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Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic

As was reported by our site 2 weeks ago, Mirko 'Cro Cop' Filipovic has now been officially announced as being out the Antonio Inoki show, scheduled for December 31st.

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


PRIDE president Sakakibara has already announced to the Japanese media that their December 31st show will have nine matchups:

Officially confirmed matchups:
Royce Gracie vs. Hidehiko Yoshida
Mario Sperry vs. Yuki Kondo
Don Frye vs. Gary Goodridge
Quinton Jackson vs. Ikuhisa Minowa
Ryan Gracie vs. Wataru Sakata
Hayato Sakurai vs. Daiju Takase

Fighters officially confirmed for show, but matchups are still unofficial:
Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Rogerio 'Minotoro' Nogueira or Kiyoshi Tamura
Murilo 'Ninja' Rua vs. Rogerio 'Minotoro' Nogueira or Kiyoshi Tamura
Heath Herring vs. Dos Caras Jr.

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Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye
December 31st, 2003
Kobe Wing Stadium
Kobe, Japan


Scheduled matchups:
Yoshihiro Takayama vs. TBA
Josh Barnett vs. Semmy Schilt
Rodrigo 'Minotauro' Nogueira vs. Yuji Nagata
Kazuyuki Fujita vs. Ray Mercer
Stefan Leko vs. Kazunari Murakami
Ricardo Liborio vs. Tadao Yasuda
Rich Franklin vs. Ryoto Machida
Alistair Overeem vs. Vladimir Matyushenko
Amar Suloev vs. Din Thomas


Fighters who have been given offers to participate:
Peter Aerts
Tsuyoshi Kohsaka
Sanae Kikuta
Shinsuke Nakamura
Ryushi Yanagisawa
Masayuki Naruse
Hiroyoshi Tenzan
Yasuhito Namekawa
Dolgolsuren Sumiyabazul
Blue Wolf
Toru Yano

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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. TBA
Francois Botha vs. Yusuke Fujimoto
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
Jan Nortje vs. Masayuki Naruse

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An Ex-Lineman and Wrestler Becomes a Star in Japan
By KEN BELSON - NY TIMES


OKYO, Dec. 24 - It was a sign, Bob Sapp knew, that his self-described Beast phenomenon had gone too far: he shaved his chest for a television commercial and someone swept up the hair and sold it for $500.

It was also a sign of how far Sapp had helped take K-1, Japan's kick-boxing league. Since arriving in Japan nearly two years ago, Sapp, a former N.F.L. lineman and pro wrestler, has become perhaps the most popular entertainer and sports figure in the country. His ring name, the Beast, has come to symbolize not only his fearsome 6-foot-7, 375-pound build, but also a media frenzy that has turned a burly fighter into a multimillion-dollar enterprise.

Sapp, who will take on Akebono, a Hawaiian-born former Sumo grand champion, on New Year's Eve in a baseball stadium, says he has fought 3 pro wrestling matches and 10 kick-boxing bouts in the last year. He also says he has been interviewed 1,000 times, made 200 television appearances and 10 commercials, and been the subject of four books. Hundreds of products - from clocks to dolls to a video game - have flooded the market with his image.

His promoters are now trying to arrange a fight with Mike Tyson next year; the format, K-1 or traditional boxing, is still to be negotiated. Sapp, who is 29 and calls Seattle home, also has hopes of becoming a Hollywood action hero.

While Sapp ate dinner recently at a restaurant in Tokyo, dozens of people walking by stopped to take pictures of him through the window. Two young assistants worked on his schedule on a laptop computer; his two daily training sessions, media appearances and other commitments were blocked out in different colors.

"How do you say no to that?" Sapp asked, pointing at the computer. "It's so hard. This stuff is really selling."

The main product Sapp is selling, K-1, was created 10 years ago by Kazuyoshi Ishii, a Seidokan Karate school owner who wanted to settle the age-old question: which fighting style trumps all? Ishii set up single-day tournaments in which fighters competed in three three-minute rounds, with the winners working their way to a title bout.

The K in K-1 stands for karate, kick-boxing, taekwondo and kung fu, all styles that can be used during the short and often violent fights. The 1 represents the winner. Knockouts are the most common outcome, and more than a few fighters leave the ring bloodied. The nature of the fights conjures up images of gladiators.

Sapp is an unlikely star of the sport. After a brief and unhappy career in the National Football League with the Minnesota Vikings, Sapp, who is not related to Warren of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, joined a pro wrestling league that soon folded. Ishii's organization spotted him boxing in a celebrity event against William Perry, the former Chicago Bears defensive lineman. Facing the prospect of working at a funeral home, Sapp went to Japan to fight in K-1, a sport he knew nothing about.

Although not much of a kicker, Sapp used his size and tongue-in-cheek character to become an instant hit with the Japanese. Purists say his fighting style has turned the sport into a farce. Other critics accuse him of reinforcing negative stereotypes of African-Americans; among other things, he has appeared in advertisements eating bananas.

Sapp's critics are offset by thousands of fans who adore him and dozens of companies that are eager to use his image.

"As Sapp gets more popular, he gets more endorsements, which lead to bigger sponsorship deals and then bigger purses," said Daisuke Teraguchi, the international operations manager for K-1. "It's like a chain reaction."

Sapp missed a shot at the K-1 world championship when he was disqualified for hitting his opponent while he was down during a match in October. Still, Sapp received a huge round of applause when he appeared at the K-1 World Grand Prix finals on Dec. 6; he was there to promote the idea of a fight against Tyson.

Sapp remains so popular that tickets for his Dec. 31 fight with Akebono sold out in a day. The bout will be held in a domed baseball stadium in Nagoya, a two-hour bullet-train ride south of Tokyo.

To view the article in its entirety, click here

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Kazuyuki Fujita (left)

Antonio Inoki announced to the Japanese media that the winner of the Kazuyuki Fujita vs. Ray Mercer fight will be given a winning bonus of 100 million yen (approximately USD$900,000).

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Sanae Kikuta (top)

The Japanese media is reporting that Sanae Kikuta may not participate on the Antonio Inoki show, scheduled for December 31st. Kikuta is tentatively scheduled to be on the show, but according to the Japanese media, Kikuta has not been interested in facing any of the opponents he has been offered so far.

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By Jake R

Robert Meyrowitz

As sources close to Robert Meyrowitz are informing me, the former SEG President may be returning to the world of MMA! As he has been telling close friends and associates, he believes the problems surrounding MMA when he was still involved have mostly been solved. As he has explained, Zuffa came in and paid him a great deal of money for the UFC brand name, while also doing the dirty work in getting MMA back on cable and sanctioned in Vegas.

However, Meyrowitz thinks Zuffa has made some huge mistakes, including screwing up two great chances handed to them with Ken Shamrock and Tank returning. He believes Tank was completely handled wrong, and that Zuffa also blundered a great opportunity after UFC 40 drew the largest PPV buys in Zuffa history with Ken Shamrock.

Meyrowitz also made it a point that when he was running things there were always several stars the UFC promoted, not just one. Meyrowitz has not decided on anything final yet, but because of Zuffa's blundering, he believes an American MMA event could surpass the UFC and make a great deal of money if run properly.

Meyrowitz is in an exploratory phase at the moment, but is said to seriously be looking at starting up another MMA promotion to capitalize on all of the right and wrong things Zuffa has done since taking over.

As usual, stay tuned to Fightsport.com and the Jake R Report for hard-hitting cyber-exclusives you won't read anywhere else.


*Must credit Fightsport.com and the Jake R Report when discussing this exclusive report.

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Kazuyuki Fujita

Antonio Inoki held a press conference yesterday in Tokyo to offically announce the MMA matchup of Kazuyuki Fujita vs. Ray Mercer for his December 31st show.

The 42-year old Mercer, a former heavyweight boxing contender and alphabet organization world champion, is demanding an automatic standup rule for any grappling that stays on the ground for 20 seconds or more. The fight will consist of five 3-minute rounds.

Fujita has been doing boxing-only training in Los Angeles for the last month.

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David "Tank" Abbott

Fightsport.com's Scoop McTroll has found the elusive picture of infamous UFC fighter and fan favortie David 'Tank' Abbott, from when Tank was in his early teens.

It's not certain how old Tank is in this picture, but it would appear that it is either a junior high or early high school picture.

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Bob Sapp as "Santa Clause".

Everyone at Fightsport.com would just like to wish a safe and merry Christmas to all of our fans and readers everywhere!

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Pedro Rizzo (right)

The Japanese media is reporting that Pedro Rizzo may be participating on the Antonio Inoki show, scheduled for December 31st. According to the Japanese media, his opponent would most likely be Hiromi Amada, who is already signed to the show.

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DSE is announcing that it may now have up to ten matchups on their PRIDE 'SP' show, scheduled for December 31st. This is due to the fact that the PRIDE 'SP' show must fill up five hours of TV time it will have on FUJI TV.

In other PRIDE 'SP' news, the matchup of Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Kiyoshi Tamura is very close to being signed. Tamura is playing hardball in the negotiations, but the inside word is that a deal may be reached within a few days.

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The TKO promotion has decided to postpone their January show until after UFC 46 on January 31st. The new date for TKO 15 will on February 13th.

The reason for the delay is that TKO welterwieght star Georges St-Pierre will be fighting on the UFC 46 card, and TKO wants him to be ready for TKO 15.


On a side note, 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

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Sean Sherk (pictured, left) was one of Chad Mason's victims.

Ryan Lankford sends us the following update on Chad Mason, who featured on Fightsport.com's PSOM (Promoter Still Owing Money) list:


Just wanted to let the Fightsport community know that a huge battle has been won in Des Moines, against one of MMA's most notorious promoters.

Chad Mason's show here in Des Moines has been shut down. His venue, Toad Holler has thrown him out of their venue, and taken over his Fight Club promotion. Toad's management will now be running the promotion. The Toad's stable of fighters will still be there, just not fighting for the benefit of Mason. This also means that there will not be any Dec. 26th Pro show.

Instead, 'Fight Club' has been moved to Friday nights. The price of admission has been lowered to $7, but if you fight, you get in free. For those of you in the Central Iowa area, let's show our support for a Mason-free Toad Holler promotion.

Travis Fulton plans on bringing some of his amateur fighters down this Friday for some NHB and submission grappling matches.

Fightsport, thanks for giving me a venue to celebrate a great victory for the Central Iowa MMA scene!

Ryan Lankford

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Rickson Gracie

The Sports Hochi newspaper reports today that Rickson Gracie wants to fight Mike Tyson in K-1 in the spring of 2004. Rickson stated that it would be his retirement fight.

According to our sources, Rickson has been in negotiations with K-1 to face Bob Sapp in their inaugural MMA-only show, scheduled for the spring. Tyson is signed to an exclusive management deal in Japan with K-1, and a matchup between Rickson and Tyson in K-1 is definitely possible if terms can be reached.

More news to come regarding this next month.

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By Jeff Thaler

Zuffa management always lacking the "midas touch".


Courtesy of Whaledog.com

The UFC has always been the premier MMA organization in America. Indeed, its name ('Ultimate Fighting') is a common synonym for mixed martial arts. Since most people think that as the fate of the UFC goes, so goes the fate of MMA in America, I thought I would take a quick look at where the UFC stands as we head into the new year.

And, to be truthful, as I look at the promotion I see a lot of problems.

First and foremost, where is the T.V. deal? I predict that the UFC as we know it will be dead if it does not land a deal to broadcast a regular show on a major cable network in 2004. It will either close up shop or be sold to a new owner. After more than three years under Zuffa management, the UFC is supposedly still in the red on its shows, all of which are on PPV and some of which have had earned in excess of a million dollars at the live gates. When you couple those losses with the UFC's inability to significantly grow the PPV audience, you can see that things cannot continue like this forever.

The only thing that can turn those bad numbers around is a weekly T.V. show that pumps up interest in the PPV events. People in the T.V. industry will tell you that you can get just such a show at any time you want if you are willing to pay for it. But, paying to air a show requires faith that you will make a return on your investment through merchandising, PPV, advertising, etc. Zuffa obviously does not have the faith that it can make back its money. Nor has it had the ability to sell its show to any network. So, for now, we sit and wait to see if any network will take a chance on the UFC.

The failure to grow the PPV audience has been exacerbated by the UFC's match making. The UFC has demonstrated no ability to build up fighters in the public's eye in order to create interest in its shows. Some fighters, such as Sakurai and Frank Trigg, have made their UFC debuts in championship fights. How is the general public supposed to get pumped up for a championship fight if it has never seen the challenger? I know that us hardcore MMA fans know who these guys are, and why they are great. But, that does not mean squat when it comes to building a PPV audience.

Moreover, once a fighter is in the UFC, the UFC does not appear to have well thought-out criteria for deciding whether a fighter will stay or go. Really, the only thing you can be certain about a UFC fighter's future is that if he asks for more money, especially if he is a champion, he will be shown the door (see Jens Pulver, Josh Barnett, Murilo Bustamante, etc). A UFC contract does not seem to depend on wins or exciting fights, but rather on the mood of UFC management. Murilo Bustamante, who was exciting, ridiculously talented and the champion at 185 lbs. (the exact kind of guy you want for your promotion), was shown the door because he dared to say that he wanted to see what his market value was when his contract expired. The UFC has to decide whether wins or exciting fights will keep a fighter in the UFC (I vote for exciting fights, myself). Its current system just does not cut it.

The discussion of champions being shown the door, of course, leads to another issue for the UFC. Right now it has no champion at 155 lbs., 185 lbs. or heavyweight. The UFC does not even have a marketable pool of good heavyweights (with the exception of Frank Mir and maybe Andrei Arlovski) - most of who are fighting in Japan for PRIDE. The fact that the UFC ended the year with five weight classes and only two champions speaks to an incredible lapse in management and planning. Plus, if the the UFC follows through on its apparent intent to drop the 155 lb. championship, despite the fact that this division one of its few areas of strength, well . . . you probably already know my thoughts about that.

In its defense, the UFC has complained that it simply cannot feature enough fighters on its PPV shows to support all its weight classes. But, the UFC cannot explain why, then, it never created a feeder show or at least aligned with another promotion to act as its official feeder. Imagine this . . . during a break in the UFC action, the PPV telecast shows a highlight of a couple of fights from its latest feeder show and hypes the winning fighters who will be appearing in the next UFC. At the next UFC, you show the same highlights to remind the audience why they got excited three months ago. All of a sudden we have interest in new fighters, and there are tons more slots open to fighters who are angling to get on (or stay on) the UFC's card.

The bottom line is that the UFC has blown the momentum it created when Zuffa took control, helped get sanctioning in Nevada and returned the show to cable PPV. Unless the UFC turns the corner this year, when they write the story about Zuffa's management it will most likely be a story of missed opportunities and mismanagement. What will make the story even sadder is that the failure of the UFC could end up crippling the sport of MMA for years to come.



UPDATE: "Insiders" who have read this article have told me that we should be hearing some big UFC news within the next week or two. Lets hope it helps bring the much needed spike in PPV ratings.

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


PRIDE president Sakakibara has already announced to the Japanese media that their December 31st show will have nine matchups:

Officially confirmed matchups:
Royce Gracie vs. Hidehiko Yoshida
Mario Sperry vs. Yuki Kondo
Don Frye vs. Gary Goodridge
Quinton Jackson vs. Ikuhisa Minowa
Ryan Gracie vs. Wataru Sakata
Hayato Sakurai vs. Daiju Takase

Fighters officially confirmed for show, but matchups are still unofficial:
Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Rogerio 'Minotoro' Nogueira or Kiyoshi Tamura
Murilo 'Ninja' Rua vs. Rogerio 'Minotoro' Nogueira or Kiyoshi Tamura
Heath Herring vs. Dos Caras Jr.

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Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye
December 31st, 2003
Kobe Wing Stadium
Kobe, Japan


Scheduled matchups:
Yoshihiro Takayama vs. TBA
Josh Barnett vs. Semmy Schilt
Rodrigo 'Minotauro' Nogueira vs. Yuji Nagata
Kazuyuki Fujita vs. Mike Bernardo
Stefan Leko vs. Kazunari Murakami
Ricardo Liborio vs. Tadao Yasuda
Rich Franklin vs. Ryoto Machida
Alistair Overeem vs. Vladimir Matyushenko
Amar Suloev vs. Din Thomas


Fighters who have been given offers to participate:
Peter Aerts
Tsuyoshi Kohsaka
Sanae Kikuta
Shinsuke Nakamura
Ryushi Yanagisawa
Masayuki Naruse
Hiroyoshi Tenzan
Yasuhito Namekawa
Dolgolsuren Sumiyabazul
Blue Wolf
Toru Yano

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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. TBA
Francois Botha vs. Yusuke Fujimoto
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
Jan Nortje vs. Masayuki Naruse

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By Russ T.


Before reading 'Russ T's' commentary/review, please read our disclaimer first.

As most well versed students of literature know, quite often a novelist will choose allegory to represent his or her true intent. Lord Of The Rings fans know Tolkien's epic represented the ultimate struggle between good and evil found in Christianity's Holy Bible. Mark Twain fans know he was actually speaking out against the evils of slavery and racism in 19th century America and not merely describing the misadventures of several young country boys. Jonathan Swift's satirical work defended the basic human rights of the Irish and pointed out their habitual mistreatment by the English.

Along the same lines, Ricco 'Suave' Rodriguez delves into the hidden and seldom discussed homoerotic undertones of ultimate fighting. While most people associate ultimate fighting with brutality and bloodshed, Rodriguez realizes ultimate fighting is the perfect symbolic vehicle to represent something entirely different.

In fact, something so different the philistine masses of American society will never grasp the brilliant allegorical overture of Rodriguez's modern day literary masterpiece. Rodriguez clearly symbolizes his struggles and hardships as a homosexual in not only a homophobic society, but what on the surface appears to be a strongly anti-gay ultimate fighting sub-culture. It is left to the reader to realize Rodriguez is recounting the extraordinary difficulties in coming to terms with his own sexuality, including symbolic references to fights, actually representing sexual relationships with other men. Rodriguez's emotional description of the losses he suffered in ultimate fighting represents homosexual relationships ending despite his wishes.

Furthermore, training descriptions detailing the hardships involving his ultimate fighting career are clearly an allegorical reference to progressively building up the courage to come out of the closet as an openly gay man.

Struggles involving his family symbolize the historic homophobia and intolerance among Puerto Rican culture. Also of interest is the mention of mma groupie Shiloh Mc Iver, who in reality represents the deviant sexually promiscuous homosexual sub-culture responsible in large part for the high AIDS rate among gay men. It is refreshing to finally see one section of the gay underworld take to task another for their lack of responsibility in their lifestyle.

Finally, the book concludes surrounding accomplishment of Rodriguez's final goal: capturing the ultimate fighting heavyweight belt, symbolic of a gay man finally coming out of the closet.

I highly recommend this well-written contemporary masterpiece bound to eventually leave Ricco 'Suave' Rodriguez spoken of in the same manner as Tolkien, Swift, and Twain. Regardless of sexual orientation, this book will captivate the reader, possibly even creating curiosity.

RussT

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Rodrigo "Minotauro" Nogueira

Antonio Inoki announced to the Japenese media today that he has signed Rodrigo 'Minotauro' Nogueira to participate on his December 31st show. Minotauro will face pro wrestler Yuji Nagata.

Minotauro's ontract with PRIDE is noy exclusive, thus allowing him to fight for other organizations.

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Mario Sperry

DSE announced the following three matchups for their PRIDE 'SP' show, schedulrd for December 31st:

Mario Sperry vs. Yuki Kondo
Quinton Jackson vs. Ikuhisa Minowa
Don Frye vs. Gary Goodridge

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Tim Sylvia (left)

The big rumor amongst the Japanese media is that PRIDE may try to make a matchup of Rodrigo 'Minotauro' Nogeira vs. Tim Sylvia for the PRIDE 27 show, scheduled for February 1st, 2004.

PRIDE 27 was originally supposed to have Minotauro face Fedor Emelianenko to unify the PRIDE heavyweight belt, but it appears that PRIDE is not happy with Fedor after the Inoki show fiasco, and may strip him of his belt.

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

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SHOOTO
January 24th, 2003
Kourakuen Hall
Tokyo, Japan

Below is the developing card for the SHOOTO show, scheduled for January 24th in Tokyo:

Class-A Bouts:
Joao Roque vs. Hiroyuki Takaya
Marco Louro vs. Shuichiro Katsumura
Tetsuo Katsuta vs. Makoto Ishikawa
Kohei Yasumi vs. Koutetsu Boku

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Pequeno victorious over Sato.

Brazilian magazine 'Tatame' recently interviewed SHOOTO lightweight champion Alexandre 'Pequeno' Nogueira after his victory over Rumina Sato. Here's what Pequeno had to say (interview by Alexandre Lobo):


Tatame: Tell us about your fight against Rumina Sato.

Pequeno: Man, the fight was really fast. He started by giving me a low kick. I defended and countered with a kick to his ribs. He's really fast, he held my leg and took me to the ropes. Sato is a showman, and he tried to take me down, so I took him with my typical guillotine choke. He tried to fool me by faking and feinting, to see if I would let him go. I almost did, but I decided to wait and see if he would tap out or sleep.

Tatame: Sato is a Japanese legend. What was the fans reaction like?

Pequeno: The producers are impressed. Nobody was expecting that Sato could lose so fast! He's so loved in Japan that, when the fight ended, the fans from the audience tried to wake him up.

Tatame: I heard that the Japanese did a TV show about your way of fighting...

Pequeno: It's true! A friend of mine recorded it for me. Rumina Sato's trainer was the SHOOTO promoter Sakamato, and that is who trained and taught him all of my techniques. I was astonished, the guy knew everything! At the show, they talked about what I do inside the ring, how to defend... They also put a guy like me to spar with him, simulating my blows and positions.

Tatame: When will you return to the SHOOTO ring?

Pequeno: All I know is that I will probably defend my belt in August, against 'Kid' Yamamoto. But I can fight before that. Being out of the ring for such a long time isn't good.

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Vanderlei Silva (right)

PRIDE champion Vanderlei Silva continues to recieve good exposure in the Brazilian mainstream media. While on a 3-day promotional tour of Brazil's largest city, Sao Paulo, Silva appeared on Brazil's top rated sports program and doing interviews with two other acclaimed programs.

Silva discussed the growth of MMA, and his plans to fight in Japan and the USA in 2004. Silva also took the time to shoot some footage for his set of training videos he will be releasing soon.

Silva will take the rest of 2003 off to rest and be with his family. He will resume training on January 5th, and prepare to defend his belt in either March or April.

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Jose "Pele" Landi-Jons

'Challenge Original Brazilian Vale-Tudo 2'
December 20th, 2003
Maringa, Brazil


Jose 'Pele' Landi-Jons promoted the second edition of his Challenge Original BVT show in Maringa, Brazil. Below are the results:

Sandrao defeats Enrico by KO.
Pato defeats Eliezer 'Ninja' by judges decision.
Pelucio defeats Junior by TKO.
Regiclaudio defeats Curio by TKO.
Jaime defeats Cabeleira.
'Parana' defeats 'Chileno' by rear naked choke at 3:10, RD 1.
Fabio Testa defeats 'Gaucho' by TKO.
Pablo defeats Flavio Menega by TKO.
'Binzo' defeats 'Gringo' by rear naked choke at 3:20, RD 1.
Cristiano defeats Gelson by rear naked choke at 4:00, RD 1.

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PRIDE is selling a limited edition plaque, which includes a piece of the ring canvas from the November 9th PRIDE GP Finals event. Only 30 plaques have been imported from Japan (from a total of 300 overall).

Each piece of canvas is encased in a clear acrylic plastic and is displayed with a plate showing the fight card as well as a miniature version of the event poster from Japan, with simulated autographs. The plaque measure 6' x 9', and the ring canvas measures 2' x 3' size.

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Fedor Emelianenko

Shimura Funaki reports the following from Japan:

A press conference was held to day in Tokyo with Antonio Inoki announcing the following regarding his December 31st show:

1.) Fedor Emelianenko will NOT participate on Inoki's show.

2.) Inoki and PRIDE have worked out some differences and Semmy Schilt will be able to participate on Inoki's show. Schilt will face Josh Barnett.

3.) Yuji Nagata will participate in Inoki's show.

4.) Kazuyuki Fujita will face a professional heavyweight boxer that will be announced within a few days. Speculation amongst the Japanese media is that Fujita will face Mike Bernardo.

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Ryo Chonan (left)

The DEEPpromotion will put on a show on January 22nd, 2004. The following two matchups were officially announced for the show:

Ryo Chonan vs. Daijiro Matsui
Yasuhito Namekawa vs. Yusuke Imamura

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Sankei Sports reports that Kawamata, who is the main producer of the December 31st Antonio Inoki show, wants to promote the Inoki event as a regularly staged show every few months, starting in 2004.

Shows at the Yokohama Arena and Saitama Super Arena are planned for 2004, and Kawamata wants to build the promotion around Fedor Emeilanenko and Mirko 'Cro Cop' Filipovic.

Other sources within the Japanese media say that the money being offered to both Fedor and Cro Cop is very substanstial, almost double of what they were making in PRIDE.

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Mike Bernardo

Sankei Sports newspaper reports that the two names being thrown around as opponents for Kazuyuki Fujita are Mike Bernardo and Richel Hersisia.

According to other sources within the Japanese media, Bernardo appears to be the front-runner, but wants the matchup to be under kickboxing rules.

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Quinton "Rampage" Jackson

The Wrestling Observer is reporting the following two matchups for the December 31st PRIDE 'SP' show:

Quinton Jackson vs. Ikuhisa Minowa
Mario Sperry vs. Yuki Kondo

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Pequeno vs. Sato

World famous MMA photographer Susumu Nagao now has pictures up of the SHOOTO event that just took place on December 14th. To check out the pictures on Susumu's site, click here

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


David Terrell defeats Yuki Sasaki by KO at 0:15, RD 2.
Keichiro Yamamiya drew with Bret Bergmark.
Eiji Ishikawa defeats Hidehiko Hasegawa by unanimous decision.
Osami Shibuya defeats Tsuyoshi Kurihara by unanimous decision.
Yukiya Naito defeats Hur Sung Jin by submission at 2:34, RD 1.
Koji Oishi defeats Takahito Iida by unanimous decision.
Takafumi Ito defeats Linson Simanjuntak by submission at 3:46, RD 1.
Kenji Arai drew with Daisuke Hanazawa 13.

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Jorge Patino "Macaco" (left)

Meca World Vale Tudo 10
December 20, 2003
Curitiba, Brazil


Carlos Baruch defeats Nilson de Castro by judges decision.
Daniel Acacio defeats Roberto Godoi by TKO at 8:38, RD 1.
Jorge Patino 'Macaco' defeats Luiz Brito by split decision.
Junior Besouro defeats Fabricio Morango by TKO at 1:50, RD 1.
Ana Carolina Pinho defeats Carmem 'Casca-Grossa' by armlock at 4:35, RD 1.
Delson 'Pe-de-Chumbo' defeats Marcelo 'Pitbull' by TKO at 8:00, RD 1.
Jadyson Costa defeats Marcelo Nigue by triangle choke at 2:12, RD 1.
Waldir 'Cabeca' defeats Rafael 'Tatu' by TKO, RD 1.
Nelson Jaca defeats Angelo Tilapa by KO at 3:00, RD 1.

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Conquista Fight
December 20th, 2003
Bahia, Brazil


MMA Matchups:
Anderson Silva defeats 'Diamante Negro' by TKO, RD 2.
Claudio Godoi defeats Evangelista 'Cyborg' Santos by TKO at 2:23, RD 3.
Luis 'Buscape' Firminho defeats Devanir Marques by KO at 1:10, RD 1.
Yuri Fernandes defeats Aloisio Freitas by KO at 1:06, RD 3.
Marcelo Salazar defeats Alexandre Lima by unanimous decision.
Cesar Profeta defeats Averaldo by KO at 0:26, RD 1.
Will Ribeiro defeats Gabriel Barros by TKO at 4:05, RD 2.
Adriano Nasal defeats Claudio Alcantara by rear naked choke at 3:55, RD 1.
Marcilio Marcio defeats Johnny Eduardo by armlock at 3:19, RD 1.


Muay Thai Matchups:
Gerson Silva defeats Diego Braga Alves by judges decision.
Anderson Junior defeats Clovis Mileo by KO at 0:57, RD 1.
Emanuel David defeats Aloisio Barros by KO at 1:19, RD 1.
Manuel Fonseca defeats Rodrigo Aladim by KO at 0:38, RD 3.

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Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic (left)

Shimura Funaki reports the following from Japan:

A hastily organized press conference for the Antonio Inoki show was held with the Japanese media today. The press conference started over an hour late, and Antonio Inoki and the Nippon TV producers did not show. The following subjects were discussed:

1.) Nikkan Sports claims that according to agent Miro Mijatovic, that Mirko 'Cro Cop' Filipovic is 'undecided' as to whether or not he will participate on the Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye show. He had claimed a back injury for cancellation earlier, but may supposedly be healthy now. The Japanese media is calling Mirko's tactics 'sheepish', and claim that both the Inoki and PRIDE cards for December 31st are in a state of confusion.

2.) Kazuyuki Fujita's current opponent being negotiated with is a professional boxer.

3.) Ryoto Machida was announced as the opponent for Rich Franklin.

4.) Alexander Emelianenko (Fedor's brother) was announced for a fight on the show.

5.) Fedor Emelianenko's opponent will be a Japanese pro-wrestler, either Yuji Nagata or Hiroyoshi Tenzan.

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Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic

In this exclusive letter to MMA journalist Ron Merrill, Croatian agent Miro Mijatovic (Promotional Manager for Cro Cop, Fedor, etc...) offers an update on the status of Antonio Inoki's New Year's Eve show.



Dear Ron

As there has been a lot of inaccurate news on the various internet web sites recently about the INOKI Bom Ba Ye 2003 event and the participation of various fighters; let me clarify the exact situation:-

1. INOKI BOM BA YE 2003 is definitely on!!! There has never been any question of cancellation. Any rumours to the contrary have been propagated by people with their own interests against this event.

2. We are now checking with Mirko (Cro Cop) and his doctor concerning the seriousness of his back injury and we hope to have a final answer soon.

3. There are no legal or contractual impediments relating to the appearance of Fedor (Emelianenko) at Inoki Bom Ba Ye. Fedor will fight at INOKI Bom Ba Ye; despite any objections that DSE may have.

4. Semmy Schilt will also appear and fight at Inoki Bom Ba Ye as scheduled; despite the legal objections of DSE and their lawyers. The legal objections of DSE to Semmy's participation are spurious and do not have any valid legal grounds.

I hope that this serves to clarify some of misinformation circulating on the internet concerning INOKI Bom Ba Ye 2003 and certain fighters.

We are looking forward to an exciting New Year's Eve event and all the best to all fight fans for the holiday season!

Best Regards

Miro Mijatovic

Tokyo, 19th December 2003

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Rodrigo "Minotauro" Nogueira

Brazilian magazine 'Tatame' reports that there is a strong possibility that Rodrigo 'Minotauro' Nogueira may participate on the Decmeber 31st PRIDE show if he can obtain a Japanese work visa in time.

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Vitor Belfort

Brazilian magazine 'Tatame' reports that Vitor Belfort got married to long-time girlfriend and Playboy model Joana Prado yesterday in Sao Paulo, Brazil. But as was reported last week, Belfort will skip the honeymoon and continue training for his UFC 47 fight against UFC light heavyweight champion Randy Couture, scheduled for January 31st, 2004.

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Daily Sports newspaper in Japan reports that Fedor Emelianenko's opponent for the December 31st Inoki show may be Yuji Nagata.

Antonio Inoki is also considering holding a music concert at his show in addition to the fight card.

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