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Fedor Emelianenko

Sanspo is citing a report from Nihon TV that Antonio Inoki has obtained a working visa for Fedor Emelianenko to fight on his December 31st show.

The plot keeps thickening in this saga, and we will have more news on this in the next two days.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Japanese newssite Sponichi.co.jp is reporting that a possible Mike Tyson vs. Akebono matchup this is now under negotiations.

According to Sponichi, the fight would happen at Madison Square Garden in New York City. They are shooting for some time in the month of March, 2004.

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 December 19th, 2003.

Fightsport.com has been the fastest-growing MMA website the last few months and have taken over the number 3 spot this past month, pushing Sherdog.net down to number 4. MMA.tv moved into the number one spot almost two months ago, knocking Sherdog.com down to number 2. MMAWeekly.com remains steady at number 5, while Subfighter.com has moved up to the number 6 spot.

The official site of the UFC has remained at number 7, with the official site of PRIDE catching up to them at number 8. IronLife.com moved into number 9, dropping Adcombat.com to number 10.



MMA RANKINGS:

1.) MMA.tv - Traffic Rank for mma.tv: 3,971

2.) Sherdog.com - Traffic Rank for sherdog.com: 6,976

3.) Fightsport.com - Traffic Rank for fightsport.com: 7,749

4.) Sherdog.net - Traffic Rank for sherdog.net: 9,467

5.) MMAWeekly.com - Traffic Rank for mmaweekly.com: 12,261

6.) Subfighter.com - Traffic Rank for subfighter.com: 15,980

7.) UFC.tv - Traffic Rank for ufc.tv: 23,443

8.) Pridefc.com - Traffic Rank for pridefc.com: 25,815

9.) IronLife.com - Traffic Rank for ironlife.com: 29,243

10.) Adcombat.com - Traffic Rank for adcombat.com: 29,368





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

Tito Ortiz

UFC president Dana White announced to the media that the reluctant former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz has finally signed a contract to fight Chuck Liddell in UFC 47.

Our Zuffa informant 'Coffee Guy' informs us that the media pressure finally got to Tito Ortiz. Also, according to sources close to Tito's camp, Tito was especially upset at the constant pressure Fightsport.com put on him with our coverage of the contract negotiations.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

UFC 46: Super Natural
January 31st, 2004
Mandalay Bay Events Center
Las Vegas, NV


Randy Couture vs. Vitor Belfort (UFC light heavyweight title)
Matt Hughes vs. B.J. Penn (UFC welterweight title)

Frank Mir vs. Wes Sims
Carlos Newton vs. Renato Verissimo
Lee Murray vs. Jorge Rivera
Matt Serra vs. Gerald Strebendt
Josh Thomson vs. Hermes Franca
Karo Parisian vs. Georges St-Pierre

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Kondo, Almeida, and Kunioku.

Pancrase opens their 2004 'Brave' tour series with the following two dates in February:

Pancrase 2004 'Brave' Tour
February 6th, 2004
Korakuen Hall
Tokyo, Japan


Pancrase 2004 'Brave' Tour
February 15th
Umeda Stella Hall
Osaka Japan

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

PRIDE 'SP'
December 31st, 2003
Saitama Super Arena
Omiya, Japan


PRIDE president Sakakibara announced to the Japanese media that their December 31st show would most likely have nine matchups.

Below are the officially announced matchups, followed by the matchups which are heavily speculated to take place by the Japanese media:

Officially confirmed matchups:
Royce Gracie vs. Hidehiko Yoshida
Ryan Gracie vs. Wataru Sakata
Hayato Sakurai vs. Daiju Takase

Unoffically confirmed matchups:
Rogerio 'Minotoro' Nogueira vs. Kazushi Sakuraba
Mario Sperry vs. Don Frye
Murilo 'Ninja' Rua vs. Kiyoshi Tamura
Heath Herring vs. Dos Caras Jr.
Ricardo Arona vs. Quinton Jackson

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Hidehiko Yoshida vs. Royce Gracie

The following rules were announced by PRIDE for the Royce Gracie vs. Hidehiko Yoshida bout:

1.) The fight will be an MMA bout, done under regular PRIDE rules.

2.) The fight will consist of three 10 minute rounds.

3.) No Judges decision. If the fight goes the distance, then it will be declared a draw.

4.) The referee can only stop the fight if a fighter is knocked out cold.

5.) If a fighter is knocked down to the mat but still conscious, a 10-count will be given to the downed fighter.

6.) The referee cannot interfere in the middle of a submission attempt.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Carlos Barreto

Heat FC 2: 'Evolution'
December 18th, 2003
Natal, Brazil


Travis Wiuff defeats Carlos Barreto by judges decision.
Gustavo 'Ximu' Machado defeats Alan Goes by DQ.
Ebenezer Fontes Braga defeats Eric Wanderlei by judges decision.
Forrest Griffin defeats Edson 'Paredao' by KO, RD 1.
Fabio Bolinho drew with Sergio 'Junior'.
Alexandre 'Vaca' defeats Marcelo 'Uirapuru' Azevedo by judges decision.
Vinicius 'Draculinho' defeats Kleber Galdino by arm choke, RD 1.
Dinarte Silva defeats Charles Andrade by judges decision.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Tito Ortiz

Our sources inside Zuffa tell us that the reluctant former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz missed a photo shoot that the UFC wanted to do for UFC 47. The photo shoot was to be done with four of the main event fighters on the UFC 47 card: Tim Sylvia, Andre Arlovski, Chuck Liddell, and Tito Ortiz. Everyone showed up except for Tito Ortiz.

The three fighters also have signed contracts for UFC 47 except for Tito Ortiz, who has yet to return his signed contract.

This serves as further proof that the scoop our Zuffa informant 'Coffee Guy' and journalist Todd Atkins gave us about Tito Ortiz not having signed a contract to fight Chuck Liddell at UFC 47 is indeed true, contrary to what other newssites were trying to report.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Yuki Sasaki

PANCRASE 2003 Hybrid Tour
December 21, 2003
Differ Ariake
Tokyo, Japan

Open: 3:00 PM
Start: 4:00 PM


Yuki Sasaki vs. David Terrell
Keichiro Yamamiya vs. Bret Bergmark
Hidehiko Hasegawa vs. Eiji Ishikawa
Osami Shibuya vs. Tsuyoshi Kurihara
Hur Sung Jin vs. Yukiya Naito
Koji Oishi vs. Takahito Iida
Takafumi Ito vs. Linson Simanjuntak
Kenji Arai vs. Daisuke Hanazawa 13

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Ikuhisa Minowa (right)

Todd Atkins reports from Japan that Ikuhisa Minowa will make his PRIDE debut on the December 31st show. Minowa has been training for the past few months in Brazil since he officially joined the Brazilian Top Team.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

By Tape Lord

Rickson Gracie

Hello my friends, my postal connections in the K-1 organization are telling me that K-1 wants to make an MMA matchup of Rickson Gracie vs. Bob Sapp for their inaugural MMA-only show that will take place in Japan in 2004.

K-1 is willing to spend the money and have already started preliminary negotiations with Rickson Gracie.

More news to come on this next month.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Couser going after Akebono.

K-1 did a publicity stunt today in which journeyman boxer Cliff Couser (the supposed half-brother of Mike Tyson) tried to attack Akebono during one of Akebono's training sessions.

According to the Japanese media, Couser vs. Akebono will take place in 2004.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Fedor Emelianenko

DSE is claiming that there is no chance for Fedor Emelianenko to participate on the Antonio Inoki show, scheduled for December 31st, show due to visa issues.

DSE claims to own the rights to getting a work visa for Fedor, and that Fedor would need a regular 3-month non-working traveler's visa to enter Japan. This would give DSE the legal means to stop Fedor's participation on Inoki's show.

DSE is also claiming they have the same work visa rights to Semmy Schilt.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Carlos Barreto

Heat FC 2: 'Evolution'
December 18th, 2003
Natal, Brazil

Card Subject To Change:

Carlos Barreto vs. Travis Wiuff
Alan Goes vs. Gustavo 'Ximu' Machado
Ebenezer Fontes Braga vs. Eric Wanderlei
Forrest Griffin vs. Edson 'Paredao'
Fabio Bolinho vs. Sergio 'Junior'
Marcelo 'Uirapuru' Azevedo vs. Alexandre 'Vaca'
Vinicius 'Draculinho' vs. Kleber Galdino
Charles Andrade vs. Dinarte Silva

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Rafiel Torre (left) with MMA groupie Shiloh McIver.

MMA received a black eye today when former MMA journalist and one-fight MMA fighter Rafiel Torre was arrested on murder charges. Below is the article that appeared in the Daily Bulletin:


Rancho man awaits arraignment in killing

RANCHO CUCAMONGA - A Rancho Cucamonga man is set to be arraigned today on charges he murdered his girlfriend's husband two years ago.

Rafiel Torre, 39, faces charges that could bring him the death penalty if he is convicted of killing 32-year-old Bryan J. Richards, who was found strangled in the bed of a pickup truck outside a Rancho Cucamonga supermarket Dec. 22, 2001.

Sheriff's homicide detectives arrested Torre Friday.

He appeared in West Valley Superior Court briefly Tuesday afternoon. Judge Mary Fuller appointed the Public Defender to represent him and delayed his arraignment until today so his attorney could be present.

Detectives believe Torre killed Richards so he could maintain his love affair with Richards' wife. Richards's body was found in the parking lot of the Albertson's supermarket at Carnelian Avenue and Foothill Boulevard.

Anyone with information on the case is asked to call Sgt. Tom Bradford or Detective Brad Toms of the San Bernardino County Sheriff's homicide detail at (909) 387-3589.

To view the article in its entirety, click here

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Din Thomas (right)

On December 11th a jealous newssite tried to discredit a Fightsport.com scoop, saying that our breaking news that Din Thomas would fight on the December 31st Inoki show was not true.

This same newssite is now reporting that Din Thomas will indeed be fighting on the December 31st K-1 show, and they are even acting as if they achieved some major scoop.

As usual, stay tuned to Fightsport.com where ALL the major news is reported first and unbiased.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Tim Sylvia (left)

Fightsport.com's Scoop McTroll first reported on December 3rd that the heavyweight title fight of Tim Sylvia vs. Andre Arlovski would take place in UFC 47, scheduled for the spring of 2004.

Tim Sylvia confirmed today on MMA Weakly Radio that this is indeed true. The fight will take place in UFC 47.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Hidehiko Yoshida vs. Royce Gracie

PRIDE 'SP'
December 31st, 2003
Saitama Super Arena
Omiya, Japan


Below is the card that is being talked about by the Japanese media for the PRIDE 'SP' show:

Royce Gracie vs. Hidehiko Yoshida
Rogerio 'Minotoro' Nogueira vs. Kazushi Sakuraba
Mario Sperry vs. Don Frye
Ryan Gracie vs. Wataru Sakata
Murilo 'Ninja' Rua vs. Kiyoshi Tamura
Heath Herring vs. Dos Caras Jr.
Hayato Sakurai vs. Daiju Takase
Ricardo Arona vs. Quinton Jackson

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Kondo vs. Barnett

The Japanese media is reporting that Nippon TV has all but taken over the matchmaking for the Antonio Inoki show it is broadcasting on December 31st.

After Mirko 'Cro Cop' Filipovic pulled out of the show, speculation in the media was that Josh Barnett would take his place as Yoshihiro Takayama's opponent. But sources close to the Japanese pro-wrestling scene say that Takayama would turn down such a matchup, since both fighters work as pro-wrestlers in Japan, and losing to Barnett might hurt Takayama's fan appeal, which is at an all-time high in Japan.

Sources close to Nippon TV are saying that they may end up making a Josh Barnett vs. Yuki Kondo rematch for the KOP belt as the main event.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Don Frye

Todd Atkins reports the following from Japan:

Even though Mario Sperry confirmed last week that he hadn't pulled out of the PRIDE show, the word this week is that he did indeed pull out of the show, possibly due to an injury. Sperry is scheduled to face Don Frye.

The Japanese media is reporting that a Don Frye vs. Gary Goodridge matchup is now close to being signed. This would be the third fight between the two, with Frye having won the first two. I'll keep you updated on further developments.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Hayato Sakurai (right)

DSE announced the following two matchups for their PRIDE show on December 31st:

Hayato Sakurai vs. Daiju Takase
Ryan Gracie vs. Wataru Sakata

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Zach Arnold reports the following:

This morning's cover of Nikkan Sports newspaper was not one that Antonio Inoki supporters wanted to see. It was an old image of Inoki on a PRIDE microphone and said that his 12/31 Kobe Wing Stadium show was 'in crisis' because of the cancellation of Mirko 'Cro Cop' Filipovic.

The paper went overdramatic and claimed that because of matchmaking problems that Inoki's show could be cancelled. The newspaper said that Miro Mijatovic, an agent for Filipovic, was absent from his Ibizcube Japan office all day on Tuesday in Japan (I found that out as well when I didn't get an answer from him). The paper claims that if Inoki finds a new opponent for Takayama that Takayama would more than likely decline a fight. Furthermore, Nippon TV made sure not to mention Fedor Emelianenko's name in participation for Inoki's 12/31 show on a preview show (Sports News) on the network.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos (top)

Fightsport.com first reported last month that Evangelista 'Cyborg' Santos was scheduled to participate in the Antonio Inoki show on December 31st. The Brazilian media are now reported that Cyborg has been dropped from the card.

The official word is that due to all the drop-outs of fighters such as Cro Cop and possibly Fedor Emelianenko from the card, that Nippon TV has put the pressure on Inoki to use more Japanese fighters on the card to help their ratings.

Cyborg announced to the Brazilian media that since he is no longer on the Inoki card, that he will now participate on Minotauro's 'Conquista Fight' show, scheduled for December 20th in Brazil.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Cliff Couser

34-year old journeyman boxer Cliff Couser was brought to Japan on Tuesday for a photo shoot/publicity stunt. Couser, who hails from Missouri, is somewhat famous for claiming to be the half-brother of Mike Tyson. Further evidence to support this includes a 1991 battery case, in which jurors were told that Couser and Tyson have the same father. Couser was aquitted in that case and the Tyson relation was never pursued further.

Couser has made a sort of career out of impersonating Tyson as well, and portrayed Mike Tyson in the HBO movie on Don King. Couser is also a professional boxer, but the likeness to Mike Tyson ends there. Although Couser's professional boxing record is 20-6-2 (9 KO's), it is mostly against tomato cans. The highlight of Couser's career was a third round TKO loss to Clifford Etienne back in 2000. Coincidentally, Mike Tyson fought Etienne earlier this year, beating him by first round KO.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Anderson Silva (top)

Brazilian magazine 'Tatame' reports that Anderson Silva will participate in the Minotauro-promoted 'Conquista Fight' show, scheduled for December 20th in Brazil. Silva's opponent will be the Brazilian fighter known as 'Diamante Negro'.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Carlos Newton

The following is an interview that Japanese magazine Gong Kakutogi conducted with Carlos Newton after his win against Renzo Gracie in the October 5th PRIDE Bushido event (translation by Akira S.):


Gong Kakutogi: One day has passed since your victory over Renzo Gracie. How do you feel?

Carlos Newton: I feel like I have to spend time to understand what I did. I am starting to get that this win was a big move for my career, and I did it. Also, I learned many thing from that match. I think Renzo is one of the best BJJ guys for MMA.

Gong Kakutogi: Were you planning to stand up with him?

Carlos Newton: Yes, standing. But I felt uncomfortable so I gave up my plan. Well, I "fought him on the ground".

Gong Kakutogi: Renzo has been your idol for a long time, correct?

Carlos Newton: Yes. He was my ideal fighter. I watched his BJJ video, I learned from it, and I grew up wanting to have his fighting style. I feel I have now reached this goal.

Gong Kakutogi: So, young fighters watch your fights and learn from it, next they...

Carlos Newton: Yes, then they'll come to get me! (laughing ) So I won't able to take it easy yeah?

Gong Kakutogi: You even attended one of Renzo's BJJ seminars and met him directly.

Carlos Newton: Renzo taught me as a student. I never thought I will get to fight him one day.

Gong Kakutogi: What do you think of the Pride Bushido event?

Carlos Newton: I'm so happy to be in it. If one day there is a title or a Bushi-do tournament, it'll attract a great deal of attention. This is good thing. This under 185-pound (83 kg) weight class has many great fighters and people can see more technique and speed fighting than heavier weight classes. Also, more Japanese will be able to fight in this.

Gong Kakutogi: Who is your rival?

Carlos Newton: Everybody is (with a smile). Hamanaka, Takase...and more.

Gong Kakutogi: What do you think of Hayato Sakurai who wasn't able to participate in the event this time?

Carlos Newton: For me, it's like between Renzo and me. I've known him since I was 19 years old. This time, I said to him, "Now the time has come". So he said back to me, "Yeah, it's been 10 years now." And he laughed just before we fought. Also Sakurai and me, When I was 20, I told him after a training session, "Let's fight inside a ring someday". I was fighting Shooto class 185 pounds (83 kg) at that time, and Sakurai was fighting at 167 pounds (76 kg), but he has heavier than me normally (with a smile). So he said "Yeah that's good, let's do it someday." So, if it comes true, that situation is so "Real", because it will be a dream come true that we used to want. Two young guys training together, improving their skills in a Do-Jo. Then they also go through hard things, and then one day they meet again, but in a ring...Woo! This really sounds like Bushi-do right.

Gong Kakutogi: Like Musashi and Kojiro

Carlos Newton: Exactly! It's a confrontation of fate.

Gong Kakutogi: Oh, You have a kanji book in your room.

Carlos Newton: I'm now in my third year third of university. I study phychology and linguistics, and I chose a Japanese-language class from it. I have a kanji test next week.

Gong Kakutogi: Good luck with it.

Carlos Newton: Thanks. I am also planning go abroad to Japan to study. If I am able to keep good results with fighting, I will be able to get a scholarship. If I come, I will be able to spend a lot of time with Japanese fans, so I look forward to it.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Bruce Buffer

Bruce Buffer, who is affectionately referred to by many MMA fans as 'The Frank Stallone of Ring Announcing', will be doing the ring announcing for the Antonio Inoki show, scheduled for December 31st.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Bob Sapp

K-1 'Premium 2003 Dynamite'
December 31st, 2003
Nagoya Dome
Nagoya, Japan

K-1 matchups:
Bob Sapp vs. Akebono
Ernesto Hoost vs. 'Montanha' Silva
Shannon Briggs vs. Francois Botha
Francisco Filho vs. TOA 'The Samoan Beast'

MMA matchups:
Alexey Ignashov vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
Genki Sudo vs. Eric 'Butterbean' Esch
Cyril Abidi vs. Sylvester Terkay
David Khakhaleichivili vs. Yoshihiro Nakao
Tom Howard vs. Christopher Midoux

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

By Tape Lord

Tito Ortiz

Hello my friends! Welcome to Tape Lord's 'Monday Morning Mailbag'. Below are some of the more interesting e-mails I recieved as one of the editors of this newspage. Enjoy...

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TITO CAR CRASH
Looks like Fightsport was right about Tito Ortiz crashing his car in an accident. People are denying he was drunk, but why would the police give him a breathalizer test if he wasn't?
-Rodrigo
Sao Paulo, Brazil

Tape Lord's reply: Rodrigo, those are my thoughts exactly. Regardless of what people say or believe however, one thing is for sure and that is that Tito did crash his car into a telephone pole during the night.


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K-1 SHOW LOOKING GREAT
K-1 is really hitting their stride now IMO. They have a great line-up for their New Years show, and honestly I'm excited to see Botha and Briggs go at it under K-1 rules.
-Phil
Bayside, New York

Tape Lord's reply: K-1 is raising the bar for their combined K-1/MMA cards. They have shown that they have the money (and are willing to spend it) to sign big names in the world of sport, and they have shown that they are willing to make both kind of fights (both skilled and freak show matchups) that the fans want to see. IMO these two factors will translate into big success when their MMA promotion is in full swing.


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Inoki Show Falling Apart
The Antonio Inoki show keeps getting worse and worse. Cro Cop has officially pulled out, and now Fedor might not be able to compete. Minotauro and Silva also pledged their allegiance to PRIDE. Does all this have anything to do with the Inoki/PRIDE war?
- Steve Wilson
Carlsbad, CA

Tape Lord's reply: Yes Steve, this has everything to do with Inoki vs. PRIDE. The fact is that DSE/PRIDE lost much face when Inoki announced that he had signed Fedor Emelianenko to his show. DSE's financial backers were willing to front up the cash to regain face, and this is exactly what they did according to my postal connections in Japan. My sources are telling me that Cro Cop received a substantial lump sum of cash, supposedly around (but not proven) USD$350,000, to withdraw from the Inoki event and drop his manager. Cro Cop did not have an exclusive deal with DSE so he was well within his rights to fight in the Inoki show, but he supposedly accepted the money and thought it best to stick with DSE/PRIDE.

You can expect to see more PRIDE fighters dropping out of Inoki's show at the last minute if Inoki tries to sign them. This is now a huge war amongst the two promotions that will most likely leave Inoki on the short end of the stick. As it stands now, Inoki is left without a main event for his show, and the Japanese media are speculating that Josh Barnett vs. Takayama will now be the main event. This is making PRIDE's new Year show looking better and better in terms of having an advantage in the ratings. One thing Inoki did manage though, and that is that he is effectively driving up the price for the services of the top fighters in Japan.


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WTF Is Fedor Doing?
Looks like PRIDE might be able to legally keep Fedor out of the Inoki show. What was Fedor thinking by biting the hand that feeds him?
-Rick
Toronto, Canada

Tape Lord's reply:
When trying to understand this whole messy situation, one must first understand that professional sports in Russia go hand-in-hand with the Russian mafia. Most often athletes don't have much of a choice in their own athletic futures unless they plan on leaving Russia and living somewhere else, if you know what I mean. I'm not saying that this is the case with Fedor, I'm just stating a fact of life over there. The Red Devil Team is also reputed to have many underworld connections, but whether or not this had anything to do with being able to recruit Fedor is not known.

What it does come down to though is that Red Devil, along with Croatian agent Miro Mijatovic, are making Fedor's professional decisions for him at this moment, and they don't seem to be the right decisions. This situation will get messier, and Cro Cop has already seemed to have ditched this same agent.


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UFC ON NEW YEARS?
So we basically have PRIDE, K-1, and Inoki ALL having three awesome shows with BIG NAME fighters on New Years eve. My question is what in the hell is the UFC doing on this date, or will they even sign a big name ever??
- UFC SUCKS
Boston, MA

Tape Lord's reply: UFC SUCKS, while PRIDE, K-1, and Inoki will all be having big shows on New Years, the American MMA fan will get the 'Ultimate New Year's Eve' PPV for USD$24.95. That is correct, you can pay USD$24.95 to watch re-runs of Tito and Liddell vs. the likes of Elvis Sinosic, Amar Suloev, and much, much more. If Zuffa is smart (which they're not IMO), they will at least include the humiliating beat down that Randy Couture inflicted on Tito Ortiz.


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Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Fedor Emelianenko

Antonio Inoki told the Japanese media today that there are some problems with keeping Fedor Emelianenko on his December 31st show.

Mirko 'Cro Cop' Filipovic has already officially pulled out of the show yesterday.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

David Khakhaleishvili

K-1 has announced the signing of 1992 Olympic Judo heavyweight gold medalist David Khakhaleishvili, and that he will participate on their December 31st show.

Khakaleishvili, who hails from the former Sovet republic of Georgia, beat Naoya Ogawa of Japan in the finals of the '92 Olympics in Barcelona. Khakaleishvili is 6'2 (1.88 m) and 308 pounds (140 kg).

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Vanderlei Silva (top)

Vanderlei Silva continues to get a lot of press in the Brazil since winning the PRIDE GP, this week getting featured in the Brazilian magazine 'Veja'.

Veja is something like Brazil's version of 'Time' magazine, and is the biggest weekly magazine in Brazil. The title of the article translates to 'The God of Vale Tudo', and Silva went into detail for the readers on how the sport is very professional in Japan, and how much respect the Japanese fans have for MMA.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Tadao Yasuda (left)

Antonio Inoki officially announced the matchup of Tadao Yasuda vs. Rene Rooze for his show on December 31st.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Tom Howard

Todd Atkins reports the following from Japan:

In addition to Slyvester Terkay, ZERO ONE Pro Wrestler Tom Howard will also be making his NHB debut on New Years Eve. He is not as big as Terkay, but he is around 6-4 and 270-280 pounds.

He has trained with Gene Lebell and Gokor Chivichyan in the past, and has a background in Sambo along with pro wrestling. We will see how these giants pan out in NHB. In my opinion, Terkey should be able to manhandle Cyril Abidi.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Yuki Sasaki

PANCRASE 2003 Hybrid Tour
December 21, 2003
Differ Ariake
Tokyo, Japan

Open: 3:00 PM
Start: 4:00 PM


Yuki Sasaki vs. David Terrell
Keichiro Yamamiya vs. Bret Bergmark
Hidehiko Hasegawa vs. Eiji Ishikawa
Osami Shibuya vs. Tsuyoshi Kurihara
Hur Sung Jin vs. Yukiya Naito
Koji Oishi vs. Takahito Iida
Takafumi Ito vs. Linson Simanjuntak
Kenji Arai vs. Daisuke Hanazawa 13

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Sylvester Terkay

K-1 announced the matchup of Cyril Abidi vs. Slyvester Terkay for their December 31st show. Terkay was the 1993 NCAA heavyweight wrestling champion, who is now a well-known pro-wrestler in Japan.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Kaoru Uno

Todd Atkins reports the following from Japan:

While I was in the audience for the big SHOOTO show on December 14th, I noticed that the big screen that was set up in the arena was announcing that Kaoru Uno had returned to SHOOTO.

Uno was quoted as saying "I want to fight the winner of Hansen vs. Ribeiro". The audience seemed receptive, and the inside word is that such a matchup may take place soon.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic

Mirko 'Cro Cop' Filipovic announced today on his website that he will not be participating on any of the December 31st shows. Here is the press release:


"Today, I, Mirko Cro Cop, have an important message to announce.

I have decided not to participate in any event as a fighter on Dec. 31st. I have been adviced by my physician, Dr. Bucan, to refrain from intense training for 2 weeks and to allow my back to recuperate from injury that has been bothering me for a while. I have decided to take his advice seriously this time and to nourish my body in order to fully recover and to prepare for 2004.

From now on I will be communicating with any promoters directly, for year 2004, offers.

I will be totally fresh mentally and physically next year, and I will fulfill my promise to become the champion and meet your expectations. Thank you very much for all of your support.

Sincerely, Mirko Cro Cop"

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Fedor Emelianenko

The following press release was sent to MMA journalist Ron Merrill:


Thank you for giving me the chance to clarify some confusion that seems to exist around Fedor's contractual situation. To clear this up, I would like to repeat what I said at the original press conference here in Japan last Monday 8th December 2003. But before I get to that, let me first confirm that I never threatened to pull either Mirko or Fedor from PRIDE. In fact, I will always be open to offers from any promoter for any fighters that I have contracted.

In relation to the contractual situation, as you may know, Fedor originally was represented by Russian Top Team (RTT). I understand that due to some problems with this management, Fedor decided to terminate his relationship with RTT and signed a management contract with Red Devil. On 5th December 2003 we signed an exclusive, multi-fight contract with Fedor and his new management, Red Devil. We also signed contracts with the exciting up and coming Red Devil fighters, Fedor's brother Alexander and Amar. These contracts were in both English and Russian because Fedor (and Alexander and Amar) do not read nor understand English.

Fedor told me that he has never signed any fight contract with PRIDE. Fedor has never seen the alleged contract nor does he know the contents of the alleged contract, which was shown by Pride at their press conference. If this alleged contract was signed by his previous management, RTT, then because he does not know and cannot read the contents nor did he authorize his previous management to sign the contract, that contract was not authorized nor agreed to by Fedor.

Since Fedor is not a party to the contract, PRIDE has no legal rights or claims against Fedor; PRIDE must make any legal claims against their contractual counterparty: Russian Top Team, for alleged breaches of contract. This has nothing to do with Fedor. Therefore, we do not see any legal impediments to Fedor's fighting in the future under our contract.

I'm sure that Fedor's fans are looking forward to seeing Fedor return to the ring on 31 December 2003 at Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2003 and then to a full schedule of events in 2004.

Miro Mijatovic
Tokyo, 13 December 2003

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Randy Couture (pictured) to defend his belt at UFC 46.

UFC 46: Super Natural
January 31st, 2004
Mandalay Bay Events Center
Las Vegas, NV


Randy Couture vs. Vitor Belfort (UFC light heavyweight title)
Matt Hughes vs. B.J. Penn (UFC welterweight title)

Frank Mir vs. Wes Sims
Carlos Newton vs. Renato Verissimo
Lee Murray vs. Jorge Rivera
Matt Serra vs. Gerald Strebendt
Josh Thomson vs. Hermes Franca
Karo Parisian vs. Geirges St-Pierre

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Carlos Barreto

Heat FC 2: 'Evolution'
December 18th, 2003
Natal, Brazil

Card Subject To Change:

Carlos Barreto vs. Travis Wiuff
Alan Goes vs. Gustavo 'Ximu' Machado
Ebenezer Fontes Braga vs. Eric Wanderlei
Forrest Griffin vs. Edson 'Paredao'
Fabio Bolinho vs. Sergio 'Junior'
Marcelo 'Uirapuru' Azevedo vs. Alexandre 'Vaca'
Vinicius 'Draculinho' vs. Kleber Galdino
Charles Andrade vs. Dinarte Silva

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SHOOTO
December 14th, 2003
Tokyo Bay N.K. Hall
Chiba, Japan


SHOOTO welterweight title:
Vitor 'Shaolin' Ribeiro defeats Joachim Hansen by triangle choke at 2:37, RD 2.

SHOOTO bantamweight title:
Mamoru defeats Yasuhiro Urushitani by unanimous decision.

Feature Fights:
Alexandre 'Pequeno' Nogueira defeats Rumina Sato by guillotine at 0:41, RD 1.
Robson Moura defeats Masatoshi Abe by unanimous decision.
Tatsuya Kawajiri defeats Ryan Bow by TKO at 4:21, RD 1.
Hideki Kadowaki defeats Bao Quach by rear naked choke at 4:40, RD 3.
Masato Shiozawa defeats Alex Khanbabian by rear naked choke at 1:04, RD 2.

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RITC 57
Saturday, December 13th, 2003
Tucson, AZ


MMA Matches:
Joe Riggs defeats Cory Timmerman by armbar at 1:11, RD 1.
Gabe Casillas defeats Allen Branson by KO at 0:38, RD 1.
Vince Lucero defeats Lemuel Vincent by armbar at 0:36, RD 1.
Brandon Roberts defeats Robert Rose by DQ (illegal kick) at 0:20, RD 1.
Ed West defeats Troy Tolbert by armbar at 0:34, RD 1.
Steve McDonald defeats Danny Wren by choke at 2:26, RD 2.

Grappling Matches:
Homer Moore defeats Mark Senior by choke.
Tim Schinker drew with Sean Fickett.
Drew Fickett drew with James Attwood.

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Naoyuki Kotani

ZST Lightweight GP Finals
January 11th , 2004
Tokyo, Japan

Below are the pairings for the ZST Lightweight GP Finals, which will be an 8-man same-day tournament:


Naoyuki Kotani vs. Rich Clementi
Remigijus Morkevicius vs. Takumi Yano
Marcos Aurelio vs. Masakazu Imanari
Hideo Tokoro vs. Taisho


The prize money is as follows:

Champion - 5,000,000 yen (approximately USD$42,000)
2nd place - 1,500,000 yen (approximately USD$12,500)
3rd place - 700,000 yen (approximately USD$6,000)

Prize money for first submission or KO - 100,000 yen (approximately USD$850)
Prize money for second submission or KO - 200,000 yen (approximately USD$1,700)
Prize money for third submission or KO - 300,000 yen (approximately USD$2,550)
Prize money for fourth submission or KO - 400,000 yen (approximately USD$3,350)



ZST Genesis Tournament
January 11th , 2004
Tokyo, Japan

Below are the pairings for the ZST Genesis Tournament Finals, which will be an 8-man same-day tournament, taking place as the undercard for the ZST Lightweight GP Finals:

Uchiyama Takahiro vs. Toshiaki Komatsu
Kenzi Daikanyama vs. Sho Komatsu
Yujiro Kushida vs. Tomoya Arakawa
Norisato Isozaki vs. 'Le Gaylord' Fabre

You can check out ZST's english-language website by clicking here

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