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Daijiro Matsui

Daijiro Matsui told the Japanese media that he would like to step in for the injured Sanae Kikuta and face Yuki Kondo on October 2nd.

Pancrase will announce Kikuta's replacement in about two weeks time.

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Pancrase 2005 Spiral Tour
August 27th, 2005
Tokyo, Japan


Koji Oishi defeats Nathan Diaz by unanimous decision.
Daijiro Matsui defeats Daisuke Watanabe by TKO at 5:00, RD 2.
Shinsuke Shoji defeats Asaki Honda by unanimous decision.
Sotaro Yamada defeats Minoru Chujo by unanimous decision.
Manabu Inoue defeats Masaki Yanagisawa
Yuichi Nakanishi drew with Yuji Hisamatsu.
Takuya Wada defeats Masakazu Kuramochi by unanimous decision.
Kozo Urita defeats Moriyuki Yamada by choke at 3:37, RD 2.

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Ricardo Arona and Vanderlei Silva stare down at the weigh-in.

All four finalists for the PRIDE GP made the 205-pound weight limit on their first try today.

The talk of the weigh-ins was the stare down between Vanderlei Silva and Ricardo Arona. After some comments to the media from each fighter, both Silva and Arona then posed for the stare down for about 5 seconds. The following verbal exchange then took place:

Vanderlei Silva: I'll break you tomorrow.

Ricardo Arona: We're going to see tomorrow in the ring.

Fans, media, and promoters applauded, and they separated. After that, DSE/PRIDE president Nobuyuki Sakakibara and Nobuhiko Takada posed with the belt between both fighters and the exciting meeting was over.

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Vanderlei Silva and Mauricio "Shogun" Rua.

The Japanese media watched a Chute Boxe training session two days ago, and took pictures of Vanderlei Silva and Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua training.

Both Silva and Shogun talked with the media and talked about their preparation for the PRIDE GP finals, and how they are prepared to put on a show if they both meet in the final. They explained it will be just like one of their full contact sparring sessions at Chute Boxe, except this time it will be in front of all the fans.

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Ricardo Arona

Ricardo Arona recently spoke with the Japanese media. Here are some of the topics Overeem covered:


Arona on his upcoming fight against Vanderlei Silva: "I've thought for a long time that this is a fight that should happen. I think it will be fun for the fans, even in a sense of jiu-jitsu vs. muay thai. My condition is very good. I'm ready to give the fans a great fight, win, and become the champion. Vanderlei is a very strong fighter. He's got stamina, and he came to win, too. He leaves a special impression, of course. I've wanted to fight him for a long time, so I'm really looking forward to this."

Arona on his preparation for Vanderlei Silva: "I know Vanderlei's weak points. He's not a specialist in jiu-jitsu. He's strong in his specialty, striking, but Vanderlei doesn't have enough throwing and submission skills. Of course I'm confident that I can submit him with a joint-lock. Yoshida couldn't submit Vanderlei because he's a judo fighter. I am a jiu-jitsu fighter. Jiu-jitsu is more effective on Vanderlei than judo. I'm the only person in the world that can beat Vanderlei."

Arona on the bad blood between him and Vanderlei Silva: "We were in a restaurant in Japan about 4 years ago and the atmosphere between Vanderlei and me turned bad. Since then, we and our gyms have been rivals. There's nothing emotional about it now, though. We're both going to fight as professionals. Of course, we are still rivals, though. It's good motivation. Rogerio lost to Shogun and I've beaten Ninja, so I'd like to beat Shogun, too. Beating Vanderlei and then beating Shogun, that's more interesting, isn't it? Like a game."

Arona on Vanderlei Silva's statements that he'll avenge Sakuraba's loss: "Why would he say something like that? Hasn't he fought Sakuraba many times? I don't have anything to do with that. I came to win."

Arona on fighting two tough fights in one night: "I am going to fight with 100% of my power in the match with Vanderlei. I think it will be a tough fight but I will win by KO or submission. If I get injured or tired in this match, it will be difficult to fight in the final round, so I want to use all of my strength, win this fight, and advance to the finals with no injuries."

Arona on winning the PRIDE GP and his future goal: "My goal is to get the middleweight grand prix title and then the middleweight champion title. Right now, I'm thinking of nothing but the middleweight grand prix."

Arona on his tiger tatoos: "I didn't get any more tiger tattoos this time. If I win, I'll probably get another one, though. If I'm a tiger, Vanderlei's a hyena. He's not pretty, and he looks like he should always be in a pack."

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Alistair Overeem (left)

Alistair Overeem recently spoke with the Japanese media. Here are some of the topics Overeem covered:


Overeem on having jet lag: "I just woke up 20 minutes ago. I'm still sleepy."

Overeem on his preparation for the GP finals: "I haven't done any special training. I've been training hard as usual. I feel overworked but that's the same as always. I'm not especially overworked."

Overeem on the fighting styles of himself and Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua: "Our striking styles are similar. I think we are similar. We'll see the difference on August 28th."

Overeem's prediction for the fight: "I'm a striker, just like Shogun, so I'm confident. I will knock him out in the 1st round."

Overeem when told that Shogun stated he will not be caught with the guillotine choke: "I don't know. I'm more confident in knocking him out than I am of submitting him with a guillotine choke."

Overeem on who he thinks will be in the final with him: "Everyone's tough so it's hard to predict. I don't know who will win, but it's good motivation for me. I hope Vanderlei Silva wins. I want to beat Silva completely. Either a KO or a submission would be fine."

Overeem on the fans wanting to see an all-Chute Boxe final: "Of course the fans want to see that. Both of their fighting styles are really aggressive, and that's probably what the fans expect. I will try to show off my strengths and give the fans a good fight, though."

Overeem on his training with Fedor Emelianenko in Holland: "We trained together and he gave me advice. He has fought Nogueira, so if I fight Arona in the final round, he told me I should fight the same way he did. I also trained with many other guys, as usual."

Overeem on being the only non-Brazilian in the GP finals: "I'm representing Holland, but I also feel like I'm representing Japan. All of the Japanese fighters lost to Brazilian fighters in the 2nd Round, so I want to get revenge for them. I want the Japanese fans to support me in my fight. I don't want to let them down."

Overeem on what he'll do if he wins the PRIDE GP: "I haven't taken a vacation in the past year, since the Grand Prix finished, so I'd like to take some time off. But after that, I want to get revenge on Rogerio Nogueira, who I lost to in February. Then, I want to rematch Chuck Liddell, who I lost to by KO in the Middleweight Grand Prix 2 years ago. Chuck's the UFC Champion now, right? I wouldn't mind putting both belts on the line. I was still young the last time we fought. It will be a different fight the next time, and I'm confident I will win."

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"Tank" Abbott

'Tank' Abbott arrived in Tokyo on August 24th for his upcoming fight against Hidehiko Yoshida, and spoke with the Japanese media that day. Here are some of the topics Tank covered:


'Tank' on Hidehiko Yoshida: "Yoshida is a tough, talented fighter. Yoshida's judo techniques are really good. I have to be careful of that, but it's not going to be a judo match. He's a good opponent for me to beat down."

'Tank' Abbott on his strategy for Yoshida: "I don't have a strategy. I'm just going to watch how Yoshida moves and fight to win. I saw a video of his fight with Gardner and I thought it was incredible that he traded with Gardner, not backing down from Gardner's pressure."

'Tank' on Yoshida hiring a professional striking coach: I don't think anything about it, one way or the other. If he wants to knee, let him. I think he'd be better off using judo techniques. I won't have any problems, no matter what kind of fight it turns into. I want to KO him but if it goes to the decision, so be it. Everyone in MMA fights by using their backbone. I've fought using my backbone of street fighting. I think this will be a good street fight because no matter how wild I get in the PRIDE ring, I won't go to jail. If Yoshida comes with a street fight, the fight will be over in an instant."

'Tank' on Yoshida's judo gi: "Yoshida's judo gi is a weapon for him. I'll be careful of it but I'm not worried about it. Maybe I'll wear a gi, too. (laughing) Yoshida said he's going to stomp my face? He can't make me any uglier than I am now!"

'Tank' on finally participating in PRIDE: "I'm glad I can fight. The time has finally come. I'm even happier that I can fight a tough opponent like Yoshida."

'Tank' on his future plans: "I may be dead the day after (the fight) or I may be in jail. I don't even know what's going to happen tomorrow, much less the future. I'm going to make Yoshida lose completely and then I just want to drink a beer when the fight is over."

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Roman Zentsov

Roman Zentsov was recently interviewed by the PRIDE website. Here's what Zentsov had to say:


Interviewer: Please tell us about your training process before your first fight in PRIDE?

Zentsov: It will be my first fight in PRIDE, and my training was very different. I prepared very seriously, like usual, but for the first time we trained with Alexander and Fedor Emelianenko in Kislovodsk. After that, we went to a high altitude sports camp and some other Red Devil FT fighters joined us (Amar Suloev, Sergei Kaznovski). Later we went to Holland and we had training with Fedor in Jogan Vos gym (coach of Ernesto Hoost) and Lucien Carbin (G. Yvel & A. Overeem coach) gym. All in all, our training process was very diversified.

Interviewer: What you feel before your debut in Japan?

Zentsov: I feel harmony, my mental condition is very balanced! I'm not thinking about my fight, I am thinking it will be the same as any other fight.

Interviewer: What you think about your opponent?

Zentsov: My opponent is a serious fighter, he is a world champion in his basic sports discipline (Brazilian jiu-jitsu), and he is training with Mirko Cro Cop. I think that he also has a lot of motivation for this fight against me.

Interviewer: Any strategies for this fight?

Zentsov: We need to start the fight, after that I'll work with the situation as it develops in the ring.

Interviewer: What is most important for you, mental or physical condition?

Zentsov: Harmony is most important to me. Balance between body and mind. Of course, mental condition is often important for a key moment in the fight, but it's not like you should ignore your the physical side.

Interviewer: What can you say about Fedor's condition?

Zentsov: Fedor has done very hard training, he is ready. Of course his old injures disturb him, but Fedor is ready for this fight 100%!

Interviewer: What is your prediciton for the Fedor vs. Mirko fight?

Zentsov: What did you say? My prediction? There is only one prediction! Fedor must win! Fedor of course will win the fight!

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Sanae Kikuta (left)

The Pancrase organization announced that the Yuki Kondo vs. Sanae Kikuta title fight, that was scheduled for October 2nd, has been officially canceled.

Kikuta will be out of action for a minimum of two months with torn knee ligaments. A replacement for Kikuta will be announced in about two weeks.

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Pancrase 2005 Spiral Tour
August 27th, 2005
Tokyo, Japan


Takuya Wada vs. Masakazu Kuramochi
Moriyuki Yamada vs. Kozo Urita
Koji Oishi vs. Nathan Diaz
Daijiro Matsui vs. Daisuke Watanabe
Yuichi Nakanishi vs. Yuji Hisamatsu
Manabu Inoue vs. Masaki Yanagisawa
Sotaro Yamada vs. Minoru Chujo
Asaki Honda vs. Shinsuke Shoji

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PRIDE: 'Final Conflict 2005'
August 28th, 2005
Saitama Super Arena
Saitama, Japan


PRIDE middleweight GP semifinals (official):
Vanderlei Silva vs. Ricardo Arona
Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua vs. Alistair Overeem

Single matchups (official):
Fedor Emelianenko vs. Mirko 'Cro Cop' Filipovic
'Tank' Abbott vs. Hidehiko Yoshida
Igor Vovchanchyn vs. Kazuhiro Nakamura
Vitor Belfort vs. TBA (possibly Yuki Kondo)
Fabricio Werdum vs. Roman Zentsov

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Fedor Emelianenko

Fedor Emelianenko spoke with the Japanese media today, and stated that his hand is still not fully recovered.

Fedor added that it is be hard for him to punch, but that he trained with Ernesto Hoost and is healthy enough to give the fans a good fight.

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Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic

The Japanese media reports that Mirko 'Cro Cop' Filipovic has taken a 'vitamin injection' for his back. The vitamin injection was prepared for him by Dr. Stefan Bucan, who his personal doctor who has traveled with him to Japan from Croatia.

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Rodrigo "Minotauro" Nogueira

The Japanese media reports that Rodrigo 'Minotauro' Nogueira recently underwent elbow surgery, and will resume training in one month.

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Below is the pay scale for UFC 54 as released by the Nevada State Athletic Commission (all figures are in US dollars):


Chuck Liddell: $80,000 to show, $80,000 to win
Tim Sylvia: $40,000 to show, $40,000 to win
Matt Lindland: $15,000 to show, $15,000 to win
Georges St. Pierre: $13,000 to show, $15,000 to win
Jeremy Horn: $25,000 to show, win bonus would've been $25,000
Diego Sanchez: USD$12,000 to show, USD$12,000 to win
Mike Van Arsdale: $15,000 to show, win bonus would've been $15,000
Frank Trigg: $14,000 to show, win bonus would've been $14,000
Tra Telligman: $9,000 to show, win bonus would've been $9,000
James Irvin: $3,000 to show, $3,000 to win
Joe Doerksen: $5,000 to show, win bonus would've been $5,000
Travis Lutter: $4,000 to show, win bonus would've been $4,000
Brian Gassaway : $2,000 to show, win bonus would've been $2,000
Terry Martin: $2,000 to show, win bonus would've been $2,000

Total Fighter Payroll: $635,000

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The Diaz brothers, Nick and Nathan.

Nathan Diaz arrived in Japan with his brother and UFC veteran, Nick Diaz, and talked about his Pancrase debut tomorrow against Koji Oishi, whom his brother has already beaten. Here's what Diaz had to say:


"I don't expect him (Oishi) to come out the same way he did against my brother. He will probably use his wrestling to take me down and try to win by ground and pound.

I feel good about my jiu-jitsu so if we fight on the ground that will be fine. If he stands with me then I'll trade with him and we'll see what happens. I'm happy to be fighting for the Pancrase organization and thank them for the opportunity." -Nathan Diaz

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Sanae Kikuta

The Japanese media reports that Sanae Kikuta suffered a ligament tear in his right knee, and that he will most likely not be ready in time for his October 2nd title fight against Yuki Kondo.

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PRIDE president Nobuyuki Sakakibara

DSE/PRIDE president Nobuyuki Sakakibara was recently interviewed by internet fanboy and part-time journalist Josh Gross.

DSE/PRIDE executives, Hideki Yamamoto and Yukino Kanda, were also on hand to help answer some questions. Kanda helped out with the translation of most of Sakakibara's replies. Here's what they had to say:


Interviewer: Let's start with the events of today. How important is it for PRIDE to come to the United States and promote its brand of fighting?

Sakakibara: It has been our dream to hold a PRIDE event outside of Japan on U.S. soil. We will have done 50 events under the PRIDE name - our upcoming event August 28th is going to be the 50th event - and we've never been outside of Japan. The mixed martial arts was created in the U.S. and it has been our dream to hold a show where it came from. And we have been working with the California State (Athletic Commission) since 2000 and especially in 2004, 2005 until now we have really been working hard to legalize this sport in California state. After today's meeting, that is the first step for the long (process) ahead of us. Our objective is to hold our event in California and to introduce what PRIDE is to the fans and, not through the TV, to see the live event is totally different. So we'd like to show what really is PRIDE to the American people.

Interviewer: Have the American people, through your pay-per-views and other sort of marketing, really shown an interest in PRIDE, or is it more an overall interest in mixed martial arts? Have you seen people who are just dedicated PRIDE fans?

Sakakibara: At the moment we think that those fans who watch PRIDE events through the pay-per-view or DVD, but not live, they're a big fan of mixed martial arts, not necessarily (only) PRIDE fans.

Interviewer: I ask this question because it was so important today and over the process of the last year and even over the last five years for things unique to PRIDE - the ring and the rules - to stay intact. Why were these things so important for you to come to promote in the United States when you could have come to promote at any time under what are accepted as the North American Unified Rules?

Sakakibara: Over the course of seven, eight years since we started the PRIDE brand, of course we have changed several times the rules to always update the current needs of the audience and also to make sure that the fighters are safe. But the original concept of mixed martial arts is to get rid of all the barriers of the different martial arts. We have opened the door to all the different discipline fighters - including wrestling, boxing, judo, jiu-jitsu, everybody - so our rules are more open to those fighters who are coming from different backgrounds. It is very important to keep our rules the current rules. The rules that we have request to be an alternate rules (in California) is because we believe those rules are unique to PRIDE and we don't want to jeopardize that uniqueness, then come to the U.S. So we want to keep those rules only for maybe PRIDE. From our experience over 450 fights in PRIDE we know and we have proven that PRIDE rules (are) safer than any other event. We believe in that and our record says it's a safe event, safe rules. If we come to the U.S. and compromise with the current Unified Rules - which we don't know if they're safe to us, to our fighters - if we take those rules as it is then we may be proving that our rules aren't safe enough. That's not our direction moving forward. Because we believe in our rules, for us it's not necessary to adopt any other rules that's already sanctioned in Nevada or New Jersey. So that's our thoughts.

Interviewer: In North America, particularly the United States, there's a movement in mixed martial arts towards getting a broad uniformity, getting unified rules. Does PRIDE at all envision a situation in which every promotion in the world, every show in the world is operating under one set of rules? And if you do, what do those rules look like?

Sakakibara: We believe in unified rules all over the world.

Interviewer: So you think eventually the American regulatory bodies, the state athletic commissions, the Nevadas and New Jerseys of the world will see...

Sakakibara: We are talking about worldwide, not just U.S. So when we see worldwide, global unified rules it will probably be PRIDE rules.

Interviewer: Why do you feel that PRIDE rules will become accepted as the world unified rules and not the rules that are being worked on throughout North America.

Sakakibara: That is because we are not using those rules. If we are not using those rules - American rules - then it's not going to be worldwide rules. And, especially the biggest market in the world is still Japan. Japan is not going to use a cage. Japan is not going to use five three-minute rounds. We believe that it takes so many years to become sanctioned or come to this point (in the United States) is because it was started with a cage. If it was a ring it shouldn't have taken that long. And if you see worldwide promoters or events, outside the U.S., we believe most of the promoters use a ring instead of a cage.

Interviewer: The ring, I would suggest, is more prevalent than the cage worldwide. There are more events in a ring than in a cage. But there are also many events now that use the five-minute round system. I think the 10-5-5 minute round system is unique to PRIDE. But there are shows like SHOOTO and Pancrase and many Japanese shows that don't use that round system. Is that something in the future that PRIDE would be willing to look at changing or is that something, as well as the ring, that is very important and would not be looked at?

Sakakibara: Again the 10-minute, 5-minute, 5-minute round system is established from our experience and it doesn't give any fighters an advantage - ground fighter versus standing fighter or any other disciplined fighters. So we think that the round system that can take the most advantage of strategy of fighting. So, for instance, if we come to the U.S. and the United States imposes five three-minute rounds we will follow, of course, in order for us to come to the U.S. But in Japan, we are not going to change 10-5-5 minute rounds because we believe that round system is perfect. And if you see worldwide environment then unless a much, much bigger organization like the Olympics or World Cup or something, then if they impose five-minute rounds then that is the time that we will maybe consider (change). When it comes to the unified rules all over the world - of course American people look at America most - we see much more global standpoint. So today's meeting was only for California but we have a bigger picture, which is worldwide. For instance we have made an alliance with FILA organization and they are the ruling (body) for martial arts in the Olympics. So once mixed martial arts is adopted in the Olympic games, not just the United States people, but people from Japan and Brazil and all over world will come together and finalize the rules, which may not necessarily be Unified Rules sanctioned by the U.S. states.

Interviewer: That's a very interesting concept: mixed martial arts in the Olympics. How close is that to becoming reality?

Sakakibara: We don't believe that it's going to happen anytime soon. If you only think of the Unified Rules or PRIDE rules or UFC rules, it's going to be the rule adopted by the Olympic games under the mixed martial arts games. FILA has been working on bringing Pankration tournament in the Olympics. They're working on that. But even the boxing has been adopted in the Olympics but they wear headgear. And they have a much, much longer history of fighting. Mixed martial arts (history is) much, much less. So some time in the very far future, maybe the PRIDE or UFC rules will be seen in Olympics. But if you're talking about soon, it will be much more rules - far from the PRIDE or UFC rules. And maybe no striking, just grappling. We really strongly believe that we should, as promoter of PRIDE, and also the UFC - those are the top two promotions in the world - should think about being in the Olympic games maybe 20 years from now or 50 years from now. So they should always think about the goal. Olympics started as fighting 2000 years ago, so it takes a long time. If they don't think about the future - 50 or 100 years from now - nothing is going to be accomplished.

Interviewer: I think, the UFC, the way they interpret the future, is pushing forward the Unified Rules throughout North America. That's their vision of the future. But it doesn't sound like that's PRIDE's vision of the future. And the Olympics is very interesting because one thing they're known for is their drug-testing policies. They're very strict, especially with performance-enhancing drugs like steroids. If you come to North America (your fighters are) going to have to face many of the same tests that are in the Olympics. What is the current PRIDE performance-enhancing testing policy, including steroids and other kind of substances?

Sakakibara: Right now, at this point, we have not tested any steroid usage. But for the illegal substances like stimulants or anything illegal, we conduct urine testing before and after the fights.

Yamamoto: It's a matter of the traceability, except those complicated drugs like EPO and steroids and some similar substance. We need to send a specimen to the laboratory. Who can protect traceability? We need a neutral third party. But for other illegal drug substances we can get a result at once.

Interviewer: One of the arguments for regulation and sanctioning is to have that oversight body, that check, that independent party making sure the fighters are safe, making sure there is testing going on of fighters. In Japan there's nothing like that. So in order for you to test for steroids you'd have to take that upon yourself. Is there any discussion in PRIDE of beginning to test for those substances in Japan?

Sakakibara: We don't have a third party. And maybe this is a cultural difference but we hired doctors, referees and judges and they are independent. Even though we hired them to work with PRIDE, they are the ones who are the ones responsible for all the safety issues and also drug testing. We leave everything up to them and they test. Under their responsibility they're going to submit us a result and then we judge according to the result. So for us it doesn't really make a big difference hiring a third party or hire those people by the promoter but to be independent from the promoter. I think it's a big cultural difference.

Interviewer: One more follow up. Two of the UFC’s heavyweight champions have tested positive for steroids. It stands to reason that a good percentage of mixed martial artists use those kinds of drugs. Is it just PRIDE's opinion that that sort of use is not important, that it doesn't affect the outcome of a fight? Why is there no movement towards ridding that sort of usage from your promotion?

Sakakibara: We don't test for steroids or we don't have a third party to test for steroids. But we don't think that always the steroid user has an advantage over a fighter who's not using steroids. And we don't know who is using steroids and who is not using steroids. But we don't know if always the steroid users are winning over the non-steroid users.

Interviewer: OK, I have to follow up: If you test you would probably have a better idea of who was using steroids and who wasn't. So I still have not heard a reason why PRIDE does not test.

Sakakibara: We are not opposing American regulations and requirements of steroid testing. But in Japan there's no such thing. We are not required to test steroids for any fighter or any sports whatsoever. So we don't need, so we don't do. If we come to the U.S. and of course we have to follow their rules and regulations. If we have to do, we have to do.

Yamamoto: Perception. Steroids is well known in the States but not many people use steroids in Japan.

Sakakibara: You have a good point, but maybe if you look over all the sportsman, not just the fighter - baseball player or gymnastics or anything - any kind of sportsman don't use steroids in Japan in general. But in the U.S. the Major League players or runners or boxers - they all use steroids. That's why there has to be some regulations. That's totally different culture and background.

Interviewer: I understand that in the Japanese culture, steroids are not a prevalent issue. My concern is the good majority of your fighters are international fighters. I'm looking at the poster for PRIDE "Final Conflict": three Brazilians, a Dutchman and two Europeans. Not one Japanese fighter on there. So just because no one is telling you to test for steroids, it's the same way that no one is telling you to test for cocaine or no one is telling you to test for anything else.

Kanda: Cocaine is illegal in Japan.

Interviewer: OK, so steroids are not illegal in Japan and that is why you do not test.

Yamamoto: It's a prescription drug. So if you try to use the steroids without prescription it's illegal.

Sakakibara: This is just like other drugs. Like, for instance, ulcer medicine is prescription drugs. And if someone uses without prescription it's illegal. So it’' the same thing for the Japanese people.

Yamamoto: Using the painkiller - you watched the Mark Kerr movie - it's illegal usage even though the substance is legal.

Interviewer: I appreciate your patience... The theme of the day is regulation and PRIDE coming to the U.S., which is why I'm asking these sort of questions. One of the major functions for the regulatory bodies in the U.S. is to keep track of if a fighter got knocked out, and suspending that fighter from competition if necessary. Does PRIDE, when a fighter gets knocked out or injured in its organization, medically suspend a fighter? And if you do, how do you enforce so he doesn't fight (during the suspension)?

Kanda: Again, it's the same thing. We don't have any regulatory third party for any sanctioning body. So that's really up to the promoter to give the fighter a suspension period. We're very carefully consulting with the Japanese doctors. And also if the fighter is from outside of Japan we also get the result from that local doctors and make sure that fighter won't be fighting again anytime soon unless the doctor says that's OK. It's the same thing. We don't really need regulation but people follow, people have common sense.

Yamamoto: We don't say American people doesn't have common sense! But we're basically supposed to harmonize the suspension and we have been respecting their decision and we don't take any fighter who is under suspension. Josh Barnett (Pictures). We got offered but did not take him.

Kanda: Because he was under suspension. And somebody who is knocked out in the UFC, we never use that fighter for two-month or three-month period.

Interviewer: Let's get to the fun stuff. The actual promotion of fights and putting together of cards. I think people are looking forward to August 28th very, very much. Can you talk about your heavyweight championship fight and how much anticipation there is in Japan for this match between Fedor (Emelianenko) and Mirko "Cro Cop" (Filipovic)?

Sakakibara: (smiles) It was fun. People have been waiting so long for this particularly because it started in August 2003 when Fedor fought Gary (Goodridge) and he beat up Gary. He broke his hand. And Mirko beat Dos Caras Jr. and he has been waiting for him to come back and be cured from injury. (Mirko) has been chasing this fellow but he wasn't cured by the time the fight was set up. And then (Mirko) had to take (Rodrigo) Nogueira and Nogueira submitted him. So the fight has been postponed, postponed, postponed for like two years. Fedor was supposed to fight in June this year and then again Fedor got injured and it was postponed. So finally the fans can get to see it. It's been more than two years of grudge and expectation, build up so much.

Interviewer: As a promoter, that's good. You want that anticipation. But has it been frustrating dealing with the on, off, on, off situation of the fight?

Sakakibara: As a promoter we also felt very, very frustrated because it should have happened years ago. Not just the promoters, but they were both very frustrated because I have been telling them they are still young, so that match won't be the last match that they're going to face as long as they're with the PRIDE organization they're going to face one year from year, two years from now - many times probably. Win, lose should be a concern for them. But fans want to see them fight.

Interviewer: Fedor has said that his hand is still not healed 100 percent. Do you feel that you're risking a fight that might not be the best fight it could be because of that?

Sakakibara: That would have been in June if we held the fight in June. But we gave him enough time to heal and Mirko accepted to postpone two more months. Unless you're the first fight in PRIDE - everybody has some sort of injury: cold or broken fingers or bad knees. Everybody has something. Fedor's hand will not give a bad result because of that injury.

Interviewer: Let me ask you a personal question. When "Cro Cop" fought Magomedov at the last PRIDE, how nervous were you feeling?

Sakakibara: It's just another fight and I'm always ready to accept an outcome from any fight. So, whatever the outcome was I had a plan. (If I didn't feel this way) then whenever Sakuraba fights, I would be in the hospital the next day. (laughs)

Interviewer: The Grand Prix is amazing because you wouldn't think it possible that it could be overshadowed due to the heavyweight championship fight. What are your expectations for the Grand Prix? And the possibility of Wanderlei fighting Shogun, are you at all disappointed teammates might fight in the finals?

Sakakibara: I don't think the heavyweight title match will overshadow the Middleweight Grand Prix. And especially Japanese fans respect all the fighters in the Grand Prix to win and come this far. Of course as a Japanese I wished that there was a Japanese fighter remaining in the semifinal but even without the Japanese fighters I have a big respect for each fighter and so do the Japanese fans.

Interviewer: And the possibility of Shogun fighting Silva? You knew that was a possibility because they were in the tournament to begin with. Knowing now that they might meet in the finals, they're teammates, that raises questions about them fighting 100 percent against each other. Does that take away from the tournament at all if they fight in the finals? Did that cross your mind at all?

Sakakibara: The teammate versus teammate maybe more interesting, especially for me. I want to see teammate versus teammate. And in front of 45,000 people they're not going to fight less than non-teammates fight. Arona could have faced Rogerio at some point and Yoshida may have faced Nakamura at some point, but that's the way the tournament is. That’s a very interesting format. I think [they will fight] 100 percent. That's why there is prize money, and honor and a PRIDE belt, and, again, fighting in front of 45,000 people and also it's going to be aired in many countries live on pay-per-view. And of course DVDs are everywhere. So they're not going to fight less than anyone else. Don't you want to see them fight? I have a big trust in the Chute Boxe team. Rudimar (Fedrigo) is the trainer and manager and head person in Chute Boxe. And they know - and Vanderlei knows more than anybody - that they have to put on 100 percent, otherwise their career will be done in PRIDE and also in mixed martial arts.

Interviewer: Will Sakuraba fight in the 83-kilo. tournament?

Sakakibara: No. Never.

Interviewer: Will Sakuraba fight in PRIDE again?

Sakakibara: Yes. He will come back in October.

Interviewer: After his last fight - he's had many beatings before, he's taken a lot of punishment before - but after his last fight it was very bad. Did you advise him to retire or was there any talk of retirement?

Sakakibara: It's totally up to the fighters to decide when to retire.

Interviewer: After that fight (with Ricardo Arona), I believe you said that Sakuraba would no longer fight at middleweight (205 pounds), but only fight at 83-kilograms? Is that still the case?

Sakakibara: I personally thought that Sakuraba thought should go down to 83-kilos, but that's only what I thought. When I talked to Sakuraba, Sakuraba refused and said that "I'm going to go up, never go down." He read (my) comments in a newspaper and he called from the hospital. When he fought Arona he was 86-kilos and Arona passed the 93-kilos the day before, but the day of the event he goes up like six, seven pounds easily. So there was more than a 10-kilograms difference on the day of the event. He hasn't done everything that he could do. He could build up his body and make the weight over 93-kilos to fight evenly with those 205 fighters. In his mind, there are so many things he can still do, still improve, including weight and quit drinking or quit smoking. So unless he does everything he can do, he cannot make himself to be convinced for retirement.

Interviewer: I have to say, personally, that scares me. I was at PRIDE 13 when Sakuraba fought Silva the first time. I was at PRIDE 17. I've seen Sakuraba fight great, unbelievable fights and I've seen him get hurt. And I think he's such and incredible fighter, such an incredible person, that he'll never retire. Someone needs to push him out. Do you fear...

Sakakibara: And I understand your concern very much and I appreciate it. But when time comes, maybe the person who says "Sakuraba you should retire" is not me, maybe Takada. And I don't believe that it's time that he should really tell Sakuraba not to continue. I believe in Sakuraba. He can do more.

Interviewer: UFC president Dana White always complains that he sends fighters to PRIDE, PRIDE never sends fighters to the UFC.

Kanda: That's not true. We always offer fighters but they refuse. Sometimes the reason is that the fight purse is not a fight purse that they can afford. Sometimes our fighters are too strong against their fighters (who are) available, so they cannot find an opponent. We have been pushing some of the fighters to them but they never say yes.

Interviewer: Have there been recent talks about a PRIDE fighter going to UFC?

Sakakibara: We really want to send PRIDE fighters in the UFC. Sometimes the timing is not matched for when they want a particular fighter and when we can send that fighter to them. But most of the time they are not so willing to use our fighters. For instance we offered Sergei Kharitonov (Pictures), Mirko "Cro Cop", "Ninja" in the last couple months.

Interviewer: There is a lot of talk about Ninja right now. Is that a possibility?

Sakakibara: Ninja is ready. He has been waiting since June. Dana White, please call me.

Interviewer: PRIDE's first event in the United States? If everything goes well in California and it looks like mid-November when everything is sanctioned and your rules are OK'd. How soon can American fans expect PRIDE to come promote here?

Sakakibara: Before we can come to California we have to apply for a promoter's license. I don't know how long it's going to take. It's up to California state. And also there are so few venues where we can possibly hold a PRIDE event, so it's really up to the availability of the arena. We have been contacting various venues. For instance, Staples Center is so busy.

Interviewer: Let me wrap up with my last question - and I always say that and I have another question. I'll make sure it's my last one. I think priority number one for American fans and, I believe, Japanese fans would be one day to see champions fight champions. Now, we've just talked about PRIDE sending fighters to the UFC and the UFC sending fighters to PRIDE, but what would it take for the two organizations to come together and have Wanderlei Silva (Pictures) fight Chuck Liddell (Pictures), Fedor fighting the UFC heavyweight champion?

Sakakibara: We have been talking with Dana and Lorenzo for a long time, so what we suggested to them was a "home and away" fights. We send fighters to them and we send fighters to us. And any fighter who wins both events would be a "world" champion.

Yamamoto: They said yes, I think that was last year.

Kanda: And this year too.

Interviewer: And why has that not happened yet?

Yamamoto: I don't know.

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DEEP: '20th Impact'
September 3rd, 2005
Differ Ariake
Tokyo, Japan


Single matchups:
Jutaro Nakao vs. Eoh Won Jin
Hidehiko Hasegawa vs. Seichi Ikemoto
Satoko Shinashi vs. Noriko Okamoto
John Bachista Yoshimura vs. Kosuke Umeda
Ken Hamamura vs. Takenori Sato

Exhibition matchup:
Jun Ishii Retirement bout (10 Men Battle Royale)

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Ivan Menjivar

APEX: 'Undisputed'
September 3rd, 2005
The Medley,
Montreal, Canada


Ivan Menjivar vs. Antonio Carvalho
Stephan Potvin vs. Fritz Paul
Brent Beauparlant vs. Jason Guida
Fabio Holanda vs. Nuri Shakir
Serge Lafond vs. Wojtek Kaszowski
Claude Patrick vs. Dante Rivera
Martin Grandmont vs. Garrett Vernoy
Eric Beaulieu vs. Rowan Cunningham
Francois Flibotte vs. Mathieu Legare
Serge Cloutier vs. Sean Ragnitz
Sebastien Vachon vs. TBA

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Pancrase 2005 Spiral Tour
September 4th, 2005
Umeda Stellar Hall
Osaka, Japan


Yoshiro Maeda vs. Miki Shida
Alex Roberts vs. Anthony Netzler
Kenji Takeshige vs. Yuichi Ikari
Naoji Fujimoto vs. Kenta Nakamura
Daizo Ishige vs. Tatsunori Tanaka
Yuji Miyazaki vs. Toshiaki Kitada
Asuka Ito vs. Ichigo　15

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Genki Sudo

Hero's
September 7th, 2005
Ariake Colosseum
Tokyo, Japan


Sinlge matchups:
Zuluzinho vs. Sylvester Terkay

HERO's lightweight GP second round:
Royler Gracie vs. Norifumi 'Kid' Yamamoto
Genki Sudo vs. Kazuyuki Miyata
Remigijus Morkevicius vs. Hiroyuki Takaya
Caol Uno vs. Hideo Tokoro

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Vitor 'Shaolin' Ribeiro (top)

Cage Rage 13
September 10th, 2005
Wembley Conference Centre
London, England


Vitor 'Shaolin' Ribeiro vs. Jean Silva
Evangelista 'Cyborg' Santos vs. Mike Bisping
James Thompson vs. Andy Costello
Melvin Manhoef vs. Fabio Piemonte
Jason Delucia vs. Anthony Rea
Jorge Rivera vs. Marcelo Uirapuru
Paul Jenkins vs. Abdul Mohamed
Tulio Palhares vs. Alex Evans
Paul Daley vs. Hassan Muridi
Jeremy Bailey vs. Dean Bray
Ross Mason vs. Dexter Casey
Brad Pickett vs. Ozzy Haluk
Mark Buchanan vs. Kuljic Degun

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Fabiano Scherner

SportFight 12: 'Breakout'
September 16th, 2005
Rose Quarter
Portland, OR


Fabiano Scherner vs. Jay White
Ed Nuno vs. Ryan Heally
Pat Healy vs. Eddy Ellis
Damian Hatch vs. Paul Daley
Tony Sanza vs. Mike Pyle
Cary Kolat vs. Enouch Wilson
Jake Villanova vs. J.D. Stanley
Robert Kincaid vs. Mike Dolce
Bobby Jacobson vs. Shawn Sifke
Chael Sonnen vs. TBA
Ian Loveland vs. TBA

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K-1 announced the following 2005 World GP opening round matchups for their card on September 23rd:


Bob Sapp vs. Choi Hong-Man
Jerome Le Banner vs. Gary Goodridge
Francois Botha vs. Musashi
Ray Sefo vs. Kaoklai Kaennorsing

Other fighters scheduled to participate:
Remy Bonjasky
Ernesto Hoost
Peter Aerts
'Mighty' Mo Siligia
Semmy Schilt
Glaube Feitosa
Ruslan Karaev
Fighter selected by K-1 (possibly Yusuke Fujimoto)

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Dan Henderson

DSE/PRIDE announced the line-up for their 8-man 185-pound Grand Prix tournament. The first round of the tournament will take place on September 25th:


185-pound GP first round:
Dan Henderson vs. Ryo Chonan
Murilo Bustamante vs. Masanori Suda
Phil Baroni vs. Ikuhisa Minowa
Daniel Acacio vs. Akihiro Gono

Reserve matchup:
Paulo Filho vs. Ryuta Sakurai

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Sanae Kikuta and Yuki Kondo.

Pancrase 2005 Spiral Tour
October 2nd, 2005
Yokohama Cultural Gymnasium
Kanagawa, Japan

A total of eight matchups is expected to be announced soon:


Yuki Kondo vs. Sanae Kikuta

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Below are some official and unoffical matchups that are scheduled for the UFC 55 card on October 7th. A total of eight matchups is expected to take place on the card:


Andrei Arlovsky vs. Paul Buentello
Forrest Griffin vs. Ian Freeman
Matt Hughes vs. Karo Parisyan
Elvis Sinosic vs. Alessio Sakara
Renato 'Babalu' Sobral vs. Chael Sonnen
Evan Tanner vs. David Loiseau
Keigo Kunihara vs. TBA

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BUSHIDO EUROPE
October 9th, 2005
Ahoy Europe
Place: Rotterdam, Holland


Below is the the line-up for the Bushido Europe card on October 9th. The card is being promoted in association with DSE/PRIDE:

MMA matchups:
Alexander Emilianenko vs. Rene Rooze
Mark Coleman vs. Gilbert Yvel
Kevin Randelman vs. Igor Vovchanchin
Valentijn Overeem vs. Anthony Hardonk
Gegard Mousasi vs. Stefan Klever
Ronny Rivano vs. Chico Martinez

Muay Thai matchups:
Rodney Faverus vs. Gokan Saki
Jerrel Venetiaan vs. Ashwin Balrak
Imro Main vs. Wiliam Diender
Tyrone Spong vs. Vincent Vielvoye


Possible fighters on the card:
Fedor Emelianenko
Ernesto Hoost

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Nakasako vs. Kaoklai (right)

'Titans'
August 22nd, 2005
Yoyogi National Stadium Gym II
Tokyo, Japan

Below are the complete results for the 'Titans' kickboxing card that took place on August 22nd:


John Wayne Parr defeats Kozo Takeda at 2:24, RD 3.
Jareanchai defeats Hiroki Ishii by unanimous decision.
Kaoklai Kaennorsing defeats Tsuyoshi Nakasako by unanimous decision.
Shin Nopadetsorn defeats Akeomi Nitta by unanimous decision.
Ryuji Goto drew with Lamsongkarm.
Gohsuke Kikuchi defeats Chris White by decision.
Hideki Soga defeats Kenichi Kamura by majority decision.
Noboru Uchida defeats Nathan Corbett by DQ at 0:29, RD 1.
Paul Slowinski defeats Kwak Yoon Sup by KO at 0:38, RD 2.

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Jorge Rivera

Jorge Rivera was recently interviewed by American journalist Keith Mills. Here's what Rivera had to say:


Interviewer: What are your thoughts on returning to Cage Rage?

Rivera: I'm looking forward to it, to competing at a higher level. They have good guys running it over there.

Interviewer: You have been fighting for them since Cage Rage 7.

Rivera: They got it together. They always go through with their word. What they say they will do they do and I can appreciate that.

Interviewer: Your last fight was in Massachusettes against Danny Vega (World Fighting League, August 6th). What happened?

Rivera: I threw a high kick at him, takedown, side choke. I like fighting in front of my home town so I took that fight knowing I didn't have much to gain taking that fight. That fight made me real nervous, I wanted to finish it right away. Getting caught with a punch and then having to explain to everybody, I just wanted to get it over with.

Interviewer: What is going on with sanctioning up there?

Rivera: To be honest it is a little messed up. I don't get involved with the politics out there. They go into this thing where they try to break it down by towns. They say the town laws says you can't fight in this town when it is already regulated by the state. It is becoming small politics within each town. That is why I don't look too deep into it because the more I look into it the more angry I become. This person didn't get their hands greased the right way... everybody wants to regulate it.

Interviewer: You had a lot to lose in that fight. In that sense was there more pressure than for instance your Anderson Silva fight?

Rivera: Yeah. As crazy as it sounds.

Interviewer: What happened with the Anderson Silva fight?

Rivera: I fought a guy who was a better fighter. He had really good technique, he was real elusive, he hit hard contrary to what I'd been reading. I just thought his technique was very good.

Interviewer: What do you think of your next opponent, Marcelo Azevedo?

Rivera: I really don't know much about him other than he is a submission guy. I'll just bang him out. If I'm fighting a guy that gives me a hard time standing up I'll take him down or vice versa. I like to bang. Sprawl, bang, sprawl, bang.

Interviewer: How would you describe the cage 'fence' itself? It is like rope.

Rivera: Exactly. Its weird, huh? It is like the rope is tight to look like a cage but it is a mesh rope that catches you when you fall like a circus rope. If you fall into it it will catch you. First time I got into it that was a little weird because you can lean into it and it will give way. When you push your hips in and out of it it will allow you certain moves. When it gives that much I feel it is beneficial to the grappler because it allows the guy trying to get away to push his hips back but he can only get back so far. It actually feeds into the grappler because he can take his feet out from underneath him.

Interviewer: Have you heard anything about DVDs coming out in North America?

Rivera: I haven't. I'm looking forward to seeing my fight on DVD with Anderson.

Interviewer: Are you going to stay training in the Boston region or expand your training?

Rivera: I have family here so I could take off for a little while which I'm actually looking into right now but this is where my children are at. I'm not going to abandon my kids. I could leave but only for so long. I could go for a month or two. That I could sacrifice but anything over that...

Interviewer: Anything to say in public about how the family is doing?

Rivera: Family goes good. They are my motivation, my inspiration. I think about the way my parents raised me and they were always there for me. I need to be there for mine.

Interviewer: Sponsors to thank.

Rivera: Directstrike.tv and Phil Ellis.

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Kengo Watanabe

The Pancrase promotion announced that Kengo Watanabe will be headed to Los Angeles to train for MMA fights in the USA. The goal is to eventually compete in the UFC.

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A fan's humorous parody of the UFC reality show and what appears to be its percieved strategy of appealing to the upper class homosexual demographic.

Review posted by the MMA insider known as Zach Arnoldo:


"1.) The contestants that quit the show infuriated me. I won't pile on too much, God knows they're going to get plenty, but you took a slot there, and you earned it, and if you were going to come in 20 pounds over your weight then you shouldn't have taken that slot from someone else. And you knew it when you got on the plane...

2.) WAY too much Dana White all over the place! And Dana, enough with the "Stalin-esque" tactics. You're their boss, and yes, it's your job to motivate them, but you're coming off as WAY over the top. Can you cut 20 pounds in 2 days? You're right, that's their job, not yours, so fair enough, but that's not winning over the casual fans. They want an everyman, someone they can look up to (why was Tank EVER popular?), and belittling those who can't hack it isn't winning over anyone...

3) For God's sake, why wasn't there a fight tonight?!? How many fans of the WWE, which this was intentionally scheduled after, sat there for an hour and didn't get to see a REAL fight, how many of them will be tuning in next week??

All I can say is this -- Season 1 was considered good enough to warrant a second season by SPIKE TV. Now you need to ask this question -- was that because the formula works? Or was it because of the talent pool, and finding diamonds-in-the-rough like Griffin, Bonnar, and Diego? Because that well only goes so deep...

I really hope that Dana and the production crew are actually setting up the show for bigger things, by trying to show the casual fan exactly how tough it is to be a real fighter and exactly how much respect those guys deserve every time they get in the cage. I really hope that's the angle they're going for, but in reality I don't think they have a clue.

I just don't know how many non-die-hards will still be watching next week after sitting through an hour of quitting and not a single fight..."

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Frank Trigg from his days as a male nude model.

The word out of Las Vegas is that the UFC will supposedly not be bringing back Frank Trigg in the immediate future.

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Matt Lindland

The UFC is thinking about cutting Matt Lindland from his contract. Noone in the office knows for certain, but most feel it's due to Lindland's boring win in last week's UFC 54 card.

Lindland's relationship with Sportsbook.com also supposedly violates the terms of his contract, and the UFC might use this as the reason to release him. Lindland still has one fight left on his contract.

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John Wayne Parr (left) knocking out Kozo Takeda.

John Wayne Parr defeated Kozo Takeda, on today's Titans card in Tokyo, at 2:24 of the third round. Parr won the WKBA 70 kg (154 pounds) belt in the process.

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Roger Gracie (left)

Roger Gracie was recently interviewed by Brazilian magazine 'Tatame'. Here's what Gracie had to say (interview by Andre Araujo):


Tatame: Tell us about the controversial result at the BJJ Mundials open class...

Roger Gracie: Well, once again, I was defeated due to a refereeing mistake. I didn't suffer a takedown. Anyone who knows the rules would never score that a takedown. Even Ronaldo Jacare says an advantage point would work out. This fact proves he agrees with me... It was not a take down! If I stayed on my back or on the side, or he got me down and rode on my back for three seconds, it could be a take down, but that did not happen. If he had scored an advantage point, I would be the champion, because he got a negative point due to him running off the mat 13 times.

Tatame: And what are you going to do about it?

Roger Gracie: Well... to avoid mistakes at the competition, I propose a petition to change the rules of the competition. I think we should have a bigger fight zone, to avoid running away, and three referees instead of just one, like Judo competitions. Mistakes would be avoided. I think that if each athlete had one coach on the mat, it would be easier to avoid all the screaming of the audience...

Tatame: And how does this loss spoil your career?

Roger Gracie: It does not spoil my career. This year has been great for me. I fought the best fighters and I was the 2-class champion at the ADCC 2005 submission world championships in the States. I fought Jacare in the final match and submitted him. I also fought other great fighters such as Saulo Ribeiro, Fernando Margarida and many others this year.

Tatame: Saulo Ribeiro retired after being defeated by you. What do you think about that?

Roger Gracie: It was an honor for me. He said he wanted to fight me and after he lost, he retired himself. So that's true because he didn't even fight in his weight division. I felt honored.

Tatame: How do you work on your Jiu-Jitsu far away from Brazil?

Roger Gracie: Well, I've reached a high level where I keep a good game, even being far away from Brazil and my team. However, I think you can get good in Jiu-Jitsu by teaching classes. Training harder is also good because it gives you stamina and strength. But just training harder will not make you better in Jiu-Jitsu.

Tatame: Tell me about your academy in London.

Roger Gracie: I have around 100 pupils in two academies in London. I am very concerned about them, and when I travel to compete, I always trust fighters in charge of the classes, such as Felipe Souza, Felipe Jerry, and Ze Beleza. I also have two other related academies in Kuwait and South Africa.

Tatame: And about Vale-Tudo? Other BJJ black belts such as Marcio Pe-de-Pano and Ronaldo Jacare are trying their chances in the ring. And you? Who do you like to watch fight nowadays?

Roger Gracie: I work for Jiu-Jitsu. But I cannot tell you I'll never fight. If I receive an unbelievable proposal, who knows? I like to watch the fights of Vanderlei Silva, Mauricio Shogun, Mirko Cro Cop, Rodrigo Minotauro, and Fedor Emelianenko.

Tatame: And about Pride GP? What do you think is going to happen?

Roger Gracie: I think Shogun will not have too much trouble defeating Alistair Overeem, and I think Arona may surprise Vanderlei. If he uses the right strategy, which is to avoid exchanging on the feet and taking the fight to the ground, he increases his chances to win.

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Kazushi Sakuraba getting KO'ed for a third time by Vanderlei Silva (right) was featured on the show.

The following was sent in by Fightsport.com correspondent Zach Arnoldo:


"The first edition of PRIDE on Fox Sports Net aired on Sunday, August 21st. The show was hosted by Jay Glazer, FSN's NFL correspondent. Jay has fought in an MMA event in New Jersey, so he was as good of a choice to have to host the show, in my opinion.

Glazer tries to explain the concept of PRIDE, and he rightfully attempts to try and separate PRIDE from the watered down American MMA rules. Glazer proclaims that PRIDE features 'the most lethal fighting machines on the face of the earth'. Footage of Mirko 'Cro Cop' Filipovic's KO against Igor Vovchanchyn is shown, with a video pop-up stating that Cro Cop was a member of the anti-terrorist group Lucko in Croatia.

The FSN show focused on PRIDE taking fighting 'to the next level' in the '90s, with clips and comments from Bas Rutten, Ralph Gracie, Renzo Gracie, Colin Oyama, and Quinton 'Rampage'. The voice-over speaker uses the phrases 'real men' and 'real fights' to describe PRIDE, and we hear a voice-over of someone saying, 'Boxing... is boxing, but when you go to a PRIDE show, you're going to see someone get their butt kicked.'

A lot of the show was a promo for the upcoming Fedor Emelianenko vs. Mirko 'Cro Cop' Filipovic title fight on August 28th.

Glazer introduces everyone to Fedor, and Fedor's fight against Fujita is shown. Throughout the show, due to time constraints there was some questionable edits during the matches.

Glazer labels PRIDE as 'The Super Bowl of Fighting' and focuses on production values... by showing edited footage of Rampage and Liddell walking to the ring at the Tokyo Dome from Nov. 2003.

The Rampage vs. Liddell fight from November 2003 at the Tokyo Dome is shown. It was clear that the focus was to try to make UFC secondary here, and rightfully so in my opinion. Showing Rampage brutally beating the current UFC hlight heavyweight champion will stay in the people's minds. Later they can show highlights of Vanderlei Silva's brutal KO's of Rampage, and it will put Silva over in a big way with the viewers as the best light heavyweight in the world.

A profile segment is shown on Vanderlei Silva, and his third KO win against Sakuraba is shown is shown.

All in all, it was a great debut for PRIDE on FSN."

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Alistair Overeem

Alistair Overeem talked with the Japanese media today in Tokyo, Japan. When asked who he'd like to face if he makes it to the PRIDE GP final, Overeem answered that he hopes to face Vanderlei Silva in the final.

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In addition to lacking basic boxing technique in his humiliating Pride loss to mid level journeymen Quinton Jackson, Chuck Liddell also lacked the eye gouge friendly UFC gloves.

Commentary by 'The Predator'


Speaking as an experienced professional cagefighter, I believe it is time to spread my insider industry knowledge of the recent evolution of Chuck from B level contender to Cheating Champion. Last night, for the fourth time in a row, Chuck "HGH Gut" Thumbdell gouged the fans, the rules, and most importantly, his opponent. While the timing of it all is certainly not a coincidence, few fans know the information on how and why Thumbdell began to cheat and break the rules after his lack of standup technique was exposed.

As fellow fighters in the cagefighting industry have informed me, Liddell was ordered to begin gouging the eyes of his opponents after being taken apart on his feet by two wrestlers and newcomers to standup fighting by using basic boxing, a complete embarrassment to the entire art of Hawaiin Kempo.

The man responsible for giving this order was none other than John "Haymakerman" Hackleman, who is reported to be both mildly retarded and bisexual. In addition, Haymakerman's mentally challenged son also recently joined the family tradition of breaking an established set of rules by attacking and savagely beating a Taco Bell employee into a coma, after the Taco Bell employee reportedly touched Haymakerman Jr.'s ears.

As I was told, Haymakerman Sr. realized his karate windmill punching techniques had been exposed and was facing severe pressure from the Hawaiin Kempo organization to do something about it, so it was time to begin breaking the rules in order to save face and his business. While every other fighter Haymakerman Sr has taught standup to has been humiliated standing and Duane Ludwig had publically mocked Haymakerman's ability, Liddell had always been the defense for Hawaiin Kempo defenders. In fact, Haymakerman was worried that even the cardio boxing instruction of Dana "Built Like A Fighter" White might prove to be more useful than his failed McDojo arm-punching.

Thus, after the complete humiliation Thumbdell received at the hands of two wrestlers using basic boxing, Haymakerman Sr began teaching Liddell the finer points of using his fingers to scrape his opponents eyes, using the edge of the gloves to scrape his opponents eyes, and trying to thumb them in the eyes. While in public, defenders of Chuck maintained his losses should be attributed to injuries related to his HGH abuse and not his lack of boxing technique, in private they knew it was time to begin breaking the rules.

Finally, as I was also told, the heavy protection around the thumbs was why Haymakerman Sr was such a failure in his pro boxing career, as his best fighting move was not an option. It also explains why Chuck refuses to fight in Pride anymore, as the gloves DSE gives their fighters have more protection and padding, unlike the 90 degree sharp angle on the UFC gloves that Liddell takes advantage of.

There you have it, fellow cagefighting fans, the complete truth. As a leading journalist and professional fighter, I could no longer allow Chuck and Haymakerman's cheating to continue. I am also starting a grass roots effort to ban Chuck Liddell from participating in states that sanction the UFC.

And just remember, if you don't like what I have to say, you can always meet me in the cage.

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Once a Boxercise instructor, Dana White is now UFC president.


A fan's humorous parody of the UFC reality show and what appears to be its percieved strategy of appealing to the upper class homosexual demographic.

The following article appeared in the 'Boston Herald' newspaper:


Featherweights: `Ultimate Fighter's' newest competitors lack punch
By Mark A. Perigard
Sunday, August 21, 2005

Spike TV's hit reality series about amateur fighters takes a sucker punch in its second-season premiere.

Alas, it's a self-inflicted injury.

"The Ultimate Fighter" (tomorrow at 11 p.m. on Spike TV) showcases another 18 mixed martial arts fighters, heavy- and welterweights, all ready to brawl in the caged octagon for a six-figure Ultimate Fighting Championship contract.

Last season, the surprise hit produced not two but three winners. Promoters were so impressed with one contestant's tenacity that he, too, was awarded a contract despite losing his bout.

The series showcased a number of bad boys unlike those found in any other unscripted series and depicted the discipline - and the personality tics - required to make it in a sport that requires men to put their bodies on the line.

The first season was a success from its opening.

Tomorrow's debut trips over itself.

Gone are coaches Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture, two competitors and senior statesmen of the sport. In their place are UFC welterweight champion Matt Hughes, a soft-spoken motivator, and UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin, who might just be Lorenzo Lamas in disguise.

Casting is everything in reality TV, and judging from the debut, the only guts these fighters are carrying are around their waists.

"When I was in the ring for the first time, I looked over at the other guy across the ring like his (expletive) head was a pinata, and I went over there and started smashing his head until the candy came out," brags heavyweight Eli Joslin in a confessional-type segment.

Reality-show junkies know this comment is going to come back for a piece of Joslin's butt, and `"Ultimate" does not disappoint.

It's the fighters who do. In the first episode, one is injured during a grueling workout; another seems to be overwhelmed with paranoia - it's unclear from the screener - about being filmed; and a third gives up on the eve of a bout. Three of the alleged best of the best, gone in one episode. Somebody didn't do their homework on these guys.

In fairness, it's hard to get to know 18 guys in one hour, and that's a problem compounded by the presence of UFC President Dana White.

White was a minor figure during the first season. This season, he dominates the screen as host, ad-hoc coach, philosophizer, the Dr. Phil to the group and practically a wet nurse. Emphasizing White over the fighters is like choosing a poodle over a pitbull.

"Ultimate Fighter'" needs to get back in the ring and prove itself all over again.

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Karo Parisyan

Karo Parisyan was recently interviewed by journalist Brad Doerges. Here's what Parisyan had to say (Part 2 of a 2-part interview):


Interviewer: So how was fighting Sean Sherk?

Parisyan: He was strong when I fought him. I was 18 and he was 26. Sean Sherk went to the hospital after the fight. I mean Sean can't deny it. He got his ass whooped the first time we fought. I'll give you numbers of the promoter, Chris Brennan, Steve Berger... I'll give you numbers, call these mother fuckers. It was an 8 man tournament. He could not continue the tournament. He was supposed to fight Chris in the next round and he said "I'm done". He was in the locker room with ice all over his body. He had a concussion. He didn't even pick up his money. The promoter told me he called like two weeks later and was like "can I get my money?" He left bro... he couldn't continue... and I was there with two strippers on my lap drinking beers. When I fought him there was no way he was 170. I bet my life on that. He was sitting next to me... there was Shonie Carter, Steve Berger, Chris Brennan, and me... a bunch of good welter weights around. Then they announced... Karo Paryisan and Sean Sherk... so looking around I'm thinking "Who's Sean Sherk?" He's right next to me. I'm like it can't be this guy, he's like a heavy weight. I walk out and this guy's in the cage... I'm like "are you kidding me?" I wasn't worried, I had fought many guys like that before... but Sean is quality.... he is strong and a good wrestler. He just shot in on me with doubles. He's a real nice guy but he is a boring fighter. Sean takes Hughes 5 rounds and wins 2 of them, but they don't ask for him back. I mean it's the closest anyone had gotten to beating him, usually Hughes just dominates. Trigg goes in there against Hughes and gets handled... they want him back.

Interviewer: Do you ever feel there is extra pressure to not only beat a guy but make it exciting?

Parisyan: They are like dude you gotta make a good impression or they won't bring you back. I was at 170 a month before the (Dave) Strasser fight I was so excited about it. I popped a rib a week before the fight and I had to have a cortisone shot... I was dead in my brain... people were calling me like Karo I have so much money on you... I was like shut the fuck up... Chris Brennan calls me is like "I put 2000 dollars on you... but no pressure." I'm like get the fuck outta my site bro. I'll kill these mother fuckers... Leave me the fuck alone... The surprising thing was that once I got to the fight I felt fine... Once I got in on him I was like I can throw this guy... I thought he was gonna be way better. He beat Romi Aram who had beat Jerry Bohlander who had fought Tito Ortiz. Strasser goes all three rounds with him gasses him out. Mounts him... I'm thinking this guy is a good grappler... He can strike too... I saw him fight Chris Lytle... Chris Lytle is a class act, a great guy and good fighter too... He just couldn't get his game going with me. I just didn't want him to hit me... He rocked Robbie (Lawler) in that stand up war. I don't want any of that shit, I'm just gonna take him down.

Interviewer: So who do you think is the best Judoka in MMA right now?

Parisyan: Me.

Interviewer: Well besides you.

Parisyan: Honestly, when I say me I don't mean like of course me no... I know 3 Olympic champions that just fought in the last Pride. These guys I used to watch when I was a little child. Pawel Nastula, Yoshida who beat my friend in the Olympics 92’ Jason Morris and Takimoto my weight champion 81kg 2000 Olympic champion. That guy is amazing in Judo. He'll grip you... you just lost. Did you see what happened to all 3 of them though? Yoshida is doing the best out of all the Judo guys. Yoshida is very capable of beating Vanderlei. They just can't get that whole Judo thing going. Fedor says he's Judo but he is also Sambo. But Fedor is an insane mother fucker. I mean Fedor would get schooled by them in Judo but Fedor is more of an all around guy. Chris Leninger an American Judo guy fought in the UFC got handled. I thank God that I'm one of the fortunate guys that I can actually display Judo in an MMA fight. I mean like specific Judo throws not just a takedown.

Interviewer: What about Nakamura?

Parisyan: Naw, he's not a Judo guy. Well he's a Judo guy but not like Yoshida. He hasn't won anything, you can't compare him to Yoshida, he's not even close. I'm not even a real Judoka next to those guys. Those guys are Olympic world champions. I've beaten Olympians before. I have won internationals before but no where close to winning an Olympics or a Worlds. That shit is just beyond... you got 80 guys in your division... 120 nations competing in the tournament all the best and the US sucks... we are all the way down at the bottom with Somolia... we have only had two world champions in the history of judo... Iran has more championships than we do...

Interviewer: What do you feel about B.J. Penn's claim to the UFC 170 belt?

Parisyan: Well he left for a good reason. 175 thousand I heard he was gonna get paid... I would have left too... I mean he fought Duane Ludwig... He damn well knew he could take him down and submit him... that's like easy money... go get your money and fly back to Hawaii... He said if you book me 4 fights with Hughes, I'll fight Hughes all 4 times... The guy isn't trying to dodge anybody... Chuck Liddell or Randy or Matt... I mean these are guys that should be getting paid but it shouldn't be that big of a difference... give us something more, we put on a good show... Mother Fuckers have never seen throws like that... To be honest, I just gotta beat Matt Hughes...

Interviewer: Then you could open up your own school?

Parisyan: Well even if I lose I still want to open up my own school.

Interviewer: Where do you want to open it up at?

Parisyan: I dunno man, somewhere there are a lot of rich people are.

Interviewer: Orange County.

Parisyan: You live in Orange County?

Interviewer: Yup.

Parisyan: Would you go to my school?

Interviewer: Sure.

Parisyan: Well you damn well should. It's too far away though. Maybe Studio City. Maybe Calabassis. When I stand up and open up a school it can't be too expensive. I need to advertise pretty good because a lot of people don't know who Karo Parisyan is.

Interviewer: Do you still want to fight after you open up a school? Do you think that running a school will interfere with your fighting career?

Parisyan: Yes. I'm still young. Once you open up a school you start a business. You always have to be thinking what's best for the school. When you don't have a school you can train when ever you want. I think the best situation is to open a school after you retire but, I'm too young to retire. I hate training so much. I'm a lazy guy. I'm telling you I have fought fights that I didn't even train for. I only trained a week and a half when I fought Jason Miller.. Did you see that fight?

Interviewer: No I haven't. Did you submit him?

Parisyan: No, I beat Miller worse than George St Pierre did probably. I mounted him, I did what ever I wanted to him. I threw him, I had him armbarred and his arm was completely stretched out. Then the doctor threw a towel in but he got out so we were like what's going on? The doctor was basically trying to let the referee know that Miller wasn't responding to anything and that maybe he should stop the fight. I beat him up bad. He was talking shit before and during the fight. I cussed his corner out Tiki (Ghosn), Quinton Jackson, and (Colin) Oyama. I was smiling at them and hitting him when I had him mounted. They were in Little Armenia so they couldn't do shit.

Interviewer: Your last fight in the UFC was with Matt Serra. Did you think Matt Serra would present that much of a challenge for you?

Parisyan: He still wasn't a problem. Delete the first 10 seconds of that fight and it was one of my easiest fights. He's very hard to throw. He's like a cat. Even John McCarthy said "Karo, he's hard to throw". He was just too small for me. I'm a natural 170, he's putting on weight to be 170. I cut a lot of weight for that fight. If you saw me during the weigh ins and if you saw me the next day, huge change. Huge change in my body. I weighed in at 169 and the next day I was 184. Pedolyte. I drink a whole big pedolyte. Then I ate. I had a huge chicken sandwich with fries and chicken wings. That night I had ice cream and chocolate cake.

Interviewer: You just eat anything you want before a fight... after you make weight?

Parisyan: Yeah... It's just not right. Armenian food is very rich. I love cheese. Cheese and bread. That's why I'm a dough boy.

Interviewer: You ever gonna look like Sean Sherk?

Parisyan: No, maybe Fedor. When he fought Goodridge, it looked like he got jumped by ten men. I love that guy.

Interviewer: Nick Diaz is a respected grappler, but it seemed like you were able to stay one step ahead of him. How did Diaz feel on the ground?

Parisyan: I don't know who said that Nick Diaz is a good grappler. Because he submitted Jeremy Jackson? But he's very good at getting in people's head. He just gets in your head. He was calling Robbie a bitch, he slapped Robbie.

Interviewer: That slap was loud.

Parisyan: He got in Robbies head. Did you see him when he fought me? He was scared. "I think it's a bad match up for me..." He said that during the pre-fight interview. Who says that? Diaz is a tough kid. He will keep on coming, he doesn't give up. He hit me in the first round I was like "this guy knocked out Robbie?" With Robbie he just caught him clean on his jaw *bink* just dropped him. I think Chris Lylte is better on the ground than Nick Diaz. He has a better inside guard. Good sweeps. Not like a better grappler, but for MMA he is better. I've never seen him (Diaz) go for a submission on anyone and he tried to go for a kimura on me. It's like trying to power punch with Tyson. It was actually very tight but he didn't have it right. It was a very close fight. Thank God I was able to edge out the decision.

Interviewer: What do you think about the UFC's newest member Diego Sanchez?

Parisyan: Did you know he challenged me? At the UFC fight he was doing an interview and he said the first guy I want to fight is Karo Parisyan. What I think of him? He's strong... a tough kid.

Interviewer: He's fast too...

Parisyan: Really?

Interviewer: Yeah we saw him at Abu Dhabi... He looked very fast.

Parisyan: How did he do?

Interviewer: He lost his first match to Jake Shields.

Parisyan: Oh yeah? I heard he lost to Marcelo Garcia.

Interviewer: Yeah he did. Marcelo had him in an armbar for a while. Your school is known for leg locks what is your favorite submission?

Parisyan: Armbar. Armbar... kimura... Anything with the arms, Triangles, then chokes... Leg locks are good submissions but they are too easy to do... I'll do leg locks if I know I'm gonna catch a guy for sure. I've broken ankles at Kage Kombat before.

Interviewer: Did you get invited to Abu Dhabi?

Parisyan: Yeah, I got invited twice before, but I hate the weight categories. 76 Kilos.

Interviewer: Trigg and Hallman were in the weight class above that... and Jacare.

Parisyan: Jacare... Is he good?

Interviewer: He handled Hallman.

Parisyan: really? How.

Interviewer: Take Down to sidemount then worked an Armbar. Textbook.

Parisyan: He's too strong for him. Too big. Hallman's a good submission guy right?

Interviewer: Yeah he tapped Trigg pretty fast.

Parisyan: I should have gone. But I don't want to fight 186... If it was 175 I would be there... But that's my shit. Standup to ground with grappling.

Interviewer: Roger Gracie just won the ADCC absolute division do you feel he is the best grappler in the world right now?

Parisyan: I've never seen any of his matches. I have to see them to make my decision. All I know is that everyone is taking about this Marcelo Garcia guy. Everyone is talking about this kid along with Jacare. I don't know who the best is. What is the best? I've been against Brazilian black belt guys that will supposedly choke me out... before the Serra fight like I wanna go and test my self. I schooled these guys because they are straight Jiu-Jitsu. They are not strong. I come from a Judo background where you have to be real strong and we are rough too. I love rolling with Jiu Jitsu guys... not like it... LOVE it. I went up against this dude up in Big Bear when I was helping Vitor train for his fight. His friend is a 6'5 Brazilian, imagine how crazy this guy would be, but I handled him. He was like "maybe it's something I eat?" Then Vitor was like "Karo come here... hit me as hard as you can." I was like "are you crazy?" Vitor is a great guy too. People underestimate his grappling... he's got some pretty good skills. He's strong too, but not as strong as he should be to fight Randy at 205... Randy is a Tank... He pushes like a truck too...

Interviewer: So a big fight is coming up between Chuck Liddell and Jeremy Horn. Who do you think will win?

Parisyan: Probably Chuck. I don't know... Horn's a smart fighter. Don't look past him. Chuck might win because he is stronger and the better striker, but Horn is still good. Don't underestimate him.

Interviewer:You think Chuck is gonna try to play that ground game with him?

Parisyan: Pat (Miletich) told me last time their plan was for Horn to go in and punch him. Chuck took him down and it was over.

Interviewer: If you could pick your opponent for after this Hughes fight who would you pick?

Parisyan: Georges St-Pierre. Him vs. Trigg is gonna be a sick ass fight. Anything can happen, but I'm leaning towards Trigg in that fight since I trained with Trigg and fought St-Pierre. Georges is good thought he has good strikes and he is a good wrestler.

Interviewer: Is he stronger than Trigg?

Parisyan: He's not strong, he's agile. Positioning wise, Trigg is stronger. I've dumped Trigg before too, but he is fast... great singles and doubles. It can go either way.

Interviewer: What would you do different if you were to fight St. Pierre again?

Parisyan: I wouldn't cut so much weight the day before the fight. (Josh) Thompson's camp had to drag me out of the sauna. It was bad. Me and Hughes both had trouble making weight that UFC and we both lost. But I make no excuses... St-Pierre was the better fighter that day.

Interviewer: If Trigg beats St-Pierre, and you beat Hughes, would it be weird for you to have to fight Trigg since you've trained with him?

Parisyan: No. I know eventually I'm gonna have to face St-Pierre, Trigg... eventually I'm going to have face all these guys. Is that all the questions?

Interviewer: Yeah that's all I got...

Parisyan: Damn man you got a lot of questions.

Interviewer: Well you talk too much.

Parisyan: Yeah I know. But you have never had this much fun at an interview before...

Interviewer: No I haven't. Thanks Man

Parisyan: No Problem.

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Kaoklai Kaennorsing (left)

'Titans'
August 22nd, 2005
Yoyogi National Stadium Gym II
Tokyo, Japan

Below is the developing line-up for the 'Titans' kickboxing card on August 22nd:


John Wayne Parr vs. Kozo Takeda
Kaoklai Kaennorsing vs. Tsuyoshi Nakasako
Noboru Uchida vs. Nathan Corbett

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Daijiro Matsui

Pancrase 2005 Spiral Tour
August 27th, 2005
Tokyo, Japan


Takuya Wada vs. Masakazu Kuramochi
Moriyuki Yamada vs. Kozo Urita
Koji Oishi vs. Nathan Diaz
Daijiro Matsui vs. Daisuke Watanabe
Yuichi Nakanishi vs. Yuji Hisamatsu
Manabu Inoue vs. Masaki Yanagisawa
Sotaro Yamada vs. Minoru Chujo
Asaki Honda vs. Shinsuke Shoji

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PRIDE: 'Final Conflict 2005'
August 28th, 2005
Saitama Super Arena
Saitama, Japan


PRIDE middleweight GP semifinals (official):
Vanderlei Silva vs. Ricardo Arona
Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua vs. Alistair Overeem

Single matchups (official):
Fedor Emelianenko vs. Mirko 'Cro Cop' Filipovic
'Tank' Abbott vs. Hidehiko Yoshida
Igor Vovchanchyn vs. Kazuhiro Nakamura
Vitor Belfort vs. TBA (possibly Yuki Kondo)
Fabricio Werdum vs. Roman Zentsov

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The Japanese media reports that Ryushi Yanagisawa will return to MMA in next year's PRIDE 2006 Heavyweight Grand Prix tournament.

Sergei Kharitonov was mentioned as a possible opponent for Yanagisawa to face in the heavyweight GP.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Sergei Kharitonov

RINGS Lithuania
August 20th, 2005
Lithuania


Sergei Kharitonov defeats Peter Mulder by armbar, RD 1.
Bazigit 'Volk' Atajev defeats Beneilton Pereira Da Silva by KO, RD 1.
Youri Kochkin defeats Milco Voorn by armlock, RD 1.
Youri Bekishev defeats Hiromitsu Kanehara by TKO, RD 1.
Maxim Novoselov defeats Evert Fyeet by TKO, RD 1.
Tsuyoshi Kohsaka defeats David Shvelidze by armbar, RD 1.
Donald Richard defeats Konstantin Uriyadov by decision.
Michael Illioukhine defeats Yanko Petrov Kolev by ankle lock, RD 1.
Egidijus Valavicius defeats Andre Fyeet by choke, RD 1.

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A fan's parody symbolizing Sean Sherk with mock height indicator.

After deciding to go into self-imposed retirement and stating he'd never participate on any "small shows" again, Sean Sherk has now announced that he has un-retired and will continue to feature on the small show circuit very soon.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Karo Parisyan

Karo Parisyan was recently interviewed by journalist Brad Doerges. Here's what Parisyan had to say (Part 1 of a 2-part interview):


Interviewer: So your next fight is with Matt Hughes?

Parisyan: Uh Yes...

Interviewer: Is that confirmed?

Parisyan: No, not yet. Not against Hughes. A 3-fight contract... but not against Hughes. (The next week it was confirmed on another MMA news site.)

Interviewer: So you have 2 more fights left on that?

Parisyan: I need more money though... To sign the contract I need more money to fight Hughes. Hughes is a fighter... he is a champion. If I'm gonna fight for the title I need more money.

Interviewer: I'm with you... How much does he make a fight? 50 to fight 50, to win?

Parisyan: No, naw man... He just signed a contract for 3 fights for 45O thousand

Interviewer: Wow...

Parisyan: He made like 60 to fight, 60 to win, like 3 years ago... Now it's more. He's got a reality show now. I told Dana how about you put me and Matt on the reality show to promote the fight like Chuck and Randy.

Interviewer: That's a good idea. I thought it was weird that they put coaches from 2 different weight classes.

Parisyan: They wanted to put me against him (Hughes) in the reality show that's coming up in August. They wanted to give me a month to train for a title fight. Are you fucking nuts? I need like 2 1/2 - 3 months to train... God forbid I lose at least I know that I trained for the fight.

Interviewer: The first fight I ever saw u fight was against Fernando Vasconcelos. I actually thought that guy was gonna beat you.

Parisyan: You did? A lot of people thought that.

Interviewer: Well he was Jiu Jitsu world champion... Mundials winner.

Parisyan: A lot of people were like "Karo he's bullet proof, he's amazing..."

Interviewer: Hah! He couldn't even take you down.

Parisyan: The hardcore guys, like my friends... Chris Brennan... they are calling me telling me "Oh Karo you'll beat him... trust me you'll beat him... he can't beat you..." When Terry (Trebilcock) called me, he was like "He's just a Jiu-Jitsu black belt." Then I find out this guy schools Trigg... He was killing Shonie... World Champion Jiu-Jitsu guy, I was like what are you nuts dude? I fought 3 fights. I fought Jason Miller, Antonio McKee, and Fernando Vasconcelos in 3 1/2 months. It was ridiculous. I dunno, for some reason those were all really tough guys but I never really felt that much pressure on me for those fights. Now with the UFC it's much harder. I mean my opponents are not that much better but the training and stuff is a lot harder. I don't like it.

Interviewer: So you don't like the pressure?

Parisyan: Well the pressure is always there. One of the major things I hate is cutting that much weight. I hate cutting to 170.

Interviewer: What do you weigh right now?

Parisyan: I'm still going up. I'm about 184. The most I have ever been was before the Serra fight. Two months before the Serra fight I was 194. Never been that big in my life.

Interviewer: Cheeseburger diet?

Parisyan: No, actually, I wasn't eating that unhealthy. I was eating normal but I wasn't training as much...

Interviewer: Did you know that if you beat Fernando you would be going to the UFC?

Parisyan: Well, Gokor has been telling Joe Silva for a while get Karo in there, and he was always like "We'll see". Honestly, I was never like "Oh I wanna go to the UFC". I'm just a Judo guy and I fight when ever I want. It was just one day I got a call at like 8 in the morning, and Gokor is like congratulations you got in the UFC. Then I was like oh shit! I'm in the UFC. I was excited and like 2 months later oh I'm fighting Strasser? I was like I don't care, I'm fighting in the UFC!

Interviewer: What do you think the key to beating Matt Hughes is?

Parisyan: Well with Matt Hughes against me I'm pretty sure he is gonna have one game. His game is gonna be a ground and pound. Take me down, muscle me, and ground and pound me. He's not gonna have anything like a left hook to right upper cut to a drop fireman's to an armbar. It's not gonna happen. God forbid it doesn't happen. Anything can happen in a fight and Matt Hughes is the champion... he is unbelievable... I'm not underestimating him at all.

Interviewer: Should be a great fight.

Parisyan: I just know what he's gonna try and do. He's gonna try to out muscle me. If he tries to out grapple me that won't be that smart for him. He shouldn't try to grapple a grappler, it's like me trying to box a boxer. He will throw punches and kicks with me for sure, but it's all going to come down to him muscling me towards the cage and trying to take me down to set up his ground and pound. I'm going to try to circle away and try to take him down myself.

Interviewer: So do you think you will be able to throw him?

Parisyan: I have thrown a lot of guys before. I've foot swept Randy (Couture) before. I've thrown Dan Henderson before. It's practice, but I have fought great wrestlers before. In a fight it's different because you have punches, but when we clinch up... It's like Judo guys have the footwork, Randy and Hughes are more steady. I think Trigg is a better wrestler, but Hughes is just stronger and pushes like a truck. If you have seen the first fight between Hughes and Trigg, Trigg was just killing him. Boom, boom, boom, he was all over him because he had so much confidence in himself. If he had fought the same fight that he fought the first time in their last fight he would have beaten Hughes. But once you lose to somebody... they are in your head...

Interviewer: Hughes has won his last 2 fights by submission, are you afraid of his submission skills?

Parisyan: No. Big NO. But I mean anything can happen. I'm not underestimating him. He definitly has the power to submit people... Skill to some point... If he gets somebody's neck he will submit anybody because of his strength...

Interviewer: Have you ever trained with him or wrestled with him?

Parisyan: I never have even talked to him before, then at the last UFC he came into my dressing room before the Serra fight and said "Good luck Buddy". I was like Hmmm That's interesting.

Interviewer: What about his stand up?

Parisyan: Well he's not Pete Spratt... What I mean is he's not a kickboxer... He can still h