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(All events on Oahu, unless noted)

July 9-12
BJJ World Cup (CBJJO)
(BJJ)
(SESC gym, Salvador, Brazil)

Sometime between Arnold-Gracie & Pan Ams
Pac-Rim BJJ tournament
(BJJ & Sub Grappling)
(Hawaii)

3/5-7/04
Arnold Schwarzenegger World Gracie Professional Submission Championships
(BJJ & Sub Grappling)
(Columbus, Ohio)

2/15/04
First Maui Invitational of Jiu-Jitsu

(BJJ & Sub Grappling)
(Kahului, Maui, Hawaii)

Punishment in Paradise II
(MMA & Kickboxing)
(Campbell H.S. Gym)

2/7/04
Ring of Honor 3
(Sub Grappling)

2/6/04
Super Brawl 32
(MMA)
(Blaisdell Arena)

1/31/04
UFC 46: Super Natural
(MMA)
(Mandalay Bay Events Center, Las Vegas, NV)

1/24/04
Ring of Honor 2
(MMA)
(Oahu)

1/19/04
Second 2 None Submission Grappling Tournament
(Sub Grappling)
(Oahu)


2004


12/31/03
"INOKI BOM-BA-YE 2003"
(Kobe Wing Stadium, Kobe, Japan)
(MMA)

Pride's Special Otoko Matsuri 2003
(MMA)
(Japan)

K-1
(Kickboxing & MMA)
(Japan)

12/27/03
Rumble On The Rock 5
(MMA)
(Hilo, Hawaii)

 News & Rumors
Archives
Year 2003
December 2003 Part 1
November 2003 Part 3
November 2003 Part 2
November 2003 Part 1
October 2003 Part 2
October 2003 Part 2
October 2003 Part 1
September 2003 Part 2
September 2003 Part 1
August 2003 Part 3
August 2003 Part 2
August 2003 Part 1
July 2003 Part 3
July 2003 Part 2
July 2003 Part 1
June 2003 Part 3
June 2003 Part 2
June 2003 Part 1
May 2003 Part 3
May 2003 Part 2
May 2003 Part 1
April 2003 Part 3
April 2003 Part 2
April 2003 Part 1
March 2003 Part 3

March 2003 Part 2
March 2003 Part 1
February 2003 Part 3
February 2003 Part 2
February 2003 Part 1
January 2003 Part 3
January 2003 Part 2
January 2003 Part 1
Year 2002
December 2002 Part 2
December 2002 Part 1
November 2002 Part 2
November 2002 Part 1
October 2002 Part 3
October 2002 Part 2
October 2002 Part 1
September 2002 Part 3
September 2002 Part 2
September 2002 Part 1
August 2002 Part 2
August 2002 Part 1
July 2002 Part 3
July 2002 Part 2
July 2002 Part 1
June 2002 Part 3
June 2002 Part 2
June 2002 Part 1
May 2002 Part 3
May 2002 Part 2
May 2002 Part 1
April 2002 Part 3
April 2002 Part 2
April 2002 Part 1
March 2002 Part 3
March 2002 Part 2
March 2002 Part 1
February 2002 Part 2
February 2002 Part 1
January 2002 Part 3
January 2002 Part 2
January 2002 Part 1
Year 2001
December 2001 Part 2
December 2001 Part 1
November 2001 Part 2
November 2001 Part 1
October 2001 Part 2
October 2001 Part 1
September 2001 Part 3
September 2001 Part 2
September 2001 Part 1
August 2001 Part 2
August 2001 Part 1
July 2001 Part 3
July 2001 Part 2
July 2001 Part 1
June 2001 Part 2
June 2001 Part 1
May 2001
April 2001 Part 2
April 2001 Part 1
March 2001
February 2001
January 2001
Year 2000
Nov-Dec 2000
October 2000
Aug-Sept 2000
July 2000
March-May 2000

December News Part 1
 

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 12/10/03

Quote of the Day

"With ordinary talent and extraordinary perseverance, all things are attainable."

Sir Thomas Foxwell Buxton, Abolitionist and Reformer

Stephen Abas Wrestling Clinic

Date: December 23, 2003
Time: 9:00 AM
Place: Moanalua High School
Price: $10 or $200 per team

This guy is an animal. Read below to see the stats that I researched on Stephen Abas.

Stephen Abas Quick Bio

Three-time NCAA National Champion 1999, 2001, 2002
Four-time All-American 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002
Number 1 Ranked in the USA at 55 kg/121 lbs.

Fresno State: (2001-02) Proved himself to be the undisputed best wrestler in the nation in the 125 division for the third time … was consistently ranked No. 1 in the 125 division throughout the entire season … beat Iowa's Luke Eustice 8-4 in the finals at the NCAA Championships in Albany, N.Y., to win his third national championship … won the West Regional Championships and led Fresno State to a second-place finish … completed a perfect season, going 35-0 overall and 19-0 in dual meets … racked up 12 pins, three technical falls and nine major decision victories … is Fresno State's first three-time national champion and second four-time All-American … set a Bulldog record in season win percentage (1.000) and career win percentage (.973) … finished his Fresno State career with a record of 144-4 … topped his brother, Gerry, in the record books for wins in a career … led the Bulldogs to a 19th place finish at the 2002 NCAA Championships.

(2000-01) Top ranked 125 division wrestler in the nation … captured his second national title at the NCAA tournament and became a three-time All-American … won the Western Regional Championships … was the first Bulldog to go undefeated through an entire season with a record of 34-0 … was voted among Fresno State's Top-25 greatest athletes.

(1999-00) Took the year off from school and wrestling to train for the 2000 Olympics. Abas placed fourth in the US Olympic Trials.

(1998-99) Captured the national title at 125 pounds, becoming the second person in Fresno State history to earn such an honor in wrestling … had only one blemish in his national championship season (37-1), a loss to three-time national champion Eric Guerrero … was the WAC champion for the second straight year … had a dual match record of 14-1 … voted Fresno State's male athlete of the year … ranked second in Bulldog history with a single season win percentage of .974 … picked up the WAC Outstanding Wrestler honor for the second year in a row … racked up 11 technical fall victories and six pins.

(1997-98) One of the top freshman in the country … made an immediate impact in his first collegiate season with a 38-3 overall record while going a perfect 15-0 in dual meets ... was ranked as high as second in the nation at 118 pounds ... capped his standout season going 5-2 at the NCAA Championships to earn a fourth place finish and All-America honors ... was named the WAC Wrestler of the Year and conference Freshman of the Year after winning his first WAC championship at 118 ... opened the season winning his first 24 matches ... took first place at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, All-California Open, UC Davis Aggie Open and at the California Collegiate Invitational ... was named Outstanding Wrestler of the Tournament at the Las Vegas Invitational ... four times earned

Wanderlei Silva - Taking Off the NEW YEAR Events

It was recently announced that Wanderlei Silva, PRIDE's GP and Middleweight Champion had surgery on his elbow, which was retaining water. Check out http://news.adcombat.com/article.html?id=5554 for our post surgery report with pictures of the elbow post surgery.

Amid much speculation in Japan that the champion would fight on one of the New Year's events, word is that PRIDE handlers have received a letter authored by Rudimar Federigo, Chute Boxe's leader and Wanderlei's principal handler. The letter states that Wanderlei's recovery is going well from the surgery, however the recovery will prevent him from training properly for a New Year's Eve appearance. Reportedly, the letter was received in Japan on Tuesday, the 9th and seems to confirm that Wanderlei will be sitting out the New Year's events in 2004.

Source: ADCC

Interview: M-1 Veteran DENIS KANG

Canadian star Denis Kang earned a draw against Andrei Semenov in M-1 “Russia vs. The World 7” last weekend in St. Petersburg, Russia. Most observers describe a cleaner vicotry for Kang than the judges saw, as several times Semenov would shoot in and Kang wouldn’t go down, either by use of a guillotine and sprawl, backing against the fence, or just punching as Semenov came in. Semenov did get Kang down twice by clinching against the fence and ripping Kang’s legs out, so Kang ended up sitting down but Kang’s defense on the ground prevented Semenov from doing much with it. Each time they hit the ground Kang came online a little more until by the end of the single 10-minute round Kang was on top firing shots at will. Several questionable stand ups in Semenov's favor came in to play as well, as once they were bought up 5 seconds after the Canadian achieved side control.

KM: Tell me about the jetlag. DK: This is the worst I’ve ever been jetlagged before. This is worse than Japan because this was a fifteen hour trip here and I only came here a day and a half before the fight.

KM: Weren’t you saying the general rule of thumb was one day of rest per time zone difference? DK: That is what they say you should do. Ideally that is what you want. I understand they can’t do that, that would be about two weeks. I think it should be at least five days.

KM: What effect did that have on you fight? DK: My muscles weren’t tired but I could really feel it in my lungs. I knew I was in good shape but I really had to push it. I got a good poker face so I don’t show it. I could tell he was tired so I was trying to act like I wasn’t tired.

KM: You saw the show on closed circuit tv backstage. What was your impression on the endurance of the Russian fighters in general? DK: A lot of the Russians got a little tired. I think what is happening is a lot of the Russian fighters are getting fed easy opponents and they are getting used to it. I think maybe that is what happened with me and Semenov is he thought he was getting an easy opponent, he didn’t hear of Denis Kang. Maybe he didn’t train as hard as he should have and I think that is what happened with a lot of these other guys too. They’ve been getting treated pretty nicely and when they step it up in the quality of adversaries they were a little caught off guard.

KM: To me it does seem like they have been increasing the level of adversaries lately. How do you look back on that fight? DK: I think it was a good fight. I think I fought well, I did everything I should, I nullified all of his attacks, and gave him some things to think about. You look at my face now and his face now ad you’ll see a big difference. I think it’s really important to look at how the fight ended. The fight ended with me on top pounding away and landing shots at will. I’m not talking about the last five seconds, I’m talking about the last thirty seconds. That is a long time in a fight. If you look at the whole fight overall it’s me dominating.

KM: Dominating yes, but counterpunching or reacting in the beginning. DK: I was counterpunching a lot in this fight because as I mentioned earlier I was tired so I really wanted to save my energy. It’s a really small cage; one step and you are pretty much nose-to-nose. I didn’t really have to go too far to wait for him to come in. I wanted to get in on him a little and throw some but I also wanted to save some energy.

KM: Tell me about the controversial ref stand-up right after you hit side control. You two had a total of four stand-ups and one separation clinched against the cage. How do you feel about that? DK: I understand from their point of view they want to keep the fight exciting, they don’t want any deadlock or stalling, but at the same time the ref maybe has to be more educated in terms of when a fight is really a deadlock and when both opponents are actively working towards making a technique work. That is what is important here, making a technique work. For example if one opponent passes the guard and ends up in side mount you don’t stand them up two seconds into holding side mount. I think most stand-ups happened within five seconds of hitting the ground or clinch. I think they could have been a little more lenient with the stand-ups.

KM: Did it bother or distract you in the fight? DK: I just move on and act like it doesn’t bother me. After the fight I bitch all I want but during the fight I don’t care. I think about the fight and only the fight.

KM: You look healthy today, like you don’t have much damage. A little bit of a bruise above your left eye. How do you feel? DK: Feel great. Still a little tired from the jetlag. Other than that I feel fine.

KM: Semenov is highly respected in the European community and with me. Now that you have beaten him, in theory, do you feel any differently about yourself or your career? DK: Of course I’m glad it’s over and I came out and did well. I think it’s a good win for me because he has a good record, he has beaten some top dogs out there, and I think this solidifies my standing in at least the top 10. It shows I’m ready for world-class opponents.

KM: I wanted to point one thing out; you and I agree but you just said ‘good win’ when it was officially a draw. DK: You can change that if you want. I don’t want to get in trouble with M-1.

KM: I’d like to leave that in if you don’t object because the point I’m trying to make is everybody I’ve talked to agrees you won that fight. How do you feel about it being ruled a draw? DK: It is what it is. Decisions are what they are. You know and I know how the fight went, it will come out on video, people will know. It’s normal in a foreign country the judges are a little biased towards the local fighter but also there has to be some reason. It has to be within reason. That’s ok; the crowd loved me, the promoters loved me, I’m going to be back and hopefully next time it will be a better decision.

KM: Suloev is around 185 also. Has anybody mentioned specific names? DK: No names at all, just said I’d be back.

KM: Would you recommend coming out for M-1? DK: Absolutely. I think it’s evident they are trying to make M-1 a world-class show with the amount of work that was put into it backstage and onstage.

KM: Given what you said about coming back would you look for a fight between now and a return to Russia? DK: It depends. I’m tentatively scheduled to fight January 30th in TKO. That is not for sure yet, a verbal agreement. After that I don’t have too much planned.

KM: Assuming the fight with you and Vigneault does happen what are your thoughts on fighting Vigneault? DK: It would be an honor because he is the champ and I wanted to fight him for a long time. He is a good fighter, a good athlete, but I think I’m better.

Source: ADCC

Pancrase 12/21 Event Complete Lineup -
DAVID TERRELL To Make Pancrase Debut!

'PANCRASE 2003 HYBRID TOUR'
SUNDAY,DECEMBER 21,2003
DOORS OPEN;3:00PM
FIRST FIGHT;4:00PM
DIFFER ARIAKE (TOKYO,JAPAN)

Lineup Subject TO Change:

PRO-MATCH #1 / WELTERWEIGHT 2x5 MIN ROUNDS
KENJI ARAI (PANCRASEism) vs DAISUKE HANAZAWA 13 (MMA DOJO COBRAKAI)

PRO-MATCH #2 / WELTERWEIGHT 2x5 MIN ROUNDS
TAKAFUMI ITO (OPEN-WEIGHT 2ND RANKED/PANCRASEism) vs LINSON SIMANJUNTAK (INDONESIA/BIO FIGHTING CLUB)

PRO-MATCH #3 / WELTERWEIGHT 2x5 MIN ROUNDS
KOJI OISHI (WELTERWEIGHT 1ST RANKED/PANCRASEism) vs TAKAHITO IIDA (A-3)

PRO-MATCH #4 / HEAVYWEIGHT 2x5 MIN ROUNDS
HUR SUNG JIN (KOREA/NEO FIGHT) vs YUKIYA NAITO (A-3)

PRO-MATCH #5 / LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT 2x5 MIN ROUNDS
OSAMI SHIBUYA (LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT 10TH RANKED/PANCRASEism) vs TSUYOSHI KURIHARA (TEAM ROKEN)

PRO-MATCH #6/ MIDDLEWEIGHT 3x5 MIN ROUNDS
HIDEHIKO HASEGAWA (MIDDLEWEIGHT 7TH RANKED/SK ABSOLUTE) vs EIJI ISHIKAWA (MIDDLEWEIGHT 10TH RANKED/PANCRASE GRABAKA)

SEMIFINAL/LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT 3x5 MIN ROUNDS
KEIICHIRO YAMAMIYA (LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT 10TH RANKED/PANCRASE GRABAKA) vs BRET BERGMARK (U.S.A./CESAR GRACIE ACADEMY)
*YAMAMIYA WAS TRADED FROM PANCRASEISM TO PANCRASE GRABAKA

MAIN EVENT/LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT 3x5 MIN ROUNDS
YUKI SASAKI (LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT 7TH RANKED/PANCRASE GRABAKA) vs DAVID TERRELL (U.S.A./CESAR GRACIE ACADEMY)

Source: ADCC

OKLAHOMA STATE TOPS TWO NEW POLLS, AS IOWA STATE MOVES INTO SECOND PLACE

Last weekend's flurry of college wrestling activity has resulted in yet another shuffling in the team polls.

Intermat had ranked Illinois as first, but they only finished fourth at the 2003 Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational held Friday and Saturday in Las Vegas. Nebraska won that 43-team tournament, followed by Michigan and Missouri.

W.I.N. Magazine had ranked Iowa at the top of the heap. But on Sunday, Iowa State ended a 30-meet losing streak to win six matches out of ten, including the final five, to defeat Iowa 21-13 at home in Hilton Coliseum in Ames.

Also on Sunday, defending national champion Oklahoma State earned a 23-12 victory over Oklahoma. Oklahoma State had lost its dual meet with Missouri two weeks earlier by a score of 21-17. But Missouri's third-place finish in Las Vegas, and the fact that each team had won five matches at the Oklahoma State-Missouri dual, gave enough ammunition to continue to rank Oklahoma State ahead of Missouri.

The result: both Intermat and W.I.N. have restored Oklahoma State to the top spot. Both also installed Iowa State in the second slot. W.I.N. follows with Las Vegas champion Nebraska, then Michigan, and then Iowa, demoted from number one. Intermat follows with Lehigh, Iowa, and Nebraska, with Illinois dropping all the way to number seven.

Here are their latest top 20 team rankings:

W.I.N. Magazine- 12/9
Rank. School .................. 11/26
1 ............ Oklahoma State ...............2
2 ............ Iowa State ...........................3
3 ............ Nebraska ............................9
4 ........... Michigan .......................... 8
5 ........... Iowa ................................. 1
6 ........... Lehigh .............................. 5
7 ........ Missouri .................... 7
8 ........... Illinois ............................. 4
9 ........... Cornell .......................... 11
10 ........ Minnesota ...................... 6
11 ........ Hofstra .......................... 10
12 ........ Arizona State ............... 16
13 ........ Ohio State .................... 13
14 ........ Penn State ..................... 12
15 .......... Oklahoma ......................... 14
16 ........ Pennsylvania .................. 15
17 ........ Central Michigan ......... 18
18 ........ Northern Iowa ............ 17
19 ........ Cal Poly ........................ NR
20 ........ Michigan State .............. 21

Intermat-12/9
Rank. School ................... 12/2
1 ............ Oklahoma State ...............2
2 ............ Iowa State ...........................4
3 ........... Lehigh .............................. 5
4 ........... Iowa ................................. 3
5 ............ Nebraska ............................9
6 ........... Michigan .......................... 7
7 ........... Illinois ............................. 1
8 ........ Missouri .................... 6
9 ........... Minnesota ...................... 8
10 ........ Cornell .......................... 10
11 ........ Arizona State ............... 17
12 ........West Virginia ................ 11
13 ........ Penn State ..................... 12
14 ........ Hofstra .......................... 13
15 .......... Oklahoma ......................... 18
16 ........ Ohio State .................... 19
17 ........ Pennsylvania .................. 14
18 ........ Central Michigan ......... 15
19 ........ Wisconsin ..................... 16
20 ........ Northern Iowa ............ 20

PAC-10 RANKINGS

We also have the latest individual Pac-10 rankings for Dec. 9, as compiled by the coaching staff of Arizona State University:

Pac-10 Individual Wrestling Rankings Release #2 - December 9, 2003

125
1. Efren Ceballos (CS Bakersfield)
2. Eric Stevenson (Oregon State)
3. Christian Staylor (Arizona State)
4. Tom Schurkamp (UC Davis)
5. Tony Franco (Cal Poly)

133
1. Darrel Vasquez (Cal Poly)
2. Derek Moore (UC Davis)
3. Matt Sanchez (CS Bakersfield)
4. Scott Jorgensen (Boise State)
5. Tim Norman (Oregon State)

141
1. Brad Metzler (Stanford)
2. Jeff Bristol (UC Davis)
3. Juan Mora (CS Fullerton)
4. Jesse Brock (Boise State)
5. David Roberts (Cal Poly)

149
1. Patrick Williams (Arizona State )
2. Matt Cox (Cal Poly)
3. Nick Davis (UC Davis)
4. Tony Hook (Oregon State)
5. Brett Gordon (CS Fullerton)

157
1. Matt Gentry (Stanford)
2. Brian Stith (Arizona State)
3. Brian Cobb (CS Bakersfield)
4. Jeremiah Jarvis (UC Davis)
5. Ben Cherrington (Boise State)

165
1. Matt Ellis (Oregon State)
2. Luke Larwin (Oregon)
3. Mike Font (UC Davis)
4. Brody Barrios (Cal Poly)
5. Brian Perry (Stanford)

174
1. Jed Pennell (Oregon State)
2. Imad Kharbush (Stanford)
3. Ron Renzi (Arizona State)
4. Leonel Sanchez (CS Fullerton)
5. Shannon Sams (UC Davis)

184
1. Ryan Halsey (Cal Poly)
2. Nick Frost (Arizona State)
3. Casey Phelps (Boise State)
4. Dan Pitsch (Oregon State)
5. John Garfinkel (Stanford)

197
1. Ryan Bader (Arizona State)
2. Matt Monteiro (CS Bakersfield)
3. KC Walsh (Boise State)
4. Landon Seefeldt (CS Fullerton)
5. Ralph Garcia (Cal Poly)

285
1. Cain Velasquez (Arizona State)
2. Ty Watterson (Oregon State)
3. Dan Howe (Cal Poly)
4. Jacob McGinnis (Boise State)
5. Cody Parker (Oregon)

Source: ADCC

Tyson’s debut postponed until 2004

Controversial boxer Mike Tyson appeared on the big screen of Tokyo Dome during the K-1 World GP Finals, to state that he will fight in K-1 indeed. He also hinted that he didn’t travel to Japan this time because perhaps the country authorities would not allow him to enter Japan. (He’s referring to his criminal record, probably).

Tyson said also that K-1 is the biggest martial arts organization in the world and that he will knock out everyone who faces him.

Right after Tyson’s appearance, the former football player and current fight idol Bob Sapp went to the ring and said he will face Tyson in 2004. Before that, however, Sapp will fight former Sumo champion Akebono in the Mixed Martial Art event that K-1 will hold this coming December 31st.

Source: ADCC

Fraser, Lewis and Seras named by USA Wrestling to coach 2004 U.S. Olympic Team in Greco-Roman wrestling

USA Wrestling has made its choice for the Olympic Coaches for the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team in Greco-Roman wrestling that will participate in the Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.

Selected to join USA Wrestling National Greco-Roman Coach Steve Fraser of Colorado Springs, Colo. as Olympic Coaches in Greco-Roman wrestling are Shon Lewis of Colorado Springs, Colo. and Andy Seras of Sandy Hook, Conn. This selection has been forwarded for final approval from the U.S. Olympic Committee.

Lewis served as head coach of the 2003 U.S. Greco-Roman World team that competed in Cretiel, France. The U.S. team placed 13th in the standings. He served as the assistant coach of the 2002 U.S. Greco-Roman World Team, which placed fifth in the World Championships held in Moscow, Russia. Lewis has also served as a coach for the U.S. World Military team, which competes at the annual CISM World Military Championships. Lewis works as the coach of the U.S. Army team, stationed in Fort Carson, Colo.

Seras was head coach of the 2002 U.S. World Team, which competed in Moscow, Russia. The team placed fifth in the standings. Seras was the assistant coach for the 2001 U.S. World Team. When the head coach could not attend the World Championships, Seras assumed additional responsibility, serving as the head coach. The United States won the third-place trophy, led by three medallists. As an athlete, he competed in the 1988 Olympic Games. Seras works as the head wrestling coach at Sacred Heart Univ.

Fraser joined USA Wrestling as the National Greco-Roman Coach in October, 1995, serving as the full-time professional coach working with the national Greco-Roman program. Fraser led the U.S. to its best team performance ever at the 2001 World Championships with the United States taking home the third place trophy. He also led the U.S. to strong performances at the 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games. In the 2000 Sydney Olympics, the U.S. won one gold, one silver and one bronze medal. In the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, the U.S. won three silver medals. As an athlete, Fraser won a gold medal at 90 kg (198 lbs.) at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, becoming the first U.S. wrestler to win an Olympic gold medal in Greco-Roman wrestling.

Complete biographies of each Olympic Coach selection follows, as well as quotes from each of the coaches.

The two volunteer coaches selected as Olympic Coaches came from a group of five finalists. Lewis and Seras were selected by the USA Wrestling Greco-Roman Coach Selection Committee, then approved by the USA Wrestling Executive Committee. All of the finalists were interviewed by the Greco-Roman Coach Selection Committee.

The other volunteer coaches who were finalists for the positions were Jay Antonelli of Quantico, Va., Joe DeMeo of Niskayuna, N.Y. and Rich Estrella of Colorado Springs, Colo.

USA Wrestling will add one more official volunteer coach to the Greco-Roman coaching staff at a later date.

QUOTES FROM THE OLYMPIC COACH SELECTIONS

MEN*S GRECO-ROMAN

Shon Lewis of Colorado Springs, Colo.

*It is a great honor to be recommended to be on the staff to take our nation*s best athletes to the Athens Games to compete in Greco-Roman wrestling. It is with pride that we work to help develop young athletes to win medals and pursue their goals. It is an honor to be selected to take on this task.*

*For our team, mental toughness and mat awareness are important. We have to learn to mentally will ourselves to victory. We have to win the last two minutes of every match. That will be a big focus for us, whether it is scoring points or getting the passivity calls. Picking it up a knotch, and closing out the match is important. As long as we stay focused, we are on the right track. We don*t have to change anything * we just have to get better.*

Andy Seras of Sandy Hook, Conn.

*I*m excited. I*ve worked hard to get this opportunity. I think we have a great chance to make history. My wife makes it possible for me to volunteer as a coach. Joe DeMeo, my coach, mentor and friend has shaped my entire wrestling career. Without him, it would not have happened.*

*We need to shore up some weaknesses, No. 1 being par terre defense. We need to get them to believe in the depth of their minds that they can be Olympic champions.*

(on the difference between being an Olympic athlete and an Olympic coach) *Part of being a wrestling is being selfish and putting yourself and your training first. It is totally opposite as a coach. You have to put yourself second always. You have to make sure the athletes are happy, comfortable and have everything provided for them in a professional manner.*

National Greco-Roman Coach Steve Fraser of Colorado Springs, Colo.

(about Lewis and Seras)
*Both add a freshness to our staff. They are young coaches, who are very well respected by the top athletes. They are hungry to win and do well. They are committed to the Greco-Roman program and the plan. They care about all of the Greco-Roman athletes, not just the wrestlers from their clubs. I*m real happy with them, and all of the Greco-Roman coaches who volunteer their time on the Senior level. We get along well, are on the same page, and have the same commitment to the quest.*

*The priority at hand is to get all seven weight classes qualified at the two Olympic qualifiers remaining. It will be a great challenge. There are about eight World medallists at every weight class not qualified. These are serious and competitive. We treat these events like the World Championships. We are preparing every day for the Olympics. Our goal for the Olympics is four medals, with two golds. Our goal is for all seven to place in the top eight, and a first-place team finish. It is an aggressive goal for our Greco-Roman program, but one I am confident we can achieve if everyone prepares properly and everyone wrestles to their potential.*

BIOGRAPHY SKETCHES OF OLYMPIC COACHES IN GRECO-ROMAN WRESTLING

Shon Lewis of Colorado Springs, Colo.

Lewis served as head coach of the 2003 U.S. Greco-Roman World team that competed in Cretiel, France. The U.S. team placed 13th in the standings, led by three athletes in the top 10 of their divisions.

He served as the assistant coach of the 2002 U.S. Greco-Roman World Team, which placed fifth in the World Championships held in Moscow, Russia. The team was led by World Champion Dremiel Byers. Lewis is also Byers* full-time club coach, a major reason that Byers was able to develop into a World champion.

Lewis works as the head coach of the U.S. Army team, stationed in Fort Carson, Colo. He is responsible for training the athletes in the Army*s World Class Athlete Program. The U.S. Army team features a number of nationally-ranked athletes, including Byers, and 2001 U.S. World Team member Keith Sieracki. The team has won the U.S. Nationals Greco-Roman team title for the last three seasons.

Under Lewis* guidance, the U.S. Army won the 2003 Armed Forces Championships, claiming the title in both freestyle and Greco-Roman, as well as the overall title. The U.S. Army has won the Armed Forces title a number of times since Lewis became head coach. Lewis has also served as a coach for the U.S. World Military team, which competes at the annual CISM World Military Championships. Lewis was also named 2002 Greco-Roman Coach of the Year by USA Wrestling.

As an athlete, Lewis competed on the 1993 and 1999 U.S. World Championships teams. He also qualified for the 1998 U.S. World Team, but was unable to participate in the World Championships that year. He was a four-time U.S. Nationals Greco-Roman champion (1993-94, 1996, 1998), and was a medalist in three U.S. Olympic Team Trials (1992, 1996, 2000).

Lewis was a member of the U.S. Army team as an athlete, winning six Armed Forces Greco-Roman titles and competing in the World Military Championships. He was the 1993 U.S. Army Athlete of the Year, an award including all sports in the Army*s program. Prior to joining the Army, he attended the Univ. of Oregon, as well as competing for Placer High School in Auburn, Calif.

Andy Seras of Sandy Hook, Conn.

Seras was head coach of the 2002 U.S. World Team, which competed in Moscow, Russia. The team placed a strong fifth in the team standings, led by individual gold-medalist Dremiel Byers.

Seras was the assistant coach for the 2001 U.S. World Team, and worked in that capacity during its training period. When the head coach was injured and could not attend the World Championships, Seras assumed additional responsibility on the coaching staff, serving as the head coach. The United States won the third-place trophy, led by three medalists: World champion Rulon Gardner and World silver medalists Brandon Paulson and Matt Lindland. It was the highest placement of a U.S. team ever at the Greco-Roman World Championships.

He was also the head coach of the 2001 U.S. Greco-Roman World Cup team, which competed in France and placed third in the standings, led by four individual medalists. Seras served as assistant coach of the 2001 U.S. team in Poland, as well as assistant coach of U.S. tour team that competed in Russia and Sweden.

Seras was selected as the 2001 USA Wrestling Greco-Roman Coach of the Year. He has coached a number of U.S. teams on international tours. He is a club coach with the Atlas Wrestling Club and the Sunkist Kids. He has also served on the coaching staff of the Connecticut Junior National Team in 1999 and 2000.

He works as the head wrestling coach at Div. I Sacred Heart Univ., where he is building a strong program. He was an assistant coach at Sacred Heart for a number of years, and was previously an assistant coach at SUNY-Albany.

Seras was a member of the 1988 U.S. Olympic Team. He was a 1991 Pan American Games champion, and placed second in the 1995 Pan American Games. Seras claimed a gold medal at the 1994 World Cup. He competed on five U.S. World teams, placing sixth in the 1991 World Championships and ninth in the 1989 World Championships. Seras won five U.S. National titles and made the finals of the U.S. Greco-Roman National Championships for 12 straight years.

He competed for SUNY-Albany, where he was a 1985 NCAA Div. III national champion. He is originally from Niskayuna, N.Y., where he was fourth in the New York state high school meet. Seras was a two-time placewinner at the Junior World Championships.

National Greco-Roman Coach Steve Fraser of Colorado Springs, Colo.

Steve Fraser joined USA Wrestling as the National Greco-Roman Coach in October, 1995. He serves as the full-time professional coach working with the national Greco-Roman program and works to develop Greco-Roman programs in the United States.

Fraser led the U.S. to its best team performance ever at the 2001 World Championships with the United States taking home the bronze team medal. A U.S. Greco-Roman team had never won a team medal at a World Championship.

Fraser has worked hard to help improve the entire national Greco-Roman effort, from youth through the Olympic levels. This was also evident with the performance at the 2000 Olympic Games when the U.S. won one gold, one silver and one bronze medal. Gold medalist Rulon Gardner stunned the world with his win over unbeaten Alexander Kareline of Russia during the Sydney Games. Fraser also coached the 1996 U.S. Olympic team, that won three Olympic silver medals in Atlanta, Ga.

He also works closely with the U.S. Olympic Committee Greco-Roman resident athlete program in Colorado Springs, Colo. Fraser has created a number of new programs to assist in the development of age-group wrestlers and coaches in Greco-Roman.

Fraser won a gold medal at 90 kg (198 lbs.) at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, becoming the first U.S. wrestler to ever win an Olympic gold medal in Greco-Roman wrestling. He won five matches on the way to the title, including a 1-1 criteria decision over Ilia Matei of Romania in the gold-medal finals. Among his key victories was a 4-1 decision over three-time World Champion Frank Andersson of Sweden.

He also won a gold medal at the 1983 Pan American Games. Fraser was a member of the 1979 and 1982 U.S. World Teams. He claimed U.S. Nationals titles in Greco-Roman in 1981 and 1983, and was a U.S. Nationals freestyle champion in 1984.

Fraser was inducted as a Distinguished Member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1994. He was named USA Wrestling Athlete of the Year in 1984, and was a finalist for the James E. Sullivan Award that year. He has been inducted into the Michigan Wrestling Hall of Fame and the Michigan Amateur Sports Hall of Fame.

He attended the Univ. of Michigan, where he was a two-time NCAA All-American. Fraser received a bachelor*s degree in physical education in 1980. He was a Michigan state high school champion at Hazel Park High School.

Fraser was a college and club coach after his competitive career was over. He was an assistant coach at the Univ. of Michigan from 1980-87, and at Eastern Michigan Univ. from 1987-1993. He also coached with the Michigan Wrestling Club for 10 years, working with their elite wrestlers in both freestyle and Greco-Roman.

Fraser came to USA Wrestling after serving with Domino*s Pizza for 10 years. His final position with the company was the Senior Operations Director for the Flagship Academy for Domino*s Pizza, Inc., where he directed 65 stores, including Domino*s Pizza*s most elite corporate stores. Among his other positions were Special Projects Coordinator, Manager of Public Affairs, National Director of Sports Systems.

Source: ADCC

 12/9/03

Quote of the Day

"When I hear somebody sigh, 'Life is hard,' I am always tempted to ask, 'Compared to what?'"

Harris, American Journalist

Sperry Set to Face Don Frye and Rogerio Close to Facing Sakuraba at PRIDE!
By Eduardo Alonso

As the PRIDE New Year's Eve card continues to be built, a lot of stars are being signed in an effort to be a step ahead of the competition, as K-1 and Inoki are also putting cards on the same day in Japan. An important part of that mix is, as it should be, the Brazilian Top Team, and one of the most important fighters on the team is now confirmed on the card. Jiu-Jitsu legend Mario Sperry will be facing none other than PRIDE and UFC veteran Don Frye in what promises to be an exciting fight matching up two veterans with different fighting styles. DSE is likely to announce this match-up this coming Wednesday. Another fight that is in the works and is likely to be announced also is Rogerio "Minotoro" Nogueira, twin brother of Rodrigo "Minotauro," facing PRIDE legend Kazushi Sakuraba, who is coming off a win over Kevin Randleman. Some details are still being negotiated, but this fight is likely to be announced soon as well. Still on the subject of the Brazilian Top Team, HEAT FC veteran Angelo Araujo, who is fighting at the Antonio Inoki New Year's Eve show, will likely be facing PRIDE Bushido veteran Alexander Emelianenko, brother of Fedor Emelianenko, who defeated Assuerio Silva in his MMA debut. FCF will keep an open eye on all the developments of the negotiations.

Source: FCF

4th American International Championship of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu & Submission Grappling

The 4th American International Championship of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu & Submission Grappling was held this past weekend in Costa Mesa,Ca. Highlights of day one of the event were on the Black Belts: Alberto Crane, who arm barred his opponent, James 'Avalanche' Boran successful return to competition with a strong win and Ryron Gracie taking the open Black Round Robin with a 7 x 4 victory over current World Champion Cassio Werneck followed by a submission win (arm-lock) over Valtinho' Nagakawa.

In the Brown, once again Rafael Lovato Jr showed everyone why he is considered one of the best in the World taking the division easily, but the story of the tournament was the Purple belt division with Lloyd Irvin's rising star Mike Fowler and wonder kid Ralek Gracie facing each other in the absolute finals.

Both Mike and Ralek won their weight division and signed for the absolute. Fowler proceeded to mowed down his opponent's with the same efficiency and technique that has conquered him all the events he has entered of late while Ralek quickly submitted his opponent via foot lock setting up the big match.

Fowler opened up with a sweep followed by a guard pass and a quick 5 x 0 lead. At this point it appeared that his experience would be too much for the young Ralek in just his second ever tournament. Mike continued to attack and nearly got Ralek's back, but Ralek mounted an offensive, first a vicious foot-lock that had everyone grimacing including Fowler. But you don't win tournament by not having heart and great escapes and Mike has both, he gutted out of the lock, but the relentless Ralek went from half-guard to pass to mount, as Mike quickly replace the half-guard Ralek went for the arm and again appeared to have the fight ending sub, but again 'Houdini' Fowler escaped and went back on the attack, transforming a kimura from Ralek into an arm lock attempt that ended up out of bounds.

In the end of the great match it was Fowler with an 8 x 4 victory, but both fighters showed everyone they are tops!

Lloyd's crew continues to shine, it appears that his Grappling Blueprint 3 1/2 year plan is overshooting the mark, at this rate this kids will start getting there in 1 1/2 : ) Lloyd stop teaching them! ! !

On the other hand, young Ralek showed HUGE improvement in just one year (since the USJJF tournament) and the 17 year old has a bright future ahead of him!

Source: ADCC

"Black Belt Challenge - Hosted by Joe Moreira

Joe Moreira announces the return of his famous Black Belt Challenge. The traditional event took a hiatus but is now scheduled for Fri., December 19, 2003, 7:00 pm to 9:00pm at the Hollywood Park Casino in Los Angeles, CA. with a strong line up of fighters.

Scheduled to fight:

Ricardo Barros, Chris S., Ed Keller, Macaco, Paulo Gazze, Marc Kompaneyets, Japa, Micah Cipili, Gustavo Moreira, Alexandre Brandao, Waldomiro, Jr., Cleber Luciano, Joao Silva, Paolo Guillobel, Walter (Rodrigo Medeiros), John Cunaha, Ricardo 'Franjinha' Miller, Gerald Weiner, Wander Braga, Fabio Vinella, Dartanian Bagby & Ricardo Teixeira . More names and the event format to be announced soon.

Tickets will go fast so make sure to call quickly to reserve your spot. Feel free to call Joe for more information or tickets at 949-254-3554

Prices are:
Premier Seating: $50
Reserved Seating: $35
General: $20

Source: ADCC

SHOOTO ADDS LYTLE vs. SPRATT!

Friday, January 2nd 7:30PM
Belleville Exposition Center
200 Southbelt East
Belleville, IL. (East St. Louis)

St. Louis area fight fans are in for a monumental treat.

There's nothing like ringing in the new year with some brews, babes and battles and that's just what promoter Randy Greenman has in mind for the 1/2/04 RSF/SHOOTO event.

As with many MMA shows, keeping a rock-solid main event can be a difficult thing to do.

The original main event of CHRIS LYTLE vs. KARO PARISIAN was off due to Karo accepting a UFC fight less than 4 weeks out which is a 'no-no' for both Shooto and UFC.

Dennis Hallman stepped up an accepted the fight but later had to pull out. Hallman recommended northwest standout SCOTT NORTON. Norton wanted to bring his 8-0 record to the Midwest against Lytle but due to a severe family emergency pulled out of the fight.

'I was to the point where I didn't even want to call anyone else' says CO-matchmaker Jeff Osborne who shares booking duties with Greenman and Shooto. 'I was so frustrated over keeping this one fight together and the cost of plane tickets around showtime that I was going nuts all weekend.'

Randy Erikson, USA SHOOTO representative, suggested that a call to PETE SPRATT should be made. After a few phone calls from both Osborne and Erikson, Sven Bean called and said Pete would gladly accept the fight.

IT IS ON! Pete Spratt vs. Chris Lytle will do battle and both will be brought back to UFC.....but one will get there a little quicker after January 2nd.

Main Event:
- Chris 'Lights Out' Lytle (Shooto Americas #3) vs Pete 'The Secret Weapon' Spratt (A-class)
- Phil Johns (Shooto Americas #6) vs Steve Berger (A-class)
- Sam Morgan (Shooto Americas # 4) vs Manvel Gamburyan (A-class)
- Alex Steibling vs Mike Rogers (A-class)
- Curtis Stout (Shooto Americas #4) vs Mike Rothmeir (A-class)
- Ginelle Marquez vs Kelly Kobald (B-class)
- Mark Long vs Jay Estrada (B-class)
- Doug Sauer vs Travis Fulton (B-class)
- Ryan Maynor vs Heath Pedigo (B-class)
- Matt Schwinnen vs Bill Hill (B-class)

Area fans are no strangers to Randy Greenman's RSF shows. He's drawn as many as 2,400 fans to his events with zero advertising! This show is no different as nearly 900 tickets have been sold at an alarmingly fast pace.

This event also marks the first time ever that a women's MMA bout will take place in Illinois.

Look for more news in the upcoming weeks!

For ticket information call (314) 832-3489 or visit

WWW.RSFSHOOTOCHALLENGE.COM

WWW.SHOOTOAMERICAS.COM

Source: ADCC

HORN DEFEATS LISTER SO WHAT'S NEXT...
THE UFC OR FIGHTING DAVID LOISEAU?


The big question for Jeremy Horn, what is next? Horn looked great against Dean Lister over the weekend at King of the Cage. The fight turned out to be a bloody battle as Horn cut Lister early in the fight on the forehead.

It was a forearm/elbow that did the damage and split open Lister. Then Horn almost finished the fight in the first round, but Lister, somehow escaped out of a tight triangle choke in the first round. From then on Lister wasn't able to muster much of an attack. According to various media at the event, most people had Horn winning the fight 3 rounds to 1 round.

Now what is next for Horn? He most likely will give up the King of the Cage title and pursue fighting at both 205 and 185. Horn would prefer to fight in the UFC at 185, but there are strong indications until the UFC calls, he will take a fight against David Loiseau in the TKO promotion in February.

The UFC seemed to be interested in Horn fighting at 185, but after a lackluster performance against Vernon Tiger White in Las Vegas last year, the UFC made it clear, you can't just win... you have to win impressively.

Now fast forward a year later and Horn has made it understood, he's ready to FIGHT, with the word FIGHT being the key word in the equation. Horn was sensational at the IFC event in Denver in June and since then has focused on being an exciting fighter and has delivered on becoming more aggressive in his fights including this weekend against Lister.

So what are the possibilites of Horn fighting in the UFC? You would think pretty good since Phil Baroni was suspended for a year and now the only fighter they have as a legit contender at 185 seems to be Matt Lindland. When Horn was asked about fighting in the UFC at 185 he said "I would love to fight for the UFC at 185, but until they call I have to keep fighting to make a living."

Don't look for Horn to drop to 185 immediately. Horn's promoter Monte Cox told MMAWeekly "You got to remember the money at 205 is better than 185. So I think you will be able to see Jeremy compete in both divisions for now."

Source: MMA Weekly

Fanning the Flames as the HEAT is Coming:
Forrest Griffin Returns to the Brazilian Spotlight at HEAT FC 2!

Taking the MMA world by storm last July 31st with his submission win over seasoned veteran Ebenezer Fontes Braga at HEAT FC 1, youngster Forrest Griffin out of Athens, GA, suddenly got the recognition his fighting skills and raw talent should have got him long ago. Ever since his amateur days Forrest was adding win after win to his record, scoring armbars and chokes and amazing those who were close to him at that time. Later, in his first venture as a pro, Griffin faced much more experienced and much heavier Dan Severn, only to lose by judge's decision. His next six professional fights saw six impressive wins, including names such as Jeff Monson and Travis Fulton. However, as he was getting ready for bigger opportunities a broken hand would sideline Forrest for quite a while, making him miss a potential fight against Bobby Hoffman and having him wonder about his future. However, it would be a matter of time until he would be back on track again as faith would give him a shot at facing tough veteran Ebenezer Braga in the inaugural HEAT show, all the way down in Brazil! In what seemed a risky move, Griffin went down to Brazil to score a rear naked choke and get the win in under four minutes, and doors started to open again. Next step for Forrest was his IFC tournament appearance, where he proved his potential again in both winning and losing efforts, as he submitted Team Quest member Chael Sonner with a triangle choke, and lost to UFC and PRIDE veteran Jeremy Horn by KO, in an exciting match up that he won't forget soon. Already known in our sport's biz, Forrest Griffin is now taking his game to Brazil once again at HEAT FC 2, where he will most certainly prove his skills once again and show a bit more of his sense of humor, as this guy is truly one of the most humble fighters you'll ever meet! As HEAT FC 2 Evolution approaches, Full Contact Fighter is gearing up the expectations for what promises to be one of the best MMA shows in Brazil in recent times, and so we bring you Forrest Griffin as he talks about his last fights and his next tasks!

FCF: Your last fights took place at the IFC tourney, where you won your first fight before losing in the second one. Besides the actual results of your fights, what was your general feeling of being part of that show?
Forrest Griffin: Just being around the fighters and being at an event of that caliber made me think, "shit this really is a professional sport!" The athletes were there to win and they trained and lived like professionals. They didn't mess around, for them it was not a vacation, it was work and it showed in their performances. The event itself was organized and ran like a German clock.

FCF: In your first fight you submitted wrestler Chael Sonnen by triangle. You mentioned to me, before the tournament, that you would be happy if you would just win the first fight. Did you really feel happy with it after the show?
FG: Hell no! That was garbage! I don't know what I was talking about. I think I was afraid to come out and say "I want to win". But I should have gone Quinton Jackson's style and just said "damn I want that money!". After I lost I was depressed as hell and wanted to quit all together.

FCF: What did you think of your fight against Sonnen, and do you like to fight from the bottom, using your guard?
FG: Junk, nobody wants to see a guy just sit in his guard and protect himself. It's performances like that that give Jiu-Jitsu a bad name. The guard can be exciting. My guard can be exciting!

FCF: After your win over Chael, you ended up facing experienced fighter Jeremy Horn, in a fight that was somewhat even before you got surprised by a kick and ended up knocked out. How do you analyze that fight?
FG: I mostly try not to think about it, I just have nightmares. He out worked me and he wanted to win more than I did. Oh yeah, and he's real slick too! I really like the guy, but God, I want to fight him again.

FCF: You seemed to take your loss quite well, so this may sound as a dumb question, but how did it feel to be knocked out for the first time in your career?
FG: I'd rather get knocked out in grand fashion than lose a decision where I fight "smart". I'm never going to be one of the top level guys, so I don't worry about wins and losses, or at least I try real hard not to, but I want to be exciting.

FCF: I have to say I think you're on the verge of being one of the top guys, and it's good to see you're still humble [Laughs]. Anyway, you're now about to return to action fighting at HEAT FC 2 Evolution. What are your expectations for this fight?
FG: I'm ready to fight again. It's been a long time and I'd like to fight more often, except that I keep breaking stuff and that makes it hard [Laughs].

FCF: Your opponent is Edson Paredao, who is somewhat unknown for the international public. What do you know about your opponent and what do you expect from him?
FG: I really don't know anything about him except he's big and strong, and has anice straight right hand, which I'd like to stay clear of.

FCF: This is a smart move! [Laughs] Did you change anything in your training for this fight? What did you emphasize the most training for HEAT FC 2?
FG: All kidding aside I added alcohol, lots of it, to my diet and went out a lot more. I also started working at a strip joint and keeping odd hours [Laughs]

FCF: Damn! Let's take it as an improvement on your part! [Laughs] You also took part on HEAT FC 1, defeating seasoned veteran Ebenezer Braga. What do you recall from that experience, and do you think that win will give you some support and recognition from the crowd in Brazil?
FG: Sure! The fans down there appreciate the sport and a good "balls to wall" performance. That's what they got last time this is what they will get this time.

FCF: You're now fighting on a card with other famous fighters such as Allan Goes, Carlos Barreto, Ebenezer Braga, Gustavo Ximu, Travis Wiuff, and others you saw fighting before such as Eric Wanderlei, who was also in the IFC. Are there any fighters that you're looking forward to see competing live at the show?
FG: I can't wait to see some of those fights. I tell the American fans who probably don't know of him to watch Eric Wanderlei! He fought in the IFC with one days notice and no time to adjust to the Denver alttitude, which is a killer. But despite all that he still showed me how good a fight can look on the ground.

FCF: After your win over Braga at HEAT 1, and your display of skills at the IFC you became known and rumors are always flying around about Forrest Griffin. After HEAT FC 2, what's next for you?
FG: A lot of dieting [Laughs], I'm fighting Marvin Eastman on January 17th.

FCF: This is going to be also a great fight! Any final messages for the fans?
FG: Don't be my fans, guys in the NFL have fans. Randy [Couture], Chuck [Liddell], and Tito [Ortiz] have fans, I just have friends.

FCF: There you have it! Thank you very much for your time Forrest and the best of luck at HEAT FC 2!
FG: Thank you Eduardo.

Source: FCF

Wrestling Weekend Wrap-Up
By: Eddie Goldman

IOWA STATE DOWNS IOWA, 21-13, TO END 30-MATCH LOSING STREAK; OKLAHOMA STATE DOWNS OKLAHOMA AT BEDLAM; LEHIGH, PENN, PENN STATE, COLUMBIA, NAVY NEWS

The last time the Iowa State Cyclones defeated their in-state rivals, the University of Iowa Hawkeyes, in a dual meet, Ronald Reagan was president, there was no World Wide Web, and the Berlin Wall still stood. That was in 1987, some 30 dual meets ago.

That all changed Sunday afternoon, as Iowa State won six matches out of ten, including the final five, to defeat Iowa 21-13 at home in Hilton Coliseum in Ames, before a crowd of 5149. Iowa State upped its unbeaten mark this season to 7-0, while Iowa is now 4-1. While the Red Sox and Cubs may still have to wait, one of college wrestling's longest losing streaks is now over.

With unbeaten Nebraska winning the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, in which Illinois took fourth, and Iowa falling to Iowa State, it will once again be interesting to see just whom the pundits anoint as number one in this week's polls. Unlike college football, with its hopelessly flawed BCS computer rankings devised by hopelessly flawed human beings, the real national champions in college wrestling will be decided by head-to-head competition, in the NCAA Div. I Wrestling Championships this coming March in St. Louis.

Also on Sunday, Oklahoma State prevailed in the 146th edition of Bedlam by defeating in-state rival Oklahoma, 23-12. The crowd in Gallagher-Iba Arena totaled 7402. With over 5000 watching Iowa State-Iowa and over 7000 watching Oklahoma State-Oklahoma in early season duals, the popularity of college wrestling seems to be on the rise.

We also have results from Lehigh at the Sheridan Duals, the University of Pennsylvania, Penn State, Columbia, and Navy, all compiled from the press releases sent to us by these teams.

THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA

HAWKEYES LOSE TO IOWA STATE, 21-13

AMES, IA -- The University of Iowa wrestling team lost its first dual of the season, 21-13, to Iowa State Sunday in Ames. A crowd of 5,149 saw the loss that snapped Iowa's 30-match winning streak against the Cyclones.
Iowa senior Tyler Nixt started things off with a 19-8 major decision over Nels Matson at 174. The win was the 95th of his career, and he improves to 15-0 on the season. Iowa State's Kurt Backes put the Cyclones on the board with a late takedown to defeat Hawkeye sophomore Paul Bradley, 4-3, at 184.
The Hawkeyes won the next three matches, starting with Hawkeye senior Ryan Fulsaas' 3-2 win over Cyclone Trevor Smith at 197, making the team score 7-3. At heavyweight, Hawkeye redshirt freshman Ryan Fuller added three more team points with his 10-5 decision over Iowa State's Richard Schopf. Hawkeye senior Luke Eustice improved to 7-0 on the season with a 7-5 win over Cyclone Grant Nakamura at 125 to make the team score 13-3.
The Cyclones started a roll of their own at 133, when senior Zach Roberson scored a 10-5 decision over Iowa redshirt freshman Todd Meneely. At 141, Iowa State sophomore Nate Gallick defeated Hawkeye senior Cliff Moore, 6-3. Hawkeye sophomore Ty Eustice scored a late escape in regulation at 149 to take Cyclone redshirt freshman Trent Paulson to sudden victory, but Paulson scored a takedown and backpoints in the overtime to win the match 5-1. Iowa State took a two-point team lead at 157 when
Cyclone redshirt freshman Travis Paulson held off a late comeback from Iowa sophomore Joe Johnston to win, 7-4. Cyclone senior Nick Passolano sealed the streak-snapping win with his 36-second pin of Hawkeye redshirt freshman Cole Pape at 165.
In other competition, Hawkeye freshman Mark Perry won the 165-pound title and sophomore Lucas Magnani placed third at 125 at the Northern Iowa Open Saturday in Cedar Falls.
Iowa (4-1) will host Northern Iowa (1-1) in its home opener Thursday at 7 p.m. at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City.

INDIVIDUAL MATCH RESULTS
Iowa State 21, Iowa 13
174 Tyler Nixt (I) maj. dec. Nels Matson (ISU), 19-8
184 Kurt Backes (ISU) dec. Paul Bradley (I), 4-3
197 Ryan Fulsaas (I) dec. Trevor Smith (ISU), 3-2
Hwt Ryan Fuller (I) dec. Richard Schopf (ISU), 10-5
125 Luke Eustice (I) dec. Grant Nakamura (ISU), 7-5
133 Zach Roberson (ISU) dec. Todd Meneely (I), 10-5
141 Nate Gallick (ISU) dec. Cliff Moore (I), 6-3
149 Trent Paulson (ISU) dec. Ty Eustice (I), 5-1
157 Travis Paulson (ISU) dec. Joe Johnston (I), 7-4
165 Nick Passolano (ISU) pinned Cole Pape (I), 0:36

OKLAHOMA STATE

Cowboys Win Round 1 of Bedlam, 23-12

Cowboys Win Round 1 of Bedlam, 23-12
Thompson earns fall; Ward, Lewis record major decisions.

STILLWATER, Okla. (OSU Athletics ) ' Senior Johnny Thompson fueled the Cowboys to a 23-12 victory over No. 14 Oklahoma in their conference home opener Sunday afternoon in Gallagher-Iba Arena.

The Oklahoma City, Okla., native only needed 1:54 to pin OU's Mimi Miller, sending the crowd of 7,402 to its feet after referee Pat Fitzgerald slapped the mat. The win gave OSU a 6-3 advantage over the Sooners.

'It's going to be very important in any of our dual meets to have the opportunity to pick up a pin or a major decision,' Head Coach John Smith said. 'Until we can establish oursevles in a few weight classes outside of our four or five regulars, we are going to have to pick them (bonus points) up.'

OU's defending national champion Teyon Ware wrestled in his first match of the season against Ronnie Delk. After a scoreless first period, Delk got on the board first with a reversal. Ware cut the lead to 2-1 with an escape and then took the lead with a takedown with 11 seconds left. Delk then tied it at 3-3 with a buzzer-beating escape.

Ware then scored an escape and a takedown in the third to record the 6-4 victory, and to tie the team score at 6-6.

Zack Esposito's 9-4 decision over Jeff Ecklof started a string of five wins for the Cowboys. Kevin Ward would notch his first conference win at 157 with a 13-3 major decision over Charles Jones, while Tyrone Lewis recorded three takedowns and a pair of three-point nearfalls en route to a 16-4 major decision over Rafael Maturino.

'He (Kevin Ward) has done a good job,” Smith said. 'He's having an opportunity now to do something that he hasn't had in two years, and he is taking advantage of it right now.

'157 pounds is another strong weight class for us right now,' Smith said. 'Johny Hendricks just finished up winning a tournament up at Fort Hays this past weekend, and both of those guys will get the opportunity to go at Reno.'

Chris Pendleton defeated E.K. Waldhaus, 4-2, and OSU's defending national champion Jake Rosholt won his first match of the year, defeating Justin Dyer, 3-0.

The Sooners got decisions from Sam Hazewinkle, Joel Flaggert and Leonce Crump.

The Cowboys return to action on Dec. 14 with a pair of duals against Oregon State and Oregon.

Results
OSU - 23, OU - 12
125 - Sam Hazewinkle (OU) dec. Cody Stites (OSU), 5-2
133 - Johnny Thompson (OSU) fall Mimi Miller (OU), 1:54
141 - Teyon Ware (OU) dec. Ronnie Delk (OSU), 6-4
149 - Zack Esposito (OSU) dec. Jeff Ecklof (OU), 9-4
157 - Kevin Ward (OSU) m.d. Charles Jones (OU), 13-3
165 - Tyrone Lewis (OSU) m.d. Rafael Maturino (OU), 16-4
174 - Chris Pendleton (OSU) dec. E.K. Waldhaus (OU), 4-2
184 - Jake Rosholt (OSU) dec. Justin Dyer (OU), 3-0
197 - Joel Flaggert (OU) dec. Rusty Blackmon (OSU), 2-1
285 - Leonce Crump (OU) dec. Will Gruenwald (OSU), 7-2

OKLAHOMA

Sooner Wrestling Loses To Oklahoma State, 23-12
Oklahoma Wins Four Matches in Bedlam Dual.

NORMAN, Okla. - The No. 15 ranked Oklahoma wrestling team lost to Oklahoma State in front of a crowd of 7,402 fans in Gallagher-Iba Arena on Sunday. Red-shirt freshman Sam Hazewinkel, sophomore Teyon Ware, freshman Joel Flaggert and senior Leonce Crump won their matches tonight at 125, 141, 197 and HWT respectively.

'We are extremely young,' head coach Jack Spates said. 'We had six freshmen in there. I am just disappointed in the number of warnings that we received. You have to battle out there, and we felt that we had a real good shot to win five matches if we wrestled the way that we are capable of. The bottom line is that you have to do more.'

Ware made his return to the mat after injury held him out for the start of the season. Ware decisioned Ronnie Delk of Oklahoma State, 6-4 in a close match as defending national champion.

'From the beginning I just played this match by ear,' Ware said. 'I did not know how I was going to feel coming into this match. I was a little nervous when I came out because this was my first match back and it was bedlam. I am not throwing any excuses out there. He wrestled a great match. He kept it close, which was what a lot of the fans were hoping for. He is a tough wrestler and I will get another chance at him.'

Hazewinkel maintains his undefeated streak with a 5-2 decision of Cody Sites of Oklahoma State. The win puts Hazewinkel at 12-0 on the year with his first dual win of the season.

Flaggert won his match with Rusty Blackmon of Oklahoma State by a 2-1 decision. Flaggert reversed Blackmon in the second period to receive his only points of the match, which were enough to hold off Blackmon for the win.

'Sam and Joel Flaggert were excellent,' Spates said. 'They both wrestled extremely hard.'

Crump decisioned Will Gruenwald of Oklahoma State, 7-2 in the last match of the dual. Crump pulled away in the third period after a 2-0 lead through the first and second periods by recording two takedowns to finish off Gruenwald.

“We wrestled a great team, but a team that is vulnerable. We just have to do more to put ourselves in a position to win,” Spates said.

Oklahoma will next travel Edmond Okla. to take on Bacone College and Central Oklahoma on Dec. 12, at 4 p.m.

LEHIGH

Bethlehem, PA - In Lehigh's first match of the day, the Mountain Hawks overpowered EIWA foe American, winning by a score of 38-9. Head coach Greg Strobel elected to use the match get some mat time for more of the wrestling squad, as Mario Stuart, Matt Ciasulli, and Matt Cassidy were the only starters to wrestle. The match only included seven matches, as American forfeited at three weights.

At 125, Mario Stuart came out firing, executing a takedown and a three-point near fall in the first period. He never let up either, winning over Matt Pelligrino by tech fall at 6:44 by a score of 20-3. Then, at 133, Matt Ciasulli gained his team-leading third pin on the season, toppling Ben Lamson in just 1:13.

Mark McCauley made his first appearance of the year at 141, losing a very close match to Daniel Lobsenz. Lobsenz executed a takedown with just :10 left on the clock in the third period to take the victory 3-2. Tommy Rohn returned to the mat at 149, and Lehigh lost another thriller when Tim Kneizewski beat the buzzer with a match-tying takedown in the third, then scored another takedown in overtime to win 11-9.

The Mountain Hawks then took the next three weights by forfeit, with Derek Zinck, Mike Maceroli, and Brad Dillon picking up the wins. At 184, Dan Waters continued American’s efforts, beating Dave Helfrich with the only takedown of the match, winning 3-2. At 197, Matt Cassidy improved to 5-1 on the season with his first pin, taking down Adam Montgomery at 1:51. Finally, at heavyweight, Anthony Livecchi won his first match by besting Jared Hyman 8-6.

In an exhibition matchup, Lehigh’s Jon Bruno defeated Joe Maroney of Rider by tech fall, 16-0. Lehigh will finish off the Sheridan Duals with a match with Rider at 2:00. In an earlier match at 10:00am, Rider defeated American 46-3.

Weight Matchup Result
125 Mario Stuart (LU) over Matt Pelligrino (AU) WTF, 20-3 (6:44)
133 Matt Ciasulli (LU) over Ben Lamson (AU) WBF, 1:13
141 Daniel Lobsenz (AU) over Mark McCauley (LU) 3-2
149 Tim Kniezewski (AU) over Tommy Rohn (LU) 11-9 (OT)
157 Derek Zinck (LU) forfeit
165 Mike Maceroli (LU) forfeit
174 Brad Dillon (LU) forfeit
184 Dan Waters (AU) over Dave Helfrich (LU) 3-2
197 Matt Cassidy (LU) over Adam Montgomery (AU) WBF, 1:51
HWT Anthony Livecchi (LU) over Jared Hyman (AU) 8-6

Bethlehem, PA – Senior Mario Stuart began the match by picking up his second win of the day with a 5-3 win over Jim DiCisco in a match that was tight throughout. Don Fisch of Rider than controlled the next match as he defeated Matt Ciasulli of Lehigh by a score of 7-1, to tying the team scores at three. Ninth ranked Cory Cooperman helped the Mountain Hawks regain the lead with a 12-6 victory over Mike Molosky of the Broncs, in a match that Cooperman controlled throughout.

Freshman Matt Anderson then dueled with Labe Black in a bout that was close throughout, but Anderson was able to prevail as he came out on top with a 5-4 victory at 149. At 157, Derek Zinck engaged in a very close and entertaining battle with Dave Miller, as both wrestlers tried to gain control of the bout, but neither able to pull away. In the end, Zinck prevailed with a 3-1 victory and the Mountain Hawks led 12-3.

Mike Macerolli then got on the mat for the first time this season, after winning a decision by forfeit earlier in the day against American. Macerolli had a tough time against Ryan Cunningham, who came out fired up early and took control of the bout. Cunningham won the 165 pound by major decision with a score of 15-7, as the Broncs closed to within 12-7 overall. But, senior All-American Brad Dillon quickly put an end to that with a win by technical fall, as he defeated Chris Marold 20-5, and put the Mountain Hawks back up by ten, 17-7.

Travis Frick scored a tough 3-2 victory over Nick Catone to put Lehigh ahead 20-7, which put the match out of reach. Freshman Matt Cassidy then went up against Jeff Black in a very intense match, which was interrupted midway through, when Black spit on the mat, which turned into a technical point being awarded to Cassidy. Cassidy then countered Black’s outburst with a balanced attack of his own, which turned into a 6-2 victory. In the final bout of the day,

Weight Matchup Result
125 Mario Stuart (LU) over Jim DiCisco(RU) 5-3
133 Don Fisch (RU) over Matt Ciasulli (LU) 7-1
141 Cory Cooperman (LU) over Mike Molosky (RU) 12-6
149 Matt Anderson (LU) over Labe Black (RU) 5-4
157 Derek Zinck (LU) over Dave Miller (RU) 3-1
165 Ryan Cunningham(RU) over Mike Macerolli (LU) MD, 15-7
174 Brad Dillon (LU) over Chris Marold (RU) WTF, 20-5
184 Travis Frick (LU) over Nick Catone (RU) 3-2
197 Matt Cassidy (LU) over Jeff Black (RU) 6-2
HWT Paul Weibel (LU) over Carmelo Marrerro (RU)

Rider-American
Rider 46 American 3
125- Jim DiCicco (R) over Matt Pelligrino (A) WTF, 5:34 15-0
133- Don Fisch (R) over Ben Lamson (A) WBF, 5:27
141- Mike Molosky (R) over Daniel Lobsenz (A) WTF, 5:27 18-3
149- Labe Miller (R) over Tim Kniezewski (A) 10-3
157- Dave Miller (R) forfeit
165- Ryan Cunningham (R) forfeit
174- Chris Marold (R) forfeit
184- Dan Waters (A) over Joe Maroney (R) 11-5
197- Jeff Black (R) over Adam Montgomery (A) WBF, 2:30
HWT- Jared Terrell (R) over Jared Hyman (A) 16-14, (OT)

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

No. 12 Wrestling Crowns Three Champions at Penn State Open
Six Quakers compete in the Championship finals.

State College, Pa. – No. 12 University of Pennsylvania wrestling crowned three champions and sent six wrestlers to the championships finals at the Penn State Open on Sunday on the campus of Penn State University. Sophomore Matt Valenti remains undefeated on the season as he topped teammate Mike Silengo, 8-5, for the 125 pound title. Senior co-captain Brett Vanderveer and sophomore Matt Herrington both earned blue ribbons at 157 pounds and 174 pounds, respectively.

Valenti made his way to the gold medal round by defeating Brad Cipriano of Duquesne, 6-0 in the semifinals while Silengo topped Peter Derstine of Clarion, 10-8 in sudden victory.

Vanderveer earned his first win of the season with a convincing, 12-6, win over Nate Galloway of Penn State at 157 pounds. After pinning Tim Allen of Pitt, Vanderveer earned a major decision over John Pruit of Navy, 13-2 and defeated Mike Carbonaro of Navy to advance to the championship finals.

Herrington continued his momentum from Friday nights win into today’s tournament to earn his second win of the season at 174 pounds. Herrington pinned all three of his opponents on his way to the championship finals including a technical fall against Jonathan Crimeni of West Virginia as he led 16-0 before pinning Crimeni in 4:19. In the finals, Herrington defeated Bryce Hasselman of Bloomsburg, 13-4.

Junior Marcus Schontube finished second at 197 pounds after falling to Joel Edwards of Penn State, 6-3. At 133 pounds, sophomore Matt Eveleth pinned Justin Langiois of Navy and Mike Luppa of Maryland before defeating Mike Messina of Sacred Hart, 3-1, to earn a spot in the championship finals against No. 2 Josh Moore of Penn State. Moore topped Eveleth with a 10-2 victory.

Also placing for the Red and Blue were senior co-captain Ethan Bullock (third at 184 pounds), juniors Matt Feast (fourth at 285 pounds), Craig Wright (sixth at 149 pounds) and Kyle Bernholz (eighth at 157 pounds), sophomores Shawn Protz (fourth at 133 pounds) and Dustin Wiles (fifth at 174 pounds) and freshman Brock Wittmeyer (fifth at 157 pounds).

The Quakers return to action after the holiday break at the Midland Championships on the campus of Northwestern on Dec. 29 and 30.

Championship Finals:
125; Matt Valenti, Penn 8-5 over Mike Silengo, Penn
133; Josh Moore, Penn St 10-2 over Matt Eveleth, Penn
157; Brett Vanderveer, Penn 12-6 over Nate Galloway, Penn St
174; Matt Herrington, Penn 13-4 over Bryce Hasseman, Bloomsburg
197; Joel Edwards, Penn St 6-3 over Marcus Schontube, Penn

Consolation Finals (for third through eighth):
133; Mike Messina, Sacred Heart 7-6 over Shawn Protz,
149; Jon Denk, Duquesne F2:34 over Craig Wright, Penn
157; Brock Wittmeyer, Penn 12-1 over Adam James, Maryland; Rob Belville, Sacred Heart 7-0 over Kyle Bernholz, Penn
174; Dustin Wiles, Penn F1:07 over Pat Cissne
184; Ethan Bullock, Penn 6-1 over Nate Shirk, Bloomsburg
285; Mike Faust, unat, 6-6;2tb over Matt Feast, Penn;

PENN STATE

Penn State wrestlers post two champions, four finalists at Bic Open

State College, Pa., Dec. 7, 2003 - The No. 12 ranked Penn State wrestling team had its final tune-up before the start of the dual meet season Sunday as the Nittany Lions posted two champions, four
finalists and eight placers at the 2003 Bic Open in Rec Hall.
Leading the way for Penn State on the day were highly ranked seniors Josh Moore and Pat Cummins and sophomore Joel Edwards. Moore, ranked No. 2 at 133 pounds, rolled to his third tournament title of
the season as he posted two falls and a pair of major decisions in winning the 133-pound championship. Moore defeated Penn's Matt Eveleth, 10-2, in the final and ran his season fall total to 12 and season record to 17-1.
Cummins, ranked No. 1 in the nation at heavyweight, cruised into a semifinal showdown with No. 3 ranked Matt Feast of Penn. Cummins posted a pair of falls and a technical fall in the early rounds before posting a 3-1, sudden victory decision over Feast to reach the final.
Once there, he was greeted by U.S. National Champion Kerry McCoy who returned to Penn State for the competition. McCoy, a two-time NCAA Champion as a Nittany Lion, posted four victories on the day as he continued preparations for the 2004 Olympic Trials. The two Nittany Lions decided not to wrestle the final match and shared tournament title honors. Cummins is now 13-0 on the year with six falls and has three tournament titles to his credit.
Edwards picked up the title at 197 pounds after posting five impressive victories on the day. Two falls, a major decision and an 11-4 win put him into the finals where he downed Penn's Marcus Schontube 6-3.
Also reaching the finals on the day for Penn State was sophomore Nate Galloway. He posted four victories to reach the final at 157 pounds where he fell, 12-6, to Penn's Brett Vanerveer.
Also placing for Penn State on the day were juniors Josh Walker (5th at heavyweight) and Anthony Rivera (5th at 184) and freshmen A.J. Cummins (8th at 197) and Rich Brooks (3rd at 174).
Penn State starts the dual meet season Saturday in Rec Hall as they take on Navy at 7:00 p.m.

COLUMBIA

WRESTLING'S SATO GIVES TEAM'S BEST PERFORMANCE AT THE LAS VEGAS INVITATIONAL

LAS VEGAS, NE (Dec. 5, 2003) – Jeff Sato (So., Pismo Beach, Calif.) had the best showing for Columbia in the first day of the Las Vegas Invitational. Despite losing in the first round at 125, Sato tried to battle back through the consolation bracket and made it to the third round. He then lost a intense match by a score of 5-2. Sato finished the day at 2 wins and 2 loses.

Winning their first bouts of the tournament were Sam Kuntz (So., Cicero, Ill., 174) and Devin Mesanko (So., Toms River, N.J., 157). Kuntz won his first battle by forfeit at the 4:58 mark. He went on to the next round, where he endured a harsh loss. In consolations, he suffered at difficult 6-0 loss, ending his day. Mesanko easily won his first match 13-1 to move on to the next round. He then faced Ivy foe Jesse Jantzen from the Harvard Crimson and was eventually pinned. Once in the consolations, Mesanko lost a tough 5-1 battle.

The Lions will not be in action again until Dec.27th where they will travel to Greensboro, N.C. to take part in the Southern Scuffle.

Complete results:
125 - Jeff Sato, 2-2
133 - Eric Amstutz, 0-2
141 - Anthony Constantino, 0-2
149 - Dean Kinports, 0-2
157 - Devin Mesanko, 1-2
165 - Justin Barent, 0-2
174 - Sam Kuntz, 1-2
184 - John Grando, 0-2
Hwt. - Bart Seemen, 0-2

NAVY

Navy's Brochetti & Manion Capture Individual Titles at Penn State Open

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - Navy wrestlers Adam Brochetti (So./Kittanning, Pa.) and Travis Manion (Sr./Doylestown, Pa.) each captured titles their respective weight classes at the Penn State Open Sunday afternoon.

Brochetti defeated top-seeded John Zarzycki from Maryland, 8-1, in the championship match of the 149-pound weight class. Manion put together four-straight wins on the weekend, capped by a 6-4 decision over Rider's T.J. Morrison in the finals of the 184-pound division.

'The guys competed hard and we had quite a few guys place this weekend which is good for us,' Navy head coach Bruce Burnett said. 'Where we're at right now, we can't afford to make the mistakes we're making. There are still some injuries we're trying to overcome, but it's all practice right now and everyone is competing hard. We head back up here next weekend to wrestle nationally-ranked Penn State, so we have to get ready.'

Junior Nate Gulosh (Stow, Ohio) continued his strong wrestling with a third-place finish in the 141-pound weight class. Gulosh scored an 8-4 decision over Sacred Heart's Jason Cucolo to place third, while his younger brother Matt won the seventh-place match with a 12-5 decision against Sacred Heart's Kyle McCarthy.

Senior Michael Carbonaro (Blairstown, N.J.) scored a narrow 3-2 decision over teammate Craig Dziewatkowski (So./Aurora, Ill.) to place third at 157 pounds.
In the 125-pound weight class, freshman Alex Usztics (Dauphin, Pa.) defeated West Virginia's Troy Forte, 7-3, in the fifth-place match.
After dropping a close match in the 197-pound quarterfinals, junior Thayer Paxton (Jr./Meyersdale, Pa.) fought back in the wrestlebacks and pinned Penn State's A.J. Cummins at 1:23 in the seventh-place match.
Navy (3-0) returns to action Saturday at 7 p.m. when the Mids travel back up to State College, Pa., to take on 12th-ranked Penn State.

Championship Finals
125- Matt Valenti (Penn) dec. Mike Silengo (Penn), 8-5
133- Josh Moore (Penn St.) major dec. Matt Eveleth (Penn), 10-2
141- Frank Edgar (Clarion) dec. Scott Heckman (Bloomsburg), 13-9
149- Adam Brochetti (Navy) dec. John Zarzycki (Maryland), 8-1
157- Brett Vanderveer (Penn) dec. Nate Galloway (Penn St.), 12-6
165- George Carter (Bloomsburg) dec. Carlo Mercadante (Maryland), 12-5
174- Matt Herrington (Penn) major dec. Bryce Hasseman (Bloomsburg), 13-4
184- Travis Manion (Navy) dec. T.J. Morrison (Rider), 6-4
197- Joel Edwards (Penn St.) dec. Marcus Schontube (Penn), 6-3
HWT- Kerry McCoy (NYAC) and Pat Cummins (Penn St.), No Contest

Source: ADCC

 12/8/03

Quote of the Day

"Look at your past. Your past has determined where you are at this moment. What you do today will determine where you are tomorrow. Are you moving forward or standing still?"

Tom Hopkins, American Sales Trainer, Speaker, Author

Local News Updates

According to Enson, Egan did break two ribs in his fight with Jason Miller. He thinks that it may have occured when Miller stacked him to pass his guard. Egan is said to be in good spirits and is not thinking of retirement. Egan will probably be out for a while, at least until his ribs heal.

We talked to BJ Penn and he said that he asked the UFC for a match with the winner of the Hughes/Trigg fight prior to the last UFC. He is walking around now just under 170 lbs and will start his intense training for the biggest fight of his life. He said that he wants to pick Matt Hughes up and slam him like Hughes does all of his opponents. Many people say that BJ is too light for Hughes, but besides Carlos Newton, who has Hughes fought that has a good mixture of good stand up skills and an excellent game off his back? BJ has a more decorated background in Jiu-Jitsu than Carlos Newton and Newton did very well in his first fight with Hughes. I think Hughes did better in the second fight because he knew what Newton was like and made his adjustments. Hughes does not know how BJ feels which will be to BJ's advantage.



Good luck to BJ and Charuto, who will be making his UFC appearance, on the same show!

Black & Brown Pro Events -
Arnold/Gracie Championships


The 2004 Arnold World Gracie Submission Championships will be adding (2) Professional competitions to the overall event, a Black Belt Invitational and a Brown Belt Professional tournament. Here are the details:

Brown Belt Professional Tournament

The Professional brown Belt tournament will consist of 10 weight classes (rooster, super feather, feather, light, middle, light heavy, med. heavy, heavy, super heavy and super super heavy) The winners from each weight class will fight the winner from the next higher weight class. Each champion will win $500.00 (5 champions)

All competitors who hold the rank of Brown belt in Jiu-Jitsu or Judo are eligible. Please register online www.gracieworlds.com (available December the 8th)

Black Belt Invitational

We will create a Black Belt competition based on the largest number of entries from a particular weight class, for example, if 20 light weight black blacks register before our posted closing date and only 2 heavy, then we will run a light weight competition. We want to represent the group with the most entries. The prize money for the winner $1000.00 and $500.00 for the runner-up!

If you are interested in competing, all you have to do is email us the following information: Name of School/Team, Weight, Belt Rank (Must be Black Belt in Jiu-Jitsu or Judo)

This information must be submitted by January 15th, 2004 to:
gracieworlds@aol.com or you can call 800-765-6999 in the U.S. 614-238-3662 outside of U.S.

Competitors invited to compete will receive confirmation by the tournament director! Please go to www.gracieworlds.com on December 8th for more details on both competitions.

Source: ADCC

Hidehiko Yoshida's Tormentor chosen to run with Olympic torch in Rio de Janeiro

“Carrying the torch can be as important as winning an Olympic medal”, said an emotional Carlos Honorato, when he learned he would be the first athlete chosen to carry the Olympic torch along the streets of Rio de Janeiro, on its way to Athens. It’s the first time that the torch comes to South America.

A Silver medalist in the middleweight category in Sydney-2000, the 29-year judo fighter is known in Japan and abroad after his spectacular victory against Hidehiko Yoshida in the Olympic games in Australia. 57 seconds into his third fight, Honorato got a sensational ippon over Yoshida, at that time known for his three world titles and his gold medal in Barcelona-1992. While taking down Pride’s big star, Honorato almost broke his opponent’s arm when the Japanese fighter fell over his right arm. Yoshida left the dojo on a stretcher.

“I was screaming with joy and could not even see that he was screaming too, but in pain”, recalled Honorato.

He is the first athlete among the 120 Brazilians who will run with the Olympic torch in June of 2004, along a total distance of 45 kilometers. The judo fighter was really happy with the announcement made by the Brazilian Olympic Committee (COB) and Rio de Janeiro’s mayor, at the end of November. The name of Carlos Honorato was also suggested by Coca-Cola, old sponsor of Olympic games and sponsor of the Brazilian judo team.

“I guess I was chosen because of the our judo in 2003 is heading upwards. But my good results and my will also contributed, as well as the fact that I won the silver medal in Sydney”, believes Honorato, who got this year one gold medal in the Judo Pan-American and two bronze medals, in the Pan-American Games and in the World Championship, in Japan.

“I always run during my preparation for the competitions, so that distance of 500 meters will be a piece of cake”, he said with good humor.

Source: ADCC

The Brazilian Beat

Belfort focused on Couture, endless rumors of Brazilians fighting in Japan, Silva and Mino relaxing and HEAT FC 2 just 11 days away!

The Brazilian Beat:
As December will grace us with plenty of MMA action all around the globe, this column begins the month with plenty of news from the hot summer of Brazil, since this humble reporter has been boosting up his writing once again and trying to keep up the pace with the growth of our sport here in this young country. With shows happening in the most diverse places around globe this month, such as Scandinavia, Russia, America and Japan, Brazil couldn't be any different, mostly after a busy end of November that saw three shows in a mere 3 days. Like a Christmas gift to Brazilian fans, the month we waited desperately for as kids will bring the two most prestigious MMA shows in the country, HEAT FC and MECA with only two days separating one from the other. I guess this can only be beaten by the always lucky Japanese fans, who will have three top-notch events on the same day to choose! What a way to end 2003, a year that brought us so many emotions in Mixed Martial Arts. However, it's not time to get emotional as we'll see in more editions of "The Beat" over the course of the month, and with news regarding all sorts of rumors from Brazilian fighters, and the above mentioned events, it's better for me to leave you with the news instead of my rhetoric. Whether you're a Silva fan, Belfort fan, Minotauro and Sperry fan, or even a fan of them all, enjoy our December debut as Full Contact Fighter brings you the Beat, as summer keeps getting hotter here!

Getting ready for his long awaited rematch against Randy Couture, Vitor Belfort has been training for a good while already, since he at first expected to participate in the last UFC, with rumors flying around some months ago that he would have faced Rich Franklin. However, as he ended up confirmed to face "The Natural" at UFC 46, Vitor slowed down the pace of his preparation a bit to not risk overtraining, and now he is already gearing up his training for the UFC title shot he craved for so much. "The Phenom" told FCF he is very confident going to this fight and is taking the fight as seriously as he ever did. Belfort is now preparing in his new training center, also located in the city of Sao Paulo, but nearer to his house than the ADPM one [Featured in an article here at FCF months ago].

Three-time MECA winner, IVC Venezuela runner-up and HEAT FC veteran Angelo Araujo seems to be on the verge of finally getting his shot to fight in Japan. The Brazilian Top Team fighter has been rumored to be taking part in the Antonio Inoki New Year's Eve show against a yet to be named opponent. Reports from the Brazilian Top Team camp have it that Angelo is in shape and ready to perform, as he was training previously for the postponed major Korean MMA show.

Speaking of Brazilian fighters rumored to be on Japanese New Year's Eve cards, Chute Boxe fighter Murilo Ninja Rua has been reported to be taking part on the PRIDE December 31st card, also against a yet to be named opponent. Ninja was supposed to fight at MECA 10 in Brazil, but with this gig in PRIDE appearing after a year since his last professional appearance, his brother Mauricio Shogun Rua is supposed to take his place at MECA as Murilo goes to Japan to resume his fighting career.

Another PRIDE veteran who is reported to be returning to the Japanese ring on December 31st is none other than the manager, promoter, trainer and still a top level fighter Mario Sperry! The "Zen Machine" is taking part at the next PRIDE card and is still waiting to find out his opponent in the show. Sperry has been training very hard and told FCF he is feeling like a kid again, and is eager to fight after all the promoting activities he has been performing. Rumors have it that his opponent may be a very famous American fighter, time will tell.

PRIDE Middleweight Champion and Middleweight Grand Prix Champion Wanderlei Silva has been relaxing after his conquest of the PRIDE Middleweight GP, defeating both Hidehiko Yoshida and Quinton Jackson on the same night. "The Axe Murderer" took his wife and 3-month-old son and traveled all the way up to the gorgeous city of Natal, home of HEAT FC, in the Northeast of Brazil to enjoy the sun and the beaches there. During his vacation Silva has been taking his time to rest and enjoy his family, while he had the pleasure of checking out the preparations for HEAT FC 2 Evolution, next December 18th. Wanderlei is likely coming back to Curitiba Monday and is recovering fine from his elbow surgery.

PRIDE Heavyweight interim champion Rodrigo "Minotauro" Nogueira has also been enjoying his moments of glory, which are not rare for him, after his win over Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic at the last PRIDE show. Minotauro went to Curitiba where he received some tributes at the last STORM Samurai event, and he is soon traveling to his birth city of Vitoria da Conquista, in the state of Bahia also in the Northeast of Brazil, where he will once again receive an homage and also attend at an small MMA event that will take place in his city, to honor him and give something back to the sport that made famous the most important son of Vitoria da Conquista.

Scheduled at first to take place in the city of Porto Alegre at December 20th, the 10th edition of MECA Vale Tudo won't take place in the Southern Brazil city anymore. According to reports one company that was serving as a partner in the project of bringing MECA to the city backed out, and now the show is likely coming back to the city of Curitiba, hometown of the Chute Boxe team that held MECA for its first 8th editions, in a venue to be decided. According to the promoters, the show will keep its date of December 20th, and more information is expected to follow in the coming days.

Jungle Fight veteran Leopoldo Montenegro, who defeated famous Wrestler Mark Schultz in a match full of controversy, just won an 8-man MMA tournament in his hometown of Manaus, up in the North of Brazil, in a small event. The sad news is that the show was reported to have no gloves, and believe it or not no mouthpiece! Montenegro got prize money amounting to 5,000 Reais [around US$1,700] for winning the tournament. In this day and age, shows that won't require at least a mouthpiece are just what some politicians may need to ban our sport and with so much struggle to make MMA grow again in Brazil, having people trying to take advantage of the momentum putting up shows such as these is extremely sad and what can be called a disgrace. Hopefully the sport will soon find some form of a regulation and only serious promoters will be able to handle it from now on. Hopefully Montenegro will find better places and stages to show his talent in the near future as well.

Plans for a major MMA show taking place next January in the city of Rio de Janeiro have been floating around Brazil for a while already, and now are getting stronger and stronger. Global Mix Combat, as the show is called, is reported to take place the last week of January at Rio Centro, the same venue where Rock In Rio Festivals I and III took place, and will feature not only MMA fights but live bands doing gigs as well as DJs to entertain the crowd and mix fighting with partying in the hot summer of Rio. Names such as Marcio "Pe de Pano" Cruz and Marcio Feitosa are supposed to make their MMA debuts in the show.

UFC veteran Pedro Rizzo is already back in Brazil after his trip to Las Vegas, where he held talks with representatives of fighting organizations about his future. Pedro told FCF he hasn't closed any deal yet, but talks are going well and he will have good news for his fans about his future very soon. Now "The Rock" is focused on his teammate Gustavo "Ximu" preparation for his bout against Allan Goes at HEAT FC 2 on December 18th.

Another major Jiu-Jitsu event is going to take place in Brazil as Summer Combat will bring the action to the beach in the city of Guaruja, near Sao Paulo, on December 12th and 13th. Taking place in an arena located on the beach, the show will feature single matches and will include famous Jiu-Jitsu names such as Saulo Ribeiro, Fernando Terere, Jorge "Macaco" Patino and Marcio "Pe de Pano" Cruz, among others. In one very interesting challenge, Abu Dhabi 2003 champion Marcelo Garcia will face Adu Dhabi Brazilian Trials 2003 champion Daniel Moraes.

Time is coming for the second edition of HEAT FC, on December 18th in the city of Natal, including fighters such as Carlos Barreto, Ebenezer Braga, Allan Goes, Gustavo Ximu, Travis Wiuff, Forrest Griffin, Vinicius Draculino, Eric Wanderlei and others. As everything gets ready for the much anticipated show, entitled "Evolution," tickets are on sale now in the city, as advertisements of the show are being aired every day on TV creating hype among the local fans. Promoters are still looking for the best possible opponent for Gracie Barra fighter Marcelo "Uirapuru" Azevedo, who fought Renato Babalu at HEAT FC 1, with the withdrawal of PRIDE veteran Akira Shoji. Local fighter and BJJ brown belt World Champion Alexandre "Vaca" may end up being his opponent, as Alexandre was also left without an opponent when Roman Roytberg also had to step out of the card. Both guys' opponents are likely to be announced in the following days, as HEAT FC 2 Evolution is just 11 days away!

Source: FCF

Pride News

Due to the fact that Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira stepped up to fight on 12/31, Mirko CroCop and Emelianenko Fedor will finally fight at PRIDE 27, the next event from DSE following their New Year's Eve show at the end of this month.

The winner of the Emelianenko Fedor vs. Mirko CroCop fight will then fight Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (given Nogueira doesn't lose on New Year's) for the official PRIDE Heavyweight title.

The debut of PRIDE in the United States is scheduled for March 26th in Las Vegas, Nevada. Not much more information on the show, although it's the possible setting for the Nogueira vs. CroCop-or-Fedor fight, and obviously American's like Quinton Jackson, Dan Henderson, and so on will be featured.

The PRIDE Heavyweight Grand Prix show will be of similar format to the recent Middleweight Grand Prix tournament.

The first show will be in June, with one fight taking place for each of the fighters in the tournament, with two fights for those who remain scheduled to take place during the finals of the tourney, set for August.

Source: MMA News

Javier Vasquez Interview

MMARR's Joe Blaze recently got a chance to sit down with Javier "Showtime" Vasquez and get the MMA world caught up with the former King of The Cage lightweight champ. Vazquez is a true warrior and he truely fit the shows billing of "Warriors Spirit". Mr Blaze got a moment to ask him questions and thought people would like to know what was on his mind while he was relaxing before his tough fight with Rob Emerson at Shooto Warriors Spirit Vegas.

JB : How has your training been for this fight coming up and the recovery of your knee been lately?

JV: Pretty good, I have been just waiting for a fight. I have been pushing my knee pretty hard through training. So I have been pushing myself pretty hard with my knee. I guess we will have to wait and see.

JB : How is your relationship with KOTC right now?

JV: Ah... Over.

JB : Over?

JV: Pretty much. Nothing more and nothing less.

JB : Where do you see yourself after this fight and where would you like to be?

JV: I don't know. Ummm, hopefully the UFC in Jan. Hopefully. I don't know. We will have to wait and see.

JB : I heard you have been training with some new guys lately. Who have you been training with?

JV: I have been training with Dan Henderson. Regularly. I have been training with Dan 3 times a week before he left for Japan. He comes up and I have gone to Temecula once. So I train with him at least once a week or couple more times if I can. I trained with him before he went to Japan to fight in Pride. He has been the best new guy I have been training with lately.

JB : How has your team and camp been doing lately?

JV: Pretty good. They are in and out. Some guys take a little break. Some of the other guys are still hanging around. They are around.

JB : How has your been since your surgery?

JV: As far as my knee goes I have no problems right now. It should be alright.

JB : What do you think of your fight with Rob Emerson?

JV: It's not going to be easy. He is a good fighter. I just hope for the best. Do what I do and hopefully it will turn out my way.

JB : Since he trains with Marco Ruas and his team do you think he may try to attack your knee or leg you had surgery on?

JV: It's a possibility. I am sure he probably will, but you cant worry about that stuff. It feels good. So what can you do? You know.

JB : Doing any kind of special preparation for this fight?

JV: Nothing special. I am pretty good at chucking leg kicks. I have been working kinda counter punching and counter striking takedowns off of leg kicks. I have been doing that anyways. So it hasnt been any realy big change.

JB : Have you gotten calls or anything thrown at you from any of the bigger shows like UFC or Pride?

JV: Pride no. UFC, possibly. I talked to them on several occasions. They wanted me to get one fight before they brought me in. Just to see how my knee was or how I looked. Thats one of the main reason why I am fighting this one. They wanted to take off some ring rust before they brought me in. Hopefully I look good and hopefully I impress some people. Right now I just want to come away with another win. So I just hope for the best.

JB : Since you are in such a talented weight division. Is there anyone out there you would want to fight right now?

JV: I just want to fight the best out there. Whoever they want me to fight I would have no problem in fighting. Whoever the fans would like to see me fight too. Thats real important to make fans happy too.

JB : There is one question I am always asked by people who see you for the first time. If I show them a fight of yours or when they look through the Grappling magazine and see your photos for the first time they ask, "Whats up with the pink shorts?" Do you want to address them for me?

JV: (laughs) Ah...that was accidently. I did it for a goof the first time. It caught on so I stuck with it. A lot of people noticed me with them on and it stuck in their head who I was because of the pink shorts.

JB : In closing I appreciate the time you have given me to ask you these questions before your important match tonight. In closing anything you would like to say?

JV: If it wasn't for the people who supported me. The guys who knew me and also the fans who didn't know me there is no way I will be back here. I fight for them as much I fight for myself. Because without their support I was done. I didn't feel like I wanted to do it anymore and I didn't feel like I should do it anymore. Because of the support of the fans thats why I came back.

Source: MMA Ring Report

 12/7/03

Quote of the Day

"Listening, not imitation, may be the sincerest form of flattery. . . . If you want to influence someone, listen to what he says. . . . When he finishes talking, ask him about any points that you do not understand."

Dr. Joyce Brothers, 1927-, American Psychologist, Television and Radio Personality

808 Fight Factory's Harris Sarmiento Wins at KOTC

King of the Cage.

Fight 1 - Caleb Williams wins by first round submission (triangle choke) over Gary Ingram

Fight 2 - Manny Tapia wins by first round submission (rear naked choke) over Manuel Sawyze

Fight 3 - Gus wins by two round unanimous decision over Reggie Orr

Fight 4 - Mike Seal wins by first round TKO over Michael Martin

Fight 5 - Josh Gaskins wins by first round submission (arm bar) over Tony Llames

Fight 6 - Carlos Garcia wins by first round TKO over David Gallegos - Gallegos could not answer the bell for the second round

Fight 7 - JJ Pugsley wins by submission (side/rear naked choke) over Brent Mackey

Fight 8 - Chad Smith wins by two round unanimous decision over Victor Valenzuela

Fight 9 - Manny Reyes Jr. wins by submission (rear naked choke) over Jason Dickinson

Fight 10 - Jimmy Smith wins by two round decision over Matt Stensel

Fight 11 - Harris Sarmiento wins by submission (strikes) over Logan Layton

Fight 12 - Larry Landless wins by submission (neck crank / choke) over Paul Castelloni

Fight 13 - Jeremy Horn wins a four round unanimous decision over Dean Lister - Horn retains title

Source: MMA Weekly

Rumble On The Rock Rumors

ROTR is taking their show back to Hilo for their December 27th event. Here are some rumored matches:

Kaynan Kaku versus Harris Sarmiento

Niko Vitale versus Homer "The Rock" Moore

Punishment in Paradise 2 Rumored matches

The next Punishment in Paradise is scheduled for February 15th at Campbell High School.

The fights that they are working on finalize are:

Will Armstrong (808 Fight Factory) versus Dominator Lopez

Deshaun Johnson (HMC) versus Wayne Perrin Jr. (Team Big Dog)

Source: ADCC

Rigan Machado Seminar Was Very Cool.


We want to thank Rigan Machado and all the guys at HMC for their hospitality and for bringing down one of the most famous BJJ black belts for a seminar. We had a blast learning new techniques. Even BJ Penn and Charuto Verissimo were there, learning the moves and bouncing quesions off of Rigan. We have a few pictures and will post them as soon as Mike can format them.

Vitor Shaolin
By Alexandre Lobo

My first belt

The December 14 can make history for one of the best Lightweight teams in the world, the Nova União. After all, Vitor Shaolin will be fighting for the first title belt for the Brazilian team, at the Shooto, in Chiba, Japan. With eight fights and eight victories, Shaolin is ready to face the Welterweight champion Joachim Hansen and join Alexandre Nogueira Pequeno, Wanderlei Silva and Rodrigo Minotauro at the gallery of the Brazilian MMA champions.

How are your expectations, and your teams, to the dispute of this first title belt?

We are very calm. We are working hard for this fight being just as anyone. Because of that, we changed something in our training. But I'm feeling great as usually. I'm very focused and conscious about what I have to do. I'm pretty sure that it'll be a tough fight.

What did you change in your training?

Ah, the only changing is that I started training three months ago, instead of two, as I usually do...

During this time, how was your training?

Hansen does a good rib and high kick, so I trained to block them well. Now, I'm training hard on the ground.

And what about Hansen's game. Did you see any of his fights?

Of course. I watch his last three fights, the belt dispute against Takanori Gomi, and the victories over Rumina Sato and Takumi Nakayama. Hansen is a complete fighter, do well on the feet and, on the ground, fights on the bottom as good as fights on the top. On Gomi's fight, I could see that he does good on the feet.

Once you said that João Roque is like a symbol for you. Is he going with you?

Unfortunately not. This time there will be just me, Dedé (Pederneiras) and Robinho (Róbson Moura). João Roque is a great friend and a marvelous fighter. He is older than me, send us a great energy and talks the right thing at the right time. But, that's ok.

Robinho is also in the card. How is he to face Junji Ikoma?

I think he will rock. He's a great fighter, has an amazing ground game and he usually train just with people heavier than him. Unfortunately, this time he won't be fighting for the belt, but I'm sure that this title belongs to him and sooner he'll be battling for it.

Source: Tatame

K1 World GP Final Results
Saturday, December 6 2003
Tokyo, Japan
2003 GP Finals Tournament:

Quarterfinals:
Cyril Abidi defeats Francois Botha by unanimous decision.
Remy Bonjasky defeats Peter Graham by KO at 0:58, RD 1.

Musashi defeats Ray Sefo by majority decision.
Peter Aerts defeats Alexey Ignashov by unanimous decision.

Semifinals
Remy Bonjasky defeats Cyril Abidi by KO at 1:46, RD 1.
Musashi defeats Peter Aerts by majority decision.

Final:
Remy Bonjasky defeats Musashi by unanimous decision.

Reserve Match:
Carter Williams defeats Bjorn Bregy by KO at 2:06, RD 2.

Super Fights:
Yusuke Fujimoto defeats Mathias Riccio by KO at 2:34, RD 2.
Martin Holm defeats Jan Nortje by KO at 1:06, RD 1.

Source: MMA Weekly

M-1 "Russia vs. the World 7"
Two draws slow international stage progress in St. Petersburg

Report by Keith Mills

St. Petersburg, Russia-The Russian team mainly represented by Team Red Devil slipped in the results slightly compared to October's Moscow show by picking up the same amount of losses but also picking up two draws for a total on the main card of 7-2-2. Unfortunately the two draws were in two of the fights with the most attention from the Western perspective, with both the much-anticipated Denis Kang/Andrei Semenov fight and the main event of Gilbert Yvel (from Holland but fighting as Red Devil)/Daniel Tabeira.

The Russian team did do better against the Americans with two-time UFC vet Dave Strasser and his student Brad Lynde both losing by guillotine choke but the Russians still couldn't beat Tiberia from Spain and this time one of the Frech fighters Kassim Anan. It should be noted that both Anan and Tibeira were losing their fights early on but Anan mustered a good comeback while Tabeira was handed a surprising draw after fouling Yvel with an illegal elbow.

The major outcomes of this show were the inaugural Welterweight belt fight between the USA's Dave Strasser and Russian Ansar Chalangov left the belt in Russia while German fighter Fatih Kocamis took the belt with a TKO over Arman Gambaryan. Semenov is the Middleweight Champion but his fight was a non-title Super Fight as was Gilbert Yvel's.

Look for a full report in an upcoming issue of Full Contact Fighter.

Preliminary Fights
Karen Grigoryan def Roman Galako 2:06 by rear choke
Casiliy Krilov def Danila Vaselov by decision
Sergei Bal drew Magomed Magomedrasulov after 10 minutes

Main Event

Light-Heavy champ Kocamis
Musail Alaydinov def. Yuji Hoshino 0:13 by TKO
Alexi Prokophiev def. Loic Pora 2:02 by rear choke
Denis Komkin def. Yuji Hisamatsu 0:16 by TKO
Ansar Chalangov def. Dave Strasser 0:53 by guillotine choke (Chalangov new Welterweight Champion)
Alexi Veselovzorov def. Brad Lynde 1:51 by guillotine choke
Andrei Semenov drew Denis Kang after 10 minutes
Bashir Guliev def. Stefan Crnko 0:15 by TKO
Kassim Anan def. Mikhail Bogdanov 3:40 by triangle choke
Sergei Kaznovski def. Slavomir Molnar 2:34 by TKO
Fatih Kocamis def. Arman Gambaryan 8:00 by TKO (Kocamis new Light Heavyweight Champion)
Gilbert Yvel drew Daniel Tabeira after 10 minutes

Source: FCF

Stephane Patry Part II
Arnold "The Sushiboy" Lim


The dust hasnt settled on the aftermath of the Shut up and FIght show in Vernon B.C getting cancelled and already the speculation is running rampant. MMARR had a chance to talk with Stephane Patry who is now affiliated with the MFC and sitting in the centre of the storm. We talked with him at 1:00 Am in the morning and had some interesting things to say about himself, broken promises, Joe Ferraro, J.T McCarthy and the Shut up and Fight promotion. We have part ywo of this three part interview.

MMARR: How about J.T McCarthy?

S.P: There is not much I can say about J.T, J.T was doing a very good job at what he was doing. But J.T was also always putting himself in bad situations publicly and that is something that always annoyed me. As the broadcast team he was doing an awesome job, he is going to be very hard to replace but there are some very good people around the sport right now. There is Goldberg with the UFC that is good, Ryan Bennett that is awesome and there is a lot of professional broadcast people in Toronto and Montreal so we will be able to replace J.T but it is unfortunate because I really believe in consistency, When we succeed, my dream was to have everybody that was there day one beside me and to show everybody that we did it, and we are proud of what we did as a family and a team. You have to remember I am not Zuffa, I started TKO I was 26 years old going on 27 I had money because I had always put money aside and I was lucky with some stock markets stuff. I decided that I wanted to put everything I had in Mixed Martial Arts because I am a big fan of that and I really thought this is the sport of the future and I put everything on the line and started working 20 hours a day seven days a week. It hasn’t been easy and I lost friends and I lost family on that, when you work 20 hours a day on something it is always, hard for other people to understand what you are doing. I mean I lost my girlfriend after I started MMA because after 6 months she was like “you are spending too much time at the office” and she left. Ever since then I didn’t have a girlfriend. It is certainly not because I look like SHIT. I don’t have a chance to have a girlfriend and I am not kidding, like when I said that to you, you were laughing. It is good to be surrounded by nice looking women but sometimes you look for something deeper then that and that is something else that I am missing a lot and I think it is going to happened when we succeed we will have more time. I would love to be like Dana [White] and relax on the weekends, he is lucky.

MMARR: You mentioned to me that you owed money to Joe Ferraro and J.T McCarthy do you still owe money to Mr. Ferraro and McCarthy?

S.P: The thing with J.T and Joe, and what I always told them was… first of all the money I owed them was all in regards to Pay Per View stuff, broadcasting. I always told them when I get the money from the DVD’s I would pay them. That was very true with them I always told them that. When the financial crisis started I said listen, I will have to wait till the money comes in to pay you and I will give you an example. The way it works with our distributor, we released UCC 6 and 7, five months ago and we still haven’t received a penny from that. It takes like 6 months to get the first report and then we can deal the distributor so we weren’t going to get money from that till January. We just released number 8 and 12 and we won’t get money from UCC 8 and UCC 12 till probably June. So I owe them money for the broadcasting voice overs from the shows, and they will get paid just like everybody else. People can say all they want about me, I never not pay someone.

MMARR: So do you still plan on paying them once you get the money.

S.P: Of course, I know a lot of business people that would tell them to Fuck Off after all they wrote but you know that is not way of doing business. I will be able to look at myself in the mirror in a year from now and you know I will say I achieved everything I had to, and I fulfilled all the promises I make. Like I said I am not Zuffa and I am just working very hard with what I have. I remember UCC 8 and UCC 12 I had two shows that put me in a very bad position but you know what I am a fighter as well. I am not fighting in the ring but I will tell you something outside of the ring I am the Randy Couture of that sport.

MMARR: we talked about MMA in B.C being shut down some people are saying we may never see MMA in B.C in the near future do you think MMA in B.C is gone or do you think it is just a short term thing.

S.P: You know what, I don’t think that MMA in B.C is gone because of that. It is easy for Leslie Dickens and his crew to blame it on me and Mar, to whoever they want to blame it on. I said numerous times I had nothing to do with that. I believe that Mark had nothing to do with that either but the bottom line was why did they do a show, they knew that they had no sanctioning in Vernon. Why didn’t they do their show in Vancouver, or where they have a sanctioning body? Why would you gamble the reputation of that sport by doing an unsanctioned event? Why would you do that? That is my big question. Why would you run an unsanctioned event? I hope that it won’t hurt the sport in B.C. Legally I would have to check with lawyers, but legally I don’t think they can turn down the decision from Vancouver to hold MMA events with the athletic commissions regulating it there .If they end up saying No there is no more MMA in B.C, Well they should blame it on themselves. Why would they run an unsanctioned illegal event in this province? The sport just got sanctioned in B.C. Why do an unsanctioned event? Why do that?

MMARR: You already answered it already but I want to touch back on it. Mark Pavelich, I haven’t talked to him yet. A lot of people are claiming that he is the person behind who is trying to get them shut down. Some people have said because of this you may end up splitting up with Mark Pavelich, even though it was only a short time ago that you united. Is there any chance that the TKO will split up with MFC?

S.P: No, I will not split up with Mark. Mark has been very supportive of me the last few months. I am someone who has a very long memory. I remember in January after all the problems we had with UCC 12 a lot of people were bashing me a lot of people were on my back. People were talking shit about me. That is when I realized Mark is a man of honor cause he stood by me, know what I am saying? I know he has nothing to do with what happened in B.C. I completely trust Mark and if he would have anything to do with the show being cancelled, you know how Mark is. He would publicly say it. He would brag about it. You know what I have a lot of confidence in Mark. I don’t think he did that. Like I said he is not the one that took the risk. He was shut down before, I don’t know exactly what show it was but he got shut down before too. Then he decided he would never do an illegal event again.

MMARR: What if, What if it was proved that Mark Pavelich was the one who made those phone calls. Would you then sever ties with them? Stop your business with the MFC or would you try to work through it? If it was proved.

S.P: I would sit down with Mark and we would have a discussion, but then I would not say ok I am going to split with Mark and Support to Shut up and Fight. Like I said I don’t support illegal events. Not because it is Shut up and Fight, I mean if this show would have been legal, I would have supported it. I would have sent fighters there, if they would have needed fighters like I have done in the past with the WFF and the MFC.

MMARR: If the show got sanctioned at a later date would you ever say that even though the relationship might not be good right now, Could you ever see, TKO, MFC, WFF, Shut up and Fight all in Major League MMA or working together in some way? Could you ever see that happening? Would you like to see that happen?

S.P: I think we are far from that. Major League MMA is our trademark. I decided to share that with Mark because I think that he can bring something to us and I think I can bring something to him. I think we have some kinds of the same work ethic. I think we can build something around that. I have no problem with the other promotions, as long as everybody respects everybody. I showed it in the past by sending fighters to the MFC and the WFF. Obviously if we have a champion we have to protect our interests, and make sure that if he fights somewhere else, it won’t be dangerous for us. It is a business also. Try to do a wrestling event in New York with Hulk Hogan on your card, you will never get him. He is signed with the WWF or WWE or whatever. It is part of the game and I think this Country is huge and there is a place for everybody, As long as two shows don’t try to run in the same city.

MMARR: J.T McCarthy mentioned on the underground about a conversation that you had with him and this is quoted from Mr. McCarthy’s post on the underground.

“Hmmm, that's funny, I remember you telling me last night that you had JUST gotten off the phone with the Vancouver Boxing Commission. You remember ? During the same phone call you made to me laughing out loud about how the event was cancelled ? You don't remember saying to me: "...LOL !!! I hope you had a clause in your contract stating that you get paid even if the event doesn't happen LOL !!! This is comical J.T. COMICAL LOL !!!"

Did you say this to J.T McCarthy?

S.P: …

This is the end of part 2 Part three is coming soon...

Source: MMA Ring Report

Chael Sonnen
by Kyle Iwamoto

Several Springs ago, Chael Sonnen headed off to wrestling practice like he did normally numerous times before, his training partners Randy Couture and Dan Henderson were there as usual, but this time something was different. “I show up for practice and everyone’s wearing gloves instead of wrestling shoes”, says Sonnen of his introduction to mixed martial arts, “I didn’t have much of a choice.”

Hailing from West Linn Oregon, a small rural town eight miles south of Portland, Sonnen’s wrestling career began at the tender age of five. He earned All-American Freestyle honors at West Linn High and was twice Jr. National runner-up. A natural athlete, Sonnen’s prowess on the mat earned him a wrestling scholarship to the University of Oregon in Eugene after a brief semester at Brigham Young University. Training at Team Quest with the likes of UFC light-heavyweight champion Randy Couture and Pride stand out Dan Henderson, coupled with his strong wrestling background has worked very well for the University of Oregon graduate. In just over a year, Sonnen has fashioned a record of 7-3-1, with impressive victories over such notable names as Jason Lambert and UFC veteran Renato “Babalu” Sobral. When the Canadian promoters for “Shut Up and Fight” contacted Team Quest about Sonnen fighting Canadian Bill Mahood in their Dec. 6 show, in Vernon B.C, the answer was almost automatic. “I never turn ‘em down”. For Sonnen, fighting in Canada is just icing on the cake. “I was up there in 1999 for the Pan American games, and I loved it, I’ve been looking for an excuse to get up to Canada for a while”.

In addition to his training, Sonnen has numerous other “projects” to keep him busy, among them is his role as a promoter, along with University of Oregon wrestling teammate and long-time friend Kevin Keeney. If that weren’t enough, he coaches a wrestling club, “All-Phase Wrestling”, which he has grown from it’s inaugural eight members, to over sixty athletes. His promotion, the FCFF (Full Contact Fighting Federation) is an amateur MMA promotion which holds events all over Oregon, giving the talent-rich Pacific Northwest pool of fighters an avenue in which to showcase their skills. Sonnen originally started the event, which utilizes a cage, with his father who regrettably passed away approximately a year ago. Sonnen himself will be making his FCFF debut exactly one week after his showdown with Bill Mahood, taking on Tough Enough competitor Dan ‘The Wolfman’ Theodore

The aforementioned match-up between Sonnen and Mahood had been rumored on several prior cards in different events, but this will be their first encounter. “I’ve never seen the gentleman fight, but I know he’s a tough guy. I will definitely take him seriously”. Chael feels with his wrestling background, explosiveness and speed will be his advantages. Traits he says, which were acquired and honed in the wrestling room. On par with his fighting ability is Sonnen’s intelligence and sharp wit, a wicked sense of humor, to go with his wicked takedowns. One is immediately struck, by the air of confidence that he exudes, from his six foot one, two hundred and five pound frame. When asked about his strengths in the ring, Sonnen is by no stretch of the imagination, at a loss for words. Aggressiveness? Check, Power? Check, Speed? “I’m the fastest white guy in the ring, ever.” CHECK! He is as articulate as he is dangerous, and his tough mental preparation is where his confidence was born, a toughness, which Sonnen feels, goes hand-in-hand with his lifelong sport. Does that mean wrestlers make better fighters? Chael thinks so. “I don’t think it’s because the double-leg takedown is the most efficient move in martial arts, wrestlers just condition their minds and bodies to be tough. A lot of this fight game is technical; some call it a chess match, but 90% of it comes down to who’s the toughest.” MMA fans may remember Sonnen’s exchange of words with UFC veteran and current UFC outcast Phil Baroni. “My thoughts on Phil? I want to beat him up. I beat him up in private (referring to Baroni’s brief training stint with Team Quest) and I’ll beat him up in public. He has a different opinion of what happened then I do. He has a big mouth. I don’t fault him for having a big mouth, I think it adds entertainment to the sport. I’d tune in to see him. But with that being said, he’s a second-rate athlete, a third-rate fighter and a fourth-rate commentator.” Ouch, I did say sharp didn’t I?

Sonnen is focused, and makes no qualms about his fighting future. “I want to be a world champion for sure. I’ve fought (and trained with) guys who have been in the UFC and Pride. I definitely want to get myself into the position to get into one of the big shows”. Chael Sonnen will be looking to take a big step towards that goal this Saturday. -MMARR-

Source: MMA Ring Report

 12/6/03

Quote of the Day

"A man's doubts and fears are his worst enemies."

William Wrigley Jr., 1861-1932, American Businessman, Founder of Wrigley & Co.

Super Brawl 32 Results!

Blaisdell Arena, Honolulu, Hawaii
December 5, 2003
By Chris Onzuka -
Chris@Onzuka.com

SB 32 was to be the road back to the rematch between former Super Brawl Champion, Egan Inoue and current SHOOTO and Super Brawl champ, Masanori Suda. In their first meeting Suda scored a brutal knock out taking the championship back to Japan. Inoue wants to prove that fight was a fluke, but in order to do that, the rematch had to be built up by having Inoue fight Miller and Suda taking on Ritch. Jason Miller had an impressive showing at the Super Brawl 185lbs tournament and then dispatched Inoue's student Shawn Taylor showcasing a myriad of submissions. Shannon Ritch is one of the most active MMA fighters and has fought all over the world. Both Suda and Inoue were favored going into their matches, but nothing is guaranteed in the world of MMA. Inoue started off the match looking strong. He controlled the clinch, took Miller down and snapped on a vicious Kimura key lock that had Miller rolling to escape and Inoue looking to lock down Miller's body so he could crank it more. Miller somehow got out of that and survived Inoue's onslaught of punches from the standing, the guard and even the mount only to reverse the position and end both rounds pounding a turtled up Inoue. Inoue looked to be spent after the first round but came back in the second and landed a few hard blows that made Miller realized that the fight is not totally in his hands yet. At the end of the second round, Inoue tried to stand, but grabbed his ribs and fell to the ground. He winced in pain, apparently from a separated or broken rib. The fight almost got ugly when some disrespectful fans started heckling Inoue. Egan's brother, Enson, who is always at Egan's side for his fights, stepped into ring and told them to shut up. A huge crowd of people stood up, but luckily the situation was calmed down before any punches were thrown. The final match was a walk through for Suda. Shannon Ritch started off well and landed a leg kick, but made a fatal error when he chose to clinch Suda. Suda took him down, mounted him and lock up a triangle from the mount and rolled onto his back to finish off Ritch.

Under card highlights were the Super Brawl debut of Stephen "Bozo" Paling's son, Stephen IV against Harvey Nakamura, who had an impressive debut in SB 31. Paling, like his father showed crisp punches and good take down defense. Nakamura showed some power of his own, in addition to his good ground game. In the end, Nakamura won the unanimous decision, but it was a very close fight. Watch out for Paling, he is only 17 years old and has very good skills and composure for his young age. And Nakamura has shown a lot of potential in both fights. Other highlights were the Brandon Keene-Mike Bauer fight. Keene came in with an undefeated record, having just won in Maui. Bauer is coming into the fight with one win under his belt and has shown that he is a tough young fighter and very aggressive. Both fighters went after each other on their feet and exchanged hard punches, kicks and knees. The fight turned as Keen started taking Bauer to the ground more often and finally wearing him down enough to slip in a rear naked choke.

The road to the rematch took a detour as the title, which was expected to be heading back to Hawaii, will now either stay in Japan or move to the west coast. One name that can be thrown into the mix is Falaniko Vitale, who is hungry after coming off of a disappointing performance in the UFC. The next event is scheduled to take place on February 7, 2004 and only time will tell what surprises T. Jay Thompson has in store.

139 lbs. - 3 Rounds - 3 Minutes
Ivan Jennings (808 Fight Factory) drew Ryan Lee (Bulls Pen)
Draw after 3 rounds.

125lbs - 3 Rounds - 3 Minutes
Harvey Nakamura (Grappling Unlimited, 2-0) def. Stephen Palling IV (Jesus is Lord, 1-1)
Unanimous decision [(29-28), (29-28), (29-28)] after 3 rounds.

170lbs - 3 Rounds - 5 Minutes
Brandon Keene (Grappling Unlimited, 5-0) def. Mike Bauer (HMC, 1-1)
Submission via rear naked choke at 1:58 minutes in Round 3.

205lb - 3 Rounds - 5 Minutes
Bryan Pardoe (Phoenix, 7-4) def. Sam Bass (Grappling Unlimited, 1-1)
Submission via tap out due to strikes from the cross position at 3:40 minutes in Round 1.

Heavyweight - 3 Rounds - 5 Minutes
Ray "King Kong" Seraille (Grappling Unlimited, 4-4) def. Tyler Lecky (Phoenix, 1-1)
Submission via inverted key lock (Kimura) at 2:14 minutes in Round 1.

145lbs - 3 Rounds - 5 Minutes
Justin Mercado (Grappling Unlimited, 3-2) def. David Yeung (HMC, 2-3-1)
Submission via rear naked choke at 51 seconds of Round 1.

185lbs - 3 Rounds - 5 Minutes
Jason "Mayhem" Miller (Las Vegas, 10-3) def. Egan Inoue (#1 Contender, Grappling Unlimited, 14-6)
TKO via rib injury, Inoue could not answer Round 3.

185lbs - 3 Rounds - 5 Minutes
Masanori Suda (Super Brawl Champ, 20-8-2) def. Shannon "The Canon" Rich (Team Canon)
Submission via triangle at 1:01 minutes of Round 1.

Rigan Machado Seminar at HMC Today


Don't miss this opportunity to train with one of the most technical and experienced Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu instructors and competitors in the world, Rigan Machado of the famous Machado brothers.

The Machado brothers are cousins of the Gracies and were the champions of the champion factory Gracie Barra team for a number of years. They were one of the pioneers that followed Rorion to America and created a huge powerhouse team primarily based in California, but now have associations and academies all over the US and the world. The Machados were the first to produce numerous American black belts and break down the walls by openly promoting Americans to high levels.

For a while, Rigan Machado was considered "the next Rickson" and has fought Rickson in a sport Jiu-Jitsu in a close battle. He has had success in the tournament scene as well as in the Abu Dhabi Submission Wrestling Championships.

Here are the specifics for the seminar:

When: Saturday, December 6
Where: Hawaii Martial Arts Center (HMC)
2nd Floor in the Kentucky Fried Chicken and Jiffy Lube complex on the corner of Dillingham, Liliha, and King St.
HMC is directly under Canyan Rent-to-Own
555 N. King St.
Honolulu, HI 96817
Contact: 841-5144 to reserve your spot! A $20 non-refundable down is required to save your spot.
Times: 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM Gi $40
1:00 PM - 3:00 PM No-Gi $40
Sign up for both seminars for $60 and save $20!

Spots are limited by the amount of space at HMC and to prevent over crowding. Don't think that you will show up the day of the seminar and fill an empty spot. This seminar is sure to sell out so act fast!

There will be no video camera equipment allowed during the seminar so as not to interrupt the instruction being given and because the seminar might end up being filmed for use by a production company later.

The Man Page Has Been Updated!


For all you MANiacs. I have finally added a ton of information for your viewing pleasure. Spread the word (pun intended) and check it out.

Click here to enter the Man Page.
(Men Only of course)

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING
Vitali Klitschko vs. Kirk Johnson
"Baby" Joe Mesi vs. Monte Barrett

Live on HBO, Saturday, December 6 at 9:45PM ET/6:45PM PT. HBO Sports showcases the new stars of the heavyweight division with an action packed double-header. The main event has major knockout potential when Vitali Klitschko faces Kirk Johnson. In the undercard, "Baby" Joe Mesi takes on battle tested Monte Barrett.
HBO.COM will provide an interactive ringside experience with our popular web event featuring: Action photos, expert commentary, punch statistics, and scoring from Harold Lederman.

Source: HBO

BTT/ATT's Ricardo Liborio Returns to the Ring!!!!
by: Team TATAME

After 2 years away from MMA action Ricardo Libório is set to return to the MMA circuit. His last bout was with Japanese fighter Ikuhisa Minowa at the inaugural Deep 2001 event.

Considered one of the most technical jiu-jitsu fighters of the 90´s, and now one of the leaders of the American Top Team, Libório is set to fight on the traditional event at the end of this year, Inoki Bom Ba Ye.

The brazilian is under intense training, preparing to be in great physical shape and with sharp technique, in order to face Japan's Tadao Yasuda, who has a MMA record of 2 wins and 3 defeats. After being trained by Marcos Ruas, Yasuda defeated in Vale-Tudo rules the K-1 legend Jerome LeBanner at last Inoki Bom Ba Ye.

Source: ADCC

DON KING AND MICHAEL BUFFER ARE “READY TO RUMBLE” TOGETHER AGAIN

DEC. 13TH ON KINGVISION PAY PER VIEW

The world’s greatest boxing promoter, Don King and the “Voice of Champions,” Michael Buffer are “Ready to Rumble” together again in Atlantic City on Saturday, December 13th for a historic night of eight back-to-back world championship boxing matches on KingVision Pay Per View.

The announcement was made today by Don King. Buffer will step into the ring to handle all eight bouts of the “Undisputed—Back-to-Back-to-Back” promotion at the Atlantic City Boardwalk Hall before a sell-out crowd of 13,000. A world-wide pay per view television audience will witness five of the eight championship bouts beginning at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.

The blockbuster pay-per-view event will feature an unprecedented night of champions highlighted by IBF/WBC Middleweight Champion and WBA Super Champion Bernard “The Executioner” Hopkins against 3-time and current WBA Middleweight Champion William Joppy and WBA/WBC Welterweight Champion Ricardo “El Matador” Mayorga battling IBF Welterweight Champion Cory Spinks. The card also will feature a heavyweight clash of Hasim Rahman meeting John Ruiz for the WBA Interim Heavyweight Championship. And it doesn’t stop there…WBO Jr. Welterweight Champion Zab “Super” Judah and WBA Super Welterweight Champion Alejandro “Terra” Garcia will defend their world titles against top contenders Jaime Rangel and Travis Simms.

Michael Buffer is known worldwide for announcing many of the greatest boxing events over the last 20 years igniting the sold-out crowds in attendance and the millions of boxing fans watching around the world with his internationally famous “Let’s Get Ready to Rumble®” trademark phrase.

Michael Buffer had this to say about this record setting blockbuster of a night of boxing, “I’ve been announcing fights for over twenty years and I’ve never seen anything like this! Eight world title bouts on the same card and each one is a main event. If I was not working this show I would definitely buy it because I’m a great fight fan and this is a dream-come-true for all boxing fans. This December 13th monster fight night is an early Christmas present for anyone who loves boxing.”

CONTACTS:
Steve Brener, BZA, 818-344-6195, ext. 103
Bobby Goodman, DKP, 954-418-5800
Bruce Buffer – Buffer Enterprises. Inc. 310-306-2851

Source: Bruce Buffer

101 Submissions DVD - In Stock and Shipping

This is available on Sherdog.com, if anyone gets this, please let me borrow it! Looks pretty killer.

101 Submissions is real competition footage remixed into ninety minutes of today's top fighters submitting their opponents one after another. This DVD is the first of its kind and we are very proud to offer it. Not only is 101 Submissions entertainment, it is also a valuble-learning tool.

Featured Fighters:
Adrino Nasal
André Galvão
André Soares
Brad Court
Cacareco
Cachorrinho
Café Dantes
Cameron Earle
Christiano Marcello
Cranivata
Dan Camarillo
Danny Ives
David Camarillo
Dean Lister
Dennis Asche
Don Geddis
Eddy Bravo
Edson Carvalho
Edwardo Telles
Erica Montoya
Fredson Paixão
Gabreil Kitober Gazzy Parmen
Gordinho
Hanette
Igor Gracie
Jacaré
Joe D’Arce
Josh Griffiths
Kenny Florian
Lagarto
Leandro Slaib
Leo Santos
Leozinho Vieira
Luciano Azevedo
Luke Stwart
Marc Laimon
Marcello Grosso
Margarida
Mario Reis
Mike Flower
Mike Mrkulic
Nam
Nino Schembri Pé de Pano
Pedro Elias
Rafael Lavato Jr.
Rany Yahrya
Reinaldo Ribeiro
Renner Gracie
Robert Drysdale
Rockson Gracie
Rodrigo Bomba
Rodrigo Riscado
Royler Gracie
Ryan Gracie
Ryan Gregg
Saulo
Serginho
Suyan Queiroz
Talhes
Tererê
Tony DeSouza
Tyrone Glover
Young Gun
And More!

Source: Sherdog

Stephane Patry
Arnold "The Sushiboy" Lim

The dust hasnt settled on the aftermath of the Shut up and FIght show in Vernon B.C getting cancelled and already the speculation is running rampant. MMARR had a chance to talk with Stephane Patry who is now affiliated with the MFC and sitting in the centre of the storm. We talked with him at 1:00 Am in the morning and had some interesting things to say about himself, broken promises, Joe Ferraro, J.T McCarthy and the Shut up and Fight promotion. We have part one of this three part interview.

MMARR: We had the Shut up and fight show cancelled as you know, what are your thoughts on the Shut up and fight organization?

S.P: Well it is unfortunate that his show got cancelled because I know what kind of hard work it takes to put on a card like that. I did 14 Pro TKO events as well as 8 Proving grounds, so I know what kind of work it is. But at the same time the Shut up and Fight guys were telling everybody that they are the biggest show in Canada, that they were the real thing that they were bigger then TKO, yet they were NOT sanctioned. If you are going to do a lot of publicity like that you really need to be careful because if you are not sanctioned, you are taking a huge risk. To be quite honest with you, I don’t even know Leslie Dickens personally, I have never talked to him and every time somebody would talk shit about me on the internet he would give them a pair of VIP tickets. I don’t know why he was doing that. I didn’t like what he was saying so that is why I kind of ignored his show. Then one day we happened to learn that his show got cancelled by the province of British Columbia. We need to be careful with that.

MMARR: When you talked about the risks of running and unsanctioned show, what risks do you speak of?

S.P: If your show is not sanctioned and you are going to invest money in buying flights, and renting the arena, and buying publicity and preparing your production, anything that has to do with an expense you have to do before an event, you know there is always a shadow of your show not being sanctioned. If you are not sanctioned there is always a risk. When I talk about a risk, it is the risk of your show being shut down by the province or by the closest athletic commission. I am sure the Vancouver Athletic commission was not to crazy about a show happening in Vernon without no supervising. It happened here in Quebec where a show got cancelled because they were not sanctioned. I think that it is normal if the sport is going to grow that everybody has to get sanctioned. Like I said on numerous occasions, I have nothing against the Shut up and Fight guys but I am not going to start supporting guys that are not sanctioned.

MMARR: I am going to come right out and ask you because some have been accusing you of being part of the people who shut down the Shut up and fight show. Did you have anything to do with shutting down the Shut up and fight show?

S.P: Arnold I have nothing to do with shutting down this show. I mean, like I said I am flattered that people give me that kind of power, if I really had that kind of power I would open up Ontario [To MMA, Ontario is also one of the provinces that MMA is banned in] I had nothing to do with that. People accused Mark Pavelich and myself I can’t speak for Mark, I had discussions with Mark about it because I thought it was very serious accusations. I mean since Mark is going to help with the shows in the future and he is doing the same thing for me, so it was important for me to know the truth from Mark. Mark told me listen Stephane I had nothing to do with the show being cancelled and you know I believe Mark had nothing to do with it and to get back to the original question, myself and TKO have nothing to do with this show being cancelled, if these guys want to find somebody to blame it on, cause they didn’t do the work of getting their show sanctioned the first time, then it is up to them but down the line the truth will be told and announced by the authorities and everyone will find out that TKO had nothing to do with that. All I did in the last three weeks was work on my show and the day the show ended all I did was work on Georges getting in the UFC and I don’t have a second to lose on a bunch of guys that are not sanctioned.

MMARR: Have you ever in your career tried to get any show in Quebec or any other show anywhere in the world, shut down because of sanctioning issues or any other issues?

S.P: We did that in Quebec a few times, there was a group of people trying to run unsanctioned events in Quebec and we actually shut them down, that was normal, this is a territory that we operate and I don’t think it was right for somebody to do the same things as us without having to pay the licensing fee to the commissioner. I mean that is 5000 dollars! We did that in Quebec but that has nothing to do with the situation that happened in British Columbia.

MMARR: Have you ever discussed with Mark Pavelich or anyone else the shutting down of any show other then Quebec?

S.P: To be quite honest with you in the past weeks when Leslie Dickens the promoter of Shut up and fight, was pretty much bragging to everybody how big his show was, I didn’t know the show wasn’t sanctioned. It was Mark who brought it up to my attention that these guys are not sanctioned and these guys should shut up and get sanctioned. We laughed about it and we never sat down and planned on having their show shut down. I mean I just thought it was funny when Mark mentioned that they should shut up and get sanctioned. Then we did the announcement of the TKO and MFC merger, ironically it happened the same day as they got shut down. I am flattered they are giving me that kind of power but unfortunately I don’t have that power, like I said I will repeat myself, I have nothing to do with this show being cancelled, and it is unfortunate for them but I guess next time they take such a risk on promoting a big show like that they will at least take the basic insurance of having their show sanctioned.

MMARR: Joe Ferraro recently left the TKO organization and went to work for the Shut up and fight organization. J.T McCarthy left the TKO organization and went to work for the Shut up and Fight organization. In the same time frame we have the merger of the MFC and The TKO organizations. Does that sound to coincidental that the merger would happen on the same day and Joe Ferraro and J.T McCarthy would leave and the show that they are now working for gets shut down? Some people might see this as too much of a coincidence, What do you have to say to that?

S.P: First of all Joe Ferraro I don’t know what kind of work he was going to do with Shut up and Fight, I don’t think his implications with Shut up and Fight were anywhere near the kind of implications he had with TKO, Joe had huge responsibilities with us, He wasn’t the matchmaker, but he was doing the matchmaking with me, and he was taking care of all of our talent relations, which is not what he was supposed to do with Shut up and fight as Jason Darrah was already doing that. What happened with Joe was Joe did a lot for TKO, Joe has been very supportive of the organization since day one, of course Joe was looking for a full time job in Mixed Martial Arts, and I told him that was a possibility to happen with us, maybe I made promises that I shouldn’t have done, but you know I am a positive person and through all the hard times, we were having in January [UCC 12] I was still seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. I pretty much telling Joe hold on, hold on, it is going to happen, it is going to happened, and I guess he was very patient, but his patience came to a limit. A few weeks before TKO 14 we had some issues with one of the guys he was managing, that became a conflict of interest and things went down from there. As you know in January there was huge financial difficulties on our part, through a sponsor pulling out it put us in a very difficult situation that went public with some fighters requesting the remaining of their purse that wasn’t paid, I wont go into the whole story of the 25% that wasn’t paid to the fighters, but two fighters went public about it, Duane Ludwig and Thomas Denny. That put a lot of heat on us, I worked my ass off. I was able to pay back the fighters which was my priority, once all the fighters were paid and the production as well, Joe and J.T were also owed some money and I explained what kind of situation the company was in, and I asked them to be patient, and I guess their patience came to an end and Joe decided to leave a few days before the last show. Like I said, it was unfortunate because Joe was almost the second half of my brain. I think we worked very well together and I missed him at the last show, but at the same time I cant blame him, and now what is happening and I guess Joe really thinks I had something to do with the show being cancelled and he is very wrong and I am sure time will tell that I had nothing to do with that. I think it was stupid some of the facts, some of the things he put on the internet to make me look bad in regards to the money, because of this show being cancelled. I remember when Joe started in MMA at UCC 2 he was fan that just wanted to start a clothing line and I said, you know what I will support you man, I will put Showdown fightwear all over the place, and you know, a few years later his company was on the shorts on a guy fighting in the UFC, after that I gave him a position on TV, so he was on TSN he was on PPV. I pretty much made him in MMA, I am not saying that because I uhh…. How do you say it in english Arnold…uhh…I am not

MMARR: You are not trying to take credit for it?

S.P: I am not trying to take credit he worked very hard for what he got but I still opened all the doors for him, and while I understand while he left and I respect his decision of leaving, I really don’t appreciate the way he conducted himself in the last few days, and like I said, everything that happened was out of my control with the money situations and everything. With the Shut up and Fight being cancelled I had nothing to do with it. In regards to J.T, the Joe and J.T situations are very similar, the only difference was that J.T never told me about being interested in working for Shut up and Fight, I happened to find it out on the internet one morning and I called him and he was gone. I think he got pissed off the Anthony Horng our ring announcer was paid what he was owed before him. I think he decided to just leave and go on the internet and start talking shit. With the announcement we made yesterday about MFC and TKO and all the accusations going towards Mark, today I think it was quite important for me to support Mark, and J.T by reading my support to Mark felt offended that I didn’t include him in the people that I felt supported me. My goal wasn’t to list all the people that supported me and forgetting people my list was just to support Mark. My gesture was just to support Mark. So he was all offended that I named Mark as the person that all backed me up and stuff, and he started writing even more bullshit. Like I said it all comes down to the money, I mean we had a difficult situation and everyone was all made aware that it was going to take some more time to get everything that was owed to them but to be patient, and their patience came to and end, Shut up and Fight came offered them some stuff and they decided to go ahead and move with them. I am fine with it, there are other people that are able to work the broadcast and there are other people that can handle Joe’s tasks with us.

MMARR: You mentioned that you missed Joe Ferraro at the last show. J.T McCarthy wasn’t at the show before that. Do you still feel the same way now?

S.P: I will always miss Joe, Joe is special, I am always going to find somebody that is going to do the tasks that Joe was doing, but it will never be the same again. Me and Joe went through some very rough things together. When he left like that, even though I was pissed, I have to say that hurt me a lot. He was the guy I had a lot of confidence in, I gave him a lot of personal opinions on stuff he was my confidant man, you know what I am saying? Like I said Arnold, I have no hard feeling towards them, I understand why he left. He wants to be involved full time in MMA it wasn’t going to happened with us I guess it is going to happen for him one way or another. Like I said I wasn’t him in any position to offer him what he was looking for I hoped it was going to happen soon and I still think it would have happened very soon, but it part of the game. There is nothing I can do, I can’t just sit on my ass and cry for Joe’s departure, it is done. He took his decision and hopefully whoever replaces will do as good a job as he did.

MMARR: How about J.T McCarthy?

S.P: …

THis is the end of part one, In part two...

MMARR: You mentioned to me you owed money to Joe Ferrarro and J.T McCarthy do you still owe money to Mr Ferraro and McCarthy?

S.P: …

Stay tuned for part 2

Source: MMA Ring Report

Fedor signs with Inoki's Bom Ba Ye Event

Inoki officially announced today that Pride HW champ Emelianenko Fedor will be on the Inoki Bom Ba Ye card. Not in the Pride Special!

He also said that the complete cards would be released on Dec. 8th.

The Pride champ could be against Fujita or Yasuda.

Source: MMA Fighting

MMA full of petty backstabbers? Whoda thunk it?

Fightsport 24/7 is reporting that the "Shut Up and Fight Card" scheduled for this weekend in Canada was shut down because of complaints lodged by rival promoter Mark Pavelich from TKO.

Coincidentally, I decided to tune into the Ryan Bennet's Internet radio show, and he dedicated nearly the entire hour to discussing the cancellation. Ryan was shocked that a promoter would try to shut down a rival. He could not understand why that would happen in such a small and growing sport.

Well, Ryan has been around the sport long enough that he should have learned that there may not be another sport filled with more petty, short sighted people than mixed martial arts.

Both Ryan and I do color commentary for the IFC. The IFC has told me stories for years about two promoters who have gone to great lengths to have their shows shut down.

The IFC once threatened to never use fighters who signed with a certain promoter who the IFC claimed owed it money. (Although, to my knowledge, it never followed through on this threat - it was a stupid threat none the less.)

The UFC is also known for its pettiness. One example (of many) was when it offered Murillo Bustamante a contract extension and Murillo said he would like to test the market to see what his value was. The UFC responded by totally withdrawing its offer and basically kicking one of its few bright stars out of promotion.

King of the Cage and Gladiator's Challenge might be the worst of the bunch. The stories about their pettiness and attempts to hurt other promoters are legendary. And believe me, Pride is no better than any of the others.

The funny thing is that Ryan himself had a famously public and petty feud with the man who replaced him as the UFC post-fight interviewer, Eddie Bravo. After Ryan lost his job to Bravo, Ryan wrote to the UFC to complain that Bravo was hurting the UFC's image because he publicly admitted that he smokes pot. When Ryan's message was forwarded to Bravo, all hell broke loose.

Lets be honest about the sport. It is not filled with nice guys who have brilliant visions for the future. Instead, for the most part the sport has been saddled with petty, short sighted "leaders" who have managed to do little more than nip at each other's heels for years. I, for one, will not act surprised when people behave according to form.

Source: Whaledog

K-1: Bonjasky planning to win the GP

Thanks to Monty di Pietro

Remy Bonjasky, the fighter they call The Panther' for his sleek build and explosive leaping attacks, made quite an impression on the USA when he turned aside a tough field to win the Battle at the Bellagio last August 15th. His popularity there endures -- in a recent poll on the K-1 USA website, fully 30% of respondents picked Bonjasky to win the eight-man World GP Final this weekend. The 27 year-old Dutch fighter seems to agree, he already has plans on how he is going to spend the US$400,000 prize money! Bonjasky arrived in Japan last Saturday, giving him a full week overcome jet lag. He has been doing some light training, says he is relaxed and ready, and plans to 'kick some ass' at the Final.

Source: Tatame

 12/5/03

Quote of the Day

"A man's doubts and fears are his worst enemies."

William Wrigley Jr., 1861-1932, American Businessman, Founder of Wrigley & Co.

Super Brawl 32 Tonight!
Here is the final card:

Blaisdell Arena, Honolulu, Hawaii
December 5, 2003

139 lbs.
Ivan Jennings (808 Fight Factory) vs. Ryan Lee (Bulls Pen)

125lbs
Stephen Palling IV (Jesus is Lord, 1-0) vs. Harvey Nakamura (Grappling Unlimited, 1-0)

170lbs
Brandon Keene (Grappling Unlimited, 4-0) vs. Mike Bauer (HMC, 1-0)

205lb
Bryan Pardoe (Phoenix, 6-4) vs. Sam Bass (Grappling Unlimited, 1-0)

Heavyweight
Ray "King Kong" Seraille (Grappling Unlimited, 3-4) vs. Tyler Lecky (Phoenix, 1-0)

145lbs
David Yeung (HMC, 2-2-1) vs. Justin Mercado (Grappling Unlimited, 2-2)

185lbs
Egan Inoue (#1 Contender, Grappling Unlimited, 14-5) vs. Jason "Mayhem" Miller (Las Vegas, 9-3)

185lbs
Masanori Suda (Super Brawl Champ, 19-8-2) vs. Shannon "The Canon" Rich (Team Canon)

Interview with Enson Inoue
by Mick Hammond

Enson Inoue is a legend in Hawaii and Japan. He is respected all over the world as one of the toughest fighters in MMA. MMAWeekly's Mick Hammond went one on one with the one and only Enson Inoue for our Interview of the Week.

Mick: First off, your tattoo collection has grown quite a bit since most fans saw you in your last appearance with Pride. You state your tattoos have deep meanings to you. Is the pain and accomplishment of getting a tattoo comparable to fighting to you?

Enson: Well, every single one of my tattoos has a deep meaning to me. Each and every one signifies part of my beliefs, my family and my life. The day I die, I will die proud with these tattoos inked in my skin. In a way, I will take all the important things in my life with me to my grave. Fighting is a whole different thing. I fight to better myself as a man. I sometimes forget about winning or losing because I'm so focused on attacking and facing my weaknesses that I can strengthen through my fights.

Mick: Your website (www.yamatodamashiiichizoku.com) is very fan-friendly and it affords people the opportunity to speak with you via your message board and chat. You obviously take a lot of time out of your schedule to try to connect with your fans, how important is this to you?

Enson: Very important. What most fighters don't realize is that the fans are what makes us fighters. If there were no fans, then there would be no promotions. If there were no promotions then there would be no fights, and without any fights, fighters would have no work. Also, something that would take 10 minutes and a couple dollars, like sending out an autographed picture, could give a fan happiness that money can't buy. I can't pass up an opportunity like that. It's like giving a homeless child 20 bucks. 20 bucks ain't shit to me, but to a homeless child in Thailand, it would mean 2-3 weeks of food. How can you turn your back on something like that? I sure can't.

Mick: You recently held a competition on your site that allowed a fan who put together a highlight reel of you to come to Japan and spend time with you. Again your connection to your fans is exceptional, how did that come about and why did you choose to do such a thing?

Enson: Yeah, he's right here as we speak. He's been here for about 2 weeks now and he's living it up in Japan. I did that contest because it was my way of giving back to my fans. Again, going back to the previous question, paying for a full expense paid trip for the winner, Brent, is nothing compared to the experience and happiness he is getting from this trip. To see him smile and thank me makes me happy to know that I'm doing something good for someone.

Mick: You obviously have great love for your family, your fans, your dog and fighting. Tell us how those things influence and impact your life.

Enson: No matter what it is: family, fans, friends, sponsors, or students, I connect from the heart. Without them I'm just as well as dead. They have a major impact on my life just being around me everyday.

Mick: This past year, you signed a deal with NJPW and made your first appearance in February. How did that come about and explain to us what the experience is like in NJPW compared to your experiences in Shooto and Pride.

Enson: Well, they called me. I never considered it, but the money and a lot of persuasion from Josh Barnett and here I am. I'm still not used to it, but I'm glad I gave it a shot. My heart is in MMA, but my business and face value has gone up tremendously because of Pro Wrestling. I've also met a lot of great people in the association.

Mick: More and more MMA fighters, past and present, are joining pro wrestling organizations in Japan. For people in the states that do not know what pro wrestling is like in Japan, please explain the differences between it and what we see here in the states (WWE).

Enson: I think that WWE and NJPW has its hard core stuff. Japanese wrestlers will take more hits, get cut, and bleed more; while WWE wrestlers will take falls from scary heights. I think that the Japanese wrestlers can not create the drama as well as The Rock or Kurt Angle can, so they compensate by sometimes taking full on punches and actually getting put to sleep.

Mick: NJPW has begun to hold MMA fights at their events this past year. Since you are currently under contract to them, will we see you in any MMA rules fights for them in 2004?

Enson: Most definitely. Pride or New Japan at 205 pounds.

Mick: If you return to full time MMA competition, what can fans expect to see different from the Enson we last saw in Pride compared to the Enson of today?

Enson: An older Enson, that's for sure. Other than that, the same fire and using my head a bit more. That would be ideal.

Mick: Tell us how your mentality has evolved since saying you were going to retire after your loss to Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at Pride 19 and what it is like now with the chance you will return to MMA competition?

Enson: I think I can be more focused and because of injuries and age, I will be forced to use my head more.

Mick: You are known for your never say die attitude and your unwillingness to tap out, even if it means serious damage to yourself. Can you explain to people why you refuse to tap out?

Enson: Great question. You know... there are two Ensons... one in the ring and one outside of the ring. “Ring Enson” thinks “Outside the Ring Enson” is a pussy. “Ring Enson” wouldn't tap even if he took a worse beating than the one he took from Igor (Vovchanchyn, at Pride 10). “Ring Enson” is willing to die in the ring. “Ring Enson” thinks of his fight with Igor and recalls the chances he had to change the momentum in the fight. Thinks of what he needs to work on to crush his opponent if ever in the same situation. Call it stupid or crazy, but that's the in-ring Enson, "there is no better way to die than in the midst of battle… fighting to the very end… like a man."

Now there is “Outside the ring Enson” and, first of all, he thinks “Ring Enson” is an absolute idiot. “Outside the ring Enson” watched the Enson versus Igor fight and cringed the whole 10 minutes. He felt a bit scared for the guy getting pounded by Igor, only to realize that that was him. He watches the video and thinks that next time he should tap, knowing all the damage that he received during that battle. I had a ruptured left eardrum, cracked jaw (right side), swollen brain, broken right index finger, and a liver count 2000 times the normal person. I was hospitalized for 4 days and out of action for 3 months. The doctors told me that the swelling in my brain was very critical because bleeding in the brain could have easily occurred... and if bleeding occurred, I wouldn't be answering this right now. “Outside the ring Enson” says, "realize when you are defeated, get out in one piece, learn, and live to fight another day."

Mick: So having said that, would you ever consider tapping out?

Enson: No, I wouldn't tap. It may sound stupid, but I would rather die than tap.

Mick: That never say die attitude is shared by fellow MMA and pro wrestling veteran Don Frye. If you faced Frye, what do you think would happen?

Enson: Don Frye is a friend, so I would never fight him. If we ever did fight though, the hospital would have two bodies to fix.

Mick: You’ve relocated from the US to Japan, tell us what it is like being out of the States and how you are enjoying things in your new homeland?

Enson: I love it. This is the heart of MMA. This is the place to be. This is my home.

Mick: You have four Purebred Team gyms, not only in Japan, but one in Guam as well, tell us how they came about.

Enson: I was approached by sponsors. Guam was done on my own for my little brothers in Guam. All my students are my family. Of the other four, two are from legit sponsors and the other two are sponsored by the Japanese Yakuza and the Chinese Mafia respectively.

Mick: The Japanese Yakuza and Chinese Mafia? What is your relationship like with them?

Enson: They are actually good friends, sort of like family. These guys’ whole lifestyle is about being tough and having power. My fighting style and beliefs just so happen to go hand in hand with what they believe is an ideal man. I get a tremendous amount of respect from these guys.

Mick: There has been a lot of controversy this year in MMA. What do you think can be done to cut down on it and keep the fights where they should be finished, in the ring, by the two fighters?

Enson: Give more of a finishing incentive and recruit fighters not by their win/loss record, but instead, on their aggressiveness.

Mick: In this past year, we have seen fighters such as Dan Henderson go into fights not 100% healthy. You have done this before (albeit against the wishes of doctors), how much of a disadvantage does it put you to not be at full health going into a fight?

Enson: Nothing. As long as it’s not a broken bone or a completely torn ligament, it shouldn't affect one fight. Those minor injuries only affect you as much as you let it. Mental preparation is 90% of overcoming any adversities like small injuries. If my body is not 100%, then you better believe that mentally, I'll be 110%.

Mick: People have made a big deal out of the fact that Hidehiko Yoshida uses a gi in his fights. You have fought with both a gi and without a gi. Tell us, what are the differences and/or advantages/disadvantages of it?

Enson: The advantages are: it prevents slipping from sweat and it adds a few more options for chokes. The disadvantages are: your opponent can grab a hold of you and control you more.

Mick: You were included in Pride’s video game, what is it like to see yourself represented in the video game world?

Enson: Pretty trippy. It's really cool. I'm flattered. However, my son always picks Nogueira and kicks my ass.

Mick: Speaking of your son, has fatherhood changed you at all? Your son plays the games, so does he understand what his father does/did and would you let him get into MMA when he gets older?

Enson: Fatherhood hasn't changed me much, but it has changed my direction in life a lot. I still work hard at my future. The only difference is that, in the back of my mind, it's all about creating a good future for my family and my son after I pass on. My son understands exactly what I do. In fact, he's the very one telling me to fight in Pride again. He keeps telling me to fight Wanderlei (Silva, Pride Middleweight and Grand Prix 2003 Champion). He also wants to fight in Pride in the future and wants a shit load of tattoos too. Yikes!

Mick: Lastly is there anything you want to say to the MMA fans around the world or anyone you want to give a shout out too?

Enson: Yes. I would like to thank everyone for all the support throughout the years. I look forward to getting back in the battlefield again being able to say, “I’m Back!”

Source: MMA Weekly

BJJ State championship in Rio

Rickson Gracie's birthland, Rio de Janeiro will have this weekend two State championships. The first one will be held by the Rio de Janeiro Olympic BJJ Federation in the Castelo Branco College, next Saturday. The other one is being produced by the Rio de Janeiro BJJ Federation, in the Gama Filho University.

Source: Tatame

Anderson Silva deals with BOM-BA-YE

There's a huge chance of Anderson Silva celebrates the New Years Eve in Japan. According to Anderson, he may appear at the Inoki BOM-BA-YE. The fighter is training with the other athletes who left Chute Boxe last month and is also working out for a new team. 'We are being supported by a Brazilian bussinessman and I have been receiving a lot of fight proposals', stated Anderson.

The recent problem with his former team, Chute Boxe, preocupies Anderson that talks about the open letter signed by Assuério Silva at TATAME.com. 'I would like to ask people to respect this difficult moment that I have been trought. Unfortunately, what Assuério said is very serious, but it's just his opinion. I don't have and I've never had doubts about the transparecy on the negotiations of the fighting purses. I left Chute Boxe due to other problems', guarantees Anderson, who didn't want to give more details about it.

Source: Tatame

New Year's Eve Shows' War and Broken Nose Takes Shoji Out of HEAT FC 2!
By Eduardo Alonso

A broken nose suffered in late November and later the battle taking place between three Japanese organizations to use fighters on their New Year's evening shows forced Japanese fighter and PRIDE veteran Akira Shoji to be taken out of of the HEAT FC 2 Revolution card, coming up this next December 18th. Around the initial date for HEAT FC 2, November 27th, Akira suffered a broken nose during a training session against UFC veteran Ivan Salaverry, making it impossible for him to attend the show. With the constant rain in the city of Natal, hometown of HEAT, moving the show to December 18th at an indoor arena, it was against possible, although not sure, for the Japanese fighter to compete again, since his trainer Matt Hume was hoping for a possible recovery in time. However, as the seasoned fighter recovers Japanese events started a war after fighters to use in their cards. With three major shows taking place at New Year's evening, fighters native from the land of the rising sun became very important and a fight for Shoji in one of those also became probable, making HEAT promoters to make a choice for taking him out of their card, keeping a good relationship with the AMC Pankration camp as well as shows such as PRIDE. On the same trend, WEF veteran Roman Roytberg, also from AMC Pankration, had to withdraw from the show due to personal issues and conflicts with the new date, but will most likely be featured at a future edition of the show, with HEAT FC 3 being tentatively scheduled for late March of 2004. Replacements for both Akira Shoji and Roman Roytberg will be announced at any time by the promoters. Here is the current card of HEAT FC 2, on December 18th:

Carlos Barreto vs. Travis Wiuff
Allan Goes vs. Gustavo "Ximu" Machado
Ebenezer Fontes Braga vs. Eric Wanderlei
Forrest Griffin vs. Edson Paredao
Vinicius "Draculino" Magalhaes vs. Kleber Galdino
Marcelo "Uirapuru" Azevedo vs. TBA
Dinarte Silva vs. Charles Andrade
Sergio Junior vs. Fabio "Bolinho"
Alexandre "Vaca" vs. TBA

Source: FCF

Dean Lister: Ready for the Test
By Arron Barringer

Reigning King of the Cage middleweight champion Dean Lister (6-1) steps into the cage and up in weight Saturday against KOTC light heavyweight champion Jeremy Horn (59-12-5) in what many are calling the toughest fight of his career. While Lister has racked up a solid record in mixed martial arts competition as well as a fairy-tale victory in the Abu Dhabi tournament earlier this year, he has yet to face anyone with the skill and experience of Horn.

When stacked up against an opponent with the record and reputation the magnitude of Horn, most fighters on the other side of the cage have faltered. Some might say they were not ready. They needed more time. But not Dean Lister.

"I like it," he says. "I don't like being the favorite. I like being the underdog." Being the underdog, explains Lister, allows him the focus to train all that much harder for the fight.

Known for possessing a world-class submission game, Lister stresses that he is constantly training to improve himself. "I'm always trying to improve what I'm not known for. Like I'm not as known for my striking, so I am always looking to improve my striking. And I'm not one of those guys that has to stand with a guy and prove it."

He makes no secret, and offers no apologies for his fighting style. "Pretty much my game is to take a guy down," Lister says. "Even against a really good wrestler, I'll find a way to take them to the ground and try to finish them; take their back or something." Lister contends that while he has been training his standup skills in an effort to become more evolved as a fighter, there are no illusions about his strategy.

"Everyone should have their specialty, their one thing that they're better at than anyone else," he says. "And everybody knows what [mine] is; there's no mystery. I'm not trying to fool anyone. The ground is my element, that's where I like to be."

When pressed about fighting an athlete such as Horn, Lister responds with a chuckle: "I don't know if it's because of the fight, but I have been working on a lot of other things I have not worked on before."

In a sport rampant with trash talkers, Dean Lister has set himself and his gym light years apart from most others. MMA is a sport like no other, with athletes that define themselves in their versatility and expertise. Yet that has not precluded certain fighters from showing disrespect to their opponents. "For me it's really important," says Lister of sportsmanship. "First of all it's the outlook from the public."

Lister is quick to point out that as of late sportsmanship is lacking in all sports. "When you're in a sport, you have to respect what's around you, and one of those things that's really important to respect is your opponent," he says. "Because your opponent is what makes you better.

"The reason I'm in this sport is to become a better individual, a better fighter. And in becoming a better fighter, I become a better individual. It's the overall development of what you are, your discipline. You can't go out there and hide behind a team. It's just you out there. And if you make a mistake, yeah, you can get beat. You have to learn from it."

Don't let his enlightened attitude fool you: He still intends to bring all the intensity he can into the fight. "You can be a cool guy, and still be fierce in the ring."

This positive attitude combined with an impressive list of accomplishments has led him to a cult celebrity status among MMA fans. Rumors and whispers of Lister moving up into 'the majors' have been repeatedly spread across Internet forums and chat rooms. "I would consider fighting for anyone," Lister says. "It's up to my manager, but to be honest I'm looking to go where I am wanted. I've put my time in for so long, I mean, I don't have over a hundred something fights like Jeremy Horn, but I'm not a rookie; I've been around for a long time. And I've been trying to impose my style, to prove myself, and I want to be with an organization that wants me around."

Some organizations are known for promoting fighters that 'ground and pound' more than others who look for a more technical finish to a fight. Ultimately, Lister wants to remain true to his own style of fighting. "If they see that I'm an entertaining fighter, you know, I expose the full game of submissions in a fight and how it's applied -- I think I show that well -- and I will apply that. If [an organization] doesn't want to see that game then that's not where I belong. I've had more interest from some organizations then I have from others. Whatever event you see me in the future is going to be where I'm wanted."

To this point he has been extremely loyal to the King of the Cage. "And of course I'm loyal to them," he says. "That's real important, I'm not just looking to go out and just get what's for me. I want a feeling of mutual benefit from both parts."

If you want trash talking and posturing in a fight, you're better off watching Tough Man. Lister and Horn are renowned for their sportsmanship and humility as much as for their skill and aggression. When the two fighters square off December 6 at the Soboba Casino in San Jacinto, Calif. the spectators will not get contrived drama or shouting. Instead they will witness two game, technical fighters competing to win.

Source: Maxfighting

 12/4/03

Quote of the Day

"You will become as small as your controlling desire; as great as your dominant aspiration."

James Allen, 1864-1912, British-born American Essayist, Author of ''As a Man Thinketh''

Congrats to Officer Hosaka

Long time Casca Grossa and Relson Gracie team member (and our calabash cousin) Kaleo Hosaka graduated from the Honolulu Police Department's training last night at the Okinawan Center. This has been a long time coming because as far as I could remember Kaleo always wanted to be a cop and we were like brothers since we were about 3 years old. To top off his successful completion of the rigorous training, he won the leadership award and a trophy to go with it. He was only one of five cops that received awards that night out of 42 new recruits.

We would just like to congratulate him and say that we're proud that we finally made his dream come true. It's also great that there will be another great cop protecting our family and friends.

Super Brawl 32 Weigh-Ins Today!


The road to the rematch of Egan Inoue and Masanori Suda starts on Friday as both fighters must take on Jason Miller and Shannon Ritch, respectively, in order to earn the right to face each other for a rematch for the title.

Weigh-ins for this event will be held today at 24-Hour Fitness Kapiolani at 1:00 PM. This is a great opportunity to meet and greet the fighters and see what they are all about outside the ring.

On that same note, For Love and Glory, the Super Brawl documentary which will follow a handful of Grappling Unlimited fighters outside the ring as they prepare for Super Brawl 31 will air this Sunday at 10:00 PM on Channel 5 (K-5).

PRIDE FC: TWO SHOWS IN TWO WEEKS!
LOS ANGELES, California – Dream Stage Entertainment announces two upcoming events for the year 2004:

PRIDE FC: INFERNO
Live Event: February 1, 2004
PPV Date: February 8, 2004
From the Osaka Castle Hall in Japan

PRIDE FC: BUSHIDO 2
Live Event: February 15, 2004
PPV Date: TBA
From the Yokohama Arena in Japan

More information on both fight cards soon to follow.

For more information on PRIDE FC, visit pridefc.com!

MORE PRIDE NEWS - PRIDE FC SHOCKWAVE 2003!

From Dream Stage Entertainment:

LOS ANGELES, California – The mixed martial arts year of 2003 is not over yet for PRIDE FC fans! Scheduled for December 31, 2003 from the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan is PRIDE FC’s New Year’s Eve spectacular … SHOCKWAVE 2003.

Headlining the fight card will be the long-awaited rematch between Royce Gracie and Hidehiko Yoshida. These two submission artists battled at SHOCKWAVE 2002 and the result was the controversial finish in which Yoshida was victorious via gi choke, though Gracie protested that he did not tap and was not unconscious. This rematch continues the epic rivalry between Gracie Jiu Jitsu and Japanese Judo, which began over 50 years ago when Helio Gracie fought Masahiko Kimura in a match to prove who had the superior fighting style.

Also on the SHOCKWAVE 2003 fight card: Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira, Wanderlei Silva, Ryan Gracie, Don “The Predator” Frye, Heath Herring, Mario Sperry, and Hayato “Mach” Sakurai. Match-ups will be announced soon.

Though SHOCKWAVE 2003 will not be available in North America via pay per view, travel packages are available on pridefc.com and a DVD of the event will follow in the first quarter of 2004.

Fight Card Subject to Change.

Source: ADCC

Interview: JEREMY HORN

On December 6th Jeremy Horn makes his first King Of The Cage title defense when he takes on Dean Lister at Soboba Casino. Horn is the KOTC Light Heavyweight Champion while Dean is the Middleweight Champion. This show is a non-PPV show, with the match being for Horn's title.

Horn won the title back in May by defeating the Champion at that time, Vernon “Tiger” White by decision. In that fight White scored with kicks, while Jeremy scored with control and positioning. Both fighters were so good at defending the other’s strategy that neither did significant damage or came close to a submission. Overall this year Jeremy has gone a total of 7-1-1, a record this year alone that beats many of the fighters we see on pay-per-view shows. Jeremy’s one loss this year was by decision and was his only loss in over two years, coming to Renato Sobral in the finals of the IFC 8-man tournament in Denver in September.

KM: What are your thoughts on fighting Lister?
JH: I know he is a really good grappler. It’s really all I have to go on.

KM: In the Abu Dhabi Submission Worlds he is the Absolute Division Champion but in MMA he hasn’t really faced somebody of your caliber yet. Does that mean anything to you?
JH: No, not really. I’m sure he’s training hard, I’m sure he has some good people to train with.

KM: This is your first defense of your King Of The Cage belt. You mentioned before belts themselves don’t really mean anything to you but KOTC is high profile. Does that mean anything to you?
JH: Nope. Losing the fight means something to me but that’s about it.

KM: This is at Light Heavyweight but you have been fighting recently at Middleweight?
JH: I had a fight at Middleweight. That is where I want to fight mostly but the fights I keep getting offered are Light Heavyweight.

KM: The one Middleweight was in Extreme Challenge?
JH: Yeah.

KM: So your most recent fight in London in Extreme Brawl…
JH: Yeah, that was at 205.

KM: For those who haven’t seen it can you tell us about it?
JH: He’s a tough guy and hard to submit but I took him down and pounded on him for three rounds. You never know judges; it went down as a draw. They were probably all 10-8 rounds. I pounded the shit out of him but he’s a tough guy and wouldn’t quit.

KM: This is for the Light Heavyweight belt but you are trying to establish yourself at Middleweight. Lister on the other hand is the Middleweight Champion and is trying to establish himself at Light Heavyweight. Would you be fighting for the Middleweight belt in KOTC later on?
JH: Yeah, probably.

KM: Your last fight was in London. Anything lined up for January?
JH: Might be three times in January. There is a local promoter here that does smaller boxing stuff and I might fight on one of his cards here. I might fight in TKO the day before or day after UFC, I forget which. I might do that; it depends on how the schedules work out with that. I’d be fighting David Loiseau.

KM: Would that be defending your World Light Heavyweight belt or at 185?
JH: That would be at 185.

KM: Would you give up the TKO belt?
JH: No.

KM: So you have the Light Heavyweight belts in King Of The Cage, 2Hot2Handle, TKO…do you know how many belts you have?
JH: I have about twelve. I forget all the names.

KM: Isn’t it February you are defending your 2Hot2Handle belt?
JH: That is still in negotiations. They want me to fight Alistair Overeem but they are really not offering much money. We’ll see how that goes.

KM: There are rumors about a rematch between you and Babalu in Brazil in March.
JH: That is kind of what we are looking at. That is pretty tentative. We haven’t heard a whole lot from the people that want to do that so we’ll see how that goes.

KM: We’ve talked several times about how I think you deserve to be back in the UFC and here you are I believe the most international fighter; London, Rotterdam, Brazil, California, Japan…what are your thoughts on being the most international fighter?
JH: I never really thought about it before you mentioned it. I’d always rather travel as little as possible. Traveling so much I spend so much time away from home, I don’t like it.

KM: So this isn’t a conscious effort or strategy to spread your name to foreign fans…
JH: No, not at all. I’m taking the fights that are offered.

KM: You moved to Salt Lake City.
JH: Yes.

KM: So you get that high elevation training 24/7. Have you noticed any difference?
JH: Oh, yeah. When I first came out here was before the tournament in Denver and I noticed a huge difference. It’s only about a thousand feet lower than Denver while everybody else in the tournament was almost at sea level pretty much. I was out here about a month or six weeks before that fight. I noticed a big difference.

KM: I’ve heard fighters talk about taking 2-3 weeks to go to high elevation like Big Bear being a favorite of the California fighters. Since you are living at high elevation now are you noticing even better conditioning or does the conditioning increase level off after 2-3 weeks?
JH: I’m not really sure about how all that works. My understanding is by going up in high elevation there is less oxygen and your body learns to survive and work on less oxygen. Living gets your body more used to it. I don’t think it’s that big a difference just coming up for a month or so but now it’s something I don’t have to think about, to worry about.

KM: It used to be you were training mainly at Miletich Martial Arts. Do you go back there or is it a different training regimen?
JH: I still train the same way. We still do a lot of boxing, a lot of grappling, stuff like that. I get a lot of those guys coming out here to train with me and I go back home to train with them a lot. It’s still pretty much the same group.

KM: I hear you are training around Walt Bayless’ place now.
JH: Yeah.

KM: How should I phrase it, you are Team Miletich, Team Extreme, fighting out of Walt Bayless Combat Jiu-Jitsu…
JH: I got a lot of friends at that gym so that is where I train but I don’t know how you would phrase it. It’s more like a partnership than them training me.

KM: Maybe I should continue to just say “Team Extreme”.
JH: I don’t know, it’s kind of blurry.

KM: You are still getting along with the Team Miletich people…
JH: Oh, absolutely.

KM: It seems that whole split between Monte and Pat was blown out of proportion.
JH: It was, yeah.

KM: Things are pretty much like they used to be?
JH: Yeah.

KM: It seems like it’s just another day at the office for you, the KOTC belt is nothing to get worked up for you.
JH: No, not really. It’s just another fight. That doesn’t mean it’s any less important but it’s just not anything special just because of all that extra stuff. It’s just a fight.

KM: Sponsors to thank?
JH: Always Tapout. Fairtex. I know James Wong is going to be helping me out but Tapout has always been supportive of me.

Source: ADCC

BJJ World Champion Márcio Pé de Pano out of Global Mix Combat

The much awaited MMA debut of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Submission Wrestling WOrld Champion Márcio 'Pé de Pano' (Gracie Barra Combat Team) has been postponed.
It had been expected that Marcio would be on the card being planeed for Rio next January, called . The card is set to feature many great names from the Gracie Barra Combat Team, but according to BJJ blck belt 'Pé de Pano' himself, he won't be one of them. 'We couldn't reach a deal. It seems like they don't care if I do fight or not. Whatever, my knee is still hurt', complained Pé de Pano.

The Global Mix Combat is scheduled for the last week of January and promises a huge show with a Brazilian Reggae band, TV presenters, DJs, dancers and a fair sports fair. 'The tickets will cost around R$50 (US$ 15), but we are working to decrease it', stated Global Mix Combat's manager Cláudio Seabra in other news on this developing event.

Source: ADCC

Catching Up With with Duane "Bang" Ludwig

PL: Tell us about your last fight in K-1 against Toshio Matsumoto?
My last fight for K-1 was a very important fight to me. It was my first fight for K-1 while on contract so I really wanted to put on a good show. My opponent Toshio was a stablemate of my first round opponent for the 03 World MAX tournament, Kozo Takeda, and our fight was built as a revenge match for Kozo since I had beaten him. My plan for the fight was to just outbox him while countering his kicks. I went to New Mexico to train with Mike Winklejohn for this fight, and like I said earlier, I really wanted to put on a good show so I knew that Mr. Winklejohn would get me more then ready, and I was.

The fight went as planned with me being able to catch him with my boxing. Toshio just likes to kick and knee so I just wanted to counter his kicks and watch out for his knees to the head since he is about 6'1''. Funny thing is, I actually KO'ed him with a knee to the head.

PL: Talk about your new contract with K-1. Where do you see that going in the future?
My manager Sven "Boogie" Bean got me a really good deal with K-1 MAX. The contract is basically a two-year deal saying that I will fight in three K-1 shows a year, but that I still can fight for other non-Japanese organizations like the UFC. This is great for me, and it's what I have been dreaming of for years - being a K-1 fighter. One thing that is very important for me is the K-1 World MAX tournament, so now with this contract, K-1 is keeping me busy with actual K-1 style fights. When I jump back and forth between NHB and K-1, my striking skills suffer and that can't happen when I'm fighting the world's finest strikers. Basically, no other top K-1 MAX fighter is doing both NHB and K-1. If I can concentrate on K-1, my chances of reaching my dream are better. With the contract that "Boogie" got me from K-1, I can give 100% to my dream.

PL: K-1 has also taken an interest in promoting you to Japanese fans. Is that part of the contract?
Basically there are two contracts - a fight contract and a promotion contract. The fight contract says that I will fight on at least three K-1 shows a year and is only exclusive in Japan; fighting for shows like Ring of Fire and UFC are OK. The Promotion contract says that K-1 will get me commercial deals and that they are going to have some BANG items made up. K-1 has mentioned a few things to help promote me, like T-shirts and a doll. The qualities that I naturally have are what the Japanese fans like - I am the All American guy for one, I have tons of heart and I am not that bad at fighting. I guess if you throw a little Apple pie, a couple steel balls, a good chunk from a lion's heart and a little bit of fighting skill you got me. One thing about Japanese fans is that they are very knowledgeable of the fight game. They love you win or lose. It's a great thing to be appreciated as an athlete and not a brawler.

PL: Talk about K-1's new MMA promotion. Where do you see yourself fitting in there and are you more interested in pursuing K-1 or MMA rules fights?
Now that K-1 has launched a MMA series, I will also be fighting in that, but nothing is set yet. Hopefully I will not be fighting too much MMA because K-1 is my dream and that is what I want. With K-1 signing me to this contract, I am the only foreigner to be signed in the MAX series and the second American ever to have a K-1 multi fight deal, so this is big stuff. With me being able to do both K-1 style and MMA, K-1 can keep me very busy, with possibly more than three shows a year.

PL: Your last K-1 fight was supposed to be against Genki Sudo. Does that still look like a possibility, and do you still want to fight him, whether under K-1 or MMA rules?
I was supposed to fight Genki in K-1 rules but it was pulled. If we fight again, I hope for it to be in K-1 rules so I do not have to worry about the takedowns and I can just go after him. I do owe him and the fans a rematch in MMA though.

PL: Where do you stand with the UFC right now?
With the UFC not having a 155 title anymore, I am not too sure where I stand. For me, I don't really want to fight a particular person as much as I want to fight for the title. I was asked after my last K-1 fight who I would like to fight. I said nobody, I just want the K-1 04 MAX title, and I want to bring it back to America. That is a big thing to me, to show the world that America has great kickboxing. Americans get little respect in the world when it comes to kickboxing and I am going to change that.

PL: Comment on BJ Penn moving up in weight to fight Matt Hughes. Who can beat Matt Hughes?
I think that Matt is going to beat BJ pretty easy. BJ doesn't seem that strong at 155 and now he wants to fight the strongest 170 pounder?? BJ better do some steroids or something. Hey, BJ, just don't tell the UFC OK? If Matt comes to fight like he has been, then it's not going to be a certain fighter that is going to beat him as much as it's going to be a lucky strike or some mistake from Matt that will get him submitted.

PL: Do you plan on staying at 155? Would you fight at 170 in the UFC?
With my new trainer Mike Winklejohn, making 155 is no problem. That guy worked me out so much that I had to actually eat more to keep my weight up to stay at 160 so I could still cut five pounds and have a little weight on my opponent. Fighting at 170 is not too likely for me. The only way that I would fight at 170 is if I had a street fight two weeks after one of my scheduled fights.

PL: I understand your next fight is for Alex Gong's title. How does it feel to fight for a title that was vacated in such a way?
Alex Gong's death was just wrong. Of all people, he should know not to try to street fight. Everybody knows that people do not fight fair. Even then, you're a professional fighter with a moneymaking gym, let your insurance and police handle it, man! The whole thing pisses me off. I have a little story for you guys. I had this loudmouth guy at work one time wanting to fight me and I told him "I don't fight for free". The guy's brother says that would put $1000 up and so would my boss. "Great," I told him and we scheduled to meet after work, but of course he backs out, saying that we shouldn't be fighting and that I was cool and all. This was when I was working as an electrician and the other guy was a dry waller. There is always something happening on a construction site. Actually, a week after Alex was shot, this guy on the highway invited me to pull over for a little road rage dance after work. I told this fat dumb ass, "you don't want me to pull over," but of course looking like a 15-year-old Boy Scout doesn't help when I try to talk bad so then I remembered what happened to Alex and I just kept on driving. Now I am glad to say that because I didn't pull over to fight, I am here to answer your questions and to say that I will be fighting for the ISKA title that Alex had vacated. The date is Jan 10th here in Colorado, which is rare these days, against Terrek Rashad from Lebanon. This will be full Muay Thai with elbows. This title means a lot to me. I plan to keep the title here in the United States and keep a bit of Alex Gong's memory with it. Since his last defense of the title was against me, I have a little emotion wrapped up with this fight. I hope that I can keep the title here for a lot of reasons but one reason in particular and that's to keep it here in Alex Gong's memory.

PL: What's after that fight? What do you want to work on in terms of your fighting? What is your next goal?
My next goal is to win the 04 MAX World Grand Prix. That has been my dream for 10 years now, to win the K-1 Grand Prix.

PL: What has kept you motivated over the years as you've moved closer to that goal?
I have a few reasons why I fight. One is because this is what I am wired for, but I must do the best I can because if you don't, why do it at all? I don't fight because I want people to think that I am cool and/or tough. I don't wear fight shirts in public and I don't talk about fighting when I am in a public place so people can hear how cool I am. I fight to make my mother proud. I am the youngest of five children so that means that it's up to me to finally put the LUDWIG name in a place to be proud of. I grew up fighting and I am good at it so this what I am running with. Finally, I am making enough money to do it full-time. The place where I'm at today is due to a lot of things: My desire, my first coach James Tigrett who gave me a strong Muay Thai foundation and my manager / big brother Sven "Boogie" Bean, who has always looked out for me since day one. No one can really say that this one thing or one person did everything, but I tell you this, if it wasn't for "Boogie", I would not be where I am today.

PL: You've had two chances to win the MAX title in the past. What do you feel has held you back?
One thing that has held me back from winning the MAX tournament is me. I never believed that I could win it. There are a few things that I would like to blame, but the bottom line is that I never believed in myself. Now I have my diet down better, I finally have a true kickboxing coach, I have been focusing 100% on K-1 rules and I am getting better each time I fight. A few things that held me back were a lack of training partners and a true experienced kickboxing coach. No excuses, I just have to trust in my training and myself. When I fought Masato in the 02 MAX, I was a little intimidated and I was hearing all this shit at the camp I was training at. I was just not there 100%. Also, I starved myself to stay at weight for four days before the fight. My diet was wrong and my training was not what it should have been for that Masato fight. I was just not myself. In this last 03 MAX, I was totally focused for the Kozo fight and I trained entirely for Kozo. My goal was to beat Kozo and to at least win one fight. When that happened, I was happy with what I accomplished. I kind of settled for that win and that win only. When I fought (Albert) Kraus, I did what I never do and that is fight a fighter at his own game. I am good at doing what my opponent is not doing. When I faced him, I tried to box him and he caught me and I went down. From then I was scared that I could not take his power. I was just not myself. When I cut so much weight, I do not take a shot as well. That is not going to be a problem from now on. With my new training, I have to eat to keep weight on so that is a good thing.

PL: How is your game improving with your new trainer?
With my new trainer Mike Winklejohn, I have full confidence when I fight. My training is exactly what I need to be doing. Mr. Winklejohn has the experience and the knowledge of the fight game and that is a big thing to me. When someone tries to tell me something and they have never fought, then I do not take it to heart. That is why I love Bas Rutten so much. He has he skills and he has always looked out for me. I listen to everything he says. Mr. Winklejohn also looks out for me; his training is very intense and very good. I feel great training with him. No one trains the way we do. We run this mountain, and at the top, we do pads and a bunch of drills. That is the shit. When I do that training, it gives me this confidence that I have never had before. I felt so good at this last fight with the training that I did, that when I fight for the ISKA title (Gong's title), I am going to go off.

PL: K-1 obviously pays better than most US organizations. How much has this contract helped you financially?
Having this K-1 contract, I do not have to work and I do not have to worry about getting sponsors. One big thing about the fight game has always been sponsors. I have had a few good ones and a few bad ones. Now with this K-1 contract, I don't really need sponsors, so I guess you can say I get to pick what I want to wear on my fight clothes. That is a good thing too because I had a clothing sponsor out of Cali. That was just a pain in my ass to deal with. Sometimes the actual fight itself was easier then getting the money from the sponsor. Then there is my supplement sponsor that wanted to start charging me for protein when he figured out that sponsoring wasn't going to bring in a million dollars to his shop. Then I have another supplement guy who came to me that starts off big (of course), only to end up being another pain. I am not going to mention their company so they can get any free advertising but the second supplement sponsor's name is "back order Jeff" because every time I try to get something from this guy it's always back ordered. Yeah right, man. I would ask for a certain protein bar or certain protein and he would always be like "no, that's on back order but I have this half empty protein that I didn't finish". Thanks bro. I wouldn't get half of what I was supposed to but I was all right with that because, shit, it was free. The problem comes when you hear that the guy talks shit behind your back about how "I only give Duane half his stuff because he doesn't get me as much business as he should by sponsoring him". When you confront him he totally backs off and denies everything. I also had a website that gave me a few bucks here and there but this guy is one two-faced asshole, a total snake. This guy says one thing and then goes back on it the next day like we never talked, kind of like Terry from KOTC. When I drive 1,200 miles to Cali for a six-month fight deal to find out that there is no apartment like we agreed on, that is when I found out what a contract is good for. Not to trust a man's word. Scratch that man, I meant snake's word. So to all the sponsors that are a pain in my ass, I want to say, "f**k off", but that would not be good so instead, I would like to say "f**k off". One thing about me, I am a very honest and dedicated person but if you piss me off one time, I never forget it. I will stay on the ride until I get everything I can, but after the ride stops, bye bye.

With that off my chest, I would like to thank some people and sponsors that have been there from the beginning and have always been willing to help me out in a pinch. GLC 2000, even if they didn't sponsor me, I would take their product; that stuff works. Profile Autobody, who took a chance on me. They paid for my 02 MAX training and I didn't win, as we all know, but they didn't care, they were just proud to help me out and have ever since. Dakota's Steak house out in Cali. They would give me any free meal all the time when I lived there and didn't want anything in return. Brothers BBQ here in Denver, they always hook it up with the BBQ. Always a smile when we meet and never a question when I bring in the whole gang to throw down on some ribs. For some very special people that have helped me from the get go, in no order mind you. Bas Rutten, and BASRUTTEN.TV always looked out for me and got me hooked all over the world. Sven "Boogie" Bean, who, like a big brother would, has never left my side in any situation, my snugglers, who didn't care if I had money or not; still there was love in her eye for me. There are so many people who helped me through my career, training partners Nate Marquardt who fights in Pancrase on the 30th, Christian Allen and Clarence Thatch. I could go on for a while but I better quit now. THANKS TO ALL MY FANS AND THANKS TO ALL THE WEBSITES AND MAGAZINES THAT GIVE ME EXPOSURE. God Bless.

Source: Maxfighting

FRANKLIN TO FIGHT IN JAPAN

MMAWeekly.com broke the story a couple of weeks ago that Rich Franklin had signed a three fight deal to fight for the K-1 organization. He will also be available to fight in the UFC as well.

It appears that Franklin will fight his first K-1 fight in Japan on the big December 31st show. While an opponent has not been officially announced, there have been some rumblings that his opponent most likely will be Pride fighter Alistar Overeem. Overeem's last fight was against Chuck Liddell in the first round of the Pride Grand Prix where he lost to the Iceman.

Speaking of this K-1 show, it appears another UFC fighter that might be competing on that show as well. It's expected that Din Thomas will sign a deal this week to compete in Japan as well. Thomas is expected to be a guest on MMAWeekly Radio later this week with the official word.

Source: ADCC

 12/3/03

Quote of the Day

"If money is your hope for independence, you will never have it. The only real security that a man can have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience and ability."

Henry Ford, 1863-1947, American Industrialist, Founder of Ford Motor Company

Rigan Machado Seminar at HMC this Saturday!


Don't miss this opportunity to train with one of the most technical and experienced Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu instructors and competitors in the world, Rigan Machado of the famous Machado brothers.

The Machado brothers are cousins of the Gracies and were the champions of the champion factory Gracie Barra team for a number of years. They were one of the pioneers that followed Rorion to America and created a huge powerhouse team primarily based in California, but now have associations and academies all over the US and the world. The Machados were the first to produce numerous American black belts and break down the walls by openly promoting Americans to high levels.

For a while, Rigan Machado was considered "the next Rickson" and has fought Rickson in a sport Jiu-Jitsu in a close battle. He has had success in the tournament scene as well as in the Abu Dhabi Submission Wrestling Championships.

Here are the specifics for the seminar:

When: Saturday, December 6
Where: Hawaii Martial Arts Center (HMC)
2nd Floor in the Kentucky Fried Chicken and Jiffy Lube complex on the corner of Dillingham, Liliha, and King St.
HMC is directly under Canyan Rent-to-Own
555 N. King St.
Honolulu, HI 96817
Contact: 841-5144 to reserve your spot! A $20 non-refundable down is required to save your spot.
Times: 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM Gi $40
1:00 PM - 3:00 PM No-Gi $40
Sign up for both seminars for $60 and save $20!

Spots are limited by the amount of space at HMC and to prevent over crowding. Don't think that you will show up the day of the seminar and fill an empty spot. This seminar is sure to sell out so act fast!

There will be no video camera equipment allowed during the seminar so as not to interrupt the instruction being given and because the seminar might end up being filmed for use by a production company later.

Fireworks in the Corners

"The New York Bad Ass" Phil Baroni to corner Jason Miller

"Yamato Damashi" Enson Inoue to corner Egan Inoue

Fans will likely have their eyes glued to the action inside the ring as Hawaii's own Egan Inoue battles Jason "Mayhem" Miller this Friday night. Super Brawl promoters are taking extra precautions to make sure they are the only ones battling in the ring. "We are aware that both Enson and Phil can be very emotional" says T.Jay Thompson, Super Brawl producer. "We have spoken to both of them and are confident there will be no extra-curricular activities"

Bigger Production in Store for 32nd Installment

Super Brawl production staff have big plans for this Friday night's Super Brawl. "We have hired a new lighting crew and will have a full production truck in back. We will have new fighter introduction packages and will have immediate slow-motion replay capability" Will Shipley, Chief Production Engineer

Tickets on Sale now for the Dec 5th, Super Brawl!
Great Early Christmas Gift!
Pick them up at the Blaisdell Box Office
Charge by phone 1-877-750-4400
or
Click Here to Order Online!

Unfortunately, the fight that was slated to happen didn't so here is the finalized Super Brawl card for Friday Night (or at least up to right now. As you know fight cards have been known to change at the last minute)!

1. Stephen Paling IV 125lbs Harvey Nakamura
(Jesus Is Lord) 1-0 (Grappling Unlimited 1-0)

Stephen Palling has some big shoes to fill. His father is Super Brawl Superstar "Bozo" Palling. At just 18 years old he will fight tonight as an amateur, but from all accounts he is ready to break into the pros now. Lightning fast hands and a solid grappling game will make him a formidable opponent for Harvey Nakamura. Nakamura is also known for his hands, but if young Palling is too quick he also has an amateur wrestling background. This should be an exciting fight. Even Odds, Pick' em

2. Mike Bauer (HMC 1-0) 170lbs Brandon Keene (GU 4-0)

Bauer trains at HMC in Kalihi with top level instruction. He is a young fighter who will look to take the fight to his opponent and make waves tonight in Super Brawl. Keene is looking to improve his impressive record tonight and an impressive performance tonight may help him shine amongst so many talented teammates. Keene 2-1 Favorite

3. Bryan Pardoe (Phoenix 6-4) 205lb Sam Bass (GU 1-0)

Pardoe is a physical specimen who has been in the ring with UFC legend Frank Shamrock. He hits hard and has solid ground skills. Bass is a raw talent who is new to the MMA game. He will attempt to use his extensive wrestling experience and his new found fighting skills (Grappling Unlimited) to beat his veteran opponent. Pardoe 2-1 Favorite

4. Tyler Lecky (Phoenix 1-0) Hwt. Ray "King Kong" Serraille (GU 3-4)

Lecky is a young fighter from Arizona who is accustomed to having a size and reach advantage. He will likely try to keep the fight standing and utilize his extensive Muay Thai experience. Kong has taken on all comers and recently beat Travis "The Iron Man" Fulton. That win has put this young fighter on the radar screen of many other big promotions. He is not afraid to stand but seems strongest when the fight is on the ground. He will try to even his record to .500 tonight. Kong 2-1 Favorite

5. David Yeung (HMC 2-2-1) 145lbs Justin Mercado (GU 2-2)

This has the potential of being a war. Yeung is coming off a less then impressive draw at the last Super Brawl against Eddie Yagin. Normally a counter puncher, he will likely fight a more aggressive fight tonight. If he does chose to counter, Mercado will likely guarantee an exciting fight. His gameplan is always coming forward and will do his best to keep this fight "up and up". Yeung 3-2 Favorite

6. Jason Miller (Las Vegas, 9-3) 185lbs Egan Inoue (#1 Contender 14-5)

Jason Miller does not only talk a big game ("Eeegan…Come out and Plaaayy!), but walks one as well. He recently started training with the" New York Bad Ass", Phil Baroni and will likely take the fight directly to Inoue. His strong suit is his extensive submission arsenal, but don't be surprised to see him stand and trade with Inoue. Egan is anxious to end a streak of bad luck that seems to have been following him. He has picked a tough "come-back" opponent and if his mind is not right he could be upset tonight. Inoue 3-2 Favorite

7. Shannon Rich 185lbs Masanori Suda
(Pride Veteran) (Super Brawl Champ 19-8-2)

Rich has fought all over the world and knows what it's like to be in with Championship talent (Kazushi Sakuraba, Frank Shamrock). Although he has failed to beat the best in the business he has recently focused his training and is confident he will walk away tonight with a victory. Suda will have something to say about this. He showed his tremendous power last May, knocking out Egan Inoue to become only the second 185lb Champion in Super Brawl history. A win by Egan and himself tonight would likely set up a rematch of the two in early February. Suda 3-1 Favorite

Interview with Rolker Gracie

How old were you when you started training?
I was 6 years old. I just turned 39, so it's been a little while! (Laughs)

What was it like growing up in the Gracie family and EVERY one of your brothers was on the mat training? Ever have any "friendly" fights when someone got angry?!
(Laughs) No, nothing like that. We all respected each other, worked very hard, and were very close. Plus, catching each other proved very difficult; we all knew the same techniques! (laughs)

You & your brothers all started training very young, how did your Father train young children?
Dad was always very serious with us, but fun and playful. He believed children, especially very young ones, are best taught, through play, and that was how he taught me.

What age do you recommend kids to start training?
For me, it was 6, so I'm biased towards that age group. My brothers differ with me on this, but I feel that 6 is the perfect age. Most children are ready by then and usually do well, with proper training.

The game today seems to be leaning more and more without the Kimono, how do you feel about this? Do you feel that Gi training is more important?
The Gi is where technical precision comes from. Period. Much easier to take it off and roll effectively than train without it and expect to do well with it. Keep your Gi's, American guys!! (Laughs)

Of your Father's many accomplishments, which are you the most proud?
That's a tough question. My Father's accomplishments are many and it would take a lot longer than this interview to list them all. But, by far, my proudest was when my Father saved the swimmer who was drowning in the shark-waters. It is mentioned in Kid Peligro's new book, "The Gracie Way", (plug). That is the one that I can say, makes me feel the most proud.

In America, there are very few Women students studying GJJ. What can we do as instructors and practitioners to help attract more Women students to our art?
I think GJJ has something for everyone, especially Women. In Brazil, we have the same problem, not many of the Ladies want to train. I think we need to emphasize Self-Defense even more. That has been my families mantra since day one: Self-Defense. After all, isn't that what everyone really begins training for? So, I think getting more Women involved will be through pushing the Self-Defense aspect even more so.

What would you say are the biggest differences in training in Brazil versus America?
In Brazil, the game is much faster, and of course, much more technical, but our American friends have better educations on Nutrition, Fitness, etc and this is helping to improve their overall game, as well.

What major changes have you seen in the evolution of GJJ over the last 5 years? The Leg game? No-Gi?
The Leg game is certainly a factor, as well as the no-Kimono, but to me, the biggest change that I have noticed is the explosion of children training. More and more children are discovering GJJ every day! Which is wonderful, because they are the future. Our art will die without them.

Finally, what is your opinion of American GJJ?! Are we Americans improving?
(Laughs) As long as you have good instruction! Just kidding! But, absolutely. As I said a minute ago, American JJ enthusiasts have many tools in their arsenals, that are helping them to catch up. Also, one big factor, is American passion. Americans are very passionate about JJ and that is a big factor in how well you actually do something. Is it in your Heart or not.

Thank you Sir, for your time!
My pleasure! Keep up the hard work out there American JJ guys!!

Francis Botha - Buffalo Soldier

Francois Botha may have let fight fans down during his K-1 debut two months ago. But, now he’s back in new form. And if his first tournament fight on Saturday only lasts 19 seconds, he is certain that it will be as a result of a knockout produced by his hands.

When word got out that Francois “The White Buffalo” Botha had signed an agreement to fight in the K-1 circuit, the interest of martial arts fight fans in “The New Fighting Sport” soared as they were finally about to see how a world class professional boxer would fair in a combat sport that permits the use of, not only punching techniques, but also kicks and knee strikes.

Sadly, anticipation quickly turned into disappointment as the former International Boxing Federation (IBF) heavyweight champion punched his way to disqualification a mere 19 seconds into his October 11th K-1 “Final Elimination” bout after he struck opponent Cyril Abidi while Abidi sat on the canvas (Abidi slipped to the mat moments earlier.)

With the debacle behind him, but not forgotten, Botha is ready to make headway in the new challenge that he has tackled. Thanks to failed negotiations between K-1’s front office and the management of German kickboxer Stefan Leko, who was scheduled to compete in Saturday’s Pay-Per-View televised K-1 “World Grand Prix Finals” eight-man tournament, Botha received a call to step up and fill the void that Leko left. Ironically, the 35-year-old South African boxer will again face Abidi – this time in the opening round of combat sports’ most prestigious annual, single-elimination playoff.

Q: So, how is your training going?

A: The training’s excellent. But, this time I did a lot more kicking techniques. We have some good kickboxing guys working with us now.

Q: How do you find the training with your newfound weapons – your legs?

A: Well, that’s what I wanted to concentrate on this time – getting my legs ready for the kicks and I can tell you right now that my legs are all blue. I’ve got blue marks everywhere, but surprisingly, I’ve been taking the kicks very well. I’m doing very well with it.

Q: Are these Japanese trainers you are working with?

A: They’re Japanese fighters – K-1 fighters.

Q: Now that you’ve been training with kicks, what do you think will be different about this K-1 fight from your first one?

A: I think the first time I just rushed out. I was very excited. The guy kicked me and I just really lost my cool, you know? But, this time I’m gonna be more composed. I’m gonna stay calm and collected because I know how to block kicks and then just go in and get him out of there. You cannot give these guys any space. That’s what I’m not gonna do. I’m not gonna give him any space to allow him to kick me.

Q: When you say you lost your cool, is that how you would explain the illegal blow you threw in the first fight with Cyril – the punch that resulted in your disqualification?

A: The guy was on the ground when I hit him, but basically I was still upset because of the first time the guy kicked me. When I came in, the guy kicked me and I lost my balance. When he was on the ground, I threw an uppercut because I just wanted to get him out. I believe this time, like I said, I will stay more composed and get him out easily. I’ll do anything no matter what it takes. If the guy hits me, I’m gonna (knock) him to the ground. I’m gonna really hit him. I might even bite off his ear, you know? (laughs)

Q: How surprised were you that he chose not to continue after you hit him with the illegal shot?

A: I wasn’t really that surprised because it happened to me a lot in the past – like in my amateur career. You know, guys want to get rid of you, that’s what they’re gonna do. They’re gonna claim a foul and get rid of you that way. But I think now (K-1) changed the rules. That’s what I hear down the pipeline – that they changed the rules. You gotta be able to continue. If you can’t continue, you lose. You cannot win by a foul anymore because that night, I think it happened to Bob Sapp also (Note: Sapp was disqualified from his fight with Remy Bonjasky, also for hitting his downed opponent after Bonjasky slipped and fell to the ground.). So, now I would probably get a yellow card instead and, from what I understand, once you get a yellow card, you basically can’t win a fight. I don’t know how many yellow cards they can give me – they can give me 10 – but I’m still gonna knock him out before the end of the fight.

Q: You sound very confident about this fight.

A: Oh, yea. It’s something new, but I know that I can beat everybody out there. I know I’ve got the ability. The kicking is something new but, like I said, if it hurts me then I’m really gonna hurt him. I’m gonna put him on the ground.

Q: Are you planning to continue your boxing career or focus only on K-1 in 2004?

A: I’m still doing both. I think I’ve got something (in boxing) scheduled in March. Everything is really about money. I see that K-1 is gonna probably take over boxing in the near future because of the production, because of the way they do it. I’ve got some people coming from Vegas to attend this fight – very good friends of mine. They’ve got some great facilities in Las Vegas and that is where we’re gonna start staging (more) K-1. So, I believe that once the American public starts seeing more of K-1 and the production that they do and more and more popular fighters get involved, then it’s gonna take over.

Q: You’ve made it clear that you want a rematch with Mike Tyson. (Note: On January 16, 1999, Tyson knocked out Botha at 2:59 of the fifth round of their Las Vegas, Nevada bout. Before the stoppage, Botha was winning the fight on the judges’ scorecards.) How willing would you be to fight him under K-1 rules?

A: Oh, I would fight him any way under any rules. You know, before (Tyson’s) fight with The Black Rhino (Clifford “The Black Rhino” Etienne), we were gonna give (Tyson) $8 million. He turned that down and he took the Black Rhino fight for $3.5 million. Clearly, that shows everyone that he’s running scared and he don’t want nothing to do with me because he knows I’m gonna kick his ass bad this time. So he keeps on running and he keeps on running. He’s supposed to be taking part in a K-1 and I understand that he’s coming here in January, but so far that’s not a sure thing because, with him, you never know. But, whenever and wherever he wants to fight, I’ll fight him. He’s running away not me.

Q: What is your opinion of the level of competition in this World Grand Prix Finals tournament?

A: You know, these are the best of the K-1 guys coming together and I’m honored to be a part of this. It’s gonna be a big challenge for me so I won’t feel ashamed if one of these guys should beat me. But, I don’t see that happening. Like I said, it’s something new. Give me one year and I’ll be like Bruce Lee. I’ll be kicking and flying, you know?

Q: It sounds like you’re very happy with the K-1 experience so far.

A: Oh, yea. Very happy. These people treat me like a champion and it’s not so much for the money that I joined the K-1. It’s more like what’s in the future. This is a long future that I’ve planned with K-1. It’s not like a one shot deal. The money lies in the endorsements and the long road ahead. The White Buffalo name will be a marquee name a year from now.

Source: Sherdog

The Savage Truth - What in the World Was That?

Well, it took about 1.7 seconds for me to realize I was back at the Mohegan Sun for another UFC event. That’s about how long it took for the crowd to start booing Yves Edwards and Nick Agallar as they circled the cage feeling each other out in the first round of the opening preliminary match. Ah, home sweet home.

I guess it was the perfect setting for such a huge letdown of an event.

Retarded crowd? Check

Piss poor card? Check

Fighter losing his mind and attacking the referee? Check

Bench clearing brawl between corners after a fight, complete with an idiot from the crowd running down and jumping into the cage only to leave and return to his seat with no ramifications from security? Check

How bout some technical difficulties for the pay-per-view broadcast? Sure why not.

Could we scale the arena wrong and ensure we don’t get a sellout because we only have $300 dollar seats left for walk up customers? You bet.

I went into this trip with low expectations and believe me they weren’t low enough. This ranks right up there with UFC 33 (the parts I was awake for anyways) as one of the worst shows I have ever been to. Even the Legends and Hall of Fame ceremonies couldn’t save this train wreck.

Oh well, it’s only 67 days until UFC 46 and a pretty good chance at redemption for the folks at Zuffa. God knows it won’t be too difficult to improve on their last performance.

Moving on. So I am talking with Larry Landless this afternoon, he called to give me his statement on the Baroni stoppage which ended up being an apology to Phil. He said he had just gotten off the phone with Baroni and they were cool, that both had apologized and they were hoping to move on from this unfortunate situation.

I could tell how heavily this whole situation has weighed on Larry and I, for one, feel he showed the class and professionalism that has made him one of, if not the, best referees in the world of MMA.

That said, there is always room for improvement and as the sport continues to evolve, the referees must advance as well. I feel the ability to determine the severity of a cut or how it is affecting a fighter’s vision is one thing that must happen. In my opinion there was no reason to stop the fight to check Tanner’s cut, especially when he was clearly out on his feet.

Another thing I feel could be improved upon is the dialogue between fighters and referees. Referees should be limited to giving commands while the action is happening. Can you imagine being Phil Baroni, mounted by Evan Tanner with elbows falling like bricks against your head, trying to hold a conversation with the referee? No thanks.

I didn’t have a problem with Landless’ stoppage but I do feel he should have told Phil to get out of the bad position or defend himself or he would have to stop the fight instead of asking him if he wanted out. Phil had other things on his mind at the time—namely Tanner’s elbows—and could not be faulted for misunderstanding what the referee was asking him.

Baroni made the point at the press conference that the referee should know the fighters they are reffing. When I asked Landless about that he brought up the Randy Couture-Ricco Rodriguez fight and explained that no matter how tough a fighter is they could be seriously injured with the type of strikes Tanner was landing. He said he remembered how much pain Couture was in after he took the elbow from Rodriguez right to the eye and reiterated the fact that he thought he was helping Phil by stopping the onslaught of elbows he was being battered with. Landless made the point that the fighter’s safety along with enforcing the rules is the main function of the referee and that he had those thoughts in mind when he called a halt to the fight.

Whether Phil Baroni agreed with it or not, he can not be excused from his actions after the fight was called. It has been reported that he will be banned from fighting at the Mohegan Sun for life—not the worst thing after all—and will face a one year suspension at the hands of the Mohegan Tribal Commission. With most athletic commissions honoring each other’s rulings, Baroni can expect another long layoff.

Hopefully he can use the time to figure out who he really is. I really don’t care for his mostly contrived persona, the New York Badass but found myself pulling for the guy at the press conference with his emotions on his sleeve bearing his heart and soul to those who would be judging him on his most recent outburst. That Phil Baroni, the guy who lets everyone into his fragile world, the guy who reveals his fears and faces up to his responsibilities could easily be a crowd favorite, a working class fans fighter.

Don’t let the New York Badass fool you, he may say the things to stir the pot and be controversial but when the criticism comes down, it hits Phil Baroni like a ton of bricks. Hopefully he will take this time off to figure out what direction he wants his career to go in. He is by no means done and as long as he handles the punishment handed down with dignity and class the fans will forgive him and cheer for him like never before.

Especially if it is Phil Baroni and not the New York Badass.

Source: Sherdog

POLL RESULTS: UFC 45 School Letter Grade?

The following are results from last week's MMANews.com weekly poll:

What school letter grade would you give UFC 45: Revolution?

A 52
B 123
C 184
D 119
F 94

Votes: 572

Source: MMA News

COUTURE TO DEFEND LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE AGAINST BELFORT LIVE ON PAY-PER-VIEW AT UFC 46: SUPER NATURAL, JANUARY 31

Matt Hughes To Meet BJ Penn For Welterweight Crown In Ultimate Fighting Championship Super Bowl Weekend Show At Mandalay Bay In Las Vegas

Heavyweights Frank Mir, Wes Sims To Battle In Rematch; British Middleweight Lee Murray To Clash With Jorge Rivera

TICKETS NOW ON SALE!

LAS VEGAS, December 2, 2003…Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Light Heavyweight Champion Randy “The Natural” Couture will defend his title for the first time against Brazilian phenom Vitor Belfort in the main event of UFC 46: Super Natural LIVE on pay-per-view at 10 p.m. EST, Saturday, January 31, at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.

In the co-main event of the Super Bowl Saturday fight show, Welterweight Champion Matt Hughes will defend his belt for the sixth time when he meets one of the world’s top rated fighters, BJ Penn, who will move up from the lightweight division for the title fight. In two feature matches on the eight-fight card, Las Vegas Heavyweight Frank Mir will again fight Wes Sims in the much-anticipated re-match of their June 6 bout, and Lee Murray, one of Britain’s top ranked middleweights will clash with Jorge Rivera. The remainder of the card will be announced.

Live event tickets, $350, $250, $150, $75 and $35, are now on sale at the Mandalay Bay Events Center box office in Las Vegas, at all Ticketmaster locations, www.ticketmaster.com and www.mandalaybay.com. Tickets also may be ordered by telephone at 1-877-632-7400 or 1-702-474-4000. Ticket purchases are limited to eight per person and are subject to transaction fees. UFC 46: Super Natural also will be available on pay-per-view on iNDemand, DirecTV, Dish Network, TVN, Echostar, Bell ExpressVu and Viewers Choice Canada. The suggested retail price is $29.95.

Couture and Belfort fought six years ago in an epic battle that Couture won by technical knockout. Now both are at the peak of their careers and are ready for a re-match. Belfort vows the outcome will be different this time, but Couture says the light heavyweight division suits him well and he won’t be relinquishing the belt any time soon.

Couture (12-5-0 in mixed martial arts) from Portland, Ore., is the 40-year-old superman who has blitzed the light heavyweight division since he dropped down from heavyweight in June and defeated then number one contender Chuck Liddell to capture the interim championship. He followed with an even more impressive defeat of Tito Ortiz by unanimous decision September 21 to capture the light heavyweight crown outright. Couture, the former two-time heavyweight champion, is the only fighter in the UFC’s 10-year history to win titles in two different weight classifications.

Belfort (11-3-0) from Rio de Janeiro, is one of the world’s top-ranked light heavyweight fighters. He is coming off a dominating performance in June in Las Vegas where he defeated Marvin Eastman by technical knockout in just 1:10 of the first round. Belfort’s mastery of jiu jitsu and his lightning quick hands established his reputation early on. He exploded on the scene in 1997 at just 19 dazzling fans and opponents alike with his furious hands and punching power. He won his first three fights with devastating punches, including a 53 second knockout of the legendary Tank Abbott.

Penn (6-1-1) from Hilo, Hawaii, is the undisputed top lightweight fighter in the world. A threat both striking and on the ground, the energetic, young Hawaiian is always looking for a new challenge. He may have accepted his greatest one yet moving up a weight class to challenge the seemingly unstoppable Welterweight World Champion Hughes (30-3-0) from Hillsboro, Ill.

Since winning the welterweight crown in November 2001 with a knockout of Carlos Newton, Hughes has destroyed everyone in his path including highly-rated Frank Trigg with a rear naked choke in just 3:54 of the first round at UFC 45: Revolution. Hughes, known for his high amplitude body slams and devastating ground and pound attack, is considered the pound-for-pound strongest fighter in mixed martial arts. He is at the absolute top of his game right now and everyone wants to know if Penn will shock the world or if he has bitten off more than he can chew against the most dominant welterweight champion in UFC history.

The Mir-Sims bout not only will be a re-match but also a grudge match. Sims, the 6’10” Hammer House fighter, and 6’3’ submission expert Mir first battled at UFC 43: Meltdown. Mir (6-1-0) from Las Vegas, started strong taking Sims down and working for a submission. The fight ended when Sims (6-2-1) from Columbus, Ohio, was disqualified for repeatedly stomping Mir in the face, a tactic that is illegal under UFC fight rules. Sims claims the stomps were payback for Mir eye gouging him earlier in the fight. Both agree the only way to settle their differences is with a rematch and both are confident it is their hand that will be raised at the end.

The Murray-Rivera fight will pit two fighters of similar styles. Rivera made an impressive debut at UFC 44: Undisputed in September with a three-round unanimous decision over David Loiseau, one of Canada’s top middleweights. After sustaining a head cut in the first round, Rivera (7-1-0) of Milford, Mass., came back strong to win all three rounds with his boxing skills. Murray (8-1-1) from London, England, will be making his UFC debut. He also is an accomplished boxer and submission specialist who says bluntly that his favorite technique is the knockout. He currently holds middleweight titles in World Extreme Force, Millennium Brawl and is the CFC British champion.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship, headquartered in Las Vegas, Nev., is the world’s premier mixed martial arts sports association. Owned and operated by Zuffa, LLC, the UFC programs six live pay-per-view events yearly through cable and satellite providers. In addition to its U.S. distribution on iNDemand, DirecTV, Dish Network, Echostar, TVN, Bell ExpressVu and Viewer’s Choice Canada, UFC events are distributed internationally through WOWOW, Inc., in Japan, Globosat in Brazil, Main Event Television in Australia and Sky Network Television in New Zealand. Zuffa, LLC licenses the distribution of UFC video games through Crave Entertainment and TDK Mediactive and its fight show DVDs through Studio Works Entertainment, a Ventura Distribution company.

The UFC’s next live PPV event will be UFC 46: Super Natural at 10 p.m. EST, Saturday, January 31, during Super Bowl weekend from the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nev. For more information, visit the web site at www.ufc.tv.

Source: MMA News

 12/2/03

Quote of the Day

"Thinking is easy, acting difficult, and to put one's thoughts into action, the most difficult thing in the world."

Goethe, 1749-1832, German Poet, Dramatist, Novelist

Super Brawl 32 This Friday!

Neil Blaisdell Arena
Friday, December 5, 2003
Fights start at 7:30 PM (Time to be confirmed)
Get there early to avoid the traffic!

Weigh-ins will be on Thursday, December 4 at 24-Hour Fitness Kapiolani at 1:00 PM.

Buy your tickets now! With Egan and Suda fighting, the Blaisdell should be packed. If you missed Jason Miller at the last Super Brawl, you do not want to miss him against Egan. This fighter is the real deal and a submission machine in his own right. Egan will have his hands full. Don't expect Egan to justwalk through Miller. Also, come see if Suda's skills were a fluke or he is as good as they say he is. Both Egan and Suda will need a win to solidify their rematch. Another fight that may be a barn burner is Dave Yeung vs. Justin Mercado. Mercado looked extremely sharp in his last outing with quick hands. Yeung is known as a very hard kicker with solid submission skills. Both fighters need to push the fight to get over the 500 mark. Finally, Stephen "Bozo" Paling's son makes his debut in Super Brawl. The young Paling is said to be gifted in the hands department like his father and I have personally witnessed his skills on the ground. Harvey Nakamura is an aggressive fighter with a good overall game. If Paling can handle the aggression of Nakamura or counter punch early, this will be a great fight to open the night.

One more fight will be announced, probably tomorrow. At this time the fight cannot be revealed, but it will involve one of Hawaii's top fighters returning to the ring and looking to return to his winning ways. His opponent will find out that it may have been in his best interest to wait a fight or two before facing this stud. There will be hell to pay.


1. Stephen Paling IV 125lbs Harvey Nakamura
(Jesus Is Lord) 1-0 (Grappling Unlimited 1-0)

Stephen Palling has some big shoes to fill. His father is Super Brawl Superstar “Bozo” Palling. At just 18 years old he will fight tonight as an amateur, but from all accounts he is ready to break into the pros now. Lightning fast hands and a solid grappling game will make him a formidable opponent for Harvey Nakamura. Nakamura is also know for his hands, but if young Palling is too quick he also has an amateur wrestling background. This should be an exciting fight. Even Odds, Pick’ em

2. Mike Bauer (HMC 1-0) 170lbs Brandon Keene (GU 4-0)

Bauer trains at HMC in Kalihi with top level instruction. He is a young fighter who will look to take the fight to his opponent and make waves tonight in Super Brawl. Keene is looking to improve his impressive record tonight and an impressive performance tonight may help him shine amongst so many talented teammates. Even Odds, Pick’em

3. Ryan Lee (Bulls Pen 1-0) 135lbs Will Hagerty (GU 1-0)

4. Tyler Lecky (Phoenix 1-0) Hwt. Ray “King Kong” Serraille (GU 3-4)

Lecky is a young fighter from Arizona who is accustomed to having a size and reach advantage. He will likely try to keep the fight standing and utilize his extensive Muay Thai experience. Kong has taken on all comers and recently beat Travis “The Iron Man” Fulton. That win has put this young fighter on the radar screen of many other fight promoters. He is not afraid to stand but seems strongest when the fight is on the ground. He will try to bring his record to .500 tonight. Kong 2-1 Favorite

5. David Yeung (HMC 2-2-1) 145lbs Justin Mercado (GU 2-2 )

This has the potential of being a war. Yeung is coming off a less then impressive draw at the last Super Brawl against Eddie Yagin. Normally a counter puncher, he will likely fight a more aggressive fight tonight. If he does chose to counter, Mercado will likely guarantee an exciting fight. His gameplan is always coming forward and will do his best to keep this fight “up and up”. Yeung 3-2 Favorite

Intermission

6. Fight to be announced soon!

7. Jason Miller 185lbs Egan Inoue

(Las Vegas, 9-3) (#1 Contender 14-5)

Jason Miller does not only talk a big game (“Eeegan…Come out and Plaaayy!), but walks one as well. He recently started training with the”New York Bad Ass”, Phil Baroni and will likely take the fight directly too Inoue. His strong suit is his extensive submission arsenal, but don’t be surprised to see him stand and trade with Inoue. Egan is anxious to get back in the ring after a string of bad luck has been following him. He has picked a tough “come-back” opponent and if his mind is not right he could be upset tonight. Inoue 3-2 Favorite

8. Shannon Rich 185lbs Masanori Suda

(Pride Veteran) (Super Brawl Champion 19-8-2)

Rich has fought all over the world and knows what it’s like to be in with Championship talent (Kazushi Sakuraba, Frank Shamrock). Although he has failed to beat the best in the business he has recently focused his training and is confident he will walk away tonight with a victory. Suda will have something to say about this. He showed his tremendous power last May, knocking out Egan Inoue to become only the second 185lb Champion in Super Brawl history. A win by Egan and himself tonight would likely set up a rematch of the two in early February. Suda 3-1 Favorite

Source: Promoter

Wanderlei Speaks Post Surgery!

We caught up with Wanderlei Silva, and many things were on his mind. First was his new teammate Daniel Acacio who was recently added to the ChuteBoxe team. 'Daniel Acacio is coming too and that will help. I am certain that from now on, he'll change his style and technique. He's a great fighter and we have plans for him, and we hope for him to fight in the PrideFC.'

After the departure of former teammates Assuerio Silva, Anderson Silva and other Chute Boxe's members, people might make a mistake thinking that the team was weakened. The champ guarantees 'Our team continues strong. We bought in Daniel Acacio. In the next month you'll have BIG a surprise. A great vale tudo name is talking with us and we are in negotiations to integrate the team. I invited the athlete, who is an athlete of reputation and he said that he's thinking about it seriously. He said it would be an honor integrating with ChuteBoxe. I believe that he will accept. Let's wait 'cause it will surprise everybody, but I can say he is a heavyweight, and a top Jiu-Jitsu fighter.'

Wanderlei also spoke about his Wednesday surgery to correct a problem in his elbow. He is 100% healthy now and explained what happened 'For some time I had a problem in my left elbow, due to the kicks that I blocked in training. It swelled up before the GP, I had a ball on the elbow, a soft ball, but the fight was so close, there was nothing to do. The doctors said that it was better to leave it and have surgery later. It was operated in this Wednesday. That was a good surgery, the doctor said that he pulled a lot of liquid from the elbow I had bursitis, but it is all corrected. The doctor who operated on me was the same that operated my knee. This surgery was at the end of the year, last year I operated on my knee and this year was the elbow. I will be back to training in two or three weeks, then I'll be able to rehab properly and I'll be able to train for the next competition.'

Source: ADCC

4th American International Championship

4th American International Championship in Los Angeles on Dec 6th 7 7th is heating up! The competition is one day Jiu-Jitsu and one day Submission Grappling. Check out our completely updated website with comprehensive information, video, pictures, fighter pictures and resumes at
http://worldgrapplinggames.com

The 8 man black Belt division is including Ryron Gracie, Cassio Werneck and Jamie Cruz! We still have a few open slots. If you are interested send an email to director@worldgrapplinggames.com

The 8 woman No-Gi Division is stacked to the moon. The fighters include Leka Viera, Gazzy Parman, Amanda Buckner, Leonor Avellan, ect……. All the girls pictures and resumes are posted at http://worldgrapplinggames.com There is $1100 on the line. We have one slot open if there are any girls out there interested send an email!

Black Belt Superfights include Carlos Machado, Wander Braga, Leonardo Xavier, Javier Vasquez, James Boran, Rey Diogo, Ed Keller, Dave Ruiz, ect…………

We currently have 25 brown belts registered including fighters such as Roy Nelson, Frank Mir, Mike Rose, Rick Milgrese, Thiago Vella, Rafeal Lovato, Alex Crispin, Pat Hardy, etc...........

We also have over 25 women registered. We are currently looking for a heavyweight purple belt for a girl without a match. If you are worried about not having a match it will not happen, guaranteed!

WGG makes getting here easier than ever. Our team is constantly striving to bring you the best deals. Below is what we have come up with!

Lowest registration fees out there! $40 for one day and $60 for two.

There is a free shuttle to and from Long Beach Airport and the tournament Location. This means you will not need to rent a car if you fly into Long Beach. You can also Fly into LAX or Orange County.

Luxury Hotel Rooms are $49 for 4 people! hotelhb.com

Source: ADCC

K-1 MMA in the USA: 'We Are Going To Compete with the UFC'

After hosting the first ever K-1 MMA event held recently in Brazil, the president of K-1 Brazil, Sérgio Batarelli announced a new weight class (up to 70kg) for K-1 MMA.

Brazilian Márfio Canoletti, who won the K-1 World Max 2002 is one of the fighters who looks forward to K-1 MMA. 'I want to fight Vale-Tudo so much, but I do realize I have a lot to learn with my ground techniques' stated Canoletti. Another fighter who has been invited to fight in the K-1 show is 'The Brazilian Beast' Montanha Silva. The next event is called K-1 Premium Dynamite and it will take place in Japan on December 31st. As of now the only confirmed fight is between the former Sumo champion Taro Akebono and Bob Sapp.

During the K-1 MMA press conference, Batarelli announced that he intends to do four K-1 shows per year in Brazil, and he also revealed plans for a K-1 MMA show in United States. 'We sold the broadcasting to a pay-per-view channel. We are goingcompete with Ultimate,' celebrates Batarelli.

Source: ADCC

UFC Rumors/Info


In some other news, Georges St.Pierre has signed to fight Karo Parisyan at UFC 46 after his TKO victory over Pete Spratt. Nick Diaz is rumored to be fighting Robbie Lawler at UFC 47. The show closed with call-ins from listeners. The hot topic seemed to be the Baroni/Tanner fight and all that followed the controversial stoppage. Fans seem to be split on this. Many feel it was stopped early while others think it was a good stoppage. The one consistency in it all is that everyone agrees that refs are not to be touched by fighters period.

Souce: MMA Weekly

The New Deal - Not Just History


Who would have thought that when Franklin D. Roosevelt took office in 1932, right around the time Helio and the gang were beginning to hit the mats, America would change forever. Despite what is nice to believe, Helio has had little influence in the course of American history relative to ole FDR, however now, with MMA running full swing in America, the concept that the former Asst. Secretary of the Navy came up with to lift America out of the Great Depression is all too applicable to the hurting UFC.

Fans and fighters deserve and need a New Deal. When FDR campaigned against the despised incumbent Herbert Hoover 71 years ago, he insisted that he would attempt to help the poverty-stricken citizens and if his plan didn’t work, he’d try another, if that failed, he would, without losing any steam, keep on truckin’. This is what America needed at the time, and now, although on a lesser and less desperate scale, the UFC needs to use the same tactic.

Act now and fix the repercussions of your actions later. The UFC right now is a puzzle that can get put together, but before connecting the pieces they must be found. How the UFC can resurrect itself and find a show to top the 40th installment is to swing into action now and help the fighters and fans to the necessities that any kind of fighting body needs: champions.

The fighting masses are used to boxing where, with the alphabet goons, there are too many titles. It looks down right odd that in the UFC there aren’t enough and if say, the UFC on Spike TV goes through, it’s even more imperative that America’s first MMA chow looks it’s best. With all of the production complaints form fans and the increasing amount of bellyaching over referee stoppages, it’s time the Ultimate goes and crowns champions in the three of five weight divisions lacking a honcho. If a title is vacant and there’s nobody to claim it just yet, as is the case with the heavyweights, so be it.

The big guns’ image has had a consistently long bad break with a Teflon belt that won’t stay on one waist for long. The UFC heavyweight title went form once being the belle of the ball to the stunning cheerleader whose lost all respect because she gets around way too much. But the problem is one that will fix itself because when men over 205 pounds fight, it’s not easily overlooked. In such a conspicuous rock ‘em sock ‘em weight class, a champ is necessary and when a motivated and agitated Tim Sylvia gets off of suspension and looking for his title, surely he’ll give it as a good a go for a comeback as anyone.

The bottom line is that the UFC needs champions desperately at middle and lightweight. The divisions are jam-packed with talent and hungry fighters, and there’s absolutely no reason hwy they shouldn’t get put back on track. The UFC has got a whole lot of things to fix about their shows but first, they need to give their athletes something to fight for.

The LIGHTWEIGHTS
There are several lightweights that have legitimate wants for a title shot, and with a vacant championship, it’s easier to pick who will fight. Instead of finding one top contender to face a champ, two are picked! The decision to find who fights is made twice as easy. An obvious choice for one of the guys to get a title shot is the longstanding contender
BJ Penn. Despite being only 25 years of age, he’s still riding high off of his rocket launched ascent of the lightweight division and his 5-1-1 run in the UFC, coupled with his recent submission win over SHOOTO star Takanori Gomi place him right in the thick of a title fight.

But it isn’t just BJ Penn taking the division by storm. Matt Serra, at 3-3 and coming off of two losses, would be all but out of the title picture had it not been for his 2001 win over Yves Edwards, whose been as active as any fighter. Since his loss to Coal Uno he’s gone 4-0 in the Octagon, soundly beating game competition.

The leech sucking away his stock would be the loss to Uno, who recently knocked himself out of the picture by dropping to American Top Team fighter Hermes Franca. With his last seven fights being in the Zuffa-era UFC beginning with show 30, Uno is a familiar face. However, he hasn’t shown much since he blew his last title chance when he drew with ‘The Prodigy,’ BJ Penn.

Franca on the other hand is undefeated at 8-0, handing Rich Crunkilton his first loss directly before the Uno triumph. So from these fighters, it would seem as if Edwards and franca have an indirect score to settle. Widely regarded as the number one hombre, Penn should have his shot sealed.

Din Thomas was about to fight Edwards at the UFC’s most recent installment, however injury sidelined him and unfortunately for Thomas, the show must go on. Unless Duane Ludwig and Genki Sudo rematch and complete their unfinished business, it should be the winner of Edwards vs. Franca who faces BJ Penn for the vacant lightweight title. All three fighters are young, hard working prospects who, above all the others, deserve a shot at the strap as step one of injecting some excitement into a lagging division.

Source: Sherdog

College Wrestling Weekend Wrap-up: IOWA AND IOWA STATE REMAIN UNDEFEATED, LEHIGH WINS, OKLAHOMA OPEN RESULTS

It was a weekend where a lot of teams and individual wrestlers racked up more victories and kept their undefeated records alive.

Iowa defeated both Arizona State and Embry-Riddle on Sunday to go to 4-0. Iowa State defeated Tennessee-Chattanooga, Virginia Tech, and Carson-Newman at the UTC Quadrangular Saturday to go to 6-0. Iowa State's freshman phenoms, the Paulson Twins, also remained undefeated. Both Trent at 149 and Travis at 157 won three matches apiece on the day, with Trent's record now standing at 10-0 and Travis's at 9-0. And Oklahoma's undefeated redshirt freshman, 125-pounder Sam Hazewinkel, also remained undefeated with a victory at the Oklahoma Open.

But something will have to give this coming week, at least in the team race. Iowa State will play host to Iowa on Sunday, Dec. 7, in Ames's Hilton Coliseum in a meet slated to start at 2 PM CST. This meet will also be broadcast on tape-delay on both Iowa Public Television and CSTV: College Sports Television. As always, check your local listings. We will post more details about the Iowa State-Iowa matchup this week.

Here, compiled from the teams' press releases, are some of the results from his past weekend:

HAWKEYES DEFEAT ARIZONA STATE, 24-17

THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA SPORTS INFORMATION OFFICE
Traci Wagner
November 30, 2003

TEMPE, AZ -- The University of Iowa wrestling team improved to 3-0 on the season with a 24-17 win over Arizona State Sunday in Tempe, AZ. The Hawkeyes won five of the 10 matches to extend their overall dual match winning streak to eight, and hand the Sun Devils their first loss of the season.
The Hawkeyes jumped out to a 15-0 lead on pins by redshirt freshman Todd Meneely (133) and senior Cliff Moore (141), and a decision by sophomore Ty Eustice (149). Arizona State's Brian Stith put the Sun Devils on the board with his 9-7 sudden victory win over Iowa sophomore Joe Johnston at 157. The Hawkeyes struck back with a decision from sophomore Cole Pape at 165, and a pin from senior Tyler Nixt at 174. Nixt fought off his back at the start of the match and came back from a 5-2 deficit to
improve to 13-0 on the season. Meneely and Moore are also undefeated for the Hawkeyes, at 2-0 and 8-0, respectively. The Sun Devils took the remaining four matches to make the final score 24-17. Iowa senior 125-pounder Luke Eustice did not make the trip due to illness.

INDIVIDUAL MATCH RESULTS
Iowa 24, Arizona State 17
133 Todd Meneely (I) pinned Curtis Ray (ASU), 5:38
141 Cliff Moore (I) pinned Jeremy Mendoza (ASU), 6:40
149 Ty Eustice (I) dec. Patrick Williams (ASU), 2-1
157 Brian Stith (ASU) dec. Joe Johnston (I), 9-7 sv
165 Cole Pape (I) dec. James Terry (ASU), 10-5
174 Tyler Nixt (I) pinned Ron Renzi (ASU), 4:15
184 Nick Frost (ASU) dec. Paul Bradley (I), 4-1
197 Ryan Bader (ASU) dec. Ryan Fulsaas (I), 4-2
Hwt. Cain Velasquez (ASU) dec. Ryan Fuller (I), 6-1
125 Christian Staylor (ASU) tech. fall Matt Morkel (I), 16-0 in 4:18

HAWKEYES DEFEAT EMBRY-RIDDLE, 41-6

THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA SPORTS INFORMATION OFFICE
Traci Wagner
November 30, 2003

PRESCOTT, AZ -- The University of Iowa wrestling team improved to 4-0 on the season with a 41-6 win over Embry-Riddle Sunday night in Prescott, AZ. The Hawkeyes won nine of 10 matches, and scored team bonus points in six of those matches. It was the ninth-straight win for Iowa, and its seventh-straight victory on the road.
Redshirt freshman Todd Meneely (133), senior Cliff Moore (141), sophomore Joe Johnston (157) each won by match-ending technical falls, while senior Tyler Nixt (174) and sophomore Paul Bradley pinned their Embry-Riddle opponents. Iowa's lone loss on the night was a forfeit at 125 pounds. Hawkeye senior 125-pounder Luke Eustice did not make the trip due to illness, and sophomore Matt Morkel suffered an injury while filling in for Eustice at Arizona State earlier in the day and could not compete.
The Hawkeyes will head back on the road to face undefeated Iowa State (6-0) Dec. 7 in Ames, IA. The dual will be held at 2 p.m. in Hilton Coliseum. Iowa will be trying for its 31st consecutive win over the Cyclones, and Head Coach Jim Zalesky will be going for his 100th career coaching victory.

INDIVIDUAL MATCH RESULTS
Iowa 41, Embry-Riddle 6
133 Todd Meneely (I) tech. fall
Marcel Suehiro (ER), 20-5 in 3rd period
141 Cliff Moore (I) tech. fall Adalberto Villaescusa (ER), 23-8 in 6:16
149 Ty Eustice (I) dec. Tyler Moran (ER), 4-3
157 Joe Johnston (I) tech. fall Morgan Scott (ER), 22-7 in 5:16
165 Cole Pape (I) won by forfeit
174 Tyler Nixt (I) pinned David Rivera (ER), 5:18
184 Paul Bradley (I) pinned Joffre Lander (ER), 4:56
197 Ryan Fulsaas (I) dec. Robert Charlton (ER), 15-8
Hwt. Ryan Fuller (I) dec. Robert McConkie (ER), 8-3
125 Richard Byrd (ER) won by forfeit

ARIZONA STATE

No. 20 Sun Devil Wrestling Falls Short at Home to No. 3 Iowa, 24-17
Trio of Sun Devils score upsets of higher ranked foes in home opener for Arizona State
November 30, 2003

TEMPE, Ariz. - In its first dual of the year, as well as its first home action of the 2003-04 campaign, the No. 20 Arizona State wrestling team (0-1, 0-0 Pac-10) fell behind early and could not overcome No. 3 Iowa, dropping a 24-17 decision to the Hawkeyes Sunday inside Wells Fargo Arena. Following a 15-0 advantage for the visitors after three matches, the crowd of 1,088 saw the Sun Devils try to climb back into the dual but it was too late as Iowa used three falls to move to 3-0 on the season. ASU is now 1-19-1 all-time against Iowa.

The dual opened at 133 with the Hawkeyes taking a 6-0 lead when Todd Meneely pinned Curtis Ray (Fr., Mesa, Ariz.) at 5:38. No. 5 Cliff Moore followed with the visitors' second fall as he downed the Sun Devils' Jeremy Mendoza (So., Temecula, Calif.) at 141. No. 6 Ty Eustice upped the lead to 15-0 with his 2-1 decision over No. 17 Patrick Williams (Jr., Homestead, Fla.) at 149.

The Sun Devils broke into the scoring column following the 157 bout as No. 12 Brian Stith (Fr., Hampton, Va.) upset No. 8 Joe Johnston, 9-7, in overtime. Trailing 6-5, Johnston hit a takedown with 17 seconds remaining to go up 7-6, followed by Stith escaping with two seconds remaining to force the match into overtime. In the one minute sudden victory period, both wrestlers fought for control with Stith grabbing a takedown on the edge of the mat with 25 seconds remaining to win the match.

The Hawkeyes won the next two duals with Cole Pape defeating James Terry (So., Tucson, Ariz.), 10-5, at 165 and Ron Renzi (Sr., Burke, Va.) falling to No. 5 Tyler Nixt at 4:15 to push Iowa's advantage to 24-3. Renzi nearly handed Nixt his first loss of the season when he took Nixt down at the start of the match and put him on his back. Renzi was unable to get the pin and Nixt went on the offensive before pinning the Sun Devil in the second stanza.

No. 17 Nick Frost (Sr., Tucson, Ariz.) started the winning streak for ASU as he upset No. 6 Paul Bradley, 4-1, at 184. Frost held the Hawkeye to the mat for the entire second period following a 2-1 lead and kept his opponent there for most of the match on his way to the win. No. 8 Ryan Bader (So., Verdi, Nev.) stayed perfect on the year as he handed No. 7 Ryan Fulsaas a 6-1 decision at 197. After a scoreless first period, Bader escaped and was taken down to trail 2-1 heading into the final stanza. With Fulsaas taking the down position to start the third, Bader rode him the entire period, and picked up three near fall points with 20 seconds remaining to take the win.

No. 14 Cain Velasquez (So., Yuma, Ariz.), after no scoring in the first period, rode Hawkeye Ryan Fuller for most of the second period, forcing the heavyweight into two stalling calls to earn a 1-0 lead. Fuller's escape tied the match at one heading into the third period. Velasquez won his home debut with a takedown, another point on stalling and riding time for the 6-1 decision. The final match of the day saw Christian Staylor (Fr., Chesapeake, Va.) also win his home debut as he needed just 4:12 to score 16 points on his way to a 16-0 technical fall over Matt Morkel.

ASU will compete again Dec. 5-6 at the Cliff Keen/Las Vegas Invitational. ASU does not return to home action until Jan. 4 when it plays host to the Sun Devil Duals featuring a 10 a.m. dual with Stanford, a noon
dual with Embry-Riddle and a 4 p.m. meeting with No. 6 Iowa State.

IOWA STATE

No. 4 Iowa State Wrestlers Perfect at Tennessee-Chattanooga Quadrangular
Nov. 29, 2003

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. -- The fourth-ranked Iowa State wrestling team remained a perfect 6-0 this season taking three dual matches at the UTC Quadrangular at Maclellan Gym Saturday. The Cyclones defeated host Tennessee-Chattanooga 27-9, Virginia Tech 30-12 and Carson-Newman 42-6. ISU's Grant Nakamura (125), Nate Gallick (141), Trent Paulson (149), Travis Paulson (157) and Kurt Backes (184) each picked up three wins.
Nakamura, ranked eighth nationally at 125 pounds, improved his season mark to 8-2 with a decision over UTC's Matt Pitts (6-2) and falls against VT's Joe Thompson (2:14) and C-N's Chonci Houston (3:54). Gallick, the nation's eighth-ranked wrestler at 141 pounds, decisioned Michael Keefe of Tennessee-Chattanooga, 10-5, Donny Ooton of Virginia Tech, 3-1 and Kenny Foster of Carson-Newman, 10-4, improving to 7-3 this season.
Trent and Travis Paulson, ranked fifth nationally at 149 and 157 pounds, respectively, remained undefeated this season at 10-0 and 9-0 in their respective weight class. Trent won by technical fall over the Mocs' John Kofer, 20-4, decisioned Hokie Reed Carpenter, 6-1 and pinned C-N's Billy James in 1:40. Travis decisioned UTC's Jake Yost, 5-2 and VT's Andrew Donofrio, 8-0 and pinned Steve McKinney of Carson-Newman at the 3:10 mark.
Backes, the nation's sixth-ranked wrestler at 184 pounds, upped his record to 10-1 this season with decisions against John Davis of Tennessee-Chattanooga (8-3) and Shaun Guttridge of Virginia Tech (16-5) and a technical fall over Carson-Newman's Drew Woodward (20-5).
Cyclone Nick Passolano wrestled at 165 pounds for the first time this season, notching decisions against UTC's Jon Sioredas, 7-4 and VT's Chris Stith, 7-5.
Iowa State will return to Ames Dec. 7 to host in-state rival Iowa at 2 p.m. in Hilton Coliseum.

No. 4 Iowa State 27, Tennessee-Chattanooga 9

125-Grant Nakamura (ISU) dec. Matt Pitts (UTC) 6-2
133-Zach Roberson (ISU) dec. Josh Keefe (UTC), 8-7*
141-Nate Gallick (ISU) dec. Michael Keefe (UTC), 10-5
149-Trent Paulson (ISU) tech. fall John Kofer (UTC), 20-4
157-Travis Paulson (ISU) dec. Jake Yost (UTC), 5-2
165-Nick Passolano (ISU) dec. Jon Sioredas (UTC), 7-4
174-Josh Ward (UTC) dec. Nels Matson (ISU), 13-7
184-Kurt Backes (ISU) dec. John Davis (UTC), 8-3
197-Woodley Milord (ISU) tech. fall Drew Roberts (UTC), 20-4
285-Jason Pennington (UTC) won by forfeit
(*one team point deducted)

No. 4 Iowa State 30, Virginia Tech 12
125-Grant Nakamura (ISU) pinned Joe Thompson (CN), 2:14
133-David Hoffman (VT) won by forfeit
141-Nate Gallick (ISU) dec. Donny Ooton (VT), 3-1
149-Trent Paulson dec. Reed Carpenter (VT), 6-1
157-Travis Paulson dec. Andrew Donofrio (VT), 8-0
165-Nick Passolano (ISU) dec. Chris Stith (VT), 7-5
174-Steve Borja (VT) pinned Grant Turner (ISU), 6:20
184-Kurt Backes (ISU) dec. Shaun Guttridge (VT), 16-5
197-Trevor Smith (ISU) dec. Canaan Prater (VT), 11-4
285-Richard Schopf (ISU) pinned Kris Wiedegreen (VT), 5:44

No. 4 Iowa State 42, Carson-Newman 6
125-Grant Nakamura (ISU) pinned Chonci Houston (CN), 3:54
133-Jake Brumbelow (CN) won by forfeit
141-Nate Gallick (ISU) dec. Kenny Foster (CN), 10-4
149-Trent Paulson (ISU) pinned Billy James (CN), 1:40
157-Travis Paulson (ISU) pinned Steve McKinney (CN), 3:10
165-Grant Turner (ISU) dec. Derek Schisler (CN), 10-1
174-Nels Matson (ISU) dec. Nathon Jones (CN), 12-8
184-Kurt Backes (ISU) tech. fall Drew Woodward (CN), 20-5
197-Trevor Smith (ISU) tech. fall Tim Freel (CN), 16-3
285-Richard Schopf (ISU) pinned Juan Flores (CN), 3:33

UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE-CHATTANOOGA

UTC Quad Results

UTC Quad
Nov. 29, 2003
Chattanooga, Tenn.

Team Results
Iowa State 3-0
Virginia Tech 2-1
Chattanooga 1-2
Carson-Newman 0-3
(Iowa State results listed above)

Virginia Tech 25, Carson-Newman 9
125-Chonci Houston (CN) dec. Joe Thompson (VT), 7-3 0-3
133-No.8 David Hoffman (VT) Jake Brumbelow (CN), 13-3 3-3
141-Donny Ooton (VT) dec. Kenny Foster (CN), 6-2 6-3
149-Reed Carpenter (VT) dec. Billy James (CN), 3-1 9-3
157-Andrew Donofrio (VT) dec. Isaac Bernard (CN), 8-3 12-3
165-Chris Stith (VT) pinned Derek Schisler (CN), 3:22 18-3
174-Steve Borja (VT), dec. Nathon Jones (CN), 11-6 21-3
184-Shaun Guttridge (VT) Nate Moorman (CN), 2-1 24-3
197-Tim Freel (CN) by disqualification Cannan Prater (VT) 22-9*
285-Kris Wiedegreen (VT) dec. Juan Flores (CN), 2-1 25-9
(*two team points deducted)

Chattanooga 32, Carson-Newman 10
125-No. 17 Matt Pitts (UTC) dec. Chonci Houston (CN), 2-1 3-0
133-Josh Keefe (UTC) pinned Jake Brumbelow (CN), 4:19 9-0
141-Michael Keefe (UTC) tech. fall Kenny Foster (CN), 20-5 14-0
149-Billy James (CN) dec. John Cofer (UTC), 12-6 14-3
157-No. 20 Jake Yost (UTC) won by disqualification Issac Bernard (CN) 20-3
165-Jon Sioredas (UTC) pinned Derek Schisler (CN), 1:39 26-3
174-Josh Ward (UTC) dec. Nathon Jones (CN), 6-3 29-3
184-John Davis (UTC) dec. Nate Moorman (CN), 6-4 32-3
197-Tim Freel (CN) tech. fall Drew Roberts (UTC), 14-2 32-7
285-Juan Flores (CN) dec. Jason Pennington (UTC), 3-1 32-10

Virginia Tech 20, Chattanooga 18
125-No. 17 Matt Pitts (UTC) maj. dec. Joe Thompson (VT), 20-7 0-4
133-No. 8 David Hoffman (VT) dec. Josh Keefe (UTC), 5-1, 3-4
141-Michael Keefe (UTC) dec. Donny Ooton (VT), 4-3 3-7
149-Reed Carpenter (VT) pinned John Cofer (UTC), 2:12 9-7
157-No .20 Jake Yost (UTC) tech. fall Andrew Donofrio (VT), 24-8 9-12
165-Jon Sioredas (UTC) dec. Chris Stith (VT), 3-2 9-15
174-Steve Borja (VT) dec. Josh Ward (UTC), 6-3 12-15
184-John Davis (UTC) dec. Shaun Guttridge (VT), 6-4 ot 11-18*
197-Cannan Prater (VT) pinned Drew Roberts (UTC), 1:15 17-18
285-Kris Wiedegreen (VT) dec. Jason Pennington (UTC), 5-2 20-18
(*team point deducted for coach misconduct)

LEHIGH WINS IN HAWAII!

Lehigh defeats Oregon State 36-7

Honolulu, HI - The Mountain Hawks made the best of their trip to the tropics, posting their most impressive win on the young season Friday afternoon. Lehigh's wrestlers racked up three pins and three major decisions on their way to a 36-7 pasting of Oregon State at the Aloha Duals.
Mario Stuart lost his first match on the season at 125, falling in a major decision 10-2 to Oregon State Eric Stevenson. Stuart had won four straight to start the year. Then, at 133, the Mountain Hawks got rolling. Easton native Matt Ciasulli picked up his team-leading second pin on the season, dropping Tim Norman in only 1:27 at 133. Following that, Cory Cooperman gained his first pin at 141, besting Mike Unger at 4:01 of the second period, giving Lehigh an early 12-4 lead.
Tony Hook got the Beavers back in contention at 149, defeating Matt Anderson 13-6 to close the gap to 12-7. But that would be all for Oregon State. At 157, Derek Zinck started a run of three straight major decisions with a 20-7 shellacking of Brian Duhrkoop. Zinck executed nine takedowns in the match. No. 1 Troy Letters had two three-point near falls in the first period on the way to a 12-3 win at 165. At 174, senior Brad Dillon scored early and often in an 18-8 rout over Jed Pennell.
Oregon State made a bit of a comeback at 184, as Travis Frick needed a reversal in the third plus riding time to take a 7-4 victory. At 197, Matt Cassidy finally wrestled a lopsided affair, beating Jed Lowe 8-2. It was the first match of the season for Cassidy not decided by a single point. Finally, at heavyweight, freshman Paul Weibel finished the afternoon with his first win by fall at Lehigh, pinning Ty Watterson in just 2:29.

Lehigh head coach Greg Strobel was happy with the win, even if it did come against his alma mater. I told our guys Oregon State would be in shape and attack and they did, said Strobel, They scored even when they were well behind. I thought both teams put on a good exhibition, and we had to wrestle well to beat a good team.

The Mountain Hawks will return to the mainland on Sunday, and will have a week to rest up before hosting American, Rider, and Rutgers in the Sheridan Duals on Saturday, December 6.

#5 LEHIGH 36 OREGON ST 7
weight matchup score
125 Eric Stevenson (OS) over Mario Stuart (LU) 10-2, MD
133 Matt Ciasulli (LU) over Tim Norman (OS) WBF, 1:27
141 Cory Cooperman (LU) over Mike Unger (OS) WBF, 4:08
149 Tony Hook (OS) over Matt Anderson (LU) 13-6
157 Derek Zinck (LU) over Brian Duhrkoop (OS) 20-7, MD
165 Troy Letters (LU) over Matt Ellis (OS) 12-3, MD
174 Brad Dillon (LU) over Jed Pennell (OS) 18-8, MD
184 Travis Frick (LU) over Dan Pitsch (OS) 7-4
197 Matt Cassidy (LU) over Jed Lowe (OS) 8-2
HWT Paul Weibel (LU) over Ty Watterson (OS) WBF, 2:29

OKLAHOMA

Oklahoma Wrestling Hosts Oklahoma Open
Sooners capture five individual championships

NORMAN, Okla. ” The Oklahoma wrestling team won five individual championships and placed seven more at the Oklahoma Open on Saturday. Red-shirt freshman Sam Hazewinkel, freshman Charles Jones, junior E.K. Waldhaus, freshman Joel Flaggert and senior Leonce Crump won individual championships at 125,157, 174, 197 and HWT respectively.

“It was a pretty good showing, assistant coach Barry Weldon said. Everyone is getting better.

Hazewinkel won his third consecutive tournament of the year with a deciding win over Ethan Kyle of Oklahoma State, 10-2. Hazewinkel is currently undefeated and added three more to his record. Hazewinkel’s toughest match came in the semi-finals against fellow Sooner freshman Joe Comparin. Hazewinkel barely escaped with a 1-0 decision.

Jones won his championship by an 11-5 decision over Eric Dabbs of Oklahoma State. Waldhaus defeated Keith Clifton from Citadel by a 10-5 decision. Flaggert, who wrestled unattached, decisioned Kevin Lochner of UCO, 6-2. Crump added one more pin to his record on his way to a 5-2 decision over Mike Whitehead of Missouri.

The Sooners placed seven wrestlers at the tournament. Freshman Mimi Miller placed second in the 133 pound weight class, losing to Cole Provence of UCO 5-0. Freshman Brandon Hardy placed fourth in the 133 pound weight class. Sophomore Shane Kidd placed fourth in the 141 pound weight class by a 15-9 decision from Matt Crippes of USAFA. Freshman Jeff Ecklof continued his string of placing in every tournament, coming in second in the 149 pound weight class. Senior Rafael Maturino placed second in the 165 pound weight class. Junior Randy Sulaver placed fourth in the 165 pound weight class. Sophomore Jake Hager placed fourth in the heavyweight division.

Mimi continues to impress, head coach Jack Spates said. “He beat the number one recruit in the country on his way to the finals

Waldhaus has struggled this year, Spates said. He was magnificent in the finals today.

Our true freshman have done a tremendous job for us this year, Spates said.

The Oklahoma Open is also a tournament where Junior High and High School wrestlers can compete to further their wrestling careers.

This was a great tournament, Spates said. It was the best High School tournament I have ever seen hear.

Open Results

125 Pounds: Sam Hazewinkel, OU - First
Ethan Kyle, OSU - Second
Derrcik Fleenor, OSU - Third
Heath McKim, USAFA - Fourth
133 Pounds: Cole Provence, UCO - First
Mimi Miller, OU - Second
Daniel Frishkorn, OSU - Third
Brandon Hardy, OU - Fourth
141 Pounds: Chris McCormick, MO - First
Matt Brenza, USAFA - Second
Matt Crippes, USAFA - Third
Shane Kidd, OU - Fourth
149 Pounds: Kyle Shelton, OSU - First
Jeff Ecklof, OU - Second
Jerod Goodwin, UCO - Third
Jason Leavitt, Neosho - Fourth
157 Pounds: Charles Jones, OU - First
Eric Dabbs, OSU - Second
Jake Deffenbach, MO - Third
Pen Phillips, UCO - Fourth
165 Pounds: Shawn Silvis, UCO - First
Rafael Maturino, OU - Second
Blaine Brown, USAFA - Third
Randy Sulaver, OU - Fourth
174 Pounds E.K. Waldhaus, OU - First
Keith Clifton, Citadel - Second
Brent Parkey, OSU - Third
Bill Smallwood, USO - Fourth
184 Pounds: Jack Jensen, OSU - First
Mark Wall, MO - Second
Luke Lefeuer, USAFA - Third
Ryan Daniels, UCO - Fourth
197 Pounds: Joel Flaggert, OU - First
Kevin Lochner, UCO - Second
Michael Christian, OSU - Third
Jasper Lockett, Neosho - Fourth
Heavyweight: Leonce Crump, OU - First
Mike Whitehead, MO - Second
John Vestal, OSU - Third
Jake Hager, OU - Fourth

Outstanding Wrestler: Cole Provence, UCO

Source: ADCC

 12/1/03

Quote of the Day

"The greatest sight in the world is to see great men stuggle against adversity."

Anonymous

Punishment In Paradise Results!

Campbell High School Gym, Ewa Beach, Hawaii
November 30, 2003
By Chris Onzuka - Chris@Onzuka.com

The name is new, but the people behind the event are not. Brennan Kamaka, the man behind Hawaiian Combat and Warriors Quest is back with his new event combining mixed martial arts matches with kickboxing matches. The three of the four kickboxing matches consisted of kids matches which included two of Brennan's nephews and his son. These kids are the future champions of Hawaii and it is amazing to see so much skill in that small a package. The MMA matches brought together some young fighters looking to get their feet wet by taking on opponents that are on the same level. These fighters really wanted to gain some experience because some of the fighters fought last week. In fact, there was a rematch from last week's event. Marcus Moreno wanted another shot at Ed Newalu, but Newalu repeated his performance and went on to beat Moreno via decision again. Vilapando was the other fighter to return to fight again and racked up another win using a relentless take down game and controlling Aiana on the ground. The main event pitted the Amateur Fighting Champion, PJ Dean against one of Hawaii's best kept kickboxing secrets, "3D" Deshaun Johnson. Dean is an accurate and power puncher and Johnson has power of his own, but is known for his ability to NOT get hit. This was an interesting match up going in. Both fighters exchanged strikes going in, with Johnson effectively slipping some punches and counter punching. Johnson surprised the home town crowd when he started landing more punches and buried a punch that had Dean lean into Johnson. Dean was out on his feet and when Johnson finally stepped out of the way, Dean fell to the canvas. Dean was given a standing 10 count and he recovered and survived the round. The second round had Dean pressuring Johnson trying to make up for the previous round. The final round saw Dean come on strong and the deciding factor turned out to be the minimum number of kicks required per round. Johnson did not meet the kick requirements in the last two rounds and a point was deducted off the score cards because of it. This turned out to be the one factor that cost Johnson the match.

Exhibition: Kids Kickboxing - 3 Rounds - 60lbs - 3 Rounds - 1:30 minutes
Dido Rodrigues (Waianae Kickboxing) drew Kai Kamaka III (808 Fight Factory)

MMA - 130lbs - 3 Rounds - 5 minutes
Corey Ferreira (808 Fight Factory) def. Ikaika Silva (Animal House)
Submission via triangle choke at 1:11 minutes in Round 1.

MMA - 145lbs - 3 Rounds - 5 minutes
Ed Newalu (808 Fight Factory) def. Marcus Moreno (Bulls Pen)
Unanimous decision after 3 rounds.

Exhibition: 65lbs - Kids Kickboxing - 3 Rounds - 45 seconds
Chancen Kalua (Makakilo Kickboxing) def. Keanu Kamaka (808 Fight Factory)
TKO via referee stoppage at 32 seconds in Round 2.

Exhibition: Kids Kickboxing - 60lbs - 3 Rounds - 45 seconds
Triston Kamaka (808 Fight Factory) draw Triston Pebera (Ewa Beach Fight Club)

Exhibition: Kickboxing - 145lbs. - 3 Rounds - 1 minute
Duke Saragosa (808 Fight Factory) drew Alvin Ulip (Animal House)

MMA - 170lbs. 3 Rounds - 5 minutes
Robert Vilapando (808 Fight Factory) def. Chris Aiana (Kailua Fight Club)
TKO via injury default (injured ribs) after the end of round 1, fighter could not come out for second round.

MMA - 190lbs. 3 Rounds - 5 minutes
Corey Daniels (Kodenkan) def. Jason Nicholson (808 Fight Factory)
Unanimous decision after 3 rounds.

Exhibition: MMA - 145lbs. - 3 Rounds - 5 minutes
Harris Sarmiento (808 Fight Factory) def. Ben George (Bulls Pen)
Submission via toe hold at 3:23 minutes in Round 1.

Main Event
Kickboxing - 170lbs. - 3 Rounds - 2 minutes
PJ Dean (Waianae Kickboxing Club) def. Deshaun Johnson (HMC)
Split decision [(27-28), (28-27), (28-27)] after 3 rounds.

PANCRASE Mega Event Results

'PANCRASE 2003 HYBRID TOUR'
~10TH ANNIVERSARY SINCE 1993~
TRIPLE KING OF PANCRASE TITLE MATCH
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 30,2003
RYOGOKU KOKUGIKAN (TOKYO, JAPAN)

There are a few pictures of the event on MMA Weekly.

BIG DOG IS THE NEW KING OF PANCRASE
by: Luca Atalla

Jiu-Jitsu Blackbelt and ADCC veteran Ricardo Almeida is the new King of Pancrase at 181 pounds. In this Sunday’s evening night, in Tokyo, “Big Dog” submitted American Nathan Marquardt with a guillotine choke, only eight seconds before the end of the first round. It’s the fifth straight win by Almeida since he started fighting in Pancrase on November 30, 2002, exactly one year ago! Renzo Gracie’s pupil never lost in Japan.

In the main event of the show Hybrid 10, Yuki Kondo hit Sanae Kikuta with a strong punch that made the 2001 ADCC champion taste the kanvas in the beginning of the second round. The KO led Kondo to finally achieve the belt of the light heavyweight category. Both fighters disputed the title in last May, but the bout ended with a draw.

The program had yet, among others, the fight where Baret Yoshida was knocked out by Yoshido Maeda in the first round and the one where Chute Boxe member Nilson de Castro lost to Akehiro gono by unanimous decision.

AMATEUR MATCH #1 / PANCRASE GATE RULES FEATHERWEIGHT 2x5 MIN ROUNDS
TAKUMI MURATA (A-3) drew ATSUSHI YAMAMOTO (KILLER BEE)

AMATEUR MATCH #2 / PANCRASE GATE RULES LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT 2x5 MIN ROUNDS
YUYA SHIRAI (UNPLUGGED KOKUBUNJI) drew YASUHIRO KIRITA (TEAM ALLIANCE)

PRO-MATCH #1 / FEATHERWEIGHT 3x5 MIN ROUNDS
YOSHIRO MAEDA (PANCRASE INAGAKIGUMI) def
BARET YOSHIDA (U.S.A./ GRAPPLING UNLIMITED) via KO in Round 1.
Maeda caught Baret shooting in with a straight right and that was all...

PRO-MATCH #2 / MIDDLEWEIGHT 3x5 MIN ROUNDS
KAZUO MISAKI (MIDDLEWEIGHT 5TH RANKED/PANCRASE GRABAKA) drew JAKE SHIELDS (U.S.A./CESAR GRACIE ACADEMY) after 3 rounds [(30-29, 30-30, 29-29)]

PRO-MATCH #3 / SUPER HEAVYWEIGHT 3x5 MIN ROUNDS
RON WATERMAN (SUPER HEAVYWEIGHT 2ND RANKED/U.S.A./TEAM IMPACT) drew JIMMY AMBRIZ (U.S.A./NEW JAPAN PRO-WRESTLING) after 3 rounds [(30-30, 30-30, 30-30) ]

PRO-MATCH #4/ LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT 3x5 MIN ROUNDS
AKIHIRO GONO (LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT 3RD RANKED/PANCRASE GRABAKA) def. NILSON DE CASTRO (LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT 4TH RANKED/BRAZIL/CHUTE BOXE ACADEMY) via unanimous decision [(30-28, 30-28, 30-28)]

PRO-MATCH #5/ WELTERWEIGHT K.O.P. TITLE DEFENSE 3x5 MIN ROUNDS
KIUMA KUNIOKU (1ST WELTERWEIGHT K.O.P./PANCRASEism) def KENICHI SERIZAWA (WELTERWEIGHT 3RD RANKED/WAJUTSU KEISHUKAI SURUGA DOJO) via unanimous decision [(30-28, 30-28, 30-27)]

SEMIFINAL/ MIDDLEWEIGHT K.O.P. TITLE DEFENSE 3x5 MIN ROUNDS
RICARDO ALMEIDA (MIDDLEWEIGHT 4TH RANKED/U.S.A./RENZO GRACIE JIU JITSU ACADEMY) def. NATHAN MARQUARDT (3RD MIDDLEWEIGHT K.O.P./U.S.A./COLORADO STARS) via guillotine choke at 4:53 minutes in Round 1.
Almeida becomes Middleweight King of Pancrase.

MAIN EVENT/ LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT K.O.P. TITLE DEFENSE 3x5 MIN ROUNDS
YUKI KONDO (LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT 1ST RANKED/PANCRASEism) def. SANAE KIKUTA (2ND LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT K.O.P./PANCRASE GRABAKA) via KO by left hook at 0:08 minutes in R2

Source: Underground

Ring of Honor Annouces Next Events

Ring of Honor will hold its next MMA event on January 21st and its first submission grappling division tournament on February 7. More details to follow.

Pride press conference in Japan announces Royce v Yoshida II

Recent news that there will be 3 major events happening on December 31st, 2003 in Japan has pitted Pride, K1 and Inoki's camp against each other to see who has the BIGGEST show! Pride has scored the big coup! One of the most awaited rematches of recent times is going to happen, December 31st, in Pride! Latest news from our sources in Japan have that Pride has announced Royce v Yoshida II during their press conference.

In other words 'THE FIGHT IS ON.

According to inside sources, the fights is on full MMA rules, with 2 ten-minutes rounds. The camps have agreed that there will be no referee stoppage and no judges decision.

The event will be called PRIDE'S SPECIAL OTOKO MATSURI 2003

NOTE: OTOKO means is MAN, MATSURI means is festival

Other stars rumored to be in the lineup for PRIDE's event are 'Minotauro' Noguira, Wanderlei Silva, Don Frye, Heath Herring, Mario Sperry, Ryan Gracie, Hayato Sakurai.

Source: ADCC/Kid Peligro

Great fights mark the 2nd American Nationals

Despite a low turnout because of the Thanksgivings holiday, the 2nd American Nationals was crowned with great matches.

Standouts in the Blue Belt was 15 year old Jacob McClintock winning the weight and taking 2nd in the absolute (8 matches - 7 submissions - many triangles), in the purple belt Mike Fowler from Lloyd Irvin, continued to show his brilliance winning the weight and the absolute. Brown Belt Rafael Lovato Jr won the Heavy Brown and Las Vegas Combat Club's Fabricio won the Brown light, Lloyd Irvin's Brad Court won his division.

In the Black Belt BJJ Revolution's 'Valtinho' Nakagawo was the show. Valtinho submitted his very tough opponents Joao Silva & Jared Weiner to take the weight and the absolute. Jared defeated Joao in the first match of the absolute.

Team results were:

1st Place: Aloysio Silva Academy
2n Place: Machado Academy
3rd Place: Cleber Luciano Academy

Complete report and photo gallery to come in the next few days on ADCC

Source: ADCC/Kid Peligro

ST.PIERRE PUNCHES TICKET TO UFC 46; DIAZ LOOKS AHEAD TO UFC 47

It was a crazy weekend to say the least in the MMA world. If you missed out and weren't with us on Saturday and Sunday, then you missed some important fights.

Pete Spratt was upset in Canada this weekend losing to George St.Pierre by submission in the first round. As a result, Spratt will not be fighting in January against Karo Parisyan at UFC 46. MMAWeekly.com has learned that St.Pierre signed a contract last night to face Parisyan at UFC 46.

Another guy that who was thought to maybe face Parisyan if Spratt lost was Nick Diaz. Diaz had the impressive win over Jeremy Jackson at UFC 44. Diaz most likely won't return to the Octagon until UFC 47.

MMAWeekly has learned that Diaz most likely will face Robbie Lawler at UFC 47. This will be a fight that Diaz and his people feel could make the "name" in the UFC, but right now that is just talk as Diaz will be a part of the card, but they have only talked about the possibility of facing Lawler, nothing has been signed as of yet.

Source: MMA Weekly


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