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November
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(MMA)
(Yokohama Arena, Japan)
August
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(MMA)
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July
Bushido 4
(MMA)
(Nagoya Rainbow Hall, Japan)
July 9-12
BJJ
World Cup (CBJJO)
(BJJ)
(SESC gym, Salvador, Brazil)
June
Pride Heavyweight
Grand Prix
(MMA)
(Japan)
May
Pride
Bushido 3
(MMA)
(Yokohama Arena, Japan)
5/2/04
Ring
of Honor
(Sub Grappling)
(Campbell H.S. Gym)
5/1/04
Submission Wrestling Tpurnament
(Sub Grappling)
(Kahului, Maui, Hawaii)
4/25/04
Pride Heavyweight
Grand Prix
(MMA)
(Japan)
4/24 /04
Warriors
of the Ring 6
(MMA)
(Wailuku, Maui)
4/17/04
Ring
of Honor 4
( Kickboxing/MMA)
(Campbell H.S. Gym)
4/3-4/04
Pan American BJJ
Tournament
(BJJ)
(California State University Gym, Dominguez Hills, Carson (Los
Angeles), CA)
4/3/04
Super
Brawl 33
(MMA)
(Blaisdell Arena)
3/26/04
Shooto Hawaii 2
(MMA)
(Campbell H.S. Gym)
3/13/04
Rumble On The Rock
5
(MMA)
(Blaisdell Arena)
3rd
Annual Longman Gracie Kauai Jiu-Jitsu Tournament
(BJJ)
(Kilauea Gym, Kauai)
3/5-7/04
Arnold Schwarzenegger
World Gracie Professional Submission Championships
(BJJ & Sub Grappling)
(Columbus, Ohio)
|
|
February 2004 News
Part 2
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Quote
of the Day
"I don't measure a man's success by how high he climbs but
how high he bounces when he hits bottom."
Gen. George Patton, 1885-1945, American Army General during World
War II
|
SHAMROCK
CLOSE TO THREE FIGHT DEAL WITH PRIDE
MMAWeekly's Scott Petersen reports from Japan that Frank Shamrock
is close to a three fight deal with Pride. The deal could be
signed sometime this week.
Petersen
reports that Shamrock has been negotiating for quite sometime
and things seem to be about done and a deal should be reached
in the next couple of days.
Right
now Shamrock is working on a movie called "No Rules"
with Pamela Anderson, Gary Busey and others as Shamrock plays
the role as a fighter.
It
appears though Shamrock is ready to resume his fight career,
something he hasn't done for a year when he faced and defeated
Bryan Pardoe at World Extreme Cagefighting.
One
Japanese publication this weekend said Shamrock has agreed upon
a three fight deal in the neighborhood of 300,000 per fight;
however, when MMAWeekly tried to contact Shamrock over the weekend,
Frank was not available, thus it's uncertain how accurate the
number really is.
Shamrock
has always wanted to face Sakuraba in Pride and if things go
well this week, it seems that fight could happen. Yukino Kando,
Dreamstage Entertainment stated to Mr. Shamrock on his website
that quote, “We will confirm the date when Bushido (2) is
over and finalize the opponent and schedule. I really appreciate
your patience.” It appears Frank Shamrock will return this
year to fighting in MMA.
Source:
MMA Weekly |
WILL
COUTURE GET THE REMATCH WITH VITOR?
It's been an interesting weekend to say the least for Randy Couture.
He has been recovering from his eye injury and this past weekend
he wanted to start training for his rematch with Vitor Belfort.
Only
problem is when Couture talked to the UFC this weekend, there
hadn't been an indication that he would get that rematch with
Vitor Belfort. The UFC and Couture want the match, but it's unclear
what Vitor Belfort wants.
This
weekend Randy gave a video interview to Team Quest and MMAWeekly
(you can see it on the soundoff forum) and Randy was not happy
about the things he was hearing.
Couture
said, "Vitor changed his tune, going back and saying he
shouldn't have to fight again because he already beat me. I really
don't see how he can feel that was a win."
It
appears that Zuffa was ready to solidify things this weekend
by working out a deal between Couture and Belfort, but things
have hit a snag as it was revealed that Belfort had some questions
about facing Couture for a third time.
MMAWeekly
tried to reach UFC President Dana White over the weekend but
he has been on vacation and returns to Las Vegas today. It's
believed that White will contact Belfort today and try to find
out what the future has in store for a third installment of Couture
vs Belfort.
Couture
hopes the fight takes place at UFC 48. "I want the fight
and the UFC feels the same way as they want to see us fight.
I gave him a rematch from a long time ago, I feel he should do
the same with this fight. It's ridiculous for me to think that
(this past fight) was a bonified victory."
The
Team Quest website and MMA Weekly.com caught up with "The
Natural", Randy Couture yesterday during the district wrestling
meet at Centennial High School, which is the school Couture assists
in coaching in Gresham, Oregon.
MMAWeekly
asked Randy about how he was planning for the rematch against
Vitor Belfort, and we were surprised to learn that as of now
there is NO rematch and it doesn't look like it's happening.
Couture
told MMAWeekly that he has heard that Belfort is not interested
in fighting him a third time. Couture needless to say is frustrated
as he was planning on fighting Belfort in June at UFC 48.
The
video interview is up right now on the SoundOff Forum at MMAWeekly.com.
Belfort a few weeks ago said he wanted a no-contest ruling. We
will try to get Couture on the radio show this week with the
latest about the situation, but as of last night it doesn't look
good regarding a rematch..
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
PRIDE
BATTLING UFC IN SUMMER?
NEWS TO UFC....
Many japanese websites have been going off a story this weekend
in which Pride announced a Pride vs UFC 3 on 3 or 5 on 5 elimination
series in August. Nobuhiko Takada told the Japanese press that
they plan on "stealing the U.S. market out from underneath
the UFC".
Pride
says they'll do a MASSIVE debut show in Vegas pitting 5 UFC fighters
against 5 PRIDE fighters.
While
it sounds very entertaining somebody might want to mention this
to the UFC.
MMAWeekly's
Ryan Bennett talked briefly with UFC President Dana White about
the story and White was perplexed about the whole idea.
White
said, "I have no idea where this is coming from. I mean
we talked about bringing Fujita and Sakuraba to fight in the
Octagon many months ago, but other than that we haven't spoken
about working something out or having any kind of fights. If
they want to send some guys over here great."
White
seemed very uncertain why this was brought up; especially, in
a press conference.
Source:
MMA Weekly |
Team
World KO's Team Japan in Okinawa
NAHA, OKINAWA, February 15, 2004 -- Team World beat Team Japan
by score of 4-3 to win the K-1 Japan Series Burning 2004 in Okinawa
showdown event. The fight night marked K-1's first foray into
Japan's southernmost Prefecture of Okinawa, a subtropical archipelago
which just happens to be the birthplace of Karate.
The
"Japan vs The World" format here paired one team of
seven fighters from Japan against a second team representing
the world. (Paradoxically, Team Japan was captained by an American,
Bob "The Beast" Sapp; while Team World had as its leader
former Sumo Wrestler Akebono, who, although he was born in Hawaii,
also holds Japanese citizenship.)
During
the opening ceremonies, and to the delight of the crowd, Sapp
entered the ring dressed head to toe in traditional Okinawan
costume. He then bragged that his Team Japan would surely beat
the best the world had to offer. Akebono was decidedly more gracious,
first thanking the crowd before turning to Sapp and quietly saying,
"Bob, today you are going down!"
And
as it happened, Akebono was right.
The
fights were held under K-1 rules -- the first two in a 3R x 3min
format, the final five a 5R x 3min format.
The
opening bout featured the never-say-die Hiromi Amada and American
boxer Kimo. "It will be a bull fight, and we'll see who
is stronger," predicted Amada at the pre-event press conference.
Replied Kimo, "Talk is cheap, I'll let my actions in the
ring speak for themselves."
Amada,
as always, sashayed into the arena with old-school yakuza arrogance:
Draped in a black robe, a pair of dark sunglasses on his tough,
pockmarked face; his cornerman waving a placard which read, in
blood-red-on-black characters, "Right Straight Punch KO!"
And
from the bell, Amada put that right of his to mighty good use,
frequently getting in over Kimo's weak left guard to rattle the
33 year-old American. Kimo seemed preoccupied with throwing low
kicks and his attempts at spinning back kicks -- attacks he is
not at all experienced with, and which were mostly ineffectual.
Amada, meanwhile, brought a meat-and-potatoes offence to the
bout -- always in with the right, occasional low kicks, and the
knee when the distance closed. Amada took control early and never
relinquished, putting Kimo down twice in the first and three
times in the second to win the bout in convincing fashion. One
thing, about the placard prediction -- although the first four
downs came courtesy of Amada's right, the coup de grace was a
left uppercut.
The
Late Great Andy Hug trained for a time in Okinawa, and tonight
that fact had to be weighing on Great Kusatsu, who was one of
the Andy's last students.
Kusatsu
took on Brazilian Fabiano in the second fight. For a 25 year-old,
Fabiano showed a very mature style, getting in from the start
with hard low kicks and solid combinations, while Kusatsu stayed
back and looked for his spots. This was shaping up as a good
technical bout, when just shy of the clapper, Kusatsu executed
a textbook spinning back kick which caught Fabiano in the midsection
and put him down in a heap of pain. There was no way the Brazilian
could get to his feet, and Kusatsu took the KO victory to put
Team Japan up 2-0.
Next
was a contest between K-1 Japan 2003 semifinalist Hiraku Hori
and American Northwest Toughman Champion Mighty Mo. This was
Hori's first foreign opponent, and at the pre-event press conference
he pledged to give it his all. Mighty Mo, on the other hand,
was dismissive to the point of rudeness: "I respect that
Japanese guy I'm fighting, but I don't think he has what it takes
to win. So I'll be the one raising my arm at the end of the fight."
There
was not a great deal of finesse in this match, but it was nonetheless
exciting. The first round saw Hori staying back, using his 13cm
height advantage to score points with low kicks. Mo, meanwhile,
repeatedly worked through these to get inside and lay into the
body with punches. Again in the second, Hori was disinclined
to mix it up, where Mo kept charging inside with his fists. When
Mo did use his legs, it was evident that he had quite a bit of
power there, as twice his low kicks put Hori on the canvas, but
these were both ruled as slips. In the third round, although
Mo came out more aggressive, Hori soon picked up the pace, and
his low kicks finally seemed to have hurt Mo's left leg.
Although
Mo was slightly ahead on two cards, with his leg questionable,
things were not looking all that good for Team World at the start
of the fourth. But in K-1 things can change in the blink of an
eye, and that is what happened when Mo planted a left on Hori's
kisser to stun him, then followed up with a right to score a
down and turn the tide. Hori valiantly beat the count, but within
seconds he had shied away from his opponent and was clinging
to the ropes for dear life. The referee might have started a
standing count here, but instead simply urged Hori to continue.
Mo seized the opportunity and punched out two more downs in quick
succession to win under K-1's three-downs-in-a-round rule.
"I've
come a long way from when I worked in construction," said
Mo in his post-bout interview, "I'm glad K-1 invited me
to Okinawa and I hope I can come to Japan and fight again soon."
Next
up was a mountain of a man, Montanha Silva of Brazil, against
Yasuke Fujimoto, the K-1 Japan GP 2003 Finalist who also beat
Francis Botha in Nagoya on New Year's Eve.
Fujimoto,
47cm shorter than his 225cm tall opponent, was able to sneak
in past Silva's 22cm reach to connect with a few punches to the
midsection in the first round -- but overall Silva looked more
confident than ever here. In the second, Silva got over and in
with a left-right combination to score a down on Fujimoto, and
the behemoth followed up soon afterward with a right hook to
score a second down at the bell. Silva, who had faded as fights
wore on in the past, got better as this dance progressed, faster
even, and really began to set the pace. Early in the third he
got in again with a right to put Fujimoto down hard. This time,
Fujimoto could not beat the count, and Silva had his first victory
in four K-1 bouts. By the look of things tonight, in all likelihood
Silva will notch up a few more wins before his K-1 career is
over.
"I
grew up in a poor neighborhood," said the Brazilian in his
post-bout interview, "and so I've had a few fights in my
day, and taken some hard punches. But Fujimoto's punches were
some of the hardest I've ever felt."
Asked
how his size effects his fighting style, Silva smiled, "Well,
I've got used to punching downwards, if that's what you mean."
Akebono
was also all smiles after the bout, as Team World had now pulled
even with Team Japan at two wins apiece.
Dutch-based
Nobu Hayashi met Petr Vondracek of the Czech Republic in the
next bout. Vondracek won the K-1 Italy GP in 2002, and the 26
year-old kickboxer was looking to make a name for himself in
Japan.
That
he certainly did, as he was nothing but relentless here. This
was a classic K-1 bout, technical yet highly spirited. Hayashi
got through with some solid punches in the early going, but Vondracek
was as aggressive as a fighter can be, repeatedly backing his
opponent against the ropes and then unleashing windmilling punching
attacks. Hayashi absorbed a half-dozen blows before going down
the first time, and although he got back with a good left midway
through the round, he never really got back into this fight.
Spectacularly, Vondracek again got Hayashi against the ropes
and this time it was a right uppercut that put Hayashi down.
Just seconds later, it was a right haymaker from Vondracek which
ended the fight in the most convincing manner possible -- by
first round KO.
With
Team World ahead going into the penultimate bout, Tsuyoshi Nakasako
had the daunting task of salvaging it for Team Japan in his fight
against defending K-1 World GP Champion Remy Bonjasky of the
Netherlands. At the pre-event press conference, Nakasako, who
had lost his last four bouts, remarked, "2003 wasn't good
for me, but I hope 2004 will be my year."
Well,
so far, 2004 isn't Nakasako's year either.
To
be fair, the first round was fairly even, Bonjasky and Nakasako
trading low kicks and the occasional combination, neither doing
much damage from the looks of it. In the second, Bonjasky worked
the knees, but could not get a down against a tough Nakasako,
who responded with some good knee strikes of his own.
One
difference between a fighter and a Champion is that a fighter
can have an off day, but a Champion, well, fans just don't allow
him to have an off day. And there is another difference -- when
you are the Champion, your opponent sees you as a golden opportunity
to improve their stock with an upset. Which may explain why,
with two decent rounds behind him, Nakasako decided to taunt
Bonjasky in the third, dropping his guard and swaggering some.
If this was meant to put Bonjasky off his game, it was a brave
gamble.
Like
many brave gambles, it failed.
It
was midway about through the third when Bonjasky got Nakasako
in the corner and brought the right knee up to score his first
down. Nakasako had committed, and so elected to keep up his cocksure
act afterwards. We soon had a tragicomic moment, when just as
Nakasako was staring down Bonjasky, mean-like, the Dutchman deftly
snapped a high kick up to the Japanese fighter's head, and laid
him out flat.
To
his credit Nakasako got back to his feet, but there followed
a frenzied Bonjasky attack which had Nakasako swaying, stumbling,
and finally falling for the third and final time just five seconds
before the bell. A masterful win befitting the world's best K-1
fighter.
"I
was a little tense in the first round," said Bonjasky afterwards,
"but I got better as the fight went on. Nakasako is very
tough, but when he let his arms slacken in the third, dropping
his guard like that, my corner called for me to throw the left
high kick and I finished him off."
With
Team World up 4-2 and now assured of victory, the main event
provided a last chance for Sapp's Team Japan to salvage some
honor. When Seidokaikan star Musashi stepped into the ring against
big former-NFLer Stefan Gamlin, it was also about Karate. "Because
Okinawa is where Karate originated," said Musashi before
the fight, "I especially want to do well in this bout."
The
first round saw a surprisingly mobile Gamlin with the more aggressive
start, throwing punches, most of which, unfortunately for him,
missed. Musashi was patient here, and although he got rattled
once he kept his wits about him. In the second Gamlin again began
NFL-style, chasing Musashi round the ring. But Musashi exploited
a weakness in Gamlin's guard, and answered a missed punch with
a hard kick to the midsection which took the wind out of the
German. Pleased with the damaging effect of his attack, Musashi
coolly put a knee in to the same spot seconds later to drop Gamlin,
who was slow in getting up and so did not beat the count.
Musashi's
KO victory gave Sapp a measure of revenge against Gamlin, who
at the wild press conference a day earlier had first trash-talked
The Beast, and then doused him with a box of powdered tea.
"I
think the Okinawa fans are great," said Musashi afterward.
"I came here to win, and I won, but honestly Gamlin's aggressive
style didn't give me a chance to do some of the things I hoped
to do in the fight. That's the only thing I regret, my performance
was only 50-60%, surely not as good as I would have liked it
to be."
Despite
Gamlin's loss in the main event, Team World captain Akebono was
delighted with the overall results: "We saw the best of
the world, and the best of Japan, and I think it was a very good
event. I certainly found the bouts very interesting."
Added
K-1 Event Producer Sadaharu Tanikawa, "It was a very good
event -- all fights ended by KOs, and that has to be exciting
for the fans!"
Judging
by all the noise they made, the sellout crowd of 5,844 in the
Okinawa Convention certainly agreed, even if Sapp and Team Japan
didn't win.
The
K-1 Japan Series Burning 2004 in Okinawa was same-day broadcast
across Japan on the NTV network.
Source: MMA Weekly |
BIG
NIGHT FOR SEAN SHERK
Sent packing by the UFC after a decision loss to, at that time,
champion Matt Hughes, even though he had a 3-1 record in the
UFC and an overall record of 16-1-1, Sean Sherk will be returning
to the big time at Pride Bushido 2 against Ryuki Ueyama (9-6-4).
Sean
Sherk is trained by Greg Nelson of the Minnesota Martial Arts
Academy, the same guy that has trained the likes of Dave Menne,
John Renken, and Brad Kohler.
Nelson
covers all areas of combat from grappling to kickboxing to boxing
to wrestling to submissions, in short, Sherk is a well trained,
well rounded fighter. Although he's know for his strength, conditioning,
and ground and pound attack, he's an all around tough fighter.
Basically
feeling as though the UFC turned their backs on him, Sherk may
not be facing a "name" opponent, but he's got a lot
to prove. Reportedly, the UFC dropped Sherk because they didn't
like his fighting style, possibly feeling that he wasn't exciting
enough. With an opponent like Ueyama, Sherk may get the chance
to shine, especially considering that they'll be fighting under
Pride rules.
Though
Ueyama is a good ground tactician and has submission skills,
Sherk is also a very, very tough opponent on the ground and is
extremely difficult to submit. Actually, he's never been submitted,
his only loss is a decision loss to the aforementioned Matt Hughes.
Ueyama also seems to be lacking in standup skills and, though
he hasn't shown it too often, Sherk does have standup skills
having trained in Muay Thai with Nelson for years.
Sherk
pretty much has all the advantages in this fight. He has yet
to be submitted. He is exceptionally strong. His conditioning
is second to none. His wrestling skills are better than most
and he hits like a Mack truck. Look for Sherk to take it straight
to Ueyama from the opening bell and for as long as it takes until
he brakes him.
Likely,
Sherk will take Ueyama down quickly and start pounding away.
Normally, I would say that he would just where Ueyama down, but
considering that this fight is under Pride rules, with knees
and stomps allowed, I foresee Sherk ending this one in the first
round unleashing some brutal knees that he hasn't been allowed
to use since his pre-UFC days. If he isn't able to end it quickly,
his conditioning should allow him to push the pace until Ueyama
succumbs to his unrelenting ground and pound attack.
Win
- Johnnie Holland - Submission (Key Lock) - Ultimate Wrestling
Minnesota 3 - 8-13-1999
Win - Kurtis Jensen - TKO (Punches) - Extreme Challenge - 10-4-1999
Win - Scott Bills - Unanimous Decision - Extreme Challenge 28
- 10-9-1999
Win - Steve Gomm - Split Decision - Extreme Challenge 28 - 10-9-1999
Win - Karo Parisyan - Decision - Reality Submission Fighting
- 10-6-2000
Win - Ken Parham - Decision - Submission Fighting Championships
- 11-3-2000
Win - Karo Parisyan - TKO - Reality Submission Fighting - 1-5-2001
Win - Khalil Ghosen - Submission - UFC 30 - 2-23-2001
Win - Manvel Gamburyan - Decision - Reality Submission Fighting
- 3-30-2001
Win - Martin Armendarez - TKO (Strikes) - King of the Cage 8
- 4-29-2001
Win - Jason Purcell - TKO (Ref Stoppage) - Ultimate Wrestling
Minnesota - 6-2-2001
Win - Curtis Brigham - TKO - Ultimate Wrestling Minnesota - 7-15-2001
Draw - Kiuma Kunioku - Pancrase - 7-29-2001
Win - Claudionor Fontinelle - Submission (Rear Naked Choke) -
UCC 6 - 10-19-2001
Win - Jutaro Nakao - Unanimous Decision - UFC 36 - 3-22-2002
Win - Benji Radach - TKO (Cut) - UFC 39 - 9-27-2002
Win - John Alexander - Submission (Rear Naked Choke) - Extreme
Combat Minnesota - 12-7-2002
Lose - Matt Hughes - Unanimous Decision - UFC 42 - 4-25-2003
Win - John Alexander - TKO - Extreme Combat Minnesota - 8-2-2003
Win - Mark Long - Submission (Punches) - Extreme Combat Minnesota
- 12-12-2003
Win - Charles Diaz - Submission (Keylock) - XXXtreme Impact 1
- 12-28-2003
Source: MMA Weekly |
YVES
EDWARDS ON MMAWEEKY RADIO
Yves Edwards was the featured guest on MMAWeekly Radio's Friday
edition. Yves is doing good and training hard. He is lined up
to fight Hermes Franca at UFC 47 in a match who's winner may
very well see a title shot the next time out. Edwards is coming
off back to back wins over Nick Agallar and Deshaun Johnson.
Yves
got the call last Saturday with the offer to fight at UFC 47,
originally against Josh Thomson but Josh thought they meant in
June and not April so Hermes stepped up to take the fight.
Going
in to the fight, Edwards said he isn't worried to much about
Franca's stand up game. If the fight goes to the ground, Yves
plans to stay active, defend well and get back to his feet to
make him pay. He thinks it will be a tough fight and stated,
"I'm going to train hard and expect Hermes to be on top
of his game."
Yves
talked about the 155 pound division now that BJ Penn has moved
up in weight. He said it is hard to say who is the best but feels
like he, Thomson, and Hermes deserve to fight for the title.
He
mentioned many other good fighters in the that weight class such
as, Bang Ludwig, Genki Sudo, Din Thomas, and Takanori Gomi. Edwards
would like to avenge his loss to Matt Serra and said if offered,
he would take the rematch.
Yves
is in training for this fight and trains year round. Next week,
he plans on "stepping it up a notch" and progressively
train harder up until the last week before the event when he
will rest and "get ready go bang." He doesn't want
to over train but under training isn't an option either.
Edwards
discussed his loss to Tatsuya Kawajiri at Shooto: Shooto 2003
10th Edition back in August. The fight was somewhat controversial
due to the ref allowing the fight to stay on the ground even
when there really was no activity.
Yves
said he didn't want to take anything away for Tatsuya and the
he fought a good fight. It was the first fight of the night and
Edwards speculated that maybe the ref wasn't warmed up yet. To
hear all of what Yves had to say, get a Premium membership for
only five dollars a month. Membership privileges include access
to the radio archive, the video archive of one on one interviews,
press conferences, tips of the week for the top fighters in the
game and so much more.
Source:
MMA Weekly |
Quote
of the Day
"I not only use all the brains that I have, but all that
I can borrow.
Woodrow Wilson, 1856-1924, Twenty-eighth President of the USA |
Belfort
News:
A glimmer of hope for the family
By Eduardo Alonso
It
has been more than a month since Priscila Vieira Belfort, UFC
Light Heavyweight champion Vitor Belfort's sister, disappeared
in the city of Rio de Janeiro when she was leaving work and no
news about her were heard ever since. Vitor went on to win the
UFC belt while living the drama of trying to find his sister,
and after he came back to Brazil he couldn't even celebrate as
the family continued to suffer and struggle doing endless claims
of help in national TV trough the country, in the effort to finally
find any information about Priscila and finally get their lives
back to normal. Now, finally at least a possible clue of where
his sister is right now, and if she's alive or not, came to the
scene as hope is again a reality for the Belfort family.
This past Friday a filming crew was able to film some youngsters
who were riding on top of a train in the state of Sao Paulo,
in what's called "Train Surfing" in Brazil, a very
dangerous and illegal practice. Among the three people involved
in the act, there was a girl who looked very similar to Priscila
Belfort, in what surprised the filming crew that decided to bring
the tape to the Brazilian police to check it. The tape became
public today, as it was also broadcast in a TV show in Brazil,
with Vitor Belfort and his father, as well as his wife Joana
Prado, being able to watch it closely. The girl who can be Priscila
looked like she was on drugs, and also looked a bit fatter than
"The Phenom's" sister, however her face looked like
Priscila's face and that caused surprise in Vitor himself. Police
is already studying the tape as well as searching for clues and
witnesses to try to find out if the girl is really Priscila herself
or just a look a like. The scientific police is going to try
to study the sound of the tape, as the girl that can be Priscila
Belfort talks briefly during it, to try to identify her voice.
Even with this being far from something certain, due to the fact
that this kids were filmed very far from Rio de Janeiro and the
behavior was totally unlikely for Vitor's older sister, as well
as the fact she was chubbier, this is the only solid clue that
was found out since the police started to search for her, and
needless to say brought some hope that she may indeed be alive
and can finally mean some light for this never ending drama.
FCF will keep you posted on the developments and will keep hoping
that all will end well for the family. Once again, if you live
in Brazil and have any information on Priscila Belfort, please
don't hesitate and call the police to provide your information.
Source:
FCF
|
Another
day in the office for the Axe Murderer:
PRIDE BUSHIDO takes Silva back to the ring for the first time
in 2004!
This
next Weekend in Japan, PRIDE BUSHIDO 2 will see Wanderlei Silva
stepping in a ring to fight for the first time since he won the
PRIDE Middleweight GP, defeating Quinton Jackson in an epic battle
for the title. After this win, Silva's popularity skyrocketed
in Brazil with numerous TV appearances, and even meetings with
members of the government of cities and the likes. Showing that
despite all the recent attention he is truly a fighter at his
heart, "The Axe Murderer" hasn't changed a bit and
continues to be hungry for action and willing to help his younger
teammates to reach glory in the land of the rising sun, that
brought fame to the most famous Silva in the MMA world. In a
brief conversation with FCF few days before his departure to
Japan, Wanderlei had some comments on his view of PRIDE's new
venture, his next challenges and a bit more, Enjoy!
FCF:
You'll be fighting again for the first time after you won the
PRIDE Middleweight GP, and your teammates Mauricio "Shogun"
Rua and Jadyson Costa will be fighting on the same card. Being
the PRIDE Middleweight Champion and Middlweight GP Champion,
what's your main motivation in going to PRIDE BUSHIDO to face
Ikuhisa Minowa?
WS: The main importance of this fight is to take my teammates
to the big show and give them the chance to make their money
and show they'll work in Japan. We're willing to win the three
fights in BUSHIDO, as we all prepared very well. Shogun, Jadyson
and myself are all ready, just waiting for the day of the fights.
We're going there and we're going to show that the fighters from
our academy always do a good showing! Inclusively, those who
want to join Chute Boxe are all welcome. The academy has it doors
open, so those who have this dream and have conditions to come
to Curitiba even if it's for a small period of time, or a long
period of time for that matter, and if someone think he is able
to come and do it, our academy is open to new talents. Master
[Rudimar Fedrigo] is a very easy to talk to person, so those
who want to come to train will be more than welcome.
FCF:
I remember when you beat Sakuraba for the second time and won
the Pride Middleweight belt, you told me your master told you
that you would stay undefeated as a champion for at least 10
years! It has been 2 years already, so there's only 8 to go Wanderlei?
WS: If God helps me! I always prepare myself to the limit, despite
the injuries that happen all the time, cause it's a very demanding
sport. I'm always getting injured, but despite that I always
fight well prepared, I really train hard and as long as God continues
to give me strength and make my body withstand all the effort,
I'll keep fighting and I'm only going to stop when I really can't
do it anymore.
FCF:
Vitor Belfort just became the UFC Light-Heavyweight Champion
in an awkward fight against Randy Couture, so there are some
talks about a rematch between you and Vitor. Do you think this
is going to happen? And what are Wanderlei Silva's plans for
2004?
WS: I intend to keep fighting in PRIDE this year, and if PRIDE
goes to the USA I hope to be able to go and fight, and if I'll
have to go and fight against the UFC Champion, it'll be even
better! No matter who's the champion. I'll fight Belfort, I'll
fight Couture or anyone else that may appear in the meantime.
I don't pick opponents, and I'll be well prepared to do a good
showing against any opponent that may appear.
FCF:
So, the undefeated PRIDE Champion Wanderlei Silva still never
pick opponents?
WS: Without a doubt. People say, "Hey, but he only fights
this, or he only fights that" but hey! I'm not the one who
chooses the fights! They say, "There's someone for you to
fight" and I'm like "Great, I'll fight him" that's
pretty much about it.
FCF:
I remember sometimes you flew without knowing who your opponent
was...
WS: Exactly, there's no such thing. But if the promoters want
me to fight fighter A or fighter B, it doesn't matter to me,
I'll fight them and I'll fight anyone for that matter. They can
make a line and I'll fight everybody in the course of time (Laughs)
FCF:
I know you for a long time and I can say that as a person, you
never changed your attitude and manage to still humble in the
way you treat the fans and friends. How do you manage to not
let success get into your head?
WS: I believe a true champion can't lack in any aspect, not in
a single aspect of life. Sometimes if you have your emotional
side changed, this can affect your whole career. Sometimes you
have a great deal of talent but your mindset betrays you and
you don't peak. It's way better for someone to be a down to earth
guy, and treat everybody well cause this will only attract good
things for your life.
FCF:
The best of luck your next fight as always Wanderlei!
WS: Thanks Eduardo.
Source: FCF |
Belfort's
drama continues, Chute Boxe flying to Japan, Minotauro not pursuing
Olympics and HEAT FC 3 coming in April!
The
Brazilian Beat:
February is passing rather slowly; fortunately we have been treated
to plenty of MMA action in the mean time. We're still in the
first half of the month and as we ended January with a great
UFC show, we have already been graced with a PRIDE show to start
the month and two weeks later, PRIDE BUSHIDO is coming our way,
not to mention the other shows that have recently taken place
such as KOTC and Super Brawl, all showing very interesting cards.
PRIDE BUSHIDO for instance will be very important for the Brazilian
scene as no less than six fighters from this country will take
part in it with Wanderlei Silva leading the way for the new talents
of Chute Boxe to display their skills. In the meantime, Silva's
potential rival, Vitor Belfort can't even celebrate a win that
finally got him his long awaited UFC belt, with his ongoing trauma
continuing to haunt his dreams. His sister is still missing,
and we at FCF plead to anyone in Brazil with information on Priscila
Belfort to please contact the local police to help the family
to finally get some relief. With BUSHIDO coming up there are
still some other things happening on the scene and Full Contact
Fighter brings you the latest news with a unique beat Brazilian
style yet again!
Rodrigo "Minotauro" Nogueira is currently in Cuba training
boxing with the Brazilian Olympic Boxing team. Nogueira did some
training with them to improve his boxing skills in Brazil, and
got an invitation to train some more with them while they are
preparing in Cuba since Brazil lacks in super heavyweights. Rumors
were flying that Minotauro was also aiming for a shot at the
Olympic games in boxing, but this is not the case. According
to his manager, Mario Sperry, Minotauro is there just to improve
his skills and will be flying to Japan in the coming days to
meet Sperry and help him out with his PRIDE BUSHIDO fight. Minotauro
will be fighting in the PRIDE Heavyweight GP and will not try
to take part into any Olympic games trials.
UFC
Light-Heavyweight Champion Vitor Belfort returned to Brazil after
his doctor stoppage win over Randy Couture at the last UFC, and
barely had the time or the mindset to celebrate. Soon after he
arrived in Brazil, Belfort got back to his campaign to find his
missing sister. Priscila Belfort has been missing for several
weeks now, and no information has turned up yet. "The Phenom"
has appeared on some of Brazil's biggest TV shows in recent days,
always talking about his sister and appearing quite sad, not
in a celebratory mood at all. During his speeches on TV shows,
Vitor also stated he would like to face PRIDE champion Wanderlei
Silva to unify the belts of the two biggest shows in the MMA
world.
Wanderlei
Silva left for Japan on February 9th for his fight against Ikuhisa
Minowa at PRIDE BUSHIDO. Silva trained very hard for this fight
and is seeing this as a great opportunity not only for him, but
also for the Chute Boxe team as a whole, as his teammates Mauricio
Shogun Rua and Jadyson Costa are fighting on the card as well.
Silva spoke with FCF about his upcoming fight and future challenges,
as you'll be able to see here in this column in the coming days.
Both young fighters, Shogun and Jadyson, also left for Japan
the same day as Wanderlei, along with trainers Rudimar Fedrigo
and Rafael Cordeiro. Jorge "Macaco "Patino is joining
them as well on their voyage to the land of the Rising Sun to
be in the fighters' corners in his first appearance as a member
of the Chute Boxe team. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua told
FCF he is weighing 97 kg now and is already working to lose the
4 extra kilos for his fight against Akihiro Gono at Bushido.
Word is that Shogun may appear as a heavyweight very soon.
The
MMA market continues to grow in Brazil and as a result new events
are constantly popping up all over the place. The Northeastern
MMA market, which once was non-existent in the country, is now
flourishing due to the success of shows such as HEAT, and a new
show will take place in the city of Fortaleza, in the state of
Ceara, which is also in the Northeast of Brazil. The show is
called the 1st Open Ceara Vale Tudo Challenge, and is scheduled
for March 11th and will feature some HEAT FC veterans that are
Brazilian Northeast breed, such as Paulo Guerreiro, Carlos Indio,
Josenildo Rodrigues and Savio Maia -- all of whom fought in HEAT
FC 1.
Speaking
of HEAT FC, the second edition of the fastest growing show in
the Southern hemisphere debuted on Brazilian Pay-Per-View on
February 7th, through NET/SKY on the Premiere Combat channel.
This was the first time a HEAT show was televised anywhere in
the world. In the meantime, final details regarding the DVD production
for America are taking place, and the promoters are starting
to work on HEAT FC 3, scheduled for either April 15th or April
16th. Despite what was originally planned, the show will once
again take place in the city of Natal, and some fights will be
announced mid-February.
As
usual, UFC veteran Pedro Rizzo just traveled to Holland to train
with his friend and K-1 legend Peter Aerts, in en effort to sharpen
his Muay Thai skills even more. Rizzo left Brazil this past Tuesday
and will be returning on February 26th. "The Rock"
has yet to sign a contract with another organization, since his
UFC contract ended, but is preparing with a fight around April
in mind, since he has already received some proposals from Japanese
organizations and is eager to get back to the ring.
For
more great behind the scenes info from the birthplace of Vale-Tudo,
check out the Brazilian Beat in the upcoming issue of Full Contact
Fighter
Source:
FCF
|
Bushido:
PRIDE Stars Continue Winning Ways
PRIDE
Middleweight champion Vanderlei Silva needed just one minute
nine seconds to knock out Japanese veteran Ikuhisa Minowa Sunday
evening in Japan. Using an early takedown defense to his advantage,
Silva (25-3-1) forced Minowa (23-19-8) to the guard before scoring
a heavy punch that left his challenger exposed for more damage.
The more-powerful Silva unloaded with several shots before the
referee could intervene. Up next for Silva, who has not lost
in his last 16 contests -- nearly three years worth of fights
-- could be Yuki Kondo, though Dream Stage President Nobuyuki
Sakakibara could not confirm that that match up would occur on
PRIDE's April 25 card.
Silva's teammate Mauricio "Shogun" Rua managed a first-round
knockout as well, putting away Akihiro Gono, who fought primarily
on the Pancrase circuit before Sunday's bout. Rua aggressively
took the fight to Gono before piecing together the fight-finishing
flurry that saw the bout called 9:04 of round one.
Former SHOOTO welterweight king Takanori Gomi's DSE-promoted
debut was a rousing success. Gomi, who stepped into Sunday's
contest on the heels of consecutive losses -- the only two blemishes
on his ledger -- dominated Jadson Costa in the first of three
"Team Japan vs. Chute Boxe" match ups. An early takedown
allowed Gomi to strike from the top, forcing Costa on the defensive.
Gomi methodically worked for position between the strikes and
finished out the final three minutes from the mount. Unable to
defend, Costa turned to his side and covered up, causing the
referee to halt the bout 4:55 of the first period.
In other action, Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic won for
the second time in two weeks, knocking out Yoshihisa Yamamoto
2:12 of round one. Rodrigo Gracie used his size and superior
positioning to neutralize Hayato "Mach" Sakurai en
route to a three-round unanimous decision. Like Gracie, Daiju
Takase earned a unanimous decision, controlling much of his 20-minute
contest against American Chris Brennan. Mario Sperry, meanwhile,
only needed 11 seconds to stop Filipovic training partner Mike
Bencic. Wrestling powerhouse Sean Sherk earned a lopsided decision
win over Ryuki Ueyama.
Results:
Vanderlei Silva def. Ikuhisa Minowa KO 1:09 R1
Mauricio "Shogun" Rua def. Akihiro Gono KO 9:04 R1
Takanori Gomi def. Jadson Costa TKO 4:55 R1
Mirko Filipovic def. Yoshihisa Yamamoto KO 2:12 R1
Rodrigo Gracie def. Hayato Sakurai unanimous decision 3R
Daiju Takase def. Chris Brennan unanimous decision 3R
Mario Sperry def. Mike Bencic KO 0:11 R1
Sean Sherk def. Ryuki Ueyama unanimous decision 3R
Yasuhito Namekawa def. Egidijus Valavicious submission (guillotine
choke) 1:05 R1
Yushin Okami def. Ryuta Sakurai by unanimous decision 2R
Choi Mu Bea def. Yusuke Imamura submission (rear-naked choke)
4:05 R1
Source:
Maxfighting
|
Time
for MMA to Come Clean
Talk
to fighters for an extended period of time and the topic of steroids
usually comes up. Their consumption among today’s competitors
is a horribly kept secret, and as was plainly exhibited on Thursday,
yet another example that mixed martial arts is kin to other professional
sports.
U.S.
Department of Justice officials announced Thursday a 42-count
indictment of BALCO, a San Francisco-area laboratory, which alleges
a scheme to provide athletes illegal anabolic steroids, human
growth hormone, and, among other things, a “designer steroid”
known as THG.
It
was only last month that President Bush publicly called for an
end to the rampant steroid abuse haunting professional athletics
in this country. In his State of the Union address Bush demanded
professional sport clean up its act by initiating and enforcing
a ban on illegal performance enhancers -- namely steroids.
Though
professional leagues like the NFL, MLB and NBA were surely at
the top of the president’s list, other sports -- track and
field, boxing, and mixed martial arts, for example -- have suffered
casualties from steroids as well.
Credibility
is the most obvious.
MMA
fans -- and outsiders trying to get a feel for the sport -- watched
as UFC heavyweight champions Josh Barnett and Tim Sylvia were
suspended from competition and had their titles vacated after
failing Nevada State Athletic Commission drug tests for steroids.
Several other professional fighters, including Ricco Rodriguez
(also a former UFC heavyweight champion) and Mark Kerr, have
publicly acknowledged past steroid use.
Each
man listed above was at one time considered at least a top-three
fighter in the division. No doubt a considerate percentage of
mid- to low-level fighters compete unchecked, precipitated by
myopic, uncaring promoters unwilling to test fighters for hepatitis,
let alone steroids, without coaxing from a state sanctioning
body.
It
is all too clear that there is dire need for the powers-that-be
to come to some sort of understanding as it relates to what will
and won’t be tolerated from the athletes stepping into the
ring.
Waiting
for the penalty-shoe to drop after the fact is an unacceptable
course of action -- particularly from Zuffa, which has time and
again appointed itself savior of mixed martial arts in the United
States.
Twice
in two years steroids soiled the UFC heavyweight title, yet little
was done to educate or dissuade athletes from using. Quite to
the contrary, in fact. Zuffa has gone out of its way to stick
its deposed former champions in a corner, doing little more than
offer an odd mention during its pay-per-view broadcasts, the
only live television showcase it has.
Worse
yet, Sylvia, who was suspended for four months by the NSAC last
September, returns to the ring in April with an opportunity to
regain his title. Unless it’s mentioned before he steps
into the ring against Andrei Arlovski, most casual viewers of
the UFC will have had no idea that he flunked a steroid test
and turned in his belt.
Zuffa,
at the forefront of this debate and deservedly so, is not the
only promoter who should demand better of its fighters. MMA,
like boxing, is a global sport. Yet it holds no discernable structure,
whether the discussion turns to rules or fighter culpability
when it comes to drug testing.
PRIDE
is said to do some steroid testing, though who actually conducts
the testing protocol has never been discussed. Nor have test
details outlining who and when fighters are tested. To date,
no competitor has been suspended from PRIDE because of a failed
drug test.
Should
Zuffa, which admittedly leads the fight for sanctioning and medical
responsibility in MMA, initiate a radical testing scheme designed
to root out contractually-bound UFC fighters who use illegal
performance enhancers, it will likely not guarantee widespread
movement within the lower levels of the sport. In the same instance,
those fighters would stand a chance of making a living by fighting
in Japan.
The
NSAC as well as other commissions of its ilk need to formulate
and adhere to a structured set of penalties for offending athletes
-- and promoters -- they license. Harsher penalties for Josh
Barnett or Fernando Vargas appear random and otherwise motivated
by different criteria when compared to the lesser suspension-period
applied in Tim Sylvia’s case.
What
steps need to be taken so that athletes no longer feel as if
they’re at a disadvantage if they’re not doping? Can
the fledgling-integrity of a widely misunderstood sport survive
a revolving door of steroid users winning the highest-profile
titles without genuine and long-lasting recourse when they’re
caught?
Hopefully
Thursday’s reminder to the sports world will serve as a
wake-up call for MMA. It’s not good policy to have two young
champions in your highest profile division bow out because they
failed a urine test. In addition, younger fighters must stop
feeling like “getting ahead” is their only option for
success.
Perception
is and always will be mixed martial arts toughest foe. If something
does not change in terms of steroid testing and accountability
in the sport, the perception will be a poor one, similar to Vince
McMahon’s and the WWF after being targeted by the federal
government a decade ago.
Everyone
has been warned. This is the right time to act.
Source:
Maxfighting
|
Quote
of the Day
"Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without
getting a few drops on yourself.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882, American Poet, Essayist
|
1st
Maui Invitational of Jiu-Jitsu Results
Maui War Memorial
Wailuku, Maui, Hawaii
February 15, 2004
The
first large Maui tournament went incredibly well and had about
100 competitors from many schools represented. The teams represented
included Team Gracie which consisted of Academia Casca Grossa
de Jiu-Jitsu from Oahu who brought five competitors, Gracie Kauai
(Kendall Goo) who brought at least a couple guys and Gracie Maui,
Nova Uniao (BJ Penn's MMA) from the Big Island brought about
21 competitors, Longman from Kauai brought about 20 competitors,
Jorge Oliveira brought a bunch of guys, and Maui Jiu-Jitsu, the
host academy, came out in force as well. There were a number
of killer fights and a ton of kids that turned out on the morning
of the event. Overall, the tournament ran very smoothly due to
the help of many people and the great organization of the tournament
director Lee Theros and Luis "Limao" Heredia for whom
this tournament could not have gotten off the ground. The over
100 competitors gave the crowd great fights and very smooth techniques.
Congratulations
to all the competitors and helpers that made this tournament
a big success! The Casca Grossa students would especially thank
Lee Theros for taking good care of us while we were up there.
The
next tournament coming up is Longman's 3rd Annual Longman Gracie
Kauai Jiu-Jitsu Tournament on Saturday, March 13 in Kilauea Gym.
Hopefully, everyone supports this tournment and starts to bring
Jiu-Jitsu back to the prominence that it was only a few years
ago.
Results
Kids
Kids 8-11 yrs Under 71 lbs
1st: Kaile Heredia - Maui Jiu-Jitsu
2nd: Bubba Gascon - Gracie
Kids
5-9 yrs 72-100 lbs
1st: McKenna Lickle - Maui Jiu-Jitsu
2nd: Max Kozlo - Maui Jiu-Jitsu
Kids
9-13 yrs
1st: Kale Plat - Maui Jiu-Jitsu
2nd: Pila Collins - Maui Jiu-Jitsu
Kids
10-15 yrs 118-147 lbs
1st: Nick Arnold - Longman
2nd: Nick Omura - Maui Jiu-Jitsu
Kids
15-16 148-160 lbs
1st: Cory Smith - Maui Jiu-Jitsu
2nd Julian Marquez - Miki O'Riggs
White Belt
122-134 lbs
1st: Jim Riglos - Jorge Oliveira
2nd: Michael Flores - Maui Jiu-Jitsu
135-147
lbs
Rickey Alvares & Chase Leopolpino - Nova Uniao (tie)
148-160
lbs
Sheldon Bievins - Nova Uniao
Jamie Pacheco - Longman
148-160
lbs Masters
Craig Davis - Nova Uniao
Dave Yoshida - Maui Jiu-Jitsu
161-173
lbs
Erick Vera - Maui Jiu-Jitsu
Danilo Couto - Maui Jiu-Jitsu
174-187
lbs
Christopher Figgeroa - Maui Jiu-Jitsu
Aaron Hatada - Nova Uniao
174-187
lbs Masters
Kawika Balmonja - Gracie
Tim Stevins - Gracie
188-202
lbs
Zeke Prados - Maui Jiu-Jitsu
Ikaika Manaku - Longman
203-213
lbs
John Kekino - Maui Jiu-Jitsu
Gabriel Igawa-Silva - Nova Uniao
214
lbs and up
1st: Elia Nagasako - Maui Jiu-Jitsu
2nd: Russell Char - Longman
Open
1st: Chris Figgera & John Kekino - Maui Jiu-Jitsu (tie)
Blue Belt
122-134 lbs
1st: Sergio Hurtado - Longman
2nd: Sanford Kaga - Gracie
135-147
lbs
1st: Graham Seiki - Brazilian Freestyle
2nd: Aaron Fluke - Nova Uniao
148-160
lbs
1st: Abraham Robinson - Nova Uniao
2nd: Philip Lung - Gracie
161-173
lbs
1st: Paolo Lupi & Dillan Clay - Jorge Oliveira (tie)
174-187
lbs
1st: Kyle Enouijag - Maui Jiu-Jitsu
2nd: Ryan Perreira - Longman
188-202
lbs
1st: Rob Washington - Maui Jiu-Jitsu
2nd: Greg Holt - Maui Jiu-Jitsu
203-213
lbs
1st: Rob Washburn - Maui Jiu-Jitsu
2nd: Champ Tremaine - Nova Uniao
214
lbs and up
1st: Mike Carreno - Maui Jiu-Jitsu
2nd: Phil Banquel - Longman
Open
1st: Jake Mapes - - Maui Jiu-Jitsu
2nd: Champ Tremaine - Nova Uniao
Purple
Belt
148-160:
1st: Jared Espina - Longman & Kyle Snyder-Olivares - Gracie
(tie)
174-187
Master
1st: Christian Diaz - Maui Jiu-Jitsu
2nd: Chis Lord - Gracie
Super Fight
8-Man Invitational Tournament
The winner of these brackets won $300, a trophy, and gi.
Under 175 lbs
1st: Jared Espina & Aaron Moeller - Longman (tie)
Over
175 lbs
1st: Malcolm Ahlo - Gracie
2nd: Jake Mapes - Maui Jiu-Jitsu
Fastest
Submission:
White
Jim Riglos - Jorge Oliveira
Blue:
Jake Mapes - Maui Jiu-Jitsu
Purple:
Jared Espina - Longman
|
3rd
Annual Longman Gracie Kauai Jiu-Jitsu Tournament
When: Saturday, March 13, 2004
Time: 10:00 AM
Where: Kilauea Gym,
located next to the Kilauea Theater on the north side of Kauai
Weigh
ins: Friday, March 12, 2004 from 6:00-9:00 pm at the underwater
surf shop in the Kauai village shopping center next to the Safeway
store. Off Island competitors may weigh in on Saturday from 8:00-9:00
AM.
Schedule
of events:
9:30
AM - Opening Ceremony
9:45 AM - Rules Clinic
10:00 AM - Tournament Begins
Normal
BJJ weight classes with these added
214-226 lbs
227-246 lbs
246 lbs and over
For
more information, call Bruno at 808-645-1265. |
PANCRASE
2004 BRAVE TOUR - Quick Results!
PANCRASE
2004 BRAVE TOUR
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 15th, 2004
UMEDA STELLA HALL // OSAKA, JAPAN
COMPLETE
RESULTS - Pro Matches:
-
Yohei Tagami defeated Naoji Fujimoto: Judges decision
- Daisuke Hanazawa X Takuo Miyata: Draw
- Yuji Oba defeated Satoshi Watanabe: Judges decision
- Satoru Kitaoka X Tadahiro Hosaka: Draw
- Takafumi Ito X Yuji Hoshimo: Draw
- Yoshiro Maeda defeated Alexandre 'Soca' via TKO, RD 2.
Source:
ADCC
|
Sarmiento
Wins 155 Tournament Series Qualifier
This
year’s Extreme Challenge/SuperBrawl tournament series got
underway On February 7th at SuperBrawl 33. For the past two years
these two promoters have teamed up to have three-part tournament
series in an effort to find up-and-comers in different weight
divisions. The idea is the winner and runner up of each qualifier
plus two wild cards preferably from the series meet in the series
finals.
In
2002 the Heavyweight tournament series was won by current UFC
Heavyweight Champion Tim Sylvia while the series also brought
first exposure to many fans of UFC vets Wesley “Cabbage”
Correira and Travis Wiuff. Heavyweight tournament qualifier winner
Ben Rothwell is fighting in March in Euphoria Entertainment’s
“Russia vs. the US” show in Atlantic City. Jonathan
Ivey who won his qualifier fight before suffering an injury preventing
him from continuing was scheduled to fight KOTC Super Heavyweight
Champion Eric Pele in Sopreme Fighting Challenge until that show
was cancelled.
In
2003 the tournament series featured the Middleweights and brought
to the attention of the fans such fighters as Denis Kang, Jason
Miller, and Joe Doerkson. These fighters have been making their
reputations in the past six months and are ones to watch this
coming spring and summer.
Now
its time for the Lightweights in 2004. Instead of the qualifiers
taking place in Extreme Challenge and the finals being held in
SuperBrawl the situation is reversed. Also instead of 8-man tournament
this qualifier was a 4-man tournament, not surprising considering
the amount of injuries over the previous tournament series. In
the semi-finals recent WEC vet and 808 Fight Factory standout Harris Sarmiento defeated HMC’s Mike Bauer by decision while
Grappling
Unlimited’s Kolo Koka picked up a TKO over Bulls Penn’s Paul Laga in 2:51 of round 1.
In the finals it was Sarmiento getting the judges’ decision
over Koka that gave him the win. Both Sarmiento and Koka are
now slated to fight in the tournament series finals later this
year.
The
second qualifier is scheduled to take place March in Minneapolis
on March 26th in Extreme Challenge, the one Dave Menne headlines.
So far the only confirmed participants in that qualifier are
Jorge Gurgel out of Meat Truck Inc. and Joe Jordan of Miletich
Martial Arts. The other two participants are likely to come from
the Minneapolis area. The finals are according to Extreme Challenge
promoter Monte Cox “probably some time in May in Wisconsin”.
Check back for more updates as they become available.
Source: ADCC
|
Submission
Wrestling Open 1 Announces Revamped Lineup & New Location!!!
Saturday,
February 28th, 2004
North Broward Prep High School
7600 Lyons Road, Coconut Creek, Florida 33073
DOORS OPEN: 11:00 AM EST
START TIME: 1 PM EST
The
Submission Wrestling Open 1 has revamped it's lineup considerably
since losing it's marquee matchup of David Terrell and Travis
Lutter. 'We have worked to put together a solid event, and we
think we have the right formula for a great SWO 1.' explains
spokesman Miguel Iturrate. 'The event is built around superfights,
with 4 tournaments filling out the event. The Absolute is an
invitational for the fighters that competed in the other tournaments,
and there is prize money for all of them. We want to thank our
sponsors at the AFC, at SPRAWL, at Grappler's Quest, Sheldon
Marr and his Team. We also want to thank ATT and Freestyle Fighting
Academy in Florida. They all have teams in the event, and it
is because of them that the event is possible.'
SWO
1 Adds the 'Magic Boy' - Marcelo Garcia is Florida Bound And
More!
'Unfortunately,
'Shaolin' Ribeiro had to pull out of his superfight with American
TOP TEAM's Pablo Popovich.' starts spokesman Miguel Iturrate.
'This opened the window to sign Marcelo Garcia, who is the 2003
Submission Wrestling World champion. Popovich did not meet him
in the ADCC 2003, but 'Popo' took out previous world champion
Marcio Feitosa, so he is obviously ready for the challenge.'
'Marcelo
Garcia takes on Pablo Popovich, and Jeff Monson takes on Marcio
'Pe De Pano' Cruz in a clash of ADCC World Champions. These are
the two main events, and there are 4 other superfights.' concludes
the spokesman.
The
complete event lineup is below.
SUPERFIGHTS:
(special weight 80 KG): Pablo Popovich (American TOP TEAM, Ft
Lauderdale, FL) versus Marcelo Garcia (Gurghel JJ, Sao Paulo,
Brazil)
Over
99 KG: Jeff Monson (American TOP TEAM, Ft Lauderdale, FL) versus
Marcio 'Pe De Pano' Cruz (Gracie Barra, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
77-87.99
KG: Todd Margolis (Team GQ, Washington DC) versus David Avellan
(Freestyle Fighting Academy, Miami, FL)
55-76.99
KG: Marcos Avellan (Freestyle Fighting Academy, Miami, FL) versus
Otto Olson (AMC Pankration, Seattle, WA)
Over
99 KG: Wade Rome (American TOP TEAM, Ft Lauderdale, FL) versus
TBD
Under
65.99 KG: Marcos 'Parumpinha' Meira (American TOP TEAM, Ft Lauderdale,
FL) versus Joachim Hansen (Team Scandinavia, Oslo, Norway)
FEATURE
TOURNAMENTS:
- 4 Man under 65.9 KG Tournament
- 4 Man under 66-76.99 KG Tournament
- 4 Man under 77-87.99 KG Tournament
- 8 Man ABSOLUTE Tournament
Source: ADCC |
'Ground
Impact 03' -
March 7th, 2004 in Tokyo, Japan!
Professional BJJ bout the 3rd, 'Ground Impact 03'will be held
in
March 7th, 2004 in Tokyo, Japan.
Official
site: http://www.if-pro.com
Lineup:
- Hayakawa Mitsuyoshi VS Kazeka Muniz
- Nakai Yuki VS Alberto Crane
- Wado Toshiyuki VS Taisho
We
are also recruiting contenders for 'Ground Impact 04', which
is planned to be held within this year. Female contenders must
hold the rank of Purple belt or above. Male contenders must hold
the rank of Brown belt or above.
If
you are interested in participating in the match, 'Ground Impact
04', please e-mail us with your information including your name,
a team you belong to, belt rank you hold, your class division,
your height, your weight and your fighting records. Looking forward
to your entries. Thanks.
gi@if-pro.com
Source: ADCC |
Interview:
The Wildman, THOMAS DENNY
The
next King Of the Cage on February 20th features number six ranked
welterweight Thomas “Wildman” Denny fighting Jake Gomez.
Also on the card is Dan Severn vs. “Scary” Jerry Verbonivic,
Lightweight Champion Joe Stevenson defending his title against
Joe Camacho, and the return of Romi Aram as he faces Mike Penalber.
The show will run on pay-per-view one week later on Dish Network,
Direct TV, TVN, and Bell Express VU.
KM:
Your next fight is on the 20th in Soboba. I wasn’t able
to find anything on your opponent Jake Gomez. Do you know who
this guy is?
TD: You know, I’ve been hearing all these different things
but to be honest I have no idea who he is. I know absolutely
nothing.
KM:
So its not like you can train any differently for this guy.
TD: Team Oyama trains the same no matter who it is. We train
our asses off in everything you do. Nowadays it’s not like
you can train one particular thing. A different day is a different
thing.
KM:
That is one thing I wanted to clarify. I saw an article in a
magazine with a picture of Team Oyama and I saw you in that picture
but then I see KOTC and Full Contact Fighter will list you as
Team Wildman. If I recall correctly even John Alessio was talking
about doing some training with you but I may be confusing that
one. It seems like you get around. Should I be calling you a
Team Oyama fighter or Team Wildman or what? TD: I have my own
fight team and have my own school which is Team Wildman. That
is what my fight team is. Yes, I am officially on Team Oyama,
so I’m Team Oyama/Team Wildman.
KM:
Got it. Like Alessio is Bad Intentions/Millennia Jiu-Jitsu.
TD: Exactly. We are all friends so we all try to train together
whenever we can but if I have to call (one) my home my home is
Team Oyama.
KM:
In KOTC you are ranked number six in the Welterweight division.
Diego is the number one ranked contender and he is fighting number
eight ranked Kyle Brees on the 29th. Champion Alessio was supposed
to fight number three ranked Jorge Santiago in January until
Alessio broke his collar bone. Number nine John Cronk just lost
to number
two ranked Ronald Jhun. Where does this next fight fit in with your
career and how do you feel you fit into the whole Welterweight
scene?
TD: Basically how I fit into the whole scene is I’m the
Wildman and I’ll fight whoever they put in front of me.
Its not like (KOTC promoter) Terry (Trebilcock) calls me up and
gives me an option. He’ll call me up and say ‘I got
this guy Jake Gomez and then I want you to fight April whoever
and then how about June you fight for the title’. I’m
just looking to take a fight, so whoever they put in front of
me and I happen to smash so be it. I’ll smash him and go
onto the next guy.
KM:
You are coming off of four wins in a row.
TD: Out of my last eleven fights I’m 9-2 or something like
that.
KM:
I’m trying to get an idea of how much you are trying to
race up the Welterweight rankings or have your eye on a specific
ranked fighter, if any of that means anything to you.
TD: Definitely I want any kind of belt shot I could get but what
the whole thing is is I’ve been doing this four, four and
a half years and to be honest I’ve only truly been doing
it the last six months. I’ve never had a home, never gone
to a place like you get treated at Team Oyama. I’m one of
their guys and they are going to give me everything I need to
go on. I learned more the last six to eight months than I’ve
learned in my whole career.
KM:
Usually when someone changes weight classes or maybe even switches
promotions they enter a new phase of their career. I should be
looking at yours as entering a new phase when you hooked up with
Team Oyama.
TD: Exactly.
KM:
This whole Team Oyama situation seems to really mean a lot to
you. Most of the fighters coming out of Team Oyama that the fans
are familiar with tend to be heavier like ‘Rampage’
Jackson. How is training at your weight at Team Oyama?
TD: It’s ridiculous. He has such a philosophy on training,
he puts you through every extreme you can ever possibly run into.
People always ask me do I get nervous about fighting, no…I
get nervous about going to train. My training is so much harder
than any fight I’ve ever been in. Coach is such a good trainer
you can’t explain to anybody what it is like. You go out
there and you are going to win. That is all there is to it. Just
like he has turned Quinton’s whole career around in the
last two years. You want to look at me a year from now I might
be a completely different fighter.
KM:
I remember seeing Quinton at a DangerZone show in Virginia when
he was fighting out of some place in Tennessee. Next thing I
know he’s in Pride and I’m thinking they have him in
there so a Japanese can beat up an American. Then you watch him
fight and I’m like ‘where the hell has this guy been
training, this is not the same fighter I saw in Virginia’.
TD: Look at his striking against Chuck Liddell. One of the most
dangerous strikers and did he try to take Chuck down? No, he
stood and struck with him the whole time.
KM:
One thing I’m impressed with is the quickness in which Oyama
turns around a fighter. It’s not like other gyms that will
turn around a fighter in a year or two. You and Rob McCullough
and Jason Miller, you guys are being honed a lot faster than
other gyms. In that sense are you happy with where you are now?
Are you going to stay with KOTC?
TD: It’s not like I’m staying with them or anything,
they give me good options, they pay me well…Terry and I
have a pretty good relationship and I make decent money. I get
paid a lot more than a lot of these shows pay. Am I going to
move on from that? Sure, from KOTC hopefully to UFC or hopefully
Pride where even more money is. Do I want to go backwards and
fight for littler shows? There is no real reason for me to. Instead
of taking six, eight, ten fights a year fight four times a year.
That way I can concentrate more on my training, put more into
it, and fight a bigger and better opponent. I fought Jutaro Nakao
on a week’s notice. I fought (Tetsuji) Kato on two week’s
notice. That was training in my garage, training wherever I could.
Imagine what it’s going to be like now that I am training
with Coach and only getting better.
KM:
I think I’m misinterpreting your last fight (note: XXXtreme
Impact 1 12/28/03). When I saw that I was wondering if you were
looking to move beyond KOTC but that seemed like a step backwards.
Was that just to keep busy?
TD: What happened was I was scheduled to fight in that Biloxi,
Mississippi show with Jeremy Jackson which I was really looking
forward to. I ended up coming down with pneumonia and having
to pull out of the fight. I took that fight in Mexico strictly
for the reason I was offered a decent purse three days after
Christmas which we can all use money. To be honest I trained
two hours for the fight.
KM:
And you still pull out the win.
TD: Exactly. I went in my gym, grabbed a few of my guys, and
started working flying armlocks and flying triangles from the
clinch. I told everybody ‘watch for the flying triangle’
because I was landing them so cleanly. I knew I couldn’t
go in there and fight three five-minute rounds on two hours of
training. I went in there to submit him as soon as possible.
You
can find some information on Team Oyama at http://www.seriouspimp.com/coach.aspx.
Source: ADCC |
PRIDE
FC: BUSHIDO VOLUME 2 - Complete Results!
PRIDE
FC: BUSHIDO VOLUME 2
February 15th, 2004
Yokohama Arena / Yokohama, Japan
For
the hardcore fans waiting the 5 weeks until the PPV, BUSHIDO
2 results are lsited below. PRIDE FC: BUSHIDO VOLUME 2 will premiere
on North American pay per view through iNDEMAND, DIRECTV, DISH
NETWORK, UrbanXtra, TVN1, Bell Express Vu, and Viewer’s
Choice on Sunday, March 21st, 2004. The premiere time is 9:00pm
EST, 6:00pm PST and the count down show is at 8:30pm EST, 5:30pm
PST. The event will be available at a reduced rate of $19.95.
For additional replay times, please contact your pay per view
provider or pridefc.com.
Also
in the news, from our friends at http://www.puroresupower.com/ DSE announced a PRIDE
vs. UFC 3-on-3 or 5-on-5 elimination series for their August
Heavyweight GP (Grand Prix) show in Japan.
COMPLETE
RESULTS:
Chute
Boxe (Brazil) vs. Team Japan
- Wanderlei Silva (Brazil) vs. Ikuhisa 'The Punk' Minowa (Japan):
Silva by KO, RD 1.
- Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua (Brazil) vs. Akihiro Gono (Japan): 'Shogun'
By KO, RD 1.
- Jadson Costa (Brazil) vs. Takanori Gomi (Japan): Gomi by Ref
Stoppage, Strikes, RD 1.
Additional
Matches:
- Mirko 'Cro Cop' Filipovic (Croatia) vs. Yoshihisa Yamamoto
(Japan): 'Cro Cop' by Medical Stop (injured eye)
- Hayato 'Mach' Sakurai (Japan) vs. Rodrigo Gracie (Brazil):
Gracie by Judges Decision.
- Daiju Takase (Japan) vs. Chris Brennan (USA): Takase by Judges
Decision.
- Mario Sperry (Brazil) vs. Mike 'Batman' Bencic (USA): Sperry
by KO, RD 1.
- Ryuki Ueyama (Japan) vs. Sean Sherk (USA): Sherk by Judges
Decision.
- Yasuhito Namekawa (Japan) vs. Egidijus Valavicius (Lithuania):
Namekawa by Guillotine Choke, RD 1.
- Yusin Okami (Japan) vs. Ryuta Sakurai (Japan): Okami by Judges
Decision.
- Choi Mu Bae (Korea) vs. Yusuke Imamura (Japan): Bae by Choke,
RD 1.
Source: ADCC
|
|
2/14/04 Happy Valentine's Day! |
Quote
of the Day
"The greater the obstacle, the more glory in overcoming
it."
Moliere, 1622-1673, French Playwright
|
AFC
5 Results
James Campbell
High School Gym
Ewa Beach, Hawaii
February 14, 2004
by Michael Onzuka
Mike@onzuka.com
The Amateur Fighting Competition roared back to the Campbell
High School gym in Ewa Beach, Hawaii to showcase some little
known talent in the realm of a modified tough man competition.
Being that this was the fifth event, it has become clear as mud
that you can expect the unexpected in regards to talent. Some
of the earlier events had your normal amateurs just entering
to try out their hand in boxing with one takedown allowed per
round. Other events had sleepers that came out and rocked the
house with crisp punches and slick takedowns.
Tonight
was the sleepers' night, not in the way of action because there
was a lot of action, but in talented fighters coming out to showcase
their skills. There were many memorable performances such as
our own Jiu-Jitsu student, Chris Slavens, who expressed a slight
interest on the Tuesday before the fight and confirmed that he
wanted to fight on Thursday. Not having boxed in 15 years and
have only been practicing Jiu-Jitsu, Slavens just wanted to participate
in and support a well run event by the Coopers. I guess it was
just like riding a bike because Chris came out slipping punches
and landing some big shots like he never took an extended vacation
from the sport. His Jiu-Jitsu conditioning unfortunately was
not the best recipe for success in a boxing match which was evident
when he ran in to a truck by the name of Alex Stevenson from
the 808 Fight Factory who had about 20 pounds on him. Stevenson
showed excellent conditioning and technique throughout the entire
tournament and won all three fights to claim the tournament title
by taking the long road to success, in the more difficult key,
by edging out teammate Monterde in an overtime decision.
Two
other standouts of the event were heavyweights Deutson Pu'u,
who went by just Pu'u, and Ray "Bradda" Cooper's own
Reed Young. Young stunned the crowd with a brutal first round
knockout of his first opponent, Joe Mayo, who had a huge fan
following. Pu'u showed that he was a very skilled amateur boxer
with good movement and bone crushing shots. Pu'u's boxing skills
would be tested with the wildcard of the AFC which is takedowns.
Young gutted out hard shots by Pu'u and scored a takedown reminiscent
of Courture/Liddell with Pu'u legs being over his head. Pu'u
consistently landed, but Young managed to eek out a decision
in a very tight battle.
The
Coopers now turn their attention to amateur Shooto and will run
their first amateur Shooto event on March 26 in this same gym.
Both Ray and Monica are trying to build different avenues were
amateurs can gradually enter the sport of MMA without being thrown
to the lions in their very first match. Safety is their primary
concern which falls in line with the proper propagation of MMA
to a wider audience of fans, especially for the ignorant people
that still feel that mixed martial arts are human cockfights.
The AFC and Amateur Shooto closely resemble the well accepted
point Karate, Sport Jiu-Jitsu, and amateur boxing/kickboxing
events.
AFC
5 Results
160 lb and under - 4-Man Tournament Semi-Final #1
Robert Villapando (808 Fight Factory) vs. Clayson Kealoha (Hard
Knocks)
Villapando by decision (30-27) (30-27) (30-28)
160 lb and under - 4-Man Tournament Semi-Final #2
Chaian Alesna (808 Fight Factory) vs. Sal Hernandez (Jesus is
Lord)
Alesna by knockout in Round 1
160
lb and under - 4-Man Tournament Final
Robert Villapando (808 Fight Factory) vs. Chaian Alesna (808
Fight Factory)
Villapando by decision (29-28) (29-28) (29-28)
161
- 200 lb - 6-Man Tournament Quarter Final #1
Alexander Stevenson (808 Fight Factory) vs. Billy Saio (Freelance)
Stevenson by decision (30-27) (30-27) (30-27)
161
- 200 lb - 6-Man Tournament Quarter Final #2
Chris Slavens (Academia Casca Grossa de Jiu-Jitsu) vs. Feleipo
Toelau (Freelance)
Slavens by decision (30-28) (29-28) (29-28)
161
- 200 lb - 6-Man Tournament Semi-Final #1
Bryson Monterde (808 Fight Factory) vs. Anson Ahsing (Ewa Beach
Fight Club)
Draw in regulation (29-29) (29-28) (28-29)
Monterde by decision in overtime (10-9) (10-9) (10-9)
161
- 200 lb - 6-Man Tournament Semi-Final #2
Chris Slavens (Academia Casca Grossa de Jiu-Jitsu) vs. Alexander
Stevenson (808 Fight Factory)
Stevenson by decision (30-26) (30-26) (30-26)
161 - 200 lb - 6-Man Tournament Final
Alexander Stevenson (808 Fight Factory) vs. Bryson Monterde (808
Fight Factory)
Draw in regulation (30-30) (29-29) (29-29)
Stevenson by decision in overtime (10-9) (10-9) (10-9)
201
lb and over - 4-Man Tournament Semi-Final #1
Deutson Puu (Freelance) vs. Peter Sefo (808 Fight Factory)
Puu by decision (30-26) (30-26) (30-28)
201 lb and over - 4-Man Tournament Semi-Final #2
Reed Young (Jesus is Lord) vs. Joe Mayo (Team Bad Intentions)
Young by knockout in round 1
201 lb and over - 4-Man Tournament Final
Deutson Puu (Freelance) vs. Reed Young (Jesus is Lord)
Reed by decision (30-30) (29-29) (30-29)
|
Belfort's
drama continues, Chute Boxe flying to Japan, Minotauro not pursuing
Olympics and HEAT FC 3 coming in April!
The
Brazilian Beat:
February is passing rather slowly; fortunately we have been treated
to plenty of MMA action in the mean time. We're still in the
first half of the month and as we ended January with a great
UFC show, we have already been graced with a PRIDE show to start
the month and two weeks later, PRIDE BUSHIDO is coming our way,
not to mention the other shows that have recently taken place
such as KOTC and Super Brawl, all showing very interesting cards.
PRIDE BUSHIDO for instance will be very important for the Brazilian
scene as no less than six fighters from this country will take
part in it with Wanderlei Silva leading the way for the new talents
of Chute Boxe to display their skills. In the meantime, Silva's
potential rival, Vitor Belfort can't even celebrate a win that
finally got him his long awaited UFC belt, with his ongoing trauma
continuing to haunt his dreams. His sister is still missing,
and we at FCF plead to anyone in Brazil with information on Priscila
Belfort to please contact the local police to help the family
to finally get some relief. With BUSHIDO coming up there are
still some other things happening on the scene and Full Contact
Fighter brings you the latest news with a unique beat Brazilian
style yet again!
Rodrigo "Minotauro" Nogueira is currently in Cuba training
boxing with the Brazilian Olympic Boxing team. Nogueira did some
training with them to improve his boxing skills in Brazil, and
got an invitation to train some more with them while they are
preparing in Cuba since Brazil lacks in super heavyweights. Rumors
were flying that Minotauro was also aiming for a shot at the
Olympic games in boxing, but this is not the case. According
to his manager, Mario Sperry, Minotauro is there just to improve
his skills and will be flying to Japan in the coming days to
meet Sperry and help him out with his PRIDE BUSHIDO fight. Minotauro
will be fighting in the PRIDE Heavyweight GP and will not try
to take part into any Olympic games trials.
UFC
Light-Heavyweight Champion Vitor Belfort returned to Brazil after
his doctor stoppage win over Randy Couture at the last UFC, and
barely had the time or the mindset to celebrate. Soon after he
arrived in Brazil, Belfort got back to his campaign to find his
missing sister. Priscila Belfort has been missing for several
weeks now, and no information has turned up yet. "The Phenom"
has appeared on some of Brazil's biggest TV shows in recent days,
always talking about his sister and appearing quite sad, not
in a celebratory mood at all. During his speeches on TV shows,
Vitor also stated he would like to face PRIDE champion Wanderlei
Silva to unify the belts of the two biggest shows in the MMA
world.
Wanderlei
Silva left for Japan on February 9th for his fight against Ikuhisa
Minowa at PRIDE BUSHIDO. Silva trained very hard for this fight
and is seeing this as a great opportunity not only for him, but
also for the Chute Boxe team as a whole, as his teammates Mauricio
Shogun Rua and Jadyson Costa are fighting on the card as well.
Silva spoke with FCF about his upcoming fight and future challenges,
as you'll be able to see here in this column in the coming days.
Both young fighters, Shogun and Jadyson, also left for Japan
the same day as Wanderlei, along with trainers Rudimar Fedrigo
and Rafael Cordeiro. Jorge "Macaco "Patino is joining
them as well on their voyage to the land of the Rising Sun to
be in the fighters' corners in his first appearance as a member
of the Chute Boxe team. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua told
FCF he is weighing 97 kg now and is already working to lose the
4 extra kilos for his fight against Akihiro Gono at Bushido.
Word is that Shogun may appear as a heavyweight very soon.
The
MMA market continues to grow in Brazil and as a result new events
are constantly popping up all over the place. The Northeastern
MMA market, which once was non-existent in the country, is now
flourishing due to the success of shows such as HEAT, and a new
show will take place in the city of Fortaleza, in the state of
Ceara, which is also in the Northeast of Brazil. The show is
called the 1st Open Ceara Vale Tudo Challenge, and is scheduled
for March 11th and will feature some HEAT FC veterans that are
Brazilian Northeast breed, such as Paulo Guerreiro, Carlos Indio,
Josenildo Rodrigues and Savio Maia -- all of whom fought in HEAT
FC 1.
Speaking
of HEAT FC, the second edition of the fastest growing show in
the Southern hemisphere debuted on Brazilian Pay-Per-View on
February 7th, through NET/SKY on the Premiere Combat channel.
This was the first time a HEAT show was televised anywhere in
the world. In the meantime, final details regarding the DVD production
for America are taking place, and the promoters are starting
to work on HEAT FC 3, scheduled for either April 15th or April
16th. Despite what was originally planned, the show will once
again take place in the city of Natal, and some fights will be
announced mid-February.
As
usual, UFC veteran Pedro Rizzo just traveled to Holland to train
with his friend and K-1 legend Peter Aerts, in en effort to sharpen
his Muay Thai skills even more. Rizzo left Brazil this past Tuesday
and will be returning on February 26th. "The Rock"
has yet to sign a contract with another organization, since his
UFC contract ended, but is preparing with a fight around April
in mind, since he has already received some proposals from Japanese
organizations and is eager to get back to the ring.
|
Fernando
Lopes
Fighting for professionalism
Last
year, the Black Belt Challenge got firmed as one of the best
BJJ tournaments in Brazil, putting the best names doing superfights.
One of Black Belt producers, Fernando Lopes is creating The Sun
Samurai, that would be on February 13th and 14th, in an arena
built at Atlântida beach, in the southern Brazilian state
of Rio Grande do Sul. However, some problems with the fighters
contracts obliged Fepa to postpone the first edition. "The
most famous names didn`t return the contracts signed. I did the
best I could. Unfortunately, the fighters ask for pro shows and
money prizes, but they aren't pro".
Why
are you postponing the show?
The
main problem is that the fighters didn't respect the time limit
to return the contracts signed. I waited too much, but I can't
anymore. Without those papers, I can't close the deal with Premiere
Combate (a Brazilian pay-per-view tv channel). Without the TV,
I can't maintain the project I sent to my sponsors.
It
would be complicate doing a tournament in that way...
I
did it due to the second Black Belt, when we lost money. If I
had a problem now, I couldn't pay the fighters, I would be burnt
and I could never produce any show. I wait till I could, but
I couldn't run the risk of being without the biggest names.
Do
you think problems with other tournaments in the past influenced
the fighters?
Sure,
they are probably insecure, but I tried to show them that I always
kept my word. It wouldn't be now that I'd brake it.
Their
fear is you don't pay the great money prizes you are offering...
Man,
I can't tell you the name due to the contract, but I've a big
name, from outside the fight world, sponsoring the tournament
and paying 85% of all the expenses. The other 15% come from the
small ones. The arena is Márcio Corleta's responsibility
and there is no problem with it. It'll be financed by local sponsors.
And
the Black Belt Challenge, what happens with it? Can this posponing
bring any problem to this 2004 season?
The
Black Belt is ok and the first edition is set to April, in São
Paulo.
Do
you want to send any message?
I
train Jiu-Jitsu for 16 years and I always claim for tournament
paying money prizes and bringing more professionalism. Today,
I'm fighting for it, but, unfortunately, I discovered the fighters
ask for pro shows and money prizes, but they aren't pro. I'm
waiting for this contract. When they come, I set the day for
the first Sun Samurai.
Source:
Tatame
|
Cristiano
Marcello
The Chute Boxe ground game owner
Murilo
Ninja's victory at Pride Inferno, last Sunday (1), showed once
again that the Chute Boxers didn't fear the ground game. The
things started changing three years ago with Cristiano Marcello's
arrival at Curitiba. Now, the training schedule starts in the
ground, with the gi. In an exclusive to TATAME.com, Cristiano
talks about his day-by-day with the strikers, how is their training
and his BJJ history.
How
is the Chute Boxe daily training?
They
start wearing the gi, training, at least, 50 minutes. I try to
supply their deficiencies. If there's a guy not good enough on
on the bottom game, I put him on the bottom to learn how to make
the guard. If the fighter never trained BJJ, just Muay Thai,
I start teaching the defenses.
Ninja
submitted at last Pride... It seems the BJJ is another option
to the Brazilian strikers...
At
this time, the Chute Boxers hasn't only the Muay Thai to decide
the fight. From now on, it'll always like that: if the fighter
doesn't have the chance to decide on the feet, takes the combat
to the ground and submits. Ninja is a very technical fighter
and he has all the skills to take the fight to the ground, as
he did against (Alexander) Otsuka.
Besides
Ninja, who are the most technicals in the team?
Shogun
is awesome. I started teaching him at the blue belt, now he's
brown belt and if you put him fighting a BJJ championship, he'll
submit everybody. He's a very talented guy and has a great gas.
I'm just teaching them what I learned. There's also Wanderlei
Silva, who took the black belt, Maurício Véio,
Michael and Jadyson Costa. The guys are very professional.
Would
they be able to fight a BJJ tournament?
Of
course, and they are able to make the things difficult to anyone.
They have trained BJJ before, but the guy who taught them didn't
show all the techniques. He was afraid the guys could defeat
a BJJ athlete one day... But I always had an open mind and I
knew the sport will become pro.
How
was your beginning in Curitiba?
It's
hard. My shin became a big ball full of blood. But it's normal,
'no pain, no gain'.
Who
did give you the black belt, Royler or Rickson Gracie?
Rickson
gave me the brown belt and Royler, the black one. I lived almost
three years with Rickson. He taught Rockson, who was my best
friend, and I learned together. But I learned much more as a
man than as a fighter. Rickson is a terrific man, miles forward
anyone.
Did
anyone claim with you about giving the black belt to Wanderlei
Silva?
No,
but despite this, they have to understand that Wanderlei will
always defend the BJJ name. Truly, he's fighting better on the
ground than many people. Not only him, but quite all the Chute
Boxers. Actually, I think Minotauro is the only guy fighting
BJJ. The Jiu-Jitsu guys have to look the Chute Boxe fighters
in another way, without radicalism and indifference. They're
all BJJ athletes and they represent the Soft Art.
Source:
Tatame
|
Chute
Boxe in Japan: THE LAST TRAINING SESSION FOR WANDERLEI
No
matter who the opponent is, if there is a fight, PRIDE Champion
Wanderlei Silva trains hard until the last day. 'I respect all
my opponents in the same manner. Fighting is my job, so when
I step into the ring, I have to be in my best conditioning.'
explained the champ after participating in the last training
session before the upcoming Pride Bushido.
As
usual, Wanderlei was the last man to leave the mats. His regimen
saw him go swimming in the morning and then train on the ground
with Jadyson and Macaco. Wanderlei told us that he does not think
about his opponent, Ikushi Minowa´s easy loss to Quinton
Jackson. 'Each fight is a different fight. I didn´t have
the opportunity to see Minowa and Quinton, but I know Minowa
is really technical on the ground. I trained a lot on my cardio,
and also my ground skills. The new comers to ChuteBoxe, Macaco
and Daniel Acácio have improved our ground training a
lot' revealed Wanderlei.
The
Pride champion also commented on nemesis Vitor Belfort´s
win in the last UFC. 'Some people are saying that he did not
win. This is not fair, I think he won. If it was fate or not,
it doesn´t matter. He scored with a punch and won and he
has the belt. I see his fight against Couture just like my fight
against him. There was no fight, someone made a mistake and the
other one capitalized on that'. About a rematch Silva says: 'Pride
choses my opponents and I will fight against anyone anytime.
Personally, I think a rermatch with Belfort and me would be good
for the sport'.
Besides
the fighters Jadyson Costa, Wanderlei Silva and Maurício
Shogun, Chute Boxe Team is in Japan with four coaches, Rudimar,
Rafael Cordeiro, Cristiano Marcelo and Jorge Macaco.
Source:
ADCC
|
Master
Team Woes: Terere Splits!
Leaders
of the powerhouse Master Team informed us today that World Champion
Fernando 'Terere' has parted ways with the team to form one of
his own. Rodrigo 'Comprido' & Felipe Costa two of the pleaders
of the team said: 'It is kind of sad that he is not with us anymore.
He has been a freind and a part of our team for a long time and
we wish him the best. We have our mission and we still have a
very strong team with Leozinho, Ricardinho, Jacare and many others!'
Many
of you may remember that the Master Team was created from a split
on the Alliance Team. The trend for team splits is very strong,
perhaps the pressures of professionalism are finally starting
to create too much pull as in the last few years Teams like Carlson
Gracie, BTT,Alliance and now Master have split!
For
further details check out www.felipecosta.blogger.com.br
Source:
ADCC
|
PRIDE
BUSHIDO Preview:
Interview With CHRIS BRENNAN
UFC vet Chris Brennan next fights in his second Pride bout at
the PRIDE FC: BUSHIDO VOLUME 2 fight card, scheduled to take
place on February 15th, 2004 at the Yokohama Arena in Japan.
The card is scheduled to debut on North American pay per view
on March 21st, 2004.
Chris
fights Daiju Takase, a fellow veteran of the first Pride FC:
Bushido show last October. In that show Takase lost to Rodrigo
Gracie by decision, while Chris beat Eiji Mitsuoka by submitting
him not once but twice.
KM:
What are your thoughts on Takase? CB: I think he is a really
good fighter that has a lot in common with me. He has fought
a lot of top names and doesn't seem to be able to put them away
on a regular basis. He is good but I am hoping he loses one more
time because I have bigger plans in Pride
KM:
Did you see his fight against Rodrigo Gracie on Pride: Busido
1? CB: Yes I did
KM:
Takase beat Silva who beat Sakurai to take the Shooto Middleweight
belt. Where does that place Takase in your history of opponents?
Is this as big a fight as say Castillo in UFC? CB: As far as
opponent goes I would say his name isn't as big as Castillos
and I think Gil could beat this guy, but I also think this guy
has more ways to beat me than Gil does or did.
KM:
Takase has lost to Sakurai himself, along with Rodrigo Gracie,
Fabiano Iha, Jeremy Horn, and Nathan Marquardt. By fighting you
after two losses he is trying to beat a “name”. How
does this make you feel? CB: Well I am not sure that he chose
me but I am sick of giving fighters a chance to make a name off
of beating me. I am going in to this fight with the plan of winning
by submission or knock out because no one seems to finish this
guy. I have a 99% finishing percentage. If he is using me as
a stepping stone I hope he falls in the water.
KM:
What weight is this fight? CB: I guess the max weight is 183.
I am hoping to be about 180
KM:
You didn’t do as well at 155 as we had hoped. Have you moved
on from 155? CB: The only reason I am not at 155 is because Pride
has nothing for 155 and they pay more to the larger opponents.
I will go to 250 if the pay keeps climbing (laughs). I think
I just had a few bad breaks at 155 but I still think I would
do well there.
KM:
You came back in the later half of 2003 to get back on a winning
streak. Your last two opponents had pretty good records before
they met you. Which fight do you feel most proud of? Why? CB:
Well, Jason St. Louis was a good one because I guess the UFC
was looking at him and again I was the stepping stone. Eiji was
probably the most crucial in my career because it was my first
fight in Pride and it opened up a huge door for me and my team.
KM:
We almost saw Erica Montoya in King of the Kage! What happened?
CB: KOTC happened.
KM:
What happened with I think it was Buck in Russia? CB: First they
postponed the event and then it never happened at all.
KM:
Are we going to see Next Generation fighters in America anytime
soon? CB: Well if you concider Guam America then yes. Adam just
beat top ranked Tetsuji Kato in Guam, Zack made his MMA debut
there and Josh Smith also fought there as well. We will fight
in the US if the pay is decent but not for KOTC type money. No
one deserves that crap.
KM:
What about the Westside Submission Tournament you run? CB: We
are actually raising the roof off the Westside Submission Championships
this year. It will most likely be re-named The NOGI Classic because
I believe for political reasons Brazilian schools don't attend
because of the affiliation with me. It will be a much larger
tournament this year with more divisions and weight classes.
KM:
Anything else? CB: I would like to thank my family, my brother
Zack for doing a great job managing me, NO FEAR, NOGI Industries,
Hitman Fight Gear, Balls Deep Boxers, The Ranch in Big Bear,
Pete Spratt for all his help and the Next Generation Fighting
Academy for all the support and training, and last but not least
Pride for givi
PRIDE
FC: BUSHIDO VOLUME 2 will premiere on North American pay per
view through iNDEMAND, DIRECTV, DISH NETWORK, UrbanXtra, TVN1,
Bell Express Vu, and Viewer’s Choice on Sunday, March 21st,
2004. The premiere time is 9:00pm EST, 6:00pm PST and the count
down show is at 8:30pm EST, 5:30pm PST. The event will be available
at a reduced rate of $19.95. For additional replay times, please
contact your pay per view provider or pridefc.com.
Source:
ADCC
|
Pennsylvania
State Athletic Commission Reviewing Unified Rules of Conduct
The
Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission is reviewing the Mixed
Martial Arts Unified Rules of Conduct, more commonly known as
the UFC rules, utilized in such states as Florida and Nevada,
and by Tribal Nations in Connecticut.
It’s
been nearly a 2-year undertaken working with Executive Director
Greg Sirb and Commissioner Andy “Kid” DePaul of Pittsburgh
on legislation for MMA in PA. A presentation by Zuffa, LLC, owners
of the UFC, at the 2003 Association of Boxing Commissioners Conference
had been instrumental in the process. I also had an opportunity
to speak at a recent Commissioners meeting.
The
rules were submitted for review at the December 2003 meeting.
Sirb confirmed last week that MMA is on the February 2004 agenda,
but cautions he is not sure whether a vote on the sport will
be taken. According to Sirb, even if MMA is voted on and approved,
the Commission must still then write the regulations that will
govern the sport, which could take at least 6 to 8 months.
The
next Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission meeting is scheduled
for Monday, February 23, 2004, at 11:00AM in Room 302 of the
North Building in Harrisburg.
Letters
of support can be mailed to:
Gregory
P. Sirb, Executive Director
PA State Athletic Commission
2601 North 3rd Street
Harrisburg, PA 17110
Or
e-mail Sirb at gsirb@state.pa.us.
Source:
ADCC
|
Gardner
edges Byers in feature bout at Dave Schultz Memorial International
in Colorado Springs, Colo.
from
USOC Press Box http://www.usocpressbox.org/
The
gold-medal finals action was exciting and important at the Dave
Schultz Memorial International Championships, held at the U.S.
Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., Feb. 7-8.
The
120 kg/264.5 pound division in Greco-Roman featured a pair of
gold medalists: 2000 Olympic and 2001 World champion Rulon Gardner
(Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids) and 2002 World Champion
Dremiel Byers (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army).
Gardner
won this showdown, a 2-1 overtime referee's decision. All three
points in the bout were scored off the clinch position. Byers
scored the first point, controlling the action and forcing Gardner
to release his grip. On the two other clinches, Gardner scored
one-point takedowns from the locked-up position. The deciding
second point for Gardner came at the beginning of the overtime
period.
Gardner
and Byers are expected to battle for supremacy in their divisions,
right up through the U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Wrestling in
Indianapolis, Ind., May 21-23.
Competition
was held in all three international wrestling styles. The Outstanding
Wrestlers of the tournament were Patricia Miranda (Colorado Springs,
Colo./Dave Schultz WC) in women’s freestyle
wrestling, Joe Heskett (San Luis Obispo, Calif./Gator WC) in
men's freestyle wrestling and Mukesh Katri of India in men's
Greco-Roman wrestling.
Miranda,
a 2003 World silver medalist, scored three clean takedowns to
defeat 2002 World champion Brigitte Wagner of Germany, 3-1. Miranda
and Wagner have met many times before, and both are top Olympic
hopefuls.
Heskett,
a young talent who is coming on during the Olympic year, took
down past U.S. Nationals champion Ramico Blackmon (Colorado Springs,
Colo./Team Excel) right to his back and secured a pin in just
2:50 in the finals.
Katri
jumped to a 5-0 lead over Lindsey Durlacher (Colorado Springs,
Colo./New York AC) and engaged in a wide-open scoring bout, ultimately
winning the finals match, 9-6.
The
competition saw the return to action of 2000 Olympic bronze medalist
Garrett Lowney (Appleton, Wis./Minnesota Storm) in Greco-Roman
at 96 kg/211.5 lbs. Lowney was defeated in the championship finals
by Genadiy Chhaidze of Kyrgyzstan, 3-1 in overtime. Lowney had
defeated Chhaidze during the 2000 Olympic Games. It was the first
tournament for Lowney since the 2003 World Team Trials, and Lowney
is returning from an injury that threatened his career.
In
men's freestyle, Stephen Abas (Fresno, Calif./Sunkist Kids),
who is No. 1 in his division within the United States, controlled
Jeremy Hunter (Champaign, Ill./New York AC), 4-0 at 55 kg/119
lbs. Abas led 1-0 at the break, and added three more points on
takedowns and a turn in the second period. Abas has earned a
spot on the last three U.S. World teams.
At
60 kg/132 lbs., Danny Felix (Charlottesville, Va./Sunkist Kids)
scored a three-point throw from the overtime clinch to defeat
Ryan Lewis (Minneapolis, Minn./Minnesota Storm), 3-1 at 6:06.
In
an battle of young talents, Eric Larkin (Tempe, Ariz./Sunkist
Kids) used an explosive mat offense late in the match to come
from behind and beat T.J. Williams (Iowa City, Iowa/Hawkeye WC),
11-4. Williams, slick on his feet, led 4-2 early in the second
period. Larkin tied it up on a takedown and an ankle lace at
4-4, then opened the scoring, scoring seven more points on the
mat with a variety of leg turns and gut wrenches.
Lee
Fullhart (Colorado Springs, Colo./Gator WC) controlled the action
to defeat 2001 World silver medalist Brandon Eggum (Minneapolis,
Minn./Minnesota Storm), 6-1 at 84 kg/185 lbs.
2002
U.S. World Team member Tim Hartung (Minneapolis, Minn./Minnesota
Storm) scored two takedowns off the clinch position to edge Dean
Morrison (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC), 2-0 in overtime
at 96 kg/211.5 lbs.
Steven
Mocco (N. Bergen, N.J./New York AC) countered a throw attempt
from the clinch position and quickly pinned 1995 World silver
medalist Sven Thiele of Germany at 3:08 at the 120 kg/264.5 lbs.
division.
In
women's freestyle, two-time women's World silver medalist Tina
George (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army) defeated past World
medalist Jen Ryz of Canada, 3-1 at at 55 kg/121 lb. George scored
all of her points on first period turns from the mat, and held
off Ryz in the second frame.
Other
U.S. individual champions in the women's event included Erin
Tomeo (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids) at 59 kg/130 lbs.
and Kristie Marano (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC) at 63
kg/138.75 lbs.
Tomeo
defeated veteran Lauren Lamb (Farmington, N.Y./Michigan WC),
7-0. Marano, a two-time World champion, received the gold medal
by injury default when Norway's Lene Aanes could not compete.
Aanes, a 2002 World bronze medalist, was injured in her semifinal
victory.
International
athletes winning gold medals in women's freestyle were Carol
Huyhn of Canada at 51 kg/112.25 lbs., Shannon Samler of Canada
at 67 kg/147.5 lbs. and Anita Schaetzle of Germany at 72 kg/158.5
lbs.
Huyhn
defeated Melina Hutchison (Anchorage, Alaska) 3-1 in the finals.
Samler scored an impressive 10-0 technical fall over Kelly Branham
(Apache Junction, Ariz./Missouri Valley) in the gold-medal match.
Schaetzle edged Stephany Lee (Honolulu, Hawaii/Missouri Valley)
in the finals, 7-6.
In
men's Greco-Roman, in his first tournament as a U.S. citizen,
Faruk Sahin (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army) won the 66 kg/145.5
lbs. finals, defeating Gurbinder Singh of India, 9-0. Sahin led
5-0 at the mid break, and executing a number of exciting lifts
during the match.
Two-time
World Greco-Roman fifth place finisher Brad Vering (Colorado
Springs, Colo./New York AC) captured the at 84 kg/185 lbs. title
with a 3-1 overtime win over Keith Sieracki (Colorado Springs,
Colo./U.S. Army). Sieracki scored the first point, but Vering
scored a point from the clinch in overtime, then turned Sieracki
with a gutwrench for the win.
In
a fierce battle at 60 kg/132 lbs., Glenn Nieradka (Colorado Springs,
Colo./U.S. Army) emerged with a 3-3 overtime referee's decision
over Joe Warren (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC). Warren
jumped to a 3-0 lead, but Nieradka slowly closed the gap, tying
the bout then winning the decision.
Darryl
Christian (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC) received the
74 kg/163 lbs. gold medal by injury default over two-time Greco-Roman
World Team member T.C. Dantzler (Colorado Springs, Colo./New
York AC). Dantzler was injured in his semifinal win over Katsuhiko
Nagata of Japan and could not wrestle in the finals.
There
are 288 entries this year, including 102 men freestyle wrestlers,
95 men Greco-Roman wrestlers, and 91 women freestyle wrestlers.
The
quality of the competition is also high. The field included five
past World or Olympic champions, and a total of 20 past World
or Olympic medalists.
DAVE
SCHULTZ MEMORIAL INTERNATIONAL
At Colorado Springs, Colo., Feb. 7-8
Men-s Freestyle results
55 kg/121 lbs
Gold Medal - Stephen Abas (USA/Sunkist Kids) dec. Jeremy Hunter
(USA/New York AC), 4-0
Bronze Medal - Matt Azevedo (USA/Sunkist Kids) dec. Enkatur Badamsaikhan
(Mongolia/Dave Schultz WC), 5-2, ot, 6:14
5th - Mike Mena (USA/New York AC)
6th - Nick Simmons (USA)
7th - James Casteneda (USA)
8th - Seshito Shimizu (Japan)
9th (tie) - Jhonjairo Barbosa (Colombia)
9th (tie) - Angel Allegre (USA/Navy SOPAC)
60
kg/132 lbs.
Gold Medal - Danny Felix (USA/Sunkist Kids) dec. Ryan Lewis (USA/Minn..
Storm), 3-1, ot, 6:06
Bronze Medal - Jesus Wilson (USA/Minn. Storm) dec. Jason Kutz
(USA/Army),
5th - Juan Venturi (USA/Team Excel)
6th - Dwight Hinson (USA/Sunkist Kids)
7th - C.C. Fisher (USA/New York AC)
8th - Shawn Bunch (USA/New York AC)
9th - Jason Borrelli (USA)
10th - Takafumi Kojima (Japan)
66
kg/145.5 lbs.
Gold Medal - Eric Larkin (USA/Sunkist) dec. T.J. Williams (USA/Hawkeye),
11-4
Bronze Medal - Doug Schwab (USA/Minn. Storm) dec. Jared Lawrence
(USA/Minn. Storm), 4-3, ot, 6:49
5th - Reggie Wright (USA/Gator WC)
6th - Jamarr Billman (USA/New York AC)
7th - Isukasa Sato (Japan)
8th - Takayuki Suzuki (Japan)
9th - Gilbert Real (USA/Navy SOPAC)
10th - Jose Alonso Hertado (Colombia)
74
kg/163 lbs.,
Gold Medal - Joe Heskett (USA/Gator WC) pin Ramico Blackmon (USA/Team
Excel), 2:50
Bronze Medal - Kirk White (USA/Dave Schultz WC) dec. Donny Pritzlaff
(USA/Dave Schultz WC), 4-0
5th - Sean Harrington (USA/New York AC)
6th - Tony Davis (USA/Sunkist Kids)
7th - Michael Morehouse (USA)
8th - Matt Lackey (USA/New York AC)
9th - Yoshi Nakamura (USA/Dave Schultz WC)
10th - Kazayuki Nagashima (Japan)
84
kg/185 lbs.
Gold Medal - Lee Fullhart (USA/Gator WC) dec. Brandon Eggum (USA/Minn.
Storm), 6-1
Bronze Medal - Mo Lawal (USA/Gator WC) dec. Nick Preston (USA/Sunkist
Kids), 5-0
5th - Pat Popolizio (USA/New York AC)
6th - Andy Hrovat (USA/New York AC)
7th - Greg Parker (USA/New York AC)
8th - Tony Gansen (USA/Gator WC)
9th - Sam Shereretz (USA/U.S. Air Force)
10th - Jake Herbert (USA)
96
kg/211.25 lbs.
Gold Medal - Tim Hartung (USA/Minn. Storm) won by ref. dec. over
Dean Morrison (USA/New York AC), 2-0, ot, 9:00
Bronze Medal - Dawid Rechul (USA/New York AC) won by inj. dft.
over Zach Thompson (USA/Sunkist Kids)
5th - Raphael Davis (USA)
6th - Masahide Moriyama (Japan)
7th - Nate Patrick (USA)
8th - Chad Lamer (USA/Hawkeye)
9th - Jon Trenge (USA/New York AC)
10th - James Spiker (Navy SOPAC)
120
kg/264.5 lbs.
Gold Medal - Steve Mocco (USA/New York AC) pin Sven Thiele (Germany),
3:08
Bronze Medal - Mike Faust (USA/Dave Schultz WC) dec. David Otiashvili
(Georgia), 3-2, ot, 6:20
5th - Ronny Wegner (Germany)
6th - Kevin Hoy (USA/U.S. Air Force)
7th - Kellen Fluckiger (USA/Sunkist Kids)
8th - Eugene Boschmenchenko (USA/New York AC)
Outstanding
Wrestler - Joe Heskett (Gator WC), 74 kg/163 lbs.
Club
Standings - New York AC 79 pts.; Sunkist Kids, 66 pts., Minnesota
Storm, 51 pts.; Gator WC, 37 pts.; Dave Schultz WC, 30 pts.;
Japan, 19 pts.; Excel, 19 pts.; Germany, 15 pts.; U.S. Air Force,
7 pts.; Georgia, 7 pts.; Army 7 pts.; Navy SOPAC, 4 pts.; Colombia,
4 pts.
Menâ-s
Greco-Roman results
55 kg/121 lbs
Gold Medal - Mukesh Khatri (India) dec. Lindsay Durlacher (USA/New
York AC), 9-6
Bronze Medal - Busei Murakami (Japan) dec. Duaine Martin (USA/U.S.
Marines), 4-1, ot, 6:07
5th - Joseph Betterman (USA/New York AC)
6th - Anthony Gibbons (USA/U.S. Army)
7th - Luke Smith (USA/Gator WC)
8th - Mel Hicks (USA)
9th - Joe Espinoza (USA/Gator WC)
60
kg/132 lbs.
Gold Medal - Glenn Nieradka (USA/U.S. Army) won by ref. dec.
over Joe Warren (USA/New York AC), 3-3, ot, 9:00
Bronze Medal - Matthew Birner (USA/Navy SOPAC) vs. Jeremy Wynia
(USA/U.S. Air Force), 8-5
5th - Alex Popovich (USA/Minn. Storm)
6th - Marco Lara (USA/USOEC)
7th - Jason Chao (USA/Gator WC)
8th - Hakkan Nyblom (Denmark)
9th - Willie Madison (USA/Gator WC)
10th - Marcos Jeantette (USA/Navy SOPAC)
66
kg/145.5 lbs.
Gold Medal - Faruk Sahin (USA/U.S. Army) dec. Gurbinder Singh
(India), 9-0
Bronze Medal - Oscar Wood (USA/U.S. Army) won by inj. dft. over
James Johnson (USA/U.S. Army), 0:01
5th - Zach Lamano (USA/USOEC)
6th - Glenn Garrison (USA/U.S. Army)
7th - Jake Curby (USA/USOEC)
8th - Marvin Ford (USA/Gator WC)
9th - Jason Tolbert (USA/U.S. Army)
10th - Kelly Pederson (USA/U.S. Marines)
74
kg/163 lbs.,
Gold Medal - Darryl Christian (USA/New York AC) won by inj. dft.
over T.C. Dantzler (USA/New York AC), 0:00
Bronze Medal - Mark Madsen (Denmark) dec. Katsuhiko Nagata (Japan),
3-0, ot, 7:18
5th - Atsushi Kato (Japan)
6th - Ryosuke Kogawa (Japan)
7th - Luis Fernando Izquierdo (Colombia)
8th - Curtis Barnes (USA/U.S. Marines)
9th - Marcel Cooper (USA/U.S. Marines)
10th - Steve Woods (USA/U.S. Air Force)
84
kg/185 lbs.
Gold Medal - Brad Vering (USA/New York AC) dec. Keith Sieracki
(USA/U.S. Army), 3-1, ot, 6:32
Bronze Medal - Jake Clark (USA/U.S. Marines) dec. Ken Cook (USA/Sunkist
Kids), 7-2
5th - Ethan Bosch (USA/New York AC)
6th - John Wechter (USA)
7th - Tom Ciezki (USA/Wildcat)
8th - James Meyer (USA/Minn. Storm)
9th - William Casalle (USA/Navy SOPAC)
10th - Satoru Yamamoto (Japan)
96
kg/211.25 lbs.
Gold Medal - Genadiy Chhaidze (Kyrgyzstan) dec. Garrett Lowney
(USA/Minn. Storm), 3-1, ot, 6:40
Bronze Medal - Justin Ruiz (USA/New York AC) dec. Jason Loukides
(USA/U.S. Army), 5-3
5th - Adam Wheeler (USA/Gator WC)
6th - Deon Hicks (USA/U.S. Marines)
7th - R.C. Johnson (USA/New York AC)
8th - Al Sankey (USA/U.S. Marines)
9th - Nobohiko Maejima (Japan)
10th - Dan Hicks (USA/U.S. Marines)
120
kg/264.5 lbs.
Gold Medal - Rulon Gardner (USA/Sunkist Kids) won by ref. dec.
over Dremiel Byers (USA/U.S. Army), 2-1, ot, 9:00
Bronze Medal - Eddy Bengtsson (Sweden) dec. Khoren Papoyan (Armenia).
7-0
5th - Ari Taub (Canada)
6th - Naoiki Sawada (Japan)
7th - Mackie Davis (USA/Navy SOPAC)
8th - Michael Smith (USA)
Outstanding
Wrestler - Mukesh Katri (India), 55 kg/121 lbs.
Club
standings - U.S. Army, 79 pts.; New York AC, 72 pts.; Japan,
43 pts.; Sunkist Kids, 24 pts.; U.S. Marines, 23 pts.; Gator
WC, 21 pts.; India, 19 pts.; Minnesota Storm, 18 pts.; U.S. Olympic
Education Center, 15 pts.; Navy SOPAC, 12 pts.; Denmark, 11 pts.;
Kyrgyzstan, 9 pts.; Elite, 8 pts.; Sweden, 8 pts.; Canada, 6
pts.; Colombia, 4 pts.; U.S. Air Force, 1 pt.
Women's
Freestyle results
48 kg/105.5 lbs.
Gold Medal - Patricia Miranda (USA/Dave Schultz WC) dec. Brigitte
Wagner (Germany), 3-1
Bronze Medal - Lindsay Belisle (Canada) dec. Clarissa Chun (USA/Gator WC), 7-1
5th - Sara Fulp-Allen (USA/Menlo College)
6th - Guadelupe Perez (Mexico)
7th - Angeles Bararosa (Mexico)
8th - Julie Gonzalez (USA/Dave Schultz WC)
9th - Mary Kelly (USA/New York AC)
10th - Lila Ristevska (Australia)
51
kg/112.25 lbs.
Gold Medal - Carol Huyhn (Canada) dec. Melina Hutchison (USA),
3-1
Bronze Medal Malinda Ripley (USA/Sunkist Kids) won by tech. fall
over Debbi
Sakai (USA/Missouri
Valley), 10-0, 2:57
5th – Neha Rahti (Inida)
6th – Lauren Lindsey (USA/Cumberland)
7th – Maika Watanabe (USA/Missouri Valley)
8th –Amy Borgnini (USA/New York AC)
9th – Cheryl Wong (USA/Dave Schultz WC)
55
kg/121 lbs.
Gold Medal - Tina George (USA/U.S. Army) dec. Jen Ryz (Canada),
3-1
Bronze Medal - Erica Sharp (Canada) dec. Christina Oertli (Germany),
8-6
5th - Marcie Van Dusen (USA/Sunkist Kids)
6th - Stephanie
Murata
(USA/Sunkist Kids)
7th - Jessica Bechtel (Germany)
8th - Tela O'Donnell (USA/Dave Schultz WC)
9th - Jenny
Wong (USA/Sunkist
Kids)
10th - Brigit Stern (Australia)
59
kg/130 lbs.
Gold Medal - Erin Tomeo (USA/Sunkist Kids) dec. Lauren Lamb (USA/Michigan
WC), 7-0
Bronze Medal - Brandy Rosenbrock (USA) pin Othella Lucas (USA/Cumberland),
2:35
5th - Michelle Ludwig (USA/Pacific Univ.)
6th - Lindsey Owens (USA/Menlo College)
7th - Tonya Evinger (USA)
8th - Leigh Jaynes (USA/New York AC)
9th - Cathy Lee Albert (USA/New York AC)
10th - Brooke Bogren (USA/Missouri Valley)
63
kg/138.75 lbs.
Gold Medal - Kristie Marano (USA/New York AC) won by inj. dft.
over Lene Aanes (Norway), 0:00
Bronze Medal - Sara McMann (USA/Sunkist) dec. Viola Yanik (Canada),
7-0
5th - Tara Hedican (Canada)
6th - Aja Smith (USA/Cumberland)
7th - Stephanie Gross (Germany)
8th - Nikola Hartmann-Dunser (Austria)
9th - Tori Adams (USA/Gator WC)
10th - Geetika Jakhar (India)
67
kg/147.5 lbs.
Gold medal match - Shannon Samler (Canada) tech. fall Kelly Branham
(USA/Missouri Valley), 10-0, 2:40
Bronze medal match - Malissa Sherwood (USA) pin Randi Miller
(USA/New York AC), 2:50
5th - Ashley Sword (USA/New York AC)
6th - Kiran Sihag (India)
7th - Megan Nevill (USA/Cumberland)
72
kg/158.75 lbs.
Gold Medal - Anita Schaetzle (Germany) dec. Stephany Lee (USA/Missouri
Valley), 7-6
Bronze Medal - Toccara Montgomery (USA/New York AC) and Ohenowa
Akuffo (Canada), double inj. dft.
5th - Katie Downing (USA/Sunkist Kids)
6th - Iris Smith (USA/U.S. Army)
7th - Misty Stalley (USA/Menlo College)
8th - Marina Gastl (Austria)
Outstanding
Wrestler - Patricia Miranda (Dave Schultz WC), 48 kg/105.5 lbs.
Club
Standings - Sunkist Kids, 45 pts.; Germany, 34 pts.; Missouri
Valley College, 30 pts.; New York AC, 28 pts.; Dave Schultz WC,
25 pts.; Cumberland, 21 pts.; India, 16 pts.; U.S. Army, 15 pts.;
Pacific, 14 pts.; Menlo, 14 pts.; Stars and Stripes, 12 pts.;
Norway, 9 pts.; Mexico, 9 pts.; Gator WC, 7 pts.; Australia,
7 pts.
Source: ADCC |
Quote
of the Day
"From what we get, we can make a living: what we give, however
makes a life."
Arthur Ashe 1943-1993, Tennis Player |
AFC5
Tonight!
Fight Night:
Friday, Feb 13, 2004 7:00 PM
Campbell High School
FIGHTER'S
WANTED
AFC
5 Weigh-ins will be held at the Jesus Is Lord Gym, 94-143 Leokane
St #201, Waipahu, 96797 on Thursday at 7:00 PM
160
& UNDER - 4 MAN (LIGHTWEIGHT) $500.00
161
- 200 - 8 MAN (MIDDLEWEIGHT) $1,000.00
201
& OVER - 4 MAN (HEAVYWEIGHT) $500.00
Spots
will be filled on a first come first serve basis. Remember, this
is a modified toughman type of competition, not MMA so if you
are a boxer or want to to try out an event with boxing, this
is the event for you. There is only one takedown allowed per
round so most of the action will be standing.
This
is a perfect opportunity for someone who is a recreational boxer
to get his feet wet and fight in front of a live audience. Best
of all, you have the chance to win $500.00 or $1,000.00 (in cash
or keep your amatuer status and receive a gift certificate to
compete again). Now there is more weight classes so fighters
smaller fighters will be fighting guys their weight.
Don't
wait, contact the promoters today to sign up at 808-306-9326
or 808-479-8183 or email them at linebredllc@hawaii.rr.com.
Source:
Promoter
|
MEET
THE NEW AARON RILEY....
NEW TEAM, NEW FOCUS, AND NEW OUTLOOK
Aaron Riley had a tough year in 2003. He went 2-2 last year;
this was coming from a veteran who was 17-4 overall. He was taking
fights on short notice, not taking time to train for fights and
was at the end of his rope in fighting.
"I
just kind of hit the wall. It was time for a change. I needed
to mix things up." Riley told MMAWeekly. And to switch it
up he decided to leave Indiana and hit Florida and go train with
the American Top Team.
It's
a decision he has never regretted or looked back at. Riley told
MMAWeekly, "The team atmosphere here (with ATT) is amazing.
These guys take you in as family and want you to succeed. There
are so many guys to work with it's great. I mean we have Din
(Thomas), Hermes (Franca), and skilled instructors like Liborio
the jiu-jitsu grand master as well as Marcelo....then you have
former boxing gold medalist Howard Davis. It's just unbeleivable
to work with so many great guys."
The
American Top Team is also happy to have Riley aboard. Here was
their official statement....
"
American Top Team is pleased to announce Aaron Riley as our newest
team member! Aaron started off his fight career at an early age
first appearing in HOOKnSHOOT, where he became a crowd favorite
for his exciting, go for broke style. He has since fought in
the UFC, WEF, & AFC shows.
Aaron
is looking to get back in the mix, and our goal is to help Aaron
get back on top where he belongs. Aaron is the consummate pro
with a wealth of fighting experience, he will be a great asset
to the team. We welcome him to our family!"
Riley
is looking forward to getting back into being a world class fighter
again. Everyone remembers his battle with Robbie Lawler at UFC
37. Now he will take things slow and get ready for some tune-up
fights.
"I
will most likely fight in March for Hook N Shoot. From there
we will take it one fight at a time. I just want to improve and
here in Florida the guys at ATT will help me do that." Riley
said.
It's
a scary thought to his opponents. Aaron got by on skill alone,
now training hard everyday could make him the fighter than many
thought he could be a few years ago. Look for big things from
Aaron Riley in 2004.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
UFC
GOES BACK TO SATURDAY FORMAT IN JULY
We
haven't even begun to talk about UFC 47, but MMAWeekly has learned
UFC 48 will go back to the Saturday Night format on July 3rd
in Las Vegas, Nevada.
MMAWeekly
had a brief chat with UFC President Dana White after UFC 46 and
he told MMAWeekly "UFC 46 was a huge success with the Saturday
format. We had the largest gate ever at Mandalay Bay, it was
a huge success and we look forward to the Saturday show in the
summer."
Randy
Couture vs Vitor Belfort is most likely going to be the main
event. Couture told MMAWeekly Radio on Monday "It looks
to be a great weekend as Captain America fights on the 4th of
July weekend", Couture said with a laugh.
When
asked if Saturday nights could be a regular thing the UFC President
said "We hope so." Judging from the crowds of UFC 46
and now the early ticket success for UFC 47, this could be the
type of momentum the UFC has been looking for since UFC 40.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
CHRIS
BRENNAN LEAVES FOR JAPAN
Chris
Brennan, is a Mixed Martial Arts veteran. The thirty-two year
old Californian has appeared in the UFC three times, is a former
three time King of the Cage middleweight champion and now has
a multiple fight contract with PrideFC.
"The
West Side Strangler" joined MMAWeekly Radio yesterday, literally
while training. He is feeling good and was "running the
mountain" during the interview. Brennan is taking on Daiju
Takase in Bushido Volume 2 this Sunday. He will have to adjust
to the sleep factor when he arrives in Japan but as far as conditioning
goes, "I will be on the money," stated Chris.
Brennan
has seen Takase fight a couple of times on tape and said he is
a tough guy. He thinks Daiju's style plays right into his game.
Chris said his stand up is "sloppy" and he doesn't
have much wrestling experience. Brennan has been training with
Pete Spratt to improve his stand up and hopefully help Spratt's
ground game at the same time. He pointed out the tough opponents
Takase has faced and plans to stand and bang with him before
getting the inevitable take down.
Chris
has a three contract deal to fight in Japan. The weight limit
for this fight is 183 pounds and he plans on weighing in at about
180. Brennan just want to fight and he "don't care who,
don't care what I have to weigh." He said that Pride pays
the bigger fighters more and he'll fight at 250lbs. if they want
him to. Looking to future match ups, he mentioned a few fighters
with Sakuraba being one in a "Battle of the Kimura."
Chris
has trained with some of the who's who in MMA including, Royce
Gracie, Marco Ruas, Frank Shamrock, Javier Vasquez and Pete Spratt
just to name a few. He is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu expert receiving
most of his training from BJJ Black Belt Roger Brooking. Along
with being a successful fighter, Brennan runs three fighting
schools, training such fighters as Adam Lynn, Buck Greer, Tracy
Hess, Brad and Ian McCall as well as Erica Montoya and others.
When he appeared on MMAWeekly Radio on December 22nd, Chris said
he will be focusing more on himself and his fighters this year
rather than the day to day operations of his schools.
Brennan
is taking on Daiju Takase in Bushido Volume 2 this Sunday. If
history repeats itself, this fight should go quickly to the ground.
Three of Takase's five wins have come from submissions but Daiju
seems to have a problem finishing with nearly half of his fights
going to the judge's cards. Chris has been working with Pete
Spratt to improve his stand up but fourteen of his sixteen victories
have come by way of submission.
Chris
plans of fighting for at least two more years and will be bringing
a 16-8-1 record with him to Japan. He is usually much lighter
but plans on weighing in at 180 pounds for this 183lb. weight
limit fight. Brennan is coming off a win over Eiji Mitsuoka and
plans to fight a few times this year in Pride to "get some
wins and make some money."
Win
- Steve Oliver - Submission (choke) - Various Fights
Win - Scott Carter - Submission (coke) - Various Fights
Win - Randal Kemp - Submission (arm bar) - Various Fights
Win - Delcio - Sub. (guillotine) - Circuito de Lutas: Carioca
de Freestyle 1 - 2-10-97
Draw - Pat Miletich - Draw - Extreme Challenge 9 - 8-30-1997
Loss - Pat Miletich - Decision (split) - Extreme Challenge Trials
- 11-15-1997
Win - Courtney Turner - Submission (arm bar) - UFC 16 - 3-13-1998
Loss - Pat Miletich - Submission (choke) - UFC 16 - 3-13-1998
Win - Steve Horton - Submission (guillotine) - Extreme Challenge
22 - 11-21-1998
Loss - Steve Gomm - Submission (knees) - Bas Rutten Invitational
3 - 6-26-1999
Win - Joe Stevenson - Submission (triangle choke) - King of the
Cage 1 - 10-30-1999
Win - Antonio McKee - KO (kick to the head) - King of the Cage
3 - 4-15-2000
Loss - Joe Hurley - KO (elbows) - King of the Cage 5 - 9-16-2000
Win - Robert Wynne - Submission (arm bar) - Reality Submission
Fighting - 10-6-2000
Win - Kevin Hogan - Submission (arm bar) - King of the Cage 10
- 8-4-2001
Win - Steve Berger - Unanimous Decision - King of the Cage 11
- 9-29-2001
Loss - Gil Castillo - Unanimous Decision - UFC 35 - 1-11-2002
Win - John Crisostomo - Submission (Kimura) - Warriors Quest
4 - 3-29-2002
Source:
MMA Weekly |
EARLY
TICKET SALES SAY...IT'S DEFINTELY ON!
It
could be the most successful event in UFC History according to
early ticket sales. UFC 47 has set an unprecidented record for
ticket sales in an eight day period.
Since
Zuffa took over the UFC at UFC 32, they have had some huge gates.
The one show that comes to mind was of course UFC 40 which had
the main event of Ken Shamrock vs Tito Ortiz.
MMAWeekly.com
has learned that in the first eight days of that show, 1,000
tickets were sold in that eight day span. Fast forward now to
UFC 47 and the numbers are staggering.
MMAWeekly
had it confirmed that through the first eight days of the Chuck
Liddell vs Tito Ortiz match up that 3,000 tickets have been sold
at the Mandalay Bay. That shatters the previous record of UFC
40.
The
scary part about it is the fact that the Casino at Mandalay Bay
hasn't even purchased their alloted tickets yet for their guests.
Translation? You better get your tickets early as this event
could be the fastest sell out in UFC history.
When
you look at the card as well, the big names pop out at you. Only
three matches have been signed thus far. The main events of Chuck
Liddell vs Tito Ortiz and Andrei Arlovski vs Tim Sylvia have
been signed, as has Robbie Lawler vs Nick Diaz. There are plenty
of other big names on this card as well as Genki Sudo, Cabbage,
Yves Edwards vs Josh Thomson and maybe the return of Shonie Carter....here
are some of the rumors that may have been mentioned. Remember
only the first three matches have been signed, the rest is speculation
thus far. Either way, UFC 47 will be a high attended event.
UFC
47 RUMORS April 2nd - Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas
Tim
Sylvia vs Andrei Arlovski
Tito
Ortiz vs Chuck Liddell
Yves
Edwards vs Josh Thomson
Nick
Diaz vs Robbie Lawler
Mike
Kyle vs Cabbage
Tiki
vs Chris Lytle
Genki
Sudo vs Mike Brown
Shonie
Carter vs Jason Miller
Hermes
Franca vs Yves Edwards
Source:
MMA Weekly |
Alexandre
Soca
Debuting night
The
February 15th has been waited with lots of expectation by Gracie
Barra Combat Team's guys and by a particular athlete. Alexandre
Carneiro Soca will debut at Vale-Tudo and more than that, this
fight is gonna feature the Gracie Barra Combat team for the first
time into a international event. Soca will face the Japanese
Yoshiro Maeda in one of the superfights of Pancrase, that will
be held at Umeda Stera Hall in Osaka. Besides that, who thinks
that Soca is nervous or anxious by this pressure is wrong. "I
am relaxed. I will look forward doing my game. I am not focused
on this debuting thing. I am focused on the fight," revealed
Soca during an exclusive that you read now.
How
is your preparation? Do you have a previous strategy to defeat
Maeda?
I
have been training hard with my Gracie Barra Combat team fellows
I have been training a little bit of everything. I want to surprise
Maeda. I will play my BJJ game, but I also will show him my Boxing,
my Wrestling and my Muay Thai.
It's
your debut at Vale-Tudo and also your team's debut. How are you
feeling about that?
I
am relaxed. I will look forward doing my game. I am not focused
on this debuting thing. I am focused on the fight.
Do
you know Maeda's game?
Yeah.
I already watched his fight tapes. He is a good fighter and has
a strong left punch. It seems like he never lost at Pancrase.
He is the champion of the event with seven fights and seven victories.
I wanna do a great fight.
Once
you are up to MMA, are you still gonna fight BJJ competitions?
I
will try to keep both of Jiu-Jitsu tournaments and MMA ones.
I intend to fight BJJ World Championship in July and I might
fight Pan-American..., but I guess I will not because it is so
soon. Really, I am not so worried about it now.
Tell
me about your Gym in Poland...
I
own a Gym in Poland and every three months I travel to there.
I will be going to Poland soon to teach seminars and after I'll
take a train to other places in Europe.
Source:
Tatame |
Quote
of the Day
"Loving people live in a loving world. Hostile people live
in a hostile world. Same world."
Wayne Dyer, 1940-, American Psychotherapist, Author, Lecturer
|
Pride
BUSHIDO Preview: Chuteboxe's Coach Rudimar Asks For 3 Wins On
His Birthday!
The
last day of training in Brazil for PRIDE Champion Wanderlei Silva
and teammates Jadyson Costa and Mauricio 'Shogun' for the upcoming
Pride Bushido was interrupted for a very special reason, the
birthday of their leader and trainer, Master Rudimar Fedrigo.
Now
41 years old, ChuteBoxe's mastermind was surprised by his partner
Rafael Cordeiro, who brought a cake to the academy. After hearing
almost 50 students in attendance sing the classical 'happy birthday
to you' Fedrigo was surprised by several moving speeches made
by some of the oldest black belts on the Chute Boxe Team.
'This
man taught us not only how to fight, but also how to be a good
person in life. We owe everything we are to you mestre' started
Rafael Cordeiro. Wanderlei continued. 'More than anyone I have
to thank you for getting me where I am, and helping me become
who I am' said the Pride Champion. Cunha, Marcus and many other
black belts from the first generation of Chute Boxe also made
their moving speeches thanking Fedrigo.
The
41 year old thanked everybody and asked for 3 presents. 'The
best gift I could have would be three wins in the next Pride
Bushido' said Fedrigo. The trainming and the party was witnessed
by Team Tatame and also by a team of reporters from Fuji Tv,
who is broadcasting the last day of training for Chute Boxe members.
The birthday party ended at a famous 'all you can eat' barbecue
steakhouse in Curitiba where, as usual, Wanderlei Silva was the
last man to give up.
Source:
ADCC
|
Interview:
YVES EDWARDS (part 2)
The
UFC Lightweight belt has been vacant since at the time champion
Jens Pulver walked away from the bargaining table almost two
years ago. Since then UFC tried holding a four-man elimination
over two shows with Din Thomas, Matt Serra, Caol Uno, and BJ
Penn to award the belt but the resulting Penn/Uno rematch ended
in a draw, leaving the belt vacant. The belt has been on hiatus
ever since while Din moved on to Inoki’s show, Uno returned
to Shooto, and Penn moved up to Welterweight where he recently
beat Matt Hughes for the title. Serra lost to Thomas on the same
show as Penn and Uno drew but has since beat Jeff Curran in the
most recent UFC.
During
all of this Yves Edwards has also fought in the UFC at Lightweight.
Yves’ UFC career can be broken down into two parts: pre-belt
hiatus and post-belt hiatus. Before joining the UFC Yves was
the HOOKnSHOOT Welterweight Champion after he beat Aaron Riley
in July of ’01. He dropped to Lightweight to lost to Serra
in September of ’01 and lost to Uno in May of ’02 before
winning his third fight on a three-fight contract in June. He
returned to HOOKnSHOOT for one show where he beat Kohei Yasumi
in September of ’02 before returning to the UFC. Since then
he has picked up three more wins in the UFC and a win in WEC.
His only loss post-Penn/Uno was by decision in Shooto to Tatsuya
Kawajiri, a fighter whose only loss in the last three years was
to Vitor “Shaolin” Ribeiro.
Now
that Yves’ victory over Deshaun Johnson is re-running on
HDNet fans are wondering what is next for what is widely considered
the most dangerous striker at 155.
KM:
Any plans for your next fight?
YE: I’m not sure just yet. I’m hoping the rumor the
UFC wants me to fight Josh Thompson for the Lightweight title
are true. That is what I’m waiting on, to find out about
that. There are some other fights that are being offered to me
but I had a goal when I started fighting, I had a goal to get
in the UFC. Eventually I made it there and my goals don’t
stop there. I have to re-evaluate my career and now my goal is
to become the Lightweight Champion. Once I win the belt, my goal
is going to be to retain that belt for as long as possible. Right
now my goal is to become the champion and that is what I’m
looking forward to. There are other fights on the table but that
is paramount to me.
KM:
The Lightweight belt has been on hold for a while but now I’m
also hearing rumors the Lightweight belt is coming back. Has
the fact it has been on hold been frustrating or affected your
career plans at all?
YE: No, it hasn’t affected my plans. My plans are to destroy
anybody that weighs 155 pounds. That keeps me in line or on the
right track towards getting that title whether or not anybody
has it. I want that belt and I’m going to weigh all my fights
until that comes up. I’ve stated I want that belt, people
know I want that belt now, so between me winning fights and taking
people out and letting the world know I want a shot at that belt,
I think those things will come together and the shot will come
up pretty soon.
KM:
What can you tell us about your student Carlo Prater that is
fighting in the next AFC show?
YE: That kid is phenomenal. I nicknamed him ‘Neo’ because
he is the one, the next guy out here that is going to be something
special. He is only twenty-three years old, he is 11-0 in MMA,
he has been past the first round once…that kid is really
really good. He has fought a few fights in this region in Texas,
Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mississippi, and things like that. He has
fought locally but has trained all over. He spent half his life
in Brazil and trained there, traveled to Thailand frequently
to train, and came into the gym at a pretty high level. He’s
just been improving ever since. I’m looking for big things
out of this guy. He comes into the gym and he’s hungry.
He always wants to train, he wants to bang with everybody and
get on the mat and wrestle with everybody. Kid can do it all.
He submits me half the time, probably more than that. He’s
willing to get in there and boxes with me and we have good rounds.
Him and Rocky Long are my main training partners and they can
do it all. I think he is going to be the next guy at 170 and
Rocky at 145.
KM:
Is this fight in AFC his stepping up in competition or have I
just noticed before?
YE: A lot of people haven’t really heard about him yet.
He’s one of those guys like Robbie Lawler…Robbie Lawler
was 4 or 5-0 when he got into the UFC, nobody really knew who
he was. That is the kind of guy Carlo is, nobody really knows
who he is. He’s undefeated, phenomenal, he has a good game
all around. He just hasn’t fought in any of the big shows
yet. All of the smaller shows he fights in the guys are really
good or just B-class fighters, he has taken them out in less
than a round.
KM:
Anything else you want to get across to the fans?
YE: I just want to thank all the guys who have always been supporting
me. There are a lot of fans in this game that jump ship real
quick, real easily. I’ve been fortunate enough that the
guys that seem to like me, the guys that seem to be fans of mine
have been pretty loyal. They are still behind me and I appreciate
that. Those guys are probably the reason why I’m still around
and why I still do this, why I still love the sport. I just want
to thank them for that.
KM:
Any sponsors to thank?
YE: Full Contact Fighter.
KM:
I remember you having a Full Contact Fighter t-shirt on before
the show and then after the show having a Sherdog I think it
was t-shirt and a MMA Weekly hat if I recall correctly. Seems
like you have a lot of the press behind you.
YE: Yeah, those guys have been real good to me. MMA Weekly’s
Ryan Bennett has been real good to me, keeps my name in the spotlight
even when I haven’t been fighting. I want to thank Ryan
Bennett. The guys at Tapout are really nice to me too. They don’t
sponsor me and I don’t wear any of their stuff but those
guys are cool. The sport is really small right now, everybody
is family and I love everybody right now.
Source:
ADCC
|
Diego
Sanchez headlines KOTC NM show plus Welterweight update
A
lot has been happening with the King of the Cage Welterweight
division so far this year. To start the year, current champion
John Alessio was supposed to defend his belt against #3 ranked
Jorge Santiago from the American Top Team. Alessio broke his
collar bone in training and Santiago ended up beating #9 ranked
John Cronk instead.
Also
in January #4 ranked Shonie Carter, who lost to Jhun at one point
for the vacant belt, won his fight in WEC, where he is the Welterweight
Champion. After losing his belt to John Alessio, former champion
and #2 ranked Ronald
Jhun seems
to be more focused on SuperBrawl, where he recently beat Kyle
Brees after Brees' corner threw in the towel at an official time
of 4:59 of round 3.
Up
next, #6 ranked Thomas Denny is fighting on February 20th on
the first KOTC pay-per-view card so far this year. Also on that
card is the return of Romi Aram, the former champion whose departure
for the UFC last year was what left the Welterweight belt vacant
this time around.
Now
#1 ranked contender Diego Sanchez has confirmed he is headlining
the King of the Cage show in Sky City, New Mexico on February
28th, where he will be taking on Kyle Brees. Diego currently
has a 7-0 record in MMA, mostly from KOTC. Most recent feedback
from KOTC matchmaker Chris Cordeiro was: if Diego beats Brees,
he will get a shot at the belt on pay-per-view in June. That
was before current champion Alessio broke his collar bone training
to defend his title. If Brees beats Diego it will push Diego
down the KOTC rankings and possibly give ATT’s Santiago
another shot at Alessio.
The
KOTC Welterweight rankings currently look like:
#1
Diego Sanchez
#2. Ron
'Machine Gun' Jhun
#3. Jorge Santiago
#4. Shonie Carter
#5. Dennis Hallman
#6. Thomas Denny
#7. Karo Parisyan
#8. Randy Velardi
#9. John Cronk
#10. Manval Gamburyan
#11. Kyle Brees
#12. Marcos Santos
Diego
is also confirmed to be competing in the next Grapplers Quest
West, in Las Vegas in March, as well as the next H.E.A.T. show
in Brazil in April. In the last Grapplers Quest Sanchez, competed
in the Absolute Division. More on all of this will follow in
the days to come.
Source:
ADCC
|
Carlson
Gracie Sr. In The News: Training Liddell
In
the past this information had appeared as a rumor, but now it
confirmed as true. Carlson Gracie Sr., the legendary MMA coach
and Jiu Jitsu instructor, and respected Vale Tudo fighter of
the old generation is training Chuck 'The Iceman' Liddell for
his UFC 47 battle against Tito 'The
Huntington Beach Bad Boy' Ortiz.
Liddell
is coming off two defeats in his last 3 fights, with losees to
Quinton Jackson and Randy Couture. Liddell does not intend to
repeat the same result in his next fight. We may see a new Liddell
in the octagon on the next April 2nd, with new added skills from
Carlson.
ADCC
News did not have much access at the training sessions, because
there is a bit of a secretive atmoshpere, but it is known that
several Carlson Gracie Team
USA members such as Stephen Bonnar, are supporting Liddell.
Source:
ADCC
|
HERMES
STEPS UP TO FIGHT EDWARDS
The
fight game can change daily it seems and that's what happened
over the past 24 hours. It looks as though Hermes Franca will
be the man to face Yves Edwards at UFC 47, not Josh Thomson.
Thomson
has an injury and won't be ready to go until June, so he couldn't
fight Edwards in April. Hermes Franca was then offered to fight
Yves and Franca said yes so look look for this great fight between
two of the best at 155 at UFC 47.
Edwards
said "Hermes is a great fighter and I had a feeling I would
be fighting him soon. Now we get to fight in Las Vegas and I
look forward to the challenge."
This
155 Lightweight division does not have a champion and it appears
it could still be some time before one is crowned as there has
been no talk about who will fight for the belt and when a new
champion will be crowned.
Source:
MMA Weekly |
PRIDE
BUSHIDO 2 PROFILE: Wanderlei Silva
Three
months removed from being crowned PRIDE’s Middleweight Grand
Prix Champion, Wanderlei Silva makes his return to MMA at the
upcoming PRIDE Bushido 2 show. And unless you’re new to
MMA or have been hiding under a rock the last couple of years,
you know that Silva is arguably the most dominant fighter at
205 pounds. This is why he’s being asked to headline the
second edition of the Bushido series. But just in case you’re
not familiar with the man known as “The Axe Murderer,”
Wanderlei Silva’s rise to the top of the MMA world has been
a quick and devastating one, much like his fighting style.
Spearheading
the famous Brazilian Cute Boxe Academy, specializing in Muay
Thai, Silva has been nearly flawless in 8 years of MMA competition.
Known for his lighting fast punches and furious knee strikes,
he has amassed a record of 24-3-1 against some of the most top-notch
talent in the history of MMA. In fact, aside from a loss due
to a cut at the hands of an obscure fighter named Artur Mariano
in his fifth professional fight, the only other non-wins of Silva’s
career have come via the likes of Tito Ortiz, Vitor Belfort,
and Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic.
His
wins are just as impressive as his losses, victories over Eugene
Jackson, Guy Mezger, Gilbert Yvel, Dan Henderson, Kiyoshi Tamura,
Hidehiko Yoshida, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, and of
course his unforgettable 3 victories over Kazushi Sakuraba. The
first of which secured him the PRIDE Middleweight Championship
nearly 3 years ago making him the longest reigning champion in
all the major MMA organizations in the world.
In
fact, going into last year, Silva had accomplished so much and
dominated competition in Japan for so long, that he made the
bold move of entering PRIDE’s first ever Middleweight Grand
Prix. A gutsy move considering he’d have to win not one
but three fights including two in one evening against some of
the best talent ever assembled for a tournament in MMA.
After
quickly dispatching of his old foe Sakuraba in the first round
of the tournament, Silva fought a very determined and persevering
Hidehiko Yoshida in the semi-finals. Showing he is far more than
just a striker, Silva kept the superior Judo skills of Yoshida
at bay and nearly secured a triangle choke on him. After two
hard-fought rounds, Silva was named the victor setting up the
finals against a man whom Silva had gotten into a near brawl
with at PRIDE’s Body Blow show earlier in the year, Quinton
“Rampage” Jackson.
In
a fight that was highlighted by a somewhat controversial stand-up,
Silva let loose a barrage of knees to which Jackson had no answer,
effectively ending the fight. After claiming yet another belt
for his collection, Silva took time off from MMA, enjoying his
success and having surgery to repair an injury. And thus we sit
at his fight at the upcoming Bushido 2 show.
Silva’s
opponent will be Ikuhisa “Punk” Minowa who is no stranger
to MMA having compiled a record of 23-18-8, just 5 fights above
.500. If anything, Minowa, who’s been recently training
with Chute Boxe’s hated rivals, the Brazilian Top Team,
is seen as something of a sacrificial lamb for Silva, a refresher
fight to keep the champion active before more serious challenges.
However, you can be assured that Silva will not be taking the
fight lightly. As he has shown in his intensity during his career,
Silva very rarely takes anyone lightly and knows what’s
at stake for him in this fight.
So
what is at stake you ask? Well, nothing much can be gained via
victory other than just another notch on his Axe handle, but
a loss could seriously derail Silva’s quest to be recognized
as the undisputed best 205 pound fighter in the world. With the
likes of Randy Couture, Tito Ortiz, Chuck Liddell, and Vitor
Belfort fighting it out over in the UFC, Silva, who vanquished
his nearest competitor in PRIDE when he defeated Jackson, has
to maintain his top standing in PRIDE until the next great competitor
comes along.
If
Silva does what he’s been doing the last few years, this
fight will be over quickly and without much drama. Then Wanderlei
can go back to sitting atop his perch in PRIDE’s middleweight
division looking for the next pray to swoop down on and eviscerate.
People speculate that if challengers cannot rise to Silva’s
expectations, he may move up to the heavyweight division. If
he does, it could open up a ton of new possibilities for both
Silva and the rest of PRIDE. Until then, Silva will continue
to be the star attraction in the middleweight division peaking
the interest of fans and fighters every time he steps into the
ring.
Win
– Dilson Filho – KO (Punch) – Brazilian Vale Tudo
6 – 11-1-1996
Win – Marcelao – Submission (Shoulder Injury) –
Brazilian Vale Tudo 7 – 7-1-1997
Win – Sean Bormet – KO (Kick) – International
Vale Tudo Championship 2 – 9-14-1997
Win – Egidio de Costa – Submission (Punches) –
International Vale Tudo Championship 2 – 9-14-1997
Loss – Artur Mariano – TKO (Referee Stoppage/Cut) –
International Vale Tudo Championship 2 – 9-14-1997
Win – Mike Van Arsdale – KO (Strikes) – International
Vale Tudo Championship 6 – 8-23-1998
Loss – Vitor Belfort – TKO (Referee Stoppage/Strikes)
– UFC Ultimate Brazil – 10-16-1998
Win – Adrian Serrano – KO (Strikes) – International
Vale Tudo Championship 9 – 1-20-1999
Win – Eugene Jackson – Submission (Punches) –
International Vale Tudo Championship 10 – 4-28-1999
Win – Tony Paterra – KO (Knee) – UFC 20 –
5-7-1999
Win – Carl Malenko – Decision (Unanimous) – PRIDE
7 – 9-12-1999
Win – Daijiro Matsui – Decision (Unanimous) –
PRIDE 8 – 11-21-1999
Win – Bob Schrijber – Submission (Rear Naked Choke)
– PRIDE Grand Prix 2000 Opening Round – 1-30-2000
Loss – Tito Ortiz – Decision (Unanimous) – UFC
25 – 4-14-2000
Win – Todd Medina – KO (Punch) – Meca Vale Tudo
2 – 8-12-2000
Win – Guy Mezger – KO (Punches) – PRIDE 10 –
8-27-2000
NC – Gilbert Yvel – NC (Unintentional Groin Strikes)
– PRIDE 11 – 10-31-2000
Win – Dan Henderson – Decision – PRIDE 12 –
12-23-2000
Win – Kazushi Sakuraba – TKO (Referee Stoppage/Strikes)
– PRIDE 13 – 3-25-2001
Win – Shungo Oyama – TKO (Strikes) – PRIDE 14
– 5-27-2001
Win – Kazushi Sakuraba – TKO (Referee Stoppage/Shoulder
Injury) – PRIDE 17 – 11-3-2001
Win – Alexander Otsuka – TKO (Doctor Stoppage) –
PRIDE 18 – 12-23-2001
Win – Kiyoshi Tamura – TKO (Referee Stoppage) –
PRIDE 19 – 2-24-2002
Draw – Mirko Filipovic – Draw – PRIDE 20 –
4-28-2002
Win – Tatsuya Iwasaki – TKO (Referee Stoppage/Strikes)
– PRIDE Shockwave – 8-28-2002
Win – Hiromitsu Kanehara – TKO (Corner Stoppage/Towel)
– PRIDE 23 – 11-24-2002
Win – Kazushi Sakuraba – KO (Punch) – PRIDE Total
Elimination 2003 – 8-10-2003
Win – Hidehiko Yoshida – Decision (Unanimous) –
PRIDE Final Conflict 2003 – 11-9-2003
Win – Quinton Jackson – TKO (Knees) – PRIDE Final
Conflict 2003 – 11-9-2003
Source:
ADCC |
Quote
of the Day
If you think you are beaten, you are.
If you think you dare not, you don't.
If you'd like to win but think you can't,
It's almost certain that you won't.
Life's battles don't always go
To the stronger woman or man,
But sooner or later, those who win
Are those who think they can.
Author Unknown
|
AFC5
Fighters Wanted for This Friday!
Fight Night:
Friday, Feb 13, 2004 7:00 PM
Campbell High School
FIGHTER'S
WANTED
AFC
5 Weigh-ins will be held at the Jesus Is Lord Gym, 94-143 Leokane
St #201, Waipahu, 96797 on Thursday at 7:00 PM
Some
fighters pulled out at the last minute so the promoters have
couple spots open. Call 306-9326 or 479-8183 if interested.
160
& UNDER - 4 MAN (LIGHTWEIGHT) $500.00
161
- 200 - 8 MAN (MIDDLEWEIGHT) $1,000.00
201
& OVER - 4 MAN (HEAVYWEIGHT) $500.00
Spots
will be filled on a first come first serve basis. Remember, this
is a modified toughman type of competition, not MMA so if you
are a boxer or want to to try out an event with boxing, this
is the event for you. There is only one takedown allowed per
round so most of the action will be standing.
This
is a perfect opportunity for someone who is a recreational boxer
to get his feet wet and fight in front of a live audience. Best
of all, you have the chance to win $500.00 or $1,000.00 (in cash
or keep your amatuer status and receive a gift certificate to
compete again). Now there is more weight classes so fighters
smaller fighters will be fighting guys their weight.
Don't
wait, contact the promoters today to sign up at 808-306-9326
or 808-479-8183 or email them at linebredllc@hawaii.rr.com.
Source:
Promoter
|
The
First Maui Invitiational is Coming this Sunday!
Our
friend Luis 'Limao' Heredia has been working hard for the maiden
edition of the Maui Invitational. Word is that all the Island
schools are preparing hard to compete in it, including Relson
Gracie Oahu' Maui Jiu-Jitsu, BJ Penn & Charuto's, Egan Inoue
& Bruno Ewald. Additionally many fighters from the mainland
are taking the opportunity for some fighting and some Aloha,
schools like Rickson Gracie, Charles Gracie, Beverly Hills JJ,
Jay Janero's, Cleber Luciano, Rodrigo Medeiros & Megaton's.
1st Annual
Maui Jiu-Jitsu
Invitational Tournament
Jiu-Jitsu Tournament
Dear
Friends,
It
is our great pleasure to invite you and your organization to
attend and compete in the 1st Annual Maui jiu-Jitsu Invitational
Tournament. The event will take place on Sunday, February 15,
2004 (Monday holiday!) at the War Memorial Gymnasium in Wailuku,
Maui, Hawaii.
There will be both Gi and No-Gi divisions in all belt levels
and all weight divisions. There will also be a Professional Gi
and No-Gi bracket with cash and prizes. Contestants from all
academies across the State as well as the Mainland are expected
to attend.
Registration
and Outer Island weigh-ins will begin at 8:00 am, Opening ceremonies
and Rules briefing at 9:30 am, Competition to begin promptly
at 10:00 am.
Weigh-ins for Maui Competitors will be held on Saturday February
14, at 5:30 pm at Shapemaker Fitness, 250 Alamaha St. #N3.
It
is our hope that you and your organization will join us in the
spirit of sportsmanship and competition, and help us in promoting
the sport of Jiu-Jitsu and Submission Grappling throughout the
State of Hawaii.
Thank
You for your consideration,
Luis
"Limao" Heredia
Head Instructor - Maui Jiu-Jitsu
Black Belt 3rd Degree
Event Coordinator
Lee Theros
Please
feel free to contact us should you have any questions.
1st Annual Maui Jiu-Jitsu Invitational Tournament
732 Makaala Drive
Wailuku, Maui, Hawaii 96793
Email: www.mauijiujitsu.com
Ph. (808) 283-7460
(808) 357-0657
Divisions:
Gi
/ No Gi: Adult, Kids, Women, Masters
All Weight Divisions, All Belt Levels.
Medals for 1st and 2nd place, Individual Achievement Awards,
Cash and Prizes for Professional Gi / No Gi Divisions
(Limited participation in professional divisions - call for information)
Competitor Fees: (Includes T-Shirt)
(Gi / No Gi) Men $40 Women $40 Kids $20
(Both) Men $45 Women $45 Kids $25
(Open Div.) $5 extra
When:
Sunday, February 15, 2004 (Monday holiday)
Location:
War Memorial Gymnasium
Kaahumanu Avenue, Wailuku, Maui, Hawaii
Event
Schedule:
8:00 - 9:30 am Registration and Outer Island weigh-in.
9:30 - 10:00 am Opening Ceremonies and rules briefing.
10:00 am Start of Competition.
Weigh-in (Maui Competitors):
Saturday,
February 14, 2004 5:00 pm - 7:30pm
Shapemaker Fitness, 250 Alamaha St. #N3
Kahului, Maui, Hawaii
The
Onzuka brothers will be there to help run the tournament and
bring some of Relson's team to compete...And get some Krispy
Kreme donuts.
There is word
that some Kauai boys will be down, as well as BJ's boys from
the Big Island and schools from Oahu, to compete to truly make
this a state-wide event!
The
event will take place on February 15th at the War Memorial in Kahului, Maui and is being
sponsored by SINISTER CLOTHING,ATAMA KIMONO,MAUI JIM SUNGLASSES,
SAMBAZON ACAI,PAIA FISH MARKET. After the event of course you
can party at the beach, get some waves or catch some rays. Brazil's
Sport TV's Jorge Guimaraes will be covering the vent as well.
For
more info and to sign up contact LFHEREDIA@aol.com
|
Punishment
In Paradise: "CROSSROADS"
Valentine Day Weigh In
We would like to announce the weigh-ins @ 808 Fight Factory in
Waipahu. The weigh-ins will start at 12pm so all participants
and guests who would like to see the fighters, please be on time.
There are pre-sale tickets being sold right now in limited supply
for $15.00. Please call 330-4483 or email second2none@hawaii.rr.com
to purchase them.
Sunday Feb 14th tickets will be $20.00, so get the cheap tickets
while they last. And for those who are worried about work on
Monday, it's a federal holiday so come down and don't miss out...
FIGHT DAY
Sunday Feb 15, 2004
Campbell High School Gym, Ewa Beach
Doors will open at 6pm and fights will start at 7pm SHARP!! There
are 15 action packed fights consisting of Mixed Martial Arts,
Kickboxing and Muay Thai. Tickets will be SOLD for $20.00 on
this day.
THANK YOU and I would like to wish everyone a HAPPY VALENTINES
DAY!!
Source: Event Promoter
|
Ring
Of Honor 4 Next Event Set!
Kickboxing and MMA
Campbell
High School Gym
April 17, 2004
6
fighters from the mainland have already committed to coming.
Spots open for pro or amatuer.
Any fighters interested can contact Kai Kamaka at kai@808ff.com
Source: Promoter
|
Shooto
Hawaii
COMING FRIDAY, MARCH 26, 2004
Campbell High School
There
will be something new, AMATUER SHOOTO. Linebred, LLC will be
introducing a new twist to things. Amateur Shooto consists of
2 X 3 minute rounds with a full head gear, Shin guards and NO
punching when fight goes to the ground.
Currently,
we are recruiting fighters for this new endeavor. If you ever
wanted to try MMA and did not want to be thrown to the wolves,
this is the event for you. Full safety equipment is required
and no punching on the ground so you can try out shorter and
fewer rounds and don't have to worry when you get to the ground.
Amatuer Shooto is designed to ease fighters in to professional
MMA action and allow the fighters to build their skill and experience
safely.
Fighters
to appear so far are...
PJ
Dean (Freelance)Amatuer Shooto 154 VS. TBA
12.15.03
- AMATEUR SHOOTO BOUTS ADDED TO CARD
Steven
Boy Paling III (JIL) VS. TBA Amateur Shooto Bantamweight 123.5
Brandon Antonio (JIL) vs. TBA Amateur Shooto Lightweight 143.3
Contact
the promoters today to sign up at 808-479-8183 or email them
at linebredllc@hawaii.rr.com. |
André
Pederneiras Talks About Joao Roque and Marco Lôro bouts
at SHOOTO
One
of the leaders of Nova União Team is André Pederneiras,
who traveled to Japan to be in the corner of Brazilian fighters
Marco Lôro and João Roque at SHOOTO on January 24th
2004. Now back in Brazil, Pederneiras was unable to travel to
the US after the SHOOTO event for UFC due to problems with the
new gym in Brazil. 'Unfortunately I couldn't go to the UFC. I
apologize to Veríssimo and BJ Penn because of my absence.
I was supposed to be in their corner and I am damn happy they
won!,' revealed the BJJ black belt, cracking a rare smile.
In
Japan, Pederneiras witnessed Lôro's victory and Roque's
draw from their corners. 'Lôro stepped inside the ring
distracted, and he had a hard time in the beginning. His opponent,
Syuichiro Katsumura got an arm-bar, and solid a leg-lock position.
I was worried by this time, but I knew for sure he could reverse
the situation. In the middle of the first round, after he got
himself free, Lôro went off on his opponent. He kicked
ass. He threw the opponent down, caught his back, and applied
a rear naked choke.'
About
Roque's draw, Pederneiras said that Roque did too much in the
first round, and then energy was a factor for the Brazilian.
'In the first round, Roque used too much strength trying to submit,
and he didn't need to do it so soon. He took the fight to the
ground, passed his guard, got the mount, got a few good punches
in and went for the arm-lock. Well, when he came back in the
second round, he was no longer the same fighter. During the second
round, Roque couldn't take the fight to the ground. He tried
to attack Hiroyuki Takaya's legs, but suddenly he got hit by
a powerful knee. Well, I don't think Takaya knew what he landed.
Well, they drew and now Roque has to move forward freom this.
I don't believe that it will ruin the chance to dispute the lightweight
title against fellow Brazilian Alexandre Pequeno. In fact, drawing
makes no difference because it does not change his rank', said
Pederneiras, who stayed in Japan for a seminar after the SHOOTO
event.
Talking
about the future of Nova União, Pederneiras sends a message
to the world. 'The organizers and promoters think Nova União
is just a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Team. That is a mistake. We are
champions at Vale-Tudo and we are waiting for new invitations,'
stated Pederneiras.
Source:
ADCC
|
COUTURE
GETS STITCHES TAKEN OUT OF EYE...
SHERK READY FOR JAPAN
MMAWeekly Radio kicked off the week with guests Sean Sherk and
Randy "The Natural" Couture. Sean Sherk is getting
ready to leave for Japan where he will be fighting Ryuki Ueyama
in PrideFC: Bushido Volume 2 on Feb. 15th.
Sean
hasn't seen tape of Ueyama and all he really knows is that he
is a southpaw. But, he said that he doesn't change his training
no matter who he is fighting. Sherk has been training with the
same guys he usually trains with three and four times a day.
He stated, "you can't take anyone light at this level or
you lose." He plans on going into the fight in great shape
and running his opponent out of gas. Sean arrives in Japan on
Thursday, will take Friday to adjust to the travel, weigh in
on Saturday and fight on Sunday. The event is scheduled to debut
on North American pay per view on March 21st, 2004.
Sean
would like to get back in the UFC. He said that he would take
a pay cut to get back there. You may remember Sherk for his hard
fought loss to Matt Hughes at UFC 42. He was surprised that BJ
Penn was able to beat Hughes in the fashion that he did. Sherk
said he was basically told that the UFC doesn't like his fighting
style, and that is why he hasn't been back.
Randy
"The Natural" Couture took the time to join the show
just after leaving the doctor's office where the stitches were
removed from his cut. His eye injury is healing fast but he will
remain on steroid eye drops for another week after which, he
should be just fine. He talked about his first concerns due to
the injury being on the same eye damaged in his fight with Ricco
Rodriguez.
Randy
should be back to training almost immediately. He can run and
lift weights now but can not risk getting hit in that eye at
this stage. He is looking forward to a rematch with Vitor Belfort
to take place maybe July 3rd. Focusing on the UFC, Randy said
an argument can be made for both Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell
to win in their upcoming fight at UFC 47. Having fought and beat
both of them, Couture said he is "leaning toward Chuck."
On
February 9th. 2004 Randy Couture and Matt Lindland secured professional
Mixed Martial Arts fighting in the state of Oregon. Couture and
Lindland have launched Sportfight TM to bring professional fighting
to northwest.
“The
Law” and “The Natural” have assembled a card that
will put some belts on the line. REVOLUTION is presented by SPORTFIGHT
TM, “Revolution is a coming.” It takes place on Feb.
21st in Portland. “It’s very important for us to be
sanctioned, we could not take it to the next level without the
state of Oregon’s backing. Now we can promote amateur/pro
fights. Allowing us to bring the best fighters in the world.”
states Matt Lindland, president Sportfight TM . “The fans
are going to benefit from it, we're going to bring fighters that
the fans read about. And now they get to fight in Portland.”
Randy and I have been around long enough to understand what the
fans are looking for from the fights and production. Sportfight
has the know how, relations, reputation to have some big fights.”
, Matt Lindland. For more information and the fight card, check
out the Daily News Monday section of the site.
Source:
MMA Weekly |
|