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2005
3/12/05
The Second Annual Maui
Jiu-Jitsu Open
BJJ tournament
(BJJ)
(Maui War Memorial Gym, Wailuku, Hawaii)
2/20/04
Punishment In
Paradise 9:
Hawaii vs. Mainland
(MMA, Kickboxing)
(Kapolei H.S. Gym)
2/5/04
UFC 51: Super Saturday
(MMA)
(Las Vegas, NV)
2004
12/31/04
Pride
(MMA)
(Japan)
K-1
(MMA, Kickboxing)
(Japan)
12/11/04
Super Brawl
(MMA)
(Blaisdell Arena)
12/10/04
Kickin It Again
(Kickboxing)
(Kapolei HS)
12/4/04
So You Think You Tough 7
**Postponed**
(Boxing, MMA)
(Kona Gym, Kona)
Ring of Honor
(MMA, Kickboxing)
(Waimea H.S. Gym, Kauai)
Proving Grounds 3
(MMA)
(Hilo, HI)
12/3/04
Punishment In
Paradise 8:
East vs. West
(MMA, Kickboxing)
(Kapolei H.S. Gym)
|
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November 2004 News
Part 3
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Quote
of the Day
"In the final analysis there is no solution to man's progress
but the day's honest work, the day's honest decisions, the day's
generous utterances and the day's good deed."
Clare Booth Luce
|
INTERVIEW
OF THE WEEK: BAS RUTTEN
Bas Rutten is one of the most popular and recognizable figures
in MMA today. A once great fighter who captured the King of Pancrase
and UFC Heavyweight Titles, Rutten has made the successful transition
to announcer and entrepreneur. With the holiday season fast approaching
MMA Weekly’s Mick Hammond spoke with Rutten to look back
over the past year of Pride FC as well as its future and Rutten’s
personal life.
MMA
Weekly: First up Bas, it’s been a big year for Pride FC.
Possibly the biggest story with the company was this year’s
16-Man Grand Prix which got started off with a bang at Total
Elimination 2004 with Kevin Randleman knocking out Mirko “Cro
Cop.” Tell us your thoughts on that and how it set the table
for the remainder of the GP.
Bas
Rutten: The heavyweight GP was as exciting as last year’s
middleweight GP. All the time when I think that Pride can’t
top themselves anymore they pull it off. We’re lucky it
went well. Of course it was a big upset, I don’t think Mirko
expected it at all. He could have gone real far if that hadn’t
have happened. I still think the best match-up could have been
Cro Cop versus Fedor (Emelianenko). I think they match up real
well together. But that’s the tournament, it’s the
name of the game when things like that happen, you never know
what to expect. I thought that Kevin had Fedor in the second
round when he dropped him on his head. I know Fedor said he wasn’t
hurt but c’mon, Kevin dropped him right on his head. If
he would have started raining knees like he did against Murilo
“Ninja” (Rua) he could have pulled off a second straight
upset and that would have been totally crazy.
MMA
Weekly: Another big part of the tournament was the stellar performance
of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira after the last year it seemed a lot
of people lost faith in him. Tell us your thoughts on his GP
performance.
Bas
Rutten: You know what, they (the Brazilian Top Team) have such
a great team there, they work non-stop on improving skills that
they might not be good at. They are pretty much good at every
skill, but if they feel they need work on something like striking
they immediately go to Cuba and work with the national team on
that. They are real smart with what they do. They are a bunch
of smart guys and they get better and better. Nogueira learned
from his first match with Fedor. In that match Fedor was able
to get out of submissions even before Nogueira could even attempt
them. But now you saw before the fight got stopped, Nogueira
had multiple submission attempts, he was going non-stop. I always
think that when someone goes for something and keep going they
will eventually get the submission.
MMA
Weekly: In that final bout between Fedor and Nogueira there was
a lot going on when the referee halted things to look at the
cut that opened over Fedor’s eye. We have heard from Mario
Sperry what was going on in the BTT corner with all the discussion,
what do you feel about their wanting to have the fight called
in Nogueira’s favor?
Bas
Rutten: It was one of the worst things, I mean that was the fight
everyone was waiting for. Finally we had the rematch; pretty
much everyone thought it was going to be final bout, and to have
it end like this was not good. Fedor gave the headbutt and cut
himself so I can understand the protests from their side. I mean
we are talking about a lot of money here that was at stake along
with the GP title.
MMA
Weekly: It’s a lot of money, but it’s not El Guapo
money right?
Bas
Rutten: No it’s not El Guapo money, I wish that I had that
kind of money (laughs). You know this is the misunderstanding
here in America, people are thinking that I’m sitting relaxing
on my millions of dollars but they don’t they don’t
realize that I’m traveling my ass off to get this money.
MMA
Weekly: Back to the tournament, how do you feel about the overall
performance of the tournament? Do you feel it was a strong step
up from the one back in 2000?
Bas
Rutten: Oh yeah, for sure. It was a way better GP than the first
one. I thought it was great, if the ending wouldn’t have
gone like this it would have been the perfect GP.
MMA
Weekly: Getting away from the GP, this year we saw the Bushido
series continue to evolve with four volumes this year. Can you
tell us your thoughts on that series?
Bas
Rutten: Well before Bushido 5 Mr. Sakakibara, the President of
DSE, along with (Nobuhiko) Takada (Pride Executive Manager) warned
the fighters for 20 minutes at the rules meeting saying, “if
you guys don’t fight, you’ll never be back.” What
they did showed the fighters that even if they lose, if they
put on a great show they will be back. I think personally you
saw a big difference between volumes 4 and 5 because Pride is
really pressing the fighters now. You saw a lot of new talent,
Crosley Gracie for one is going to be phenomenal, he’s got
the submissions, he’s got the striking. Gomi is also very
good, the lightweights are exciting fighters, they’ve always
been in Japan and now Pride’s bringing them to the front.
MMA
Weekly: You mention Takanori Gomi, he seems to be the fighter
that the series has become centered around. Do you he can be
centerpiece to which this series can revolve around? Can he make
an impact big enough to keep it alive as well as come up to the
main show now and then and perform well there?
Bas
Rutten: I think he can. As long as he keeps his head together.
Normally you saw what happened with (Kazushi) Sakuraba, that
after you beat a lot of great fighters you can start to think
you’re invincible and then some people have a lack in training.
Once that happens to you, you start to go down. It’s happened
to a few great fighters; they just don’t concentrate anymore.
If he keeps his stuff together he could be the next great superstar.
MMA
Weekly: Let’s talk about a couple of other fighters that
had had notable years. Heath Herring for one seems to have come
back in a very strong fashion after a year or two of not being
the same dominant fighter he started out as in Pride. How do
you feel about his resurgence in the heavyweight division?
Bas
Rutten: It’s exactly like you said, he’s doing great,
he’s really coming back. I think coming back after a knockout
is one of the most devastating and difficult things to do. I
have the most respect for fighters who get knocked out and come
back to win their next fight because it is very difficult to
do, because you know you’ll be punch-shy. After that barrage
he got into with Mirko Cro Cop and that was to the body, he started
to think he started to think “I’ve been in Holland
now for a few years working on my striking two times a day and
it’s not really paying off.” What he didn’t see
is that he wasn’t playing his game. If he just plays his
game and bees Heath Herring I think he can do great against anyone.
If he just uses what he has and what he possesses then he can
win any fight and he’s proved that over his last few fights.
Once he starts doing that, that’s the real Heath Herring.
MMA
Weekly: Another fighter that seemed to be on the comeback trail
but then had a hard last few outings was Kevin Randleman. How
do you feel about Kevin’s year?
Bas
Rutten: Kevin is the kind of person that you can’t break
down. He and I are very similar; he had the crazy car accident
and a lot going in his personal life. I have so much respect
for a guy who can keep fighting like that. He has a lot of pressure
on him, he had the accident and the doctors tell him not to fight
for 5-6 months after it, but there he is 4 weeks later fighting
again. He’s got 45 stitches in his head doing it; this guy
is indestructible and keeps coming. The only thing is when you
have a lot on your mind you can’t train. That’s the
case with his fight against Fedor, he didn’t train at all.
His dad had just died, he had a lot on his mind, he took care
of all that stuff, the funeral and his family. I think if a person
like Kevin Randleman with his athletic abilities and reflexes
finds a really good camp to train with he can pretty much be
unbeatable. He’s go super reflexes and is unbelievably strong,
he’s got the whole package, he needs a good coach to tell
him exactly what to do.
MMA
Weekly: You mentioned Fedor, he had a very good year after missing
part of last year with injuries and contract issues. How do you
feel about his year so far going into the New Year’s Eve
show?
Bas
Rutten: He’s in a different class, he’s how you say…when
they made him they made him from something special. He has a
real strange kind of balance, I mean in a good way. The way he
moved in Nogueira’s guard, like when Nogueira goes for submissions
he shifts his weight forward and to the sides and it’s like
nothing I’ve seen before. He’s real fast with his own
submissions and has those big haymakers. Standing they can be
a problem for him because they are wide, but on the ground it
doesn’t matter, he’s very accurate on the ground. Like
I said, a fight between him and Cro Cop could be a real great
fight. I think that if he keeps going he’ll keep being a
star. He’s the kind of guy that won’t get sidetracked,
he’ll always be focused and in great shape.
MMA
Weekly: In the middleweight division the story is, as it has
been over the last few years, Wanderlei Silva. He took time off
early then came back strong against Ikuhisa Minowa at Bushido,
then had an injury but came back to destroy Yuki Kondo before
having the fight of the year against Quinton “Rampage”
Jackson. Tell us your thoughts on Silva’s year.
Bas
Rutten: He’s the kind of person you think, “when is
he going to stop?” I mean he’s always in shape, prepared,
and wins. The last three years we are talking about that he hasn’t
lost, he’s just barraging everybody. The thing that I mentioned
before like with Gomi, it’s very difficult to stay at the
top, to keep training non-stop, but he keeps doing it. Everybody’s
hunting him, so he knows everyone’s training real hard to
get to him. I don’t know where he gets the mental focus
to stay on that level. He says he’s going to do this for
5 more years, if he can do it for just 2 more years that’s
an unbelievable thing to do.
MMA
Weekly: Now the year is not yet over for Pride, things are coming
together for the New Year’s Eve show. Headlining that show
will be the third match between Nogueira and Fedor for all the
titles and money. Tell us your thoughts about the upcoming Shock
Wave 2004 show.
Bas
Rutten: The main event is going to happen, there’s no more
speculation, it’s finally signed so that’s good. It’s
going to be a brawl again. Let’s hope there’s not going
to be another cut or something crazy is going to happen. That’s
going to be a good fight for sure. It’s not going to be
over in five minutes I believe, it’s going to be a long
hard battle. Roulon Garner is going to fight (Hidehiko) Yoshida;
it’s going to be a good match. I’m going to see him
and train him a bit in his stand up game. I hear Heath Herring
is also going to fight, there’s going to a lot of stars
on this show, I think Wanderlei Silva wants to fight as well.
I think this show is really going to rock.
MMA
Weekly: Do you see this becoming the big centerpiece show for
Pride every year? The show that everyone will look forward to
throughout the year with anticipation?
Bas
Rutten: I think so. Hopefully they will bring Gomi in so they
can have the heavyweights, middleweights, and the stars of Bushido
come in and make one big show.
MMA
Weekly: There are a lot of well-established fighters in Pride,
but they continue to try to bring in some of the best young talent
in the business. Do you see this surge for new talent growing
with the coming year?
Bas
Rutten: I expect even more talent to come in. Especially with
the Pride try-outs, this is a big step for Pride; it’s the
first time they are going to scout for more talent this way.
Everybody knows that there’s more talent out there, but
they aren’t going to get a shot unless you go out and find
them, it’s the same with acting and everything else. So
I actually see it growing real well. I keep repeating myself,
but every time I don’t think it can get better anymore and
we pull off something better. I feel we are so lucky that we
have such great shows all the time, it’s very difficult
to top shows but we manage to do it each time. With the try-outs
more competition will come and it will get even better.
MMA
Weekly: So you see Pride being the organization that is “the
organization” that people want to come to and compete in?
Bas
Rutten: I think so, in fact I know so. Every fighter including
myself who starts fighting’s biggest dream is fighting in
Japan. It’s the land of the samurai, you want to be there,
you know people have respect for what you do there, it’s
a totally different ballgame there than anywhere else in the
world. So for fighters to experience that, it’s a big thing.
A lot of fighters from other organizations want to go to the
big show and want to know how does it feel to fight there. Small
shows can have around 28,000 people, medium shows are like 45,000,
and at the Tokyo Dome they fill out 70,000 people, so fighters
will want to fight for a company that can give them that.
MMA
Weekly: Alright let’s get away from Pride now and talk about
your year. You’ve been very busy this year not only with
commentating but also with acting and other personal endeavors
tell us about your year.
Bas
Rutten: I think it went real well. I do a lot of work, and as
I said before I travel a lot to start new things, new businesses.
It’s like in fighting when you start out they don’t
start you headlining the big show, it’s like that in acting,
just because you get a lead role it doesn’t mean they are
going to get 150,000 dollars. They say “this is a low budget
movie, you’re going to start here, you’re going to
get paid to scale, take it or leave it.” For the first movie
the acting picked up real fast, a lot of people saw it so I got
another right after it. Now I just finished a comedy, a short
comedy, I have the lead in that. I was kind of waiting for that
one because it shows my range now, people can see I’m not
just a fighter, I can do more than that. I think this short comedy
will hopefully be this breakthrough for me, it’s a really
funny film. On the side I have the Bas Rutten enterprises, we
just started training people to become instructors in the Bas
Rutten martial arts system. It’s where people come three
times a year for a week and I work with you 7-hours a day which
finishes in a seminar where I’m going to let you teach also
so I can see how you teach other people. We see if they can pass
their tests so they can be certified in teaching the Bas Rutten
system. I’m going to give myself a shameless plug here by
saying you can go to www.BasRutten.tv for all the information
on that.
MMA
Weekly: Your personal life saw some change too. I know earlier
this year you had a big formal wedding with your wife, tell us
how marriage works for El Guapo.
Bas
Rutten: It works very well. The wife has been with me for 12-13
years, we got married when we first came to the States because
she’s Dutch too and so she wouldn’t have gotten a green
card, so there was a small wedding for the two of us. I told
her that we’d do a bigger wedding later on. In the wedding
department we were already married so it didn’t change a
whole lot but it was fun to have all of our friends over here
and family from Holland. Some fighters came and some couldn’t
make it, we had Bruce Buffer announcing for fun, we had a lot
of fun.
MMA
Weekly: So it’s been a pretty good year all around for El
Guapo huh?
Bas
Rutten: I think it’s like when I was starting in Pancrase,
in the beginning you don’t realize what you can do. You
start with a certain amount of money and you work your way up.
I had a couple losses the first year in Pancrase and I realized
I had to work harder and harder, so I do that in my life, if
something happens not how I want it to, I work harder so it does
work. I didn’t have any losses this year, at least not in
the acting department, it’s going good and only getting
better and better. The only thing is I would like to be making
more money per part but I’m not working on big Hollywood
budges. You have to start somewhere. It’s like a fighter,
I’m working my way up getting better and better, getting
offered more parts so let’s hope that next year will be
the breakthrough year for El Guapo.
MMA
Weekly: You remain one of the most popular and beloved individuals
in our sport. How does it feel to get such a response from fans?
Bas
Rutten: You know I’m so fortunate with that. It’s mind-blowing.
It looks like I got more popular after I stopped fighting…
MMA
Weekly: Maybe they are trying to tell you something with that?
Bas
Rutten: Yeah, but everybody likes the commentary too (laughs).
You have to see the people that come up to me everyday from everywhere,
they come up to me and say “hey you’re the guy from
Pride, you’re great, you’re funny, you can make us
laugh.” I meet people from Holland and they tell me I’m
the say but I’m more relaxed. That just tells you how I
was 13 years ago, I was such a hyper guy. I never could understand
fighters who don’t give their fans the time of day, because
if it wasn’t for the fans you wouldn’t be there. So
I always try to give everybody their autograph, everybody their
picture, and their attention because they deserve it. They put
me where I am.
MMA
Weekly: Going back to MMA, how do you see things going for the
whole sport, not just Pride and Japan, but here in the States,
over in Europe, the entire world in 2005?
Bas
Rutten: I said this last year also, people are starting to realize
what leg locks are, what arm bars, are what submissions are,
how takedowns and how to defend things so that changes things.
It’s like boxing now, boxing is easy to understand, you
punch someone to the head or to the body and they go down, pretty
much everybody understands that, we are starting to get that
understanding too. I have friends who watch shows who say “hey
he’s going for a left arm bar” and I’m like surprised
because it’s people who didn’t train in the sport but
now they are starting to understand what’s going on and
what’s coming up. They are realizing that it’s a real
fun sport to watch, even on the ground it can get real interesting,
in the beginning all people wanted to see were slams, ground
n pound, and knockouts, but now they get excited about the ground
game. We have fighters now who move fast and mix up the ground
n pound with submissions so the level of fighters keeps growing
and the audience gets more sophisticated and knowledgeable. Because
they get more knowledgeable about fighting I see things getting
really big. I always see Pride commercials in with boxing commercials
on TV now and I know that people are seeing that and they see
guys like Rampage and Wanderlei slamming people and knocking
people out and they start to think “hey what is this, we’ve
got to get that PPV and check this out.” So I know it’s
going to grow real well next year.
MMA
Weekly: As we close out is there anything you’d like to
say to anyone out there before we go?
Bas
Rutten: It’s pretty much what everybody says, just keep
supporting the sport, that’s what every fighter says. Because
that’s the only way we can grow. Thanks for all the support
and for the people, because every time I go to a show not just
in Japan but here in the States it takes me an hour to get in
there and an hour to get out because everyone comes up to me
and shows me support, so it’s a lot of fun. I thank everybody
for that. Hopefully they will continue to support every fighter
and don’t forget just in case they lose one or two times
in a row to keep supporting them because that’s the time
a fighter really needs his fans. If they drop them there that
could be the end of the fighter, so keep supporting them through
everything. For the rest of you, check out the Bas Gone Wild
DVD, it’s a 2-hour DVD about my 3-day bachelor party I had
in LA and it’s pretty wild, it’s got a lot of appearances
by a lot of fighters and a lot a laughs. Please look out for
my next Bas Rutten big DVDs of combat. It’s going to be
7 DVDs, the biggest instructional DVDs in the world. To give
you an example only the leg lock DVD has 65 leg locks on it.
I show you how to apply it, how to avoid it and if you get caught
in it, how to escape it and that’s all mixed from my real
fights showing me doing a technique in a real fight. It’s
a big project that is hopefully going to come out in January,
so check out www.BasRutten.tv for all the details
when it gets more finished.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
WILL
SYLVIA'S ARM BE READY IN TWO WEEKS?
Tim Sylvia, the former UFC Heavyweight Champion wanted to take
a tune up fight before he returns to the UFC. His "tune
up" fight will be against hated rival, Wes Sims, as the
main event for SuperBrawl in two weeks.
The
big question is whether Sylvia's arm will be ready for a fight
in a couple of weeks. Those close to Sylvia say he's ready to
go. Doctors in the fight game say it's hard to believe any fighter
would be ready to go this quickly. Just five months after his
forearm was snapped in two by Frank Mir, Sylvia will square off
in the SuperBrawl ring on December 11th.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
BUSHIDO'S
LIGHTWEIGHT GRAND PRIX
MMAWeekly's Scott Petersen reports from Japan, that the early
word is for Pride to hold a Lightweight Grand Prix Tournament
early in the spring.
The
Tourney will most likely happen in the ball park of March, April
or May of 2005. A tournament will take place between some of
the best Lightweights in the world.
The
weight class Pride Bushido will form will be a 160 pound weight
class. This will be a slight increase in weight than the UFC's
155 pound weight class. The five extra pounds may make it more
difficult for the lighter fighters to make the new weight class.
If
you look at fighters like Kid Yamamoto, Ivan Menjivar or Jens
Pulver, those type of fighters will be the ones most affected
by the new weight class. They are hard pressed to move all the
way up to 160 to fight in this kind of tournament.
The
fighters mentioned above are comfortable in the 145 weight class.
They all have competed at 155 before, but it will be interesting
to see, if they will be invited to fight in the 160 pound weight
class. No formal invitations have gone out yet as the details
are still to be worked out, but look for a Lightweight Tournament
in the near future in Japan.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
DE
JA VU ALL OVER AGAIN
Our good friend Jeff Osborne from fightworld.com reports that
Sakuraba will face Vanderlei Silva for a fourth time at the end
of the year show on December 31st.
Sakuraba
is 0-3 vs Silva in their previous three fights, but Saku feels
he can win this fight. Osborne will be on MMAWeekly Radio with
more on the situation.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
SPERRY:
'UNO TURNED DOWN REMATCH WITH FRANCA'
Brazilian Top Team manager Mario Sperry told Brazilian magazine
'Tatame' that the reason Hermes Franca will not be on the SHOOTO
card on December 14th is because Kaoru Uno did not accept the
Franca as an opponent.
UNO
VS. HANSEN POSSIBILITY
The Brazilian media is reporting that Hermes Franca will not
be participating on the SHOOTO year end show on December 14th.
It
was expected that Franca would face Kaoru Uno, but the Japanese
media is saying that Uno may now be facing Joachim Hansen.
Source: Fight Sport
|
Marcus
Aurélio's update
After
debuting in Japan, Brazilian Marcus Aurélio (American
Top Team) is in Europe training with Brazilian Augusto Frota
and do few contacts in Muay Thai. Now, Marcus wants to return
to Pride Bushido and face the best names of the under 70kg's
division. 'I would like to choose one it will be 'Takanori Gomi'
and a rematch with 'Mishima' but I'm not focused on this I will
just beat the numbers one!,' stated the fighter, who is on his
way to Holland, to improve his Muay Thai and stand-up skills.
Check out now the full interview conceded by Marcus Aurélio
to team TATAME in Switzerland.
What
is your actual situation, targets?
I'm
in Europe to train and work on my stand-up techniques for my
next fight in at Pride Bushido in Japan.
Actual
situation, targets of the ATT?
The
American Top Team is growing with a lot of tuff guys. We have
Olympic champions, Muay Thai Champions, Boxing trainers and more.
Guys with hunger for win, names like: Jorge Santiago, Thiago
'Pitbull' Emilio Bussard 'Tubarao, and more. All this guys have
the same philosophy 'ready to win!'
Tell
me about our fight against Mishima at Pride Bushido 4. What are
your plans now?
It
was a good fight from my point of view, but if I'm honest on
this day I was not really 'fit' I was sleeping very bad this
night, I feel pressure from the Organisation because I my weight
grows I was was risking to be disqualified. I intend to fight
at Pride Bushido and I have a contract for next year with Pride
for the Grand Prix 'Belt Champions'.
Tell
me about your training.
I
train 3 times a day. In the morning I make some physical training
and in the afternoon I training sometimes Boxing and MMA and
sometimes Muay Thay and grappling. Talking about food, I take
some proteins for an better flow and also carbohydrates, muscle
milk, minerals.
Do
you go often to Brazil are you missing your country?
Yeah.
I'm missing my country I really love it, you know I'm from Fortaleza
it is a really nice place! But I got three times in the year
to visit my family.
Why,
do you decided to change from Jiu-Jitsu to Professional Free
fighter?
I was nine year old as I started with Jiu-Jitsu and I won a lot
of competition I received a lot of 'medals' but I never saw money.
I love this sport but to survive I need money. The only way to
continue in the sport that I love was to change to the Mixed
Martial Arts. Now I love it, because you have so many disciplines
like Boxing, Grappling, Thaiboxing etc.
What
do you think about Europe and MMA in Europe?
Europe
has a very good reputation in the states and also in Brazil you
have a lot of tuff guys here in Europe! This is also the reason
because I'm here. I can see that MMA in Europe is growing it's
just a question of time.
With
which fighter and with witch Event you would like to compete?
In
our business you don't choose the fighters but if I would like
to choose one it will be 'Takanori Gomi' and a rematch with 'Mishima'
but I'm not focused on this I will just beat the numbers one!
I will be champion!
Why
are you in Europe? Tell me about your expectations...
I'm
here to train with Augusto Frota he has a lot of contacts with
the top Muay Thai guys and this is what I need! I will stay here
for two weeks and then I will go to Holland work on my stand-up
skills. My expectations from this Europe trip are to go back
to the states with more experience on my stand-up techniques.
Source: Tatame
|
Quote
of the Day
"I am always busy, which is perhaps the chief reason why
I am always well."
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, 1815-1902, American Social Reformer and
Women's Suffrage Leader
|
Mike's
Integra Found!
I got a call from HPD yesterday just after noon that HPD found
my car at the far end of Ko'olina. Thanks to everyone that was
keeping an eye out for me. It was stripped of the stereo and
rims/tires, but the rest of it is in ok shape (besides the ignition
and the door panels of course).
I
am thinking of creating a page on how to protect your car, specifically
Acuras. Not that I'm an expert, but I have had two Integras stolen
so I got a good chance to examine how these punks pull it off.
I will consults some of my friends at HPD just because I don't
want to give any ideas out to any aspiring thugs.
If
you want tips, shoot me an email. I may only answer the ones of guys
that I know for the same reason stated above.
I
am thinking about just calling it quits on selling the car and
will probably just donate it and take the tax write off.
As
a side note, just remember that items that are stolen are just
material things so don't let it get you down. I'm just thankful
that my family or friends weren't hurt. That would be a lot more
devastating than just a car being stolen. I am more disturbed
by the principal of someone taking away something that I worked
hard for and saved every penny to modify to my liking. People
will be people and I cannot change anyone, but I won't let them
win by having a theft affect me.
|
PUNISHMENT
IN PARADISE 8
Friday Dec 3,2004 @Kapolei High Gym
COUNTDOWN!!
David Padilla (Jesus Is Lord, Waiapahu)
Warriors Quest, Shooto, ROTR,IFC & Gladiators Challenge Veteran
Vs.
Cory Cass (Showtime Jiu Jitsu)
King of the Cage & Gladiators Challenge Champion
Padilla a ranked shooto fighter makes his return after a year
lay off, Padilla will face none other than Cory Cass of California.
Cass who is no stranger to fighting top notch fights as he already
has fought King of the Cage Champion Joe Stevenson. Cass who
has never gone to a decision, even in his losses, likes to end
the fights fast and go out there and lay it all on the line.
Padilla 2-1
Tommy Pestana (Waianae Kickboxing Club, Waianae)
IKF West Coast Champion
Vs.
Wayne Perrin III (Team Bigdogs, Waianae)
Punishment In Paradise Champion
Pestana a Kickboxing & Boxing Champion will also make his
way back the ring as he tries to take away Perrin's Kickboxing
Title. Perrin who is the current P.I.P Champion has a lot to
prove in this fight. Perrin is fighting a very experienced fighter
in Pestana, but don't sell Perrin short. He's a YOUNG GUN with
a bright future ahead of him. He has a lot of Power and Speed
with the reach to add to his arsenal. Perrin wants his respect
but theirs one person in his way O.G. Pestana.
Pestana 2-1
Thursday last day
for PRE-SALE Tickets 620-2882
Source:
Promoter
|
Jeremy
Horn: One Bad Mother @%$#&+
When it comes to a superior work ethic, fight veteran Jeremy
Horn breaks the mold.
Since
turning pro in MMA back in 1996, Jeremy has seen a total of 87
bouts, with 69 wins, 13 losses and five draws. He battled in
a whopping 21 bouts in 1999, ground out 10 throwdowns in 2003
and has rounded out six victories with one loss this year alone,
sometimes matching up a total of five times per month. That is
just a hardcore fighter there for ya.
The
free style artist has handed out 43 wins by submission and has
beaten the likes of Chuck Liddell and Daiju Takase, and is still
on a roll with his most recent win over Chael Sonnen at the SF-6
Battle Ground in Reno.
The
twenty-nine year old Horn doesn’t show any signs of slowing
up either, and is set to continue his onslaught throughout the
years to come. Jeremy has waged some great battles throughout
his eight years as a MMA fighter and whether he fought for a
win, dropped to a loss or battled to a draw, he always seemed
to leave the fans with an exciting show.
The
fighter they call “Gumby” for his 6’1” 185
lb. flexible frame has competed in the combat sport on many levels
such as the Extreme Challenge, where he has competed in a total
of 17 bouts with a record of 13-1-3, and battled “The Beast’
Dan Severn to a draw in that venue. His UFC debut in 1998 was
against highly regarded Frank Shamrock, where Jeremy gave the
champion all he could handle until Frank caught Horn in a knee
bar to win the fight by submission. Jeremy went on to win the
fans’ hearts with his strong sportsmanship and went on to
fight in the UFC on six more occasions. The middleweight sensation
has also fought in the KOTC, IFC, EB and a multitude of other
promotions. He is trained by Pat Miletich and looks to the future
to continue his unrelenting style. MaxFighting caught up with
the Gladiator and got his thoughts on his past and future.
Benny
Henderson Jr. - First I want to congratulate you on you victory
in September at the Battle at Reno.
Jeremy Horn – Hey, thanks man.
BH
- Any news on your next bout and opponent?
JH - Nothing locked in. I am kind of in limbo right now.
BH
- You have to be one of the busiest fighters in the sport; you’ve
had seven fights this year, ten in 2003, in 1999 you had a total
of twenty-one bouts (with only one loss I might add) and fighting
sometimes five times in one month. What drives you, what motivates
you, what compels you to be so busy?
JH - I just really wanted to fight. I was kind of new and haven’t
had that many fights and I wanted to stay busy. I like to fight.
I was having fun and I wasn’t getting hurt so I just wanted
to keep doing it.
BH
- Are you worried all the battles you have had will take its
toll on your body in the future?
JH – No, that is why I continue to fight as often as I do
because I don’t get hurt when I fight so it’s not a
big deal.
BH
- You have fought some of the biggest names in the sport with
bouts against Chuck Liddell, Randy Couture, Frank Shamrock, Dan
Severn to just name a few. Can you name some of your biggest
moments in your career, whether it was a win, loss or a draw?
JH – Man, I have had a lot so it is hard to pin down a handful
of them. Frank Shamrock was a big fight. It was my first real
big fight against a name and it really let me know where I would
stand in the scheme of things; I always wondered if I was good
enough to be there until then. There are a handful of others
but nothing real spectacular. Like I said I fight cause I want
to fight. I really don’t put too much stock into them.
BH
- Is there any particular fighter you would like to face, and
why?
JH – No, not particularly. It would be nice to have rematches
with some of the guys that I fought that beat me. But it isn’t
a real big priority. I just try to move forward after each fight
and see what’s coming next.
BH
- What do you feel your best quality is a fighter?
JH - I am really hard to hurt. I’ve got a really good defense
and I stay really calm and relaxed so it is really hard to get
me frustrated. I feel a lot of people get hurt because they get
frustrated and out of whack. Just stay calm and things will play
themselves out the way they should if you do what you should
do. A lot of people miss that opportunity cause they get frantic
and they get out of control. Just stay relaxed and everything
will take care of itself.
BH
- How did you get the nickname “Gumby”?
JH - I am really flexible, but it isn’t a nickname that
I really like. Somebody pinned that one on me a while ago and
I have been trying to kick every since. It just keeps floating
up every now and then.
BH
- If it was me and looking at all that I have seen from you so
far I would probably call you a bad mother @#&%~$.
JH - [Laughs] That one sounds a lot better.
BH
- In your eight years as a fighter you’ve had a total of
79 bouts and have fought some tough guys. Even with all your
experience do you ever get butterflies before a fight or feel
any fear during the stare-off before the fight?
JH - I’m always nervous because I want to perform well,
but obviously everybody wants to win. I like to fight and I want
to fight no matter what. But I always want to perform up to my
potential. I know what I am capable of more than anybody else.
That is my biggest thing - I want to perform always as well as
I can so that makes me as nervous as anything else.
BH
- What exactly goes through your mind before a fight and how
do you prepare yourself mentally?
JH - I have a really bad habit of building up my opponents a
lot before the fight. I give them a lot more credit than I should
and sometimes that makes me fight more cautious because I build
them up so much that I don’t fight up to my potential because
I am so worried about what they are going to do. I just try to
run though the fight in my head, I try to stay calm and think
about what I am gong to do and what they are going to do.
BH
- What would you like to accomplish in the future?
JH - I have really been trying to work on my stand up skills
a lot - my boxing, kick boxing, stuff like that, so maybe I can
win a couple of fights knocking people out. That is something
I would like to do. I don’t really have a lot of goals other
than that and that is a pretty minor goal. I just want to improve
my skills and test them out in the ring, so that isn’t a
real huge goal.
BH
- Any advice you would give to a young fighter?
JH - Make sure you get with a good group and train with people
who you know that can do it. Unfortunately I see a lot of guys
out there get suckered in by a big image or good name. But you
really need to look at what they have accomplished as trainers,
not always as fighters. You see a lot of guys crowd around the
flavor of the month but what has that guy done as a trainer,
or what has he done to show that he can pass on to you what he’s
capable of? Just think about where you are training and get with
a good group that you get along with and mesh well with and take
it from there.
BH
- How would you define your career?
JH – Unfinished. I will be around for a while.
BH
- Anything you would like to say to the fans or in closing?
JH - I just hope the fans keep supporting and keep dong what
they have been doing. Without them the sport doesn’t mean
a whole lot. Without the fans it is just us beating each other
up in somebody’s garage. It is nice to have them supporting
us.
Source: Maxfighting
|
Jason
Black: The Thrill is Gone
Mixed Martial Arts fighter Jason Black says after four years
in the No Holds Barred sport he is ready to call a halt to his
explosive career. After exploding on the scene in 2000, the hard-hitting
welterweight went on a nine fight winning streak until he battled
to a hard fought draw against Antonio McKee at the WFA 1 show
in 2001.
Since
then he has won eight more straight bouts to compile an extraordinary
career record of 17-0-1, nine by way of submission, four by decision,
and three by TKO. He has impressive wins over John Cronk, Jake
Hudson and Michael Johnson.
Yet
the 32-year-old fighter, who is getting ready for what could
be his last bout this month, said that he just isn’t motivated
after his opponent dropped out. There should be a replacement
for his next bout, but if he will fight after this one is still
up in the air.
The
railroad worker said that the lack of money and the rigorous
training for the low pay just isn’t worth it. Black says
that he will not be back but looks forward to his new life out
of the ring. Max Fighting conducted an interview with the soon
to be retired fighter and got his thoughts on his career and
life after MMA.
Benny
Henderson Jr. - What have you been up to lately?
Jason
Black - Just have been getting ready for my fight, I will be
fighting the day after Thanksgiving in Montreal supposedly, so
I am just trying to get ready for that. My opponent backed out
Thursday for some reason, so right now I’m just waiting
till they find somebody. Just having a hard time getting motivated
without having an opponent.
BH
- With you not having an opponent in this fight just yet does
that bother you not knowing what style to prepare for?
JB
- I don’t think my opponent has ever dictated my training.
I just go out and try to impose my will on them so I really don’t
worry too much about what they do. It is nice to know if they
are a boxer or a grappler because they’re two totally different
things, but I pretty much usually always end up doing the same
thing. Throw a couple of bombs and taking them down and beating
the crap out of them.
BH
- What inspired you to get into this sport?
JB
- I was in a gym that used to be a racquetball court - it actually
had six courts - and Pat rented one out and had a wrestling mat
in it. I was just with him and Pat kept on coming in talking
to me; he was a nice guy not trying to get me to train or anything.
He asked me if I wanted to come in and do it and I said no. I
wrestled for eighteen to twenty years of my life and it was time
for me to be done with that. He said that they did wrestling
takedowns and stuff and one night I was hanging around and I
went in there and did it and I stuck around and talked to some
guys afterwards and they showed me some submissions and they
told me to come in the next morning for the Jiu-Jitsu class and
I probably didn’t miss a class for six months after that.
I just loved it, it was very exciting.
BH
- What do you feel your best quality is as a fighter?
JB
– Determination. Losing is never an option it is just a
matter of how I am going to win. I fall back mostly on my wrestling
background but my greatest asset is my determination.
BH
- Can you give us your most memorable moments in your career
so far?
JB
- My title fight in Canada was probably one just because it was
for a belt and it was against a really good opponent, John Alessio,
who was a titleholder at the time. I remember most of them.
BH
- How about your toughest opponent?
JB
- I would have to say John was; my last two fights have been
pretty close.
BH
- What is a regular day in the life of Jason Black?
JB
- Oh man, I have a full-time job, I work on the railroad. So
when I am getting ready for a fight I usually get up around 5:00
to 5:30 a.m. and get a long distance run in or some sprints.
Then I go to work and put in my eight hours, come home and lift
and either do a night of boxing or Jiu-Jitsu. A lot of guys in
the sport don’t do two things, they are either fighting
or bouncing, and they don’t have real jobs. I think in a
way it works for my benefit because I get away from the sport
and get that release but at the same time I don’t get the
quality training that I would like to get, plus the down time
to let my body recuperate. It is kind of like Wednesday and Thursday
I am dragging ass from work and training. Having a job also gets
me to bed at night and I am not partying and smoking dope and
chasing strippers and stuff you know.
BH
- How about your hobbies?
JB
- I like to golf, and just hang out with my girlfriend and the
guys at the college. Nothing too special, I don’t hunt or
fish or make quilts or stuff like that.
BH
– Man, I don’t see you as a golfer.
JB
- Oh no, man, I didn’t say I was any good. It is just away
from the sport and it is an opportunity to hang out with some
friends of mine.
BH
– Is there anyone whom you would like to step in the ring
with, and why?
JB
– No, there is not. To tell you the truth I don’t know
why that is; probably because I am on my way out of the sport.
It doesn’t bring that thrill to me anymore.
BH
- So you are on your way out?
JB
- Yeah, I probably have one or two fights left in me. I am just
calling it quits. It doesn’t pay but at the same time I
really don’t do it for the money. But if I am going to do
it I might as well get paid, you know? On the inside of the sport
is nothing like what people may think it is. You are making $1,000
or $2,000 a fight and you spend three months getting ready for
it. You just give away a lot of your life I won’t drink
a month or two out from the fight, that is eight weekends of
not having a good time and not eating the crap that I have to
give up and it’s really not worth that.
BH
- Is it going to be hard for you to walk away from the sport?
Do you feel you will miss it and want to come back later on?
JB
- Ah, I don’t know if I will really walk, I might run. I
am pretty tired of it. I enjoy it as a sport. I think that if
you talk to any professional athlete, usually they want to get
away from the sport and in a couple of years they start watching
it or start coaching it or something like that. But they just
need that separation for a little bit. I would really like to
get into training fighters one on one but I will probably take
a little time off just to do the things that I haven’t been
able to do for the last five years.
BH
- What will the future hold for you now that you are walking
away from the sport?
JB
- Well I will still have my job and I like to work out so I hope
to still be working out two or three times a week. I will be
around the sport and the fighters, and some of them I don’t
want to be around because they are just boneheads and some are
real good guys. I will be able to pick and choose a little more
now. Maybe me being away from it for a while will give me a deeper
appreciation for the sport. I really don’t see me going
in a short retirement and coming back out because it would take
good money for that, and it just doesn’t have that following
and I will probably be forty years old before I get that following.
I am not doing the Randy Couture thing. When I am forty I am
done.
BH
- What goes through your mind before the fight while you are
staring in your opponent’s eyes, knowing that in a few seconds
you both will be trying to beat the crap out of each other?
JB
- Usually the thought is that this is the stupidest sport in
the world and I don’t know why I am doing it; the other
half of me is trying not to s**t or piss myself because I am
so nervous. It is a mixture of emotions and nobody can possibly
imagine it, outside of being a soldier or something like that
with your life being on the line. Outside of boxing and Muay
Thai there is just no sport that can end so gruesomely. I mean
you can get knocked out, get your arm broke, plus usually half
your family or your friends are there watching. Thanksgiving
is not too fun when you are sitting there with a black eye and
a broken jaw.
BH
- What advice would you give to somebody wanting to take up the
sport?
JB
- I would tell them if they are going to do it they better do
it full heartedly and not half ass it because it is just like
life - you won’t get anything out of it if you don’t
put anything into it. If you are going to do it, go to a gym
that is known for being very respectful and knows what they are
doing. Be well rounded; your career won’t go past two fights
unless you can just stand up and do the groundwork. The guys
in the sport are just evolving from show to show. The guys used
to be all stand-up or all Jiu-Jitsu and now they are excellent
at both so you have to be very well rounded. Take your time and
not jump straight into a fight, I would recommend you not even
having an amateur fight without six to eight months of training.
BH
- Is there anything you would like to add to this interview?
JB
- I would like to thank my supplement supplier, the SupplementZone.com
for supplying me with nutrients and my family and my friends
for supporting me.
Source: Maxfighting
|
Interview
with Tadashi Tanaka
Tadashi Tanaka is one of the top pro wrestling and MMA journalists
in Japan, and one of the very few to go against the grain in
the industry and reveal through his writing that pro wrestling
is a worked sport, as in Japan, it's not well-known that pro
wrestling is staged.
Tadashi
has recently released his fourth controversial, Japanese-language
book on the industry, looking at the decline of the pro wrestling
business in Japan while the industry remains strong in North
America, exploring reasons why this is the case and why Japanese
fans still believe that wrestling is real when North American
fans have figured it out long ago.
Since
mixed martial arts is simply a part of the pro wrestling industry
in Japan, whereas MMA and wrestling are more seperated in the
U.S., Tanaka is also one of the leading experts on the planet
in regards MMA. In this interview with Tanaka, he discusses with
Jeremy Wall of Maxfighting.com the problems that both K-1 and
Pride are facing in the future, and upcoming business on major
MMA shows in Japan.
Jeremy
Wall: Do you expect Bob Sapp to be working the K-1 New Year's
Eve show?
Tadashi
Tanaka: I expect so, yes. Right now he's saying I'm not going
to fight anymore. He's doing that. But basically, I think he'll
appear. Right now he's saying, 'I'm not going to fight anymore,
you need to pay me'. They have issues over money right now, but
eventually they have to do it.
JW:
Yeah because they need Bob Sapp. K-1's heavyweight division right
now is pretty weak. What kind of drawing power do you think Sapp
will have when he comes back?
TT:
Of course everyone knows that his popularity is going down right
now, compared to a year ago. But still, they need him.
JW:
What kind of rating do you think a Sapp vs. Akebono fight, if
they do that, will draw at this point? It doesn't seem like it's
going to draw anywhere near what it did last year.
TT:
Last year it was a 43%, but this year if they get to 30%, they're
lucky. The popularity isn't there as it was last year, but even
my mom watched [last year's Akebono-Sapp fight], and my mom doesn't
really care at all about the fighting game, but last year she
watched it.
JW:
Yeah that's how popular it was.
TT:
Right.
JW:
It seems that K-1, without being able to create new stars for
their heavyweight division, will run into problems soon with
their ratings. The Grand Prix always does well, but I mean in
the next year it looks like they're going to have problems. The
top guys are old. Like Hoost is old. Andy Hug has been dead for
years.
TT:
Right.
JW:
Aerts and Bernardo and those guys are old. Sapp has problems.
TT:
Right.
JW:
It doesn't look like they've created anyone new to carry that
end of the promotion. Bonjasky is good and he's done well at
times on TV this year, but he doesn't seem to be the guy, uh...
TT:
To carry the promotion.
JW:
Yeah. Not a guy that crosses over with all the people.
TT:
Right.
JW:
They definitely have issues, and...
TT:
Definitely, definitely. Everbody's worried about that. K-1, and
even Pride although they did a huge rating on the 2nd tournament
show due to Ogawa, and everyone says they have the momentum,
but in my opinion, it's already peaked out. With Fedor and Nogueira,
they're not household names at all. Both companies are in trouble
right now, in my opinion.
JW:
It seems that Pride needs a new superstar now that Sakuraba is
broken down.
TT:
Exactly. But they don't have any native stars. That's why they
have a problem. Ogawa no longer wants to do shoot shows.
JW:
Ogawa just wants to do pro wrestling?
TT:
Yes. The reason why he did three fights this year is because
he was broke. That's why he did it, even though last year he
said, 'I'm no longer doing any more shoots'. But he changed his
mind because he was broke.
JW:
I think it's really interesting to look at K-1 from the late
'90s, in that they were able to build a really successful and
profitable promotion using all foreigners. Most of their big
stars were European, and they didn't have any big native stars.
How was K-1 able to break that barrier and build a top promotion
around foreign fighters?
TT:
One thing is that kickboxing is easier done than MMA. Even my
mom can understand kickboxing. Because of the karate, Japanese
are used to seeing karate, and K-1's like that, and there's no
boring groundfighting like in MMA. K-1 also dropped down from
five rounds to three rounds; they made that ruling two years
ago. So it's more and more a TV show and more and more a general
public show, and it's easier to understand for the general public.
For the Japanese, there's a long, long history of watching kickboxing,
and without the native star they made it popular. When they started
in 1993, everyone said that without the native star, how are
they going to get it going? But without the Japanese they did
it. So hats off to Ishii. They did it.
JW:
Andy Hug was charismatic, but a lot of their top guys weren't
charismatic. Like Ernesto Hoost isn't charismatic, and Peter
Aerts isn't charismatic.
TT:
Andy Hug, in our eyes, was really Japanese. He lived in Japan.
He talked about samurai spirit, and that's why he became a domestic
star. He may have been European, but we see him as a Japanese
star. That really made a difference, because without Andy Hug,
they didn't have anyone with charisma. K-1 is such a lucky, lucky
organization because of Andy Hug.
JW:
So you don't think it would be possible for Pride to build their
promotion in a similar style with foreign stars? Because most
of their top guys are guys like Mirko and Wanderlei Silva and
foreigners like those guys.
TT:
That's one thing, but another thing, I don't really care about
the nationality, like whether it be European or Brazilian, but
in the case of Andy Hug, he lived in Japan. That made a difference.
But unfortunately, currently in Pride no one lives in Japan.
They always fly in from their home country. So really, they're
not really based in Japan. That is a big difference. Maybe Andy
Hug was not Japanese, but he lived in Japan. That is a big difference.
JW:
Right. Like Nogueira and Silva fly in from Brazil, and Mirko
flies in from Croatia, and everything.
TT:
Right. They're based in their country. They're not based in Tokyo.
That's a problem. Heath Herring is American, but he's living
in Holland. Nobody is really based in Tokyo. At one point Bob
Sapp's popularity was so big that he basically lived in Japan.
He did interviews, and comedy shows, and entertainment shows,
so that really made a difference. Because then we see him as
more of a Japanese star even though he's American. You guys only
see the fights on TV, but there's also the comedy shows for him.
That's how my mom knows who Bob Sapp is.
JW:
K-1 as a product I think would be more marketable than MMA in
the U.S. too because it's more exciting than UFC, because it's
all stand-up. But the K-1 management in the U.S. is terrible.
They'll run like a 10,000 seat venue and sell only 1,000 tickets
in Las Vegas. They make weird decisions. Like I don't understand
why they booked Akebono vs. Rick Roufus in Vegas. What a waste
of Akebono. I don't understand that. How aware are the Japanese
fans that Akebono has lost like that in other countries?
TT:
[laughs] Actually that story is because of me. I'm a big part
of it. I interviewed, um, he fought against Kondo in Pancrase,
and he fought Sakuraba, and he's had hundreds of fights, and
he's not fighting anymore because he's in Iraq...
JW:
Shannon Ritch?
TT:
Yeah, Shannon Ritch. I talked to him and he said he's training
with Rick Roufus, and Rick Roufus is no longer... Because at
one time, Rick Roufus says, 'I'm retired' at a K-1 U.S. show.
So because Shannon Ritch said that Rick Roufus is no longer retired
and is coming back, I wrote that in the magazine, and a K-1 guy
read it and said, 'wow, Rick Roufus is an old guy and one time
he said that he's retired, so maybe it's okay'. And also Akebono's
nationality is American. He can speak English. So maybe it's
a good idea to have Akebono the American guy vs. a retired Rick
Roufus. I thought it was a bad idea...
JW:
[laughs]
TT:
But K-1 doesn't really understand the logistics. Rick Roufus
is good. He's no joke. And also the Las Vegas K-1 rules are much
different than the regular K-1 rules because of Las Vegas, small
details that they don't mention in the U.S.. It's not exactly
K-1. That's why a Rick Roufus type of guy, who has never, ever
done a low-kick type of fight before...
JW:
Yeah, he would have just done like U.S.-style kickboxing.
TT:
Yeah, yeah. So maybe under those rules he may be good, but in
low-kick, muay thai rules he's not effective. So they thought
maybe Akebono, an inexperienced kickboxer, is better off in a
U.S. kickboxing style of fight. And that was a mistake. But on
the other hand, nobody cares, and everybody knows Akebono isn't
good. But that's okay. We're laughing about it! He's so popular
with the public, that he can be defeated, and defeated, and defeated
and people still watch him.
JW:
He did a good rating against Remy Bonjasky.
TT:
Exactly! Everyone knows... even my mom knows he has no chance
to win. But that's okay. He keeps losing, no matter who he's
against, and that's okay, because we treat it as a joke and he
gets high ratings.
JW:
Do you think they're going to book him against Bob Sapp on New
Year's?
TT:
That's the idea. That's the top priority, a Bob Sapp vs. Akebono
rematch. Although K-1 may also materialize a Royce Gracie vs.
Akebono freak show as an alternative. DSE has a first refusal
right on Royce fighting in Japan and they initially rejected
him fighting on the K-1 Dynamite show, however, it looks like
that's changed again. On Mark Hunt's contract, K-1 has the first
refusal right but DSE ignored it. Although they hate each other,
they're actually talking behind the scenes.
JW:
Do you think the fight would do better on TV if Akebono hadn't
lost so often this year?
TT:
It is better to be against a top fighter, and lose miserably,
it's better. I don't know if you watched the Korean show with
Akebono, that was a bad match. He did really badly against a
nobody fighter. Nobody had heard of this guy. That is a bad match.
Akebono vs. Remy Bonjasky, that's not bad.
JW:
Like, how someone wins or loses a fight is far more important
than whether they won or lost the fight. Like with Bob Sapp vs.
Nogueira from a couple of years ago.
TT:
Right. Exactly. Japanese don't really care about losing. The
fight being exciting is much more important. In the U.S., they
care and they'll talk about who won and who lost, but talking
about a fighter, for the Japanese, they are paid to lose, in
a way. I mean it's not a work. People always say it's a worked
match, worked match. It's not really worked matches. But Japanese
fighters are paid to do exciting matches, and lose. And that's
why they are paid.
JW:
You mean someone like Takayama?
TT:
Takayama is one example. With U.S. fighters, they hold it in
the same position, and they ground-and-pound, and they win, by
decision. It's boring! That's really boring. But with a Japanese
fighter, they don't care, and they'll end up losing, but they
take a chance. It's not about the win-loss record but about how
impressed the audience was.
JW:
Is K-1 planning on running any Romanex shows or is that thing
dead?
TT:
They're saying they're going to come back in 2005. It's hard
because they're not drawing, and the size of the audience in
the Saitama Super Arena for their first show was terrible. It
was terrible. Some people say it was less than 10,000.
JW:
You can really see the problem with like, how the opening round
of the Grand Prix was at the Osaka Dome last year...
TT:
Yeah!
JW:
...and this year it was at the Budokan, which is much smaller.
I knew when they announced Budokan for this year's opening round
that they are having problems figuring out their attendance issues,
because they're running a smaller building.
TT:
Exactly. K-1's popular, because the general fans are always behind
them, but the peak was past three years. Even four years. I could
even say that when Andy Hug died, that was the end of K-1's prime,
in my opinion. And the general public is always watching and
are still behind them and still watching, so that's why TV ratings
are still high, but live attendance this year in K-1 is miserable.
JW:
How long do you see Masato as being top star in K-1 Max?
TT:
Masato's popularity is high. Hats off to him, because he's Japanese
and he made it to the finals of the tournament, and it was top
competition, but he made it to the final, so that's already an
achievement, in my opinion. Yeah, he lost to the thai fighter,
Buakaw, but hats off to him that he made it to the final. Everyone
says that K-1 Max is the only one to watch. The heavyweights
are no longer interesting at all. Because of K-1 Max, people
are still interested in K-1, so they are really carrying the
K-1 name.
JW:
Do you think Masato has become a bigger draw for K-1 than Sapp?
TT:
In what sense as a draw?
JW:
Like in television ratings.
TT:
In TV ratings wise, it's already equal. But on the other hand,
Bob Sapp is more like a comedian with his commercials. He has
like twenty commercials, from ice cream to all sorts of things.
So in that sense, Masato is still low yet. Masato's not really
a comedian. Bob Sapp is a comedian. So that makes a big difference.
So general public-wise, Bob Sapp's name is much, much more popular.
But Masato has a lot of girl fans. That's really made a difference.
The girl fans.
JW:
Yeah. Bob Sapp obviously doesn't have a lot of girl fans.
TT:
Right, right. Bob Sapp is more well liked by people like my mom.
He's well liked by old people.
JW:
He's liked by old people, Bob Sapp?
TT:
Yeah, because he's kinda cute.
JW:
Yeah I see.
TT:
Yeah so that's a big difference. Bob Sapp is more for the general
public TV. People accept him, like a rough guy, rough American
guy, talks funny. Bobby is a great example. Bobby, the guy who
will appear in the Dynamite show. Bobby is really a total comedian
[laughs].
JW:
Bobby Ologun?
TT:
Yeah. We always call him Bobby only. We didn't even know his
last name. He appears on TV as "Bobby". He's a total
comedian. I don't understand why they use him, but he loves to
do fighting. He's just a comedian, so for the TV ratings they're
going to do it.
JW:
Right. It'll be bad to watch if you're into good heavyweights,
though. Most of the heavyweight stuff in K-1 isn't good. A lot
of top kickboxers they've lost, like Mirko Cro Cop and Stefan
Leko and Mark Hunt. What do you think will happen to the MMA
industry in the near future if Pride is unable to come up with
a new native star, and K-1 continues to have their problems?
TT:
It's already peaked out, I have to say. It will gradually decline.
Everyone says that in summer of 2002, the Dynamite show at Yoyogi
National Stadium with 100,000 people they claimed, really was
the peak of the MMA rules. 2002 was really the peak of the whole
movement. So unfortunately it's already peaked out. I'm very
realistic. And many of the fighters in K-1, they heavily depend
on steroids. Look at Jerome LeBanner. He's getting beaten, and
beaten, and beaten because of years of using steroids. Unfortunately,
his body is really crap.
JW:
Peter Aerts is another one.
TT:
Exactly. Everybody. If you look at why Andy Hug died, it's related
to his drug use.
JW:
Like steroids and recreational drugs?
TT:
Yeah. It's not one thing, it's a combination of things. It's
not one particular issue, but of course the years of taking steroids
and all those others, and it made him die, and everyone knows
that.
JW:
Is that kind of stuff common knowledge with the fans?
TT:
Not really common, no. The general public doesn't know.
JW:
The pro wrestling scene in Japan is really hurting. Like with
recent New Japan show at the Osaka Dome, with the terrible ticket
sales. If MMA goes down, and pro wrestling is doing so bad...
TT:
Dying.
JW:
Yeah, dying, what do you think the overall future in Japan for
the entire industry is like?
TT:
Everybody is worred about it right now. They blame me, because
I reveal so much to the general public through my books. Japanese
pro wrestling fans are different from U.S. fans, because U.S.
fans know that pro wrestling is fake. But in Japan, because it
was so realistic looking for years and years, the majority of
fans think it is somewhat real, even today. They don't think
all of pro wrestling is fixed, even the title matches. Some people
actually tend to think that some matches aren't real, but some
are. Even today. But my books reveal a lot, so everybody hates
me. Japan is a very magazine-oriented country. In the U.S. for
pro wrestling and MMA, for reporters, there are, I should say,
only twenty? Ten? Regularly doing that kind of reporting, all
together. Or maybe less.
JW:
You mean like, full-time reporters?
TT:
Full-time reporters, right.
JW:
Not very many. Not very many that are real.
TT:
Right. But Japan, writing about pro wrestling and MMA, there's
like thirty, or forty. Full time. Because there are so many magazines
and regular newspapers. If someone asked me what I think the
biggest difference between U.S. and Japan is, I always say the
coverage, and how many professional reporters there are, altogether.
JW:
Yeah. There's not very many guys like Dave Meltzer, or the Pro
Wrestling Torch or whatever. There's not many. There's a lot
of pro wrestling fans, but there's not a huge audience for the
real good coverage. It's hard to make a full-time living doing
this. Most wrestling fans don't pay attention closely.
TT:
In the U.S. society, it's good though, because you can make a
living by writing a newsletter, and it's not available in the
newsstands, but every week you get it in your home. But in Japan,
it's different. Unfortunately, the newsletter culture isn't big.
I can't do it in Japan because the newsletter culture is not
developed. That's why I have to write for magazines, and with
magazines there are limitations.
JW:
Yeah, with the type of writing and everything.
TT:
Yeah, right. And they need a picture and they need other things.
Stuff like that. The newsletters have no pictures.
JW:
Yeah. Someone like Dave can write whatever he wants, in that
format. If he wants to write twenty pages on Lou Thesz, he can
do that. If he wants to write twenty pages on Thesz for three
straight weeks, he can do that. It's a more intelligent, more
detailed reporting.
TT:
I do lots of writing under different names, unfortunately.
JW:
Do you think Pride should run a Grand Prix again in 2005? If
they do a middleweight Grand Prix, it will be tough coming up
with fresh matches because the top guys at middleweight now are
the same as they were when Wanderlei Silva won the first Middleweight
Grand Prix.
TT:
Yes, I think so too. Remember, the first heavyweight tournament
was in 2000 and the idea was like an Olympic event to be held
every four years. But now, DSE has trouble with the future with
such a shortage of native stars and so they decided to cash in
on the tournament idea next year too. In the long run, that's
not good. But they have no choice.
JW:
Yoshida vs. Sakuraba would be a fresh match they could do in
the first round to help sell tickets to a place like Saitama.
They could book the winner of that against Silva in the second
round of the Grand Prix, assuming the tournament is only done
over two events and not stretched out over three. Do you think
it waters down the idea of the Grand Prix if they do it every
year?
TT:
I don't think Yoshida vs. Sakuraba will happen. Neither wants
to fight each other. Especially Sakuraba. I don't think he said
yes [to the fight]. Also, they have a weight difference too.
Yoshida is much bigger.
Source: Maxfighting
|
Tamura
Turns Down Sakuraba Fight
Kiyoshi Tamura has turned down a fight with Kazushi Sakuraba
on New Year's Eve. The reason that I was told for Tamura turning
down the fight was that he simply doesn't like Sakuraba.
Sakuraba
had already been announced for Pride's New Year's Eve show at
Saitama Super Arena, and Tamura seemed to be the most likely
and the most logical opponent for Sakuraba, as Pride will once
again be going head-to-head on television with the K-1 New Year's
Eve show and the NHK concert.
Beyond
Sakuraba, Pride has already announced Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
vs. Fedor Emelianenko for the two versions of the Pride Heavyweight
title in a rematch of their fight at the end of the Grand Prix
tournament in August that went to a no-contest when Fedor was
cut badly due to an accidental headbutt; plus Rulon Gardner vs.
Hidehiko Yoshida in a battle of Olympic gold medalists.
While
in Hawaii for the recent Rumble on the Rock event, K-1 announced
Akebono vs. Royce Gracie under MMA rules in a freakshow match
to headline their New Year's Eve show at the Osaka Dome. With
Akebono announced as facing Royce, it seems unlikely that Bob
Sapp will compete on their New Year's Eve show, as Akebono would
seem to be the best opponent for Sapp both in terms of box office
drawing power and ease of Sapp winning his return fight. Sapp
and K-1 have issues over money.
K-1
has countered the Pride signing of Rulon Gardner by adding an
Olympic gold medalist of their own in Karam Ibrahim, who won
gold in Athens earlier this year at the 96kg class in Greco-Roman
wrestling, of Egypt to their New Year's Eve card. K-1 has also
announced Masato vs. Norifumi Yamamoto under K-1 rules. Jerome
LeBanner (who is fighting Hiromi Amada at the K-1 Grand Prix
Finals at the Tokyo Dome as an alternate against on December
4th), judo champion Yoshihiro Akiyama Kazuyuki Fujita and television
star Bobby Ologun are all figured for the show. More fighters
from the December 4th Tokyo Dome show may be announced for the
New Year's Eve card in coming weeks.
Source: Maxfighting |
KARAM
GABER NOT YET SIGNED TO FIGHT IN K-1 DEC. 31, BUT WILL WRESTLE
AT NYAC TOURNAMENT DEC. 19
Despite
some reports to the contrary, 2004 Olympic gold medalist Greco-Roman
wrestler Karam Ibrahim of Egypt, better known as Karam Gaber,
has not yet signed to make his K-1 debut on the Premium 2004
Dynamite show on Dec. 31 at the Osaka Dome, according to his
brother and manager, Adel Ibrahim. K-1's offer is still being
considered, but nothing has been signed as of Sunday night, the
New York-based Ibrahim stressed.
The
electric and charismatic Gaber is generally regarded around the
world as the most exciting athlete in the sport of wrestling
today.
Gaber,
however, will be in New York to wrestle at the annual New York
Athletic Club Open Christmas International Wrestling Championships,
his brother also confirmed. This event will feature men's and
women's freestyle wrestling on Saturday, December 18, and men's
Greco-Roman wrestling on Sunday, December 19. The New York Athletic
Club is located at 180 Central Park South at 59th Street and
7th Avenue in Manhattan. We will soon have more information on
that event.
Gaber
is also planning to continue his wrestling career so that he
can compete in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, his brother added.
Adel
Ibrahim, himself a former wrestler, is currently also a personal
trainer at a Bally Total Fitness club in Manhattan. He said he
has trained both professional athletes and celebrities there,
and has been named as the outstanding trainer of that location
nine times. The address of the club where he works is 641 Avenue
of the Americas at 19th Street in Manhattan.
Source: ADCC
|
Quote
of the Day
"Success is the child of drudgery and perseverance. It cannot
be coaxed or bribed; pay the price and it is yours."
Orison Swett Marden, 1850-1924, American Author, Founder of Success
Magazine
|
ADCC
Brazil Trials: Phase 1 is Complete!!
Campos, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
November 28th, 2004
The
finals of the ADCC Brazilian Trials will take place on December
4th and 5th, in Sao Paulo. That event will feature eight athletes
in each weight class and the winners of those grueling 8 man
tournaments will be invited to the ADCC 2005's main event in
Long Beach next year. Twenty fighters already are heading to
the finals in Sao Paulo, pre-selected by the ADCC committee.
They join the 4 in each class who won their bouts during the
first phase, realized in Campos, Rio de Janeiro on SUnday. Here
are the final results from Campos:
-66kg
Taedes Mendonca defeated Vinicius Soares
Renato Migliaccio defeated Thiago Tavares
Augusto Mendes defeated Orley Tartaruga
Reinaldo Ribeiro defeated Anderson Pereira
-77kg
Marcelo Salazar defeated Edson Sururu
Leonardo Pecanha defeated Junior Santos
Andre Galvao defeated Adriano Nasal
Eduardo Guedes defeated Bruno de Paula
-88kg
Demian Maia defeated Daniel Galvao
Givanildo Santana defeated Anderson Barros
Fabricio Monteiro defeated Eduardo Laudi
Rodrigo Botti defeated Gabriel Santos
-99kg
Fernando Marques defeated Pedro Galiza
Gabriel Vella defeated Mario Neto
Tony Lima defeated Fabio Prado
Rodrigo Riscado defeated Thiago Maia
+
99kg
Fabiano Pega Leve defeated Luiz Felipe
Marcos Moreno defeated Leonardo Queiroz
Denis Gomes defeated Thiago Jorge
Rodrigo Durock defeated Flavio Paraiba
The
above fighters who won their bouts will be joined by 4 pre-selected
competitors for the final phase in Sao Paulo, completing the
8 man finals:
-
66 kg
Wagney Fabiano
Rani Yarhya
Fábio Mello
Rodrigo Damm
-
77 Kg
Daniel Moraes
Luis Firmino Buscapé
Fabrício Morango
Lucas Leite
-
88 kg
Fernando Margarida
Rodrigo Cumprido
Jorge Patino Macaco
Marcelo Alfaia
-
99 kg
Fabiano Capoani
Roger Gracie
Rubens Macula
Vitor Viana
+
99 kg
Carlos Barreto
Alex Paez
Leo Leite
Gabriel Napao
Source: ADCC
|
CALIFORNIA
OPEN BJJ Top Results from the promoter
Saturday
Results::Super Fights
Nick
Diaz def. Jorge 'Macaco' Patino - (1:12 kneebar). This was probably
the most anticipated fight of the event and the crowd got a stunner.
Macaco was agressive from the beginning stopping any possibility
of a takedown. Diaz looked overpowered and almost outmatched.
This standup battle went on for about a minute. In a flurry of
movement Diaz ended up in his soon to be famous upside down guard
where he surprised Macaco with a beautifully executed knee bar.
Macaco tapped quickly. Diaz has added yet another amazing victory
to his collection.
Federico
Sabbatini def. Cleber Luciano - (9:20 collar choke from the back).
A great match. Apparently Cleber gassed out at the end and just
didn't make that last 40 seconds. He seemed to give a little
and Sabbatini looking determined reacted instantly to the situation.
Vinicius
Magalhaes def. Luke Stewart - (vantage). This was a very close
battle that kept the crowd on its toes. I don't have final scores
but I think it was an almost complete guard pass that won it
for Vinicius. Lots of action and positions exchanged. Stewart
having just recieved his black belt proved he is ready to use
it.
Jay
Hieron def. Suyan Queiroz - (2 points). This was a close match
with Suyan using his skillful guard against the aggressive highly
athletic Hieron who also retains lots of jiu jitsu skill.
Joao
Cunha def. Daniel Souza - (vantage). 4/3 vantage - 4/2 vantage.
IMPRESSIVE DISPLAY OF JIU JITSU. Lots of back and forth action
with and interesting score outcome.....
Waldomiro
Perez Junior def. Solomon Mitchell - (vantage). Close match.
Great competitors and Champions. I only caught glimpses of this
one.
For
a more complete report check out Jay Gonsalves' Blog http://californiaopen.blogspot.com/
Source: ADCC
|
TKO
Results from the weekend!
Montreal, Quebec - An exciting night of fights resulted in Donald
Ouimet winning the Lightweight Championship, Stephan Vigneault
gaining the Interim Super Lightweight Championship, and Jacob
Conliffe becoming the Heavyweight Champion. Also this night,
Sam Stout picked up his second Fighter Of The Night award in
a row.
Most
of the fights were closely matched and several of the fighters
exhibited techniques not usually seen in the US. The Leong/Parizau
fight especially was a real treat for ground fans with mid-takedown
reversals and non-stop scrambles. Of special note was Jonathan
Goulet who is probably the first person to keep former TKO Welterweight
Champion John Alessio from dictating the pace and controlling
positions in a fight. Goulet didn’t finish John despite
multiple times he took John’s back and went for a rear choke
but he clearly dominated the Pride and UFC vet, skyrocketing
his name in the farm-show circuit.
Two
of the fights were almost exclusively on the feet. Stephane Vigeault
used his height advantage to good use while maintaining a tight
defense on the ground while Tremblay/Lefond was almost all standup.
Vigneault did a great job from a tactical point of view but his
fight was one of the least exciting as it was mostly jab-and-retreat
on both fighters’ parts. Vigneault pulled off some god counter
work and when he did find his mark he would explode with knees
and punches but those sprints were spaced throughout the fifteen
minutes while by comparison most of the other fights were of
a higher engagement level. Good fight but not one that was fun
to watch.
As
far as most exciting fight it would be hard to say, depending
on what fans like. Leong/Parizau’s back-and-forth war and
Goulet/Alessio’s offense vs. defense may have been outdone
by Stout’s or Ouimet’s performances in more one-sided
matches. Regardless of how this card is viewed it definitely
ends the year on a high note. Next TKO is January 28th.
Overall
it was a solid card with excellent production values as most
TKO shows have been. With TKO vets crossing over to UFC like
David Loiseau, George St. Pierre, and most recently Patrick Cote
expectations were high the fighters on this card will be scrutinized
more carefully as possibly the ‘next big thing’ from
Canada.
COMPLETE
RESULTS:
- Sonny Leong drew Dave Parizau (3 rounds)
- Alex Gasson def Antoine Coutu 1:06 r3 by guillotine choke
- Serge Lafond def Martin Tremblay by unanimous decision (3 rounds)
- Thierry Quenneville def John Fraser 1:30 r2 by armbar
- Ryan Diaz def Stephan Laliberte 1:13 r1 by armbar
- Icho Larenas def Yan Pellerin by TKO 5:00 r1 (between rounds
1&2)
- Sam Stout def Dave Goulet 0:59 r3 by TKO
- Jonathan Goulet def John Alessio by unanimous decision (3 rounds)
- Jacob Conliffe def Todd Gouwenberg 1:08 r2 by rear choke
- Stephane Vigneault def Phillipe Lagace by unanimous decision
(3 rounds)
- Donald Ouimet def Blake Frederickson by unanimous decision
(3 rounds)
Source: ADCC
|
RoyceGracie.TV
Coverage of ROTR
Check
out http://www.roycegracie.tv/index_enter.htm for ROTR coverage.
Besides the write-up there is an extensive picture gallery with
behind the scenes stuff etc.
Source: ADCC
|
BARRERA
EDGES MORALES IN ANOTHER FIGHT OF THE YEAR CANDIDATE
The judges finally got it right, the fans got to see yet another
amazing fight of the year candidate, and underdog Marco Antonio
Barrera defied all his critics by winning a majority decision
and the rubber match over his long-time rival Erik Morales by
a 12-round majority decision Saturday night at the MGM Grand
Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Barrera, from Mexico City,
Mexico, now has a record of 59-4 with 41 KOs, and captured the
WBC super featherweight championship from Morales, now 47-2 with
34 KOs, of Tijuana, Mexico.
Barrera
showed his dominance by landing more power shots throughout the
fight. He landed 223 of 451 power shots thrown, at a brisk and
accurate 49 percent, while Morales only landed 182 of 572 power
shots, for 32 percent. Barrera also landed more total punches,
290 out of 765 thrown for 38 percent, to 231 out of 808 thrown
for 29 percent for Morales.
Judge
Jerry Roth scored the fight 115-113 for Barrera, and judge Larry
O'Connell had it 115-114 for Barrera. Judge Paul Smith had it
even at 114-114.
After
the fight, Barrera told HBO's Larry Merchant that keeping Morales
away was key to his game plan. 'That was the plan, to box and
move, to be swift,' he said through a translator.
The
win not only revives Barrera's career, seemingly hobbled by an
11th-round TKO loss on Nov. 15, 2003, to Manny Pacquiao, but
also squarely establishes Barrera as the superior fighter over
Morales. They fought in 2000 and 2002, splitting the wins in
fights where both verdicts were highly controversial. Morales
won a split decision in their first fight, and Barrera won a
unanimous decision in their second fight, with both decisions
being widely regarded as wrong by most boxing observers.
Saturday
night, however, there was little controversy over the outcome.
This was Barrera's first fight at 130 pounds, and he was outweighed
by Morales by 11 pounds according to the unofficial day-of-the-fight
weigh-ins by HBO, which broadcast the fight live on pay-per-view
in the U.S. Going up in weight was thought to be more beneficial
to Morales, but it was Barrera who seemed more comfortable at
this higher weight. He seemed quicker and less affected by having
to cut weight than when he fought at 122 and 126 against Morales
in their two previous fights. And the added weight actually gave
Barrera that power advantage as well.
In
round one Barrera quickly established himself as the aggressor,
using jabs and combinations to push Morales back. The taller
and heavier Morales was being beaten to the punch by Barrera
in this round.
In
round two Morales picked up the pace, using jabs to push Barrera
back. There was more clinching and hitting this round, as brawling
by both men was the key in an action-packed round won by Morales.
Round
three saw Barrera again start beating Morales to the punch and
keeping him on the outside. Morales tried to rally and counter,
but Barrera landed more and better punches this round once again.
By
round four Morales was visibly breathing through his mouth and
pawing at his nose, which was bleeding and may have been broken.
Barrera landed effectively with left hooks, jabs, and uppercuts,
stifling Morales's attempts to retaliate.
Round
five again saw Barrera racking up points, as he landed numerous
jabs and hooks, and first and accurately. Towards the end of
the round, Barrera cornered Morales and pounded him.
Round
six saw Barrera continue to dominate by going to the body, landing
combinations, and using more uppercuts. A left hook and a right
to the head also appeared to hurt Morales.
In
round seven Barrera visibly slowed his pace. Morales gained momentum
with a hard right hand counter. He then became the aggressor
for most of this round, but may have won just his second of the
seven rounds so far.
In
round eight, knowing that he needed to stage a rally in the second
half of the fight, Morales landed both right and left hand power
shots to Barrera's head, and later worked the body. Later in
the round the action was much closer and saw more even exchanges,
but again it was Morales's round overall.
Round
nine was Barrera's turn to stop Morales's advance. Barrera was
warned by referee Kenny Bayless for hitting behind the head.
The last minute saw a spirited toe-to-toe exchange in which Barrera
seemed to do slightly better.
Round
ten again saw slower action, although Barrera appeared to have
the advantage and be the aggressor. Morales tried to rally at
the end of the round with a few flurries, but it was too little
and too late for him to take this round.
Round
eleven was a wild and great one, and the most exciting of the
fight. Barrera opened with jabs. Morales countered with rights
to head, clearly knowing he was behind and had to go for a knockout.
Morales landed a left hook that hurt Barrera, and later hit some
solid body shots that left Barrera wobbly. Barrera counter-attacked,
hitting another uppercut, but then Morales rallied again. A very
tired Barrera hit Morales with some good body shots and left
hooks. Then the round closed with one of those all-out great
exchanges that brought all factions of the crowd to their feet.
Now
it was time for the twelfth and final round, with Morales no
doubt sensing that he was behind on the scorecards. It almost
looked for a moment that he would pull off a last round miracle,
as he almost knocked down Barrera. But then Barrera took over
again. He crowded Morales, who then slugged his way inside. Barrera
now tried to rally with jabs, pushing Morales to the corner,
but then it was Morales's turn to pound Barrera on the ropes.
In the last ten seconds, both fighters' warrior spirit was on
full display, as Barrera pounded Morales and Morales retaliated
as they let it all hang out as the bell sounded.
Another
well-deserved standing ovation greeted both fighters as the third
battle between these two heroic boxers came to an end.
Expect
this fight to be rebroadcast on HBO, most likely before next
Saturday's live fight between Jermain Taylor and William Joppy.
In
earlier action, punching machine Oscar Larios (54-3-1, 35 KOs)
of Guadalajara, Mexico, retained his WBC super bantamweight championship
with a dominating 12-round unanimous decision over the game but
outclassed challenger, Nedal 'Skinny' Hussein (36-2, 22 KOs)
of Sydney, Australia. Larios threw almost 900 punches, and outlanded
Hussein almost two-to-one. Combining speed and power, and working
the body throughout this bout, Larios won by scores of 118-110,
119-109, and 120-108.
Slugger
Rafael Marquez (33-3, 30 KOs) once again demonstrated why he
is considered by most observers to be the top bantamweight (118-pound)
boxer in the world by stopping Mauricio Pastrana (31-5-1, 21
KOs) by TKO at the end of the eighth round. Pastrana, with his
right eye closed, a cut near his left eye, and complaining that
his right shoulder hurt, suffered the first stoppage of his career
after his corner indicated that he could no longer continue.
Marquez outlanded Pastrana by an over two-to-one margin, and
thus retained his IBF bantamweight championship. This was a rematch
of their Oct. 4, 2003, bout, which Marquez won by a 12-round
unanimous decision.
In
the opening bout on the pay-per-view, WBO mini-flyweight champion
Ivan Calderon (21-0, 4 KOs) of Bayamon, Puerto Rico, retained
his title with a 12-round unanimous decision over Carlos Fajardo
(12-5, 8 KOs) of Nicaragua. The smaller but speedier Calderon
dominated over fellow southpaw Fajardo. The scores were 120-107,
118-109, and 119-108, all for Calderon.
Source: ADCC
|
Quote
of the Day
"I am beginning to learn that it is the sweet, simple things
of life which are the real ones after all."
Laura Ingalls Wilder, Author "Little House"
|
PIP
8 Weigh-ins at the Onzuka's favorite place to eat, En Fuego!
PUNISHMENT IN PARADISE 8: EAST vs. WEST
WEIGH INS Thursday Dec 2, 2004
@ EN FUEGO GRILL & POKE Kapolei
Come meet your represenatives from both East & West at their
Meet & Greet at one of Kapolei Favorite Hawaiian & Grill
food place. We will have extra posters for autographs so come
out and enjoy the evening. We will start at 7pm SHARP till 8pm
so don't be late and miss out on the fighters and ono food.
Also December 2,2004 is the last day to get you PRESALE tickets!!
We would also like to thank Todd and EN FUEGO Grill & Poke
for having us..
Enfuego Grill & Poke
(Kapolei Shopping Center across Windward Wireless)
590 Farrington Highway
Building C-1, Suite #534
Kapolei, Hawaii 96707
Telephone (808) 674-8805
Fax : (808) 674-1352
www.enfuegohawaii.com
Source: Event Promoter |
ADCC
Brazil Trials Semifinals
by: Luca Atalla
Four matches for four spaces
Day
one of 2005 ADCC Brazil trials phase 1 is finished. Now there
are four matches left for each weight category to determine four
winners each that wil advnace to the final phase in Sao Paulo
on December 4 & 5:
Here
are the finalists:
-66kg:
Vinícius Soares x Taedes Mendonça
Renato Migliacio x Thiago Tavares
Orley Tataruga x Augusto Mendes
Reinaldo Ribeiro x Anderson Pereira
-
77kg:
Marcelo Salazar x Edson Sururu
Leonardo Peçanha x Júnior Santos
André Galvão x Adriano Nasal
Bruno de Paula x Eduardo Guedes
-
88kg:
Demian Maia x Daniel Galvão
Anderson Barros x Givanildo Santana
Fabrício Monteiro x Eduardo Laudi
Rodrigo Botti x Gabriel Santos
-
99kg:
Pedro Galiza x Fernando Marques
Mário Neto x Gabriel Vella
Fábio Prado x Tony Lima
Rodrigo Riscado x Thiago Maia
Acima
de 99kg:
Luiz Felipe x Fabiano Pega Leve
Marcos Moreno x Leornado Queiroz
Thiago Jorge x Denis Gomes
Rodrigo Durock x Flávio Paraíba
Source: ADCC
|
Silva
Says No To Arona; Talks On 12/31 Fight
by Matthew Boone
The following is an excerpt from an interview with PRIDE Middleweight
champion Vanderlei Silva from TATAME:
Tatame-
What have you told him in the end of the fight? Was it a “finish”,
like it was the last time?
Silva-
This time, since he became a Christian, he was more polite. Not
much, but he is learning. He stood up and came to congratulate
with all the politeness possible, then I could just tell him
that was just our job and we would see each other soon. I am
pretty sure that another one will happen, this fight has become
a classic, next year there will be another!
Tatame-
And how about Ricardo Arona? After his victory in the event,
is he in the line again?
Silva-
Arona will have to fight a few more times before he is able to
face me. If he wants to fight me this could happen in the GP
next year; if he wins one fight in the tourney, then probably
we will face each other. It would be a pleasure for me to fight
with him.
Tatame-
Are you going to enter in the GP again?
Silva-
To tell you the truth, yes,I want. I want to enter because it’s
a huge show and I don’t want to stay out of it, just watching.
I want to be in the ring, fighting. If God makes the path for
this to happen I am going with pleasure.
Tatame-
There are rumors about you facing Mirko Cro Cop in the New Years
Eve show. But now he has his opponent already set. Who’s
going to be left for you to face on December, 31st?
Silva-
The three guys I was thinking are already tied up. They have
to see who’s will be left for Silva.
Tatame-
Maybe it would be Randy Couture?
Silva-
Wow, if it’s him, Santa Claus is going to be saying “ho
ho ho” for me (laughs). That would be my Christmas gift!
It would be awesome, because I amfeeling pretty good and the
last fight stimulated me. Since the fight against Yoshida I haven’t
fought a long bout and I felt happy for being tested. My limits,
thank God, are expanding even more, I am absorbing more punches,
my physical condition is great and I can face anyone!
Source: MMA News
|
POLL
RESULTS: Best @ 205 - Silva/Couture?
by Matthew Boone
The following are results from last week's MMANews.com weekly
poll:
Who's
the real number one Light Heavyweight?
Randy
Couture
727
Vanderlei Silva
720
Votes:
1447
Source: MMA News
|
Quote
of the Day
"The reason why worry kills more people than work is that
more people worry than work."
Robert Frost, 1875-1963, American Poet
|
FUNDRAISING
PARTY
FOR THE BRAZILIAN CULTURAL CENTER OF HAWAII GRAND OPENING IN
JANUARY 2005
WHEN: SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2004
WHERE: "ON STAGE" DRINKS & GRINDS
802 KAPAHULU AVENUE
PHONE: 738-0004
PARTY STARTS AT 9:00 PM
FEATURING ALOHA BRAZIL BAND
$3.00 MINIMUM ENTRANCE FEE
BE THERE OR BE SQUARE...
Source: BCCH
|
KICKBOXING
CHAMPIONSHIPS
KICKIN IT 2004 "THE SEQUEL"
DECEMBER 10, 2004
KAPOLEI HIGH SCHOOL GYMNASIUM
MORE BACKGROUND ON THE CHAMPIONSHIP BOUTS
7-year old 55# championship
Dahwen Bright (HSD) vs. Kili Pomroy (AP Boxing)
8-year old 60# championship
Triston Pebria (Ewa Beach Fight Club) vs Triston Kamaka (808
Fight Factory)
9-year old 65# championship
Dido Rodrigues (Waianae Kickboxing) vs Abe Reinhardt (Wailuku
Kickboxing)
DIDO IS THE KICKIN IT AGAIN 2003 55# CHAMPION.
BOTH DIDO & ABE HAVE GOOD BOXING SKILLS. THEY ALSO HAVE HAD
GOOD MARTIAL ARTS COACHES AND GOOD BOXING COACHES SO YOU KNOW
THEY WILL BE ON TOP OF THEIR GAME. THESE TWO 9 YEAR OLDS WILL
PUT ON AN EXCITING DISPLAY OF SPEED & SKILLS.
10-12 year old 105# championship
Sage Yoshida (HMC) vs Shaun Ahlo (Casca Grossa Jiu-Jitsu)
IN THIS MATCH YOSHIDA WILL BE SPOTTING AHLO AGE WHILE AHLO WILL
BE SPOTTING WEIGHT. DESPITE YOSHIDA BEING ONLY 10-YEARS OLD,
HE IS FAR FROM GUNSHY AND WILL RETURN FIRE WHEN FIRED UPON. AHLO
IS ALSO A TRIGGER-HAPPY FIGHTER WHOSE OPPONENTS NEVER MADE IT
TO SEE THE THIRD ROUND. BOTH FIGHTERS ARE AGGRESSIVE BUT SOMEONE
MUST BE MADE TO CEASE FIRE. WHO WILL IT BE?
Welterweight championship ((149-146#)
Nick Correa (HSD, 2-1) vs Kaipo Gonzales (Eastsidaz, semi pro)
Middleweight championship (153-159#)
Wayne Kamealoha (HSD, 1-1) vs Nick Gega (Laupahoehoe Muay Thai,
3-0)
KAMEALOHA WILL SWING WITH HARD KICKIN NICK GEGA WHO A FEW MONTHS
AGO FRACTURED KAMEALOHA'S YOUNGER BROTHER'S RIBS TO STOP HIM
IN THE SECOND ROUND. KAMEALOHA WILL TRY TO DO WHAT HIS BROTHER
COULDN'T. GEGA WHO HAS NEVER LOST A MATCH HAS WON HIS LAST TWO
FIGHTS BY K.O. BEFORE THE SECOND ROUND COULD END. WATCH FOR GEGA'S
BIG KICKS AND KAMEALOHA'S BIG PUNCHES. HANDS AGAINST LEGS-PLACE
YOUR BETS.
Superlightweight championship (135-139#)
David Balicao (HSD, 5-1) vs Ryan Lee (Bulls Pen, semi pro)
Super
featherweight championship (125-129#)
Chad Pavao (HSD, 3-0) vs Tavis Kagawa (Laupahoehoe Muay Thai,
2-2)
UNDEFEATED CHAD BLAISE PAVAO WILL TRY TO KEEP THAT "L"
COLUMN EMPTY WHEN HE FACES TAVIS KAGAWA. KAGAWA (A MUAY THAI
FIGHTER) IS BUILT SHORT AND STALKY WHILE PAVAO (A HAOLE BOY)
IS THE TOTAL OPPOSITE. BOTH FIGHTERS ARE GOOD ON THE OFFENSE.
WE KNOW THAT WHITE MEN CAN'T JUMP BUT CAN THEY FIGHT? KAGAWA
WILL ANSWER THAT QUESTION FOR US COME DEC. 10TH.
Super bantamweight championship (115-119#)
Tony Perera (Waianae Kickboxing, 3-0) vs Koichi Tanji (HMC, 1-1)
Super
heavyweight championship (210-above)
Bob Atisanoe (HSD, 3-0) vs Levi Joseph (Team Yokozuna)
Light heavyweight championship (167-174#)
Ben Rodrigues (HSD, 3-1) vs Conrad Passi (Advanced Kenpo, 2-1)
Open middleweight championship (153-159#)
Kaleo Kwon (Eastsidaz, semi-pro) vs Zach Ilizaro (Wailuku Kickboxing)
75#
Kai Ruiz (HSD) vs. Hyo Matsukawa (HMC)
250#
Mike Kipapa (Team Yokozuna) vs. Kaika Aki (HSD)
145#
Keoni Kipapa (Team Yokozuna) vs Darren Jose (HSD)
Muay thai bouts
135#
Tyson Nam (Gee Yung) vs Derek Minn (Laupahoehoe Muay Thai)
Muay Thai bouts
190 #
Denver Gonzalves (HSD) vs. Sebastian (Laupahoehoe Muay Thai)
175#
Shawn "The Tornado" Taylor (Team Yokozuna) vs John
Naole (HMC)
ALL MATCHES MAY BE SUBJECT TO CHANGE
ALMOST ALL OF THESE GUYS ARE WELL SKILLED FIGHTERS. THEY GOT
THE THUNDA THAT CAN BE FELT-NOT HEARD. SO IT PROBABLY COMES DOWN
TO WHO TRAINED HARDER FOR THIS EVENT. DONT MISS OUT ON THESE
FIGHTS FOR IT IS THE REAL DEAL "KICKIN IT 2004 KICKBOXING
CHAMPIONSHIPS". WHERE MIS-MATCHES DONT EXIST AND CHAMPIONS
FIGHT FOR THEIR BELTS.
CAUSE DAS HOW WE KICK IT
Source: Event Promoter
|
IS
THIS THE NEXT GREAT FIGHTER AT 155?
On a card full of great fights at Rumble on the Rock 6, the evening’s action was started
off with one the most entertaining match-ups between Gilbert
Melendez and Kaynan
Kaku.
Both
fighters were undefeated lightweights going into the show the
fight started off early back and forth before Melendez took control
in the second round and got the win. MMA Weekly’s Mick Hammond
spoke with Melendez upon his returning home to California to
talk about the fight.
“It
was a tough fight,” said Melendez. “I started off coming
at him and closing the gap and was surprised he shot in on me
real quick. I had to fight off the take down, and changed the
momentum and took him down. He’s good on the bottom; he
gets back up on his feet real quick. I keep putting pressure
on him, when we were up and trading he stunned me with a right
and followed up with a good knee, I shot in on a single leg and
stayed on top. He almost arm barred me but I escaped and I kept
up the pressure as the round ended.”
Melendez
continued, “When I was in my corner in between rounds Jake
(Shields, Melendez’s team mate and Shooto Champion) told
me to look over at Kaynan’s corner and I could see he looked
like he was running out of gas. Jake told me to look for the
side mount during the round, so when we were standing I hit him
with a straight right and took him down. I managed to get the
side mount and started throwing knees and punches.”
Things
went quickly downhill there on for Kaku as Melendez explained,
“I was excited about the knees I’ve never got to use
them in a fight before. I put the pressure on him and he couldn’t
keep up with the pace. I was getting tired too but I saw the
blood and sensed him getting tired and so I went for it. I like
being able to use the knees a lot better and felt more comfortable
and it helped my ground and pound a lot better, it added more
of a verity to my attack.”
Unable
to intelligently defend himself Kaku was saved from a further
beating as referee Larry Landless stepped in and called a halt
to the action, giving the victory to Melendez. With the win Melendez
improves to 5-0 including wins over tough fighters Stephen Paling
and Olaf Alfonzo.
Melendez
stressed the importance of good preparation in training when
he said; “It feels really good being able to work on things
full time for training. In the past I was working and going to
school and it made it difficult for me to get in the kind of
time I wanted to. This time when I stepped in the cage it wasn’t
as blurry as most fights were, things felt a lot sharper. I kept
focus and let my instincts take over and stayed alert. Making
fighting my priority taught me to do everything better. My hands
were better, my shots were better, takes down were better, everything
just works better when you put fighting first.”
Going
into his fight with Kaku, there was confusion whether or not
Melendez was still the WEC World Lightweight Champion, a title
he won in May when he defeated Olaf Alfonzo in May. Originally
it was thought Melendez would be competing at WEC 12 in October,
but instead Melendez could not make the show due to signing with
ROTR. So in turn the WEC without the knowledge of Melendez gave
Gabe Ruediger a belt when he defeated Alfonzo at WEC 12. When
asked about what happened with the situation Melendez said, “I
already committed to ROTR when I heard that the WEC was interested
in using me. We had mixed communications about me fighting Gabe,
by the time I talked to (WEC owner) Scott Adams I had already
signed to fight at ROTR. I haven’t talked to them sense
or know who’s title it is, Gabe’s or mine. I wouldn’t
mind working it out and fighting there again and getting everything
figured out.”
When
asked what his future holds for him, Melendez commented, “For
now I’m helping Jake for his next fight. We are training
hard for his December 14th fight in Shooto in Japan. I’m
taking my gear with me to Shooto because you never know what’s
going to happen there.” Melendez continued, ”I plan
on just taking advantage of every opportunity that comes my way.
I’m going to talk everything over with Jake and Cesar (Gracie,
whose team Melendez fights for). I’m just looking for an
opportunity anywhere anyone is willing to give me.”
The
conversation ended with Melendez thanking those who helped make
his trip to ROTR a successful one; “I want to thank Sprawl,
Fairtex, Larry at RL Plumbing. Of course my boys Jake and David
(Terrell), The Nor Cal fighting alliance, Cesar, and the Diaz
brothers, Nick and Nathan.” Melendez finished with, “To
the fans I say keep supporting us and keep asking for me on the
shows. I want to keep fighting and get in the ring soon with
some of the best in the world like Yves Edwards; he’s someone
I’m gunning for. I promise I will keep coming out 110 percent,
I don’t’ fight to survive, I go out to fight to win.”
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
UFC
1: Instant History
By Jeremy Wall
November 12th was the eleventh anniversary of the first ever
Ultimate Fighting Championship event, which took place on that
date in 1993 at McNichols Arena in Denver, CO. The event is generally
credited with creating a sports entertainment form that would
eventually become mixed martial arts, which years later would
achieve cult level status in North America while changing the
pro wrestling industry forever in Japan.
But
of course, none of that was the goal. UFC was the brainchild
of three men: ad excecutive Art Davie, who had come up with the
idea of doing a one-night tournament featuring martial artists
from various styles after the success of the Gracies In Action
videos that he marketed through ads in martial arts magazines
after meeting and befriending Rorion Gracie; Bob Meyrowitz and
SEG, the pay per view company and it's head which picked up the
UFC and would eventually buy out its partners; and Rorion Gracie
himself, who had a jiu jitsu school in California and was the
oldest son of Helio Gracie from the legendary Gracie family,
which would soon become legendary in Brazil.
The
implications of the UFC were huge, especially in Japan. Of course,
none of the people involved with UFC at the start would have
had any inkling of this, but UFC will go down in history as being
a major part of the changes throughout the '90s to the Japanese
pro wrestling industry.
In
Japan, the movement towards mixed martial arts had already begun
with the popularity of Akira Maeda and the UWF, a shoot-style
company which promoted very stiff and realistic looking pro wrestling,
in the late 1980s. Every promotion from that point on was another
step in the path of traditional pro wrestling, to shoot-style
pro wrestling, to real shoot fights. When UWF was finished, Maeda
promoted RINGS, which was mostly worked at first but contained
some real matches, and Yoshiaki Fujiwara promoted Fujiwara-Gumi,
being similar in philosophy to what they promoted to RINGS. The
next step was Pancrase, which was, generally, one-hundred percent
real, using many of the most talented shoot-style wrestlers in
Japan, inculding Masakatsu Funaki, Minoru Suzuki and a wrestler
then known as Wayne Shamrock as headliners.
Both
UFC and Pancrase are completely different now from when they
were originally formed. The biggest changes in the UFC are the
numerous rules added to legitimize the product in the sports
world. Pancrase, however, contained far more rules in it's original
days than the UFC did at the time, so the changes to that promotion
had little to do with sport, as Pancrase was far more sports-like
than UFC at first, but Pancrase was changed by outside promotions
such as UFC and Pride far more than Pancrase changed them.
But
back to Denver. People didn't know what would happen when you
put a sumo guy in a ring against a savate guy, just as an example.
UFC reps were saying that fights could even end "by death".
This was not a long-term promotion. Eventually, there was going
to be a backlash at some point against a product of such ridiculous
cartoon violence as SEG promoted UFC as.
Fans
also didn't know whether or not it was fake. UWF had promoted
the first of a series of "shootfighting" pay per views
earlier that year. People thought they were real, and they were
very successful at first. Mark Coleman even told me once that
when he saw UWF, he was so excited and wanted to be part of a
competition like that. But it was totally fake. No one knew what
to expect from UFC.
But
when Gerard Gordeau kicked Teila Tuli's teeth out of his mouth
in the first fight of the night, which lasted 22 seconds, in
front of a crowd of 2,800 people in Denver, people realized it
was very real. You can't fake that.
UFC
was completely different than anything that had ever been promoted
in the United States. That's why it was such a success initially
on pay per view. The first show did 80,000 buys, and everything
sky-rocketed from there, hitting a peak of around 260,000 buys
for UFCs 5 and 6 and the first Ultimate Ultimate tournament.
The cable ban, the absence of Royce Gracie, and the terrible
UFC 9 fight between Ken Shamrock and Dan Severn killed a lot
of their aura, and would eventually halt the UFC's momentum to
the point where a few years later they would be hanging on for
dear life before being bought out by Zuffa in January 2001. But
remember, this wasn't a long-term promotion anyway.
That's
why the UFC was able to succeed on pay per view in North America
without free television to hype it, though. All pay per view
products need free TV. It's a form of advertising. UFC is the
only promotion to break that barrier, and it will never be done
again because there's never going to be something that comes
along that is so unique and destroys so many myths about what
would happen in a real fight like that way UFC did.
Of
course, Royce Gracie would go on to fame by defeating boxer Art
Jimmerson, Ken Shamrock and Gerard Gordeau to win the tournament
and $50,000. The appeal of Royce Gracie was that he was an underdog
that could beat everyone he shouldn't even been able to beat.
It turned him into a mega box office draw, bigger than any other
foreigner on North American pay per view in pro wrestling history.
People
that thought the thing was fake pointed to the fact that the
brother of one of the co-promoters dominated and won the tournament
so easily. But there's some things that can't be faked, and most
fans caught on to that fact very quickly.
Royce
became a mega-star. Ken Shamrock, who had been involved in pro
wrestling in the U.S. and Japan since the late 1980s, also became
a huge box office draw, and remains a draw at a high-level in
the UFC even today.
Ken
isn't the only competitor from the original UFC events to have
participated in pro wrestling. Nearly all of the major UFC stars
during it's first few years participated in pro wrestling either
before, during or after their MMA careers. Only most of the top
Brazilian fighters and a small handful of fighters that remained
in the UFC circuit or crossed over to Japan and stayed in MMA
(such as Randy Couture) never crossed over to worked wrestling.
Out
of the major stars who competed on UFC shows from the SEG era,
Ken Shamrock, Dan Severn, Gerard Gordeau, Dave Beneteau, Oleg
Taktarov, Tank Abbott, Paul Varelans, Don Frye, Gary Goodridge,
Brian Johnston, Mark Coleman, Maurice Smith, Mark Kerr, Kevin
Randleman, Dan Bobish, Bas Rutten and Tsuyoshi Kohsaka among
others participated in pro wrestling at some point in their careers.
The
level of influence of that single event, which started off a
chain influence that changed pro wrestling forever and gave birth
to mixed martial arts, cannot be understated.
Source: Maxfighting
|
Silva
heavyweight only against champ
The chance of Wanderlei Silva faces a heavyweight fighter at
December 31's Pride has been avoided by Chute Boxe's leader Rudimar
Fedrigo. According to him, Wanderlei would face a heavyweight
only in case of being a GP champion.
- I cannot see a point to Wanderlei fights among the heavyweights.
But I believe he might be interested to fight the champion of
Pride GP. As this decision only will happen at December 31, Wanderlei
will face a middleweight fighter - said Fedrigo.
Meanwhile, the contusions suffered by Wanderlei during the fight
with Quinton Jackson may spoil Silva's participation at next
event. Wand has bruises in his hands due to the punishment. So
he has doing some soft trains and still worries Chute Boxe's
directors.
- There are disagreements between Chute Boxe's trainers and doctors,
which asked for 40 days off. If we do consider it, he would be
out of the tournament. Wand said he will do everything he can
to be at Pride ring on December 31 -, guaranteed Rudimar.
Source: Tatame
|
ADCC
champion working full time
by: Luca Atalla
While most of the submission stars are training hard to succeed
during the ADCC 2005 Brazilian trials, scheduled to take place
on December 4th and 5th, in Sao Paulo, Marcelo Garcia is focused
in two another challenges. He has already won the Submission
Wrestling Campos, the Grapplers Quest, The Arnold Submission
in 2004, but he wants more!
Current
-76,9 kg category champion, he is already confirmed in the ADCC
main event, on May 28th and 29th of 2005, in California. And
because of that he is planning to use the superfight against
Rani Yarhya at the Copa Cerrado´s second edition, on December
12th, as a good practice. The same event, to be realized in the
national capital Brasilia, will feature another two superfights:
Carlos Eduardo 'Portugues' vs Tarsis Humpreys and Marcos Gomes
vs Claudio Careca.
Four
days later, on December 16th, Marcelo Garcia will rush to Sao
Paulo to compete at the Black Belt middleweight GP. His first
fight is going to be against Givanildo Santana. The tournament
happens at Shopping Frei Caneca's meeting room, in São
Paulo and the champion takes home approximately US$ 3,000.
COMPLETE
CARD (subject to change):
1
- Ronaldo Jacare vs Adriano Silva
2 - Fernando Paradeda vs Roger Coelho
3 - Délson Pe-de-Chumbo vs Ricardo Bastos
4 - Marcelo Garcia vs Givanildo Santana
5 - Saulo Ribeiro vs Claudio Cury
6 - Fábio Nascimento vs Eduardo Santoro
7 - Demian Maia vs Alexandre Souza
8 - Braulio Estima vs Andre Macedo
Quarterfinals
9 - Winner of 1 vs Winner of 2
10 - Winner of 3 vs Winner of 4
11 - Winner of 5 vs Winner of fight 6
12 - Winner of 7 vs Winner of 8
Semifinals
13 - Winner of 9 vs Winner of 10
14 - Winner of 11 vs Winner of 12
Final
15 - Winner of 13 vs Winner of 14
Source:
ADCC
|
ADCC
Brazil Trials: Meet rising star Rani Yarhya!
by: Luca Atalla & M. Dunlop
Brazilian
competitors of all country have been training hard in order to
watch a big dream come true: be one of the great stars to shine
in ADCC 2005, the most charming grappling tournament in the planet.
ADCC Brazil Trials 2004 are scheduled to next weekend (27th and
28th) in city of Campos dos Goytacazes, in Rio de Janeiro. The
finals, in December 4th and 5th, will occur in Sao Paulo, in
Ibirapuera gym, big stage of the great ADCC 2003.
At
least two of the good surprises of last ADCC are already confirmed
by the promoters in ADCC Brazil Trials in Sao Paulo: Roger Gracie
and Rani Yarhya. Least famous than the Gracie, Rani performed
in 2003 one of the best fights of the show against eventual 66kg
champion Leonardo Vieira, and he was still a brown belt. Although
the score showed 15-0 on Vieira's behalf, it was a pretty hard
bout in the first five minutes. 'It was my toughest fight in
the competition. Rani has a great future', said Leo Vieira at
the time, after winning by using the hooks at Rani´s back.
Nowadays, Rani always remembers this loss: 'I learned a lot with
that fight. It's the fight I never forget, much more than any
victory'.
Today,
already with Jiu-Jitsu darkest belt, Rani fell in love with MMA
and did this year his first five MMA fights in Brazil, winning
four by submission and losing one to the also BJJ World Champion
Fredson Paixao, at Jungle Fight 2 by decision.
Yarhya
won as brown belt the Jiu-Jitsu Worlds 2003 (featherweight),
but it was on submission wrestling mat that the 'young and dangerous'
collected more gold medals, as ADCC Brazil Trials 2003, Submission
Cyclone Superfight 2003 (against Fredson Paixao) and 4th Interestadual
Submission BH 2003, among others. Learn more about Rani Yarhya,
one of the competitors who will fight for the spotlights in ADCC
2005:
Rani
Yarhya
Age:
20 years
Weight:
70kg
City:
Brasilia-DF
Last
name origin: 'My father is arab, I was born in Brazil'
Black
Belt since: September 2003
Team:
Ataide Jr - Brasilia-DF
Main
Titles: '3 times BJJ World Champion (blue, purple and brown belts),
ADCC Brazil Trials 2003 (66kg)
Fight
of his life: 'Against Leozinho Vieira in ADCC 2003. I learned
a lot with that fight. It's the fight I never forget, much more
than any victory'
Idols:
'I really admire Muhammad Ali, for his determination and willing.
Out of the world of fighting, I like the rapper 2Pac. He revolutioned
Black People actions'.
Dream:
'I want to be a MMA champion'
Source:
ADCC
|
Wand
is about to become a cartoon!
by: Luca Atalla
One of the most famous MMA teams in the world, the Brazilian
Chute Boxe spreads its wings all around the globe. Created by
Rudimar Fedrigo, Wanderlei Silva training center is based in
Curitiba, but has branch offices in Japan and US. Now, Chute
Boxe is about to become a cartoon. During this week, Fedrigo
and Cia. are receiving two special visitors: Japaneses Shimada
e Teppei Harashima, creators of 'Total Muscle', famous cartoon
that is also broadcasted to Brazil.
Amazed
with the Chute Boxe headquarter and big fan of Wand, Shimada
is thinking of the possibility of create a new character based
on the Pride middleweight champion. 'I´m here looking for
inspiration´, says him.
Wanderlei
Silva, whose mini figure fighter is a huge success in Japan,
chated with the foreing visitors: 'I´m very proud to know
that they admire my work. It is wonderful to be recognized by
the Japanese people as an idol', says Wand. Rudimar Fedrigo celebrated
as well. 'I´m happy because of their interest about us.
I intend to bring more people to know Chute Boxe in the future.
That kind of visit makes us stronger.'
This
is the first time for Shimada and Harashima in Brazil and they
are impressed with everything related to the MMA facilities at
Chute Boxe HQ. Despite their lack of fighting experience, they
were not afraid at all and did not hesitated when asked if they
wanted to do some training with the professional athletes. Very
excited, the Japaneses attended three classes per day. 'This
is a great experience for them. Here they have the chance to
lear a little bit of the Brazilian way of fight´, says
the fighter Daniel Acacio.
Source:
ADCC
|
Ximu
accomplishes 2004 with victory at Pancrase!
by: Denis Martins
After 2 years away from the Japanese MMA scene(his last fight
was in DEEP2001-4th Impact versus Yuki Sasaki - 3/30/02), the
Gracie Barra Combat Team fighter, Gustavo 'Ximu' Machado came
back to Pancrase, Japan, on November 26, when he used an ankle
lock to submit local athlete KEI Yamamyia from Grabaka in the
third round of the main-event of the night.
During
these 2 years out of Japan, Ximu made some noise in the US at
KOTC where he met glory and drama beating Nathan Quarry in his
first bout and was TKO'ed by Benji Radach in his second bout.
Although the fights are part of Ximu's past, he wants to talk
about them:
‘KOTC
added experience to my game, I got to test my takedowns on a
team Quest's member(Quarry), and I took him down as many times
as I wanted and conquered an unanimous decision at KOTC 25 -
6/29/03. There're not apologies for the second fight in KOTC
28 - 8/16/03, when Radach TKO'd me in R1. He was better that
day and I was there only with my body, not with my soul. However
I don't want to get into details... I would only like an opportunity
for a rematch.’
The
year of 2003 still provided Ximu with a battle of styles in the
semifinals of Heat FC 2-Evolution (Dec. 18th) from facing off
the BJJ black-belt Allan Goes from BTT. Ximu got visibly mad
with the issue of this fight which he won, but he did not accept
the Goes' attitude of leaving the ring before the fight had finished*.
'Man,
I don't like to talk about it but let's go!. Goes didn't respect
the crowd, the promoters and me as a professional fighter. I
was eager to be fighting against a Extreme Challenger, Pride
and UFC veteran like Goes is. But I met a fearful man on that
fight, fighters such as Goes should be banned of all events,
my advice for him is, get retired man! We should re-matched in
Jungle FC 3, but inexplicably his mobile stayed off during the
negotiations; he's a real fearsome! I'd ask Wallid Ismail special
rules if this match had happened, because I was furious with
Goes and I want to beat him badly, but only inside a ring, I'm
a professional fighter'
Prior
to his recent victory in Japan, Ximu competed once in 2004. It
was in Meca FC 11th(June 6th) and Ximu triumphed over the ChuteBoxer,
Nilson de Castro in the third fight of the card.
'The
people charged me the KO on this fight as if Nilson was a tomatocan.
I was close of this goal in R2, but I didn't; it was because
Nilson is World Class athlete who never was KO'd before, so he
has merits and a metal chin.'
*The
judge stopped the fight to re-start it on the feet, Goes did
not and sunk a kimura; Ximu tapped out, but the fight was stopped
prior it. So the referee tried to put the fighters on the feet,
however Goes refused and left the ring.
Source: ADCC
|
Quote
of the Day
"Doubt
whom you will, but never yourself."
Christian Nevell Bovee 1820-1904, American Author, Lawyer
|
Punishment
In Paradise: East Vs. West
Kapolei High School Gym, Kapolei, Hawaii
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2004
155lbs. Lightweight MMA Bout (3x3 Minute Rounds)
Cory Cass (Showtime J.J., California) Vs. David Padilla (Jesus
Is Lord, Hawaii)
175lbs.
Kickboxing Championship Bout (3x2 Minute Rounds)
Tommy Pestana (Bad Intentions, Waianae) Vs. Wayne Perrin III
(Team Bigdogs, Waianae)
Lightweight
MMA Bout (3x3 Minute Rounds)
Ryan Kronwritter (Meat Truck Inc, ,Indiana) Vs. Kevin Delima
(Bulls Pin, Hawaii)
***INTERMISSION***
159lbs.
Kickboxing Championship Bout (3x2 Minute Rounds)
Kaleo Kwon (Eastsidaz, Kailua) Vs. Dain Agbayani (808 FF, Waipahu)
137lbs.
Kickboxing Championship Bout(3x2 Minute Rounds)
Ryan Lee (Bulls Pin, Kalihi) Vs. Domi Lopez (Team Bigdogs, Waianae)
MMA
Bout (2x3 Minute Rounds)
Cisco Bringas (Freelance, Kailua) Vs. Joe Palimo’o (Freelance,
Waipahu)
Exhibition
Bout (3x1 Minute Rounds)
Jacob Cook (Kodan Kon, East Oahu B.C) Vs. Thomas Pave (Dogs 4
Life, Waianae)
179lbs.
Kickboxing Championship Bout (3x2 Minute Rounds)
Joshua Versola (Advanced Kempo, Kalihi) Vs. Allan Yulip (Animal
House, Ewa Beach)
196lbs.
Kickboxing Championship Bout (3x2 Minute Rounds)
Brandon Kalikane (Animal House, Ewa Beach) Vs. Val Ulafale (Team
Bigdogs, Waianae)
120lbs.
Kickboxing #1 Contender Bout (3x11/2 Minute Rounds)
Davin Damo-Pihana (Animal House, Ewa Beach) Vs. Stephen Paling
Jr. (Jesus Is Lord, Nanakuli)
172LBS.
Kickboxing Bout (3x11/2 Minute Rounds)
Chris Aina (Freelance, Kailua) Vs. Kevin Smith (Team Bigdogs,
Waianae)
240lbs.
Exhibition (3x1 Minute Rounds)
Henry (Bulls Pin, Kalihi) Vs. Jonah Visante (Dogs 4 Life, Waianae)
147lbs.
Kickboxing Bout (3x11/2 Minute Rounds)
Louis Smith (Team Bigdogs, Waianae) Vs. Brandon Antonio (Jesus
Is Lord, Nanakuli)
150lbs.
Kickboxing Bout (3x11/2 Minute Rounds)
Bronson Perrin (Team Bigdogs, Waianae) Vs John Visante Jr. (Dogs
4 Life, Waianae)
Exhibition
Bout (3x1 Minute Rounds)
Hansen Apo (East Oahu B.C, Waimanalo) Vs. Kahele (Dogs 4 Life,
Waianae)
**Card
Subject To Change**
PRESALE
TICKETS ON SALE!!
Tickets
are really starting to sell FAST!! Ticket Information 620-2882
Schools
Carring Tickets for SALE
Jesus
Is Lord(Waipahu), Team Bigdogs(Maili), Bulls Pin(Kalihi), Kodan
Kon(Kailua)
Dogs
4 Life(Waianae), Animal House(Ewa Beach), David Padilla(Waipio),
Advanced Kempo(Aiea)
Source: Event Promoter
|
GROSSMAN
INSIDER: RULES FOR ROYCE VS. AKEBONO
By Josh Grossman
Royce Gracie (left) facing off to a cardboard cut-out of Akebono.
I
am hearing over here in Japan that the Royce Gracie vs. Akebono
matchup will have no time limit and no referee stoppage.
Source: Fight Sport
|
Tales
from Hawaii
by: Luca Atalla With R.N.
Honolulu
- the beautiful city of Honolulu, where Mixed Martial Arts event
‘Rumble on the Rock 6’ took place on November 20th
- reminds Amaury Bitetti, the great Brazilian fighter who is
two times world Jiu-Jitsu champion and also a vale-tudo star
of past adventures. What is the connection between the city and
the athlete? Well,Amaury fought in Honolulu, on December 15th
of 2001, at ‘Shogun’ tournament. He won a split decision
over Dennis Hallman , but first, Carlson Gracie’s pupil
had a strange situation.
‘Amaury
arrived in Hawaii less than two days before the show. He have
spent more than 30 hours inside an airplane’, says black-belt
Ricardo Pires (coach of UFC champion Frank Mir). ‘The hotel
was right in front of the stadium where ‘Shogun’ took
place. I told Amaury to rest in his room, and than I would call
him 20 minutes before the match begins. I just couldn’t
imagine that, for the great surprise of the hotel guests, Amaury
would cross the entrance-hall wearing swim trunks and practicing
some strikes against muay thai master Arthur Mariano’s punching
gloves on his way to the Arena’.
Source: ADCC
|
HALLMAN'S
POST FIGHT COMMENTS FROM ROTR
No matter what weight class he fights at, Dennis “Superman”
Hallman continues to rack up wins. Fighting in his third weight
class this year Hallman took home a submission victory over Ross
Ebanez at Rumble on the Rock 6 this past weekend.
MMA
Weekly’s Mick Hammond caught up with Hallman to talk about
the fight, Akebono, and Hallman’s secret weapon, Karate.
The
conversation started off with Hallman talking about his win at
ROTR 6, “We squared off and he was throwing heavy punches
like he was trying to take my head off. He threw a hard punch
and I waited for him to throw another one so he was open and
I shot in for a double leg takedown. I worked past his guard
and he turned over to try to get up so I took his back. We ended
up standing up with me waistlocking him on his back and I suplexed
him on his head. I didn’t take him all the way over because
you lose position if you do that so I turned right before we
made contact with the mat and I figure foured him and got the
choke.”
Simply
put as Hallman said, “He made a mistake and I capitalized
on it.”
When
asked if the fight went how he planned Hallman stated, “I
was hoping it would go like it did. I took the fight on Friday
the week before, but I busted my ass the whole week. I was ready
to go15 minutes if I had to, I didn’t know if it was going
to go that long or not. When I look into a flight I try to get
an idea of the style of fighter I’m facing, so I can usually
figure out what I’m going to need to be able to do to beat
someone.”
Prior
to this fight along with his previous few fights Hallman made
claim he was going to use his new unstoppable Karate on his opponents
but by some strange twist of fate he’s been finishing off
fighters with submissions. Hallman explained why this is so,
“My Karate is so devastating if I use it they’ll make
it illegal. I have to save that for an emergency. I’m going
to have to bust it out only if I’m in real trouble, which
I’m never in, so you never know when you’ll get to
see it.”
Hallman
then went on to talk about his future prospects and what weight
he plans to fight at, “I’d like to get in another fight
before the end of the year, someone’s just got to call me.
If they call me I’d go fight. I’m in decent shape right
now at 185lbs and don’t plan to get out of shape. If the
fight’s right, I’ll go down to 170lbs. I’ve got
to get paid to make the weight; it’s not worth me cutting
the weight to make 170lbs if it’s not against a top 10 guy.
It would have to probably be for a big organization too if I
go back down to that weight again.”
Hallman
continued, “ROTR is a great show, they are on par with every
other top show in the world. There’s no difference there
than with the UFC, so I’d fight for them again if they asked
me. I’m also hoping K-1 will call me about the New Year’s
Eve show. They were co-promoting this show so they saw what I
could do. I know they announced Royce (Gracie) fighting Akebono
at the weigh-ins.”
“That
Akebono guy is huge,” said Hallman, “so I’m sure
Royce is getting paid good for that. I think Royce is going to
take his back and choke him. Who knows, maybe I’ll get in
there against his brother Little ‘Bono or something if he’s
got one.”
The
conversation then turned back to what Hallman will be up to next;
“I'll be at the CWU show on December 4th. It’s a USA-MMA
event, which is the amateur sanctioning body up here. It’s
taking place at the Kittitas Event Center in Ellensburg, Washington.
It will have all the top amateurs from all the different schools
in the northwest competing. I’ll be there, Benji Radach
will be there as well as Tony Hamlett, Brad Blackburn, and Trevor
Prangley.”
Things
finished up with Hallman thanking his sponsors among other things,
“Sprawl, Vicious Fight Gear, Cobb 28 and the Dakota Stake
House in LA have been really good to me so I want to thank them
for that. For the fans I say come witness my upper body Karate,
it’s the superior new style breaking through and it will
amaze everyone. I’m up to fighting anybody and I’ll
fight anyone anywhere. I’m not that expensive, so shows
should give me a call. Just remember, I may be cheap, but I’m
not free."
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Vitor
'Shaolin' Ready To Keep His SHOOTO Belt
by: Luca Atalla With Rafael Werneck
On December 14th , Vitor 'Shaolin' Ribeiro will return to the
ring to defend his SHOOTO welterweight belt for the first time
in his career. The Nova Uniao fighter is scheduled to face the
Japanese star Tatsuya Kawajiri. In order to keep his champion's
status, Shaolin reveals that he has been very focused in his
training. We caught up with Shaolin in Rio de Janeiro and asked
what are his expectations about the upcoming challenge.
'I
consider Kawajiri a tough fighter. We faced each other in December
of 2002 and I won by unanimous decision. He got much better since
then. He did not lose a single fight after our bout and TKOed
(punches) Mindaugas Laurinaitis at Shooto´s event last
September. I´m sure he will do everything to take the belt
away from me. To face a Japanese fighter in Japan is always difficult.
If you ask me what I prefer, a Japanese or an American, I would
say an American. But it doesn´t really matter. I´m
training really hard and I am very confident.' says Shaolin.
This
is going to be Vitor´s 11th MMA fight and he wants to keep
his perfect record by defeating another opponent reaching the
11th consecutive victory. 'When you are a professional fighter
you have to be ready to win or lose. I don´t think about
my invincibility all the time. It is obvious that I always enter
the ring to win, and because of that I train so hard to avoid
the chances of losing as much as I can', stated the Brazilian.
Vitor
is flying to Japan on December 6th with his coach and Nova Uniao
leader, Andre Pederneiras. At the same Shooto event, another
Brazilian fighter will be in action. The lightweight champion,
Alexandre Pequeno, is going to face the Japanese challenger Hideki
Kadowaki.
Source: ADCC
|
Pride
Planning Lightweight Grand Prix
By Jeremy Wall
Pride is said to be planning a Grand Prix tournament based around
lightweight and welterweight fighters for 2005, to take place
on the Bushido shows headlined by Takanori Gomi.
It's
said that Pride is paying good money for fighters at these weight
classes to compete in the Grand Prix, which is a change of pace
from past years where lesser weight fighters were in little demand
and made far less than their middleweight and heavyweight contemporaries.
The
plan for the lightweight Grand Prix may be to coincide with another
middleweight Grand Prix in 2005, too. The problem with running
another Middleweight tournament just a couple of years after
the 2003 Middleweight Grand Prix is that there really isn't that
many fresh matches for Pride to book. The tournament would most
likely be centered around the idea of a Japanese fighter attempting
to both win the tournament and defeat Wanderlei Silva, who would
obviously be going for his second Grand Prix win.
The
problem is that there really isn't many Japanese fighters at
the middleweight level that could headline the tournament that
would provide a fresh match for Silva. Kazushi Sakuraba has already
been defeated by Silva three times (including a first round loss
in the 2003 Grand Prix), and although that match would still
likely draw well, it's not a good idea to keep feeding Sakuraba
losses like that. Kiyoshi Tamura has already fought and lost
to Silva. Hidehiko Yoshida has already fought and lost to Silva,
although Yoshida would seem to be most likely of the three Japanese
fighters mentioned here to defeat Silva. Pride needs to book
a Japanese vs. Japanese match in the first round of the tournament
in order to make sure a top Japanese fighter makes it into the
second show. In 2003, they did Yoshida vs. Tamura. Tamura won't
fight Sakuraba. Sakuraba and Yoshida won't fight each other.
The other option for them would be to book Yoshida or Sakuraba
or whomever in a first round match that they would be most likely
to win.
Source: Maxfighting
|
Tamura
Turns Down Sakuraba Fight
By Jeremy Wall
Kiyoshi Tamura has turned down a fight with Kazushi Sakuraba
on New Year's Eve. The reason that I was told for Tamura turning
down the fight was that he simply doesn't like Sakuraba.
Sakuraba
had already been announced for Pride's New Year's Eve show at
Saitama Super Arena, and Tamura seemed to be the most likely
and the most logical opponent for Sakuraba, as Pride will once
again be going head-to-head on television with the K-1 New Year's
Eve show and the NHK concert.
Beyond
Sakuraba, Pride has already announced Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
vs. Fedor Emelianenko for the two versions of the Pride Heavyweight
title in a rematch of their fight at the end of the Grand Prix
tournament in August that went to a no-contest when Fedor was
cut badly due to an accidental headbutt; plus Rulon Gardner vs.
Hidehiko Yoshida in a battle of Olympic gold medalists.
While
in Hawaii for the recent Rumble on the Rock event, K-1 announced
Akebono vs. Royce Gracie under MMA rules in a freakshow match
to headline their New Year's Eve show at the Osaka Dome. With
Akebono announced as facing Royce, it seems unlikely that Bob
Sapp will compete on their New Year's Eve show, as Akebono would
seem to be the best opponent for Sapp both in terms of box office
drawing power and ease of Sapp winning his return fight. Sapp
and K-1 have issues over money.
K-1
has countered the Pride signing of Rulon Gardner by adding an
Olympic gold medalist of their own in Karam Ibrahim, who won
gold in Athens earlier this year at the 96kg class in Greco-Roman
wrestling, of Egypt to their New Year's Eve card. K-1 has also
announced Masato vs. Norifumi Yamamoto under K-1 rules. Jerome
LeBanner (who is fighting Hiromi Amada at the K-1 Grand Prix
Finals at the Tokyo Dome as an alternate against on December
4th), judo champion Yoshihiro Akiyama, Kazuyuki Fujita and television
star Bobby Ologun are all figured for the show. More fighters
from the December 4th Tokyo Dome show may be announced for the
New Year's Eve card in coming weeks.
Source: Maxfighting |
Jason
Black: The Thrill is Gone
by Benny Henderson Jr.
Mixed Martial Arts fighter Jason Black says after four years
in the No Holds Barred sport he is ready to call a halt to his
explosive career. After exploding on the scene in 2000, the hard-hitting
welterweight went on a nine fight winning streak until he battled
to a hard fought draw against Antonio McKee at the WFA 1 show
in 2001.
Since
then he has won eight more straight bouts to compile an extraordinary
career record of 17-0-1, nine by way of submission, four by decision,
and three by TKO. He has impressive wins over John Cronk, Jake
Hudson and Michael Johnson.
Yet
the 32-year-old fighter, who is getting ready for what could
be his last bout this month, said that he just isn’t motivated
after his opponent dropped out. There should be a replacement
for his next bout, but if he will fight after this one is still
up in the air.
The
railroad worker said that the lack of money and the rigorous
training for the low pay just isn’t worth it. Black says
that he will not be back but looks forward to his new life out
of the ring. Max Fighting conducted an interview with the soon
to be retired fighter and got his thoughts on his career and
life after MMA.
Benny
Henderson Jr. - What have you been up to lately?
Jason
Black - Just have been getting ready for my fight, I will be
fighting the day after Thanksgiving in Montreal supposedly, so
I am just trying to get ready for that. My opponent backed out
Thursday for some reason, so right now I’m just waiting
till they find somebody. Just having a hard time getting motivated
without having an opponent.
BH
- With you not having an opponent in this fight just yet does
that bother you not knowing what style to prepare for?
JB
- I don’t think my opponent has ever dictated my training.
I just go out and try to impose my will on them so I really don’t
worry too much about what they do. It is nice to know if they
are a boxer or a grappler because they’re two totally different
things, but I pretty much usually always end up doing the same
thing. Throw a couple of bombs and taking them down and beating
the crap out of them.
BH
- What inspired you to get into this sport?
JB
- I was in a gym that used to be a racquetball court - it actually
had six courts - and Pat rented one out and had a wrestling mat
in it. I was just with him and Pat kept on coming in talking
to me; he was a nice guy not trying to get me to train or anything.
He asked me if I wanted to come in and do it and I said no. I
wrestled for eighteen to twenty years of my life and it was time
for me to be done with that. He said that they did wrestling
takedowns and stuff and one night I was hanging around and I
went in there and did it and I stuck around and talked to some
guys afterwards and they showed me some submissions and they
told me to come in the next morning for the Jiu-Jitsu class and
I probably didn’t miss a class for six months after that.
I just loved it, it was very exciting.
BH
- What do you feel your best quality is as a fighter?
JB
– Determination. Losing is never an option it is just a
matter of how I am going to win. I fall back mostly on my wrestling
background but my greatest asset is my determination.
BH
- Can you give us your most memorable moments in your career
so far?
JB
- My title fight in Canada was probably one just because it was
for a belt and it was against a really good opponent, John Alessio,
who was a titleholder at the time. I remember most of them.
BH
- How about your toughest opponent?
JB
- I would have to say John was; my last two fights have been
pretty close.
BH
- What is a regular day in the life of Jason Black?
JB
- Oh man, I have a full-time job, I work on the railroad. So
when I am getting ready for a fight I usually get up around 5:00
to 5:30 a.m. and get a long distance run in or some sprints.
Then I go to work and put in my eight hours, come home and lift
and either do a night of boxing or Jiu-Jitsu. A lot of guys in
the sport don’t do two things, they are either fighting
or bouncing, and they don’t have real jobs. I think in a
way it works for my benefit because I get away from the sport
and get that release but at the same time I don’t get the
quality training that I would like to get, plus the down time
to let my body recuperate. It is kind of like Wednesday and Thursday
I am dragging ass from work and training. Having a job also gets
me to bed at night and I am not partying and smoking dope and
chasing strippers and stuff you know.
BH
- How about your hobbies?
JB
- I like to golf, and just hang out with my girlfriend and the
guys at the college. Nothing too special, I don’t hunt or
fish or make quilts or stuff like that.
BH
– Man, I don’t see you as a golfer.
JB
- Oh no, man, I didn’t say I was any good. It is just away
from the sport and it is an opportunity to hang out with some
friends of mine.
BH
– Is there anyone whom you would like to step in the ring
with, and why?
JB
– No, there is not. To tell you the truth I don’t know
why that is; probably because I am on my way out of the sport.
It doesn’t bring that thrill to me anymore.
BH
- So you are on your way out?
JB
- Yeah, I probably have one or two fights left in me. I am just
calling it quits. It doesn’t pay but at the same time I
really don’t do it for the money. But if I am going to do
it I might as well get paid, you know? On the inside of the sport
is nothing like what people may think it is. You are making $1,000
or $2,000 a fight and you spend three months getting ready for
it. You just give away a lot of your life I won’t drink
a month or two out from the fight, that is eight weekends of
not having a good time and not eating the crap that I have to
give up and it’s really not worth that.
BH
- Is it going to be hard for you to walk away from the sport?
Do you feel you will miss it and want to come back later on?
JB
- Ah, I don’t know if I will really walk, I might run. I
am pretty tired of it. I enjoy it as a sport. I think that if
you talk to any professional athlete, usually they want to get
away from the sport and in a couple of years they start watching
it or start coaching it or something like that. But they just
need that separation for a little bit. I would really like to
get into training fighters one on one but I will probably take
a little time off just to do the things that I haven’t been
able to do for the last five years.
BH
- What will the future hold for you now that you are walking
away from the sport?
JB
- Well I will still have my job and I like to work out so I hope
to still be working out two or three times a week. I will be
around the sport and the fighters, and some of them I don’t
want to be around because they are just boneheads and some are
real good guys. I will be able to pick and choose a little more
now. Maybe me being away from it for a while will give me a deeper
appreciation for the sport. I really don’t see me going
in a short retirement and coming back out because it would take
good money for that, and it just doesn’t have that following
and I will probably be forty years old before I get that following.
I am not doing the Randy Couture thing. When I am forty I am
done.
BH
- What goes through your mind before the fight while you are
staring in your opponent’s eyes, knowing that in a few seconds
you both will be trying to beat the crap out of each other?
JB
- Usually the thought is that this is the stupidest sport in
the world and I don’t know why I am doing it; the other
half of me is trying not to s**t or piss myself because I am
so nervous. It is a mixture of emotions and nobody can possibly
imagine it, outside of being a soldier or something like that
with your life being on the line. Outside of boxing and Muay
Thai there is just no sport that can end so gruesomely. I mean
you can get knocked out, get your arm broke, plus usually half
your family or your friends are there watching. Thanksgiving
is not too fun when you are sitting there with a black eye and
a broken jaw.
BH
- What advice would you give to somebody wanting to take up the
sport?
JB
- I would tell them if they are going to do it they better do
it full heartedly and not half ass it because it is just like
life - you won’t get anything out of it if you don’t
put anything into it. If you are going to do it, go to a gym
that is known for being very respectful and knows what they are
doing. Be well rounded; your career won’t go past two fights
unless you can just stand up and do the groundwork. The guys
in the sport are just evolving from show to show. The guys used
to be all stand-up or all Jiu-Jitsu and now they are excellent
at both so you have to be very well rounded. Take your time and
not jump straight into a fight, I would recommend you not even
having an amateur fight without six to eight months of training.
BH
- Is there anything you would like to add to this interview?
JB
- I would like to thank my supplement supplier, the SupplementZone.com
for supplying me with nutrients and my family and my friends
for supporting me.
Source: Maxfighting
|
K-1
MAKES OFFER TO HERRING
Heath Herring
The
Japanese media is reporting that K-1 has made a very good offer
to Heath Herring to participate on their December 31st card.
It
is not known at this time whether Herring has accepted the offer
or not.
Source: Fight Sport
|
FUJITA
TRAINING WITH RUAS AGAIN
Kazuyuki Fujita
Sources
in the US are saying that Kazuyuki Fujita will prepare for his
December 31st fight by training with Marco Ruas and his team
in California.
Fujita's
opponent has not been announced, but it is expected that he will
most likely face Olympic wrestling gold medalist Karam Ibrahim.
Source: Fight Sport
|
GROSSMAN
INSIDER:
'CRO COP' VS. RANDLEMAN IS OFFICIAL
By Josh Grossman
Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic
Mirko
'Cro Cop' Filipovic vs. Kevin Randleman is a done deal for the
PRIDE card on December 31st.
Source: Fight Sport
|
FORMER
TITO TRAINING PARTNER: 'VITOR HAS ALWAYS BEEN IN TITO'S HEAD.
TITO IS FLAT OUT AFRAID OF HIM'
Before reading any further, please read our disclaimer first.
A
verified former training partner of Tito Ortiz sent us the following
insight on Ortiz:
"Don't
believe any of that shit Tito is saying on the forums. The more
he talks about someone, the more he's scared of him. And believe
me, Tito has ALWAYS been very afraid of facing Vitor Belfort.
Tito's been scared of him ever since he saw Vitor destroy Tank.
And we all seen Tank knock Tito all over the place in training.
Tito's
afraid of Vitor's hands and doesn't want to stand with him under
any circumstances. He's afraid he's gonna get lit up by Belfort
and humiliated on national TV the way Liddell did to him.
Notice
that the first minute Tito found out he was fighting Vitor, he
ran all the way to Team Quest and begged them to train him for
this fight. Imagine that, begging the guy who spanked you to
train you Ha Ha. He wants to make damn sure he can take Belfort
down so he doesn't have to stand with him. He try to stall for
a JD, like he did with Cote.
One
more thing, it's been eating Tito up that all his former training
buddies flocked to Vitor to help him for his fight against Randy.
That really got into Tito's head Ha Ha. Fuck Tito. The dude is
a phony and a chickenshit, and people need to realize this. In
fact, all of his ex-training partners that I know are all rooting
for Vitor to kick his ass."
Source: Fight Sport
|
POSTAL
CONNECTIONS: SAPP VS. WAKANOHANA POSSIBILITY
By Tape Lord
Bob Sapp
Hello
my friends, my postal connections in the K-1 organization are
telling me that K-1 is seriously thinking about trying to sign
a Bob Sapp vs. Wakanohana matchup for their card on December
31st.
Wakanohana
is a former Sumo grand champion and the brother of Takanohana,
who is also one of Sumo's most successful grand champions ever.
Last
year's Sapp vs. Akebono fight drew record ratings in Japan. The
thinking by K-1 is that having a main event line-up of Sapp against
another popular Sumo grand champion in Wakanohana and Akebono
against a Gracie, can possibly draw similar, if not better, record
ratings.
More
news to come regarding this in the next two weeks.
Source: Fight Sport
|
Quote
of the Day
"Making a success of the job at hand is the best step toward
the kind you want."
Bernard M. Baruch, 1870-1965, American Financier
|
Punishment
in Paradise
Friday,
December 3 2004
Kapolei High School
Fights start at 7:30 pm
TICKETS ON SALE NOW!!!
For More Information 620-2882
Now that Rumble On The Rocks has finish you get your tickets
NOW. Tickets are already moving fast so you don't want to miss
out!!
Source: Promoter |
Brazilian
Freestyle Academy Update
The school is looking for a new home since studio #4 at UH is
closed due to the flooding. For more information and to keep
up with what is going on, you can contact James at (808)223-9363
or check out :
www.brazilian-freestyle.com
E-Mail: info@brazilian-freestyle.com
Brazilian
Freestyle just wanted to ensure people could contact us with
our temporary changes and updates.
Source: James Tanaka
|
Fan
Favorite "The Chief" Returns
to the Super Brawl Ring!
December
11, 2004
Neal Blaisdell Arena
Fights start at 7:30 pm
Don't be left out in the cold for this one and get your tickets
early!
More
good news for Super Brawl fans. UFC and Super Brawl veteran,
Andre "The Chief" Roberts has been added to Super Brawl
year end spectacular. He will face another behemoth of a man,
19-9, Vince Lucero from Arizona.
11.19.04 - "Roy Jones Jr. Signs with Super Brawl!"
Roy
Jones Jr. has signed a deal to host the next installment of the
wildly popular Super Brawl show airing nationally, late nights
on SPIKE TV, Comedy Central, Fox Sports and many other stations.
Roy will be at the December 11th, Ultimate Super Brawl show to
begin shooting the program.
11.19.04
- "Falaniko Vitale Added to Already Stellar Super Brawl
Card!"
Hawaiian
Sensation Falaniko Vitale will fight Cincanatti's Ron Fields
on the December 11, Super Brawl Ultimate card.
11.15.04
- "Sylvia v Simms Grudge Match is on!"
On
December 11th, in the Super Brawl ring, Tim Sylvia and Wes Simms
will settle a grudge that has lasted over two years. The never
short on words Sims does not appear to be changing his game plan.
"I just checked my voice mail this morning" said Super
Brawl producer T.Jay Thompson "and the first message was
from Wes...he just said 'Just calling to let you know i'm going
to kick Tim Sylvias ass!'" Sylvia who is scheduled to fight
for the UFC Heavyweight belt in February said "Wes has been
flappin his gums for far to long....I am just plain sick of his
crybaby antics....and since I need a tune-up fight I will oblige
his request to fight and knock his oversized, undertalented,
pro-wrestler wannabe ass out."
11.12.04
- "The Most Dangerous Haole Since Captain Cook Returns!"
The
Dec 11th fight card to be held at the Blaisdell Arena just keeps
getting bigger! Jason "Mayhem" Miller, the fighter
Hawaiians love to hate will step back through the Super Brawl
ropes to face local tough guy Mark Moreno.
11.04.04 - "Two More UFC Fighters added to the Dec 11 Super
Brawl at the Blaisdell Arena"!
Super
Brawl promoters are clearly pulling out all the stops for their
Dec. 11, installment of Super Brawl at the Blaisdell Arena! With
the UFC 185lb title within his grasp, Rich "Ace" Franklin
has been enticed to fight in the Super Brawl ring! His opponent
will be another UFC Veteran, Curtis Stout.
Source: Promoter
|
SUMA
Story on Hurley.com
CHECK IT OUT BOYS GETTING SOME PROPS FROM THE HURLEY CREW..THANKS
click
here
Source: David Liu, SUMA
|
PRIDE
FIGHTING U.S. AUDITIONS WRAP-UP
PRIDE FIGHTING’S first United States auditions took place
this past Saturday, November 20, 2004. Over 100 participants
from around the globe convened at the campus of the University
of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) for the opportunity to be
the next PRIDE FIGHTING SUPERSTAR. At stake-- PRIDE FIGHTING
contracts and mixed martial arts scholarships.
The
event was kicked off with speeches by the president of Dream
Stage Entertainment, Mr. Nobuyuki Sakakibara, as well as by PRIDE’s
executive producer, Nobuhiko Takada. From there, lightweight,
middleweight and heavyweight participants were given an opportunity
to show their stuff by demonstrating their striking, grappling,
and take down abilities. Among many, the judging panel included
the likes of Bas Rutten, Matt Hume, Dan Henderson, Yuji Shimada,
and Takada.
A
myriad of talented fighters tried out including ex-Washington
Redskins all-pro wide receiver, Michael Westbrook, who is looking
to make the jump from the NFL to MMA.
PRIDE
fighters in attendance included Quinton “Rampage” Jackson,
Dan Henderson, Carlos Newton, Dean Lister, and Chris Brennan.
To
keep the atmosphere loose and entertaining, prize packages were
given out containing PRIDE merchandise. Categories and winners
included:
“Best
Striker” - Karl-James Noons
“Best
Shooter” (take downs) - Jake Draves
“Best
Grappler” - Heath Simms
“Best
Looking Fighter” - Nick Ring
“Best
Physique” - Edwin Aguilar
“Globetrotter
Award” (Fighter who traveled from the farthest location
to attend the auditions): Paul Colesby and Hakan Volkan (tie,
both came from the United Kingdom)
“Gray
Beard Award” (oldest fighter) - George Koeing
“Diaper
Award” (youngest fighter) - Zach Taylor
“Bushido
Award” (chosen by Nobuhiko Takada) - Chael Sonnen
“Grand
Prize Winner” (random drawing for a trip to Japan to watch
a PRIDE event)
Dan Theodore
With
the auditions now complete, judges will review their notes and
study video footage to come to their conclusions in awarding
both the PRIDE contracts and MMA scholarships. Announcements
will come in approximately one month.
For
photos of the auditions please visit the 'News' section of http://pridefc.com.
Source: ADCC
|
M-1
Mix fighting Championship:
December Return to Moscow!
December 4th, 2004
Lujniki Sports Complex
Moscow, Russia
Russia's
M-1 event returns to Moscow for their end of year show, featuring
an 8 man tournament of Heavyweights. Brazilian veteran CARLOS
BARRETO and RED DEVIL's IBRAGIM MAGOMEDOV are the two favorites
in a field crowded with fighters from all over the world.
Of
special interest is the bout between AMAR SULOEV and DENIS KANG.
Kang has had a long streak of wins dominating events in Korea,
while Suloev worked for PRIDE in 2004. Kang returns to Russia,
where his 'draw' with Andrei Semenov in 2003 catapulted him into
the world spotlight.
8
Man Heavyweight Tournament:
- MARTIN MALKHASYAN 100 kg (RUSSIA, LEGION FT) v. CARLOS BARRETO
114 kg (BRAZIL, BTT)
- RAMAZAN AHADDULAEV 105 kg (RUSSIA) v. RODNEY FAVERUS (HOLLAND)
- MILCO VOORN 100 kg (THE NETHERLANDS) v. ULISSES CASTRO (CANADA)
- CARLOS CLAYTON 120 kg (BRAZIL, GRACIE BARRA TEAM) v. IBRAGIM
MAGOMEDOV (RUSSIA)
SUPERFIGHTS:
- AMAR SULOEV 87 kg (RUSSIA, Red Devil FT) vs. DENIS KANG 86
kg (CANADA).
- ANDREI SEMENOV 85 kg (RUSSIA, Red Devil FT) vs. MATT EDWIN
83 kg (ENGLAND, SFUK Team)
- ARMAN GAMBARYAN 92 kg (RUSSIA, Red Devil FT) vs. MOISE RIMBON
92 kg (FRANCE).
Source: ADCC
|
Quote
of the Day
"I like living. I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly,
acutely miserable, racked with sorrow, but through it all I still
know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing."
Agatha Christie, 1891-1976, British Mystery Writer
|
Hawaii's
BJ Penn to Fight on New Year's Eve
While interviewing BJ after the fight, he mentioned that he is
going to be on the new years eve Mega card in Japan, but at this
point, he does not know his opponent. He did mention that he
wanted Sakaraba.
|
History
of New Year's Eve in Japan
The Pride and K-1 shows that will take place in Japan and air
on Japanese network TV will mark the fifth anniversary of what
has become the biggest night in the industry in Japan.
We've
already previewed this year's events, but in the last four years
there's been what feels like four-hundred years worth of history
packed into just a handful of events. Traditionally, the biggest
show of the year on television in Japan is the NHK Red &
White Special, a major concert event which has aired for years
on New Year's Eve and always draws mega ratings, like the equivalent
of the SuperBowl in the United States. Antonio Inoki would be
the promoter to slap the face of that tradition.
The
first MMA show that took place on New Year's Eve actually wasn't
an MMA show at all, as the Bom Ba Ye event promoted by Inoki
on December 31st of 2000 was a pro wrestling show featuring mostly
shooters from Pride (including Mark Coleman, Mark Kerr, Bas Rutten,
Ricco Rodriguez, and Gary Goodridge among many other Japanese
shooter/wrestlers) participating in worked matches with New Japan
wrestlers, headlined by Don Frye and Ken Shamrock against pro
wrestler Keiji Mutoh and Nobuhiko Takada (with Takada and Mutoh
going over).
The
show also featured the only pro wrestling match a Gracie has
ever done when Renzo Gracie and Antonio Inoki participated in
a brief, three-minute match at the end of the show. It was a
pretty big deal, because dating back to the days when Helio Gracie
did a (real) match in Brazil with pro wrestler Wladek Zbyszko
a hundred million years ago, the Gracies have always been pro
wrestler haters. I've always thought of it as ironic that the
Gracies fight so frequently in MMA in Japan when MMA is considered
just a different form of pro wrestling in that country.
Live,
the event sold out the Osaka Dome with over 42,000 people claimed
in attendance, which shows how much times have changed for pro
wrestling in Japan because just a few days ago, New Japan ran
the Osaka Dome and, suffice to say, they didn't draw anywhere
close to 42,000. But in late 2000, New Japan wasn't dying and
the concept of mixed martial artists doing pro wrestling was
still fairly fresh in Japan.
The
New Year's Eve 2001 version of Inoki Bom Ba Ye would be the first
to air on network TV up against the NHK show (the 2000 event
aired on pay per view), drawing a 14.9 rating for the night on
TBS. It was also the first New Year's Eve show to feature actual
MMA fights, packing the Saitama Super Arena with over 35,000
fans in attendance.
The
theme of the show was Inoki/New Japan vs. K-1. Despite the solid
attendance and TV numbers, the show was bad. The first four matches
all went to draws. Nobuhiko Takada fought K-1 star Mike Bernardo,
and just laid on his back for the entire fight. The fight was
under K-1 vs. Pride rules which the infamous Mirko Cro Cop vs.
Wanderlei Silva fight from Pride a couple of years ago would
later take place under, and there were no ringside judges. Sam
Greco vs. Masaaki Satake was a draw. Gary Goodridge vs. Ebenezer
Fontes Braga was a draw. Tokimitsu Ishizawa (the pro wrestler
Kendo Ka Shin, who did two fights against Ryan Gracie in Pride)
vs. Shingo Koyasu was a draw.
The
worst part of the show, though, was the destruction of Yuji Nagata
by Mirko Cro Cop. Nagata was a pro wrestler for New Japan that
seemed on the brink of stardom when he was booked in this fight.
The idea behind the fight was that Mirko had busted Kazuyuki
Fujita up in a quick fight beforehand, and Nagata could be booked
in this match to get revenge for Fujita, and make him a superstar
wrestler in Japan. Problem is, no one seemed to get the concept
that he was facing Mirko Cro Cop.
But
despite what would seem like a one-sided fight on paper, Nagata
was a former national wrestling champion in Japan, and a wrestler
usually beats a kickboxer, right?
Well,
wrong. Not in this case anyway, as Nagata was too far removed
from competition and because of his pro wrestling commitments
to New Japan he had little time to train and Mirko Cro Cop is
Mirko Cro Cop and he destroyed Nagata in 21 seconds. Nagata never
reached his potential as a superstar for New Japan. Two years
later, they booked him against Fedor Emelianenko at the 2003
Inoki Bom Ba Ye, and he got destroyed against in just a little
over a minute.
But
it wasn't all bad for the 2001 Bom Ba Ye. Months earlier, Don
Frye had made his return to mixed martial arts competition for
the first time since winning the Ultimate Ultimate tournament
in late 1996, defeating Gilbert Yvel in Pride. Frye had left
UFC as that promotion was falling apart due to it's political
problems in the United States in 1997, and had signed on with
New Japan, where he became one of the most popular foreign pro
wrestlers in the country. On the New Year's Eve card, he fought
and defeated K-1 fighter Cyril Abidi.
And
on the opposite side of the coin to the Nagata loss, Tadao Yasuda
came into his fight against Jerome LeBanner as, like Nagata,
a New Japan wrestler who seemed to have little chance. Yasuda
was not a star in New Japan, but had been able to win a decision
in an MMA fight against K-1 star Masaaki Satake sometime earlier,
and had gained popularity as a wrestler because of that win.
New Japan booked him against Rene Rooze, another kickboxer, who
destroyed him, again under MMA rules. Yasuda was expected to
be finished quickly by LeBanner, but as it turned out, Yasuda
trained hard for the fight, and was able to easily control LeBanner
on the ground and choke him out in the second round. New Japan
would later put the IWGP title (their top belt) on Yasuda because
of the win. New Japan had gone in looking for Nagata to win and
Yasuda to lose, and they end up getting the exact opposite out
of the night.
2002
would be the most successful out of all the Inoki New Year's
Eve shows, on the mighty back of Bob Sapp, and the last year
before the concept of doing multiple shows came about. Bob Sapp
had exploded as a phenomenon in Japan with two wins over legendary
Ernesto Hoost in K-1, and a very exciting and close fight against
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at the huge Dynamite show in August
of that year.
He
was booked against Yoshihiro Takayama, who had also started to
make a name for himself in MMA through key fights against name
stars. Takayama had exciting losses to Kazuyuki Fujita and Semmy
Schilt earlier in Pride, but the match that really made him was
his being crushed by Don Frye earlier in 2002 in one of the most
brutal Pride matches in company history. Sapp and Takayama delivered
a great rating for TBS, with the show up from last year's composite
rating with a 16.5, and again played to over 35,000 fans at Saitama.
It
would also be the real swan song for Bom Ba Ye, as, with two
straight years of putting up very good ratings against the biggest
TV show of the year, Nippon TV stole the show from TBS with the
idea that they would have the top competition for the night against
the NHK special. Well, Nippon TV didn't count on K-1 and Pride
both running their own rival shows on the same night, with Inoki's
show falling apart.
Bom
Ba Ye 2003 was a huge disaster. Inoki had originally announced
Mirko Cro Cop vs. Yoshihiro Takayama, in a fight that should
have drawn well, seemingly stealing Mirko away from Pride. Mirko
claimed a back injury and wouldn't fight, and Takayama backed
out of the show. Just days before the event was to take place,
they didn't have a main event. They were able to put together
Kazuyuki Fujita vs. boxer Imamu Mayfield under modified rules
(which Fujita won), but going into the fight it didn't seem like
there were any guarantees that was even going to happen.
The
composite rating for the show dropped from a 16.5 in 2002 to
a 5.1 in 2003. They ran Kobe Wing Stadium, drawing 25,000 fans.
Inoki Bom Ba Ye won't be back this year.
But
what will be back this year were the two shows run by K-1 and
Pride in 2003, both of which were highly successful. TBS was
a real winner, because they let the Inoki Bom Ba Ye show go to
Nippon TV and draw poorly there, and picked up the mega successful
K-1 show, as K-1 did the company's biggest peak rating in history
for the headliner of Bob Sapp vs. Akebono, which most had figured
going in since Sapp was the biggest name in the industry and
Akebono was a very big sumo star in Japan. Sapp defeated Akebono
very quickly. The plan for the 2004 K-1 New Year's Eve show is
to headline it with a Sapp-Akebono rematch, and it's unlikely
that this year's version will draw the same as the original.
The
Pride show, airing on Fuji TV and taking place at Saitama, was
also very successful, featuring the rematch of Hidehiko Yoshida
vs. Royce Gracie. The fight ended up going to a draw as it was
fought under modified rules with no ringside judges, although
Royce won what he considers a moral victory and really dominated
the fight as Yoshida wasn't prepared to return to the ring so
shortly after fighting Wanderlei Silva in the semi-finals of
the 2003 Pride Grand Prix. Yoshida will also be back this New
Year's, taking on Rulon Gardner in a battle of gold medalists,
which on paper should draw well because of Yoshida's name and
the gimmick of the match, despite the fact that it will probably
be a slow fight.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
The
Truth Behind Inoki vs. Ali
On and around June 25th, 1976, nowhere on this planet, outside
of Brazil, was there anything that even comes close to mixed
martial arts happening. Not in North America, because no true
form of MMA would debut on this continent until November of 1993.
Nowhere in Europe. Nowhere in Asia, especially not Japan, despite
the fact that June 25th of '76 is the day of the infamous match
between Muhammad Ali and Antonio Inoki.
Ali
vs. Inoki was booked as a worked pro wrestling match. It is not
the birth of MMA, despite what some MMA "historians"
will tell you. It did not set the foundation for what MMA would
become in the '90s, either in Japan or in North America or anywhere.
Ali did not crossover into a new "sport" with this
fight, unless you consider pro wrestling a sport. Inoki is not
Japan's first recognized mixed martial artist. Anyone who tells
you otherwise is telling you a lie.
Of
course, in Japan, it was a big deal, because it was one of the
first few Inoki vs. shooter pro wrestling matches that Inoki
would book himself in throughout the coming years. The Japanese
public wouldn't know that this match was fake, and although it
was a terrible match and because of that it hurt return business
for Inoki in Japan, history in Japan has been very kind to this
match, ranking it as one of the most influential in history.
At
the time that the idea of doing a boxer vs. wrestler pro wrestling
match with Ali came about, Ali was one of the biggest sports
celebrities in the world. That really goes without saying. Inoki
was the biggest star for New Japan, which, in ensuing years,
would build itself around the idea of Inoki doing worked pro
wrestling matches against some of the biggest names in competition
sports, in a similar concept to the upcoming Hidehiko Yoshida
vs. Rulon Gardner match on New Year's Eve, although that match
really will be a real fight unlike most of Inoki's matches.
These
matches with Inoki were not booked as "MMA" matches,
or any kind of shoot, although some of them ended up that way.
In '76 as well, Ali did what started off as a worked match against
Akrum Palehewan in Pakistan, where Palehewan is a legend. During
the course of the match it became very real, and Inoki ended
up breaking Palehewan's arm in an armbar, which led to a very
dangerous situation where Inoki had injured a national hero while
being surrounded by a stadium full of hostile fans. There weren't
many examples of Inoki matches breaking out into shoots like
this, as nearly all were worked pro wrestling matches.
One
of the only other examples would actually be the Ali vs. Inoki
match. Inoki booked the match for Budokan Hall in Japan and came
up with the gimmick of showing it on closed circuit television
in the United States, because Ali's major boxing matches were
frequently shown in that manner and the match could draw interest
from both the pro wrestling fanbase in the U.S. and the boxing
fans and mainstream sports media.
In
the 1970s, pro wrestling was divided into territories. You did
not have one or two big national promotions that were popular
over the entire country. As examples, Verne Gagne had AWA in
the Minnesota area. Fritz Von Erich promoted in Texas. The McMahon
family had New York. There was Championship Wrestling from Florida.
There was Stampede Wrestling in Calgary, promoted by Stu Hart,
and so on and so forth, with numerous pro wrestling promotions
spread out across the major markets in this continent. Inoki's
idea was to sell the rights to air the closed circuit broadcast
to all of the different regional promoters in the United States,
and these promoters could all put on major shows with their own
regional stars, and get the Inoki vs. Ali match, plus another
worked boxer vs. wrestler match that would air from Shea Stadium
in New York in Andre the Giant vs. Chuck Wepner (Wepner was the
boxer that was supposedly the influence for Sylvester Stallone's
Rocky Balboa character) as a bonus, and they could heavily promote
the Ali vs. Inoki match on their local TV as the ultimate showdown
between pro wrestler and boxer, or at least a worked version
of such.
Not
many promoters bit into the idea, frankly because very few promoters
in wrestling in the United States knew or cared about Antonio
Inoki. Most of the fans had no idea who he was, because he was
not a star in the U.S.. It was not promoted like Inoki would
have wanted, although one major regional promoter did get behind
it, and that was the McMahons in New York. Vince McMahons Sr.
and Jr. got behind the idea because it was a freakshow and the
McMahons love a good freakshow, and they would air the closed
circuit broadcast of the match in New York at Shea Stadium along
with the Andre the Giant vs. Chuck Wepner work and a cavalcade
of matches featuring the WWWF's (World Wide Wrestling Federation,
as it was known at the time) biggest stars.
It's
ironic that so many writers in MMA and many fans in Japan see
it as being the "birth" of MMA, or something resembling
as such, because the sports writers in 1976 could see the forest
for the trees much quicker than many supposed MMA experts can
today regarding this industry, as they figured out very quickly
that it was a worked match between a boxer and a pro wrestler,
not a real life mixed bout between a boxer and a martial arts
fighter. It wouldn't be hard to figure out considering Inoki
had been doing pro wrestling for years in Japan by that point.
The boxing fans and mainstream media took a big dump on the match,
which should be familiar to those in MMA that deal with that
aspect of the media today. For all intents and purposes, because
the mainstream sports people treated it like a joke, in most
territories where it aired on closed circuit broadcast in the
United States, it flopped.
What
made matters worse was that two days before the match was to
take place, Muhammad Ali decided that he didn't want to do the
job for Inoki. The original, planned finish for the match was
that Ali would pound Inoki, but would then want to stop the fight
to save from giving his opponent anymore of a beating, and would
confront the referee about this. Inoki would then sneak up behind
him and deliver a knee to the back of Ali's head, knocking him
out, and would pin him for the victory.
They
tried working out another finish with Ali, but he wasn't willing
to lose. There would be no point in doing the match if Inoki
were to lose, as the whole idea of doing the match was to put
Inoki over Ali, arguably the biggest sports star of that time,
in order to make Inoki a bigger name and a bigger drawing card.
You couldn't do that with Inoki losing. There was also too much
money at stake to call it off at the very last minute, so the
rules for the match ended up being altered, and they went in
without a finish.
It
ended up being an awful match. Both men would have to have been
scared to death, because at the time there was no way of knowing
what would happen when a boxer fought a martial arts trained
fighter. During fifteen rounds, Ali only connected on two punches,
stinging like a butterfly, throwing only a total of six punches
overall. Inoki was not allowed to suplex or submit Ali, so instead,
his strategy was to lay on his back in the middle of the ring
at the start of each round and kick at Ali's legs. They went
to a very long, very boring, and very disasterous fifteen round
draw. Inoki was originally meant to be paid $6 million for the
fight, but because of his sudden unwillingness of doing the job,
he was only paid $1.8 million. He attempted to sue for the rest,
but was unsuccessful.
Even
though many fans today in Japan consider it as one of the biggest
matches in the history of that country's pro wrestling culture,
and at the time it drew 14,000 fans to Budokan Hall and set a
record gate for pro wrestling at $2.5 million, a record that
stood for about thirteen years, Ali vs. Inoki ended up being
very bad for business in Japan.
That
aspect of doing a shoot match prior to the invention of modern
MMA in the 1990s was not common only to the Ali vs. Inoki match,
as most shoot matches prior the '90s ended up being very damaging
for business long term, which is an interesting aspect to consider
how tough it is to book successful matches in UFC and Pride today.
In 1911, pro wrestlers Frank Gotch and George Hackenschmidt did
a legit match over a pro wrestling world title in Chicago in
front of a then-record 28,757 fans where Gotch defeated Hackenschmidt
in two straight falls. The match set a record attendance, but
it damaged the drawing power of pro wrestling in the United States
afterwards, as the match was a huge disappointment, much like
the Ali-Inoki affair. At the time of the Gotch-Hackenschmidt
match, the vast majority of pro wrestling matches were already
staged. There's a lot of controversy and confusion surrounding
Gotch vs. Hackenschmidt and whether or not it was meant to have
been a legimate match going in. One of the more popular stories
regarding the match was that it was meant to be worked, but Gotch
double-crossed an injured Hackenschmidt and defeated him. Even
Helio Gracie's most famous match, against Masahiko Kimura (which
was never planned as a work or anything to that degree) where
Helio lost but lasted much longer in the fight than anyone expected
despite giving up a ton of weight to Kimura, was damaging to
return business for the Gracies, as they never again drew above
20,000 fans for a stadium show in Brazil for any match featuring
a Gracie.
Nevertheless,
business for Inoki would end up recovering in Japan, to the point
where, historically, the impact of Inoki vs. Ali has changed
to a degree so greatly that not many remember what happened in
reality and the negative impact of the match.
Source: Maxfighting
|
Royce
Gracie – An Interview with the UFC Legend
The man. The teacher. The warrior. The legend.
Royce
Gracie is all four rolled up into one. The Brazilian born Jiu-Jitsu
fighter has the rich Gracie name that accounts for the supreme
fighting abilities which his father instilled in his children
at an early age, and which have led Royce into a successful life.
The
now 37-year-old warrior of the octagon was the first champion
in UFC I, which began in 1993 when the 6’1” 180-pounder
defeated Art Jimmerson, Ken Shamrock and Gerard Gordeau all in
one night by submission, and proved that size and strength doesn’t
mean you hold the winning deck.
The
small-framed fighter who was sporting the white gi took the UFC
by storm with his ability to punish his opponents with his submission
style of fighting. The crowd was astonished that a man who was
outweighed by anywhere from fifty to eighty pounds could cause
his opponent enough pain while on his back to make them surrender.
From
the beginning there was never any doubt that Royce was special
in this no holds barred sport, but never did he brag or boast
about his solid fighting abilities. Instead, he went in the octagon
and let his unmatchable style do the talking. His Jiu-Jitsu style
revolutionized the art of the sport and still to this day he
is considered a legend of the sport.
Royce
competed in five UFC events, fighting from three to four times
a night and has battled in three PRIDE events, altogether compiling
a 12-2-2 record, with wins over Ken Shamrock, Dan Severn and
Kimo Leopoldo. Eleven of those wins came by submission. Gracie
held three UFC titles and is the only man in the history of the
sport to defeat four men in one event.
Royce
now travels around the world teaching his discipline in his high-octane
seminars, and is always fit and ready to step back into the sport
that made him a living legend. In an exclusive interview, Royce
talks about his future, as well as his past.
Benny
Henderson Jr. – First, I just want to say thank you for
taking the time out for Max Fighting. What have you been up to
lately?
Royce
Gracie - Traveling a lot, doing seminars all over the world,
working on the new book, my third. As you know, I have a self-defense
book out with Charles Gracie, and also my fitness and instructional
book called Superfit, that I did with my trainer James Strom.
This one I am doing alone with Kid Peligro, who was a part of
all my books. I have some guys fighting in Rumble on the Rock
this month and also at the King of the Cage. So I have been busy
with all kind of things.
BH
- Do you plan on ever stepping back in the octagon?
RG
- It’s always a possibility. I have a good relationship
with Dana (White) and Lorenzo (Fertitta). We have talked on a
few occasions. My management did not come to an agreement with
the UFC, but we have talked, and we’re always ready for
offers.
BH
- Looking back on your career can you give the fans a few of
your most memorable moments?
RG
- There is no such thing as a memorable moment - each moment
has its values and you remember it. To pick one over another
would make the rest of them not important, so I cherish all the
moments that life gives me, in and out of the ring.
BH
- Can you give a little insight on your RGJJ seminars?
RG
- I conduct seminars all over the world. People come to train
with me, and I try to help them with their Jiu-Jitsu, and do
my part to bring it to all corners of the world. So far it has
been very successful. We started a new thing with my networks;
we did a grand seminar in North Carolina in September for all
the network reps and members, and had over 200 people. I promoted
five guys to Black Belt, the first Black Belts that I awarded.
So it’s going very well.
BH
- How does it feel to know that you are a legend of the UFC and
that you played a major role in its beginning?
RG
- It’s an honor. I am very fortunate to be in the position
that I am in. But I did not do it alone. My family has been in
this business for a long time. So the credit should go to them
as well. My father, and my uncles and brothers and cousins, the
whole family has been contributing and continues to do so. I
was very fortunate to be the first one in the US to showcase
our family style, but there are others.
BH
- How has the UFC changed since UFC I? And where do you see it
going?
RG
- At first it was style vs. style. You know, a kickboxer against
a wrestler, karate guys against a jiu-jitsu guy. Now it’s
a fighter against a fighter. Everyone is learning the ground
and standup games; you see jiu-jitsu guys knocking people out,
and kickboxers doing submissions. As far as where is it going,
its only getting better. It’s going mainstream - in Japan
it already is - and is now starting to catch on in the US. UFC
is being aired on regular TV now, things are moving forward.
BH
- You had classic bouts with Shamrock, Severn and Yoshida; can
you name your favorite bout?
RG
- Each bout was special at the time when it happened. You know,
when I fought Shamrock, everyone was like ‘wow, look at
this little guy beat this big muscular guy.’ The Severn
fight was very special because if you watch the broadcast, the
commentators started to give up on me and saying that I have
no chance of winning the fight, and then I choke the guy out,
and its like no one could believe it. With Yoshida, it became
personal; I was robbed in the first fight, so it became personal.
As you know I got my chance to square things with Yoshida.
BH
- What do you feel is the most important aspect of being a good
fighter?
RG
- Discipline. You have to know when it’s time to train.
You have to commit yourself 100% to the training for your fight.
We have a saying in my family; the fight is won at the training
camp. So you have to train like you are going to fight.
BH
- How would you define your career?
RG
- Well, I am not going to answer that question because it’s
a question for someone whose career is over, and mine is not
yet, so you can ask me that question after I announce my retirement.
BH
- You must proud that the Gracie name is being represented so
well with the new generation now fighting. Do you feel that it
puts pressure on Rodrigo carrying the Gracie name?
RG
- It’s a heavy name. You know a lot is expected of you when
you are a Gracie, but I would not call it pressure, it’s
a motivator. I think that Rodrigo is motivated by the expectations
that people place on him and with his training ethics it makes
him train harder, and it’s paying off for him.
BH
- Any advice you would give to a young fighter?
RG
- Train hard, make sure that you are disciplined and can separate
your life from training. If you are determined to make it in
this business - which is getting more and more competitive -
you have to be disciplined and not be greedy; the money will
come the harder you train, because the harder you train, the
better you fight.
BH
- Anything you would like to say in closing?
RG
- I want to thank all my fans and students for years of unconditional
support. I appreciate it very much. I want to wish all the best
to Rodrigo and Royler in their upcoming fights at the Rumble
on the Rock, as well as my students Aitor Canup and Buddy Clinton,
who are also fighting November 20th, Aitor is fighting in Hawaii
at the Rumble on the Rock and Buddy Clinton is fighting Shonie
Carter at the King of the Cage, good luck to them.
Anything
you want to achieve in life, you can. All you have to do is want
it, and have the discipline to work for it. No matter how long
it takes, stay determined and focused and you will succeed.
Source: Maxfighting |
Did
You Know Ken Shamrock Fights in UFC?
There's this guy in the UFC that everyone knows. He's a big star.
In 1995, he headlined the most watched UFC pay per view in history.
In 2002, he headlined the most watched UFC pay per view since
Zuffa bought the company a couple of years earlier. In 2004,
this guy headlined the second most watched UFC pay per view since
Zuffa took control of the company. In 2005, Zuffa doesn't have
any plans for him.
I
know you're already aware that this guy is Ken Shamrock, who
would compete with Royce Gracie for the position of being arguably
the biggest star in UFC history. And he has no fights on the
table, despite the fact that he still has one fight left on his
current deal with Zuffa and during this year has expressed interest
in re-signing with UFC when his current contract expires.
Sure,
Shamrock is old. Yes, he's not a top ranked guy in either the
light-heavyweight nor heavyweight divisions, and his skill level
pales in comparison to the top guys in each of those weight classes
currently in UFC. His body is probably broken down from years
and years of pro wrestling and mixed martial arts. Yes he is
easily outdrawn in ticket sales for shows in Las Vegas by better
fighters such as Tito Ortiz and Randy Couture. But he's the most
profitable star on pay per view specifically in the company.
So
does Zuffa know that Shamrock is still a mega-draw, or maybe
the mega-draw, in the UFC? Of course they do. So why aren't they
doing anything about it? Well, you'd have to ask them that question.
Dana
White is very intent on booking Vitor Belfort vs. Tito Ortiz
at the next show in Las Vegas, which is most likely to take place
on February 5th possibly at Mandalay Bay. White feels that since
that fight has been booked in the past but circumstances have
led to it never happening, it's the fight that people want to
see, at least moreso than a rematch of Tito vs. Shamrock since
that fight has already been done.
Well,
I disagree. I think the fact that Tito vs. Shamrock from UFC
40 did a Zuffa-high 150,000 buys on pay per view shows that in
November 2002, that was the fight people wanted to see. People
really wanted to watch Shamrock, the star of the old-guard, go
to war with Tito, the star of the new-guard. And the show delivered
and was massively successful.
But
of course this isn't November 2002. So do people still want to
watch Ken Shamrock? Well, I think the rumored 110,000 buys that
UFC 48 did for Shamrock's return fight against Kimo, a guy who
hasn't had a lot of success in the UFC in many years, shows that
yes, a lot of people still want to watch Ken Shamrock. UFC 48
only did 40,000 buys less than UFC 40. And Tito is a much bigger
name right now than Kimo, so logically, it certainly seems that
a rematch between Tito and Ken could approach 150,000 buys again.
Tito
vs. Vitor is a very solid main event. I'm not disputing that.
I just feel that Tito vs. Ken is an even better main event based
on the numbers. After seeing Shamrock get destroyed by Ortiz
at UFC 40, I had figured that his drawing power would plunge
because fans would realize that Shamrock is past his prime. But
a year or so later, he does that mega buyrate against Kimo, which
proved my theory incorrect.
I
think Tito vs. Vitor could easily do 80,000 buys, which is an
above average number for UFC. Tito vs. Randy Couture from last
year when Couture was just getting the ball rolling on his success
in the 205-pound division after defeating Chuck Liddell did about
94,000 buys. Tito vs. Chuck from UFC 47 did about 104,000 buys.
Tito vs. Vladimir Matyushenko (which was originally booked to
be Tito vs. Vitor, but Vitor pulled out due to injury) at UFC
33 in late 2001 did about 75,000 buys, albeit with more advertising
than normal. Vitor did roughly 77,000 buys against Randy Couture
at UFC 46, and probably did the same for their encounter at UFC
49. Tito vs. Vitor should do at least 80,000 buys unless both
of their drawing power has been damaged by recent losses, and
it's even possible for that main event to be strong enough to
draw another buyrate over 100,000 buys.
But
that leaves Shamrock sitting on the sidelines with nothing to
do. If you don't book Shamrock against Tito, who do you book
him against? Ken is more of a natural 205-pound division fighter
than he is a heavyweight. The only other top fighters at light-heavyweight
from a name standpoint are Randy Couture and Chuck Liddell, who
will be fighting each other in 2005, so they' re already booked.
At heavyweight, the natural progression seems to be Tim Sylvia
vs. Andrei Arlovski, with the winner facing Frank Mir when Mir
comes back from his motorcycle accident injuries.
There's
a lot of rumors about Ken fighting Tank Abbott in a match that
has been building for nearly a decade now, but those rumors are
simply false. Everyone knows Tank was terrible in his three fights
for UFC in 2003, and he never drew a decent buyrate on any of
the cards he competed on. In fact, the buyrates for all three
shows he fought on can easily be described as crappy. He hasn't
won a fight since 1998. And the biggest kicker is that his guarantee
from Zuffa for those last three fights was $150,000 per match.
Don 't tell me Tank is worth that much money. And don't tell
me he'll be willing to take less.
Tank
vs. Ken isn't a bad idea, because you can get both of them on
shows like Best Damn Sports Show Period and they can do great
interviews to hype their fight because they're both good talkers.
They both have name value from the UFC's business peak on pay
per view years ago (especially Ken). And Ken was able to draw
a great buyrate against Kimo, who, although he defeated Tank
at UFC 43, is a less than stellar in-ring talent. Plus, Ken should
beat Tank, and it's certainly not a bad idea for the biggest
draw in your company to win a fight, especially one that has
been simmering for so many years. Tank vs. Ken should do a very
good buyrate.
Despite
that, it's hard to justify paying Tank $150,000 for one match.
If he came much cheaper, I think Zuffa should do it. But there's
also the question of whether Tank would be even willing to fight
Ken Shamrock at this point. It would seem to be far less complex
to simply book a rematch between Ken and Tito. Depending on how
long Ken is willing to wait to fight next, if Tito were to defeat
Vitor, they could still do that fight later in 2005. But there
are many ifs in that equation, and there's no guarantees in MMA
matchmaking. If Ken and Tito were to fight as soon as Ken is
able to, it would be a great fight for the show's buyrate on
pay per view, they should be able to sell it as a live event
in Las Vegas, and Tito would be favoured to win, and Tito could
use a very dominating win right now to give himself a boost considering
his two losses to Couture and Liddell and his lackluster performance
against Patrick Cote. Logic says that Tito vs. Ken would be the
right fight to book in 2005, but Dana White says different. We'll
just have to wait and see who is right.
UFC
NOTEBOOK
--
Patrick Cote has decided to drop down to the middleweight level,
as he
found problems dealing with Tito's size and strength advantage
in their
fight at UFC 50. Travis Lutter, despite knocking out Marvin Eastman
at UFC
50 on short notice in the 205-pound weight class, plans to continue
to fight
in the UFC at middleweight as well, which is the weight class
which he most
frequently competes in on the independent level. UFC really has
an over
abundance of middleweights at this point, but a real lack of
depth at
light-heavyweight which could become a problem next year.
--
The agreement to air live fights on Fox Sportsnet that Dana White
mentioned on the pay per view broadcast of UFC 50 is not a signed
deal.
Spike TV has also expressed interest in doing live UFC fights.
--
Frank Mir is suffering from complications in regards to his injuries
suffered in a motorcycle accident awhile ago and isn't planning
on being
booked by UFC anytime in the near future. It's possible that
Sylvia vs.
Arlovski could be booked with Mir meeting the winner down the
line.
--
As mentioned in the above article, there's no truth to the rumors
of Tank
Abbott vs. Ken Shamrock taking place anytime soon in UFC.
--
Recently on WWE Smackdown, Tough Enough contestant Daniel Puder
made news by locking the 1996 Olympic freestyle wrestling gold
medalist Kurt Angle in
a kimura in an unscripted match. The match ended when Puder partially
had
his shoulders on the mat and the referee counted to three, giving
Angle the
win. Puder trains with American Kickboxing Academy and is said
to be good,
and should he become available for Zuffa to sign and his asking
price not be
too high, Zuffa would indeed be interested in signing him to
compete in UFC.
Source: Maxfighting
|
Buddy
Clinton: Set for King of the Cage
On November 20, undefeated Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fighter Buddy
Clinton (4-0) will face his toughest test to date when he steps
in the cage against seasoned MMA star Shonie Carter (27-11-6)
at King of the Cage in the Belterra Casino.
Benny
Henderson Jr. - How are you preparing for your upcoming match
against Shonie Carter?
Buddy
Clinton - With a lot of hard training. I train with a boxing
coach, a wrestling coach and I do a lot of jiu-jitsu with my
training partner, Travis Lutter. Add on to that conditioning
training and weightlifting and the day is full.
BH
- You have only four fights under your belt and you are facing
a guy who is a seasoned veteran of the sport with forty-four
fights on his resume. Looking at the records it doesn’t
seem to be the best move for a rookie fighter. What are your
thoughts on you taking such a big step in your career with the
least experience?
BC
- Well, yes you are right. But one only knows his skills if he
goes up against a worthy adversary; I guess it’s my time
to find out. As you know I am a Royce Gracie black belt, and
when I called Royce to tell him about the match up, he said that
the only way to get to the top is to keep challenging yourself,
so I am challenging myself.
BH
- Are you nervous with this big step you’re taking?
BC
- Well nervous, no but I realize that its going to be a tough
fight. I train hard so we’ll see what happens.
BH
-What will be your keys to victory?
BC
- I have to dominate the fight, and dictate the pace. Shonie
is a tough and very experienced fighter, and experience in the
ring is a key, so I have to be able to dictate the pace of the
fight.
BH
-You were just recently awarded your black belt, can you give
us your thoughts on your new accomplishment?
BC
- Getting a Black Belt from Royce is very hard; actually very
hard is an understatement. He is the reason that I got into Jiu-Jitsu
and fighting, so it was very special, it also puts a lot of pressure
on me to perform, which is good because it keeps me motivated.
I am very proud to represent Royce, and specially cherish Royce
entrusting me to represent his name.
BH
- Royce Gracie will be walking with you in your ring entrance,
how does it feel to be connected with one of the most known names
in the sport?
BC
- Well it’s an honor. Actually, Royce may not be able to
make it, his brother Royler and cousin Rodrigo are fighting the
same night in Hawaii, so we are still trying to work out if he
can make it. But he has been talking to me throughout my training.
It’s a big responsibility and I feel that I am ready for
it. I know that Royce believes in me, otherwise he would not
support me. I tell you it’s a big motivating factor.
BH
- When Carter was asked about his upcoming bout with you he said
“Buddy is just another young guy trying to make a name for
himself by taking away my prize money, that kid was in diapers
when I fought my first fight, now it is time to send him home
to his Mommy, it is time for a changing.” Do you take that
as a sign as disrespect or do you feel that he is just trying
to get under your skin to break your concentration?
BC
- I really do not care to be honest with you. That is his style.
Mine, I talk in the ring. So he can talk all he wants, it does
not affect me one way or another, it’s not my style to talk
trash about people, so I am not going to get sucked into that.
All he is doing is motivating me to train harder. We will see
if it pays off on November 20th.
BH
- With that comment do you feel Carter might be taking you lightly
with you being such a young guy, and do you see that as a disadvantage
with him doing so?
BC
- I hope he is not taking me lightly. I think that is just his
style. He likes to talk smack, that’s fine, it pumps up
people, it’s his way of dealing with it. I just train, and
deliver my message in the ring.
BH
-What inspired you to want to compete in the no holds barred
sport?
BC
- Watching Royce fight in the UFC. I saw a little guy defeating
all those big guys and said to myself, I have to learn how to
do this stuff. I am naturally 170 pounds, its very hard for me
to put on weight. The fight with Shonie is at 185 pounds, and
I am struggling to get there, and Royce has always had a problem
putting on weight, so there are some similarities there. I hope
that I can do as well in my career as Royce has done and is doing
in his.
BH
- You turned pro in 1999 and then fought again three years later,
fought twice in 2002 and then held off for almost another year
and now it has been a little over a year since your last fight.
Is there a reason for your fights being spaced apart like that
and do you plan on being more active in the future?
BC
– It’s tough to get fights. You know, I want to have
at least 3 fights a year, but it’s tough. There are a lot
of fighters out there, and it’s hard to get into the shows.
Royce has been helping me a lot, and I think my manager has established
a good relationship with the King of the Cage guys, so I am hoping
to be in the ring at least 3 times a year.
BH
- Is there anything you would like to add to this interview or
say to the fans?
BC
- Well I do not have a lot of fans, but the ones that I have
are very loyal and supporting of me. I want to thank them all.
I also want to thank Travis Lutter, and all my training partners
and of course Royce Gracie for their help and support.
Source: Maxfighting |
Quote
of the Day
"Have something to say, and say it as clearly as you can.
That is the only secret of style."
Matthew Arnold, 1822-1888, British Poet, Critic
|
Mike's
Acura Integra is for sale!
If you didn't know it yet, Mike is trying to sell his Acura Integra.
If anyone is interested, please checkout details on his car.
He just reduced the price to $13,000.
Check
it out by clicking here.
|
PRIDE
- USA Tryouts - A First Look!
According to many of the competitors it was a grapplers dream
auditioning for the Pride auditions in L.A. as it was run much
like a submission wrestling tournament with over 150 fighters
in three weight classes. Long-time grapplers from Freestyle Fighting
Academy’s Marcos Avellan and Charles McCarthy to Team Quest’s
Chael Sonnen said they felt right at home. Lightweights, who
by far out-numbered the other divisions with a total of about
half the competitors, went first around 11 while Middleweights
started around 2:30 and Heavyweights close to 4 PM. Heavyweight
competitors Mike Kyle, Jimmy Ambriz, and Paul Buentello all sat
patiently for their turn to compete as the hours crawled by with
none of them complaining despite the fact they have all had or
have belts from feeder shows that have sent fighters directly
into Pride.
No
official roll call or even total amount of competitors is currently
available but an incomplete list includes 72 Lightweights, 31
Middleweights, and 44 Heavyweights. Most recognizable names are:
Lightweights:
Adam Lynn (Next Generation)
Mac Danzig (Millennia Fight Team)
Frankie Bollinger (former KOTC Bantamweight Champion)
Ricardo Nogueira (American Top Team)
Steve Bruno (American Top Team)
Heath Simms (ranked in Pancrase)
John Alessio (Millennia Fight Team, former KOTC & TKO Champion,
UFC/Pride vet)
Thomas Denny (Team Oyama)
Robert Emerson (Team Oyama)
Manny Reyes (AFC vet/internet legend)
James “Lightning” Wilks
Keith Wilson (American Kickboxing Academy)
Akbarh Arreola
Steve Berger (UFC vet)
Jake Draves
Stephen Haigh
Middleweights:
Mike Seal (KOTC/SportFight vet)
Marcos Avellan (Freestyle Fighting Academy, ADCC North American
qualifier winner)
Chael Sonnen (Team Quest)
Charles McCarthy (Freestyle Fighting Academy)
Tim McKenzie (Team Cesar Gracie)
Buck Greer (Next Generation)
James Lee (former Gladiator Challenge Champion)
Heavyweights:
Mike Kyle (American Kickboxing Academy, UFC vet)
Jimmy Ambriz (former KOTC Champion)
Wojtek Kaszowski (Team Warrior, trained by Carlos Newton)
Paul Buentello (American Kickboxing Academy, KOTC Champion)
Bobby Hoffman (UFC vet, former KOTC Champion)
Kadillac Marshbanks (KOTC Champion)
Patrick Smith
ADCC
News spoke to all of the competitors listed above and will be
bringing you more insight in the days to come.
Source: ADCC
|
Interview
- Renato Babalu
Renato 'Babalu' Sobral will be back in action at the Cage Rage
9, facing Frenchmen Cyrille Diabate. The event will take place
on November 27th and Babalu promises he wil lreturn in grand
fashion.
ADCC
News - How´s your preparation going for the fight? Renato
Babalu - I´ve been training, after my last fight with Pelé
I got 3 days off training, slowed it down a bit but increased
the intensity. I was very careful about being on the track, avoiding
an overtraining. So I have been training a lot tactics and technique
focusing in what I will use during the fight.
ADCC
News - Do you know your opponent? RB - No, I don´t. I know
he´s Muay Thai fighter and I´ve heard from others
he´s tall, around 1,98m, probably he might be good kneeing
and the weight is the same as mine, 93kg. If he´s at 1,98m
and 93kg, he might be thin.
ADCC
News - According to this, is there any strategy to face him?
RB - Well, I just want to cave in his cranium (laughs).
ADCC
News - And about your fight with Pelé? Tell us a bit about
it. RB - It was a very important fight for me, since I was off
for a while. I was off for over a year, so it was like a debut
for me. It was something anxiously expected for me and for my
team, thank God I could honor the name of my team and myself.
ADCC
News - How do you see your category nowadays? RB - It’s
the toughest category, the toughest guys are on it. I don´t
wanna slight the others from other categories, sometimes the
heavyweight gets tougher, or till 85kg gets tougher. But nowadays
my category is the most disputed one.
ADCC
News - And what do you think about Wanderlei´s performance?
RB - In my opinion he´s great, he doesn’t lose for
4 years. He´s beating his opponents by knockout in many
of his fights. He´s beating up. Now, as the days goes by,
his time is coming, that´s all I have to say.
ADCC
News - A year ago you submitted Mauricio Shogun on the IFC, but
nowadays he´s at the Pride, fighting more than you. How
do you see that? RB - If I submitted him once that doesn´t
mean he´s not a good fighter. At that night I was way better
than him. He has Wanderlei in his team and I changed mine. He´s
in a team that has Wanderlei which means he has gotten more open
doors, I don´t wanna slight him, I´m just saying
he has Wanderlei in his team. Wanderlei has his ways to demand
to put his team partners’ to fight in the events. My team
barely has a year and we´re starting to come out, we have
heard our team wouldn´t last two or three months, that
was going to over. Here we are, with a year, more united than
ever, we don´t have stars. We have director, with our professors
and we´ve got an all logistic support behind us, and no
doubt, the Unamar has a great responsibility by the success of
our team, maybe they would have grown as much as us or even more.
But that´s the point, we´re the only team that has
this structure and in such a few time we could come out. That´s
not by the name Gracie or because they were old fighters coming
from vale tudo. There´s a whole support behind us, so I
think we can grow much more for the years to come. This year
we´ve showed us up but on the next year we will bright
even more.
ADCC
News - Would you leave a message for your fans? RB - Hey guys,
be sure that if the Gracie Barra would not bright next year,
we will bother lots of people. I wanted to thank my team, which
gives me a great support and my doctor Ricardo Krause. I wanted
to thank a lot my physiotherapist, Jaqueline Figueiredo. I want
to thank also Bruno Montovani and the Unamar, who have been a
big family for me.
Source: ADCC
|
IRONHEART
CROWN: ETHERAL - Complete Results!
November 20th, 2004
Hammond, IN
COMPLETE
RESULTS:
Class-A
/ 132 lbs
Miguel Torres (Corral Martial Arts Academy) Scherrerville, IN
x Alex Khanbabian (Ralph Gracie Academy) San Francisco, CA: Torres
by arm bar.
Class-A
/ 167 lbs
Keith Wisniewski (Duneland Vale Tudo) Portage, IN x Derrick Noble
(Silverback Vale Tudo) Canton, IL: Wisniewski by Judges Decision.
Class-A
/ 167 lbs
Jason Chambers (10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu Academy) Phoenix, AZ x
Thiago 'PitBull' Alves (American Top Team) Ft. Lauderdale, FL:
Pitbull by TKO.
Class-A
/ 154 lbs
Bart Paleszewski (Curran Martial Arts) Crystal Lake, IL x Gesias
Cavalcanti (American Top Team) Ft. Lauderdale, FL: Cavalcanti
by Guillotine.
Class-A
/ 143 lbs
Jay Estrada (All-American Academy) Cicero, IL x Joe Pierson (Miletich
Fighting Systems) Davenport, IA: Pierson by Triangle.
Undercard:
Class-B / 200 lbs
Jake Ambrose (Goytia's Martial Arts) Chicago, IL x Ron Fields:
Fields by Ref Stoppage.
Class-B
/ 137 lbs (contract weight)
Joao 'Pitbull' Junior Hurdy (Team Monteiro) Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
x Dave Pierson (Duneland Vale Tudo) Portage, IN: Hurdy by TKO.
Class-B
/ 140 lbs (contract weight)
Ulysses Rocha (Keller's Martial Arts) Chicago, IL x Andre Soares
(American Top Team) Ft. Lauderdale, FL: Soares by Judges Decision.
Class-B
/ 154 lbs
John Paun (Curran Martial Arts) Crystal Lake, IL x Kyle Watson
(Illinois): DRAW
Class-B
/ 167 lbs
Charles Barron VS Mario Williams Williams by Armbar 2nd Rd. -
1:23
Source: ADCC
|
Ana
Carolina: 30 seconds on the ground at Smackgirl in Japan!
In
Japan, the Smackgirl tournament`s rules would scare Rodrigo 'Minotauro'
as well as many Jiu-Jitsu fighters, since they stay on the ground
only for 30 seconds. However, it does not frighten Ana Carolina,
a black belt from Gracie Barra-BH, a tough girl who is ready
to fight in Japan for the first time on the show scheduled for
next November 23rd. Confident and proud, Draculino's student
has been training hard before leaving for Japan, on November
19th.
'It´s
great, I see this as the biggest opportunity in my MMA career.
Every fighter dreams about fighting at least once in Japan. I
was looking for a chance like that since my last win in Meca
X', says Ana Carolina, 77kg. She was able to submit a heavier
opponent, Carmem Casca-Grossa, with a Kimura lock. But, as her
Master Draculino remembers, she took about one minute and half
on the ground to finish her opponent. Now, under Smackgirl rules,
she will have only 30 seconds before the fight stands up again.
What does she have to say about that? 'I am still really confident.
Sure the rules don't make things easier for BJJ fighters, but
I have been training muay thai and boxing real hard. With the
boys!' she smiles.
'After
Meca, I was invited to fight in the USA, but it was not interesting
in terms of money, they asked me to pay my own airplane ticket.
And here in Brazil, although we have good fighters, few of them
weigh the same as me. The Smackgirl tournament, it had never
so many foreign fighters, just a couple of american girls in
the last editions. So I hope it is really special this time.
I know I will have to win three really tough fights (2 rounds,
5 minutes each) to win, but I am confident. I respect Japanese
people a lot and I expect to take this opportunity', says the
27 years old fighter, who won all the BJJ titles, except the
Pan-Americans.
Source: ADCC
|
REPORT:
SWEDISH OLYMPIC WRESTLING CHAMPION LJUNGBERG COMMITS SUICIDE
International
media reports are being circulated that the death Wednesday of
2000 Olympic gold medalist wrestler Mikael Ljungberg of Sweden
was a suicide.
According
to an Agence France-Presse report from Stockholm dated November
18, 'Ljungberg, who won the gold medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics,
has committed suicide, the Swedish Wrestling Federation said
on Thursday.'
The
article went on, 'Swedish media reports speculated that the death
of his mother in 2002, his divorce three weeks later, along with
recurring injuries had perturbed the wrestler. Ljungberg had
also faced doping accusations and his [Swedish Wrestling] Federation
nomination [as sports director] was highly controversial.'
This
entire article can be seen at:
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1111163,00070007.htm
The
Swedish Wrestling Federation has information on Ljungberg in
Swedish at:
http://www.swedewrestling.se/
The
34-year-old Ljungberg was a three-time Olympian. In 2000, he
won a gold medal at 97 kg in Greco-Roman wrestling. At the 1996
Olympics he won a bronze medal at 100 kg. In 1992 he placed fourth
at 90 kg. He also was a 1993 and 1995 world champion, both at
100 kg, and a two-time European champion, all in Greco. The 2000
Olympics were his last major competition.
Source: ADCC
|
AMERICAN
TOP TEAM WELCOME'S UNITED STATES 2004 OLYMPIAN AND LLOYD IRVIN
BROWN BELT RHADI FERGUSON TO THE FAMILY!!!
A couple of weeks ago Rhadi Ferguson moved to the South Florida
area to return to his original home and place where he began
Judo as a youngster. After searching around the area and conversing
with his coach Lloyd Irvin he has decided to make the American
Top Team his new home.
Quick
Q & A with Rhadi.
Q:
How have you been Rhadi?
A: Well, life has been pretty hectic since the Olympics. Of course
I've relocated, I am now Director of Operations for Florida Judo
and I am working at a Strength and Conditioning Center in South
Florida.
Q:
What made you decide to join American Top Team?
A: Well, I really haven't joined American Top Team, what I have
is kind of like what you would call 'dual citizenship.' I will
always be a member of Team Lloyd Irvin and now I will be part
of the American Top Team family. It is a strange relationship
but one that will be very harmonious because Liborio and Lloyd
Irvin have an excellent working relationship.
I'm
really appreciative of Lloyd Irvin and all of the knowledge that
he has provided me with and I believe that when that knowledge
is intercalated with that of Liborio and the American Top Team
family, I will definitely become a better judo player.
Q:
Hey everybody wants to know - does this mean we won't see and
grappling lineups like you versus Jeff Monson or Wade Rome?
A: I'm a Judo player. The culture in Judo is very different than
that in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. In Judo, lining up and fighting
someone that you practice with or train with is just the norm.
It happens all the time. And in BJJ it doesn't happen. But, if
the money is right and I can get a superfight - I'm sure those
guys won't mind banging for 7 to 10 minutes.
I'm
a firm believer in practicing hard, competing hard and then shaking
hands when its over.
Q:
What are you looking forward to doing?
A: Well right now, I have been going to ATT and just observing.
I am trying to check out the format and in my mind 'hand picking'
some guys that I want to 'recruit' for judo practice. And I am
seeing who the gi stylists are that are about my weight who I
can get a good roll in with. That's about it. I am still looking
forward to representing the United States in 2008 at the Olympic
Games.
Q:
What happens if Team Lloyd Irvin fights against ATT?
A: I'm sure it will be one hell of a tournament (laughing)
Q:
C'mon who will you fight for?
A: I think that people are trying to find or look for some animosity
or something to point the finger at or an issue to say 'Aha'
about, but there isn't one. Look, these 'fights' or whatever
you want to call them are shows. The reason we all know they
are shows, is because there is a promoter and there are tickets.
So that question is easy. We will sit down and find out which
lineup will put forth the best show possible so that the people's
appetite can be satisfied. It's just competition. And if you've
ever seen me grapple - my desire is to make sure my signature
takedowns are demonstrated.
Q:
Well, I heard you just had surgery. How long before your first
judo competition?
A: I will probably compete at the National Championships in 2005,
if I am ready. The shoulder is taking a whole lot longer than
I expected. I had surgery in September and there is quite a bit
of pain, especially when I wake up in the morning. When the Vioxx
and the Bextra got pulled off the market - I damn near cried.
Q:
Well, Thanks for your time, I can hear people in the background,
I know you have to go. Is there anything that you would like
to say.
A: Yes, Hey, I want to say thank you to all of you that have
been supporting me through the knee surgery and the shoulder
surgery. I did my best to represent the beauty of the marriage
of Judo and BJJ at the Olympic Games. I am really looking forward
to training at American Top Team and I'm glad to be back in South
Florida. The weather is great and the training is great. Liborio
really has some exciting stuff planned for 2005. And I'm looking
forward to doing a clinic in the near future. The facility in
Coconut Creek, Florida is a lot better than that of the Olympic
Training Center. It is unreal.
Q:
How about the women?
A: My wife is gorgeous (laughing)
Q:
Take care Rhadi
A: Hey man, God bless you.
Source: ADCC |
Ring
of Combat VII
By Jim Genia
(November 20th, Elizabeth, New Jersey) Fans packed into the Rexplex
Sports Complex tonight for some MMA action, and action was what
they got. Ring of Combat VII brought together a rising star,
an unbeatable female warrior, a Hawaiian fighting legend, and
a heavyweight underdog, and the ensuing thrills had the audience
cheering. Highlights of the night included:
Pitt's Penn rookie Travis Roesler's gutsy weathering of Norm
Schack's ground-and-pound storm and his turning of the tide with
some well-placed punches and a bout-ending knee.
The battle between slugger Jose Rodriguez and Team Renzo's Dante
Rivera, which saw a composed Rivera dishing out a ton of punishment
to get the ref stoppage.
Serra/Longo representative Tom Muller's flawless grappling clinic,
which garnered him the submission victory over the heavy-handed
Carlos Moreno - and the Ring of Combat belt!
Results:
Vinny Sparacino (Luigi's Martial Arts-183lbs) vs. Will Malloy
(Team Tiger Schulmann-189lbs)
Malloy via unanimous decision.
John
Sivori (Advanced Fighting Systems-197lbs) vs. Hazem Ibrahim (Team
Renzo/Ricardo Almeida-205lbs)
Sivori via unanimous decision.
Travis
Roesler (Pitt's Penn-220lbs) vs. Norm Schack (Team Renzo/Martin's
JJ-225lbs)
Roesler via ref stoppage due to unanswered strikes at 3:05 of
R2.
Ring
of Combat Super Cruiserweight Title
Jose Rodriguez (Pitt's Penn-188lbs) vs. Dante Rivera (Team Renzo/Ricardo
Almeida-194lbs)
Rivera via ref stoppage due to unanswered strikes at 4:37 of
R1.
Ring
of Combat Women's Welterweight Title
Christine Jensen (IMAT Academy-134lbs) vs. Laura D'Auguste (Team
Tiger Schulmann-131lbs)
D'Auguste via ref stoppage due to unanswered strikes at 4:55
of R1.
Ring
of Combat Super Heavyweight Title
Tom Muller (Serra/Longo-231lbs) vs. lbs) vs. Carlos Moreno (268lbs)
Muller via submission (arm triangle from mount) at 4:18 of R2.
Ring
of Combat Super Middleweight Title
Jay R.
Palmer (Ultimate Ruff Houzers-164lbs) vs. Kurt Pellegrino (Team Renzo/Ricardo
Almeida-165lbs)
Pellegrino via rear choke at 3:16 of R1.
Yup,
it is the same Jay R. Palmer that we all know and love.
Source: FCF |
Quote
of the Day
"Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the
chance to work hard at work worth doing."
Theodore Roosevelt, 1858-1919, Twenty-sixth President of the
USA
|
Rumble
On The Rock 6 Results
Blaisdell
Arena, Honolulu, Hawaii
November 21, 2004
By Chris Onzuka - Chris@Onzuka.com
Hawaii has had some big names fight in past events, but this
would mark the first time that a Gracie would fight here. ROTR
recently announced its partnership with the K-1 Fighting Network,
the largest fighting organization in the world. After looking
at the card, you can see K-1's influence with a few of the K-1
fighters peppering the fight card along with six UFC veterans.
ROTR is always trying to raise the level of their events, so
why have one Gracie fight when you can have two Gracies fight?
Royler and Rodrigo Gracie came and brought the "Gracie mystique"
to Hawaii fight fans, with Rodrigo taking on Hawaii's most successful
fighter, BJ Penn and Royler taking on a wrestler who represented
Japan in the Sydney Olympics. This fight would set new ground
for BJ Penn. Penn started out in the 155lb division and beat
the highest ranked fighter, Takanori Gomi soundly to become the
undisputed best fighter at 155lbs. He then moved up in weight
to fight the number one fighter and UFC champion at 170lbs, Matt
Hughes, and beat him by way of the same technique (rear naked
choke). Now Penn has moved up one more weight class to fight
undefeated Rodrigo Gracie at 185lbs in front of a hometown crowd.
The
event was reportedly sold out by Thursday, so a Jumbotron screen
had been removed to open up more seats to help meet demand. The
attendance record for an MMA event set by SuperBrawl could have
been broken, but final numbers need to be verified for this.
To kick it up a notch, a Hawaiian themed entrance stage was constructed.
It featured giant tiki's, palms and Polynesian dancers. The fights
ended up being fast a furious and it was unfortunate because
fight fans were not able to see more of the beautiful ring card
girls. Oh well, such is life. Two fights went the distance and
two got into the second round, but the rest of the matches ended
quickly. Two of BJ's students took a jump in skill levels and
fought two very good fighters and came up short. Big Wes Sims
was easily taken out by Antoni Hardonk. If Sims does not regroup
after this loss, he will probably not be invited back to any
event of reasonable importance and get killed in a couple weeks
when he fights Tim Sylvia at Super Brawl. Local boy Mike Malone
replaced Niko Vitale on a couple days notice, Vitale had to pull
out of the fight due to personal reasons. Malone got viciously
KO'd when Midoux threw one over the top. At the ROTR press conference,
it was announced that Chad "Akebono" Rowan would be
fighting Royce Gracie at the December 31st event in Japan. To
build up their match, one student of each fighter's went into
the cage to square off. Royce's student came out the winner,
which could mark things to come. Also on the card was ex-Pro
wrestler and behemoth of a man, Sean O'Haire taking on Judoka
Shungo Oyama, who was much smaller (8 inches shorter and 60lbs
lighter). Needless to say, O'Haire destroyed Oyama in 31 seconds.
Cabbage came back after two tough losses and fought a war against
Nakao. Nakao took down, cut and bloodied Cabbage in the first
round and got some questionable restarts by the referee, but
Nakao pulled it out in 2 out of the 3 judges. Royler Gracie had
his first MMA match since being KO'd by Genki Suda in Japan.
Miyata, an Olympic wrestler representing Japan, was extremely
strong and dished it out to Royler. Miyata even picked up and
slammed Royler on his head, causing Royler to be stunned for
a moment. Royler performed a comeback from behind win (classic
Jiu-Jitsu style) by locking in a triangle for the submission
later in the fight. Carter Williams made short work of Tom Howard
unloading on some of the hardest hooks thrown from the ground
that I have ever seen. Finally, Rodrigo controlled BJ against
the cage, hoping to tire BJ out in the first round. In the second,
BJ got off the fence and dropped Rodrigo, passed his guard and
pounded on him from the cross. Rodrigo defended from the cross
side very well, but took another hard uppercut in the third round
that sent Gracie to the canvas. Penn was not able to finish him
in the time given, which shows the skill of Rodrigo Gracie. The
crowd was brought to its feet over the fight and it even spilled
out into the crowd where there was a huge fight in the audience.
The mood in the Blaisdell arena was charged up, probably due
to the pack house and the BJ Penn testing himself against a member
of the Gracie family. Rumors have been circulating that if BJ
beats Rodrigo, his former teacher, Ralph Gracie will challenge
BJ. This has not been substantiated, but it makes for an interesting
situation. All in all, ROTR out did themselves for their inaugural
partnership with K-1 and largest event that they have ever produced.
The next ROTR is tentatively scheduled for February 2005.
3
Rounds - 5 Minutes:
Gilbert Melendez (Cesar Gracie) def. Kaynan Kaku (BJ Penn's MMAA)
TKO via referee stoppage due to punches at 3:58 minutes in Round
2.
3
Rounds - 5 Minutes:
Dennis Hallman (Victory Athletics) def. Ross Ebanez (BJ Penn's
MMAA)
Submission via rear naked choke at 1:13 minutes in Round 1.
3
Rounds - 5 Minutes:
Antoni Hardonk (VOS Gym) def. Wes Sims (Hammer House)
Submission via key lock from the mount at 4:24 minutes in Round
1.
3
Rounds - 5 Minutes:
Kristof Midoux (Lebanner Extreme Team) def. Mike Malone (Eastsidaz)
KO via an overhand right at 1:54 minutes in Round 1.
3
Rounds - 5 Minutes:
Spencer "Aitor" Canup (Royce Gracie) def. Juda A'alona
(Team Yokozuna)
Submission via standing guillotine choke at 1:37 minutes in Round
1.
3
Rounds - 5 Minutes:
Sean O'Hare (Pancrase Megation) def. Shungo Oyama (Omiya)
TKO via referee stoppage due to strikes at 31 seconds in Round
1.
3
Rounds - 5 Minutes:
Yoshihiro Nakao (Freelance) def. Wesley "Cabbage" Correira
(BJ Penn's MMAA)
Split decision [(30-27), (30-26), (28-19)] after 3 rounds.
3
Rounds - 5 Minutes:
Royler Gracie (Gracie Humaita) def. Kazuyuki Miyata (Freelance)
Submission via triangle choke at 2:46 minutes in Round 2.
3
Rounds - 5 Minutes:
Carter Williams (Voodoo USA) def. Tom Howard (Universal Pro Wrestling)
TKO via referee stoppage at 2:16 minutes in Round 1.
3
Rounds - 5 Minutes:
BJ Penn (BJ Penn's MMAA) def. Rodrigo Gracie (Royce Gracie)
Unanimous decision [(30-27), (30-27), (30-27)] after 3 rounds.
|
Roy
Jones Jr. Signs with Super Brawl!
Roy Jones Jr. has signed a deal to host the next installment
of the wildly popular Super Brawl show airing nationally, late
nights on SPIKE TV, Comedy Central, Fox Sports and many other
stations. Roy will be at the December 11th, Ultimate Super Brawl
show to begin shooting the program.
Source: Super Brawl
|
Paling
in a #1 Contender Match-Up
PUNISHMENT IN PARADISE: EAST vs. WEST
Friday Dec 3,2004 @ Kapolei High Gym
Stephen Paling Jr a raising MMA star who holds a undefeated Kickboxing
record will square of aganist Animal House's Davin Damo-Pihana.
Damo-Pihana who is no stranger to combat had a hard way to climb
up with last two bouts facing Amatuer Boxing Champions, Will
square off in what to be a show stopping bout aganist Paling.
Witness this two young stars as they square of to show Hawaii
that they deserve a chance at the GOLD!!
TICKETS ON SALE NOW!! Presale is going fast for this EAST VS.
WEST SHOWDOWN!!
Ticket Information 620-2882
Source: Event Promoter
|
SIMS
VS. RICCO
 
Wes
Sims announced that he is signed to face Ricco Rodriguez on the
ROTR 7
card, which
is scheduled for February 2005.
Source: Fight Sport
|
LE
BANNER VS. FUJITA OR AKIYAMA
The Japanese media is reporting that Jerome Le Banner will face
either Kazuyuki Fujita or Yoshihiro Akiyama in an MMA-rules matchup
on the K-1 card on December 31st.
Source: Fight Sport |
'CRO
COP' VS. KOSAKA POSSIBILITY
Tsuyoshi Kohsaka
The
Japanese media is now reporting that a Mirko 'Cro Cop' Filipovic
vs. Tsuyoshi Kosaka matchup may now be a possibility for the
PRIDE show on December 31st.
That
possible list of opponents for Cro Cop is now the following:
Mark
Hunt
Kevin Randleman
Vanderlei Silva
Tsuyoshi Kohsaka
Source: Fight Sport |
SPERRY:
'UNO TURNED DOWN REMATCH WITH FRANCA'
Kaoru Uno
Brazilian
Top Team manager Mario Sperry told Brazilian magazine 'Tatame'
that the reason Hermes Franca will not be on the SHOOTO card
on December 14th is because Kaoru Uno did not accept the Franca
as an opponent.
Source: Fight Sport
|
|