Upcoming
Events
Do you want to list an
event on Onzuka.com?
Contact Us
(All events on Oahu, unless noted)
11/21/03
SuperBrawl
(MMA)
Neil Blaisdell Arena
11/9/03
Pride: Final Conflict
(MMA)
(Toyko, Japan)
10/18/03
Amateur Fighting Competition 4
(Toughman)
10/4/03?
Pac Rim Jiu-Jitsu and Submission Grappling Tournament
(Sub Grappling & BJJ)
(Klum Gym, UH Manoa)
9/27/03
1st Annual Kauai "Grappler's Paradise" 2003 Brazilian
Jiu-Jitsu tournament
(BJJ, Sub Grappling)
(Kauai)
9/26/03
UFC 44: Undisputed
(MMA)
(Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas, NV)
9/21/03
3rd Annual Gracie Kauai Longman Jiu-Jitsu Tournament
Kauai Veteran Center, (BJJ, Sub Grappling)
(Kauai)
9/20/03
SuperBrawl
(MMA)
Neil Blaisdell Arena
9/13/03
NAGA - Hawaiian Grappling Championships
(Sub Grappling & BJJ)
(Farrington HS?)
9/6/03
Warriors of the Ring 4
(MMA)
Maui War Memorial Gym, Wailuku, Maui
In The Gym,
Monthly Smokers
Giraldi Muay Thai Gym
(Muay Thai, Halawa) |
|
September News Part
1
Quote
of the Day
"When we seek to discover the best in others, we somehow
bring out the best in ourselves."
William Arthur Ward |
NAGA
HAWAIIAN STATE GRAPPLING CHAMPIONSHIP This Weekend!
Farrington
High School Gym
Doors open at 10:00 AM
Tournament starts at 11:00 AM
Fees:
DAY OF THE EVENT = $65 all events, $10 Spectator (No exceptions)
Kids under 5 yrs are free!
Email
us and we can send you
a Microsoft word registration form or go to:
http://nagafighter.semkhor.com/page.asp?content_id=3016
Register and even pre-pay for the tournament.
Rule's
meeting on Thursday at 7:30 pm at Player's Sports Bar Alakea.
10:00 AM
DOORS OPEN to general public (Registration & Weigh-in begins
and lasts all day)
Tentative Tournament Schedule
11:00 AM to 4 PM
OPENING CEREMONIES (National Anthem, NAGA Rules) 10:30
NO-GI
GRAPPLING DIVISIONS Begin at 11AM (Rings 1 through 3)
1.
Kids, Youth, Women & Senior Grappling Divisions
2.
Men’s Beginner Grappling Divisions (Under 1 year experience)
3.
Men’s Intermediate Grappling Divisions (1 to 2 years experience)
4.
Men’s Advanced Grappling Divisions (2+ years experience)
GI
GRAPPLING DIVISIONS: Begin at 11AM (Ring #4)
5.
Men’s Purple Belt & Above Gi Divisions
6.
Men’s Blue Belt Gi Divisions
7.
Men’s White Belt Gi Divisions, Women, Juniors & Master
Gi Competition
NO
GI FINALS:
8.
Award Championship Belts
|
BJ
PENN'S NEXT FIGHT SCHEDULED FOR HAWAII
BJ Penn's next fight most likely won't be in the UFC. It appears
contracts have been sent out and we are just waiting for the
ink to dry to see Penn fight in Hawaii.
This
fight is being billed by promoters as the Lightweight MMA World
Championship. Rumble on the Rock 4 will take place on Friday
October 10 at the Blaisdale Arena Oahu.
The
lead opponents for Penn are Takanori Gomi and Joachim Hansen.
Promoters orginally wanted BJ Penn to face Jens Pulver, but Pulver
has a broken foot, not to mention he seems more interested competiting
at 145.
It's
also believed that Gil Castillo will be fighting on the card
against Renato "Charuto" Verissimo as well. The full
card should be released in the next couple of days.
Source:
MMA Weekly |
ULTIMATE
FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP DEBUTS HIGH IMPACT TV INFOMERCIAL TO INTRODUCE
MORE FANS TO MIXED MARTIAL ARTS
UFC:
21st Century Sports Provides Entertaining, Action-Packed Overview
Of UFC’s Evolution From Spectacle To Sport
LAS
VEGAS, NEV., September 9, 2003…Last weekend, the Ultimate
Fighting Championship (UFC) debuted UFC: 21st Century Sports,
a 28-minute info-mercial on national and local cable channels
that introduces more sports fans to the UFC and the sport of
mixed martial arts while providing an action-packed overview
of the UFC’s evolution from a pay-per-view spectacle 10
years ago to today’s professional combat sport.
The
viewing schedule continues tomorrow (September 10) and Thursday
on cable TV stations in eight U.S. cities and nationally on the
Spike TV network.
Hosted
by Showtime? fight analyst and commentator Al Bernstein, UFC:
21st Century Sports provides viewers an in-depth look at how
the UFC was founded in 1993 and details its growth and transition
from an international spectacle into a true professional combat
sport under the new ownership of Zuffa, LLC, its Las Vegas-based
parent company.
The
UFC story is told through the eyes of principal owner Lorenzo
Fertitta and President Dana White, celebrities like Joe Rogan,
host of NBC’s Fear Factor, fighters such as Chuck Liddell,
Randy Couture and Tito Ortiz, as well as mixed martial arts and
mainstream journalists, who have covered and reported the UFC’s
growth.
Viewers
also will learn how they can order the Ultimate DVD Collection
at www.ufcdvds.com, which includes Ultimate Knockouts 1 and 2
and the official UFC 44: Undisputed T-shirt for free. Fans also
can order by calling 800-332-1800. As a bonus, those who order
by September 26 will receive UFC 40: Vendetta, the double DVD
collection, which features the long-awaited showdown between
Light Heavyweight Champion Ortiz and UFC legend Ken Shamrock.
UFC: 21st Century Sports also promotes the Friday, September
26, LIVE pay-per-view telecast of UFC 44: Undisputed from Mandalay
Bay in Las Vegas when Ortiz will meet interim Light Heavyweight
Champion Randy Couture to unify the title.
Source: ADCC
|
PRIDE
FC BUSHIDO:
THE GRACIE FAMILY VERSUS JAPAN!
From
Dream Stage Entertainment
September
9, 2003 LOS ANGELES, California –Dream Stage Entertainment
is proud to announce its inaugural “Bushido” show which
will pit the Gracie family against a line-up of some of Japan’s
elite mixed martial artists.
Under
coach Royce Gracie, Team Gracie will consist of Renzo, Ryan,
Rodrigo, Daniel, and Ralph.
The
Japanese team has yet to be finalized.
The
event is scheduled for October 5th, 2003 from the Saitama Super
Arena in Japan and a total of 7-8 matches overall are expected.
Pay
per view availability will be announced soon!
Renzo
Gracie
MMA Record: 10 - 4 - 1
Team: Renzo Gracie Jiu-Jitsu
Height: 5'10 / 177.8 cm
Weight: 185 lbs / 84 kg
Style: Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Birth Date: 3/11/1967
Hometown: Rio de Janeiro
Country: Brazil
Daniel
Gracie
MMA Record: 2 - 0 - 0
Height: 6'2 / 187.96 cm
Weight: 225 lbs / 102 kg
Style: Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Hometown: Rio de Janeiro
Country: Brazil
Relation: Cousin of Vitor, Renzo and Ryan
Rodrigo
Gracie
MMA Record: 3 - 0 - 0
Height: 6'0 / 182.88 cm
Weight: 187 lbs / 85 kg
Style: Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Birth Date: 3/11/1975
Hometown: Rio De Janeiro
Country: Brazil
Gracie Bach Academy
1998 ADCC 87kg Champion
Ryan
Gracie
MMA Record: 2 - 2 - 0
Height: 5'9 / 175.26 cm
Weight: 176 lbs / 80 kg
Style: Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Birth Date: 8/14/1974
Hometown: Rio De Janeiro
Country: Brazil
Ralph
Gracie
Nickname: “The Pit Bull”
Height: 5’10
Weight: 165 lbs
Style: Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Birth Date: 5/25/1971
Hometown: Antioch, California
Source:
ADCC
|
Ultimate
Submissions Showdown
The
promoters for the Ultimate Submissions Showdown, scheduled for
October 11th, in Torrance California continue to accept and review
applications for their maiden show. The 8-man tournament, sponsored
by VARIG Airlines will take place in the James Armstrong Threather,
with $5,000.00 going to the winner!
Rorion
Gracie states: 'We have contacted Tito Ortiz, K.Sakuraba, H.
Yoshida, Frank Shamrock, Dan Severn, Jimmy Pedro & Gokor
Cyvichian to participate in the event but they declined due to
a variety of reasons such as scheduling conflicts. We continue
to pursue John Olav Einemo, Dean Lister, Kimo, Vladimir Matsuyenko,
Rico Rodrigues, Matt Hume, Pat Miletich. I encourage the general
public, if you know someone that you feel should participate
in this event to encourage them to submit their application.
There has been lots of interest from top fighters from Brazil
including many current BJJ World Champions but we are considering
a variety of grapplers from other specialties as well. I assure
you we are going to have a top line-up!'.
For
information and to submit your application go to www.igjjf.com
Source: ADCC |
2003
World Championships of Freestyle Wrestling Coming To New York
City
from New York City Sports Commission
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Date: Monday, September 8, 2003
2003
World Championships of Freestyle Wrestling Coming To New York
City September 12-14, 2003
The
New York City Sports Commission, along with USA Wrestling, the
Metropolitan Wrestling Association (MWA) and FILA, the international
federation for the sport of wrestling, today announced that the
Opening Ceremony of the 2003 World Championships of Freestyle
Wrestling will be held at Madison Square Garden, 'The World's
Most Famous Arena' on Friday, September 12 at 4:00 PM.
From
September 12-14, more than 500 competitors from over 70 countries
will take to the mat at this historic venue, making this the
largest wrestling championships ever. The event will feature
both men's and women's freestyle wrestling matches and will mark
the first time women will be competing in the World Championships
in the United States. The World Championships of Freestyle Wrestling
is also a qualifying event for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games
where women's wrestling will be contested in the Olympics for
the first time.
'We
are honored to have the world's best freestyle wrestlers come
to New York City,' said Ken Podziba, New York City Sports Commissioner.
'In the world's most ethnically diverse city, the World Championships
of Freestyle Wrestling will stir national passions and bring
an excitement that will demonstrate why this city is such an
extraordinary home for great international sports competitions.'
The
2001 World Championships, originally scheduled for September
26-29, 2001 at Madison Square Garden, were postponed after the
events of 9/11 and then moved to Bulgaria and Greece. FILA then
awarded the 2003 Freestyle Championships to New York with the
help of a generous gesture by the Slovakian Wrestling Federation,
who ceded the 2003 Championships to New York.
'We
are deeply grateful to our friends from Slovakia for making this
event possible and express admiration for both Bulgaria and Greece,
who generously and with amazing last-minute efficiency, took
over New York's organizational responsibility after the tragedy
of 9/11 and ran the Championships with great success' said Setrak
Agonian, President of the MWA. 'We look forward to repeating
that success in New York,' he added.
MWA
is an allied member of USA Wrestling and leader in the development
of amateur wrestling programs throughout the New York Metropolitan
area.
The
United States has hosted four previous World Wrestling Championships,
most recently the World Freestyle Wrestling Championships in
1995 at the Omni Arena in Atlanta, Georgia -- the year before
the 1996 Olympic Games were held in the same city. The 1979 World
Championships - in Freestyle and Greco-Roman - were held in San
Diego, California. Previous World Wrestling Championships were
held in Toledo, Ohio, in 1962 and 1966.
'USA
Wrestling is very excited to host what we believe will be one
of the most important wrestling events held in this country to
date, said Rich Bender, Executive Director of USA Wrestling.
“We are confident in the organization and preparation
for the event, and look forward to a great showcase for our sport.'
'Never
has there been this kind of effort to handle every detail. The
venue is of great importance. There has never been a facility
for this event like Madison Square Garden, where everyone is
looking forward to competing in. Credit should be given to USA
Wrestling and the local organizing committee for handling every
challenge and putting in such a consistent effort' said Mario
Saletnig, FILA Vice-President.
FILA
is the international governing body for wrestling, selecting
the procedure and rules for all Olympic Games, World Championships,
World Cups and Continental Championships.
Both
all-session passes and single session passes are still available.
For all-session passes, please contact 1-877-NYC-2003 or stop
by the Madison Square Garden Box Office. Single session tickets
can be purchased by calling Ticketmaster at 212-307-7171, on
the web at www.ticketmaster.com or at the Garden Box Office.
The
New York City Sports Commission ensures the continuation and
growth of a healthy environment for professional, amateur and
scholastic sports activities in New York City. In recent years,
the Sports Commission has played a role in attracting or creating
many new sporting events, including the NFL Kickoff Live from
Times Square, NYC Cycling Championships presented by BMC Software,
Senior Men's Tennis Championship, Let Freedom Run and The Wild
Onion Urban Adventure Race. The agency is also working with NYC2012
to bring the Olympic games to 'The World's Second Home.'
For
more information, log on to www.nyc2012.com/wrestlingworlds.
Ticket
Information:
Session
Dates and Times:
9/12
Session 1 Friday Morning 9am Preliminary Rounds
Opening Ceremonies Friday Afternoon 4pm Opening Ceremonies
Session 2 Friday Evening 5pm Preliminary Rounds
9/13 Session 3 Saturday Morning 9am Preliminary Rounds
Session 4 Saturday Evening 5pm Preliminary Rounds
9/14 Session 5 Sunday Morning 10am Bronze Medal Rounds
Session 6 Sunday Evening 4pm Gold Medal Rounds
Ticket
Prices
All-Session
Passes (all six sessions) no TicketMaster surcharge
Call: 1-877-NYC-2003
Lower Level Reserved (Loge) $185
Club Level Reserved (100's and 200's) $120
General Admission $80
Single
Session Passes
Call: Ticketmaster at 212-307-7171
Lower
Level Reserved (Loge) $40*
Club Level Reserved (100's and 200's) $30*
General Admission (Sunday only) $25*
General Admission (Friday and Saturday) $10*
*plus ticketmaster surcharge
Source: ADCC
|
'WRESTLING
WEEKEND' PROCLAIMED IN NEW YORK, AS FREESTYLE WORLDS SET TO START
FRIDAY
By: Eddie Goldman/ADCC Wrestling Editor
NEW
YORK, Sept. 9 -- The crowd of maybe a few hundred people that
gathered Tuesday morning in Manhattan's Greeley Square included
the U.S. men's and women's freestyle wrestling World Team, many
wrestling coaches, officials, and fans, representatives of NYC2012,
several members of the media, lots of passersby, and a few homeless
people.
With
the statue of Horace Greeley overlooking everyone, they all saw
and heard (except for a few sleepers) Ken Podziba, Commissioner
of the New York City Sports Commission, present a plaque to Setrak
Agonian, president of the Metropolitan Wrestling Association,
containing a proclamation from New York's Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
The
proclamation declared September 12-14 officially to be 'World
Championships of Freestyle Wrestling Weekend,' in honor of this
event which will take place those days at Madison Square Garden,
just one long block westward of this presentation.
The
crowd, many of whom were wearing red, white, and blue gear, cheered,
as the message that the World Championships of Freestyle Wrestling
was right around the corner, both literally and time-wise, came
through loud and clear. And this outdoor scene, with its motley,
New York crowd, reminded everyone why we all love New York.
Then,
as reporters from NBC, CBS, Sports Illustrated, the Associated
Press, and, of course, yours truly looked on, the wrestling began.
Well, sort of.
World
Team members Cael Sanderson, Kerry McCoy, Sally Roberts, Daniel
Cormier, and Patricia Miranda one by one took their turn on a
mini-mat going at it with some local New York City-area kid wrestlers.
The results of this play wrestling: all the kids won, by pin.
No one complained of works, not even me.
Bobby
Douglas, head coach of the U.S. men's freestyle World Team, said
he was optimistic about his wrestlers' chances for taking home
a bundle of medals.
'I
think if we follow the plan, the goal is to win the gold. That's
what we're here for. That's what we intend to do. We're going
to give it our best shot,' said Douglas, who is also the head
coach at Iowa State.
Douglas
believes that all seven of the men wrestlers have a shot at winning
gold. 'Look at the whole team,' he said. 'A large number of these
guys will be in Athens, so this is a preview of 2004.'
Just
as optimistic was Chris Bono, who finished second in the 2003
U.S. World Team Trials at 66 kg/145.5 lbs., and also serves as
assistant coach at Iowa State under Douglas.
'I
came as a training partner for Joe Williams, our 74 kg guy,'
said Bono. 'My main role is to get him ready to go win a world
title, go work out with him, and just make sure he has everything
he needs to go out and win.' Williams missed an opportunity for
a world title last year when the U.S. men's freestyle team did
not wrestle at the 2002 Worlds in Tehran, Iran, because of a
direct threat of violence to the team. Williams placed third
in 2001, losing a controversial 5-4 match to eventual World Champion
Bouvaisa Saitiev of Russia.
'He's
doing real well,' Bono added. 'Joe's ready to go. He's real focused.
And look for him to be on top.'
One
of the wrestlers at Iowa State under both Douglas and Bono was
four-time NCAA champion Cael Sanderson. It was there he racked
up his 159-0 college record, becoming the first wrestler to go
undefeated over four college seasons. But after some disappointments
in freestyle, including one-point losses in the Titan Games and
the 2003 Pan Am Games, Sanderson now has an opportunity to become
a World Champion in his first trip to this event.
'Cael's
doing real well,' commented Bono. 'Look for him to be on top,
too. I think he's ready to win a tournament, and this could be
the one he wins.'
So
the clock is ticking and the tension mounting as the wrestling
is set to begin Friday morning, Sept. 12, in the Garden at 9
AM EDT. Right now about 80 countries are scheduled to compete,
with over 300 men and 150 women slated to hit the mats in the
three days of action. Those numbers will continue to change,
as some wrestlers and countries pull out or just show up at the
last minute. The real deadline is Thursday, Sept. 11, at 6 PM
for women and 6:30 PM for men, when the weigh-ins take place.
So
far, over 450 members of the media from all over the world have
been granted credentials for this event.
'Wrestling
Weekend' is about to get started, so make sure YOU don't miss
out on it. Tickets to the 2003 World Championships of Freestyle
Wrestling at Madison Square Garden, Sept. 12-14, are still available.
There
is also a two-for-one special on new purchases of tickets.
This
special lets you buy one ticket and get one ticket FREE to attend
any session, including the Friday evening opening ceremonies.
Source: ADCC |
Quote
of the Day
"It's easy to get good players. Gettin' 'em to play together,
that's the hard part."
Casey Stengel
|
Fighters'
Club TV Episode 14 Tonight!
Episode 14 is cut and submitted to Olelo programming. It will
air this
coming Tuesday (September 9, 2003) at 6 pm on channel 52 and
run at the same day/time
and same channel for the following 4 weeks.
Episode
14 features:
-Superbrawl
30 8-man tourney highlights
-ROUND I
-Jason Miller (Egan's opponent on the September 20 Super Brawl)
vs. Jay Buck
-Desi Minor vs. Joe Doerksen
-Dennis Kang vs. Brendan Seguin
-Kaipo Kalama vs. Jonathan Goulet
-ROUND
II
-Jay Buck vs. Joe Doerksen
-Dennis Kang vs. Kaipo Kalama
-ROUND
III
-Joe Doerksen vs. Brendan Seguin
-interviews
w/ Doerksen, Kang, and Miller
-Technique
of the Week
-Enson "Yamato Damashii" Inoue
PLUS,
-an exclusive interview w/ Superbrawl Promoter T. Jay Thompson
on upcoming Super Brawl
news.
We
would love to hear what you think of the show.
Email us at:
fightersclubtv808@hotmail.com
AND, Girls, think you're hot enough for the show? Resumes w/
pics to the
same address ;-)
|
AFC
4!!
Coming October 18, 2003
RECRUITING
FIGHTERS!!
Spots
are limited and will be on a first come first serve basis...Check
out
WWW.AFCHAWAII.COM
OR
Call 306-9326
for more information
Come and see all the action happening on
Saturday,
October 18, 2003
Source:
LINEBRED, LLC
|
Pride
"Bushido"
The
Pride "Bushido" light/middleweight event will match
up 5 Gracies against 5 Japanese fighters.
- Renzo Gracie vs. TBA
- Ryan Gracie vs. TBA
- Rodrigo Gracie vs. TBA
- Daniel Gracie vs. TBA
- Ralph Gracie vs. TBA
Pride
Bushido will take place on October 5th at the Saitama Super Arena
in Japan.
Source:
Maxfighting |
X-1
Results
Date: September 6, 2003
Location: Yokohama Bunka Gymnasium in Japan
1.
Jim Kikuchi def. David Velasquez via KO - R1
2. Jeff Ford def. Philip Preese via TKO - R1
3. Daniel Pudar def. Jay McCown via Unanimous Decision
4. Jimmy Westfall def. Adam Guerra via TKO (Towel Thrown) - R1
5. Jon Fitch def. Gabe Garcia via TKO - R1
6. Katsuhiko Nakajima def. Jason Rey via TKO - R1
7. Kensuke Sasaki def. Christian Wellisch via Choke - R1
8. Bobby Southworth def. Bryan Pardoe via TKO - R2
9. Dan "The Bull" Bobish def. Basil Castro via TKO
(Towel Thrown) - R1
Source:
MMA Fighting |
Interview
with Kazushi Sakuraba
A
press conference was held today in Takada Dojo, the first for
Kazushi Sakuraba since his battle at PRIDE "Total Elimination
2003". Sakuraba seemed to be in good shape and went through
his match against Silva again with a smile.
PRIDE Fighting Championships: What do you think about your fight?
Kazushi
Sakuraba: I punched too much (laughing). He was able to get out
of my takedowns so I was looking for a way to break his rhythm…
PRIDE:
He didn't have any weaknesses?
Sakuraba:
He didn't come straight out like he usually does. He would get
away from all my takedowns so I thought if I punched him, he
might come forward…
PRIDE:
Do you remember when you were hit?
Sakuraba:
I don't remember talking to Silva in the ring or even the ride
home after the fight.
PRIDE:
What about the hospital?
Sakuraba:
I went the next day.
PRIDE:
When did you realize that you had lost?
Sakuraba:
When my memory started coming back to me. After the fight, I
kept asking everyone what day of the month it was. Every time
they would say "August 10th", I was say "what
about the fight with Silva? I lost?" I saw the actual fight
when I went home and watched the television broadcast.
PRIDE:
You had a towel on your head when you left the ring.
Sakuraba:
I think (Daijiro) Matsui put that on me. I don't really remember.
I was told that Silva kept calling me his friend when we hugged
after the fight. (laughing).
PRIDE:
You would think that he hates you.
Sakuraba:
Probably. I'm really sad (probably).
PRIDE:
Have you gotten over the shock from your loss?
Sakuraba:
Yeah. It wasn't like last time.
PRIDE:
So, Silva was ready for your takedowns?
Sakuraba:
I thought so at the time. He normally comes right out front but
he didn't do that at all.
PRIDE:
Tell us about your weight gain?
Sakuraba:
I was able to push off of him when we were in the clinch. I could
really feel the extra power I had from gaining weight.
PRIDE:
Were you able to see his punches?
Sakuraba:
I saw them but I took a few too many. I was able to land a few
punches as well.
PRIDE:
When will you start training again?
Sakuraba:
I started weights again a couple of days after the fight. Only
weights because my leg hurts. I'm lifting now so I'll be able
to fight in the heavyweight tournament. (laughing).
PRIDE:
What about your return match?
Sakuraba:
If DSE puts it together, it will be soon. If not, it won't be.
PRIDE:
Within this year?
Sakuraba:
I don't know yet.
PRIDE:
There are fights in October and November.
Sakuraba:
Well, I can't fight in November because I lost the opening round,
of course.
PRIDE:
Maybe a special match.
Sakuraba:
With Silva? (laughing) If I can, I'll fight again this year.
If I can't I won't. I'll leave it up to fate.
PRIDE:
Silva said he wouldn't mind fighting a 4th time.
Sakuraba:
I always feel like I can beat him but I never do. It's a lot
of fun to fight with Silva because of the danger. I'd like to
fight him 4 or 5 times if I could.
PRIDE:
Who would you fight in heavyweight?
Sakuraba:
Nobody. If I said a name now, they might actually put that fight
together (laughing). It's happened before…
PRIDE:
What did you think of the other Grand Prix fights when you saw
them on TV?
Sakuraba:
Alistair's fight was close. I asked Minoru (Toyonaga, the referee
for the Alistair/Liddell fight) and he said that Alistair's knees
were really hurting Liddell.
PRIDE:
Would you like to fight Alistair?
Sakuraba:
No. He's not my type. He comes in kicking with a really odd timing.
PRIDE:
What about Yoshida vs. Tamura?
Sakuraba:
It was before my fight so I watched it backstage. It was okay.
PRIDE:
Silva didn't have much of a weight advantage over you this time.
Sakuraba:
I had Matsui put his foot on the scale during weigh-ins (laughing).
I'm about 89-91 kilos now. I eat a lot at breakfast.
PRIDE:
Are you always going to be a middleweight?
Sakuraba:
No, next year I'll be a heavyweight. (laughing).
PRIDE:
There's been talk of you headlining the Las Vegas event.
Sakuraba:
If that's the way it is, that's the way it will be. I want to
make my comeback in PRIDE. If it's in Las Vegas, I'd like to
go as a second. (laughing).
PRIDE:
What about being the PRIDE representative in the UFC?
Sakuraba:
Being a "representative" is too much trouble.
PRIDE:
Okay, not being a representative.
Sakuraba:
(laughing) I really haven't though about it. I want to continue
to fight in PRIDE and make PRIDE better.
PRIDE:
Mirko (Filipovic) said that he would like to train with you.
Sakuraba:
It's too far away. I don't even know where Croatia is. Besides,
Mirko is huge and he'd crush me. No thanks.
PRIDE:
He's probably sad to hear that.
Sakuraba:
I'd want to beat Silva with a submission so I'm not sure what
I'd get out of training with Mirko… Where is Croatia? Europe?
That's really, really far away. I really respect him for traveling
so far to Japan. The Brazilian fighters too. They come all the
way around the earth. Central Japan is about my limit.
PRIDE:
What do you think you were missing in your fight?
Sakuraba:
A little bit of everything.
PRIDE:
How about your special training? Are you going to do it again?
Sakuraba:
If I say it was great, they'll make me do it again (laughing).
I don't want to do it soon but maybe once every few years.
PRIDE:
Did you ever have an opportunity to beat Silva?
Sakuraba:
I had a few chances to take him down but I thought I'd try and
strike with him a little.
PRIDE:
Before the fight, you said that there wouldn't be a 4th fight?
Really?
Sakuraba:
Maybe we will (laughing). I said that? If he'll do it, I'd like
to fight him again. You've got to take what I say with a grain
of salt (laughing).
PRIDE:
Any words for Yoshida, the only Japanese fighter left in the
Grand Prix?
Sakuraba:
Do your best.
Source:
Pride |
Kazuhiro
Hamanaka
Takada
Dojo's "super rookie", Kazuhiro Hamanaka set off on
August 29th for more training with Randy Couture, Dan Henderson
and Matt Lindland's Team Quest. This is Hamanaka's 2nd trip to
train with Team Quest. Before he left however, Hamanaka held
a press conference at Takada Dojo to talk about his upcoming
trip.
Kazuhiro Hamanaka has been making a push for his appearance in
the main-event at the October 5th Bushido event. Hamanaka made
his debut with a win against Nino "Elvis" Schembri.
Even before his fight with Schembri, Hamanaka had been training
with Team Quest. According to Hamanaka, the fight with Schembri
was signed only 3 days before the event. This time, however,
he will go to America to train for about 3 weeks in preparation
for Bushido. "I learned a lot about myself in the fight
with Nino." Hamanaka said, "I've got to learn the correct
distance when striking and to be able to use my (wrestling) techniques,
regardless of position. I want to be able to follow up strikes
with takedowns the way Fedor does."
Hamanaka
will be able to train with the current UFC Light Heavyweight
Champion, Randy Couture. "Randy's fighting style is close
to what I want mine to become. The other fighters (at Team Quest)
have the same wrestling base as me so I can study vale-tudo style
that makes good use of wrestling." Hamanaka will stay at
Couture's house during his trip and said that he hopes to learn
a lot when he goes to watch the September 20th UFC event where
Couture will fight Tito Ortiz.
Hamanaka
also wants to bring back a "souvenir". "I want
to bring back something that can really finish a fight, maybe
a sleeper-hold or something like that." According to Hamanaka's
university wrestling coach "in the beginning there's nothing
he can do but use his wrestling to ground and pound. In the end,
however, I hope he'll be more like Sakuraba and win by submission."
Hamanaka seems to agree, "When you win by decision, there's
still something that doesn't feel right. I want to win by submission
or KO. If you go in defensively, you can't win."
Apparently,
everything is not perfect in America for Hamanaka. "I don't
really like American food. It doesn't suit me well and I lost
a lot of weight last time. They eat deer meat. It's hard and
not very good. Everyone eats bread and I can't really get any
rice. One thing that I always looked forward to was buying fried-rice
at a supermarket 10 km down the road."
Hamanaka's
expression changed when Bushido was brought up. "I don't
care if my opponent is Japanese or a foreigner. As long as he
is a strong fighter, I want to fight him. I don't think that
Japanese fighters are weak. I just think they haven't been able
to really show their strong points. I want to prove that Japanese
are the strongest fighters. I'm not going to settle for just
winning my debut fight. I want to win more. I want to get stronger
and that feeling gets stronger all the time."
Source:
Pride |
Quote
of the Day
"It's easy to get good players. Gettin' 'em to play together,
that's the hard part."
Casey Stengel
|
Warriors
of the Ring 4 Results!
Maui War Memorial Gymnasium, Wailuku, Maui
September 6, 2003
By Chris Onzuka - Chris@Onzuka.com
MMA returned to Maui and once again provided a venue for up and
comers to gain experience. A lot of people forget that good fighters
are not born, they are made. That is why if we all want the sport
of MMA to grow, we need to support events like Warriors of the
Ring which provides a place for fighters to test their skills
against opponents that are on the same level in a safe environment.
Maui MMA fans are increasing in numbers and becoming educated
with every event. I always enjoy events where new fighters compete
because they come out to fight and do not look to "protect"
their records like some journeymen fighters do. They come out
to bang and that is exactly what they did. The event started
out a couple of very young fighters starting up the crowd with
some amateur boxing. These kids showed skills well beyond their
years. In every match that followed, the fighters came out like
bats out of hell and really went after each other. Some of the
highlights were Tavini Sulusi's KO of John Quinlan, Ryan Lee's
aggressive guard that he used to secure Eric Tolentino's arm,
and the crowd being jarred by Billianor's dislocated elbow which
occurred early in the match. The crowd was then treated to four
warriors going at it in the last two matches. Sariento controlled
his match with Ishimine, but Ishimine was still in the fight
all the way to the end. And Moreno showed a lot of heart in his
fight with Hinojesa. Hinojesa has a lot of talent, look for him
and his teammate Ishimine to make some waves in the future. The
next Warriors of the Ring will break in the New Year by having
a show on January 25, 2004.
Exhibition
Bout: Amateur Kickboxing: 3 Rounds - 1 Minute
Jacob Carlos vs. Keola McKee
Exhibition
Bout: Amateur Kickboxing: 3 Rounds - 1 Minute
Thomas Kahoohanohano vs. Casey Ladore
MMA:
3 Rounds - 3 Minutes
Josh Kamalo def. Joe Estrella
Verbal submission due to strikes at 4:21 minutes in Round 1.
Tavini
Sulusi (Maui Full Contact Fighting) def. John Quinlan
KO at 11 seconds in Round 1.
Warren
Miguel (Maui Full Contact Fighting) def. Lucky Keefner
Split decision [(29-28), (28-29), (29-28)] after 3 rounds.
Ryan
Lee (Bulls Pen) def. Eric Tolentino
Submission via arm bar from the guard at 1:14min in Round 1.
Matt
Mozzoca def. Anthony Billianor (Maui Full Contact Fighting)
TKO due to injury when Billianor dislocated his elbow at 30 seconds
in Round 1.
Semi-Main
Event:
Harris Sariento (808 Fight Factory) def. Lorrin Ishimine (Maui
Full Contact Fighting)
Unanimous decision [(30-27), (30-27), (30-27)] after 3 rounds.
Main
Event
Alan Hinojosa (Maui Full Contact Fighting) def. Marcus Moreno
(Bulls Pen)
Submission via forearm choke at 4:13 minutes in Round 2.
|
King
of the Cage Quick Results
(Warning: Event shows on pay-per-view Sunday)
September
5th, Soboba Casino, San Jacinto, CA.
MAIN
EVENT
Ronald
'Machine Gun' Jhun vs John Alesio - Alessio by Judges Decision.
Dean Lister vs James Lee - Lister arm-bar Rd1 (Lister was cornered
by Royce Gracie & Tito Ortiz)
Main
Card
Jeff
Newton vs Tim Konrad - Newton by Choke
Charlie Valencia vs Greg Mayer - Valencia by sub
Tony Petarra vs Wes Combs - Combs by KO
Joe Crilley vs Javier Casio - Crilley Rd 1 1:37 TKO
Thomas Denny vs Jason Dolder - Denny by ref stoppage
Joe Camacho vs Juliano Prado - Camacho by KO Rd1
'Krazy Horse' vs Siryapai - Krazy Horse by JD
Thomas Kenny vs Paul Cid - ref stoppage
Richard Solis vs Alex Rickards - Solis 3:19 Gullotine
Richard McCorkel vs Jayson Dickinson - McCorkel 1:07 TKO
Michael Penalber vs Buddy Clinton - Clinton by choke Rd1
Source:
ADCC |
Shooto
2003
September 5, 2003
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Start Time 6:00 PM Japan time
Takehiro
Harusaki defeated Issei Tsurumi by Rear Naked Choke at 4:43 min
in rount 2
Tiger Ishii defeated Takahisa Toyoshima by Triangle Choke at
3:35 min in round 2
Akihiko Adachi defeated Yosuke Mikami by Unanimous Decision after
2 rounds
Yoichi Fukumoto defeated Shinobu Ito by Armbar at 4:24 in round
1
Yohei Mikami defeated Kenji Osawa by Unanimous Decision after
2 rounds
Kestutis Smirnovas defeated Masaya Inoue by TKO (Didn't Answer
Bell) after round 1
Hideki Kadowaki defeated Denisas Archirejevas by Armbar at 3:45
min in round 1
Masato Shiozawa defeated Akira Komatsu by Rear Naked Choke at
4:19 min in round 2
Luiz Firmino defeated Kohei Yasumi by Unanimous Decision after
3 rounds
Norifumi Yamamoto defeated Caleb Mitchell by KO (Punch) at 0:40
min in round 1
Source:
Sherdog |
SILVA
TALKS IT UP ABOUT ICEMAN AND RAMPAGE
Very interesting quotes by Vanderlei Silva to Tatame. Here's
a few of his comments about Quinton Jackson and Chuck Liddell.
Tatame:
Is there any fighter that you want to face at the next round?
Vanderlei:
I don't choose my opponents. I'm with a very hard punch and when
I touch Chuck Liddell or Quinton Jackson, they'll see that I'm
a unusual fighter. In front of me, they are just an assholes.
They just talk about me on my backs. Liddell, for example, talked
some shits about me... The old guy is at the end of his career
and I'll close it!
Tatame:
And what about Quinton Jackson? Did you talk with him in Japan?
Vanderlei:
Of course not! I don't understand some teams. Before the fight,
everybody keep laughing, cheating... I won't talk with somebody
that later will try to kick my head! I'm not a snobbish guy,
it's just my job! After the fight, I can talk with respectable
fighters as Sakuraba, for example. But I'll never talk with a
guy like Mirko Cro Cop.
Source: MMA Weekly |
AFC
5 Quick Results
Friday, September 5th, 2003, War Memorial Coliseum, Ft. Lauderdale,
FL
155
lb AFC World Title Match:
3 RDS - Edson Diniz (American TOP TEAM, AFC World Champion, Ft
Lauderdale, FL) versus Nick Aguillar (Freestyle Academy, Kenosha,
WI) Aguillar by unanimous dec. Aguillar is the new Champion
170
lb AFC World Title Match:
3 RDS - Chris Lytle (Integrated Fighting, AFC World Champion,
Indianapolis, IN.) versus Chatt Lavender (Blaylock IMB / MBDC,
Chatanooga, TN.) - Chris Lytle beats Chatt Lavender - triangle
0:55, Rd 1. Lytle is the new AFC welterweight title)
3
RDS / 185 LBS - Dustin Denes (American TOP TEAM, Ft Lauderdale,
FL) versus Nick Thompson (Freestyle Academy, Kenosha, WI) - Dustin
Denes wins - triangle choke at 1:45, Rd 1
2
RDS / 155 LBS - Pedro Brandao (Gracie Miami, Miami, FL) versus
Phil Johns (Silverbacks, Canton, IL) - Phil Johns Unanimous Dec.
2
RDS / 185 LBS - Efrain Ruiz (Freestyle Fighting Academy, Miami,
FL) versus Josh Krueger (Duneland VT, Portage, IN) - Efrain by
TKO
2
RDS / 135 LBS - Paulo Barros Guerrero (Natal, Brazil) versus
Matt Hamilton (Living Defense, Little Rock, AR) - Paul Barros
Unanimous Dec.
2
RDS / 205 LBS - Marcel Ferreira (American TOP TEAM, Ft Lauderdale,
FL) versus Tony Ross (Integrated Fighting, AFC World Champion,
Indianapolis, IN.) - Marcel Ferreira by choke Rd 1
2
RDS / 155 LBS - Jorge Masvidal (Freestyle Fighting Academy, Miami,
FL) versus Roli Delgado (Living Defense, Little Rock, AR.) -
Jorge Masvisdal TKO Rd 2
2
RDS / 170 LBS - Jorge Santiago (American TOP TEAM, Ft Lauderdale,
FL) versus Derrick Noble (Silverbacks, Canton, IL) - Santiago
by U. Dec.
2
RDS / 155 LBS - Joe Cervantes (Freestyle Fighting Academy, Miami,
FL) versus Brian Geraghty (Freestyle Academy, Kenosha, WI.) -
Draw
Source: ADCC |
PRIDE
FC AND THE AMERICAN MMA MEDIA
September 5, 2003
LOS ANGELES, California - Because of Ryan Bennett's recent article
"Pride Shuts Out American Media," Dream Stage Entertainment
USA has felt compelled to respond.
While
we do respect other viewpoints, we decided it was time to give
our perspective on dealing with the media for Pride FC events
in Japan. Because of the international nature of Pride, we receive
media requests from all over the world, including the United
States, Brazil, Australia, and numerous European countries. This
is not to mention the Japanese media, which are in their own
home market. In Japan the sport isn't only covered by the Japanese
MMA media, it's also covered by the mainstream media. All in
all, we commonly field over 300 press requests per event. It's
an enormous challenge to satisfy everyone when dealing with such
a literal crush of media.
While
Dream Stage Entertainment USA has been working diligently these
past four years to bring Pride FC into the United States, it
must be realized that it is still primarily a Japanese show.
This is not to say that DSE USA does not cater to American fans,
on the contrary, the fight cards are always built with the intention
of hopefully satisfying both the Japanese and American fans.
In
regards to the American MMA media---they have been given more
access and privileges than most of their Japanese counterparts,
including closer photography positions and being privy to the
hotel in which the fighters are staying. In many cases, members
of the American MMA media have been brought to Japan and accommodated
as guests of DSE. In addition, it's been common practice that
the American MMA media is allowed to ride from the hotel to the
events in the same bus as the fighters, granting them even more
access and convenience than their counterparts. While it's true
that we cannot always give all of these privileges to each individual
American MMA website at the same time, we've done the best that
we can.
In
terms of going backstage, no media, American or otherwise, is
given access. This is done, again, because of the amount of media
we must accommodate (and keeping things fair) as well as our
belief that the fighters must be given their privacy prior to
their matches.
As
far as weigh-ins, this comes down purely to a cultural difference,
which has either not been understood or explained to the American
MMA media. In Japan, it's not culturally acceptable to have a
public weigh-in the same way it is in the United States. Yes,
it's an opportunity for drama, stare downs, bad blood to boil,
etc. But this is from the American perspective. While Pride FC
events are in Japan, their events are run according to their
cultural rules.
To
address negative press---DSE USA respects the right of journalists
to write what they like, but the problem has been that many critical
articles and even posts on message boards by well-respected members
of the MMA community have been written completely without our
point of view. While we cannot always disclose all the reasons
behind our decision, to not be approached and then be criticized
with only one side of the story, isn't always easy to accept.
Most
of these issues seem to come down to cultural differences and/or
just plain misunderstandings and we are making attempts to be
more open and approachable in the future. If guidelines and expectations
are set in advance, we feel that this would only benefit both
sides.
DSE
USA is aware and thankful for our support in the United States
and for coverage by the American MMA media. As the sport grows
in this country we look forward to a long and fruitful relationship
with the media and the fans.
I
welcome any suggestions or comments by the American MMA media,
in the hopes of building a better, more open relationship.
Best
Regards,
Turi
Altavilla
Vice President of Production
Dream Stage Entertainment USA
Source:
FCF
|
Heating
Up For The IFC Tourney:
Time For Some Recognition As Forrest Griffin Builds His Way Up
And Is Ready For Big Time!
Unofficial Results
Note: I just read on the Underground that Babalu beat Jeremy
Horn by decision in the finals to win the tournament, but Horn
had a deep triangle or arm bar with 7 or 8 seconds left and the
round bell sounded ending the fight.
Babalu has quite the following. Very impressive for someone out
of Portugal-it sounded like a soccer game crowd behind me.
Sauer
over Gray...46 sec
Babalu
over Prangley.....Prang was bleeding all over the place
Shogun
over Erick Wanderlei......2:54 in the 2nd, Shogun went to town
on his head\face-brutal
Horn
over Avetisyan...4:59....arm bar from HELL
Griffin
over Sonnen...2:25 submission (double check this one)
For
the title, Babalu beat Horn in the "war of all wars".......Baba's
left eye was full blown swollen shut.
Just
a few hours away from what promises to be one of the most exciting
tournaments in recent years, Full Contact Fighter continues to
heat up things for the show as they couldn't be more heated at
this point! In a field with famous Light Heavyweight fighters
including UFC and PRIDE veterans, and athletes representing the
biggest teams in our sport, one guy quietly emerges as the underdog,
as he always did in his appearances, and don't be surprised if
he manages to steal the action and come out on with some good
wins when all is over at tonight's IFC show. Forrest Griffin
is a guy that has the opposite stereotype of what people got
used to recognize as an MMA fighter.
Very down to earth, calm, relaxed and educated, Griffin is a
different kind in this sport. Spending his time and earning his
living by helping kids with emotional problems, one can already
understand that Forrest is an extremely calm person, and this
translates into the ring. If you ever see this guy in a weigh-in,
you will understand why he is for real. His calmness and tranquility
reaches a point that amazes most people, and one could think
he is either a talented and confident fighter, or a crazy unaware
guy! But if you look at his record, you'll soon understand that
the first case is what reveals the truth. With one loss coming
at his very debut to the hands of a much more experienced, and
much heavier Dan Severn, Griffin is yet to lose a fight since,
and his list of wins includes names like UFC veterans Jeff Monson
and Travis Fulton, and most impressively a recent quick win over
seasoned veteran Ebenzer Fontes Braga at HEAT FC 1 in Brazil,
little more than a month ago. Quietly and without drawing much
attention, this fighter from Georgia has been building an impressive
resume and now he is entering the biggest tournament he ever
took part in. Make no mistake about it, he knows what this can
mean, and he is taking it as he takes all his fights, for fun!
This is probably the secret of this guy's calmness and good showings,
despite not training with big names or in any known teams, he
loves our sport and he is a natural. So, when the IFC starts
tonight, don't be surprised if Forrest Griffin steals some of
the spotlights and put on a good showing, cause winning or losing
he is going be having a great time!
FCF: Let's start by talking about your last fight. You fought
at Heat Fighting Championship in Brazil, and defeated Ebenezer
Fontes Braga, who's a UFC and PRIDE veteran. What did you think
of your performance in the fight, and what did you think of the
experience of fighting in your opponent's home turf?
FG: It was a great experience all around. The fight worked out
well for me. It was one of those things that if the fight haven't
gone so well I would thought of it as a horrible experience (Laughs),
but everything went well for me as far as the fight, so the experience
was a good one and is always good to travel and sort of overcome
that psychological disadvantage of being in somebody else's home
turf.
FCF:
Do you like fighting as the underdog?
FG: Yeah, it's a lot easier that way!
FCF:
(Laughs) What did you think of being in Brazil overall, not only
about the fight itself, but of the show, or the trip in general?
FG: Oh, I mean, I loved it! But it's a totally different place,
on the little things. Like the showers aren't very hot, or the
beds at the hotel are small (Laughs) nothing is supersize like
we have in America. Everything is a little different, and those
things are nice when you're just going out for travel, and seeing
places, and enjoy different parts of the world and get a piece
of that culture, but when you're gonna fight you want as much
normality as possible. You like everything to be pretty normal,
like you are used to.
FCF:
What did you think of Braga issuing you a challenge for a rematch,
in a friendly way, after your victory?
FG: Well, I mean, is one of those things that ensures me another
trip back to Brazil and another fight. You never really want
to fight a guy that you already beaten up. It's just that I know
that when somebody beats me I'll want to fight him again, and
I just know that if I had lost that fight I would want to fight
him again, and I would just work my ass off for every minute
of every day, to make sure that the next time things will go
down in my favor. You know in your head that that's what he is
thinking "No way this little punk kid is gonna beat me twice!
I'm going to give everything I can and beat this kid". You
really have to watch fighting somebody you already beat.
FCF:
Are you a guy that seeks rematches? You only lost once, but did
you think about rematching Dan Severn after you lost to him in
your debut?
FG: Not really. I don't know, you know, I just don't see it helping
me out really. It's not like he was a mean guy, or vicious or
anything like that. He didn't really leave a bad taste in my
mouth, for me it was just one of those things as growing, learning,
developing as a fighter and overcoming the fact that there's
people watching you. For me it was a good learning experience,
it's tough to lose but I didn't get hurt and I was training again
in the next week. The guy wasn't mean, he dominated me but he
didn't hurt me or didn't destroy me, he didn't break me mentally.
So that's not I fight I ever wanted a rematch.
FCF:
So you don't hold grudges against the fighters you face in the
ring?
FG: No, not particularly (Laughs) I don't want to talk about
it too much, but there's a couple of guys that I won the fight
straight up, no questions asked and they were like "it was
fluke, and this and that" These people I would be happy
to fight again. Just because I go out there and fight a good
fight, and you have an off day it doesn't mean you can run around
saying, whatever, it doesn't count. It counts!
FCF:
You're fighting now in the IFC Light Heavyweight tournament,
in what can mean a big step in your career. You have been showing
good skills ever since you started fighting, but it seems that
only lately people started to notice you. Why do you think it
took so long for people to start giving you recognition as a
fighter?
FG: For me that's not actually the case. I went over and won
a fight in South Africa and I destroyed my shoulder, and I was
pretty hyped after that! People had good things to say about
me, but then I didn't fight for three months. It took three months
for me to be able to fight again. So I kind started from the
bottom, so I built myself back up and I got some wins, I got
back kind of where I needed to be, I beat Jeff Monson, Travis
Fulton and then I won a fight in KOTC and I got hyped again!
People were like "Hey, pay attention to this kid! This and
that" so I had a shot at fighting Bobby Hoffman and being
in a big tournament at KOTC, that could've being a big opportunity
for me, but I broke my hand and didn't fight for nine months,
until I fought Braga!
FCF:
So it took away some of the momentum you had...
FG: Exactly, you have to string a couple of wins in a row in
this business. You have to have a couple of good performances
back to back before you can be that "flavor of the month"
in MMA or anything like that (Laughs).
FCF:
Fortunately now people are paying attention to you after your
win at HEAT FC, and you are entering one of the most exciting
tournaments this year in the IFC. What are your thoughts about
fighting in a tournament format, with three possible fights in
one night, and what do you think this opportunity may represent
for your career?
FG: I think it's the biggest thing I ever done, the biggest opportunity
I've ever had. As far as fighting three fights in one night potentially,
it's a bit weird... It won't be too much problem for me to fight
for long periods of time. I'll be able to bring in the second,
and even in the third fight as long as I don't get hurt. But
the thing is that you don't worry about that. You want to look
down and think of the night as a whole. You want to beat the
guy they put in front of you in the beginning. That's what you
think about, just winning the first fight. If I do that, it'll
be a successful night, regardless of what happens down the road.
FCF:
This tournament takes place in a cage. You already fought in
KOTC once, but most of your fights like in HEAT FC were in a
ring. Do you like better fighting in a ring or a cage? What's
the difference for you?
FG: I like fighting in a ring a lot better. I don't know why
but the cage, I don't know... First I thought I liked it more
but now I'm not crazy about it. I think [in the cage] there's
more opportunity to just slow the action down. You see a lot
more people standing in a clinch, just pushing each other against
the cage and staying there and nothing happens. I think in a
ring you can't really do that...
FCF:
Do you think the cage can favor a fighter that is willing to
stall?
FG: Yeah, I think it favors Wrestlers, of course...
FCF:
(Laughs) I didn't mention Wrestlers! But since you said that,
I tend to agree (Laughs)...
FG: (Laughs) Yeah, I mean, I don't mean it as a flight or anything
but fighting on the cage favors wrestlers, end of story.
FCF:
Speaking of that, you're fighting a Wrestler in your first fight
in the tournament, facing Chael Sonnen from Team Quest. What
are you expecting from this fight?
FG: Well, I really don't know much about him. He only had as
much time to prepare for it as I had, since he is replacing somebody
as well. I think it's a great opportunity for both of us. He
is a young guy, like myself. I know that coming from Team Quest
he is going to have game, so I gotta get ready for that, but
there's always so much you can do.
FCF:
Does the fact that he is a Wrestler changes your strategy in
any sense, or you just waits to see what the fight will bring
to you?
FG: I mean, I always have a strategy but I just haven't yet utilized
it. Strategy seems to fall out of the window for me as soon as
things starts happening (Laughs) you know... There's things I
would like to do in this fight, sometimes you can make them happen,
sometimes you can't. It's just a whole different thing when you
get in there. You just do the best you can when you can't really
make things happen. I think this is the mark of a great fighter,
a fighter that can dictate where the fight is going to be and
the pace of the fight. I'm not there yet, I can't dictate where
the fight is going to be. Sometimes I do, because they guy for
whatever reason will let me, or he wants fight as frankly as
I want to fight, but very few fighters can and it's mostly upper
level guys. They can make you fight at their pace, and they can
make you fight their style and that's a little out of my league
right now.
FCF:
Do you think fighting a guy with Chael's style may be your toughest
challenge in this tournament?
FG: Yeah, I hate fighting Wrestlers.
FCF:
There's also a lot of big names fighting in this tournament.
Who do you think are the most dangerous guys in this field of
competitors?
FG: I don't know. I mean, I'm not familiar with any of the Brazilians
coming on the other side of the bracket. I don't know anything
about them, except that I don't want them taking me down (Laughs).
As far as the other guys, I think they're all tough otherwise
they wouldn't be in the tournament. Babalu, Horn, they're all
good fighters so you have to be prepared.
FCF:
This is a 205 lbs tournament, and you fought in Brazil heavier
than that. Do you already went down in weight? [Interview done
last Sunday]
FG: I weigh about 210/215 lbs right now. I haven't weighed 205
lbs since I was on the 10th grade (Laughs), so I never really
tried to get that light. You know, your whole life you just try
to get bigger, you kind of want to get big and strong...
FCF:
Do you have a plan for going down in weight?
FG: Sweat! Lot's and lot's of sweat!
FCF:
I know you have a regular job, and I would like you to give us
a brief description of what do you work with, so people can know
what's your job.
FG: Yeah, I'm a teacher. I work at a school for children with
severe emotional and behavior disorders, and you know, it's a
stressful job, a really stressful job just as far as dealing
with the kids and everything. At the same time it's rewarding!
I like kids and I like doing it. It's a lot of work but I kind
of like it.
FCF:
It's impressive. Does the kids that you teach know that you are
a fighter?
FG: Yeah! And the funny thing is that it doesn't phase them at
all! They don't care! (Laughs) They know you're not going to
do anything to them, you know! It's like "Quit that Kung-Fu
shit, that won't be work!" they don't care, it's funny how
unimpressed they are about it at all! (Laughs)
FCF:
(Laughs) Does that frustrate you?
FG: Well, I mean, you can't really intimidate kids. I just think
it's funny as they are just so fearless of things as they are!
It's the sign of the times man! (Laughs)
FCF:
Do they support you, like knowing you're going to fight and stuff?
FG: They don't seem to care, one way or the other. You know,
human nature is very self-centered, and I think we all as children
tend to think the world evolves around us, and they aren't different.
They're totally focused on their neighbourhood, their personal
strives and struggles. We're talking about kids with severe emotional
and behavior desorders, so...
FCF:
I heard that you have a girlfriend. How about her? Does she gets
scared or affraid when you're about to fight or anything like
that?
FG: She doesn't worry too much. She was there when I broke my
hand, so she's not affraid...
FCF:
In any case you made a good reputation for yourself here in Brazil
with the girls, so if something happens you always have the Brazilian
girls to resort to you know (Laughs)...
FG: (Laughs) There you have it!
FCF:
What's next for Forrest Griffin after the IFC? When are you coming
back to Brazil?
FG: Well, I'll be back at Heat Fighting Championship 2, in November!
What's the date of the show again?
FCF:
The 27th of November!
FG: Exactly! I'll be back fighting at the 27th of November, and
I look forward to have a good time and a good showing there.
It'll be fun.
FCF:
Do you have any final messages for the fans of the sport, or
even your fans since you're starting to build a fan base of your
own in places like the Undergound Forum?
FG: I'm very happy and honored to have fans, and I think in the
end anything I can do for the sport would be great. Because this
is something I enjoy, and I like doing and it's one of those
things... I feel like we're so downtrodden, specially here in
the U.S. you know, as far as the sport and any sense of legitimacy.
We're all in that together. If you're a fan and you like my fighting
or whatever, then there's no reason for not come up and just
talk. This is not a sport where people ask for autographs really,
you know, it's like you don't ask for my autograph, come over
and ask me to buy you a beer! There's no sense for the autograph
thing, I ain't making 32 million a year, the money is little,
and the fame is little, so you really gotta love it.
FCF:
At least you're going to have a good time there!
FG: Yeah, you know it! Definetelly! Except for that "mile
high" altitude over there, I don't know about that (Laughs).
FCF:
I'm sure you will! Thanks a lot for your time Forrest!
FG: Thanks Eduardo! It was a pleasure.
Source:
FCF
|
Quote
of the Day
"A good plan executed right now is far better than a perfect
plan executed next week."
George S. Patton
|
Warriors
of the Ring 4 Tonight!
Maui War Memorial Gymnasium, Wailuku, Maui
September 6, 2003
Joe Estrella vs. Josh Kamalo
Tavini
Sulusi vs. John Quinlan
Warren
Miguel (Maui Full Contact Fighting) vs. Lucky Keefner
Eric
Tolentino vs. Ryan Lee
Lorrin
Ishimine vs. Ed Newalu (808 Fight Factory)
Anthony
Billianor (Maui Full Contact Fighting) vs. Matt Mozzoca
Paulo
Lupi (Brazilian Freestyle Jiu-Jitsu) vs. Harris Sariento (808
Fight Factory)
Alan
Hinojosa (Maui Full Contact Fighting) vs. Marcus Moreno (Bulls
Pen) |
Penn
vs Gomi Might Be On in ROTR
MMARR has learned the BJ "The Prodigy" Penn will possibly
be facing Takanori Gomi at "Rumble On The Rock" in
October. Both fighters are believed to still be under contract
with their respective organizations. MMARR will keep you posted.
Source: MMA Ring Report |
Gracies
train together for Pride in US
The Gracie fighters will realy face the top Japanese fighters
during a challenge held next October 5th at Pride. Renzo Gracie
has already rent a place to stick together the Gracie members
that will represent the family at the tournament. The exclusive
declaration was made by Master Robson Gracie, Renzo and Ryan's
father. According to him, Renzo, Ryan and their cousin Rodrigo
and Daniel are confirmed on the card.
-
Renzo, Ryan, Ralph, Rodrigo and Daniel are confirmed. Charles
still has chances to fight. They are even travelling to US. Renzo
rent a house for them. There is a chance to have eight fighters,
instead of only five - guarantees Robson Gracie.
Consulted
by Team TATAME, three times ADCC champion Royler Gracie, who
has been contemplated to join the tournament, revealed he is
almost out of it. 'I proposed some money and they offered me
so low than I though. No Holds Barred is too much stress and
we do need a good money to face it', commented the black belt
who also didn't like at all the opponent. 'I don't know his name,
but he weights 80kg and I weight 65kg. They never give me a right
weight fighter', complained. In the next couple of days Royler
will be sure about his future at Gracie vs Japan's tournament.
Source: Tatame |
Laimon
out of Lewis-Pederneiras team
2001 US ADCC trials champion Mark Laimon is out of Lewis-Pederneiras
team. The American fighter had some problems with John Lewis and he was banished
by André Pederneiras. 'He told some shit about John in
US and I didn't like at all. Beyond that, UFC didn't like John
since he promoted WFA and they took advantage of the Laimon situation,
offering some stuff to him', explained Pederneiras. Mark Leimon
fought 2003 US ADCC trials and took second place, losing to 2003
ADCC open weight champion Dean Lister at the finals.
Source: Tatame |
Jungle
Fight: Jacaré faces Macaco
One of the greatest BJJ phenomena and ADCC 2003 second place
(under 88kg), Ronaldo Jacaré will face UFC vet Jorge Patino
Macaco at Jungle Fight, September 13, in the Brazilian northern
city of Manaus. That will be Jacaré's debut at MMA, facing
one of the Brazilian most experienced fighters, with 28 fights,
20 less-than-1-minute KOs, 4 losses and 1 draw. 'Jacaré
is my friend, a great fighter, but it'll be a war in the jungle',
announced Macaco, that will fight six days later at Brazil Super
Fight, in the Brazilian southern city of Porto Alegre, against
Ikuhisa Minowa. 'I told to Zé Mário (BSF producer)
that I would fight and I will honor my word, guaranteed Patino.
Macaco´s
student, Gabriel Napão is also in the card. After the
excelent debut in Meca 9 against the american wrestler Brandon
Lee Hinkle, Napão will face the Nova União black
belt, Rodrigo Riscado in another great battle between Jiu-Jitsu
black belts. Carlos Barreto is out of the card due to a knee
injury.
Full
card (Subject To Change):
-
Kazunari Murakami (New Japan) vs Lee 'Young Gun' (Korea)
-
Ricardo Moraes (Brazil Dojo) vs Paredão (Brasília)
-
Lioto Matida (L.A Dojo) vs Stephan Bonnar (Carlson Family)
-
Shinsuke Nakamura (New Japan) vs Shane (LA Dojo)
-
Dario Amorim (Brazil Dojo) vs Justin McCully (LA Dojo)
-
Mark Schultz (Wrestling/USA) vs Leopoldo Montenegro (Brazil Dojo)
-
Rico Chiaparelli (RAW) vs Luís Pantera (Brazil Dojo)
-
Ronaldo 'Jacaré' (Brazil Dojo) vs Jorge Patino Macaco
(MGT)
-
Gabriel Napão (MGT) vs Rodrigo Riscado (Nova União)
-
Marcelo
Tigre (Brazil
Dojo) vs Everton Gigante (Marcelo Serqueira)
-
Evangelista Cyborg (Brazil Dojo) vs Lucas Lopes (Kimura/Nova
União)
-
Ebenezer Braga (Brazil Dojo) vs TBA
Source: Tatame |
8-Man
Superfight Division at
Grapplers Quest
by: Denis Martins
Grapplers Quest News and Announcements:
1.
Grapplers Quest Announced 1st Round Matchups for
8-Man Superfight Division
2.
Last Week to Pre-Register and Save $15 on
Competitor Fees and $5 on Tickets
3.
Gazzy Parman (Nova Uniao) Brazilian Jiu Jitsu
Seminar - Sunday, Sept. 14th - Lyndhurst, New Jersey
=====================================================
1.
8-Man Superfight Division at Grapplers Quest (1st
Round Match-ups):
David
Avellan (Florida Freestyle - 2003 GQ U.S. Trials
Champ) vs. Rob Kahn (Team Groundhog - Royce Gracie Brown Belt)
Joe
D'Arce (Renzo Gracie Black Belt - Pan American BJJ
Champion) vs. Nakapan Phungephorn (Linxx Academy - Pedro Sauer
Black
Belt)
Kenny
Florian (Boston Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Brown Belt -
Grapplers Quest Superfight Champion - U.S. Grappling
Superfight Absolute Champ) vs. Odie Neto (Brazilian Top Team
Black Belt - 2000
Grapplers Quest West Champion)
Leo
Dalla (Team Lloyd Irvin - World Champion BJJ Black Belt) vs.
Rick Migliarese
(Balance Studios - Relson Gracie Brown Belt)
This
year's featured division will be an 8-Man Open Weight Invitation-Only
Tournament (sponsored by http://www.SPRAWL.tv and http://www.TRIBEFightwear.com),
where the winner will be flown to Calfornia to
represent Team Grapplers Quest at The Gracie Invitational ULTIMATE
SUBMISSION SHOWDOWN Tournament on October 11th, 2003. Come cheer
on your instructors, friends and family as they make history!
Source: ADCC |
FRYKLUND
TALKS ABOUT BARONI, TIKI AND TANK
Tony Fryklund appeared on Thursday's MMAWeekly Radio Show and
responded to the comments that Phil Baroni made about him on
the radio show last week. When Baroni appeared on the radio show
last Friday, he spoke of Fryklund as a tune-up fight and said
that he could easily "beat up twenty Tony Fryklunds and
build up an artificial record, but it would just be a huge mismatch."
Baroni also said that he didn't want to hear anything about Tony
Fryklund because Tony already had a chance to fight him at UFC
40 and turned it down.
Fryklund responded on yesterday's radio show by saying that he
would love to prove Baroni wrong and that it would be a very
exciting fight for the fans. Fryklund said that they would both
come at each other and it wouldn't go the distance, which is
exactly the kind of fight that is preferred by Baroni (and by
the UFC, for that matter). Fryklund said that he turned down
the UFC's offer to fight Baroni at UFC 40 because they were offering
him a very small amount of money while Baroni was making a huge
amount of money. Tony said that even with his recent win over
Eugene Jackson and all of the success he has had, money is not
the most important thing to him right now, and he just wants
to fight for the best MMA organization in the world.
Tony
Fryklund said that it would be particularly appealing to fight
Phil Baroni at this stage in Baroni's career because Baroni is
probably at his peak and is going to come ready to fight. Fryklund
said that he is constantly learning new things and improving
while training with the rest of Team Miletich, and at the same
time he is constantly battling a wide variety of injuries. With
the combination of those two factors, Fryklund feels that he
is only fighting with about half of his full potential right
now. Once he gets going at his full potential, Fryklund believes
that he will be damn-near-unstoppable and that it will be hard
to get out of the first round with him.
When
asked about the incident at UFC 40 where he allegedly "confronted"
Tiki Ghosn, Tony Fryklund said that all he did was walk up to
Tiki and tell him to show more respect for the sport. Fryklund
said that his comments to Tiki were essentially this (paraphrasing):
"I've heard the things you've been saying about my training
partner and roommate Robbie Lawler, and it's a bunch of crap.
We should band together as fighters and represent the sport in
a professional manner. If you have to say things like that, you
should say it to other fighters in the locker room rather than
telling it to a journalist and then having the resulting news
story make the sport look bad."
On
the same topic of representing the sport of MMA professionally,
Tony Fryklund had a few statements about Tank Abbott. Fryklund
completely disagrees with Tank's general attitude that "real
men" going into fights just swinging wildly and that you
must not be tough if you're actually taking the time to learn
different martial arts and train hard. Fryklund said that it
made him sick to hear Tank Abbott talking smack at the hotel
bar after UFC 41, saying that Frank Mir isn't a real fighter
because he had to use Jiu-Jitsu to beat him and not "real
fighting." In response to that, Fryklund said, "Frank
Mir is a legitimate martial artist who took the time to learn
Jiu-Jitsu so he could tap out your fat ass."
Source: MMA Weekly |
THOMAS
LOOKING TO FIGHT IN K.O.C. IN MIAMI
American Top Team fighter Din Thomas made a improptu brief appearance
on Thursday's MMAWeekly Radio Show to talk about his upcoming
plans.
Din
said that King of the Cage is going to be coming to Miami for
a show in October, and he is very interested in the possibility
of fighting on that card. Thomas said that he is currently negotiating
with King of the Cage to see what kind of money they're going
to be able to offer. Din's potential participation in the November
UFC 45 card was not mentioned, but it still has to be considered
a possibility.
Din
Thomas also took some time to talk about his teammate Hermes
Franca's upcoming fight with Caol Uno, which will take place
at UFC 44 on September 26. Thomas said that Franca has been training
like a maniac and is going to be more than ready for Uno, a fighter
who beat Thomas by decision in the UFC last year.
Din
said that Hermes is a lot bigger and stronger than he was in
the fight with Rich Crunkilton because Franca is now training
as a 155-pound lightweight fighter (he was previously a 145-pound
featherweight fighter).
Thomas
said that having grappled and exchanged strikes with both Uno
and Franca, he can say with confidence that Franca is going to
be stronger than Uno in the fight, and will more than likely
be faster than Uno as well.
Source: MMA Weekly |
PRIDE
PRESS RELEASE: TALKS ABOUT DEALINGS WITH AMERICAN MEDIA
LOS ANGELES,
California – Because of Ryan Bennett’s recent article
“Pride Shuts Out American Media,” Dream Stage Entertainment
USA has felt compelled to respond.
While
we do respect other viewpoints, we decided it was time to give
our perspective on dealing with the media for Pride FC events
in Japan. Because of the international nature of Pride, we receive
media requests from all over the world, including the United
States, Brazil, Australia, and numerous European countries. This
is not to mention the Japanese media, which are in their own
home market. In Japan the sport isn’t only covered by the
Japanese MMA media, it’s also covered by the mainstream
media. All in all, we commonly field over 300 press requests
per event. It’s an enormous challenge to satisfy everyone
when dealing with such a literal crush of media.
While
Dream Stage Entertainment USA has been working diligently these
past four years to bring Pride FC into the United States, it
must be realized that it is still primarily a Japanese show.
This is not to say that DSE USA does not cater to American fans,
on the contrary, the fight cards are always built with the intention
of hopefully satisfying both the Japanese and American fans.
In
regards to the American MMA media---they have been given more
access and privileges than most of their Japanese counterparts,
including closer photography positions and being privy to the
hotel in which the fighters are staying. In many cases, members
of the American MMA media have been brought to Japan and accommodated
as guests of DSE. In addition, it’s been common practice
that the American MMA media is allowed to ride from the hotel
to the events in the same bus as the fighters, granting them
even more access and convenience than their counterparts. While
it’s true that we cannot always give all of these privileges
to each individual American MMA website at the same time, we’ve
done the best that we can.
In
terms of going backstage, no media, American or otherwise, is
given access. This is done, again, because of the amount of media
we must accommodate (and keeping things fair) as well as our
belief that the fighters must be given their privacy prior to
their matches.
As
far as weigh-ins, this comes down purely to a cultural difference,
which has either not been understood or explained to the American
MMA media. In Japan, it’s not culturally acceptable to have
a public weigh-in the same way it is in the United States. Yes,
it’s an opportunity for drama, stare downs, bad blood to
boil, etc. But this is from the American perspective. While Pride
FC events are in Japan, their events are run according to their
cultural rules.
To
address negative press---DSE USA respects the right of journalists
to write what they like, but the problem has been that many critical
articles and even posts on message boards by well-respected members
of the MMA community have been written completely without our
point of view. While we cannot always disclose all the reasons
behind our decision, to not be approached and then be criticized
with only one side of the story, isn’t always easy to accept.
Most
of these issues seem to come down to cultural differences and/or
just plain misunderstandings and we are making attempts to be
more open and approachable in the future. If guidelines and expectations
are set in advance, we feel that this would only benefit both
sides.
DSE
USA is aware and thankful for our support in the United States
and for coverage by the American MMA media. As the sport grows
in this country we look forward to a long and fruitful relationship
with the media and the fans.
I
welcome any suggestions or comments by the American MMA media,
in the hopes of building a better, more open relationship.
Best
Regards,
Turi
Altavilla
Vice President of Production
Dream Stage Entertainment USA
BENNETT
RESPONDS TO PRIDE PRESS RELEASE
I want
to thank Pride for putting their view out there by giving their
take regarding the MMA American media. I wrote the article while
waiting to get any response from Pride on why most of the major
websites did not get press credentials to the past Pride event.
The
problem I have had in the past is the mindset that just because
there where some negative things written about an organization
in the past, that any organization would choose to shut out certain
media members whether it's Pride, the UFC, or the IFC.
It's
interesting to read this press release when they say quote "In
regards to the American MMA media---they have been given more
access and privileges than most of their Japanese counterparts,
including closer photography positions and being privy to the
hotel in which the fighters are staying."
Unfortunately
that hasn't been the case with a few American websites including
MMAWeekly. Pride DSE has chose not to work with our website,
but I know things can change and hope to see that change very
soon. We are very much wanting and ready to work with DSE/Pride
immediately.
We
sent MMAWeekly editor Scott Petersen to Japan to cover the Japanese
beat to make our site more well rounded. We are thankful for
Pancrase, Shooto, Deep and K-1 who have bent over backwards to
help us promote their promotions and we appreciate that. I know
the fans in America have been grateful as well to learn who these
great Japanese fighters are. As a result we have shown Pancrase,
Shooto and Deep weigh-in's and we have let the world see one
on one video interviews with guys like Takanori Gomi, Yuki Kondo,
and most recently Joachim Hansen, so the American fans can see
who these fighters truly are on MMAWeekly TV.
I
know some internet writers have written some critical articles
about some of Pride's matchmaking say a year ago. I think there
was a problem when we saw 180 pound fighters taking on Bob Sapp.
The good thing about it though and I do give Pride a lot of credit,
is the fact that they changed from that style to book some amazing
matches and my hat goes off to them. This past Pride card was
one of the best cards in MMA history and every single match at
the Pride Grand Prix was sensational.
My
problem with the latest press release is what exactly is the
word you are trying to get out there. The fact that if you write
something negative about a promotion, you will be shut out for
credentials?
Gentlemen
have you ever read the New York Times? Our stuff is extremly
tame compared to them. Have you seen how the L.A Times has shredded
Kobe Bryant's decision in his personal life to commit adultry?
They call it like they see it.
I
feel the American media does that as well and for them to shut
out my friends at Sherdog, MMAWeekly and many, MANY others is
unacceptable on all levels in my opinion. But guess what, it's
just that, my opinion.
For
DSE to say "DSE USA respects the right of journalists to
write what they like, but the problem has been that many critical
articles and even posts on message boards by well-respected members
of the MMA community have been written completely without our
point of view. While we cannot always disclose all the reasons
behind our decision, to not be approached and then be criticized
with only one side of the story, isn’t always easy to accept."
While
I disagree with that way of thinking, I have actually exchanged
emails with Turi Altavilla the new employee in charge of production.
Turi has been very good about wanting to work with me and the
site. Turi, I very much look forward to working with you very
soon since you now work with Pride. MMAWeekly.com hopes to have
a very good working relationship with Pride in the near future.
We will continue to cover the sport fairly. I will never tell
any of our writers to censor their writing. That is unethical.
Believe
me I know we have pissed off the UFC many of times by some of
the things we have written, but I appreciate Dana White, Joe
Silva or any member of the UFC management who has returned our
calls and discussed what we have written. Dana White has told
me on many occassions that while he may not agree with what we
have written, he will never tell us what to write or what not
to write and I do respect that.
I
hope Pride and DSE will do the same. I look forward to working
with Pride in the near future. Believe me I would not spend hours
every day doing a daily radio show, promoting this sport on sports
talk radio and television stations across the nation if I truly
did not love this sport.
I
support ALL organizations, whether it be Pride, the IFC, the
UFC, Pancrase or the WEC. Anyone that is trying to make this
sport mainstream is great for the sport. I am a fan of Pride
and hope they continue to make the sensational match ups like
the previous Pride Grand Prix.
I
would like to put out a special invitation to DSE's President
and the entire Pride management to meet at your convience in
your offices in Los Angeles or for dinner and figure out the
best way to work things out. I think we both want the same things
and I would love to have that opportunity to meet face to face
and talk about how we can have a working relationship. Good luck
to DSE/Pride and as MMAWeekly writer Ken Pishna always says,
"Support the sport".
Sincerely,
Ryan
Bennett
Source: MMA Weekly |
Interview
with Hidehiko Yoshida
A bandaged
Hidehiko Yoshida held a press conference for the first time at
his dojo, Yoshida Dojo, on August 12th. Although Yoshida defeated
Kiyoshi Tamura in their August 10th PRIDE GP bout, Tamura left
Yoshida with a seriously injured left knee that is expected to
require 2 months to heal.
Yoshida's
left knee was wrapped in ice bags when he appeared for the press
conference. Yoshida's knee has been diagnosed with internal bleeding
and will require 2 months to fully heal. "We at DSE definitely
want him to continue fighting." DSE President Sakakibara
grimly explained, "However, it's possible that he won't
be capable of fighting, even if he wants to. His knee requires
2 months to heal and that would only leave him with a month to
train. It's a very difficult situation."
Hearing
this, Yoshida declared his strong intent to fight, even if it
means forcing himself to. "I may be injured by I am focused
on fighting in the November finals. There will problems with
losing weight and lack of training but I'll have to make up for
it with mental training."
A
same-day delayed broadcast of the PRIDE GP in Japan was watched
on average by 16% of viewers, with the highest ratings of 21.9%
coming in at the end of the Yoshida/Tamura match. Yoshida has
garnered a lot of attention and is sure to continue to be under
the spotlight. "Yoshida has become a pro" President
Sakakibara continued, "and this was proven out by his willingness
to stand up and strike with Tamura."
It seems that Yoshida is finding it hard to give up his ticket
to the finals. Despite his desire to continue, he still has problems
to overcome. "It didn't hurt during the match" Yoshida
explained, "but afterwards, my knee locked up and I couldn't
straighten it." Yoshida was taken to the hospital after
the match but he said that he wasn't even able to sleep that
night due to the pain. His knee was bleeding internally and 50CC
of blood was removed. Yoshida has injuries in both of his knees
from his judo days and according to him, his left knee is beginning
to deform.
Yoshida
is still maintaining a positive outlook. "I'm used to being
injured so it's okay. I'll increase my training according to
the pace of my recovery. I don't know how long it will take until
the pain goes away but I believe it will be fine."
Ultimately,
a decision will be made between the official doctor, Yoshida
Dojo and DSE, with a decision and the card lineup to be announced
in September.
Questions
About Tamura
PRIDE
Fighting Championships: What was your impression of Tamura?
Yoshida:
He's got great punches and kicks. When we clinched though, I
felt that I was stronger and it was just a matter of figuring
out how to overcome his striking.
PRIDE:
What about when he took your back?
Yoshida:
It didn't bother me. I was worried about his knees before that
but I never felt in danger of being choked.
PRIDE:
Do you think you were not being careful when you were hit and
knocked down in the beginning?
Yoshida:
I didn't even have time to not be careful (laughing). It knocked
me down straight away. When I realized what was happening, he
was already jumping towards me and I just got angry. It was like
"you get hit, you hit back."
PRIDE:
So you started trading with him.
Yoshida:
I was thinking about striking from the beginning. It would be
a waste of all the training I've received not to. I'd feel embarrassed
to be in front of my trainer if I didn't get in at least one
punch (laughing). In a way, it was like shedding my old skin.
It was a good confidence builder and good practice for November.
PRIDE:
What percent of your striking training were you able to use?
Yoshida:
None at all. I was punching like I was in a street fight (laughing).
My trainer told me, "That wasn't a punch. That was a clothes-line."
I've got to keep my calm and not get aggravated. I also need
to work on my guard and keeping the proper distance.
PRIDE:
Were you planning on getting the sleeve-choke?
Yoshida:
No, that's just how it turned out. When I got it on, I was just
praying it would finish him.
PRIDE:
What about the headlock?
Yoshida:
Normally I can move from there to kesa-gatame and work for the
finish but it looks like I haven't practiced it enough.
PRIDE:
A lot of the fans want to see you up against Silva in the finals.
Yoshida:
That's not up to me to decide. No matter who my opponent, I will
be fighting as a Japanese fighter. It doesn't matter who my opponent
is.
DSE
President Sakakibara's Comments:
I haven't thought about replacing Yoshida at all. However, if
he does need to be replaced, I want to be fair. The replacement
would not necessarily be Japanese. I do want Yoshida to get into
the ring in November as the representative of Japan, PRIDE and
judo. We'll decide how the tournament finals will be put together
based upon the surveys we distributed at the recent event. We
want to give the fans what they want. If there's not a big lead
for any particular matchup, it's still possible that it will
be decided by lottery.
Source: Pride |
TKO
13 Weigh ins
Arnold "Da Sushiboy" Lim
There is big news to speak of and the most anticipated bout of
the evening will NOT happen. Georges St Pierre injured his knee
and he will be out of his bout with Pete Spratt. An air of disappointment
was in the air at the weight ins, and the injury is on the minds
of everyone in the building. An understandably muted weigh ins
considering the whole event was centred around the main event
being tItled "Ültimate Rush" after Georges "Rush"
St Pierre. But with another 16 bouts on the card it still looks
like a lot of action will find it’s way to the TKO arena.
The
official word came from TKO vice president Joe Ferraro who described
the turn of events. “When the sky comes crashing down, it
takes away the dreams and goals of all of us…It is a sad,
sad situation for TKO but with every TKO event we have more then
enough fights that can make up a main event. Now it is up for
Sean Pierson “Pimp Daddy” and the “Lionheart”
Steve Vigneault to carry the torch and these guys are more then
well enough to carry that torch.”
A
classy Pete Spratt had some classy and respectful words for the
fans and media at the press conference. “Thanks to TKO for
bringing me out here and giving me the opportunity this is one
of those fights were I was coming out here to basically solidify
myself as one of the top welterweights in the world. Things happen
Injuries happen and this is a very unfortunate situation but
hopefully one of these days we will be able to make this fight
to happen again. I was more then ready for this fight there was
a lot of criticism thinking I was over-confident for this fight
and overlooking this fight simply because St Pierre doesn’t
have a lot of experience. But in this fight game anything can
happen\. I was more then ready for this fight and I was in better
shape then I was for my last fight. Like I said it is just unfortunate
that we don’t get the opportunity to put a show on for the
Canadian fans but in the future something may happen and we will
make this fight happen this was definitely going to be an exciting
fight. St Pierre is going to do some great things he is young
this was only a temporary setback he will be back he will do
some things and hopefully we will meet up in the future. "
On
another note Kristof Midoux injured his rib and he is out of
his proposed bout with Cameron Btown. Glen Murdoch is also out
as he didn’t get his papers in on time and is unable to
compete. So instead of canceling both matches they amalgamated
the two bouts and Brown will face Pascal Gosselin who was scheduled
to fight the aforementioned Glen Murdoch.
Every
thing went off without a hitch but some fighters had to strip
buck naked to barely make weight. The rules in TKO are different
then Nevada state. In Nevada they allow the fighter some time
if he doesn’t make weight the first time. In Montreal there
is only one weigh in if you don’t make it you 20% of your
purse goes to the opponent. So it is an incentive for the fighters
to come in ready to rumble. We will have photo’s of the
weight ins coming to MMARR soon. In the mean time here are the
official weights of the fighters that will make up TKO 13. All
weights are in pounds.
Sean
Pierson 184.2
Steve Vigneault 184.6
Ryan
“The Lion” Diaz 144.4
Mark “The Machine” Hominick 144.00
Denis
Kang 184.2
Stephan Potvin 184.2
Patric
Cote 202.4
Yan Pellerin204.6
Blake
Fredrickson 154
Donald Ouimet 152.8
Dave
Goulet 154.8 (Weighed in Naked)
Stephane Dube 154.8
Cameron
Brown 202.6
Pascal Gosselin 196.2
Pain
Peters 169.2
Dany Laflamme 167
Andy
Social 149.2
Steve Duquette 156
Jeff
Joslin 168.2
Alex Gasson 170
Antonio
Carvalho 143.0
Phillip Lagace 144.6 (Weighed in Naked)
Steve
Claveau 144.2 (Weighed in Naked)
David Guigui144.8
Aaron
Tregear 179.4
Kyle Sandford 183.8
Rob
Macdonald 217.8
Tom Muller 208.2
Gavin
Hesson 153.2
Francois Flibotte 154.6 (Weighed in Naked)
The
stage is set for the big fights tomorrow. All that is left now
is for the fights to be fought we will have full coverage of
the TKO 13 event tomorrow when the fights are over. -MMARR-
Source: MMA Ring Report |
Quote
of the Day
"Start every day with a smile and get it over with."
W. C. Fields
|
More
Classes at Academia Casca Grossa de Jiu-Jitsu!
Starting in October, Academia Casca Grossa de Jiu-Jitsu (the
Relson Gracie Aiea Academy) will be adding additional classes
to our schedule.
The
new classes will be held on Wednesdays from 8:00 - 10:00 PM (instructional
mixed class)
and
Sundays from 3:00-5:00 pm
From 3:00-4:00 pm, due to popular demand, there will be a dedicated
kid's class!
From 3:00-5:00 pm, there will be open mats for the Academia Casca
Grossa de Jiu-Jitsu students.
Check
out http://www.onzuka.com/cgjj.html for more information! |
Brazilian
Portuguese Classes Start Soon!
Farrington Community School for Adults is offering conversational
Brazilian
Portuguese language classes, once a week, beginning Saturday,
September 20, 2003 for
the end of Summer term.
Instructor-Sandy
Tsukiyama de Oliveira
(DOE teacher, member-Hawaii Interpreters & Translators Assn.,
Leader,
vocalist-Mistura Brazilian Jazz Band)
The
Brazilian Portuguese program at FCSA has been ongoing for over
3 years.
Teaching
materials-
Photocopied pages from the textbook, Fala Brasil!
Purchase of two additional books, 501 Portuguese Verbs, and Portuguese
Verbs &
Essentials is recommended. Both available at Borders Books &
Music. Also
available from instructor, casssette tapes of textbook dialogues
& drills.
Please
call FCSA for details on registration & fees. 832-3595.
Located on the campus of Farrington High School, in the heart
of beautiful,
central Kalihi, corner N. King & Kalihi Sts.
Brazilian
Independence day party.
Check it out. Get there early to eat.
To our Brazilian Friends and Friends of Brazil,
Please see the invitation below - come and celebrate Brazil's
national day
with us!
aloha
eric
Eric Guimaraes Crispin
Honorary Consul of Brazil
Honolulu, Hawaii
egc@aloha.com
cell phone 808-255-2658
Subject: Dia da patria!!!
Caros amigos,
Venham e tragam as criancas na nossa festa, do dia da patria,
no dia 6 de
setembro, sabado, com feijoada inclusa no preco!
ALOHA
|
KING
OF THE CAGE THIS WEEKEND
Ron Jhun defends his belt this weekend!
This weekend King of the Cage will be having their show on Friday.
Now the fans can actually watch the show on pay per view on a
tape delayed basis on Sunday.
MMAWeekly.com
will only have results on the SoundOff Forum, not the main news
page to accomidate you if you want to watch it on pay per view
later on Sunday.
MAIN
EVENT
KING OF THE CAGE WELTERWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
Ronald
"Machine Gun" Jhun vs John Alesio
KING
OF THE CAGE MIDDLEWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
Dean
Lister vs James Lee
FEATURE
FIGHTS
Jeff
Newton vs Tim Konrad
KING
OF THE CAGE MIDDLEWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
Charlie
Valencia vs Greg Mayer
Tony
Petarra vs Wes Combs
Joe
Crilley vs Javier Casio
UNDERCARD
Thomas
Denny vs Jason Dolder
Joe
Camacho vs Juliano Prado
"Krazy
Horse" vs TBA
Thomas
Kenny vs Paul Cid
Richard
Solis vs Alex Rickards
Richard
McCorkel vs Jayson Dickinson
Michael
Penalber vs Buddy Clinton
Source: MMA Weekly |
Royce
Gracie in Kauai!
Hey guys,
Just wanted to drop a line and say "Hi" as well as
send out a formal "Thank you" to Royce who was here
on Kauai for the past week. Royce was on vacation with the family
and enjoyed a week of surfing, water skiing, and fun in the sun!
We had a one night seminar for Royce as well, and everyone walked
out that night with a TON of knowledge. Royce is an incredible
teacher, and great technician.
On another note we are getting great support here for our 2003
Grappler's Paradise Tournament scheduled for September 27th.
We have interest from all schools here on Kauai as well as BJ
Penn's Hilo academy, and of course Relson Gracie Jiu-Jitsu. We
look forward to providing a cool venue for all who attend.
Thanks!
Kendall Goo
|
Warriors
of the Ring 4 This Saturday Night in Maui!
Maui War Memorial Gymnasium, Wailuku, Maui
September 6, 2003
The 4th edition of a great event in Maui is taking place this
Saturday. Chris will be there covering the action and checking
out the Maui fighters. The replacement for Harris Sariento's
former opponent turns out to be Argentinian Paulo Lupi, a BJJ
fighter with a couple of fights under his belt. If you are in
Maui, support MMA in Maui and check out this event. The more
support there is on Maui the better the fights and fighters!
Joe Estrella vs. Josh Kamalo
Tavini
Sulusi vs. John Quinlan
Warren
Miguel (Maui Full Contact Fighting) vs. Lucky Keefner
Eric
Tolentino vs. Ryan Lee
Lorrin
Ishimine vs. Ed Newalu (808 Fight Factory)
Anthony
Billianor (Maui Full Contact Fighting) vs. Matt Mozzoca
Paulo
Lupi (Brazilian Freestyle Jiu-Jitsu) vs. Harris Sariento (808
Fight Factory)
Alan
Hinojosa (Maui Full Contact Fighting) vs. Marcus Moreno (Bulls
Pen)
|
UFC
preview...Tim Sylvia!
by: Keith Mills
On September 26th defending Heavyweight Champion Tim Sylvia returns
to the octagon to take on challenger Gan McGee. Tim won the Heavyweight
belt back in February by convincingly defeating Ricco Rodriguez
in 3:09 of the first round. Since ADCC News last spoke to Tim
he has made great leaps, getting on the cover of several MMA
magazines as well as most recently appearing on MTV’s Tom
Green show on September 2nd. Due to most fans probably already
hearing him speak about his fight with Ricco this update skips
that topic.
KM:
Normally when I do previews I try to ask people about their last
opponents and next opponents but you are getting quite a lot
of publicity right now. How are you handling the attention? TS:
I’m taking it in stride, no big deal. You mean the whole
Tom Green thing and all that stuff?
KM:
Yeah. TS: It was fun. We kind of expected the way it went to
go that way. We were hoping he would be more rational about it.
He was pretty crazy and off the wall.
KM:
I didn’t get a chance to see that myself. I take it you
think this was a positive thing for the sport? TS: Yeah, definitely.
A lot of people on the Underground are going to rip it up but
those on the Underground are dedicated fans. We’re trying
to get a new fan base. It takes Tom Green to say ‘human
cock fighting’ and ‘two men enter, one man leaves fight
to the death’…it takes the MTV crowd to watch it that
way and once they watch it they are going to be hooked and figure
out all the rules to the sport anyway.
KM:
Yeah. Take the Royce Gracie on a DC radio station recently. The
host was a K-1 fan and asking Royce things like ‘so how
does it feel to kick someone’s teeth in’ when Royce
has never done that. In that sense reaching out to these new
people did you find yourself in an awkward position being the
spokesperson? TS: No, not really. I thought it went well.
KM:
You have also been on the cover of just about every MMA magazine.
TS: Yes, I have.
KM:
So the publicity hasn’t gone to your head. TS: No, not at
all. I’m just ready to get in the ring and fight again.
KM:
Speaking of which, what are your thoughts on fighting Gan McGee
in the next UFC? TS: It will be my toughest fight ever, definitely.
KM:
Here is a guy who is finally pretty much your size. TS: He’s
bigger than me actually.
KM:
By what 2”? Does that worry you at all? TS: No.
KM:
In the past you have used the reach advantage to your effect
and here the tables might be turned. TS: Yeah, I don’t think
2” is going to make a difference.
KM:
Still, at your size I imagine training for somebody your size
or larger is difficult. It’s not like Matt Hughes can wear
stilts or something. TS: Exactly. It’s hard finding training
partners but I think I’m doing really well t it right now.
I’m training high altitude so I’m going to be ready.
I’ve been up in Utah training.
KM:
Really! How is all that going? TS: Good. I’m in Denver right
now.
KM:
For Jeremy Horn in the IFC? What is your role? TS: I’m here
to support him, to be his corner.
KM:
Who is going to be your corner in the UFC? TS: Pat Miletich,
Jeremy Horn, Tony Fryklund.
KM:
Yes! I do have a soft spot for Fryklund. He hasn’t fought
since what, DangerZone? TS: Oh, no. Tony just had a fight three
weeks ago against Eugene Jackson. Choked him unconscious in the
first round.
KM:
That was Battleground? Sorry, I missed that. Has training changed
at all since your fight against Ricco Rodriguez (UFC 41 2/28/03)?
TS: I think it’s a little bit harder actually. We want to
make sure we keep the belt and make sure I represent.
KM:
The word around backstage and front lines is the whole split
between Monte Cox and Pat Miletich was overblown and is pretty
much behind everybody. Is there anything to say on that? TS:
No, nothing at all.
KM:
Here it is your second time in the UFC and you are the defending
Heavyweight Champion, a co-headline event with Tito and Randy…are
there any nerves involved? TS: No, not really. Fortunately I
stay pretty much relaxed. Hopefully I stay with that mentality
and we can just go out there and kick some ass.
KM:
Getting back to the publicity for a moment, usually when I preview
fighters I leave them their private lives. Every super hero needs
a secret identity is how I think of it. With all the publicity
you have been getting talking about your childhood…the rest
of Team Extreme hasn’t really had that drilling. Is that
in any way uncomfortable? TS: No, I mean a lot of people, all
my close friends know about that situation and the rest of my
family knows about it. The MMA community is pretty much a family
now. They let it go and it doesn’t hurt. People know really
all about me and my background.
KM:
There is the debate as far as trying to build a fighter at what
point is somebody’s private life is off limits or how much
to dwell on somebody’s record. What is your perception?
Is the way you have been projected how you want to be projected?
TS: So far yes. I think they have done really well with me and
I’m happy with everything. They haven’t gotten as bad
as the paparazzi like the movie stars and stuff so I’m fine
with it.
KM:
You don’t walk down the streets and get stopped for your
autograph? TS: It happens every now and then but it’s only
one or two, not one or two hundred.
KM:
Any thoughts on the rest of Team Extreme? Here we have Jason
Black headlining the next Extreme Challenge, Jeremy is in the
IFC…any thoughts on how the rest of the team is doing? TS:
I’m looking forward to Rich Franklin knocking the shit out
of Edwin Dewees. I’m looking forward to him knocking him
out.
KM:
How much do you train with the rest of Team Extreme? TS: Right
now I’m one of the Heavyweights that has been training but
I had to leave and come to Utah and stuff. Usually it is on a
regular basis, usually there for moral support when the lighter
guys train because I can’t really do much with them. I can
probably grapple with them but sparring wouldn’t do them
any good and it really doesn’t do me any good because they
are so small.
KM:
Is there anything besides altitude you found in Utah that you
couldn’t get in Davenport? TS: There are two heavyweights
that are real consistent that come in twice a day that are just
willing to train hard and stuff. I hurt my heavyweight Mark Hanssen
training and Jeff had a broken hand coming off his last fight
so he couldn’t really train. I didn’t really have good
quality heavyweights to train with.
KM:
Is there a gym in Utah you train with? TS: I’m training
out of Walt Bayless’ Combat Jiu-Jitsu.
KM:
Ahhh! Okay. TS: With Jennifer Howe and Alex Stibling.
KM:
Going to be wrapping up training in about what, two weeks or
so? TS: It works for me to push the action in the first round
and hopefully I’ll be gassing out Gan and coming out second
round and knocking him out.
KM:
I do think the whole altitude training is underrated. TS: Yeah,
it’s going to work well.
KM:
Is this the first time you’ve done altitude training? TS:
Yes.
KM:
So what advice can you give to people that are thinking about
it? TS: It’s really hard at first. Feels like an elephant
is standing on your chest and you are trying to breathe.
KM:
You think it’s worth it? TS: Definitely.
KM:
And you think that is going to give you the edge over Gan? TS:
I think so.
KM:
Sponsors to thank? TS: Always. Full Contact Fighter and Joel
Gold, Fairtex, Internationalsportswear.com, West Lake Mortgage,
my chiropractor Mark Small, and Kazen supplements.
For
more information http://www.teammfs.com/ is Miletich Martial
Arts’ new website while Tim’s personal one is http://www.timsylvia.net.
Source: ADCC |
More
Royce - U.F.C. News
It was reported yesterday by this intrepid columnist : ) that
Royce Gracie & U.F.C. are locked into serious negotiations
concerning Royce fighting in one of their upcoming shows. Speculation
by many, including our own MMA Editor stated that the logical
choice for an opponent would be Matt Hughes.
Our
sources deep inside the camp state that NO OPPONENT has been
named or even discussed yet, at this stage they are still negotiating
rules, wearing the Gi and financials.
More
to come as the situation develops!
Source: ADCC/Kid Peligro |
Erick
Wanderlei replaces Paulão at IFC!
by: Alexandre Lobo
Erick
Wanderlei (1,83m/96kg/24years old) has been named the fighter
who will replace Paulão Filho in the 8-men-tournament
at IFC Global Domination, to be held tomorrow night Saturday
the 6th. In spite of he has being called just three days before
the fight, the three time BJJ world champion was training MMA
regularly with Gracie Barra BH Vale-Tudo team. Wanderlei has
a similar physical type to Frank Shamrock (short and strong).
He´s been training Muay Thai for two years and, according
to his coach, Vinícius Draculino, is well prepared to
debut in MMA facing Maurício 'Shogun'.
During
this frenetic time trying to find a fighter to replace Paulão,
BTT representatives spent the whole night awake. The most difficult
thing was to find a guy prepared to fight Shogun and with a US
visa. Pride vet Allan Goes, who lives in US and has a permanent
visa, was called but didn’t accept, saying that he was injured
and not prepared.
Paulão
got a partial ligament injury and got his knee damaged during
the last night of training. The fighter is waiting for exams
to know exactly what he has, but it’s certain that he’ll
suffer a surgery.
Source: ADCC |
PRIDE
Judge Matt Hume Defends
Nog vs Ricco Decision
From Dream Stage Entertainment
LOS
ANGELES, California – On August 10, 2003, Dream Stage Entertainment
held its most recent event, TOTAL ELIMINATION, which we sincerely
hope our fans enjoyed.
In
the aftermath of the show, one of the most talked about fights
was the Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira/Ricco Rodriguez match. There
was an overwhelming amount of fan emails and internet discussions
regarding the unanimous decision awarded to Nogueira.
Because
of this, DSE has decided to explain exactly why Nogueira was
awarded the decision when so many fans believed Rodriguez won
the match.
First,
what must be understood is that DSE has no bias for or against
UFC fighters. Whoever wins the match, wins the match, regardless
of organization. However, when competing in Pride FC, matches
are judged according to our criteria. This system of judging
has been in place for more than two years and is constantly improved
upon in attempts to bring fans the most exciting matches possible.
The rules and judging criteria are always made clear to the fighters
during a meeting (prior to the event), so that all competitors
are aware on how the matches will be judged.
One
of the regular judges at Pride FC is Mr. Matt Hume. Many know
him as a fighter, trainer, and manager … all in all, he
is well respected and known in our industry. Mr. Hume was one
of the judges during TOTAL ELIMINATION and on behalf of all three
judges from that event, he has taken the time to explain how
and why Nogueira was awarded a unanimous decision.
In
addition, this explanation was also cleared by Pride FC’s
Rules Director, Yuji Shimata, who oversees all judges and referees.
Pride
FC Judging Criteria and the Nogueira-Rodriguez Match
By Matt Hume
The
judging system used in Pride FC has been developed and refined
by experts in the industry over the course of the event’s
entire existence. The philosophy behind the criteria is to encourage
the fighters to finish the fight. We believe this creates the
most exciting fight for the fans and rewards the fighter who
is making the necessary effort.
The
criteria is as follows:
1.
Effort to finish the fight by KO or submission
2. Damage
3. Standing combinations and ground control
4. Takedowns and defense
5. Aggressiveness
6. Weight differences (15 Kilos or more at heavyweight) (10K
at middleweight)
These
criteria are in order of priority or importance. They are considered
in descending order if a fight goes to a decision.
1.
Effort to finish by KO or submission:
Fighters who are striking with force and intention that may result
in a KO will be awarded in this criteria, that applies both standing
and on the ground. “Catch” or near submissions, as
well as multiple attempts will score in this criteria.
2. Damage:
Any strike that does damage or accumulations of strikes that
result in damage are awarded here. Damage may be visible such
as a cut or bruised leg, or it may be shown by an opponent’s
reaction to a strike such as favoring a leg that has been kicked
or turning away from a body shot. A near submission may also
result in damage points.
3. Standing combinations and ground control:
When a fighter lands a skillful combination of strikes while
standing, they are awarded this criteria. Ground control is awarded
by achieving dominant positions and holding them. Dominant positions
are side control, mount, back mount with hooks, knee ride, and
north-south. Neutral positions are standing and in guard. Fighters
are encouraged to strive for dominant position throughout the
fight.
4. Takedown and defense:
A skillfully executed takedown will score in this category, repeatedly
stopping your opponent’s takedown will also score in this
category. Multiple takedowns, even if not executed skillfully
will also score here.
5. Aggressiveness:
The fighter who is pressing the action while standing, seeking
dominant position on the ground and working to finish the match,
will score here.
6. Weight difference:
If a fighter is more than 15 Kilos lighter at heavyweight or
10 Kilos at middleweight, then he will be given an advantage
here. This is only taken into consideration when the higher criteria
are even.
Negative
points – yellow cards:
When the fighters are fighting as demanded by the criteria, there
is no need for interference from referees or judges. However,
when a fighter is not fighting in this manner, then he may receive
a yellow card penalty. The fighters are encouraged to engage
and strike or attempt takedowns when standing, by the referee’s
command of “action.” When on the ground, fighters are
encouraged to seek dominant positions, forced reversals or return
to the feet by the referee’s command of “improve position.”
When in a dominant position, a fighter is encouraged to finish
by effective striking or submission by the referee’s command
of “work to finish.” If either fighter does not obey
the command and actively seek dominant positions and finishes,
they may receive a yellow card, which will result in a negative
point deduction. Any intentional fouls or unsportsmanlike conduct
may also result in a yellow card and negative point.
Let’s
take a look at the recent match between Nogueira and Rodriguez
to better understand the criteria:
1.
Effort to finish by KO or submission:
Nogueira wins by a large margin due to his multiple submission
attempts and active attack. Based on this, there is no reason
to consider any further criteria as they are in descending order,
however, for educational purposes we will continue.
2. Damage:
No damage from striking by either party. Possible damage from
deep Kimura in round 3 by Nogueira, however, no award given to
either.
3. Standing combinations and ground control:
Neither fighter showed superiority in standing skill. Nogueira
dominated ground control as he constantly went for submission
and gave away neutral position for inferior position, yet he
was able to move back to neutral position with relative ease
each time. Nogueira also had a forced reversal. Rodriguez had
a reversal while Nogueira was passing guard. Forced reversals
are more difficult to achieve and more valuable for ground control.
Rodriguez was warned many times throughout the match to improve
position but chose to stay in neutral guard without damaging
strikes or attempts to pass to dominant position.
4. Takedown and defense:
Nogueira scored one clean takedown and defended 2 times. Ricco
scored 3 Takedowns. Ricco wins this criteria.
5. Aggressiveness:
Nogueira wins by a large margin due to his many attempts at submission
and his forward progression while striking. The referee warned
Ricco many times in this area, but did not award a yellow card
penalty.
6. Weight difference:
N/A. Ricco had a sizeable weight advantage but was not more than
15 kilos.
Penalties:
No penalties were given although Ricco had many warnings to improve
position.
Decision:
Nogueira
Pride
FC’s judging criteria requires an intimate knowledge in
all areas of fighting. Pride’s judges are diverse and experienced
in these areas and constantly strive to improve their knowledge.
Additionally, Pride FC officials review the bouts and system
on an ongoing basis to continually evolve and improve the system
when appropriate. It is our desire that as we grow in our knowledge
that we would also provide opportunity for the fans to become
better educated with the intricacies of fighting. We hope that
this piece has been helpful in that process. Look for more video
educational pieces to come in the upcoming pay per view installments
of Pride FC. Thank you for your support of Pride FC and the MMA
community.
Best
regards,
Matt
Hume
Official Judge, Pride FC
Source: Sherdog |
Quote
of the Day
"Never run an apology with an excuse."
Kimberly Johnson
|
Super
Brawl 31 Fight Card Announced!
September 20 at the Blaisdell Arena. Get your tickets now!
Main
Event
185lbs 3x5 minute rounds
1. Jason Miller (Team Oyama 10-3) v Egan Inoue (13-4 Grappling
Unlimited 'GU')
Miller will not be an easy opponent for Egan's "comeback"
fight. He is an ultra-aggressive fighter with an unorthodox style.
Although he is a submission wizard, he will likely attempt to
land knees and punches while standing and be the aggressor in
the fight. Egan will have to stay focused and capitalize on any
mistake his younger opponent makes and make him pay for it.
Egan
needs this win bad to keep the momentum going for a rematch with
Suda in an attempt to regain his Super Brawl title. Remember,
the crazy Miller took out one of the favorites of the middleweight
tournament Jay Buck in impressive fashion. He has also shown
that he can take a beating and keep on ticking. Talks are going
extremely well for Inoue/Suda II, but there is nothing in writing
as of yet. Hopefully a match will be signed for the November
or early next year show. Let's keep our fingers crossed that
Egan gets by Miller and Suda signs on the dotted line.
185lbs 3x5 minute rounds
2. Justin Ellison (1-3) v Falaniko Vitale (GU 12-2)
Ellison is a seasoned fighter who hopes to make a name for himself
with a victory over UFC veteran Vitale. His strong suit is his
groundwork. Vitale is coming off a big victory over Matt Lindland
in the UFC and will have to be careful not to “overlook”
the opponent in front of him. A win here will likely secure his
spot in the November UFC.
160lbs
3x5 minute rounds
3. Joe Jordan (Kentucky, 5-3) v Kolo Koka (GU 5-3)
Jordan recently defeated top ranked Eddie Yagin in Super Brawl
29. He is a solid wrestler with good conditioning. Kolo is rapidly
gaining skill and is recognized as one of the most entertaining
young Super Brawl fighters. He would also like to avenge his
teammates (Yagin) loss.
145lbs
3x5 minute rounds
4. David Yeung (HMC 2-2) v Eddie Yagin (GU 6-2)
This will be a tremendous fight! Yeung has taken over two years
off from Super Brawl while nursing various injuries. Technically,
he is very well rounded and dangerous at all times during a fight.
Many fighters would have taken an easier fight to break back
in. Yagin is coming off a tough loss to Joe Jordan and will surely
be motivated. His style is always exciting. He will mix up striking
and submissions from all angles. The winner of this fight will
be right in the hunt for a 145lb title.
185lbs
3x5 minute rounds
5. Jay Martinez (Shark Tank 3-1) v Kaipo Kalama (GU 2-1-1)
The Shark Tank is famous for producing well rounded fighters.
Martinez is one of them. He will bring a solid arsenal of weapons
in the ring with him. Kalama recently fought in the 8-man Super
Brawl tourney and had a spectacular 12 second knock out in the
first round. He then fought and lost a tough war with Dennis
Kang. Kalama will look to get back on a win streak tonight.
185lbs
3x3 minute rounds
6. Randy Rowe (Meat Truck, Inc. Cincinnati 2-0) v Desi Miner
(808ff 4-2)
Rowe is young and confident. He will stand and throw in front
of anyone. Miner is coming off a tough submission loss to Joe
Doerksen and would like nothing more than to have someone stand
and trade blows with him. There may be fireworks in this one!
Heavyweight
3x3 minute rounds
7. George Randolph (Shark Tank 9-6) v Ray "King Kong"
Serraille (GU 2-4)
The K-1 veteran Randolph will have a definite edge while this
fight is standing. Look for him to try and keep it there. Kong
has showed he is not afraid to stand in front of anyone. He may
not want to stand for too long with this opponent. Look for Kong
to try and get this fight to the ground where he should have
the advantage.
Two
big boys that we want to see bang away! Kong needs a win badly
and also needs to stick to his strength, the ground. Any K-1
fighter is a good stand up fighter. Kong needs to stay away from
a pissing match standing and see if he can take Randolph out
of his element. K-1 fighters have been very successful in the
cross over to MMA, take Cro-Cop for example. Don't blink because
someone may go to sleep early on this night.
135lbs
3x3 minute rounds
8. Jim Kikuchi (3-3) v Will Hagerty (GU 1-0)
Two young fighters looking to make a name for themselves on the
Super Brawl circuit. Kikuchi is coming down in weight and carries
an aggressive style and a bit more experience than his opponent.
Hagerty has been training hard at Egan Inoue's Grappling Unlimited
and will attempt to impose his will on Kikuchi.
Hagerty is a pocket rocket and very slick with his submissions.
Kikuchi is a slamming machine who should extremely strong at
this lighter weight class as long as the weight cutting does
not affect him much. Kikuchi has been known to throw care to
the wind and bomb away on his feet, so far so good. Hagerty will
mostly likely have to win this from from his back if he can withstand
the agro ground and pounder. Maybe Hagerty has some surprises
standing for Kikuchi. We shall see.
155lbs
3x3 minute rounds
9. Santino De Franco (808ff 10-4) v Deshaun "3D" Johnson
(HMC 5-4)
The Brazilian De Franco has a solid Jiu-Jitsu background and
has lethal submissions on the ground. 3D is coming down in weight
and likes to "bang". He will attempt to resist the
take-down attempts of his opponent and "sprawl-and-brawl"!
Deshaun
is coming back from a brutal battle with Mark Moreno in Hilo.
Johnson's heart will never be questioned again after he endured
a fierce pounding. Santino is a ground wizard and coming off
a six fight win streak. The question will be if Deshaun is fully
healed after the damage he took just one month ago.
135lbs
3x3 minute rounds
10. Loren "New Guy" (HMC 0-0) v Harvey (GU 0-0)
HMC is known for putting out well rounded fighters. Expect nothing
less from Loren. Harvey has lightning fast hands and is rapidly
learning the ground game at Grappling Unlimited.
JUST
ADDED!
170bs
3x3 minute rounds
11. Sydney Silva (HMC 1-0) v Anthony Torres (GU 1-0)
The Brazilian Silva has a solid ground game but will probably
need more than that to defeat Torres. Torres is a monster on
the ground with tremendous submissions. The fighter with the
best striking may win this fight. |
U.F.C.
and Royce Gracie in REAL negotiations
Your
intrepid columnist Kid Peligro has received confirmation that
U.F.C. is negotiating to bring U.F.C. legend Royce Gracie back
to U.S. rings.
Our
sources confided that top UFC brass and Royce Gracie representatives
have been locked in negotiations to make this happen possibly
for the November show.
More
on this situation as it develops!
EDITOR'S
NOTES:
A
match between Royce Gracie and current 170 lb Champion Matt Hughes
has been talked about recently, however matters appear to have
progressed beyond internet chatter and speculation.
Only
a few weeks ago, Gracie answered in a non commital manner regarding
a UFC return on a Washington DC area radio. Typically, Gracie
never rules anything out, however there were very few details
to speak about.
The
UFC continues to have an obligation to headline with Hughes in
November, and the dominant champion has no one on the immediate
horizon developed enough for a shot - Gracie brings instant credibility
to the title match.
It
will be interesting to see how Royce and the UFC handle Royce's
traditional sticking points of kidney kicks, the gi, time limits,
etc.
Source: ADCC
|
First
Look At Josh “The Punk” Thomson
Plagued
by injuries that saw 3 failed attempts at a UFC debut, Josh Thomson
is looking to stay healthy as we’re just 4 weeks out from
his 4th debut attempt scheduled for Friday, September 26, 2003,
at “UFC 44: Undisputed.”
Born
in San Jose, California, Thomson ventured between the northern
coastal city and the farm land of Idaho a few times before going
back to find some peace of mind in San Jose. A 98-pound weakling
through his sophomore year in High School, the lightweight is
heavy in heart and determination to make it in MMA today... achieving
his ultimate goal... fighting in the UFC. With a 22-1-1 record,
the biggest learning experience for the 24-year-old was losing
his very first fight in 1997 from being tired “I told myself
it will never happen again,” said Thomson, “and so
far so good -- it hasn’t.” Considered one of the most
well-rounded competitors in the 155-pound division, Thomson is
comfortable getting the win by KO, TKO, submission, decision
or Referee Stoppage.
I
recently submitted the AKA fighter to an interview where he talks
about growing up, his influences in MMA, a rematch with Norifumi
“Kid” Yamamoto and making it in MMA.
JC:
Who is Joshua Thomson? [laughing]
JT: Normal kid with some good fighting skill. I’m a &#^%@*!
punk.
JC:
What was the normal kid like growing up?
JT: Grew up in the city, then moved to Idaho. Made a big change
from the city to a big farm. Had to make changes. White boy in
the city, then up in the woods with the Mexicans. Everywhere
I went I seemed to have problems. I was also small so I had to
stick up for myself.
JC:
How did the normal kid come to know of his fighting skill?
JT: Some of the guys I wrestled with in college had started to
do it. I was always one who had problems in school. From Junior
High through my sophomore year in High School, I was only 98
pounds. I’m half white and half Mexican, so growing up in
San Jose everyone looked at me as the little white boy, so I
was picked on a lot growing up on the east side of town.
JC:
How did you start training in martial arts?
JT: I wrestled for about 1.5 years then hurt my knee. I stopped
wrestling and had surgery. I started fighting, wrestling and
training during the summer, and started fighting from there.
I was with a bunch of guys who wrestled in college... they were
taking Jiu-Jitsu and Thai Boxing. We put it all together and
here we are.
JC:
Where do you train?
JT: AKA (American Kickboxing Academy) now. I started with Team
Idaho (Trevor Prangley, Roger Neff, Judy Neff).
JC:
What is Team Idaho?
JT: A group of wrestlers that had come together to train under
Derek Cleveland. We had a local gym that he was teaching Thai
boxing and Jiu-Jitsu at so all the wrestlers from the local college
got together and we formed a fight team after we learned how
to strike and do some Jiu-Jitsu. [Thomson is one of the original-founding
members of Team Idaho]
JC:
Who are your trainers and training partners at AKA?
JT: At this very moment my main trainers are Javier Mendez and
“Crazy” Bob Cook. My stand up guys include Gary Owens
and Derek Yuen, and my all around partners are Kelly Dullanty,
Rich Crunkilton and Frank Shamrock.
JC:
What are your disciplines?
JT: Wrestling, Jiu-Jitsu, Thai Boxing and Submissions.
JC:
Take me through a day of training.
JT: Start off at the track around 9:00AM to 10:30AM. Then I go
to the chiropractor. I’ll eat, then go to training from
12:00PM to 2:00PM. I’ll go home, eat, shower and sleep.
I’ll end up teaching from about 4:30PM to 7:00PM, then I
spar. After sparring I’ll do mitt work, then technique,
whether ground or shadow boxing for a couple of rounds. I end
my day running or hit the cardio machines at the gym.
JC:
Tell me about your cardio.
JT: Cardio is a big thing for me... it’s something Javier
Mendez worked out for me. He had a similar program for Frank
(Shamrock). I have an itch for running so he worked that into
it. Basically 3 days a week I hit the gym doing the machines
to give my body a less of a strain, and the other 3 days I do
a track workout that varies from sprints to bleachers to biometrics.
The biggest learning experience for me was losing in my very
first fight [against a Matt Hume fighter] in 1997 from being
tired. I told myself it will never happen again, and so far so
good... it hasn’t.
JC:
Who are your influences in MMA?
JT: I’m influenced by a lot of people who have helped me
out through the years. It all started with Derek Cleveland who
showed me wrestling, submissions and Thai boxing... a base to
work on. I had a good base of knowledge from Cleveland. Then
I moved to San Jose and have been training with Frank (Shamrock).
My influences would have to consist of the guys from Team Idaho
and AKA (Crazy Bob Cook and Javier Mendez).
JC:
ShootBox.com offers a record of 22-1-1, while sherdog.com says
4-0-0. What is your MMA record?
JT: I fought a lot in Portland and Seattle and in Bushido. Smaller
shows that had tough guys at the time with Benji Radach and Dennis
Hallman. It’s 22-1-1.
JC:
What other promotions have you competed in?
JT: Shogun and WFA.
JC:
You’ve won by KO, submission, decision, TKO & Referee
Stoppage... [he cuts me off]
JT: What ever happens. If I rock him then I try to finish him.
If the submission is there I take it. If it’s not, then
I don’t try to force it. Work the position that is given
to me.
JC:
It’s said you have a similar style to Yves Edwards... [he
cuts me off]
JT: I wouldn’t say that I have a style like Yves. We tend
to be the most rounded fighter in our weight class. BJ (Penn)
had it. He was working with us. Stand up was there. His ground
is unquestionable. We can both stand and be on the ground. We
can throw on submission, as well as avoid them. We can both KO
people and avoid getting hit.
JC:
Who has been your toughest opponent?
JT: Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto. He was tough and quick,
a real solid wrestler who wasn’t afraid to stand up. I had
no idea who he was when I went into the fight (which he took
on 2 weeks notice). Now that I look back on it I know who he
is. It was also one of my toughest fights. I cut a lot of weight,
about 20 pounds. It went to a NC due to a groin kick. Accidents
happen.
JC:
Would you look for a rematch against Kid?
JT: Oh hell yeah. [laughing] We discussed it that day. The time
hasn’t come. We’d have to work out the weight. I cut
a lot for that fight. There’d have to be a reason for me
to cut that weight... I’m already in the UFC. There is talk
of him coming to the UFC. I don’t have a problem meeting
him. My #1 thing is that I’d like to fight him again. I
didn’t have a clue who he was at the time. No one had told
me how tough he was; just that he was a good fighter. Now I know
what to expect. [laughing] Now I know who he is and what he has
accomplished. I didn’t know he was an Olympic caliber wrestler
at the time. Now I would take that into consideration, as well
as his stand up. His speed... I never fought anyone as quick
as me. Generally I tend to be a little bit faster and quicker,
but with him being so small and compact... he was good!
JC:
Who would your ultimate opponent be?
JT: Hard to say, there are so many people out there. There are
some unbelievable people at my weight. I don’t have an ultimate.
You have to beat everyone to get to the top.
JC:
What is getting to the top for you?
JT: For me, I’m already there. You’re pretty much the
best in the world making it to the UFC. I’d be happy with
fighting in Pride and being done with my career and moving on
to the next thing. When I started I set a goal and I have reached
it I’m content with what I have. I was just thinking about
fighting until I lose, and hopefully that will not come too soon.
JC:
What will you look to do when you’re done with MMA?
JT: Go back to school. [Thomson is an Aviation Aeronautics major]
Open my own school to teach. There’s not a whole lot of
money in fighting if you want to make a life out of it. Pick
up where I left off.
JC:
It’s the top 2% or 5% that can call it a living... [he cuts
me off]
JT: I see myself making it to that top 2%. I don’t see myself
failing. I was supposed to fight in the UFC 3 times. It canceled
3 times. This is the 4th. Hopefully nothing happens. But even
the top 2% of the smaller guys aren’t making the money.
If I was a heavyweight...
JC:
You’ve missed a few opportunities in the UFC?
JT: Yeah, the first time 1.5 weeks out and Frank speared me on
the spine. I went to the doctor and he did everything to make
it go away... [I cut him off]
JC:
Frank or the injury? [both laugh]
JT: The injury.
JC:
How are you doing today?
JT: My body can’t take much more.
JC:
You’re 24 and your body can’t take much more... [he
cuts me off]
JT: I’ve been an athlete my whole life. I’ve wrestled
since I was 3, played soccer since I was 5, baseball, football,
tennis, golf, swimming... everything I could do. Wrestling is
hard on your body over the years. When I get up in the morning
it hurts. I take my hat off to Randy and Lindland. Anyone over
30, [I cough] I can’t believe they are still doing it.
JC:
You talked about giving MMA up if you lose. If you weren’t
doing MMA what would you have been doing?
JT: I would have joined the Air Force and been flying planes.
JC:
Base case scenario, where do you see yourself 1 year from today?
JT: Better be standing at the &#^%@*! top with the belt on.
If not, I’ll go back to school. If I can stay healthy.
JC:
Stay healthy because of your training regimen?
JT: I train real hard to where my body breaks down. I’m
24 and I should not be falling apart. I think I am training too
hard and too much. I’m also training with bigger guys.
JC:
How has the UFC been treating you?
JT: Dana is a great guy. Him and Joe Silva have bent over backwards
to see that I get in a show. They’ve done everything they
can to help me out. I can’t say anything bad about the UFC
organization. Everyone I’ve dealt with is great! They are
wonderful people.
JC:
The UFC has said the 155 title is really non-existent. How do
you feel about fighting in a division with a goal of obtaining
a tile belt where they isn’t one?
JT: I think for me what will happen is I’ll train, beat
the top guys and when I do I will know I am the best whether
or not there is a belt. That’s all there is to it!
JC:
So, it’s not necessarily a belt someone hands you after
the win, but what you feel inside?
JT: I made it my goal is to get here. Now that I got here, I
can walk in and lose, but I reached my goal. I have no intention
of going in and losing. We haven’t had a champion besides
Jens Pulver (the lightweight title has been vacant since early
2002). As long as I go in there and fight Matt Serra, Coal Uno
and Din Thomas, I have beat the best in my division.
JC:
That’s cool, and on that note... where does “The Punk”
come from?
JT: I have a problem speaking my mind and telling people how
I feel. The things I do in life I try to get people to do it
the same way. People cannot do what I do and that is something
I have learned. I’m still a punk, but things are better.
I use to do things that were messed up... little things, like
if we were sparring and someone would get a good shot in, of
course I’d get them back and I’d get them back 10 times
fold. If they knee me to the body then I will knee them to the
face. That’s kind of where the Punk comes from.
JC:
I would say that’s immaturity. Are you still there or maybe
you got your butt kicked enough by the big guys that you wised
up? [both laughing]
JT: I also have fun with it. Say I spare with Bobby Southworth,
at 220, I don’t have a hard time talking shit to him when
we’re sparring they hit me, it comes down to I’ll get
in the ring with anyone at my gym. I have no respect for them
at that time. I’m trying to beat you, go faster then you,
I’m trying to do whatever I can do be the best. If I’m
outside the ring I have respect.
JC:
You’re goal oriented... [he cuts me off]
JT: Sure, if they kick me in the leg I’ll kick them in the
face. That’s how it goes.
JC:
So, if we’re training at AKA and I kick you in the head,
you aren’t going to destroy me... right? [both laughing]
JT: I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
Plagued
by injuries that saw 3 failed attempts at a UFC debut, Josh Thomson
is looking to stay healthy as we’re just 4 weeks out from
his 4th debut attempt scheduled for Friday, September 26, 2003,
at “UFC 44: Undisputed.”
The
AKA fighter meets Gerald Strebendt in a non-title lightweight
division fight when both step into the UFC octagon for the first
time at Undisputed in Las Vegas, Nevada. Although Thomson is
specifically training for Strebendt, he says, “I fight all
my fights the same way... fast paced and in your face.”
Thomson is supported by his girlfriend and extended family at
AKA “Javier (Mendez) can be compared to a dad in the gym
and “Crazy” Bob (Cook) could be an older brother,”
he says, “both are great guys and deserve a lot of credit
for where I am right now.” The goal oriented Thomson set
a standard for himself: making it to the UFC, and he is on his
way...
JC:
It’s you and Gerald Strebendt at “UFC 44: Undisputed”
on September 26. What are your thoughts?
JT: I’ve seen 2 fights of his. He looked good. He lost one
and won one. I possibly see a whole lot of change in his game
between now and then. I’m looking to go out there and whatever
he throws at me counter. I fight all my fights the same way.
They are very fast paced and in your face. That’s how it
is. That’s how I fight. I’m going to keep fighting
and keep fighting and keep fighting until he gets tired or drops.
One of us is going to fall.
JC:
It’s fast paced and in your face whether it’s a wrestler,
boxer, jiu-jitsu guy... [he cuts me off]
JT: It doesn’t matter. If he takes me down, I’ll work
to stand up. If he is beating me on the feet, I’ll take
him down and smash him. Whatever I can do to win the fight. He
can do whatever he wants, but I won’t dictate my fight to
what he wants. If he pushes hard, I’ll push harder.
JC:
Is your training now specifically for Gerald or for a fight?
JT: I’m specifically training for Gerald.
JC:
Do you care to elaborate on that?
JT: No.
JC:
OK. This is a message from Gerald: “I am going into the
hardest phase of my training and I am preparing myself in every
area to beat Josh Thompson on sept 26th. I have put together
a dream team of trainers that ranges from olympic wrestlers,
world champion boxers, Muay Thai champions in Thailand and the
baddest team of jiu jitsu trainers in the world (Jean Jacques
Machado & Eddie Bravo).” What does Josh have to say?
[laughing]
JT: I’ve been training with Olympic wrestlers (from the
Olympic training center in Colorado), world class kick boxers,
probably one of the best fighters in the MMA game -- Frank Shamrock.
I have world class boxers in my gym. I have world class kick
boxers in my gym. I’ve had them there. The problem is he
had to go looking for them. I’ve had them here. I’d
like to see how much he can actually gather from them in a short
amount of time. I’ve had them for the last 3 years. The
dream team he has doesn’t change the way I feel.
JC:
This is a statement from Frank Shamrock [Josh laughs] : “Josh
Thomson is going to destroy whoever gets in front of him as long
as he doesn’t break himself in training. [Josh laughs] Josh
is an incredibly talented, focused athlete and if anything negative
can be said about him, it’s that he just trains hard. I
like to see anyone stand up in front of him when he is ready.
We’re going to see it September 26.” What does Josh
have to say?
JT: God, he couldn’t be more right. We (Frank and I) just
had a discussion the other night on the stuff I was doing for
training. He said “you’re crazy... you’re training
way too hard... too much... you should be resting more... eating
more.” If people have seen Sean Sherk train... people are
comparing me to him. I don’t think I train that hard, but
I like to consider myself one of the hardest trained in the gym...
in our gym anyway, and maybe in the sport. I push myself every
time I get out there... on the track I try to beat my own sprint
time and my mile time. My sprint and mile time is probably the
best some people would hear and that’s a good thing for
me... it’s lets me know I am accelerating... pushing myself
100%.
JC:
What are your mile and sprint times?
JT: My mile is about a 4:50 mile, and my sprint time, depending
on what I’m running, could range 100 yards @ 4:40. My best
mile time has been 4:50. I can run a good 4 or 5 miles under
a 5:00 mile base.
JC:
What affect, if any, does the audience have on you during your
fights?
JT: They have no affect on me during the fight because I cannot
hear them. I don’t know if they are cheering. The only I
hear is my corner. I focus on training and I listen for one voice.
I am out there doing it for them. The main thing for me when
I train and do all my cardio is that without my fans and the
people in the audience... if no one comes to watch me fight then
I’m not making any money.
JC:
Then it is for the fans?
JT: I’m out there trying to sell our 155 weight class as
the most exciting weight class. We have the most exciting fights.
I’m out there to prove that and I think I do. The 205 pound
guys are quick and agile. The 170, 185 and heavyweights -- no
one has stood out in those weights.
JC:
What is one thing about Josh Thompson that would have people
saying, “hmmm... I didn’t know that?”
JT: From the fans or people that know me? I’m kind of a
loner. I have people who help me in my direction, but I am family
oriented and a loner. I care for and love my family and will
do anything I can for my family. In the time I am doing this
I take care of myself and do my own thing too. Like to be alone
as much as possible. A lot of people look to me if they can’t
help themselves.
JC:
Do you have a girlfriend?
JT: Yes.
JC:
Is she supportive of your MMA career?
JT: Yeah, she is supportive, although I don’t think she
likes it. She supports me, but she doesn’t like when I get
hit. I don’t think any girlfriend or wife likes when their
guy gets hit and the sweat flows off their head -- like something
straight out of Rocky. [laughing] She doesn’t like that,
but otherwise, she is 100% supportive.
JC:
Tell me about your extended family... the guys of AKA in the
house.
JT: The guys are pretty much all my extended family. Guys that
are closest are Javier and Bob. Jav can be compared to a dad
in the gym and “Crazy” Bob could be an older brother.
Both are great guys and deserve a lot of credit for where I am
right now. Everyone else does what they can to help me out and
make sure that we are all successful... and that’s what
a gym and team are for... that’s what they do. [he gets
quiet]
JC:
Is there anything you’d like to say? [pause]
JT: I’d like to thank people. Everything seems to be going
well. I want to thank those who have helped me get to this point.
I have another 5 weeks. Crazy Bob (Cook) and Javier (Mendez)
for my training. The guys in my gym. The biggest help will be
Rich Crunkilton. We train our asses off and go out there and
do it.
JC:
Thank you, Josh... train smart and stay healthy. You’re
4 weeks out and this is where you want to be... [cuts me off
for the LAST time!]
JT: I’ll be there... [I sense a grin]
Source: ADCC
|
Brazilian
Top Hospital
Brazilian Top Hospital with Raphael Nogueira
'It's
not an academy, it's a hospital,' said Zé Mário
Sperry, after his pupil Paulão Filho hurt one of his knees
training for the next IFC. One month earlier, Ricardo Arona had
injured his foot, a little more than a week from the Pride GP.
The master of Brazilian Top Team, Murilo Bustamante replaced
Arona and broke a finger confronting Quinton Jackson. 'It's some
kind of voodoo. Something that nobody can explain,' complained
Sperry.
Zé
Mário himself also got hurt. Two months ago, Zé
broke his hand training with Rodrigo Minotauro. Fabiano 'Pega
Leve' and Haroldo 'Cabelinho' are other names in the patient's
list. They fell out of the ring and hit their heads on the floor
fighting against Assuério silva in Meca 9 and Rodrigo
Ruas in Knock, respectively.
Paulao
is Out! Meca might capitalize it
The
exams Paulo Filho’s has in his hand spells anything but
good news for him. It says that the injury he suffered in the
sparring session at Brazilian Top Team headquarters a week ago
is worse than he expected.
He
hurted his knee badly and will have to have surgery still this
week. So he’s officially out of the next Internacional Fighting
Championship, scheduled to next Saturday, on Denver, Colorado.
And
so it goes down the opportunity to the still undefeated Brazilian
fighter to prove his words were right. Paulao was telling frequently
he would destroy Chute Boxe new talent Mauricio Shogun in that
eight man tournament.
Unable
to climb into the ring next weekend, the fighter has a suggestion
to fix this absence: ‘I know people will start to say I
run out of Shogun, so I will ask Joinha (Jorge Guimaraes) to
put this fight on next Meca.’
The
next edition of Brazilian most prestigious show is predicted
for December, on the South Brazil city Porto Alegre.
Three
times Jiu-Jitsu World Champion Erik Wanderlei will replace Paulao
in the IFC. Wanderlei is coached by Vinicius Draculino Magalhaes
and will debut in the MMA arena
Source: ADCC
|
Heating
up for the IFC tourney:
Hungry for Action Filho Comes as Confident as Ever!
With
a solid record in his MMA career, and great credentials in grappling
sports, Paulo Filho is a top contender in every organization
he fights for although he has been misteriously absent from the
game since his PRIDE debut. As intriguing as it can be, the Brazilian
Top Team fighter debuted in PRIDE with a quick win over Japanese
veteran Akira Shoji, doing what many fighters couldn't do, even
in winning efforts against Shoji, and was never invited back
to PRIDE till this point. Despite that Filho continued to train
hard, and his frustration may only lead to more will to win as
he is finally having his chance to perform again at the IFC tournament
this September 6th, in Denver. This will be Paulo's US debut,
and it couldn't be in better style as a great field of competitors
lies ahead with names like Renato Babalu, Jeremy Horn, Mauricio
Shogun and even up and comer Forrest Griffin. Despite all those
names, Paulo Filho is confident in his skills and sees only the
win in front of him, as he prepares to fight in his first ever
tournament and square off against a Chute Boxe fighter for the
first time in his life. As the date of the show approaches, Full
Contact Fighter continues to heat up things for what promises
to deliver some tough battles, and Paulão speaks with
us in an honest conversation about his next task!
FCF:
After your solid win over Japanese veteran Akira Shoji at PRIDE
22, you never came back to the show and didn't fight in any event.
Was it frustrating for you to keep waiting that long?
PF: This was something I was not expecting. I was expecting that
all the doors would open after that win but I think this was
a backstage problem, not a problem with me. I had some problems
with my managers, and maybe that led to this situation. It's
unexplainable that I defeated Akira Shoji in two minutes, defeated
some of the best Japanese fighters like Minowa, Yuki Kondo. I
have a very good Jiu-Jitsu resume, with 3 BJJ world titles and
5 Brazilian Championships. I'm also a Judo black belt and I fought
in numerous European circuits, and got medals in all of them.
I was 3rd place in the Judo youth world championship, losing
in a split decision in the end. I have been competing since very
young. But the thing is that I'm not a guy who is very friendly
with the media, and I saw a lot of friends getting hindered in
their careers by focusing a lot on the media attention. I don't
want to take part on this, my job is to train and fight, so sometimes
I suffer because of those things. I don't know if you are aware
but when Nino fought Sakuraba I was supposed to fight in his
place, but they decided to use Nino cause they wanted someone
better suited to Sakuraba's style, but in the end things didn't
go as expected and Sakuraba got surprised. Now the IFC tourney
appeared, and I can't stay without fighting for a whole year
so here I am. My first fight is going to be against Mauricio
Shogun, and I'm already eager to fight. He has been talking some
stuff on his side, and I have been quiet, only opening my mouth
every now and then. What I can guarantee you is that I'm ready,
as he must be as well, so this will be a war! May the best man
at the moment win.
FCF:
Did this long hiatus since your first fight give you even more
appetite to fight now in this tournament?
PF: Man, I'll tell you. It gives appetite and it doesn't gives
at the same time. I stayed for a whole year getting promises
of fights, only to see them not happening with three weeks before
the show. So this is a sad situation, cause you start to get
left behind, as time is going by. I was supposed to fight Anderson
Silva one time and unfortunately I got injured, but now people
could see that Anderson is not that great. A lot of comments
were made back when we were supposed to fight that I ran from
him and stuff like that. I would never run from him weighing
93 kg, and him weighing 83 kg. I would get him and, excuse me
for my sincerity; I would break him in half. But since we only
grow in life in our tough moments, I let this behind me and didn't
pay attention to those things. This is just very sad, cause I
fought 5 MMA fights and didn't lose any of them, and I never
got an easy opponent. My easiest fight would be against Claudinho
das Dores, but I was debuting and didn't know shit back then!
I fought out of heart then, and he is somewhat of a dangerous
guy either way, if you check what he did against Haroldo Cabelinho
and Macaco. Anyway, it was sad and I think it was all about backstage
stuff.
FCF:
Finally the opportunity to fight in the IFC tournament appeared,
and you took it. What do you think about fighting three times
in one night? Do you like this format?
PF: I'll tell you the truth man, I liked my side of the brackets.
I liked it cause I'm going to get Shogun in my first fight, and
people may think he is the man here in Brazil, but I don't think
he is that good. I think he is precipitated in his fights, and
when he meets a good Jiu-Jitsu player who can take him down and
play a tight game he will be in trouble. There are plenty of
guys in this tournament that I think can get him in trouble,
such as Babalu, Jeremy Horn or that Team Quest guy that entered
the tournament as well. I think I got a very good side of the
brackets. Babalu is a friend of mine, and we're going to do a
good fight, but I think this may not be a very exciting one.
I got a bit upset that we would maybe have to fight each other
in the semi-finals, but since the promoters wants to see a final
of a Brazilian against an American, it's no problem at all! I'm
prepared and I don't give a damn. I'm not afraid of being hurt,
suffering cuts, braking my nose or my teeth. This stuff doesn't
make any difference for me.
FCF:
Do you believe having to fight 3 times in one night may force
you to change your strategy?
PF: I use to say that my game is a very safe game. I never end
up hurt in any of my fights. My game my look strange to some
people, cause I hold people down, lock them in a position, go
to mount them, then I hit them, then I go back to another position
and the likes. It's sort of a ground and pound game mixed with
some classic Jiu-Jitsu. I know that if I let things go lose,
and my opponent have chances of getting up all the time, one
time or another I'll eat a huge punch and it'll be over for me!
For this event I'll have to be very cool, very smart so even
wining the fights I won't get hurt and then I'll be able to comeback
for the next one. Things are very clear in my head and I'll be
paying attention to everything there, doing a tight game and
some classic Jiu-Jitsu. I never felt so well in my life, but
fights are only going to be decided when they take place.
FCF:
Like you mentioned, you're facing Mauricio Shogun in the first
round. Does the fact that he is a Chute Boxe fighter give you
any special motivation for the fight?
PF: You can be totally sure about that. I have nothing against
the kid, I think we're on the same road, trying to earn our living
in MMA. In fact, in the few times I saw him speaking I didn't
find him to arrogant, but I think he is a bit of a coward when
he is fighting cause when he sees his opponent in a bad situation
he stomps in his face, kicks his head and stuff like that. I
think this people lack a bit of notion, I mean, a kick to someone's
face in this sort of situation can take someone's life away.
I think they should have a bit more of professionalism, and understand
that this is a sport and everybody is going after the same goals,
buying their own houses, etc. I think no one has the right to
want to injury someone on purpose, that didn't do any harm to
you. I don't fear any of the Chute Boxe guys. I'm sure the kid
is training as hard as hell, but I think there's a lot of difference
in terms of genetics between us. I think I'm way more powerful,
way stronger and more relaxed as a fighter than he is. I'm also
way more used to competing than him, with several competitions
in Jiu-Jitsu, Judo and I even won a Grecco-Roman Wrestling championship
recently.
FCF:
Do you fear that the high altitude in Denver may hinder you in
any way?
PF: No, not at all. I think that if this will be tough for me,
it'll be tough for everybody. I think this altitude thing is
very questionable. The key is to eat well, do a good warm up,
and then the fights will be three rounds of five minutes each,
so there's no big mystery about it. I think this time limit will
favor me, and also the wrestlers on the tournament.
FCF:
From all those fighters, who do you believe can be your toughest
opponent in your way to the title?
PF: Man, all of them are tough fighters, but I heard, although
I never saw him fighting, that Trevor Prengley is a very tough
fighter. He comes from the Lions Den, and I heard he is a sort
of a new talent who will get everybody in the tournament. He
is fighting Babalu on the first round, and I trust in Babalu
on this one. He is an experienced fighter and already beat some
very tough opponents in his career.
FCF:
After this tournament, if you become the champion, what's the
next step in your career?
PF: I think a lot of doors will be open after this. You can be
sure that whoever wins this one, will be in a good position.
I still have one fight in my PRIDE contract, so let's see what
will happen. But you know, I'm a guy that don't like to talk
a lot, like Ninja did against Arona and ended up losing the fight.
Even Shogun, I mean, he is a courageous kid, he doesn't have
the same pressure as his brother yet, but in two or three years
he will be at the top. He has a good ground game and has everything
to be a top fighter. I want the best for everybody man! I want
everybody to succeed and hope that God will help us all.
FCF:
Any final message for your fans?
PF: In fact, I think I made so few media appearances that I don't
think I have many fans (Laughs). Anyway, I want to tell to those
that like my work that I'll only leave that cage dead. I have
this very clear in my head, and I'm not going there to participate,
but I'm going there to win. I don't see a lot of names that can
cause me trouble there, but a fight is a fight so we'll have
to fight to see what happens. May the best man win, but I'm going
there to win and those who know me know that I won't lack will
and technique to win this tournament.
FCF:
Thanks for the interview!
PF: Anytime Eduardo.
Source: FCF
|
Sylvia
on Tom Green
It's been a solid time for mixed martial arts getting some exposure
on television. Last week the Best Damn Sports Show on Fox had
the IFC on national television.
Tonight,
the Tom Green Show has UFC Heavyweight Champion, Tim Sylvia on
the show on MTV. The Tom Green Show airs at midnight.
This
show is great exposure for the UFC as the target demographic
on MTV is ages 18-34. This will give more exposure to the sport
from a different group of fans, so check it out tonight on MTV.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
DUANE
"BANG" LUDWIG'S NEXT FIGHT
The last time we saw Duane "Bang" Ludwig, he was fighting
in the K-1 Max Tournament in Japan. The last time we saw Bang
fight in MMA, was of course against Genki Sudo in the UFC.
Will
Ludwig get another shot at Sudo? That's what manager Sven Bean
hopes as he told MMAWeekly Radio yesterday. Bean said quote...
"His
next fight will be in November back in Japan in the Max series.
This won't be a tournament, this will be a single bout. It's
nice that they are keeping the middleweight fighters in the public
eye. We don't have an opponent yet, but it will be a Japanese
fighter. We are actually hoping for Genki Sudo in that fight.
I think it would be great."
Source: MMA Weekly
|
SVEN
TALKS LUDWIG'S FUTURE; SPRATT COMMENTS; AND TYSON VS CRO COP
He's a
promoter and manager. Sven Bean manages some of the best fighters
in the world including Duane "Bang" Ludwig and Pete
Spratt. Hear the man talk about K-1, Ludwig's future, Spratt's
comments, and Tyson vs Cro Cop, in our Interview of the Week.
Ryan
Bennett: It's unfortunate that you're going to miss the IFC Tournament
this weekend in your backyard of Colorado.
Sven
Bean: Yea I got to go up and corner Pete Spratt this weekend
as he goes up to fight in Canada for TKO against George St.Pierre.
So I will miss the show here. Duty calls, I gotta go.
Ryan:
Tell me about the buzz in Denver for this huge IFC tournament.
Sven:
Obviously when a show of this magnitude comes into town the first
people to know about it is the fight community. Word of mouth
is great here. Everyone knows it's coming and hopefully they
will do the numbers they need.
Ryan:
You mention cornering Pete Spratt this weekend. You heard his
comments on MMAWeekly Radio. What was your take about his thoughts?
Sven:
First off I think you have to realize where Pete's mind frame
is. He's very competitive and he's fired up for this upcoming
fight. I didn't listen live because of a doctor's appointment.
Pete left a message on my cell phone saying he went off on the
radio, so I knew something was up. I listened to the radio archives
and he's just excited. I don't think he really said anything
wrong, I just think he's very amped up so he came off strong.
I think he wants to get back and fighting the top guys again.
Not saying this fight isn't big this weekend, it's just that
he wants to stay busy and fight on all the shows. He's just frustrated
about that right now.
Ryan:
St.Pierre made the comments last week that Pete is overlooking
him. What do you think?
Sven:
I don't think he's doing that at all. But at the same time that
talk fuels him. I know he wants to win in dramatic fashion. I
don't think he's overlooking him at all. I just think he wants
to go in there, get the win and get the "W". That's
all he's thinking about. He fights just one fight at a time.
When you've been to the big show, you have to realize that every
fight on the show needs to be a stellar performance to keep you
at the top. He's not looking past this guy at all. He's putting
pressure on himself to do well.
Ryan:
These types of fight are tough, because Pete is favored to win
this fight and he is supposed to win this fight. St.Pierre is
new to the fans, but I know he's a tough guy. I think this will
be a tough fight because St.Pierre has EVERYTHING to gain and
nothing to lose. Does Spratt feel he needs a KO to get back into
the UFC?
Sven:
I think people fight in the UFC when the time, the opponent and
the purse is right. Things need to come together and timing is
a big part of that. The UFC did make an offer for us to fight.
It just wasn't the right fight. There's nothing that the UFC
is doing wrong or anything like that. The UFC just has a few
spots available on each pay per view, so it comes down to timing
a lot of the time. We did a three fight deal with them which
was great at the time, but in that deal we had to fight Carlos
Newton and we kind of stepped up to the plate and helped them
out by taking that fight at that time. Pete wasn't quite ready
at that time for Newton. But what we really wanted was Robbie
Lawler, so the UFC stepped up to the plate and gave us Robbie
Lawler, so they stepped up to the plate that third fight with
Lawler. Now the contract was up and we wanted to keep going and
continue the momentum and fight because that was a big win for
us. The fighters that were available for us to fight, didn't
make sense career wise.
Ryan:
Was one of those guys you mention Matt Hughes?
Sven:
They did put Matt Hughes on the table, and we said we wanted
to fight Matt, but we wanted to do it in two fights. We wanted
to get a couple of fights in the Octagon and build it a little
more. We learned that from jumping in against Carlos....
Ryan:
Let me jump in here a bit. Here's what the fans are going to
say. They are going to say "Pete has to the fight the top
guys no matter what because he's fighting in the UFC." Then
there's the other side of that and I'm not sure if this is what
you are saying...."Robbie Lawler is a great fighter, but
he hasn't had to face Carlos Newton or Matt Hughes" is that
correct?
Sven:
Yea, but I'm saying more than that. Pete, before he faces Matt,
needs to face a couple of guys. I would love to have that in
the UFC because he is built up more, becomes more recognizable.
If he fights two more times before Matt then it becomes a much
bigger fight for us and the UFC. The problem with that thought
process is the fact that it always doesn't work with the UFC
because they have only so many spots available. They wanted us
to fight Matt Hughes right away and I didn't want to do and that's
why he's not fighting for the UFC right now. It has nothing to
do with the UFC not offering fights, it was judgment call on
our part. To keep him busy we took this fight against St.Pierre.
I'm not taking anything away from St.Pierre because let me tell
you, those guys up there, they are a very serious team of fighters.
You look at Loiseau, St.Pierre, Menjivar, they are really, really,
good. They just aren't known to the fans. I don't see Pete losing
this weekend though.
Ryan:
Here's the scary part though Sven. Look at what's happened recently.
Jeremy Jackson was supposed to be in the UFC, he loses to Nick
Diaz, they put Diaz in the UFC to face Dennis Hallman for September
26th....Hallman then loses in King of the Cage, so he's out and
they put Jackson back in. Pete has to see the track record of
these guys around him right?
Sven:
That's EXACTLY right. Hey if I could predict the winners of every
fight, I wouldn't be a fight promoter or manager, I would just
bet on the fights. That's what I like about the fight game, you
never know. It's not a team sport, you just go out there one
on one and throw it all out there. You train so hard, and even
then, when it's not your night, it's not your night.
Ryan:
Yea this business is not forgiving at all. Let's talk about another
one of your fighters, Duane "Bang" Ludwig. We saw him
fight in Japan in K-1 Max....last time we saw him in MMA was
against Genki Sudo. When's he fighting again?
Sven:
His next fight is in November back in Japan in the Max series.
This won't be a tournament, this will be a single bout. It's
nice that they are keeping the middleweight fighters in the public
eye. We don't have an opponent yet, but it will be a Japanese
fighter. We are actually hoping for Genki Sudo in that fight.
I think it would be great. If Duane could fight Genki in stand
up rules and not have to even worry about the take downs, then
I think it's light's out.
Ryan:
I don't think Sudo would want that fight if it's just stand up
in K-1....
Sven:
I don't know, he might. Genki is a warrior and he's a star over
there. If they pay him right you never know. I think Uno could
be another name to fight. There's a ton of great middleweight
fighters. I know he would love to fight Masato again real bad.
If he does it would probably be sometime next year for his title.
I think the best thing that could happen to Duane was that Masato
won. It solidified the K-1 Max division as a promotion. It basically
created job security because now they have a champion and they
will do it again. Last year there was 8,000 people there, this
year 16,000. Hopefully it keeps building like the heavyweights
are doing.
Ryan:
You mention the heavyweights, that is a crazy division right
now. It's a circus. We are hearing about Mike Tyson coming in.
You have Bob Sapp fighting a match against Kimo, you have Butterbean
out there. Mirko Cro Cop said it's like professional wrestling.
More of a spectacle that sport. What's your take on the heavyweight
division?
Sven:
I think they are in a tough situation. There are only so many
great heavyweight kick boxers. Unfortunately, most of them are
at the end of the careers. They are fazing out. They are trying
to bring young guys in, but they are in a weird position because
they don't have enough, young great fighters out there that are
coming up. So they have to go to the entertainment side. It's
all good and as long as they continue to sell a lot of tickets
and continue to get people at the shows, to watch the fight it's
fine. There's a very thin line though to cross before the point
of no return. Bob Sapp isn't the most technical fighter, but
he is winning, so what can you do. You can't deny he's a force
to reckon with. Is he the best stylistic fighter? No, but hey
he's so big and strong, that's why only a few guys has had some
success against him.
Ryan:
With that said, how will Mike Tyson do in K-1?
Sven:
Depending on who he fights. If he fights Bob Sapp, he will knock
out Sapp in my opinion. If he fights Mirko Cro Cop, he wouldn't
stand a chance against him....
Ryan:
Why do you say that?
Sven:
Because Mirko will move and is very quick. Tyson would never
get close to him and I know Tyson has never felt a leg kick,
especially coming from a guy like Mirko, even a kick to the body,
he hasn't' felt power like that from a kick. Even Tyson has said
he doesn't want to get kicked in the head. Here he is fighting
in K-1 and doesn't want to get kicked to the head. I don't think
he has to worry about with Bob Sapp, but Mirko or Ernesto (Hoost)
he will get kicked and we will see what happens. They will be
smart and give him the right fights to start off. I'm not saying
they will be worked fights, because he will have to win those
fights on his own accord, but he isn't going to fight the top
guys right away. Maybe Butterbean...(laughs)
Ryan:
It will be interesting to see what happens with Butterbean...(laughs).
See this is what is killing it though. You have Butterbean, Mike
Tyson and Sapp, then you have these smaller guys like Masato
and Bang who are truly talented and they can all go....
Sven:
Duane and Pete have more talent in one arm or one leg than Butterbean
or Sapp have put together. The little guys can't get a 10th of
the pay day these guys are getting. There are so many more 170
pounds guys than 300 pound guys.
Ryan:
See that's the tough part, these guys have more talent, but it's
Sapp that sells the tickets and creates more money in the game.
Back to Bang Ludwig. When will we see him fight in the UFC?
Sven:
I think both Pete and Duane fighting in the UFC next year. There
just are enough spots on the next couple of shows. I've heard
from Dana White and Joe Silva and they like their styles and
they are both exciting fighters. What the UFC is doing is trying
to get more positions for more fighters, so we will just have
to wait it out and see what happens. It's all about timing. You
have to get the right fighters, the right money, etc.
Ryan:
Cool anything else we need to get into this interview?
Sven:
Yea I just wanted to say good luck to my girl, Amanda Buckner
since I won't be there for the IFC this weekend. She has trained
her butt off for it. She is a stud. She picked up training fast.
She's jiu jiutsu based, but has worked a lot on her stand up
and boxing. She went toe to toe with Jennifer Howe for two rounds.
It was amazing to see. She's just gotten better since then. She's
real athletic and she's going to get better. There are less opportunities
for women fighters than the men, so if an opportunity comes up,
you have to take it no matter what. There isn't many women fighters
out there. She has had so many high profile fights early in her
career, but you have to take them because you don't know how
many you will get. She is in the top 10 in my opinion and i hope
she does real well this week.
Ryan:
Alright Sven, good job man. We will have you back on the radio
soon...
Sven:
Thanks Ryan, should be a fun weekend for fight fans every where.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Pedro
Rizzo Leaving The Octagon For PRIDE?
According
to an interview on the tatame website, Pedro "The Rock"
Rizzo might be headed to the PRIDE Fighting Championships.
Rizzo,
who was in attendance at the PRIDE Grand Prix in August, had
the following to say regarding his current status with the Ultimate
Fighting Championship, "I just commented I will make my
final fight at Ultimate and after that I would be open to new
proposals. He said we would talk after that."
Pedro,
who was last seen defeating Tra Telligman in their rematch at
UFC 43, offered the following comment regarding how he'll adjust
from UFC to PRIDE, if he makes the jump, "At Pride I have
good chances to improve my career. The Ultimate is better for
wrestlers."
Pedro
Rizzo has one fight remaining on his UFC contract, and it's heavily
rumored that he'll be in charge of welcoming back Ricco Rodriguez
to the octagon, possibly in November.
Source: MMA News
|
Quote
of the Day
"It is better to know some of the questions than all of
the answers."
James Thurber
|
Super
Brawl 31 Fights Announced!
More fights will be announced as we get closer to the event on
September 20 at the Blaisdell Arena.
Main
Event
185lbs 3x5 minute rounds
1. Jason Miller (Team Oyama 10-3) v Egan Inoue (13-4 Grappling
Unlimited 'GU')
Miller will not be an easy opponent for Egan's "comeback"
fight. He is an ultra-aggressive fighter with an unorthodox style.
Although he is a submission wizard, he will likely attempt to
land knees and punches while standing and be the aggressor in
the fight. Egan will have to stay focused and capitalize on any
mistake his younger opponent makes and make him pay for it.
Egan
needs this win bad to keep the momentum going for a rematch with
Suda in an attempt to regain his Super Brawl title. Remember,
the crazy Miller took out one of the favorites of the middleweight
tournament Jay Buck in impressive fashion. He has also shown
that he can take a beating and keep on ticking. Talks are going
extremely well for Inoue/Suda II, but there is nothing in writing
as of yet. Hopefully a match will be signed for the November
or early next year show. Let's keep our fingers crossed that
Egan gets by Miller and Suda signs on the dotted line.
155lbs 3x3 minute rounds
9. Santino De Franco (808ff 10-4) v Deshaun "3D" Johnson
(HMC 5-4)
The Brazilian De Franco has a solid Jiu-Jitsu background and
has lethal submissions on the ground. 3D is coming down in weight
and likes to "bang". He will attempt to resist the
take-down attempts of his opponent and "sprawl-and-brawl"!
Deshaun
is coming back from a brutal battle with Mark Moreno in Hilo.
Johnson's heart will never be questioned again after he endured
a fierce pounding. Santino is a ground wizard and coming off
a six fight win streak. The question will be if Deshaun is fully
healed after the damage he took just one month ago.
135lbs
3x3 minute rounds
10. Loren "New Guy" (HMC 0-0) v Harvey (GU 0-0)
HMC is known for putting out well rounded fighters. Expect nothing
less from Loren. Harvey has lightning fast hands and is rapidly
learning the ground game at Grappling Unlimited.
|
UFC
44: Undisputed Card Complete
The card for UFC 44: Undisputed has been finalized, winners to
be determined September 26. The lineup is:
Tito
Ortiz vs. Randy Couture (LHW Title Bout)
Tim Sylvia vs. Gan McGee (HW Title Bout)
Vladimir Matyushenko vs. Andrei Arlovski
Rich Franklin vs. Edwin Dewees
Jorge Rivera vs. David Loiseau
Dave Strasser vs. Karo Parisyan
Jeremy Jackson vs. Nick Diaz
Caol Uno vs. Hermes Franca
Josh Thompson vs. Gerald Strebendt
Source:
Sherdog |
Takada’s
Tough Cookie
It’s a good thing
that Dream Stage Entertainment executive producer Nobuhiko Takada
doesn’t write fortune cookies, because if he did there would
be some pretty ticked off Chinese food lovers.
The
normally cordial and businesslike Takada had some blatant words
for some of his most loyal fighters recently saying that "Incompetent
fighters are going to start disappearing. Even if he has a great
record in the past, he’s of no use to PRIDE if he cannot
win today. This goes for names as big as Vovchanchyn, Goodridge,
or the former Heavyweight champion, Nogueira. Each fight in PRIDE
is going to be like a survival match." (Original Takada
interview posted at PRIDEfc.com)
While
obviously, each organization wants the best fighters in the world
on their cards, and it is Takada’s right to can the aforementioned
if he so pleases, it just doesn’t seem fair, or logical,
to take three quality heavyweights and threaten them with the
gallows on the outcome of one fight. There are several reasons
why Takada’s words don’t sound all that fair, or well
thought out.
For
one thing, what are the grounds for threatening? Takada’s
cleaning the diner by throwing out the donuts, but it’s
the bagels that are stale. Gary Goodridge has always been a journeyman,
and Igor Vovchanchyn is on a downward spiral with consecutive
loses to Heath Herring and Quinton Jackson, but both these warriors
magnetize seats and butts, filling arenas with their name.
Quality
fighters who have thrown down and held their own against world
class competitors should not be threatened while Japanese stars
like the 3-12 Alexander Otsuka or the 6-10-2 Daijiro Matsui continue
to enter the PRIDE ring, only to either get beaten, or feed off
of sub-par, dangerously inexperienced opponents with losing records
(i.e. Rory Singer, Kenichi Yamamoto).
Toss
in the fact that Matsui fights out of the dojo Takada is famous
for, the one aptly named, Takada Dojo and suddenly the melon
scratching commences.
The
obvious knowledge that Nobuhiko Takada was a 3-6-2 fighter during
his five-year ring career is somewhat irrelevant. So what if
the "incompetent" Igor Vovchanchyn made him cry uncle?
According to Takada if you can’t win today, hit the road.
Unless
of course you’re Kazushi Sakuraba, 2-4 since 2001, whose
coincidentally the darling of Takada Dojo. It also seems surprising
that he would threaten the ex-champ Antonio ‘Minotauro’
Nogueira. One loss to Fedor Emelianenko after seven straight
victories only one of them by decision in Takada’s organization
and what does Nogueira get as reward? a pink slip dangling in
front of his face.
Between
Nogueira, Goodridge and Vovchanchyn, PRIDE fans have witnessed
wars with the likes of Bob Sapp, Mirko ‘Cro-Cop’ Filipovic,
and Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson, just to name three of
many. Their combined record in PRIDE is 28-12 with one no-contest,
that of course being Vovchanchyn’s famous knee to the head
of Mark Kerr. Now they’re faced with threats of expulsion.
And people say PRIDE treats it’s fighters the best.
There’s
something sad about the insinuation of expulsion if Nogueira,
and especially Goodridge and Vovchanchyn lose. Something fun
lingers in watching the battle for one’s livelihood, and
Takada’s doing it not to rid PRIDE of inept fighters because
these aren’t the worst PRIDE fighters, they’re some
of the best. He’s doing it, because it’s damn good
TV. It’s a technique often used in pro-wrestling in the
WWE, and by golly gee take a look at that: Takada used to be
a pro-wrestler.
Also,
with the exception of Nogueira, the fighter’s facing the
boot are heavy underdogs. Just look at the sequences: Goodridge
loses to Nogueira without much of a rumble, Fedor handles Nogueira.
Does Goodridge have a chance against a guy whose harder to beat
than his name is hard to spell?
Then
there’s good old Igor. Again, the sequence. He lost to heath
Herring who was blasted by ‘Cro-Cop.’ Also, Igor is
on a skid whereas Filipovic is red hot and taking names. So now
we have two huge underdogs fighting for their jobs on American
PPV TV. Americans have a history of rooting for the underdog
whose back is against the ropes, that’s how America was
founded.
Takada
knows exactly what he’s doing. If Igor and Goodridge lose
will they never see the PRIDE ring again? Maybe not. What’s
so frustrating about the statements Takada made is that nobody
knows for sure if these fighters will be let go.
But
the chances of Americas wanting to see it are now greatly increased,
and Takada is doing something very cruel, and very smart: he’s
manipulating emotion to lure viewers. He’s borrowed techniques
from pro-wrestling, a concept that’s garnered much more
success than MMA worldwide, and is incorporating them into MMA
to make for one of the most spectacular shows ever, and the fights
haven’t even happened yet.
Source:
Sherdog |
PELÉ
LANDY: 'I´M BUILDING A CHAMPION´S ARMY'
After José 'Pelé' Landy left the world famous Chute
Boxe Team over financial disagreements with team leader Rudimar
Fedrigo, many people thought his career was over. But it hasn´t
happen that way. Due to his amazing popularity in Curitiba, the
Cuban fighter's adopted home in South Brazil, the famous champion
attracted many fighters to train with him.
After
spending several months improving his ground skills at Gracie
Barra, Pelé returned to his homebase and started to work
hard with his father, the ex-boxing champion, Victoriano LAndy,
to produce new champions. The results of their hard work could
be seen at 2o Knock Out Cup, a Vale-Tudo event that took place
in Curitiba last Friday. In his debut as trainer Pelé
fighters earned two wins. Luis Charneski won the superfight and
Sandro Reni became the big story of the night, beating 3 opponents
in less than 3 minutes to win the 8 man tournament. After the
event we had the following conversation with the leader of Team
Pelé.
How
do you analyze your debut as trainer? Couldn´t be better!
We put two fighters in the event and got four wins. This is just
the beginning. I dream a lot and I have always dreamed. I never
stop until I make my dreams came true. We are building an army
of champions.
This
guy Sandro was pretty impressive. He won three fights in less
than 3 minutes. How long have you been working with him? Sandro
has been working with me for 3 years. He is a karate black belt
and he gave us trouble in the beginning because he brought many
bad habits from karate. But the most important thing he brought
with him was his heart of a lion. Since the first time I saw
him I told him 'I´m sure you will be a champion'.
What
about Luis Charneski, the guys who won the superfight? My goal
with him is make him king of Shooto, and I will work as much
as possible to reach this goal.
Why
didn´t you bring Eliezer Ninja, the top fighter on your
team, to fight in 2o KO Cup? He is going to fight in a Vale-Tudo
event that I´m producing here in Curitiba on October 17.
He already has 7 fights and 7 wins by knock out. In my opinion
he is already the best fighter in the world in 83kg category.
Tell
me more about this event? I´ll try to bring the real Vale-Tudo
essence that made me recognized worldwide, though we will be
using gloves. Headbutts, elbows, and kicks on the ground will
be allowed, and the fights will last 30 minutes. Diovani Aparício
(Brazilian Impacto), promoter of 2o KO Cup and Jorge Macaco will
help me to do this event.
What´s
the importance of your father in the training of the Team? My
father is everything. He is the grandpa of all the athletes.
He is taking care of the fighters 24 hours a day.
You
training center is open to anyone? Anyone who wants to came and
join the team is welcome. We are building accomodations in our
training center for fighters who want to come to Curitiba to
train with us. If someone has interest to be part of Pelé
Team my e-mail is pelefight@sulbbs.com.br
What about ground skills. I didn´t see Team Pele´s
technique on the ground today. Sandro knocked out the 3 opponents
fast and Charneski was completely dominated on the ground until
he got got the knock out. How are your working your guys on the
ground? We always work here in Curitiba with the Gracie Barra
representative, Gustavo Mugiati (Guti). They are training hard
with Guti and I spent some time in Rio last month training at
the Gracie Barra Headquarters.
How
was that? Did you have the opportunity to train with Cacareco,
Nino and the other top guys? Sure, they were really nice to me
and treated me fine. The training on the ground there is really
excellent. I had the opportunity to train with Elvis (Nino Schiembri)
and he made me feel like a little baby. I also wanted to train
throws with Cacareco and I can tell you the guy is really tough,
in my opinion he is one of the best wrestlers in the world. Nobody
can take him down.
Do
you want to have a revenge fight in England? From now on I´m
in a new phase. I´ll just fight in events who give me excellent
proposals and at least 4 months to train. I don´t have
to prove anything to anybody.
Source: ADCC |
UFC
44: The First Look At Edwin “Baby Face” Dewees
One
of most active professional fighters to come out of Arizona today
is undoubtedly Edwin Dewees. The 21-year-old has 40 fights under
his belt in just 4 years, mounting a 34-6 MMA record. The Brazilian
Jiu-Jitsu brown belt can boast that 75% of his wins are by Round
1 submission. Dewees has been featured in the Arizona Republic
and has built a tremendous fan base in Arizona. Knowing God got
him where he is today, I found the 205-pounder to humbly exude
confidence in himself as he looks to surprise a lot of people
in his UFC debut on September 26, 2003.
JC:
What were you like growing up?
ED: Rambunctious, wild, played all the time, happy playful kid,
went to school and had fun with friends, wasn’t much into
sports. In grade school I played in the playground. I wasn’t
really into sports in HS, just went and hung out.
JC:
When did you start training in martial arts?
ED: In the 11th grade. I was 17-years-old.
JC:
How did you come to train in martial arts?
ED: I wrestled part of a season in HS. I watched fights. Someone
gave me a ticket to Rage In The Cage. I went. I saw some of the
fighters and thought I could do it. I fought the middleweight
champion before I had any training. I did real well. Roland Sarria
offered me a chance to train at his school for free.
JC:
And that was your introduction to MMA?
ED: Yes, I got a ticket, went to the fight, thought I could do
it... and the rest is history.
JC:
And when was that?
ED: April 12, 2000.
JC:
Where do you train?
ED: Brausa Academy in Tempe, Arizona.
JC:
Who are your trainers?
ED: Roland Sarria cardio, wrestling and jiu-jitsu; Bob Carmel
who has trained Mark Kerr, Ricco Rodriguez, is my Muay Thai trainer.
JC:
What is the name of your fight team?
ED: Brausa
JC:
What are your disciplines?
ED: BJJ, Wrestling and Muay Thai.
JC:
Do you compete in grappling tournaments?
ED: Yes, I have... in Desert Quest and Grapplers Quest West in
Las Vegas (where he took 1st Place in the Advanced Cruiserweight
division).
JC:
What is your MMA record?
ED: 34-6-0
JC:
Who are your influences in MMA?
ED: My favorite fighter is Frank Shamrock because of his conditioning;
like when he fought Tito Ortiz, it was amazing.
JC:
Who has been your toughest opponent in MMA?
ED: Antonio McGee (from Tedd Williams Grappling). It was my first
fight ever. I had just started doing jiu-jitsu. He was the KOTC
middleweight champion and 2X National wrestler, he took me down,
I tried to get out, I was inexperienced. It was tough on me.
JC:
Who would your ultimate opponent be?
ED: Tito Ortiz... someday.
JC:
What was your most memorable fight?
ED: Beating Homer Moore on Saturday, March 1, 2003 (at RITC 51:
Finally). Homer was known as the top dog in Arizona and everybody
thought he was unbeatable. (Dewees earned the Rage in the Cage
Light Heavyweight championship with this win.)
JC:
What affect, if any, does the audience have on you during your
fights?
ED: They do not affect me. I try to make them happy and be an
entertaining fighter. It’s not just fighting, but entertaining
too. I try to keep them happy, but in a fight, they don’t
affect me. I’ve fought 40 times, so I’ve learned to
tune everything out.
JC:
Do you have a nickname?
ED: Yes, Baby Face.
JC:
Why the nickname Baby Face?
ED: If you saw me you would know why. I look about 13.
JC:
A majority of your wins are by submissions. Do you favor submissions?
ED: I like the saying if it’s not broke, don’t fix
it. If I can win by submission, I’m going to win... I don’t
want to stand up. Even if I punch a guy 4 times and he punches
me once, I’m still getting punched, so if I can take him
down and submit him in the 1st round, that’s clearly fine
by me.
JC:
What can be said about your stand up... have he had successes?
ED: I’ve had 3 KO wins. I train everyday with boxers who
have been training boxing for 8-10 years. I’m hanging with
then now, and even beating some. Bob (Carmel) says my stand up
is coming along faster then anyone he has seen and he has been
training for 23 years. I’ve been doing pretty good.
JC:
Do you prefer tournaments or single matches?
ED: I would like to fight 1 fight a night, but a tournament is
okay every once in a while.
JC:
You’re an extremely active RITC competitor. Why really no
other organizations?
ED: I just fought in Hawaii at Rumble on the Rocks. I don’t
see a purpose. They aren’t paying good. I don’t like
to travel, stay in a hotel and not know my opponents. When I
am here I have a tremendous fan base. I don’t think all
the other shows are that great. I like KOTC and Rumble and UFC,
but none of the other shows I would like to fight in.
JC:
So, shows like WEC and HOOKnSHOOT aren’t to your liking?
ED: I like those, but they never call me.
JC:
You competed 2 weeks ago, which could have proven badly for your
UFC debut if you had lost, as with Dennis Hallman.
ED: I know, it was risky, but I like to be active and not take
too much time off. This would have been my longest lay off ever.
I just love to stay active. I also figured if I fought Saturday
and lost, I didn’t deserve the fight in the UFC.
JC:
Thoughts on your UFC debut?
ED: I think I am going to surprise a lot of people.
JC:
Why is that?
ED: I’m pretty much expected to lose. They already have
Rich Franklin set up for his next fight. They are kind of looking
past me. But that is how my whole career has gone ever since
I first started fighting. They look past me, but they don’t
get past me. That’s pretty much what’s going to happen.
JC:
Why do you think people are looking past you?
ED: I think because most of my fights are in RITC. I won’t
know what to do when I leave Arizona. Rich Franklin is obviously
a very good opponent, but they are just looking past me because
I haven’t really gone out there.
JC:
Do you have a game plan?
ED: In my 40 fights, I’ve played with having a game plan,
but I kind of found out if you have a game plan and it doesn’t
work it’s going to mess up your mind. What I do is I go
out there and whatever happens, happens because I’ve trained
real well for every aspect that I don’t have to have a plan
anymore. I go out there and react to whatever happens.
JC:
Thoughts on opponent Rich Franklin?
ED: I think he is real tough. He is very good at stand up and
I know his ground game is sharp, but I don’t think it’s
better then mine. I have a feeling they are looking past my stand
up, because they think I haven’t been doing stand up. I
have been doing it secretly for the past year with Bob Carmel,
who is very good at stand up.
JC:
Will the traveling, lights, etc affect you?
ED: I don’t think it will. RITC isn’t near UFC. I’ve
done 40 fights. All my jitters are gone. I’ll be focused
and ready to fight.
JC:
Are you happy or content with the UFC situation?
ED: Yes, very happy. Everything has been good and is running
smooth.
JC:
Tell me about your training.
ED: It includes lots of cardio for conditioning. I’ll go
with 10 different people for 10 minutes. A lot of sprints. Roland’s
strength exercises with monster truck tires, and heavy 80 pound
sandbags, Muay Thai at night, and Jiu-Jitsu classes.
JC:
Is this full-time for you?
ED: Yes. I also teach Jiu-Jitsu classes. Practice 8:00AM to 12:00PM,
go home rest and eat, go back from 4:00PM to 9:00PM, come home
and do it again the next day.
JC:
When you aren’t training or competing, what do you like
to do?
ED: Body build and workout. Rodeo riding horses and roping. No
circuits yet.
JC:
What would you be doing if you weren’t fighting?
ED: Probably bodybuilding and a police officer. I’d already
be competing on the rodeo circuit.
JC:
Where do you see yourself 1 year from today?
ED: Fighting for a title.
JC:
Tito Ortiz?
ED: Yes.
JC:
Randy Couture?
ED: Yes.
JC:
How about a girlfriend?
ED: I’m getting married next year.
JC:
What does your fiance think about you being in MMA?
ED: She is 100% supportive. She goes with me to practice every
single day. The gym is like 120* and she is there with me. She
cooks me all my good food. She loves it!
JC:
How important is it for you to have that support?
ED: I couldn’t do it without her.
JC:
When was the last time you told her that?
ED: This morning.
JC:
What is one thing about Edwin Dewees that would have people saying,
“hmmm... I didn't know that?”
ED: That I have stand-up.
JC:
Is there anything you’d like to say?
ED: I’m glad to be representing Arizona. Thank you to showdownfightergear.com,
Roland Sarria (his workout system will be featured Grappling
magazine). I will have a spread in Grappling magazine if I beat
Rich Franklin. Hello to the Fletcher family. And I’m happy
to be fighting in the UFC... it’s a dream come true and
I’m going to take it a long way.
JC:
Thank you, Edwin.
ED: You’re welcome.
Dewees
is scheduled to meet Rich Franklin of Team Extreme at “UFC
44: Undisputed” in Las Vegas, Nevada on Friday, September
26, 2003. Check out www.UFC.tv for more information.
Source: ADCC |
Quote
of the Day
"My interest is in the future...because I'm going to spend
the rest of my life there."
Charles Kettering
|
V
INTERNATIONAL MASTERS & SENIORS Tournament
Date: August 30th
Place: Tijuca Tennis Clube, Rio de Janeiro
An
enthusiastic audience saw a great show at the V INTERNATIONAL
MASTER & SENIOR DE JIU JITSU. Keeping up with tradition the
best matches occured in the masters division, especially in the
medium-heavy and heavy weight with the presence of Fabio Gurgel,
Marcello Grosso, Jorge 'Macaco' & Givanildo Santana.
CBJJ
President Carlos Gracie Jr did not fight as no one signed to
face him. It is easy to understand why considering the fact that
to this day Carlinhos still submits many of his World Champions
at Gracie Barra .
Notable
in the Brown Belt was Japan's Fukuzumi Shinsuki master feather,
who showcased an advanced game while defeating 3 opponent's on
his way to the title.
Luis
Claudio had extra pressure to win. Performing under the watchfull
eyes of his instructor Rickson Gracie, who has been vacationing
in Rio, Claudio defeated last year's World Champion Marcos Norat
to win the master super-feather.
In
the master feather Otavio 'Ratinho' Couto, widely recognized
as one of the best instructors for the Master Team, was the odds
on favorite.Ratinho however succumbed to Joao Carlos Shinzato
(Alliance) who took advantage of Ratinho's lapse to sweep him.
'Megaton'
Diaz determination paid of once again as he repeated as the Senior
Feather Champion by choking André Rocha in the final.
Megaton competes every year in most tournaments fighting in th
adults division and is a virtual shoo in at the senior level
In
the medium Muzio de Angelis conquered a long deserved title.
DE Nagelis had been on a self-professed 'title drought' and had
several subpar performances in previous event. This time however,
it was NO MORE! as he defeated Marcos Carvalho by guard pass
and knee on the stomach in the finals.
Jorge
'Macaco' made his debut in the Masters and seniors fighting in
the medium-heavy, opened up by submitting Olavo (BTT) by arm
triangle. 'Macaco' won his next match and faced Givanildo Santana
in the final, with Givanildo winning by advantage.
'Bebeo'
Duarte, one of BTT leaders, lost his oppening match against Marcos
Meirelles. On the other side of the bracket Fabio Gurgel &
Marcello Grosso (BTT),squared off with Gurgel winning by guard
pass. Teammates Gurgel and Meirelles closed out the division.
In
the Absolute Master it was Givanildo conquering the title over
Cabral by a score of 8 x 0.
Master:
Super-
Feather: Luiz Claudio Augusto (Rickson Gracie) beat Marcos Norat
(Gracie Humaita)
Feather: Joao Carlos Shinz (Alliance) beat Otavio 'Ratinho' Couto
(Master)
Light: Luis Henrique 'Cabelinho' (Gracie Barra) and Luciano Nunes
(Gracie-SP)
closed this weight class
Medium: Muzio De Angelis (Master) beat Marcos Carvalho (Kioto)
Medium-Heavy: Givanildo Santana (Lotus Club) beat Jorge 'Macaco'
Patino (Gold Team)
Heavy: Fabio Gurgel (Alliance) and Marcos Meirelles (Alliance)
closed the weight
Super Heavy: Paulo 'Peposo' Rodrigues (Peposo Team) beat Danilo
Rodacki (Team
Winner-Behring)
Absoluto: Givanildo Santana (Lotus Club) beat Vinicius Amaral
(Carlson Gracie Team)
Team
Titles:
Champion
- Gracie Humaita
2nd- Carlson Gracie/U.G.F.
3rd- Master Team
Source: ADCC |
Tim
Sylvia on the Tom Green Show
More
mainstream exposure for the UFC and their fighters!
We
received this brief note from UFC's Josh Hedges:
UFC
Heavyweight Champion Tim Sylvia will be a guest on MTV's Tom
Green Show this Tuesday (September 2).
Check
local listings for the correct broadcast time.
Source: ADCC
|
Rising
Sun Report: Pancrase Recap
Some
of mixed martial arts' big names checked into the Ryogoku Kokugikan
in Tokyo yesterday for Pancrase's Tenth Anniversary show. Here's
how the card went down:
Josh
Barnett vs. Yuki Kondo
This "King of Pancrase" title match had the potential
to be a mismatch. Barnett weighed in at 113.8 kilos while Kondo
was a mere 86.9 kilos. In spite of this, the match was competitive.
The first round a cautious Barnett kept Kondo pinned in the corner
and traded knees and punches with the Japanese fighter. The second
round saw the former UFC champ score a takedown, get the mount
and score some punches. Kondo, in a valiant effort, struggled
and squirmed his way back to standing only to be taken down and
pounded again, surviving the round. In the third round, Kondo
had his best moments. After getting suplexed twice by Barnett,
the american fighter paused to see if Kondo was unconscious.
Kondo took advantage, escaped to standing and jarred Barnett
with a series of knees to the head. But it was a short rally,
as Barnett struggled into a clinch, got the takedown, and then
caught Kondo in a sleeper hold.
Sanae
Kikuta vs. Elvis Sinosic
Is there anyone more methodical than Sanae Kikuta? In each round
he took Sinosic down early. Then, over and over again, he'd maneuver
to progressively better positions and then submission holds.
With slow certainty, dominated all aspects of the ground game
all Sinosic could do was hang on and defend against numerous
kimura attempts in order to not get submitted.
Crosley
Gracie vs. Kiuma Kunioku
This was Crosley Gracie's pancrase debut and, in true Gracie
style, he outperformed Kunioku on the ground. The only problem
was getting him there. The game japanese fighter gave Gracie
all he could handle standing up and stopped a number of takedowns.
Kunioku scored a lot of punches and worked on Gracie's lead leg
with shin kicks throughout the fight. But Gracie scored good
punches of his own, opening up a cut above Kunioku's eye that
the doctor had to check twice in the third round. In the end,
the lanky Gracie's ground control and competitive stand-up earned
him a unanimous decision.
Minoru
Suzuki vs. Takashi Iizuka
In this "Catch-Wrestling Rules" match, Suzuki and Iizuka
spent most of the time standing and fighting for grips. When
Suzuki finally did score a takedown, he caught Iizuka in an achilles
lock that he eventually had to let go of. Then he went for a
sleeper hold as time ran out. Suzuki by decision.
Nilson
de Castro vs. Akihiro Gono
Everyone should say a little prayer for Akihiro Gono's testes.
At 29 seconds into the first round chute boxe fighter Nilson
De Castro accidentally blasted Gono in gonads with a round kick
and the fight was over. The japanese fighter was not only unable
to continue, he was unable to stand, spending the rest of the
evening on a stretcher. Gono wins by DQ.
Yuki
Sasaki vs. Heath Sims
Both Sims and Sasaki looked tentative in the first round. Both
landed punches and kicks but it looked like a careful kickboxing
match. By the second, Sasaki found the right distance and used
his reach advantage to score some good punches and kicks on Sims.
When Sims got wobbled with a good punch, he went for the single-leg
but couldn't get it, hanging on til they were stood up. Sasaki
continued hitting Sims with punches and some really accurate
kicks to the jaw, scoring a knockdown at the end of the round.
But Sims turtled up and survived the round. In the third Sims
scored one good takedown but not much else and elected to stand
up out of Sasaki's guard. Sims did his best to stay competitive,
bloodying the japanese fighter's nose. But Sasaki's reach advantage
continued to give him problems and in the end the unanimous decision
went to Sasaki.
Ricardo
Almeida vs. Kazuo Misaki
In the opening round, Almeida was on his back for half the round
getting his legs kicked. When he escaped to standing, he scored
a takedown and got Misaki's back at the end of the round. But
Misaki defended til the bell sounded. In the second, Misaki slammed
Almeida and ended up in his guard. But he immediately escaped
by picking him up and slamming his way out of it. After that,
the traded some punches and kicks standing up. Then Almeida scored
a takedown with 2 minutes left in the round. Misaki tried a triangle
but Almeida escaped and hit him with some heavy punches on the
ground and a jump-stomp. In the third, Almeida ate some punches
on the way to getting a takedown. But he also got a cut the doctor's
had to check. When the action resumed, Misaki tried to work on
the cut while Almeida was in his guard. Meanwhile, Almeida continued
landing hevy shots and even one mongolian chop! In the end the
majority decision went to Almeida.
Osami
Shibuya vs. Toru Yano
In this match the first round went to the New Japan pro-wrestler,
Yano. He scored a body lock and trip and spent the end of the
round throwing right hooks to Shibuya's head. But in the second
round, Shibuya returned the favor, scoring his own body lock
and trip. That led to a little ground and pound and then an arm
bar by Shibuya at 2:25 of the 2nd round.
-
Osami Shibuya def. Toru Yano via armbar at 2:25 of RD 2
- Ricardo Almeida def. Kazuo Misaki via unanimous judges decision
- Yuki Sasaki def. Heath Sims unanimous via judges decision
- Akihio Gono def. Nílson de Castro via disqualification
- Minoru Suzuki def. Takashi Iizuka via unanimous judges decision
- Sanae Kikuta def. Elvis Sinosic via unanimous judges decision
- Crosley Gracie def. Kiuma Kunioku via unanimous judges decision
- Josh Barnett def. Yuki Kondo via choke at 3:26sec of RD 2
Source: Maxfighting
|
BARONI
WANTS SHOT AT SAKURABA
If you
missed Friday's show, check it on the radio archive at MMAWeekly.com.
Phil Baroni provided one of the most entertaining and informative
interviews of the year on Friday's MMAWeekly Radio Show.
Baroni
said that he has been training hard and will be ready to go for
UFC 45 in November, where he hopes to fight Kazushi Sakuraba.
Baroni said that talks between the UFC and Pride regarding the
possibility of Sakuraba fighting on UFC 45 have gone well, and
he is very hopeful that the fight will take place in November.
Baroni
said that he is in amazingly good shape, with more strength than
he has ever had in his life and good enough cardio to consistently
run three miles in less than 20 minutes. Baroni seemed very excited
about fighting Sakuraba at UFC 45, which he said will take place
at the Mohegan Sun in Connecticut.
When
asked if the UFC is going to be having a UFC Middleweight Title
fight for the first time since May 2002, Baroni said that he
hopes so and he's getting tired of waiting for the middleweight
division "to have a damn champion."
Baroni
said that if the UFC doesn't fix the situation soon, he will
not hesitate to move up in weight class to light-heavyweight
and fight people like Tito Ortiz, Randy Couture, and Chuck Liddell.
Baroni would also love to represent the UFC in Pride against
fighters like Vanderlei Silva, Quinton Jackson, and Ricardo Arona,
in addition to "knocking Murilo Bustamante's ass out."
Baroni
said that he would dominate Bustamante in much the same way Quinton
Jackson did, with the difference being that Baroni believes he
is "a lot stronger than Jackson, much better at finishing
fights, and with much better hands." Fighting at light-heavyweight
would not be a problem for Baroni because he is currently walking
around at about 215 pounds.
Phil
Baroni said that he wants to fight the best fighters in the world;
he does not want to take a step back or have any tune-up fights.
Team Miletich fighter Tony Fryklund and Team Quest fighter Chael
Sonnen, both of whom have expressed an interest in fighting Baroni,
apparently fit into the category of "tune-up fight."
Baroni
commented that he doesn't want to hear about Fryklund because
he had a chance to fight Baroni at UFC 40 and turned it down.
Baroni went as far as to say that he could "beat up twenty
Tony Fryklund's and build up an artificial record like Sean Sherk,"
but it would just be a mismatch.
Baroni
also gauranteed that "C-K Sonnen" (as Baroni called
him) will not win the eight-man IFC tournament, and he predicted
that Sonnen will put out of the tournament if he's lucky enough
to get past the first round.
Baroni
said that he would be happy to knock Sonnen out if by some minor
miracle he does win the IFC tournament, but until then he doesn't
want to hear about him.
Baroni
reitered that he wants to fight the best fighters in the world
and doesn't "want to fight any f---ing bums." He also
complained that Matt Lindland doesn't want to fight him anymore.
Baroni said that he made Lindland's career and compared their
fights to Gatti vs. Ward in boxing, but he doesn't think Lindland-Baroni
III will ever happen because Lindland knows he would get knocked
out.
It's
the best hour on the radio today. At 12 Noon EST/9am Pacific
on www.mmaweeklyradio.com
Listen
live on the internet Monday through Friday. Some of the best
fighters in the world today are featured on MMAWeeklyRadio.com
and once again the live broadcast is free to the public at 9am
Pacific/Noon Eastern Monday - Friday.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
SPRATT
CALLS OUT MANY ON RADIO SHOW
In another
one of the better interviews in recent memory, standout welterweight
fighter Pete Spratt talked about his current status with the
UFC and his upcoming fight with George St. Pierre on Friday's
MMAWeekly Radio Show.
Spratt
said that he was reading MMAWeekly last week and was surprised
and insulted by St. Pierre's comment that Spratt is coming into
this fight overconfident. Pete said that he has tons of experience
and is smart enough that he's not going to go into any fight
over-confident.
He
doesn't know why anyone would think that he would overlook St.
Pierre given the fact that he doesn't have anything lined up
after this fight and needs the win. Regarding St. Pierre's statement
that most of his wins have come by knockout, Spratt stated, "What?
All three or four of his fights?" Spratt said that he is
sick of being disrepsected and he is going to hurt St. Pierre
when they fight at this weekend's TKO show in Canada.
Pete
Spratt seemed just as upset with his current UFC status, as he
said that he's going to stay pissed off and keep kicking people's
asses until he gets some damn respect. Pete pointed out that
something is wrong when he beats the UFC's welterweight poster-boy,
and then the poster-boy comes back to the UFC before Spratt does.
The
last thing Pete heard from the UFC was, "We'll see what
we can do for November" and then that was it, but he's "not
worried about it because s--t happens... if the UFC doesn't like
me, they don't like me." Spratt recalled thinking to himself
shortly after his decisive victory over Robbie Lawler that beating
the poster-boy was probably the worst thing that could have happened
to him. Pete said that he would take a rematch with Robbie any
day of the week, but it remains to be seen if Lawler and the
UFC are serious about making it happen.
Spratt
said, "I'll fight Robbie Lawler, I'll fight Sean Sherk,
I'll fight in Pride Bushido... I don't care, I'll fight anyone."
When asked if there is one person in particular that he would
like to fight more than anyone else, Pete said that he doesn't
do that anymore because he tried that with the UFC and it didn't
work out so well.
Spratt
recalled that the UFC asked him who he would like to fight, he
replied that he'd like to fight Jeremy Jackson, and now here's
Jackson fighting on the September card against someone else.
Pete then performed a hilarious rap that he wrote for Jeremy
Jackson, which focused on the fact that Jackson "was talking
so much crap" and then got tapped out, and also said that
he's interested in fighting men and not punk kids.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
PRIDE
BUSHIDO TICKETS ON SALE TODAY
As MMAWeekly's John Hartnett reported last week it looks as though
Carlos Newton will be going back to Japan to fight in a couple
of months for Pride. "The Ronin" is coming off of a
tough knockout loss to Anderson Silva, and as he told MMAWeekly
this past week he has been offered a contract to sign on to fight
in the Pride Bushido show.
Pride
has finally made a move towards adding more weight classes to
showcase the talents of lighter weight fighters. Pride Bushido
will offer up it's inaugural outing in Japan on October 5th.
It's
believed that Pride Bushido will basically feature a card comprised
of mainly Gracie fighters against a strong team of Japanese fighters.
The Gracie team may include the likes of Royler, Ryan, and Rodrigo
Gracie and possibly Nino Schembri. The Japanese team of fighters
is believed to be comprised of fighters like Hayato Sakurai,
Kazuhiro Hamanaka, Daiju Takase, and Dokonjonosuke Mishima.
One
thing that we know about Pride Bushido that is not rumor is that
tickets go on sale today, Sunday, August 31st. Reporting from
Japan, Scott Butler informed MMAWeekly that tickets are priced
at 6,000, 13,000, 23,000 and 50,000 yen. For those of you that
want to make the trip to Japan to catch Pride Bushido live, you
can call Japan to order tickets at 03-5749-9979.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Quote
of the Day
"A genius is a talented person who does his homework."
Thomas Edison
|
Warriors
of the Ring 4 Fight Card:
Maui War Memorial
Gymnasium, Wailuku, Maui
Saturday, September 6, 2003
If you have not checked out one of the WOTR, you should. It is
a well run event and features entertaining fights. Pick up your
tickets while you can because it is coming up fast. Chris will
be there to cover the action!
Joe Estrella x Josh Kamalo
Tavini
Sulusi x John Quinlan
Warren
Miguel x Lucky Keefner
Eric
Tolentino x Ryan Lee
Lorrin
Ishimine x Ed Newalu
Anthony
Billianor x Matt Mozzoca
Zach
Edlau x Harris Sariento
Alan
Hinojosa x Marcus Moreno
*Fight card subject to change
Source: Event Promoter |
Linebred,
LLC Presents
AFC 4
AMATUER FIGHTING COMPETITION
We forgot to post the date of the event which will be October
18th.
Again, they are looking for fighters, so if you are over 200lbs
and want to test yourself contact the AFC promoters!
If you are interested please call 306-9326
OR
FILL OUT AN APPLICATION ONLINE AT
WWW.AFCHAWAII.COM
Email: LINEBREDLLC@AOL.COM
|
"Kid"
To Run Over Another?
The
143 lb. runaway train better known as Norifumi "Kid"
Yamamoto has Cesar Gracie fighter, Caleb Mitchell, in his sights
for the September 5th Shooto card at Kourakuen Hall in Tokyo.
The
only thing that has slowed Yamamoto down through his accelerating
MMA career was a kick to the groin by Josh Thomson in a very
evenly matched fight in Hawaii, leading to a no-contest, and
a well timed knee by Stephen
Paling
that ended in a loss from doctor's stoppage. The gound-and-pound
technician has rattled off 5 wins in brutal fashion and is getting
scarier by the bout. He has the strength of a 170 lb fighter,
Olympic caliber wrestling skills, an iron chin, and an Enson
Inoue attitude, making him a one man wrecking machine.
Caleb
Mitchell got a quick start on the MMA road to success with three
straight wins under his belt, but ran into Baret Yoshida at the same show "Kid" faced
Josh Thomson. He was overmatched in both the stand up and the
submission game taking a guillotine choke and a loss from that
fight. His next bout he stumbled once more against the venerable
Anthony Hamlett and losing via TKO. Now he is standing firmly
as a serious underdog on the tracks of the Yamamoto express,
hoping he has the ability to sub the powerhouse. It will either
be a career changing win for Mitchell or a brutal loss and another
stepping stone for Yamamoto and his eventual showdown with "Pequeno"
or a rematch to avenge his only loss against Paling.
The
rest of the card is as follows:
Flyweight (under 52.0Kg/114 lbs)
2003 Rookie League
Takahisa Toyoshima vs. Tiger Ishii
Flyweight
(under 52.0Kg/114 lbs)
2003 Rookie League
Kazuo Tsurumi vs. Takehiro Harusaki
Cruiserweight
[under 91.0Kg/200 lbs)
2003 Rookie Tournament Semi Final
Akihiko Adachi vs. Yohei Mikami
Middleweight
(under 76.0Kg/167 lbs)
2003 Rookie Tournament Semi Final
Yoichi Fukumoto vs. Shinobu Ito
Featherweight
(under 60.0Kg/132 lbs)
2003 Rookie Tournament Semi Final
Yohei Mikami vs. Kenji Osawa
Cruiserweight
( under 91.0Kg/200 lbs)
Masaya Inoue vs. Kestutis Smirnovas
Lightweight
(under 65.0Kg/143 lbs)
Hideki Kadowaki vs. Denisas Archirejevas
Welterweight
(under 70.0Kg/153 lbs)
Kohei Yasumi vs. Luiz 'Buscape' Firmino
Lightweight
(under 65.0Kg/143 lbs)
Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto vs. Caleb Mitchell
Source:
MMA Ring Report |
UFC
44: Undisputed Card Complete
The card for UFC 44: Undisputed has been finalized, winners to
be determined September 26. The lineup is:
Tito
Ortiz vs. Randy Couture (LHW Title Bout)
Tim Sylvia vs. Gan McGee (HW Title Bout)
Vladimir Matyushenko vs. Andrei Arlovski
Rich Franklin vs. Edwin Dewees
Jorge Rivera vs. David Loiseau
Dave Strasser vs. Karo Parisyan
Jeremy Jackson vs. Nick Diaz
Caol Uno vs. Hermes Franca
Josh Thompson vs. Gerald Strebendt
Source: Sherdog |
Heating
up for the IFC tourney:
The Chute Boxe Prodigy Goes to His Biggest Battle Ever!
In
November of 2002 a kid was making his debut in our sport of Mixed
Martial Arts. However, when he entered the ring a huge reaction
from the crowd was noticed, and all the press started to pay
absolute attention to the ring. There was a reason for that!
The kid happened to be Murilo Ninja's brother, and was hyped
as the next big thing coming out of the so feared Chute Boxe
team. When you are part of a team with fearless fighters such
as Wanderlei Silva, all-around guys such as Ninja himself, and
technical stand-up fighters such as Anderson Silva, this must
say a lot about a young fighter. The most impressive thing was
that the kid truly lived up to the hype, and with only close
to 1 year of training under the team he was already a pro fighter
scoring a KO in his debut. However, many started to question
the quality of his opponents, mostly when he scored his second
win months later. Then the moment of truth came by, and Mauricio
Shogun Rua stepped into a ring far from his hometown city to
face a character that would scare most people away, starting
with his looks, going through his antics, passing by his powerful
punches that made several victims in recent times, and never
forgetting his talk. In what was truly a war the Chute Boxe prodigy
took care of Cyborg in little less than 10 minutes of an epic
battle and erased all doubts of his potential and most importantly
his heart! Now, times changed for Shogun and he is ready for
an even tougher challenge, competing in the IFC tourney where
he will have to win 3 fights in one night to become the champion,
facing experienced fighters from all over the globe, and guess
what? The kid is still the same, training hard and taking each
fight at a time, as he commented on this friendly conversation
with Full Contact Fighter!
FCF:
Let's start by talking about your fight at the last MECA show
against Cyborg. This was the first time you fought out of your
hometown of Curitiba [this edition of MECA was held in Teresopolis,
a city near Rio de Janeiro]. How was it?
Shogun: Man, it was the same thing for me. I felt at home there
and it didn't change a bit for me. The only thing that was missing
was the support of my mother and my girlfriend [Laughs] but this
is part of the game.
FCF:
How about in the locker room this time? Did you feel as comfortable
and relaxed as in your previous fights, during the warm-ups,
stretches and things like this, considering there weren't many
friends around this time?
Shogun: It didn't change much cause locker rooms in Curitiba
or Rio are of limited access Eduardo [Not always exactly true
in Brazil]. Only authorized people will enter, so even in Curitiba
all my buddies aren't able to enter it. Of course it feels better
to fight here in Curitiba though, you can go and have dinner
on a place you like on the day before the fight, there are lots
of good things about fighting at home.
FCF:
This was the first time you also had to sleep in a hotel before
a fight! How was it for you? [Laughs]
Shogun: [Laughs] It was cool. I woke up late on the day of the
fight, around 11 am I think. It was cool, I was able to sleep
well and concentrate well for my fight.
FCF:
This was the first time you fought and I couldn't attend the
weigh-ins. How was the atmosphere during it, and was Cyborg a
tough guy during the weigh-ins and rules meeting?
Shogun: During the weigh-ins he was like a kitty, not even looking
to the sides. He weighed at 92.700 kg and I weighed 91.900 kg.
I spent all day almost without eating anything, cause I left
Curitiba weighing 93 kg and I was afraid of not making weight.
I thought "I'm going to take it easy with the food"
but I took it too far [Laughs] But I recovered everything during
dinner, where I ate a lot!
FCF:
Did him stare down you a lot during the weigh-ins?
Shogun: Not at all, cause we didn't have those traditional face
to face pictures as we have in most shows, so there wasn't any
room for this things.
FCF:
During your preparation for the fight, did you feel any special
motivation since he had knocked out your training partner Silvio
Urutum at MECA 7?
Shogun: For sure! I even told Urutum that I would dedicate myself
even more to this fight because of his loss. I told him "Look
Urutum, I will give my best to avenge your loss. You can count
on that".
FCF:
When you saw him in the ring with all that characteristic look,
with his finger nails painted in black, his eyebrow cut, all
dressed in black with that assassin look, etc, what went through
your mind?
Shogun: People had already told me that he enters the ring in
that crazy killer style all the time. So I was already aware
that I was going to meet a monster there at fighting-time, so
I was just trying to focus on the fight and don't pay attention
to his antics.
FCF:
Let's talk a bit about the fight itself now. Was your strategy
to trade a bit with him standing up and take it to the ground
when he was more tired, or was it something that came in the
moment since he connected with some good strikes?
Shogun: I entered the fight to trade strikes with him. But I
ate a punch that got me dazed, so later I followed the instructions
of my corner, that yelled me to take it to the ground.
FCF:
Did you think at any moment in the fight that you were in serious
trouble?
Shogun: No! Not at all. I never thought about quitting.
FCF:
What do you believe was the reason that he got the better of
the stand up action in the fight?
Shogun: I think that in this weight division the one that connects
with the first good strike has advantage. It isn't like in lightweights.
Also, he is a very good stand up fighter, so who would take the
first good shot in the chin would be in trouble, cause this is
what goes on at this weight.
FCF:
Do you think this was a good message to those that were questioning
if you were ready for big time?
Shogun: Surely! [Laughs] I guess now people have a better notion.
FCF:
Your fight against Cybor was just amazing. When you went to the
ground you got him in several submission attempts, including
a Katagatame choke, kneebar and a armbar. What was going through
your mind getting all those submissions and never seeing the
guy tap?
Shogun: Man, he would never tap! First I got him in a katagatame
choke, and my arm even went limb at a time during the attempt.
So I was just thinking about not losing my position and hoping
that I would always end on top of him, cause if I would force
my positions a bit more, he could end up landing on top. That's
why I would try the submissions till a certain time, then I would
let go so I would stay on top.
FCF:
What do you think prevented that katagatame choke to putting
him to sleep?
Shogun: I think I lacked a bit more of muscle endurance there.
FCF:
What about the armbar? You had him in a straight armbar from
the top for a long time!
Shogun: I think I lacked a bit of calmness during the armbar
Eduardo, so I would stop, think, adjust better the position and
not let go. When I got him in the armbar and I saw that he wasn't
tapping, I started to get tired of making that much strength,
so I let go to be able to stay on top. If he would end up on
top, he would have been able to hold me and stall the positions,
but with me on top he wouldn't be able to do it! That's why I
was trying to stay always on top so badly.
FCF:
During the fight there was a time that you were mounted, and
you stood up and stomped him in the face. Did you feel angry
at him during the fight?
Shogun: Every time I fight I try to be aggressive, no matter
who the opponent is. It wasn't because it was Cyborg, who is
the "demolition man", the "assassin" and
stuff like this that I was overly aggressive [Laughs]. It's just
that in all my fights I enter trying to finish the fight as soon
as possible.
FCF:
Near the end of the fight, while you were mounted and punishing
him, were you already expecting Pedro Rizzo [the referee] to
stop the fight, or were you thinking that the round would end
in that position [the fight was stopped near the end of the 1st
round]?
Shogun: I mounted him at that moment and Rafael Cordeiro told
me "Shogun, there are 20 seconds left!", so I thought
"I'm going to go hard on this last 20 seconds" and
I started punching him a lot. However, there were 1 minute left
in fact! Then Pedro Rizzo stopped the fight, but if you pay close
attention at the tape he taps in the very end Eduado!"
FCF:
Do you think this fight served to prove to the doubters that
you are also a good jiu-jitsu fighter, despite not comming from
a strongly oriented jiu-jitsu team?
Shogun: Surely. Not only about me, but as for the whole team.
Cristiano Marcello [Chute Boxe jiu-jitsu teacher] got very happy
cause we were needing to show some good ground work, after the
defeats of Nilson de Castro at MECA 8, Anderson Silva at PRIDE
25 and Marcelao at MECA 9 prior to my fight. So Cristiano got
very happy with the ground stuff that I showed there.
FCF:
After the fight Cristiano gave you the brown belt in jiu-jitsu.
What did this mean to you? Do you care about belts or since you're
fighting MMA you don't care about them at all?
Shogun: I care a lot about jiu-jitsu. I always wanted to compete
in jiu-jitsu ever since I entered the Chute Boxe team, but I
never had a chance to do it cause every time I would enter a
jiu-jitsu competition it was near a MMA fight, so I would never
be allowed to participate and take the risk of an injury. But
I love jiu-jitsu!
FCF:
Will you enter a jiu-jitsu tournament as a brown belt now?
Shogun: Man, for sure! If I have time to do it I'll do it, if
I lost it I lost it, no big deal.
FCF:
Your next challenge will be a extremely tough IFC tournament,
where you'll have to win three fights in one night to become
champion, and will face some tough opponents in the process.
What is your expectation for this event?
Shogun: This will be my first international fight and I'm training
a lot to represent my academy well there. If God helps we'll
leave Denver with a good result.
FCF:
What are your feelings on fighting three times in one night?
Shogun: To tell you the truth I won't even think about that.
I'll think about my first fight, as if it's the first and only
one. If I start to think about the second fight I won't even
do the first one, so I'll think of every fight as the last. I
have to take each step at a time and concentrate on it.
FCF:
You are fighting Paulo Filho out of the Brazilian Top Team in
the first round. Does the fact that he comes from BTT gives you
a special motivation for the match up?
Shogun: It gives me a special motivation. Paulo Filho is a great
fighter and I already know him as a fighter but I think there
it's a brawl so there's no such thing...
FCF:
[Laughs]
Shogun: [Laughs] Ain't I right Eduardo? [Laughs]
FCF:
Of course you are! [Laughs]
Shogun: You have to try from beginning to end there. But there's
still a certain rivalry between the two camps for sure, so I
want to represent well our team and our Muay Thai.
FCF:
Do you think you'll still fight in events such as MECA here in
Brazil if you win the IFC tournament, or your path is now only
abroad?
Shogun: Man, I don't know. Where my professor tells me to fight,
I'll fight. It doesn't matter if it is at STORM again or whatever,
I'll fight everywhere he sends me.
FCF:
Maybe a chess tournament as well, or a table tennis one [Laughs]
Shogun: [Laughs] Yeah... jiu-jitsu would be better though.
FCF:
There's a chance this may be the first time you'll fight without
your brother [Murilo Ninja Rua] in your corner in your life.
Do you think this changes anything for you?
Shogun: It changes things for sure Eduardo, but I'll be well
prepared to be there with my masters who also helped me a lot.
I'll present myself well even with my brother here in Brazil,
and hopefully bring good news to him when I come back.
FCF:
Do you think this tournament can open all the doors in Japan
for you?
Shogun: My goal now is to win this tournament, and the rest I
think it's going to happen naturally Eduardo. I think I'll do
my best now in the USA and if PRIDE happens later, it'll be consequence
of the good work I would've done there. I don't worry about tomorrow,
I worry about today, about my next fight! If I worry about today
and focus myself, I'll reach even better things tomorrow. If
I just focus on my future, I won't perform well today. It's like
I told you about the fights on the tournament, I have to take
each step at a time and do my best in all of them.
FCF:
What do you believe are the toughest fighters you can face in
tournament?
Shogun: There are a lot of good fighters there, such as Paulo
Filho and Renato Babalu. There's also a lot of good American
fighters such as Jeremy Horn. But I'll fight against anyone.
This is my profession and is where I make my money, so I don't
choose opponents, whomever I need to fight, I'll fight.
FCF:
With all the success you're reaching as a fighter, and taking
part on the IFC tourney, how will your modeling career be from
now on? [Shogun does some works as a model in Brazil]
Shogun: Man, I even got a call to do a modeling job these days,
but I couldn't take it. When I'm about to fight I don't take
any modeling jobs. But if something good appears after the fight,
I'll gladly do it! [Laughs]
FCF:
Any final message for your fans?
Shogun: I want to thank all the support and tell them to be sure
that I'm training a lot to represent well my academy and not
let anyone down!
FCF:
Any final message to those who said you wouldn't be able to survive
against Cyborg?
Shogun: Man! Now I have to think about what to say...
FCF:
[Laughs] You don't like to hype things...
Shogun: [Laughs] No, you know I don't [Laughs]
FCF:
I'll leave it like that man! Thanks a lot for the interview!
Shogun: Thank you Eduardo, it was my pleasure!
Source:
FCF |
PANCRASE
PREVIEW
by Scott Butler
This Sunday's Pancrase at the Tokyo Sumo Dome features a "Pancrase
-vs- NJPW" and a "Pancrase -vs- The World" themes...
but for fight fans, Pancrase put together an incredible card!
From top to bottom, this card rivals any Pride or UFC card.
Even
the first fight, Osami "Mr. .500" Shibuya is taking
on NJPW's Toru Yano.
I call Shibuya "Mr. .500" because, well, look at his
record. He is 28-28-13. The term "gatekeeper was made for
him... he comes to fight, he's exciting, and he doesn't want
a pro-wrestler to ruin his night.
The 2nd fight features the Pancrase Middleweights - Kazuo Misaki
(Grabaka) -vs- Ricardo Almeida.
You know this is a good card if Almeida is fighting so early
on the show. Almeida WILL be tested... Misaki is no joke. Slight
edge to Almeida on the ground, but Misaki is a far better striker.
Fight 3. Light Heavyweight Yuki Sasaki -vs- Evangelista "Cyborg"
Santos.
(Note: Cyborg was just replaced by Heath Simms of Team Quest)
Have you seen this Cyborg? Imagine a scarier, raw Silva in gang-tattoos,
and that's him. His staredown would KO most. Pancrase has a future
star in Cyborg (7-4) who "lives by the punch, dies by the
punch." If Sasaki plays Cyborg's game (and comes to bang),
somebody will sleep early.
4th fight. Light Heavyweight Akihiro Gono -vs- Nilson De Castro.
Grabaka -vs- Chute Boxe Academy. Winner here moves closer to
a title shot.
5th fight. Catch Wresting match. Minori Suzuki -vs- Takashi Iizuka...
bathroom break.
6th fight. Middleweight - Kiuma Kunioku (Pancrase-ism) -vs- Crosley
Gracie (Ralph Gracie JJ).
Who? There seems to be Gracies growing off trees! Crosley needs
to bring his A-game because Kunioku is skilled. To me, it seems
that Pancrase just wanted a Gracie on the card that Kunioku could
beat. It'll be interesting to see what Crosley brings to the
table.
Semi-final. 2nd Light Heavyweight Fight - King Of Pancrase Sanae
Kikuta (Grabaka) -vs- UFC veteran Elvis Sinosic.
We will see how Kikuta has adjusted his game to fight Elvis.
The book on Kikuta is that he is a Judo stud, but he always throws
a JOKE of a kick or 2... and usually pays the price. Nog KO'd
him when he tried some ballet kick. We also have to wonder, is
this a "must win" fight for Elvis? Since his last UFC
fights were not on the PPV broadcast, has Elvis taken the role
of "journeyman," or does he still have championship
dreams? Many questions will be answered here.
Main Event. Open Weight Yuki Kondo (Pancrase-ism) -vs- Josh Barnett
(NJPW)
What can I say here? When they stood next to each other, Yuki
Kondo looked like a junior high school student. Kondo did go
toe-to-toe with Tito Ortiz on samurai spirit alone. Josh is much
much bigger than Tito, and is here to represent NJPW... something
he takes quite seriously. Also, Josh has his next fights planned.
Josh is facing Gary Goodridge in Jungle Fight and (almost 100%
confimed by Nog) fighting Nog in the November Pride. Can you
say "tune-up?" Because that's what it is. Josh WILL
beat Yuki Kondo, and WILL beat Big Daddy, but the question is
"What will that do to his heavyweight ranking?" Zero,
but we all hope it entertains.All in all, it is a great card
filled with ranked fighters, big-name fighters, and many questions
that will be answered.
Source: MMA Weekly |
Brazilians
are prepared to fight in the next edition of Pancrase
by: Luca Atalla
Friday, 29. Brazilian fighters Crosley Gracie, Ricardo “Big
Dog” and the Chute-Boxe member Nilson de Castro demonstrated
good shape and developed technique during the last training for
the 10th aniversary show of Pancrase, on Sunday, august 31st
2003, at Ryogoku Kokugikan (Tokyo, Japan).
For
the first time in the MMA ring, Crosley Gracie (who was prepared
by his cousin Ralph) will confront Kiuma Kunioku (Middleweight
2nd ranked/Pancraseism). More experienced and coming from three
victories in Pancrase, Big Dog will try his fourth against Kazuo
Misaki (Middleweight 3rd Ranked/Pancrase Grabaka). Wanderley
Silva’s team mate Nilson Castro wants to follow the same
steps of his partner and destroy Akihiro Gono (Light Heavyweight
3rd Ranked/Pancrase Grabaka).
Source: ADCC |
IFC
Cancels September 13th North Dakota Event!
by: Keith Mills
IFC’s original schedule of three shows in one month’s
time is having mixed results. Although the September 6th Denver
show is proceeding with minor changes to the card the September
13th North Dakota show, which was supposed to feature Frank Trigg
vs. Gil Castillo, has been cancelled. No word is currently available
on whether the October 4th Boise, Idaho card is still on.
For
the North Dakota show the ISKA, the sanctioning body of the IFC,
used a similar strategy as when they tried to go to Chicago.
Although Commissioner Paul Smith has not been able to be reached
for comment sources involved state in both cases the states had
laws prohibiting “ultimate fighting” or some variance
but the ISKA tried to enter saying they were “MMA, not ultimate
fighting”.
According
to Team Cesar Gracie’s web site, “The Gil Castillo
vs. Frank Trigg fight has been canceled due to legal wrangling
in the state of North Dakota. After a legal battle in which the
I.F.C finally won approval to hold the event, the hosting venue
asked for a postponement of the fight. Both fighters have other
offers on the table and it is now unclear if this fight will
ever take place.” Team Cesar Gracie is the home of Gil Castillo.
The
Castillo/Trigg fight in particular was being viewed by many as
resulting in the winner going to the UFC. Sources at the UFC
stated nothing is ever definite and pointed to the Diaz/Jackson/Hallman
circle in the next UFC as precedent but acknowledged they were
aware of the match-up.
For
more on the September 6th show check out http://www.ifc-usa.com/.
Source: ADCC |
Training
at AKA: From the Inside
By Brian Ebersole, MMAWeekly Guest Writer
With
more than 20 fights under his belt, Brian Ebersole is an experienced
fighter in his own right. Realizing that it takes more than just
a desire to fight to be successful in mixed martial arts, Brian
recently made the move to California and joined the fight team
at American Kickboxing Academy. Now, Brian joins the ranks of
the journalistic world and gives all of us at MMAWeekly an inside
look at just what goes on when the AKA fight team closes the
doors to prepare for competition.
American
Kickboxing Academy has been considered one of the premier training
facilities for Mixed Martial Arts fighters for some time. Much
of AKA's notoriety stems from the success of Frank Shamrock,
who has called AKA home since leaving the Lion's Den. However,
Frank has since retired, leaving others to successfully represent
AKA in the rings and cages across the country.
Today,
Frank's presence at fighter workouts is a rarity, but that hasn't
hampered the performance of AKA's fighters. For some time, Crazy
Bob Cook has been the head MMA trainer at AKA. As Frank's top
student, Bob was undefeated in his MMA career, which culminated
in an impressive win at UFC 24 over Tiki, of Team Punishment.
Bob has been responsible for the progression of the fighters
at AKA on many levels. He has been influential in the learning
curves of each and every fighter, and has been responsible for
securing fights for everyone at AKA.
Bob
has also formed an MMA management firm called Zinikin Entertainment.
He did so by forming a partnership with fight manager DeWayne
Zinkin, Jr. This partnership allowed AKA's presence, and more
so, Bob Cook's presence to expand across the nation. Because
of this partnership, Zinkin's clients, such as Sean Sherk, Mike
Van Arsdale, Jeff Bedard, Jon Fitch, and myself have become affiliated
with AKA. The formation of Zinkin Entertainment allowed each
of us to train with AKA periodically, though we lived in other
parts of the U.S. The arrangement has been beneficial for everyone
involved, as it provided new, quality training partners for the
AKA regulars, and those visiting.
Jon
Fitch, former Purdue Wrestling team captain and assistant coach,
and I made our first trip to San Jose, California in November
of 2002, shortly after each of us signed with Zinkin Entertainment.
We were welcomed into the home of Bob Cook and Josh "The
Punk" Thompson for the week of our Thanksgiving Break. We
were also graciously welcomed into the gym with a wide array
of submission attempts, right crosses and left hooks. However,
the experience and atmosphere at AKA were enough to inspire both
Jon and I to move from the Midwest to San Jose during the summer
of 2003 for the sole purpose of training at AKA.
Since
I've been in California, I've learned that a day in San Jose
can prove to be a long one. Starting most days with a 9 am run,
I've grown to loathe the steep hills of the Silicon Valley. After
a light breakfast, I prepare for the daily 12:00 pm session at
AKA. The noon session is a "fighter only" session at
the gym.
Most
days are fairly similar, as everyone goes through their own stretching
routine, we all congregate in the ring and/or on the wrestling
mat for three rounds of shadow boxing. This usually includes
one on one time with one of our trainers, for the fighters closest
to their fight date. Next, we pair up and begin our submission
grappling. We are put through four or five, 5 minute rounds of
submission grappling, changing partners between rounds. About
twice a week, these sessions also allow for "light"
ground and pound. I use the term "light" very loosely,
considering the lumps we've all taken when 7x UFC veteran Eugene
Jackson gains the top position.
After
our rounds of grappling, we always do a takedown drill called
the "wall drill". Here, the fighters spilt into two
groups, usually 185 pounds is the cutoff. One man starts the
drill with his back to the wall, as another tries to use the
wall to get a takedown. Everyone takes their turn against the
wall, and faces everyone in the line, for one 30 second "go".
This drill has worked well to improve the takedown defense of
many of the fighters at AKA that have little or no wrestling
experience.
We
follow the wall drill with a submission combination drill. For
example, one man will start with a kimura, transition to an oma
plata, and then transition and finish with a triangle armbar
combo. With a few attempts by each man, on each side, our drill,
and workout comes to an end.
The
middle of the day is left free for each fighter to rest, lift
weights, work, or whatever their day may otherwise entail. Our
next set workout is at 8:30 pm, usually three nights per week.
This session is primarily a sparring session. These sessions
are particularly interesting when a few of the fighters are between
3 and 5 weeks out from a fight. This was the case during my first
two weeks in California. Jon Fitch and Eugene Jackson were scheduled
to fight on July 19th at Battleground: War Cry, and Bobby Southworth
was fighting the same date for the IFC. Paul Buentello was also
pushed through sparring sessions for his August 10th showdown
with Bobby Hoffman for the KOTC Heavyweight Title. Because of
this, everyone over 175 lbs. was present for the sparring sessions,
as we had two 185 lb. fighters, one 205 lb., and a heavyweight.
It
was quite a scene, with 7 or 8 fighters with 16 ounce gloves,
shin pads, and headgear, all ready to get at it. Guidelines are
simple, full MMA with the exception of elbows, and using practical
restraint with knees. Those with upcoming fights are put through
at least five 3 minute rounds. Each round, however, brings a
new opponent. These sessions have, and will continue to prove
quite humbling for many, yet they seem to build character in
most everyone. The sparring sessions also bring out the camaraderie
in everyone. It's amazing to see one fighter thank another for
beating his ass that day, but that shows that we all understand
that good training partners are the key to improving.
With
the plethora of young talent at AKA, combined with some of the
best practical instruction available anywhere, AKA will be a
force in the world of MMA on every level of competition, whether
it be in the KOTC, WEC, UFC, or Pride. A new generation of fighters
now walk through the doors of AKA, but the results will be the
same. The success of our gym will continue, as we all strive
to become the next Frank Shamrock, the next "best fighter
in the world".
Source: MMA Weekly |
|