FIGHTSPORT 24-7

PRIDE Bushido
Sunday, October 5th, 2003
Saitama Super Arena
Saitama, Japan

Complete Card (Subject To Change):

Renzo Gracie vs. Carlos Newton
Ryan Gracie vs. Kazuhiro Hamanaka
Daniel Gracie vs. Kazuhiro Nakamura
Rodrigo Gracie vs. Daiju Takase
Ralph Gracie vs. Dokonjosuke Mishima

Mirko 'Cro Cop' Filipovic vs. Dos Caras Jr.
Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua vs. Akira Shoji
Assuerio Silva vs. Alexander Emelianenko
Sergei Kharitonov vs. Jason Nobunaga
Rodney Faverus vs. Khallid Arab
Chris Brennan vs. Eiji Mitsuoka

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Royce Gracie (far left) in Japan for tomorrow's PRIDE Bushido show.

Japanese media in Japan are reporting that Royce Gracie and Hidehiko Yoshida will have a talking battle in the ring during tomorrow's Team Gracie vs. Team Japan battle taking plave at the PRIDE Bushido show.

Royce will be coaching Team Gracie, while Yoshida is coaching Team Japan. As most fans will remember, Royce and Yoshida had a grappling match at last year's PRIDE Shockwave event, in which Yoshida got a controversial stoppage by the ref.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

The Gracies

The freelance journalist known as Space Potato has been brought in to PRIDE Bushido to help out with the english interviews, since Alan, the guy who usually does it, couldn't make it in this time. Space Potato shares with us a few things from the interviews that he thought were pretty interesting (special thanks to Ninja420)...

* Fedor's "little" brother Alexandre Emelianenko is bigger than Fedor. 6'6 (198cm) and 268 pounds (122kg). They train together. When Fedor won the world combat sambo championship, Alexandre won the junior category, and has since won the senior category. Alexandre is no joke. Also they have a 15 year old brother who is already nearly as big as Alexandre. Scary...

* Dos Caras Jr. is a really cool guy, and says he won't be wearing his mask in the ring against Mirko because it's too dangerous. He says it's ok when wrestling, but against a striker he'd get killed because of the lack of peripheral vision. Pride has shown some pictures of him in a new "cutaway" version of the mask; maybe he'll wear that...?

* Ryan Gracie is probably the scariest person I have ever been in a room with (editor's note: Ryan Gracie is really a coward). I would rather fight Fedor rather than this guy just because I think there's a reasonable chance Fedor would likely stop short of killing me. Ryan really, really wants to fight Yoshida

* All the Gracie team trained together in New York at Renzo's gym and stayed together in his house. Sounds like they had a fun family reunion.

* Hamanaka has been training with Randy Couture in the US. Says it has helped a lot in learning how to mix striking with grappling. Says Randy is too strong, too fast, too good to even think of competing with. Can't believe he is 40.

* Rodney Faverus (the Golden Glory Buster) is the funniest guy. His nickname is "Silent Assassin" but he just can't shut up. Loves pro wrestling and it shows. Great guy but I worry he could lose his fight because he will gas during his pre-fight interview.

* All the Gracies predict 5-0 victory for Team Gracie over Team Japan.

* All the Team Japan guys predict 5-0 victory for Team Japan.

* Others seem to go with a Gracie Team victory, though are impressed with quality of the Japanese team.

* 'Ninja' Rua's little brother 'Shogun' says he's psyched to carry on the family tradition... they also have another younger brother 'Shaolin' following them.

* Chalid 'Die Faust' Arrab has been working on striking with Stefan Leko (K-1), so was feeling pretty good about his standup game. Until someone reminded him is opponent (rodney faverus) is a former Muay Thai world champ. Oops. Anyway should make for a good show. (chalid has 2 victories in k-1 though)

* Mirko 'Cro Cop' Filipovic doesn't arrive in Japan until Saturday... Superman or not, you've gotta think it will be tough to fight on the day after you've flown in from Europe -- that's some serious jet lag.

* Bas Rutten IS nuts. In a good way of course

Anyway, looks like it will be a really good event -- looking forward to it. All the interview stuff will be up on the Pride English site, but not for a while as there is a huuuuge volume -- 11 fights = 22 interviews.


Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Nathan Marquardt (right)

PANCRASE 2003 HYBRID TOUR
Saturday, October 4th, 2003
Grand Cube Osaka
Osaka, Japan

Open: 17:30
Start: 18:30

Complete Card (Subject To Change):

Nathan Marquardt vs. Yuji Hisamatsu
Daisuke Hanazawa vs. Takafumi Ito
Kei Yamamiya vs. Keith Jardine
Takefumi Hanai vs. Koji Oishi
Yoshiro Maeda vs. Satoshi Watanabe
Kenji Takeshige vs. Takumi Yano
Daichi Fujiwara vs. Yoshinobu
Naoji Fujimoto vs. Yasuhiro Kaneyama
Koichi Hioki vs. Yujin Kawamoto
Takashi Hasegawa vs. Yutaka Nishikawa


Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Combate Extremo
September 27, 2003
Bull Arena
Monterrey, Mexico

Christian Wellisch defeats Vince Lucero by TKO.
Travis Fulton defeats Joe Nameth by keylock.
Brett Shafer defeats Keith Winters by judges decision.
Jake Hattan defeats Ivan Garcia by TKO.
Travis Wiuff defeats Mark Tullius by judges decision.
Brian Ebersole defeats Chris Fontaine by judges decision.
Vince Lucero defeats Joe Nameth by TKO.
Edwin Aguilar defeats R.J. Gamez by KO.
Justin Eilers defeats Brian Shephard by TKO.


Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Ryan Bow

Todd Atkins reports from Japan that the scheduled matchup between SHOOTO welterweights Ryan Bow (SHOOTO #4) vs. Tetsuya Kawajiri (SHOOTO #5) has been pushed back from November 3rd to SHOOTO's big year end show on December 15th.


Discuss this at Fightsport.com

By Scoop McTroll

UFC 43 will be shown in the UK by Odeon cinema.

Zuffa have confirmed the story that Fightsport.com's UK correspodent Willam Caxton broke almost two months ago that they had done a deal with Odeon cinemas to show the UFC in the UK.

This was funny because prior to our scoop, MMAWeekly Radio's Ryan Bennett had just interviewed Dana White about this and he was being very secretive as though the news was still very confidential, he intended to release it as big news a few days later. In the end he never bothered to mention it at all because Fightsport 24-7 had already published it to the world.

Now it comes to light that Odeon cinemas will only be showing UFC 43 with Chuck Liddell vs Randy Couture!

This is absolutely ridiculous, by now most UK MMA fans have gotten copies of UFC 43 through tape dealers in the USA or downloaded it from the net. To offer a show that is several months old to the UK fans is a very odd move in my opinion. It will be interesting to see what the box office sales are like for this big blockbuster.

What is next for ZUFFA, will they be releasing a big screen viewing of 'Ultimate Tank Abbott' at Madison Square Garden?


Discuss this at Fightsport.com

By Eddie Goldstein


Dos Caras Jr. (right)

Perhaps the most intriguing fighter on the inaugural PRIDE Bushido card tomorrow is the Mexican pro-wrestler known as Dos Caras Jr.

Many fans jeered the fact he was scheduled to be Mirko 'Cro Cop' Filipovic's opponent, but don't look past this pro-wrestler, for behind the mask is a very talented and skilled fighter. Dos Caras is actually a very accomplished amateur wrestler, just barely missing out on making it to the 2000 Sydney Olympics as a representative of Mexico in Greco-Roman wrestling.

As well as having some impressive victories over some well known names during his amateur wrestling career, Dos Caras Jr. is also the son of the original Dos Caras, who is a legend in Mexican pro-wrestling. Just as Japanese pro-wrestlers, Mexican pro-wrestlers are well versed in the art of catch wrestling submissions.

The final bit of info you might want to know about Dos Cars Jr. is that he is 6'5 (1.96 m) and 235 pounds (107 kg). He specializes in Greco-Roman takedowns and slams that have ended in two injury TKO victories for him at the expense of his unlucky opponents (Kengo Watanabe and Brad Kohler). He also has a great chin and can absorb a lot of punishment while attempting his takedowns.

So that is the low-down on Dos Caras Jr. Will 'Cro Cop' win? The odds are in his favor, yes, but Dos Caras Jr. is far from a tomato can being thrown to the fire. This will be a good matchup and one that will be very entertaining in my opinion, possibly even the fight of the night.






Eddie Goldstein is a legendary underground journalist of boxing, pro-wrestling, and now MMA. His contributions to MMA can be found here exclusively at Fightsport.com from now on.


Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic

Japanese magazine Kami no Puroresu recently interviewed Mirko 'Cro Cop' Filipovic after his victory over Igor Vovchanchyn in the PRIDE GP card back on August 10th. Interview translated by Akira S.:

Cro Cop: Why is Yoshida on the front-page of the newspaper? (He was looking at the Japanese news paper suspiciously)

Kami no Puroresu: Because Yoshida was an Olympic gold medalist, and Japanese people were highly concerned with his fight.

Cro Cop: If they watched every fight in PRIDE last night, it would be very obvious that my fight with Vovchanchyn should be on the front page.

Kami no Puroresu: I agree, your fight was great. I'm a bit surprised you are so conscious about the media.

Cro Cop: Well, I am professional fighter and I always hope to get on the front pages. I have asked my agent before why I am not on the front page more often. Then he laughed and said, 'Because you avoid interviews from the media.'

Kami no Puroresu: We have the impression that you don't like the media.

Cro Cop: I don't like the mass media, but someone asked me, 'Why did Bob Sapp become so famous and popular?' He just accepted any interview from the media and became very popular. Since then, I decided to accept interviews.

Kami no Puroresu: I am glad to hear that. Well, let me ask how you feel about yesterday's fight with Vovchanchyn?

Cro Cop: I'm completely content with the way I fought and with the result, so I slept well and woke up feeling very fine. I drank some liquor last night and I felt so great this morning.

Kami no Puroresu: You don't usually drink?

Cro Cop: I usually don't. Last night was an exception because my friends from Croatia visited me. Quinton Jackson joined us too. He joined with us there and I told him, 'You would not have struggled in your fight if you had learned some kicking technique from me.'

Kami no Puroresu: Why was Jackson there with you?

Cro Cop's Agent: Mirko and Jackson are good friends. I would rather say Jackson dotes on Mirko. They have a plan to train together.

Kami no Puroresu: Wow! That's surprising! Anyway, your high kick from yesterday's fight was just terrific! It is very rare to see a knock out by high kick in a mixed martial arts fight, especially in Pride. Do you change the way you kick in K-1 and in Pride?

Cro Cop: I change a bit technically, but it's because of the way the opponent moves more than it is any big difference between K-1 and Pride. To be frank, I decided to a launch high kick and I went for it.

Kami no Puroresu: Wow. Was it your plan to finish the fight with high kick? Were you determined to launch a high kick during that fight?

Cro Cop: Of course, there are not many people who actually launch a bona fide high kick in a mixed martial arts fight. On top of that, nobody is better than me when it comes to the technique of drawing your opponent's attention to somewhere else by combination, and eventually launching a high kick from a knock out angle. You just can't acquire the technique even though you practice hard. Standup striking is a matter of the senses and evaluation of each moment in a fight. I don't usually try the high kick persistently.

Kami no Puroresu: What? What do you mean by that?

Cro Cop: When I fight, I sense how the opponent's guard is and I aim my kick to wherever its open. Thus, I don't even know whether I should go for a middle kick or a high kick until my knee goes up to the air.

Kami no Puroresu: You even do not know which kick you will launch? How can the opponent possibly know where? There is no doubt that the opponent can't figure out where. Your high kick was breath taking, but right after Igor was down, you went after and pounded him again on the ground, which made us extremely shudder.

Cro Cop: It was not my intention. My instinct suddenly took over. I really feel so sorry for him. I took some of his punches on my face during the fight and I might have lost my head a little bit. After the fight, my corner told me that my eyes had changed completely after his punch.

Cro Cop's Agent: There is no doubt that Igor's punch made him lose control. Well, I guess his experience in the battlefield as a SWAT counter-terrorist made him like this. He was on the verge of life and death. He faced the situation where he had to terminate the opponent at whatever costs.

Kami no Puroresu: That's a scary experience.

Cro Cop: You know what? Igor is really a tough fighter. Gary Goodrige chickened out when he took one punch from Fedor. As opposed to Vovchanchyn, who kept an offensive fight against me. I think he is a brave and good fighter.

Kami no Puroresu: Of all the PRIDE fights yesterday, were you interested in Fedor's fight the most?

Cro Cop: Of course I was interested in his fight, but it is not the only one I was interested in. The one thing which drew my attention was Sakuraba and his existence. The groups of people all dressed in orange filled up the seats. They were Sakuraba's fans, weren't they?

Kami no Puroresu: Yes they were. Those seats were for Sakuraba's fans.

Cro Cop: I am so interested in Sakuraba's personality to attract many people. I knew how strong he is since I fought him once. But he lacks in striking offense and defense. I told him to come to Croatia to train with me before the opening ceremony.

Kami no Puroresu: Really? What did he have to say?

Cro Cop's Agent: He said, 'Croatia is far away from Japan.' (Smiling)

Kami no Puroresu: I bet he would say so. (Smiling)

Cro Cop: I really wish he would come and train with me for even one month. I can give him some advice on how to fight against Silva since I fought against him once. The fighting style of MMA has dramatically changed in the last couple of years. It was enough to just have great ground skills a couple of years ago. But nowadays, you can't divide striking technique and grappling technique when you train. You have to balance them and learn both of them. Nogueira is aware of that fact now and he is beefing up his striking skills. However, his striking is not good enough in my opinion.

Kami no Puroresu: How good is Fedor's strking in your opinion?

Cro Cop: I think his striking is pretty good in terms of power, how to strike, and especially how to impact his punch to the opponent. He certainly has a good sense of striking. That is why I will do not underestimate him in a standup fight. I am aware he will be in my way and be my most powerful rival.

Kami no Puroresu: When did you first become aware of his ability?

Cro Cop: I first became aware when he defeated Nogueira in March. When I heard the result of his fight, I was training in Hamburg for a K-1 fight.

Kami no Puroresu: Yes, you were training there for the fight against Bob Sapp.

Cro Cop: Yes, I was in training camp and focused on boxing skill. Then when I returned to Croatia, I heard from my manager that Nogueira had lost, which made me surprised. To be honest, I never had an opportunity to pay attention to Fedor. I thought 'What kind of guy is he? What type of fighter is he?' But at that time, I was completely immersed in my upcoming fight with Bob. After the fight with Bob, I realized that my next target was Fedor. My training team has decided a strategy on how should I train, what should I focus on for preparing for the fight with Fedor.

Kami no Puroresu: So you started preparing since April for the fight with Fedor.

Cro Cop: Yes. Our strategy is that I should get used to a PRIDE fight before fighting Fedor. Then my Agent matched me up with some fighers who have fought against Fedor. I wanted to evaluate myself how different I am from him. In a way, the fight with Heath Hearing was a good way to evaluate my ability.

Kami no Puroresu: According to the rumor about that fight, many people thought you were not likely to win. But in reality, you knocked him out.

Cro Cop: Yes. I wanted to fight with Fedor right away after the fight with Heath.

Kami no Puroresu: Right away?

Cro Cop's Agent: But I stopped him. Mirko asked me to match him up with Fedor because he finished Heath in such a short time and he would like to keep his enhanced fighting spirit. But I suggested evaluating him some more because I saw Fedor's weakness from the fight with Fujita. But at the same time, I sensed his strengths.

Kami no Puroresu: How did you feel when you see Fedor's fight close to the ring?

Cro Cop: I could also see his strengths and weaknesses. It was a great for me to determine some of his weaknesses in his standup striking. However, he still attacked back again and again from the difficult situation and he eventually finished his opponent. I never disregard his fighting and his strengths.

Kami no Puroresu: If you take him too easy during the fight, he will get back at you very quick.

Cro Cop: In addition, he has a strong body. He is a little chubby but naturally strong and has good balance in his body. Thus, he must be the most powerful opponent. I never underestimate him even though I see him stagger from some strikes.

Cro Cop's Agent: Our motto is, 'Never be overconfident!' The reason why I matched him up with Igor is that I wanted Mirko to fight with a guy who has equivalent power in striking to Fedor.

Kami no Puroresu: Something of a Quasi-Fedor, right?

Cro Cop's Agent: Yes. When I explained it, he understood and agreed to have one more fight. He is the type of guy who analyzes the opponent thoroughly.

Kami no Puroresu: Is that right?

Cro Cop: I always focus on image training. I watch the opponent's fights from videos until I can visualize the image of me fighting with him. After that, I decide how I should train, build up the basis of the image, and start training. That is why I start image training way before the fight. For example, I do image training when I am driving, listening to music, spending time with my kid, and so on. As my image expands every day and becomes more vivid, that is the time my body is ideally built up for the fight.

Kami no Puroresu: Wow, your image goes throughout your brain and your brain orders your body to get ready.

Cro Cop: The image of the fight strategy, and the process from the beginning to finish of the fight against Fedor is already completed.

Kami no Puroresu: You already have?

Cro Cop: I can't tell you the details of it but I had fought and trained under the consciousness of Fedor. I am so sure Fedor is also collecting my data and thoroughly analyzing me in the same way I did. Do you know there was one of Fedor's trainers in Igor's corner?

Kami no Puroresu: Really?

Cro Cop: The tall guy who's always in Fedor's corner. My corner saw him yesterday.

Kami no Puroresu: He is Fedor's striking coach.

Cro Cop: I see. They are collecting info on me too.

Kami no Puroresu: I guess the fight has already started. So how confident are you for the next fight?

Cro Cop: As I told you, I already have an image of knocking him out. I do not mean I underestimate him, but I will win for sure. Well, I guess Fedor will answer the same.


Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Alexa.com just updated their internet ratings for this week. Below are the Alexa.com rankings for the top 10 MMA websites as of October 4th, 2003.

Fightsport.com and MMAWeekly.com have been the two fastest-growing MMA websites the last few months and are now catching up to the number three spot. Sherdog.com and Sherdog.net had occupied the top two spots for many months, but MMA.tv moved into the number one spot last month and has knocked Sherdog.com and Sherdog.net down to number two and three respectively for the first time in a long while.

Official sites of the UFC and PRIDE have remained steady for the last few months. Subfighter.com has come out of nowhere in the last month to take the seventh spot. Adcombat.com has remained at number 9, despite its ratings having improved a great deal. MaxFighting.com survived by a thread to hang on to the number 10 spot.



MMA RANKINGS:

1.) MMA.tv - Traffic Rank for mma.tv: 5,591

2.) Sherdog.com - Traffic Rank for sherdog.com: 8,335

3.) Sherdog.net - Traffic Rank for sherdog.net: 12,204

4.) Fightsport.com - Traffic Rank for fightsport.com: 14,014

5.) MMAWeekly.com - Traffic Rank for mmaweekly.com: 15,224

6.) UFC.tv - Traffic Rank for ufc.tv: 20,573

7.) Subfighter.com - Traffic Rank for subfighter.com: 22,288

8.) Pridefc.com - Traffic Rank for pridefc.com: 33,341

9.) Adcombat.com - Traffic Rank for adcombat.com: 36,783

10.) Maxfighting.com - Traffic Rank for maxfighting.com: 58,557







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.


Discuss this at Fightsport.com

TKO (formerly known as UCC) will debut on TSN tomorrow, October 4th. TSN is Canada's biggest sports programming station.

Any fighters still owed money by TKO president Stephane Patry, can contact him at:

Stephane Patry, President/CEO
TKO Communications Inc.
Tel: (450) 445-8886
TKOZone.tv



Discuss this at Fightsport.com

By Scoop McTroll

Scoop McTroll has gotten salary information from the athletic commissions and his inside sources in MMA to bring you the fighter salaries of the following promotion:


UFC 44: Undisputed
Friday, September 26, 2003
Mandalay Bay Events Center
Las Vegas, NV

Fighter Salaries:

Randy Couture: $175,000 ($105,000 for fighting; $70,000 win bonus)
Tito Ortiz: $125,000 ($125,000 for fighting; win bonus would have been $50,000)
Tim Sylvia: $60,000 ($30,000 for fighting; $30,000 win bonus)
Andrei Arlovski: $18,000 ($6,000 for fighting; $12,000 win bonus)
Caol Uno: $17,500 ($17,500 for fighting; win bonus would have been $17,500)
Gan McGee: $13,000 ($13,000 for fighting; win bonus would have been $13,000)
Vladimir Matyushenko: $10,000 ($10,000 for fighting; win bonus would have been $10,000)
Rich Franklin: $10,000 ($5,000 for fighting; $5,000 win bonus)
Hermes Franca: $8,000 ($4,000 for fighting; $4,000 win bonus)
Jorge Rivera: $6,000 ($3,000 for fighting; $3,000 win bonus)
David Loiseau: $4,000 ($4,000 for fighting; win bonus would have been $4,000)
Karo Parisyan: $4,000 ($2,000 for fighting; $2,000 win bonus)
Nick Diaz: $4,000 ($2,000 for fighting; $2,000 win bonus)
Josh Thomson: $4,000 ($2,000 for fighting; $2,000 win bonus)
Dave Strasser: $3,000 ($3,000 for fighting; win bonus would have been $3,000)
Edwin Dewees: $2,000 ($2,000 for fighting; win bonus would have been $2,000)
Jeremy Jackson: $2,000 ($2,000 for fighting; win bonus would have been $2,000)
Gerald Strebendt: $2,000 ($2,000 for fighting; win bonus would have been $2,000)

Total Fighter Payroll: $467,500


Discuss this at Fightsport.com

By Scoop McTroll

Scoop McTroll has gotten salary information from the athletic commissions and his inside sources in MMA to bring you the fighter salaries of the following promotion:


KOTC 23: Sin City
May 16, 2003
Orleans Hotel Casino
Las Vegas, Nevada

Fighter Salaries:

Jeremy Horn: $6,000 ($4,000 for fighting; $2,000 win bonus)
Dan Severn: $5,500 ($5,500 for fighting; $0 win bonus)
Vernon 'Tiger' White: $3,500 ($3,500 for fighting; win bonus would have been $2,500)
Eric Pele: $3,000 ($1,500 for fighting; $1,500 win bonus)
Ronald Jhun: $3,000 ($1,500 for fighting; $1,500 win bonus)
Shonie Carter: $2,050 ($2,050 for fighting; win bonus would have been $2,000)
Bobby Gamboa: $2,000 ($1,000 for fighting; $1,000 win bonus)
Joe Stevenson: $1,500 ($1,000 for fighting; $500 win bonus)
Thomas Denny: $1,500 ($1,500 for fighting; win bonus would have been $1,000)
Art Santore: $1,500 ($1,500 for fighting; $0 win bonus)
Dan Christiansen: $1,000 ($1,000 for fighting; win bonus would have been $1,000)
Brent Stephens: $1,000 ($1,000 for fighting; win bonus would have been $500)
Bryan Pardoe: $1,000 ($500 for fighting; $500 win bonus)
Diego Sanchez: $1,000 ($375 for fighting; $675 win bonus)
Joe Crilly: $750 ($750 for fighting; win bonus would have been $750)
Mike Guymon: $750 ($750 for fighting; win bonus would have been $500)
Cory Timmerman: $600 ($600 for fighting; win bonus would have been $400)
Dave Rivas: $500 ($500 for fighting; win bonus would have been $500)

Total Fighter Payroll: $36,150


Discuss this at Fightsport.com

By Scoop McTroll

Scoop McTroll has gotten salary information from the athletic commissions and his inside sources in MMA to bring you the fighter salaries of the following promotion:


WFA 3: Level 3
November 23, 2002
Las Vegas, Nevada

Fighter Salaries:

Frank Trigg: $15,000 ($7,500 for fighting; $7,500 win bonus)
Mike Van Arsdale: $10,000 ($5,000 for fighting; $5,000 win bonus)
Marvin Eastman: $9,000 ($4,000 for fighting; $5,000 win bonus)
Dennis Hallman: $7,500 ($7,500 for fighting, win bonus would have been $7,500)
Vitor 'Shaolin' Ribeiro: $6,000 ($3,000 for fighting; $3,000 win bonus)
Jason Black: $5,000 ($3,000 for fighting; $2,000 win bonus)
Josh Thomson: $4,000 ($2,000 for fighting; $2,000 win bonus)
Alex Steibling: $3,500 ($3,500 for fighting; win bonus would have been $3,500)
Chris Haseman: $3,000 ($3,000 for fighting; win bonus would have been $3,000)
Jeff Curran: $3,000 ($1,500 for fighting; $1,500 win bonus)
Chad Saunders: $2,000 ($2,000 for fighting; win bonus would have been $2,000)
Rob McCullough: $1,500 ($1,500 for fighting; win bonus would have been $1,500)
Eddie Yagin: $1,500 ($1,500 for fighting; win bonus would have been $1,500)
Todd Lally: $1,500 ($1,500 for fighting; win bonus would have been $1,500)

Total Fighter Payroll: $72,500


Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Undisputed UFC light heavyweight champion Randy Couture.

Ron Merrill and Tony Caiazzo recently interviewed new undisputed UFC light heavyweight champion Randy Couture following his dominating victory over the former reluctant UFC Light Heavyweight champ Tito Ortiz. Here's what Randy Couture had to say:


Ron Merrill: So you're going hunting. I wouldn't think that would be the first thing on the mind of the UFC light heavyweight champion. What brought about that decision?

Randy Couture: Oh, I've been a hunter since I was a small boy. I hunted with my dad growing up. I had to take some time off from hunting when I was running around the country and living in Germany with the service and going through college. But when I moved back to Oregon it was one of the first things I picked back up.

Ron Merrill: Did this fight [with Tito Ortiz] go just how you planned for it to go?

Randy Couture: Yeah, it did. My game plan was to go in and establish a good top dominant position and take him down. No one else had taken him down in any of his fights so I felt like that might be an area that I could exploit him. I told him that several times in pre-fight interviews and he of course said, "this ain't no wrestling match" and "I'm gonna knock you out" and he planned on standing up with me which I thought was hype. He came right out and tried to shoot and take me down so I was prepared for that.

Tony Caiazzo: What was your main concern when you were preparing for Tito? What was the biggest thing that you were focusing on while preparing for that fight?

Randy Couture: Well, I studied him and I thought that his strength came from his ability to take guys down and put them against the fence so that's the biggest thing that we worked on, especially after losing to Josh [Barnett] and Ricco [Rodriguez] basically from the bottom position. I'm sure that he was looking at that and feeling like maybe that was a weakness for me. So I spent a lot of time scrambling and working from the bottom with partner after partner after partner on top of me and in different positions, finding ways to get out and get back up.

Tony Caiazzo: Right. And obviously it worked for you because he wasn't able to get you down.

Randy Couture: Right. The best defense is a good offense. If I can beat him to the punch and set him up and take him down then he wouldn't have that opportunity to begin with. We worked on the possibility that I would get taken down and then I'd have to deal with it.

Ron Merrill: Now you told me in my interview with you prior to this bout that you were going to try to put Tito on his back. When you finally succeeded at that, how did it feel to you?

Randy Couture: It felt good. It felt like that was the way I was gonna win this fight and so I felt all along during the fight each round that it was my goal to go out and set him up, engage as much as I needed to bait him, measure him and find a way to take him down. For the game plan to go well, it always feels good. Coming off the Chuck Liddell fight where the game plan went off spectacularly it felt good to do that again, to have my game plan work and be successful. I was surprised actually that he didn't have more of an answer for that part of the game, that he didn't scramble better or try to get up and wasn't more effective from the bottom.

Ron Merrill: How do you feel about Tito's post-fight comments that he was gassed after the second round and really didn't have much of an answer for you?

Randy Couture: Um? I don't know. He's gonna say what he's gonna say, just like the pre-fight interview - you don't really think much about that. He's got to rationalize his reasons why he ended up where he ended up.

Ron Merrill: Now we saw a little smack-talk from you on your Best Damn Sports Show Period appearance. That's really uncharacteristic for you. Why did you feel the need to go that route?

Randy Couture: Kind of a little pressure to kind of step up, to develop some heat between us and to engage basically... rather than my usual approach of smile and kind of let that stuff roll off. I had a pretty strong opinion about the interim title and why I was there so I didn't figure that I'd have a problem expressing that opinion and expressing it strongly if I needed to. So I stuck to that and expressed my opinion about why we were there and refuted Tito's opinion that the title was a joke or that I was a paper champion. Basically he created the whole situation so that's kind of the way it ended up going.

Ron Merrill: Talk about the spanking in the final 30 seconds of that fight.

Randy Couture: Yeah, we ended up in a little scramble and he tried to roll to my leg and apply an ankle lock and he ended up getting trapped against the fence and was in a kind of a weird position where we were kind of head to foot and I was standing and sitting on the back of his thighs. He was basically stuck there and really the only thing that I could see was his butt. [laughter] So really I don't know why but I just started smacking him on the butt and that's how the fight kind of finished out.

Ron Merrill: Were you ever worried about that being misconstrued by the referee as a tap out?

Randy Couture: No. That never entered my mind. Later a few people said, "oh, I thought you were tapping out and then I realized you were spanking him." There's a big difference between spanking or patting somebody on the butt and tapping out. It's a completely different thing so I was never worried about that.

Ron Merrill: But there's no doubt that you two respect each other, correct?

Randy Couture: There's no question about that. We've made that clear on several occasions. A lot of the hype and a lot of the stuff with the fight was just that. I do respect his ability. He's been a long-standing champion in the light heavyweight division and he brings a lot of attention to our sport and that's good for all of us. I haven't always agreed with his antics or some of the things that he says or does but he's his own man and does his own thing.

Ron Merrill: So what do you think is next for you?

Randy Couture: I'm not really sure. They're not really sure what they're going to do in the weight class yet. Obviously Chuck and Tito are still top contenders in the weight class... Rich Franklin and Vitor Belfort. You know, Rich is doing a good job of working his way up. Vitor Belfort is out there clamoring for a rematch. I would expect, at least from my perspective and you never know what's going to happen, but I would think that Vitor and Rich would fight to see who is considered the number one contender. Chuck is engaged with the Pride Grand Prix right now and certainly when he wins the Grand Prix that will put him in a position to get a rematch with me having secured the Pride Grand Prix title. That will make it a very big and interesting fight. As far as Tito's concerned, I know he's pushing real hard for a rematch but I don't think that's going to happen until he steps up and fights Chuck.

Ron Merrill: Was there a rematch clause in Tito's contract in the event...

Randy Couture: I have no idea what the contract looked like. I don't really know.

Tony Caiazzo: Between Tito and Chuck, who was the tougher opponent?

Randy Couture: Well, the Chuck Liddell fight went so well because I came out and did exactly what he didn't expect me to do. He never got into the groove of that fight and consequentially I was able to finish that fight in the third round. The Tito fight was a lot different in that I was able to establish a top position and held him down for basically 99% of that fight. I think that as I analyze the two fighters I still think that Chuck would win a fight between the two for the simple reason that even if Tito does secure the takedown and put Chuck on the mat, Chuck was really, really hard to hold down. And if he's able to eliminate Tito's strength, which is his ability to stay on top and use his forearms and punch from the top position then Tito's stuck punching it out with Chuck. Chuck is, in my opinion, a much better striker. That's kind of the way I see that fight going but in the fight game anything can happen.

Tony Caiazzo: A question that I'm sure a lot of people have asked you lately is how much longer do you see yourself doing this?

Randy Couture: I'm 40 years old so that's a natural question. I plan on taking it one fight at a time. I'm still progressing and getting better as a fighter. I'm still able to train and compete at a very high level and as long as that continues and I'm happy with my performance, win or lose, I'll still continue to compete.

Tony Caiazzo: I heard some talk during the broadcast about the Eco Challenge. What is that?

Randy Couture: The Eco Challenge is from Mark Burnett who does Survivor. He started out doing Eco Challenge. It's an adventure race. Basically it's a 300-mile race over a 10-day period. You've gotta do all kinds of disciplines - kayaking, hiking, rope climbing and descending. All kinds of other stuff like mountain biking and so forth. It's an annual event that is shown on The Discovery Channel and USA networks usually. And we put together a team a year ago and were lucky enough to be accepted. Thousands of people entered but only 70 or 75 teams are selected and we were selected. I was supposed to leave 6 days after the Ricco Rodriguez fight and unfortunately for me I had the eye fracture and couldn't go. I did all the training, all the fund-raising, all the hard stuff then I didn't get to go and participate in the event. [laughs] That sucks.

Tony Caizzo: Do you feel that there's anything left to prove in the sport? I mean, your victory list is pretty much a 'who's who', you know?

Randy Couture: I think that I never really had anything to prove before and didn't set out to prove anything. It's really about the competition for me. I enjoy the opportunity to test myself and see what I've learned and what I'm capable of each and every time I go out there. I've been fortunate to win a lot more than I lose and I think that I could have retired four fights ago and been well-thought of in the sport. Certainly that's a much different situation now but it doesn't really matter because that's not why I fight.

Ron Merrill: Randy, actually I have the closure question for you and it's very short and sweet. Very, very important actually. More important than any other question that either of us has asked you tonight. You live in the Pacific Northwest. Bigfoot: true or false? [everyone laughs]

Randy Couture: Oh man! I think it's within the realm of possibility but with the kind of technology that we have right now, I find it hard to believe that something like that exists and we haven't found it.

Ron Merrill: Good enough for me. [laughs] Well Randy, hopefully when you're out hunting deer in the forthcoming days, you'll see that Bigfoot.

Randy Couture: [laughs] Yeah, I'll shoot him for you and bring him back.

Ron Merrill: Well on behalf of InsideFighting, thank you once again for taking the time to do this interview with us.

Randy Couture: Thanks guys.


Discuss this at Fightsport.com

World Extreme Cagefighting: Halloween Fury 2…Bad Blood
October 17th, 2003
The Palace Indian Gaming Center
Lemoore, CA

Start: 7:30 PM

Below are the main event matchups that have been announced for the WEC event on October 17th:

Shonie Carter vs. J.T. Taylor (WEC welterweight title)
Cole Escovedo vs. Anthony Hamlett (WEC lightweight title)
Sean Liddell vs. TBA
Tony De Souza vs. TBA


Discuss this at Fightsport.com

RITC 54 : 'The Beast' vs. 'The Rock'
Saturday, Oct 25, 2003
Celebrity Theatre
Pheonix, Arizona

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

Card Subject To Change:

Dan Severn vs. Homer Moore
Cory Timmerman vs. Herb Garcia
Nike Knight vs. Matt Ver Halen
Rich Moss vs. Chappo Montijo
Melesio Perales vs. Ray Steinbess
R.J. Gamez vs. Mike Ptak
Victor Estrada vs. Brian Salinas
Richie Reyes vs. Hans Marrero
Gabe Rivas vs. Jeremiah Shivers
Gilbert Cervantes vs. Adrian Leos
Victor Cruz vs. Brian Mitchell
Michael Perales vs. Klay Palomo


Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Alexa.com just updated their internet ratings for this week. Below are the Alexa.com rankings for the top 10 MMA websites as of October 3rd, 2003.

Fightsport.com and MMAWeekly.com have been the two fastest-growing MMA websites the last few months and are now catching up to the number three spot. Sherdog.com and Sherdog.net had occupied the top two spots for many months, but MMA.tv has moved into the number one spot this month and has knocked Sherdog.com and Sherdog.net down to number two and three respectively for the first time in a long while.

Official sites of the UFC and PRIDE have remained steady for the last few months. Subfighter.com has come out of nowhere in the last month to take the seventh spot. Adcombat.com has remained at number 9, despite its ratings having improved a great deal. MaxFighting.com survived by a thread to hang on to the number 10 spot.



MMA RANKINGS:

1.) MMA.tv - Traffic Rank for mma.tv: 6,040

2.) Sherdog.com - Traffic Rank for sherdog.com: 8,673

3.) Sherdog.net - Traffic Rank for sherdog.net: 13,262

4.) Fightsport.com - Traffic Rank for fightsport.com: 15,440

5.) MMAWeekly.com - Traffic Rank for mmaweekly.com: 15,989

6.) UFC.tv - Traffic Rank for ufc.tv: 22,057

7.) Subfighter.com - Traffic Rank for subfighter.com: 23,624

8.) Pridefc.com - Traffic Rank for pridefc.com: 34,119

9.) Adcombat.com - Traffic Rank for adcombat.com: 39,481

10.) Maxfighting.com - Traffic Rank for maxfighting.com: 60,034







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.


Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Assuerio Silva

Meca 10
December 16th, 2003
Porto Alegre, Brazil


Full Card (Subject To Change):

Assuerio Silva vs. Fabricio Werdum
Murilo 'Ninja' Rua vs. Marcelo 'Tigre'
Marcio Corleta vs. Gabriel Napao
Marcelo Dourado vs. Ivan Batman
Silvio Urutum vs. Helio Dipp
Joan Carneiro vs. Luis Azeredo
Luis Kabelinho vs. Maicon 'Alarcao'
Luiz Brito vs. Carlinhos Lima
Fabricio Morango vs. Adriano Nasal
Daniel Acacio vs. Marcelo Grillo
Flamel vs. Joao Assis


Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Zach Arnold of Puroresu Power reports the following:

PRIDE's 2004 Las Vegas show will take place on March 13th and will have heavy UFC involvement.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

The five Gracie family members competing on the October 5th PRIDE Bushido show have arrived in Japan and held a press conference and presentation for the Japanese media today (which is October 3rd right now in Japan).

Below is the full card for PRIDE Bushido this Sunday (Card Subject To Change):

Renzo Gracie vs. Carlos Newton
Ryan Gracie vs. Kazuhiro Hamanaka
Daniel Gracie vs. Kazuhiro Nakamura
Rodrigo Gracie vs. Daiju Takase
Ralph Gracie vs. Dokonjosuke Mishima

Mirko 'Cro Cop' Filipovic vs. Dos Caras Jr.
Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua vs. Akira Shoji
Assuerio Silva vs. Alexander Emelianenko
Sergei Kharitonov vs. Jason Nobunaga
Rodney Faverus vs. Khallid Arab
Chris Brennan vs. Eiji Mitsuoka


Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Rorion Gracie has lowered the prices of tickets to his 'Ultimate Submission Showdown' (USS) event thanks in part to the addition of new sponsors BankCard USA Merchant Services and WorldSize Nutritional Technologies. These new sponsors are in addition to principal sponsor Varig Airlines.

Sources in the ticket outlets have told us that tcket sales were slow, and the USS group hopes that the show can now sell out with the lowering of the ticket prices.

NEW PRICES:

Regular customers:
Buy one ticket for the regular price of $75.00, and you can buy as many as
you want after that for only $35.00.

Registered Students (Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy) and IGJJF Members:
Buy one ticket for the regular price of $50.00, and you can buy as many as
you want after that for only $25.00.

Please call Customer Service to receive Member/Student Discount at:
(888)472-2430

For more information, go to IGJJF.com

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Austrailian MMA-Journalist Luke Beston's article and interview with Royler Gracie was recently featured in the popular Austrailian martial arts magazine, 'Blitz', in the October issue. The article features not only an interview with legendary BJJ-stylist Royler Gracie, but also a series of techniques where Royler, along with Luke Beston, demonstrates some of his family's tried-and-true moves.


www.sportzblitz.com


Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Vitor 'Shaolin' Ribeiro (top)

Brazilian magazine Tatame reports that Vitor 'Shaolin' Ribeiro will take on SHOOTO welterweight champion Joachim Hansen for the belt on December 14th.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Josh Barnett

Two MMA matchups announced for the October 13th 'Ultimate Crush' event being co-promoted by both Pancrase and New Japan are:

Josh Barnett vs. Yoshiki Takahashi (Open Weight K.O.P. title)
T.K. Kohsaka vs. Ricardo Morais

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Bobby Hoffman

KOTC champion Bobby Hoffman has split with his current management team ViceFighter Inc., according to the head of ViceFighting Raymond Verdugo Jr.

Hoffman hooked up with ViceFighter shortly after he was released from prison in December 2002. He was under contract to them since March 14th, 2003, and recently terminated his contract with ViceFighter under a clause in the deal.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

World famous MMA photographer Susumu Nagao now has pictures up of the 2003 Judo World Championships that just took place on September 11th. To check out the pictures on Susumu's site, click here

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

By Tape Lord


B.J. Penn

Hello my friends, my Zuffa informant 'Coffee Guy' has relayed to me the following regarding B.J. Penn and the UFC:

B.J. Penn will NOT be fighting in UFC 45 against Robbie Lawler in the welterweight division.

The problem lies in the fact that Penn still wants to try and conquer the lightweight division and become the UFC lightweight champ before moving up to the welterweight division. But the UFC doesn't have any plans right now for the state of the lightweight division, and a title fight is not scheduled for anywhere in the near future.

Basically, the UFC wants Penn to fight as a welterweight for them now, but Penn still wants to win the UFC lightweight belt before moving up to welterweight.

Furthermore, Penn feels that he was robbed by the judges in his draw against Kaoru Uno in their UFC lightweight title fight a few months back. His desire to be considered a lightweight champion before moving up to welterweight is the main reason he has signed Takanori Gomi to fight him in Penn's own MMA promotion called 'Rumble On The Rock', which is based out of Hawaii.

Sources in Japan also confirm that Penn has been in talks with DSE to compete in PRIDE Bushido in the future.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Jeremy Horn

Extreme Brawl 4
September 28th, 2003
Bracknell, England

Jeremy Horn drew with James Zikic.
Andy Cooper defeats Paul Jenkins by TKO at 0:38, RD 2.
Ricky Moore defeats John Waite by armbar at 2:35, RD 1.
Matt Ewing defeats Sean Cocharin by rear naked choke at 4:19, RD 1.
Aaron Blackwell defeats Leon Dickens by TKO at 2:20, RD 1.
Ski Skirskis defeats Paul Hopkins by TKO at 2:24, RD 1.
Mark Epstein defeats Dave Nicolosi by KO at 0:49, RD 1.
Pete Tiarks defeats Ricky Salhan by triangle choke at 3:22, RD 1.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Marcio Feitosa (top) in his draw against D. Mishima (bottom).

The newly formed Gracie Barra Combat Team will be participating on the Meca 10 show scheduled for December 19th. Scheduled to compete is Gracie Barra fighter Luis 'Kabelinho' against Luta-Livre fighter Maycon 'Alarcao'.

The Gracie Barra Combat Team also includes such names as Marcio 'Pe-de-Pano', Alexandre Cacareco, Marcio Feitosa, Alexandre Soca Carneiro, Rolles Gracie Jr., and Alexandre 'Cafe' Dantas, all of whom will be competing soon.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

UFC 45: Revolution
November 21st, 2003
Mohegan Sun Arena
Uncasville, Connecticut

Below are seven matchups that sources deep within the Zuffa organization have told us will definitely be taking place at UFC 45 (Zuffa has not decided whether they will go with eight matchups total, or a special ten matchups in significance of UFC 45 being their "tenth" anniversary show):

Tim Sylvia vs. Frank Mir (heavyweight title fight)
Matt Hughes vs. Frank Trigg (middleweight title fight)

'Tank' Abbott vs. Wesley 'Cabbage' Correira
Pedro Rizzo vs. Ricco Rodriguez
Phil Baroni vs. Evan Tanner
Falaniko Vitale vs. Matt Lindland
Robbie Lawler vs. TBA

Other fighters possibly on the card include:

Royce Gracie
Lee Murray
Rich Franklin

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

DSE has announced to the Japanese media that Vanderlei Silva vs. Hidehiko Yoshida and Quinton Jackson vs. Chuck Liddell will be the brackets for the PRIDE GP Finals on November 9th.

DSE's announcement also confirms what Fightsport.com first announced around six weeks ago, when we posted that Silva/Yoshida and Jackson/Liddell would be the brackets for the GP Finals.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Frank Mir

Fightsport.com frist broke the story a few weeks back about how the UFC planned to have Frank Mir take on the winner of the Sy;via/McGee fight for the UFC heavyweight belt in UFC 45.

UFC president Dana White confirmed at UFC 44 that this is indeed true. And now the heavyweight title fight for UFC 45 is set as Tim Sylvia vs. Frank Mir.

Mir has been training hard for this fight and sources in Las Vegas say he has even bulked up his muscle mass, currently weighing around 270 pounds (122 kg).

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Randy Couture

Randy Couture is the undisputed UFC light heavyweight champion at 40 years of age. He is now sharing some of his nutrition and dietary techniques on the Team Quest website. For more info, vist Team Quest's website at TQFC.com, or contact Ryan Parsons at rp@ryanparsons.com.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Dana White

UFC president Dana White told MMAWeekly Radio that UFC 44 was the largest live gate in the history of the UFC, totalling around USD$1.6 million. If true, then it has surpassed the previous UFC record, which was USD$1.5 million at UFC 40.

However, an interesting note is that many fans and media who were at the event live claimed that they actually saw many empty seats.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Below are the SHOOTO Class-A bouts scheduled for October and November thus far:

Class-A Bouts:

October 31st
Junji Ikoma vs. Takeyasu Hirono

November 3rd
Ryan Bow vs. Tetsuya Kawajiri
Tetsuo Katsuta vs. Makoto Ishikawa
Naoya Uematsu vs. Katsuya Toida

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

By Tape Lord


Murilo Bustamante

It was reported by some newssites that Murilo Bustamante was being considered to replace a supposedly injured Hidehiko Yoshida in t he PRIDE GP. My postal connections in the DSE organization tell me that this is NOT true.

According to my sources, Yoshida is recovering well from his knee injury and is still scheduled to compete in the November 9th PRIDE GP Finals against Vanderlei Silva.

As far as Murilo Bustamante, my sources tell me that he will most likely be on the PRIDE GP Finals card in a single fight (which Fightsport.com already reported almost two months ago). His opponent at this time is rumored to be Murilo 'Ninja' Rua.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Mike Tyson

Zach Arnold of Puroresu Power reports the following:

"If you are wondering why you haven't seen Musashi on the October 11th Osaka Dome card, the reason is that if Bob Sapp wins his fight against Remy Bonjasky (a very big if), Sapp will face Mike Tyson on December 6th at the Tokyo Dome in the K-1 Grand Prix Finals tournament. If Sapp loses, then we'll see Musashi in place. It's a very big gamble by matchmaker Sadaharu Tanigawa.

Meanwhile, it's all but confirmed that Sapp will work NJ's October 13th Tokyo Dome show, and will work more pro-wrestling matches." -Zach Arnold

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

DSE reported to the Japanese media the complete card for their PRIDE Bushido show on October 5th:

Complete Card (Subject To Change):

Renzo Gracie vs. Carlos Newton
Ryan Gracie vs. Kazuhiro Hamanaka
Daniel Gracie vs. Kazuhiro Nakamura
Rodrigo Gracie vs. Daiju Takase
Ralph Gracie vs. Dokonjosuke Mishima

Mirko 'Cro Cop' Filipovic vs. Dos Caras Jr.
Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua vs. Akira Shoji
Assuerio Silva vs. Alexander Emelianenko
Sergei Kharitonov vs. Jason Nobunaga
Rodney Faverus vs. Khallid Arab
Chris Brennan vs. Eiji Mitsuoka

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Paulo Filho

Brazilian magazine Tatame reports that Paulo Filho has left the Brazilian Top Team and joined the Brazil Dojo team that is run by Wallid Ismael and Antonio Inoki.

Regarding his decision to switch teams, Filho stated, "Wallid made me a great offer. I'm going to let BTT know of my decision to leave today."

Filho is just the latest in a series of defections from BTT to Brazil Dojo, in what appears to be a continued assault by Wallid Ismael on the Brazilian Top Team. Former up-and-coming BTT fighter Carlos Baruck and BTT wrestling coach Darrel Gholar joined Brazil Dojo a few weeks earlier.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Sources in the KOTC promotion say that there are plans for KOTC middleweight champ Dean Lister to defend his belt against KOTC light heavyweight champ Jeremy Horn on their December 6th card.

Horn's manager Monte Cox commented that he has not heard anything about such a matchup yet, but that they would welcome such a fight if offered.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Jiu-jitsu and ADCC world champion Jean Jacques Machado's new book entitled 'Jean Jacques Machado: Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt Techniques' is in stock and shipping.

The book can be ordered at Amazon.com

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Undisputed UFC light heavyweight champion Randy Couture.

MMANews got the chance to briefly catch up with Randy Couture following his dominating victory over the former reluctant UFC Light Heavyweight champ Tito Ortiz. Here's what Randy Couture had to say:

MMANews: How are you feeling after the big fight on Friday?

Couture: I am feeling great. It was a great match.

MMANews: Was Your Game plan with [Tito] Ortiz the one that we saw Friday Night?

Couture: Yes it was. I have said that our fight would come down to takedowns.

MMANews: Ortiz is complaining that all the PR stuff is the reason he lost. Are you up for another match with Tito or are you tired of Tito's excuses?

Couture: Well you know I had a lot of PR stuff as well so I think that excuse is as solid as water. I would fight Tito again, but I think that he needs to fight Chuck Liddell first.

MMANews: Who do you think is next up in the UFC to fight you? Might we be seeing a rematch between [Vitor] Belfort and you? Or could you even be facing [Rich] Franklin?

Couture: It could be either one of them. There has been talk about Belfort vs. Franklin and the winner face me. But I would love to fight both of them.

MMANews: A ton of people already consider you the best Light Heavyweight in the world, but would you consider a fight with the Pride GP winner so you can prove to everyone you are the best Light Heavyweight in the world?

Couture: Well if it is possible then yeah I would like to. But I don't think that is possible.

MMANews: If it was [Chuck] Liddell it might be possible.

Couture: Yeah, it could be.

MMANews: Do you think Chuck Liddell has a chance in the Pride GP.

Couture: Yes, I think he has a really good chance.

MMANews: Are you planning on returning to Heavyweight one day or do you plan on ending your career as a Light Heavyweight?

Couture: I think I have found a new home in the Light Heavyweight Division and I think I proved that with the last two fights I have had. So right now I plan on staying in the Light Heavyweight spot.

MMANews: Well all right man. It was a pleasure to talk to you.

Couture: Same to you.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Left to right: Chris Albandia vs. Andrei Semenov

M-1 Russia vs. The World 6
10th October 2003
Sports Hall Lujniki
Moscow, Russia

Daniel Tabeira vs. Bashir Guliev

Bob Scheiber vs. Roman Zentsov

Amar Suloev vs. Tony Fryklund

Andrei Semenov vs. Chris Albandia

Tulio Costa vs. Dennis Komkin

Danila Veselov vs. Keith Wisniewski

Martin Malkhasyan vs. Bjornar Brathen

Musail Alaudinov vs. Joakim Engberg

Arman Gambaryan vs. Fabricio Moura

Vesa Vuori vs. Sergei Kaznovski

Mikhail Bogdanov vs. Thomas Rahders

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Vernon "Tiger" White (bottom) vs. August Wallen (top)

Fighter Extreme 4
September 28th, 2003
Stockholm, Sweden

MMA matches:
August Wallen defeats Vernon 'Tiger' White by unanimous decision.
Anders Eriksson defeats Richard Richthoff by split decision.
Thomas Hytten defeats Roemer Trompert by unanimous decision.
Marko Ervasti defeats Daniel Atterhagen by rear naked choke at 1:17, RD 1.
Per Eklund defeats Michael Cox by keylock at 4:57, RD 1.
Eduardo Guimaraes defeats Joakim Engberg by rear naked choke at 0:24, RD 1.

Muay Thai matches:
Dick Alves defeats Johan Helgesson by KO at 1:29, RD 1.
David Berndt drew with Kim Moller
Jarno Marila defeats Peter Nylund by unanimous decision.
Topi Helin vs. Thomas Rasmussen defeats Topi Helin by split decision.

Kickboxing matches:
Sami Cacan vs. Toto Karlsson defeats Sami Cacan by TKO.

Jiu-Jutsu matches:
Johan Ingholt defeats Johnny Nilsson by a score of 6



To view the complete picture gallery of the fights, click here

To view the video of the Vernon 'Tiger' White vs. August Wallen matchup, click here and also here

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Shoot Boxing: S of the World Vol.5
Korakuen Hall
September 23rd, 2003
Tokyo, Japan

Lineup Subject To Change:

Andy Souwer defeats Carlos Condit by TKO at 1:43, RD 5.
Hiroyuki Doi defeats Victor Hernandez by KO at 2:45, RD 1.
Hiroki Shishido defeats Remigijus Morkevicius by judges decision.
Akihumi Utagawa defeats Hideo Mihara by KO at 1:32, RD 1.
Noriyuki Imai defeats Hiroshi Okawa by judges decision.
Jess Liaudin defeats Ayumu Takahashi by judges decision.
Shinichiro Gomi defeats Yasuyuki Suzuki by judges decision.
Tsuyoshi Ishikawa defeats Takei by standing guillotine at 2:25, RD 1.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Tito Ortiz

Japanese underground journalist dragontail has the video of the Tito Ortiz post-fight interview up on his site. To view the video, click here

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Bob Sapp

K-1 has pictures of the September 21st Japan GP event up on their website.

To view the complete gallery, click here

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

The Russian MMA promotion known as M-1 changed the date of their next two shows on Russian soil. The next show 'Russia vs. World 6' is now scheduled for October 10th in Moscow instead of October 11th. The following show 'Russia vs. World 7' is now scheduled for December 5th in St Petersburg instead of November 22nd.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Takanori Gomi (top)

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

Subject To Change:

B.J. Penn vs. Takanori Gomi
Ron Jhun vs. Kola Koka
Dennis Hallman vs. Ray Cooper
Paul Buentello vs. Andy Montana
Gill Castillo vs. Renato 'Charuto' Verisimo
Stephen Palling vs. Gilbert Melendez
David Pa'alui vs. Joe Riggs
Yobie Song vs. Antonio Banuelos
Ross Ebanez vs. Gabe Casillas
Santino Defranco vs. Eddie Ruiz

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Murilo Bustamante (left) and Ikuhisa Minowa (right).

Brazilian magazine Tatame has pictures of the September 19th Brazil Super Fight event up on their website.

To view the complete gallery, click here

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Kondo (top) vs. Kikuta (bottom)

Pancrase announced to the Japanese media today that a rematch between Yuki Kondo and Sanae Kikuta for the light heavyweight K.O.P. title will take place on their November 30th show in Ryogoku Kokugikan.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Kazuyuki Fujita

The Japanese media is reporting that the UFC matches that Kazushi Sakuraba and Kazuyuki Fujita will participate in will be in the octagon, but under PRIDE rules. How this will be worked out and done with the atheletic comissions has not been made public.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Mario Sperry

Brazilian Top Team members Mario Sperry and Murilo Bustamante wrote the following official response regarding the counter challenge recently made by former teammate and Brazil Dojo manager Wallid Ismael:

"He signed the letter of challenge that appeared on ADCC NEWS alone, we wanted to make sure that no one thought he was speaking by himself. Aside from all the nonsense, there are 2 critical truths that must be clarified. The first on is to erase any doubts concerning s relationship between BTT and Brazil Dojo. Brazilian Top Tam has no relationship with them at all, although it seems that this has been covertly announced in Japan by Mr. Ismail, in order to take advantadge of BTT's position and reputation in Japan.'

The second important reason is to confirm the invitation for Mr. Ismail to fight one of us, Murilo Bustamante or Mario Sperry in an MMA match promoted by any organization. Also, we would like to state that this invitation stands for Mr. Ismail as a deal breaker. Without his agreement on fighting one of us, there is no reason for the challenge to take place between other members of both camps.

We are waiting for the words of Mr. Ismail, hoping that he will take the challenge." - Brazilian Top Team

Discuss this at Fightsport.com