March News Part 1
Quote
of the Day
To
succeed... you need to find something to hold on to, something
to motivate you, something to inspire you.
Tony Dorsett |
Marcel
Suehiro Places 8th in NAIA
Relson
Gracie Jiu-Jitsu and Shobukan Judo student as well as McKinnley
High graduate, Marcel Suehiro is currently in Embry-Riddle University
wrestling and doing quite well. Check out what I found on him
lately! Thanks to Meaala for pointing me in the right direction!
Southern
Oregon 18, Embry-Riddle 15
Ashland, Nov. 22, 2002
133 - Nolan Harris (S) dec. Brian Love, 7-1
141 - Colin Murphy (S) dec. Sterling Cornfield, 8-3
149 - Danny Cadwallader (E) dec. Waylon Alsbury, 4-3
157 - Joe Calavitta (E) dec. Jimmy Grochowsky, 13-10
165 - Brian Wilson (S) dec. David Rivera, 9-3
174 - James Mannenbach (S) dec. Jensen Jobe, 6-4
184 - Jaime Hernandez (E) dec. Abe Ewing, 12-6
197 - Michael Augustson (E) dec. Colin Davis, 10-5
285 - Mike Whitehead (S) pinned Aaron McKeever, 1:24
125 - Marcel
Suehiro (E) dec. Marc Harris, 7-2
Match official: Lester McFall
Attendance: 400
2003
46th Annual NAIA Wrestling National Championships
Bison Fieldhouse
– Great Falls, Montana
Hosted by Montana State University - Northern
March 7-8, 2003
Marcel Suehiro places 8th!
See the keys by clicking on the link
http://www.naia.org/wrestling/championship/2003/results/125.PDF
Source:
USAWrestling.com |
Copa
Quick Results
The VI Copa Pacifica got of today with a BANG. The two superfights
had everything anyone could want in a match.
Rener
Gracie submitted (foot-lock) Jorge 'Macaco' Patino. The fight
opened up with Macaco getting ahead via takedown. After a slow
moment and a restart Macaco got 2 more points by takedown. Another
restart and Macaco pulled the half-guard. At that point Rener
immediately started searching for Macaco's leg. Macaco completed
a beautiful reversal to get ahead 6 x 0, but as Macaco would
later admit, Rener accepted the reversal in order to attack the
foot. After a struggle defending, Macaco submitted to Rener's
foot lock.
'Xande'
Ribeiro defeated Ryron Gracie points 8 x 0 (reversal and 2 guard
passes)
In
a very exciting match, one which the score did not fully reflect
the action, Ryron and Xande exchanged attacks and positions,
with the more experienced 'Xande' taking advantages of the openings
to score the points. After the match 'Xande' complained about
his forearms, which were double the normal size: 'My forearms
feel like rocks!'
Everyone
had a great time and props go to all the fighters for getting
it on!
Source:
Kid Peligro/ADCC
|
PANCRASE
3/8 Quick Results!
Differ
Ariake - Tokyo, Japan
1.
Masahito Wachi defeated Masahiro Watanabe by default when Watanabe
was said to have pneumonia.
2.
Kenji Arai over Naoki Seki in 1:20 of round one with a rear naked
choke.
3.
Jun Ishii defeated Jason Godsey in the 2nd round in 1:51 via
submission from strikes.
4.
Kazuo Misaki & Yuji Hisamatsu went to a two round draw.
5.
Yuki Kondo defeated Sumio Koyano in 3:58 of round one when Koyano's
corner threw in the towel.
6.
In the KOP Middleweight Title Match:
Nathan Marquardt KO'd Izuru Takeuchi in 1:29 of round one with
punches on the ground.
Source:
ADCC
MARQUARDT
BREAKS HAND IN WIN
MMAWeekly's Ryan Bennett reports that Nathan Marquardt is on
his way back to the United States and not only is he coming back
with another impressive win but he is also coming back with a
broken hand.
It's
not known when he broke the hand, but he had to be somewhere
in the beginning of the fight since he made it a quick night,
getting the KO win at 1:30 into the fight.
It's
unknown how long he will be out for, but traditionally it's one
of those injuries that takes at least five or six months to heal
properly. We will keep you informed right here at MMAWeekly.com.
Source:
MMA Weekly |
Where
Do We Go From Here?
The State of the Sport After UFC 41
Dang,
I was wrong. Dang! Wrong again! @#&%!! Wrong AGAIN! What
the hell went wrong at UFC 41? Or better yet, what was I thinking?
Here I am, laying down my Pickin’ and Grinnin’ picks
and about to gloat because I got them all right. Well, I only
picked five fights correctly. Shows how much I know. Okay, okay,
I’ve been humbled about my mis-picks, but that burning question
is begged to be asked: Where do we all go from here? What happens
to the UFC’s heavyweight division? What about the third
installment of Penn/Uno? Was Mir’s loss to Freeman at UFC
38 really a fluke? If only the crystal ball wasn’t so foggy…
For
starters, let’s take a gander at the main event of UFC 41;
Ricco Rodriguez vs. Tim Sylvia. Virtually nobody gave Sylvia
much of a chance to win partly in fact due to the level of opposition
that he’s been feasting on. Sure, he was 16-0 coming in
to the biggest fight of his pro MMA career, but did he have enough
ammo to topple Rodriguez, who was making the first defense of
his heavyweight crown? After Rodriguez dominated Randy Couture
at UFC 39, most thought he was the world’s #2 or 3 heavyweight,
with only a matter of time before he vaults himself atop of the
mountain of big guys. He was supposed to feel out the much larger
Sylvia, take him down and pound away for a sure victory. Well,
chum, things don’t always happen like they should.
Ricco
had fits trying to take down the behemoth Sylvia and had the
guts to try and trade blows with him standing up. As Ricco backed
away with his guard dropped just a bit too far, Sylvia uncorked
a crippling straight right, dropping the champ onto the mat.
Sylvia, smelling blood, pounced on his woozy foe and unloaded
vicious bombs until referee John McCarthy pulled him away. Just
like that, Sylvia was crowned the new UFC heavyweight champ by
pulling off a pretty major upset.
On
the other end of the heavyweight circle, the return of Tank Abbott
was, shall we say, just a tad anticlimactic. Many people, myself
included, thought that Frank Mir had too many weapons at his
disposal to have a hard time with Tank, but would wind up being
blasted out early. We were dead wrong. Frank took Tank down,
tried a fake shoulder lock and applied a sick heel hook, forcing
the bad street brawler to tap. Damn, we were all set for a showdown
with Ricco and Tank, but Sylvia and Mir had to go and ruin everything.
How great! Now things are actually starting to heat up in the
heavyweight ranks after all.
With
a so-so, yet winning, effort against battle-worn Pedro Rizzo,
powerhouse Vladimir Matyushenko will undoubtedly have to wait
a few more UFCs before he gets a title shot. And speaking of
Rizzo, why the @#*& does he always fight so cautiously??
The guys can knock out a rhinoceros with his fists and kick a
hole in the trunk of a sequoia! What gives, Pedro? Either way,
though, it sure does make the division much deeper with the huge
underdog winning the title. Then again, it might make it look
much shallower because the “unknown” guy who’s
very tall is the champ. Aargh… My brain is aching!
It
appears evident that Zuffa will toss together the strangely riveting
Mir/Sylvia championship, probably as the chief undercard bout
to Ortiz/Liddell at UFC 43. Can Mir withstand the incoming hailstorm
of fists from Sylvia and win yet another TapOut of the Night
award? Who knows? Only time will tell. For right now, though,
all my scrilla is on Sylvia.
Shifting
gears, let’s scroll down to the lightweights. The entire
lightweight title hubbub was supposed to be settled when BJ Penn
and Caol Uno squared off in their much-anticipated rematch. The
winner of the bout would be granted the crown vacated by the
bolting Jens Pulver and the experts’ were split as to who
would win. Half favored Penn by knockout, the other half had
Uno by decision. Their fight was memorable, going back and forth
both on the ground and on their feet, but after all was said
and done, it was pretty clear as to who should have won. Penn
did more damage, landed more punches (though he was leg kicked
quite a bit) and out-grappled the Japanese star. Aside from that,
Uno’s face was almost as hideous Ken Shamrock’s was
after UFC 40. Unfortunately for Penn and MMA fans, the judges
scored it a draw, setting the stage for Penn/Uno 3 sometime later
this year.
Penn
looked flat for much of the fight, but he still should have been
granted the decision. I don’t know what it is, but he just
doesn’t have that fire he used to once have. And Uno made
the mistake of trying to trade punches with Penn. He should have
just kept his distance and kicked away at BJ’s legs. Oh
well, I guess he’ll just have to wait until next time. Yves
Edwards looked great in his win, but I don’t see him beating
either Uno or Penn, same with Matt Serra. Everybody is anxious
to see Genki Sudo fight again, so who knows? Maybe at UFC 44
or whenever Penn and Uno square off again, there will be another
mini tourney for the lightweights. Maybe even Pulver will come
back and try to claim what is rightfully his. Oh, and one more
thing before I get to Baroni getting beaten; does anybody really
want to see another Penn/Uno? Make your voices heard on the Sherdog
Forums.
And
finally, everybody rejoiced with Matt Lindland after his winning
effort in the war against Phil Baroni. Easily the most hated
man in MMA, Baroni did everything he could to back up all the
trash talk, but Lindland was simply too much for him to handle.
Seeing Baroni lose, to most, was like when Muhammad Ali got whipped
by Joe Frazer back in ’74. Tons of people prayed for Ali
to get his clock cleaned and he did. Tons of people prayed for
Lindland to fix Baroni’s wagon, and he did. He’s never
done anything bad to me, but I understand why everybody wanted
him to eat leather and take a beating. Lindland took no prisoners
and dished out a good ol’ fashioned whuppin’ on the
New York Bad Ass, placing himself firmly in the #2 spot in the
middleweight ranks. Kazushi Sakuraba is #3. All we need now is
for Murilo Bustamante to get off his behind and re-sign with
Zuffa! Murilo, what are you waiting for? In the meantime, if
Zuffa doesn’t strip Bustamante of his title, Lindland has
a few options. He can wait for Bustamante to resign and face
the likes of Phillip Miller or even Mark Weir, two excellent
match-ups. Or he could face Ivan Salaverry again or Dave Menne,
seeing that Lindland will not fight Baroni again.
Now,
if Bustamante reneges and flies the Zuffa coop, Lindland can
go to Japan and fight the cream of the Pride crop. Fighters like
Sakuraba, Paulo Filho, Anderson Silva and Jose ‘Pele’
Landi-Jons are all there, ready to be dueled. Hmm. Decisions,
decisions, decisions for Lindland. Hopefully we’ll all get
lucky and Bustamante resigns with Zuffa, or at least fights sometime
this year. I certainly hope he doesn’t fall into the same
Vitor Belfort coma of fighting once every, oh, 520 days. Bustamante-
Come back!
Source:
Sherdog |
GOOD
NEWS AND BAD NEWS
MMAWeekly.com has made plenty of calls within the past week about
official numbers from UFC 41 and we are finally starting to get
those numbers from our contacts regarding last weekends event.
The
good news for the UFC is another great LIVE gate for Zuffa. UFC
41 had another sellout crowd and if your counting at home, that's
the FIFTH consecutive sell out in the past five UFC's. The last
sell out crowd in Atlantic City, brought in a just over a million
dollar live gate to Zuffa. The live attendance figures have been
off the chart recently and some insiders believe that Tank's
latest apperance could have factored into the numbers.
With
that said, it looks like the return of Tank did not help at all
with pay per view buys. MMAWeekly.com talked with our contacts
at Direct TV as well as a few people within the cable industry
late last night, (Saturday Night) and it looks like when it's
all said and done, the UFC will have sold between 57,000 and
59,000 pay per view buys from UFC 41. That is drastically down
from UFC 40 as "Vendetta" drew close to 150,000 pay
per view buys.
Zuffa
has to be scratching their head a bit trying to figure out why
they had such a huge live gate, but the pay per view numbers
for some reason didn't transfer over from the live gate.
Source:
MMA Weekly |
Interview
with Matt Lindland
Some
say he couldn't do it, some said that his first fight was a fluke.
This past weekend Matt Lindland answered all his critics and
showed the world that he is one of the best fighters at 185 pounds.
Lindland sat down and talked with Ryan Bennett about his biggest
win to date in his professional fight career.
Ryan
Bennett: So you got to be a pretty happy guy right now, how are
things?
Matt Lindland: Good, I just got back from the Portland Trailblazers
basketball game and it's been a great weekend.
Ryan:
Did you get noticed at the NBA game?
Matt: Not really, I had a guy I had not seen before that said
"good job" and there was a couple of guys that I went
to high school with that said, "That's Matt Lindland"
but that's about it.
Ryan:
Give me your impressions of the fight with Baroni, you have to
have a big smile on your face.
Matt: Yea I'm excited about it. Getting a win in the UFC is always
good. Every fight in this UFC at this level is a big fight. There
aren't any little fights anymore in the UFC.
Ryan:
A lot of people said coming into this fight that Phil Baroni
is a better fighter now, that your first fight was when he wasn't
very good, etc. Did that piss you off going into this fight?
Matt: I'm still looking for the excuses to come. The first fight
he couldn't even admit that he lost. I think he still denies
he didn't lose. I think he will have an excuse for this fight,
like he was hurt, or his hand was hurt, whatever. I know before
the fight he was letting everyone know how hard he was training.
The excuses will start coming whether it's if he came into the
fight injured or whatever. He can't and probably won't accept
that I'm a better fighter than he is.
Ryan:
How much sweeter is it for you to beat Phil Baroni a second time?
Matt: To me it doesn't matter, but he makes it such a big deal
that it actually makes it a bigger deal for me. I actually had
a lot of fun with the banter and smack talk going back and forth.
I don't think I could talk like that to a lot of other fighters.
I can't throw insults at other guys, but I think he opens himself
up to that, so he made it easier for me and made it more fun.
I wanted to put a beating on him.
Ryan:
Did you have a chance to watch the fight yet?
Matt: Yea I did actually.
Ryan:
Tell me your impressions of the fight. What did you like and
what didn't you like?
Matt: I liked everything about the fight. I was watching the
fight thinking I could have thrown my lead right here or thought
I had a lot of opportunites to throw some more standup that I
didn't take advantage of. My goal was not to use the stand up
to win the fight. I just wanted to use it enough to get in and
take him down. In the third round I was going to do a little
standup because he wasn't aggressive. I knew he had to come at
me for me to get under him. It wasn't like I could just shoot
in on him. I did take advantage of the beginning of the third
round. I was a bit disappointed in the call for both of us to
stand up by Big John (McCarthy) becaues I just felt like I was
landing the best three or four elbows of the fight and I had
so much momentum at that particular time...
Ryan:
Why do you think then he had you guys stand up at that point
of the fight?
Matt: I really don't know. Maybe John wanted to make sure Phil
didn't have any excuses. The only thing I can think of is that
he was thinking you guys need to stand up so Phil doesn't have
any excuses why he lost the fight. I don't think John intentionally
tried to screw me there, I think he felt it may be more exciting
for the fans I guess, or Phil, it was weird.
Ryan:
It was a bit strange and I know John and think he is the best
in the business, but it seemed you even had a shot to finish
him at that point...
Matt: I did too. What can you do.
Ryan:
Speaking of that third round, he ended that round with those
wicked body shots. What were you thinking at the end of that
fight?!
Matt: I was thinking, man this round is over, what the hell is
taking so long. (laughs) I shot in and there was six seconds
left on the clock and he sprawled, so there had to be 6,5,4,3,2,
and the fight has to be over. Then it was like, hello wake up
the guy ringing the bell. Those last six second must have taken
30 seconds. In the first round those punches really didn't have
much steam so I wasn't worried. Body shots aren't going to finish
a fight anyway...
Ryan:
So you are telling me those body shots didn't hurt?
Matt: No. They look great and he's yelling like he was doing
something but they didn't really hurt. I remember after the fight
I felt fine and I remember thinking when I wake up in the morning
I'm going to be hurting, but I was actually fine when I woke
up. They didn't hurt at all when I woke up.
Ryan:
At the press conference you thanked a few people including John
Hackelman from the Pit Fight Team. Are you part of that team
now?
Matt: I actually said my new adopted team. I then thanked Randy
(Couture) and Dan (Henderson) for being my cornerman and supporting
me. I just wanted to thank John and the guys who really helped
me out.
Ryan:
So you are still a part of Team Quest...
Matt: Absolutely I am.
Ryan:
What's next for you now...
Matt: I don't know. Let's call Dana (laughs) and see what's going
to happen. I would like to know. I would love to fight in April.
I just don't really know who is out there to fight. It seems
like we have answered a lot of questions in this division so
it's hard to say who is still out there.
Ryan:
I just found out that Jeremy Horn is coming down to 185 weight
division. What about a guy like that...
Matt: Really? That's great. That guy is a submission expert.
He is SO slick. I had no idea.
Ryan:
Yea one of my guys just found out and I think that would be great
for the division.
Matt: It would be. I would like to see him fight somebody in
the UFC if that happens, because I feel like I've proved myself
as the guy who gets the next title shot. He would be great at
that weight. He's a great fighter.
Ryan:
One more question about Baroni. We saw what he did to Dave Menne.
We saw what he did to Suloev. Why is it that you were able to
neutralize Phil Baroni? It seems you have his number.
Matt: I think he caught Menne. I don't that would happen every
time he fights Dave Menne. That's the nature of the sport. Sometimes
you are going to get quick knockouts and sometimes you don't
have it that day. As far as Phil goes, I think he didn't train
much on the ground for this fight. I'm guessing because I don't
watch guys train, but it didn't look like he anticipated this
fight being on the ground long. You would think he would have
planned for something like this, but I really don't think he
did. He didn't prepare what could happen on the ground. He was
so confident that he could get the job done by standing up. Those
other guys you mention didn't get out of the first round with
him. Let's see how they do with Phil Baroni in round two or three,
it could have been a different fights for those guys you mentioned.
Ryan:
What happened to the t-shirt at the weigh-in that said I got
beat by a hillbilly?
Matt: Some Japanese photographer picked it up and I caught him
wearing it after the fight (laughs)
Ryan:
That's hilarious! (laughs)
Matt: Yea I actually signed that shirt!
Ryan:
I was just thinking that, make some of those, sign it and it
will be a big hit on ebay.
Matt: I've got two more, so maybe I should do it....Yea it was
funny it said "I just got beat down by a hillbilly AGAIN."
It was funny.
Ryan:
How did that come about?
Matt: You were there at the first weigh-in for our first fight
and you saw the stunt where he tried to reach out and grab my
neck...so I anticipated something so I just threw him off and
came a little prepared. I showed the press the shirt and said
I have a gift for Phil and threw it at him. He threw it back
to me, so I told one of his corner guys, Give this to Phil, it's
a gift from me. Big John got the interception, Lorenzo held it
up for everyone to see, then he grabs that from Lorenzo and stomps
on it, he was pissed. It was beautiful. But you guys didn't see
the shirt I put on after the fight...
Ryan:
No I didn't what did it say...
Matt: It said I just beat Phil Baroni AGAIN and all I got was
this lousy T-Shirt.
Ryan:
Funny stuff. Well congrats that was a huge win for you and I
look forward to seeing what is next. Thanks Matt I always appreciate.
Matt: You got it Ryan. I will let you guys know what's up next
for me right here at MMAWeekly.
Source: MMA Weekly |
Sunday's
news has been posted early because we have a "business meeting"
tonight and will probably not be in any condition to update the
site tomorrow morning. We are bidding one of our best friends adieu as he takes the
beaten down and arduous path that has left many a man curled
up in the fetal position in the corner of a shower cowering.
The institution that is called marriage. I am going into the
"business meeting" with a separated rib, but I will
try to perservere and struggle through it, being the trooper
that I am.
Chris & Mike
"Taking one for the team" |
Quote
of the Day
It
takes less time to do things right than to explain why you did
it wrong.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow |
Fighters'
Club TV Make Up Show
Due to last Tuesdays Preempting of Fighters' Club TV episode
8 for City
Council coverage, Olelo Ch. 52 has added an additional time to
this coming
weeks schedule:
3/11/03
Tue Midnight (Monday night turning into Tuesday morning)
3/12/03
Wed 11:30pm
<<<ADDED ON FOR THOSE OF YOU SHOULD BE AT PRACTICE ON
TUESDAY NIGHTS>>>
3/25/03
Tue 11:00 pm
4/1/03 Tue 3:00 pm
Episode
8 features:
Superbrawl
28 footage
-Andre "the Chief" Roberts vs. Raymond "King Kong"
Seraille (w/ post fight intvs)
-Ronald "the Machine Gun" Jhun vs. Mike Panalber (w/
post fight intv)
Technique of the Week
-Don Frye demonstrating a viscious no-gi Judo Takedown (+ exclusive
intv.)
introducing our new female co-host, kickboxing and TKD instructor,
Jocelyn Soriano
Any
suggestion, comments, complaints--email Mark at markk@flex.com
Women,
think you got what it takes to host a show? Please contact our
talent scout Chris at chris@onzuka.com
Source:
Mark Kurano |
Frank
Shamrock Makes His Return to MMA
World Extreme Cagefighting - “Return of a Legend”
March 27th 7:30P.M.
The Palace Casino, Lemoore, CA.
MAIN
EVENT
Bryan Pardoe vs Frank Shamrock
SUPERFIGHTS
Jeremy Jackson vs Shonie Carter,
Justin Wiemen. vs Gil Castillo
Broadcast
your thoughts on Frank Shamrock returning against Bryan Pardoe
in the MMA forum.
FEATUREFIGHTS
Christian Wellisch vs TBA
Donald Rugebregt vs Tony Alanis
Randy Rowe vs Chris Sanford
Caleb Mitchel vs TBA
Mike Swick vs Kengo Ura
Brandon
Wolff (from Hawaii, but now fighting for rAw) vs Eric Wrey
Sammy Sleezer vs John Appleby
Ed Wedding vs Doug Evans
PRELIMINARY
TBA vs Mike Castillo
Steve Cutler vs Chris Williams
Source:
Sherdog |
Quote
of the Day
The
shy man will not learn; the impatient man should not teach.
Hillel |
Giraldi
Muay-Thai Grand Opening!
Giraldi
Muay-Thai, Hawaii, USA
99-1421 Koaha Place, Bay 3
Aiea, HI. 96701
Tel: (808) 487-0678
Grand Opening March 2003
We
have moved from Kalakaua Boxing gym to our new location in Halawa
Valley, next to OICA Poison Ink. New facility a 5, 000 square
feet gym. We provide top professional training to meet your needs
for Men, Women and Childen to improve health, build strength,
cardio-vascular drills, street-defense, intense amateur and professional
competition and unarmed combat.
Gym
established by Step-Father/Coach Charlie Jauit, former Thailand's
World Bantamweight Muay-Thai Champion. This is Hawaii's ONLY
authorized gym. Tony Giraldi, the ONLY Certified Trainer under
Mr. Jauit.
CHAMPIONS:
Professional-Maurice Travis, 10-time World Muay-Thai Light Middleweight
(Hawaii's First) and Yobo Dela Cruz, Mixed Martial Arts Hawaii
Futurebrawl. Amateur-Ben Yelle, 2002 IKF USA National Muay-Thai
Light Middleweight (Hawaii's First).
TOP
CONTENDER: Amateur-Elias Oxendine, 2002 IKF USA National Muay-Thai
Light Middleweight, Bronze Medal, 2001 USA National Muay-Thai
Light Middleweight, Silver Medal.
LAW
ENFORCEMENT: We have trained members from the U.S. Marshal Service
SWAT, U.S. Secret Service and U.S. Special Forces.
Mahalo
for ALL your help promoting Martial Arts in Hawaii. Coach Tony
Giraldi.
Source:
Tony Giraldi |
Championship
Bout Postponed!
Looks like all the fans looking forward to the much anticipated
Super Brawl match between Super Brawl Champion Egan Inoue and
Shooto Champion Masanori Suda will have to wait 6 more weeks!
6
more weeks to unify the belts. The bout was initially scheduled
for March 22 with both combatants agreeing to terms. But the
bout will now be held on Friday night, May 9.
It
seems the Shooto Champ may be trying to play head-games with
Inoue. In an e-mail sent to T.Jay Thompson (Super Brawl promoter)
on Thursday, Suda's management stated Suda needed more time to
prepare. No further information was made available.
When
contacted Egan Ioue replied, "Maybe he is just scared. If
he is trying to play mind games with me it is not working. I
understand he holds the Shooto belt, but a professional fighter
should be prepared. I am working a full time job (at Merck Pharmaceuticals),
raising a family and still found the time to train. But it's
O.K., maybe he just wants to hold onto his belt for a few more
precious weeks. I will be here waiting on May 9."
Thompson
stated, "These things happen in the fight game. I never
have a dull moment. I am just disappointed that the fans will
have to wait till May 9 for this spectacular event." To
ensure the May 9, date, Suda has now signed a contract with a
considerable penalty if he misses the May 9th date for any reason.
Ticket
holders to the March 22 event can return or trade their tickets
in at the Blaisdell box-office.
Source:
Event Promoter |
Joe
Hall's February Notebook
From
Javier Vazquez's valiant performance in King of the Cage to the
return of Tank Abbott at UFC 41, another month of mixed martial
arts is ready for the history books. Before the 28 days are filed
away, join me as I take a look at how February 2003 unfolded
in the sport.
TANK
TAPS; SYLVIA TAKES TITLE (UFC 41 on Feb. 28)
Months
of hype became 46 bubble-bursting seconds at UFC 41. That's how
long it took Frank Mir to spoil the ballyhooed return of Tank
Abbott to the Octagon. After misfiring with a couple heavy right
hands, Abbott found himself caught in an omoplata shoulder lock
while simultaneously falling victim to a nasty toehold. At first
glance, it looked as though Tank may have tapped quickly to the
submission, but a second viewing revealed the sickly angle at
which his foot was torqued.
With
the majority of UFC viewing audiences deflated from Tank's sputtered
comeback, Tim Sylvia demolished Ricco Rodriguez in the main event
to capture the heavyweight title. It was clear early that Rodriguez
was in trouble after Sylvia almost effortlessly thwarted his
attacks. Rodriguez shot for a takedown; Sylvia threw him to the
ground. Rodriguez attempted an armbar; Sylvia dumped him on his
head. Forced to stand, the inevitable came quickly for Rodriguez,
as Sylvia sent a right hand straight down the pipe and turned
out his opponent's lights.
Perhaps
it's the Curse of Pulver. "Little Evil" unfailingly
defended his lightweight title when he was in the UFC, and now
he, his curse or something, is defending the gold in his absence.
A four-man lightweight tournament to crown a 155-pound champ
was initiated in September; but after five months and a hard-fought
25-minute final between BJ Penn and Caol Uno, no one has been
able to claim Pulver's belt. Penn deserved a narrow decision
at UFC 41, but the always crafty Uno kept the fight close and
a rare draw was the result.
Matt
Lindland said he would, and he did. For the second time, the
Olympic Silver Medalist stuffed a sock in the yapper of Phil
Baroni. The only middleweight bout at UFC 41 belonged to the
better wrestler, Lindland, who used his grappling prowess to
ground his opponent and smother him with an onslaught of punches
and forearm strikes. Baroni never quit, though his defeat via
decision was thorough and unrelenting.
Pedro
Rizzo's struggles continued in the opening bout of the pay-per-view.
Vladimir Matyushenko scored several takedowns early in their
heavyweight bout, forcing Rizzo to fight his typical inhibited
style. Other than a few leg kicks, Rizzo did little en route
to losing a unanimous decision. He has now lost four of his last
five fights.
GUTSY
VAZQUEZ GOES DOWN; HOFFMAN'S BACK (King of the Cage 21 on Feb.
21)
Out
of the cage, into the cage. Bobby Hoffman, released from prison,
returned to mixed martial arts competition at King of the Cage
21. "The Bad Seed" retained his KOTC heavyweight crown,
which had been stripped and vacated while he was in prison, by
winning a four-man heavyweight tournament. Neither Sam Sotello
nor Jason Godsey mounted much of an attack against Hoffman, who
stopped Sotello via injury and Godsey with strikes.
The
star of the show was undoubtedly Javier Vazquez. Although the
fighter from Millennia Jiu-Jitsu lost his lightweight championship
to Alberto Crane, he gained a wealth of fans thanks to his courageous
effort in the cage. Seconds into his title defense, Vazquez slipped
and tore his ACL, among other things. Over the next 14 minutes
and 45 seconds, he delivered a performance as inspiring as any
in mixed martial arts' young history. It wasn't enough to hold
onto his belt, however, as Crane won a split decision.
In
other action, controversy shrouded the welterweight showdown
between Shonie Carter and Fernando Vasconcelos. The first round
belonged to Vasconcelos, who not only out-grappled Carter, which
was expected, but also out-struck the veteran fighter on the
feet. A different story was told in the second five minutes,
with Carter corralling his young foe and battering him for much
of the round. Although most expected it, there would be no third
round. Carter was given the win after Vasconcelos refused to
fight for another five minutes, saying only two installments
were in his contract.
BUCK,
KENNEDY GET 3 WINS IN 1 NIGHT (Extreme Challenge on Feb. 8 &
23)
Once
at the heart of the sport, tournaments have nearly vanished in
modern mixed martial arts. Multiple fights in one night won't
fly with most athletic commissions, and few fighters are on board
with the idea of several battles in a few hours. Monte Cox has
resurrected the format, however, for consecutive years. In early
February, an intriguing field of eight middleweights were summoned
to Iowa to see who'd be the last man standing at Extreme Challenge
49.
Favorite
Brendan Seguin submitted Leo Sylvest and stopped Jonathon Goulet
to make it to the finals. Opposing him was Jay Buck, who beat
a pair of tough 185-pounders, Ryan Stout and prospect Kyle Jensen.
In the end, Buck ran the table, stopping Seguin in the second
round. Both Buck and Seguin qualify for the final eight-man middleweight
tournament to be held in Hawaii in May.
Joining
Buck and Seguin in the Aloha State will be Tim Kennedy and Cruz
Chacon, who met in the finals of late February's Extreme Challenge
50 middleweight tournament. Kennedy beat Ryan Narte in the opening
round and defeated a talented Jason Miller in semifinals, before
running the gauntlet with a stoppage win over Chacon in the finals.
Chacon was 2-1 on the night, defeating Griffin Reynaud and knocking
out Eddy Rolon. Dennis Kang was also in the tournament, but dropped
a barnburner to Miller in the first round when he submitted to
a rear naked choke. In other action, top-notch women mixed martial
artists Jennifer Howe and Amanda Buckner stood toe-to-toe in
an enlivening battle that Howe won via knockout.
IN
THE NEWS
Tank
Abbott made a guest appearance on Fox Sports Net's The Best Damn
Sports Show, Period! on February 21. The streetfighter from Huntington
Beach, California, discussed his then-upcoming return to the
UFC, threw a verbal jab at Tito Ortiz, and punted the head of
a manikin.
WINS,
LOSSES AND FIGHTS OF NOTE
On
the UFC 41 undercard, Din Thomas stopped Matt Serra's takedown
attempts to win a split decision; Gan McGee spoiled the heavyweight
debut of Alexandre Dantas by knocking him out late in the first
round; and Yves Edwards consistently beat Rich Clementi to the
punch standing, before he submitted him with a choke in the final
round.
Takanori
Gomi, the No. 1-ranked lightweight in the world, submitted Nick
Ertl with an armbar in a Shooto bout on February 23. At the same
show, American Top Team's Dustin Denes stopped Shikou Yamashita
on a cut, and undefeated welterweight Akira Kikuchi beat Toru
Nakayama.
Ricardo
Almeida returned to Pancrase on February 16, where he won a unanimous
decision over Ikuhisa Minowa. In other bouts, Akihiro Gono drew
with Team Quest's Chael Sonnen.
Hawaii
hosted Super Brawl 28 on February 8. In the main event, hometown
product Egan Inoue set up a showdown with Shooto champion Masanori
Suda by winning a unanimous decision over Yukiya Naito. Falaniko
Vitale and Ronald Jhun were also victorious, with wins over Tyrone
Roberts and Mike Penabler, respectively.
In
other fights at KOTC 21, Joey Villasenor impressively defeated
Tony Galindo in a middleweight match, and unlimited class champ
Jimmy Ambriz submitted Johnathan Ivey.
Evan
Tanner scored a win on February 15, when he used an arm-triangle
choke to submit Shannon Ritch.
UFC
legend Dan Severn dropped a 15-minute decision on February 22
to Ulysses Castro .
Tim
"Obake" Catalfo defeated James Daniels with a neck
crank at the World Extreme Fighting Championships on February
8.
Before
his quality showing in the Extreme Challenge 50 middleweight
tournament, Jason Miller won a rubber match against rival Todd
Carney via TKO on February 1.
Veteran
fighter Adrian Serrano submitted to a series of knees delivered
by Steve Friedrichs in Extreme Combat Minnesota on February 14.
AND
THE AWARDS
FIGHTER
OF THE MONTH: Javier Vazquez. Like a scene from a Rocky movie,
he redefined heart in his gutsy performance at King of the Cage
21.
SUBMISSION
OF THE MONTH: The vicious toehold Frank Mir slapped on Tank Abbott.
KNOCKOUT
OF THE MONTH: Tim Sylvia's smashing right hand that floored Ricco
Rodriguez.
UPSET
OF THE MONTH: Tim Sylvia's victory over Ricco Rodriguez.
Source:
Maxfighting |
TWO
FAMILIAR FACES CALLING SHAMROCK'S COMEBACK
It's been a long time since we saw Frank Shamrock fight. It's
also been a while since we heard Jeff Blatnick call a fight.
MMAWeekly.com has learned that Blatnick and former UFC Broadcaster
Ryan Bennett will join forces to call Shamrock's first fight
back in mixed martial arts on March 27th.
Many
people know Bennett as one of the best post fight interviewers
in the business, but few know the fact that he is one of the
more underrated play by play voices in the sport as he has done
play by play for the IFC and WEC.
A
lot of people have wanted Blatnick back in the UFC Broadcast
booth for quite some time. He will make his way back to the MMA
broadcast booth for the first time since UFC 32. While they won't
be working on the sidelines of the UFC, fans will be able to
listen to two of the better voices and ambassador's of the sport
on March 27th for World Extreme Cagefighting VI.
The
card is starting to take shape as Frank Shamrock, Shonie Carter,
Gil Castillo and Shooto fighter, Kengo Ura, will all be competitng
on the card. It's also been confirmed that Randy Couture and
Chuck Liddell will be by to check out the action, so some big
names will be at WEC on the 27th.
Bryan
Pardoe (Team Pain Inducer) vs Frank Shamrock (A.K.A)
Chandler, AZ __________________San Jose, CA
200lbs/6’2 ____________________199lbs/5’10”
Team Pain Inducer______________ AKA
Super
Fights
-
Jeremy Jackson vs Shonie Carter
-
Gil Castillo (Cesar Gracie) vs TBA (Justin Weimen is rumored,
but WEC told MMAWeekly.com that he hasn't been signed and a few
other fighters wanted to fight Castillo, stay tuned)
Feature
Fights
-
Christian Wellisch (A.K.A) vs TBA
-
Donald Rugebregt (Team Elite) vs Tony Alanis (Ochoa Martial Arts)
-
Randy Rowe (Dogpound) vs Chris Sanford (Ceaser Gracie)
-
Caleb Mitchel (Ceaser Gracie) vs T.B.A.
-
Mike Swick (A.K.A) vs Kengo Ura (RAW)
-
Brandon Wolff (RAW) vss Eric Wrey (A.K.A)
-
Sammy Sleezer - (A.K.A) vs John Appleby
-
Ed Wedding (RAW) vs Doug Evans
Preliminary
Matches
-
Mike Castillo vs TBA
-
Steve Cutler vs Chris Williams
Source: MMA Weekly |
Phil
Baroni Comments On Loss To Lindland
After what seems to be an early candidate for fight of the year,
and an all out war at UFC 41: Onslaught, MMANews.com's John Hartnett
caught up with Phil Baroni to get his thoughts on the Matt Lindland
fight. "The only thing I can say is congratulations to Matt
Lindland, he did what he had to do. He did what he had to do
to pull out the fight, that's it. That's really all I have to
say, you know? I take my hat off to him."
Does
Phil Baroni want to fight Matt Lindland for a third time to get
a decisive winner as both fights ended in pretty close decisions?
"I'll see him again, that's all. Hopefully, I'll see him
again. I congratulate him and he did a good job. That's all I
really have to say."
When
asked if he still wanted to fight Murilo Bustamante, Baroni told
us, "Hope so. Hope it works out that way, you know? If I
ever have the title, the number one contender in my mind, no
matter what happens, is Matt Lindland. That's who I'd like to
fight, you know? I understand if he has the title he's not gonna
want to fight me because he beat me twice. Other than that, in
my mind, when I become the champion, I would like to fight Matt
Lindland. To be the best in the world, you have to beat the best
in the world. Right now, Matt Lindland is two up on me."
It
takes a hell of an athelete to be able to talk the kind of trash-talk
Phil Baroni is known for and be able to back it up when crunch
time arrives. Above and beyond that, it takes a true professional
to be able to accept a loss and deal with it like a professional.
We learned this past Friday night that Phil Baroni is not only
a great athelete and a true warrior, but he's also one hell of
a class-act as well.
Source:
MMA News |
2003
BIG TEN WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS FACTS
The
2003 Big Ten Wrestling Championships take place this Sat., March
8, and Sun., March 9, as a prelude to the 2003 NCAA Div. I Wresting
Championships, March 20-22. The Big Ten Championships feature
second-ranked Iowa, third-ranked Minnesota, and many of the top
college teams and wrestlers in America. The event will take place
at the University of Wisconsin Field House in Madison, Wisconsin.
This
event is crucial for all these teams and wrestlers for the NCAA
Championships. The top seven wrestlers at the Big Ten's in each
weight class qualify for the NCAA Championships, plus two additional
wildcard qualifiers chosen by the coaches. That means that this
event will determine just how many wrestlers will represent each
school at the NCAA's.
The
pre-seeds, listed below, reflect the growing parity in college
wrestling. Of the number one seeds in the ten weight classes,
three are from Iowa, two from Minnesota, with one each from Purdue,
Indiana, Ohio State, Illinois, and Michigan State. Two defending
NCAA champions, Luke Becker of Minnesota at 157 pounds and Tommy
Rowlands of Ohio State at heavyweight, are actually seeded second
in their weight classes at this event.
The
schedule for the 2003 Big Ten Wrestling Championships is:
Session
1: Saturday, March 8, 11 AM CST
Session 2: Saturday, March 8 6 PM CST
Session 3: Sunday, March 9 12 NOON CST
Tickets
can be purchased at the UW Athletic Ticket Office (Gate B of
the Kohl Center), online at www.uwbadgers.com, or by calling
1-800-GO-BADGERS (1-800-462-2343). A sellout is expected, although
there are reports that some tickets remain. All-session ticket
prices are $30 for adults and $20 for youths (ages 2-17) and
college students. Single session tickets are $10.
There
will be a live radio broadcast and webcast of the Big Ten's by
the Iowa broadcast team of Morrie Adams and Mark Ironside on
Iowa City's AM-800 KXIC.
To
listen to the broadcast online, go to:
http://www.hawkeyesports.com/wrestle/schedule/schedule.htm.
Windows
Media Player is required.
Results
from the Big Ten Championships will be available at:
http://www.uwbadgers.com/ and http://www.bigten.org/.
2003
Big Ten Wrestling Championships Pre-Seeds
125
Pounds
1. Chris Fleeger, Purdue
2. AJ Grant, Michigan
3. Nick Simmons, Michigan State
4. Luke Eustice, Iowa
5. Twan Pham, Illinois
6. Tony Black, Wisconsin
7. Adam Smith, Penn State
8. Bobbe Lowe, Minnesota
133
Pounds
1. Ryan Lewis, Minnesota
2. Cliff Moore, Iowa
3. Foley Dowd, Michigan
4. Mark Jayne, Illinois
5. Josh Moore, Penn State
6. Greg Schaefer, Indiana
7. Tom Clum, Wisconsin
T8. Shane Martin, Michigan State
T8. Rene Hernandez, Purdue
141
Pounds
1. Coyte Cooper, Indiana
2. Scott Moore, Penn State
3. Derek Phillips, Minnesota
4. Jeff Ratliff, Ohio State
5. Ryan L’Amoreaux, Michigan State
6. Luke Moffitt, Iowa
7. Clark Forward, Michigan
T8. Cal Ferry, Illinois
T8. John Giacche, Northwestern
149
Pounds
1. Jared Lawrence, Minnesota
2. Ty Eustice, Iowa
3. Karl Nadolsky, Michigan State
4. Ryan Churella, Michigan
5. Tony Pedrosa, Illinois
T6. Dan Jankowski, Purdue
T6. Ed Gutnik, Wisconsin
8. Nate Galloway, Penn State
157
Pounds
1. Keaton Anderson, Ohio State
2. Luke Becker, Minnesota
3. Alex Tirapelle, Illinois
4. Gray Maynard, Michigan State
5. Joe Johnston, Iowa
6. Ryan Bertin, Michigan
7. Nate Wachter, Penn State
8. Clovis Crane, Purdue
165
Pounds
1. Matt Lackey, Illinois
2. John Clark, Ohio State
3. Jacob Volkmann, Minnesota
4. Oscar Santiago, Purdue
5. Doc Vecchio, Penn State
6. Jason Erwinski, Northwestern
7. Mike Kulczycki, Michigan
8. Matt Anderson, Iowa
174
Pounds
1. Tyler Nixt, Iowa
2. Ryan Lange, Purdue
3. Blake Kaplan, Ohio State
4. Brian Glynn, Illinois
5. Rashad Evans, Michigan State
6. Brady Richardson, Indiana
7. Josh McLay, Minnesota
8. Pat Owen, Michigan
184
Pounds
1. Jessman Smith, Iowa
2. Mark Becks, Penn State
3. Ty Matthews, Indiana
4. Ralph DeNisco, Wisconsin
5. Pete Friedl, Illinois
T6. Ben Wissel, Purdue
T6. Casey Kapustka, Ohio State
8. Nate Mesyn, Michigan State
197
Pounds
1. Nik Fekete, Michigan State
2. Damion Hahn, Minnesota
3. Ryan Fulsaas, Iowa
4. Anton Talamantes, Ohio State
5. Pat DeGain, Indiana
6. Kyle Smith, Michigan
7. Tyrone Byrd, Illinois
8. Jon Bush, Purdue
HWT
1. Steve Mocco, Iowa
2. Tommy Rowlands, Ohio State
3. Garrett Lowney, Minnesota
4. Pat Cummins, Penn State
5. Greg Wagner, Michigan
6. Justin Staebler, Wisconsin
7. Israel Blevins, Purdue
8. John Wechter, Michigan State
BIG
TEN DUAL MEET STANDINGS
FINAL
BIG TEN DUAL MEET STANDINGS
BIG TEN OVERALL
Teams W L T Pct. W L T Pct.
Iowa 7 1 0 .875 17 3 0 . 850
Minnesota 7 1 0 .875 16 5 0 .762
Michigan 6 2 0 .750 11 6 0 .647
Michigan State 6 2 0 .750 10 6 0 .625
Illinois 5 2 0 .714 11 3 0 .786
Ohio State 4 4 0 .500 12 7 0 .632
Purdue 3 5 0 .375 15 6 0 .714
Penn State 3 5 0 .375 11 8 0 .579
Indiana 1 6 0 .143 16 9 0 .640
Wisconsin 1 7 0 .125 9 7 0 .563
Northwestern 0 8 0 .000 5 12 0.294
Nine
of the 11 Big Ten schools are ranked in the Top 25 in the Feb.
25, 2003 rankings by W.I.N. Magazine. Six of the top ten teams
are also Big Ten teams:
2. Iowa
3. Minnesota
5. Illinois
6. Michigan State
7. Michigan
9. Ohio State
12. Penn State
17. Purdue
22. Wisconsin
Source:
ADCC |
CAN
UNDEFEATED OKLAHOMA STATE WIN BIG 12 AND NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS?
COACH JOHN SMITH SPEAKS
By: Eddie Goldman/ADCC Wrestling Editor
They
are a team that has had as close to a perfect season thus far
as you can have in college wrestling: 17 dual meets, 17 victories.
All ten wrestlers are ranked in the top 20, with a whopping four
at number two, and one each at numbers three, four, and five.
Junior Tyrone Lewis finished the season undefeated at 165, while
second-ranked junior Johnny Thompson is the defending NCAA champion
at 133.
They
are the team to beat, these remarkable Oklahoma State Cowboys,
who dominated from start to finish this season, after being ranked
behind the two-time defending NCAA champions, the Minnesota Golden
Gophers. Yet head coach John Smith knows better than to take
anything for granted in the post-season tournaments, beginning
with the Big 12 Wrestling Championships this Saturday, March
8, at the Hearnes Center at the University of Missouri in Columbia,
MO.
Oklahoma
State, he stressed in a national teleconference last week, is
'trying to win a conference championship that we lost last year.
We are not the defending conference champions. So that's something
that becomes a little bit more important going to conference.'
In-state rival Oklahoma won last year, but Oklahoma State does
remain the favorite at this year's Big 12's.
'Obviously
we have pretty high expectations here,' he said. 'Putting ourselves
in position to win the conference and national championships
is one of our goals every season. Sometimes that's not realistic,
but this year I've really felt like a lot of things came together.
I think the guys that we were really hoping would mature and
gain confidence during the season, it's happened for us. And
as long as we continue to maintain those confidence levels, as
well as the drive that we have as a team, we're going to be in
good shape. But obviously this is the time that it counts.'
This
is not the first time under Coach Smith that Oklahoma State went
undefeated. In fact, they did it in 1997, 1998, and 1999. But
in none of those years did they win the NCAA national championships,
and they have not done so since 1994. He did emphasize that those
accomplishments should be put into perspective.
'I
don't make any excuses for us going undefeated three years in
the 90s. Nor am I going to say that we weren't happy to see us
go undefeated,' he said. 'I think it's a very tough thing to
do. I think that instead of looking at it in a way that we didn't
go on and win, but look at in a way as, we were never favored
in the beginning from '97 to '99, those three seasons. We never
really were favored from the beginning. Some of those matches
that we won, we were upsetting people the majority of those big
matches. I think there's only one year in there that we actually
went into the national championship favored, and it was actually
in Iowa, where we were favored to win. But I keep hearing those
questions come up. But what people don't understand is the fact
that those teams back then were pretty incredible, how many teams
they upset. And that's something that we're proud of. Obviously
we would have liked to have gone into a national championship
and won.'
He
sounded like he felt the media treated those three undefeated
seasons as more or less failures because they were not capped
off by national championships, and he may have a point. He again
said that an undefeated season, even without winning the NCAA's,
'should be celebrated,' and that 'the media should look at an
undefeated season like an incredible' feat.
'I
don't think people understand how difficult it is to go undefeated,'
he continued. 'Look at OU [Oklahoma] or Bobby Douglas's teams,
injuries, there's so many ways you can lose. So I think in wrestling,
we've played it to be, 'Can they go on to win the national championship?'
Well, it doesn't matter. Regular season's over. What that team
has done during regular season ought to be given a lot of credit,
especially [to] go undefeated. Minnesota's done it once in their
two years that they've won it. Those are incredible feats. For
us, that's what we're looking to do. And then we'll make that
next step. And for us it's only about the Big 12 right now. That's
a tournament that we did not win last year. It's something that
we want to gain back. And for us to look any further than that,
when you have to qualify through that, would be crazy.'
He
also explained some of the unique circumstances during those
years. 'Back in the 90s, as the staff, I never envisioned those
teams to go three years undefeated. We were looking at one of
the strongest teams from the University of Iowa, the year that
we wrestled in Waterloo [1997], and it was Dan Gable's last year.
For him, I think they made us the favorite, to kind of make it
a little more -- and he had four returning national champions,
and I didn't have any. But I kind of let it happen, let it play
out.'
The
subject seemed to bother him, perhaps because some have actually
questioned whether or not Oklahoma State can win when the chips
are down.
'I
don't ever make excuses for those 90's. That was incredible for
those teams. I know what I had, and it was just an incredible
thing to see those guys go undefeated,' he reiterated. 'Yeah,
we would have liked to have won all three conference championships
that year and won a national championship or two, but I know
what I had.'
This
year, he seemed to imply that he has a more talented team.
'This
is a little different makeup of the team,' he said. 'I think
that there's lot more individual focus, as there is team focus,
although there is a lot of team unity there. And we've had to
battle a lot individually. And I think the comfortable thing
about this team is that we've struggled at times together, even
with some wins. I think we've walked away from a few matches
with a little bit of disappointment. And in some ways that's
as good as a loss.'
Perhaps
this mix of such a balanced, talented lineup, along with the
stigma, however undeserved, of not being able to win the 'big
one,' will motivate this year's crop of Oklahoma State Cowboys.
They are by far the favorites at both the Big 12 and NCAA tournaments.
If they wrestle like they did all season, they should take home
both titles. It's really now up to them.
Here
are the rankings of the Oklahoma State wrestlers, according to
the Feb. 25 W.I.N. Magazine rankings:
125
Pounds -- 8. Skyler Holman - Oklahoma State, Sr.
133 Pounds -- 2. Johnny Thompson - Oklahoma State, Jr.
141 Pounds -- 2. Zack Esposito - Oklahoma State, Fr.
149 Pounds -- 5. Jerrod Sanders - Oklahoma State, Sr.
157 Pounds -- 4. Shane Roller - Oklahoma State, Sr.
165 Pounds -- 2. Tyrone Lewis - Oklahoma State, Jr.
174 Pounds -- 2. Chris Pendleton - Oklahoma State, So.
184 Pounds -- 13. Jake Rosholt - Oklahoma State, Fr.
197 Pounds -- 3. Muhammed Lawal - Oklahoma State, Sr.
Heavyweight -- 17. Willie Gruenwald - Oklahoma State, So.
Here
is the Oklahoma State Wrestling 'Season in Review,' from an Oklahoma
State press release:
Blessed,
is what sums up John Smith¹s 11th season as head coach of
the Cowboy wrestling team.
Oklahoma
State entered the year ranked second behind defending National
Champion Minnesota. But when Iowa went into Minneapolis and defeated
the Gophers, OSU went to the top.
Ten
times this year the Cowboys held their opponents to single digits.
The closest any team came to OSU was Bedlam-rival Oklahoma. The
Sooners came within seven points of OSU, but the Cowboys were
without the help of two All-Americans.
Three
times the Cowboys defeated teams by 35 points, and eight times
they won by 25 points or more.
OSU
stormed out to a 6-0 record heading into the NWCA National Duals.
Three of the wins came against top-five opponents; Oklahoma,
Minnesota and Iowa.
The
Pokes traveled to Norman and defeated the Sooners, 23-16. OSU
fell behind 16-3, but came roaring back winning the final five
matches to record the victory.
The
Cowboys took a 4-0 record into the new year after defeating Boise
State, 27-12, in Provo, Utah.
OSU
opened up the new year by traveling to Minneapolis, Minn., to
take on third-ranked Minnesota. The Cowboys rolled into the Target
Center and won eight of the 10 bouts en route to the 26-6 victory,
their largest margin of victory since the 1991-92 season when
they defeated the Gophers 48-0 in
Minneapolis.
The
'Dynasty Dual' highlighted the nation¹s top two teams with
OSU and Iowa. The dual marked the first 1-2 matchup since the
1997-98 season when OSU traveled to Iowa City, and defeated the
Hawkeyes, 22-18.
OSU
won six of the 10 bouts en route to the 24-15 win over the Hawkeyes.
Zack Esposito sparked the Cowboys to victory after using a lateral
drop to pin Luke Moffitt, to put the Cowboys on top for good.
OSU
strung four consecutive wins at the NWCA National Duals to capture
its seventh team title. The Cowboys defeated Northern Iowa, Arizona
State, Ohio State and Oklahoma before coming out with the championship.
The
Cowboys remained undefeated after defeating Oregon State and
Oregon the following weekend.
The
Pokes tested their top ranking when they traveled to Iowa to
take on Northern Iowa and Iowa State for the last road trip of
the season.
Johnny
Thompson and Tyrone Lewis each recorded pins to lead Oklahoma
State to a 30-14 victory over Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls.
The
Cowboys moved to 3-0 in conference after defeating Iowa State
in Ames. OSU won eight of the 10 bouts en route to a 26-9 victory
over the Cyclones.
OSU
finished the year with three home duals, including a pair of
conference match-ups with Nebraska and Oklahoma. The Cowboys
recorded three falls in a 34-6 romp over the Huskers, and defeated
OU 38-3 to extend their winning streak over the Sooners to nine.
The
Cowboys capped off their perfect season with a 27-9 victory over
No.10 Michigan State.
For
more information on Oklahoma State Wrestling, go to:
http://okstate.ocsn.com/sports/m-wrestl/spec-rel/030503aab.html
Source:
ADCC |
Quote
of the Day
There
are two kinds of people, those who do the work and those who
take the credit. Try to be in the first group; there is less
competition there.
Indira Gandhi |
ADCC
SUPERFIGHT IN JEOPARDY - KERR INCOMMUNICADO!
May
17th and 18th, 2003 - Sao Paulo Brazil - 5th ADCC Submission
Wrstling World Championships
'The
SUPERFIGHT has been two years in the making, Ricardo Arona to
challenge the returning superfight champion Mark Kerr. starts
Guy Neivens, the organizer of the ADCC Submission Wrestling World
Championships. 'We know that Arona is training like crazy, and
ready to go. It has been weeks, we have not had any contact back
from Mark Kerr. We are at the point that the match probably won't
happen.' concludes Neivens, who has organized the championships
since the 1st edition in 1998.
Since
the start of the superfight tradition, when Japan's Enson Inoue
challenged Brazil's Mario Sperry, the superfight has been one
of the highlights of tyhe ADCC event.
'The
winner of the prior superfight defends his title against the
winner of the rugged ABSOLUTE tournament from the year before'
explains Neivens. 'That is what makes this match so intriguing.
Sperry was the first to win his division and the Absolute, and
Kerr and Arona have both equaled that feat. It really is a battle
that we wanted to see.'
Kerr
is an undefeated 13-0 in ADCC rules, while Arona is right behind
him at 12-0. It would be a shame if ther match did not happen,
but with the event only a few months away, it is time to start
finalizing competitors. Rumor is that the first official invites
are going out as well.
'For
now, the SUPERFIGHT can be saved' states Neivens in closing 'but
it is in jeopardy'.
If
you are out there Mark, please contact the ADCC as soon as possible!
thecohiba@yahoo.com
Source: ADCC |
NEW
Relson Gracie Black Belt - Phil Migliarese
by: Joseph Cunliffe
There’s a new black belt in Philadelphia and you know him
as Phil Migliarese. Beginning his journey in 1991, the then 15-year-old
Migliarese was a mat rat, hungry to learn Jiu-Jitsu and Relson
Gracie was eager to teach “he showed me moves until my brain
started to hurt,” said Migliarese, “and without ever
expecting reimbursement.” Migliarese started in BJJ to learn
how to fight, admitting he used to get picked on in his youth.
Trying karate and other martial arts first, he always felt that
something was missing, but “Jiu-jitsu gave me a sense of
confidence,” he said, “because it dealt with the reality
of a real fight.”
Having
trained under Relson Gracie from day one, a surreal Migliarese
looks at receiving his black belt directly from his mentor this
past weekend at the Gracie Worlds in Columbus, OH as an honor
“because he has always believed in me as a student and has
always treated me like a son.” Gracie is a champion and
has the highest standards for his black belts, “I not only
had to be able to prove myself in tournaments, but I also had
to prove myself as a teacher and as a person,” said Migliarese,
who also received a diploma from the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation,
which recognizes him as a black belt worldwide. But wearing a
black belt to Migliarese means “that I have to work harder,”
he said, as he reflected on something Helio Gracie once told
him: when I made it to black belt I felt like it was only the
beginning of my understanding of jiu-jitsu. Migliarese feels
the same way, “Jiu-jitsu evolves with time,” and he
knows if you stop studying, you will fall behind.
And
it wasn’t an easy journey “he (Gracie) really made
me work,” but as a result “I now have a successful
school” where Migliarese has the ability to teach Gracie
Jiu-Jitsu to “a bunch of talented fighters.” Owning
Balance Studios and Ashtanga Yoga in Philadelphia with younger
brother Rick, students can expect high level instruction “I
and my instructors maintain a high level of jiu-jitsu and believe
that the student is the boss, not the instructor,” he said.
The facility is a family atmosphere, where attention is paid
to each and every one of their students so they understand “another
thing that Relson has taught me.”
Balance
Studios is located at 109-115 South 24th Street in the Northern
Liberties section of Philadelphia. You can find the brothers
instructing 6 days per week in Gracie Self-Defense and Sport
Jiu-Jitsu, Women’s Self-Defense, Ashtanga Yoga, and Kids
classes. Private instruction is available by appointment with
Phil and Rick too. Migliarese knows he has not taken this journey
alone and would like to thank his brother Rick, and all of his
other family and friends, on and off the mat. For more information
on training with Migliarese, check out www.BalanceStudios.net or call 215-636-9661.
Source: ADCC |
Relson
Gracie Promotion Correction
It
was reported here in Kid Peligro News that Relson had promoted
two of his students ot the ranks of Black Belts. Kid omitted
to report that two other deserving reps had the same honor, Jeff
Hudson who teaches at his Culumbus, Ohio training association
and Andre Derizans who teaches at his North Shore Oahu training
Association in Hawaii, Andre is also well know as a recording
Reggea artist with his music beeing recorded by Pato Banton and
Cidade Negra to name a few, Andre is also the first brazilian
black belt promoted by Relson.
Apologies
for the omission! And big thanks goes to Johnny Lopes and everyone
else that email with the heads up and the info.
Yeah
Kid was just checking if you were all paying attention to his
news :)
Source: ADCC/Kid Peligro |
PRIDE
FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIPS ANNOUNCES FIGHT CARD FOR BODY BLOW
DATE:
March 16th, 2003
PLACE: Marin Yokoama Arena (Yokoama, Kanagawa-Pref., Japan)
Heavyweight
Champ Antonio Rodorigo Nogueira To Defend His Title In PRIDE
25
Los
Angeles, CA – March 4, 2003 – PRIDE Fighting Championships
has announced seven of the eight exciting bouts for PRIDE FC
Body Blow. The event, scheduled to take place in the Marin Yokohama
Area on March 16th, will showcase the highly anticipated PRIDE
Heavy Weight Championship bout between Antonio Rodorigo Nogueira
and Emelianenko Fedor. In addition to the title match, Kazuhiro
Nakamura makes his PRIDE FC debut against Rogerio Nogueira.
“We
are thrilled to be starting off the year with the PRIDE FC Heavyweight
Championship match,” said Yukino Kanda, PRIDE FC’s
Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Talent Relations. “Nogueira
and Fedor are both exhilarating fighters to watch.”
The
confirmed event card to date is:
…
Antonio Rodorigo Nogueira (Brazil) vs. Emelianenko Fedor (Russia)
… Dan Henderson (USA) vs. Shungo Oyama (Japan)
… Kazushi Sakuraba (Japan) vs. Nino “Elvis” Schembri
(Brazil)
… Rogerio Nogueira (Brazil) vs. Kazuhiro Nakamura (Japan)
… Kenichi Yamamoto (Japan) vs. Alexander Otsuka (Japan)
… Carlos Newton (Canada) vs. Anderson Silva (Brazil)
… Alex Steibling (USA) vs. Akira Shoji (Japan)
… Quinton Jackson (USA) vs. Kevin Randleman (USA)
PPV
PREMIERE DATE: March 16, 2003
PREMIERE TIME: 9:00 PM EST, 6:00 PM PST on
PPV (North America): March 16th 9:00 pm EST, 6:00 pm PST on DIRECTV,
DishNetwork, Bell ExpressVu, Viewer’s Choice Canada
PPV (Japan): March 16th Live on SkyPerfecTV
PPV Price: $29.95
For
more information on PRIDE FC visit www.pridefc.com
*Please
note that the fight card is subject to change
ABOUT
PRIDE FC
Originating in Japan, Pride Fighting Championships combine the
most highly skilled MMA competitions with a 21st Century entertainment
philosophy to create the next generation in cutting edge sports
entertainment. Pride competitions include athletes from across
the globe, including the United States, Japan, Brazil, Holland,
and many other countries. Pride allows techniques from a myriad
of martial arts and combat sports, solidifying its place as an
authentic and unique fighting style that is built on tension
and excitement, appealing to the growing audience of 21st Century
entertainment fans.
Source: ADCC |
UFC
42 Card Preview
UFC
42: SUDDEN IMPACT; APRIL 25, AmericanAirlines Arena, MIAMI, FLA.
COMPLETE
CARD - SUBJECT TO CHANGE:
Welterweights:
Matt Hughes vs. Sean Sherk
Welterweights: Robbie Lawler vs. Pete Spratt
Heavvyweights: Randy Couture vs. Andrei Arlovski
Heavvyweights: Sean Alvarez vs. Wesley “Cabbage” Correira
Light Heavy: Mike Van Arsdale vs. Rich Franklin
Middleweight: Mark Weir vs. David Loiseau
Lightweight: Hermes Franca vs. Rich Crunkilton
Reportedly
the Genki Sudo vs. Josh Thompson fight postponed from the last
show may also be on this card. Latest word on another rumored
9th match is that Romi Aram vs. Amaury Bitetti may be off, due
to Bitetti’s doctor advising against the weight drop. Romi
is reportedly still on the card, but another opponent has not
been brought up.
On
the undercard, Crunkilton/Franca looks to be exciting with American
Top Team’s Franca tearing up the HOOKnSHOOT scene and securing
the 145 belt there. AKA’s Crunkilton first burst onto the
scene in the glory days of WEF, while he most recently fought
in WEC last year.
Cabbage
is back!
He has only lost to current UFC champ Tim Sylvia in the past
year and a half, while Sean Alvarez comes from Team Renzo Gracie
where he owns his own academy. His resume includes an Abu Dhabi
submission over Ricco Rodriguez and the UCC Heavyweight belt
in MMA.
Weir/Loiseau
might just steal the show. Loiseau is the UCC champ while Weir
is the British fighter that fought Miller at UFC 40. Both are
exciting, quick, and very talented.
Tickets
are on sale now. For more information check out www.ufc.tv.
Source:
ADCC
|
"Javier
has Heart"
Arnold "The Sushiboy" Lim
In light of the incredible performance by Javier Vazquez at the
past King of the Cage "Invasion" event against a very
tough Alberto Crane, I wanted to get feedback from various Mixed
Martial Arts personalities that saw the performance and were
impressed with his performance. Here I have compiled quotes from
various MMA personalities that range from MMA commentators, to
Promoters, to MMA reporters. Everyone seemed to have a slightly
different take on the situation and the outcome of the fight,
but one feeling was unanimous, “Javier has Heart”.
Quote
1
“Sitting
ringside, I could not believe what I was watching. Javi Vazquez
showed the kind of determination and heart that legends are made
of. Alberto Crane is the real deal on the mat and Javi hung in
there with a blown out knee and nearly stole a decision. I don't
see how anyone could say Javi won that fight but I can tell you
one thing for certain, although he lost his belt and tore up
his knee in the process, Javi showed more of what he is made
of in those gut-wrenching 15 minutes than he had in all of his
previous fights. I will always be a fan after that performance,
Javi you are an inspiration and I hope you get well soon.”
Greg
Savage
Author of the “Savage Truth” columns on Sherdog.com
Quote
2
“Unbelievable,
it is something you write a book on.”
Terry
Trebilcock
Promoter for the King of the Cage, On what he thought of Javier
Vazquez’s heart.
Quote
3
"The
guy completely tears his ACL in the first what, 15 seconds of
the fight ? Then not only continues the match, but goes for the
win every chance he gets! He even knees Crane to the head WITH
the knee that was blown out, that alone blows me away!
Vazquez
is the definition of a fighter, he was injured right off the
bat,
and it was an injury that would stop most people dead in their
tracks
(...myself included as I've torn my ACL as well) but he keeps
going?
Unreal, look up 'heart' in the dictionary, you'll see a pic of
Javier
Vazquez right beside it! I've had the chance to roll with Javi,
this guy
is UNREAL on the ground, in fact, he is SURGICAL on the mat.
No knock on Crane of course, that kid showed the world what he's
made of, best of luck to him in the future as well.
Vazquez
WILL return, and no doubt get his rematch with Crane to show
the world why he's the man at 155 to fear. Ask him to show you
one of his high, mid, or low level trajectory elbows...LOL !!!
Inside joke between Javi and me, he knows what I'm talking about!
Get
better Javi, your still the champ in my books.”
J.T.McCarthy
UCC Fighter-Commentator-and Host of the Universal Combat Challenge
Quote
4
Javi
showed the heart of a Kamikazee Pilot, No one could have a bigger
heart. They gave their lives.
Jeff
"Sherdog" Sherwood,
Owner of Sherdog.com
Quote
5
Javier
Vazquez's display on Friday night was as inspirational a performance
as any athlete in any sport has ever delivered. Show that battle
and that exhibition of guts to even the sport's most ardent opponents,
and they'd have no choice but to recognize how the fighter's
never-say-die effort stacked up against other -- probably much
more famous -- gutsy sporting efforts. I applaud Vazquez for
being the mixed martial artist, particularly when it would have
been perfectly acceptable for him to shut down and fight another
day.
Josh
Gross
Editor FightSport Magazine/MaxFighting.com
Quote
6
Nothing I can say or do can match the weight or credence of what
the other esteemed MMA personalities such as Josh Gross and Sherdog
had to say about Javier’s performance. It just goes to show
you that everyone understands that most great fights begin and
end with the size of the fighters hearts. It takes two to make
a great fight, but it only takes one heart to make a memorable
moment. To one of the most memorable moments in MMA history,
my hat is off to Javier "Showtime" Vazquez.
Arnold
“The Sushiboy” Lim
Staff Reporter mmaringreport.com
Source: MMA Ring Report |
|
UFC
41 - The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
Last
weekend's UFC was indicative of the good, the bad, and the ugly
things that are today's UFC.
The
Good: With a well-landed right hand bomb, Tim Sylvia enlivened
a stagnant heavyweight division and ended the tenure of Ricco
Rodriguez in the ex-champ's first defense. "The Maine-iac,"
a 5-1 underdog, proved impossible to take down and took Ricco
out in a devastating display of power. With Josh Barnett's departure
from the UFC last year, it seemed that Rodriguez was the natural
sort of champion to carry the UFC's flagship division. Instead,
what happened was what will transpire to almost anyone fighting
at the game's top level: you'll lose.
The
ones that fight through numerous challengers - Frank Shamrock
comes to mind here - and beat them all convincingly are the truly
great ones. There are no easy fights in the UFC, and I think
Ricco will be back and be a champion again someday; Matt Hughes
had his Dennis Hallman; Vanderlei Silva had his Vitor Belfort,
and so on. Let's not be so quick to write off Ricco. He simply
lost to the better man that night, and hey, the heavyweights
are exciting again.
The
Bad: The draw between B.J. Penn and Caol Uno was a monkey wrench
in an otherwise excellent lightweight tournament designed to
crown a successor to the departed Jens Pulver. The UFC has little
option but to do it again, but maybe they should make a "no
draw" rule for scoring rounds. Nevada's boxing judges have
this virtually removed from their plate of options; any judge
that scores more than one round even, per year, is probably not
going to keep judging fights at their current level. It's excusable
to score a 12-round boxing match even, but in a 5-round mixed
martial arts fight that's between two evenly matched world class
scrappers, scoring any round 10-10 virtually assures a deadlocked
scorecard at the bout's end.
The
draw result was just another growing pain indicative of UFC's
transition into mainstream sport. Between that, last minute cancellations,
and weigh-in controversies, soon it'll be more like boxing than
you could ever imagine. Hopefully these will be proactively addressed
and mitigated before they adversely affect the sport, which needs
to continue positive steps forward to solidify and increase its
fan base.
The
Ugly: While Sylvia's dethroning of Rodriguez was a welcome development
in a bout mostly taken for granted as successful defense for
Ricco, it does create another false start in the development
of the UFC's most important commodity: a dominant heavyweight
champion. Like boxing, the UFC thrives when its big guy is an
established dominant monkey, knocking off challengers and making
a name for himself, and consequently, the sport. But a look at
the history of the UFC heavyweight champion reveals a recurring
problem: nobody seems to stay on top long enough to create the
mystique and aura desperately needed for the UFC to grow. It's
not a problem among hard core fans, who understand the nuances
that come into play and the arduous task of building a win streak
when there are no easy fights for a champion (or seemingly easy
fights that are anything but, as was the case in Rodriguez' first
defense this weekend).
Take
a look at the lineage of the UFC heavyweight title belt, beginning
with the tournament that resulted in Bas Rutten being the first
belt holder:
Bas
Rutten: Defeats Kevin Randleman, never fights in UFC again. Defenses
made: 0.
Kevin
Randleman: Beats Pete Williams for vacant crown left by Rutten.
Decisions Rizzo, then loses to Couture. Defense made: 1.
Couture:
Beats Pedro Rizzo twice before losing to Barnett. Defenses made:
2.
Barnett:
Stripped of title for testing positive for steroids after beating
Couture. Defenses made: 0.
Rodriguez:
Beat Couture for vacant crown vacated by Barnett - and lost in
first defense vs. Sylvia. Defenses made: 0.
That's
five title reigns and three successful defenses (not counting
Sylvia, who hasn't had the chance to defend his belt yet, though
his ascension further illustrates the flux involved with the
championship). That's simply not what the UFC needs to augment
its brand value. The sport needs a heavyweight champion that
makes a half-dozen or more title defenses to create a sense of
continuity and dominance. The UFC flirted with this when Frank
Shamrock turned back Igor Zinoviev, John Lober, Jeremy Horn,
and Tito Ortiz. Then, of course, he disappeared. Just at the
time when your coworker at the water cooler knew who he was……….
The
UFC needs long-term champions. There's nothing more frustrating
on a personal level than mentioning an upcoming UFC to a potential
buddy to buy the fight.
He
asks, "Oh yeah, isn't so and so the champ?" and when
he's an iteration or two behind, you may lose a potential fan
(and somebody to chip in on the telecast). Part of this is because
there are no easy fights, nor should there be; the losses of
its key champions is something the UFC has been able to afford
in lower divisions, with lingering negative effects. When a Jens
Pulver or a Frank Shamrock leaves for greener pastures, it's
bad enough. But when the UFC can't muster up the dollars to get
the top name types of fighters to ensure better action and a
longer reign - imagine how much Noguiera would help in creating
this badly needed mystique - it's a sort of self-perpetuating
problem. Call it chicken-egg accounting, but until somebody can
be acquired to take over the flagship division, and create a
Tyson-like aura of menace that attracts a recurring fan base,
the ill effects of a rotating door heavyweight champion will
only continue to plague UFC.
Tim
Sylvia could prove to be that guy. He's an honest, no-nonsense
type that continues to improve under the tutelage of Team Miletich.
At 6'8 and markedly strong, his ability to shuck off Rodriguez'
patented takedowns, coupled with his solid striking abilities,
might change things. Certainly there's compelling fights to be
had against Gan McGhee, a rematch with Ricco, or whomever. But
it'd be key for somebody, somewhere, to rule the most important
division, and stick around so people would know who the players
are.
The
hard-core fans will always buy the UFC provided decent matchmaking.
It's the casual fans that need to recognize the names, and correlate
the ongoing story lines, to buy a telecast. Otherwise they'll
move on to more familiar pursuits such as boxing or whatever
furnishes them with a basic level of understanding who the top
dogs are. You hope Sylvia or someone very soon is that guy, especially
with Murillo Bustamante possibly moving on and 185-lb. division
looking like a wasteland with nobody to fill his considerable
shoes. Soap operas can afford the constant rotation of main characters
moving in and out of the camera eye. The UFC can't, particularly
where the big guys are concerned.
Short
Thoughts: In matching red-hot Robbie Lawler against Pete Spratt,
it appears that UFC is going to avoid the mistake they made in
dissipating the momentum Phil Baroni built up en route to challenging
Murillo Bustamante only to lose to Matt Lindland, a guy Busta
beat. I can't figure out why Spratt, who was handily tapped by
Carlos Newton in UFC 40, deserves a shot at the 170-lb. division's
young phenom more than Newton does. But maybe that's why I'm
not a matchmaker.
Anyways,
Lawler figures to have the advantage against anyone that isn't
top-notch in the division, but you wonder - if he keeps winning,
what will UFC do with him when Hughes, a champion not likely
to move for reasons both biological (he makes the weight easily)
and logical (Bustamante might be too strong for him) - is between
him and the title shot he deserves? Team Miletich might be too
good for its own good.
When
it comes down to it, outside of Sean Sherk, the best current
challenge to Hughes is Newton. He was marvelous in both his defeats
to the powerhouse Hughes, so much so that it's hard to imagine
him going away. I'd like to see Lawler beat him instead of Spratt.
Until then, he certainly does occupy a curious position if he
keeps winning, because Hughes seems to be unbeatable at this
point, and if he disposes of Sherk, you can bet nobody beats
him for a couple years.
Speaking
of moving up in weight, it's hard to imagine who the first fighter
to win titles in two weight classes might be. The big jumps in
size make it tough to consider, whereas in boxing a fighter has
half the poundage jump available to him with three times as many
belts to choose from.
Just
last week, Chuck Liddell or not, many people believed that Tito
Ortiz might be capable of winning the heavyweight crown, especially
since it's said that he gets the better of Rodriguez in their
training sessions. But really, with 250-lb. people like Sylvia,
McGhee, and the like, he might be safer tangling with the capable
Iceman, who at least is his size. Bustamante, in losing a decision
to Liddell in UFC 33, proved how difficult it is for a great
middleweight to move up in weight. Hughes is massively strong
at 170-lbs., but I can't see him beating Bustamante. And it's
scary to think of what Hughes would do to any 155 lb. guy. Just
a thought, but then again, this weekend proved how easy it is
to be wrong in predicting anything that happens in the Octagon.
Source:
Maxfighting |
The
Savage Truth: "UFC 41 - The Flavor of the Month"
By Greg Savage
First
off has to be my take on Atlantic City. What in the world is
going on here folks! I am at the beach and there is freakin snow
everywhere. That’s not how it’s supposed to be, I live
in Huntington Beach and it never snows here. Did I mention it
was like 30 below? Or at least it felt like it for this California
boy.
Standing
outside the airport in the snow, for 45 minutes, waiting for
a cab didn’t help matters. I knew we were in trouble when
the kids started running up to Sherdog yelling "Frosty."
Hopefully the UFC can get the schedule right next time—winter
shows in Florida or Vegas and save the spring or fall slot for
the northeast.
Now
that we got that taken care of, on to the show we go. Shocked
beyond belief is the only way I can put it. I even noticed in
my review of the event that I pondered that, after submitting
Tank Abbott in |