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Vanderlei Silva as Santa Claus.

Everyone at Fightsport.com would like to wish our loyal fans a Merry Christmas!

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A fourth fight between Vanderlei Silva (top) and Kazushi Sakuraba (bottom) may be called off.

The word amongst the Japanese media is that Kazushi Sakuraba suffered a back injury in training, which may cause DSE/PRIDE to cancel his upcoming fight against Vanderlei Silva.

More news to come regarding this in the next few days.

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B.J. Penn

The following is from the MMA insider known as 'Corona 77':


"There is some truth to the rumors about a possible B.J. Penn vs. Frank Trigg matchup, but the real story behind it is that Penn was offered the fight by UFC president Dana White at the last Superbrawl show (they were sitting together during the show), but Penn turned the fight down.

I also hear the Georges St-Pierre is the other person who wouldn't take the fight against Trigg. This is after Penn turned down the fight. St-Pierre is looking to fight a "mid-card" 170-pound fighter, and wants to fight either Chris Lytle or Nick Diaz, whom he feels he can beat. In the meantime, he is taking a "safe" fight against Dave Strasser to chalk up a win.

Penn is looking for huge paydays in Japan against Gracies he knows he can beat. Penn's former BJJ instructor, Ralph Gracie, has been mentioned as a possible opponent for Penn. Kaoru Uno is also a possible opponent for Penn in the near future. Penn also wants to fight Kazushi Sakuraba, although such a matchup doesn't really have much chance of happening.

Penn knows Zuffa will roll out the red carpet for him anytime he is ready to come back to the UFC. That is fact. Wait and see where and when Penn pops up next. It won't be in the UFC anytime soon."

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K-1 president Sadaharu Tanigawa announced to the Japanese media that they are considering featuring more MMA-rules fights on their K-1 Max shows in 2005.

Sadaharu explained that the reason for this was due to the depth of MMA talent they have in their lightweight division.

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Kaoru Uno

K-1 announced the MMA-rules matchup of Kaoru Uno vs. Chandet Soprantrey for their December 31st show.

Soprantrey is a Muay Thai champion from Thailand, who has over 180 Muay Thai fights under his belt but no MMA experience.

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Vanderlei Silva as Santa Claus.


Brazilian magazine 'Tatame' reports that Vanderlei Silva went to a suburb in Curitiba, Brazil, dressed as Santa Claus, and distributed more than 5,000 gifts and food to a crowd that included more than 3,000 children.

"That's a little contribution we wanted to make, providing some happiness to many people. With God's help we were successful, bringing smiles to many of these kids," commented Silva.

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Wallid Ismael

Brazilian magazine 'Tatame' recently interviewed Wallid Ismael. Here's what Wallid had to say:


Tatame: What is the news regarding the next edition of Jungle Fight?

Wallid: The event will take place on the last week of March, but we still haven't decided whether it will take place in Manaus or Las Vegas. We just returned from a reunion in Las Vegas, and we're planning to take Jungle Fight to Vegas, Japan, and China. The principal objective is to call attention to the preservation of the rain forest of the Amazon, but that doesn't mean that we always have to stage the show in Brazil. We'll build our own stands for all the shows. I'm proud to say that in the world of MMA, the champion of pay-per-view ratings is Jungle Fight. Thanks to that success, we're selling the viewing rights to 58 countries.

Tatame: Who will be on the card?

Wallid: Everyone who fought well, like Assuerio Silva, Pele, Alessio Sakara, and Fredson "Peixao". I'm also trying to bring in Tom Erikson. I can't say it's official, but Renato "Babalu" will most likely be in one of the main events. We are still in negotiations with his opponent, but I can say that he is a BTT fighter and also one of the most respected fighters in the light heavyweight division.

Tatame: There are rumors that Marcio "Pe-de-Pano" will face Dan Severn. Is this true?

Wallid: We have come to an agreement with Pe-de-Pano, but we haven't confirmed an opponent for him yet. I'd also like to match Pele against Macaco for a third time in their careers. Jacare will most likely face Boris Jonstomp.

Tatame: The cover of this month's Tatame is causing a lot of controversy, re-counting the historic rivalry between Jiu-Jitsu and Luta-Livre. Is it true that you were one of the main causes of the 1991 event?

Wallid: I read the article, and it was impressive. It re-counted everything as it happened pretty much. I was a complete psychopath. People today don't understand how things really were in Rio during that time... What Hugo is saying was a major truth. The Luta-Livre guys dominated the streets of Rio... They were the owners of the city.

Tatame: Were you there the day they invaded the Gracie academy?

Wallid: I was there... I was a purple belt at the time. I was training with Carlson when someone came in saying that the Luta-Livre guys invaded the Gracie academy. I called some black belts of Carlson and only Clovis went with me. We have to recognize that Hugo was courageous to invade the Gracie academy only one week after Rickson beat him on the beach at Pepe... Hugo and Rickson fought in front of the school where the Gracie Academy is located and once again Rickson beat him. Then they put Eugenio to fight against Royler, and I was impressed at Helio Gracie's courage. I came to respect him a lot after that day. He was almost 80 years old and he was leading everything. But Royler and Eugenio were also very courageous... Royler was using the gi and Eugenio was asserting himself with a powerful right cross. But Royler was able to clinch with him, and then the police arrived. Everyone started to run... what a crazy time!

Tatame: So did you admire Eugenio when you faced him three years later?

Wallid: No... I was completely revolted. I hated him because I couldn't accept that a guy from another martial art could knock out Pitanguy ("Vale Tudo at Maracanazinho" event in 1984) and give so much trouble to Royler twice. That made me train much more. In reality, the Luta-Livre people wanted Eugenio to face me in the first fight because they thought for sure that he was going to beat me.

Tatame: But you looked nervous on the tape?

Wallid: Nervous?! I was totally excited. I said to everybody that it's in my blood. I would beat him in two minutes.

Tatame: How was the training for that fight?

Wallid: Before going for my training at Carlson's, I was getting up at seven in the morning to go train with Jorge Pereira at Gracie Barra. Carlinhos Gracie was training us! Can you believe that? During that time, Gracie Barra was our biggest rival, yet Carlinhos was helping me train to face Luta-Livre. As well as Jorge Pereira, I also trained with Ralph and Renzo Gracie, and Gordo. For the first, all of Jiu-Jitsu was united.

Tatame: Is it true that Carlson took off his gi to train with you guys?

Wallid: Carlson is a genius of vale tudo. He taught us many positions. He was almost 50 years old and training with Grego, leaving everyone very impressed. Noone can say anything bad about Carlson as a trainer.

Tatame: Do you think that if Luta-Livre had won that vale tudo confrontation, that the history of MMA might have been different?

Wallid: For sure. As you showed in the report, today almost all of the Luta-Livre fighters work in other fields. Maybe if we had lost, Fabio Gurgel, Bustamante and I might be doing other things today.

Tatame: What has changed in your life since that time?

Wallid: Before that event, my condo was behind six months on its payments. The guy from the electric company had already become my friend, because every time he came to cut off my electricity, I'd give him some grana and he didn't cut off my electricity. After vale tudo got big, Ricardo (Cavalcante) got a sponsorship deal from Ortobom that is worth USD$2 million. It was unbelievable! It was a win-win situation. It's interesting to see how life changes. Today I consider Hugo and Eugenio as friends. Everyone respects those guys for their courage. They are true warriors, and for that we should consider them as winners too. Today I think everybody has to train together. People have no idea how tough it was, the relationship between us and Barra Gracie. Yesterday I met Carlinhos Gracie and told him that his Team (GBCT) is my main partner in Jungle Fight 3, and he said, "Wow, how the world turns". I met Rickson a few weeks ago in a supermarket in Los Angeles, and he put his hand on my shoulder and said, "How are you Wallid?", and I was happy with that. My wife said we are not kids anymore, and I had to agree with her. This is evolution. Once I met Hugo in a shopping mall and we almost fought for real. Today he is my friend, whereas some guys who use to be my best training partners at Carlson's don't even talk to me.

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By Josh Grossman


According to reports from Vegas, long-time Zuffa employee Lisa Faircloth has left the company.

Faircloth worked as the secretary of UFC president Dana White. According to insiders, she was a very important person in the Zuffa offices and was heavily involved in the day-to-day operations and dealings, including handling all the arrangements for the fighters and their cornermen/teammates.

She was very well liked by all the different fighting camps involved with the UFC. It's not certain who will replace her, but this is big news to the people who work with the UFC.

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Antonio Inoki (top) in a grappling-only training session with Akebono.

The Japanese media reports that K-1 is considering the possibility of matching up Antonio Inoki against the winner of the upcoming Royce Greacie vs. Akebono matchup.

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Royce Gracie (center)

Royce Gracie did a training session in front of the Japanese media and stated that if his upcoming fight with Akebono goes the distance and is declared a draw, that he will consider himself the winner. His reasoning was Akebono because weighs more then three times Royce's weight.

Their K-1 MMA fight on December 31st will consist on two 10-minute rounds, with the fight being declared a draw if it goes the full time limit.

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The Japanese media is reporting that K-1 will sign Japanese wrestling prospect Akihito Tanaka in 2005.

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Karam Ibrahim

The Japanese media reports that Egyptian Olympic wrestling gold medalist Karam Ibrahim is being paid approximately USD$1.2 million for the multi-fight deal he signed with K-1.

Ibrahim is scheduled to make his MMA debut against Kazuyuki Fujita on K-1's December 31st show.

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Jean Silva

UK-based Brazilian fighter Jean Silva will spend a week in Curitiba, Brazil, training with the Chute Boxe team.

Silva will be evaluated and possibly become a part of the Chute Boxe team, possibly representing them when he fights on the Cage Rage 10 card in February.

In addition to his fighting career in England, Silva is also the Brazilian jiu-jitsu trainer for English MMA star Lee Murray.

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Enson Inoue

The Japanese news media reported today that Enson Inoue has lost his court case against his former business partner.

Inoue (37 years old) got sued by the president of the event company E-Force Japan. The E-Force president claimed that Enson beat him up and blackmailed him, so he claimed an amount of 37 million yen (approximately USD$350,000) for the money and a car that was taken by Inoue.

Inoue claimed that that he received the money due to a profit sharing agreement. The judge however ruled against Inoue, and said that there was no agreement.

The court ruled that Inoue needs to pay 27 million yen (approximately USD$260,000) and return the car to the President.

Inoue started the E-Force company in 1992, but made the company independent and turned over the management duties to the current president of the company in 2001 in exchange for his merchandise being sold through the company.

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By Josh Grossman

Anderson Silva

Just one day after saying that this matchup would not be taking place, DSE/PRIDE has announced that the matchup of Anderson Silva vs. Ryo Chonan is now official.

Apparently negotiations with Crosley Gracie broke down, and Silva came back into the picture.

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Pancrase 2004 Brave Tour
December 21, 2004
Korakuen Hall
Tokyo, Japan


Ketsutis Arbocius defeats Daisuke Watanabe by unanimous decision.
Hidehiko Hasegawa defeats Hidetaka Honma by unanimous decision.
James Lee defeats Kengo by choke at 0:55, RD 1.
Hisae Watanabe defeats Hisako Watanabe by KO at 1:07, RD 2.
Yoshiro Maeda defeats Minoru Tsuiki by KO at 4:02, RD 1.
Eiji Ishikawa defeats Yuichi Nakanishi by majority decision.
Miki Shida defeats Atsushi Yamamoto by KO at 4:36, RD 2.
Mitsuo Matsumoto defeats Tomoya Miyashita by unanimous decision.
Asaki Honda drew with Shinsuke Shoji.

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Royce Gracie (left) facing off to a cardboard cut-out of Akebono.

K-1: 'Premium 2004 Dynamite!!'
December 31st, 2004
Osaka Dome,
Osaka, Japan


Officially announced MMA rules matchups:
Royce Gracie vs. Akebono
Bob Sapp vs. Jerome LeBanner
Kazuyuki Fujita vs. Karam Ibrahim
Heath Herring vs. Sam Greco
B.J. Penn vs. Kaoru Uno
Mike Bernardo vs. Bobby Ologun
Don Frye vs. Yoshihiro Nakao
Cyril Abidi vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama

Officially announced K-1 rules matchups:
Masato vs. Norifumi 'Kid' Yamamoto
Ray Sefo vs. Gary Goodridge
Musashi vs. TBA

Other fighters to possibly be on the card:
Tom Erikson
Sean O'Haire
Tsuyoshi Kohsaka
Wakanohana

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PRIDE: 'Shockwave'
December 31st, 2004
Satama Super Arena
Saitama, Japan


Rodrigo 'Minotauro' Nogueira vs. Fedor Emelianenko
Rulon Gardner vs. Hidehiko Yoshida
Vanderlei Silva vs. Kazushi Sakuraba
Mirko 'Cro Cop' Filipovic vs. Kevin Randleman
Dan Henderson vs. Yuki Kondo
Ryan Gracie vs. Yoji Anjoh
Crosley Gracie vs. Ryo Chonan
Stefan Leko vs. Ikuhisa Minowa
Jens Pulver vs. Takanori Gomi
Henry 'Sentoryu' Miller vs. Makoto Takimoto
'Giant' Silva vs. Choi Mu Bae

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UFC president and "Turkey of the Year" winner Dana White.

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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TURKEY OF THE YEAR
Tape Lord, how many times has Dana White won the "Turkey of the Year" award? Is this award different from the "Fool of the year" awards?
- Phil
Bayside, NY

Tape Lord's reply: Phil, Dana White has now won the "Turkey of the Year" award two years in a row. Yes, the Turkey award is different from the "Fool of the Year" award, although they have the same significance. Dana has already won various "Fool of the month/year" awards in addition to his two "Turkey of the Year" wards.


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IS PENN REALLY RETURNING TO THE UFC??
I read Josh Grossman's report saying that B.J. Penn will return to the UFC on the UFC 51 card and face Frank Trigg. Is this true?? Is Penn still with K-1, and what do you make of this if true??
- BJandCabbagefan
Hawaii

Tape Lord's reply: Josh Grossman's reports have always proven very reliable, so Penn's return to the UFC may indeed become a reality. Penn is still with K-1, but his contract does allow him to fight for any organization outside of Japan.

There's two ways that most fans have reacted to the possibility of Penn's return to the UFC. Either they think Penn did an about-face on his feud with UFC management and wants to return to the fold while still competing for K-1 in Japan, or they think Penn just wants to beat Trigg and then win the belt again by beating Hughes for a second time, and then leave the UFC hanging once again.

In my opinion it's the second scenario, and I have a feeling Dana White will play into Penn's hands and come out on the losing end as usual.


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PRIDE OR K-1 ON NEW YEAR'S?
Both PRIDE and K-1 have amazing cards for their New Year shows. These might be the greatest cards ever put together. Which card do you think has the edge?
-Rodrigo
Miami, FL

Tape Lord's reply: PRIDE and K-1 continue to raise the bar for NHB/MMA shows, that is for sure. Each show will have no less then ten matchups for their December 31st cards, and K-1 will most likely have up to twelve matchups.

Both cards are fantastic, but if I had to pick one to see, I would go with PRIDE for the simple reasons of seeing Minotauro vs. Fedor again, and getting to see Vanderlei Silva in action. But like I said, both cards are incredibly stacked, and you can't go wrong watching both of these events.


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EVAN TANNER AN ALCOHOLIC?
I heard that the reason Evan Tanner left Team Quest was because he's an alcoholic. From what I heard, Team Quest tried to do an intervention, and Tanner didn't like that and left. Is there any truth to this?

-Andrew Bryant
Pheonix, Arizona

Tape Lord's reply: Andrew, that is just a rumor. Although it has been noted in the past that Tanner used to party hard and get pretty drunk at the old UFC after-parties. However, this does not mean he is an alcholic, or that excessive drinking had anything to do with his leaving Team Quest.


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COUTURE, VITOR, AND TITO IN NEXT PRIDE MIDDLEWEIGHT GP?
Tapelord, PRIDE has been talking about negotiating with the UFC to secure Tito Ortiz, Vitor Belfort, and Randy Couture as sacrifices to their champion Vanderlei Silva in next year's Middleweight Grand Prix. In your opinion, who should Vanderlei fight first, second, and third in the tournement of these potential fighters?

Obviously Couture will want to fiht him in the first round since he has already been quoted as saying that he will not fight other people before fighting silva in PRIDE... - Theaxemurderer
Saskatchewan, Canada

Tape Lord's reply: I don't know who PRIDE would match Silva against first in such a scenario, but in my opinion they would probably match him against Couture first. As we all know, Silva would not care who he's matched up against, as he does not duck fighters the way Tito does.


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Bob Sapp and Jerome LeBanner.

K-1 officially announced the matchup of Bob Sapp vs. Jerome LeBanner for their December 31st show.

The fight will be an MMA-rules matchup.

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DEEP: '17th Impact'
December 18, 2004
Differ Ariake
Tokyo, Japan


Ryuta Sakurai defeats Ryuki Ueyama by KO at 2:40, RD 1.
Masakazu Imanari defeats Renato Tavares by heel hook at 2:36, RD 2.
Takahiro Oba defeats Kenichiro Shinohara by TKO at 1:58, RD 1.
Hidetada Irie defeats Jino by TKO at 3:31, RD 3.
Jun Ishii defeats Nobuyuki Kurashima by KO at 0:30, RD 2.
Hirohide Fujinuma drew with Raou.
Hiroki Nagaoka defeats Yutaro Miyamoto by decision.
Tetsuya Onose defeats Wataru Takahashi by decision.
Yoshinori Oniki defeats Nise Onita by TKO at 0:45, RD 1.
Junpei Hamada defeats Hosbayal by decision.
Nobuhiro Obiya defeats John Yoshimura by TKO at 4:50, RD 1.
Sato defeats Moriyuki Yamada by decision.

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HEAVYWEIGHT


1.) Fedor Emelianenko Russia
2.) Rodrigo 'Minotauro' Nogueira Brazil
3.) Frank Mir USA
4.) Tim Sylvia USA
5.) Mirko 'CroCop' Filipovic Croatia
6.) Josh Barnett USA
7.) Heath Herring USA
8.) Ron Waterman USA
9.) Kevin Randleman USA
10.) Pedro Rizzo Brazil


LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT


1.) Vanderlei Silva Brazil
2.) Randy Couture USA
3.) Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson USA
4.) Chuck Liddell USA
5.) Vitor Belfort Brazil
6.) Ricardo Arona Brazil
7.) Rogerio "Minotoro" Nogueira Brazil
8.) Tito Ortiz USA
9.) Renato "Babalu" Sobral Brazil
10.) Ryoto Machida Brazil


MIDDLEWEIGHT


1.) Dan Henderson USA
2.) Kazushi Sakuraba Japan
3.) Murilo Bustamante Brazil
4.) Anderson Silva Brazil
5.) Paulo Filho Brazil
6.) Jeremy Horn USA
7.) David Terrell USA
8.) Evan Tanner USA
9.) Matt Lindland USA
10.) Lee Murray England


WELTERWEIGHT


1.) B.J. Penn USA
2.) Matt Hughes USA
3.) Frank Trigg USA
4.) Renato 'Charuto' Verissimo Brazil
5.) Sean Sherk USA
6.) Daiju Takase Japan
7.) Carlos Newton USA
8.) Crosley Gracie Brazil
9.) Jake Shields USA
10.) Hayato Sakurai Japan


LIGHTWEIGHT

1.) Tatsuya Kawajiri Japan
2.) Vitor 'Shaolin' Ribeiro Brazil
3.) Joachim Hansen Norway
4.) Takanori Gomi Japan
5.) Yves Edwards USA
6.) Hermes Franca Brazil
7.) Kaoru Uno Japan
8.) Din Thomas USA
9.) Genki Sudo Japan
10.) Ralph Gracie Brazil


FEATHERWEIGHT


1.) Alexandre 'Pequeno' Nogueira Brazil
2.) Jens Pulver USA
3.) Joao Roque Brazil
4.) Norifumi 'Kid' Yamamoto Japan
5.) Rumina Sato Japan
6.) Gilbert Melendez USA
7.) Ivan Menjivar El Salvador
8.) Hiroyuki Takaya Japan
9.) Jeff Curran USA
10.) Yoshiro Maeda Japan


AFP fighter rankings can be viewed at AFP TOP 10

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