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(All events on Oahu, unless noted)
2009
November
Aloha
State Championship
of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
(BJJ & Sub Grappling)
10/10/09
NAGA
Hawaii
(BJJ/Sub Grappling)
(Hawaii, Tentative)
August
Hawaiian
Open Championship
of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
(BJJ & Sub Grappling)
6/27-28/09
OTM's 2009
Pac Sub
(Gi & No-Gi competition)
(Blaisdell Exhibition Hall)
6/6/09
Quest for Champions 2009 Tournament
(Sport Pankration, Sub Grappling)
(Kalani HS Gym)
6/4/09 - 6/7/09
World
JJ Championships
(BJJ)
(California State University Long Beach, Long Beach, CA)
5/16/09
KTI's Scrappa Lifestylez
Scrapplers Fest
(BJJ/Submission Grappling)
(Kauai)
5/9/09 - 5/10/09 &
5/16/09 - 5/17/09
Brazilian Nationals JJ Championships
(BJJ)
(Carson, CA)
5/9/09
X-1 Kona
(MMA)
(Kekuaokalani Gym, Kona)
15th Grapplers Quest Las Vegas
(BJJ/Sub Grappling)
(Las Vegas, NV)
5/2/09
Destiny
(MMA)
(Waipahu Filcom)
Uprising MMA
(MMA)
(Maui)
May 2009
Abu Dhabi World Submission Wrestling Championships
(Sub Grappling)
(Tentative)
4/25/09
MMA Madness Water Park Extravaganza
(MMA)
(Hawaiian Waters Adventure Park, Kapolei)
4/18/08
Kingdom
MMA
(MMA)
(Blaisdell Arena)
NY
International JJ Championships
(BJJ)
(Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
4/11/09
Hawaiian
Championship of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
(BJJ & Sub Grappling)
(Kaiser High)
X-1: Temple of Boom
(Boxing & MMA)
(Palolo Hongwangi)
4/10/09
HFC: Stand Your Ground XII
(MMA, Kickboxing)
(Dole Cannery Ballroom)
4/4/09 - 4/5/09
NAGA
World Championship
(BJJ/Sub Grappling)
(NJ, Tentative)
3/28/09
Garden Island Cage Match
(MMA)
(Hanapepe Stadium, Hanapepe, Kauai)
3/27/09
- 3/29/09
Pan
Am JJ Championships
(BJJ)
(Carson, CA)
3/27/09
Tiger Muay Thai Competition
(Muay Thai)
(Tiger Muay Thai Gym, Sand Island Road)
3/21/09 - 3/22/09
$30k Grapplers Quest/Fight Expo/Make a Wish Weekend
(BJJ/Sub Grappling)
(Del Mar, CA)
NAGA US Nationals
(BJJ/Sub Grappling)
(Georgia)
3/14/09
Hawaii Amateur Pankration Association: "Hit and Submit"
(Pankration & Muay Thai)
(O-Lounge Night Club, Honolulu)
NAGA Vegas
(BJJ/Sub Grappling)
3/7/09
UFC 96
(PPV)
(Columbus, OH)
Grapplers Quest Beast of the East
(BJJ/Sub Grappling)
(Wildwood, New Jersey)
2/27/09
X-1 World Events
NEW BEGINNING"
(MMA)
(Maui War Memorial Gym, Wailuku, Maui)
2/21/09
Destiny
(MMA)
(Filcom Center, Waipahu)
UFC 95
(PPV)
(London, England)
2/15/09
X1 World Events
Temple of Boom: Fight Night III
(MMA)
(Palolo Hongwanji)
2/8/09
IWFF
Submission Wrestling Tournament
(No-Gi)
(IWFF Academy, Wailuku, Maui)
2/7/09
4th Annual Clint Shelton Memorial
(Boxing)
(Palolo Gym)
Manup and Standup
(Kickboxing)
(Kapolei Rec Center, Kapolei)
UFC Fight Night
(PPV)
(Tampa, FL)
1/31/09
UFC 93 BJ vs GSP
(PPV)
(MGM Grand, Las Vegas, NV)
1/30/09
MMA Event
(MMA)
(Schofield Barracks)
1/24/09
Eddie Bravo Seminar
(BJJ)
1/17/09
UFC 93
(PPV)
(Dublin, Ireland)
1/10/09
MAT ATTACK Jiu-Jitsu & Submission Grappling Tournament
(Sub Wrestling)
(Lihikai School, Kahului, Maui)
1/3/08
Uprising - Maui
(MMA)
(Paukukalo Hawaiian Homes Gym)
Hazardous Warfare - Maui
(MMA)
(Lahaina Civic Center)
|
|
April
2009 News Part 3
|
Casca Grossa Jiu-Jitsu
is now the O2 Martial Arts Academy with 7 days a week training!
We are also offering Kali-Escrima (stick fighting) on Monday
nights with Ian Beltran and Kickboxing Tuesday and Thursday with
Kaleo Kwan & Chris Slavens!
Kids Classes are also
available!
Click
here for info!
Take classes from the Onzuka brothers in a family-like environment! |
In
Memory of Lars Chase
Rest in peace my brother
March 10, 1979 - April 2, 2008 |
Looking
for a hotel room on Oahu?
Check out this reasonably priced, quality hotel in Waikiki!
For
the special Onzuka.com price, click banner above! |
 |
Fighters'
Club TV
The Toughest Show
On Teleivision
Tuesdays
at 8:00PM
***NEW TIME***
Olelo Channel 52 on Oahu
Also on Akaku on Maui
Check
out the FCTV website! |
Onzuka.com
Hawaii Underground Forum is Online!
Chris, Mark,
and I wanted to start an official Onzuka.com forum for a while
now. We were searching for the best forum to go with and hit
a gold mine! We have known Kirik, who heads the largest and most
popular forum on the net, The Underground for years.
He
offered us our own forum within the matrix know as MMA.tv. The
three of us will be the moderators with of course FCTV808 being
the lead since he is on there all day anyway!
We
encourage everyone from Hawaii and our many readers around world
to contribute to the Hawaii Underground.
If you
do not have a login, it's simple and fast to get one.
Click here to set up an account.
Don't worry about using Pidgin English in the posting. After
all it is the Hawaii Underground and what is a Hawaii Underground
without some Aloha and some Pidgin?
To
go directly to the Onzuka.com Hawaii Underground Forum
click here!
|
Want
to Advertise on Onzuka.com?
Click here for pricing and more
information!
Short term and long term advertising available.
More than
1 million hits and counting!
|
O2
Martial Arts Academy Day Classes Start May 2!
Women & Kids Kickboxing Class starts May 4!
Click here for pricing and more
information!
O2MAA Relson Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Day Classes will be held on Monday,
Wednesday, and Fridays from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm and will be taught
by one of Relson Gracie's first black belts, Sam Mahi!
We will be starting a Womens and Kids kickboxing class on Sunday
afternoons from 5:00 pm to 6:00 pm. The class will be taught
by none other than O2's Kaleo Kwan! It will be a non-competitive,
fun atmosphere and allow the ladies and kids to get in a quick
workout and learn some legitimate kickboxing technique before
the long work week starts.
New
O2MAA Kid's Jiu-Jitsu Class Starts Friday, December 5 from 5:30
to 6:30 PM!
Adult Wrestling Class Starts Starts Friday, December 5 from 8:30
to 9:30 PM!
|
Want to Contact
Us? Shoot us an email by Clicking Here!
Quote
of the Day
“First
keep the peace within yourself, then you can also bring peace
to others.”
Thomas a Kempis |
Countdown
for Kaleo in ShoMMA
SHO MMA
- STRIKEFORCE CHALLENGERS SERIES DEBUTS MAY 15 IN FRESNO, CA!
Undefeated
lightweight sensation Billy Evangelista (9-0) will fight hard-hitting
brawler and BJ Penn protégé "Iron" Mike
Aina (11-6-1) in the main event of the inaugural SHO MMA Strikeforce
Challengers series on Friday, May 15 at Save Mart Center in Fresno,
Calif.
The
SHOWTIME telecast will air live beginning at 11 p.m. ET/PT (delayed
on the West Coast) and feature up to five MMA fights including
the hard-hitting Anthony "El Toro" Ruiz (21-12) vs.
Aaron Rosa (11-2), Fresno's favorite heavyweight, Lavar "Big"
Johnson (11-3) vs. George Bush III (5-1).
The non-televised undercard features the former NCAA wrestling
standout and school teacher by day, Ben Holscher in his debut
against Cody Cantebury, Zoila Frausto vs. Avery Vilche and Ousmane
Thomas Diagne vs. Kaleo
Kwan.
SHO
MMA: Strikeforce Challengers provides MMA's hottest prospects
with the opportunity to perform at a high level of competition
in a nationally televised event.
Source: Strikeforce |
Destiny
This Saturday!
Waipahu
Filcom Center
DESTINY:
Bad Blood will be held on Saturday, May 2nd at the Waipahu Filcom
Center. Below are some of our feature bouts. In our main event,
former ICON State champion Bronson "the chosen one"
Pieper will attempt to avenge his twin brother Brandon's KO loss
against Tim "majik" Moon.
Full
card will be posted soon. Don't miss this event, buy your tickets
early. Last event we SOLD OUT all presale tickets 2 days before
the event.
Main Event:
- 145lbs
Bronson "The Chosen One" Pieper (freelance) vs Tim
"Majik" Moon (frelance)
-145lbs
Nui "Soljah Boy" Wheeler (Team Soljahz) vs Colin "Intensity"
Makenzie (Gods Army)
-145lbs Amateur Championship
Dustin Kimura (Gracie Technics) vs John Barnard (Gods Army)
-155lbs
Ben "The King" Santiago (Gods Army) vs Treston Rebaliza
(Inner Circle Grappling)
-185lbs
Gino Venti (808 Fight Factory) vs Kaleo Gambill (Polynesian Fight
Club, Big Island)
-185lbs
Alex Pulotu-Steverson (freelance) vs Mike Solomen (Bulls Pen)
-155lbs
Raymond Tran (Bulls Pen) vs Kanamu Roan (Valentino MMA, Big Island)
-155lbs
Herman Santiago (Inner Circle Grappling) vs Tyler Pavao (freelance)
-145lbs
Waylen Mata (Bulls Pen) vs John Delarama (freelance)
-155lbs
Elijah Manners (Na Koa/Universal Combat) vs Richard Agustin (Team
Makaha)
-210lbs
Matt Eaton (Bulls Pen) vs Ata Tivao (94-Block)
-125lbs
Jan Quimiyong (Inner Circle Grappling) vs Mahi Newbury (Polynesian
Fight Club, Big Island)
-135lbs
Keka Doi-Toilolo (Team Makaha) vs Jordan Fontes (Inner Circle
Grappling)
-195lbs
Koa Giddens (Combat 50) vs Tyson Yosh (Polynesian Fight Club,
Big Island)
-175lbs
Philip Akui (Team Souljahz) vs Kapono Kuikahi (Valentino MMA,
Big Island)
-140lbs
Gavin Ramos (808 Fight Factory) vs Isamu Lopez (freelance, Big
Island)
-185lbs
Rocky Gemmati (808 Fight Factory) vs Travis Lau (Team Soljahz)
-140lbs
-Kupono Debebar (Island Rebels) vs Marck Yumol (freelance)
-150lbs
Bryan Dugan (Combat 50) vs Lathan Pacheco (Na Koa) |
X1
World Events
Saturday, May 09, 2009
Kekuaokalni Gym, Kailua, Kona, Hawaii
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
X1 World Events in their first ever event on the Big Island has
an action packed card lined up featuring some of Big Island’s
best talent. The live event takes place 7:00 PM Saturday May
9, 2009, at the Kekuaokalani Gym in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.
Standout amateur and professional boxer Van Oscar Penovaroff
of Kailua-Kona will go head to head with the reigning X1 135lb
World Champion Kana Hyatt of Hilo. Penovaroff is a pure striker
with great instincts, having spent time in MMA camps on the mainland
he feels he has what it takes to keep the belt in Kailua-Kona.
Hyatt who is coming off a successful title defense over Maui’s
bantamweight king, has both the striking skills and the ground
skills necessary to keep the title around his waist where it
belongs.
The co-main event will feature two well rounded fighters both
from the Big Island. Dominic Ahnee who now resides in Maui will
return home to face off against former 155lb MMA Champion Aleka
Rincon in a lightweight matchup.
Justin Mercado of Team MMAD on Oahu will also be returning home
to the Big Island to take on the very talented and very colorful
Dave Moreno in a featherweight matchup. Both matches will be
non stop action with an exciting mix of ground and standup action.
The grudge match of the evening will pit Kona Boxing’s Pat
Fuga against the seasoned veteran Mark
Smith. These two have some unfinished business that will be settled
in exciting fashion for the Big Island MMA fans.
Also that night the always exciting Tyler Kahihikolo will go
up against Wyatt Leong of Hawaii International Boxing, and Spencer
Higa will take on Peni Taufa’ao for the X1 145lb Kickboxing
Title.
Both guys are well rounded strikers and will put it all on the
line with the hopes of capturing the vacant title.
Also that night will be an exciting Undercard featuring more
of Big Island’s top fighters.
Tickets can be purchased by calling
Big Island Surf – 808.959.2472 | 808.935.1430 | 808.885.9283
A’Ama Surf & Sport – 808.331.1777 | 808.326.7890
Pacific Island Fitness – 808.334.1977
Hilo Fight Company – 808.345.9678
CD Wizard – 808.969.4800
Christine Young
X-1 World Events Executive Director
Cell: 808-723-0504
Fax: 808-689-8866
Email: christine.x1events@gmail.com or x1events@yahoo.com |
MARQUARDT
VS. MAIA SET FOR UFC 102
A middleweight contender match has been readied for the UFC’s
first trip to the Pacific Northwest in August.
Standouts
Demian Maia and Nate Marquardt will face off at UFC 102 in Portland,
Ore. on Aug. 29. MMAWeekly.com first learned of the bout's possibility
on Tuesday afternoon and Maia has since confirmed the match-up
on his official website, although Marquardt's camp has yet to
confirm the bout.
Maia,
31, has taken the 185-pound division by storm since his debut
at UFC 77 in October of 2007, finishing all of his opponents
by submission. The Abu Dhabi champ is currently headed to Las
Vegas to begin training at Wanderlei Silva’s new gym. He
is undefeated in 10 professional appearances.
Marquardt,
30, devastated Wilson Gouveia in his last appearance at UFC 95,
stopping the heavy-handed Brazilian by strikes. On a second road
to title glory, the Greg Jackson-trained middleweight has won
three of his last four fights since losing a first bid against
champion Anderson Silva at UFC 73. A 10-year veteran of the sport,
he carries a professional record of 28-8-2.
Source: MMA Weekly |
OPEN
CHECKBOOK SENT ELITEXC SPIRALING DOWN
When EliteXC landed on CBS, the MMA world exploded with talk
about the sport's explosion onto network television, but less
than six months later the company that got the deal done was
out of business, and a thousand questions were left unanswered.
What
happened? How did it all go down? Who's to blame?
All
valid questions about a company that showed so much promise when
landing deals with Showtime and then CBS, but then didn't produce
the revenue necessary to keep the wheels turning after less than
two years in existence. Former EliteXC executive Jared Shaw spoke
to MMAWeekly Radio recently and was able to shine a light on
some of the dark spots that still remain about what happened
to bring the company down.
One
of the biggest problems Shaw says with EliteXC was how money
was spent against the fight team's wishes, and the foolish way
it was used and never capitalized upon.
"Everything
was going towards a bum website, which a lot of the fight team
was against. What we thought it should have been was something
like, not taking the name of MMA.tv, but something like that
where it's actually programming. You bought all these companies,
you made all these foolish buys of all these different companies,
when some of us at the company said don't make those buys, we're
going to form EliteXC. We're going to build EliteXC from the
ground up," Shaw said. "We're going to have one big
organization, and then we're going to try to compete with the
UFC, and eventually hope to fight them, and really bring the
sport worldwide.
"You
paid for all this foolish (expletive) like ICON and Cage Rage.
Well at least if you're going to bolster up the library, let's
put it on the Internet so people can watch it there. Let's give
cameras to Gina Carano, and Krazy Horse, and Kimbo, and tell
them to film themselves for a day. I'm sure people would want
to watch those shows."
Part
of the blame towards the end of EliteXC's run landed squarely
on Shaw's shoulders after the former vice president was seen
standing and shouting at a referee when star fighter Kimbo Slice
was knocked out in an October 2008 fight against Seth Petruzelli.
Even Shaw admits that some of his actions were not the best idea,
but he knows that other industry leaders have felt the same kinds
of pressure.
"On
a personal level, I think I took on a lot of blame that (shouldn't
necessarily) have been pointed in my direction. I certainly had
my faults like anybody else. There was a lot to deal with, being
28 years old at the time, it's a lot just to understand as you
grow up," he said.
Speaking
about the incident during the Kimbo/Petruzelli fight, Shaw compares
the situation to what UFC president Dana White did recently when
Anderson Silva fought Thales Leites to a five-round draw at UFC
97.
"Dana
(White) and I don't see eye to eye, but what he did last week
was definitely on par with me standing up. I certainly didn't
go in a corner and shout at anyone, but I can understand the
man," said Shaw. "I can understand where your bread
and butter is in your company, and you have a fighter who is
not fighting the other way, and you have a fighter who is so
superior, you want that fighter to take his head off. Especially
cause you're putting your company's face on him."
Shaw
also says there are definitely things to look back on at EliteXC
and be proud of, none more so than the company landing with CBS,
the first major network TV deal for a mixed martial arts promotion.
He also lamented about the biggest fish that got away during
his time as a matchmaker working with the fight team.
"The
guy 100 percent was Shane Carwin," Shaw answered when asked
about the one fighter he didn’t sign that he wishes could
have landed with the company.
The
former EliteXC executive told MMAWeekly Radio that a deal was
set to go down with the Colorado native, but at the last minute
he opted for the UFC instead. Still, Shaw is happy to have helped
put many MMA fighters on television, and believes that fans should
be on the lookout for Brazilians Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante
and Fabricio Camoes, who could be the next stars for Strikeforce.
The
outcome of EliteXC may not have been what he wanted, but Shaw
remains positive in knowing that he took a shot at the MMA business,
and that's something he'll never regret.
"I
wanted to be a part of the MMA thing because boxing was going
in a different direction, and I wanted to create something that
was my own," Shaw stated.
Still
busy working in the boxing world, and his own music career, Shaw
remains a steadfast MMA fan, and hopes one day to get his foot
back in the door of the MMA business and finish the job he started
with EliteXC.
Source: MMA Weekly |
STRIKEFORCE
SLUGFEST: NICK DIAZ VS. SCOTT SMITH (UPDATED)
With the success of his first turn competing at a catchweight
in April, Nick Diaz will take a second shot at fighting at 180
pounds, this time against heavy hitter Scott Smith, at the June
6 Strikeforce event in St. Louis.
The
bout has been verbally agreed upon according to sources close
to the fight, as confirmed to MMAWeekly.com on Monday. Sports1140.com
originally reported the bout.
"I
think this is a great fight for me,” said the 25-year-old
Diaz in a statement issued by Strikeforce later in the day on
Monday. “At the end of the day, I’m going to do what
I have to do though and take him out.”
“Diaz
is a great fighter,” acknowledged Smith in the same statement.
“He’s going to come in there and out grapple me and
out strike me so what I have to do is go in there and beat him
up. I actually think this is more of a dangerous fight for him
than it is for me.”
Nick
Diaz made an impressive showing for himself at the Strikeforce
event in early April as he dismantled Frank Shamrock, eventually
finishing off the legend in the second round of their 180-pound
contest.
Now
the former lightweight and welterweight will keep the extra pounds
on as he returns to action to face another tough opponent in
California native Scott Smith.
The
former WEC and UFC middleweight fought on the same card as Diaz
where he got the best of Benji Radach in a bout that many called
the best fight so far of 2009.
Smith
will get little rest following the tough fight against Radach,
as he now looks to get his third win in a row when he faces Diaz
as a part of the promotion's continued deal with the Showtime
network.
A
heavyweight title bout has also been rumored for the card with
Strikeforce champion Alistair Overeem returning to the promotion
for the first time since 2008 to face Minnesota wrecking machine
Brett Rogers. The bout has not been finalized, but sources confirmed
that it is in negotiations to possibly appear on the June 6 card,
as well.
The
main event for the June 6 show pits former EliteXC middleweight
champion Robbie Lawler against former EliteXC welterweight champion
Jake Shields in a 182-pound catchweight bout.
In
its statement confirming the Nick Diaz vs. Scott Smith fight,
Strikeforce also confirmed an early MMAWeekly.com report of a
match-up between UFC veterans Joe Riggs and Phil Baroni.
Source: MMA Weekly |
WEC
41 BROWN VS FABER 2 FIGHT CARD FILLING UP
World Extreme Cagefighting has announced the bulk of the card
for its next event on June 7, which takes place in Sacramento,
Calif., at the Arco Arena. Hometown hero Urijah Faber headlines
WEC 41 looking to reclaim the title from WEC featherweight champion
Mike Brown.
In
the main event, Brown defends his title against the man he defeated
to win the title. Brown comes off a successful title defense
over Leonard Garcia at WEC 39, while Faber submitted Jens Pulver
at WEC 38.
In
the co-main event, Brazilian featherweight wunderkind Jose Aldo
faces off with Southern California featherweight Cub Swanson.
Aldo comes off a rather easy stoppage victory over Chris Mickle
at WEC 39, while Swanson won a decision over Hiroyuki Takaya
at WEC 37.
Rounding
out the main card is a lightweight showdown between fan favorite
Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone and undefeated WEC newcomer
James Krause, while former UFC lightweight champion Jens Pulver
meets East Coast featherweight Josh Grispi in featherweight action.
Highlighting
the undercard is the featherweight debut of Ultimate Fighter
5 runner-up Manny Gamburyan taking on undefeated featherweight
John Franchi. Mike Campbell moves down to lightweight to take
on WEC newcomer Anthony Pettis. NCAA wrestling standout Scott
Jorgensen faces off with Chuck Liddlell’s teammate Antonio
Banuelos. Former WEC bantamweight champion Eddie Wineland takes
on freestyle fighter Frank Gomez. Rounding out the card is a
bantamweight battle between Brandon Vera trained Rolando Perez
and Thomas Denny trained Seth Dikun.
Main
Card
-Mike Brown vs. Urijah Faber
-Jose Aldo vs. Cub Swanson
-Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone vs. James Krause
-Jens Pulver vs. Josh Grispi
Undercard
-Manny Gamburyan vs. John Franchi
-Mike Campbell vs. Anthony Pettis
-Scott Jorgensen vs. Antonio Banuelos
-Eddie Wineland vs. Frank Gomez
-Rolando Perez vs. Seth Dikun
Source: MMA Weekly |
TAVARES
OUT, GLEISON TIBAU IN TO FACE GUILLARD
A change has been made to the upcoming "Ultimate Fighter"
9 finale show as lightweight Thiago Tavares has been forced out
of his fight against Melvin Guillard due to an arm injury. Stepping
in to face Guillard on June 9 will be fellow American Top Team
fighter, Gleison Tibau.
The
change of opponents was confirmed to MMAWeekly.com on Monday
by sources close to the fight.
With
back-to-back wins in the UFC, Gleison Tibau will look to build
upon his recent momentum with another short notice appearance,
after his last fight and victory over Jeremy Stephens at UFC
Fight Night 18 in April.
Tibau,
who makes a huge weight cut to make 155lbs, will have more time
for his June bout against Guillard than he did for his previous
fight in which both fighters actually missed weight.
Guillard
returns to action for the first time since July 2008 and a victory
over Denis Siver at UFC 86. The former "Ultimate Fighter"
season 2 cast member dealt with a few injuries, but is now looking
to get back into action with his June fight against Tibau.
The
9th season of the "Ultimate Fighter" will culminate
on June 9 with the main event for the show being former TUF 1
winner, Diego Sanchez, against Clay Guida, in a lightweight contest.
Source: MMA Weekly |
COTE
EYES LATE SUMMER RETURN, WANTS SILVA
UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva is currently receiving
heavy criticism for his two most recent performances, but at
least he is able to practice his chosen craft in front of an
audience.
The
same can't be said for Patrick Cote, whose most recent bout was
a loss to the current champion at UFC 90 last October. He has
been out of action ever since.
That
bout was the start of the criticism that Silva has been receiving
recently. Much like his UFC 97 bout against Thales Leites in
Montreal, Silva didn't go out of his way to overly engage Cote.
The bout ended early in the third round – following two
rounds of fan frustration – when Cote crashed to the ground,
his knee having given out midway through a kick. He was unable
to continue, handing Silva a TKO victory.
Shortly
thereafter, Cote underwent surgery to repair a torn meniscus
and torn medial collateral ligament in his right knee. Six months
later, he is chomping at the bit to even train, let alone compete.
"I
can do conditioning training with my conditioning coach. I can't
box. I can't wrestle. I can't do some jiu-jitsu. I can't do fight
training yet. But maybe in a month I'll be able to just box,"
said Cote on MMAWeekly Radio on Monday night. "In a few
months, I'll be able to start wrestling and jiu-jitsu. I (currently)
do conditioning four or five times a week, that's it."
At
his current pace, he is targeting a late summer or early fall
return. "If it's not at the end of August, it's the middle
of September. My target is UFC 102 or 103."
When
he is able to return, Cote doesn't want to work his way back;
he wants to jump right back into the deep water at the top of
the division.
"I
want a big fight right away. I want a top five or top ten guy.
I already say that to the UFC management. They say they are able
to do it. They are going to give me a top guy, for sure,"
he told MMAWeekly.
"My
goal is to have another title fight. I'll fight anybody, but
I do this sport to be No.1, to be world champion," stated
Cote, before adding, "I will run after a title fight again,
but even if Anderson Silva is not the champion anymore, I want
a rematch with him. Not because I hate the guy, but because I
just want to finish this business. I want a real decision on
this fight."
Source: MMA Weekly |
Anderson
talks training with Rich Franklin
Anderson
Silva completely demolished Rich Franklin and took his UFC belt,
but the American seems to have no rivalry with the Champion.
Actually, according to Dayton Daily News, the former champion
wants to train with Anderson for his next fight, against Wanderlei
Silva, at UFC 99. The champion spoke to TATAME.com about the
rumors, revealing that Franklin hasn't contacted him.
“He
didn’t said any word to me about it, but he’s gonna
face a Brazilian, so it’s hard that something will happen.
I don’t have anything against Franklin either Wanderlei,
both are great fighters. In other situation, I’d train with
him, for sure. My gym is open for everyone. Whoever goes there
can have classes and I won’t have any problems if he decides
to go there, that’s the sports’ globalization”,
said the UFC middleweight champion, training in Los Angeles after
his ninth victory in the octagon. “I’m helping Rafael
“Feijão”, Fábio Maldonado, “Dan
Dan” and all the guys that will fight here and then I’ll
go back to Brazil”.
Source: MMA Weekly |
Face
to face with Rashad Evans
Rashad Evans in photo by Josh Hedges
Three questions for the UFC light heavyweight champion
This
coming May 23rd, at UFC 98, current UFC light heavyweight champion
Rashad Evans will be defending his belt for the first time since
winning it from Forrest Griffin against another undefeated fighter,
Brazilian karateka Lyoto Machida.
So
in the build-up to the title bout, GRACIEMAG.com tracked down
the champ and had a chat with him, to find out his thoughts on
his upcoming challenge.
At
what point in your career did you see you could become the UFC
champion?
Probably
after my fight with Tito Ortiz. After that fight I really believed
I could make it. That was when I thought: “these guys aren’t
that much better than me. I can fight these guys, and I can beat
these guys.”
What
does it take to become champion?
It’s
all about dedication! It all depends on how you dedicate yourself,
how tough you are, your mettle in making your next adversary
give up for you to get there.
What
do you think of Lyoto Machida?
He’s
a very strategic fighter, just as I am. It will surely be a tough
fight. I think if we fight, the winner will be the one with the
better strategy. Machida is a really tough and disciplined fighter.
He doesn’t get emotionally shaken in his fights, for being
so disciplined. When this fight happens, I’m go to make
him frustrated and bothered in the octagon. It will be a tough
fight, for sure.
Source: Tatame |
Sergio
Moraes’ adversary named
Brazilian to fight Rodney Sleepers May 8, in Texas
A
fighter impressing in the top-flight of competition Jiu-Jitsu,
Alliance black belt Sergio Moraes already has a date and opponent
for his debut in the Bellator Fighting event. The Brazilian’s
debut for the organization will be held May 8, at an event to
take place in Texas.
“He’s
one of the only big Jiu-Jitsu star’s who was still without
a contract. He’s undefeated at 3 and 0, and was without
a contract. His adversary will be Rodney Sleepers,” Wallid
Ismail reveals.
Although
relatively unknown, Rodney Sleepers already has five wins and
one loss on his MMA record. His record, which includes two knockouts
and two submissions, shows how he’s comfortable wherever
the fight may go. Undefeated in MMA and the current Jiu-Jitsu
middleweight world champion, Sergio has not stepped in the ring
since November of 2007, when he beat Gerson Conceicao in the
MTL.
Beyond
that, Wallid announces he is already preparing the next installment
of Jungle Fight, to take place in June, in Rio de Janeiro.
Source: Tatame |
PAT
BARRY LOOKING TO STAY IN HIS ELEMENT
For enthusiasts who want to know what it feels like to get kicked
by Pat Barry, the advice is: don’t do it.
The
former Sanshou and K-1 kickboxer still gets paid offers to strike
suspecting tourists, which he politely declines.
Back
in his kickboxing days, a local reporter from his hometown of
New Orleans wasn’t so cautious.
“I
was on a morning news show before a fight where I was in the
background kicking pads,” Barry recalls. “On live TV,
the reporter said, ‘you know what, let me feel what this
feels like.’ He holds the pads and says, ‘give me everything
you got.’
“I
looked back at my coach and he was like, ‘give it to him.’
I turned back to him, and I was like, ‘alright, brace yourself.’
He holds up the pads, he’s wearing his suit; he’s got
his reporter’s hair all nice. I wound back and kicked, and
he punched himself in the face and fell on the ground. He was
done.”
Barry
takes on Tim Hague at UFC 98 next month in his fifth career MMA
fight.
When
the opportunity to get into the sport approached, he didn’t
jump. Growing up, he wanted to be Sagat from “Street Fighter.”
He watched Jean Claude Van Damme and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
religiously (He identified most with Turtle Donatello: “He
was strong and smart”).
Kickboxing
was slowly dying on the vine, though, and there was no choice
but to evolve. He still considers himself a kickboxer in the
cage.
“If
you want to be a warrior, you have to be ready for any type of
battle,” he says.
There’s
a science to kicking, of which Barry considers himself a student.
It’s not all about power – though he has plenty of
that. (“I’ve passed on a lot of powerful punches and
kicks,” he says. “There have been times where I’ve
hit guys and said to myself, ‘man, that sucks.’”)
It’s as much about distance and timing, setting up the opportunity
to do what he does best.
In
Barry’s UFC debut, it took three perfectly timed shots to
level Dan Evensen. In agony, the Swedish fighter flopped to the
canvas for a stoppage victory.
Against
Hague, a former King of the Cage Canada heavyweight champion
with a 30-plus pound weight advantage, the weapon may negate
disadvantages in size and MMA experience.
“He’s
not the world’s greatest low-kick defender,” says Barry.
“But I’m sure knowing he was getting in the cage with
me, he’s going to do whatever it takes to get better, because
he knows that’s what he’s weak at, and that’s
what I’m strong at.
“But
the one thing all fighters should know is that you can train
to defend a low-kick all you want. That’s not the problem.
What you can’t predict and what you can’t train for,
is what’s going to happen before the low-kick comes.”
That
said, he’s doubtful that Hague will spend any length of
time trading strikes.
“(Hague
is) going to take it where I’m most out of my element,”
says Barry. “He’s going to run at me and do whatever
it takes to get me to the ground.”
And
soon, Barry will get an idea of how much he’s evolved.
“This
is going to be one of the classic tests of speed versus power,”
he says. "He’s a lot taller than I am, he’s a
lot heavier than I am, and he does have more MMA experience.
I’m a shorter guy, I’m a lighter guy, so I’m naturally
going to be a lot faster. The only catch is, I’m kind of
strong, too.”
Source: MMA Weekly |
Quote
of the Day
“Perfection
is a road, not a destination. Every time I live, I get an education.”
Burk Hudson
|
2009
USA-Boxing Hawaii State/Regional Championships Results
April 24th and 25th
Queen Kapionlani Hotel Ballroom
2009 Hawaii State Champions
Senior Males
106 - Garen Rabellizsa (Waianae Boxing)
112 - Bruno Escalante (East Oahu Boxing)
119 - Lean Gumboc (Central Maui Boxing)
125 - Thomas Matias (Waianae Boxing)
132 - Conrado Martin (AP Boxing)
141 - Mike Umemoto (Waianae Boxing)
152 - Antone Pereira (Waianae Boxing)
163 - Chazz Moleta (Central Maui Boxing)
201 - Jon Asi (Hawaii Youth Boxing)
201+ - Eric Edwards (Waianae Boxing)
Senior Females
101 - Colleen Loo (Honolulu Boxing)
165 - Gardenia Simms (Kawano Boxing)
178 - Natasha Manuma (Kawano Boxing)
Males 15/16 yrs
101 - Jonathan Benitez (Waianae Boxing)
106 - Dido Rodrigues (Waianae Boxing)
110 - Joshua Mcshane (Unnattached)
119 - Ansen-Jordan Westbrook (Waianae Boxing)
125 - Anthony Ibanez (Wailuku Boxing)
132 - Laurence Paelma (Waianae Boxing)
138 - Keanu Sabado (Honolulu Boxing)
145 - Jonathan Dinong (Waianae Boxing)
176+ - Mark Antalan (Pearlside Boxing)
Females 15/16 yrs
114 - Sharville DeCastro (Waianae Boxing)
125 - Chazzette Sau (Southside Boxing)
132 - Ashley Kane (Kawano Boxing)
154 - Kalynn Toilolo (Waianae Boxing)
Males 13/14 yrs
80 - Shayson Soares (Waianae)
85 - Jaron Dias (Waianae Boxing)
90 - Mario Dean (Waianae Boxing)
101 - Devin Manuel (AP Boxing)
106 - Justly Laquihon (Kawano Boxing)
110 - Andrew McCue (East Oahu Boxing)
114 - Rico Pelen-Balecia (Waianae Boxing)
119 - Mason Cornelio (Kawano Boxing)
132 - Arnold Dinong (Waipahu Boxing)
138 - Jason Kaehu-Ledward (East Oahu Boxing)
Female 13/14 yrs
90 - Jada Pereira (Waianae Boxing)
132 - Sharla Kumai-Farrell (East Oahu Boxing)
138 - Autumn Pereira (Waianae Boxing)
Males 11/12 yrs
65 - Kyri Paranada (Wailuku Boxing)
70 - Jaybrio PeBenito (Kalakaua Boxing)
75 - Glenn Austin Ledward Dejesus (East Oahu Boxing)
80 - Shaine Lono (East Oahu Boxing)
80 - John Jeric Galdones (Flipside Boxing)? Duplicate Weight
?
85 - Keoni Adric (Waipahu Boxing)
90 - Kekoa Balasi (Waipahu Boxing)
95 - Kaimana Lono (East Oahu Boxing)
110 - Eric Aulea (Hawaii Youth Boxing)
114 - Micah Paraan-Colburn (East Oahu Boxing)
143 - Jeric Antalan (Pearlside Boxing)
Females 11/12 yrs
85 - Kimberley Choe (636 Boxing)
Males 9/10 yrs
50 - Casey Del Rosario (Southside Boxing)
55 - Lennon Sullivan (Pearlside Boxing)
65 - Kaui Tomas (Waianae Boxing)
70 - Logan Yoon (Kalakaua Boxing)
75 - Nainoa Dung (Waianae Boxing)
80 - Kalama Keeno (East Oahu)
Females 9/10 yrs
55 - Kim Choe (636 Boxing)
April 24 Results
Juniors
65 - Chavez-Justly Galdones (Flipside) def Bronson Ah Nee (Yeshua)
by PTS
82 - Shaine Lono (East Oahu) def Neno Costales (Kauai PAL) by
PTS
52 - Casey DelRosario (Southside) def Lennon Sullivan (Pearlside)
by PTS
80 - Brenten Waialae (Waianae) def Kainoa Simao (Kauai PAL) by
PTS
103 - Bobby Castillo (Wailuku) def Mike Clement (Kakaako) by
PTS
72 - Jaybrio Pebenito (Kalakaua) def Glenn Austin Ledward DeJesus
(East Oahu) by PTS
108 - Thearl Tadao (Eastside)??? Eric Aulea (Hawaii Youth)
108 - Dido Rodrigues (Waianae) def Joshua McShane (Unattached)
by PTS
170 - Zack Domagalski (Wailuku) def Kaulana Kaui (Kauai PAL)
by PTS
182 - Adrian Pelayo (Southside) def Ramon Cardona Jr (Wailuku)
by PTS
121 - Mason Cornelio (Kawano) def Rico Pelen-Balecia (Waianae)
by RET rd 1
75 - Nainoa Dung (Waianae) def Damien Natividad (Southside) by
PTS
90 - Kekoa Balasi (Waipahu) def Cain Del Rosario (southside)
by PTS
90 - Dustin Somera (Pearlside) def Angelo Dean-Bongo (Waianae)
by PTS
95 - Kaimana Lono (East Oahu) def Aukai Soares (Waipahu) by PTS
Seniors
135 - Ricardo Ricapor Jr (Kawano) def Kevin Yago (Kauai PAL)
by PTS
125 - German Lee (AP) def John Yoshikawa (Wailuku) by PTS
132 - Josh Hamada (Yeshua) def Philip Kapu (Kakaako) by PTS
140 - Joseph Solima (Kalakaua) def Merrick Nishimoto (Perry)
by PTS
119 - Jonathan Prones (Wailuku) def Aaron Intendencia (AP) by
PTS
158 - Chris Honorato (Kauai PAL) def Nathan Abitbol (Honolulu)
by PTS
152 - Antone Pereira Jr (Waianae) def Steven Yoshida (Central
Maui) by PTS
201 - Jon Asi (Hawaii Youth) def Steven Cabiles (Kalakaua) by
PTS
201 - Jesus Camacho (Kawano) def Kenneth Gusman (636 Boxing)
by RET rd 2
201 - Eric Edwards (Waianae) def Daly Tipoti (Kawano) by PTS
April 25 Results
Juniors
85 - Jazelle Bobadilla (Kalakaua) def Kimberly Choe (636) by
PTS
122 - Alyssa Kane (Kawano) def Sharvelle DeCastro (Waianae) by
PTS
65 - Chavez-Justyce Galdones (Flipside) def Bronson Ah Nee (Yeshua)
by PTS
65 - Kaui Tomas (Waianae) def Kyri Paranada (Wailuku) by PTS
122 - Ansen-Jorden Westbrook (Waianae) def Anthony Ibanez (Wailuku)
by PTS
102 - Thearl Tadao (Eastside) def Branden Fernandez (Wailuku)
by PTS
125 - Chazzette Sau (Southside) def Jennalynn Ganaban (Kalakaua)
by RSC rd 2
170 - Mark Antalan (Pearlside) def Adrian Pelayo (Southside)
by PTS
120 - Jonathan Prones (Wailuku) def Josh Hamada (Yeshua) by RSC
rd 2
170 - Zack Domagalski (Wailuku) def Kaulana Kaui (Kauai PAL)
by PTS
70 - Logan Yoon (Kalakaua) def Quentin Hovis (Pearlside) by PTS
75 - Nainoa Dung (Waianae) def Wilson Savedra Jr. (Kalakaua)
by PTS
80 - Kalama Keeno (East Oahu) def Kyle Prado (Yeshua) by PTS
80 - John Jeric Galdones (Flipside) def Nicolai Wassman (AP)
by PTS
85 - Keoni Adric Jr (Waipahu) def Jacob Makue (Waianae) by PTS
90 - Kekoa Balasi (Waipahu) def Dustin Somera (Pearlside) by
PTS
95 - Kaimana Lono (East Oahu) def Alejandro Greig (Pearlside)
by PTS
80 - Shayson Soares (Waianae) def Cyrus Del Rosario (Southside)
by RSC rd 1
101 - Devin Manuel (AP) def Kekoa Agoo (Waianae) by PTS
Seniors
155 - Gregg Ishikawa (Kawano) def Kona Graycochea (Kauai PAL)
by PTS
128 - Thomas Matias (Waianae) def Conrado Martin (A.P) by PTS
130 - Michael Umemoto (Waianae) def Tyler Kraker (Central Maui)
by PTS
112 - Bruno Escalante, Jr (East Oahu) def Cory Altura-Pescado
(Central Maui) by PTS
119 - Lean Gumboc (Central Maui) def Isaiah Manalo (East Oahu)
by PTS
152 - Antone Pereira (Waianae) def MacArthur Ige (Pearlside)
by PTS
163 - Chazz Moleta (Central Maui) def Kainoa Oca-Kauhane (Kawano)
by PTS
201 - Jon Asi (Hawaii Youth) def Dustin Doshier (Kalakaua) by
PTS
201+ - Eric Edwards (Waianae) def Jesus Camacho (Kawano) by PTS
|
Anderson
Silva
Anderson
Silva won one more fight in the octagon, but not the way all
fans were expecting. With an unanimous decision victory against
Thales Leites, the champion disappointed the crowd at the Canadian
arena. In exclusive interview to TATAME.com, Anderson explained
his strategy, commented the fight against Thales, his future
in the UFC and the motivation to keep fighting, the polemical
evolving him and his ex-Chute Boxe partner Wanderlei Silva and
more.
What
did you think of the fight? Everything went as you’re expecting?
Once
again we made our job. I was just upset to have fought with Thales,
I wasn’t happy with that, but work is work. The fight was
good, I think we have achieved a good recovery of what we’ve
trained, our strategy was good, we’ve imagined what Thales
could do and, thanks God, the coaches were able to help me and
were perfect, each one in his specialty. Everybody helped me
and I’m very happy with my work. The experiments we are
doing, everything we are studying, has been right.
How
do you fell winning the ninth victory in a row, the new UFC record?
Oh,
man... Be the champion of the event that the Master Rorion Gracie
introduced in the United States and being able to come close...
I don’t ever want to have that comparison, who am I to be
better or worse than Master Royce. But, being able to, one way
or another, represent Brazil, the title remains in Brazil, then
I continue honored to get this done and to keep the belt here.
What
did you think of the criticisms that you’re receiving after
the fight?
Every
day we get older, the reflex is no longer the same... Fight with
a kid like Thales and try to do things that might put me at risk
wouldn’t be good for my career. One way or another he fought
well, came well prepared, but I would have a lot to risk. I'm
not risking something that took a long time for me to win. I
think the fans are talking, criticizing... Each one has their
opinion, I have to respect their opinion, after all they are
always there applauding, but I'm happy, I was able to do my job
well. All my team helped so that we could reach where we are
and I don’t have much to say. Unfortunately, you can’t
always do what people want. I try to fight and don’t get
hurt and this is working over all these years. Sometimes I can
fight faster, sometimes not, showing superiority, is better for
me, for my career and the athletes who fight with me. Even because
Thales is a dangerous athlete and I couldn’t risk something
more.
Thales’s
strategy has surprised you?
No.
I think we were aware and had trained all that he could do. He
was prepared and determined to win, but we managed to annul his
game. I would like to thank Lyoto (Machida), André Galvão,
Master Sylvio Behring, (Josuel) Distak, people who were determinants
to this fight to happen and that we could get this result. The
work that I did with Nogushi, Rogério Camões, Macarrão
and all the people who gave me strength for me to come well prepared
in this fight. I think I could honor the Nogueira Jiu-Jitsu,
show that I made justice to the Jiu-Jitsu I learned all the time...
We were able to do what we proposed and, unfortunately, we can’t
always be like people want, what can I do... We try. I want to
apologize to Thales, Dedé (Pederneiras) and the Nova União
team. I already trained several times in the Nova União,
with Dedé, Master Shaolin, and I didn’t like to do
this fight, but we are professionals. I would like to congratulate
Thales, he is a great fighter.
After
the third round, Feijão and Distak said to you release
the game and go over him. Why have you decided to keep the strategy
of the previous rounds?
We
were achieving to annul Thales’ game and wouldn’t change
the strategy. We were able to, from the first to the last round,
annul Thales game completely, despite the scores of the judges
be a little crazy, I don’t know what fight they have seen,
but the strategy we did was good. Distak said that I should move
more, achieve my strokes more, and all instructions that Feijão
gave I did and this brought us another victory. The type of training
that we do, the strategy that we do for every fight, has brought
a positive result. While is like this, we doesn’t have to
change anything. We will always look to surprise the opponent,
confuse them and minimize the chances of mistakes.
You’ve
already beaten most of the top fighters of the UFC in your category...
Does this disincentive you to continue fighting in your weight?
No.
I’m very motivated to fight, I continue happy to be doing
my job, but is as I’ve said. I’m no longer a kid, I
have much to lose. It took so long to get here and we, as the
age comes, do more conservative fights, I won’t expose myself
and be knocked out. I have to be the most efficient possible
with any opponent that I fight and that is what we are proposing,
with lot of study we have done over the opponents, trainings,
watching videos, talking with several people... People have no
idea, we were almost an entire month talking to the whole coach
team, our doctor, physiologist, several people, to see what we
could or not do during the fight. I’m very happy for the
result, I was able to use people who are willing to help me on
the technical, physical and theoretical part. And that’s
bringing results. I’m happy, I'm motivated, I love fighting
in the UFC, but people must understand that fight is fight, I’m
doing a fight that preserve my health, technique, and that is
always like this, superior in some moments of the fight. One
day I’ll lose, I’m not unbeatable, but the control
we do have nothing wrong.
What’s
the next step for you at the UFC? Will you defend your belt or
increase in weight?
I
haven’t thought about this. I still have a job to do. Feijão
will fight, Maldonado, Corvo... Now is focus on them until the
work end, then we’ll see what will be done: if I’ll
fight in the category above or put the belt in game. We will
work, try to do our work well in a very different way, intelligent,
so that we can minimize even more the chances of mistake.
And
what did you think of Shogun’s victory?
Shogun
is a young boy, has everything ahead. Everyone has their bad
phase, he went through one and overcame, a time when he wasn’t
so well, had personal problems, injuries, and he, well trained,
has already proven that it is candidate to the title, despite
I’m cheering for Lyoto. Shogun is in the right way, doing
his job... We had the opportunity to be together, he was focused,
but I consider Chuck one of the best fighters of the category.
He is a legend of the UFC and has to be respected, he ended knocked
out, it happens. Fight is fight and we have to relieve and think
about some issues when this happens. Shogun is with congratulations,
he rediscovered himself and will give a lot of trouble in this
category.
Do
you think Liddell should retire after this defeat?
I
don’t think so. Liddell is a reference of the UFC, and,
particularly, if that happens I will be very sad, because he
and Couture are references of the UFC, the face of the UFC. He
has to talk with his team, his family, but I think Chuck is a
fantastic person, a great champion, has to be respected for everything
that has already done and still does... Fight with a guy like
Shogun, a young boy, its difficult... We have to get off the
hat for him, because he already made memorable fights and, whether
being American or not, already gave many joys to everyone who
saw him fighting.
What
did you think of Wanderlei’s statements, commented your
interview to the Sensei Sportv and saying that you’re “cocky”
and that “the war is declared”?
Look,
I have nothing against Wanderlei, I think every person speak
what they want. He can say whatever he wants, but I don’t
consider a declared war, even because I’m very well settled
in relation to what I did and do in the UFC. Regardless of everything,
I want to make very clear to everyone that I didn’t get
here for nothing, I’m no fool. I started like any other
fighter, did a well done job and Wanderlei is a great champion,
deserves all my respect. People say that I commented about training...
I didn’t comment about training, even because this has no
sense. Is a code of honor that all black belt has... People say
what they want. I respect everyone, Demian, Thales, Wanderlei,
all my opponents. I never lacked with respect to anyone, but
also I’m not afraid of anyone. I’m here to fight anyone,
I always fought, but about this, "war"... First, to
have a war there must be disagreements. I’m ok, I’m
not worried about this and people have to stop talking about
me. Talk about me is easy, it’s hard to be me. I don’t
talk about anyone, I respect everyone. Each one has its limitations,
each one has its strengths and weaknesses, but I’m not worried
with this, I’m worried about helping Feijão to his
fight, Corvo and, then, Minotauro’s fight.
Once
again, if I suddenly said something that he said that wasn’t
clear, I guess he understood wrong. We have to respect ourselves,
even because, from where we came, a gossip results in fight.
I like him, when he fought against Chuck I was screaming in the
cheer, went to his locker room when the fight ended, but, finally...
I always cheer for him to win his fights, I’ll pretend that
this never happened, because it’s ridiculous. Sometimes
people make us say about some things, but I never said anything
that was supposedly disrespect to Wanderlei. Indeed, I talked
about Demian, because I think is a bit of pretension Demian commenting
that wants to dispute for the belt. I've never done this, I always
respect everyone. When I fought for the first time in the UFC,
I didn’t ask for the belt, I deserved that. I’ve never
challenged any champion, I think that with this I would be pretentious
and wouldn’t be myself. But I’m ok, each one knows
what to do. I wish all these people who are talking to be happy,
I’m not worried about that. My job is well done and I’m
not worried in doing gossip.
Source: Tatame
|
SILVA
WANTS TO GO BIG BEFORE GOING HOME
The debate on who is the pound-for-pound best fighter in the
world wages on with only a handful of names considered: Anderson
Silva, Georges St. Pierre, Fedor Emelianenko, and Miguel Torres.
But make no mistake, Anderson Silva, despite recent criticism,
still makes a strong case for consideration at the top.
At
UFC 97, Silva set an Ultimate Fighting Championship record by
winning his ninth consecutive fight in the Octagon. The history-making
feat has gotten lost in the shuffle of criticism swirling around
his main event match against Thales Leites in Montreal. Silva
decisively won a unanimous decision over his fellow Brazilian,
but didn't finish, despite having Leites hurt on a few occasions
throughout the five-round bout.
Having
cleared out the UFC's middleweight division, Silva is looking
for superfights in the future.
"I
just think Anderson wants to be involved with the biggest fights
possible and the biggest fights that the UFC can put together.
If it's at 205, 185 or if it's at some catchweight, it doesn't
make a difference," Silva's manager Ed Soares told MMAWeekly.com.
"He's got four fights left on his contract and he wants
to make them the biggest fights possible. He wants to leave a
legacy behind."
A
match-up with UFC welterweight titleholder Georges St. Pierre
has been milling around the rumor mill for some time, but Silva
has fought twice as a light heavyweight and moving up to the
205-pound division to compete for the title isn't out of the
question. A match-up with St. Pierre depends on the Canadian's
performance against top welterweight contender Thiago Alves at
UFC 100 on July 11 in Las Vegas.
Silva's
moving up to challenge for the light heavyweight belt is contingent
of his training partner Lyoto Machida's UFC 98 match-up with
UFC light heavyweight champion and top ranked Rashad Evans.
"If
for some reason Lyoto Machida is not successful on May 23, then
who knows? Maybe we will go after that title, but right now Anderson
feels the 205-pound belt belongs to Lyoto. He just hasn't had
the chance to fight for it yet," said Soares. "A fight
with him and Lyoto is never going to happen. He just wants to
have superfights."
According
to Soares, we can expect to see Silva back in action sometime
this fall which would allow for the winner of The Ultimate Fighter
9 coaches, Dan Henderson and Michael Bisping, also competing
on the UFC 100 fight card, the winner of St. Pierre vs. Alves,
and the winner of Evans and Machida, to all be viable options
for Silva's next opponent and considered "superfights."
Source: MMA Weekly
|
MEGUMI
FUJI'S NEW OPPONENT FOR BIG SHOOTO CARD
Shooto is finalizing its May 10 "The Final Tradition"
event, which celebrates the venerable Japanese fight promotion's
20th Anniversary. The event has undergone recent changes though.
Originally
slated to face Kim Don Hee, undefeated female fighter Megumi
Fuji will instead face Chu Won Bun, according to Japan-MMA.com.
The report indicates that Chu Won Bun is a 35-year-oldl Korean
fighter with a 10-3 record in Muay Thai kickboxing.
Several
Japanese stars highlight the fight card, which is being hailed
as one of Shooto's best ever. Two of the countries most revered
fighters, "Lion" Takeshi Inoue and Rumina Sato will
battle for the promotion's lightweight championship. Takanori
Gomi is looking to return from back-to-back losses, as he face
Takashi Nakakura.
Several
other top fighters are pit against each other throughout the
fight card.
Shooto
"The Final Tradition" Fight Card:
Lightweight
Title Fight:
-"Lion" Takeshi Inoue vs. Rumina Sato
Fly:
Megumi Fuji vs. Chu Won Bun
Welter: Takanori Gomi vs. Takashi Nakakura
Welter: Koutetsu Boku vs. Yutaka Ueda
Welter: Mitsuhiro Ishida vs. Mizuto Hirota
Welter: Kenichiro Togashi vs. Tetsuji Kato
Welter: Yusuke Endo vs. Willamy Chiquerim "Chiqueirinho"
Light: "Wicky" Akiyo Nishiura vs. Takumi Ota
Middle: Zon Yon Ze vs. Takesuke Kume
Source: MMA Weekly
|
The
Status of Chuck Liddell
John Pollock
Fight Network Journalist
On
April 18th, the mixed martial arts world said goodbye to the
career of Chuck Liddell...well kind of.
When
Liddell exited the ring at UFC 97 in front of a raucous Bell
Centre crowd it was the type of applause that was reserved for
a fighter that fans knew would never be returning and a ‘thank
you' more than anything was given to ‘The Iceman'.
The
immediate reaction from Liddell was his popular stock answer
that he would go home and discuss his options and if he retired
it would be in the gym when he couldn't put out the same work
ethic he had demanded of himself throughout his career. However,
after the post show press conference there was little doubt as
to the future of Chuck Liddell with UFC president Dana White
emphatically telling the press that Liddell had entered the octagon
for the final time and would remain with the company in a non
fighting capacity for life.
When
the 4:28 mark of the first round signaled the end of the fight
the emotion I felt during that knockout of Liddell was one of
sadness, seeing this once dominant champion succumb to a punch
that a younger Liddell would have eaten without flinching and
would drown him into a forced retirement. My immediate thought
was that it is time for Liddell to call it a career and not stay
on the stage after the audience has stopped clapping (and you
could easily make the argument that that he did stick around
for one fight too many). In this fight he looked tentative, he
looked slower and his chin was no longer an attribute to his
style but a hindrance.
So
was that the last night in Chuck Liddell's career? People are
on the fence as they look at the on paper value of a Liddell
headlined Pay Per View and cannot fathom UFC president Dana White
not wanting to cash in that gigantic lottery ticket that can
still earn millions.
The
fact is, Chuck Liddell does not want to retire, nor does he want
to bite the hand of the UFC, which has fed him since 1998 and
take a fight with a rival promotion (who would pony up millions
for the services of Liddell and offer a fraction of the tough
fights the UFC could offer).
If
there is one thing fans have a soft spot for, it is nostalgia
and with the UFC running so many Pay Per Views and only having
a finite amount of available main event level draws, it begs
the questions if Dana White would be able to continually turn
down requests from Liddell to fight ‘one more time'. There
is no reason for Liddell to fight other than his own personal
desire - the man is a millionaire many times over and won't have
to work another day in his life, his legacy is cemented amongst
fight fans as one of the key stars of the first generation mainstream
UFC talent and he has the respect of his peers.
Where
I think you could appease both parties is contingent on the outcome
of a heavyweight bout in August between Randy Couture and Antonio
Rodrigo Nogueira. With a Couture win, it would be smart business
to milk one more title fight out of Couture before he himself
calls it a career. However, with a Couture loss you find both
‘The Natural' and ‘The Iceman' in the same position
where they will be shoved towards the side and into retirement
and that is where a farewell fight could do tremendous business
for the UFC.
When
the UFC exploded in 2005, it was largely done on the backs of
Liddell and Couture as the coaches of the inaugural season of
‘Ultimate Fighter' and their bouts in 2005 and 2006 did
record business at the time as the two faces of the UFC.
The
company is poised to generate a ton of money and do a proper
‘farewell fight' where both men go into a December New Year's
bout with the clear indication that this is the last fight for
both men in their careers - win or lose. Liddell has always stated
he is willing to fight at heavyweight and conversely Couture
would be amicable to move down to light heavyweight.
The
two were rumored to fight this year but both men seemed luke
warm on the idea of a fourth fight between seem citing hesitation
in fight fans wanting to see them fight again. Under the right
context - and a retirement fight is that context - this would
do monster business for the UFC, would not be a case of feeding
one of these legends to a young lion and allow both men to go
out on their sword on their terms and ease into retirement.
I'm
not crazy about another Chuck Liddell fight but for a man that
played such a huge part in building the foundation that the current
talent rests upon, I feel if the man wants one more fight that
it is within reason that his wish is granted.
In
an industry that is constantly evolving and seeing new talent
usurping older talent, it would be nice to see a proper retirement
and allow fans to do something they rarely get to do and that
is say ‘goodbye' to two legends at once.
Source: The Fight Network |
CURRAN
VS MIZUGAKI AGREED TO FOR WEC 42
Although World Extreme Cagefighting is focused on its upcoming
June 7 event – WEC 41 features a rematch between featherweight
champion Mike Brown and Urijah Faber – anticipation is already
building for its follow-up in August.
Though
bout agreements have yet to be signed, multiple sources confirmed
to MMAWeekly.com that both Jeff Curran and Takeya Mizugaki have
verbally agreed to face each other in a bantamweight showdown
at WEC 42.
Each
is coming off of a loss at WEC 40 in Chicago, but under vastly
different circumstances.
The
31-year-old Curran is on a three-fight skid, dropping a bout
to Joseph Benavidez at WEC 40 after losing to Urijah Faber and
Mike Thomas. Another loss would likely send him sailing out of
the promotion and contemplating his future in the sport.
Mizugaki
on the other hand, although losing to WEC bantamweight champion
Miguel Torres, elevated his status with his performance. Though
the loss ended a five-fight winning streak, Mizugaki pushed Torres
to the limit over the course of their five-round battle on the
Versus network, immediately putting him on the radar of fans
and fighters alike.
The
promotion has yet to confirm a date or any of the bouts for WEC
42, but Curran vs. Mizugaki is expected to support a headline
bout featuring Torres defending his belt against No. 1 contender
Brian Bowles.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Sergio
Cunha celebrates Shogun’s “present”
After
the victory over Mark Coleman, Sérgio Cunha called Mauricio
"Shogun" and offered his help. Used to work with the
fighter, the former Chute Boxe coach proposed an intensive training
with the Pride champion, and the result come out in short time.
Against the former UFC champion Chuck Liddell, Shogun came well
and showed why he was pointed as the best light heavyweight in
2007.
"I
thought it was a very good fight, the result was phenomenal",
celebrates Cunha, remembering that this was the first victory
of a Brazilian over Liddell, after the American beat five Brazilians
(Wanderlei Silva, Renato Babalu, Vitor Belfort, Murilo Bustamante
and José Pelé Landi). "Liddell won some of
the best fighters in the world and Shogun was superior because
he worked hard and took everything seriously. Maurício
was professional, dedicated himself a lot ", said, gaining
the victory as a birthday present, celebrated on April 20th,
two days after the fight.
"This
was a big present (laughs)", jokes. After two performances
below expectations in the UFC, the coach believes that Shogun
finally "debuted" in the American octagon. "The
American press and fans were left with a bad impression, that
he wouldn’t be able to be the fighter he were in the beginning
of his career, when he won the GP (Pride), especially after the
injuries, but, after recovering from all this, he looked for
the best team and worked very seriously, with the right people,
and restarted his career", praises Cunha.
Source: Tatame
|
Aldo
looking for another knockout at WEC
José
Aldo has confirmed all his potential and it seems that doesn’t
exist opponents able to stop the Brazilian at the WEC. After
knocking the favorite Alexandre "Pequeno" Nogueira
out in his debut, the Nova União athlete demolished other
three opponents, and now will have another difficult challenge
ahead, Cub Swanson, at WEC 41, which takes place at California,
on June 7.
Cub
Swanson, who lost his last fight, has four other fights at WEC,
two by unanimous decision and two for submissions. But Aldo guarantees
that he’ll go inside the American and believes that if he
wins, could get the chance to fight for the belt.
"Definitely
I look forward for that opportunity, I’m working hard and
I’ll get what I want, bring this belt home. I’ve already
studied my opponent’s fights with Dedé (André
Pederneiras) and I’m not going with strategy set, I’ll
use all my skills. Either on the ground or standing, I'm ready
for anything that the fight will bring", finished the fighter.
Source: Tatame
|
Behring
praises: “Anderson was perfect”
Responsible
for Anderson Silva s Jiu-Jitsu trainings trainings, Sylvio Behring
celebrated another victory of the champion in UFC, the ninth
consecutive. The party would be perfect, if it weren’t for
the criticism that Anderson has received after the fight. In
defense of the champion, Sylvio sent an email to TATAME.com,
exalting one more victory and the absolute record of consecutive
victories in the Ultimate. Check the e-mail below:
"The
controversy created each one of Anderson’s fight and his
statements show that most people involved in MMA, being fans,
athletes, fighters, coaches, organizers and the press still need
more time to understand the subject. It isn’t just punches,
takedowns falls and submissions... This sport has much more than
that, and guys like Anderson and Lyoto are misunderstood. Anderson
was perfect, one more time! Showed total superiority over a very
tough opponent (or he wouldn’t be there!) in all aspects,
especially mentally”.
"Put
Thales in that lost defensive and without prospect of reversing
the situation, maintain this control and then win the ninth consecutive
victory... Doing everything that has been trained, with no mistakes!
The guy is on another level. It wasn’t Thales time and it’s
hard to say who is ready for all this pressure. Anderson’s
only mistake is to be authentic, be honest. The people want to
play video game with the idol... He’s a person! He doesn’t
want to please nobody, he respect who deserves his respect and
speak what he thinks. I'm not here to defend anyone or speak
for anyone, I speak for myself and I feel privileged to participate
in the preparation of this fight artist”.
"Being
able to see him train hard, suffering injures, be submitted,
feel pain, get tired, take lots of hits and also give several
shows of technique, creativity and speed is priceless. Not only
him, but (Rafael) Feijão, (Ronaldo) Jacaré, André
Galvão, Maldonado, Thiago Jambo... I'm talking about people,
warriors, partners... None of us, Anderson’s coaches (Rogerão,
Distak, Daniel and Cezário) were expecting a show of the
Spider. We trained to make him ready to defend his belt, preserve
him to get out of the octagon well. He made his homework and
took A+”.
"Doing
more than you need is risk, that has to happen naturally, when
one doesn’t want... It was tough for Thales... But that
doesn’t take his merits and the experience of this dispute
will serve as learning and stimulus for many future victories.
Thales, congratulations! Man, you had a chance and now you know
what you need to get there again and win this belt! Get your
head up and face the goal to get there, you can do it! On this
other side, we’ll continue training harder every day to
extend Anderson’s limits, because the challenges will continue
happening until appear someone prepared to overcome him. Meanwhile…".
Source: Tatame |
Quote
of the Day
“What's
the use of worrying? It never was worthwhile.”
George Asaf
|
Fighters'
Club TV Tonight!
Channel
52
8:00 PM
If
you are not on the Onzuka.com Hawaii Ground forum, you are missing
the latest news from upcoming events, get to rub elbows with
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on any subject you can dream up. Hit the links above to sign
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|
UFC
WIN UNDER HIS BELT, IS DENIS KANG BACK?
A lot is to be said of Denis Kang. His career spans over 10 years
and, in that time frame, he’s accomplished more things than
most fighters could hope for.
With
over 40 professional bouts to his credit, the Canadian native
has consistently competed amongst the best in his weight class,
staking claim as a Top 10 caliber fighter, with victories over
Murilo “Ninja” Rua, Akihiro Gono, and Amar Suloev,
among others in his near 18-month stint with the now defunct
Pride Fighting Championships.
After
back-to-back losses to Yoshihiro Akiyama and Gegard Mousasi,
the Spirit MC heavyweight champion appeared back in form with
two consecutive knockout victories over Jae Young Kim and Marvin
Eastman inside of the first round.
Initially
considering a slot on the UFCs’ first installment of The
Ultimate Fighter, Kang turned down the offer, but with hopes
of always returning back to the promotion in the foreseeable
future. His dream became a reality when he made his debut this
past January at UFC 93 against rising prospect Alan Belcher.
Although Kang was not able to pick up the victory in his debut,
he made a quick turn around and was right back in action with
a shutout victory over Xavier Foupa-Pokam, winning each round
on the judges' scorecards.
“It
feels really good. It feels like I've gotten that first win out
of the way so to speak and now I can just concentrate on being
a dominant force in (the middleweight) division,” he explained
while a guest recently on MMAWeekly Radio.
After
a considerable amount of hype on Kang’s initial move to
the UFC, there were a lot of expectations of him being a crushing
force in the middleweight division, becoming an immediate challenger
to Anderson Silva’s title. However, it’s those same
expectations that have taught him a lesson in defeat.
“What
I realized was that I focus too much on things outside of the
fight itself, on people’s expectations of me, on expectations
of myself, and (I should) just concentrate on fighting the good
clean fights instead of trying to go to a fight with a crazy
bang; fight too hard.”
Now
with the win under his belt, the Vancouver turned Montreal native
was able to relish in the victory in front of another ruckus
sold-out crowd in his own backyard.
“It
was incredible. Fighting in my hometown was cool, but getting
the ‘W’ in Canada in front of what is now my hometown
(Montreal) because I live here now, was really neat. I had a
lot of people I knew watching, a lot of people came from my other
hometown in Vancouver to watch me fight, so it was really cool
to represent.”
Now
settling into his own, Kang is ready to fulfill those expectations
with another commanding performance over a quality opponent.
With four fights within the past nine months, he is eager to
have some time off to relax and hone his skills to be back in
the Octagon, better than ever.
“I
need to take a little bit of a break because I just fought two
big fights back-to-back. It’s not the fights that wear on
you; it’s the training. I need to take a little time off
to rest my body and we’ll see who’s going to be next.
I know I’m not in line for a title shot yet, but there’s
a couple of other 185ers who got wins that night (UFC 97) so
maybe the UFC will line me up with that, but I do need a little
break.”
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Was
Silva's postfight interview lost in translation?
A
few weeks ago, as I interviewed Takeya Mizugaki through a translator,
I thought about how the translator was truly the person in power.
Since his translator is also the manager, if he didn't like what
Mizugaki was saying, he could easily change it. Not knowing Japanese,
I wouldn't have a clue if he did, and neither would Mizugaki,
who doesn't speak English.
According
to Fight Network, that is exactly what Ed Soares, Anderson Silva's
translator and manager, did on Saturday after Silva's uninspiring
win over Thales Leites:
Silva
goes on to say that he believes it was a good fight and that
he can not always make the fans happy. His tone shifts as he
says, "not everyone (referencing the crowd) understands
what they are watching." He continues by telling the people
in attendance that they can boo if they want, they can do whatever
they want, since it is they (the fans) who pay his salary ...
If you recall the translation Ed Soares gives, he says that Anderson
Silva apologizes for his performance, this is not true, Silva
did not apologize. In fact Silva goes back for a second question
and declares that he did his job in the octagon ... Silva reasserts
that he did what was expected of him, then says to the crowd,
"I'm not here to show I'm better or worse than anyone, I
did my job, unfortunately we can't always do what you want, that's
all there is to it."
I've
always been wary of fighters providing their own translators,
because with ignorance of Portugese, Japanese or any other language
spoken in the cage, the fighters, fans and media are at the mercy
of the translator. If what the Fight Network says is true, Soares
was looking out for Silva's business interests in the cage, but
not truly communicating what Silva thought of his own performance.
This is not fair to Silva, or the people who just spent the time
and money to watch him fight.
The
problem with this is that after this fight, many people were
asking why Silva performed as he did, including Dana White. Silva
gave us the answer in his postfight interview, but Soares chose
not to share it.
Source: Yahoo Sports
|
KYLE
MAYNARD, CONGENITAL AMPUTEE, TO FIGHT
One month after his 23rd birthday, Kyle Maynard will fulfill
what has been a lifelong dream. He will compete in his first
amateur mixed martial arts match. The match will take place on
Saturday night in Auburn, Ala., at The Auburn Covered Arena in
an event titled “Auburn Fight Night.”
Maynard,
a congenital amputee with no elbows or knees, burst onto the
national scene when he graduated from Collins Hill High School
in Suwanee, Ga., with a wrestling record of 35-16 in his senior
season and a 3.7 GPA. He is the recipient of a 2004 ESPN Espy
Award for Best Athlete With A Disability and has been featured
on many radio interviews, talk shows and television programs
including The Oprah Winfrey Show and Larry King Live.
Currently
he works as a speaker for the Washington Speaker's Bureau, specializing
in motivational speeches. He is also the author of the memoir
No Excuses: The True Story of a Congenital Amputee Who Became
a Champion in Wrestling and in Life.
In
2004, at the age of 18 while a student at The University of Georgia
and a member of its club wrestling team, Maynard told a USA Today
reporter “I’d love to fight in that” when pointing
to a Randy Couture UFC poster hanging in his dorm room. The Ultimate
Fighting Championship (UFC) is often times referred to as the
pinnacle of mixed martial arts fighting.
Maynard
will get his first opportunity to fight in the sport of on Saturday
night. He will become the first congenital amputee to compete
in an MMA match.
Maynard was originally hoping to fight in his hometown of Duluth,
Ga., nearly two years ago. The fight did not occur due to the
Georgia Athletic & Entertainment Commission denying Maynard
a license to fight. The state of Alabama has no Athletic Commission
that governs the sport.
“I’ve
been promoting fights since 2002, nearly 50 events combined,
and I’ve never seen someone with the drive that Kyle possesses,”
said promoter David Oblas. “I’ve seen Kyle overcome
every obstacle put in front of him and on Saturday, April 25
he will overcome yet another. This is something that Kyle has
wanted to do for years now and something that I’m happy
to help him achieve.”
Maynard
added, “The first question that I receive from everyone
is do I fear for my safety while fighting in the cage? Absolutely
not. Despite my lack of limbs, I can protect myself just as much
as the average fighter. I have been preparing for this fight
for years and I cannot wait. There is no challenge and no goal
that I have worked as hard for as this one. I would like to thank
all of my family, friends and training partners for their support.”
The
Auburn Covered Arena will be configured to fit 7,000 people for
this fight. Auburn Fight Night will consist of both professional
and amateur MMA fights with several Auburn fighters competing
on the event.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
TEAM
TAKEDOWN TAKES UNIQUE ROUTE TO SUCCESS
It’s something of a unique concept in the young sport of
MMA: fighters as all- encompassing, long term investments.
There
are managers who shepherd fighters from the beginning to the
big leagues, carefully building them into viable commodities.
Rarely, though, does it involve much of a financial backing.
Up-and-comers pay their dues and struggle to break through in
their “lean years,” hoping opportunity knocks.
Not
so for brothers Ted and Doug Ehrhardt and Tim McBride, the businessmen
behind Team Takedown. Two years ago, they started the company
with the idea of eliminating the challenges inherent in a young
fighter’s career. They recruited top wrestling talent –
all former NCAA champs or All-Americans – that wanted to
continue competing and were interested in fighting.
Team
Takedown fighters are signed to a seven-year deal, where they’re
given salaries, health benefits, a house, and a car. All training
expenses are paid, including private instruction in each of MMA’s
disciplines.
In
exchange, they give 50 percent of their earnings to the company.
Three
fighters make up the team: Jake Rosholt, Johnny Hendricks, and
Shane Roller. Hendricks and Rosholt are in the UFC after the
WEC’s welterweight and middleweight divisions were shuttered,
while lightweight Roller remains in the lighter weight promotion.
Ted
Ehrhardt says it takes about $450,000 a year to support his fighters,
and estimates the company has invested between one and two million
dollars since the company’s inception.
It’s
a risky investment in a highly unpredictable sport, but it’s
beginning to pay off. Recently, Team Takedown began its third
year of business.
“For
the most part we’re real close to getting everybody to where
we want to get,” said Ehrhardt. “We thought it would
take three years to break even. If we can break even in three,
then we’ve got four years if they’re at the top of
the food chain.”
Ehrhardt
and his partners are avid MMA fans, and run Team Takedown along
with several other ventures like fire sprinklers, cheerleading,
gymnastics, apparel, land development, and engineering.
The
three fighters rank among the many prospects under contract with
Zuffa, and as such, don’t command the same purses as bigger
names. But Erhardt says apart from a slight dip in sponsorship
money, the fight venture has managed to gain steam in a sagging
economy.
He’s
even gone above the original perks of the deal, flying Team Takedown’s
families out to fights and giving merchandise away.
“We
don’t mind, we’re looking at the big picture,”
he said. “We know that money’s going to come at the
end, it’s not going to come now. We could have done it a
lot cheaper if we’d been frugal, but that’s just not
what it was about for us.”
Still,
he admits the investment won’t mature until his fighters
are at or near the top of their divisions.
“We’re
never going to be profitable until one of our guys is in the
upper echelon,” he said. “We figured it out –
say it costs $150,000 a year to take care of one fighter, so
for us to break even, that fighter has to bring in $300,000.
So the fighter would be making money, but we would be breaking
even.”
There
have been recent setbacks. Rosholt was submitted by IFL veteran
Dan Miller in his UFC debut, and Roller recently dropped a TKO
loss to Ben Henderson in his third fight for the WEC.
After
Roller’s loss, Ehrhardt went back home and started studying
about knockouts. Now, he’s got his team incorporating neck
strength exercises to make them harder to rock.
“Our
guys, they’re not going to spend a minute feeling around,”
he said. “They’re coming forward and they’re going
to make contact, and I’d rather see that, see them take
a loss. Fighting (tentatively) is not really MMA.”
There’s
also the ever-present threat of injury, which Team Takedown has
managed to avoid, at least on a major scale.
One
problem Ehrhardt doesn’t have is keeping his fighters motivated.
Where many newcomers lose focus on distractions, his guys seem
to stay on track.
“They
got to where they’re at because of wrestling,” he said.
“Wrestling’s an independent sport. If you’re going
to be a national champion, you’ve got to keep yourself focused.
It didn’t take much from us. I’d like to think I’d
tried to keep them in line, but they’re already there. “
As
with any investment, there’s a chance the return might not
be there, or as big as originally hoped. But so far, Ehrhardt
and his team are optimistic.
“We
just need one of the three to get to the very top, and we’ll
be in good shape,” he said. “That’s always been
the goal, and I think we’ve got a really good shot at it.”
Source: MMA Weekly
|
COULD
LYOTO VS. RASHAD BE ONE FOR THE AGES?
There are very few times in mixed martial arts today where fights
are truly groundbreaking and affect the history of the sport
as we know it.
Anderson
Silva has cemented his own legacy, setting a new precedent with
his last bout at UFC 97, breaking the all time UFC record of
consecutive wins, now standing at a total of nine, and tying
the record of successful title defenses with five, alongside
Matt Hughes and Tito Ortiz. However, one fight in particular
has flown under the radar and undeservedly so.
How
often in our sport can we see two fighters in their prime, both
undefeated, challenging for the UFC's most coveted title? “I
don’t think well ever witness this sort of fight again,”
said Ed Soares regarding the main event of UFC 98, headlined
by challenger Lyoto Machida and light heavyweight champion Rashad
Evans.
Though
neither Evans nor Machida have garnered the sort of star power
of a Chuck Liddell or Randy Couture, Soares feels as though this
is a bout that will impact the sport's history in a way that
will possibly never be seen again on the big stage. “I think
this may the first and only time we see something of this magnitude
in the type of show that the UFC is. Yeah, you might see two
people undefeated in the smaller shows, but for a UFC light heavyweight
title, an undefeated champion versus an undefeated challenger,
when are we ever going to see that again?”
Some
would look towards past performances from the two and analyze
this bout to be expectedly lackluster. As both Evans and Machida's
first few fights went to decision within the UFC, people should
look at they’re last commanding performances to be an indication
of big things on the horizon and an inevitably exciting fight.
“People are saying it’s going to be a boring fight.
I don’t think this fight is going to go the distance. Its
not going to go the distance, someone is going to lose before
the end of the bell. I guarantee it because neither one of these
guys are going to want to come and just squeak out a win.”
Both
fighters having earned a larger fan base with their most recent
performances and the marketing machine that is the UFC, this
fight will be one that is heavily emphasized as a fight that
may very well be once in a lifetime. Evans having garnered the
role as underdog for nearly his entire UFC career against big
name opposition will have his sternest test to date, trying to
prove the critics wrong yet again, and having the unenviable
task of finding a chink in the otherwise unblemished armor of
“The Dragon.” Undefeated records, the title, and pride,
all at stake to create a night of magic.
“I
don’t think it’s going to go to a decision; I don’t
think it's going to go to the score cards," proclaims Soares.
"I think this is one of those specialty fights that people
should get interested in because this fight, technically, should
be one of the biggest fights ever in UFC history.”
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Jacare
vs Miller official
Bout to define Dream middleweight title
Not
having fought since last September, when he was knocked out by
Gegard Mousasi in the Dream GP final, Ronaldo Jacare returns
to the ring May 26 to face Jason Miller for the Japanese organization’s
middleweight belt.
At
the moment the belt has no owner, as Mousasi opted to leave the
category to fight as a light heavyweight.
This
will be the second encounter between “Jacare” and “Mayhem.”
In their first meeting, in June of last year, the Brazilian got
the nod from the judges with a unanimous decision, thus making
it past the semifinals of the competition that would define him
as runner-up.
Check
out the provisional card for Dream and stay tuned to GRACIEMAG.com
for further information regarding the event:
Ronaldo
Jacare Souza vs. Jason
Miller
Gegard Mousasi vs Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou*
Gesias Cavalvante vs Tatsuya Kawajiri*
Featherweight
GP – second stage
Norifumi
"Kid" Yamamoto vs Joe Warren
Bibiano Fernandes vs Masakazu Imanari
Yoshiro Maeda vs Hiroyuki Takaya
Abel Cullum vs Hideo Tokoro
*
Bouts not yet made official by the organization
Source: Gracie Magazine |
Toquinho
gets ready for Sakara
Fighter liked Anderson versus Thales bout
Rousimar
“Toquinho” Palhares is already hard at work in preparing
for his August bout with Alessio Sakara, in the UFC.
“I
should fight August 8, against Alessio Sakara. I’m training
hard, putting lots of effort into this fight. I know he’s
a boxer, that’s his strength, but he also knows Jiu-Jitsu
and has great quality both standing and on the ground, he trains
with the American Top Team,” he commented.
As
a middleweight fighter, Toquinho paid close attention to the
match between Anderson Silva and Thales Leites, for the category’s
belt. Despite the criticism surrounding the match, the Brazilian
Top Team fighter approved of it.
“The
fight didn’t go the way everyone imagined it would, but
to me it was good. I liked the fight and seeing the two go at
it. They had great respect for each other. It never goes the
way you think it will but, anyways, it was a great fight,”
he finished.
Source: Gracie Magazine
|
Quote
of the Day
“That
you may retain your self-respect, it is better to displease the
people by doing what you know is right, than to temporarily please
them by doing what you know is wrong.”
William J. H. Boetcker
|
JZ
VS KAWAJIRI, MAYHEM VS JACARE AT DREAM 9
The
Dream promotion in Japan in the past couple of days has announced
a pair of significant fights for its May 26, Dream 9 fight card;
a title bout and a top lightweight contenders fight.
Announced
on Friday, No. 4 ranked lightweight Tatsuya Kawajiri and No.
6 ranked Gesias "JZ" Cavalcante will square off at
Dream 9 to determine a future title challenger for the promotion.
Kawajiri enters the fight having defeated Ross Ebanez at Dream
7 in March, while JZ hasn't competed since a decision loss to
Shinya Aoki at Dream 2 in April 2008.
Dream
event producer Keiichi Sasahara, at a press conference on Friday,
stated that current Dream Lightweight Grand Prix winner Joachim
Hansen would face current No. 1 ranked lightweight Shinya Aoki
at Dream 10 to determine the Dream champion, according to a report
by Nightmare Of Battle. The winner of that bout would then face
the winner of JZ vs. Kawajiri at the promotion's year-end extravaganza
on New Year's Eve in his first title defense.
Also
announced for Dream 9 is a Dream middleweight championship bout
between MTV's "Bully Beatdowns" host Jason "Mayhem"
Miller and Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza. The bout is a rematch
of their Dream 4 bout, in which Jacare scored a unanimous decision
victory.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
EVANS
COMMMENTS ON SILVA AND LIDDELL
UFC light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans can relate to middleweight
champion Anderson Silva, if it’s the case that the record-setting
fighter is bored with his job.
“I’ve
been out there and felt like not even fighting,” he told
MMAWeekly.com. “You never know who’s going to show
up on fight day. You go out there, and that night, you just don’t
feel it. Sometimes you just walk into the arena, and you’re
like, ‘you know what, man? Today, I just don’t feel
like it. I don’t feel like I got that same spring.’
It just happens like that. Maybe he just woke up and felt like
he was rhyming slow that day.”
On
the other hand, he believes the champion has equal responsibility
with the challenger to create an exciting fight. Silva has gotten
most of the blame for the main event of UFC 97, a fight that
saw the UFC fans turn on him and Thales Leites.
“As
a challenger, you’ve gotta be hungry enough to get after
it, that’s first and foremost, but the champion, you’ve
gotta have a little like, ‘(expletive) do you think you
can take this belt from me?’” continued Evans. “You
gotta be a little pissed at the fact that they even accepted
the fight with you, you know what I’m saying? You’ve
got some nerve to even take this fight.”
Evans
takes his motivation from Georges St. Pierre trainer Firas Zahabi
when looking at an opponent.
“He
said, ‘you need to make an example of him,’” said
Evans. “That’s a very powerful statement. That way,
people don’t want to fight you. They’d rather move
to another weight class to have a title shot. That’s the
kind of fear you should put into somebody as a champion. “
Though
Silva has had no trouble with his weight class, the question
of whether he’ll make things interesting by moving up to
light heavyweight is one that’s in the works right now.
Evans
thinks Silva needs to get in touch with the guy who first came
into the UFC in June of 2006.
“Anderson’s
a big boy, but I think he’s fallen in love with his movement
a little bit,” said Evans. “He don’t have that
dog in him, that hunch on his shoulder like when he first came
into the UFC. ‘They gonna put me against Chris Leben? I’m
gonna murder this dude.’ And he murdered that dude. ‘And
Rich Franklin, Rich Franklin’s a great champion, but he
doesn’t know what being the champion is about.’ He
destroyed him. I think he’s missing that attitude that he
had. I don’t know if he’s bored, or whatever the case
may be, but he just don’t have that same dog in him.”
One
fighter that still has the dog is Chuck Liddell, but it’s
questionable whether his body can back it up. Evans says no.
“It’s
lost for him,” he said. “A season ago, he was just
the man. I don’t know if I took his soul, but it’s
hard to believe things went down for him. It’s sad, because
as a fighter, you get a glimpse of what’s in store for you.
You’re like, ‘Is this how it’s going to end for
me? Am I just going to go out as abruptly as a came in, or am
I going to fade out?’ It’s so hard to see somebody
like Chuck Liddell go out like that because, no matter what,
you got love for Chuck Liddell. Any fight fan, you’ve got
love for Chuck Liddell. But seeing him like that, it was painful
to see.”
Evans
is unsure of how he would respond in the same situation.
“I
would want to go out on top,” he said. “But it’s
always easy to say, 'I wouldn’t do this,' and, 'I’d
be able to go out on top,' because you don’t know how you’re
going to feel. I’m sure Chuck is like, ‘Damn, I still
got it.’ I’m sure he feels like that, but his reactions
are really bad. He has really bad reaction time. He doesn’t
react good anymore. It’s like damn, dude, you might have
to just call it.”
The
light heavyweight champion has a couple more weeks of hard training
before he begins his slow cut to 205. His challenger on May 23,
Lyoto Machida, may be the toughest fight he’s ever had.
Boredom
will not be an option.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
World
Cup Pro: Teammates face off in semis
Finals broadcast live in Abu Dhabi on Sport TV
With
the list of athletes ever more homogenous for the World Cup Pro,
next Arabic weekend (Friday and Saturday, May 1 and 2), organizer
Carlao Santos made a pronouncement on the theme raised by GRACIEMAG.com
this week:
“Athletes
from the same academy face each other in the semifinal. I had
already decided on that, because it happened that a final at
the Brazilian trials didn’t take place.”
To
guarantee it, Carlao will not oblige two athletes from the same
academy on the same end of the bracket to face each other. Rather,
if both make it to the semifinal, the bracket will be changed
to put them against each other.
As
GRACIEMAG editor Marcelo Dunlop recalled, “it’s a system
kind of like soccer’s Copa Libertadores, where matchups
are changed should two teams from the same country make it to
the semis.”
“We
can’t risk not having finals,” claims Carlao, justifying
his case: Abu Dhabi Sport TV, the main network in the region,
is promoting the event with a number of advertisements, and will
broadcast live all the final fights.”
The
competition distributing 111 thousand dollars in prize money
to be held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, has already confirmed
the names of such world champions as Fabio Gurgel, Marcelo Garcia,
Braulio Estima, Rubens Cobrinha, Robson Moura, Rafael Lovato,
among others.
Source: Gracie Magazine
|
Arona:
‘I’ll only know once I fight’
Black belt featured on Brazilian TV
This
Saturday, Sensei Sportv, a popular Brazilian television show
focused on martial arts, will feature a never-before-seen interview
with Ricardo Arona. In the chat, Arona touches on the subject
of his not figuring in the UFC, and makes a point of explaining
any misunderstandings, even asking forgiveness for any statements
he made that could be wrongly interpreted. But the black belt
made it clear the only way to put an end to these matters is
for him to be put in the octagon to fight, not talking.
In
regards to the octagon, Arona said fighting under UFC rules would
be perfect for his style: five-minute rounds allowing him maximum
explosiveness without rest and even allowing the use of elbows
on the ground. But in the interview, the Brazilian lets slip
that he may in fact go to the competing event, Affliction.
Also
in tomorrow’s show, Rodrigo Minotauro helps out in the training
of his old teammate from the days of the BTT, with exclusive
images of Arona and Mino at the Nogueira brothers’ training
center.
Arona’s
assessment apology to Wanderlei Silva and his debatable loss
to Fedor Emelianenko back in the days of Rings were also subjects
brought up in the interview. Arona further reveals that he would
accept a rematch with the Russian, saying that ever since they
faced off in 2000, nobody has taken down so many times or shown
such superiority over Fedor as he has.
Source: Gracie Magazine
|
Rafael
Cavalcante ready for Strikeforce debut
Rafael
"Feijão" Cavalcante hadn’t had much lucky
the past months. With three quick knockouts at EliteXC, the athlete
got the chance to fight for the belt, but the event closed the
doors before the fight happen. Months later, Rafael was scheduled
to compete for the Strikeforce belt, against Renato "Babalu"
Sobral, but, again, his chance for a title will be delayed. However,
Feijão will return to the rings.
Facing
Jared Hamman, the Brazilian will go to win and then fight for
the title. "The expectation is the best possible. We are
training here in Los Angeles and it hasn’t changed much.
He is a striker, but I was already training standing to face
Babalu and I just need to keep training", says the Brazilian,
commenting Jared’s fights, who has ten victories in 11 fights
in his career. "I saw three fights on the internet. He is
tough standing, experienced, comes from (Vladimir) Matyushenko
team and I have to be trained. I’m training as if it was
my last fight and that is how I trained for all. I expect a tough
fight, but I will go out as the winner", says Rafael, waiting
for Babalu. "Let's see if in the next event we already do
this fight... I'm ready”.
Source: Tatame
|
Minotoro
vs. Dion Staring at Jungle Fight
One
of the greatest Brazilian fighters, Rogério "Minotoro"
Nogueira will fight for the first time in Brazil, at May 9th,
at Fortaleza, Ceará, and already knows who will be his
opponent. With 16 victories in 19 fights, Nogueira faces Dion
Staring (15-5), team mate of the Overeem brothers, Sergei Kharitonov
and Semmy Schilt.
“The
training is hard, we’re training well to have good fights
and good results. It is important that we are well prepared for
the team remain in high level", said Minotoro, training
ground with his brother Rodrigo "Minotauro”. "My
brother came from the United States to help me. I’m doing
a lot of sparring with him... I’m broken, he’s beating
me a lot (laughs)”, jokes, hungry for a victory in his first
fight in Brazil. "I think that I’ll go well and I will
get another victory. Being in Brazil, it will have a special
taste", finalized Rogério, waiting for the confirmation
of his next fight in Affliction, which should happen in August.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
G4'S
BLAIR HERTER TALKS UFC 2009 UNDISPUTED
The
marriage of sports and video games has not only been profitable
for both sides, but has helped create a cultural phenomenon.
The
success of Electronic Arts’ John Madden NFL series has far
deeper impacted the pop culture landscape than anyone could have
foreseen. So it’s understandable that numerous companies
are hoping to catch that lightning in a bottle for themselves.
Such
is the hope for UFC 2009 Undisputed, the video game product of
the union between gaming giant THQ and the Ultimate Fighting
Championship.
Shedding
light onto whether the first UFC related game in five years can
live up to its lofty expectations is long time MMA fan Blair
Herter, correspondent for G4’s “X-Play” series,
currently the most watched video game show on television.
“I
feel that it could be,” said Herter of whether or not he
felt UFC 2009 Undisputed could do for MMA what EA’s Madden
series did for pro football.
“The
Madden series took years to kind of get to where it is today,
but they didn’t have the level of involvement that THQ has
right off the bat with the UFC. I think it is something that
could stand to blow up pretty quickly.”
While
the UFC game may not reach the instant sales figures that Madden
has recently, namely selling 4.5 million copies within its first
month of release, Herter feels the success of Undisputed should
be measured in more than just numbers.
“I
think something that’s really going to be important for
UFC 2009 Undisputed, more so than the initial sales figures,
for this to be a success is for the fans to really appreciate
and really get into how the game presents the sport,” stated
Herter.
“For
now, I see it being kind of important that THQ takes as much
care with the property as they can. With the previous UFC games,
they kind of left a bad taste in people’s mouths, and this
is kind of their chance at redemption.”
While
many industries have felt the crunch of the current recession,
for the most part the video game industry – despite some
studio closings and game cancellations – has stayed strong,
as has the UFC’s business.
Herter
sees THQ’s future involvement with the UFC license continuing,
almost regardless of how it does financially.
“I
think that THQ has a real strong relationship with the WWE and
have aligned themselves with creative properties, and I know
this game needs to be a success for THQ as they put a lot of
time, money and effort into it, but I think as a company they’ve
got the WWE thing,” he commented.
“MMA
is only going to get bigger; as long as this (game) doesn’t
bomb completely, I think they’re okay as far as being able
to move forward with this particular franchise.”
Early
indications by Herter has Undisputed being a top-quality product
that will appeal to both MMA fans and non alike.
“Here
at ‘X-Play’, and me specifically, I’ve been kind
of privileged to kind of see this game evolve for over a year
now, and it looked great a year ago and I can’t describe
how awesome it looks now,” he exclaimed.
“They
needed to make the controls so that people who are fans of MMA
can really appreciate what they’re doing and the control
they have over the situation, and also be accessible (to casual
gamers). Having played with the controls myself, I think it will
please both groups of people.”
Herter
should know, not only being deeply involved with the gaming scene,
but having been a fan of MMA for much of his life.
“I’ve
just been a fan forever, and the past five or six years it’s
just exploded,” he said. “I never miss a pay-per-view;
I have a massive barbeque and Blair Butler, Kevin Pereira and
all the guys from G4 come over and we watch the PPVs together
and stuff.”
The
speculation to the impact of THQ’s UFC 2009 Undisputed will
be founded when the game releases for the Sony Playstation 3
and Microsoft Xbox 360 on May 19 in North America and May 22
in Europe.
“Watch
the show, and as a network as a whole, I know we’re trying
to cover MMA more, so keep an eye out,” concluded Herter.
“Check out our coverage on X-Play and G4TV.com for more
details of what I’m talking about here.
“For
the game, I think UFC fans are really going to appreciate being
able to play as their favorite fighters, and I can’t even
begin to describe to you how accurate they’ve made it. Even
people who aren’t a fan of the UFC and MMA should also give
it a try, because it’s a really fun game.”
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Quote
of the Day
"Nearly
all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's
character, give him power."
Abraham Lincoln
|
X-1
Kona
Kekuaokalani Gym, Kona, Hawaii
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Fights Start At 7:30 Pm
135lbs World Title Match
Kana Hyatt Vs Van Oscar Penovaroff
160lbs
Mma Match
Aleka Rincon Vs Dominic Ahnee
145lbs
Mma Match
Dirty Dave Moreno Vs Justin Mercado
Shw
Mma Match
Pat Fuga Vs Mark "Da Bear" Smith
145lbs
Kick Boxing Match
Spencer Higa Vs Peni Taufaao
155lbs
Mma Match
Kevin Soong Vs Ikaika Moore
135lbs
Mma Match
Timothy Meeks Vs Nick Gersaba
145lbs
Mma Match
Levi Agcalon Vs Wally Haina
Xma
Match
Kaeo Myer Vs Malu
145lbs
Mma Match
Daniel Friend Vs Tba
145lbs
Match
Zang Van Vs Tba
140lbs
Girls Match
Shali Padilla Vs Lii Furuta
Source: Event Promoter
|
“Jacare”
vs. “Mayhem” 2 Confirmed
By FCF Staff
Dream has officially confirmed that Ronaldo “Jacare”
Souza and Jason “Mayhem” Miller will fight for the
second time, at the promotion’s upcoming May 26th event
in Yokohama, Japan. The bout will determine Dream’s new
middleweight champion, in the wake of Gegard Mousasi vacating
the title, to pursue ambitions at light-heavyweight.
Souza
(10-2) defeated Miller in the quarter finals of Dream’s
middleweight grand-prix last June, as the renowned jiu-jitsu
controlled much of the action en route to a Unanimous Decision
victory. Souza went on to submit Zelg Galesic with a first round
armbar in the tourney’s semi-finals last September, but
was rendered unconscious by a Mousasi up-kick, during their championship
bout that same night. “Jacare” has not competed since.
Miller
(22-6) had been inactive since facing Souza for the first time,
until returning to competition last week, where the charismatic
fighter submitted Kala Hose in the first round with a rear-naked-choke
at Hawaii's Kingdom MMA.
The
May 26th, Dream card will also feature the second round of the
promotion’s featherweight (139lbs.) grand-prix. The quarter
final bouts will include; Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto vs.
Joe Warren, Masakazu Imanari vs. Bibiano Fernandes, Yoshiro Maeda
vs. Hiroyuki Takaya and Hideo Tokoro vs. Abel Cullum.
Source: Full Contact Fighter
|
Aaron
Riley, Shane Nelson to rematch at UFC 101
Victim of one of the worst stoppages in UFC history, Aaron Riley
will look to avenge his loss to Shane Nelson in a rematch at
UFC 101: Penn vs. Florian on August 8 in Philadelphia.
Riley lost to Nelson in March at UFC 96 a stoppage that was premature.
While even controversial stoppages are debatable, this one would
be hard to argue otherwise.
"These
guys train so hard," a disappointed Dana White said after
the event. "Those two kids have been in camp for six to
eight weeks training, they fly out here to fight, and the fight
gets stopped like that. Listen, people make mistakes all the
time. That was a bad one."
Nelson
out of Hawaii competed on the eight season of "The Ultimate
Fighter" on Spike TV. He was eliminated from the competition
by eventual winner Efrain Escudero.
Besides
his ability to take punishment, Riley is also best remembered
for one of the best fights of 2002, a unanimous decision loss
in his UFC debut to Robbie Lawler at UFC 37.
The
loss snapped a three-fight win streak for Riley and dropped his
record to 27-11-1, while advancing Nelson's win streak to eight
and record to 12-3.
Source: MMA Fighting
|
Fedor
Emelianenko vs. Shinya Aoki announced
 
M-1 Global officially announced today that WAMMA heavyweight
champ Fedor Emelianenko will take on WAMMA lightweight champ
Shinya Aoki in a special exhibition on Wednesday, April 29 at
"M-1 Challenge Presented by Affliction" at the Shinjuku
Face in Tokyo, Japan.
Rules of the exhibition bout have not been determined but MMAFighting.com
has learned that it could either be entirely grappling or a sambo
match with modified rules.
Below
is the official release:
IT'S
OFFICIAL: FEDOR EMELIANENKO AND SHINYA AOKI TO COMPETE IN SPECIAL
EXHIBITION THIS WEDNESDAY DURING M-1 CHALLENGE JAPAN
Amsterdam,
Holland - While WAMMA heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko's
recent two wins over former UFC heavyweight champions Tim Sylvia
and Andrei Arlovski have taken place on American soil, he first
earned his reputation as being the world's pound-for-pound best
fighter while competing in Japan.
Despite
having made a name for himself in Japan, Fedor has not competed
in the Land of the Rising Sun since recording a first round submission
victory over 7'2'' Goliath Hong Man Choi at "Yarrenoka"
on New Year's Eve 2007.
But
Fedor will end his hiatus from active competition in Japan on
Wednesday, April 29 at Shinjuku Face in Tokyo during the third
edition of the 2009 "M-1 Challenge Presented by Affliction."
Fans in attendance will be treated to a special five-minute sparring
exhibition between Fedor when he returns to the ring for a five-minute
special sparring exhibition against WAMMA lightweight champion
Shinya Aoki.
Aoki,
20-4, is one of the leading jiu-jitsu practitioners in all of
MMA with 12 submission wins to his credit. The 25-year old has
forced his opponent to tap out in his last three victories with
a notable heel hook submission over Eddie Alvarez during FEG's
"Dynamite!!" event this past New Year's Eve at the
Saitama Super Arena in Saitama.
Fedor
is a multi-time World Combat Sambo champion who is 30-1 lifetime
in MMA. A former PRIDE heavyweight champion, he has recorded
historic victories in Japan over the likes of former interim
UFC heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Japanese combat
sports icon Kazuyuki Fujita, K-1 standout Semmy Schilt, and Mirko
"Cro Cop" Filipovic, just to name a few.
Complete
rules of the Fedor vs. Aoki sparring exhibition are still being
negotiated, but it will be presented as a special attraction
during a 19-bout event scheduled to feature head-to-head M-1
Challenge matchups between host country Japan vs. England, Team
USA West vs. South Korea, and Spain vs. France.
South
Korea, which upset defending M-1 Challenge Champions Team Imperial
during the '09 M-1 Challenge opener in Tacoma, Wash. in February,
will look to maintain its slim lead over Team USA West in Group
B. Like South Korea, USA West is 1-0 following its upset win
over Brazil Naja in the opener but trails in the first tie-breaking
category of individual victories.
Despite
the strong showing vs. Brazil, USA West team owner Roy Engelbrecht
and Steve Bash have changed three fifth's of their roster, turning
to Affliction veteran Fabio "Negao" Nascimento along
with former EliteXC veterans Giva Santana and Shane Del Rosario.
While
Japan will be making its '09 season debut, England will be making
its M-1 Challenge debut after not fielding a team in 2008. Led
by owner Andy Lillis, the Brits will feature Ian Butlin at lightweight,
Simon Phillips at welterweight, middleweight Matt Thorpe, light
heavyweight Tom Blackledge, and heavyweight Rob Broughton.
Group
A participants Team France and Team Spain will also go head-to-head
with much anticipated matchups taking place at lightweight between
France's Makhtar Gueye vs. Spain's Jose Luiz Aguirre and at light
heavyweight with Christian Mmpumbu of Team France vs. Enoc Solves
of Team Spain.
Additionally,
the event will also feature a "Superfight" between
French striking phenom Karl Amoussou and IFL veteran Kazuhiro
Hamanaka.
Source: MMA Fighting
|
Gina
Carano, honesty, and incestuousness in the media
By Zach Arnold
I could have commented on Dana White’s new interview with
Inside Fighting, but I’m not all that interested in it at
this point.
Instead,
how about we focus on this Gina Carano interview.
I
will focus on one part of the interview that is just too good
to skip over:
Let’s
just say that you were a real free agent and not tied to any
organization. Do you think you would have decided to sign with
Zuffa instead of Strikeforce?
I
think that I would probably pick Zuffa because that’s the
big show, you know? To be a part of that would be amazing, but
you know, here comes Strikeforce and they’ve got this CBS
and Showtime deal and they are working their way up into being
good competition. They have been respectful and haven’t
tried to push it too far in terms of being competitors with the
UFC. They’ve built their company on some good roots and
now they are ready to branch out on Showtime and CBS. But as
of right now, the UFC is the big show, and for a female, it would
be an amazing opportunity.
It’s
an honest answer, but it’s also burying the employer that’s
paying your bills.
And
speaking of paying the bills, take a look at who did the interview
and who reportedly used to pay that person’s bills. Interesting
how silent all the MMA web sites are about issues relating to
conflict of interest, but yet they still want their MMA show
credentials because they should be taken seriously, dammit.
Speaking
of the media, Sam Caplan’s the boss at WAMMA now and John
Morgan of MMA Junkie fame is chairing the rankings committee.
If they keep adding more bloggers to their management structure,
there won’t be many sites left with writers.
Source: Fight Opinion
|
Wagney:
Two rounds with broken hand
Black belt recovering from surgery
A
stalwart in the featherweight division, with 12 wins and a single
loss, Wagnney Fabiano found himself injured seriously in his
last appearance in the WEC, April 5th. In the bout, in which
he overcame also-Brazilian Fredson Paixao, the fighter broke
his hand.
“Unfortunately
I broke my hand (left), had surgery a week ago and I should be
on ice for two months, doing physiotherapy and recovering. I
had a microplate and screws put in my hand,” said Wagnney.
In
his second appearance in the WEC, the Nova Uniao representative
faced off against another Jiu-Jitsu black belt. Wagnney commented
on the battle, and how he broke his hand in the very first round.
“I
was expecting a war in my fight with Fredson, and it was. It
was a real tough fight. Fredson hadn’t fought in two years,
so I didn’t know what to expect from him. I know what I’m
capable of, but I didn’t know what he would bring to the
table. He’s been living in Las Vegas, where they have excellent
wrestlers and strikers. At the start I wanted to get a sense
of how the fight would go, so I avoided going to the ground with
him. Not for fear, but for respect, because he’s an excellent
Jiu-Jitsu stylist. I didn’t want to give him any opportunity.
I noticed that my movement in striking was better than his, so
I took advantage of that. I started kicking and punching and
noticed he got lost. I even had an opportunity to knock him out,
but I broke my hand in the first round,” he recounted.
Even
with his arm in a sling, the fighter doesn’t stop. At this
moment he is in Canada, where he is teaching and participating
in seminars. On the success he has been having in MMA, Wagnney
made a point of thanking a special family for his opportunity.
“We
have to thank God for the Gracie family, who brought this sport
to the United States. When Dana White got it it was all ready,
the Gracies took the style there and now it is what it is,”
he said in finishing.
Source: Gracie Magazine
|
Scrapper
Fest Tournament
BJJ &
Submission Wrestling
Chiefess Kamakahelei Gym, Lihue, Kauai
Saturday, May 16
|
BOBBY
LASHLEY SIGNS WITH MFC, DEBUTS MAY 15
Press Release - courtesy of Maximum Fighting Championships
One of the most dominating up-and-coming fighters in the world
has signed on with the Maximum Fighting Championship.
Former
WWE star Bobby “The Dominator” Lashley will step into
the MFC ring on Friday, May 15 at MFC 21: Hard Knocks live from
the River Cree Resort and Casino and airing live throughout the
United States, Canada, and Mexico on HDNet Fights.
A
chiseled and imposing figure at six-foot-three and 265 pounds,
Lashley is the premier heavyweight prospect in all of mixed martial
arts.
“Bobby
Lashley is a phenomenal athlete and a very impressive fighter
who wants to make a big name for himself in mixed martial arts,”
noted MFC Owner/President Mark Pavelich. “He is a very exciting
prospect and he will get a monumental opportunity to break into
the spotlight at MFC 21.”
Lashley
(2-0) won his debut fight with a 41-second TKO of Joshua Franklin
in December 2008. He is coming off a unanimous decision victory
over Jason Guida in March.
At
Hard Knocks, Lashley will square off against Mike Cook (7-3)
who is trained by legendary mixed martial arts persona Frank
Shamrock.
“We
are excited to partner with the MFC to feature the network debut
of Bobby Lashley on HDNet,” said HDNet Fights CEO Andrew
Simon. “Bobby’s size, name recognition and collegiate
wrestling background make him an unbelievable prospect in the
heavyweight division.”
Lashley
had a successful amateur background in wrestling, twice winning
the NAIA college championship and then winning pair of U.S. Armed
Forces titles. The Junction City, Kansas, native propelled his
amateur abilities into the professional wrestling ranks with
the WWE. During a three-year run, Lashley won three championships
with the WWE, appeared on numerous pay-per-view events, and held
prestigious spots on the WWE programs RAW, Smackdown!, and ECW.
Lashley
is also expected to compete on June 27 against former Pride and
K-1 fighter, Bob Sapp, at an event in Biloxi, Miss.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
The
Case for Diaz vs Jones Jr.
Nick Diaz is arguably one of the best boxers in MMA. Since last
year's training alliance with 2004 Olympic Gold Medalist, Andre
Ward, Diaz has taken his boxing skills to new heights. Last weekends
destruction of MMA "legend" Frank Shamrock was a sign
of things to come for the brash 25 year old.
Boxing
and MMA have been on a collision course for some time now. Many
say boxing is a dying sport and MMA is the future of the fight
game in the U.S..
What better way for boxing to show the world that MMA fighters
are light years behind the practitioners of the 'sweet science'.
A devastating performance by Jones would send a clear message,
"if you want to see striking at it's highest level, you
won't get it in an MMA fight. You'll have to watch boxing instead."
For
MMA fans this is the ultimate test. An experiment to see exactly
where their fighters are in relation to boxing's best. A good
performance by Diaz would be a victory even if he loses. A win
(yes Diaz believes he has a chance) would be the holy grail for
MMA. An early destruction at the hands of Jones would be a somber
lesson, but by no means a devastating one. After all, this is
an MMA fighter challenging a boxer in his own game. Would anyone
have the illusion that a pure boxer could make it in MMA?
Diaz
vs Jones is a win-win for everybody. A spectacle? Maybe. However
we prefer to look at it as an experiment. An experiment we know
that everyone would tune in to.
Source: Gracie Fighter
|
Bigfoot
loses the fight against the CSAC
By Guilherme Cruz
The dispute between Antônio "Bigfoot" Silva and
the California Athletic Commission reached the end of one more
stage last Friday, and the result once again wasn’t favorable
to the Brazilian. After months of hearings in different courts,
Silva lost in the civil justice in the United States. "Unfortunately,
once again wasn’t favorable. It’s a difficult situation,
but I knew that it wasn’t impossible", regrets the
fighter.
Suspended
on charges of using boldenone, after his last fight in EliteXC,
Bigfoot denied the use of any illegal substance and started the
battle, but couldn’t avoid the defeat. "I knew it was
difficult, I'm just a Brazilian fighting against an American
Commission at the American justice, unfortunately, even if I
proved, they wouldn’t admit it. Now it's wait and see what
happens, if they’ll give me a new penalty, increase my punishment,
cancel my fighter license", said the Brazilian, who is suspended
until July 27th. "I’m sad for the fans, who ask me
when I’ll return, but here (United States) isn’t the
only place in the world to fight. Japan has a large market. I
already have a lot of fights here, I like to fight in America,
but doesn’t end there", finalized.
Manager
of the fighter, Alex Davis regrets the decision of the justice,
but ensures that won’t give up. "The Commission has
punished because gave positive of boldenone, but we showed that
it didn’t have boldenone, that had been a false positive
caused by novedex. But the judge of the civil justice turned
to the lawyer and said that Bigfoot would remain guilty because
he used novedex, and that was a drug, which isn’t true.
Novedex is a sold anywhere... This is a decision, at least, bizarre",
argues Alex. "Novedex isn’t at the list of products
banned from any commission and isn’t drug, then we couldn’t
understand the judge's decision. The truth is that is Antônio
Silva against the American system, and perhaps the judge and
the Commission didn’t want to open precedents. Antonio is
still innocent and not even the Commission has proved that he
used boldenone", concluded Alex.
Source: Tatame
|
In
Sync to Host World Muay Thai Championship
Press Release
In
Sync Productions is kicking off its 87th World Championship MuayThai,
which will take place in Hollywood Park Casino. The longest-standing
promoter of Muay Thai in the U.S., In Sync Productions will present
fourteen bouts, featuring American, Japanese, Filipino-American,
Mexican, Russian, Armenian and other fighters. Also on the schedule
are the championships on June 13th at Hollywood Park Casino,
and July 25th at the Las Vegas Hilton.
“Public
interest in Muay Thai has grown tremendously in the last few
years, so has the quality of fighters at international events.
World Championship MuayThai, being the largest competition in
the United States is a good example of a sporting and entertainment
event that shows continuous growth even during an economic crisis”,
said Dennis Warner, a 25-year veteran of the Muay Thai promotion
industry and the CEO of In Sync Productions.
The
main event of the night will feature a Filipino-American fighter
Romie Adanza and his Japanese counterpart Shinichiro “Samurai”
Ohno, who commented: “Even though I am fighting away from
home, I want to win so much more to show what a strong foundation
a Japanese fighter has when it comes to Muay Thai”. Adanza,
whose record shows 5 wins (2 KO) and 1 loss added: “I’ve
been training really hard for the past few months, and, hopefully,
it will show during the fight. I’d like to popularize Muay
Thai in the Filipino community in a way that Manny Pacquiao spread
out the love of boxing”.
Making
the event yet more exciting will be the appearance of World Champions
Baxter Humby and Malaipet, who will be available for free photo
opportunities and autographs to all WCK fans on April 25th.
A
welterweight title fight between Shane “The Hurricane”
Oblonsky and Artem “The Russian Experiment” Sharoshkin
will be another highlight of the night. The bout will be a rematch
of a November 29th fight, which ended in a draw.
Other
bouts are: Miguel Cosio vs Sam Rosen, Joe Sarkissian vs Justin
Greskiewicz, Paul Silva vs Artee Panghongkeon, Tiffany Van Soest
vs Kate McGray, Phil Nunez vs Beto Rodriguez, Chris Mickels vs
Jimmy Hendrickson, Jorge Perez vs Glen Spencer, Cody Clark vs
Scott Venerick, Steve Kuo vs Ricardo Quintardo, David Huerta
vs Mike Madrid, Ruben Lahn vs Jesse Magusen, and Mike Snow vs
Arter Grigoryan. Fights are subject to change and/or cancellations.
About
World Muay Thai Championship
Founded in 1989, by Dennis Warner and In Sync Productions, World
Championship MuayThai is based in Southern California and is
the largest Muay Thai event in the United States. The championships
are held in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Beijing and other cities
and feature top fighters from the U.S., China, Japan, Thailand
and other countries. For more information about WCK please visit
www.kickbox.com
Source: Fight Network
|
FLORIAN
BELIEVES SHERK TOOK HIM TO NEXT LEVEL
by Damon Martin
Big fight experience seems to make all the difference in the
world when it comes to competing for a title in the UFC. When
Kenny Florian steps into his fight against B.J. Penn on Aug.
8, he will draw upon his last chance to compete for the lightweight
title to help him prepare, while having the knowledge that he
can go five rounds with the very best in the world.
Talking
to MMAWeekly Radio, Florian said that despite losing to Sean
Sherk in 2006 during his first opportunity to wrestle the 155-pound
title away from the champion, he knows that fight was what brought
him to this point.
"That
fight, it helped me for the last six fights, tremendously,"
he said. "But I guess if there's one thing for this specific
fight that's going to help me, it's knowing I can go five (five-minute
rounds)."
In
the fight with Sherk, Florian battled one of the toughest cardio
machines in the entire sport of mixed martial arts, and that
experience will only help him as he heads into camp for his second
shot at the lightweight gold.
"I
did five rounds with Sean Sherk at a pretty good pace and I wasn't
doing any strength and conditioning back then. I really felt
like I could have done another three hard ones if I needed to,"
commented Florian. "Now I feel like I just got a new engine
and a new gas tank."
Following
the fight against Sherk, he ramped up his training, added a strength
and conditioning coach, a new nutrition plan, and the results
have been astounding. Florian has won his last six fights in
a row, with five finishes coming by way of submission or TKO.
"I
feel like I can do five ten-times harder rounds and a lot more
output, a lot stronger, a lot smarter, a lot more experience,
and a completely different fighter skill wise too," Florian
stated.
At
the end of the day, he understands that the loss to Sherk was
a learning experience, and he knows what it did for his future
in the UFC's lightweight division.
"That
was just a tremendous fight for me for my career for me to take
it to the next level," he said in closing.
The
next level will take Florian to Philadelphia on Aug. 8 to challenge
UFC lightweight champion B.J. Penn in the main event of UFC 101.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Matt
Brown vs. Anthony Johnson at 'TUF 9 Finale'
A welterweight bout between Matt Brown and Anthony Johnson has
been confirmed for "The Ultimate Fighter 9 Finale"
on June 20 in Las Vegas.
"The Ultimate Fighter 7" winner Amir Sadollah previewed
the fight during last night's "Inside the Octagon"
segment during "The Ultimate Fighter 9."
"They
both have very good recent victories, very good showings,"
Sadollah said. "They both have that explosive fight style
you want to see. As a welterweight, that's I fight I'm going
to want to watch just because I think win or lose, both of these
guys are very relevant in the division."
Johnson
has won his last two against Luigi Fioravanti and Kevin Burns
at Spike TV-televised UFC events. Brown, also on a two-fight
win streak, was last seen in front of hometown fans picking apart
Pete Sell at UFC 96 in Columbus, Ohio.
FIGHT
CARD:
Diego
Sanchez vs. Clay Guida
Nate Diaz vs. Joe Stevenson
Matt Brown vs. Anthony Johnson
Welterweight Finalist #1 vs. #2
Lightweight Finalist #1 vs. #2
Source: MMA Fighting
|
Quote
of the Day
"Generosity
is giving more than you can, and pride is taking less than you
need."
Kahlil Gibran
|
MMA
Hawaii Water Park Extravaganza
Today
Rides, Celebrity signings, Fight matches,
a whole day of fun for $23.99 come on down Saturday April,25
2009
Source: Rodney Aiona
|
Taking
on “Kid”
Greco Roman Wrestler Joe Warren’s Road to “Kid”
Yamamoto
By Steven Marrocco
It took him a while, but Joe Warren found his way to MMA.
Randy
Couture, Dan Henderson, Matt Lindland, and Heath Sims were all
ex-teammates, part of the first wave of Olympic-caliber wrestlers
who made the transition to MMA out of financial necessity. One
by one, the Greco Roman stylists followed Couture into the new
sport.
Except
Joe. The “natural progression” that lead mat warriors
to the cage wasn’t so for him. Of course, he watched his
teammates over the years, thinking it was all brute strength
and no technique.
And
he was a world champion in Greco Roman at 132lbs., a favorite
to win gold at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. So he was doing
just fine, thank you very much.
Until
May of 2007, when the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency suspended Warren
for two years following a second positive marijuana test. Warren
went to arbitration in a last-ditch effort to make the 2007 World
Team Trials, according to ESPN, arguing he had been diagnosed
with depression and needed the drug. The decision was upheld
last January, ruling out the Olympics.
Sims
invited Warren to Team Quest shortly thereafter, and Warren began
to rebuild, a greenhorn once again. This “brutal sport”
was not what he thought.
“It’s
a technique-based sport, which I didn’t know by watching
on TV,” said Warren. “It looked like a lot of hard
hitters and tough guys. But the more I train the more I understand
that. This sport is a lot tougher than it looks.”
Warren
had used technique to become one of the nation’s top wrestlers,
and felt he could adapt and excel in this new world.
And
adapt he would, thrown into the deep end of the pool at Dream’s
featherweight tournament last month in Japan. His first round
match-up: Chase Beebe, World Extreme Cagefighting’s former
bantamweight champion. He had thirty days to prepare.
It
wasn’t a pretty fight, but Warren showed he had samurai
spirit, pressuring Beebe endlessly before a cut won him a stoppage.
All of a sudden, he was a mixed martial artist.
“The
first fight was kind of rough,” said Warren. “They
wanted to put two Americans against each other to knock one out.
I knew I’d win, but I didn’t know how. It wasn’t
pretty, but I got the job done.”
Later,
Sims told him how he really felt about the match-up.
“I
didn’t want to tell you, but I was nervous,” he told
Warren. “As your coach I shouldn’t be doing that. You
were the only person I would throw in a tournament like this.”
Warren
doesn’t consider himself an especially quick learner. He
has, however, had a lifetime of high-pressure competitive experience,
which makes him a dark horse.
“These
guys have no [expletive] idea of what I’m about to lay down,”
he said.
Originally,
Warren believed he’d be fighting leglock specialist Masakazu
Inamari in the second round of the tournament. Inamari was 16-6-1,
another gritty veteran and huge mismatch on paper.
Instead,
it’s worse (or better, if you’re Warren). Norifumi
“Kid” Yamamoto, the tournament favorite, is his charge
at Dream 8 on May 23.
It’s
a match-up that exists only in Japan—the fight would never
be sanctioned in the U.S. Yamamoto is 17-1-1 and widely considered
to be one of the top five, if not top three, in the world.
For
a year, former WEC featherweight champ Urijah Faber wanted nothing
more than a fight with “Kid.” He’s 22-2.
But
the Japanese superstar is also coming off an injury, and Warren
is just crazy enough to say: “screw it.”
“It
means nothing to me,” he told FCF. “I’m going
to try and make sure he’s fighting me and not me fighting
him. I’m excited to get a chance to be a world champ quicker
than I thought. I thought I’d probably get him in September,
with a little more training, but I’m confident in my ability.
“I
have a lot of things to watch out for with him. I think it’s
a good match-up for me. He’s a little smaller than me, and
hasn’t fought for a while. I’m going to go through
that guy like a sledgehammer.”
He’s
enlisted none other than Urijah Faber to help him prepare.
“[Faber]
has trained to beat this guy for a long time,” he continued.
“They’re helping me a lot.”
And
if he’s successful in May, he will have adapted well. Really
well.
Source: Full Contact Fighter
|
K-1
5/16 Amsterdam Arena card
By Zach Arnold
Promoted
by K-1 (Sadaharu Tanigawa/Kazuyoshi Ishii) & It’s Showtime
(Simon Rutz)
Badr
Hari vs. Semmy Schilt
Gokhan Saki vs. Tyrone Spong
Melvin Manhoef vs. Stefan Leko
Errol Zimmerman vs. Mourad Bouzidi
Andy Souwer vs. Chahid Oulad Elhadj
Giorgio Petrosyan vs. Faldir Chabari
Drago vs. William Diender
Nieky “The Natural” Holzken vs. Sahin Yakut
Joeri Mes vs. Alviar Lima
Murat Direkci vs. Brian Lo-a-Njoe
Source: Fight Opinion
|
BACK
IN JAPAN, SHAOLIN WANTS TO CONQUER U.S.
by Brian Lopez-Benchimol
Everyone stumbles. Everyone falls. Often at times, people will
tend to remember the more negative aspects of life’s trials
and tribulations, rather than the moments that really define
someone. Those moments, which test a man’s vigor and character
are the type of things that Vitor Ribeiro has had to overcome.
Once
widely recognized as one of the top lightweights in the world,
the Nova Uniao product has had some dramatic changes in his life
occur just in the past year and a half alone. After suffering
his first loss in a near three-year stretch, to Gesias "JZ"
Cavalcante, Ribeiro had sustained an eye injury during the fight,
which would later require retinal surgery.
Though
the severity of the injury was made to be more than it was, due
to the extensive layoff, the injury took only a few months to
properly heal. “Three months, three months (for the injury
to heal). After (the) three months, I start training, and after
those three months I don’t stop more,” explained Shaolin
exclusively to MMAWeekly.com.
After
those three months, Ribeiro took the next year to hone his skills,
and always remained ready to answer the call should a fight be
arranged; however, nothing seemed to materialize until recently.
“One year (I remained) training a lot. I almost fought against
(Hayato) Sakurai last September. I almost fought last May, but
things (didn’t) happen. But now my training is going well
all through 2008, it's only because sometimes it's hard to (secure)
a spot when the show is big, it’s a little bit busy.”
Now
having settled back into the fighting world (after opening his
own gym in downtown Manhattan in New York City, dubbed the “Vitor
Shaolin: Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu School for Modern Martial Arts,”
which now hosts over 100 students since opening this past October)
Vitor will look to build off the success of his last commanding
performance over former Olympic wrestler Katsuhiko Nagata and
his first under the Dream banner, after having debuted for K-1’s
Hero's nearly two years ago.
“I
never fought in Pride, but Murilo 'Ninja' (Rua) told me it’s
almost like Pride, the production, the lights, the music and
everything. I feel very happy, the show looks bigger than Hero's
and all the fans remember me. All the main guys from K-1 come
to me and treat me very well, so it kind of makes you feel comfortable
to go fight, makes you feel like special to go and feel comfortable
to give 100 percent.”
After
beginning his professional career in the United States with the
WFA, Shaolin has enjoyed a lot of success over seas, with wins
over perennial Top 10 lightweights Tatsuya Kawajiri, Mitsuhiro
Ishida and Dream lightweight champion Joachim Hansen. However,
as large of a fan base he carries from Japan, generally the U.S.
fans wouldn’t be able to recognize him off hand. Yet, since
HDNet has begun broadcasting Dream events, Ribeiro is excited
at the opportunity of exposing himself to the masses and gaining
a larger fan base where it counts the most.
“That’s
my goal right now. A big part of my life has been in Japan. I
started fighting in the United States in the beginning, but later
I moved to Japan. There I fought in Shooto and than (traveled
to) England. Right now with my school here in New York, my goal
is to bring fights here to the United States or with HDNet it
can help me, to get the American guys to know me better.”
Now
the inevitable question to be asked, sporting three more fights
on his K-1 turned Dream contract and in light of a desire to
build on a larger American fan base, could a potential trip to
the UFC's Octagon be in the cards for the jiu-jitsu specialist?
“My
first time in K-1 after a year and half, when I saw the main
guys (K-1 promoters), everyone treated me so well, but for sure
one day my contract is going to finish. We’re going to talk
about renewing the contract, but lets see about (other) offers.
Sometimes it’s hard to leave, (Dream is) a huge stage and
(the promoters) treat you so well, why are you going to leave?
So many tough fighters in my division in Japan too, so why are
you going to leave?”
Though
no opponent has been named for his next bout, “Shaolin”
will look to continue his winning ways in order to prove the
naysayers wrong, and affirm his spot once again among the elite
of his division. Whether his future remains in Japan, or a return
to the United States, one thing is certain… he’s back.
For
more information on Vitor Ribeiro and his new gym please visit
his website at www.vitorshaolin.tv
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Henderson,
Le, 'Shogun,' Serra
to get figurine treatment
Dan Henderson, Cung Le, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua and Matt
Serra will lend their likenesses for Round 5-produced collectible
figurines.
The four fighters will appear in the expanded Series 4 scheduled
for release in July. Round 5's first three series featured four
fighters each, but the fourth will now have six.
Already
announced for Series 4 are WAMMA heavyweight champ Fedor Emelianenko
and Gina Carano. There's also a Jason MacDonald figurine in the
works.
Here's
the checklist for the collectors out there:
Series
1
Randy
Couture
Matt Hughes
Quinton "Rampage" Jackson
Tito Ortiz
Series 2
Rich
Franklin
Sean Sherk
Anderson Silva
Wanderlei Silva
Series 3
Andrei
Arlovski
"Big" John McCarthy
Frank Mir
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
Series 4
Dan
Henderson
Cung Le
Mauricio "Shogun" Rua
Matt Serra
Fedor Emelianenko
Gina Carano
Source: MMA Fighting
|
World
Pro JJ with veterans and young revelations
Guilherme Mendes packed and ready to go
The long-awaited day is coming and Carlao Santos is already counting
down. “There are only eight days to go,” announced
the black belt in charge of buttressing the gentle art in the
Middle East referring to the World Pro Jiu-Jitsu Cup, to take
place the coming first and second of May in Abu Dhabi, United
Arab Emirates.
The
competition will be teeming with gi-clad competitors, not just
for the hefty pay out, but because of the technical level of
the participant list, boasting veterans like Fabio Gurgel and
Marcelo Garcia, as GRACIEMAG.com anticipated.
Among
the established dynamos will be those out to capture their place
in the sun. One of them is Guilherme Mendes. The young black
belt from Rio Claro, Sao Paulo, was one of the standouts at the
South American qualifiers in Porto Alegre, between the 21st and
22nd of March. Besides assuring his transport and stay at the
tryouts, Mendes won his first title as a black belt.
The
Jiu-Jitsu stylist is featured in issue 146 of GRACIEMAG (already
on sale) along with his brother Rafael Mendes in the Training
Program section, where both teach a little-known move called
the “kiss of the dragon.”
Days
after having won the South American Tryouts, Guilherme Mendes
spoke of his hopes for the World Pro JJ Cup. “I’m looking
at it like any other competition. I have to prepare myself to
present my best, come competition time I’m not even thinking
about prizes or what the title is, I just focus on winning my
next match,” he stated.
“We’ve
competed since we were 13 years old, when we started, so I believe
our way of thinking about and facing competitions ends up becoming
routine. There’s always that adrenaline, but that’s
essential, it shows how important victory is to you,” said
Guilherme Mendes.
“We’re
keeping up a good pace, always competing and entering all the
important competitions, acquiring more and more experience to
get ever farther ahead,” he finished.
Sign-ups
for the World Pro JJ are open until April 28th. To guarantee
your place send an email to emiratesbjj@hotmail.com. The sign-up
fee is 60 dollars.
Source: Gracie Magazine
|
John
Morgan to Chair WAMMA Rankings Committee
Press Release
Philadelphia,
PA -- The World Alliance of Mixed Martial Arts (WAMMA/www.GoWAMMA.com)
announced Thursday that John Morgan has accepted an offer to
serve as the interim chair of its fighter rankings committee.
WAMMA's
fighter rankings consist of 30-plus of the industry's leading
media members voting on a monthly basis to determine a consensus
top ten at heavyweight, light heavyweight, middleweight, welterweight,
lightweight, featherweight, and bantamweight.
With
the goal of being MMA's equivalent to the Associated Press' Coaches
Poll in College Football, WAMMA's fighter rankings debut exclusively
each month on ESPN.com's MMA Live.
Independent
of WAMMA's corporate officers, the rankings poll has been utilized
to sanction undisputed champions in the heavyweight and lightweight
weight classes with Fedor Emelianenko and Shinya Aoki recognized
as champions in both divisions, respectively.
"While
my position is solely accepted on an interim basis, I do hope
to work closely with (WAMMA Interim COO Sam Caplan) on continuing
to assure both the men's and women's ranking committees are comprised
of the most knowledgeable and committed members of the mixed
martial arts media," said Morgan.
A
voting member in WAMMA's rankings poll since August of 2008,
Morgan is currently the lead staff reporter for the highly-popular
MMA web site MMAjunkie.com and is also a regular contributor
to its Internet radio show "MMA Junkie Radio." The
show can be heard every Monday through Friday at noon ET live
from the Mandalay Bay Race & Sports Book in Las Vegas, NV.
Morgan's
new role with WAMMA comes on the heels of Caplan's recent promotion
from V.P. of Fighter Rankings to its interim Chief Operating
Officer. With the elevation of Morgan, WAMMA continues to operate
with a rankings process that is independent of its corporate
governance.
"Our
intent was to keep the COO position and the rankings chair position
separate from the outset of my promotion," Caplan began.
"However, the recent change in WAMMA's COO occurred a week
before our April rankings were due. There is a lot involved with
administering the fighter rankings and to expect someone to take
on the role with one week's notice was simply not realistic.
"For
the past week WAMMA has discussed the rankings chair position
internally but we refrained from issuing comment until we knew
we could get the right candidate to accept the interim chair
position. I am pleased to say we've found that candidate in John
Morgan, one of the most active and passionate members of WAMMA's
fighter rankings poll."
Displaying
his commitment for the integrity of WAMMA's monthly rankings
poll, Morgan has already recused himself of his status as a voting
member.
"While
my position as interim chair does allow me the option of maintaining
my voting privileges, I have informed Mr. Caplan that in an effort
to maintain complete transparency, I will not be participating
in future polls while I am fulfilling the duties of the position,"
Morgan stated.
Morgan
will preside over a rankings committee that includes such industry
experts as FoxNews.com's Mike Straka, AOL MMA Fanhouse's Michael
David Smith, Yahoo! Sports and ESPN Radio's (Las Vegas) Steve
Cofield, and Franklin McNeil and Jon Anik of ESPN.com's MMA Live
for at least the next three months. However, Caplan indicated
that if he becomes WAMMA's permanent COO that Morgan will be
the leading candidate to be named the permanent chair of the
rankings committee.
Source: The Fight Network
|
After
Liddell, Shogun eyes special rematch
By Guilherme Cruz
Last
Saturday was a special night for the Brazilian fans. Watching
the “underdog” Maurício “Shogun” Rua
knocking the former UFC champion Chuck Liddell out in the UFC
97 co-main event was great, but the Brazilian doesn’t want
to celebrate too much. After the fight, Shogun already thinks
about coming back to training and his next challenge.
“Since
the start I was very motivated, and it was important. I’ve
trained hard, very focused, more prepared physically and mentally,
so I got there ready to show my work and everything I’ve
trained”, says Shogun, pleased to introduce himself to the
American fans. “Actually, I haven’t had fight well
in the UFC, so I knew I needed to show my potential to the American
fans, and it all depended on me. I wasn’t easy, but I could
show them… I’ll train even more to keep this focus”.
Going
to a two weeks trip with his wife to relax, the Brazilian put
his UFC future in his manager’s hands, but gives some tips
to the matchmaker Joe Silva. “Nobody spoke yet (about my
next fight), but my goal is to win the next one. I’m already
focused for the next fight. I’ll fight anyone, but a rematch
(with Forrest Griffin) would be welcome. He’s a good fighter
and it’d be a good fight. I’ll fight anyone, but it’d
be cool to fight him again, I’d love it”.
About
the main event of the evening, Rua doesn’t criticize Anderson
Silva about his performance. “The truth is that Anderson
did the right thing, he fought well and didn’t get too much
exposed. If he goes inside from the beginning, Thales would have
more chances, and Thales waited for Anderson. Anderson managed
his goal, the victory”, finished Shogun, in exclusive interview
to TATAME.com.
Source: Tatame
|
Maynard:
‘I’m a Human Being’
by Brian Knapp
After 23 years, Kyle Maynard has learned to tune out the naysayers.
A
congenital amputee -- the condition left him with no hands, two
rounded stumps at the elbows and two short appendages with deformed
feet at the knees -- Maynard will make his amateur mixed martial
arts debut at an Auburn Fight Night show this Saturday at the
Auburn Covered Arena in Auburn, Ala.
Maynard
had designs on debuting in his native Georgia in 2007, but the
Georgia Athletic and Entertainment Commission refused to sanction
him. Alabama has no governing body to oversee MMA competition,
which cleared the way for his entry into the cage.
“Part
of me is disappointed we had to go this route,” Maynard
said. “I can understand the athletic commission’s point
of view. They have a lot to lose and little to gain in sanctioning
me, but I’m not talking about going out there and competing
against the top 135-pounders in the world. On an even playing
field in amateur competition, I should be able to compete.”
David
Oblas, who also runs the Wild Bill’s Fight Night promotion
in Georgia, put together the Auburn Fight Night event. Maynard’s
opponent will not be revealed until the weigh-in on Friday in
an attempt to short circuit any negative reaction or pressure
he might encounter.
“We
do have an opponent,” Oblas said. “We do have a backup.
The opponent will not be released until the weigh-ins. It’s
someone who’s fought before. We’re trying to keep the
focus on Kyle. The person who gets in there and punches him in
the face is going to make his dream come true.”
Defying
the Odds
Without
the benefit of full arms and legs, Maynard won more than 100
wrestling matches -- 36 as a senior -- at Collins Hill High School
in Suwanee, Ga. His accomplishments drew national media attention,
as he was featured on HBO’s “Real Sports” and
won the 2004 ESPY Award for Best Athlete with a Disability.
Maynard
-- who has also tested his limitations in power lifting competitions
(he set a world record for the modified bench press with a lift
of 360 pounds at the Arnold Fitness Classic in 2005) and organized
football -- trains full-time under UFC veteran and Brazilian
jiu-jitsu black belt Paul Creighton.
A
Renzo Gracie protégé who once fought B.J. Penn
inside the UFC Octagon, Creighton supports Maynard’s decision
to test himself inside the cage.
“Kyle
has had obstacles his whole life,” said Creighton, who plans
to corner Maynard on Saturday. “He’s not doing this
for anyone other than himself. He’s a grown man and should
be able to decide what he wants to do.”
Schooled
by a variety of instructors, Maynard has also worked with Palace
Fighting Championship featherweight titleholder Diego Saraiva
and “The Ultimate Fighter 3” alum Rory Singer. He made
a smooth transition from amateur wrestling to submission grappling
and claims to have medaled in every competition he has entered.
Maynard believes his credentials strengthen his case.
“I
was one win away from being a high school All-American,”
Maynard said. “I’ve set power lifting world records.
People don’t take the time to do five minutes of research.
If you look at my track record, in every competition -- whether
it’s football, wrestling, power lifting or jiu-jitsu --
I’ve had success. I think I can compete and do pretty well.”
Met
with a groundswell of negative public reaction when he made known
his intention to enter MMA back in 2007, Maynard has steered
clear of the blog sites and underground forums that were once
part of his daily routine. He used to use that sentiment as motivation,
but no more.
“It
did motivate me back in 2007 after the commission’s denial,”
Maynard said. “I see the MMA community as an extension of
my family, and hearing that kind of negative sentiment was tough.
I’ve had to completely remove myself from that, from the
underground forums and all the blog sites. It’s not important.
I want to prove I can compete for myself, not anyone else.
“It’s
a tough call,” he added. “When I look at it from the
standpoint of an MMA fan, me going into any kind of pugilistic
sport is going to bring about the kind of feelings that fuel
the fire of the media and uneducated fans.”
Still,
many question whether or not Maynard should be deemed physically
fit for battle. Some claim the prospect of his being injured
in MMA competition might tarnish the sport, which remains in
the early stages of its development.
“Why
should I be allowed to fight? Because I’m a human being,
and I have inalienable rights, same as anyone else,” Maynard
said. “I think it’s fear-mongering for people to say
they think I’m going to send the sport back to the dark
ages.”
Creighton agrees.
“I
don’t know how people can be so negative,” he said.
“To me, it’s from people who hide their faces. People
should learn from it. It’s easy for most people to lay down
and quit when they hit obstacles.”
Oblas,
who befriended Maynard several years ago and has seen him train
and spar, has no qualms about sending him into the cage under
his watch.
“I
have no concerns for Kyle in the cage,” he said. “My
main concern is the public perception of him. So far, some of
it has been positive, some negative.”
“Kyle’s
not new to the sport,” Oblas continued. “He’s
not a fly-by-night fighter. He’s proven to me there’s
no reason to be concerned with his safety. There are a lot of
people around him who love him and who have his best interests
at heart. He’s more prepared than a lot of fighters with
arms and legs. I feel more confident putting Kyle Maynard in
there than I do putting some 0-0 amateur fighters in there. You
see so many who don’t belong in the ring. If he gets injured,
he gets injured.”
The
Third Man
Cam
McHargue, one of the most seasoned referees in the southeast,
will officiate the bout. The 39-year-old has eight professional
bouts under his belt, as well, including a 2001 defeat to EliteXC
veteran Muhsin Corbbrey.
“It’s
just another fight to me and all the same principles will be
in play,” McHargue said via e-mail. “The main thing
that people seem to be worried about with this fight is that
they are under the impression Kyle will not be able to defend
himself because he can’t block punches. There are fighters
out there with fully developed arms and legs that find themselves
in positions where they are taking some shots and the fights
get stopped. A lot of times, even when fighters are blocking
the shots with their arms, the fights get stopped because they
fail to improve position. I think that is going to be the factor
here with Kyle.”
He
thinks Maynard will surprise those who aim to deny him a spot
in the cage.
“The
fact is Kyle can use his arms to block punches to a great degree,
so that really isn’t an issue,” McHargue said. “The
thing that separates Kyle from the majority is his ability to
improve his position. It’s very hard to hold Kyle down in
a fixed position for any amount of time without him escaping
or improving. He is constantly moving.”
The
fight will be contested under traditional amateur rules, which
do not allow knees or kicks to the head of a grounded opponent.
Since Maynard will always be considered grounded, punches to
the head and all strikes to the body will be permitted.
“Do
I believe Kyle is going to get hit? Absolutely, but he’s
not going to get hit any more than any other fighters, and if
Kyle winds up in a position where he cannot defend or is taking
damage, then I will stop the fight just like I would with any
other fighter,” McHargue said. “Something that many
people don’t understand is that Kyle is arguably more qualified
and able to step in that cage than 90 percent of the amateurs
out there fighting MMA in the U.S. today.”
A
Promoter Under Fire
Oblas
himself has faced public ridicule for promoting the fight. The
event will be carried on Internet pay-per-view at www.KyleMaynardFight.com
for $14.95.
“I’ve
always wanted to promote fights that mean something,” Oblas
said. “I’ve always tried to put on good fights. I just
want this to happen for him. Only a few people in your life change
your life. He’s one of those people. Kyle and I are friends.
We’ll be friends before the fight, and we’ll be friends
after the fight. I don’t have a chain around his neck. I
don’t have a gun to his head. It all came about because
Kyle called me on the phone and told me he wanted to fight.”
Maynard
-- who opened the No Excuses Athletics CrossFit Gym in his hometown
back in December -- finds the criticism toward Oblas misguided.
“If
there’s one thing that really upsets me about this, it’s
that people attacked him,” Maynard said. “He’s
been a friend of mine for years and the only one to stand behind
me. He’s legitimized this. He’s doing everything he’d
do in a commissioned state. The fact that people have called
out David on this is pretty pathetic. I came to him.”
Maynard
-- who has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Larry King Live,
ABC’s 20/20 and Good Morning America in the past -- does
not see the bout as a publicity grab on his end, either.
“People
say I’m doing this to get attention. Give me a break,”
he said. “Honestly, I’d rather do this in some back
alley away from all the cameras and media just to test myself.”
Source: Sherdog
|
THERE'S
STILL GAS LEFT IN DAVE MENNE'S TANK
by Mick Hammond
More than once has former Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight
titleholder Dave “The Warrior” Menne been counted out
of the fight game.
After
winning the title in 2001, Menne struggled in his successive
UFC appearances, both initially after claiming the belt and during
a brief return to the promotion in 2006.
Yet
despite his ups and downs, he soldiered on. And after clearing
up long-standing health problems, he appears poised to make a
big time comeback, starting with his most recent win for ESPN
Deportes’ new Bellator FC promotion this past Friday.
“It
felt good,” said Menne of his win over Norman Paraisy in
the first round of Bellator’s welterweight tournament. “I
just got in there, first round, got my bearings back, fought
through it and then pushed through the second and third, and
finished it.
“There’s
not much more to say. I knocked off some rust and kept myself
going and took care of business.”
Healthy
for the first time in years, he was able to overcome previous
issues with stamina and looked solid in his first major outing
back at 170 pounds.
“I
actually felt stronger going into the third than I did the first,”
he explained. “I felt like I had some of my timing back
and I think the experience and keeping my frame of mind continually
looking for openings (were the keys to victory).
“He
was doing a good job at getting in controlling positions, while
I was looking for opportunities. I think I eventually wore him
out trying to hold onto positions by switching to different things.”
While
Bellator has had to shuffle around some of its originally scheduled
shows, all indications currently point to Menne’s second
round fight taking place as planned.
“The
bracket is set up that I’m theoretically supposed to fight
Omar De La Cruz on (May) 15 in Chicago,” he said. “I’ll
probably try to tweak a few things here and there, and come in
bigger, better and stronger.
“I
expect the next round to be that much more exciting and fruitful.”
Healthy,
lighter and showing the form that once made him a champion, Menne
could very well claim another accolade on his road back to the
top.
“Thanks
to RenovationSystems.com, RedRockFire.com, Full Tilt Poker, Tapout,
JesusDidntTap.com, Cowboy Jack’s, World of Tae Kwon Do,
and Circle of Discipline Boxing,” he closed out.
“Thanks
to all the supporters and the fans who tune in and have been
cheering for me.”
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Opinion:
Chuck Liddell's Possible Farewell
by Matt Williams
I have no doubt that this article is going to cause a little
bit of controversy and ruffle some feathers, but I think it needs
to be said. We all saw what happened to Chuck Liddell this past
weekend, suffering his fourth loss in five fights, three of those
by vicious stoppage. All the talk has turned to Liddell retiring,
so much so that Dana White has officially retired Liddell. Do
I think Chuck should retire? Yes, I do. Chuck is done! I repeat...Chuck
is done! The more important question I think we need to raise
is....how long has Chuck been done for? I think it is a lot longer
than you think.
Chuck Liddell is no doubt an incredibly popular figure in MMA,
helping to carry it to its current height. He was a feared striker
for many years, and a longtime UFC Light Heavyweight Champion.
However, contrary to what you have read or heard, Liddell is
not solely responsible for bringing MMA to its current level.
His long-time arch nemesis and twice-over victim, Tito Ortiz,
has just as much if not more claim to carrying MMA to its current
heights. Ortiz carried the UFC through the "Dark Ages"
of the UFC, where the UFC was off pay-per-view and just getting
back on through Zuffa's new ownership. Can you imagine how things
might've played out if Tito Ortiz had not been LHW Champion during
this time? Yes, Ortiz ducked Liddell...but Ortiz also made people
watch the sport, whether you loved him or hated him. In addition,
I think Ortiz is just as big a star and successful outside the
Octagon as Liddell is.
However,
I digress. This article is not about Liddell and Ortiz. Bottom
line, Chuck has what matters most, and that is two victories
over Ortiz inside the Octagon. UFC 66 was a huge night for the
UFC, and their second bout still holds many records. But Ortiz,
like so many others before him, was tailor-made for Liddell.
Ortiz, a powerful wrestler known for his Ground and Pound and
not known for his willingness to engage on the feet, was the
perfect victim for Liddell. Scan the list of Liddell's most recent
victims and you'll find this style quite prevalent. Ortiz, Randy
Couture (Similar to Ortiz with better stand-up), Renato Sobral
(Submission Wrestler), Jeremy Horn (BJJ Expert), Vernon White
(Seriously?)....these are guys who want to get it to the ground.
None of these guys wanted to exchange with Liddell, and none
of them had the power to seriously test Chuck's chin. Couture
was the only one willing to even try and engage Chuck on the
feet, and it was successful in their first fight and the first
round of their rubber match. However, Randy got caught like so
many before and went crumbling to the mat. Not all that unlike
when Brock Lesnar caught him.
Scan
the rest of the list of Liddell victims....Kevin Randleman (Wrestler),
Murilo Bustamante (BJJ Whiz), Jeff Monson (Grappler)...are you
getting the picture here? Liddell's best wins in my mind are
his victory over Vitor Belfort, dominating Vitor and dropping
him, his win over Guy Mezger even though Guy was getting the
better of him until he got caught, and Wanderlei Silva....although
a much-depleted and past his prime Silva. Not to mention, Silva
had no answer for Chuck's reach and Silva's gung-ho style was
tailor-made for Chuck. Credit Wanderlei for not being KTFO'd.
But
now look at the guys who have recently beaten Chuck....Quinton
Jackson (2x) a vicious striker who has a good enough wrestling
base to take Chuck to the mat. Quinton isn't afraid to trade
with anyone, and has a solid chin. These are the keys to beating
Chuck. The best part is Quinton showed you two ways to beat Chuck....absolutely
batter him for 10+ minutes, take him down and beat him into submission,
or hit him on the chin with solid power and send him to la-la
land. Keith Jardine beat Liddell too. Jardine is probably an
anomaly here, because he is so awkward and I think Liddell took
him too lightly. However, he fought effectively and even knocked
Liddell down. Rashad Evans, formerly known as solely a wrestler,
really impressed. Rashad has great power, and was willing to
engage with Chuck. Evans was far too quick and absolutely smashed
him in the face. By this fight, it was evident Chuck's chin was
not nearly as tough as people gave him credit for. And finally,
Shogun....Shogun came into the fight in shape with a smart gameplan.
He knew he'd have a hard time taking Liddell down and keeping
him there...say what you want, but Liddell has some of the best
takedown defense in MMA and has the best ability and getting
to his feet once down. Shogun was willing to trade and engage....and
Liddell got caught again.
What
does this all add up to? I think if these fights had happened
from 05-07 instead of 07-09, the same results happen. I truly
believe Chuck Liddell was, in some fashion, a protected fighter.
His title reign, filled with impressive KO victories, were against
fighters with styles who had almost no chance at beating Liddell.
It isn't that Liddell would've been done in 06...but I just don't
know if Liddell was ever as good as so many people gave him credit
for. Chuck's been the same fighter for far too long. Wide fighting
stance, looping punches, huge knockout power and waiting for
the right moment to counter-strike. I give Liddell credit for
going out of his element to train with American Top Team...but
it is too little too late.
This
article is not meant to trash Chuck Liddell. Chuck has done a
lot for the sport, and for that I am eternally grateful. His
book was very entertaining. He has cross-over appeal, and is
a true rockstar. I just don't see why people choose to overlook
the obvious in proclaiming Chuck the biggest star MMA has ever
had, and the one fighter who made MMA as popular as it is, because
that simply is not the case.
However,
if Chuck Liddell chooses to continue to fight, that is his choice.
Dana White has no business telling the public that Liddell is
retired. If Chuck wants to continue to fight, he has earned that
right. While I don't think he should continue to fight, that
is not my decision. Chuck just needs to know he is now a gatekeeper
for the LHW division. What interesting fights are left though?
I have no desire to see Liddell v. Silva again. Liddell v. Machida
would just be ugly for both Chuck and the fans. Liddell v. Griffin
would probably be the only fight I'd like to see in that division.
And stop it if you are thinking that Chuck should move up to
HW...they are too big, too strong up there and it would not be
pretty. How about this for a retirement fight...Liddell v. Couture
IV as both men's swan song?
This
is just one writer's opinion, one I know many of you will vehemently
disagree with. I welcome to criticism, as long as you come strong
with valid points. While I appreciate what Chuck has done for
the UFC and MMA...he is not the God many writers on the Internet
have made him out to be since his TKO loss to Shogun. Until next
time.....
Matt
William pens his "The Real Deal" columns for MMAFighting.com.
Source: MMA Fighting
|
Quote
of the Day
"Only
passions, great passions, can elevate the soul to great things."
Denis Diderot
|
MMA
Hawaii Water Park Extravaganza
Tomorrow
Rides, Celebrity signings, Fight matches,
a whole day of fun for $23.99 come on down Saturday April,25
2009
Source: Rodney Aiona
|
Liddell
has one fight left on current UFC contract
Former UFC light-heavyweight champ Chuck Liddell has one fight
left on his current contract with the UFC, trainer John Hackleman
revealed Monday evening to KSBY's Action Sports.
In the interview with the local news channel, Hackleman said
Liddell has not yet made a decision on whether or not he wants
to continue fighting and the deciding factors are if Liddell
still loves the sport and if he is getting hurt in the Octagon.
Judging
from Liddell's comments prior to the fight, his passion for the
sport remains unquestionable, so it may come down to if he feels
he's in danger of putting himself in serious harm if he continues
fighting. The latter is the main reason why friend and UFC president
Dana White has been adamant about Liddell entering retirement.
"I
care about these guys," White said after UFC 97. "I
don't want to see anybody sticking around too long, I don't want
to see anyone get hurt. And in the almost twenty-year history
of the UFC there's never been a death or serious injury...and
you're never going to see Chuck Liddell on the canvas again.
It's done. Tonight was the end of an era. One of the greatest
guys in the sport fought his last fight tonight."
Even
if Liddell moves forward with fighting, will White change his
mind and allow Liddell to fight? Liddell remains as one of the
biggest draws and would be valuable for any outside promotion
looking to compete with the UFC. And to avoid Liddell leaving
after one more fight, would the UFC extend is contract to deter
Liddell from signing with another promotion?
According
to the report, Hackleman says he expects Liddell to make a decision
in the next week.
Source: MMA Fighting
|
"Bully
Beatdown is Fake"
LOL
at the internets. This was the allegation that I read on websites,
because one of our bully's was apparently a stuntman at one time.
I wrote what is commonly referred to as a "troll post"
on one of my favorite internet forums, the UG on mma.tv it goes
as follows-
"
have a confession to make.
Bully
Beatdown is completely fake.
Everyone on it is actors. Everyone involved with the show knows
that it
is fake and we script pretty much everything that comes out of
their
mouth. I have not yet got an executive producer credit, or a
writer's
credit- but I write the bully's dialouge myself. I will be E.P.
on
season two. That's right, our scripted fake show is suppossedly
doing
so well done that we will be getting a season two. Makes my stomach
hurt that I'm selling this slop. I'm sorry."
Now
I could have stopped there, but I had to make this troll EPIC.
continued....
"The
fights are the most complicated portion of the show. The real
trick is, hiring stuntmen that are so skilled that they can make
it
look like we are putting them in 16 oz gloves, headgear and
convincingly get beat up by mixed martial artists. We looked
high and
low, but we found them, and made the show really convincing.
Unfortunately, the people on the internet are much too bright
to be
fooled by this trickery, and have exposed us. This doesn't really
affect us too much, because no one cares what a few back alley
websites
say about our hit MTV show, but I couldn't bear to read the forum
with
all this shame that I'm carrying around. I'm actually considering
turning down the contract to host the next season because of
the
ridicule that I'm recieving on this board and others.
Again.
I'm sorry interwebz. I apologize, sincerely."
Most
people are unaware of what troll post, or how to successfully
make
a troll work, so I'll explain it here...
A
good troll takes a hot button topic that people get emotional
about,and take the side that will get people inflamed the most
about
it, thereby creating more and more buzz for the subject the troll
wants everyone to talk about- which is the whole point of trolling
in
the first place...
The
key for a troll is to start out with subtle sarcasm to get
everyones attention, but by the end start saying ridiculous thing
that
are 180 degrees opposite of how you truly feel. To think that
I give a damn about some what some blowhards on the internet
chatboard think, is freaking RIDICULOUS. I would never turn down
a chance to act wacky on MTV to save my "E-cred" lol
I
was also one step from saying that the Bully's and the fighters
were actually CGI'd and never really fought at all, but that
would've ruined the whole thing.
The
truly bright will pick up on the troll because of the grand finale
ending, but most people read the first few lines and pass judgement.
I
really don't care if a few conspiracy theorists on the internet
think
that bully beardown is fake- anyone with half a brain will tell
you
that you can't fake beating the hell out of someone, and that
happens
on every episode. Do they think we hired a stuntman that can
projectile
vomit on command?
Internet
nitpickers and rollerbladers, who we poked fun at in an
episode have come out claiming the show is fake, but its legit.
Are the
bully's douchebags? Yep? Do they want to be on tv? Hell yes.
They all
really think they can beat my pro-fighter too. Yes, you don't
have to
be on the internet to be completely stupid. Yes, I pwned you
guys.
There's
the Bully Beatdown tell all, right there, let's see if the fruit-booters
put THAT on their website...
Mayhem
Source: My Space
|
Feijao-Hamman
Added to Strikeforce
by Loretta Hunt
Touted Brazilian Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante will face
fellow Pro Elite veteran Jared Hamman in a featured light heavyweight
bout for Strikeforce “Lawler vs. Shields” on June 6
at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis.
Representatives
from both fighters’ camps confirmed the bout to Sherdog.com
on Thursday.
The
matchup replaces a previously announced tilt for the Strikeforce
light heavyweight title between champion Renato "Babalu"
Sobral and Feijao. Sobral withdrew from the bout last week to
prepare for the birth of his second daughter in late May.
Sobral
will defend his title against the winner of the June contender’s
bout.
Cavalcante
(7-1) notched three straight victories in EliteXC and was on
his way to coronation as the promotion’s first 205-pound
champion when the organization all but ceased operations last
October.
A
student under UFC and IFL staple Vladimir Matyushenko, Hamman
(10-1) avenged his only blemish to Poai Suganuma with a firm
TKO in 2:34 for ShoXC last August. Suganama had taken their first
match by a controversial 15-second knockout.
The
June 6 event will be headlined by a middleweight matchup between
former EliteXC 185-pound champ Robbie Lawler and 170-pound kingpin
Jake Shields.
Strikeforce
“Shields vs. Lawler” airs live on Showtime at 10 p.m.
EST.
Source: Sherdog
|
Biggest
discount ends today
First
of three sign-up deadlines for JJ Worlds ends today
Anyone
wishing to participate in the biggest Jiu-Jitsu competition around
and save some cash should keep on their toes. Tomorrow is the
first sign-up deadline established by the International Jiu-Jitsu
Federation for the 2009 World Championship. The event is to be
held from June 4-7, at the California State University Long Beach
gymnasium.
Those
to sign up by tomorrow, April 24, will enjoy the lowest promotional
rate, paying US$ 96.
Anyone
to sign up between the April 25 and May 15 will need to pay US$
111.
And
those who like waiting till the last minute will have to shell
out US$ 126, between the 16th and 26th of May.
Keep
in mind registration is done over the internet, and no exception
will be made to the May 26 final deadline.
Held
alongside the JJ Worlds is the International Open Novice Jiu-Jitsu
Championship, especially for those just starting out in the gentle
art. Sign-up procedures are the same.
Click here to sign up.
And
stay tuned, throughout the month of May GRACIEMAG.com will be
bringing you all the news regarding the Jiu-Jitsu World Championship.
Source: Gracie Magazine
|
Anderson
Silva has lost his smile and Roy Jones Jr. is loving it
By Zach Arnold
The article of the day comes to us from The Los Angeles Times,
discussing Roy Jones Jr. vs Jeff Lacy set for this Summer in
Tampa. However, that’s not what has caught everyone’s
attention:
Jones
maintains he still intends to box Anderson Silva, the Ultimate
Fighting Championship middleweight champ who successfully defended
his title Saturday with a unanimous decision over Thales Leites
in Montreal.
“I
can’t wait for Anderson to get done with his [UFC] contract,
whenever that is — I’ve heard [September] — then
let’s get it on,” Jones said.
Is
this what everything has ultimately come to? Anderson Silva vs.
Roy Jones Jr. in a boxing match instead of Anderson Silva making
money in UFC? If I’m going to use the “losing his smile”
reference, I may as well go all the way with the Montreal flashbacks
— Anderson Silva is screwing Anderson Silva. Does that mean
Anderson’s vaseline usage is the second Montreal Screwjob?
(Montreal will live on forever in the fight game. It’s not
my fault.)
Chuck
Liddell is not retired… just yet
KSBY
in San Luis Obispo is reporting that Chuck Liddell will likely
sit down with his trainer, John Hackleman, and make a decision
about what to do next in his career. According to Hackleman,
Liddell has one fight left on his UFC contract. One final payday
on the big stage?
Source: Fight Opinion
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RIZZO
VS. YVEL, SAPP VS. LASHLEY ON JUNE 27
by Tom Hamliin
Heavyweights Gilbert Yvel and Pedro Rizzo are signed to do battle
on June 27 in Biloxi, Miss. Yvel's manager and trainer, John
Lewis, told MMAWeekly.com the deal was signed Wednesday.
The
two are the co-main event at a new show called "Unarmed
Combat" that's to be held at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum
and broadcast on pay-per-view.
The
event will be headlined by Bob Sapp vs. Bobby Lashley, with vets
Chris Horodecki, Din Thomas, and of all people, Affliction promoter
Tom Atencio.
The
fight is Yvel's first since a shellacking at the hands of Josh
Barnett at Affliction: "Day of Reckoning" in January.
The Dutchman subsequently moved to Vegas from Amsterdam, where
he is training full-time with Lewis.
Rizzo
was himself stopped by Barnett via knockout last July at Affliction:
"Banned."
Source: MMA Weekly
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Bocek
Looking Forward After Impressive Win
Jiu-Jitsu Champion Fought With Torn LCL
By Kelsey Mowatt
In
stark contrast to the post UFC 97 banter which continues to circulate
around Anderson Silva’s underwhelming, victorious performance
against Thales Leites Saturday night, Mark Bocek’s dominant
submission victory over David Bielkheden has not captured similar
headlines. Of course, the lightweight tilt was not included in
the pay-per-view, and neither man has worked his way into the
upper echelon of the 155lb. division yet. But for fans who attended
the Montreal event, or who caught the bout online, they witnessed
that a technical, drawn out, jiu-jitsu battle between two black
belts never unfolded, as Bocek effectively worked his top game
into a first round, rear-naked-choke, tap-out.
“I
think he’s a really tough opponent,” Bocek told FCF,
when asked about the largely one sided win. “I just think
the difference was my training camp. (American Top Team) They
have 30 jiu-jitsu black belts there and half of them are professional
fighters. When it comes to the ground, and when you get tied
up with Marcelo Garcia, you’re ready for just about anyone
around.”
“I
had a couple of them,” Bocek added, when asked about his
game plan for the bout. “A few were stuffing his takedowns,
and trying to work my striking, as I’ve been working a lot
on that. Another one was ground-and-pound and passing. When the
fight started we ended up clinching, so I decided to start working
for a takedown.”
What
makes the win more impressive, however, is that Bocek disclosed
to FCF that the 27-year-old fought Bielkheden with a torn lateral
collateral ligament (LCL), an injury he incurred shortly before
the event.
“It
was horrible,” Bocek noted. “I had a two month training
camp, I had been in Brazil before that training, then really
picked it up. Everything was great, then a week before the fight
I tore my LCL. I was like ‘oh man, what am I going to do?’
At night I was having problems walking, I had a hard time losing
the weight, so I didn’t know what was going to happen. Everything
happens for a reason and I didn’t want to cancel the fight;
it all worked out anyways.”
“I
didn’t really feel anything during the fight; I was just
really aware of it.”
Bocek
(7-2) was quick to credit ATT for his performance, as since the
Canadian fighter began training with the renowned camp, he has
won back-to-back fights against Alvin Robinson, another BJJ black
belt, and Bielkheden. In the past, Bocek’s camps included
training stints with Dan Henderson and Team Quest in Temecula,
California.
“I
just wanted to train at a gym that had a lot of depth at my weight
class and I couldn’t think of a better place than ATT,”
said Bocek. “I already knew some people there, I knew Marcelo
Garcia, and I came from a jiu-jitsu background, so it seemed
like a perfect fit. I was reassured of that as soon as I trained
there for a bit. I’ve been there for my last two camps,
my last two fights, so since about August. I haven’t looked
back.”
With
Saturday’s win, Bocek extended his Octagon record to 3-2,
with both of his losses coming against notable opposition in
Mac Danzig and Frankie Edgar. Bocek will now focus his attention
on rehabbing his injured knee, but after that, he is hoping to
test his evolving game against one of the lightweight division’s
established contenders.
“I
was thinking somebody like a Joe Lauzon, you know? Someone like
that,” said Bocek. “He’s a pretty good name; he’s
done two main events so far, and I think it would be a very exciting
fight.”
Source: Full Contact Fighter
|
Hitomi
Akano’s camp publicly unloads on Cyborg & Chute Boxe
By Zach Arnold
Update
(4/21): Shu Hirata talks to MMA Weekly.
Original
post date: April 16th
Josh
Barnett posted this note on Thursday in English about what took
place last week.
However,
Josh did not touch upon about 80% of what transpired at the weigh-ins
between Cris Cyborg & Hitomi Akano. Shu Hirata and Megumi
Fujii, in an exhausting manner, have issued several articles
in Japanese talking (in excruciating detail) about what exactly
happened all day last Friday and Saturday as far as the behavior
of the Chute Boxe camp in San Jose and what Hirata-san called
dirty tricks by CB, Rudimar (the boss), and their interpreter.
Adding
a unique twist to this story is this Fighter’s Only Magazine
report that Rafael Cordeiro has split from Chute Boxe.
All
I can say is that if Shu or someone ever translates these posts
fully into English and conveys the emotion 100% right, it will
provide you with some incredible reading. Simply put, my summaries
won’t be able to do the articles justice.
First,
let’s address this post by Megumi Fujii. Understand that
shame is still a big part of the Japanese culture, so what she
says here may not necessarily register any emotion out of an
American fight fan but it will with fight fans from other cultures.
Fujii talked about the process that Akano had to go through to
bulk up and what it’s like for every female fighter to have
a responsibility to show pride in their work ethic, both in and
out of the ring. The highlight of Fujii’s article revolves
around allegations of weigh-in stunts according to Akano’s
camp.
A
major point of contention from Akano’s camp is that Chute
Boxe used dirty tricks with the scale. CB had been contending
that they were using a scale from another gym (Frank Shamrock’s
gym?) and that when it came time to getting the right measurement,
they were upset with how everything went down. The ‘dirty
tricks’ portion of the weigh-in situation revolves around
a story that Hirata-san tells in great detail, but Fujii skims
over… There was a point where Cris Cyborg failed to make
weight and according to Akano’s camp, Cyborg and CB were
telling them that they needed her to get weighed in naked and
that in order to do so, her bikini top needed to come off. This
drew a laugh from the Japanese because how could Cyborg’s
bikini top really effect whether or not she made weight? The
CB camp claimed, according to Fujii & Hirata, that the bikini
was wet and that this would impact her weight.
Meanwhile,
in order to do this, the removal of clothing would take place
in a bathroom. The inspector at the weigh-in was a man, so in
order for this to come about a female inspector from the commission
was needed. Fujii didn’t specify this (but Hirata does),
but the implication is the following — when Cyborg was in
the bathroom with the scale, there was a time period in which
there was nobody there to examine because the California commission
was scrambling to get a female rep and then Akano’s camp
would have Shannon Hooper as their rep. Fujii notes that after
all of this chicanery and stripping of clothing that Cyborg still
failed to even come close to making weight.
“Magic!”
Over
the course of several days, Shu Hirata has posted his virtual
diary of what happened took place last week in San Jose. Here
are the links:
Part
1 - Shu talked about how California had the strictest athletic
commission when Armando Garcia was in charge, but now things
are more flexible and it’s a calmer atmosphere for the fighters.
He pointed out that the CSAC didn’t allow foreign fighters
to bring foreign medical test results (unlike Nevada & New
Jersey) for validation and that medical tests had to be taken
in the state. The CSAC was adamant that any fighter over six
pounds in weight could not fight. Shu noted that with Garcia
not in power, the commission is more flexible in regards to fighters
having drinks and powerbars. When Cris Cyborg failed weight,
she ended up failing at 6.6 pounds on the final attempt.
As
noted up above, this is when Shu relayed the story about the
bathroom stunts involving the stripping of clothing and any sort
of potential dirty tricks happening. Even if something did happen,
Cyborg was 150.1 pounds.
Part
2 - Shu focused on his accusations of dirty tricks by Chute Boxe
and how he classified their behavior as unprofessional and childish.
Hitomi Akano was devastated when Cyborg didn’t make weight
because she (Akano) spent all tha time training and traveled
all the way to San Jose just to end up not fighting? It was a
very emotional situation.
Part
3 - Shu says that Chute Boxe was in a dirty tricks mode for the
weigh-in re-attempt. Hirata talked about what an idiot and how
insulting the Chute Boxe interpreter was, laughing at the concept
that removing a wet bikini top would somehow make pounds disappear.
“Is there such a bikini that weights more than 3 kg?”
Part
4 - There was discussion over how seriously Chute Boxe actually
took the second weigh-in attempt and whether or not Cyborg would
cut more weight. According to Shu, CB was pushing the angle that
Cyborg was risking dehydrating herself and therefore creating
a dangerous situation if it got any further. There was more anger
for Chute Boxe’s interpreter.
Part
5 - When the fight was canceled, everyone was surprised. The
business dilemma was that this was Strikeforce’s debut with
Showtime and there was a focus on Cyborg winning to set up a
fight with Gina Carano. Shu discusses his observations about
Rudimar and how CB’s camp kept making excuses for Cyborg
having woman problems, which promptly brought up the question,
“Isn’t Akano a woman, too?” There was a look of
embarrassment. Shu noted that the media was told about the situation
developing for Akano and that what they were prepared to do was
a brave situation, but nobody in the media used the word brave.
Part
6 - Shu said that he doesn’t discuss negotiation details
publicly as far as why Akano accepted the fight under the conditions
she was put in, but he noted the lack of professionalism and
a horrible attitude by Chute Boxe as what should be focused on.
The attitude, according to Akano’s camp, is that Cyborg
never truly cared about making weight or not and that the attitude
was, “Ah, the Japanese fight will never turn down the fight.”
When
the fight happened last Saturday in San Jose, Cyborg used her
power and predictably overwhelmed Akano’s technical ability.
After the fight, Cyborg didn’t check on Akano and didn’t
care, showing a low level of class.
Akano’s
camp thought it was pathetic that Cyborg and Chute Boxe continued
to use the “she had a woman problem” excuse for not
making weight when talking to Gus Johnson in the post-fight interview.
Given
the reputation and name value of Chute Boxe in Japan, Shu focused
on Rudimar and wondered whether or not he understood what kind
of shame there should be for the team’s actions and behavior.
In other professional sports like MLB and the NFL, this kind
of behavior would have not been accepted and MMA is supposed
to be a professional sport, after all.
Source: Fight Opinion
|
SILVA
VS. ST. PIERRE TO THE RESCUE?
by Tom Hamlin
One pay-per-view star fell on Saturday night, and UFC president
Dana White made it so.
Chuck
Liddell was, and is, money in the bank as the economy teeters
and ticket prices are stagnant or moving downward.
But
White insists it’s not about the money, regardless of what
he could get from his friend. We’ve yet to hear from Liddell,
but he’ll likely avoid an ocean of legal paperwork and take
a non-fight job with the promotion.
That
leaves a select few to pick up the slack as the guard continues
to change in the promotion’s talent roster.
Anderson
Silva was never considered a strong pay-per-view draw, and may
never be one after his performances against Patrick Cote and
Thales Leites.
Canadians,
as well as others, put up $4.9 million for UFC 97, making it
one of the top four gates in the promotion’s history. UFC
83, which featured GSP’s rematch with Matt Serra, grossed
$5.1 million, number two to UFC 66: Liddell vs. Ortiz 2 at $5.3
million.
It’s
a little bit of flattery, but with those numbers, White calling
Canada the “Mecca of MMA” isn’t that far off.
Put
Silva against Georges St. Pierre in Canada – particularly
Toronto, where White’s been assured that 60,000 seats is
not crazy – that’s a gatebuster.
By
their reactions Saturday night, it’s clear who will be the
hero and who will be the heel.
“Maybe
we could do that,” White pondered last Thursday. “I’d
like to do it. We’ll see what happens.”
Silva's
schedule is now free. St. Pierre, however, has a roadblock in
his way, and White says it's a big one.
“Let’s
see what happens with Thiago Alves,” he told reporters post-UFC
97. “I’m telling you guys, I think this is a huge,
huge fight for Georges St. Pierre’s career. If he gets by
Thiago Alves, I don’t know who at 170 beats him. Then you
start looking for other ways for him to challenge himself.
“Is
it taking on Anderson at 185 pounds? This kid gets by Thiago
Alves the way he’s been getting through other people, I’ll
throw him in there in the mix for the pound-for-pound. Right
now, I got him at number two.”
St.
Pierre entertained the idea of a coach spot against Silva at
a Q & A session for UFC Fight Club members last Friday. He
was cautiously optimistic.
"I
would have to sit down and see what the opportunity is,"
he said. "How long I have for the fight. Because if I fight
at 185, if I do it, I want to do it well. I want to put some
extra muscle on me, some extra weight. I would have to go on
a I would have to go on a diet for a couple extra weeks, and
it would take me some extra time, but I'm always excited for
a new challenge."
In
an interview with MMAWeekly.com last October, St. Pierre was
a little bolder.
“I’m
not afraid of challenging nobody at 185, I’m very confident
in myself,” he said of the superfight. “I think I can
do pretty well. I think I’m a different fighter than all
the guys who have fought him in the past. There’s only one
way to find out.”
Like
St. Pierre said then, the stars have to be in alignment for his
second superfight in less than a year. He can be sure where Silva
stands.
“That
problem I’m sure is going to get dealt with a little bit
later,” Silva said Thursday.
But
it’s just the kind of match-up that will solidify new stars
– and rescue old ones.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Jacare:
“An awareness raising project is in order”
Alliance chief recalls the days of Rolls, when pain was the game
By Luca Atalla
Dozens
of emails hit my inbox Monday, the day I published the article
“When’s it going to stop,” about athletes from
the same team closing out categories at Jiu-Jitsu championships.
I
promise to gather all the suggestions and opinions and publish
them later this week. But, in the meantime, I’ve put together
the transcription of a conversation I had Monday night with the
leader of Alliance, Romero Jacare.
“Professor,
I don’t know if you’ve read it yet, but I published
an article on GRACIEMAG.com about athletes from the same academy
disputing a championship final…”
“You
read my mind. I was going to call in with my two cents worth
on this matter,” fired back Jacare.
“Well
then, what do you think of such practice?” I asked.
“Folks
think this is a tradition that’s always been around, but
when I started fighting, it was something that never happened.
“I
was always facing [photographer and editorial councilor for GRACIEMAG]
Ricardo Azoury in the finals of championships, and we were both
Rolls’s students. And Mauricao, Roger’s (Gracie) father
would face off against Marcio Macarrao. There was no babying
going on, it was hard-core fighting, and nobody stopped being
friends because of it.
“Now,
there was a time when Professor Helio Gracie asked us to stop
fighting, because we were teaching the folks from other academies.
That was when it all started,” Jacare explained.
I
pondered how it was a time when videotape didn’t exist and
the academy had its secrets. It was quite different from what
it’s like these days, when everyone knows what everyone
else’s game is like.
After
giving this historical context, Jacare positioned himself:
“I’m
against it. Nowadays it doesn’t make sense; the spectators
will never understand why a final match should not take place.
There are people who show up at the arena just to see the black
belt finals, they pay to get in, and then they don’t get
to see the match.
“And
often the two don’t even train with each other, they live
elsewhere, but they fear each other and choose not to face off.
“But
think about it, to me, to put the two in the same bracket, as
you suggested in your article, is not a good solution, because
two athletes from different academies may have super tough semifinal
bouts while the other two, from the same academy, may rest, which
would be boring.
“I
also think it’s impossible for a teacher oblige his students
to face off, or even the Federation, because then they would
stage the match and that would be even worse.
“So,
I feel the only solution would be to work on raising teachers’
awarenes. At the pre-Worlds Alliance camp, I’m going to
have a talk with Fabio [Gurgel] to discuss the matter.
“The
federation should bring together team leaders too, so that everyone
will work towards the same goal. At the end of the day, it would
not be the first time: at last year’s Worlds Sergio [Moraes]
and Bill Cooper made it to the final and fought.
“They
went to the middle, unfolded the Alliance banner, put it away
and then had an awesome match. So I think closing out a bracket
is a fad that’s come back, and we can put an end to it by
working on consciousness-raising.
“I’m
on this campaign with you: I’m going to do whatever I can
to stop it. In the end, that’s the example Rolls passed
on to me,” said the teacher, direct from Atlanta, Georgia.
Source: Gracie Magazine
|
2008
NCAA wrestling champ added
to UWC on April 25
2008 NCAA wrestling champ Phil Davis is set to fight Terry Cohens
at UWC "Capital Punishment" on April 25 in Fairfax,
Virginia, the promotion announced today.
Davis will look to improve his record to 3-0 as a pro and 7-0
overall. His last win was a ground and pound TKO over Josh Green
in January. While attending Penn State, Davis was a four-time
All-American, compiling a record of 116-20. During his 2008 title-winning
year, Davis finished the year 26-1.
The
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu brown belt Cohens (5-2) has fought twice
for the UWC and last October suffered a TKO loss at UWC "Confrontation"
to "The Ultimate Fighter 8" competitor Antwain Britt.
FIGHT
CARD:
Mike
Easton vs. Josh Ferguson (UWC Bantamweight Title)
Ryan Jimmo vs. TBA
Jon "War Machine" Koppenhaver vs. Reshad Woods
Marcus Foran vs. Joey Kirwan
Ron Stallings vs. Damian Dantibo
Jose Villarisco vs. Mikey Lovato
Frank Camacho vs. Binky Jones
Terry Cohens vs. Phil Davis
Kris McCray vs. Ronnie Wuest
Source: MMA Fighting
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Ricardo
Arona wants a chance at the UFC
By Guilherme Cruz
Answering the statements of Dana White, in an interview to TATAME
Magazine’s April issue (remember here), Ricardo Arona defended
himself. After hearing the UFC president, Arona said that didn’t
want to be offensive to the event. "Certainly Dana White
thought I was criticizing him, that I was talking bad about his
event, but it wasn’t. I didn’t want to belittle the
athletes of the UFC, that wasn’t my intention", says
Arona, asking for a chance to show his value in the octagon.
"I never had a direct position from him, I wasn’t contacted
by the Ultimate. Dana White could give me an opportunity to know
if I’m good or not", finalized Arona.
Source: Tatame
|
White
says why Arona is out of the UFC
By Guilherme Cruz
One of the responsible of making MMA one of the biggest sports
around the world, Dana White is the man behind the UFC, biggest
organization in the world. Invited by TATAME Magazine, the president
spoke with Cristiane Ripari and, among other subjects, replied
Ricardo Arona’s interview at #152 edition, when he said
he heard some guys saying he wasn’t in the UFC because they
were scared of him there beating everybody.
Answering
this question, White replied: “I don’t think I have
been worried about Arona beating everybody. Didn’t Arona
just loose? I think Arona just lost recently. There’s no
reason I have been like: “Oh God Arona could beat everybody”,
or… You know, if I thought Arona was gonna beat everybody
he would be here right now”, said White, who already revealed
who he’d like to face in a MMA fight. “I’d fight
Arona first because I think he sucks! (Laughs). That’s a
tough question. I’m not going to answer that one”.
In
the interview, Dana White also spoke about Fedor Emelianenko,
the rivalry with Affliction, why can’t Anderson Silva fight
Roy Jones Jr., the biggest purse ever paid in UFC and more.
Source: Tatame
|
Quote
of the Day
“There
will be a time when loud-mouthed, incompetent people seem to
be getting the best of you. When that happens, you only have
to be patient and wait for them to self destruct. It never fails.”
Richard Rybolt |
O2
Martial Arts Academy's Kaleo Kwan on Sho MMA Card on May 15
We are finalizing
the details of the fight, but Kaleo will be fighting Thomas Diagne
of Cung Le's gym in Fresno, California at the Save Mart Center
on Friday, May 15. We are not sure if his fight will make the
Showtime broadcast, but our fingers are crossed.
ROSA VS.
RUIZ AT SHO MMA ON MAY 15
Strikeforce mainstay Anthony Ruiz will return to action against
Aaron Rosa on the San Jose, Calif., promotion’s next stop
at the Save Mart Center in Fresno on May 15.
The
promotion confirmed the match-up in a press release on Monday.
A match-up between Kim Couture and Meisha Tate was formally announced
as well.
Rosa,
an import from EliteXC, last appeared on manager Monte Cox’s
Adrenaline MMA 1 card, where he defeated Strikeforce vet Ron
Fields by TKO. Prior to that, Rosa was a regular in EliteXC’s
“Challenger” series, where he went 1-2 before the promotion
closed shop. The losses were the sole blemishes in 13 professional
fights.
Ruiz,
31, was last seen at Strikeforce’s second Playboy Mansion
event, where he lost a unanimous decision to Trevor Prangley.
In June, Ruiz lost a bid for the Strikeforce light heavyweight
title against Bobby Southworth, losing by decision. The slide
reversed a November 2007 win over the "TUF" alum by
cut.
Ruiz's
last victory came a month after the rematch loss, where he defeated
Jeremy Freitag by decision at EliteXC: Unfinished Business. He
carries an overall professional record of 21-12.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Hawaiian
Championship of BJJ Results
ADULTS
WOMEN'S GI WHITE BELT
1ST - Melinda Fausto Relson Gracie - Team HK
2ND - Patricia Saling Sydney Silva Bjj
3RD - Jade Rubio Relson Gracie - 02 Martial Arts Academy
WOMEN'S
GI BLUE BELTS
1ST - Correi Rimell Grappling Unlimited
2ND - Tracfie Kuki Gracie Technics - Pedro Sauer Team
3RD - Lara Kitabayashi Gracie Barra Honolulu
WOMEN'S
NO-GI NOVICE
1ST - Melinda Fausto Relson Gracie - Team HK
2ND - Jade Rubio Relson Gracie - 02 Martial Arts Academy
3RD - Patricia Saling Sydney Silva Bjj
WOMEN'S
NO-GI INTERMEDIATE
1ST - Correi Rimell Grappling Unlimited
2ND - Tracfie Kuki Gracie Technics - Pedro Sauer Team
MEN'S
GI WHITE BELT
ROOSTER/SUPERFEATHER
1ST - Spencer Kashiwa Relson Gracie - 02 Martial Arts Academy
2ND - Jaeren Luke Relson Gracie - 02 Martial Arts Academy
3RD - Michael Ishibara Relson Gracie - Team HK
FEATHER
1ST - Gabriel Godinez BJ Penn Academy
2ND - Marcus Wilson Grappling Unlimited
LIGHT
1ST - Chuck Spalding Relson Gracie - 02 Martial Arts Academy
2ND - Todd Kajiwara Nova Uniao
3RD - Shane Yonemura Gracie Barra Honolulu
MIDDLE
1ST - Michael Shinohara Relson Gracie - Main Academy
2ND - Aaron Geer Relson Gracie - Team HK
3RD - Jae Hyong Son Relson Gracie - Team HK
MIDDLE
HEAVY
1ST - Christian Kennedy Mad Tiger Jiu-Jitsu
2ND - Jesus Rubles MACP
3RD - Mike Pohina Grappling Unlimited
HEAVY
1ST - Will Marvos Relson Gracie - 02 Martial Arts Academy
2ND - Zachary Rubio Relson Gracie - 02 Martial Arts Academy
3RD - Kekoa Reyes Gracie Barra Honolulu
SUPER
HEAVY
1ST - Antonio Criado Relson Gracie - Hawaii Kai
2ND - Tyrone Ferreira Nova Uniao
SUPER
SUPER HEAVY
1ST - Moku Kahawai Longman Jiu-Jitsu Kona
2ND - Joshua Laurra BJ Penn Academy
3RD - Usber Juri BJ Penn Academy
MEN'S
GI BLUE BELT
SUPER FEATHER/ FEATHER
1ST - AJ Mendoza Relson Gracie - Main Academy
2ND - Yui Shirako Relson Gracie - Main Academy
3RD - John Hommel Relson Gracie - Kaneohe Team
LIGHT
1ST - Jonathan Tetsutani Relson Gracie - 02 Martial Arts Academy
2ND - Justin Sato Relson Gracie - 02 Martial Arts Academy
3RD - Joseph Wigfall Relson Gracie - Team Papakolea Jiu-Jitsu
MIDDLE
1ST - Christopher Major Relson Gracie - 02 Martial Arts Academy
2ND - Jensen Kona Gracie Barra Honolulu
3RD - Buuby Greff Longman Jiu-Jitsu Kauai
MIDDLE
HEAVY
1ST - Andrew Tamasese Nova Uniao
2ND - Sy Kageyama Brazilian Freestyle Jiu-Jitsu
3RD- Tony Rusoo Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Kailua
HEAVY
1ST - LeBeau Lagmay Redemption Fighters
2ND - Jesse Antolin Relson Gracie - Derizans Jiu-Jitsu
3RD- Landon Rudolfo Gracie Barra Honolulu
SUPER
HEAVY
1ST - Brandon Martin-Frazier Central Oahu Jiu-Jitsu
2ND - Jesse Perrin Brazilian Freestyle Jiu-Jitsu
3RD - Roger Olivera Brazilian Freestyle Jiu-Jitsu
SUPER
SUPER HEAVY
1ST - Roy Onomura Relson Gracie - 02 Martial Arts Academy
2ND - Wayne Midro Relson Gracie - Derizans Jiu-Jitsu
3RD - Troy Ribuca Brazilian Freestyle Jiu-Jitsu
MEN'S
GI PURPLE BELT
ROOSTER/ SUPER FEATHER
1ST - Sean Matsuo Brazilian Freestyle Jiu-Jitsu
2ND - Noah Cronin Relson Gracie - Kaneohe Team
FEATHER/
LIGHT
1ST - Desmond Thain Relson Gracie - Team Papakolea Jiu-Jitsu
2ND - Nick Arnold LongMan Jiu-Jitsu Kauai
3RD - Grant Udagawa Nova Uniao
MIDDLE
1ST - Andrew Marshall Relson Gracie - Main Academy
2ND - Gary Condron BJ Penn Academy
3RD - Russell Strong BJ Penn Academy
HEAVY/
SUPER HEAVY
1ST - Desi Miner Central Oahu Jiu-Jitsu
2ND - T'Jaye Forsythe BJ Penn Academy
MEN'S
GI BROWN BELT
OPEN
1ST - JR Kawamoto BJ Penn Academy
2ND - Gabriel Igawa-Silva BJ Penn Academy
3RD - Rhalan Gracie Relson Gracie - Main Academy
MEN'S
GI BLACK BELT SUPERFIGHT
1ST - Rylan Lizares Gracie Technics - Pedro Sauer Team
2ND - Jair Muniz Brazilian Freestyle Jiu-Jitsu
MEN'S
NO-GI NOVICE
SUPER FEATHER
1ST - Bryson Morita Brazilian Freestyle Jiu-Jitsu
2ND - Jaren Luke Relson Gracie - 02 Martial Arts Academy
3RD - Michael Ishibashi Relson Gracie - Team HK
FEATHER
1ST - Marcus Wilson Grappling Unlimited
2ND - Bryce Shimabukuro Relson Gracie - Kaneohe Team
3RD - Kristopher Sakuma Relson Gracie - 02 Martial Arts Academy
LIGHT
1ST - Todd Kajiwara Nova Uniao
2ND - Bryson Dudoit Brazilian Freestyle Jiu-Jitsu
3RD - Gary Hendrickson Grappling Unlimited
MIDDLE
1ST - Michael Shinohara Relson Gracie - Main Academy
2ND - Keoni Mendoza Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Kailua
3RD - Ryan Miyashita Gracie Barra Honolulu
MIDDLE
HEAVY
1ST - Jesus Robles MACP
2ND - Mike Pohina Grappling Unlimited
3RD - Kalewa Aweau Brazilian Freestyle Jiu-Jitsu
HEAVY
1ST - Will Marvos Relson Gracie - 02 Martial Arts Academy
2ND - Michael Koa-Texeira Kendall Goo Jiu-Jitsu
3RD - Zachary Rubio Relson Gracie - 02 Martial Arts Academy
SUPER
SUPER HEAVY
1ST - Joshua Larrua BJ Penn Academy
2ND - Tyrone Ferreira Nova Uniao
3RD - Pono Moises Relson Gracie - Main Academy
MEN'S
NO-GI INTERMEDIATE
ROOSTER SUPER FEATHER
1ST - John Hommel Relson Gracie - Kaneohe Team
2ND - Spencer Kashiwa Relson Gracie - 02 Martial Arts Academy
3RD - Dax Yokoyama Relson Gracie - Team HK
FEATHER
1ST - Waylen Mata Bullspen
2ND - Yui Shiraki Relson Gracie - Main Academy
3RD - Mark Tajon Bullspen
LIGHT
1ST - Justin Sato Relson Gracie - 02 Martial Arts Academy
2ND - Jonathan Tetsutani Relson Gracie - 02 Martial Arts Academy
3RD - Chuck Spalding Relson Gracie - 02 Martial Arts Academy
MIDDLE
1ST - Kaula Watson LongMan Jiu-Jitsu Kauai
2ND - Aaron Geer Relson Gracie - Team HK
3RD - Jensen Kona Gracie Barra Honolulu
MIDDLE
HEAVY
1ST - Tony Rusoo Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Kailua
2ND - Kimo Aipia Longman Jiu-Jitsu Kona
3RD - Andrew Tamesese Nova Uniao
HEAVY
1ST - Jesse Antolin Relson Gracie - Derizans Jiu-Jitsu
2ND - Zach Pang Relson Gracie - Team HK
3RD - LeBeau Lagmay Redemption Fighters
SUPER
HEAVY
1ST - Brandon Martin-Frazer Central Oahu Jiu-Jitsu
2ND - Jesse Perrin Brazilian Freestyle Jiu-Jitsu
3RD - Jose Mafnas Grappling Unlimited
SUPER
SUPER HEAVY
1ST - Moku Kahawai Longman Jiu-Jitsu Kona
2ND - Usber Juri BJ Penn Academy
3RD - Roger Oliveira Brazilian Freestyle Jiu-Jitsu
MEN'S
NO-GI ADVANCED
ROOSTER / SUPER FEATHER
1ST - Sean Matsuo Brazilian Freestyle Jiu-Jitsu
2ND - Noah Cronin Relson Gracie - Kaneohe Team
LIGHT
/ MIDDLE
1ST - Kyle Olivares Relson Gracie - 02 Martial Arts Academy
2ND - James Dolan Central Oahu Jiu-Jitsu
3RD - Russell Strong BJ Penn Academy
HEAVY
/ SUPER HEAVY / SUPER SUPER HEAVY
1ST - Antonio Criado Relson Gracie - Hawaii Kai
2ND - Bryson Bukoski Gracie Barra Honolulu
3RD - Robert Ostrovich Jesis is Lord
KIDS
KIDS
GI WHITE
6 & UNDER 40-49
1ST - Branston Gaspar Birgado Central Oahu Jiu-Jitsu
2ND - Sol Kitabayashi Gracie Barra Honolulu
3RD - Jonovan Kahoalii BJ Penn Academy
7-8
LIGHT 45-53
1ST - Casey Nitta Relson Gracie - 02 Martial Arts Academy
2ND - Kaizen Nino Relson Gracie - 02 Martial Arts Academy
3RD - Liam Mason Relson Gracie - 02 Martial Arts Academy
7-8
HEAVY 55-61
1ST - Mare Kitabayashi Gracie Barra Honolulu
2ND - Kody Miyamoto Central Oahu Jiu-Jitsu
3RD - Gage Perrin Grappling Unlimited
9-11
LIGHT 55-66
1ST - Gian Fazzari Grappling Unlimited
2ND - Vansyn Dalere BJ Penn Academy
3RD - Vance Miyamoto Central Oahu Jiu-Jitsu
12
LIGHT 77-86
1ST - Joshua Leonard Relson Gracie - 02 Martial Arts Academy
2ND - Kapena Fitzgerald Relson Gracie - 02 Martial Arts Academy
3RD - Maia Panthadara Grappling Unlimited
9-11
HEAVY 96-107
1ST - Micah Nicely Grappling Unlimited
2ND - Simi Tupuola Gracie Barra Honolulu
12-13
LIGHT 97-113
1ST - Keegan Drummond Relson Gracie - 02 Martial Arts Academy
2ND - TJ Fitzgerald Central Oahu Jiu-Jitsu
10-11
HEAVY 116-120
1ST - Craighlen Lapilio BJ Penn Academy
2ND - Kawaihae Chane Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Kailua
13
LIGHT 114-116
1ST - Kade Yamata Gracie Barra Honolulu
2ND - Matthew Dularte Relson Gracie - 02 Martial Arts Academy
13-14
HEAVY 123-130
1ST - Deven Forsynthe BJ Penn Academy
2ND - Shannon Paaaina Gracie Barra Honolulu
3RD - Tayler Fitzsimmons Central Oahu Jiu-Jitsu
15-16
LIGHT 122-130
1ST - Ryan Leong Team MMAD
2ND - Ricky Ridela Gracie Barra Honolulu
3RD - Kolby Chow Relson Gracie - 02 Martial Arts Academy
15-16
HEAVY 143-146
1ST - Kyle Lee Relson Gracie - Team HK
2ND - Jordan Clapson Central Oahu Jiu-Jitsu
3RD - Westen Waltjen BJ Penn Academy
KIDS
GI COLOR BELT
6-8 LIGHT 46-54
1ST - Tristan Baron Central Oahu Jiu-Jitsu
2ND - Anjelynn Baron Central Oahu Jiu-Jitsu
3RD - Jordan Medeiros I & I Training Center
8-10
HEAVY 60-65
1ST - Maven Walker Relson Gracie - Team Papakolea Jiu-Jitsu
2ND - Lokahi Morante Central Oahu Jiu-Jitsu
3RD - Micah Walker Relson Gracie - Team Papakolea Jiu-Jitsu
11
LIGHT 63-76
1ST - Shaedon Lau BJ Penn Academy
2ND - Kiana Lau Grappling Unlimited
10-12
MIDDLE 80-88
1ST - Canaan Rabaino Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Kailua
2ND - Conrad Parks BJ Penn Academy
10-11
HEAVY 105-115
1ST - Kaohi Kapioko Relson Gracie - Team Papakolea Jiu-Jitsu
2ND - Masina Kaohelaulii Team MMAD
3RD - Taaga Tuulima Relson Gracie - 02 Martial Arts Academy
13-14
LIGHT 95-102
1ST - Brandon Lau Grappling Unlimited
2ND - Dylan Apilado Central Oahu Jiu-Jitsu
3RD - Reinton Kawamae Grappling Unlimited
13-14
MIDDLE 107-117
1ST - Bobby Kim Relson Gracie - 02 Martial Arts Academy
2ND - Chasen Auwae Relson Gracie - Team Papakolea Jiu-Jitsu
3RD - Cody Kaneshiro Relson Gracie - 02 Martial Arts Academy
14-15
HEAVY 128-137
1ST - Brandon Saiki Gracie Barra Honolulu
2ND - Nikolai Parks BJ Penn Academy
KIDS
NO-GI NOVICE
6 & UNDER 40-49
1ST - Jordan Medeiros I & I Training Center
2ND - Jonavan Kahoalii BJ Penn Academy
3RD - Braston Gasper-Birgado Central Oahu Jiu-Jitsu
7-9
LIGHT 43-50
1ST - Casey Nitta Relson Gracie - 02 Martial Arts Academy
2ND - Kaizen Nino Relson Gracie - 02 Martial Arts Academy
7-8
MIDDLE 51-61
1ST - Liam Mason Relson Gracie - 02 Martial Arts Academy
2ND - Ty Kaneshiro Relson Gracie - 02 Martial Arts Academy
3RD - Rysan Leong Team MMAD
8-10
HEAVY 67-80
1ST - Star Leong Team MMAD
2ND - Jazzarene Anguay Relson Gracie - 02 Martial Arts Academy
8-10
LIGHT 60-66
1ST - Gian Fazzari Grappling Unlimited
2ND - Vansyn Dalere BJ Penn Academy
10-11
HEAVY 116-120
1ST - Kawaihae Chane Team MMAD
2ND - Caighlen Lapilio BJ Penn Academy
12-13
LIGHT 86-97
1ST - Tj Fitzsimmons Central Oahu Jiu-Jitsu
2ND - Joshua Leonard Relson Gracie - 02 Martial Arts Academy
13
MIDDLE 100-115
1ST - Lavell Manning Relson Gracie - Team Papakolea Jiu-Jitsu
2ND - Matthew Dulatre Relson Gracie - 02 Martial Arts Academy
13-14
HEAVY 122-130
1ST - Deven Forsythe BJ Penn Academy
2ND - Mario Ganuelas Grappling Unlimited
3RD - Shannon Paaaina Gracie Barra Honolulu
15-16
LIGHT 122-125
1ST - Kolby Chow Relson Gracie - 02 Martial Arts Academy
2ND - Ricky Ridela Gracie Barra Honolulu
15-16
HEAVY 143-155
1ST - Edward Thommes Gracie Barra Honolulu
2ND - Kyle Lee Relson Gracie - Team HK
3RD - Westen Waltjen BJ Penn Academy
KIDS
NO-GI INTERMEDIATE
6-8 LIGHT 46-54
1ST - Dayson Maeda Central Oahu Jiu-Jitsu
2ND - Anjelynn Baron Central Oahu Jiu-Jitsu
3RD - Triston Baron Central Oahu Jiu-Jitsu
8-10
HEAVY 65-68
1ST - Maven Walker Relson Gracie - Team Papakolea Jiu-Jitsu
2ND - Lokahi Morante Central Oahu Jiu-Jitsu
3RD - Micah Walker Relson Gracie - Team Papakolea Jiu-Jitsu
10-11
LIGHT 63-76
1ST - Shaedon Quevedo BJ Penn Academy
2ND - Kiana Lau Grappling Unlimited
10-11
MIDDLE 80-85
1ST - Conrad Parks BJ Penn Academy
2ND - Derek "DJ" Chinen Jr. Relson Gracie - Kaneohe
Team
10-12
HEAVY 107-115
1ST - Masima Kaohelaulii Team MMAD
2ND - Micah Nicely Gracie Barra Honolulu
3RD - Taaga Tuulima Relson Gracie - 02 Martial Arts Academy
13
LIGHT 95-100
1ST - Brandon lau Grappling Unlimited
2ND - Dylan Apilado Central Oahu Jiu-Jitsu
13-14
HEAVY 102-114
1ST - Kade Yamada Gracie Barra Honolulu
2ND - Reinton Kawamae Grappling Unlimited
15-16
1ST - Ryan Leong Team MMAD
2ND - Nikolai Parks BJ Penn Academy
3RD - Chase Tantog Team MMAD
KIDS
NO-GI ADVANCED
11
1ST - Canaan Rabaino Team MMAD
13
1ST - Cody Kaneshiro Relson Gracie - 02 Martial Arts Academy
13-14
HEAVY 117-137
1ST - Brandon Saiki Gracie Barra Honolulu
2ND - Bobby Kim Relson Gracie - 02 Martial Arts Academy
SCHOOLS POINTS
SCHOOLS
Brazilian
Freestyle Jiu-Jitsu 23
BJ Penn Academy 57
Nova Uniao 14
Sidney Silva BJJ 3
Bullspen
4
Grappling
Unlimited 42
Gracie
Barra Honolulu 40
I
& I Training Center 4
Jesus
is Lord 1
Kendall
Goo Jiu-Jitsu 2
Central
Oahu Jiu-Jitsu 45
LongMan Jiu-Jitsu Kauai 6
Longman Jiu-Jitsu Kona 8
Team MMAD 22
Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Kailua 11
Mad Tiger Jiu-Jitsu 3
MACP
5
Redemption
Fighters 4
Gracie
Technics - Pedro Sauer Team 7
Relson
Gracie - 02 Martial Arts Academy 92
Relson Gracie - Derizans Jiu-Jitsu 7
Relson Gracie - Hawaii Kai 6
Relson Gracie - Kaneohe Team 12
Relson Gracie - Main Academy 18
Relson Gracie - Team HK 21
Relson Gracie - Team Papakolea Jiu-Jitsu 20
TEAM
POINTS
TEAM
POINTS SCHOOLS POINTS
1ST - Relson
Gracie Association 176
2ND
- Brazilian Freestyle Jiu-Jitsu, BJ Penn Academy, Nova Uniao,
Sydney Silva BJJ 97
3RD
- Central Oahu Jiu-Jitsu, Longman Jiu-Jitsu, Gracie Jiu-Jitsu
Kailua 95
Mad Tiger Jiu-Jitsu, Team MMAD |
SHANE
NELSON
VS. AARON RILEY REMATCH AT UFC 101
A rematch is in the works for UFC 101 on Aug 8 in Philadelphia
as lightweights Shane Nelson and Aaron Riley will do battle for
the second time inside of six months after the pair fought to
a controversial stoppage during their original fight at UFC 96
in March.
The
bout was confirmed to MMAWeekly.com on Tuesday by a source close
to Nelson's camp.
Shane
Nelson came into UFC 96 just one fight removed from his time
on the "Ultimate Fighter", and looked good in the early
going, dropping his opponent with a big shot that put Riley on
the canvas.
As
Riley kicked up to defend himself once on the ground, referee
Rick Fike rushed in to stop the action, declaring Nelson the
winner much to the dismay of the Ohio crowd who saw that the
fight seemed far from over.
"It
wasn't my call," said Nelson after the stoppage. "It
was out of my hands if the ref stopped it. We can do it again."
And
do it again they will as Nelson will get the chance to prove
the first win over Riley was no fluke when the two lightweights
head to Philadelphia for the UFC's first ever event in the state
of Pennsylvania.
UFC
101 will be headlined by the 155lb title fight pitting Nelson's
trainer, B.J. Penn, facing off against top contender, Kenny Florian.
Stay tuned to MMAWeekly.com for more information on this show
as it becomes available.
Source: MMA Weekly |
BRAZILIAN
UP-AND-COMERS ON THE RISE
With a stable of solid fighters on his roster, Ed Soares has
secured some of the top Brazilian talent of the sport today.
With Anderson Silva, the Nogueira brothers, and Paulo Filho fitting
the bill, it's his young and upcoming that he believes will eventually
be able to make a big impact in mixed martial arts and confidently
so, becoming champions.
“One
thing I feel very proud of with our agency is that I really do
believe that every one of our guys has it in them to be a champion,”
explained Soares.
Andre
Galvao is one of those guys. Under contract with Strikeforce,
the promotion's CEO, Scott Coker, “loaned” the jiu-jitsu
ace to participate in the Dream Welterweight Grand Prix. He has
already dispatched of 10-year veteran John Alessio inside of
the first round with an armbar. Though no opponent has been named
yet for the second round of his quest to become the Grand Prix
champion, Galvao should prove to be a serious threat, going for
his fourth win in four tries a professional, all by way of the
same submission, armbar.
Rafael
"Feijao" Cavalcante is a hot prospect in the light
heavyweight division. Previously having been apart of the International
Fight League (IFL) and seemingly a top contender for the light
heavyweight title in the now defunct EliteXC organization, he
was set to make his Strikeforce debut on June 6 against former
UFC contender Renato "Babalu" Sobral. However, MMAWeekly
has learned that the bout has been scrapped due to family issues
with Sobral. Feijao is still expected to make his debut on the
June card with an as of yet named opponent. Beginning his career
as a heavyweight, his lone loss has come via disqualification
and he has an otherwise unblemished record of seven wins with
one loss.
Possibly
the biggest talk of the town when it comes to up and comers,
Junior dos Santos has already made a name for himself in the
heavyweight division in the UFC. Though most would argue that
he can be a top contender immediately, it appears his manager
may have other plans in store for the 25-year-old. “He’s
a couple years away from being in that title contention. He’s
only fought one time on the live pay-per-view. He’s only
fought on the main card once (Fabricio Werdum, UFC 90). He’s
only fought twice (in the UFC). I think that’s a conversation
for down the line.”
Already
making waves after his first-round knockout of perennial Top
10 fighter Fabricio Werdum and his 54 second annihilation of
Stefan Struve, some speculate whether or not somewhere “down
the line” if “Cigano” and “Minotauro”
could ever possibly meet if the two remain on the winning end
of they’re own respective fights? “The way (Junior)
feels, (Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira) is his master. I would believe
that (Junior) will wait until (Antonio) is no longer (in the
UFC) and then he’ll fight for the belt, because it's kind
of like asking to fight your dad.”
Source: MMA Weekly |
MELENDEZ
NOT WAITING AROUND, ASKS FOR ISHIDA
When Gilbert Melendez knocked out Rodrigo Damm in Strikeforce
a couple of weeks back, not only did he reassert his claim to
be the No. 1 contender in the promotion's lightweight division,
but he took a huge step forward in showing the same kind of dominance
that had him ranked among the top three 155-pounders in the world
just a short time ago.
After
suffering a decision loss to current lightweight champion Josh
Thomson, Melendez opened a new school in California, while getting
back to his training roots alongside teammates like Jake Shields,
Nick and Nate Diaz, and others. The result was Melendez absolutely
dominating a quality opponent in Damm, and announcing to the
world that he is back, as well as capturing the Strikeforce interim
lightweight championship.
Prior
to his fight in April, Melendez had been rumored as a possible
candidate to exit Strikeforce after his current deal expired,
but according to the California-based fighter, he plans on staying
with the promotion for the foreseeable future.
"I
think for the immediate future, yes, but we've got to work some
things out," Melendez told MMAWeekly Radio recently. "Me
and Scott Coker have communicated well, he's been a really good
guy. I'm really happy with them and I think I'm going to continue
my future with them, and for a couple of fights right now and
see how things go."
Being
able to promote his name and career has been a big part of what
Melendez was searching for when speaking about promotions, but
with Strikeforce now on Showtime and later this year with CBS,
it's the sky's the limit for potential exposure.
"You've
got to brand yourself as a person and as a fighter in the industry,"
he commented. "I think I've had a lot of great fights that
I've fought, and I've proven a lot to the hardcore fans, and
now I need the world to see me. I need the nation to see me,
and give me some respect."
Originally
scheduled to meet champion Josh Thomson, who was forced off the
card with an injury, in a rematch from their 2008 title fight,
Melendez did everything but assure himself of a title shot when
the champion returns. Despite the virtual lock for the championship
bout, he says he's more interested in staying busy, and has a
name for whom he'd like to face next.
"I'm
really trying to push to get a match with (Mitsuhiro) Ishida,"
Melendez said. "I don't really want to wait five or six
months to fight Josh (Thomson), to fight again. I'd really like
to get a rematch with Ishida, if they can pull that off and help
me out, that would make me happy."
Melendez
will now go back to work at his gym, while helping teammate Jake
Shields prepare for his June 6 Strikeforce showdown against Robbie
Lawler in St. Louis.
Source: MMA Weekly |
ONCE
AGAIN, ANDERSON SILVA MUST FACE THE MUSIC
It
was Anderson Silva’s time to face the music... again.
He
had terrorized the middleweight division since joining the UFC
in late 2006, but for the second time in his career, his performance
raised more questions than it answered.
The
day was supposed to put him on the Mt. Olympus of MMA fighters.
Instead, it was a botched sparring session with Thales Leites
in front of 20,000-plus fans. Silva wanted up, Leites wanted
down, and they couldn’t come to an agreement.
Was
Silva bored? Unchallenged? Did he, as one reporter questioned,
have a mental or emotional block? What kept him from the kill?
Sitting
at the press table afterwards, the champion appeared to space
out, his chin resting on his hands. UFC president Dana White
waved his fingers in front of him. Silva looked at the reporter
quizzically.
“I
don’t understand the question,” he said through translator
Ed Soares.
In
an uncharacteristic outburst, Chuck Liddell sat forward and stepped
to Silva’s aid.
“Where
did you get that?” he spat. “Every time he tried to
throw a punch at him, the guy threw a punch at the air –
the guy fell on his back. Seriously, where did you get that?
He was attacking him the whole time.”
The
ex-champ sat back, cursing under his breath.
“It’s
a frustrating fight for a striker when every time you go to hit
him he falls to his back,” Liddell continued after a tense
beat. “Is really hard for you to do anything, so what do
you want? He was going after him and attacking him.”
Even
Soares stepped out of his role.
“It
takes two people to fight, man,” he chimed. “It’s
not like one guy shows up to fight. I mean, lets go to the next
question.”
But
there was really no other question to ask: who did Silva feel
he was fighting for?
According
to him, he had done what he wanted to do – gone the distance,
won the fight – and had emerged without a scratch, like
he’d just come from a Tae Bo class.
When
the fight was done, he dropped to the canvas in joy and scaled
the cage. His celebration was drowned out by the crowd’s
boos.
“I
don’t know if it’s that people don’t understand
my style of fighting, but I go out there to train to be efficient
and have a perfect fight,” he said. “Not every fight
is going to be a knockout, not every fight is going to be some
spectacular finish. What I trained to do I executed in there.”
The
champ had given a similar explanation after his last performance
against Patrick Cote. Silva toyed with him, waiting to unleash
in later rounds, until Cote injured his knee in the third.
This
time, White wasn’t buying.
“I’m
personally unhappy with the whole fight, period,” he proclaimed.
“I did not like the fight at all. Period. On either side.”
The
UFC president admitted his champion might be a victim of his
own success.
“I
don’t think opponents don’t want to engage Anderson
Silva,” he said. “I think they have a game plan when
they go in there and they start getting kicked and hit. You see
when this guy does kick and punch, guys spin around when he leg
kicks them. He’s powerful, he’s fast, he’s elusive.
He has all the tools, when he lets them go, people fall down.”
Later,
White said he would sit down with Silva and figure out what the
next step was. A superfight with Georges St. Pierre was one scenario,
while Silva and others welcomed a step up in weight. A lot of
things were still up in the air.
“Everybody’s
chanting GSP,” White continued. “GSP has probably the
toughest fight of his career coming up. Believe me, GSP fans
and crazy Canadians – do not overlook Thiago Alves. This
guy is mean and nasty. Georges St. Pierre can’t start looking
at Anderson Silva until he gets past Thiago Alves.
“I
honestly think Anderson Silva needs to challenge himself a little
more. Maybe we need to do another fight at 205. Maybe we go to
205 to somebody who poses a serious threat to him.”
On
one hand, Silva felt he had nothing to be ashamed of, as with
the Cote fight. But that nagging part of his job – pleasing
his audience – might need to be addressed.
“Basically,
I’m comfortable with people’s opinions,” he said.
“People have a right to their own opinion, but when I go
out there, everything that I do in training, I feel that I executed
in the fight. My game plan, I wanted to go into the later rounds
with Thales. I was unable to finish. Sometimes I’m able
to finish guys; sometimes I’m not able to. But I felt it
proved to everybody that I can go five rounds, and I’m in
good shape.”
But
in the future, he'll need to prove his killer instinct to the
boss once again.
“I
haven’t really thought about what I want next, but it looks
like Dana has got something that he’s planning for me,”
he said. “So I want to go back to Brazil and train, and
Dana, I’m sorry, next time I’ll do better.”
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
DETAILS
OF THE CYBORG VS AKANO CONTROVERSY
What was supposed to be a main stage fight for women's MMA during
the initial Strikeforce broadcast on Showtime, turned into a
circus side show when Cris "Cyborg" Santos failed to
make weight for her scheduled bout against Hitomi Akano, missing
the 145-pound weight limit by seven pounds.
The
situation escalated when Cyborg was unable to make weight again
later that evening, and it appeared the bout was in jeopardy,
as her opponent turned down the fight because of the extreme
amount of the overage from the agreed upon weight limit for the
match-up.
Following
the initial weigh-in, Cyborg was given until 8 p.m. PST to make
the 146-pound limit (one pound over is allowed in non-title fights),
but Akano's manager, Shu Hirata, says they got a call at 6 p.m.
instead, saying that Santos was ready to weigh-in.
Hirata
then went back to the hotel to retrieve Akano and her team who
had left the weigh-ins to get something to eat, and head back
for the official weigh-in for her opponent to try and make 146
pounds.
"When
she stepped on the scale with a bikini, she clocked 150.1, then
she says she wants to take everything off," Hirata told
MMAWeekly.com in an exclusive interview. "At that moment
the male commission guy got out of the room where the scale was,
so the entire team for Akano left, and we decided who to send
in to check it, and for about 90 seconds or so there was only
Cyborg, husband and wife there.
"So
the commission female staff came in, then we send Shannon Hooper,
one of (Akano's) cornermen into the room, and they close the
door and do the second weigh-in and she's buck naked. She clocked
actually at 144 (pounds) at that time. Then I started complaining,
how can a bikini weigh 6 pounds? But they claimed the bikini
was wet, and a wet bikini would weigh 6 pounds."
Akano's
team immediately cried foul, not believing that the 144 pounds
read on the scale was correct and another weigh-in took place.
"I
didn't buy that, so I made the commission re-calibrate the scale,
and I left Hitomi, Megumi, and Shannon Hooper in the room with
her, and the commission female staff, and she took everything
off, buck naked, and stepped on and it was still 150.1,"
Hirata stated. "I don't know how the 144 came in there,
but obviously the whole strategy it seems like for the Chute
Boxe team is they try to claim six pounds is the bikini. There's
no way a bikini weighs six pounds, wet or not wet."
With
Cyborg still very much over the weight limit for the fight, the
team for Akano was accommodating in letting the Brazilian take
the rest of the two hours left until the 8 p.m. deadline to make
the weight cut. According to Hirata, the commission would not
let Santos cut any more weight at that time due to safety issues,
but because she weighed in at 150.1 and Akano weighing in at
143.5, the difference was more than six pounds, which he was
told is the limit in California for the fight to take place.
It
should be noted that on fight night, CSAC Assistant Executive
Officer Bill Douglas said that the weight-spread tolerance for
a fight to take place varies depending upon the initial contracted
weight. In the case of Akano and Santos, who were contracted
to fight at 145 pounds, Douglas said the tolerance was seven
pounds. He said he was unsure where the perception that the tolerance
was six pounds came from.
Even
though the fight was approved by the Commission to take place,
Douglas also stated that it was then up to the contracted parties
and the promoter to determine if they would move forward with
the bout.
Following
Cyborg's weigh-in of 150.1, the commission was willing to allow
the fight to happen, but Akano decided to refuse the bout, based
on her opponent's inability to make the contracted weight for
their fight.
"After
Cyborg missed her weight at the second weigh-in, I rejected the
fight," Akano told MMAWeekly.com. "Then, while my manager
and Josh (Barnett) were talking to athletic commission and promoter,
I went back to my room with Shannon (Hooper) and Megumi Fuji,
and waited. After while, the promoter asked me to reconsider,
was called to come down to the lobby, then we began talking again.
"At
that point, I have expressed my thought to the promoter, which
was, in a sport called Mixed Martial Arts, if you allow a fighter
to break rules, then from that point on, it will become something
other than sport."
Akano
continued, "Even popular fighter like Gina Carano missed
the weight in the past, and her opponent had to fight under the
weight disadvantage. If this kind of things gets accepted in
women's MMA then this no longer is a sport, it becomes a sport
where competitor can ignore the rules. So as a competitor of
this sport, I felt, this needs to be stopped, therefore, I rejected
to fight her and asked promoter to put an effort on preventing
this type of incident. And I kept saying that I would fight as
long as Cyborg can bring her weight down to the agreed weight,
but this was rejected. In any world, it's wrong that a competitor
who broke the rules gets protected."
While
admittedly, both Hirata and Akano say an agreement was eventually
reached that made sense for them, job security still played a
part in the Japanese fighter's involvement.
"At
the end, Hitomi decided to take the fight, and she stayed partially
because she felt the passion from the promoter who really had
to make this fight happen, and the reason she kind of felt more
is because Smack Girl promotion in Japan folded last year. She
lost basically a place to fight," Hirata told MMAWeekly.com.
It
was more than obvious during the fight between Santos and Akano
that the Brazilian held a huge size advantage over her much smaller
opponent. In the third round, the fight was stopped because of
strikes being sustained by the former Japanese champion.
After
the conclusion of the bout, Cyborg apologized for not making
weight, but didn't make her way over to Akano to make amends.
Akano says she was not expecting anything from Cyborg at that
point.
"I
actually feel nothing about that," she said. "From
the moment she showed up not cutting weight, I expected nothing."
With
such a huge difference in weights between the two fighters, the
question soon has to be raised about stricter weight classes
in female MMA to coincide with the men's divisions. Still, Akano
believes that she took the fight with Cyborg with the best of
intentions regardless of weight class, but her opponent didn't
hold up her end of the bargain.
"I
understand that weight classes can be different depend on the
countries and promotions. I see no problem with the current weight
classes, which I believe 125 pounds, 135 pounds, 145 pounds.
(In Japan, we would need 115 pounds as well)," Akano stated.
"If Cyborg can't make weight, then I believe it would be
better for her and Gina to fight at the open-weight division.
"I
usually fight at 135, but I accepted this Cyborg fight as 145
because simply as a kakutou-ka, Cyborg's fight style, made me
wants to fight her, but it's too bad the things turned out this
way."
Akano's
manager feels very strongly about the wrong that was perpetrated
against his client, and doesn't pull any punches about what Cris
Santos did going into the fight against the much smaller fighter.
"Knowing
that and coming in seven pounds over is almost cowardly because
you could almost argue that if she cuts to 145, she felt like
maybe there's a threat there," Hirata said. "Because
as you know, in her last fight against Yoko Takahashi, she was
already sucking air in the third round. I know Cyborg's stamina
is in question. She has to cut to 145 and (if) the fight really
went to the third round, when it did, maybe Hitomi has a chance."
Akano,
while not happy with the circumstances surrounding her bout with
Cyborg, still gives credit to her opponent and hopes to bounce
back from this loss very soon.
"In
order for Mixed Martial Arts to grow more as a professional sport,
something needs to be improved so this type of ordeal would never
happen again. I hope many people would realize that from this
incident," stated Akano. "Leave what happened outside
the cage on the side. In terms of my fight against Cyborg, I
lost the fight and that is the fact, and I feel Cyborg was a
stronger fighter on that night.
"I would like to heal damages from this fight as soon as
possible, and if I can fight in front of the fans again, then
I will be happy."
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
BABALU
OUT OF JUNE 6 FIGHT, FEIJAO STILL ON CARD
The light heavyweight title fight scheduled for the Strikeforce
card on June 6 has been postponed as the champion, Renato "Babalu"
Sobral, has been forced out of the bout with the due date of
his child being born falling too close to the fight. His opponent,
Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante will remain on the card
against an as of yet unnamed opponent.
The
news was announced on MMAWeekly Radio Monday night by Feijao's
manager, Ed Soares, who said that his fighter is still expected
to be on the card, but still hopeful to get a shot at the title
upon Babalu's return later this year.
Sobral's
manager, Richard Wilner, later confirmed the postponement. "When
the fight was originally proposed, it was for a May date that
was kind of up in the air. Strikeforce used that date for the
(Sho MMA: Strikeforce Challengers) show, then told us the date
was going to change to June 6," he told MMAWeekly.com. "We
basically said okay, but about three days after that, the doctor's
confirmed that Babalu's baby was meant to be born on May 24.
Then we immediately told Scott Coker and Strikeforce. The fight
was then postponed to the August show."
Sobral
won the title in November 2008 after defeating former champion
Bobby Southworth by TKO due to a cut on his opponent's head.
The fight against Feijao was supposed to be his first title defense
since capturing the belt.
Rafael
"Feijao" Cavalcante will step into the June 6 card
on a three-fight win streak, with his only career loss coming
by way of disqualification while competing for the International
Fight League.
While
with EliteXC, Feijao compiled a 3-0 record defeating opponents
like Travis Galbraith and Wayne Cole, before having his contract
purchased by Strikeforce as a part of the Elite XC buyout.
Soares
didn't know at the time who Feijao would face, but Strikeforce
will likely try to find an opponent soon with the card just over
5 weeks away.
Stay
tuned to MMAWeekly.com for more information on this story as
it develops.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
SHOGUN
BELIEVES HE'S BACK WITH WIN OVER LIDDELL
There
were a great number of questions about which Mauricio "Shogun"
Rua would show up to face Chuck Liddell on Saturday night at
UFC 97. Long forgotten were the days of Shogun's reign as the
top 205-pound fighter in the world while competing in Pride.
The Brazilian was able to silence a great many of his critics,
however, with a first round TKO over former light heavyweight
champion Chuck Liddell.
From
a loss to Forrest Griffin to multiple knee surgeries to a lackluster
showing in victory over Mark Coleman, Rua hadn't seemed like
the destructive force he once was when fighting in Japan, but
he says that everything fell into place for the fight with Liddell
and the old Shogun is back.
"I
did everything that I could do right. I prepared right. I ate
right. I dedicated myself to the most," Rua said at the
UFC 97 post-fight press conference. "So I can say that I
gave a good performance and I showcased my best and I hope to
stay like this."
The
knee injuries and subsequent surgeries sidelined Rua for over
a year following a loss to Forrest Griffin in his UFC debut,
but while he admits that he was healthy going into his fight
against Mark Coleman, he still wasn't completely acclimated to
his surroundings yet.
"When
I fought Coleman, my knees were already heeled. I was already
clinically 100-percent, but with fight rhythm, I still need to
adjust to the space of the Octagon. I needed more fights in a
row, more rhythm, and now I can say I feel much better acquainted
to the UFC and to the Octagon," Rua stated.
The
biggest question heading into Saturday night was Rua's cardio,
which seemed to fail him in both of his previous two fights,
but now that he's healthy and fighting regularly, he says that
has all changed.
"(I'm)
in much better shape because of the continuous training,"
said Shogun.
Knowing
that Liddell presented problems in several areas for the fight,
Rua admits he stepped in with a very specific strategy to try
and get the win, thus propelling himself back into contender's
status in a stacked light heavyweight division.
"My
strategy was to fight the three rounds with him standing up,
because I understand that he is a very good wrestler, and that
I could get very tired trying to take him down, and forcing takedowns,"
commented Shogun. "So I understood I had to train stand-up
and exchange blows with him. That was the only way to fight him."
The
gameplan worked to perfection and Rua got the TKO win in the
first round in what may be Chuck Liddell's last fight ever in
the UFC. The former Pride champion looks to stay very active
in 2009, and start gunning for more top contenders to vault himself
back to the top of the 205-pound weight class.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
SOARES
ON ANDERSON: "FOCUS ON THE POSITIVE"
Manager
Ed Soares has seen his client sit in the hot seat for the second
time in a row and he's not happy about it.
The
main event of UFC 97 has taken criticism from just about every
angle, and every possible cause of the fight’s lackluster
outcome has been considered. Speculation has varied from the
plausible to the absurd.
Silva
has taken the brunt of the attack.
“As
far as I'm concerned, it does take two to tango, two to engage,
and I felt that Anderson did everything that he planned to do
while he was training,” Soares told MMAWeekly Radio on Monday.
“He took the fight into the later rounds and he was never
in any danger. There's not too many guys that can go five rounds
and not even get hit, or barely get hit. He didn't have a mark
on him."
But
it’s hard to imagine that the controversy would have erupted
if Silva had quickly destroyed Leites without a mark. Fan and
media anger seemed to be rooted in time.
While
most fans have singled out the champion as responsible the fight’s
lack of action, Soares sees it the other way.
“I've
watched the fight about five times since I got home, and I can't
find anything wrong with the fight other than Thales didn't engage
that much,” said Soares. “Anderson was constantly trying
to attack and people are upset because he didn't go to Thales'
game. Well, the truth of the matter is, he's the challenger.
He needs to come in there and try to take the belt. Anderson
went to the ground with him and he wasn't able to pass his guard,
and he'd rather keep the fight standing up. I honestly don't
think there was anything wrong with the fight.”
UFC
president Dana White said he would meet with Soares and Silva
after the fight to discuss what happened, but according to a
report from Yahoo! Sports' Kevin Iole, the two were gone before
he could speak with them.
During
the post-fight Q & A, Silva said he’ll take some time
for himself in Brazil before he gets back to training.
“My
issue is, why not finish him?" White told Iole. "Where
is the killer instinct? We haven’t seen that for a while.
Why isn’t he letting his hands and feet go? He got on the
ground and was beating the (expletive) out of Thales, but then
he stood up and backed off and made it look like Thales was doing
something wrong.”
Regardless
of White’s disapproval, Soares will continue to defend the
performance. The UFC president has a right to his own opinion,
he says.
“Not
every fight is going to be a highlight reel finish,” he
continued. “Unfortunately the fans weren't satisfied with
that, but I believe Anderson did a great job and I don't think
he has anything to hold his head down about.
"I
think people need to start focusing on the positive things and
the media needs to be focusing on the positive things,”
said Soares. “At the end of the day, he broke a record.
He has nine consecutive wins in the UFC. I don't think there's
a fighter out there who has nine wins in the UFC with only one
of them going to a decision. I think people need to focus more
on the positive and get away from the negative stuff."
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
FIGHTERS
ARE READY FOR K-1 WORLD MAX
With possibly the best card in World Max history, Tuesday's K-1
World Max 2009 World Championship Tournament - Final-16 has garnered
tremendous media attention both in Japan and internationally.
And so it was standing room only at the Sea Hawk Hotel Monday,
as the 26 participating fighters met the media in advance of
the fightsport extravaganza.
In
the midst of it all, cool as always, was reigning World Max Champion
Masato, the Japanese superstar making his first public appearance
since announcing retirement three weeks ago. You wouldn't know
it judging by the media scrum, but Masato's involvement Tuesday
is limited to a three-minute 'exhibition' bout with 17 year-old
Hiroya, the 2008 K-1 Koshien (high school) Champion.
This
will be the first of three farewell bouts for Masato, who is
slated to exit the ring for good this New Year's Eve. To be sure,
Tuesday's is a fun matchup -- Hiroya an emerging Japanese fighter,
meeting his hero. Although the fight is an exhibition -- basically
three minutes of sparring -- anticipation is running high.
The
two fighters were in good spirits Monday, Hiroya referring to
the bout as his "graduation," and promising to give
Masato a challenge that he will remember "for a long time."
Masato
told the assembled, "I know that young Japanese fighters
have good skills. I first met Hiroya two years ago, and he had
great potential then, and he's great now, so I'm looking forward
to this fight. It's an exhibition, and I'm preparing for a fight
in July (against a still undetermined opponent), so I'm not in
great shape now," quipped Masato. "But I take Hiroya
seriously as an opponent!"
While
the Masato - Hiroya exhibition provides a novel subplot, the
focus Tuesday is the World Max Final-16 Tournament -- a one-match
elimination that will halve the field fighting for this year's
World Max Championship. The world's strongest 70kg/154kg fighters
are here, well aware that a victory sets them on the road to
glory, while a loss deposits them in the ditch. There'll be no
fancy strategies floating around -- for these warriors, Tuesday
is simply do or die.
In
the Main Event, respected Japanese fighter Yoshihiro Sato will
meet Armenian muay thai dynamo Drago. Setting off a gray pinstripe
suit with a pink tie and thin-rimmed glasses, Sato played heir
apparent to Masato. "I know Drago is fierce," said
the lanky kickboxer, "but I'm in 100% condition, and I'll
show my ability 100%. The other fighters are great, but this
year I will be the best of the best, and I'll win!" Drago
kept his cards close to the chest. "Fukuoka is nice city,
it will be a nice fight tomorrow, don't miss it!"
The
explosive Nieky "The Natural" Holzken fights out of
the prestigious Dutch Golden Glory gym, which has produced many
top K-1 fighters. Tuesday Holzken steps in against another newcomer
-- 20-year-old Chahid, a Moroccan Muay thai fighter. The confident
Holzken boasted he would "win like last time," and
wished "success to everybody." Countered Chalid, "I
came to fight, not make friends. I just want to kick him."
A
two-time World Max champion, Dutch shoot boxer Andy Souwer will
take on compatriot Leroy Kaestner, a protégé of
K-1 legend Peter Aerts. Souwer, who showed up sharp in sharkskin,
will also have a sharp guy in his corner -- super trainer Andre
Mannaart. Pegged by many to win last year's World Max, Souwer
Monday spoke of new beginnings. "Last year I was on the
road, but almost at the end, I lost. Now I'm back on the road
to reclaim my title, and you can expect a lot from me tomorrow!"
Speaking in Japanese from prepared notes, Kaestner said, "I
came all away from Holland, and I'm a big fan of Japan so I want
to come back, so I have to do my best to beat Andy!"
Another
two-time World Max champ, the hard-kicking Buakaw Por Pramuk
of Thailand, will step in against Brazilian MMA fighter Andre
Dida. Said Buakaw: "There are lots of wonderful fighters
here this year, I will do my best!" Replied Dida: "I
will do a fast and furious fight against this elite fighter,
and I'm dedicating this to my family!"
In
the K-1 World Max inaugural year of 2002, Dutch boxer Albert
Kraus punched his way to the crown. Kraus has been on a hot streak
of late, and hopes to ride the momentum past his opponent Tuesday,
who is a Japanese schoolgirl. Well, appearances can be deceiving.
Actually, Yuichiro "Jienotsu" Nagashima is a "cosplayer"
-- a Japanese neologism for a nerd subculture bent on obsessive
personal reification of anime characters. Anyway, Tuesday, Kraus
and Nagashima will try to beat each other up.
"I'm
in great shape, I'll fight hard and do my best," said Kraus
in his steadily-improving Japanese. Nagashima, meanwhile, vowed
"revenge" for a stunt in which Kraus tore up a photograph
of one of his beloved anime characters.
Asked
by reporters to comment on his opponent's schoolgirl outfit (complete
with racy garters), Kraus let a barb through his otherwise unflappable
Dutch open-mindedness: "It's a very nice costume, but I
think a real champion doesn't wear this costume..."
Japanese
fighter Yuya Yamamoto, a late substitute for injured Taishin
Kohiruimaki, will meet Chi Bin Lim of the Republic of Korea.
Asked the soft-spoken Yamamoto, "Can you please support
me? I want to make a great fight!" Lim, standing bolt upright,
pledged: "This is a big fight for me, I trained hard, will
I will show everyone a fresh style."
Rising
World Max fighter Artur Kyshenko of the Ukraine will take on
Alviar Lima of Cape Verdi. Said Kyshenko: "Hello all, being
in this top 16 is exciting. Some will win, some will lose, I
will do my best!" Countered Lima: "I'm not here to
do my best, I'm here to make a war, tomorrow it will be a big
war!"
And
finally, Italian hotshot Giorgo Petrosyan will step in against
Dzhabar "Chengiskhan" Askerov of the United Arab Emirates.
Portended Petrosyan: "I didn't come to Japan as a tourist
-- my nickname is 'the doctor,' and my opponent is a virus, so
I'll destroy him tomorrow!" Really? Askerov seemed benign
enough: "I'm happy to show Japan my skills, and will do
my best!"
Tuesday's
winners will advance to the K-1 World Max Final-8, set for July
at the Nippon Budokan in central Tokyo.
In
other fights -- the Final-16 reserve bout pits Yasuhiro Kido
of Japan against Su Hwan Lee of the Republic of Korea. In undercard
action featuring Japanese fighters, the mononymic Tatsuji and
Ryuji will clash; while Masahiro Yamamoto meets Yuki; and
Kazuki Hamasaki takes on Hareruya.
Bouts
will be contested under K-1 Rules, three rounds of three minutes
each, with a possible tiebreaker round possible in all but the
opening fights.
The
K-1 World Max 2009 World Championship Tournament Final-16 kicks
off at 6:00 pm on Tuesday, April 21, at the Marine Messe in Fukuoka,
Japan. It will be broadcast live in Japan on the TBS network.
DRAGO DEFEATS
SATO AT K-1 WORLD MAX FINAL 16
A late flurry of fists and feet earned Armenian muay thai fighter
Drago, 24, an upset victory over two-time World Max Japan Champion
Yoshihiro Sato in the Main Event at Tuesday's K-1 World Max 2009
World Championship Tournament Final-16.
Held
at the Fukuoka Marine Messe arena, the talent-rich fightsport
extravaganza featured the World Max Final-16 Tournament -- a
one-match elimination that halved the field fighting for this
year's World Max Championship. The world's top70kg/154kg fighters
stepped in knowing that a win would set them on the road to glory,
and a loss deposit them in the ditch of also-rans. For these
warriors, it was do or die.
The
heavy favorite, Sato brought a 10cm/4" height advantage
to the ring against Drago. From the start the Japanese kickboxer
used his reach and low kicks to keep his opponent at bay. But
the Armenian got a right overhand through and closed with an
uppercut, and the cards had it even after one. In the second
Sato arched forward with fists, but Drago answered with front
kicks and got a terrific high kick up and on target. Sato threw
plenty of low kicks and made partial contact with a knee to keep
the score tied. There was not a lot behind Sato's combinations
in the third, but the Japanese fighter continued to advance and
fire low kicks and knees. Drago landed a couple of solid hooks
here, but could not drop Sato, and after three the judges prescribed
a tiebreaker round.
The
fourth and final saw Drago doggedly advancing, firing all manner
of strikes -- best of the bunch a right straight punch and a
spinning back kick. Sato, who was tired, stumbling and bloodied,
managed only a couple of anemic knees and low kicks, and at the
final bell collapsed, painfully aware that the judges' decision
would not go his way. An impressive performance by Drago, establishing
him as a favorite for the World Max 2009 Championship.
"I
am glad that I showed a good fight and won in front of my Japanese
fans," said Drago afterward. "Sato was strong, he's
had really good fights recently, and last year when he fought
against Masato it went to an extra round. However, it seemed
that he got tired in the middle of the fight. Now, I will do
my best to become the champion -- I will keep train training
hard, and let's see what happens!"
"I
have never in my life had so much regret," said a dejected
Sato in his post-fight interview. "I lost my stamina, in
the middle of the fight I suddenly felt as if my hands became
lead, like a devil had descended on me. Of course, it could be
said that the reason for my loss was I received a lot of punches.
But, I was in good shape and my condition was good before the
fight, so I don't want to make any excuses for my loss."
The
explosive Nieky "The Natural" Holzken met 20-year-old
Moroccan Muay thai fighter Chahid in the card's penultimate matchup.
Guards
high, the pair traded low kicks and punches through the first,
both putting plenty of power behind their blows, but blocking
well to stay out of trouble. More combinations in the second,
Chadid rotating steadily and firing to the body; Holzken getting
a left in on a counter to send the Moroccan reeling and take
a points lead into the third. Sound technical exchanges here,
Chadid always threatening, Holzken with some dangerous misfires
before threading a couple of fists through at the clapper. One
judge saw a draw, the other two liked Holzken for the majority
decision.
"I
was not very happy because I broke my toe while sparring, before
three weeks before the fight, and I could not perform my best,"
said Holzken afterwards. "My counters were good, but I could
not finish with the KO I wanted. I think I was only at 80% of
my potential tonight."
A
two-time World Max Champion, Dutch shoot boxer Andy Souwer took
on compatriot Leroy Kaestner, a 21 year-old protégé
of K-1 superstar Peter Aerts.
Souwer
started slowly, as usual, while Kaestner moved in with body blows,
low kicks and tight one-two combinations. There were moments,
as Kaestner raised the shoulder and angled the torso, that his
approaches reflected Aerts' unique style. Souwer however is one
of the best, and that grew increasingly evident as the bout progressed.
Souwer's fists and knees scored him a pair of downs in the first,
and he picked his spots well to add more points to his side of
the scorecard through the balance of the bout. Kaestner did not
show any glaring weaknesses, only an understandable lack of experience.
Souwer by a comfortable unanimous decision.
"Even
though [Kaestner] has little experience in professional fights,
he did very well fighting in such a big venue in Japan for the
first time," said Souwer in his post-fight interview. "It
was good that I put him down early, so I could calm down in the
second and third rounds. Of course, I wanted to finish him, but
the important thing is I can go to the final eight!"
Another
two-time World Max Champ, the hard-kicking Buakaw Por Pramuk
of Thailand, stepped in against Brazilian MMA fighter Andre Dida.
Buakaw
was heavily favored here, but someone forgot to tell that to
Andre Dida, who threw himself at the muay thai master, scoring
a shocking down with a big left hook to the nose. Buakaw beat
the count, but was very shaky afterward. Dida moved in to finish,
firing hooks and closing with uppercuts. It was a rare sight,
Buakaw taking a beating, but it illustrated another of the Thai
fighter's skills -- a preternatural ability to remain standing
under pressure. Dida landed some good stuff, but Buakaw made
it out of the round.
In
the second, a recovered Buakaw began firing in the fists, launching
low and high kicks and closing to work the body with punches
and knees. Dida got another big punch through, but the right
hook only made Buakaw meaner. As fatigue worked on Dida, so did
Buakaw, and by the end of three rounds the nasty kicks, knees
and punches had leveled the score on all cards. Dida had nothing
left for the tiebreaker, and was shown a yellow card for holding.
Meanwhile Buakaw kept completed his comeback, taking the bout
by unanimous decision.
"People
asked me what put me down in the first round," smiled Buakaw
afterward, "but I don't remember anything, and I still feel
dizzy! After the down, my stamina carried me through, I kept
attacking and finishing. I'd say Dida had good techniques, but
not quite good enough!"
No-nonsense
Dutch boxer Albert Kraus, who won the first-ever World Max Championship
in 2002, had a date Tuesday was a sweet little schoolgirl named
Haruka Nogizaka. But mind the Adam's apple -- because beneath
the faux blond mane bounced Yuichiro "Jienotsu" Nagashima,
from the burgeoning anime- revering Japanese subculture of cosplay.
Nagashima may look like a little girl, but he punches like a
man, and had won three straight fights coming into this dance.
The
contest started with Nagashima tossing in hooks, which were met
by Kraus' sound defense. When roles reversed and Kraus began
to unload, it quickly became apparent that Nagashima's defense
was anything but sound. A left put the Japanese fighter on the
mat the first time, and seconds after resumption a right dispatched
him to la-la land. Kraus with a KO win at just 1:07.
"I
think it went well, I was in good condition and I'm glad to win,"
said Kraus from the winner's circle. "I expected his punches
to be faster than they were. I didn't really care about his costume,
I just concentrated on my fight, and I think I taught him that
a fighter needs to respect his opponent."
Japanese
karate stylist Yuya Yamamoto, a late substitute for injured Taishin
Kohiruimaki, went up against Chi Bin Lim of the Republic of Korea.
Lim
closed well in the early going with tight punch, kick and knee
combinations, and went up a point up on one card after the first.
In the second the pace picked up, Lee aggressive with the fists
and tagging his opponent well with counters. But in a flash,
a Yamamoto spinning back punch surprised the Korean and sent
him down. Lee pressed late with hooks, but Yamamoto answered
well with kicks to pick up points. An spinning high kick by Lee
sailed just short in the third, after which Yamamoto made partial
contact with a similarly athletic foot to the head. Lee pressed
through the balance of the bout, pumping the knee and landing
a dandy spinning back kick to the head at the clapper. A spirited
battle, going to Yamamoto on all three cards.
"I
think he's a great fighter," Yamamoto told reporters afterward.
"When I think of going through to the final eight, I'm a
bit scared to fight against those strong fighters. However, I
have people who encourage and support me, so I will do my best!"
Rising
World Max fighter Artur Kyshenko of the Ukraine took on 31 year-old
kickboxer Alviar Lima of Cape Verdi.
The
bell sounded and Kyshenko came out like a loaded gun, chasing
his opponent across the ring with a barrage of punches. In no
time Lima was on the mat, and although he strove to rally midway
through the round Kyshenko did better with counters, corralling
Lima into the corner and laying in to force a standing count.
Lima was totally outworked here, eating fists again late in the
round before the referee mercifully stepped in to call it.
"This
was a very important fight for me, I had to win and I felt a
lot of pressure, but now I am happy that I could win and go to
the final," said Kyshenko in his post-bout interview. "I
need to proceed step-by-step, work hard to keep winning like
today, and make my fights memorable. The process will give me
more confidence."
And
finally, Italian muay thai hotshot Giorgo Petrosyan met Dzhabar
"Chengiskhan" Askerov of the United Arab Emirates --
both boys making their K-1 debuts.
A
command performance by Petrosyan the southpaw, who set well with
the jab before firing in the left, and made strong contact with
low kicks and knees to the body. The Italian showed superior
positioning, timing and power throughout, dropping Askerov in
the third with a knee to the midsection to win by TKO.
"I
think it was a good fight, and my opponent was strong,"
said Petrosyan afterward. "The start was difficult but it
was good that my knees eventually hit him. I was happy I could
win in front of Japanese fans, and next time I will show even
better techniques! Everyone who has advanced to the final eight
is strong, however I believe I am the strongest of them all!"
The
Final-16 reserve fight saw Yasuhiro Kido of Japan open a bag
of tricks early then switch to low kicks to take a narrow decision
over Korean Su Hwan Lee.
Tuesday's
winners will reconvene at the K-1 World Max Final-8, set for
July at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo.
In
other action on the card, reigning World Max Champion Masato
took to the ring for a three-minute 'exhibition' bout with 17
year-old Hiroya, the 2008 K-1 Koshien (high school) Champion.
This
was the first in a trio of farewell bouts for Masato, who announced
his retirement earlier this month and will exit the ring for
good on New Year's Eve (fighting the 2009 World Max Champ). To
be sure, this was a bit of fun -- Hiroya strapping on the headgear
and shin pads to meet his hero. But both fighters broke a sweat,
as Hiroya showed promising positioning, speed and reactions.
Stay tuned -- this kid has potential.
The
undercard bouts featured fighters from Kyushu and all went to
the scorecards -- Masahiro Yamamoto bettering Yuki; Tatsuji edging
Ryuji by majority decision; and Kazuki Hamasaki scoring a lopsided
victory over Hareruya.
All
fights were contested under K-1 Rules, three rounds of three
minutes each, with a possible tiebreaker round possible in all
but the opening fights.
The
K-1 World Max 2009 World Championship Tournament Final-16 attracted
a crowd of 7,130 to the Marine Messe Arena. It was broadcast
live in Japan on the TBS network.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
20
YEARS IN, RAFAEL CORDEIRO EXITS CHUTE BOXE
After more than 20 years of work at Chute Boxe, one of the most
recognized MMA coaches from Brazil, Rafael Cordeiro, announced
that he is no longer part of Chute Boxe gym.
Cordeiro
moved to the United States in 2008 seeking better opportunities
for himself and Chute Boxe. With a long history in MMA with athletes
such as Wanderlei Silva, Anderson Silva, Mauricio "Shogun"
Rua, and Cris "Cyborg" Santos, he decided that the
time to move on and create his own gym has come.
"Due
to the MMA growth, I felt that I needed to come to America at
that moment. When Pride went down and the UFC finally bought
it, the American market started to dominate everything regarding
MMA," said Cordeiro about his decision. "In America,
we can find fights every weekend, and I came here to seek opportunities
for our fighters from Brazil and also to discover new talents
around here."
His
new gym is already open, The Rafael Cordeiro Fight Center in
Huntington Beach, Calif. But despite his exodus from Chute Boxe,
he has hopes that the fighters he once supervised will continue
on their current paths.
"I
hope everybody under my supervision in Brazil keeps doing exactly
the same thing they are doing right now," he said. "I
don't want them leaving Chute Boxe. They have their jobs inside
the gym and they are making their money that way."
Asked
specifically about Chute Boxe fighters like Fabricio Werdum,
and Evangelista and Cris Cyborg Santos, Cordeiro had no specific
answer. "The Rafael Cordeiro Fight Center is completely
opened to all athletes from all gyms, no exception. My work as
a coach will be done in the same way; I will not work as a manager.
What I like to do is to train athletes to compete and to grow
as human beings. Therefore, if someone wants to train with me,
the doors are opened and it does not matter the manager or gym.
All athletes will receive the Chute Boxe style that I helped
to create more then 20 years ago."
The
Chute Boxe style remains, but the separation from Chute Boxe
is clearly in place. Cordeiro wasn't overly specific as to the
why. The end result, however, was a new opportunity for the vaunted
MMA pioneer.
"What
I will leave behind is the misunderstood between friends. Sometimes
we had problems because a simple lack of communication. Little
details that to some people were too small, but to other people
were very important," he conveyed. Adding, "I had two
big reasons (for leaving). First, it was something personal.
I had an interest conflict inside the team. The second, and most
important reason, was that this was the time to seek better opportunities
for me and my family through my work as a Muay Thai and MMA coach."
Many
would see a dim light cast upon his leaving Chute Boxe, but Cordeiro
is not within the shadows of that light. He is walking into the
bright light of opportunity.
"The future will bring lots of training," said the
optimistic coach, "lots of fights, and if God allows was,
lots of positive results."
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Quote
of the Day
"Don't
judge a man by his opinions, but what his opinions have made
of him."
Georg
Christoph Lichtenberg
|
Camóes
vs. Karakhanyan at Strikeforce
After
revealing with exclusivity to TATAME.com that signed contract
with Strikeforce, Fabrício Morango said that already has
opponent for his debut, which happens on May 15th, in the United
States. "I’ll face Georgi Karakhanyan, he has 11 victories
and only one defeat. He comes from seven consecutives victories,
being the last six by submission", revealed Royler Gracie’s
black belt, who is training at the gym of Xande and Saulo Ribeiro
and at Brandon Vera’s team.
Source: Tatame
|
DANA
WHITE ON CHUCK LIDDELL: "END OF AN ERA"
It was made all but official on Saturday night. It appears that
mixed martial arts fans have likely seen "The Iceman"
grace the Octagon for the final time in his illustrious career.
It
surely wasn't the way that he would want to go out – being
knocked out by a driving left hand from Mauricio "Shogun"
Rua at UFC 97 – and Chuck Liddell wouldn't go quite so far
as to make a definitive statement.
When
asked straight out if he agreed with UFC president Dana White's
sentiment that this was indeed his last time in the Octagon,
Liddell responded, " Yeah, that's probably safe to say,"
before the disclaimer, "but I'm not gonna make any decisions
until I go home and talk to everybody, talk to all my people,
my friends."
Liddell
will be given his time, but White did not waiver. "At the
end of the day, I care about these guys. I don't want to see
anybody stick around too long. You're never going to see Chuck
Liddell on the canvas again."
That's
not to say that if Liddell does indeed hang up the gloves, he
won't be around. White was just as resolute about that. "He's
one of my best friends. He helped us build this business. He
helped build this sport. He'll always be with us and he'll always
be a part of the UFC."
Of
course, given his druthers, Liddell would want to be in the Octagon,
putting leather to flesh. And on Saturday night, he really felt
ready to do just that in what may have been his last hurrah.
"I had a great camp. I was in great shape and ready to go.
I felt great about all the stuff we'd been doing (in training)."
But
as he nears the age of 40 – that number that seems to make
a pariah of most professional athletes – the refrain was
the same.
"I
just wasn't able to perform," he uttered.
Having
risen to the upper echelons of the sport, reigning as a UFC champion,
fighting most of the top names in the world, a less than ideal
finish surely won't tarnish a legacy that began more than a decade
ago.
Though
his outlook on the situation was definitive, White surely echoed
the sentiments of MMA fans across the globe when he stated, "Tonight
was the end of an era. One of the greatest guys in the sport
fought his last fight tonight."
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Silva
not winning over fans or boss
MONTREAL
– Anderson Silva wasn’t one of the Ultimate Fighting
Championship’s biggest pay-per-view draws despite a slew
of highlight reel knockouts and a reputation as the finest mixed
martial arts fighter in the world.
After
Saturday’s performance, the toughest job in sports may belong
to the person who has to devise a marketing campaign for his
next fight.
Silva
won a unanimous decision over Thales Leites in the main event
of UFC 97 on Saturday night at the Bell Centre, but it was such
a mystifying and dreadful performance that it left UFC president
Dana White angry and embarrassed.
“I
can honestly tell you that I’ve never put on an event that
I was embarrassed to be at until tonight,” White said. “I
want to publicly apologize to all the fans.”
Leites
was flopping onto the ground at the first sign Silva would throw
a punch at him, hoping to turn it into a grappling contest. Silva,
though, wouldn’t fall for the bait and forced Leites repeatedly
to stand.
And
while it was admittedly hard to look good with the way Leites
was fighting, the man who is supposedly the best fighter in the
world needs to find a way to force the action.
It’s
the second consecutive time that Silva has been in such a fight.
At UFC 90 in October, White was so mystified by Silva’s
lack of aggression that he said he thought he was in “bizarro
world” watching it.
Silva
had an unlikely ally Saturday in Chuck Liddell, whose career
likely ended earlier in the night when he was knocked out by
Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. Liddell clearly placed more
of the blame for the lack of action on Leites’ unwillingness
to engage even a little.
“He
was attacking the whole time,” Liddell said of Silva. “It’s
a frustrating fight for a striker when every time you go to hit
a guy, he falls on his back.”
Silva
is paid big money to hit his opponents and then knock them on
their backs. For the second fight in a row, he failed to let
his hands and feet go and fought a measured, controlled fight.
The
crowd of 21,451 at the Bell Centre was booing a minute into the
fight and by the final round, it was chanting an obscenity in
an attempt to convey its displeasure.
White
planned to have a long conversation with Silva and manager Ed
Soares following the postfight news conference. During the fight,
White got up from his cageside seat and walked over to Soares
and gave him an earful.
Just
as he was in Chicago, though, Silva was singularly unaffected.
He had the air of a man who had just performed his job exceptionally,
rather than one who had more than 20,000 people in the building
and thousands more watching on television at home feeling he’d
cheated them out of their money.
“Everything
I trained to do, I did,” Silva said.
It’s
one of his stock answers these days, as he repeated it incessantly
prior to the fight in response to numerous queries about his
performance against Cote.
But
the bottom line is this: If Silva is going to be the big star,
if he’s going to make the big paycheck, then he has to realize
it’s incumbent upon him to put on a show. Liddell has now
lost four of his last five and has been knocked cold in three
of them, but he came to fight and made his bout entertaining
for as long as it lasted.
The
same can’t be said of Silva, who doesn’t seem to grasp
that he’s not carrying his end of the bargain.
“I
apologize. I personally apologize for what happened tonight,”
White said. “You guys know, this isn’t what the UFC
was built on and this isn’t the way the fights usually go.
Listen, any night you can have an off-night. When a guy is that
talented and can literally end a fight whenever he wants to,
wow.”
Leites
clearly deserves his share of the blame for the debacle that
was the main event. He had a three-month training camp and knew
he’d have to deal with Silva’s striking at some point.
The
challenger, though, simply ignored that facet of the game. He
backpedaled until he could go back no more and then, more often
than not, fell to his back hoping to sucker Silva into a jiu-jitsu
fight.
It
never worked. And when Silva did manage to keep the fight standing,
he didn’t force the action and try to knock Leites out.
“I’m
comfortable with people’s opinion, because they have a right
to their opinion, but when I went out there, everything I [prepared
for] in training, I felt I executed in the fight. My game plan
was that I wanted to go to the later rounds with Thales. I was
unable to finish. Sometimes I’m able to finish guys and
sometimes I’m not able to. But I felt I proved to everybody
that I’m able to go five rounds and that I’m in good
shape.”
Nobody
really wanted to see that, though. They purchased big money for
the tickets – the paid gate at the Bell Centre was $4.9
million – to see him blast Leites and get rid of him as
early and as violently as possible.
The
only thing that may change Silva’s performance at this point
is to give him an opponent he feels may be able to defeat him.
White was pressed a lot about making a fight between Silva and
welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre, but he noted St. Pierre
has a difficult bout upcoming against Thiago Alves.
The
other option is for him to move up again, however briefly, to
light heavyweight and challenge one of the slew of great strikers
who compete in that division.
“We’ve
got to do something,” White said, shaking his head. “Watching
that was hard. That was tough to take. It was embarrassing, honestly.
It was really and truly embarrassing.”
Source: Yahoo Sports
|
NICK
CATONE VS MARK MUNOZ SET FOR UFC 102
As UFC 102 continues to fill up, a middleweight bout has been
added as New Jersey fighter, Nick Catone, returns to action to
face former NCAA champion wrestler, Mark Munoz, in an undercard
match-up.
The
bout was confirmed to MMAWeekly.com on Sunday by sources close
to the fight.
Currently
1-1 in the UFC, Nick Catone returns in August after a disappointing
loss in his last fight to former "Ultimate Fighter"
contender, Tim Credeur.
Catone
debuted for the promotion in February with a submission win over
Derek Downey, after two canceled bouts scheduled against former
"Ultimate Fighter" winner, Amir Sadollah.
Mark
Munoz comes into UFC 102 following a devastating knockout loss
to Matt Hamill at UFC 96 in Columbus, OH. The former NCAA wrestling
champion and WEC light heavyweight will make his middleweight
debut against Catone in August.
Numerous
fights for UFC 102 have been confirmed by sources, but as of
yet the promotion has not announced anything officially for the
card. Current rumors have the show taking place on Aug 29 in
Portland, Oregon, but as of now negotiations are still under
way to solidify a location and venue.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Vitor
Shaolin
More
than a year away from the ring, Vitor "Shaolin" Ribeiro
gave no chances to Katsuhiko Nagata, punishing the opponent and
winning by medical interruption in the first round at Dream 8.
After the conquest, the Nova União black belt spoke to
TATAME.com and revealed that has asked to fight against Shinya
Aoki, talked about his victory in the return to the ring, his
plans for 2009, the chances of André Galvão in
the welterweight GP and the invitation received to fight against
Gilbert Melendez, in Strikeforce, in the week following the fight
in Dream. Check below the complete interview.
What
did you think of your performance in Dream?
It
was a nice presentation, I think I couldn’t fit certain
positions and lost others. I guess I felt for being a while without
fighting, when you have more training time you gain that trust.
I will start to increase the rhythm of everything, of Wrestiling,
Boxing, the gym, do what I couldn’t do to fight this and
raise a little more... Sometimes you train something that you
won’t use much in the fight, but when you see, facing with
a complete different fight and ends up using a lot something
that you haven’t trained much. Now I will get some fundamentals
that I haven’t trained much for this fight, to use at the
next one and not lose any positions and some submissions.
Did
you feel this time without fighting?
Honestly,
if I say that I felt a lot is a lie, because I was quite calm,
thank God, and could make a nice training with my friends, because
everyone knows in what I’m good and not, and they seek to
train more where I’m worse. I think this has made me feel
good. I started not training very well, but I ended up doing
pretty confident, because I was training with people here that
helped me a lot. That’s why I was confident there, I wasn’t
nervous.
What
did the Japanese think of your return?
I
think they liked it, with whom I spoke after the fight seemed
happy with my performance. I left a little from the submission
and toke the rule, which allows using the knee, then the guys
that didn’t saw me for a while, the direction of the event,
liked to see me. It was nice to return with victory.
You
won the fight using knees from the side mount position, a position
that you don’t usually use. Were you training or was in
instinct that you used those knees?
I
was training at the gym, Danilo (Cherman) and (Marco Galvão)
“Louro” were talking about this a lot... All the guard
that I made, they reminded me to use the knee and also warned
me to be careful with the position. So, at the first time I passed
the guard and had the opportunity to lock his arms, I was free
to the knee, the guys yelled and reminded me to use and I was
able to use the position well. I think this is a nice rule, I
liked to use elbows when was allowed and now I pretend to use
the knees all as possible.
Do
you already know when you will fight again?
You
see Gesias (Cavalcante), for example, he hasn’t fought yet
and doesn’t know when he’ll fight, imagine me that
just fought... Now I have to wait. You see also the case of (Murilo)
“Ninja”, who was affected by the change of opponents.
Now I have to be trained, because suddenly there is a significant
chance. They’ve called me, after my fight in Dream, to fight
the Strikeforce against (Gilbert) Melendez, but I decided not
to do it.
Your
contract with Dream allows you to fight in other events?
They
allowed me, but I didn’t allow me, I thought it would be
very complicated, I thought that change everything suddenly would
get hard with my body... Now I’ll forget this fight I did
and put another focus in my head.
What
are the main goals for 2009?
My
first goal is to take care of my son who is born big, with a
lot of health, at the same way the first came. My second goal
is to train and wait what comes ahead. The first thing is to
see my son born with health, then see the gym growing and the
fights appearing. I’ll keep training because, if I train,
things will happen.
What
will be the name of your second child?
Man,
because of you (laughs), it’ll be Eduardo.
André
Galvão fought at the same event and won well. Do you think
he is a tough candidate to win this GP?
Sure,
he made his third MMA fight, the first in a big event and he
showed, against a tough guy, very calm at the ground and standing
part. Now it only depends on him to do a right training, because
I believe that he’ll go to the final against Sakurai, who
is a very tough guy, but I think he will connect well the ground
game and will leave with the victory.
What
did you think of the Aoki’s defeat to Sakurai?
Aoki
was the Shooto 170lbs champion and then dropped to 155lbs, but
I’m not surprised with his defeat because Sakurai is very
tough. Sakurai weighted 170lbs and Aoki weighted 10 pounds more,
I think that prevailed a little. Sakurai swept and reversed the
position very well. Before the fight Aoki was also provoking,
then Sakurai went with an extra dose of gas and was able to win
Aoki well.
Would
you like to face Shinya Aoki?
It’s
a fight that, of course, I would accept, because it would be
a good fight for me. Let's see if after that defeat of him I
can get this fight. I've heard that it wouldn’t be a good
fight, because we are two grapplers, so I need a good argument
to convince them that the fight won’t be stopped on the
ground, which will be movement and different fight, at first
I’ve already asked and got a no. If I would face him, I
would make a mixture of Hansen's game with my Jiu-Jitsu.
Source: Tatame
|
Octagonal
observations on UFC 97
MONTREAL
– 1. Confused on how to score the action-free first round
in the UFC middleweight title match between Anderson Silva and
Thales Leites? So were the judges. Doug Crosby gave the round
to Silva, “Doc” Hamilton scored it for Silva and Benoit
Roussel scored the round a rare 10-10 tie, something within the
rules but frowned upon by the athletic commissions. Crosby and
Roussel both gave Silva the last four rounds, while Hamilton
gave Leites the first two rounds and Silva the final three.
2.
Is Cheick Kongo finally developing a ground game to go with his
standup skills? The French heavyweight’s potential has always
been tantalizing, with a powerful striking game and a solid Greco-Roman
clinch. But in his losses to Carmelo Marrero and Heath Herring,
Kongo (14-4-1) was outmuscled on the ground, which doesn’t
bode well in a heavyweight division that includes the likes of
Brock Lesnar, Frank Mir and Randy Couture. But Kongo now has
won his past three fights on the ground. Those opponents, Dan
Evensen, Mustapha al-Turk and Saturday’s victim, Antoni
Hardonk, hardly constitute a murderer’s row, but with Kongo
finishing his third full year in the UFC, it seems time to test
him against one of the division’s big dogs. UFC president
Dana White agreed, saying “he is in the mix.”
3.
Three years ago, Sam “Hands of Stone” Stout came out
of nowhere and beat Spencer Fisher on a split decision. The fight
was so action packed that the two were rematched on the main
event of an Ultimate Fight Night card, which Fisher took by decision.
After Stout delivered another thriller Saturday night in his
razor-thin unanimous decision win over “Handsome” Matt
Wiman, maybe another rematch is in order? Clearly Wiman felt
he deserved the decision as he stormed out of the cage as soon
as the decision was announced and sprinted back to the locker
room. Both fighters got $70,000 Fight of the Night bonuses for
their efforts for a match that was originally scheduled to be
the opening preliminary match on the card, but was pushed back
when the card started 20 minutes late. “I got here at 5
o’clock and spent five hours getting warmed up,” Stout
said.
4.
It’s become clear only a few months in that World Extreme
Cagefighting made the right call in eliminating its light heavyweight,
middleweight and welterweight divisions. The last two UFC light
heavyweight champions, Brian Stann and Steve Cantwell, both lost
to middle-of-the road fighters Saturday night. Stann was submitted
in the first round by Krsysztof Soszynski and Cantwell dropped
a decision to Luiz Cane. This is on the heels of former welterweight
champ Carlos Condit’s loss to Martin Kampmann on April 1.
The WEC boasts several of the world’s best at bantamweight
and featherweight and the company is better served building up
those future contenders instead of using air time on fighters
who are just another name on the card on the biggest stage.
5.
David “The Crow” Loiseau is one of the nicest people
you would want to meet in mixed martial arts, which is precisely
what made his loss to Ed Herman so difficult to watch. Loiseau
got a huge ovation from the hometown Bell Centre crowd for his
first fight in the majors since UFC 63, but it soon became clear
that he simply can’t hang in the big leagues. Loiseau took
a beating in a 10-8 first round and was taken down at will over
the course of 15 minutes. Loiseau is a classy guy and a good
ambassador for the sport, but hopefully we won’t have to
see him take another pounding on the big stage.
6.
Denis Kang (32-11-1) redeemed himself with a methodical win over
Xavier “Professor X” Fouka-Pokam. Kang’s loss
to Alan Belcher in his UFC debut in January was a stunner, but
the middleweight rebounded with a solid performance. Kang, who
trains with the American Top Team, got the better of Fouka-Pokam
throughout; and while “Professor X” showed flashes
of Muay Thai ability early, he tired by the middle of the second
round and Kang got the best of him standing the rest of the way,
as well.
7.
It’s time to give Mark Bocek a look against higher-level
competition and see where he stands in the lightweight division.
Bocek (7-2), a 27-year-old jiu-jitsu black belt from Toronto,
has won three of his past four fights and looks more comfortable
and confident each time he steps into the octagon. He’s
also shown heart in his UFC losses, to Mac Danzig and Frank Edgar.
Against David Bielkheden on Saturday night, he was the aggressor
from the outset and finished his opponent in the waning seconds
of the first round with a rear-naked choke. Perhaps an opponent
on the level of Joe Lauzon or Tyson Griffin would make an interesting
matchup.
8.
Random stuff: The event drew a sellout of 21,451 paying $4.9
million Canadian. In addition to fight of the night, the UFC
also gave out $70,000 bonuses to Mauricio Rua for knockout of
the night and Krsysztof Soszynski for his finish of Brian Stann.
… UFC president Dana White on the main event: “I didn’t
love it.”
Source: Yahoo Sports |
Reflecting
on my first TUF fight
So
the stage was set. I had arrived in Las Vegas and checked into
my room. All the preparation was done. Now I was here. The fight
I’d been waiting for since my career started.
Lot’s
of things ran through my head as I waited for the call to go
cut weight. TUF had been a dream, and a goal of mine for years.
Even before I was old enough to be on it. Some people are anxious
to turn 21 just for the opportunity to really party. I was anxious
because I wanted to be on the show.
I
started to think how big this opportunity was for me. Then I
started thinking how I’d really fallen into a certain routine
leading up to a fight. I think most fighters have them. I’d
had nearly 20 fights… I was bound to form some habits. Whether
it’s the people you surround yourself with, the type of
food you eat, shows you watch, music you listen to… In 20
fights, you’ll find a routine. Needless to say many of these
routines were impossible because of the show.
In
my room, I also realized I wasn’t real sure how close to
weight I was. A couple of pounds can make a huge difference towards
the end of a cut. As it turned out, I would start cutting 12-over.
I always make weight, but it was scary seeing so many people
come in over. I knew I had not come this far to allow anything
to send me right back. I cut the weight on my own. It seemed
like an awfully long 12 pounds.
Going
into the fight I knew very little about my opponent. The one
thing I was sure of was that there was only a bed for one of
us. A lot of things were different leading up to the fight. I’ve
also got to say there is no way to prepare for your first performance.
Here I was competing in front of a few of the UFC’s top
people. They have no distractions. All eyes on you….
When
the bell rang, I had a ton of trouble focusing on the fight.
I had drawn a really tough wrestler. I could not seem to make
anything work. This made it even harder to focus. Now it was
tough to stop thinking that I was about to go home.
Really
the first fight I had to just gut it out. I’m not gonna
lie, I got pounded on the entire first round. I knew I had lost
the first round and that I had to win the second round in order
to make sure it we went into a sudden death round or I had to
finish it.
My
cardio was a tremendous help from training in Colorado Springs
with the high altitude. This definitely helped me with the second
round. I finally snapped to when he got my back again and I eventually
managed to create a little space, which helped me to sneak out
the back door. Now, I finally had him in the position that he
had had me in for five minutes. I wanted to pound on him and
make him pay for pounding on me, but I didn’t let my emotions
get the best of me. I kept in mind it was the second round. So
I softened him up and snuck in the rear naked choke and quickly
put him to sleep.
Finally
my first fight was over. It seemed like it went so fast I didn’t
even realize for a second that I had even won. Everything was
kind of just a blur and it all seemed like a dream. Once I walked
into our new house for the remainder of the show, I knew it was
no longer a dream. Everything was real and this is where I was
gonna be for awhile.
On
a better outlook though, it was nice to know that all I had to
worry about for a couple of days was getting settled in and that
the next fights would be Frank Lester against Kiel Ried, as well
as, Jason Dent against Rob Browning.
There
was a huge relief knowing this and that we would be able to relax
and watch them have to fight and earn there spot in the house.
Geez! Let the games begin!
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Quote
of the Day
"You
have to recognize when the right place and the right time fuse
and take advantage of that opportunity. There are plenty of opportunities
out there. You can't sit back and wait."
Ellen Metcalf
|
Fighters'
Club TV Tonight!
Channel
52
8:00 PM
If
you are not on the Onzuka.com Hawaii Ground forum, you are missing
the latest news from upcoming events, get to rub elbows with
numerous promoters and fighters, and get to voice your opinion
on any subject you can dream up. Hit the links above to sign
up for a free account and start posting away!
|
2009
Hawaii State/Regional Boxing Championships
April 24 and 25, 2009
Queen Kapiolani Hotel Ballroom
The 2009 Hawaii State/Regional Boxing Championships will be held
on April 24th (7 p.m.) and 25th (6 p.m.) at the Queen Kapiolani
Hotel Ballroom. It will be the 1st time the Adults (senior, open)
and Junior Olympic Tournament will be combined. Winners advance
to the USA Combined National Championships on June 6th to 14th
in Denver, Colorado.
Boxers from Oahu, Big Island, Kauai, and Maui are expected to
compete. Current Nationally Ranked Boxers and Defending Hawaii
Champions entering the tournament are Chazzette Sau #1, Bruno
Escalante #2, Joshua McShane #5, Emmit Bolibol #5, Keanu Sabado
#5, with Gino Ramos #3 in the Under-19 division.
Defending Champions competing are Colleen Loo, Isaiah Manalo,
Earl Fitts, and Kainoa Oca-Kauhane. Escalante competed in the
2008 Olympic Trials.
Around 25 bouts are scheduled for each night. Tickets are limited
! and will be $20 for each night, and $5 for 10 and under.
If you have any questions feel free to email me by clicking here or Blane Yoshida
Thank You For Your Support!!
Bruce Kawano
2009 USA-Boxing Hawaii Team Manager/Regional Coordinator. |
Jacaré
vs. Miller title fight possible at Dream 9
Jason Miller confirmed
that there is a good chance of this fight happening since he
won and is unhurt in his Kingdom MMA post fight interview with
Fighters' Club TV
Ronaldo
“Jacaré” Souza had the chance to win Dream’s
middleweight title in 2008, but lost in the tournament final
against Gegard Mousasi. With his opponent moving to light heavyweight
division, the Brazilian will have another chance for the belt.
After the fighter revealing TATAME.com he’ll be back at
Dream 9, his coach Josuel Distak said that the Jiu-Jitsu black
belt will fight will be for the title.
“Jacaré’s
fight will be for the title, at May 26th. The expectations are
good and we’re ready to war”, said Distak, Still without
official confirmation, Distak revealed that the opponent might
be one of Jacare’s last opponents. “We’re still
waiting for the confirmation and Dream’s answer, but the
rumors say that will be against Jason Miller, but it’s not
100% confirmed yet”, told the coach, revealing that Ronaldo's
opponent might be the same one he defeated at Dream 4, by unnanimous
decision.
Source: Tatame |
SHOGUN
GETS BACK TO FORM WITH TKO OVER ICEMAN
In a battle that was years in the making, Maurcio "Shogun"
Rua took a big step forward in proving he is back to the form
in which he was the top 205lb fighter in the world just two years
ago, with a TKO win over UFC legend, Chuck Liddell, that could
be his last ever fight in the Octagon.
After
back to back performances in which he looked somewhat lackluster,
Rua came out aggressive early, landing good leg kicks, and firing
overhand punches trying to exploit Liddell's previous defensive
problems.
Early
in the round, Shogun actually executed a perfect takedown on
Liddell, and quickly moved to try and take his opponent's back.
Liddell as always was fast back to his feet, but Rua then moved
to try for a leg lock, but the California native fought his way
out and the two were back on the feet again.
Liddell
went for a takedown of his own, but let Rua back up almost immediately
and the two former champions went back to battling on the feet.
With
both light heavyweights trading shots, Rua clipped Liddell perfectly
with a big left hook that put the "Iceman" down on
the canvas. Shogun followed up with a few more punches and hammer
fists before referee Mario Yamasaki steps in to stop the fight
in the first round.
An
elated Shogun addressed the crowd following his win, and a certain
level of redemption after 2 disappointing fights to open his
UFC career.
"I
am happy," Rua yelled to the Montreal crowd after the win.
"Liddell is legend in MMA."
Now
riding a 2 fight win streak and a victory over former 205lb champion,
Chuck Liddell, Shogun enters himself back into contender's status
in a growing light heavyweight division, but has no problem with
whoever he may face next.
"I
will fight anyone, whoever Dana White or Joe Silva wants me to
fight," Shogun said. "I never pick anyone in my career
and I'm not going to start now."
Following
the fight while Shogun celebrated, the attention turned to Chuck
Liddell, who has now dropped 4 out of his last 5 fights, and
the legend didn't have many answers for commentator Joe Rogan.
"I'm
disappointed," Liddell commented. "I had a great camp.
I was in great shape. Things just weren't firing for me."
When
asked point blank if he plans to come back or retire, Liddell
said he has a lot to think about when he heads home to San Luis
Obispo, CA.
"I've
got to go home and talk to everybody. It just didn't feel right
tonight, so I don't know," Liddell said about his possible
retirement.
Shogun
will now look to get back into the title hunt, while Chuck Liddell
will contemplate what the best future for him will be, in or
out of the Octagon.
Source: MMA Weekly |
ANDERSON
SILVA DEFENDS AMIDST BOOS AT UFC 97
It’s been said that jazz is only enjoyed by the musicians
who play it.
Anderson
Silva shimmied, danced, and feinted his way through five rounds
with Thales Leites, chipping Leites’ façade away
with unorthodox striking.
Problem
was, the 21,451 fans in attendance wanted heavy metal.
In
pacing, the fight was a near carbon copy of Silva’s last
performance against Patrick Cote at UFC 90. The middleweight
champ ran circles around the challenger, mixing elusiveness with
flashes of aggression. For the second time in a row, it took
Silva around three minutes before he threw his first meaningful
strike.
Leites’
hope anchored on getting the fight down. And he did so once,
seizing upon a brief moment where Silva didn’t gauge range
to get a double-leg takedown.
The
27-year-old could not keep Silva down, though. He found himself
eating sharp left elbows, and shortly after, a slick triangle
attempt. In the ensuing scramble, Silva was up and away.
From
there, the action ground to a halt. Silva closed the distance,
hanging out just beyond punching range, daring Leites to strike.
Leites did little too oblige.
Silva
landed most of his punches, and unveiled a lead leg sidekick
that took the spring out of Leites’ step. By the fourth
round, his punches had begun to take their toll.
Leites,
confused and out of sync, began sliding on his back, begging
Silva to take the fight down. Silva obliged once, and landed
the most significant strikes of the fight, several right hands
that dotted the turtled Leites.
But
by then, the audience had been lost. Chants of G.S.P. and another
colorful term for frustration rang out in the Bell Centre.
Silva
went so far as to swat at Leites’ leg with his fist after
Leites went down again.
The
champion never lost his step through five rounds of action, and
never capitulated to the audience’s demands.
All
judges scored the fight in Silva’s favor, giving him 49-46,
48-47, 50-46 scores. With the win, Silva set the record for most
consecutive wins in the UFC and tied the record for most title
defenses.
“Sometimes
things don’t work out like the public likes it to; sometimes
it’s hard to tell what’s going on,” the champ
said afterwards. “Sorry, next time, I’ll do a better
performance.”
Despite
the night's ending, the Montreal card proved to be a lucrative
night for the UFC, with $4.9 million in gate receipts.
Source: MMA Weekly |
SHOGUN
PART OF $70,000 BONUSES FOR UFC 97
Despite a lackluster finish to the Ultimate Fighting Championship's
second trip to Montreal, UFC 97 did have its shining moments.
Several fighters left the Bell Centre on Saturday night with
an extra check worth $70,000 in their pockets.
Although
the fight was originally scheduled to take place on the untelevised
preliminary portion of the fight card, Matt Wiman and Sam Stout
scored a double bonus at UFC 97. Not only did their fight get
moved up to the pay-per-view portion of the card when several
decisions used up the time allotted for the prelims, but they
also earned UFC 97 Fight of the Night honors. Stout ended up
on the winning end of the fight, as he took home a unanimous
decision victory.
UFC
officials notified MMAWeekly of the bonuses shortly after the
fights.
The
Knockout of the Night left a melancholy feeling over many fans,
as Mauricio "Shogun" Rua's left hand sent Chuck Liddell
crashing to the canvas, and contemplating retirement. The win
puts Shogun back on track, but it was the third time in Liddell's
past five fights that he has been knocked out. He may now find
himself on the outside of the Octagon looking in.
Welcoming
former WEC light heavyweight champion Brian Stann to the UFC,
Krzysztof Soszynski used an impressive Kimura to finish the fight.
The shoulder lock earned him the UFC 97 Submission of the Night
honors.
UFC
97 AWARDS AND BONUSES:
UFC
97 Fight of the Night:
-Sam Stout and Matt Wiman
UFC
97 Knockout of the Night:
-Mauricio "Shogun" Rua
UFC
97 Submission of the Night:
-Krzysztof Soszynski
Source: MMA Weekly |
NY
BJJ Open releases brackets
Tournament to take place tomorrow
The
organizers of the NY International Open Jiu-Jitsu Championship
has already made its final adjustments for the debuting tournament,
set for tomorrow, in New York City College. Today the brackets
for each of the weight groups were released. Around 550 athletes
have signed up, a number well above the organizers’ expectations.
Among
them, well-known names like Lucas Lepri, Mike Fowler, Augusto
Vieira, Gregor Gracie and Marco Alvan will be going for gold
in the fight areas.
Click
here to check out the brackets.
Click
here to check out the event’s official timetable.
And
stay tuned to GRACIEMAG.com, throughout the weekend we will bring
the main results from the Jiu-Jitsu championship.
Source: Gracie Magazine |
2nd
American Cup coming up
Claudio Franca calling all kids
Claudio
Franca has been hard at work in preparing for his 2nd American
Cup Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Tournament, which will take place this
25th and 26th of April at Los Gatos High School, near San Jose
– and sign-ups for which end this Monday, April 20.
Already
with 450 adults signed up, the competition organizers are in
the final stretch to boost the number of kids to register. “Last
year, at the first installment of American Cup BJJ, we had 150
kids, this year we expect around 200,” commented the black
belt, who is the chief responsible for the US Open, in California,
ever since 1996.
Franca
further reinforced the idea of the competition being of social
importance. “The championship places emphasis on kids, because
our hope is to produce a strong base of competitors here, as
I said previously in an interview with GRACIEMAG.com. It’s
the only championship geared towards kids supported by the IBJJF.
All of them will receive a medal, a t-shirt and an issue of GRACIE
Magazine,” announced Franca.
The
24th of April, one day before the American BJJ Cup, experienced
teacher Alvaro Mansur (4th stripe black belt) will hold a refereeing
seminar at Claudio Franca BJJ.
If
you have not yet guaranteed your or your child’s place,
click here.
For
greater information on the seminar to be taught by Mansur, click
here.
Stay
tuned to GRACIEMAG.com for further information on the 2nd American
BJJ Cup.
Source: Gracie Magazine |
Kyra
Gracie focuses the World Championship
Three
times Jiu-Jitsu World Champion, Kyra Gracie was the favorite
to the Pan-American 2009 lightweight title, but the Gracie was
defeated to the brown belt Ana Carolina Vidal, by 7x0. But if
anyone thinks Kyra worries about one loss is completely wrong.
The black belt already trains for her next challenge, the World
Championship, which takes place at United States on June. “I
faced my loss at Pan-American as a learning. I saw some mistakes
I did after and before this fight and I’m sure I’ll
be back stronger and more focused for the world title”,
guaranteed Kyra, going after her fourth title.
Source: Tatame |
White
on Liddell’s future: ‘He’s done’
MONTREAL
– When Chuck Liddell, the biggest star in Ultimate Fighting
Championship history, left the Bell Centre cage on Saturday night,
the reaction was no different than many of his greatest wins.
He got a lengthy standing ovation from a sold-out arena.
But
this time the ovation came after he was stopped in four minutes,
28 seconds by Mauricio “Shogun” Rua in what his promoter,
UFC president Dana White, insisted was the last match of his
career.
“He
can still sell out shows and he can still sell pay-per-views,
but he’s done,” said White, who had said beforehand
that Liddell would need not just a win, but an impressive win
to continue his career. “He helped build this company and
he helped build this sport, but it’s done. Even Michael
Jordan turned 40, and he was done.”
Liddell,
who turns 40 at the end of this year, stopped short of outright
announcing his retirement, either in his postmatch interview
or later at the news conference.
Liddell
said he would go home on Monday, talk with his friends and make
a decision, but later hinted more strongly his career was over.
“It’s
probably the end,” said Liddell, who has been with the UFC
since 1998.
Liddell,
who wrestled at Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo and was trained as a
kickboxer, captured the UFC light heavyweight title from Randy
Couture on April 16, 2005, right after the first season of “The
Ultimate Fighter” reality show ended with the two as coaches.
In
doing so, and winning a rematch the next year from Couture, he
became the biggest star in the company as the sport exploded
in popularity on basic cable television and pay-per-view. His
win over Tito Ortiz on Dec. 30, 2006, was the biggest fight up
to that point in UFC history, the first event to top 1 million
buys on pay-per-view.
His
popularity continued even after he fell from the top, following
a knockout loss to Quinton “Rampage” Jackson on May
26, 2007, which began his career slide. Even though Anderson
Silva, considered by many the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in
the world, was the headliner and defending his middleweight title
as the UFC set its all-time record with 21,451 fans packing the
Bell Centre, it was clearly Liddell who was the biggest star
and biggest draw on the show.
A
granite chin long allowed “The Iceman” to get away
with leaving his hands low to set up his powerful right counter
strikes, but age took its toll on his ability to withstand a
blow. In his four fights leading up to Saturday night, he was
knocked down at least once in every fight.
The
loss was the fourth in Liddell’s prior five fights, which
rendered any chance of his avowed goal of getting the championship
for a second time.
Liddell’s
charm as the sport’s biggest star came largely because,
in a world with people who loved to talk big, he was a man of
few words, who would sheepishly say, “I just like to fight.”
He termed being an MMA fighter “the greatest job in the
world.”
Liddell
stated before Saturday’s fight that he would never fight
for another organization. White said Liddell would work for the
company in a public relations standpoint, suggesting he would
probably work with Marc Ratner in talking with legislatures and
athletic commissions in getting the sport fully regulated in
the few states it isn’t, and then in new countries.
“We
had a two-hour meeting in Las Vegas,” White said about the
agreement the two made shortly after Liddell’s loss to Rashad
Evans on Sept. 6 in Atlanta. “I wanted him to retire, but
he wanted one more shot. I made a series of guidelines. He had
to train hard. He had to change up his training. He had to stay
out of the night clubs. He did all that. He came here in great
shape and went out like the stud that he is. If he had won a
decision, this still would have been it. Anything less than an
impressive win was going to be it. Yeah, we can still make money
with him, but that’s not what it’s about here.”
Liddell
(21-7) came out fired up. He could not match Rua’s speed,
but he cut Rua in the early minutes with a hard punch. When Rua
took Liddell down, Liddell did his trademark move of getting
right to his feet without taking any damage.
Liddell
responded by taking Rua down but backed off immediately, figuring
his best shot at finishing was on his feet. But Rua quickly caught
Liddell with a left that put Liddell to the canvas. Seven punches
later, it was stopped.
White,
who got his start in MMA as Liddell’s manager, said that
after seeing Liddell down for several minutes after the Evans
knockout that he didn’t want him fighting again. But one
could argue, as Liddell did, that he was ahead on the scorecards
when the knockout came, and that punch would have knocked anyone
out.
This
time, there was no denying the reality. Whether a younger Liddell
could have beaten this Rua is a question, but the younger Liddell
would not have gone down or been finished by Rua’s big left.
For
Rua (18-3) he went from almost being written off to being back
in the thick of things in the light heavyweight division. He
appeared to be in the best physical condition of his career,
just three months after a fight – a less-than-impressive
win over Mark Coleman – where he appeared to be in the worst
condition of his career.
“When
I fought Coleman, my knee was 100 percent,” Rua said through
manager and interpreter Edouardo Alonso. “But I still needed
to adapt to the space of the octagon. I was in much better shape
because of the constant training.”
For
insiders, Liddell vs. Rua, had it taken place between 2005 and
2007, would have been one of the sport’s ultimate events.
Liddell was the king of UFC, while Rua was the best in the same
weight class in the Pride organization in Japan, the other major
league group at the time.
“I
dedicated myself to this match,” Rua said. “I left
Curitiba [Brazil, his hometown, where he has trained his entire
career] and went 300 miles away [to Sao Paolo, Brazil]. I trained,
ate and slept and did everything right so I could give a better
performance.”
And
it was enough to stop a legend.
Source: Yahoo Sports |
Scrapper
Fest Tournament
BJJ &
Submission Wrestling
Chiefess Kamakahelei Gym
Lihue, Kauai
Saturday, May 16
|
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