about making weight for
this fight.
FIGHTWORLD.com
Brazil- But which category would you like to fight up to 60kg
or up to 56kg is ok? Moura- Hum...... I think as this fight is
my first fight, the category up to 56kg is good. I know that
during the weigh-in everybody gets to be inside of the established
weight, but on the day of the fight everybody arrives with more
weight. I obviously would face fighters with 63kg or 64kg if
I'll fight in the category up to 60kg, then I'd not get to be
that weight for the day of the fight. I think this opportunity
appeared at the right moment in my life. I already conquered
6 World Championship of Jiu Jitsu and now I want to get some
recognition fighting NHB. Vítor 'Shaolin' Ribeiro was
the first that got a good recognition, I want to perform good
inside this game, then I'll try to follow his steps. Now is the
time!!
FIGHTWORLD.com
Brazil- Was Shaolin's success an incentive to you? Moura- Yeah.
He, Leonardo Santos and I have been training Jiu Jitsu together
since our beginning. We conquered our titles inside Jiu Jitsu
together, so when 'Shaolin' had 3 unquestionable victories in
NHB, that motivated me plenty and we're training together for
SHOOTO too.
FIGHTWORLD.com
Brazil- Iran Mascarenhas and Santos - Nova União's fighters
- lost their fights in SHOOTO, are you going for redemption of
Nova União in Japan? Is there some responsibility? Moura-
I cannot have that kind thought in my head. I'm relaxed and focused
on fighting well to make a career out of it. My goal is to win,
though I know that won't be easy because MAMORU is a good opponent.
Therefore, I cannot be worried about avenging the name of Nova
União in Japan. I think that Santos and Mascarenhas tried
to do their best, and in my opinion I think that fight between
Santos and Gomi should have to be victory for Santos or draw.
FIGHTWORLD.com
Brazil- In your opinion, which was the reason for this invitation
to SHOOTO, your BJJ titles or you 3rd place in ADCC2001? Moura-
Both. Abu Dhabi is an event that the whole world pays attention
to, and it's a very difficult event because they only have the
best fighters. ADCC2001 was my first event, and I got third place.
I only lost to Royler Gracie in the semifinal in a very balanced
fight. While in Jiu Jitsu I've won all the main titles.
FIGHTWORLD.com
Brazil- What did you feel you lacked to get the win over Royler?
Moura- I think I lacked a corner, lacked my master, and if that
fight was the final, I mean the day after, it'd have been better.
I had the biggest physical expenditure in the semifinal against
Gilbert, who was the strongest guy physically in that competition.
Royler got fast submissions until the semifinal. I think if Gilbert
was in Royler's bracket, things would've been different.
FIGHTWORLD.com
Brazil- In your fight against Gilbert, did he tapout when you
heel-hooked him? Moura- He tapped out and screamed, then I loosened
the position and waited for the victory, but the referee restarted
the fight in the center of the mat - if the referee had gave
me the victory, I'd have faced Royler with more energy available.
Gilbert does not like to fight on the ground, he only wants to
be on the feet and as he's strong, you need to have enough strength
to keep him on the ground.
FIGHTWORLD.com
Brazil- Did that restart affect your mind for the remainder of
the fight? Moura- I tried not to be nervous, but as the referee
restarted the fight on the feet and he was a good wrestler, I
was afraid that he'd take me down. But everything ran well. In
the overtime I still tried to take him down, I got to decision
him. Ricardo Libório was in my corner and I thank him
for the support that he gave me.
FIGHTWORLD.com
Brazil- That experience of Abu Dhabi 2001 marked your life, do
you think then SHOOTO will better that? Moura- I cannot compare
that, because they're different sports. I'm going to a new thing,
a new experience. NHB is a sport that I wanted to participate
for some time, as well as Abu Dhabi, and then I want to have
the same success.
FIGHTWORLD.com
Brazil- You were invited to fight in SHOOTO in July; was this
enough time for you to prepare? Moura- I think there was enough
time, I had gone to São Paulo where I live and I've an
academy, and I was there for a short time, because I needed to
be among the best of the Nova União here in Rio de Janeiro.
FIGHTWORLD.com
Brazil- Then in São Paulo there is not enough good training
for you? Moura- I'm there to teach and develop Jiu Jitsu inside
São Paulo. I make my physical preparation there for Jiu
Jitsu's competitions, but my teacher is here in Rio de Janeiro,
and with my master on my side I feel more confident.
FIGHTWORLD.com
Brazil- Did you watch SHOOTO before you were invited out there
to fight? Moura- Yes, that event is very good, besides I had
already seen a performance of MAMORU in one of the event that
I watched.
FIGHTWORLD.com
Brazil- What do you think about MAMORU? Moura- Sincerely, nothing;
I had spoken to my wife that I'd like to fight in SHOOTO and
if I got the opportunity I'd face MAMORU or Jin Akimoto. Now
I have three fights of his to study, then my thought changed
because I watched the fight with 'other eyes', it won't be an
easy fight for me, but I think that he's not going to have an
easy fight himself.
FIGHTWORLD.com
Brazil- What are his main strengths? Moura- He's smart, has a
good knee when the fight is in the corner and has good takedowns.
I trust my ground game a lot, on the ground I can be relaxed,
underneath or on the top, the only problem is that SHOOTO isn't
only groundfighting.
FIGHTWORLD.com
Brazil- At the beginning of the training did you have trouble
training the ground for the NHB game? Moura- In the beginning
a little, but not now; it’s funny, I tried to restore the
guard and I've eaten a punch to the face, I tried to pass the
guard and ate more [laughs].
FIGHTWORLD.com
Brazil- I saw your training for SHOOTO and I observed that you've
been training with a Japanese fighter, Osamu Shishido, is he
a secret weapon? A kind of spy? Moura- [laughs] He's a nice guy,
a good training partner and he's not betraying his homeland.
He's representative of the Nova União and he's raising
the flag of our team. I like a lot to train with him everyday.
He's not our spy, because he didn't observe the trainings of
MAMORU there in Japan.
FIGHTWORLD.com
Brazil- You said that you're following in Shaolin's footsteps,
he won't fight more Jiu Jitsu, only NHB, will you make the same
move? Moura- I won't make that, NHB will be more of an option
inside my fighting career, I'm 24 years old still and I can fight
Jiu Jitsu, Submission and NHB.
FIGHTWORLD.com
Brazil- But it's very difficult to do, which of the three would
you choose? Moura- You caught me on that one; I've trained Jiu
Jitsu since I was a kid, I did good in Abu Dhabi 2001 and I want
to fight a lot of NHB matches, so I cannot answer that. [laughs]
FIGHTWORLD.com
Brazil- Any final message? Moura- I'm devoting myself to the
maximum, my training is very strong and I'm taking the first
step towards the title belt in my weight division. The Brazilians
will see that I'll give everything I have to get the victory
over MAMORU.
Source:
Abu Dhabi
SHOOTO
September 16th Results
Night of Decisions
marks Brazil's redemption
Class 'B': (Lightweight
[-65.0Kg])
Makoto Ishikawa decisioned Eiji Murayama by 3-0 (20-18, 20-19,
20-18)
Bao Quach decisioned Naoya Uematsu by 3-0 (20-18, 20-18, 20-18)
Class 'A':
(Featherweight [-60.0Kg]) Survivor Tournament First Round
Kentaro Imaizumi TKO'd ABKZ, corner throw in a towel at Imaizumi's
rush after restart of ABKZ's down by the knee to head
(Lightweight
[-65.0Kg])
Norifumi 'KID' Yamamoto TKO'd Tetsuo Katsuta, referee stoppage
by punches over Katsuta's guard position
(Welterweight
[-70.0Kg])
Takanori Gomi decisioned Chris Brennan by 3-0 (30-29, 30-28,
30-29)
(Featherweight
[-60.0Kg])
Championships Masahiro Oishi drew Hisao Ikeda, 1-0 (29-29, 30-28,
29-29), Oishi retains his title
Source: Abu
Dhabi
The
Brazilian Beat:
MECA 7 shaping up, Another BTT Heavyweight on the Ride, Babalu
Already Living in the USA
September
is already half over and both PRIDE 22 and UFC 39 are quickly
approaching with several Brazilian fighters on their cards. From
Jiu-Jitsu fighters like Mario Sperry and Ryan Gracie to Muay
Thai fighters such as Pedro Rizzo and Anderson Silva, all the
major Brazilian camps are involved in some events in this month
and needless to say the training has been as hardcore as ever.
Besides all the camps' training, there's more going on in Brazil
with new contracts being discussed all the time, the country's
biggest NHB event continuously shaping up and will finalize its
card by month's end, and more! So, sit back and enjoy the beat
straight from Brazil...
As PRIDE 22 approaches, the training at the Chute Boxe academy
is getting even more intense. Chute Boxe's rising star Anderson
Silva is already in great shape for his second PRIDE appearance
and although he will give up at least 10kg to seasoned veteran
Alexander Otsuka, the whole camp is confident that he will win.
Unfortunately it seems that Anderson will be the only Chute Boxe
fighter competing on the card.
Speaking
of Chute Boxe, Vanderlei Silva is still on his vacation through
the Northeast of Brazil and is expected to be back in the next
few days to resume his training routine. "The Axe Murderer"
will be flying to Japan along with his teammate Anderson Silva
to help in his final preparation for PRIDE 22, and will very
likely be defending his Middleweight title belt at the PRIDE
show in November at the Tokyo Dome.
Things
are also busy at the Brazilian Top Team camp, with "The
Zen Machine" Mario Sperry getting ready to face Kopylov
at PRIDE 22. Sperry has been training hard, mostly with BTT member
Fabiano Scherner, a very heavy guy who also helped Minotauro
a lot in his preparation to face Bob Sapp. Mario feels in great
shape now that he is back to his regular weight, and is not fighting
at 205lbs anymore. He and his crew will be leaving for Japan
on September 23rd. This is the last fight of his PRIDE contract.
In
other Brazilian Top Team related news, the next team member who
will likely be appearing in PRIDE is the heavyweight Fabiano
Scherner. Fabiano has been very helpful in his teammates' training
lately and is now ready to take the next step and make his overseas
debut. Among likely opponents for Scherner's first PRIDE appearance
are Gary Goodridge and Mark Coleman, although nothing is certain
right now. Also, the PRIDE November show will probably include
both Nogueira brothers, Rogerio and Rodrigo. Minotauro, who is
in Holland right now, will likely defend his Heavyweight title
belt for the first time and his twin brother Rogerio is likely
to make his PRIDE comeback after his win over Tsuyoshi Kohsaka
at Deep.
The
next edition of MECA World Vale Tudo, scheduled for November
8th, is continuing to shape up as November rapidly approaches.
Now it seems likely that Ruas Vale Tudo team member Alexandre
"Cacareco" will be facing K-1, IVC and MECA veteran
Nilson de Castro from the Chute Boxe team. Luta Livre fighter
Bigu, who was supposed to be Nilson's opponent, is now set to
face another Chute Boxe fighter in Silvio Urutum. The promoters
are still working on the card and the next few weeks will reveal
the finalized card.
Speaking
of the Ruas Vale Tudo Team, as Pedro Rizzo's preparation for
his fight in the next UFC is hitting its final stages and he
is about to leave for the USA to train with Marco Ruas, another
RVT fighter is already in America living and training. Renato
"Babalu" Sobral is already in the United States preparing
with his master for his November UFC challenge against Chuck
Liddell, in what promises to be the toughest and most important
fight of his life. Babalu is focusing 100% on training, and only
time will tell the effect of his move to the USA once he enters
the Octagon.
NHB legend and three-time UFC champion Royce Gracie is enjoying
a well deserved vacation with his family after his Shockwave
match. Royce spent most of the year traveling, teaching seminars
worldwide; he also spent the past few months training hard for
his match with Judo Olympic Gold medallist Hidehiko Yoshida.
After all that training, and after the outrageous outcome of
the fight, in which the referee stopped the fight although Gracie
appeared to still be defending and declared Yoshida the winner,
the Jiu-Jitsu black belt deserved short break to enjoy his family.
It'll be interesting to see his reaction for PRIDE's decision
of denying his No-Contest request once he gets back from vacation.
Regarding the controversy over the referee's decision to stop
the fight there's unanimity in all Brazilian fighting camps that
the stoppage was premature.
Source:
FCF
TEAM
RENZO UPDATE!
Team Renzo Gracie
has not been in the limelight often this summer. According to
Lynne Lane, 'We pulled back this summer a little bit, a lot of
guys were just training. There weren't a lot of events really
to compete in. We were getting a lot of our younger fighters
who hadn't fought NHB or had taken some time off ready to fight,
just traingin throughout the summer getting ready for the fall
fight season.'
Renzo
Gracie also just released his 4 tape no-gi tape series assisted
by Ricardo Almeida. No details are available at this time but
look for that series to be very influential.
Source: Abu
Dhabi
PREDICTIONS
FOR 2002 WORLD GRECO-ROMAN WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS
By: Eddie Goldman
It's
time to make predictions for the 2002 World Greco-Roman Wrestling
Championships, to be held Sept. 20-22 in Moscow, Russia. The
bases of these predictions are a mixture of evaluations of wrestlers'
recent performances, educated guesses, hunches, luck, and other
subjective factors, like hometown advantage.
But
don't think there is any proven formula for making these predictions
correctly, as each factor and others that may be unknown to us
end up having unequal weights. In the recently completed 2002
World Freestyle Wrestling Championships, held Sept. 5-7 in Tehran,
Iran, a brief examination of the gold medal winners will demonstrate
just how hard it is to balance all these factors.
The
winner at 55 kg was Cuba's Rene Montero, a 22-year-old competing
in his first senior World Championships. Along the way he knocked
off 2000 Olympic gold medalist Namik Abduallayev in the finals,
and last year's silver medalist, Iran's Babak Nourzad, in the
opening pool. So much for past records, experience, and hometown
advantage.
At
60 kg, the winner was Harun Dogan of Turkey, who was 1999 World
Champion, but lost both his opening pool matches in last year's
World Championships to finish 30th.
At
66 kg, gold went to Elbrus Tedeev of Ukraine, who edged Iran's
golden boy, Ali Reza Dabir, 5-4 in overtime. Tedeev was third
last year, losing only to Bulgaria's gold medalist Serafim Barzakov,
who had the hometown advantage last year. That factor wasn't
decisive this year, as Tedeev beat this year's hometown favorite.
Experience was, as the 27-year-old Tedeev had been a world champion
before, in 1995 and 1999.
At
74 kg gold went to Iran's Mehdi Hadjizadeh, who turned just 21
after the event. This was his first major senior win. He finished
sixth at last year's World Championships after losing in the
quarter-finals to America's Joe Williams.
At
84 kg the gold belonged to Russia's Adam Saitiev, no stranger
to that honor. He was a 1999 world champion and a 2000 gold medalist.
At
96 kg, the winner was 30-year-old Eldar Kurtanidze of Georgia,
who defeated Iran's Ali Reza Heidari in a close 2-1 overtime
final. After bronze medals in the 1996 and 2000 Olympics, the
veteran Kurtanidze captured his first world gold medal this year.
And
at 120 kg, it was recent experience that played the major role.
Russia's David Musulbes took it again, adding to his 2000 Olympic
gold medal and 2001 world championship.
I
ended up getting only two picks right, both from Russia: Adam
Saitiev at 84 kg and David Musulbes at 120 kg. My pick at 55
kg, Babak Nourzad, lost his pool. At 60 kg, Oyunbileg Purevbaatar
of Mongolia took bronze. At 66 kg, Dabir of Iran took silver.
At 74 kg, Bouvaisa Saitiev of Russia didn't wrestle, but his
replacement, Isagadzhiev, got silver. At 96 kg, Georgi Gogchelidze
finished sixth.
See
the pattern yet? That's right, there is none. So save your betting
money, or better yet, donate it to a youth wrestling program.
In
Greco, there seems to be even more unevenness in results than
freestyle. Perhaps it is because there are more high-scoring
throws which are few and far between, and very difficult to get
on this world-class level. Whatever the reason, unless one's
name is Kareline (who retired after 2000), from year to year
there seems little certainty as to who ends up on top.
All
that said, here are my gold medal predictions for the 2002 World
Greco-Roman Wrestling Championships:
55
kg/121 lbs. - Hassan Rangraz of Iran. I'm going with a hunch
that we will have a repeat performance by last year's winner,
the 22-year-old Rangraz. He appears hot, also winning the 2002
World University Championships. In major competition, he last
lost to North Korea's Yong Gyun Kang in the finals of the 2001
Asian Championships. But Kang, also a 2000 Olympic bronze medalist,
will likely not be competing, as North Korea usually doesn't
attend the World Championships.
60
kg/132 lbs. - Roberto Monzon of Cuba. The 24-year-old Monzon
got bronze at last year's world Championships. He only lost to
world champion Dilshod Aripov of Uzbekistan 4-2 in the finals,
but then defeated 1996 and 2000 Olympic gold medalist Armen Nazarian
of Bulgaria 3-1 in the bronze medal match. He has been wrestling
since he was 10, and was a junior world champion in 1994 and
1996, and Pan Am champion in 2001 and 2002. This could be his
year.
66
kg/145.5 lbs. - Seref Eroglu of Turkey. The 26-year-old Eroglu
has, like so many other wrestlers, had an up-and-down career.
He won a world championship back in 1997, but had to settle for
10th in the 2000 Olympics at 63 kg, when he drew eventual gold
medalist Varteres Samourgashev of Russia in his opening match
and fell 5-2. Samourgashev has since moved up in weight. Eroglu
also didn't get out of his opening round pool in the 2001 World
Championships, officially finishing 16th after losing to Hungary's
Levente Fueredy, who finished 8th.
However,
Eroglu seems to be on the rebound. He won the 2002 European Championships,
defeating Vaghinar Galustyan of Armenia 8-7 in the opening round.
Galustyan was last year's world champion at 63 kg. Fueredy also
finished 8th at the 2002 European Championships. Eroglu also
defeated Israel's Michael Beilin in the European semi-finals.
Beilin was a world bronze medalist last year. So Eroglu could
be the man to take it all once again thus year.
74
kg/163 lbs. - Badri Khasaia of Georgia. Khasaia, who turns 23
just days after this year's Greco World Championships, has been
making his mark this year. He has won gold at the 2002 European
Championships and the prestigious Pytlasinki Tournament in Poland,
often a testing ground for the Worlds. This would be his first
major world gold medal, if he can continue his hot streak.
84
kg/185 lbs. - Hamza Yerlikaya of Turkey. The 26-year-old Yerlikaya
has been at the top of the Greco ladder for almost a decade.
He won his first senior world championship at the age of just
17, in 1993. He won another world championship in 1995, and was
an Olympic gold medalist in 1996 and 2000. He fell to 9th in
the 2001 Worlds, only losing to Sweden's Martin Lidberg 6-4,
who finished 6th. But Yerlikaya won the 2002 Europeans, beating
Sweden's Ara Abrahamian 5-1 in the finals. He allowed few points,
defeating Bulgaria's Vladislaw Metodiev 4-0 in the semi-finals,
and Russia's Andrei Tcherepakhine 7-1 in the quarters. In his
five matches, he outscored his opponents 30-3. He is my pick
to remain hot for this year's World Championships.
96
kg/211.75 lbs. - Gogi Koguachvili of Russia, that is, if he wrestles.
If not, Russia's Alexandre Bezrouthkine. Koguachvili is a five-time
world champion, and won this year's Europeans. Bezrouthkine was
world champion last year. Whichever man represents Russia takes
gold.
120
kg/264.5 lbs. - Youri Patrikeev of Russia. He may not be the
new Kareline, but then again, don't expect another one for a
long, long time. Patrikeev, who turns 23 just after this year's
Worlds, has already been near the top of the Greco heavyweights.
He beat Mihaly Deak-Bardos of Hungary 6-0 in the finals of this
year's Europeans, after losing to him in the Hungary Grand Prix.
Deak-Bardos was a silver medalist last year, losing in the finals
to America's Rulon Gardner, after Deak-Bardos also beat him in
the 2001 Hungary Grand Prix. Patrikeev was pinned by Gardner
in the 2001 World Championships after first leading in that match.
But the American Gardner will not compete this year, as he is
still recovering from his snowmobile accident in February that
led to one toe being amputated and skin graft procedures being
done. That leaves the young Russian Patrikeev as the favorite
to recapture the heavyweight Greco crown for the country that
had so long dominated at this weight.
I
am also picking Russia to win the unofficial team title.
The
wrestling starts Friday, Sept. 20, and goes through Sunday, Sept.
22. The home page in English for the 2002 World Greco-Roman Wrestling
Championships is:
Expect,
as always, there to be a special section on TheMat.com for this
event, including live updates from Moscow. The U.S. team and
representatives of USA Wrestling will be there in full force.
There will also be held a major meeting of FILA, the international
wrestling federation, which is expected to elect a new president
and address the recent recommendation by an I.O.C. panel that
one style of wrestling, most likely Greco, be dropped starting
with the 2008 Olympics.
Source:
Abu Dhabi
ADCC's
North American Qualifiers - News Update!
Saturday October
5th, 2002 - The AVENTINE SPORTS CLUB, LA JOLLA, CA.
The ADCC is
beginning to hear back from the first wave of invitations to
the North American Qualifiers, and the competition is going to
be HOT! On the organizational side, things are coming together
as well. The ADCC is arranging to send judges and referees to
the tournament from Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria as well as the
USA. ADCC spokesman Miguel Iturrate states 'The emphasis is on
the growth of the sport. This year, I see the ADCC as working
on the roots of SUBMISSION WRESTLING throughout the world. It
is a great progression to be a part of...'
Any questions
about the NA Qualifier applications? e-mail: migueli@pa.net.
CURRENT LIST
OF CONFIRMED COMPETITORS:
UNDER 65.9 KG:
Mike Cardoso / 2001 Qualifier Champion
Shawn Krysa / TEAM CANADA
66-76.9 KG:
Mark Bocek / TEAM CANADA
77-87.9 KG:
Denis Kang / TEAM CANADA
88-98.9 KG:
Marc Laimon / 2001 Qualifier Champion
Terry Dellino / TEAM CANADA
OVER 99 KG:
Roger Neff / 2001 Qualifier Champion
Karim Byron / TEAM CANADA
SIGN UP FOR
GRAPPLING TOURNAMENTS - THEN VIEW THE QUALIFIERS!!!!
TUFF-N-UFF and
HOOKnSHOOT, the promoters of the event in San Diego are also
taking applicants for open grappling tournaments! This is a chance
for advanced grapplers to compete in the ADCC style of Submission
Wrestling, under a modified 'go for it' format. The round time
limit will be cut in half for the open tournaments, dropping
the first five minutes where the point system is not in effect.
The end result is a five minute match with all point counting!
'Additionally,
we want to see if we can try to have a tournament in the tag
team grappling format. The hardcore grapplers out there have
been trying this, and it has gotten rave revues. We want to see
if there is enough interest to do a tournament. This could be
exciting, and it would be ABSOLUTE weight class!' describes TUF-n-UFF's
Barry Meyer.
To check out
the flier and to apply for the OPEN GRAPPLING TOURNAMENTS<
check out the SIGN UP PAGE -
SIGN UP FOR
THE OPEN GRAPPLING TOURNAMENT
9/16/02 6:15 PM
Super
Brawl/UCC Press Conference
24-Hour Fitness Kapiolani
September 16, 2002
1:00 PM
By Michael Onzuka (Mike@onzuka.com)
Super
Brawl 26/UCC
Tuesday Night, September 17, 2002
Fights start at 7:30 PM
As usual, the
press conference and weigh in went smoothly as amazingly, the
imported fighters arrived before the local fighters. As some
of you may know, everyone who lives in Hawaii follows Hawaiian
time which is anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour (if not more)
behind normal time. This is the first combination of the UCC
which brought some of Canada's best versus Super Brawl's mostly
Hawaii based fighters. There are so many interesting matches
that I guarantee that one of these fights should be the Super
Brawl fight of the year.
The fights remained
pretty close to intact with a few changes. Almost all the Hawaii's
top fighters are featured in this card, along with Team Extreme's
UFC veteran and hard hitter, Laverne Clark and new team member
Jeff Curran. Clark came in clean cut and fit, while Curran was
his usual relaxed self, even though he just fought two weeks
ago and has another fight scheduled in the month. Curran felt
that all the back to back fighting would actually help him because
there would be minimal down time which is the down fall of many
fighters as the desire to stay in shape starts to dwindle. Curran
is a brown belt and a solid stand up fighter. He faces the Finisher,
Baret Yoshida, who has the ability to beat anyone on any given
day. Baret has showed his stand up skills by stunning the highly
ranked Abe in his last fight in Japan. This may be the fight
of the night, two balanced fighters that are originally ground
fighters, but this fight may be decided on the feet.
Niko Vitale,
possibly the most physically talented fighters today, faces a
two time Canadian kickboxing champion. Niko usually comes to
bang, but it may be a mistake against the Canadian champ, Gosset
who came in light compared to Vitale. Ron "The Machine Gun"
Jhun returns to the Super Brawl right and faces a game Stephan
Potvin. Many say that Jhun is ready for the UFC, but due to scheduling
conflicts, it has not happened yet. The Hawaii fans are sure
to see some straight bombs and a solid submission game from Jhun.
One of the most
interesting fighters on the card, "Pain" Peters, will
make his Hawaii debut. He has become somewhat of an icon in Canada
as a lunatic in the ring. Peters comes to fight and brings a
fury that is rarely seen in our sport. If there is one guy that
Pain cannot intimidate, it's Koka. Kolo exudes a toughness that
one look tells you to step back or get hurt. Koka has been taking
on all comers as of late, including having a good showing against
UFC veteran and style trendsetter, Shonie Carter. Hawaii fans
will be on their feet as these two bad men see who is the king
of the ring.
Kerry "Meat
Truck" Shaw returns after a head banging last appearance
in the heavyweight tournament. Shaw went through the ring and
crashed head first through a ring side chair. I'm wearing my
running show just in case. He faces a local roughian and instructor
at Grappling Unlimited, Kekumu Cambra. Cambra took a beating
in his last fight, also in the heavyweight tournament, but showed
a huge heart by not giving up. It will be seen if Cambra has
changed his game plan to be more successful in this fight against
the talent and huge Meat Truck.
This may be
the most talent filled card that Super Brawl has ever put together.
Hawaii fans will get a taste of the talented fighters from Canada
and the midwest. Team Extreme studs Jens "Little Evil"
Pulver and UFC middleweight champ, Matt Hughes, who will also
be the referee, is here and anxious to see the fights as well.
Canadians will get to see their favorite fighters on Canadian
pay-per-view, another first for Super Brawl. The local fans will
want to come down to the Blaisdell Center to see these fights
first hand and witness a good serving of light and heavy fighters...and
everything in between.
Super Lightweight
Challenge
Jeff Curran 141.8 lbs
vs.
Baret Yoshida 143.2 lbs
Welterweight
Challenge
Donald Ouimet 164.4 lbs
vs.
Laverne Clark 169.8 lbs
Light Heavyweight
Challenge
Anthony Rea 202.6 lbs
vs.
Rich Franklin 203.0 lbs
Middleweight
Challenge
Stephan Potvin 184.0 lbs
vs.
Ron 'The Machine Gun' Jhun 185.0 lbs
"Pain"
Peters 169.8 lbs
vs.
Kolo Koka 166.5 lbs
Welterweight
Challenge
Ivan Menjivar 154 lbs
vs.
Jay R. Palmer 151 lbs
Heavyweight
Challenge
Kerry 'Meat Truck' Schall 270 lbs
vs.
Kumu Cambra (was not present)
Light Heavyweight
Challenge
Yan Pellerin 201.2 lbs
vs.
Mike Malone 201.6 lbs
9/16/02
Quote
of the Day
"No
one can make you feel inferior without your permission"
Eleanor Roosevelt. Submitted by Mark Houck
Brazilian
Portuguese Classes Cancelled
Sorry
about that. The classes were slated to start last week, but I
just got word that it was cancelled due to not meeting the minimum
student requirements. If this has sparked an interest in you,
keep an eye out and we will announce when the next class is coming
up and we will do a better job of getting the word out.
The Man Page Has
Been Updated!
The much anticipated update of the world acclaimed Man's Page
has just been completed. I have added everything that I have
collected since I last updated it that has made the "cut."
The basis for all of the items featured on the Man's Page is
simple, it must ooze testosterone. I wanted to take time to thank
people from all over the world on the compliments that I have
received concerning this page. There were even some brilliant
and probably beautiful women that complimented me on the page
too. I say "probably beautiful" because the compliments
were sent via email. If these lovely ladies would like to send
photos, I could confirm that fact for our loyal readers. As always,
I am always on the prowl for more manly information that we can
use to help educate the young and not so young men out there,
so send me what you feel lives up to these standards by emailing
me at Chris@Onzuka.com.
Feminist need not apply.
Fighters'
Club TV New Episode This Tuesday featuring your favorite two
local celebrities!
The new episode of Fighters'
Club TV will air from September 17th through October 8th on every
Tuesday night at 8:00pm on Channel 52.
Viewers can expect to see some wild kicks from Danny Kim's school
in Puck's Alley, Pacific Martial Arts Center, cage match action
from Todd Medina's Force Fighting Championships, and some Brazilian
Jiu-Jitsu techniques from the world famous onzuka twins.
By the way, this is Mark Kurano's show, not the Onzuka brothers'
program. We just use each other for shameless plugs. We would
love to take credit for it, but we have to give credit where
credit is due...we did a great job of the technique of the week.
Nah, Mark puts together a great show, if you haven't checked
it out. Do it now!
Source: Mark Kurano
OntheMat.com
how did it all begin?
OntheMat.com is perhaps
the best pure BJJ website around today. The brainchild of Scotty
Nelson and Allan 'Gumby' Marques has the best collection of vintage
and late BJJ matches including classics such as Royler v Joe
Moreira, Renzo Gracie & Murilo Bustamante as Brown Belts
and a few Rickson at Copa Lighting Bolt. They also produce and
sell various modern day classics with clever titles such as 'Ring
Worm', 'Mat Burn' & 'American Penetration' along side of
a large collection of other products.
OntheMat.com started
all as a 'harmless scam' that all of a sudden became a business.
As 'Gumby' tells: 'It all started when Scotty decied that he
was going to Brazil. We were both Mat Rats training at Ralph's
(Ralph Gracie school) and Scotty thought we should make a small
website as a way for him to get 'freebies' in Brazil from the
various BJJ companies there. Since we were both 'Silicon Valley'
workers, we knew our way around the computers and just did it.
What happened then was that not only it worked, but it worked
too well, Scotty got to meet with many BJJ stars there and get
his share of free loot, but at the same time the website received
a lot of hits and emails. So when he came back we decided to
continue with it'
And continue they
did, at first, the Website was supported from their income and
savings, as Scotty once told me: 'This is a hobby for us, a very
expensive hobby, but I am having a lot of fun doing it!' But
soon with a collection of footage that is the envy of most everyone
in the sport while being pressured by Website fans, they produced
'American Penetration' video and then it has been as they say
all history! Gumby is now a full time Owner/Manager/Publicity/Warehouse/ordertaker/orderfiller/editor/publicrelations
person while Scotty is the full time travelingcameraman/programmer/partycoordinator
for the Website. Now with the growth of the site they have had
to hire some more people to help out with their operations and
they are looking forward to doing even more great stuff including
some carreer compilation of top fighters.
So if you are looking
for great, up to the minute BJJ stuff go check out www.onthemat.com
Meanwhile, back at the farm the BJJ Tournaments are heating up:
United Gracie 2002
Update:
Again the 2002 United
Gracie Tournament is coming up with great news. The event scheduled
for September 28 & 29 at the San Francisco State University
(Main Gym) at 1600 Holloway Ave., San Francisco, CA. will have
the participation of great fighters such as Rolles Gracie, Sandro
Batata, Roberto 'Gordo' Correa, Marcio Feitosa, Mauricio Costa,
Fabio Santos, Jorge 'Macaco' Patino, Vandame, Megaton, Rolles,
Crosley & Igor Gracie, brothers David & Daniel Camarillo,
Cameron Earle and many others. Additionally Charles Gracie has
confirmed that ESPN will be covering the event to appear in their
Gracie Special scheduled for late October.
Once again a reminder
that registration closes on September 25th so be sure to get
yours in. For information call Charles Academy at (650) 756-7579
or email charles@charlesgracie.com
or go to www.charlesgracie.com
Source: ADCC - Kid Peligro
TEAM
RENZO UPDATE!
by Keith Mills
Team Renzo Gracie has
not been in the limelight often this summer. According to Lynne
Lane, 'We pulled back this summer a little bit, a lot of guys
were just training. There weren't a lot of events really to compete
in. We were getting a lot of our younger fighters who hadn't
fought NHB or had taken some time off ready to fight, just traingin
throughout the summer getting ready for the fall fight season.'
Renzo Gracie
also just released his 4 tape no-gi tape series assisted by Ricardo
Almeida. No details are available at this time but look for that
series to be very influential.
At last weekend's
WEC Team Renzo had 4 fighters compete even after Almeida pulled
out when his opponent Frank Shamrock broke his leg. The surprising
aspect was all four stood out for their stand-up: John Rallo
won by TKO when his opponent turned his back standing for the
second time, Jay White had Chris Wellisch on the defense for
much of their fight and even stunned in the first round until
Jay gassed, and Kurt Pelligrino was getting in most of the shots
on Mac Danzig standing. James Gabert was the only Team Renzo
fighter than didn't impress with his striking on this night as
opposed to his Mass Destruction appearance due to his opponent
Mike Swick's height and reach advantage.
Coming up next
SportFighting on 9/14 has Alan Kios, Rich Lotta, and Jamie Cruz.
Look for probably one Team Renzo fighter in each division of
the American Qualifiers Submission Wrestling World Championships
in San Diego on 10/5-6 and then Sean Alvarez fights in UCC on
October 11th. October 19th Kurt Pelligrino fights again in Reality
Fighting 2 in MA along with a rumored fight featuring Shannon
Logan.
Source: ADCC
Shaolin
& Robinho victorious in Shooto!
Shooto Results
Yokohama Culture Gymnasium, Kanagawa, Japan
September 16, 2002
Makoto
Ishikawa Dec (3-0) Eiji Murayama
Takanori Gomi Dec (3-0) Chris Brennan
Masatake Oishi Draw Hisao Ikeda - Oishi retained his featherweight
crown
Norifumi Yamamoto TKO1(2:45) Tetsuo Katsuta
Vitor "Shaolin" Ribeiro Dec (3-0) Hiroshi Tsuruya
Robson Moura Dec (3-0) Mamoru
Kentaro Imaizumi TKO1 (2:06) ABKZ
Bao Quach Dec (3-0) Naoya Uematsu
9/15/02
Quote
of the Day
"Our
main business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but
to do what lies clearly at hand."
Thomas Carlyle
Brazilian
Portuguese Classes Start This Saturday!
If you were ever interested in what the hell those Brazilians
are saying to each other or what they are saying about you, this
class is for you. To my knowledge this is the only Portuguese
class outside of UH (the UH class sucks from what I hear). It
is a relaxed atmosphere and Sandy teaches at your pace. Mike
and I really enjoy it and highly recommend it. We will be there
for the Advanced class. Also it is super cheap!
Announcing
the Fall term for Portuguese language class (Brazilian
usage) at Farrington Community School for Adults.
Accepting
registration now.
Class begins this Saturday (9/14) through November.
Advanced class 8:00AM - 10:00AM
Beginners 10:00AM-12:00PM
Call 832-3595 for info
Aloha,
Sandy Tsukiyama de Oliveira bz.woman@verizon.net
Phone: 988-3169, 227-7258
SuperBrawl
Presents UCC Hawaii
This Tuesday!
The countdown is on! Just a few
more days until UCC makes their Hawaii debut. For students of
Casca Grossa Jiu-Jitsu (Gracie Aiea Academy), class will be cancelled
as we will have a field trip to the Blaisdell Arena to watch
the fights.
SuperBrawl Presents: UCC Hawaii
Blaisdell Arena, Honolulu, Hawaii
Tuesday, September 7, 2002
Tickets are on sale now.
Warriors
Quest 8: Young Guns
Matches Added
From talking with Brennan yesterday, he has the majority of
the card filled and will be releasing more of the matches in
the upcoming weeks.
09.13.02
Nick Diaz of the (Cesar) Gracie Academy will take on DeShawn
Johnson, who just won in Warriors Quest 7 against Harris Sariento
(Koden Kan). Mark Moreno, who has been showcasing awesome striking
power and speed in every one of his fights, will take on Steve
Heath, also of the Gracie Academy. This one is going to be so
action packed that it may be outlawed!
09.04.02
The action will be fast and furious as best and the brightest
upcoming stars match up on October 24th at the Blaisdell Arena.
Check out Dain Agbayani (808 Fight Factory) as he matches up
with Leandro Nyza (Nova Uniao). Both fresh off wins at Warriors
Quest 7, these two talented young fighters are more than willing
to go head to head to prove their skill and determination.
Source: Warriors Quest web site
9/14/02
Quote
of the Day
"The
noblest search is the search for excellence."
Lyndon B. Johnson
ADCC:
A CALL TO THE GRAPPLING WORLD!
North
American Qualifiers scheduled for The Aventine in San Diego,
CA. on October 5th Beginning to Gather Steam!
The ADCC has
extended invitations for the NORTH AMERICAN QUALIFIERS, 45 (including
alternates) in all. 'The selections were done with the ADCC in
Abu Dhabi, and they seemed to put an emphasis on diversity.'
states ADCC spokesman Miguel Iturrate. In the tradition of Submission
Wrestling, the complete field will not be released to the public
until the week of the event. The spokesman continues 'invitations
have gone out to competitors from Cuba, Central America, Canada
as well as the USA. The tournament winners will advance to the
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS, scheduled for the first quarter of 2003,
in Sao Paulo, Brazil.'
TUFF-N-UFF and
HOOKnSHOOT, the promoters of the event in San Diego are also
taking applicants for open grappling tournaments! This is a chance
for advanced grapplers to compete in the ADCC style of Submission
Wrestling, under a modified 'go for it' format. The round time
limit will be cut in half for the open tournaments, dropping
the first five minutes where the point system is not in effect.
The end result is a five minute match with all point counting!
'Additionally,
we want to see if we can try to have a tournament in the tag
team grappling format. The hardcore grapplers out there have
been trying this, and it has gotten rave revues. We want to see
if there is enough interest to do a tournament. This could be
exciting, and it would be ABSOLUTE weight class!' describes TUF-n-UFF's
Barry Meyer.
To check out
the flier for the OPEN GRAPPLING and to sign up -
There will be
much more news to come, as the ADCC is also said to be planning
a Qualifier in Brazil and others in Australia and Japan. 'For
the NORTH AMERICAN QUALIFIERS, we had a lot of Brazilian fighters
who applied, and in years past, they had been accepted. I know
the Brazil Qualifiers will be packed with amazing grapplers!'
states the spokesman.
'I think SUBMISSION
WRESTLING is a true Mixed Martial Art, in that it encourages
openness and cross over in training and ideas. Think about it,
for many BJJ stylists, the ADCC style might be the first style
they try without a gi. Similarly, for wrestlers, they may be
trying this style, and it may be the first exposure to submission.
In 2001, the last World Championships, Tom Erickson competed.
An elite wrestler, and accomplished 'fighter', this was his first
ever submission competition. This is why the ADCC is writing
history with their event - the first 4 events are full of examples
like this! The event is really under appreciated by the fans
still, it seems. In 50 years, the historians will look back and
see that from the very beginning, the SUBMISSION WRESTLING event
has been on the cutting edge of the modern era of Mixed Martial
Arts.
Source: ADCC
Kid
Peligro Jiu-Jitsu News
Royce and Pride
Update
Word is that Royce
Gracie's people are making VERY GOOD progress in talks with Pride's
people. Both parties are feveressly working to patch up and go
forward looking towards the future. Is a trip to Japan in November
in Royce's plans ? ? ? Only his travel agent knows that but .
. . also PrideFC sent us a note correcting that: ' PRIDE is not
the one who 'decides against the no-contest', but Dynamite!'
So we stand corrected!
Carlson Gracie
& Antonio Inoki's Army!
O Tatame Website reports
that Antonio Inoki has invited Carlson Gracie to develop and
train a new army of fighters for the UFO event. Carlson Gracie's
new generation guys include Gustavo Gussen (91kg) and Stephan
Bonnar (97kg) along with a group of Chicago based students in
his Academy. For more details go to www.otatame.com.br
Paulo Caruso back
teaching
Physical trainer Paulo
Caruso has had extremely good success with his preparation skills>
Caruso has been teaching many of the top athletes in Brazil including
Mario Sperry, Shaolin Ribeiro, Saulo Ribeiro and others. Caruso,
who is a Black Belt in Bjj has resumed his teachings and has
informed us that he has a new crop of fighters on the way. For
information on Paulo Caruso or to contact him email @ apcaruso@uol.com.br
or check out www.portaldovaletudo.com.br
Source:
Abu Dhabi
The
Brazilian Beat:
MECA 7 shaping up, Another BTT Heavyweight on the Ride, Babalu
Already Living in the USA
September
is already half over and both PRIDE 22 and UFC 39 are quickly
approaching with several Brazilian fighters on their cards. From
Jiu-Jitsu fighters like Mario Sperry and Ryan Gracie to Muay
Thai fighters such as Pedro Rizzo and Anderson Silva, all the
major Brazilian camps are involved in some events in this month
and needless to say the training has been as hardcore as ever.
Besides all the camps' training, there's more going on in Brazil
with new contracts being discussed all the time, the country's
biggest NHB event continuously shaping up and will finalize its
card by month's end, and more! So, sit back and enjoy the beat
straight from Brazil...
As PRIDE 22 approaches, the training at the Chute Boxe academy
is getting even more intense. Chute Boxe's rising star Anderson
Silva is already in great shape for his second PRIDE appearance
and although he will give up at least 10kg to seasoned veteran
Alexander Otsuka, the whole camp is confident that he will win.
Unfortunately it seems that Anderson will be the only Chute Boxe
fighter competing on the card.
Speaking
of Chute Boxe, Vanderlei Silva is still on his vacation through
the Northeast of Brazil and is expected to be back in the next
few days to resume his training routine. "The Axe Murderer"
will be flying to Japan along with his teammate Anderson Silva
to help in his final preparation for PRIDE 22, and will very
likely be defending his Middleweight title belt at the PRIDE
show in November at the Tokyo Dome.
Things
are also busy at the Brazilian Top Team camp, with "The
Zen Machine" Mario Sperry getting ready to face Kopylov
at PRIDE 22. Sperry has been training hard, mostly with BTT member
Fabiano Scherner, a very heavy guy who also helped Minotauro
a lot in his preparation to face Bob Sapp. Mario feels in great
shape now that he is back to his regular weight, and is not fighting
at 205lbs anymore. He and his crew will be leaving for Japan
on September 23rd. This is the last fight of his PRIDE contract.
In
other Brazilian Top Team related news, the next team member who
will likely be appearing in PRIDE is the heavyweight Fabiano
Scherner. Fabiano has been very helpful in his teammates' training
lately and is now ready to take the next step and make his overseas
debut. Among likely opponents for Scherner's first PRIDE appearance
are Gary Goodridge and Mark Coleman, although nothing is certain
right now. Also, the PRIDE November show will probably include
both Nogueira brothers, Rogerio and Rodrigo. Minotauro, who is
in Holland right now, will likely defend his Heavyweight title
belt for the first time and his twin brother Rogerio is likely
to make his PRIDE comeback after his win over Tsuyoshi Kohsaka
at Deep.
The
next edition of MECA World Vale Tudo, scheduled for November
8th, is continuing to shape up as November rapidly approaches.
Now it seems likely that Ruas Vale Tudo team member Alexandre
"Cacareco" will be facing K-1, IVC and MECA veteran
Nilson de Castro from the Chute Boxe team. Luta Livre fighter
Bigu, who was supposed to be Nilson's opponent, is now set to
face another Chute Boxe fighter in Silvio Urutum. The promoters
are still working on the card and the next few weeks will reveal
the finalized card.
Speaking
of the Ruas Vale Tudo Team, as Pedro Rizzo's preparation for
his fight in the next UFC is hitting its final stages and he
is about to leave for the USA to train with Marco Ruas, another
RVT fighter is already in America living and training. Renato
"Babalu" Sobral is already in the United States preparing
with his master for his November UFC challenge against Chuck
Liddell, in what promises to be the toughest and most important
fight of his life. Babalu is focusing 100% on training, and only
time will tell the effect of his move to the USA once he enters
the Octagon.
NHB legend and three-time UFC champion Royce Gracie is enjoying
a well deserved vacation with his family after his Shockwave
match. Royce spent most of the year traveling, teaching seminars
worldwide; he also spent the past few months training hard for
his match with Judo Olympic Gold medallist Hidehiko Yoshida.
After all that training, and after the outrageous outcome of
the fight, in which the referee stopped the fight although Gracie
appeared to still be defending and declared Yoshida the winner,
the Jiu-Jitsu black belt deserved short break to enjoy his family.
It'll be interesting to see his reaction for PRIDE's decision
of denying his No-Contest request once he gets back from vacation.
Regarding the controversy over the referee's decision to stop
the fight there's unanimity in all Brazilian fighting camps that
the stoppage was premature.
Source: FCF
Pride
22 Match up:
Vovchanchyn vs. Rampage
9-13-2002
9:36 AM
Vovchanchyn vs "Rampage" - PRIDE 22
"Ice
Cold" Igor Vovchanchyn will be facing Quinton "Rampage"
Jackson at PRIDE 22 on September 29, according to Jackson's manager,
Tommy Rojas.
Source:
Sherdog
WFA
3 - Miletich vs Trigg Likely
The World Fighting Alliance announced “WFA 3” to be
held at the Cox Pavillion at the UNLV Campus on November 23,
2002.
Sources
have revealed that a Frank Trigg vs Pat Miletich match is all
done but the paperwork. Follow the link to see readers' response
to this likely matchup.
Source:
Sherdog
‘Jhun’
Gloom? Not for this Hawaiian
By Josh Gross (September
13, 2002)
Football is in full swing, baseball’s pennant races are
coming to an end, school’s back in session, and there’s
a familiar chill in the evening air: all telltale signs of summer’s
end, though not in Hawaii where the mark of winter comes by way
of a surfing Santa.
With warm winds coming
off the Pacific Ocean and year round sunshine, it’s the
kind of place that makes one feel young and full of life. Ronald
Jhun, one of the preeminent Hawaiian-born fighters competing
today, turns 32 years old a week from Saturday, and appreciates
what it means to be from the Islands. “I feel like I’m
20, 21,” says Jhun.
Tuesday night in front
of his family, friends and co-workers in Honolulu’s Blaisdell
Arena, Jhun takes on Canadian Stephan Potvin in a UCC/Superbrawl
promoted show. It’s an important bout for the aptly nicknamed
“Machine Gun.” Two losses in a row (both in Japan)
have, at least momentarily, derailed his dream of fighting in
the UFC. If Jhun, a veteran of over 30 fights, is going to step
up amongst Hawaii’s -- and mixed martial arts’ -- top
fighters, he’ll have to get back on track with a win first.
Citing differences
in philosophy with Ray Cooper, a longtime friend and training
partner who formed the Jesus Is Lord fight team, Jhun seceded
from JIL with wife Kim and brother-in-law Kai Kamaka late last
year.
“We really didn’t
have an open door policy, and there was a lot of guys that wanted
to train,” says Jhun, explaining the some of the circumstances
surrounding his departure from JIL. “And I actually wanted
to help guys out, so I guess I kind of grew out of the gym in
a different direction. I wanted to get more experience too.”
Hoping to continue
a successful stretch that saw him go undefeated in seven fights
during a 10-month period between 2000 and 2001, the 808 Fight
Factory was established. Despite yearning for the occasional
“rolling” session with Cooper, who’s married to
Kim’s sister Monica, and less than stellar results in the
ring, Jhun says the move has been a productive one.
More important, there
appears to be little if any bad blood between the once close-knit
family. “Things have never been better,” he says. “We’re
talking. Our family is still intact. It was just something that
is part of life. Things worked out; Jesus Is Lord is still going
strong. We have two separate teams now. They’re doing their
thing, and I’m doing my thing. Jesus is still part of my
mind inside the ring and outside the ring.”
The string of victories
ended with by way of a controversial loss to Jermaine Andre in
last November’s WFA in Las Vegas -- it was the first of
three setbacks in four fights for Jhun. While some fighters would
have begun second-guessing themselves, the father of four says
the move to 808 made him realize that had he “went to a
big show earlier, it would have been too early.”
“Now that I look
back at it,” recalls Jhun, “I wasn’t ready --
not physically, but mentally and spiritually. Now everything’s
coming together. I feel like everything is progressing. I had
some set backs, but I’m ready now.”
His most recent loss
(a decision to Masanori Suda in SHOOTO) behind him, Jhun feels
that the “next big step” is within his grasp. “I
think I might have fine tuned my ground and my stand up. I’m
more of a poised fighter. With every fight that I have, I’m
gaining more experience and fighting smarter.”
It’s now or never
for the Islander. As he grows older in a young man’s game,
Jhun is fully aware that his chance of fulfilling his goal --
i.e. being UFC middleweight champion -- is dwindling.
He takes solace in
knowing that aged competitors such as Randy Couture still make
an impact in the ring. “There are a lot of great fighters
that are up there in age,” he says matter-of-factly, “so
I don’t think it will be a problem.”
“I really don’t
see an end to this,” forecasts Jhun. “I’ll fight
at least another five years or until my body says quit. Up until
this point I’m really enjoying every moment of it. It’s
pretty much become a part of my life and I enjoy seeing the newer
guys we got coming up and competing. Most of the guys are so
young and there’s always going to be someone that needs
to be taught. It’s my way of giving back.”
The growth of MMA
in Hawaii has been tremendous as of late and Jhun, along with
Cooper, the Inoue brothers and several others share a major hand
in that. Even if he’s unable to get that shot at Murilo
Bustamante, a fighter he says he greatly admires, there’ll
always be gratification knowing he helped promote the sport he
loves to the people he loves.
“Yeah, I kind
of feel like I’m part of it,” Jhun says of Hawaiian
MMA. “I’m just here to help the sport grow and be a
reflection of the sport how it should be. I’d like to pass
it down onto the next generation.”
For now, though, he’s
not content to sit on the sidelines, watching the kids work their
way to the top. Jhun still has plenty of fight left in him and
if he’s fortunate to score a victory over Potvin, his name
will once again be mentioned when discussion turns to middleweight
contenders.
Fellow 185-lber. Egan
Inoue has reached the big time, fighting in PRIDE several times.
Jhun and Inoue know each other well, and even though it may be
a fight some want to see, it doesn’t sound like it’s
in the cards any time soon.
“A lot of people
ask when we’ll fight, because supposedly we’re the
two top fighters in Hawaii at 185,” says Jhun. “But
I don’t think that fight is likely to happen anytime soon.
If I was to accomplish everything that I wanted to do in the
world circuit and there was no one else but Egan, I would probably
like to fight him then. But right now, with two Island guys trying
to be the best in the world I think we have to climb up the rankings
rather than fight each other.”
Realistically, he’ll
have to fight outside of Hawaii to work his way up a weight division
that plays host to a wide array of talent. “I’m looking
to go back to the King of the Cage or the UFC, whoever calls
me first,” he says. “I know Terry Trebilcock (KOTC
promoter) wanted me back earlier this year, but my wife was pregnant
and I had to hold off on that until my wife gave birth.”
In the fall of his
fighting career, Jhun is hoping for an Indian summer -- assuming
there is such a thing in Hawaii. He’s skilled and tough
enough to be a factor for some time to come, the question boils
down to focus and Jhun seems convinced that there will be no
more distractions along the way. Step one is Tuesday.
Source:
Maxfighting
9/13/02
Quote
of the Day
For
all sad words of tongue and pen, The saddest are these, 'It might
have been'.
John
Greenleaf Whittier
Ok
Ok I'm Late Today with the news
I'll
just blame it on today being Friday, the 13th.
A
fighter on the verge: Vítor 'Shaolin' Ribeiro
INTERVIEW
– pre SHOOTO Sept. 16th
FIGHTWORLD.com
Brazil: So finally you get your chance in SHOOTO Japan, did this
come at the right time for you? 'Shaolin': I think that the way
I got this fight was by training hard and by fighting in the
right events. Everything depends the day to day, I hope to prove
my game in SHOOTO, I don't choose opponents, I train to fight
anyone.
FIGHTWORLD.com
Brazil: You fought once in a ring and twice in a cage, which
do you prefer? 'Shaolin': I fought TAKUMI in a ring and I almost
lost a position, which perhaps if I was in the octagon this wouldn't
have happened. I think that it's very good to have experience
in the ring and octagon, I've trained in the octagon and a ring
here in Rio de Janeiro and there's a difference between them
- ring and octagon - but it's nothing which can harm you in a
fight. I don't have a preference, but in an octagon if you go
to the bottom your opponent can corner you against the fence,
but like I said before, this is not a problem for me.
FIGHTWORLD.com
Brazil: Was HOOKnSHOOT - 'Relentless' kind of a preliminary match,
focusing on a SHOOTO Japan fight? 'Shaolin': No doubt about it,
anywhere you fight, it is always an experience. TAKUMI is a tough
Class 'A' fighter, but each game is a game and that will not
help me to fight against Hiroshi Tsuruya in SHOOTO Sept. 16.
FIGHTWORLD.com
Brazil: What was your impression about HOOKnSHOOT 'Relentless'
and the USA SHOOTO bout? 'Shaolin': I thought TAKUMI was an excellent
fighter, I thought he was a guy with character. I got to put
him to sleep and without any problem, we shook hands after he
recovered. To fight in a ring in a USA SHOOTO bout was very cool,
HOOKnSHOOT was a super event where I was very well treated, I
want to thank Miguel Iturrate, Jeff Osbourne and Rich Santoro
for their attention to me. To fight TAKUMI was good because with
this victory over him I have more recognition for my name!
FIGHTWORLD.com
Brazil: Are you still upset with the Brazilian media? 'Shaolin':
Well, the Brazilian media isn't giving me any recognition. I
beat three very tough guys without doubts and this was almost
ignored by the Brazilian Magazines. I started in this new career
- NHB - and there're Brazilian fans who don't know this, so I
thank the international media for their support.
FIGHTWORLD.com
Brazil: Speaking about your last fight against Joe Hurley in
WFA 2, was Hurley a real test for you? 'Shaolin': I liked the
last fight because I fought to the second round, I didn't want
this, I wanted to submit him in first round, so this was good
because it was a new experience for me. I had only fought until
the the first round and I didn't know how the second round was
going to go.
FIGHTWORLD.com
Brazil: The impression that stays with me is that Hurley was
the toughest opponent for you, do you agree? 'Shaolin': Before
my first two fights, I heard Kohler had 12 fights and TAKUMI
had been the 'TapOut' fighter of HOOKnSHOOT-'Kings 1' and his
record was 9-1-2, he only had lost to Márcio 'Cromado'
(RFT) in SHOOTO-'To The Top Final Act'. I thought my three opponents
were tough and I cannot affirm that Hurley was the toughest.
Perhaps the NHB fans can speak with certainty that TAKUMI was
the easiest fight because that fight was fast, but nobody knows
what'd happen if I didn't had success with that arm-triangle.
FIGHTWORLD.com
Brazil: Ohh yeah, your arm-triangle is famous. Is it your main
weapon? 'Shaolin': I never submitted anyone with this skill in
Jiu Jitsu or Submission events, André Pederneiras and
myself, with the whole Team, we've studied a lot with this position
and we've studied various positions to get this arm-triangle,
from the half guard and from the bottom too. There's no secret
about this arm-triangle from half-guard, the only secret is the
correct time to do this, we've improved a lot on this arm-triangle,
because we're getting the correct time to do this in our training.
But I don't think that this arm-triangle is my main weapon, my
main weapons are my training and my corner.
FIGHTWORLD.com
Brazil: And which was the hardest point for you against Hurley?
'Shaolin': I had trained good. Hurley had good defense on the
bottom and I had a bit of a problem hitting him and then I got
to catch him with that arm-triangle, so he didn't want to tapout
and slept.
FIGHTWORLD.com
Brazil: Did you take the opportunity to study Tsuruya's game?
'Shaolin': I've yet to speak to SHOOTO although it's a very professional
event, they worry about the fighters who're going to fight there.
I had watched Tsuruya's tape and I didn't find any eminent danger
in his game, but the SHOOTO organizers sent me a tape with three
of his fights and I changed my opinion, if SHOOTO didn't have
sent me this tape I'd go to Japan with the wrong tactic to fight
Tsuruya. Not all organizers have this kind of attitude.
FIGHTWORLD.com
Brazil: Do you know all the Brazilian results in SHOOTO Japan
this year? 'Shaolin': Some of them...
FIGHTWORLD.com
Brazil: I'll tell you all; Marcelo 'PitBull' Machado drew with
Ryuta Sakurai, 'Cromado' lost to Ryan Bow, Leonardo Santos lost
to Takanori Gomi, Iran Mascarenhas lost to Mishima, Dudu Guimarães
drew with Kenichiro Togashi, Toniko Júnior lost to Koutetsu
Boku and Alexandre 'Pequeno' França Nogueira lost to Hiroyuki
Abe. 'Shaolin': We didn't get any victories!!!
FIGHTWORLD.com
Brazil: Our record in 2002 is 2 draws and 5 losses, so can we
expect a Brazilian redemption with Róbson Moura and you
in SHOOTO September 16? 'Shaolin': I don't have this pressure
in my mind because other Brazilian lost, the pressure which I've
is that I trained a lot and I won't go to Japan to lose. If some
of our idols such as 'Pequeno' and 'Cromado' lost; this was because
something wrong happened. I'm going to Japan looking for a good
performance to fight in SHOOTO again, because they give the value
to lightweight fighters, so I want to give a big hug to the Brazilian
fans and to the Japanese who're waiting for my match against
Tsuruya in SHOOTO!
Source:
Abu Dhabi
The
SUMO Who Wouldn't Do Works?
From
the desk of thate intrepid watchdog for the sport Eddie Goldman
comes an interesting story about the struggle of a Japanese SUMO
wrestler who attained the highest levels to prevent the sport
from being overrun by pre-determined outcomes.
Another
example of how the Japanese culture, especially for shows like
martial arts shows, generally puts a high emphasis on 'the show
comes first'. It is this mentality that may cost the sport of
MMA athletes like Sakuraba.
Source:
Abu Dhabi
Editorial
Have
Rigged Matches Pushed Yokozuna Takanohana into Difficulty?
Yokozuna (the
highest rank for a sumo wrestler) Takanohana has not participated
in a sumo tournament for a long time due to illness.
He was forced
to participate in the coming fall sumo tournament by the Council
of Yokozuna Sumo Wrestlers. He was compelled to make a decision
to participate or retire right up until the eve of the opening
of the tournament.
Takanohana's
problem is the tragedy of a Yokozuna wrestler who has been seriously
engaged in a real sumo fight. Rigged matches have prevailed among
sumo wrestlers, which seemed to have pushed Yokozuna Takanohana
into this tragedy. Takanohana has been striving to fight as a
serious professional sumo wrestler based on his genuine belief.
The Weekly Post
has been reporting on the scandals of rigged sumo wrestling matches
for a long time. The practice has spread throughout the sumo
world. Yokozuna Takanohana and his Oyakata (stable master), Futagoyama,
have been resisting rigged matches. One old sumo wrestler said,
"When Yokozuna Takanohana was in his heyday, high-ranked
sumo wrestlers were serious about winning,
"They were
struggling for the championship title. Today, when sumo wrestlers
are young, they are serious about winning. However, when they
reach their 30's, they get involved in rigging matches. They
can prolong their career as wrestlers until their 40's by doing
this."
One sumo reporter
said, "Before being promoted to Yokozuna, Takanohana won
the grand titles in two consecutive tournaments. However, he
was not admitted to be a Yokozuna. Today, Chiyo Oumi who won
the title once but lost eight out of 15 sumo wrestling matches
in previous tournaments, is now considered to be a good candidate
for becoming a Yokozuna. It is hard for Takanohana to accept
such practice,
"The Council
for Yokozuna Sumo Wrestlers is treating Takanohana harshly although
Takanohana has been serious about his sumo matches and won many
grand champion titles. He had a hard time when he was struggling
to be promoted to a Yokozuna. He must distrust the Council for
Yokozuna Sumo Wrestlers."
All sumo fans
must praise the achievement of Yokozuna Takanohana in his career
so far. When he leaves the sumo ring, the Sumo Association and
fans will realize how significant Yokozuna Takanohana's existence was.
Source:
Weekly Post
'BAD
BLOOD' PREVIEW: OSCAR DE LA HOYA, FERNANDO VARGAS, AND BOB ARUM
ON 'KNOCKOUT RADIO' ON MAXBOXING.COM
By: Eddie Goldman
The long-awaited
showdown between Oscar De La Hoya (34-2, 27 KO's) and Fernando
Vargas (22-1, KO's), to be held Sept. 14 at the Mandalay Bay
Casino in Las Vegas, and broadcast on pay-per-view, is being
billed as 'Bad Blood.' The theme of this fight is that both men
dislike the other, and are fighting for something far more personal
than becoming the undisputed top 154-lb. fighter in the world,
and unifying the WBA title, which Vargas holds, and the WBC title,
which De La Hoya holds.
But is this
fight really about 'Bad Blood?' Maybe, maybe not.
This week on
Knockout Radio, exclusively on Maxboxing.com (http://maxboxing.com), we speak with the key players
in this megafight, including the fighters themselves, both Oscar
De La Hoya and Fernando Vargas, as well as promoter Bob Arum.
We discuss how the real personal animosity between these two
fighters will actually influence what we see inside the ring
Saturday night, and how they see the fight going. We also get
predictions from De La Hoya, Vargas, and Arum. Finally, I offer
up my own take on this fight, which is definitely one of the
most important this year, as well as give my own prediction.
'Knockout Radio'
is hosted by myself, Eddie Goldman, and is prerecorded. You can
e-mail us at: knockoutradio@yahoo.com. Join in the discussion about
boxing's hottest issues!
You can always
find 'Knockout Radio' on Maxboxing.com by looking at the right-hand
column and going to the INTERACTIVE section. 'Knockout Radio'
can be heard exclusively on the members-only section of Maxboxing.com.
This section is a subscription service, meaning that your subscriptions
can keep the content there commercial-free.
Source: Abu
Dhabi
PRIDE
NEWS - The Royce Controversy!
Dream Stage
Entertainment held their press conference yesterday (9/11/02)
in Tokyo regarding PRIDE 22 on 9/29/02.
It also appears
that Pride will NOT call the Gracie/Yoshida match a 'no contest.'
This has got to be a horrible box office move because the rematch
could draw tons of money if promoted properly.
Many close to
Royce Gracie said that an agreement was definite that another
situation like Royler/Sakuraba would not happen. And it's not
likely that Royce Gracie would ever tap out to a choke. It was
obvious that Gracie was in virtually no danger at all from even
being choked unconscious. Even the Pride announcers thought the
stoppage was shady and bad.
The PPV set
SkyPerfecTV records and was the most watched MMA fight in the
sports history. Why Pride would not declare a no contest even
after Yoshida said Gracie didn't tap is insane.
While matches
have been announced, it is expected that some or all of the following
will be competing on 9/29 or the event to follow: Kevin Randelman
(Pride debut), Anderson Silva, Ricardo Arona, Igor Vovchanchyn,
Vanderlei Silva and Rodrigo Nogueira to name a few being talked
about.
Source: Abu
Dhabi
HnS
Interview: YVES EDWARDS
HOOKnSHOOT
'NEW WIND', this past weekend, saw the return of Yves Edwards,
dropping to the 155 lb. class for the first time in HnS. Now
an established fighter on the world level, the Indiana faithful
were overjoyed to see the return of the man in the HAPPY PANTS!
ADCC:
Yves, how have you been since your last UFC fight? Yves: I've
been good, just taking care of things here at home.
ADCC:
tell us what that win meant to you as a fighter? Yves: It was
good to finally get a win in the big show. There are no easy
fights in the UFC, but I just decided to let myself go and do
what I do.
ADCC:
Tell us a little bit about your UFC contract negotiations. Yves:
Right now there's not much negotiations going on, but I stay
in touch with everyone there. I've heard rumors about me versuses
Genki Sudo, but rumors are just rumors until contracts get signed.
ADCC:
You are returning to HnS this weekend, what does HnS mean to
you? Yves: HOOKnSHOOT is great. I've fought for a few different
companies but HOOKnSHOOT stands out. HnS is like the UFC without
the budget. There a bunch of great guys that treat you right
and run a tight ship.
ADCC:
Your opponent is Kohei Yasumi, what do think about his abilities?
Yves: I've heard alot about him and I've seen his name all over,
but I hadn't seen any footage on him until I started training
for this fight. He looks very strong physically and his skills
aren't too shabby either. He has the gas to go the distance,
and his ground game looks solid. I'm in for a war
ADCC:
What is your training regiment like? Yves: Typical, I get up
and run in the morning. Then we do our Boxing, Thai, and jiujitsu,
we do alot of sparring and sparring type drills, and we go for
about 3 hours. I'll do some more cardio, then come back to the
gym in the evenings and do some pad work and some more Jiujitsu.
Of course I'm eating, and resting throughout the day.
ADCC:
When I mention the name Aaron Riley, what memories does that
bring to mind? Yves: Have you ever seen 'What about Bob'? That's
what I think about, He's like Bill Murray was in that movie he
never goes away, and he's always playing to win. He doesn't hold
on trying to survive, he's trying to knock you out or submit
you.
ADCC:
Has the UFC or HnS proposed a rematch? Yves: No, no one has.
ADCC:
Would you like to fight him again? Yves: Well he doesn't have
a belt or anything I want. So it wouldn't be worth it to me.
He's a tough guy that can win fights, but he's a guy that I've
beaten twice so there's no point in me fighting him a third time
unless he has something that's valuable to me.
ADCC:
Let's talk about your UFC fights, what has it been like to go
from HnS to the UFC? Yves: It's been amazing. It's the goal of
just about everyone that fights to get into the UFC or Pride.
Then you have their crew. Joe, Josh, Dana and those guys they're
great people. It's a great place to be, but once you get past
the lights the crowd knowing that you're fighting on pay-per-view-
ADCC:
Do you feel more comfortable as a lightweight? Yves: Definitely
now everyone is my size. :)
ADCC:Your
fight with Matt Serra, what did you do right and wrong in that
match? Yves: I don't know how much I did right because I didn't
get the win but I do know that I thought to much and stifled
my own reactions. Like when I hit him with that uppercut I should
have blasted him but I didn't and he recovered.
ADCC:
Your fight with Uno, do you feel like you deserved that decision?
Yves: I think that I did alot better than losing every round,
that's for sure no one finished the other and it was a good fight
so you can always make an argument, but the decision could have
been the other way or should have been closer.
ADCC:
Any last comments? Yves: Lightweights beware. UFC 37.5 is just
a sample of what is in store for you guys. I also want to thank
HOOKnSHOOT, UFC, Rocky, Lewis, and Saul, Fairtex and everyone
that's always believed in me. Especially Arlene.
ADCC:
Yves, thanks for your time. Yves: Thank you bro, anytime. :)
Source:
Abu Dhabi
International
Shooto Commission - American Office
Medical Suspension
for KO and TKO in professional SHOOTO
This is a notification
to SHOOTO fighters, promoters and organizers that the following
people are placed on medical suspension as the result of a KO
or TKO suffered during a full-contact Shooto bout. The suspension
period will be described for each specific case.
These competitors
may not compete in any contact sports where additional head trauma
may be endured during the suspension period. They are also encouraged
to limit contact in training and/or sparring during this time.
Promoters and organizers are encouraged to refrain from booking
these competitors in an full-contacts events that exist outside
of the Shooto Association. We realize that we do not have regulatory
juristiction in these areas, but the safety and well being of
the competitors is of utmost concern.
1) Curtis Stout
- 60 day medical suspension for KO suffered on September 7, 2002.
The Suspension will end on November 6, 2002.
2) Kohei Yasumi - 60 day medical suspension for KO suffered on
September 7, 2002. The suspension will end on November 6, 2002.
3) Angela Wilson - 30 day medical suspension for TKO stoppage
that occured as a result of continuos blows to the head on September
7, 2002. The suspension will end on October 7, 2002.
If there are
any questions or concerns regarding any of these suspensions,
feel free to contact me.
Source: Abu
Dhabi
Jerome
LeBanner to
Join Chute Boxe team!
In a very surprising
piece of news, K-1 fighter and Shockwave winner Jerome LeBanner
is set to join the Chute Boxe team in January of 2003! The French
fighter is willing to venture seriously into the sport of NHB
and asked master Rudimar Fedrigo if he could join the team and
represent them in the future. Rudimar told FCF LeBanner personally
asked to join the team and train with them, not just for a short
period as a special preparation for a particular fight, but to
actually represent the team in competitions as well. Jerome LeBanner,
who just beat Don Frye by knockout in a K-1 fight at Shockwave,
is expected in Curitiba next January to live and train with the
team. With his own amazing stand-up skills, and the constant
hard training at the Chute Boxe academy, Jerome's association
with the Chute Boxe team can only do wonders for both sides,
with fighters like Vanderlei and Anderson Silva bound to benefit
from the K-1 fighter's kickboxing skills, and LeBanner benefiting
from the NHB experience and hardcore training in the academy.
The heavyweight division will be tougher in 2003. Keep checking
the FCF news page for more details in the next Brazilian Beat.
Source: FCF
9/12/02
Quote
of the Day
"Twenty
years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that
you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines.
Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your
sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. "
Mark Twain
World
Fighting Alliance 3 in NOVEMBER!
Cox Pavillion, Las Vegas, Nevada
November 23, 2002
Las
Vegas, NV: The World Fighting Alliance coming off a fantastic
show in June that drew 'Mohr Sports' to the Hard Rock Hotel and
Casino present 'WFA 3' to be held at the Cox Pavillion at the
UNLV Campus on November 23, 2002.
What
draws fans world-wide to the WFA? Try top production value that
includes lasers and lighting galore that could fit a venue 10
times the size, Go-Go dancing divas to rival any top Las Vegas
dance show, and World-class Mixed Martial Art match-ups that
leave every fan counting the days to the next event.
More
information to the 'hottest ticket in MMA' will be made available
as the card is to be released shortly.
WFA
Event info contact:
Paula Romero
World Fighting Alliance Prome100@aol.com
Source:
ADCC
PRIDE's
'SHOCKWAVE' Making Records!
PRIDE officially
did what they said they would do as many doubters are left scratching
their heads.
Before the 'Shockwave'
show, promoters stated they were predicting a buy rate of 100,000
from SkyPerfecTV. This seemed WAY off base and many believed
the buy rate of 48,000 buys for the 2000 Pride Grand Prix (Sakuraba/Royce)
would stick forever.
According to
estimates from SkyPerfecTV, Pride shattered the existing records
by more than double. Many are stating that the buy rate will
be between 100,000 and 125,000 which is considered an untouchable
success. This would be around a $2,000,000 and $2,500,000 company
gross for the PPV (even though it would air three days later
on FREE TV).
Pride is ran
like pro wrestling with tons of theatrics and big ring entrances.
Combine this with the TV ratings machine like K-1, pro wrestling
stars and you have a buy rate success.
The free-TV
broadcast of the show drew an astounding 10.6 rating and an even
bigger note was that the Gracie/Yoshida match peaked at 14.5.
This would clearly make this match the most watched MMA fight
in history with over 20,000,000 viewers tuning in.
The live gate,
reported at 91,007 was later estimated to be around 71,000 setting
a MMA attendance record that will more than likely never be broken.
Then again, never say never.
Source: ADCC
PRIDE
22: Matches Announced!
PRIDE.22
DATE: September 29th, 2002
OPEN: 2:00 PM START 4:00 PM
PLACE: Nagoya Rainbow Hall, Japan (Aichi-Pref, Japan)
On August 25th
in Japan, DSE/PRIDE announced two additional match ups for the
upcoming PRIDE.22 event scheduled for September 29th.
The two new
matches are:
- Alexander
Otsuka vs Anderson Silva
- Norihisa Yamamoto vs Guy Mezger
So far that
makes 4 matches for the event officially announced, since prior
announcements encompassed these matches:
- SHUNGO OYAMA
vs RYAN GRACIE
- MARIO SPERRY vs ANDREI KOPYLOV
Source:
ADCC
‘The
Westside Strangler’ Heads to the Far East: Brennan Faces
Gomi
By Josh Gross
Chris Brennan,
one of the more successful mixed martial arts trainers in Southern
California and veteran of 21 fights (16-4-1), ballooned to just
over 200-lbs. before he got the call from SHOOTO asking if he’d
be interested in fighting Hayato “Mach” Sakurai on
September 16.
The
veteran welterweight, who’d just severed ties with the King
of the Cage, an organization for which he was twice champion,
put a planned six-month hiatus on hold after excepting the fight,
and soon started down the road towards getting in fighting shape.
He’d
need to shed nearly 30-lbs. in order to make the 167-lb. SHOOTO
limit -- not a problem, thought the ex-bodybuilder. It was something
he’d done many times -- Krispy Kreme donuts are a major
Brennan weakness -- and he wasn’t too concerned about getting
in shape to fight one of the most dynamic fighters in the world.
But
then he received another message from SHOOTO: Sakurai’s
back is on the fritz and he’s out, what would you like to
do?
Refusing
to allow his dream of fighting in Japan to vanish faster than
a glazed donut, Brennan requested to face someone good enough
to provide a tough fight. SHOOTO came back with a doozy: Takanori
Gomi, one of the top three 155-lb. fighters in the world.
The
choice of opponent could have been easier for Brennan, but he
wasn’t about to let an opportunity to fight one of the world’s
best go unanswered. “I’m really excited about fighting
in SHOOTO,” Brennan, speaking via cell phone from his Big
Bear, Calif. training camp told MaxFighting. “And I’m
very, very excited about fighting in Japan because I went over
there with Erica Montoya in her last fight and I probably signed
a 100 autographs when I was there -- so they (the fans) already
knew who I was.”
When
he arrives in Tokyo on Friday they may not recognize a svelte
Brennan when he steps off the plane. Fighting Gomi means there’s
the rather weighty (pun intended) matter of losing close to 50-lbs.
in a relatively short period of time in order for Brennan to
make the weight class limit of 154.
Should
he pull it off, and he fully expects to, Brennan will have 30
hours to recuperate between the weigh-ins and fight time. He
says a trip to a local hospital and a nourishing I.V. drip should
replenish electrolytes. Once the fluids are back in his system
the sacrifice may prove well worth it. “I would imagine,
even if he’s a big 155, he’s not going to be as big
as I am,” says Brennan, who plans on stepping into the ring
a shade over 170. “I think that will play a big part.”
Of
course, Gomi isn’t a top fighter simply because he’s
relied on his size to take out his competition, but you can’t
discuss his success without taking into account the size advantage
he normally carries into the ring -- particularly in SHOOTO where
cutting water for Japanese fighters is a far less common practice
than their American counterparts.
Some
compare Gomi to a lightweight Tito Ortiz, content to score takedowns
and work the ground-and-pound until you’ve had enough or
time runs out. Brennan sees much more to Gomi than that, and
for he anticipates a highly entertaining and competitive fight.
“Obviously,
I think my ground is better than his,” he notes confidently.
“He has better wrestling -- unfortunately I keep running
into that. And standing he’s not afraid to stand and throw.
I’m a little smarter. If I start throwing with someone and
they start throwing back, I’m going to try and take them
down. If they try and take me down, I’m going to try and
stand up more. I think if I can get on top of him the fight’s
mine. If I can’t, I run the risk of losing a decision again;
so I’m going to try the entire fight to open up a lot, sweep,
get on top and get back to my feet -- do whatever I can to not
stay in my guard.
“He’s
the same every fight. He does the head slam into the mat every
fight. He always goes for the takedown. He comes out and throws
first on the feet -- kind of wild but he’s not afraid to
stand and trade. And obviously he’s got good takedowns.”
Brennan’s
been stuck on the bottom before. In his last high-profile fight
he faced Gil Castillo at UFC 35 in January, and spent most of
the contest on his back trying to fend off the larger wrestler.
Could it happen versus Gomi? “They say he’s big for
155, but he doesn’t really look that big to me,” says
Brennan. “I guess I’m going to have to see him in person.”
Should
Gomi attempt to employ the strategy that’s made him SHOOTO
champion at 10-0-0, says Brennan, the Japanese fighter may have
a tougher time than most would expect. “All I’ve been
working on since my fight in the UFC is sweeps, escaping and
getting back to my feet,” expounds Brennan. “You know,
I’ll try and submit from the bottom for a little bit, but
I’m not going to wait the whole entire 15 minutes trying
to catch somebody if they’re just trying to hold on. I’m
going to get back to my feet, get on top and I’ve been working
a lot on that.”
The
move to 154 raises a serious question regarding just how successful
Brennan can be at a weight he’s never walked around, let
alone fought at before. If training is any indication, he says,
there shouldn’t be a bit of difference -- at least in terms
of his conditioning. “I think if you have the cardio, you
have the confidence to go hard all night.”
He’s
speaking from experience. Earlier in his career there was no
denying that Brennan lacked the wind to push the pace in a 15-minute
fight. Nowadays, there’s little question as to what kind
of shape he’ll be when he steps in the ring, and he gives
a great deal of that credit to the high-altitude training he
undergoes in Big Bear.
“I
was gassed after every fight whether I won or lost, and I hated
that,” Brennan remembers of his early fights. “And
then I came up here before my Steve Berger fight because there
was a little bit of bad blood there and I wanted to be sure that
there was no stone left unturned. So I stayed here for two weeks
and I went back down and fought him. We went for 15 minutes nonstop,
and when I stood up at the end of the third round I was barely
breathing [heavy]. I felt great.
“Even
with the Gil Castillo fight, I was on the bottom the whole time
for 15 minutes, but when I stood up at the end I wasn’t
even tired. So I think it makes a huge difference physically
and mentally.”
Though
Brennan maintains that jet lag should not be an issue, one can
never be sure how their body will react when fighting overseas
for the first time. But one thing is for sure, it’s highly
unlikely he would have ever gotten the opportunity to compete
in SHOOTO had his relationship with KOTC not ended. While other
fighters got their shot, Brennan waited patiently for his.
It
came, but only after Brennan says his middleweight belt was stripped
from around his waist for no good reason. “I was telling
my wife that I guess it’s not killing us that we’re
not fighting in King of the Cage because now we have all these
other huge opportunities. No one ever called from another event
for me or my team because I guess they thought I was contracted
to the King of the Cage and couldn’t go anywhere. The second
everyone found out that we weren’t going to be there anymore
I think every event that there is besides PRIDE decided to call
my house or my brother.
“I’m
not bummed about not being the King of the Cage champion so much
as it would have been a lot nicer to go out on a win. I knew
before the fight [against John Alessio at KOTC 14] that I wasn’t
going to be fighting there anymore because they were stripping
me of my belt without losing, so a lot of stuff kind of played
into that whole thing.
“I
miss fighting there. My school, my team, and my family and everyone
got to come watch all the time because it was close, so I’d
have like 150 people in the stands at all times; it was cool.
I’m bummed about that, but I think somehow after that fight
I’ve taken a bigger step. I’ve moved in a more positive
direction for me.”
Obviously,
a chance at fighting one of the top three fighters in a weight
class your first time out is a huge opportunity. Should Brennan
capitalize and upset Gomi it’ll probably mean at least another
year or two of competitive fighting will be in his future.
“It
depends on how I feel,” he says. “I’m actually
trying to get my walking around weight after this to around 175,
so there’s only 20 total [pounds] to cut. I can diet off
10 and cut off 10, and it will be a lot easier. But I go into
a freaken binge after every fight and I get up to like 195-200
and I won’t be able to do that obviously if I want to stay
down there.”
Maybe
a few less Krispy Kremes and it wouldn’t be so tough. Of
course, those damn things are too tasty -- especially after a
win.
Source:
Maxfighting
9/11/02 Happy Patriot Day!
Say a prayer for the families and friends of the innocent people
who we lost last year!
Quote
of the Day
Once
tall towers laid low. Rubble piled against a five-faced building.
A deserted field scarred by a doomed flight. Surprise, anger,
resolution. In the gritty wind, the flag flies. Children are
born. Heroes named. And, in the spreading dawn, we proudly lift
our lamp beside the golden door.
Ode
to My America, September 2002
Patriot
Day
Patriot
Day, 2002 by the President of the United States of America a
Proclamation
On
this first observance of Patriot Day, we remember and honor those
who
perished in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. We will
not forget
the events of that terrible morning nor will we forget how Americans
responded in New York City, at the Pentagon, and in the skies
over
Pennsylvania -- with heroism and selflessness; with compassion
and courage;
and with prayer and hope. We will always remember our collective
obligation
to ensure that justice is done, that freedom prevails, and that
the
principles upon which our Nation was founded endure.
Inspired
by the heroic sacrifices of our firefighters, rescue and law
enforcement personnel, military service members, and other citizens,
our
Nation found unity, focus, and strength. We found healing in
the national
outpouring of compassion for those lost, as tens of millions
of Americans
participated in moments of silence, candlelight vigils, and religious
services. From the tragedy of September 11 emerged a stronger
Nation,
renewed by a spirit of national pride and a true love of country.
We
are a people dedicated to the triumph of freedom and democracy
over evil
and tyranny. The heroic stories of the first responders who gave
their all
to save others strengthened our resolve. And our Armed Forces
have pursued
the war against terrorism in Afghanistan and else-where with
valor and
skill. Together with our coalition partners, they have achieved
success.
Americans
also have fought back against terror by choosing to overcome
evil
with good. By loving their neighbors as they would like to be
loved,
countless citizens have answered the call to help others. They
have
contributed to relief efforts, improved homeland security in
their
communities, and volunteered their time to aid those in need.
This spirit
of service continues to grow as thousands have joined the newly
established
USA Freedom Corps, committing themselves to changing America
one heart at a
time through the momentum of millions of acts of decency and
kindness.
Those
whom we lost last September 11 will forever hold a cherished
place in
our hearts and in the history of our Nation. As we mark the first
anniversary of that tragic day, we remember their sacrifice;
and we commit
ourselves to honoring their memory by pursuing peace and justice
in the
world and security at home. By a joint resolution approved December
18,
2001 (Public Law 107-89), the Congress has authorized and requested
the
President to designate September 11 of each year as "Patriot
Day."
NOW,
THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States
of
America, do hereby proclaim September 11, 2002, as Patriot Day.
I call upon
the people of the United States to observe this day with appropriate
ceremonies and activities, including remembrance services and
candlelight
vigils. I also call upon the Governors of the United States and
the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, as well as appropriate officials
of all units
of government, to direct that the flag be flown at half-staff
on Patriot
Day. Further, I encourage all Americans to display the flag at
half-staff
from their homes on that day and to observe a moment of silence
beginning
at 8:46 a.m. eastern daylight time, or another appropriate commemorative
time, to honor the innocent victims who lost their lives as a
result of the
terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this fourth day
of
September, in the year of our Lord two thousand two, and of the
Independence of the United States of America the two hundred
and twenty-
seventh.
GEORGE W. BUSH
Hawai'i
dreams died one year ago
By
Tanya Bricking
Advertiser Staff Writer
The
last dream Laura Brough remembers came before Christmas. Her
mother appeared, and just as she was about to speak, Brough awoke.
The
32-year-old Hawai'i Kai woman wishes she could close her eyes,
drift to sleep and catch another glimpse of her mom, Georgine
Rose Corrigan, who died a year ago today when United Airlines
Flight 93 crashed into a Pennsylvania field.
A
year later, Brough can hardly sleep.
Like
so many loved ones of Sept. 11 victims, distractions have kept
Brough going. The letters, the lawyers, the task of settling
an estate, running her own business and raising two children
have been enough to keep her awake and functioning.
"I
know what I'm going through is nothing compared with what she
went through on that plane," said Brough, whose mom, a 55-year-old
antiques dealer, was supposed to be on another flight that day
but changed it so she could be on a less crowded flight heading
home to Hawai'i. "I actually haven't had all the emotions
that I'm going to have about it because I've had daily distractions."
The
worst preoccupation has been imagining, again and again, what
the last moments on Flight 93 must have been like: passengers
overtaking hijackers as the plane hurtled to the ground.
Americans remembered the terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and
World Trade Center with a candlelight vigil last night in Jersey
City, N.J.
Associated Press
Charlotte Keane often grapples with the whys herself.
Why
did one of her brothers, who took United Airlines Flight 175
weekly on business trips, not take the ill-fated flight that
crashed into the World Trade Center while another brother, who
was at the trade center that day for a meeting, die there?
In
the early days after Sept. 11, Keane, 45, a nurse at Kuakini
Medical Center, used to fantasize that Richard Keane, the brother
she called Ricky, was lost somewhere, just waiting to be found.
He
was an insurance executive at the Marsh & McLennan office
in Hartford, Conn., and was at the New York office for a meeting
when the hijacked planes hit. The Wethersfield, Conn., churchgoer
and longtime coach is now the namesake of a community sports
center. Ricky Keane was the kind of guy who used to crack everybody
up with his sharp wit. The prayer card at his funeral said what
he used to joke about himself: "I'm a helluva guy."
But his sister's funny memories of him are tinged with harsh
reality and lots of "what ifs."
When
authorities notified her sister-in-law that her brother had been
identified by DNA, the questions changed. Was he alive when the
tower fell? What was his death actually like?
Not
a day goes by without Sept. 11 rising somewhere in Charlotte
Keane's world. It comes over her at unexpected moments. She finds
herself talking to strangers about it, perhaps just to express
the horror she still feels.
Keane's
thoughts often return to Oct. 11, the one-month anniversary of
the attacks.
Georgine Corrigan
She was back East for her brother's funeral, and family members
took a train into New York City, hoping to get a distant look
at the World Trade Center site. A limo driver, police officers
and assorted strangers helped them get closer and closer to Ground
Zero.
Keane,
who has lived in Hawai'i for 21 years, had taken four lei to
the East Coast — one for her brother's wife and the rest
for her brother. She and 10 family members, who were given hard
hats, huddled and clung to one another like children as they
inched toward the wreckage, smelling the unforgettable scent
of melting wires and death. It looked as if they had been transported
to some faraway land devastated by bombs.
The
engineer in charge of the site saw her lei. He came over to ask
if the family wanted him to take the flowers up on a crane and
drop them as far over as he could onto the still-burning pile
of twisted steel and rubble that used to be the Twin Towers.
The family agreed and thanked him.
The
engineer hoisted two men up in a basketlike box, and they hung
the lei for all to see. The man who threw each lei blessed himself
each time and tossed the flowers far into the wreckage, one at
a time. Then he saluted the family and waved.
"I
felt like I was in church," Keane said. It was quiet. All
of the other cranes and work trucks had come to a halt. Workers
gathered around the Keanes, took off their hard hats and put
their hands over their hearts. Some were crying, and others passed
by to offer condolences.
Months
later, Charlotte Keane is still grateful for the kindness of
strangers.
Subtle
things remind her that life goes on. Her nephew's family had
a baby in June, a girl who would have been her brother's third
grandchild. With the birth came a shred of healing.
Consumed
by loss
Richard Keane
If only Kevin Marisay could find a shred to hang onto, things
might seem brighter.
Marisay,
Georgine Corrigan's younger brother in Teaneck, N.J., had talked
Corrigan into working with him in the antiques business. Corrigan's
plane went down on the way back from an antiques show they had
traveled to together.
Marisay
said he takes no pleasure from working in the business anymore.
All he can think of is loss.
"I
have absolutely nothing to hang onto," said Marisay, 52,
who has been having panic attacks lately. "Someone said
I'm suicidal. I said, 'No, I just don't care if I live.' "
He's
in Pennsylvania this week, along with Brough and other family
members, for a memorial service in the field where his sister's
plane crashed. After that, Marisay is heading to an antiques
show to try to make a living. Then he's escaping to Las Vegas.
"Out
there, they don't know me," he said. "No one will ask
me how I feel or 'How was the ceremony?' "
No
time to be bitter
Maile Hale
Maile Hale's family is riding out the week in a rented house
on the East Coast, where they're gathering to remember her.
Hale
was the 26-year-old chief operating officer and vice president
of Boston Investor Services. She was ambitious since her days
as valedictorian of the Kaiser High School class of 1993. On
Sept. 11, she was attending a conference at Windows on the World
restaurant atop the World Trade Center's north tower.
Her
family doesn't want her to be lost in the numbers of the thousands
who died that day.
"We
keep her alive," said her mother, CarolAnn Hale of Hawai'i
Kai. "We talk about her all the time."
The
young woman with the passion for dancing and the ocean is present
in small details of life — the Dove chocolate bars that
remind friends of her sweet tooth, the silver bracelets her former
teachers at Kaiser wear engraved with her name, the kukui nut
tree and boulder from Hanauma Bay placed at Kaiser to honor her,
and the memorial built in Mystic Seaport, Conn., where she was
part of a maritime studies program.
Her
loss has changed the way her family looks at life but not their
desire to keep living.
"What
happened was an aberration," her mother said. "The
world is populated by caring people. You cannot be bitter if
you're going to survive it."
One
happy moment came when CarolAnn Hale opened her mail to find
a letter from a couple in South Carolina the Hales had never
met who had decided to name their new baby Rachel — Maile
Hale's middle name.
And
on Feb. 14, what would have been Maile Hale's 27th birthday,
firemen in Hawai'i Kai raised a flag from the World Trade Center
in her honor.
Life
measured in extremes
Michael Collins
A birthday took on special significance, too, for Laura Brough.
On
April 24, what would have been her mother's 56th birthday, her
family celebrated with a cake and all the fixings.
But
the next day, when her son Dylan had a bad day at preschool,
Brough worried about whether celebrating his dead grandma's birthday
was the right thing to do. She felt like she was turning into
a terrible parent.
Her
life is measured in extremes these days.
"Everything's
greener. Everything's bluer. Everything's harder. It's harder
to trust," Brough said. "I'm thankful I work at home
and not in a building somebody's going to want to blow up. You
love better. You appreciate what you have."
But
the bright glimmer of being alive sometimes is swallowed by a
dark shadow. When Brough goes to drive her pickup, she checks
in the back to make sure no one's hiding.
"I'm
cautious of things I never would have been cautious of before."
Bringing
aloha to New Jersey
Rich Y.C. Lee
Other victims' families with Hawai'i ties have looked for reasons
to celebrate.
In
Montclair, N.J., this week, Henry and Rose Lee of Wahiawa have
come with armloads of lei.
The
Lees are there to be with their daughter, Lissa Jean Collins,
for today's memorial service at Ground Zero. Collins, a fashion
designer and 1977 Leilehua High School graduate, lost her husband,
Michael Collins, in the World Trade Center attack. He was a 38-year-old
manager with Cantor Fitzgerald's eSpeed division.
It's
been the most trying year the family has ever endured, but the
Lees also say they've been blessed with support. So instead of
marking the year anniversary with only sadness, they are set
on bringing some aloha to their daughter's New Jersey cul-de-sac,
where neighbors have rallied this year with snow shovels, lawn
mowers, casseroles and comfort.
"Rose
is throwing a Korean barbeque for the neighbors," Henry
Lee said. "She wants to make a big block party for them.
It's kind of a Hawaiian-Korean lu'au kind of thing."
Michael
Collins was a solid Mainlander from Irvington, N.Y., who fell
in love with an island girl. The avid snowboarder grew to love
mountain biking in Hawai'i and learned what it meant to be part
of an 'ohana. His wife's niece even performed the hula at his
memorial service last October. When people in Hawai'i learned
of his death, they reached out to the Lees.
"Even
Michael's family in New York, they're so happy Michael had a
connection in Hawai'i," Henry Lee said. "People in
Hawai'i treated him just like an island boy."
David Laychak
The family of island boy Rich Y.C. Lee can look to the Punahou
School football field for a tribute to him. Rich Lee, a 1986
Punahou graduate who went on to play football at Yale University,
was managing director of equities technology for Cantor Fitzgerald
in New York.
He
was one of about 700 Cantor Fitzgerald employees who died when
the towers collapsed. Back here in Hawai'i, there's a plaque
in the Punahou end zone for him.
For
former island girl Laurie Miller Laychak, the years since she
graduated from Hawaii Baptist Academy in 1980 seemed to fade
when friends reached out to her upon the death of her husband.
Laychak, who had settled in Manassas, Va., was working as a substitute
teacher Sept. 11 when a note was delivered to her second-grade
class alerting her that there had been an attack on the Pentagon.
She
met her husband, David, at the Pentagon, where he worked as a
civilian budget analyst for the Army. The place where they met
is where he died Sept. 11. Laychak's former classmates in Hawai'i
prayed for her and sent money.
They
also posted messages on a Web site, including Cheryl Bain's note:
"Laurie, I read about your loss in the paper where I found
you had graduated from HBA eight years before me," Bain
wrote. "May God Bless you and your family."
For
former Hawai'i composer Dean Pitchford, the premiere of his musical,
"Footloose," in March at his alma mater, St. Louis
School, became an emotional tribute to his sister. Patricia "Patti"
Pitchford Colodner, a 39-year-old executive secretary at Marsh
& McLennan, was at her desk on the 96th floor of the World
Trade Center's north tower when it collapsed.
Colodner,
who was born in Hawai'i, attended Star of the Sea School, graduated
from Our Redeemer Lutheran High School in 1979 and moved to New
York shortly after that. She married in 1990 and had two children.
Colodner
and her brother Dean shared a love of theater. He wrote the title
songs for "Footloose" and "Fame," and she
helped him bring a few productions to New York. His tribute to
her is a song he composed with Tom Snow, called "Closer,"
with lyrics that say:
I
see your face in firelight
I hold you close in memory
And even though I know you're gone, I know you're here
Still
struggling
Patricia Colodner
Here and now is a painful place to be for Kevin Marisay, Georgine
Corrigan's brother, who says he can't stand to look at American
flags now, because it makes him angry that people weren't already
patriotic before the national tragedy.
In
Marisay's life, grief remains raw, and there's really no such
thing as closure.
"I
haven't found anything to take comfort in," he said. "There's
just nothing yet."
'Till
We Meet Again'
For
Ian Pescaia, the Kailua man who became a widower three months
after his marriage to Christine Snyder, imagining the way she
would have handled things forces him to take a more positive
attitude.
His
wife was on United Airlines Flight 93 with Georgine Corrigan.
Snyder was returning home after attending the American Forestry
Conference in Washington, D.C., and visiting New York City for
the first time.
Pescaia,
a race car hobbyist, has been touched by the trees planted in
honor of Snyder, who was a 32-year-old landscape and planting
project manager for The Outdoor Circle environmental group.
"The
nature, the beauty of Hawai'i was everything she lived for,"
said Snyder's stepmother, Jan Snyder, of 'Aiea, who plans to
go with family members tonight to the tree planted for Christine
at Magic Island and maybe have a glass of wine or champagne to
celebrate Christine's life.
Jan
Snyder said she's not ready to sit at the public ceremony at
Punchbowl and hear the leader of the Muslim Association of Hawai'i
speak.
"I
hope I can forgive at some point," she said, "but it's
not going to be right now." This week, she said, has reduced
her to being angry at everything.
Family
members say they're just hoping to get to Sept. 12 and move on.
They want to smile at the small things, like the stickers Pescaia's
friends at Hawai'i Raceway Park have placed on their car windows
in memory of his late wife.
Pescaia's
own imprint can be seen around the raceway and other places where
he carves the letters "TWMA." It stands for: "Till
We Meet Again."
He
is determined to move forward with his life and not dwell on
his heartache. It's the way Chris would have wanted it, he said.
And even strangers back him up on that.
"Living
here we're kind of sheltered in Hawai'i," he said. "When
people from halfway across the world start sending letters telling
you they hope you get through this, it's kind of neat."
Honoring
friends
Christine Snyder
In December, Pescaia's racing friend, Jon Souza, named his daughter
Christie in honor of Snyder and asked Pescaia to be the godfather.
In
another circle of friends, Heather Ho's first college roommate
had a baby girl and named her Malia, Ho's middle name.
Ho,
32, was an up-and-coming pastry chef at Windows on the World.
She grew up in Honolulu and graduated from Boston University
and the Culinary Institute of America. She worked at high-profile
New York restaurants including Gramercy Tavern, Bouley, Clementine
and the Screening Room, and in San Francisco at the Boulevard.
She was known for her lemon icebox cake, her coconut rice pudding,
her devil's food cake with caramelized bananas and her secret
love of unsnooty snacks like Combos.
At
the Punahou School class of 1987's 15th reunion over the summer,
her picture flashed up periodically on a running slide show.
Most
of the other pictures were from high school. But Ho's was more
recent, a more poignant reminder of her absence.
Her
recipes are still being circulated among her chef friends, and
her death has brought a worldwide network of people together.
But like others dealing with grief, the healing comes in shreds.
"There
have been beautiful things," said Malia Boyd, 33, who grew
up with Ho and remained close even after Boyd moved to New Orleans.
"But it's hard to think of them because it's still so painful.
In a few more years, when we have some distance, ask me then."
Some
day, a good night's rest
Heather Ho
Laura Brough has also known beautiful moments this year. A friend
of her mother's commissioned an oil portrait of her mother for
her. And a collector gave her a ring her mother used to admire.
People across the country have sent quilts, candles, angels and
teddy bears. Politicians have sent flags and condolences.
There
are times when Brough would like to lash out at the television
for selecting only certain people as heroes in the aftermath
of Sept. 11. There are times when she stands in the kitchen and
stares at the empty space where her mom used to cook dinner.
She longs to have even the mundane moments back.
She
wants to get on with her life, but she doesn't know if she can
catch up with her dreams anymore. She wants to try, if she can
just slow down and get away from the distractions.
A
good night's rest is all she really wants. That would be a start.
Source:
Honolulu Advertiser
Super
Brawl/UCC Hawaii
SuperBrawl
Presents: The UCC
Get
your tickets now! This event is fast aproaching and it will be
a barn burner!
On September 17th 2002,
the Universal Combat Challenge will finally bring its unique
brand of intense MMA action south of the Canadian border. Working
in conjunction with two of the most recognizable MMA promoters,
Monte Cox and T. Jay Thompson, the UCC will present Hawaii's
most popular talent against some of the UCC's top guns as well
as top talent from around the world. Athletes from Brazil, France,
Canada and the USA will all be at the Blaisdell Arena for the
fight of their lives.
The main event
will see a first in MAA history as UCC World Super Lightweight
#1 contender, BARET
"The Finisher" YOSHIDA (3-1, Honolulu, Hawaii) currently ranked #4 in
the Shooto organization against the exciting and well rounded
Jeff Curran. Curran is a very experience fighter from the midwest
with a solid BJJ background and good stand up skill. This should
be a very exciting match because Curran is a explosive fighter
and Hawaii fans know why people in the know call Baret the Finisher.
Super Lightweight
Challenge
Jeff Curran
vs.
Baret Yoshida
This will be
a beauty! Curran has the tools to hang with Yoshida at every
level. Excellent kickboxing skills, coupled with a brown belt
in brazilian jiu-jitsu. His style is extremely aggressive. Yoshida
has improved his stand-up game but many think he will be in over
his head striking with Curran. But he should have the edge when
the fights hits the ground.....if it hits the ground. Pick'em
Even Odds
Middleweight
Challenge
Stephan Potvin
vs.
Ron 'The Machine Gun' Jhun
Potvin is a
solid fighter who has had success in the UCC promotion. His game
is well rounded and he would love to take his career to the next
level by beating "The Machine Gun". The always exciting,
Jhun is coming off the longest lay-off of his career, so ring
rust could be a factor. Look for Jhun to start cautiously and
try to put some leather on Potvin late. Jhun 2-1 favorite
Light Heavyweight
Challenge
Jeromie Sills
vs.
Falaniko Vitale
Sit back and
watch the fireworks! Sills is a solid kickboxer who will stand
and trade with anyone. The extremely talented Vitale is continuing
to improve his entire game. He should have the advantage on the
ground, but don't be surprised to see him test out his striking
abilities as well. Vitale 2-1 favorite
Light Heavyweight
Challenge
Anthony Rea
vs.
Rich Franklin
Many say Franklin
will eventually become a world champion and he has built a 14-0
record so far. Rea is less experienced, but a solid kickboxer
from France with a jiu-jitsu background. Franklin may be too
tough standing or on the ground. Franklin 3-1 favorite
Welterweight
Challenge
Donald Ouimet
vs.
Laverne Clark
Two professional
boxers with KO power and good chins... don't blink during this
fight. Ouimet has the submission edge, while Clark is the better
wrestler... look for this to go up and down for as long as it
lasts. Pick 'em Even odds
Welterweight
Challenge
Ivan Menjivar
vs.
Jay R. Palmer
Menjivar is
another solid Canadian fighter who will be tested by journeyman
Jay R. Palmer. Although Menjivar should have the advantage in
skill, Palmer's experience and ring savvy should make this a
closer fight. Menjivar 3-1 favorite
Heavyweight
Challenge
Kerry 'Meat Truck' Schall
vs.
Kumu Cambra
The "Meat
Truck" is most famous in Hawaii for dominating an opponent
in Super Brawl 24 only to end up falling out of the ring and
cracking a vertabrae. For such a big fighter (270lbs) he is very
agile and possesses a tremendous submission arsenal. The underdog
Cambra will have to summon all his heart and strength to find
a "W" in this fight. Schall 3-1 favorite
"Pain"
Peters
vs.
Kolo Koka
The "bad
boy" Pain Peters will attempt to impose his will on the
younger, less experienced Koka. Look for him to try to get this
fight to the ground were he excels. Koka will try to use his
striking ability to fend off Peters' take-down attempts. Peters
2-1 favorite
Light Heavyweight
Challenge
Yan Pellerin
vs.
Mike Malone
Two young fighters
attempting to get noticed. The Canadian, Pellerin, will take
the fight to Malone and work to make it a ground battle. Malone
must not give ground to win this fight. Pick'em Even Odds
Interview:
PEDRO 'THE ROCK' RIZZO
FIGHTWORLD.com
Brazil- In the upcoming UFC, you are going to face a very tall
guy in Gan McGee, how are you training for this fight? Rizzo-
I've never had to fight a guy this tall before, I watched some
of his fights and from what I can see he's a typical wrestler
who likes to corner the opponent against the fence using his
elbows to cut the opponent's face. I've worked a lot on the ground
and also standing, because he's very tall, so I'll try to keep
the fight on the feet and if it goes to the ground I'll try to
do the best possible.
FIGHTWORLD.com
Brazil- Is your game good when the taller guy is a wrestler?
Rizzo- Yeah, because if he was a kickboxer he'd be very good
standing and know what to expect and he'd be able to hinder the
fight, a fight on the feet can finish at any moment while on
the ground you need to work for a finish. I'm training like I
always train when I go to face a wrestler.
FIGHTWORLD.com
Brazil- Do you think that he will try to trade strikes with you
since he's taller than you, such as to land jabs and try to keep
you on the outside? Rizzo- I don't know, he trains with Chuck
Liddell and Liddell has a good Kickboxing base, and in the last
of McGee's fights which I watched was against Josh Barnett and
I think that McGee improved a lot since then. I think that I'll
face an opponent a bit different from the fights which I watched,
but I'm ready.
FIGHTWORLD.com
Brazil- YSpeaking about differences between fights, did you think
that your last opponent (Andrei Orlosvsky) changed his game when
he fought you? Rizzo- I think that everybody trains a lot, NHB
is developing within itself alot and in each fight the opponent
and myself are better than in the last fight. In each fight you
get experience, so this is the natural evolution of NHB, the
fighters improve and the fights become harder.
FIGHTWORLD.com
Brazil- Do you think that he will try to trade strikes with you
since he's taller than you, such as to land jabs and try to keep
you on the outside? Rizzo- I don't know, he trains with Chuck
Liddell and Liddell has a good kickboxing base, and in the last
of McGee's fights which I watched was against Josh Barnett and
I think that McGee will have improved a lot since then. I think
that I'll face an opponent a bit different from the fights which
I watched, but I'm ready.
FIGHTWORLD.com
Brazil- You spoke about differences between the fights, so did
you think that your last opponent (Andrei Orlosvsky) changed
his game when he fought you? Rizzo- I think that everybody trains
a lot, NHB is developing within itself alot and in each fight
the opponent and myself are better than in the last fight. In
each fight you get experience, so this is the natural evolution
of NHB, the fighters improve and the fights become harder.
FIGHTWORLD.com
Brazil- Did Orlovsky surprise you with his standup skills? Rizzo-
I don't think so, I didn't think that he'd have alot of boxing
skills, but he was tall and had a strong punch. So I had to protect
myself a bit, I didn't want to be surprised with a punch to the
head or the chin, and this hindered the fight for me. The first
round was like I wanted, in the second round I had got an injury
from the first one, so I stalled the fight a bit and the boos
started, however I knew that I was working the fight just right
and that I had a chance to KO him. Since the beginning of this
fight my goal was the KO and not to decision him, so in 3rd round
I had absolute certainty that I'd KO him and I did.
FIGHTWORLD.com
Brazil- What was this injury which you got? Rizzo- We kicked
together, but when I landed the kick there was the shock of our
legs when my foot wasn't in good position, so I got a injury
in the ligaments of the ankle and foot.
FIGHTWORLD.com
Brazil- What's your opinion about Josh Barnett's use of illegal
anabolic steroids? Rizzo- I think it's like I said before, that
NHB is developing and everybody is looking for an advantage.
I think that anabolic gives an advantage, however with hard work
you get the same results. I don't want to say much, but if he
comes into a fight with me with or not anabolic steriods, he'd
be like a normal opponent.
FIGHTWORLD.com
Brazil- With this happening to Barnett, did you hope to get your
fourth opportunity to capture the heavyweight title? Rizzo- I'm
fighting, I'm not too much worried with this because then I put
a lot of responsibility on my myself and then I fight bad. So
who ever they put in front of me I'll fight, if the title match
comes this or next year, I'm ready. Despite I consider myself
a UFC champion because I had three opportunities and in the second
one I think that I won. Everybody who has had the belt I won,
so I think that the belt is only a symbol of the conquest and
this'll happen naturally, I think that if I keep my mind clear
I can beat anybody.
FIGHTWORLD.com
Brazil- Do you consider your three defeats as psychological problems?
Rizzo- Only the second fight against Couture, the first one and
against Kevin Randleman I think not. I didn't have luck against
Randleman and I suffered an accidental headbutt, while the first
one against Couture I think that I won, I was very well trained
however I expended a lot of gas during that fight. So the second
against Couture I think that really the psychological side defeated
me, I put a lot of pressure on myself, I couldn't lose because
everybody spoke that I'd win easily, so I think that I let these
things influence me; I fought wanting to show gratitude to everybody
who supported me when I was defeated, but I should fight first
for me instead of them.
Rizzo-
He wanted to do his retirement in that fight, but he got an injury
training. He was ready to fight and he'd win for sure, he came
to Brazil and our team was supporting him with our all tools.
He'd stop his brilliant career on the top, however right now
he's got to recover and he'll return to do his retirement fight,
his career didn't finish.
FIGHTWORLD.com
Brazil- Another guy who was here in Brazil in the last month
was Peter Aerts, is this the first time that you're training
with him here? Rizzo- Yeah, when I fought Orlovsky I went to
Holland and we had agreed that he'd come to Brazil this time.
FIGHTWORLD.com
Brazil- What kind of training did you do with Aerts here? Rizzo-
He is unquestionable on the feet [laughs]. Aerts is taller than
me and he got to teach me some important positions which Ruas
would teach if he was here, these position are small details
which're so important within a fight.
FIGHTWORLD.com
Brazil- Did Aerts show any interest to fight NHB since these
challenges between K-1 Vs. NHB fighters appeared? Rizzo- He received
some invitations to fight, one of them was in Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye
last December. He asked about what I thought and he said that
it was a good purse, so I think that he'd like to fight, he's
here in Rio de Janeiro training Wrestling and Luta-Livre too,
so if anybody face him in December he'll not be just a guy who
only knows to fight on the feet.
FIGHTWORLD.com
Brazil- After Gan MacGee, will you fight again in the UFC? Rizzo-
I'd like to fight, but this is up to the UFC promoters, only
two fights per year isn't good for me, I'd like to fight 4 times.
UFC has its schedule and I'm an employee and I've accepted what
they do. I believe a lot in Dana and Lorenzo, and if they want
that I fight in UFC 40 too, I fight, no problems, I'm professional.
Rizzo-
It's hard to pick and I know that this'll be hard for both, this's
a fight you never know who'll win. Couture knows how to play
with the fence and he learned something from that fight against
Barnett, while Rodriguez has a game similar to Barnett, only
that Barnett is better on the feet and Rodriguez is better at
getting in to take the opponent down and to fight on the ground.
So I think that Couture will not face many things different than
in his fight with Barnett and as Couture is smart, he'll have
learned by his mistakes during that fight against Barnett. Couture
is thinking that maybe this could be his retirement fight, so
he wants this heavyweight title to retire himself on the top.
FIGHTWORLD.com
Brazil- So it's hard to pick a winner? Rizzo- I'm a fighter and
I know what goes on inside the octagon, so for me this is 50%
for each [laughs].
FIGHTWORLD.com
Brazil- What did you think about that heavyweight match between
Frank Mir & Ian 'The Machine' Freeman, mainly about Mir,
who was considered the favorite? Rizzo- Mir won two fights very
fast and the media put him out there as an exceptional fighter.
I constructed my career solid and slowly, I think that the fighter
needs to have experience, you can see that Rodrigo 'Minotauro'
Nogueira started fighting in WEF, after he went to RINGS and
then to Pride, everything slowly. I think that I've a solid career,
'Minotauro' has a solid career, I believe a lot in fighting to
get experience. I think that Mir didn't have this experience,
he got two meteoric victories and he didn't know everything what
could happen in the octagon, you need to learn to deal with difficulties
to be consider a top fighter, I think that I surpassed some of
these difficulties and nothing more can scare me. So what happened
with Mir is just part of a fighter's career, he'll learn with
this and he'll raise his head and recover himself.
FIGHTWORLD.com
Brazil- Did you hope to face the winner of Mir and 'The Machine'?
Rizzo- Yeah, I was expecting this, but the promoters know what
is better and put McGee in to fight me, no problems I fight anyone.
FIGHTWORLD.com
Brazil- Last words? Rizzo- With Aerts here, my training's quality
is better and with my team training hard, everything will run
ok. I still have a lot of time to improve more to UFC 39.
Source:
Abu Dhabi
From
Brazil: Jiu Jitsu Masters and Seniors pics
'The International'
Master & Seniors was held this past weekend at the famous
Iate Clube Jardim Guanabara. Many great fighters were there competing
and attending the tournament. The highlight featured Fabio Gurgel,
Megaton Dias, Fabio Santos, and Ailson Brites, among others.
Gurgel cleaned
house in the heavys and absolute masters division! Fabio stated
that he 'loves medals and needs to collect some more to be satisfied.'
Megaton Dias was another one fighting with vigor. In the brown
belts, 'Ovideo' won the medium weight and the absolute division.
50 years old, Ovideo used to work out at the BTT headquarters
everyday, besides teaching at Rio de Janeiro Federal University.
If you are not training often, it is an adventure to stay in
Oveido's guard, Be ready to tap!!!!
Gustavo Aragão proved that he can be a fighter and photographer
all in one! Gracie Magazine photographer cleaned the featherweights
in the masters division, tapping most of the opponents!! On a
side note, Brazilian Top team member and sparring partner of
several fighters such as Murilo Bustamante, Rui Menezes was taken
out in the Absolute finals, losing on an awesome throw!
Source: Abu
Dhabi
Ironheart
Crown
HAMMOND,
IN -- On Saturday, October 26th, the Hammond Civic Center will
host the return of the Ironheart Crown. Local fight fans have
been eagerly awaiting this show, which promises to host the most
exciting card seen in the area to date. Among the six scheduled
title bouts, one of them in particular had piqued the interest
of the local crowd. Miguel Torres, a hometown favorite fighting
out of East Chicago, Indiana has been on fire since his mixed
martial arts debut three years ago. With 26 wins under his belt,
and no losses, it seemed as though no one could stop him. It
was inevitable that he would eventually meet up with Jeff Curran,
who is, without a doubt, the Chicago area's top competitor at
145 pounds.
This
highly anticipated fight promised to be one of the most exciting
fights of the evening. Unfortunately, it will have to take place
another day. While training for what would have been the biggest
challenge of his fighting career, Torres suffered a tear in his
anterior cruciate ligament. He will require surgery, rendering
him unable to compete for the IHC Featherweight title.
But
take heart, fight fans. The show must go on. While most of the
local martial arts community considered Curran to be the favorite
in this fight, the tides have turned and no one can argue that
he is now the underdog. Taking Torres's place will be a man whose
credentials date back to Curran's teenage years. Better known
as "Soneca" to practitioners of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu,
Helio Moreira now has his eyes on the belt. Representing the
Barra Gracie academy in Rio de Janeiro, Soneca dominated Wellington
"Megaton" Diaz to capture the gold in the 1996 World
Jiu-Jitsu Championships. He earned his black belt in jiu-jitsu
many years ago and has been a top instructor of Carlos Gracie's
academy for as long as Curran has been training. Soneca has trained
a number of top Brazilian fighters, including the notorious Wanderlei
Silva, who earned his purple belt under Moreira's guidance. If
these credentials don't say enough about this man, consider the
fact that he also has a documented victory over Royler Gracie.
"Its
an honor to fight him," Jeff proclaims. "I have always
admired Megaton's skills, aspiring to one day achieve his level
of finesse, but I watched a tape of Soneca beating him with ease.
My fighting philosophy has always been to rely on jiu-jitsu,
because in the end, jiu-jitsu will prevail. Now I have to rethink
that philosophy as I take on an opponent who is ten times the
jiu-jitsu practitioner that I am."
"I
know I have a chance. I wouldn't take the fight if I didn't think
I could somehow win. I'm definitely not coming into this fight
with arrogance. I know it will be the hardest fight of my life.
But I'm not coming in with fear either. Soneca is an expert in
jiu-jitsu, but I'm no beginner myself. We won't have a gi on,
so that takes away a lot of the jiu-jitsu tools. I think I have
a much stronger background in striking, so that will work in
my favor as well."
"I
know I'm the underdog, but every now and then, even monkeys fall
out of trees. If he gives me the slightest opening, be it standing
or on the ground, I'm going to take it. I'm training hard, and
I think I have a shot. Let the cards fall where they may."
Spoken
like a true champion. While the critics' consensus has been that
Curran cannot possibly win this fight, the outcome will be decided
in the ring, and if Jeff Curran has anything to say about it,
he will be collecting a number of apologies on the evening of
October 26th.
Also
on the card, IHC welterweight champion, Jay Buck will be defending
his title against UFC veteran Shonie Carter. Light-heavyweight
Champion Jim Theobald will face Carlson Gracie Team member Stephan
Bonnar, and heavyweight champion Vaughan Palelei will have his
hands full with Pancrase fighter, Jason Godsey. A total of eleven
bouts are scheduled, and tickets are selling fast. For more information,
visit the event's website at www.ironheartcrown.com or call 773-793-6555.
Daijiro
Matsui: The Unlucky Warrior
It's early evening in Tokyo, August 29th. When I arrive at Takada
Dojo I see Daijiro Matsui by the stereo choosing some workout
music. His face is bruised and he has a cut under one eye. When
I say hello as I walk to the locker room. Matsui greets me with
a terse but polite, "Konnichi-wa". Then he pops in
a Quiet Riot CD and starts pumping out what will probably turn
into a couple hundred Hindu squats.
This
is the image of Matsui I've grown accustomed to. Less than 24
hours after losing a split decision in Pride "Shockwave"
to Dutch kickboxer Jerrel Venetiaan, Matsui is back in the gym
and working hard. Some fighters might have taken it easy for
a few days. Some might have been discouraged after their 10th
loss. But Matsui is back in the gym again, getting ready for
the next impossible fight Pride offers him.
That
work ethic causes mixed reactions among writers and fight fans.
When Matsui steps in the ring, he's doing his job as best he
can. He's constantly shooting for single leg takedowns, trading
punches with superior strikers, and fighting his way out of submissions.
It's continuous action.
So,
win or lose, some people love to watch Matsui's fights.
Others
aren't impressed by Matsui's work ethic because he loses a lot
of those fights. Sure, he's working hard. But where's it getting
him? When his straight-ahead, maximum-effort style isn't working
out, Matsui ends up taking a gruesome beating.
But
even his detractors have a strange kind of sympathy for Pride's
"punching bag". It's hard not to. Matsui is the perpetual
underdog who is blessed (or cursed, depending on your point of
view) with an iron jaw. He's the guy who managed to take vicious
strikers like Vanderlei Silva and Vitor Belfort to a decision
and paid dearly for it. It's that sheer fortitude that inspires
sympathy and respect in even the harshest critic. Even if you're
not a fan, you feel for Matsui like you feel for the survivor
of a natural disaster.
Still,
Matsui's non-stop go style does work sometimes. The high point
of his career so far was a decision win over Jose "Pele"
Landi-Jons. In addition to his normal hustle, Matsui was throwing
drop kicks, smashing Pele into the turnbuckles and grabbing the
Brazilian's head with both hands and pounding the floor with
it. But even in this fight Matsui almost got submitted in the
first few minutes and got smashed dead in the grill with a few
knees. So what is it about the Takada Dojo stalwart that makes
him constantly teeter on the edge of defeat? Once again, I think
it's Matsui's work ethic.
My
interpretation is that Matsui works too hard to entertain the
fans. In one interview I did with him, he said clearly, "In
the past, I thought that I would rather have an exciting fight
and lose rather than win a boring fight." You can see that
mind-set in a lot of Matsui's fights. Given the choice between
playing it safe or doing something risky, he will almost always
do something risky to keep the fight from being boring.
A
good example was his loss to Murilo "Ninja" Rua. In
the first round, that fight was a rollercoaster ride of submission
attempts and reversals on the ground. But later in the fight,
when they were standing, Matsui tried a risky judo throw on the
muay thai fighter and it didn't work out. So he ended up on the
ground getting stomped by Rua. Matsui could have played it safe.
He might have even won a decision like he did against Pele. Instead,
he opted to give the fans their money's worth and got TKOed.
But
maybe things are changing. Matsui's fight in the Shockwave event,
against K-1's Venetiaan, was one of his more conservative performances.
He spent most of his time shooting in, catching the kickboxer
with single leg takedowns, and keeping the top position. There
were still the obligatory pro-wrestling acrobatics, like drop
kicks and jump stomps, and, as usual, Matsui took his licks.
But, for the most part, he stuck to a basic strategy and controlled
most of the action against the defensive Venetiaan. Many in the
audience felt he had won. But two of the judges felt differently
and Matsui lost a split decision.
Personally,
I hope Matsui can turn it around. I hope he can catch a few more
of these K-1 fighters as they cross over into MMA and score a
few big wins. I don't think I'm the only one who feels this way.
After 13 Pride appearances (most of them losses), Daijiro Matsui
has become one of the most familiar faces in MMA.
He
has become sort of a Rocky Balboa figure, the journeyman who
gets matched up with overwhelmingly superior opponents. No one
expects him to win. But sometimes, just sometimes, we want to
see hard work win over natural talent. Sometimes we want to see
the guy who is more like us win.
But
for now, it's back to the gym and staying ready. As Kevin Dubrow
screams "Cum on Feel the Noize" from the speakers,
Matsui is still doing sets of Hindu squats. Pride 22 is coming
up in a few weeks. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if a fighter
got hurt and they called Matsui at the last minute to fill in.
If so, I hope he gets the win he deserves. In the meantime, I
just hope he gets some new CD's.
Source:
Maxfighting
UFC
39 The Warrior's Return
Fight Card
Mohegan Sun Arena, CT
September 27, 2002
Randy
Couture and Ricco Rodriguez to clash for vacant UFC HEAVYWEIGHT
TITLE plus 2 Lightweight Fights at Mohegan Sun Arena To Set Stage
For Future Title Showdown!
For
more details, check out the UFC's website at www.ufc.tv.
Complete
Lineup (Subject To Change):
HEAVYWEIGHT
TITLE: Randy Couture versus Ricco Rodriguez
LIGHTWEIGHT
CONTENDER TOURNAMENT:
- BJ Penn versus Matt Serra
- Din Thomas versus Caol Uno
Middleweights:
Ivan Salaverry versus Matt Lindland
Middleweights: Phil Baroni versus Dave Menne
Heavyweights: Pedro Rizzo versus Gan McGee
Welterweights: Sean Sherk versus Benji Radach
Heavyweights: Tim Sylvia versus Wesley "Cabbage" Correira
UFC
39: The Warriors Return will be available on iN DEMAND, DIRECTV,
Dish Network, TVN, Bell ExpressVu and Viewers Choice Canada pay-per-view
television. The suggested retail price is $29.95.
