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Takanori Gomi (top)

Rumble On The Rock 4
Friday, October 10, 2003
Blaisdale Arena
Oahu, Hawaii

B.J. Penn's Hawaiian MMA promotion known as 'Rumble On The Rock (ROTR) has announced that a verbal agreement has been reached with Takanori Gomi for him to face B.J. Penn for the ROTR light weight championship in ROTC 4. Everything has been agreed upon and only the only thing left is for the contract to be signed.

Here is the complete card:

B.J. Penn vs. Takanori Gomi
Ron Juhn vs. Jake Sheilds
Paul Buentello vs. Kuai Kupihea
Gill Castillo vs. Renato 'Charuto' Verisimo
Stephen Palling vs. TBA
Leandro Nyza vs. 'Soneca'
David Pa'alui vs. Joe Riggs
Yobie Song vs. Antonio Banuelos
Ross Ebanez vs. Gabe Casillas
Santino Defranco vs. TBA

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X-1
September 6, 2003
Tokyo, Japan

Jim Kikuchi beat Dave Vazquez by KO at 1:06, RD 1.
Jeff Ford beat Philip Preece by TKO at 2:58, RD 1.
Daniel Pudar beat Jay McCown by unanimous decision.
Jimmy Westfall beat Adam 'Barnone' Guerra by TKO at 1:33, RD 1.
John Fitch beat Gabe Garcia by TKO at 2:41, RD 1.
Katsuhiko Nakajima beat Jason Rey by TKO at 1:25, RD 1.
Kensuke Sasaki beat Christian Wellisch by front neck lock at 2:35, RD 1.
Bobby Southworth beat Bryan Pardoe by TKO at 0:14. RD 2.
Dan Bobish beat Basil Castro by TKO at 1:33, RD 1.

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John Lewis

Brazilian magazine Tatame reports that 2001 US ADCC trials champion Mark Laimon has been kicked out of the Lewis-Pederneiras team. According to reports, Laimon had some problems with John Lewis and was then was banished from the team by Andre Pederneiras. "He talked some shit about John in the U.S. and I didn't like that at all. Beyond that, the UFC didn't like John since he promoted WFA and they took advantage of the Laimon situation, offering some stuff to him", explained Pederneiras.

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Shannon Ritch

Legendary MMA jobber Shannon Ritch recently called out controversial promoter-turned-part-time-fighter Jaime Levine. Here's what Ritch had to say:

"I am tired of hearing about all the guys you will never fight...you call fighters out then it never happens, if you are looking for a fighter to fight, then fight me. I am smaller than you at 190 lbs but ill step up and fight you anywhere. Call Frank and set it up, i could use a win in Las Vegas...

here is your chance to kick my ass like you have always wanted to do.

Shannon The Cannon"

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AFC 5
Friday, September 5th, 2003
War Memorial Coliseum
Ft. Lauderdale, FL

Nick Aguillar defeats Edson Diniz by unanimous decision. (Aguillar wins AFC lightweight title)

Chris Lytle defeats Chatt Lavender by triangle choke at 0:55, RD 1. (Lytle wins AFC welterweight title)

Dustin Denes defeats Nick Thompson by triangle choke at 1:45, RD 1.

Phil Johns defeats Pedro Brandao by unanimous decision.

Efrain Ruiz defeats Josh Krueger by TKO.

Paulo Barros defeats Matt Hamilton by unanimous decision.

Marcel Ferreira defeats Tony Ross by rear naked choke, RD 1.

Jorge Masvidal defeats Roli Delgado by TKO, RD 2.

Jorge Santiago defeats Derrick Noble by unanimous decision.

Joe Cervantes drew with Brian Geraghty

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SHOOTO
September 5th, 2003
Kourakuen Hall
Tokyo, Japan

Class-A Bouts:
Luiz 'Buscape' Firmino defeats Kohei Yasumi by unanimous decision.
Masato Shiozawa defeats Akira Komatsu by rear naked choke at 4:19, RD 2.
Norifumi 'Kid' Yamamoto vs. Caleb Mitchell by TKO at 0:40, RD 1.

Class-B Bouts:
Takehiro Harusaki defeats Issei Tsurumi by rear naked choke at 4:43, RD 2.
Tiger Ishii defeats Takahisa Toyoshima by triangle choke at 3:35, RD 2.
Akihiko Adachi defeats Yohei 'MD' Mikami by unanimous decision.
Yoichi Fukumoto defeats Shinobu Ito by armbar at 4:24, RD 1.
Yohei Mikami defeats Kenji Osawa by unanimous decision.
Kestutis Smirnovas defeats Masaya Inoue by TKO after RD 1.
Hideki Kadowaki defeats Denisas Archirejevas by armbar at 3:45, RD 1.

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Kevin Randleman

Japanese media are reporting that there is a strong possibility that Kevin Randleman will be on the inaugural PRIDE Bushido card on October 5th. An opponent for Randleman has not been yet determined, or whether Randleman will cut down to 185 pounds (84 kg), or be on the card as one of the heavier weight matchups.

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Erik Wanderlei

He's not Wanderlei Silva, but Erik Wanderlei promises to put on a show against Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua in tonight's IFC light heavyweight tournament in Denver, Colorado.

Erik Wanderlei told Brazilian magazine Tatame the following, "He (Shogun) is a good fighter and has experience, but I'm going in there to trade strikes with him a little and then take him to the ground".

Erik Wanderlei came in as a late replacement for Paulo Filho, who had to pull out of his fight with 'Shogun' due to a serious knee injury. Wanderlei is 27 years old, 6'0 (1.82 m) and 211 pounds (96 kg). He is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion and is making his MMA debut against 'Shogun'.

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Carlos Barreto

Jungle Fight
September 13th, 2003
Manaus, Brazil

Reports out of Brazil are that Carlos Barreto is now out of the Jungle Fight card due to a knee injury suffered in training. Baretto was originally scheduled to possibly take on Josh Barnett.

Also, Brazilian veteran Jorge 'Macaco' Patino is now on the card, and he will face Ronaldo 'Jacare', who is making his MMA debut.

Reports from Brazil are also saying that the controversial Marcelo 'Tigre' may be matched up against former Olympic wrestling gold medalist Mark Schultz, who is now 42 years old.

The line-up so far:

Ricco Chiaparelli vs. Luis 'Pantera'
Ricardo Moraes vs. Jan Nortje
Josh Barnett (possible) vs. TBA
Ronaldo 'Jacare' vs. Jorge 'Macaco' Patino
Fabricio Werdun vs. TBA
Ebenezer Braga vs. TBA
Marcelo 'Tigre' vs. TBA
Mark Schultz vs. TBA
Ivan Ludwig vs. Edward Marchal
Gabriel Napao vs. Rodrigo Riscado

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Forrest Griffin

Heat FC 2
November 27th, 2003
Machadinho gymnasium
Natal, Brazil

Brazilian magazine Tatame reports that the matchup of Forrest Griffin vs. Lucas Lopes is confirmed for second Heat FC event that is scheduled for November 27th in Natal, Brazil. Forrest Griffin also competed on the inaugural Heat FC card back in August, and impressed everyone by beating the talented Brazilian veteran Ebenezer Braga.

Fightsport.com has also learned that Heat FC promoters are in negotiations to also bring in Australian fighter Elvis Sinosic. Sinosic's opponent would most likely be Ebenezer Braga.

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IFC: Global Domination
September 6th, 2003
Pepsi Center
Denver, CO

Light Heavyweight Tournament:
Renato 'Babalu' Sobral vs. Trevor Prangley
Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua vs. Eric Wanderlei
Jeremy Horn vs. Michail Avetisyan
Forrest Griffin vs. Chael Sonnen

Semifinals:
Sobral-Prangley Winner vs. Rua-Filho Winner
Horn-Avetisyan Winner vs. Vitale-Van Arsdale Winner

Final:
Semi-Final Fight 1 Winner vs. Semi-Final Fight 2 Winner


Light Heavyweight Tournament Alternate Fights
Ahmad vs. Eric Escobedo
Tom Sauer vs. Sean Gray

Alternate Fight Final
Ahmad-Escobedo Winner vs. Sauer-Gray Winner


Single Fights:
Ron Waterman vs. Jerry Vrbanovic
Nathan Marquardt vs. Steve Gomm
Brad Gumm vs. Doug Evans
Jody Poff vs. Chilo Gonzales


IFC Women's Middleweight Championship Fight
Amanda Buckner vs. Ginele Marquez

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TKO 13:Ultimate Rush
September 6th, 2003
Montreal, Canada

Main Event:
Pete Spratt vs. Georges St-Pierre

Feature Bouts:
Steve Vigneault vs. Sean Pearson
Ryan Diaz vs. Mark Hominick
Stephan Potvin vs. Denis Kang
Patrick Cote vs. Yan Pellerin
Kristof Midoux vs. Cameron Brown
Blake Frederickson vs. Donald Ouimet
Stephane Dube vs. Dave Goulet

Preliminary Bouts:
Glenn Murdoch vs. Paschal Gosselin
Andy Social vs. Steve Duquette
Alex Gasson vs. Jeff Joslin
Steve Claveau vs. David Guigui
Tom Muller vs. Rob McDonald
Aaron Tregear vs. Kyle Sandford
Gavin Hesson vs. Francois Flibotte
Sam Stout vs. Dany Paquete
Antonio Carvalho vs. Phillipe Lagace

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Don Frye

Ron Merrill of Insidefighting.com recently interviewed Don Frye. Here's what Frye had to say:

IF: Are you planning on fighting again?

Don Frye: Yes. Absolutely.

IF: Are you still training with Frank Shamrock?

Don Frye: Ah, no. Frank's busy with other stuff and actually I haven't done anything since the last fight [Verses Mark Coleman] because of my neck. And I just now started going to the gym and just now started lifting weights.

IF: How is your neck injury healing up?

Don Frye: To tell the truth, I just got a call from the doctor. I got a second MRI here. The first one I got after the fight about a month and a half ago I guess and I had a couple herniated disks and there's like an operation and all that kind of crap. They were telling me to find a new line of work and blah, blah, blah. You know? And so I decided to try what Evander Holyfield did, you know? And I went to a touch/heal psychic and a preacher and got touch/healed and I just got my MRI results back from last week and I don't have any herniated disks anymore.

IF: That's excellent! How do you like that?

Don Frye: Yeah, but hey. It sounds kind of kooky but it worked. So fuck, I'm gonna go for it now.

IF: Are you going to be able to compete in the Pride FC Heavyweight Grand Prix?

Don Frye: Actually I was just sitting down and I'm thinking I'm gonna call Pride up and see if I can take Yoshida's spot in the Light Heavyweight tournament. Because like I said, I haven't done anything for two or three months or however long it has been, you know? And my weight is down to about 217 lbs. So I'm gonna see if Yoshida pulls out, if I can step into the Light Heavyweight tournament.

IF: How do you respond to, or do you care to respond to the people who just don't seem willing to accept the fact that you could lose to Yoshida legitimately?

Don Frye: Everybody's questioned that since day one, you know? The next day I got off the plane, I was in L.A. and some guy says, "hey, you're Don Frye, you're a great fighter! That was fake, wasn't it?" [Laughs] And my arm was in a sling and I got it all wrapped up in a sling, you know? It didn't look fake to me. He [Yoshida] dislocated it. Like I said, I had neck damage I didn't know about for over a year. Three years ago they fused 3 vertebrae and I thought that was good. They said, "you can return to training in 3 months." And in 3 months, one week, I was back in the wrestling ring in New Japan Pro Wrestling. So I probably rushed it a little bit too fast. That's life in the big city, you know? They wanted me in there and I owed them and I work for them, so I went back in there. So somewhere around the Ken Shamrock fight I injured my neck and might have possibly broken it. I think my wife did it, driving down the road actually. We were coming back from Mexico and I was in the passenger seat reading a paper hauling down the road and she hits this bump. I was all relaxed reading the newspaper and I go flying and hit my head on the roof of the car and "crack." You know, I just couldn't move. Unfortunately to say, I think my wife broke my neck. So when Yoshida put me on the ground and everything went numb and I just couldn't recover. I mean fuck, the guy's an Olympic gold medallist, and I mean come on. What do people want?

IF: Each time you fought Mark Coleman, it wasn't under the greatest set of circumstances. The first time you already had a couple matches under your belt that night, the second time you had the rotator cuff injury. Would you fight Mark Coleman a third time, or is that all said and done?

Don Frye: Ah, I don't know if Mark and I want to fight each other again, you know? Mark's a great athlete and I really like Mark. You know, shit, he's got his own problems right now. He don't need me bothering him for another rematch. If I'd have won the second fight then I'd have a right to ask for 2 out of 3, but he beat me twice in a row so I don't really have a right. I'd like to, but logically there's no logic in asking for it.

IF: Any plans to avenge that loss to Yoshida?

Don Frye: Well that's why I'd like to see if I could get into that Light Heavyweight tournament. And I don't really see Yoshida returning. And if I can go in there and take his spot in that tournament and win that tournament than I'll be able to definitely request a rematch.

IF: You had mentioned after the loss to Jerome Le Banner that you'd like to take him out under MMA rules. Any plans on a rematch?

Don Frye: It was in the contract that I had 4 or 5 months for a rematch under MMA rules. But obviously that time slipped away. The whole ball is in his court. He's a fantastic athlete and if you look at my record I've just lost to the best. Coleman twice, he's the best out there. Yoshida, he was a gold medallist in the Olympics, you know? Shit. Le Banner should be the Grand Prix champion.

IF: What are your thoughts on Mike Tyson in MMA?

Don Frye: Ohhh, I think it's exciting. I'd like to see it.

IF: You had mentioned one time in a Pride FC interview that if you fought Mike Tyson you'd like to trade with him a little bit. Do you still feel that way?

Don Frye: Ah, no. Not after Le Banner put me on my ass, no. [Laughs] "Nah!" I re-thought that one real fast.

IF: What are your thoughts on Don King getting involved in MMA?

Don Frye: I think it's going to bring it into the mainstream, you know? I think if anybody can get the job done it'll be him.

IF: How's your relationship with Gilbert Yvel? Good, bad, or rematch?

Don Frye: I like Yvel. I like Yvel. He came into the locker room when I was gonna fight Ken [Shamrock] and he gave me one of his yellow cards that he's so famous for now, and I said "hey, wait a second. You got to sign this for me. It's no good! It's no good without a signature." So he wrote, "to my good friend Don Frye."

IF: Don, looking way ahead here, if you could fight anyone for your retirement match, who would it be?

Don Frye: That may not be way ahead.

IF: You have to be optimistic.

Don Frye: Well maybe that Light Heavyweight tournament, you know?

IF: Wouldn't it be something if your wife took you out of MMA? [Laughs]

Don Frye: Well basically she has! [Laughs] Basically she has, brother! [Laughs] Geez! Nobody else could get the job done except for that blonde, you know?

IF: Would you consider doing full-time MMA commentary after retirement?

Don Frye: Yeah, that's what I'd like to do. I would like to do full-time commentating. I'd be nowhere near the league of a Jeff Blatnik. He'd be the play-by-play man and I'd just be the comic relief color commentator. But yeah, that's something I'd really like to do. It would keep me involved in the sport, whi...this sport has done everything in the world for me.

IF: Later on in your career, you put on more muscle than what you started out with. What was the decision behind that and has it affected your cardio and agility?

Don Frye: Oh yeah. It's affected my cardio and agility tremendously. The thing is, when I first started out I was a fireman and on my days off I was shoeing horses out here in Arizona. I was working 6-7 days/week plus training. So it was kind of hard to keep the weight on when you're sweating 2 gallons of water a day. That's something like 7 pounds a gallon, so you're sweating 14 lbs off every day. It's hard to stay hydrated. But once I got my feet secure in mixed martial arts, I didn't have to work for a living anymore.

IF: What could we see in a Bob Sapp vs. Don Frye match?

Don Frye: Oh I'd kill Bob Sapp. I'd knock him out in a minute. I'd love to…except you know that's not ever going to happen because they're trying to protect him for Mike Tyson, but I'd take Sapp out in one minute. Or else I'd quit. If I couldn't do that I'd quit. If I couldn't take Bob Sapp out I'd retire.

IF: Since the Iranian incident, have you had any more street fights?

Don Frye: [Laughs] Oh! That was funny! Um, you know, Brian Johnston and I, we were really drunk, really drunk. And Brian goes walking off as he always does and the next thing you know I hear a bunch of glass breaking and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that Brian's involved in that. So I go running up the stairs, this was summer time and we're wearing sandals. He kicks off his sandals - he's been hit over the head by a couple bottles - he kicks off his sandals and he's fighting in bare feet in the glass, fighting seven guys and I grab a hold of a couple of them and we start going to town. Umm, shit. I don't even remember 99% of that night, everybody had to tell me what happened. One guy took off and I started chasing him and I pulled a hamstring so I turned around and came back. Another guy ran off so I started chasing him and he jumped in a cab. I tried to open up the door but he had locked the door so I punched through the glass of the rear window and drug him out and started beatin' the snot out of him. Then the Tokyo police came and treated me like a king; like Rodney King. They put the boots to me and I got a big ole black eye. Then we got to the police station and they recognized who Brian and I were and they started taking pictures and gave me a lecture and told me I had to pay the $300 for the broken taxi window and "bye-bye".

IF: Any more incidents like that since that one?

Don Frye: Oh no, thank God. You know, we've behaved ourselves. One of us could have gotten cut pretty easily.

IF: Do you ever visit any of the underground message boards?

Don Frye: No, no. You know, I tried that a few years ago and I just lost interest. You know, the guys on there - if they like you then they like you. If they don't, they don't. They're just gonna insult you and frustrate you. I mean shit, there's nothing you can do about it.

IF: Have you had the chance to view any of the highlight videos that the fans have put together in your honor?

Don Frye: No. I got to see the one on Sherdog but that's it. A friend of mine at the club I train at made one and made a copy for me. That's all I have. If you've got any, send them to me, will ya?

IF: Sure. Who is your pick to win the Pride FC Middleweight tournament?

Don Frye: Don Frye! [Laughs]

IF: [Laughs] Man that was loaded! I should have seen that coming. I should've known.

Don Frye: [Laughs] But, if Don Frye doesn't win then I pick Quinton [Jackson].

IF: Are you going to be an actor part-time now since starring in your new film?

Don Frye: Am I what? [Much laughter] Well, I ...Douglas Crosby got me in on a...have you heard this one? Douglas Crosby, who is one of the judges for the UFC, got me a little gig on a movie. And I want to thank him very much. Very much!

IF: Was it a Western?

Don Frye: Nah, it was a...he went out of his way and put his head on a chopping block and I got it cut off for him and I got fired during rehearsal basically. But I want to thank him and give him all the credit in the world for giving me the opportunity to do that. But I was basically on the set for ten minutes and then asked to leave.

IF: You want to talk about that a little bit?

Don Frye: Oh, I just...I just messed everything up. I'll tell ya'. I missed my cue, almost killed one of the actors, you know?

IF: What kind of a role was it?

Don Frye: I was an FBI agent. I was supposed to take down a bad guy.

IF: Did you get a little too rough?

Don Frye: Well I thought he tripped over his own feet, but a few people looked at it the other way, so I ain't gonna argue with them.

IF: Do you have a website, or are you considering starting one so that your fans can follow your career?

Don Frye: Um? Shit. Right now my career is basically over. Shit. I had a website back in 1996 but it didn't work too well. Somebody downloaded it onto the hairy chest pages which is a gay website and so I started getting all these gay love letters, you know? Which wouldn't have been bad if they'd all bought a t-shirt and a hat or something, but nobody bought anything!

IF: Alright Don, what's your favorite beer? I've got to know.

Don Frye: Oh my gosh. Favorite be...let's see, there's so many of them. I'm a tequila man; 100% Agave Tequila. Beer? Um? Geez. Sam Adams is probably my favorite. I like the good Sam Adams Stout. I like Guinness. Guinness is probably my favorite beer.

IF: Okay, here's a little name association, sort of like word association. I'll give you the name of a fighter and you tell me what comes to mind...Tito Ortiz.

Don Frye: Tito's tough. He's young. He's a good kid who hasn't even peaked yet, you know and he won't peak for another 5-7 years.

IF: Mike Tyson.

Don Frye: Oh, I like Tyson. He's a nut, you know? He's bred for fighting. He belongs in a cage. He's a Neanderthal. I just love him.

IF: Oscar DeLaHoya.

Don Frye: Oscar? I love him. He's a class-act all the way around. He's a great fighter; he's a great person for the Latino community, well-spoken, good-looking kid. He's got it all.

IF: Phil Baroni.

Don Frye: I like Phil. He's a little rough around the edges, but that's what people want. Just like Quinton Jackson, it's what they want.

IF: Vitor Belfort.

Don Frye: I think that he started off too young and success came to fast for him and, you know, like most of us he just wasn't ready for it. That was his problem I think and once he gets his head together he'll be back up on top.

IF: All these questions were for your fans and from your fans. Have you got anything you'd like to say to them?

Don Frye: Yeah, I'm a big Ken Shamrock fan now. He's got all my respect, you know? I think that fight could have gone either way and I got lucky to get the nod but I'll take it. I'd rather be lucky than good. He's the greatest athlete that I've ever competed against and it's an honor to be in the ring with that man: the same thing for Mark Coleman. Mark Coleman is a fantastic athlete, you know? And I just hope not to do anything stupid to disappoint my fans.

IF: Can we give you a plug? Do you have any products, endorsements, training tapes that you'd like to mention?

Don Frye: No? Nobody wants anything to do with me. [Laughs]

IF: You've gotta start answering the casting calls for these Western movies.

Don Frye: Yeah, if they'd make 'em for me. The evil sheriff [laughs], that's kind of a redundant statement though, isn't it?

IF: Well Don, on behalf of InsideFighting.com, I really appreciate this opportunity to sit down with you and get some questions answered, I know that your fans appreciate it and I'd just like to say thank you once again.

Don Frye: Thanks brother, I appreciate it. Thanks for not forgetting about me.

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PRESS RELEASE:

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

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Royler Gracie (right)

Royler Gracie recently spoke to Brazilian magazine Tatame regarding his possible participation in PRIDE Bushido, and revealed that the contract negotiations have hit an impasse for now.

Royler says, "I proposed my fee and they offered me an amount that is way below what I usually fight for. MMA has a lot of stresses, so I must to be paid well for it." Another roadblock was the size of his opponent. As Royler puts it, "I don't remember his name, but he weighs 176 pounds (80 kg) and I weigh 143 pounds (65 kg). They never give me a fighter that is in my weight class".

Royler also stated that he will have a definite answer in the next two days on whether he will participate in PRIDE Bushido or not.

According to Fightsport.com's sources in Japan and Brazil, it was D. Mishima who Royler was referring to as the fighter who PRIDE wanted to match him up against. Royler has already told PRIDE that he would like to fight a fighter who is more his size and prefers Rumina Sato as his opponent, as it is said that Sato will also be on the card.

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Renzo Gracie

Robson Gracie, who is the father of Renzo, told Brazilian magazine Tatame that the following Gracies are confirmed for the PRIDE Bushido card on October 5th:

Renzo Gracie
Ryan Gracie
Ralph Gracie
Rodrigo Gracie
Daniel Gracie

Robson also said that up to eight Gracies may still be on the card, including Charles Gracie.

Fightsport.com has learned that Royler Gracie and Ryron Gracie are also very close to being on the card. Crosley Gracie is only being considered at this point. Rickson Gracie is being made an offer, but it is below the range of what Rickson usually demands for his fights.

More news to come in the next week.

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Masato and his new product.

Masato's fame has been rapidly growing in Japan since he became the first Japanese fighter to win the K-1 MAX championship. His fame is nowhere near the level of Bob Sapp of course, but he has been on TV and also has some products available with his name and likeness. The picture above shows his latest product entitled 'Masato Aroma Fragrance'.

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Super Brawl 31: Corssroads
Saturday, September 20th, 2003
Blaisdell Arena
Honolulu, Hawaii

Jason Miller vs. Egan Inoue
Justin Ellison vs. Falaniko Vitale
Joe Jordan vs. Kolo Koka
David Yeung vs. Eddie Yagin
Jay Martinez vs. Kaipo Kalama
Randy Rowe vs. Desi Miner
George Randolph vs. Ray 'King Kong' Serraille
Sydney Silva vs. Anthony Torres

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KOTC
September 5th, 2003
Soboba Casino
Soboba, CA

Gates Open: 3:00 PM

The next pay-per-view card for KOTC is as follows:

Main Events:
Ronald Jhun vs. John Alesio (KOTC welterweight tile)
Dean Lister vs. James Lee (KOTC middleweight title)


FeatureFights:
Jeff Newton vs. Tim Konrad
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


For Reservations:

Soboba Casino: 1-909-654-2883

Ticketmaster: 1-213-480-3232

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RITC 53: The Beat Goes On
Saturday, Sept 13, 2003
Celebrity Theatre
Phoenix, AZ

Doors Open: 5:30 PM
Fight Time: 7:30 PM

PRESS RELEASE:

Card subject to change:

Joseph Riggs vs. Andy Montana (RITC Heavyweight title)
Homer Moore vs. Chris Peak
Jake Hattan vs. Robert Maldonado (RITC Lightweight title)
Cory Timmerman vs. Melville Calabaca

Roger Mejia vs. Brett Shafer
Lyle Steffens vs. John Lansing
RJ Gamez vs. Joe Frainee
Michelle 'GrappleGirl' Farrow vs. Dallas Campbell (RITC Woman's title)
Rich Moss vs. TBA

Justin Nauling vs. Mike Lightfoot
Victor Estrada vs. Matt Ver Halen
Carlos Ortega vs. Rylan Sandoval
Victor Cruz vs. Gabe Rivas

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Our sources in Brazil are reporting that Paulo Filho will be replaced in the September 6th IFC light heavyweight tournament by 3-time jiu-jitsu world champion Erik Wanderlei. This will be Wanderlei's MMA debut.

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Royce Gracie

The UFC has confirmed to the MMA media what Fightsport.com already first reported almost two months ago...that they are in serious negotiations with Royce Gracie to return to the octagon against Matt Hughes in the Novemeber UFC 45 show.

As Tape Lord already reported, Dana White had wanted to announce the Royce signing on MMAWeekly's radio show, but could not do so because the deal was not completely finalized. According to Tape Lord's postal connections, the contract is 98% signed and the final details should be hammered out very soon. Expect Royce to sign within 10 days, and Dana White to announce it in about two weeks and then announce it on the UFC 44 show as well.

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Paulo Filho

Brazilian Top Team member Paulo Filho tore his knee ligaments while defending a takedown in training and will have to pull out of the IFC light heavyweight tournament scheduled for September 6th. The injury happened on Tuesday, one day before Filho's scheduled departure for the United States. Filho will have surgery next week to repair the torn knee ligament.

Filho is the third fighter to pull out of the tournament, Mike Van Arsale and Falaniko Vitale being the first two. The IFC did a great job replacing Van Arsdale and Vitale with Chael Sonnen and Forrest Griffin. Hopefully the IFC can find another great replacement just four days before the show.

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Our sincere apologies for the lack of updates yesterday. The webmaster's server was down and could not access the site to update.

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Stefan Gamlin

K-1 has decided to scrap the idea of a Bob Sapp vs. Kimo MMA match for their September 21st Japan GP. K-1 will instead pit Sapp against the unheralded American fighter Stefan Gamlin.

Gamlin is 32 years old, 6'3 (1.90) and 350 pounds (159 kg). He is a strongman competitor, as well as a former NFL Europe player and former WWE developmental wrestler. The Japanese media are already billing him as an ex-NFL star.

Kimo will still be on the card too, but will be taking on Dutch fighter Rene Roose in an MMA match.

Below is the complete line-up:

K-1 JAPAN SERIES
K-1 SURVIVAL 2003 JAPAN GP FINAL
Sunday, September 21, 2003
Yokohama Arena
Yokohama, Japan

K-1 Japan Tournament:
'Montanha Silva' vs. Musashi
Tatsufumi Tomihira vs. Hiraku Hori
Yusuke Fujimoto vs. Nobu Hayashi
Tsuyoshi Nakasako vs. Hiromi Amada

Super Fights (K-1 rules):
Mike Bernardo vs. 'Butterbean'
Jerome Le Banner vs. TBA

Super Fights (MMA rules):
Bob Sapp vs. Stefan Gamlin
Kimo Leopoldo vs. Rene Roose

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Elvis Sinosic (bottom)

UFC veteran Elvis Sinosic was impersonated yesterday on the well known MMA website known as MMA.tv. The impersonator somehow managed to log in under Sinosic's screenname, then posted some uncharacteristic disparaging remarks against Sanae Kikuta, who Sinosic just lost a unanimous decision to in this past weekend's Pancrase show.

Fortunately no other damage was done. The administrator of the MMA website in question, known as Kirik Jenness, said he would look further into the matter.

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Jeremy Horn

Extreme Brawl 4
September 28th, 2003
Bracknell, England

Jeremy Horn vs. James Zikic
Alex Stiebling vs. Tengiz Tedoradze
Alex Evans vs. Kyle Jensen
Mark Day vs. Matt Ewin
Mario Stapel vs. Andy Cooper
Michael Johnson vs. Paul Jenkins
Paul Daley vs. Suley Mahmoud
Paul Hopkins vs. Warren Clearsby
Andy Lagden vs. Terry McDougall
Leon Dickins vs. TBA
Ricky Moore vs. John Waite
Ricky Salhan vs. Kevin Capel
Dave Roche vs. TBA
Paul Sutherland vs. Danny Batten
Chin Weakasingh vs. Dave McLaughlin
Neil McLeod vs. TBA
Michael Hobbs vs. Mark Epstein
Alec Davenport vs. Dave Nicolosi
Adrian Degorski vs. Stuart Barrs
Mark Walker vs. Keanu Sabet
Scott Ireland vs. Ross Pettifer

The Event card will also include several Kickboxing and Boxing fights.

For more information e-mail: extremebrawl@hotmail.com

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Akihiro Gono after his fight with Nilson Castro.

Chute Boxe manager Rudimar Fedrigo has logged a request to the Pancrase organization to change Nilson Castro's disqualification loss to Akihiro Gono to a no-contest. The fight took place at the Pancrase tenth anniversary show that just took place on August 31st.

Rudimar says that Castro's kick to Gono's groin was unintentional, and explains, "Nilson aimed the first kick to Gono's inner thigh. When Nilson kicked him to the inner thigh a second time, Gono then said it hit him in the groin."

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AFC 5
Friday, September 5th, 2003
War Memorial Coliseum
Ft. Lauderdale, FL

Card Subject To Change:

Edson Diniz vs. Nick Aguillar (AFC lightweight title)

Chris Lytle vs. Chatt Lavender (AFC welterweight title)

Dustin Denes vs. Nick Thompson

Pedro Brandao vs. Phil Johns

Efrain Ruiz vs. Josh Krueger

Paulo Barros vs. Matt Hamilton

Marcel Ferreira vs. Tony Ross

Jorge Masvidal vs. Roli Delgado

Jorge Santiago vs. Derrick Noble

Joe Cervantes vs. Brian Geraghty

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By Tape Lord


Rodrigo "Minotauro" Nogueira

As I mentioned a few weeks back, my postal connections in Japan are telling me that DSE definitely wants to do Rodrigo 'Minotauro' Nogueira vs. Josh Barnett for the November PRIDE GP show.

My postal connections are now telling me that if DSE can't get Barnett for the show, then they are strongly considering doing a rematch between Rodrigo "Minotauro" Nogueira and either Heath Herring or Mark Coleman, if Coleman agrees.

More news to come on this in the next two weeks.

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Todd Atkins

The MMA media's newest member Gank recently interviewed the guy who is considered one of the most controversial MMA insiders to ever come along in MMA and MMA journalism...Todd Atkins. Below is the interview:

Gank: Thank you for accepting this interview Mr Atkins. Firstly I would like to go over your background. You have mentioned before about travelling to various countries with your family, I would like you to talk about the countries you have visited and the mma experiences you may have encountered in your travels.

Todd Atkins MMA Media: Yes I did do a lot of traveling, both as a young person and currently as well. When I was growing up my father was working for ARAMCO, which is the biggest oil company in the world. Or at least, at the time it was. So we moved to Saudi Arabia for him to take this job. We moved from Oklahoma to Saudi Arabia in 1988. I was around 6 years old at the time. One of the things this company does for it's workers as an incentive. Is that they will pay you once a year, what it would cost for you and all of your family to return to your home of record. Most people used this money to travel in areas that were closer. Like Europe, Africa, Australia and so forth. They gave you one month of time off as well. So I basically visited every place imaginable over the 7 years that I lived there. My first experience with mma (to a certain degree) was visiting the Coliseum in Rome.This is where the gladiators fought both man and animals for theentertainment of the Roman people and the Emperor. So that was kind of my first experience with fighting sports I guess. My first in depth exposure to it was in Hawaii. I actually had seen the first few UFC events while I wasin high school. The original stuff was pretty interesting, and had almost no rules. So I was pretty interested in this kind of game. But soon after I finished high school. I went into the Navy and fell out of the loop with what was going on. I spent most of my first four years on submarines, and a majority of that was under water time. So I had no idea what was going on with anything, let alone NHB sports. I am not sure of exactly what year it was. But I saw an advertisement for the Ultimate Explosion card that was happening in Hawaii. The main event was Kimo vs Brian Johnson. I knew who Kimo was from the early UFC vids, so I went to check it out. Not too long after that, Superbrawl starting running shows at the same arena. They had been doing bar fights prior to that. These shows were pretty brutal, and had almost no rules like the old UFCs. So I became a big fan of Superbrawl, and followed it heavily. I got a chance to meet T Jay Thompson who promotes that event. And he really opened the doors for me to get into MMA more. He is a really good guy who is also a big fan. So it was a good experience for me to learn about the business of NHB. And not just about the fighting itself. T Jay did a lot of good things for me while I was there.

Gank: Do you train?

Todd Atkins MMA Media: I have trained a bit at Enson's gym in Tokyo. But not much lately. Those gyms are very far from where I live. I wish they had one in Yokohama or my town. There are many gyms you can go to here. But Enson's gyms all have people that can speak English and describe stuff to you in detail. To me that is bonus for someone that does not speak excellent Japanese. Although I am sure it is hard to go back and forth for the instructors. Right now I study language twice a week, and am taking some classes in other subject matters, along with my military commitments and trolling.

Gank: How did you meet Enson Inoue?

Todd Atkins MMA Media: I had several friends who were training at Egan's gym (Grappling Unlimited) in Hawaii. So I knew who Egan Inoue was. But I did not know him that well. Enson heard that I was coming out here and asked to meet me on the UG. I got together with him and his family. And that is pretty much how I got to meet him. Enson is another really good person who will do a lot for people. Even if they have not really done much for him. He knows a lot about the business of the sport. He does not take shit from people, and he looks out for his family and his students 100%.

Gank: Can you tell me your age and how long you have been in the Navy?

Todd Atkins MMA Media: I am 27 years old, I came in the Navy in August 1995. So I have been in close to 7 years.

Gank: Can you go over your time as an mma.tv member?

Todd Atkins MMA Media: I do not remember exactly when I started posting at mma.tv. But I was hated right off the bat. My biggest early thing was that I thought the Gracies were practically finished in NHB. This was right before Royce fought Sakuraba. And most people still thought the Gracie family could beat anyone. So I was really argumentative about Gracie JJ having been passed by. And people hated me big time for that. I had people imping me at every website imaginable. And asking for me to be banned daily.

Gank: What was your opinion of FS.com when you were there (mma.tv)?

Todd Atkins MMA Media: I was pretty naive and a bit brainwashed. I felt mma.tv was good, and Fightsport.com was bad because everyone said so. Even though I went against the grain in a lot of ways. I still felt that mma.tv was good, and the trolls were not. I was a sheep in that regard. I will always regret feeling this way. But we all have to learn sometime.

Gank: Please talk about the double dip incident, what exactly happened, when it happened, who turned on you, etc and when did you arrive at FS.com?

Todd Atkins MMA Media: The double dip incident has been talked to death. But this guy basically tried to get me to pay him twice. He basically went nuts and started harassing me, and using the other people at mma.tv that hated me (many people) to help him. The owners of the page did nothing about it, even though I was paying for the service and souljacker was not at the time. It really pissed me off, but that is how they do business. I eventually asked
them to ban me in protest of my treatment. But I still post there today under various aliases. I am not sure how long it was after I was banned from mma.tv, that I came to Fightsport.com. The trolls did not like me originally. This was primarily my fault, because I was a believer in mma.tv.
And deserved a lot of the flack that they gave me on Thingvolds and other boards known as troll forums. But I was given an open greeting at Fightsport.com, and feel like I have taken my game to another level. Fightsport.com is the best forum IMO. I forget exactly when the bet was made.

Gank: What was the bet between you two?

Todd Atkins MMA Media: I think I bet him that Steve Spurrier's Washington Redskins would lead the NFL in total offense his first year as coach. They obviously failed miserably.

Gank: Who made the invite to come to FS.com?

Todd Atkins MMA Media: No one invited me, I came on my own.

Gank: You replied to an email sent to you by Kirik Jeness, did he email you back? (I enjoyed you Gank like verbal assassination in the reply)

Todd Atkins MMA Media: I posted the reply at Fightsport.com. But I never heard back from him after making that public statement.

Gank: Were there any troll missions performed against you when you weren't a FS.com member?

Todd Atkins MMA Media: Well, I was imped a lot across the net. That waswhat I noticed mostly. Most people openly hated me though.

Gank: Can you mention previous trolling missions and the names you used? Were you ever popstar at mma.tv (when I first posted at mma.tv you're name was brought up a lot and popstar was accused of being you)

Todd Atkins MMA Media: I did not believe in using multiple names back when I was posting under my own name at mma.tv. I have a few aliases now that I use there. Popstar was not one of them however. Missions I have done must remain secret my friend. But I have not been part of any major ones.

Gank: Can you comment of the current state of PRIDE VS UFC, and where you see each in 5 years.

Todd Atkins MMA Media: I think the UFC will be out of business within a year or so. PRIDE is gaining a lot of momentum. It can get bigger in Japan, even though it is very popular right now. And obviously it can become popular in USA as well.

Gank: What would you do if you were running UFC?

Todd Atkins MMA Media: First thing I would do is ditch the cage. It worked under the original rules. But now it is not necessary. I even think the fighter safety argument is not completely valid with the cage. It does keep the fighters in a confined area. But also fighters can use it as a weapon to pin their opponent against and so forth. Another thing it does is obstruct the view of the paying fan. And that is just plain stupid when you are trying to present a sports product to a mass audience. They need to be able to have a good view of it. And the cage just does not provide that.
Second I would try go get out of sanctioning with Nevada. The rules have become so watered down that it is hardly interesting anymore. I think the UFC could do fine working out of one home state, and building their audience across America through PPV. This state would need to have a large arena for them to run in however. But I think once it started to build a solid loyal fan base in the state of it's choosing. It could sell out the venue, and build the PPV following through media outlets in the right way. Right now that is not happening, because the product is poor. And the way they have
marketed the fighters terribly also contributes to this. The UFC does not know how to market fighters or how to market the product they are trying to sell. They will never be able to get people to watch their PPV in massive numbers with the watered down product. The UFC needs to do an overhaul of sorts. Starting with the scrapping of the cage. And then fixing the rules. Then once that is done, they can find a decent home base to rebuild. And the rest
can go from there. They need some smart people for marketing, because that is where the PPV fan base will be built. Right now they are trying to wrap a crummy package in shiny paper. And that approach just does not work. The product must be fixed before applying any kind of theatrics to it. The basis of
fighting sports, are the fights themselves. And the fighter's ability to win the crowd, and attract the audience long term.

Gank: Your a great authority on pride, give me your take on Yoshida and his matches to date.

Todd Atkins MMA Media: Yoshida's Olympic accomplishments cannot be disputed. But the jury will be out on him for a long time. I think Yoshida's match with Royce was stopped prematurely. As the ref should have allowed Royce to be choked out. Any fighter deserves to be finished. I do not blame Yoshida for that though. It was referee's mistake to stop the match at the time. But Yoshida was clearly doing very well against Royce. His match against Frye was fairly easy for him. People will always speculate on if it was real or not. But that will happen as long as he keeps winning. Because he is a pure martial artist in a gi. People are not used to seeing fighters like that win anymore. Even if Yoshida submits Silva, and the winner of Jackson vs Liddell. Many people will still see him as a phony.

Gank: Would you ever like to make mma media more than a hobby?

Todd Atkins MMA Media: Only if it paid well my friend.

Gank: Your opinion of the impact Fightsport 24/7 has had on other web sites and share your thoughts on Fightsport.com's growth and future?

Todd Atkins MMA Media: I think Fightsport 24/7 has had a huge effect on other web sites. Most of it in the form of hatred. The views toward the website have always been pretty slanted toward hatred and jealousy. But we had kept going in the face of our detractors. And their negativity only adds momentum for us. Fightsport 24/7 has raised the bar for news pages in MMA,
no doubt about it. The forum was always talked about because of the
controversial subject matter and free speech moderation.

Gank: Can you name some people who you do not think highly of in the mma forum world?

Todd Atkins MMA Media: Obviously I do not think highly of Kirik Jenness. John Jensen (the rev), Gordon Hester, a few other people. But I would not really call these people enemies. I do not know them on a personal basis. But I do not like those people either. There was this fool who posted under the name Perkdog who I met at DEEP. He was a real head case.

Gank: Who do you believe are the greatest trolls to date?

Todd Atkins MMA Media: I could not really give an accurate Hall of Fame. I am pretty new to the scene. I think Tape Lord has to be up there. Mastermind is legendary. THEDONBREAKYOURARM has be there some place. There are some legends from the days of Mousels, but I am not that familiar with them,. You would have to ask a veteran this question.

Gank: What trolling mission have you enjoyed (anyone's trolling mission) the most?

Todd Atkins MMA Media: I think when Kirik Jenness was fooled into thinking the real Rickson Gracie would be doing questions and answers on his forum. That had to be a great well planned troll. Kirik even said he had personally verified that it was Rickson. Thus adding to the humiliation of this imp. He ended up with egg all over his face after that troll was completed. Mastermind's erasing of the underground was pretty funny too. That happened again recently I saw. Tape Lord's lycos radio show was a good accomplishment that gave credit to the trolls. In a way Fightsport.com is proof that the trolls can accomplish anything. No one thought that forum would ever be as popular as it is now. Or that it would have the #1 news page on the internet for mma.

Gank: Name Association. Please comment on the below personalities. Tell me a bit about them if you want. Barry "double dip" Hodge

Todd Atkins MMA Media: That guy is a piece of shit pure and simple.

Gank: Arclight aka Paul Erikson

Todd Atkins MMA Media: Arclight is closet flamer in my opinion. MMA has a lot of fans like this on message boards. They are easy to spot.

Gank: The drunk known as Sabrutat* *= property of Skelboy.

Todd Atkins MMA Media: I think Arclight plays the role of catcher in their relationship.

Gank: Kirik Jeness

Todd Atkins MMA Media: This guy really pisses me off because he is a weasel in my opinion. I think he has a history of doing this. And has perfected the art so to speak. He acts like he is your friend. But will stab you in the back quickly. What other business asks people to pay for it, and then bans them? He is starting to be exposed, and getting a little of what he deserves in return. But there is still a long way for him to go.

Gank: Dana White

Todd Atkins MMA Media: I feel sorry for him. He is in over his head in the promoting business. He should do what a football coach does when he is not winning games. But does not want to get fired. He does what is best for the university or franchise, and steps down as coach.

Gank: Frankiscool

Todd Atkins MMA Media: Frankiscool is weird to me. He takes the net a little too seriously and uses mma.tv to harass certain people as well.

Gank: Jake Rossen

Todd Atkins MMA Media: This comic book reader and reviewer is a major fool IMO. It is sad to see that American MMA journalism could even let this kind of person in the door. It shows how far behind the sport is there. If the sport ever got popular in America. Guys like Jake Rossen would be run out of the journalism field of mma. And back to comic books where they belong.

Gank: Eddie Goldstein.

Todd Atkins MMA Media: Goldstein has emerged on the scene with some
incredible work at Fightsport 24/7. I am a huge fan for sure.

Gank: Ryan Bennett

Todd Atkins MMA Media: This guy has taken a lot of heat lately. He has always been nice to me however. But I think the situation between him and Bravo could have been handled differently. And it will always follow him in this small industry. A lot of people will never trust him. Regardless of what they say to him in person.

Gank: Tape Lord

Todd Atkins MMA Media: Tape Lord is a legend, what more needs to be said?

Gank: "The voice of the octagon" Bruce A Buffer

Todd Atkins MMA Media: The guy is horrible announcer. He should also step down from his position. There are many people who could do a much better job. If he really cared about the sport, he would do that. And work behind the scenes instead.

Gank: Shiloh Mciver

Todd Atkins MMA Media: Shiloh is running from his fight with Levine like a coward. He is an internet personality, but he is not a fighter. If he does not want to fight. He should just say so. I have no problems with Shiloh personally. But in this instance, he is yellow.

Gank: David Roy

Todd Atkins MMA Media: I do not know anything about David Roy really, other than he is a good friend of Kirik Jenness.

Gank: Kipp Kollar

Todd Atkins MMA Media: He is one of the shady characters in the industry IMO.

Gank: Machine May

Todd Atkins MMA Media: He has always been nice to me. But he has also brought a lot of negative attention on himself.

Gank: Luke Beston

Todd Atkins MMA Media: Me and him hated each other back in the day. But I have grown to respect him.

Gank: Tim "Musashi" Goodwin.

Todd Atkins MMA Media: This guy is a chickenshit.

Gank: Ryan G

Todd Atkins MMA Media: Ryan G accumulated a good knowledge of MMA through tape trading with members of various mma forums. He traded for every event he could get his hands on. Thus people started looking to him as an mma
encyclopedia. Even though tape trading was heavily criticized at his home (The UG). Funny how that seems to happen. Through time and lack of life, he compiled the fighter's database. Which ended up making him an internet mma celebrity and got him into the "MMA Media" to a certain extent.
Anyway, I think Ryan G started out OK. But then he started to read his own press clippings. And he started to insult anyone who felt differently than he did in regards to fights. Basically he felt he was better than everyone else. Now he is looked upon by a lot of people as a clown, and rightfully so. Tape Lord always called him a "child actor" and I think comparison is accurate.

Gank: Subwrestler aka the poster boy for middle aged bitterness.

Todd Atkins MMA Media: This guy is 40 years old and spends all his time talking to younger men about younger men on the internet. Do I need to say anything else?

Gank: Fatbody aka who took my accts? *interviewers note haha prick*

Todd Atkins MMA Media: Fatbody is the kind of guy who laughs at his own jokes, and likes the sound of his own talk. Kind of like Sabrutat in that regard.

Gank: Would you care to comment on the practices of mma.tv, your thoughts on kirik prior to the double dip incident, your thoughts on him now and his dealings?

Todd Atkins MMA Media: I think the practices of mma.tv are silly. But before I was naive to the internet. I thought mma.tv was trying to do what was right. As I have said before, Kirik is good at the BS tactics. He can convince people that his site is good for the sport. And the best example of what a forum should be. But after the decline of it lately, I think people are starting to see what mma.tv and Kirik are all about. There is a lot of hypocritical stuff going on over there.

Gank: Ok, I have covered pretty much all I wanted to, one last question, Dragontail vs Dragonhead, who is better for the forum world?

Todd Atkins MMA Media: I do not think it is a question of who is better. Dragonhead was supplying something at one time. And now
Dragontail is taking it a new direction. Dragonhead has some new commitments in his life from what I understand. I think Dragontail is trying to take his mission a step further. And I think he will be successful in doing so.

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Josh Barnett (bottom) vs. Yuki Kondo.

World famous MMA photographer Susumu Nagao now has pictures up of the Pancrase tenth anniversary event that just took place on August 31st. To check out the pictures on Susumu's site, click here

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A view of the Jungle Fight ring that will be floating on the Amazon river.

Brazilian cable channel Premiere Combate announced that it will be airing live the Jungle Fight event being promoted in the Brazilian Amazon by Antonio Inoki and Wallid Ismael on September 13th.

The line-up so far:

Ricco Chiaparelli vs. Luis 'Pantera'
Ricardo Moraes vs. Jan Nortje
Carlos Barreto vs. TBA (possibly Josh Barnett)
Ivan Ludwig vs. Edward Marchal
Ronaldo 'Jacare' vs. TBA
Fabricio Werdun vs. TBA
Ebenezer Braga vs. TBA
Marcelo 'Tigre' vs. TBA

For more information on Jungle Fight, check out their website at Junglefight.com

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Jose "Pele" Landi-Jons

Brazilian MMA star Jose "Pele" Landi-Jons is forming a very potent MMA team that is starting to make waves in the smaller events. Pele says that anyone who wants to come and join the team is welcome. They are in the process of building accomodations for fighters in their training centerin Curitiba, Brazil.

Pele can be contacted at my pelefight@sulbbs.com.br

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Combate Extremo
August 30th, 2003
Arena Siglo XXI
Nuevo Laredo, Mexico

Aaron Riley defeats Cedric Marks by armbar.
Helio Moreira 'Soneca' defeats Carlos Ortega by armbar.
R.J. Gamez defeats Michael Shoffner by TKO.
Vince Lucero defeats Rick Mathis by KO.
Jonathan Ivey defeats Ben Brown by kneebar.
Lane Yarbrough defeats Felix Lopez by unanimous decision.

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By Tape Lord


Rodrigo Gracie

Hello my friends, my postal connections in the DSE boardroom have relayed to me the following card they are talking about of doing for the October 5th PRIDE Bushido card. The matchup of Rogerio 'Minotoro' Nogueira vs. Alexander Emelianenko will be the only heavyweight matchup on the card, and will also be a battle between the brothers of PRIDE heavyweight champions (Minotauro and Fedor).

The card (still being formulated):

Rogerio 'Minotoro' Nogueira vs. Alexander Emelianenko
Carlos Newton vs. Hayato Sakurai or Dokonjosuke Mishima
Anderson Silva vs. Daijiro Matsui

Rickson Gracie or Renzo Gracie vs. Kazuhiro Hamanaka
Royler Gracie vs. Dokonjosuke Mishima or Rumina Sato
Rodrigo Gracie vs. Akira Shoji
Ryan Gracie vs. Daiju Takase

Either Daniel Gracie or Ryron Gracie may figure onto the card as a second heavyweight matchup.

Crosley Gracie and Ralph Gracie are also being talked about at this time as well.

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Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos

Brazilian magazine Tatame recently interviewed Evangelista 'Cyborg' Santos. Here's what he had to say:

Tatame: During the beginning of your fight against Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua in Meca 9, you were doing very well and able to perform your style of fight. You went after him with everything you had and almost beat him. What happened after that?

Cyborg: Everyone that knows me knows that I like to go after my opponent from start to finish. Shogun was almost out, but he was able to revover and, unfortunately, I missed that kick to his head. I then got tired after two to three minutes of fighting. He was able to take my strikes and was able to take the fight to the ground.

Tatame: There's a lot of people that are criticizing your ground game. What happened that you didn't fight well on the ground?

Cyborg: The people talking about me don't know what what's happening in my life from day-to-day. It's been two months since I injured my shoulder badly and I wasn't able to train without interruption. I wasn't able to do any ground training in a while because of that injury. I was taking anti-inflammatories the whole time and that took away some of my stamina too. But I'm a warrior and I don't break my commitments. The training was painful and I always give my life during a fight.

Tatame: Would you like a rematch with Shogun?

Cyborg: I would like that very much. If he agrees, I would do another Meca fight for free. I want to prove that I can beat him.

Tatame: What about the change of teams, what happened?

Cyborg: I liked the people at Budokan, but I felt kind of abandoned. I didn't have any support whenever I was injured. Now, at the Brazil Dojo, I know I will have the support of specialized professionals. In fact, Wallid (Ismael) is already looking to have a conditioning program made for me. I feel that If I get to fight 10 minutes of a fight with my kind of game, standing and striking, then nobody will be able to stay standing with me. Also, my Muay Thai coach will continue to be Artur Mariano. He's a guy I get along great with and I also have a contract for three years.

Tatame: It had already been confirmed that you were going to compete on the Pancrase tenth anniversary card on August 31st, but you ended up not fighting. What happened?

Cyborg: I had a lot of problems getting the visa for Japan. The promoters were worried that I wouldn't be able to get the visa in time, so they felt that it was better to just cancel my fight. But I think that that won;t affect my relationship with Pancrase. After all, thet saw all the difficulties I had trying to obtain the visa.

Tatame: Is there a fighter that you would like to face?

Cyborg: I want to face Vanderlei (Silva). I am sure that it would be a great fight, and that one of us would go directly to the hospital.

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Vanderlei Silva (right) is one of many fighters featured in "The Sparring Chronicles".

Rites of Passage director Bobby Razak has released a new DVD featuring his top fighters sparring at their gums and preparing for big fights. Fighters featured include:

Chuck Liddell sparring with Gilbert Yvel, and Martin De Jong (Golden Glory, Holland)
Enson Inoue sparring with 'Big' Jon Calvo, plus other fighters (Purebred Omiya, Japan)
Maurice Smith sparring with Tuyoshi Kohsaka (Rings Japan)
Mark Coleman sparring with Brandon Lee Hinkle
Mark Coleman sparring with Kevin Randelman
Vanderlei Silva in training
Eugene Jackson sparring with Tim Lacijk
Nigel Hudson sparring with Justin Juuko (boxing sparring)

Bobby Razak can be contacted at bobbyrazak2@hotmail.com

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Below are some of the matchups that have been announced for two upcoming SHOOTO cards in September:

September 5th
Luiz 'Buscape' Firmino vs. Kohei Yasumi
Masato Shiozawa vs. Akira Komatsu
Norifumi 'Kid' Yamamoto vs. TBA


September 21st
Joao Roque vs. Hiroyuki Abe
Leonardo Santos vs. Mitsuyoshi Hayakawa
Daisuke 'Amazon' Sugie vs. David Padilla
Kentaro Imaizumi vs. Marco Louro

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Vitali Klitchsko

Boxingtalk.net recently interviewed top heavyweight boxer Vitali Klitchsko and asked him if he would ever entertain the idea of fighting in K-1. Here's what Klitchsko had to say:

Boxingtalk: Earlier you mentioned Mike Tyson. There are rumors that he will participate in the K-1 kickboxing tournament. Maybe an attractive idea for you as you are a former kickboxing world champion?

Vitali Klitchsko: Definitely not. I don't participate in this kind of shows. I'm a professional boxer now.

To read the interview in its entirety, click here

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By Tape Lord


Musashi (left) and 'Montanha' Silva (right) are signed for a rematch.

Hello my friends, my postal connections in Japan tell me that aside from the rematch of 'Montanha' Silva vs. Musashi being official, you can also expect Bob Sapp vs. Kimo to be announced within two weeks as well. Both fights are taking place on the K-1 Japan GP card scheduled for September 21st.

Silva vs. Musashi will be K-1 rules.

Sapp vs. Kimo will be MMA rules.

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K-1 JAPAN SERIES
K-1 SURVIVAL 2003 JAPAN GP FINAL
Sunday, September 21, 2003
Yokohama Arena
Yokohama, Japan

K-1 Japan Tournament:
'Montanha Silva' vs. Musashi
Tatsufumi Tomihira vs. Hiraku Hori
Yusuke Fujimoto vs. Nobu Hayashi
Tsuyoshi Nakasako vs. Hiromi Amada

Super Fight (K-1 rules):
Mike Bernardo vs. 'Butterbean'

Main Event (MMA rules):
Bob Sapp vs. Mike Tyson, Kimo Leopoldo, or TOA(the Samoan Beast)

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K-1 game


PRIDE GP game

As Fightsport.com reported last week, the new K-1 game is now out on the market for PS2, and the PRIDE GP game is on schedule to be released for PS2 in October in Japan.

The new K-1 game has added Bob Sapp and Remy Bonjasky to the game. The PRIDE GP game will be released by Capcom, and be based on the PRIDE middleweight Grand Prix.

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Mike Tyson

Les Carpenter of the Seattle Times absolutely ripped K-1 and Mike Tyson's participation in K-1. The column appeared in the August 31st edition of the Seattle times. What was very apparent was that Carpenter didn't even know the K-1 rules or fighters, which most likely means he has never even watched much K-1, if anything at all.

Just to give you one of the many inaccuracies and flat-out incorrect statements from his article, he mentioned that Bob Sapp almost lost his eye due to a 'foot to the eye' from a 'Polish' kickboxer. In reality it was nothing more then a perfectly time 'punch' from 'Croatian' kickboxer Mirko 'Cro Cop' Filipovic, which didn't come close to making Sapp 'lose his eye'. Of course Carpenter never bothered to research any of this. Here is the excerpt:

'Organized boxing, even with its layers of payoffs and fixes, is a crisp bureaucracy compared to K-1, where fighters use any tactic they know to pummel the other man nearly to death. Sapp almost lost an eye a few months back when he caught the wrong end of a Polish kick-boxer's foot.' -Les Carpenter

To read the article and all its inaccurate and incorrect statements in its entirety, click here

If you would like to call or e-mail Les Carpenter, here is the info:

(206) 464-2280
lcarpenter@seattletimes.com

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Dana White

It's time for the monthly 'Big Announcement that ends up not being reported' from UFC president Dana White. Will Dana finally tell us of a true 'Big Announcement', or will he 'cry wolf' for 8th or 9th time already? Stay tuned!

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DEEP will be bringing in fighters such as Hayato Sakurai (right) to PRIDE Bushido.

According to the Japanese media, PRIDE and DEEP will make their alliance official at the end of September. As was already reported on Fightsport 24-7, DEEP boss Shigeru Saeki will move on over to DSE and be in charge of booking lightweight fighters.

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Tim Sylvia (left)

UFC Heavyweight Champion Tim Sylvia will appear as a guest on The Tom Green Show on Tuesday, September 2.

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Rogerio 'Minotoro' Nogueira

The Wrestling Observer newsletter reports the following:

"This is not confirmed, but I've been lead to believe this will be airing in the U.S. on Pay-Per-View, since Bas Rutten is scheduled to go there and work as an announcer.

There is talk about arranging a battle of the younger brothers as one of the matches on the 10/5 Pride Bushido show at the Saitama Super Arena. This bout would be Rogerio 'Minotoro' Nogueira, the younger twin of the former Pride world heavyweight champion, facing Alexsander Emelianenko (whose last name has been billed as both Fedor and Emelianenko, although the two are called 'The Fedor Brothers'), the younger brother of the current champion).

Anderson Silva and Carlos Newton have mentioned they have signed for the show. Rumors have it the top Japanese draws (or attempetd draws) would be Hayato Sakurai, Kazuhiro Hamanaka and Dokonjosuke Mishima."

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Josh Barnett (top) victorious over Yuki Kondo.

Pancrase 2003 Hybrid Tour
August 31, 2003
-10th Anniversary -
Ryogoku Kokugikan
Tokyo, Japan

Osami Shibuya defeats Toru Yano by armbar at 2:25, RD 2.

Ricardo Almeida defeats Kazuo Misaki by majority decision.

Yuki Sasaki defeats Heath Sims by unanimous decision.

Akihiro Gono defeats Nilson de Castro by DQ, RD,1.

Minoru Suzuki defeats Takashi Iizuka by unanimous decision.

Crosley Gracie defeats Kiuma Kunioku by unanimous decision.

Sanae Kikuta defeats Elvis Sinosic by unanimous decision.

Josh Barnett defeats Yuki Kondo by rear naked choke at 3:26, RD 3.

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