FIGHTSPORT 24-7

By Fat Tony


Hidehiko Yoshida

Odds released by TheGreek.com all but confirmed to most fans what they had already suspected:

Kiyoshi Tamura +1250 310 Hidehiko Yoshida -2500

With Yoshida as an unbackable favorite, the attention of legit MMA fans will now be focused on the other 3 matches of the first round of the PRIDE middleweight GP. Rumors speculate that Yoshida will drop out due to injury after the first round matches of the GP, leaving the winner of the alternate match to take his place. Ironically it could be Ryan Gracie who turned down an offer to take a dive for Yoshida who replaces him in the semifinals.

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JERRY MILLEN IS NEW PRODUCER, NOT ANNOUNCER. QUADROS STILL FIRED:

The Wrestling Observer newsletter announced a correction, Jerry Millen is not the new english-language announcer for PRIDE as first reported. Millen is actually replacing Michael Braveman as the producer of the show.

Stephen Quadros however is still fired. Millen chose a guy named Damon, who is a sportscaster from Detroit, to be the new lead announcer, in place of Stephen Quadros.


SAKURABA 15 POUNDS HEAVIER THEN HE USED TO BE:

The Wrestling Observer newsletter also announced that Kazushi Sakuraba is will weigh close to 202 pounds (91 kg) for his fight with Vanderlei Silva coming up in the PRIDE GP. According to Japanese media, Sakuraba is dominating his sparring partners like never before.

We at Fightsport.com don't think this is a big deal though as Sakuraba weighed close to 200 pounds for his two prior fights against Silva. One must also remember that the sparring partners Sakuraba is "dominating" are Daijiro Matsui and Yusuke Imamura. Sakuraba also weighed around 200 pounds for his fight with Nino Schembri and still got knocked out by knees from the clinch, from a much smaller Schembri no less. In our opinion this is just a media ploy to convince the Japanese fans that Sakuraba has a chance to beat Silva.

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HEAT Fighting Championship 1: Genesis
July 31st, 2003
Machadinho Arena
Natal, Brazil

Heat FC is only one week away and ready to take Brazilian MMA by storm!

UNDERCARD:

Fabio Bolinho (Kimura/Nova Uniao) vs. Charles Andrade (Mario Sucata Team)
Lucas Lopes (Kimura/Nova Uniao) vs. Josao 'Zeca Doido' (Key Jiu Jitsu Team)
Angelo Araujo (Brazilian Top Team) vs. Edson Paredao (Campina Grande/PB)
Alexandre 'Baixinho' Barros (Ruas Vale Tudo Team) vs. Josenildo Tigre (Buda Team)
Haroldo 'Cabelinho' Bunn (Brazilian Top Team) vs. Gleidson Tibau (Kimura/Nova Uniao)
Silmar Rodrigo vs. TBA

MAIN EVENTS:

Ebenezer Fontes Braga (Budokan/Ruas Vale Tudo Team) vs. Forrest Griffin (Hardcore Gym)
Carlos 'Carlao' Barreto (Brazilian Top Team) vs. Ben Rothwell (Kenosha Freestyle Academy)

* Card Subject to change, with one more fights likely to be announced. Fighting order not decided yet.

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Below is Ryron Gracie's seminar schedule for Australia:


Ryron Gracie Seminar
Sydney, Australia
Location: Bruno Panno
Date: May 25th, 2003
Contact: AngelaGracie@hotmail.com

Ryron Gracie Seminar
Melbourne, Australia
Location: Hangar 4
Date: August 2nd, 2003
Contact: AngelaGracie@hotmail.com

Ryron Gracie Seminar
Sydney, Australia
Location: Sinosic Perosh Martial Arts
Date: August 3th, 2003
Contact: AngelaGracie@hotmail.com

Ryron Gracie Seminar
Newcastle, Australia
Location: Newcastle Will-Machado BJJ
Date: August 4th, 2003
Contact: AngelaGracie@hotmail.com

Ryron Gracie Seminar
Central Coast, Australia
Location: Black Belt Karate Studios
Date: August 5th, 2003
Contact: AngelaGracie@hotmail.com


Ryron Gracie's Australian seminars are being organized by GracieSeminars.com.

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The following painting was sent to us by a famous artist who is also psychic and has helped the police solve many cases in Ireland. It is his view of what happened between Robin Gracie and Damien Riccio last week at Riccio's place of work in France.

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Montanha Silva (right)

The 7'3 395-pound Montanha Silva was recently interviewed by Arnaldo Bechara for Brazilian magazine Tatame. Below are the main quotes of the interview:

Tatame: How long have you been training for fighting?

Silva: When I was a teenager I trained in boxing and jiu-jitsu in the city of Cuiaba. Since I was growing very rapidly, I wanted to do many sports so that my body would become stronger as well. I chose to concentrate on the fighting sports sonce I always liked martial arts. Later on my friends convinced me to also get involved in basketball.

Tatame: Is it true that you eventually played professional basketball in Brazil?

Silva: Yes, it's true. I turned professional at 18 years old. I played for my first 3 years on ABB Florianopolis. In 1999 I came to Sao Paulo to play for Hebraica. During that time I seriously injured my knee and didn't play for almost 2 years. But in Brazil, noone really gives importance to the athletes well- being, and I knew my case would be no different. My basketball team couldn't support my recovery from injury so I stopped playing basketball and started doing security work.

Tatame: How did you end up as a fighter?

Silva: I saw Michel Serdan (a well-known actor in Sao Paulo) on a television show, in which he was trying to recruit athletes over 5'11 (1.80m) who also had some knowledge of pro-wrestling. Since I wasn't working at that time, a friend of mine convinced me to go for the interview. I went there and Michel Serdan was impressed with my height and size. I then took and agility and strength test, and was accepted. One month later I debuted on a program called "Giants of the Ring". The attendance to the event was real good and I ended up meeting Sergio Batarelli.

Tatame: How did you actually meet Batarelli?

Silva: It was through a friend of mine that that I played basketball with. My friend told me that I could fight professionally in Japan and that he would introduce me to a friend of his (Batarelli) who could help me out with it. So he set up a meeting between us and Batarelli told me he had a lot of influence with the Japanese organizations and could get me a contract to fight in K-1. So I went to train at his academy and he became impressed with the agility I had for my size. I started to train there and almost right away he was able to get me a 2-year contract with K-1.

Tatame: You were idsqualified in your first K-1 bout. What exactly happened?

Silva: The fight was against Musashi and he was an experienced veteran of 9 years in K-1. I wanted to show that I had courage and that I wasn't scared to fight with him. At that time I had confused the rules of MMA with K-1 and I knocked him down and started striking him on the ground. It's not that I am ignorant, I just wanted so much to have a good showing and I was representing my country. But after the event I apologized to him and to the organization.

Tatame: How did the Japanese people treat you?

Silva: Oh, they treated me well. In Japan I'm known as an athlete. That same treatment would not really happen in Brazil. I even thought that they might be upset with me after my K-1 debut, but they understood. In Japan, as happens in other countries, they are big fans of their idols. They did a videoclip with Bob Sapp and myself comparing our handsizes. When they saw me in the street, they stopped to do the same thing and to take pictures. That's all new to me and it seems like a dream that I don't want to wake up from.

Tatame: When will you fight again in Japan?

Silva: My next fight will be an MMA match for the K-1 organization in September. Now I know what to expect and how things work in the Japanese events. I know now that you can't hit your opponent when he's on the ground in K-1, but that you can do it in MMA.

Tatame: What are you doing to prepare yourself for the September show?

Silva: I arrived back to Brazil on July 8th and I'm recovering from the long trip, but next week I start training Muay Thai with Roney Alex. My ground-fighting trainer hasn't been chosen yet. I'll porbably gor for 2 months to Los Angeles to train for this because there aren't too many sparring partners that are my size in Brazil.

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Sport Fight: Second Coming
Saturday August 23, 2003
Location: Outdoor Event At 3rd Street & Miller in Downtown Gresham (Directly Across The Street From The Library)

Barbecue Tailgate Style Party Starts At 3pm
World Renowned Band Second Coming Plays At 4:00pm
Fights Start At 5:30pm
Party With The Fighters And The Second Coming Band After The Fights!

PRESS RELEASE:

Team Quest Productions presents 'Sport Fight: Second Coming' show featuring live music and mayhem in downtown Gresham, Oregon, on August 23rd 2003.

- Hottest Northwest Band (Second Coming) LIVE!!!

- UFC/Pride Style Mixed Martial Arts Fights

- Come and see the Second Coming Lead Singer Travis Bracht perform and then compete in his first ever MMA fight on the same night!

- HUGE OUTDOOR Music Event, Barbecue, and Party

- Local Celebrities: Current UFC Champion Randy Couture, Olympic Silver Medalist Matt Lindland And More!

- Great Food From Standing Room Only & Port Halling Brew Pub Plus a HUGE Barbecue

- Beer Garden

- Enjoy A Full Day Of Entertainment, Fun, Excitement, Food And Fighting!

- FREE Giveaways


Main Events:

Chris Leben vs. Joey Guel

Greg Piper vs. Joel Townsend

Plus A Full Card Of Featured Fights For A Full Night Of Fun And Action.



Tickets Available At TicketsWest 503-224-tixx (8499) And Select Safeway Stores

Ringside $40
Preferred $30
General Admission $20
Kids (15 and under) $5


Sport Fight has arranged a special rate at our host hotel for only $69 per night plus tax:

Shilo Inn Suites Hotel
Portland Airport
11707 NE Airport Way
Portland, Oregon 97220-1075
(Right off HWY 205)

Hotel: (503) 252-7500
Restaurant: (503) 252-4300Fax (503) 254-0794
Reservations: (800) 222-2244


For Media questions contact Matt Lindland at matt@tqfc.com.

Promoted By Olympic Silver Medalist Matt Lindland and UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Randy Couture.

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WEC: The Return of a Legend
On Pay-Per-View
August 22nd, 2003

PRESS RELEASE:

Los Angeles, California, July 9, 2003: World Extreme Cagefighting presents the long awaited return of Frank Shamrock to the cage in "The Return of a Legend" on Pay-Per-View August 22, 2003 (check your local listings).

"Return of a legend" will headline the evening as 10 high impact MMA events that will include Mixed Martial Arts superstars Gil Castillo, Shonie 'Mr. International' Carter, Jeremy 'The Scorpion' Jackson, Nick Diaz, Joe Hurley and many many more.

On-Camera Commentators will be Jeff Blatnick, 1992 Olympic Gold Medalist and NBC color commentator, as well as former UFC broadcaster Ryan Bennett. Bennett has covered premiere sporting events such as the 2003 SuperBowl, the NBA Finals, Major League Baseball Playoffs.

"Return of a legend" was directed by Academy Award Winner Joe Mayer, and music for the events produced by platinum selling performing artist and 4-time Grammy Award winning musician Romeo Antonio.

For Media questions contact Vikki VanHoosen at vikkiv@manicsports.com.

For more information on the WEC, click here.

For more information on Frank Shamrock, click here.

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Adrenaline Fighting Championships 1
Friday July 25th, 2003
Fox and Fiddle, 19530 Langley Bypass, Surrey
British Columbia, Canada

PRESS RELEASE:

The mixed martial arts comes to British Columbia on July 25th, With 11 confirmed matchups. 2-time king of the cage champion and UFC veteran Chris Brennan headlines the card against Canadian fighter Jason St. Louis.


Here are some of the confirmed matches for this event:

Chris Brennan vs. Jason St. Louis
Ulysses Castro vs. Jason MacDonald
Kalib Starnes vs. Louis Sargent
Danny Dlask vs. Cory MacDonald
Baz Cunningham vs. Paul Forde
Chris Peak vs. Marcus Hicks
Kim Forsyth vs. Linda Langerak
Adam Lynn vs. Garrett 'The Machine'

Plus more to be announced once finalized, and Pete Spratt will be the cornerman for Chris Brennan.

Tickets prices start at $25 and go to $79 for ringside.

For more information go to Fightcard.ca or watch us on Urban Rush July 17, 2003. We can also be seen at Canada.com or call (604) 596-5132

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Kimo

Kimo Leopoldo was on MMAWeekly.com's radio show yesterday and mentioned that he was scheduled to take on Rogerio 'Minotauro' Nogueira (not to be confused with twin brother and former PRIDE heavyweight champion Rodrigo 'Minotauro' Nogueira) in an MMA event set to take place in Seoul, South Korea, in the near future.

We checked with our sources in the Brazilian Top Team camp and found out this this is true. Details are sketchy at the moment, but there is indeed an MMA event scheduled for South Korea and set to include some good name fighters. More info will be posted in the coming weeks as we find out more.

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Darrell Gholar

Former American Greco-Roman stand-out and MMA fighter Darrell Gholar has been in Brazil helping the Brazilian Top Team improve their wrestling and clinch ability for some time now. What many people don't realize is that Gholar doesn't just teach BTT, but he teaches a lot of the different academies. Gholar has been training grapplers at Royler Gracie's Humaita academy and Carlinhos Gracie's Barra academy guys, as well as BTT. Gholar's influence can be seen in the great takedowns that are now being displayed by BTT in MMA, as well as Royler Gracie and Saulo Ribeiro in ADCC, all of whom have been training with Gholar for a while now.

All agree that Gholar has had an amazing infuence down in Brazil. Many of the guard sweeps currently used in BJJ tournaments in Brazil have a big gholar infuence, as well as many of the single leg takedowns used off the sweep. Not only does one have submissions to contend with, but now the top Brazilian Jiu-jitsu players have are developing takedown skills to complement their game.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

TheGreek.com now has their complete odds up for the August PRIDE middleweight GP show and the single fights on the card as well:

Pride GP Tournament MMA
August 10, 2003

Matchups

8/10/2003 12:00 AM Mirko Filipovic vs Igor Vovchanchyn
301 Mirko Filipovic -500 302 Igor Vovchanchyn +300

8/10/2003 12:00 AM Antonio Minotauro Nogueira vs. Ricco Rodriguez
303 Antonio Minotauro Nogueira -170 304 Ricco Rodriguez +130

8/10/2003 12:00 AM Gary Goodridge vs. Fedor Emelianenko
305 Gary Goodridge +220 306 Fedor Emelianenko -300

8/10/2003 12:00 AM Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Wanderlei Silva
307 Kazushi Sakuraba +500 308 Wanderlei Silva -800

8/10/2003 12:00 AM Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Hidehiko Yoshida
309 Kiyoshi Tamura +1250 310 Hidehiko Yoshida -2500

8/10/2003 12:00 AM Quinton Jackson vs. Ricardo Arona
311 Quinton Jackson -185 312 Ricardo Arona +145

8/10/2003 12:00 AM Chuck Liddell vs Alistair Overeem
313 Chuck Liddell -180 314 Alistair


Pride GP Tournament MMA
August 10, 2003

Odds to win

8/10/2003 12:00 AM Odds to win the entire GP Tournament Saitama Super Arena, Japan. If your fighter pulls of tournament out prior to first round, wagers on him only will be refunded.

101 Kazushi Sakuraba +1000

102 Hidehiko Yoshida +440

103 Vanderlei Silva +310

104 Quinton Jackson +360

105 Chuck Liddel +400

106 Ricardo Arona +420

107 Alistair Overeem +525

108 Field (Includes any Fighter not listed above) +1510


Pride GP Tournament MMA
August 10, 2003

Propositions

8/10/2003 12:00 AM Fighter to win in the 1st round of GP the fastest


109 Kazushi Sakuraba +575

110 Hidehiko Yoshida +360

111 Vanderlei Silva +300

112 Quinton Jackson +375

113 Chuck Liddel +450

114 Ricardo Arona +1250

115 Alistair Overeem +500

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Stephen Quadros, who was recently fired from his long-standing job as PRIDE's english-language broadcaster, had this to say about his unexpected firing:

"I honestly don't know. I wasn't given a "reason" when I got 'the call'. It isn't because of job performance because anyone with half a brain knows I am the best, maybe in the whole world. It wasn't because I was some newcomer who kissed a little ass and backstabbed to get into my position. I've been around since when UFC's headquarters were in Torrance, before there even was a Pride event. I've been the editor of 2 different magazines, I am known and respected throughout the whole freaking professional fight world! It wasn't because I didn't get along with Bas. We are like brothers. I've got his back and he's got mine. If anything I should have gotten a promotion within the company because I have done so much to help it in the 3 years I worked for it. But that's not exactly what I got...LOL!!!

Which finally brings us to the cute little subject of politics. The previous producer Michael Braverman left before the last show, Pride 26, Bad To The Bone. I did that one show with the new producer, Jerry Millen and then I was told several weeks after I returned to the US that they were "going to try a different commentator". Hmm... Quite honestly, I was relieved when I got that call. There was so much infighting going on and now it was finally over."

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Nobuhiko Takada

Former pro-wrestler and current PRIDE executive producer Nobuhiko Takada was quoted as saying the following at the PRIDE GP press conference:

"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. In a sense, these 3 one-matches carry a weight similar to that of the tournament itself." -Nobuhiko Takada

We at Fightsport.com found it very funny that one of PRIDE's most incompetent fighters ever (Takada), was talking about incompetence in other fighters. But one must remember that Takada, who has never won not even one legit fight in his career, is believed by the Japanese fans to be arguably the best Japanese fighter ever due to the Japanese fans belief that pro-wrestling is real.

On a brighter note, Takada also said that the November show will feature number one contender's match to determine who gets the next shot at the title. Takada said that he would like this fight to be Antonio 'Minotauro' Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Mirko 'CroCop' Filipovic. But Takada also said those plans could change if either fighter loses in August or if Gary Goodridge beats Fedor, in which case Goodridge would be in the contender fight.

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Below are the Alexa.com rankings for the top 10 MMA websites as of July 24th, 2003.

Fightsport.com and MMAWeekly.com have been the two fastest-growing MMA websites the last few months. Sherdog.com and Sherdog.net had occupied the top two spots for a few months, but MMA.tv has knocked Sherdog.net down a spot and moved into number two this month. All the other sites have remained steady except for MaxFighting.com, which has fallen to the last spot and has been struggling to survive there.


MMA RANKINGS:

1.) Sherdog.com - Traffic Rank for sherdog.com: 9,814

2.) MMA.tv - Traffic Rank for mma.tv: 15,505

3.) Sherdog.net - Traffic Rank for sherdog.net: 16,019

4.) UFC.tv - Traffic Rank for ufc.tv: 29,022

5.) Fightsport.com - Traffic Rank for fightsport.com: 40,568

6.) Pridefc.com - Traffic Rank for pridefc.com: 44,629

7.) MMAWeekly.com - Traffic Rank for mmaweekly.com: 50,872

8.) Adcombat.com - Traffic Rank for adcombat.com: 69,283

9.) Defend.net - Traffic Rank for defend.net: 69,920

10.) Maxfighting.com - Traffic Rank for maxfighting.com: 82,398




Alexa.com tracks the internet ratings with the use of the Alexa toolbar, which is used by no less then 10 million people. Almost all of the Alexa toolbar users also use Amazon.com and Google, making the Alexa.com rankings very important with advertisers. Alexa.com is arguably the most respected internet ratings system in the business.

How to read the Alexa.com rankings: The traffic rank indicates the website's ranking amongst english-language websites. As the number goes lower, it indicates that the website is ranked higher.

For example:

a website with a traffic rank of '1', means that it is the number one visited english-language website on the internet, according to Alexa.com's 10 million users.

a website with a traffic rank of '10,221', means that it is the 10,221st most visited english-language website on the internet, according to Alexa.com's 10 million users.

a website with a traffic rank or '90,594', means that it is the 90,594th most visited english-language website on the internet, according to Alexa.com's 10 million users.

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Robin and Royce Gracie.

Our inside source in the Gracie camp has sent the following message exclusively to Fightsport 24-7. The message is the Gracie camp's official response to Damien Riccio:

We can only laugh at your constant lies, whining and attention whoring on
the Internet. Your threats of police action are hilarious considering the
only things that came into contact during the whole bar fight were Robin's
fists and feet and your bleeding face.

Don't forget the phone conversation you had with Robin just after he had
finished beating on you for the second time. You will go down in history as
the French guy who got his ass kicked who cried wolf.

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Genki Sudo

Tokyo, Japan -- UFC and K-1 veteran Genki Sudo was stabbed by a knife-weilding attacker last night around 10:40 P.M. in the Shibuya section of Tokyo. Sudo, 25, was stabbed in the side of his chest and is currently recieving treatment. The severity of the wound is not known at this time.

Four other people, all men, were also stabbed around the same vicinity and time. Police suspect that it is all the work of the same attacker. In all of the attacks, the attacker was identified as a 5'11 (1.80m) tall man riding a mini-bike, wearing a blue shirt, black trousers, sunglasses, and a helmet. The suspect is still on the loose and is believed to be mentally deranged.

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Tito Ortiz

LAS VEGAS, July 23, 2003 …Ultimate Fighting Championship Light Heavyweight Champion Tito Ortiz will meet fans and sign autographs from 3 p.m to 5 p.m. PDT, Sunday, July 27, at the Wherehouse Records store, 2320 Harbor Blvd. in Costa Mesa, California.

All fight fans in attendance will be eligible for a drawing to win a round-trip for two to Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas for the Friday, September 26, UFC 44: Undisputed fight when Ortiz defends his title in the 'Champion Vs. Champion' main event against interim light heavyweight champ Randy Couture. The lucky winner will receive round-trip airfare for two, a two-night hotel stay, two tickets to the fight and the opportunity to be a member of Ortiz' entourage as an honorary cornerperson. The winner must be present to win the prize. Fans also will have the opportunity to participate in the production of a national television commercial that will promote the UFC and its future fight events.

During Ortiz' appearance there will also be attendance prize drawings for merchandise including the new UFC video games Tap Out and Throw Down, DVD and VHS video copies of UFC fights and souvenir clothing. Winners must be present to claim prizes.

The UFC's next live PPV event will be UFC 44: Undisputed at 10 p.m. EDT on Friday, September 26, from the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nev. Locate the UFC on the internet at www.ufc.tv.

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Sapp went on a training camp with the Shodokaikan (formerly known as Seidokaikan) group. Below are some pictures provided by SRS-DX and so-net.















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Lion's Den fighter Vernon "Tiger" White will participate in the August 15th K-1 tournament in Las Vegas. White and seven other hopefuls will compete in an 8-man single-elimination tournament.

The main event will feature Bob "The Beast" Sapp vs. Kimo Leopoldo.

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For the MMA fans who were around since day one, you will remember that at one time the Renzo Gracie/Craig Kukuk instructional set was considered the best set around. Well the set is now on DVD and is selling for USD$59.99 (as compared to the almost USD$300 the tape set sold for when it first came out many years ago).

In this day and age, the set serves more as a very basic but very well taught set for the beginning to intermediate student of Brazilian jiu-jitsu. But for USD$59.99, it is well worth it and a great bargain in the opinion of fightsport.com.


The whole set is as follows:

Volume 1: Beginning Armlocks.
Volume 2: Advanced Armlock
Volume 3: Escape from the Bottom
Volume 4: Escape from the Headlock
Volume 5: The Guard
Volume 6: Defending the Mount
Volume 7: Beginning Chokes
Volume 8: Advanced Chokes
Volume 9: The Mounted Position
Volume 10: Passing the Guard
Volume 11: Takedowns and the Clinch.


The DVD set can be purchased at a few different internet sites including Sherdog.com.

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QUEST: Initial Impact
Saturday August 9th, 2003
Seagate Convention Center
Toledo, Ohio


Jaime Levine, the ex-promoter of the WEF and other events, will be the main event of QUEST: Initial Impact against Matt Hershberger. Hershberger is trained by Mark Coleman.

"I am getting prepared. Have you seen the guy I am fighting? I saw him, and I was like, 'that is Coleman!'. I am going to have to wear him out' stated Levine.

Tickets are available at ticketmaster.

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Damien Riccio has sent us a copy of the complaint he has filed with French police regarding his fight with Robin Gracie:

Click here to see enlarged version.

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Lions Den fighter Tra Telligman (pictured) today threw down the gauntlet to HeavyWeight Boxer Shannon Briggs when he stated on MMA.tv's Underground Forum that Briggs would not fight in MMA "unless they give him a Tomato can". Telligman who has an MMA record of 5-4-1 went on to say "Trust me guys, MMA is not boxing.... Either Rizzo or myself would DESTROY Briggs in MMA..... I would LOVE that fight, just to prove to the mainstream that MMA is for real....".

After seeing a fighter with a record of 5-4-1 call other people tomato cans, this reporter has to wonder what actually constitues a "tomato can" in Mixed Martial Arts. At this point in time we have been unable to obtain a response from Shannon Briggs on Telligmans comments.

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Josh Barnett copyright © Susumu Nagao 2001


The word out of Japan is that Pancrase will announce a future matchup of Josh Barnett vs. Yuki Kondo, taking place in the Pancrase open weight division. Barnett, who weighs around 240 pounds (110 kg), will outweigh Kondo by a good 40 pounds (18 kg).

Discuss this at FIGHTSPORT.COM

Mark Kerr

ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO - July 21, 2003 - Last Man Standing Fighting Championship will make its debut on September 5 with a live pay-per-view event held at the exquisite Isleta Casino & Resort in New Mexico. Mark Kerr, whose compelling story (The Smashing Machine) was documented on HBO's America Undercover series, will make his long awaited return, facing durable bad boy Aaron Brink.

After taking an early sabbatical from fighting, 22-year-old Last Man Standing President/CEO Leonard Fresquez convinced Kerr to step back into the ring. "The Smashing Machine gave me a new lease on life," said Kerr. Over 8 million people reportedly saw the documentary. "Now I'm hungry and yearning to test myself." Kerr is currently training with UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz, former UFC heavyweight champion Ricco Rodriguez, and boxing phenom Fernando Vargas in Big Bear, CA to ensure the ring rust is gone by show time. Tito Ortiz said "Mark is clean, in shape and will be in top condition on September 5th".

Brink, who also works as an adult film star for Red Light District, sees this as the opportunity of a lifetime. "People discount my talents and admittedly I've taken fights where I was ill prepared," said Brink. "I will be focusing all my time and energy on this match and will not disappoint my fans. I don't care who he is training with, the Pornographic Puncher will prevail and Kerr will be calling me the smashing machine because I'm going to beat him down."

Gary 'Big Daddy' Goodridge also makes his return to the squared circle, rematching Andre 'The Chief' Roberts, who lost to the long-time UFC vet in their first outing. "I took our first fight on two days notice and he got a lucky shot," said Roberts. This rematch has been four years in the making and Roberts was quick to make the prediction: "Let's put it this way, I know the answer to "Who's your daddy?"

Eugene 'The Wolf' Jackson faces hot prospect Joey Villasenor of Farmington, New Mexico. Two-time kickboxing champion and Albuquerque native Arlene Sanchez will also test her skills against Angela Stevens in a three-round female MMA bout. In a heavyweight barnburner, undefeated Fabricio Werdum of Spain makes his debut training under Marcus Vinicius of Beverly Hills Jiu-Jitsu Club, which trained Mark Kerr and Marco Ruas in their grappling skills. Finally, undefeated 18-year-old Carlos Condit finishes out the night, facing Tommy Osborne in the middleweight division.

Bruce "The Voice of MMA" Buffer will serve as ring announcer for this highly anticipated event, making Last Man Standing one of the top promotions in the game. Tickets will go on sale Wednesday, July 30, and can be purchased at tickets.com. All fights are subject to change. For more information, check out lastmanstanding.tv. The telecast will be produced and distributed by CSI Sports.


MAIN EVENT

Mark Kerr vs. Aaron Brink


UNDERCARD

Gary Goodridge vs. Andre Roberts

Eugene Jackson vs. Joey Villasenor

Arlene Sanchez vs. Angela Stevens

Fabricio Werdum vs. TBA

Carlos Condit vs. Tommy Osborne

Discuss this at FIGHTSPORT.COM

Vitali Klitscho (pictured)


LOS ANGELES -- After being severely cut around and under his left eye during his heavyweight title fight against Lennox Lewis last month, Vitali Klitschko, has been cleared to return to the ring.


Klitschko was examined by Dr. Volker Steinkraus in Hamburg, Germany.


Klitscho, who turned 32 on Saturday has healed very well, said Steinkraus.

Associated Press quoted Steinkraus as saying on Monday "There is no scarring in the left per orbital region and in the left cheekbone area,''. He can begin training now and can fight again as soon as he wants.''


Klitschko said he wants to fight Lewis again and is looking forward to it.


Associated Press quoted Klitscho as saying "I am ready for the rematch that boxing fans all over the world want to see, and I hope Lennox is, too,''


Klitschko was leading 58-56 on each of the three judges' scorecards when he fought Lewis for the WBC/IBO heavyweight titles on June 21 at Staples Center when the bout was stopped in the 6th round due to Klitscho having a bad cut. The fight ended in controversy when Lewis was declared winner by TKO. Many people felt that the fight should have been given to the fighter who was ahead on points at the time, which would have made Klitscho the clear winner.

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SHOOTO'S big August 10th card, promoted by Sustain, is shaping up very well. Below is the line-up so far:

Daiji Takahashi vs. Masatoshi Abe
Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Yves Edwards
Jake Shields vs. Akira Kikuchi
Masahiro Oishi vs. Ryota Matsune
Alexandre Franca Nogueira vs. Stephen Paling
Takanori Gomi vs. Joachim Hansen

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Vitor Belfort

Vitor Belfort has revealed to Tatame that he wants to face the winner of the Randy Couture vs. Tito Ortiz fight. According to Belfort, he has discussed it with UFC management and that it may be all set for UFC 45 in Novemeber. "They wanted me to fight on September's show, but I have made it clear that I want to fight for the title", said Belfort.

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Shiloh McIver's ex-roommate

After seeing Jake Rossen's desperate attempt to expain himself, respected MMA insider Shiloh McIver has once again given us some more inside info into the Jake Rossen scandal that has hit the MMA media world. Below are McIver's words:

heh heh heh I struck a deep, weird, and scary chord when i exposed his (Rossen's) undercover stalking of my then roomate. I'm actually kind of scared to respond. I didnt think it was a big deal, my old roomate was hot, but he got so fired up about me making his e-mail public that it leads me to believe there was way more to it than I knew about. I mean, he actually tracked down a pic of her on the internet for the article? wow..lol.

All I can say is he said he was suprised I or anyone else still respected tito. I disagree and think its a cheap shot coming from someone with no self respect. I wonder how he feels about himself, asking me for naked pictures and telling me to wire webcams in my house to sneak peeks at her. all the while KNOWING FULL WELL she was dating ricco rodriguez at the time.

I wonder how ricco would have felt if he had known at the time?

I wonder how zuffa, practically his boss, would have felt knowing one of their writers was trying behind the scenes to get an undercover perv view of their HW Champs girlfriend?

Keep that in mind next time you have to interview Tito, tell him you dont respect him. Tell Ricco you tried to get naked pics of his girl, maybe ask Dana White if you can have pics of his next.

"My request was innocuous and obviously meant to be private" - Jake Rossen.

that says a lot to me. He also said he wrote me ONCE.. lol ok guy. This all started because he had different views than me. he felt his opinion was more valid. I countered every lopsided attack he threw, yet he still asked the same question 10 different ways. After about 20 exchanges, I realized we were going nowhere and said so. he said I spit meaningless propaganda, i pointed out facts, he says I lie. nowhere to go with this, right?


"drug-addled, clinically depressed pornographer" - Ill take that moniker of you take this one:

Jake Rossen: creepy cyber stalking comic book geek who is more than happy to go behind backs just to get a stupid PEEK at a real life pussy, no matter who it is.


"I'd like to take this opportunity at FightSport 24/7 to offer McIver a wager that would pay him $3,000 in US funds if Ortiz signs to fight Liddell by December of 2004" -Jake Rossen.

You're on. I'm gonna be lolol when it's time for you to pay up.


-Shiloh McIver

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Cabbage striking Sean Alvarez.

Wesley 'Cabbage' Correira was on MMAWeekly's radio show a few days back and had the following to say:

On his upcoming fight and being left out of UFC 44: "I'm supposed to be fighting on the big island (Hawaii) on the ninth. I'm just up here in Vegas here in Vegas training, just busting my ass. I'm not fighting in the September show. You'll be seeing me in 'Rumble on the Rock' (B.J. Penn's show). I don't have the slightest idea who my opponent is yet"

On Tank Abbott: "Hopefully I get to send his old ass out of the UFC with a knockout. Knock his old ass out and retire him."

On Kimo: "If Kimo wants to talk shit he's in my crosshairs next... he better lay off the juice. Kimo is old, and he doesn't even have anything good, and his jaw is still a big target out there."

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Tatame Magazine from Brazil just launched its English site this weekend. They covered the 2nd World Brazilian Jiu-Jitstu Cup in real time, and will do the same with the upcoming VII World Jiu-JItsu Championship on next week. Tatame also covers the Brazilian MMA beat in very good detail. Visit tatame.com.br/english for more details.

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Melbourne, Australia - 07/23/03


Murder victim Willy Thompson (pictured)

A student of the Australian Machado BJJ school known as Extreme Jiu-Jitsu and Grappling was gunned down directly outside the school whilst sitting in his $80,000 sports car at around 1.30 am yesterday morning. The victim was Willy Thompson, a man who was known to police and, according to the Herald-Sun newspaper was connected with more than one unsolved gangland muder himself. He was linked by his Port Melbourne address to slain Australian career criminal Victor Peirce -- a notorious armed robber and drug dealer who was acquitted of the 1988 Walsh St murders of police officers Steven Tynan and Damian Eyre. The Herald-Sun also claimed that Thompson had strong links with another recently murdered underworld figure Jason Moran. The newspaper also quoted a source as saying that Thompson was linked to another vicious Australian criminal Nikolai "The Russian" Radev.

A nightclub source said Thompson was respected in the Underworld for his martial arts skills, including karate, tae kwon do and brasilian jiu-jitsu. He had been successful at competition level and had recently taken to grappling.


"He wasn't a very big bloke but he was certainly very competent," the source said.

"He was a fitness fanatic. He was a fairly well-liked sort of person."

While sources said Thompson had only a few convictions, he was known in underworld circles.


The Herald Sun claims that criminal intelligence, passed on to police, has linked Thompson to Radev's murder. Machado BJJ Black Belt and owner of Extreme Jiu-Jitsu & Grappling, Mr John Donehue was unavailable for comment.

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By Tape Lord


Pele and Lee Murray (right) staring each other down.

Hello my friends, Coffee Guy over at Zuffa is telling me that Dana White would eventually like to bring in Lee Murray to the UFC, and has already begun talks with Murray's agent. Sources in London have also confirmed the same.

According to Coffee Guy, Dana White thinks Murray could bring in some excitement to the middleweight division with his knockout power, exciting style, and his already famous reputation for knocking out Tito Ortiz at the UFC afterparty in London, England, last year. But first they would like him to train a few months with Miletich Fighting Systems (where Murray has already trained in the past) because Dana feels that Murray's ground game needs much more polishing before he's ready to keep the UFC's best from taking him down.

Eventually, Dana White and the Fertittas would like to see a grudge match between Lee Murray and Tito Ortiz at light heavyweight.

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Jake Rossen

After we aired the story yesterday on Jake Rossen's potentially damaging behavior, Rossen finally returned our request for a comment. Below is Rossen's side of the story:

I've been very vocal in my distaste for Tito Ortiz's recent actions, up to and including his blatant and shameless avoidance of mandatory contender Chuck Liddell. Whenever I felt the urge to post my thoughts on the subject, Ortiz cheerleader Shiloh McIver would instantly jump in and contribute nothing but meaningless propaganda, then grow frustrated when he realized no one was buying what he had to sell.

A year or two ago, McIver posted pictures of his roommate, whom I found rather attractive. I emailed him and requested more pictures, of which he had none, or simply preferred not to share. McIver seems to now be offended at the request. Odd, considering that he once posted a picture of her and Ricco Rodriguez in bed together.

My request was innocuous and obviously meant to be private. I wrote him exactly once about it. Recently, McIver became so incensed at my comments concerning Ortiz that he felt the need to try and undermine my standing by - apparently - outing me as a heterosexual. Such is his keen intelligence.

I've forwarded a picture of the female in question, which is the only one that seems to be available on the web. Was I wrong in requesting more pictures of her in what I assumed would be a private conversation? Let the public decide.

Granted, it might be hard for readers to take the word of a heterosexual comic book reader over that of a drug-addled, clinically depressed pornographer who has posted of run-ins with authorities and intentions to kill himself.

As well as someone who actually believes Ortiz will fight Liddell.

I've read that McIver recently got hired for a job he may have to leave his bungalow and wear pants for. Good news. Since he must be flush with the cash, I'd like to take this opportunity at FightSport 24/7 to offer McIver a wager that would pay him $3,000 in US funds if Ortiz signs to fight Liddell by December of 2004. I'll expect the same compensation from him if Ortiz - for some unthinkable reason - declines the fight.

I would be happy to remit proof of funds to McIver via a third party if he decides to accept the wager. My "vig" or "juice" on the transaction would also see me being forwarded any remaining images of his ex-roommate if Ortiz declines the fight.

Take care,

-Jake Rossen

EDITOR'S NOTE: Fightsport.com's own Jake R denies any connection to Jake Rossen.


Below is a picture of Shiloh's ex-roommate, who has chosen with withhold her name:



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Jorge Gurgel

CANTON, OH, July 19 -- Taking place in northwest Ohio's historic Palace Theater, the Absolute Combat Challenge (A.C.C.) crowned champions in three different weight classes in its inaugural show. The card had a total of twelve exciting fights, none of which went the distance.

Jorge Gurgel ran his record to a perfect 8-0 (all by submission or strikes) in the main event Saturday night, by dominating undefeated Luke Spencer. The fight was non-stop action, and in the third round Gurgel dropped Spencer with a nice combo and followed him to the mat. Gurgel mounted him and brought down heavy shots forcing the tap at 1:55 to become the A.C.C. lightweight champion.

The complete results:

Lightweight championship

Jorge Gurgel defeats Luke Spencer by TKO, RD 3.

Welterweight championship

Scott Wickham defeats Dan Swift by TKO, RD 2.


Middleweight championship tournament

Semifinals
Forrest Pets defeats Joe Thomas by KO, RD 2.
Leo Sylvest defeats Matt Markowicz by rear naked choke, RD 1.

Final
Forrest Petz defeats Leo Sylvest by KO, RD 2.


Chris Herring defeats Anthony Ferguson by TKO, RD 1.

Larmey Johnson defeats Doug Sauer by armbar, RD 1.

Josh Souder defeats Tierre Hall by rear naked choke, RD 1.

Dan Sachs defeats Drew Longshore by TKO, RD 1.

Steve Neal defeats John Anderson by armbat, RD 1.

James Esclonie defeats Udell Holmes II by armbar, RD 1.

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PRESS RELEASE:

WEC 7: This Time... It's Personal
Saturday
August 9, 2003
7:00pm
The Palace Indian Gaming Center in Lemoore, CA

The WEC has officially signed one of the most physically gifted heavyweights in the world today, in Ron Waterman. Waterman has signed on the dotted line to compete at World Extreme Cagefighting's event on Saturday August 9th at the Palace Casino called "This Time, It's Personal"

Waterman is one of the most feared heavyweights in the world today. He has been absolutely dominant in his last few fights, including a win over in Japan at the Pride Fighting Championships. Waterman was very impressive with a win over MMA veteran Valentijn Overeem. Waterman dominated the fight and won by submission in the first round.

WEC President, Scott Adams said "Ron Waterman is a tough guy to get fights for. We have talked to several fighters and no one wants to fight the guy. The only guy that would take this fight is James Nevarez. Many heavyweights fear Ron Waterman."

As Adams said, Waterman will fight against up and coming heavyweight James Nevarez at the WEC show in a couple of weeks. Navarez is a Pan Am Champion and is a purple belt in Jiu-Jitsu.

Also on the same card, world class fighter, Gil Castillo, (who is ranked in the top five in the world) will face Team Quest fighter Ryan Schultz. Schultz was a great wrestler from the University of Nebraska, one of the best college wrestling programs in the United States.

These are just a few of the many great fights that the WEC will put on Saturday night, August 9th. If you have never been to a World Extreme Cage Fighting show, this is what you need to know. Every single WEC show has been sold out! If you do not get your tickets early, you will not get in. It's as simple as that. There are many other fights scheduled for the card and you will learn more about them in the upcoming few days.

Tickets are available all tickets.com locations as well as the Palace Casino. The Palace Casino is located just outside Fresno, California. For those of you in the California area, it's just 3 ½ hours from San Francisco and 3 ½ from Los Angeles. Don't miss it, World Extreme Cage fighting, at the Palace Casino in just a couple of weeks. Saturday August 9th. Get your tickets today!

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By Tape Lord


Randy Couture striking Chuck Liddell enroute to a TKO victory at UFC 43.

Hello my friends, 'Coffee Guy' over at Zuffa has explained to me Dana White's plans for the UFC light heavyweight division:

UFC 44: First he will have Tito Ortiz vs. Randy Couture. Dana White has told people in private and in the work place that he thinks Tito will beat Couture. Chuck Liddell will get the winner of this no matter who wins, and it will most likely happen in UFC 46.

UFC 45: Dana will most likely make Vitor Belfort vs. Rich Franklin. Dana has told people that he thinks this will be a great fight and that Vitor will win it without a doubt.

UFC 46: Dana plans to have the winner of the Tito/Couture fight vs. Chuck Liddell. Dana is thinking and hoping that Tito will beat Couture so that the UFC can finally make the Tito vs. Liddell matchup they've been wanting to do.

UFC 48: Dana wants to match the winner of Tito/Couture vs. Chuck Liddell fight against Vitor Belfort.



That is what Dana White is hoping to do.

Now in my honest opinion, there isn't too much room for error here. We can only hope that Dana White is familiar with Murphy's Law (which means anything that can go wrong, will go wrong), and has planned for any of the following alternate scenarios:

1. Randy Couture beats Tito Ortiz.

2. Tito does beat Couture and then holds out again so he doesn't have to fight Liddell.

3. Franklin beats Belfort.

In my opinion, White won't have to worry about scenarios 2 & 3 because I think Couture will beat Tito, and Belfort will beat Franklin. However, Dana White and Zuffa don't have a good track record in being able to improvise when things don't go as planned. Let's hope that this isn't the case in the future, even though the odds are stacked in favor of another Zuffa blunder.

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By Todd Atkins


Tito Ortiz

Hello my friends. Taking a break from my busy vacation to bring you some news. Here is some inside stuff from Tito's new deal with Zuffa and other UFC information for FS 24/7 and message board.

Tito is really not getting much more then he was getting originally. But What he was able to negotiate was specific language on Ancillary rights, Name/Likeness clauses and such. Zuffa actally gave in to Tito and his management really. In the beginning Tito was demanding very large sums of money but what he really wanted was the rights to his own name, image etc.

Now if Zuffa uses him on a video game--or sells his likeness to be on a video game, he has to be involved, give permission and be paid. If Zuffa sells T-shirts with Tito on them--they have to pay him. In a nutshell, anything beyond the basic promotion of a fight--posters/tv spots Zuffa has to pay him for.

The funny thing is that Tito is not the first one to attempt to negotiate on Ancillary Rights and name/likeness. Matt Hume and Rico Chiappareli have negotiated on those issues from the start. They didn't have the negotiating power that Tito has but that is a big reason Zuffa doesnt like negotiating with Hume and RAW. Money is not really the issue with those guys. It is all the other contract stuff related to ancillary rights.
Also a couple years back Randy Couture hired a management company titled "battlemanagement"-- at the time he was the title holder and him and Zuffa went through some very tough negotiations on the same issues Tito brought up. Battlemangement had some sucess but Zuffa at the time was pretty bitter about the whole thing.

Zuffa likes fighters that sign the contract without question. They feel like their contract is a non negotiable instrument and if you dont like it, fight somewhere else. If anyone complains, has a lawyer that complains, or trys to negotiate the language sent then they are automatically "out of favor". Most are not in the position of a Tito or a Couture. So they sign it without question. Dana loves fighters that will fight for the first offer Zuffa comes up with and doesnt question the contract at all. The fact is there are fighters that would pay UFC to allow them on the big show.

How would you like it if Zuffa offers you a contract that pays 2k/2K for show/win money to fight on a card. You think it is great! You are pumped! You get the contract, read through it and find out you are responsible for your own medical testing that the athletic commision requires. That may cost 1000$!! You dont have medical insurance so before you ever step in the Octagon you are out of pocket 1k. It has happened. Complain and they will find someone else. EVERYONE signs the standard contract you are told. And to be honest, most do.

Tito and Dana used to be buddies. That relationship is very strained right now. I don't see it getting better anytime soon. Dana is used to getting things his way. He isn't happy when he is questioned or challenged. Dana had Lorenzo and Frank thinking Tito was his 'boy' for the past few years. So now that Tito held out and renegotiated it made Dana look bad in a way.

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Babalu vs. Maurice Smith

UFC and RINGS veteran Renato Babalu has now been confirmed to participate in the inaugural Heat F.C. card that will be held at the Machadinho Gymnasium in Natal, Brazil, on July 31st . Babalu's opponent will be Gracie-Barra fighter Marcelo Uirapuru.

In addition to Renato Babalu, Heat F.C. will bring in two more Brazilian fighters with vast international fight experience: Carlos Barreto and Ebenezer Fontes Braga. They will be matched up against American fighters Forrest Griffin and Ben Rothwell respectively.


Full Card (subject to change)

MAIN EVENTS

Carlos Barreto vs. Ben Rothwell

Renato Babalu vs. Marcelo Uirapuru

Ebenezer Fontes Braga vs. Forrest Griffin


UNDERCARD

Angelo Araujo vs. Edson Paredao

Silmar Rodrigo vs. Curtis Stout

Alexandre Baixinho vs. TBA

Lucas Lopes vs. Jose Zeca Doido

Fabio Bolinho vs. Charles Andrade

Magnus Decio vs. Paulo Guerreiro

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Bob Sapp will make his long-awaited fighting debut in North America faces off in a Superfight against UFC star Kimo Leopoldo at Las Vegas' Bellagio Hotel and Casino during 'K-1: Battle at the Bellagio.'

The 6'3, 375-pound Bob Sapp was originally scheduled to make his North American debut in May, but was forced to pull out of the card at the last minute with a damaged eye that he sustained in his loss to Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic. Sapp has since recovered and is ready to go.

Also, the eight-man tournament on the card will serve as a final opportunity for all 2003 K-1 regional runners-up to qualify for this year's K-1 World Grand Prix championship in December. The "last chance" circumstances of the August tournament will send its winner to the next leg of competition in Osaka, Japan in October. The new format will effectively give K-1 USA runner-up Rick "The Jet" Roufus a second wind and will do likewise for second place finishers from Russia, France, and Switzerland.

San Shou star Cung Le also returns to action in a Superfight.

Tickets for "K-1: Battle at the Bellagio" go on sale on Tuesday, July 1st. They will be priced at $50, $100, $150, and $250 and can be purchased at k-1usa.net or through the Bellagio box office by calling 800-963-9634.

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Dream Stage Entertainment announced additional non-tournament matches for PRIDE Grand Prix Total Elimination 2003, taking place August 10, 2003:

Mirko "Cro-Cop" Filipovic vs. Igor Vovchanchyn
Fedor Emelianenko vs. Gary Goodridge
Antonio Rodrigo "Minotauro" Nogueira vs. Ricco Rodriguez

The above matchups are in addition to the middleweight GP listed below:

COMPLETE BRACKETS:
- Kazushi Sakuraba Japan vs. Vanderlei Silva Brazil
- Quinton Jackson USA vs. Ricardo Arona Brazil
- Hidehiko Yoshida Brazil vs. Kiyoshi Tamura Japan
- Alistair Overeem Holland vs. Chuck Liddell USA

One last non-tournament matchup is most likely to be added to the card, and it is heavily rumored that it will be between the two GP alternate fighters:

Ryan Gracie vs. Daiju Takase



The details for the event:

PRIDE GRANDPRIX 2003
August 10th, 2003
Saitama Super Arena, Tokyo, Japan

Stadium capacity: 25,000-35,000 spectators
Gates Open: 2:00 pm
Fights Start: 4:00 pm

Pay Per View: August 10th on PPV in North America


The prize money for the GP tournament is as follows as follows:

1st: 20,000,000 yen (approximately USD$165,000 depending on the exchange rate)
2nd: 5,000,000 yen (approximately USD$40,000 depending on the exchange rate)
3rd & 4th: 2,500,000 yen (approximately USD$21,000 depending on the exchange rate)

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Jake Rossen

According to respected MMA insider Shiloh McIver, he was being hounded by MMA journalist Jake Rossen for pictures of McIver's ex-roommate, even though it was common knowledge that she was dating Ricco Rodriguez at the time. McIver's ex-roommate is a stunning model and ex-dancer. According to McIver, "I think Rossen saw her in Vegas or something and emailed me asking for pics, and suggested I could make a lot of money webcamming my house and broadcasting 24/7".

McIver also went on to say that his ex-roommate felt violated and offended by Rossen's comments. In her own words, "tell that comic book nerd to leave me alone". Both comments making reference to the fact Jake Rossen used to be a comic book editor and also his small physical stature.

In some ways, this type of behavior seems reminiscent of the scandal involving Marv Albert a few years back. Albert's off-duty antics however could never hope to affect the established sports he covered such as basketball and ice hockey. But one has to wonder if this type of behavior from sports journalists is detrimental for a fledgling sport such as MMA. In the opinion of Fightsport.com, Rossen's antics are not good for the sport.

We attempted to reach Rossen but he had no comment on the matter.

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By Tape Lord



According to postal connections in Brazil, Ryan Gracie was offered an undisclosed amount of money to do a worked match in which he would lose to Hidehiko Yoshida in the first round of the GP. According to these sources, Gracie turned down the offer and thus was left out of the GP in favor of Yoshida.

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Gary Goodridge

Todd Atkins reports from Japan that there is a very strong possibility that Gary Goodridge will be Fedor Emelianenko's opponent for the Aug 10th Pride show.

Todd Atkins also reports that according to his sources, the UFC may sign Gary Goodridge to fight Cabbage or Tank in the future.

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Bobby Hoffman

In yet another fightsport exclusive, sources inside the KOTC organization have informed me that the original plan of having Bobby Hoffman and Paul Buentello fight on the upcoming Aug 16th KOTC Vegas show was cancelled due to Hoffman's longstanding drug problems.

As sources explained, the KOTC staff think Bobby Hoffman would be unable to pass a drug test and did not want to suffer the public relations disaster that the UFC did with the Barnett situation. The matchup will be moved to a future card taking place on an Indian Reservation, where mandatory drug testing is not a reality, unlike in all Vegas shows.

Stay tuned to fightsport.com and the Jake R report for more hard hitting exclusives you won't read anywhere else in the mma media.

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Wallid Ismael and Antonio Inoki

Japanese icon Antonio Inoki was recently interviewed by Marcelo Alonso for Brazilian magazine Tatame. He discussed many things including his upbringing in Brazil, his new project in the Amazon with Wallid Ismael, his favorite fighters, Muhamed Ali and a few other things. Below are the main quotes of the interview:


Tatame: How did you end up living in Brazil?

Antonio Inoki: My father passed away when I was five years old, nine years later my family moved to Brazil to work in the coffee industry on the outskirts of Sao Paulo. I lived for one year and a half on a dirty farm until I moved to Marilia to work in the cotton industry. I was sixteen years old when my master, Rikidozan, traveled to Brazil to do an exhibition. He found out from a reporter that there was a Japanese boy who was a champion discuss thrower at a local high school. He arranged to meet with this discuss thrower, who happened to be me, and he invited me to go back to Japan. To this day I still have two sisters and two brothers who live in Brazil.

Tatame: What do you think of the technique of the Gracies?

Antonio Inoki: It is very good. But to fight in MMA in this day and age, like in PRIDE for example, it's very important to know many styles.

Tatame: Who do you consider as the best MMA fighters of today?

Antonio Inoki: In my opinion, the best heavyweight today is Mirko "CroCop" Filipovic because he is very fast and has excellent technique in his standup and on the ground. The ground game used to be his deficiency but he has worked hard on it and is learning it very well. I consider him a complete fighter now. In the light heavyweight division, Vanderlei Silva is very strong. His striking revolutionized PRIDE. I also like Nakamura and Vladimir Matyushenko. I would like very much to see a fight between Vanderlei and Matyushenko in PRIDE.

Tatame: Is it true that after your fight with Ali you two became friends?

Antonio Inoki: Yes, we even started to communicate by mail. The song I chose when I first came to Pride, called Inoki Bom Ba Ye, was known as Ali Bom Ba Ye song (Ali, the Greatest). After our fight, he gave me this song as a tribute. Today, the song is really popular in Japan and it is played at many baseball events. When I decided to retire, Ali came to Tokyo.

Tatame: About the 'Jungle Fight' event you will be hosting in the Amazon with Wallid Ismael, is it true that the winners of their fights will join your team, the Inoki Army?

Antonio Inoki: I thank people for using the name Inoki Army. Actually, it will be a team organized by people like Wallid, Justin McCauley and many other new generation Japanese fighters. The chosen ones will have my full support, receive salaries and everything else for their training. Fighters who have a good showing in that event will have good chances to be recruited. I'll be there to check this out. During big events, I always do something different. At Dynamite!, I jumped from a parachute in the center of the Tokyo's National Stadium. Maybe in this event, I will swim with the piranha fish in the Amazon river. Who knows?!

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Fightsport.com's Shimura Funaki was at the site of the AFC 4 show in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, last night to give us the following report:

MAIN FIGHTS

Din Thomas defeats Steve Berger by unanimous decision.

Berger looked sharp and controlled the action for much of the first round. In the second round saw Thomas come out looking to strike and landing some heavy strikes. The action was back and forth but Thomas took the second round. Both fighters looked good heading into the final round. Thomas then continued to press the action and land many strikes on Berger to secure the win by unanimous decision.


Akira Shoji defeats Dustin Denes by unanimous decision.

Very entertaining fight that saw Shoji land a power bomb in the opening round. A stand up war ensued in the second round but Shoji was able to do more in the final round to get the unanimous decision.


Vitor 'Shaolin' Ribeiro defeats Ivan Menjivar by unanimous decision.

This fight lived up to the hype and was very exciting. The first round was fairly even but Menjivar took a big knee in the second that opened up a big cut. The fight continued and Menjivar looked very good on his feet. He was effective with his kicks and looked to be hurting Ribeiro. However, Ribeiro was relentless with his takedowns and continued to work from inside Menjivar's guard and worsen the cut. In the end, Ribeiro got the nod from the judges.


THE REST OF THE FIGHTS

Jeff Monson defeats Mike Delaney by side choke, RD 1.
Shelby Walker defeats Beth Westover by unanimous decision.
Jorge Masvidal defeats Brian Geraghty by unanimous decision.
Ron Faircloth defeats Wilson Gouveia by TKO, RD 2.
Charles McCarthy defeats Jay Massey by keylock, RD 2.
Jorge Santiago defeats Justin Wieman by triangle, RD 1.

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Fightsport.com's Vasilios Vasilakis was at the site of the Battleground show in Chicago last night to give us the following report:

MAIN FIGHTS

Tony Fryklund defeats Eugene Jackson by guillotine choke, RD 1.

The fight started off with both fighters throwing bombs and landing a lot of them. Jackson got the better of the initial stand-up exchange but both men took a lot of damage early on. Fryklund was bleeding, but was able to get the takedown. Both fighters were worked hard on the ground and landed many strikes. Fryklund eventually put Jackson in a tight guillotine choke. Jackson refused to tap out and was rendered completely unconscious, at which point the referee had to jump in and stop the fight. Fryklund wins at just less than four minutes into the first round.

Chris Lytle defeats LaVerne Clark by unanimous decision.

This may have been the most exciting fight of the night. The fight started out with a great stand-up exchange before Lytle took Clark down. Lytle almost finished Clark with a guillotine choke, but couldn't hold on. The second round was more of the same, but Lytle would get side mount on Clark and started raining down some heavy blows with his right hand.Clark managed to hang on and even escape a kimura to end the round. Lytle continued to control the fight in round three and was able to keep the pressure on Clark.


Rich Franklin defeats Roberto Ramirez by KO, RD 1.

Both fighters started off the fight circling each other for a few seconds until Franklin scored a one-punch knockout at approximately twenty-four seconds into the first round.


THE REST OF THE FIGHTS

Brad Gumm defeats Antoine Skinner by submission, RD 2.
Michael Patt defeats Devion Peterson by unanimous decision.
John Fitch defeats Kyle Jensen by unanimous decision.

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Fightsport.com's Scoop McTroll was at the site of the IFC show on Saturday night to give us the following report:

The venue where the show took place holds 3,000 spectators, but estimation on actual attendance was between 2,000 to 2,500 people.

MAIN FIGHTS

Nick Diaz defeats Jeremy Jackson by TKO at 4:17, RD 1.

In what many are calling the upset of the night, Nick Diaz avenged his loss to jermemy Jackson is dominating fashion. The beginning of the fight was very tactical, with Diaz trying to get a takedown and Jackson trying to land some strikes while avoiding the takedown attempts. They worked in the clinch for a while, with Diaz having the edge. Diaz then took Jackson down, maneuvered himself into the full mount and started raining down hard shots. Jackson wasn't unconscious, but wasn't really defending himself. The referee eventually stopped the fight in favor of Diaz at 4:17 of the first round.


Benji Radach defeats Steve Van Fleet by KO, RD 1.

This fight as a one-sided beating, which ended at about the 3-minute mark when Radach knocked Van Fleet out cold. Van Fleet laid on the ground motionless for a while before he regained consciousness. Van Fleet had been a late replacement for Steve Heath who could not compete.


Jaqueline Andrade defeats Amanda Buckner by armbar, RD 1.

This was s fight between Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu specialists and was a very technical fight. that still had its fair share of striking, with most of the fight taking place on the ground. Bruckner opened up a big cut on Andrade's face, but Andrade had several submission attempts in a row, transitioning between them very well and eventually getting the armbar victory at around 4:00 of the first round. Andrade is now the new IFC Light-Heavyweight Women's Champion.


Bobby Southworth defeats Brian Vanderwalle by armbar at 4:28, RD 1.

Both fighters looked good but Southworth ultimately won because of his good takedown defense and superior ground techniques.


Roger Neff defeats 'Cobra' by submission at 1:20, RD 1.

Neff took Cobra (the same 'Cobra' from American Gladiators) down easily, and it became very apparent that Cobra had no ground skills whatsoever. Cobra actually rolled into a headlock that ended the fight.


THE REST OF THE FIGHTS

Tim McKenzie defeats Shane Davis by armbar at 1:31, RD 1.
Randy Spence defeats Don Lunier by rear naked choke at 1:38, RD 1.
Willie Solorio vs. Eddie Ellis ruled a no-contest
Shaun Beckett defeats Hannibal Adolfo by KO, RD 1.
Heather Soderquist defeats Britney Victoria by TKO, RD 2.
Aaron Jameson defeats Carlos Cordero by reverse triangle choke, 3:28 RD 1.
Glen Cordosa defeats Jeff Houghland by rear naked choke, 1:53 RD 1.

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