FIGHTSPORT 24-7

By Todd Atkins

Ryan Bennett (left)


My inside source, who goes by the name of 'in the know', has reported to me that the disgraced ex-UFC announcer Ryan Bennett avoided a meeting with Eddie Bravo at UFC 47.

This is the first UFC event Bennett has attended in person since stabbing Eddie Bravo in the back during the e-mail to Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta scandal, in which Bennett also trie to involve Bruce Buffer.

Apparently Eddie Bravo was standing in the hallway talking to someone, and Ryan Bennett was coming through the hallway. Bravo saw Bennett, and then Bennett turned his head to act like he did not see him.

Bennett then quickly changed his walking pace to a jog, making like he had somewhere important to be, and quickly passed Eddie in the hallway.

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SuperBrawl 35
April 16th, 2004
Blaisdell Arena
Honolulu, Hawaii


Tom Sauer defeats Enson Inoue by TKO at 4:14, RD 1.
Rich Franklin defeats Leo Sylvest by TKO at 1:13, RD 1.
Jeff Curran defeats Kimihito Nonaka by rear naked choke at 4:35, RD 3.
Joe Doerkson defeats Riki Fukuda by unanimous decision.
Ryan Bow defeats Deshaun Johnson by keylock at 2:01, RD 1.
Kerry Schall defeats Ray Seraile by TKO at 2:15, RD 1.
Tetsuji Kato defeats Jason Dent by decision.
Makoto Ishikawa defeats Antoine Skinner by decision.
Bart Palaszewski defeats Hiroaki Okada by TKO at 3:02, RD 3.
Jyoji Yamaguchi defeats Billy Kidd by KO at 3:02, RD 3.

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Stefan Leko (left)

The Japanese media report that K-1 veteran Stefan Leko has been training with Kazushi Sakuraba and the Takada Dojo in preparation for his fight with Naoya Ogawa in the upcoming PRIDE Heavyweight GP on April 25th.

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By Tape Lord


Before reading any further, please read our disclaimer first.


Hello my friends, our Zuffa informant 'Coffee Guy' reports the following news from deep inside Zuffa headquarters in Las Vegas:


"UFC president Dana White met with the Jarrett family (from the pro-wrestling world) and with the Jarrett's TV financial backers. I'm told that the Jarrett's TV financial backer is bigger then the Fertittas.

They supposedly met because the UFC's proposed deal with Spike TV is not going as planned. I've been hearing the Spike TV deal has been having troubles for a while now." -Coffee Guy

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Some interesting news that came out of yesterday's K-1 press conference was that they supposedly have a deal in place with HBO to promote a future Mike Tyson fight.

Our sources in Japan tell us that this is indeed true, and that the Tyson fight would be promoted under K-1's 'Fight Entertainment Group (FEG) subsidiary. The fight would be under boxing rules, and the opponent could possibly be Shannon Briggs.

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K-1 held a press conference yesterday in Tokyo with K-1 matchmaker Sadaharu Tanigawa displaying a fight contract with the signatures of Mike Tyson, and authorized by Tyson attorney Stephen Espinoza.

K-1 said that details are being worked out with the Tyson camp over Tyson's contract with Showtime. K-1 claims to have a deal in place with HBO in the event that the Showtime contract with Tyson is not an issue.

Tanigawa wouldn't reveal the financial details of the Tyson contract, but did say that the salary was comparable to big boxing fights. A fight date was not confirmed, but Tyson may be fighting for K-1 as soon as this July.

The three possible locations that K-1 is looking to do their Tyson/HBO show on are at either Madison Square Garden in New York City, the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas, or the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

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PRIDE Heavyweight Grand Prix
April 25th, 2004 (opening round)
Japan


One more matchup for the first round of the GP is expected to be announced this week:

16-man GP:
Rodrigo 'Minotauro' Nogueira vs. Hirotaka Yokoi
Mirko 'Cro Cop' Filipovic vs. Kevin Randleman
Fedor Emelianenko vs. Mark Coleman
Murilo 'Ninja' Rua vs. Sergei Kharitonov
Heath Herring vs. Yoshiki Takahashi
Naoya Ogawa vs Stefan Leko
'Giant' Silva vs. Sentoryu.
.
Alternate bout:
Gan McGee vs. Ron Waterman

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Don Frye

According to the Japanese media, Don Frye was all set to face Yoshiki Takahashi in the first round of the PRIDE Heavyweight GP on April 25th.

But it now appears that K-1 got the better of PRIDE this time, as Frye is now set to appear on the K-1 'Dynamite' show on May 22nd. Frye will be reprenting 'Team Inoki' in an MMA matchup.

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Murilo "Ninja" Rua

Fightsport.com first reported it last week, and now PRIDE has officially announced that the matchup of Murilo 'Ninja' Rua vs. Sergei Karitonov will take place in the first round of the PRIDE Heavyweight GP on April 25th.

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K-1: 'Battle At The Bellagio II'
Friday, April 30th, 2004
Bellagio Hotel and Casino
Las Vegas, NV

K-1 announced that Shannon Briggs will face Gary Goodridge in a 3-round K-1 rules superfight on the K-1 Vegas card, scheduled for April 30th. The event will be available live on pay-per-view.

Below is the developing card:


Superfights:
Shannon Briggs vs. Gary Goodridge
Bob Sapp vs. Tommy Glanville

8-man tournament:
Carter Williams vs. Mighty Mo
Michael McDonald vs. Marvin Eastman
Dewey Cooper vs. Nobu Hayashi
Kelly Leo vs. Tatsufumi Tomihira


Fighters that may also be on the card:
Francois Botha
Stephan Gamlin
Aziz Khattou
Cung Le

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SHOOTO
April 16th, 2004
Kitazawa Town Hall
Tokyo, Japan


Class-A Bouts:
Katsuya Toida defeats Jin Kazeta by armbar at 4:19, RD 2.

Class-B Bouts:
Akitoshi Hokazono defeats Kenji Osawa by rear naked choke at 1:05, RD 1.
So Tazawa defeats Takamaro Watari by unanimous decision.
Toshinori Akagi defeats Yutaka Tetsukaby rear naked choke at 3:19, RD 1.
Koji Takeuchi defeats Wataru Miki by armbar at 4:11, RD 1.
Ryuhei Sato defeats Akihiro Murayama by unanimous decision.

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Storm Muay Thai
April 16th,2004
Sao Paulo, Brazil


Muay Thai Matchups:
Marco Rodrigues defeats Tadeu San Martino by split decision.
Jose Carlos Zinho defeats Rodrigo Lima by TKO at 2:50, RD 1.
Daniel Caporossi defeats Flavio Alvaro by KO at 0:12 in, RD 1.
Francisco Souza defeats Danilo da Costa by TKO, RD 5.
Luciano Boinha defeats Edmilson Pereira by split decision.
Henrique Rocha defeats Oriovaldo Filho by KO at 1:20, RD 1.

MMA matchups:
Thiago Cruz defeats Joao Werdini by unanimous decision.
Jorge Brito defeats Alex Cobra by rear naked choke at 4:30, RD 1.

Submission matchup:
Daniel Roth defeats Charles Duende by a score of 5-0.

Jiu-jitsu matchup:
Sergio Ferreira defeats Ricardo Rato by armlock.

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Tim Sylvia

Sources in Las Vegas are saying that a UFC heavyweight title fight matchup of Tim Sylvia vs. Frank Mir will take place in UFC 48 on June 19th.

Andrei Arlovski would have been scheduled for the shot at Sylvia, but Arlovski injured his hand in his recent fight with Wesley 'Cabbage' Corriera in UFC 47. Arlovski will supposedly get the winner of the Sylvia/Mir fight in October.

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By Jake R

Cabbage and Marsh.

In another Fightsport.com exclusive, sources close to the ROTR promotion have informed this cyber reporter that the May 7th Vladimir Matyushenko vs. Wesley 'Cabbage' Correira fight has been changed in favor of a proposed John Marsh vs. Wesley 'Cabbage' Correira matchup.

As of right now, the only thing preventing such a matchup from taking place is if Zuffa pushes the NSAC knockout rule and demands Cabbage not fight in ROTR.

ROTR is certainly worried about this possibility. As my source explained, UFC president Dana White has demonstrated petty behavior in the past with UFC fighters competing in other events, and they are worried about it happening yet again, with Din Thomas and Rich Franklin being recent precedents. The current B.J. Penn situation is not helping matters either, so ROTR is expecting Dana's petty behavior to continue.

As usual, stick to Fightsport.com and the Jake R report for fast and accurate reporting you won't read anywhere else.

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HEAT FC 3
April 16th, 2004
Natal, Brazil

Heat FC announced the following matchups for their April 16th show. The full card is expected to have around eight matchups:

Ebenezer Braga vs. Keith Jardine
Carlos Barreto vs. Dan Christiansen
Roan 'Jucao' Carneiro vs. Leonardo Souza
Erick Tavares vs. Diego Sanches
Lucas Lopes vs. Fabiano Capoane
Fredson 'Paixao' vs. Rani Yahya
Sergio Junior vs. Rivanio 'Aranha'
Jalmir Ferreira vs. Luis Alberto
Sanderson Dantas vs. Carlos 'Indio'
Milton Vieira vs. Delosman Paiva

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SuperBrawl 35
April 16th, 2004
Blaisdell Arena
Honolulu, Hawaii


Enson Inoue vs. Tom Sauer
Rich Franklin vs. Leo Sylvest
Jeff Curran vs. Kimihito Nonaka
Ryan Bow vs. Deshaun Johnson
Tetsuji Kato vs. Jason Dent
Makoto Ishikawa vs. Antoine Skinner
Kerry Schall vs. Ray Seraile
Toshikazu Iseno vs. Bart Palaszewski
Kai Kamaka vs. TBA
Joe Doerkson vs. Riki Fukuda

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Storm GP champ Anderson Silva (right).

Storm Muay Thai promoter Rudimar Fedrigo announced that the show's next two editions will be held in Brazil, and will be only two days apart, on April 16th and then April 18th.

The April 16th show will take place in the city of Sao Paulo, and the April 18th show will take place in the city of Curitiba.

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SHOOTO
April 16th, 2004
Kitazawa Town Hall
Tokyo, Japan


Class-A Bouts:
Katsuya Toida vs. Jin Kazeta

Class-B Bouts:
Akitoshi Hokazono vs. Kenji Osawa
So Tazawa vs. Takamaro Watari
Yutaka Teduka vs. Toshinori Akagi
Koji Takeuchi vs. Wataru Miki
Akihiro Murayama vs. Ryuhei Sato

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Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos (top)

Meca co-promoter Rudimar Fedrigo announced the following matchups for the Meca Vale Tudo 11 card, which is tentatively scheduled for sometime in April:


Evangelista 'Cyborg' Santos vs. Edson Drago
Daniel Acacio vs. Carlos Baruck
Luiz Azeredo vs. Roan Jucao
Jadyson Costa vs. TBA

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Our sincere apologies for the lack of updates the last few days. We were having some technical difficulties.

The problems have been fixed and everything is back to normal.

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By Todd Atkins

B.J. Penn

New news from my inside informant who wants to be referred to as 'In The Know'.

Right now some interesting things are happening with the UFC. You have heard all the talk about B.J. Penn in K-1 and the drama surrounding it. B.J. is trying to pull what Zuffa is now calling a 'Tito', and force UFC's hand.

As you know Dana White and Lorenzo Fertita do not like being bullied or pushed around. Both of them think that UFC has a ton of momentum right now and the impact of a champ leaving is minimal. Dana White and Lorenzo Fertita have accepted the fact that fighters are going to come and go in the UFC now. UFC is no longer marketing champions; they are focusing on marketing the UFC brand and the actual fights.

K-1 has a lot of money to spend and they are paying more then any other promotion right now (including PRIDE). B.J. Penn's contract is reportedly a one-year deal with a 4-fight guarantee. Each fight would guarantee him USD$50,000 to show with a win bonus to be decided.

On top of that K-1 is offering him a USD$3,000-5,000 per month training stipend. That does not even include other things such as endorsements, commercials in Japan, and other items K-1 says they can do for him.

K-1 is showing a real desire to compete with the PRIDE roster of talent in MMA. Signing fighters such as Genki Sudo, Norifumi 'Kid' Yamamoto, and B.J. Penn shows their commitment.

The UFC knows they cannot compete with those financial numbers and endorsement opportunities. But they really do not care to anymore either. UFC had the best PPV's numbers they have ever had in the last show, a great live gate, and made a lot of money in merchandise sales. Word continues out of the Zuffa camp that a TV deal is all but done. Things are looking real good for UFC right now and they believe they now have the formula to make money on a consistent basis.

This is not great news for fighters like Penn who are trying to get a better deal with the UFC financially. UFC no longer cares if they have the best, toughest fighters around. They want exciting fights, marketability, and a fighter that will do things 'their way'. If you do not fit that mold, someone else will. This is the same formula that has helped smaller shows that have been around for a long time succeed. UFC will no longer have the best fighters, or make efforts to try and sign them from the bigger events. They will continue to have good fighters that are coming up from the smaller shows, who will more importantly fight for less money.

UFC is also not happy about Wes 'Cabbage' Correira fighting in the ROTR show on May 7th. Cabbage is still suspended from the knockout he sustained in his fight with Andrei Arlovski. Most shows will honor the NSAC suspension and this could hurt Cabbage's chances of fighting for UFC again (kind of ironic that the ROTR show is run by the Penn family).

Dana White made some off handed comments that it would be a shame if B.J. Penn does not hang around to give Matt Hughes a rematch. It almost seems as if Dana has it penciled in that Hughes will beat Renato 'Charuto'Verissimo.

K-1 has talked to 'Tank' Abbott but the sense is that Tank will sign with the UFC again if they offer him a similar deal to the last one. At this point Zuffa is not willing to do that. Dana White thinks that at 170-pound Dennis Hallman will submit Frank Trigg, and that Hughes will beat Charuto. The plan right now is to have Hallman fight Nick Diaz and have the winner face Matt Hughes if B.J. Penn is no longer around.

As usual, stick to Fightsport.com to read all the inside news first.

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SHOOTO
April 11th, 2004
Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium
Osaka, Japan


Class-A Bouts:
Takumi defeats Takashi Nakakura by unanimous decision.
Junji Ikoma defeats Itchaku Murata by triangle choke at 1:16, RD 2.

Class-B Bouts:
Kenichiro Togashi defeats Romualdas Klimavicius by armbar at 2:36, RD 1.
Tsutomu Shiiki defeats Seigi Fujioka by unanimous decision.
Takamitsu Oba drew with Keisuke Sakai.
Koetsu Okazaki defeats Takao Tamura by unanimous decision.
Masanori Sugatani defeats Manabu Kanou by armbar at 1:58, RD 1.

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Rumble On The Rock 6
May 7th, 2004
Neal Blaisdell Arena
Honolulu, HI


Wesley 'Cabbage' Correira vs. Vladimir Matyushenko
Matt Lindland vs. Tony Fryklund
Ross Ebanez vs. Steve Berger
Ronald Jhun vs. Ryan Schultz
Kawika Paaluhi vs. TBA
Kaynan Kaku vs. TBA

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B.J. Penn

The following statement was made by B.J. Penn's friend and associate, who co-promotes the 'Rumble On The Rock' MMA show with Penn:


"How much air time did they give the pound for pound best fighter in the world and UFC champ at the last UFC? They did not play him up at all.

If it was Tito they would have gone crazy. They should have played up B.J.'s victory and built him up like any other champ and more.

Behind Zuffa's doors there are emotional games being played at the fighters expense. B.J. wants what he deserves and is in a position to get it. UFC thought that B.J. would lose to Matt and when he did not they shit and are still wondering what the fuck to do.

I deal with this every day and from the inside it gets pretty dirty regarding game play and tactics. We will see what happens.

B.J. wants to fight the best in the world period.

May 7 ROTR!!!" -ROTR co-promoter

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Naoya Ogawa

Fightsport.com mentioned on Saturday that PRIDE was trying to sign Naoya Ogawa to the PRIDE Heavyweight GP, and now it is official.

Ogawa will be participating in the GP opening round on April 25th, and his opponent is expected to be either 'Giant' Silva or Sentoryu.

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