FIGHTSPORT 24-7

Euphoria MFC: 'Road to the Titles'
Friday Night, October 15th, 2004
Tropicana Casino
Atlantic City, NJ

Antoine Jaoude defeats Roman Zentsov by TKO at 3:33, RD 1.
Jeff Monson defeats Pat Stano by TKO at 3:11, RD 2.
Yves Edwards defeats Naoyuki Kotani by TKO at 3:10, RD 1.
Joachim Hansen defeats Sergei Golyaev by rear naked choke at 3:24, RD 1.
Kerry Schall defeats Ulysses Castro by DQ at 0:20, RD 2.
Travis Wiuff defeats Ibragim Magomedov by unanimous decision.
Hermes Franca defeats Phil Johns by rear naked choke at 0:47, RD 1.
Rich Clementi defeats Henry Matamoros by unanimous decision.
Ben Rothwell defeats Johnathan Wiezorek by KO at 1:09, RD 1.
Ryan Schultz defeats David Gaona by KO at 2:17, RD 1.

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By Scoop McTroll

Ryan Bennett (left)

We have had so many readers e-mail us positive feedback about 'The Bennett Files', that we have decided to re-open the files this Monday. But first we will re-post the original Bennett File:

Before reading any further, please read our disclaimer first.


'Where's your dignity-
it's gone just like she is.
And you're groveling about the one that got away.
You'll get no sympathy from her just crying like a baby,
like the big fat stupid baby you've become.
Where's your dignity?' -Bob Dylan


Welcome to the first installment of 'The Bennett Files', an investigative piece by Scoop McTroll on the underhandedness of most people in the MMA industry. Infamous media figure-turned-backstabber Ryan Bennett will be featured today.

As many of you know by now, Ryan Bennett lost his job as the fight interviewer of the UFC. He was replaced by Eddie Bravo, whom bennett acted buddy-buddy with, and even asked Bravo to do some technique video clips for Bennett's website.


Well, Bennett then seemingly tried to get Bravo fired by underhanedly sending the following e-mail to UFC president Dana White and co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta. What Bennett didn't count on was that one of the tech guys at the Zuffa offices then forwarded the e-mail to Eddie Bravo himself! Notice how Bennett also tried to included the comments of Bruce Buffer.

Observe the backstab firsthand:



____________________________________________________________

Date: Sun, 15 Jun 2003 08:04:41 -0700 (PDT)
From: "ryan bennett" | This is spam | Add to Address Book
Subject: UFC Broadcaster smoking weed
To: Lorenzo.Fertitta@StationCasinos.com, dwhite@ufc.tv




Gentlemen;
I know and appreciate the professional image both of you bring
to the sport. With my daily radio show and features on the UFC
I do here at NBC, I like you try to do everything I can to promote the sport.
When I read a post on the underground, I take it a face value.
It's usually a keyboard warrior talking smack. When a Zuffa employee
though gets on there and talks about his drug use, this becomes
an issue as it affects the credibility of the sport that you and
I try to promote in a professional matter daily. I personally would
be fired by NBC for doing something like this. Bruce Buffer said
it best in a recent email to me.

Maybe this is why after an historical Championship main event our
UFC Octagon interviewer calls the new Champion Randy Couture...
"Chuck"... at the end of the interview.

Unbelievably stupid and not good show biz at all! Is this the image
we wish to promote for the UFC, it's fighters and our on-camera
team? I don't think so. What's next... mentioning it on the air during a PPV event.

Disgruntled UFC team member,

Bruce Buffer

Enclosed is the the comments made by Eddie in a thread called "Attn: Eddie Bravo"

------------
From: EddieBravo
Date: 13-Jun-03 01:29 AM

Member Since: 09-May-02

1095 Total Posts




I smoke after I train pretty much everyday, BUT I do cut down alot
when I'm training for a fight.

Cutting out carbs and sugar is torturous when I'm high.

I just got back from teaching my class and I'm about to smoke a
monstrous bowl and go get something to eat

-----------------

From: EddieBravo
Date: 13-Jun-03 01:49 AM

Member Since: 09-May-02

1097 Total Posts




The munchies are real, only when I'm stoned can I eat a large pizza
by myself and then hit an ice cream shop for a hot fudge sundae.




From: EddieBravo
Date: 13-Jun-03 02:19 PM

Member Since: 09-May-02

1098 Total Posts


I spend way more money on food than weed.

peteywheatstraw,

"Grow the bangs back, and slick that @#%$ back again man."

I get more @#%$ with the new dew.

Mental,

Set up a seminar where you live and I'll take you up on that offer.

"good hydro inhibits your appetite. I know this because I'm Canadian and we get real weed here."

I don't know about that, I smoke KILLER @#%$ and I ALWAYS get the
munchies. But the next time I have to cut weight for a fight I'll
look for this magical weed.

Maybe one of you Canadian guys can send me some appetite inhibiting
chronic to help me make weight.



____________________________________________________________


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Ryan Bennet before he was fired by ZUFFA


Since we exposed the irresponsible reporting by failed UFC Commentator Ryan Bennett, on Guy Mezger's health problems, Bennett has gone into damage control mode.


Even his misguided but loyal band of merry jockriders were helping out on his "Soundoff Forum". Here is a great effort by "Soundoff Forum" member "mirko";


"Fightsport getting asses kicked (Mirko)

Posted: 11:10:00 am on 10/15/2004 Modified: Never

They bash Bennett on one of there threads,but obviously didn't listen to the radio show today when Guy said he had a "mini" stroke."



And today his daily newspage begins with the following quote;

"Everyone feared the worse, but fortunately for Guy Mezger it was stroke-like symptoms, not a stroke that will keep him out of UFC 50.

A "Mini-Stroke"? Guy was quoted as saying he had "stroke like symptoms but not a stroke." That does not sound like a stroke now, does it. This is a silly attempt to save some face while trying to play down the fact they got it wrong.

"Everyone feared the worse"? Not all of us did, some of us actually checked our facts before rushing off and posting unsubstantiated nonsense as fact.

The revised MMAWeakly article confirms the reports on Mezger's health that Fightsport brought to the fans before any other news source.

Mezger was contacted by Ken Pishna for Boxing Insider & mmaweakly and he once again confirmed details that only Fightsport 24-7 originally reported.


Boxing Insider quoted Mezger as saying the following;

"I never collapsed during training or anything."

"[Ken's wife Tanya] said I seemed kind of woozy, that I wasn't responding correctly, I seemed a little uncertain on my feet,"


"I just wrote it off as being tired. I mean Monday afternoon's training was whacked."


Once again, Fightsport's sources have been proven correct.
Keep watching FS 24-7 for updates on all that's happening in the sport.


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Tra Telligman (left) vs Pedro Rizzo


In a post just made at The Underground forum, Tra Telligman confirmed that he was one of the fighters offering to step up and fight Tito Ortiz.


In the post at the Underground, Tra stated:

"I would have fought Tito at 205 in a heartbeat."

"It's not the easiest thing for me to do is cut weight,but for
Tito Ortiz I would've made it happen."


Telligman did not elaborate on our report that Tito refused to fight him but he did say the following;

"Yea Ken Shamrock talked to Joe (Silva) and Dana (White) about it, but I guess Tito wasn't interested or whatever.....All I know is I'm not fighting him for whatever reason. I don't blame Tito, I would hate to be in his shoes right now six days before a fight and not knowing who your going against."

On why he is no longer fighting on the UFC50 card, he said.

"I need to be fighting the Tito's or other big names at this stage of my career. I need to fight a big name. No offense to Whitehead, but it's just not the fight I need at this time."


Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Click on the image to see a larger, clearer version.


One Time UFC Commentator, Ryan Bennett of MMAWeakly.com has put his foot in it yet again. In an irresponsible ratings grab, he reported that Guy Mezger had suffered a stroke during training. This was never the case and could have been confirmed by making a simple phone call, as first reported by FS 24-7, Mezger did not feint or suffer a stroke.

We at FS 24-7 hope that the irresponsible report from MMAWeakly did not cause any undue trauma or stress to friends and family of Mezger


We would also like to take this opportunity to wish Guy Mezger a complete and speedy recovery.


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Lerma vs. Sudo

SportsNavi is reporting that Genki Sudo fractured his right leg in his win over Micheal Lerma on October 13th. The recovery time will be at least six weeks.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Hand picked opponent for Ortiz. Pat Cote, 5-0 in Canadian MMA.


From Scoop McTroll in Vegas

The latest revised press release from ZUFFA has announced some major changes to the proposed card for UFC50


Tito Ortiz has agreed to fight a relatively unknown fighter from Canada, Patrick Cote. Our sources tell us that Ortiz flat out refused to fight anyone of substance when he was offered Vitor Belfort or Tra Telligman. He claimed that he could not take on such opponents on one weeks notice unless he was paid over four times what he was being paid to fight Guy Mezger. ZUFFA were left with two options, one was to drop Ortiz from the card and the other was to hand pick an opponent for Ortiz.

With the loss already from the card of several other known fighters, ZUFFA felt that it was crucial to keep Ortiz. Cote was originally fighting Marvin Eastman on this card but Eastman will now be fighting newcomer to the UFC, Texas journeyman Travis Lutter.

Cote is relatively inexperienced with a record of 5-0 in Canadian MMA
and is considered by both ZUFFA and Ortiz to be an easy, much needed victory for the disgraced former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. Some impressive video footage of Cote defeating some other unknown Canadian fighters will be shown at UFC 50 in order to make Cote appear to be a worthy opponent for Ortiz. The truth is that noone is giving the much smaller and vastly less experienced Canadian an ice cube's chance in Hell against the much larger and much more experienced former Champ.


In further news regarding UFC 50, Tra Telligman has been dropped from the card, the reasons for which are unknown at this stage.


Also on the much revised card will be;

Matt Hughes vs Georges St Pierre for a manufactured "Interim" Welterweight Title.

Tony Fryklund vs Ivan Salaverry

Evan Tanner vs Robbie Lawler

Rich Franklin vs Jorge Rivera



For those MMA Fans on a budget, I strongly recommend saving your pay Per View dollars for the upcoming Pride show. UFC50 has devolved from a mediocre card at best, to a B Level card that is not representative of an A Grade Promotion.


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Fallen UFC Champion turned Journeyman, Tito Ortiz (left) with a friend.

Tito Ortiz has buckled in to the pressure and has accepted to fight in UFC 50 against the much smaller Canadian unknown fighter Patrick Cote.

According to some people involved in negotiations, Ortiz supposedly turned down a fight with Tra Telligman before finally accepting to fight the much smaller Cote.

In other changes to the rapidly deteriorating UFC 50 card, the Tra Telligman vs. John Marsh matchup has been completely dropped from the card, meaning that UFC 50 will only feature seven matchups instead of the usual eight.

Below is the revised 7-matchup card:


Tito Ortiz vs. Patrick Cote
Matt Hughes vs. Georges St-Pierre
Renato 'Charuto' Verissimo vs. Frank Trigg
Marvin Eastman vs. Travis Lutter
Evan Tanner vs. Robbie Lawler
Rich Franklin vs. Jorge Rivera
Tony Fryklund vs. Ivan Salaverry

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Tito Ortiz

This just in from Scoop McTroll:


Tito Ortiz is threatening to pull out of UFC 50 unless his purse is increased considerably.

He is also demanding that he can approve his opponent before Zuffa can make an official announcement.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Guy Mezger (right)

Greetings MMA fans, Scoop McTroll here, bringing you The Inside Word, the latest news, rumors and gossip in the MMA scene.

Today's Inside Word is that Guy Mezger is now out of UFC 50 due to concussive symptoms, including a swollen brain.

Mezger did not suffer feinting spells in sparring and did not suffer a stroke as MMA Weakly carelessly and incorrectly reported.

What actually happened is that Mezger woke up earlier this week with slurred speech. Ken Shamrock noticed the slurred speech and made Mezger go to the hospital.

Doctors told Mezger that his symptoms are the result of cumulative blows to the head. They have advised him to take two months off from fighting to heal up.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Kazuyuki Fujita

The Japanese media is reporting that a possible matchup of Kazuyuki Fujita vs. Akebono will most likely take place on the K-1 show on December 31st.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos (top)

Pancrase announced the matchup of Yuki Kondo vs. Evangelista 'Cyborg' Santos for their show on November 7th.

Cyborg, who is now part of the Chute Boxe team, is being hailed by many as the next Vanderlei Silva due to his appearance and fighting style.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Igor Vovchanchyn

According to the Japanese media, Igor Vovchanchyn plans to remain at around 205 pounds from now on, and would eventually like to fight for the PRIDE light heavyweight belt.

There is also talk amongst media insiders in Japan that Igor may be participating in next year's PRIDE middleweight GP.

Fans and media got to see the new slimmed down Igor in action on the PRIDE Bushido 5 card earlier today, in which he KO'ed Katsuhisa Fujii in the first round.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Crosley Gracie vs. Hayato Sakurai

PRIDE Bushido 5
October 14th, 2004
Osaka Castle Hall
Osaka, Japan

Takanori Gomi defeats Charles Bennett by armlock in 5:52, RD 1.
Crosley Gracie defeats Hayato Sakurai by armbar at 1:02, RD 2.
Ryo Chonan defeats Carlos Newton by unanimous decision.
Igor Vovchanchyn defeats Katsuhisa Fujii by KO at 4:02, RD 1.
Ikuhisa Minowa defeats Ryuuki Ueyama by split decision.
Luis 'Buscape' Firminho defeats Masakazu Imanari by unanimous decision.
Sentoryu defeats Mal Foki by KO at 0:21, RD 1.
Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua defeats Yasuhito Namekawa by KO at 6:02, RD 1.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Photos courtesy Randy Couture
Randy Couture regained his UFC light heavyweight title in August by defeating Vitor Belfort.


Repost of an article from mainstream news 'The Corvallis Gazette Times'

Randy Couture has a body fit for an Ultimate Fighting Championship titleholder. Known in UFC circles as "The Natural," his sculpted muscles are worthy of display on Venice Beach.

At 41, he is powerful enough to knock off all challengers in the UFC light heavyweight division, and he has. In August, Couture regained his championship belt by pummeling Vitor Belfort.

Couture's face? Well, decades of slaps, head-butts and face-plants into the mat as a wrestler have left the edges a bit rough. Not a mug likely to be seen on your favorite soap opera.


But a perfect fit for reality TV.

Couture, a former Oregon State University assistant wrestling coach who has returned to his hometown of Gresham, is in Las Vegas working on a UFC reality show. It is slated to air on Spike TV at the beginning of next year.

The possibility of an ultimate fighting show was brought to Couture a few months ago and he jumped at the opportunity. Work should wrap up in November.

"I think it will be a great vehicle for our sport," Couture said. "It will be a great way to break down some of those walls and show people that we're not just a bunch of Neanderthals that like to beat people up."

Couture and fellow UFC star Chuck Liddell are training a group of fighters who are competing for a chance at a televised bout.

The fighters are all trained in martial arts and have been competing around the country. Two each from two weight classes will wind up with a chance at stardom.

"We'll basically put them through training and eliminate them as we go," Couture said. "We'll get down to two and those two will fight on the first-ever UFC on free television."

Couture said the show has twists every day. In part, it focuses on his personality and style as he works with his pupils.

"The whole thing is a weird experience," he said. "It's hard to say (where the show will go). It's certainly not over yet."

A match with Liddell is a likely scenario after the show. Liddell recently knocked out Tito Ortiz and Couture won his third fight with Belfort.

Couture had defeated Ortiz to win the title, but lost it to Belfort in another bout that lasted only about 20 seconds. The stitching on Belfort's glove sliced Couture's left eye and the fight was stopped.

In their most recent duel, it was Belfort's turn to lose due to a cut, though Couture dominated the fight and took Belfort down in each of the three rounds.

"I was putting him on the ground where his stand-up skills are more or less neutralized and I was hitting him and scoring from there," Couture said. "I hit him with a lot of blows. It wasn't a very good night for him."

The win set Couture back on top of the light heavyweight class and continues a career that has resulted in bigger paychecks and better opportunities than wrestling. He plans to continue taking fights as long as he is able to compete at a high level.

"Even when I started it was still a lot more money than I had made doing anything else. It has certainly gotten a lot more now that I've become one of the more popular fighters in the sport," he said.

"This is still a fledgling sport and still misunderstood by a lot people. Now we have a lot of tough, well-trained, top athletes who are very good at what they do. It's really gaining in popularity and the money certainly has gotten a lot better."

And TV stardom may be just around the corner.

By Kevin Hampton, Mid-Valley Sports


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Fallen UFC Champion turned Journeyman, Tito Ortiz (left) with a friend.


Recently FS 24-7 brought you the exclusive story about the problems Tito Ortiz is experiencing in the lead up to his rubber match at UFC50 with Lions Den veteran, Guy Mezger.

Our source who wishes to remain anonymous, is telling us that not much has changed in the Tito camp. "He's still going out and partying and rediscovering life as a single guy" said the source.

"He reminds me of Rocky Balboa in Rocky 3" he added. "Remember when Rocky took Clubber Lang lightly and got his head knocked off?, Im worried this fight could turn out like a real life MMA version of that fight."


Unlike Clubber Lang in the Rocky movie, Guy Mezger is not training alone. He has been training exceptionally hard with Battalia Balamoundo, Ken Shamrock and Erik Paulson in preparation for the fight with Ortiz.

"You can't take Tito for granted. He's an unbelievable athelete, so you've got to train like an unbelievable athlete to beat him. That's what we're doing." Mezger was quoted as saying in a recent interview with Boxing Insider

Mezger went on to say that he knows he is being used by ZUFFA because they expect him to lose. However he feels this is a big mistake on their part and he is confident of victory.

We at FS 24-7 wish Guy Mezger every success.


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Genki Sudo defeated American Boxer Michael Lerma by TKO


K-1 WORLD MAX 2004
October 13,
Yoyogi Olympic Gymnasium,
Tokyo.



Genki Sudo defeated Michael Lerma by TKO at 2:09 in R2;

Buakaw Por.Puramuk defeated Kozo Takeda by referee's decision;

Norifumi Kid Yamamoto defeated Jadamba Narantungalag by KO at 1:55 in R1;

Kazuya Yasuhiro defeated Samir Berbachi by referee's decision;

Duane Ludwig defeated William Diender by referee's decision;

Takayuki Kohiruimaki defeated Albert Kraus by referee's decision;

Márfio Canoletti defeated Takashi Ohno by referee's decision

Mike Zambidis defeated Kojiro by KO at 2:21 in R1.



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Nukinpo submitting Kazuhiro Inoue


Pancrase 2004 Brave Tour
Tuesday, October 12,2004
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan



Kazuya Hirose defeated Masato Onodera by unanimous decision

Hiroyuki Ota defeated Taku Aramaki by unanimous decision

Miki Shida submitted Masayuki Demise via Front Choke at 0:43 in R2

Nukinpo submitted Kazuhiro Inoue via Knee Bar at 2:51 in R2

Takumi Yano submitted Takuo Miyatavia Knee Lock at 4:59 in R1

Hikaru Sato drew with Kyosuke Sasaki

Osami Shibuya defeated Kim Seong Hee by TKO (Mount Punch) at 0:31 in R1

Hidetaka Monma submitted Takafumi Ito via triangle choke at 1:34 in R1

Hidehiko Hasegawa submitted Koji Oishi via TKO at 5:00 in R2

Yushin Okami defeated Eiji Ishikawa via Unanimous Judges Decision



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The UFC continues to elude John Marsh

In another scoop for the Jake R report, this cyber reporter has learned of John Marsh's replacement in the upcoming UFC. Sources in Iowa inform me that unknown fighter Mike Whitehead will be replacing Marsh in his matchup with Tra Telligman at the next UFC.


As usual, stick to reading the Jake R Report, where all the scoops fit to print are posted.


*Jake R Exclusive: Must Credit the Jake R Report when discussing this article. This means you, mmaweekly.com, mmafighting.com, insidefighting.com, kakuto.com, groundnpound.org, etc.


*This Jake R Report was filed on Wednesday, October 13 at 3 pm.

Tony Fryklund makes his UFC Return

Longterm sources in Iowa have informed this cyber reporting stud of yet another in the long line of exclusive reports: Trevor Prangley has been injured and is pulling out of the upcoming UFC card. In addition, he is being replaced by none other than Tony Frykland.



As it was explained to me by my sources in Iowa, Frykland was long thought to be on an unofficial ban from the UFC based on Tito Ortiz's version of events concerning the role Frykland played in the Tito Ortiz/Lee Murray streetbrawl in London.



However, I was told by my sources in Iowa that Dana and Tito have not been on good terms since Tito's contract holdout, so Dana has decided to revoke the ban on Frykland as another slap in the face of the organization's former posterboy Ortiz, similar to the moves of bringing in Lee Murray, and having Tank accuse Tito of ducking Chuck on national television.



As usual, stick to fightsport.com and the Jake R ReportM to see the MMA Media scooped time and again by the real professionals of the sport.



* Note: Jake R Report Exclusive, must credit the Jake R Report when discussing this report.



* This Jake R scoop was filed on Tuesday, October 12 at 8 pm.


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Dana White, President of ZUFFA


"its real sad to think somebody like Dana would steal my dream right out from under me like this"- Chris Champagne

Chris Champagne, an unknown, low level MMA fighter is claiming that the MMA reality TV show being produced by ZUFFA and SPIKE TV is his intellectual property.

Here is an excerpt from the allegation that Champagne made at the Underground forum.


"My name is Chris Champagne, IM a writer and producer that was recently circumvented by Craig Piligian, Spike TV and the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship).

I wrote and registered my work with the WGA over a year and a half ago and pitched my show idea to both the UFC as well as Spike TV, I have as of recently heard the two have decided to produce the show and air it on Jan 15th 2005. On top of protecting my show idea by registering it with the WGA, I have also been in communication with just about everybody in the mixed martial arts community as well as the entertainment community in regards to producing my show. I have emails from journalist, producers and applicants interested in auditioning for my show."


Champagne then provided evidence to support his claim, including interested responses from some well known MMA promotions.

Champagne added: "its real sad to think somebody like Dana would steal my dream right out from under me like this "

Fightsport 24-7 will follow this story as it unfolds and keep you updated.



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