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Vanderlei Silva

The Japanese media is reporting that the following matchups will most likely take place on the PRIDE 30 card in October. A total of eight matchups are expected to take place on the card:


Vanderlei Silva vs. Ricardo Arona
Mikro 'Cro Cop' Filipovic vs. Josh Barnett
Mark Hunt vs. Sergei Kkaritonov
Ryan Gracie vs. Kazuhiro Nakamura
Hidehiko Yoshida vs. TBA
'Tank' Abbott vs. TBA

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Rodrigo "Minotauro" Nogueira

Brazilian magazine 'Tatame' recently interviewed Rodrigo 'Minotauro' Nogueira. Here's what Minotauro had to say (interview by Eduardo Ferreira):


Tatame: What did you think about the heavyweight title fight between Mirko Cro Cop and Fedor Emelianenko?

Minotauro: It was a great fight. Fedor showed a lot of heart. He recovered after Cro Cop broke his nose and hit him with several strong knees. Cro Cop did very good in the first round and then he gassed, but he wasn't going to win the fight. Fedor imposes a strong fighting rhythm for the entire fight.

Tatame: You've fought both of them. What do you see different in them now, in comparison to their past fights?

Minotauro: Cro Cop has a better guard now, and he defended himself well on the ground, but I haven't seen a great improvement in him. Fedor has maintained his game of exchanging strikes in the standup and taking you down to keep beating you from the top position, always imposing a very strong rhythm.

Tatame: And what did you think about the fight between Ricardo Arona and Vanderlei Silva?

Minotauro: We all expected Arona to beat Vanderlei, because he trained specifically for it. But they both respect each other a lot... we celebrated his victory a lot because everyone thought Vanderlei was invincible.

Tatame: And what did you think about the GP final, between Arona and Shogun?

Minotauro: Shogun showed up with more gas because he did a 5-minute fight against Overeem, and Arona did a 15-minute fight against Vanderlei, who is the champion of the weight division and is very strong. Arona had to fight very hard in that fight. It's the same as a guy working 22 hours, and another guy working 8 hours. It was like my final when Fedor fought Ogawa and won in one minute, and I did a 15-minute fight against Kharitonov. It's the same when Quinton Jackson fought Chuck Liddell and Vanderlei fought Yoshida.

Tatame: You just had surgery on your elbow. How are you feeling?

Minotauro: I had surgery on my two elbows one month ago. I had arthroscopy done on them to remove some bone fragments, and I'm going to be cleared this week to return to training. In all honesty, it was a routine surgey, and I was even able to drive my car when I left the hospital. But during that period I didn't stay without training. I maintained my form by running and doing a lot of physiotherapy.

Tatame: When will you return to the ring?

Minotauro: I'm waiting for a PRIDE invitation, but I believe I will return to the ring before the year is over.

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Mauricio "Shogun" Rua (center with white shirt, holding belt)

Brazilian magazine 'Tatame' reports that Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua returned to Curitiba, Brazil, and was received at the airport by a large group of fans and journalists waiting to congratulate him on his PRIDE GP win.

"The airport was full of fans and journalists. They even had cards for me. I'm really happy I have so many fans", said Shogun.

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Brazilian magazine 'Tatame' released the seventh volume of their 'Personal Vale-Tudo' instructional book series. The seventh volume focuses on the Chute Boxe team and their favorite techniques for MMA.

It features some of the favorite techniques of Vanderlei Silva, Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua, Murilo 'Ninja' Rua, Nino Schembri, Cristiano Marcello, and other Chute Boxe fighters.

The book is in Portuguese, but the techniques are shown in pictures. To find out more, click here

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Satoru Suzuki (left)

K-1 announced that former Japanese Pro-Boxing Middleweight champion Satoru Suzuki will participate on their K-1 Max card on October 12th.

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Yoshiki Takahashi

The Japanese media reports that the matchup of Yoshiki Takahashi vs. Kestutis Arbocius will take place on the Pancrase card on October 2nd.

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Tim Sylvia (left)

Tim Sylvia recently responded to some comments Evan Tanner made on a website, in which he criticized the way Sylvia celebrated after knocking out Tra Telligman last month. Here's what Sylvia had to say:


"Tanner must have been drunk like he is at every UFC when he's not fighting. He's one loss away from going into rehab obviously.

If he had any clue and was sober that night, he would have realized that I went right over to Tra Telligman to find out if he was okay. I spoke to Guy (Mezger) and said that I hope he's okay. Then I went onto my post-fight interview. I had a lot of sponsors that I needed to thank. And to be honest, I didn't think the knockout was that bad. On the way out of the ring, when Tra was leaving on the stretcher, I patted him on the chest and said ‘good fight.' He was conscious at that point. I also made several different statements (after the fact) apologizing to his crew or whatever because I didn't realize how badly he was hurt.

Evan doesn't know what it feels like to knock someone out. He's always on the receiving end." -Tim Sylvia

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Grappler's Quest: North American Grappling and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Championships
September 10th, 2005
Marist high school
Bayonne, NJ


Leverage.tv and Grapplers Quest will be staging the Grappler's Quest official North American Grappling and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Championships on September 10th in Bayonne, NJ.

Special guests will include Marc Laimon and Dean Lister. The guest referee will be Kenny Florian.

For more information, click here

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Mondragon

Clube da Luta 4
September 9th, 2005
Rock in Rio Cafe
Salvador, Brazil


Mondragon vs. Luis Buda
Camaleao vs. Renato Castro
Yuri Carlton vs. Leleko
'China' vs. Iuri Alves
Andre Velame vs. Lulinha
Rochester vs. Stenio
Serginho vs. Peterson Malfort
'Demolidor' vs. Julinho Cabral
Lu Chines vs. Ramon Aquino
Paulo Roberto vs. Marcos Chuck
Lula Molusco vs. Val Clei

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Portugal Vale Tudo 2
October 1st, 2005
Pavilhao do Complexo Municipal Desportivo
Almada, Portugal


Vitor Nobrega vs. Yuri Carlton
Wesley Silva vs. Ken Akkavong
Sergio Melo vs. Luis Filipe
Andre Mussi vs. Carlao
Jaguar vs. Luis 'Pantera'
Olavo Belo vs. Marcelo Bernardo
Jose Luis Zapater vs. Velame
Etrom vs. Miguel Machado

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By Tape Lord

Vanderlei Silva vs. Ricardo Arona.

Hello my friends, my postal connectins in the DSE/PRIDE irganization are telling me that a Vanderlei Silva vs. Ricardo Arona rematch will most likely take place on the PRIDE card in October.

If it doesn't take place in October, then the next possible date would be on the December 31st card. The matchup will be for Silva's light heavyweight belt.

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DSE/PRIDE announced that it will be holding an autograph session featuring some of their star fighters on Saturday, September 3rd from 3:00 P.M. to 5:00 P.M. at the Best Buy in West Hollywood, California.

The autograph session is being done in conjunction with BCI Eclipse and Best Buy. Fighters scheduled to appear:


Dan Henderson
Phil Baroni
Hidehiko Yoshida
Kazuhiro Nakamura

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Forrest Griffin

Men's Fitness magazine recently interviewed Forrest Griffin. Here's what Griffin had to say:


Interviewer: You're a witty guy. Why fight?

Forrest: You know, I've always had a small penis, and I want to compensate for it. (laughs) Actually, the defense and tactics instructor at the police academy showed me a UFC video. I said, "This stuff's cool." So I started training for it, got beat up, and I decided I wanted to keep doing it.

Interviewer: You always look like you're having a great time-even when you're in an all-out brawl. Is it really fun for you?

Forrest: Yeah, that's why I do this. A fight's just not that big a deal. It's not like being in battle; it's not having cancer. It's not dealing with crazy people at four in the morning like when I was a police officer.

Interviewer: Do you ever get frightened in there?

Forrest: Here's my strategy: I think about the worst that can happen in a fight. Am I gonna die? Well, death happens in our sport, but it's a rarity. And death is a journey-my bags are packed. I'm ready for that when it comes. I could also be embarrassed in front of lots of people, but that's happened to me before-I never should have done that Internet porn. (laughs)

Interviewer: So does anything rattle you?

Forrest: I have a lot of performance anxiety. I want people to like me. I want to do well. I want people to feel like they got their money's worth and were entertained.

Interviewer: You've seen the field for this season's Ultimate Fighter. What do you think?

Forrest: I look at those guys and I know I'm not working that hard. A lot of them are better than me. Keith Jardine is a helluva boxer, and I'm sure he'll end up fighting in the UFC as a light-heavyweight.

Interviewer: There's a softer side to you than most realize. Rumor has it you like Cary Grant movies and reading novels.

Forrest: Yeah, I was raised by my mother, and she brought me up to be sensitive. That's the way I fight-friendly. I don't take any cheap shots, and if you beat me, I'll be the first guy to congratulate you.

Interviewer: Final question: Once and for all, do women weaken your fighting?

Forrest: I don't know what that's about, man. I fuck every night before a weigh-in. That's my secret cutting strategy.

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Vince McMahon

'The Wrestling Observer' reports that WWE chairman Vince McMahon was supposedly very upset when he saw a UFC commercial during the airing of his TV show, WWE: 'Raw'.

What supposedly made McMahon so upset was that the commercial stated that boxing and pro wrestling were 'not real', and that the UFC was real. According to sources, McMahon did not like Spike TV airing such a commercial during his broadcast, which made his product seem inferior to the UFC.

Since then, Spike TV has made a new version of the commercial that only implies boxing isn't real anymore, and makes no mention of pro wrestling.

According to The Wrestling Observer, with the WWE set to leave Spike TV at the end of September, and with Spike TV now relying on the UFC as its number one provider of original programming, that the relationship between the WWE and Spike TV has become strained.

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Takanori Gomi and Tetsuya Kawajiri.

Below are the lineups that were officially announced for the PRIDE 185-pound and 160-pound Grand Prix tournaments. The opening round for both tournaments 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



160-pound GP first round:
Takanori Gomi vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri
Luiz Azeredo vs. Naoyuki Kotani
Hayato Sakurai vs. Jens Pulver
Joachim Hansen vs. Yves Edwards

Reserve matchup:
Charles Bennett vs. D. Mishima

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K-1 2005 World GP: Opening Round
September 23rd, 2005
Osaka Dome
Osaka, Japan


K-1 2005 World GP opening round:
Bob Sapp vs. Choi Hong-Man
Jerome Le Banner vs. Gary Goodridge
Ernesto Hoost vs. Ruslan Karaev
Francois Botha vs. Musashi
Ray Sefo vs. Kaoklai Kaennorsing
Peter Aerts vs. 'Mighty Mo' Siligia
Semmy Schilt vs. Glaube Feitosa

Single matchups:
Remy Bonjasky vs. Alexey Ignashev
Nobuaki Kakuda vs. George 'The Iron Lion'

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Falaniko Vitale (center)

Icon Sport (formerly Super Brawl) announced the matchup of Falaniko Vitale vs. Jason 'Mayhem' Miller for their Icon Sport: 'Opposites Attract' card on October 28th.

The winner will get a title shot against Robbie Lawler.

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Ken Shamrock

Sources in California report that Ken Shamrock recently spent some time in Okinawa, Japan, to volunteer his teaching services and expertise on hand-to-hand combat to the US Marines stationed there.

Shamrock's first clinic with the Marines on Okinawa was back in 2001. The program is part of the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program.

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Ian Freeman wearing a generic title belt.

Sources in the UK are reporting that Ian Freeman sustained a chest injury while horse riding, and will not be able to participate on the UFC 55 card on October 7th.

Freeman was scheduled to face Forrest Griffin. Sources in Vegas are reporting that Elvis Sinosic may now be a possible opponent for Griffin.

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Marcio "Pe De Pano" Cruz

Sources in Vegas are reporting that the heavyweight matchup of Marcio 'Pe De Pano' Cruz vs. Keigo Kunihara will supposedly take place on the UFC 55 card on October 7th.

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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:


"The opening segments starts off re-capping last week's first training session: heavyweight Eli Joslin leaving the show, the injury to Kerry Schall that forces him him to leave the show, and welterweight Kenny Stevens not being able to cut the final five pounds for his fight.

In the opening scene of episode 2, Dana White talks about bringing in a heavyweight alternate, and it turns out to be 270-pound KOTC veteran Dan Christison.

More fighter training was shown, with Matt Hughes and Rich Franklin looking on before making their team selections. In a sparring exchange, Jorge Gurgel was injured and talked about how he had injured himself months before and currently has no ACL in his left knee. Gurgel said he would never quit the show and would face a knee replacement before leaving the house.

Then the focus went on Melvin Guillard and his cocky ego. A boring visit from the coaches followed, with Hughes saying that if he sees a fighter eating unhealthy food or drinking alcohol, that it would deter him from picking that fighter. Franklin seemed happy and surprised that it seemed as though all the fighters were getting along.

The draft came on the seventh day, and Franklin won the coin toss to pick first. Here are the fighters picked by Franklin and Hughes:

Rich Franklin (Green Team):
Keith Jardine
Jorge Gurgel
Seth Petruzelli
Marcus Davis
Rashad Evans
Anthony Torres
Melvin Guillard
Brad Imes

Matt Hughes (Blue Team):
Joe Stevenson
Mike Whitehead
Josh Burkman
Dan Christison
Sam Morgan
Tom Murphy
Rob MacDonald
Luke Cummo

The first challenge was issued to the welterweights by season one coach Randy Couture. A 'dummy' was placed in the middle of a mini football field. The goal was for a team to get the dummy into their own end zone. Participants had to either bear crawl or be on their knees.

The blue team was victorious, as Luke Cummo was pulling people of the dummy with his guard, and Josh Burkman crawled the dummy into the end zone. This gave the blue team the right to pick which welterweight they wanted to fight.

On day eight, Dana White announced that 25-year old Josh Burkman would fight 22-year old Melvin Guillard in a welterweight elimination bout. It seemed to piss off Guillard to have been the first welterweight called out, but Burkman seemed annoyed that Guillard called himself 'the best'.

A sparring session led Rich Franklin to believe that Guillard will be hard to catch with submissions, and hard to knock out. In an an attempt to play a practical joke on the seemingly over-sensitive Dana White, Guillard walked into White's office to tell him he was leaving the show. Dana White believed Guillard, and was then told it was all a practical joke by the Green Team.

The fight took placeon Day ten. Here's how it played out:

ROUND 1: Burkman takes Guillard down and eventually gets his back. Guillard is able to pull guard and catches Burkman in a guillotine. Burkman powers out and gets Guillard's back again, and starts to throw punches. Guillard gets out and back to his feet. Burkman clinches and pulls off a Hughes-type slam, but Guillard works his way back to his feet. While trying to slam Guillard, Burkman gets caught in another guillotine as time runs out of the first round.

ROUND 2: Both fighters come out seeing like they want to trade strikes. Burkman finally clinches and slams Guillard again. Burkman works his way to the full mount, but Guillard was able to contain Burkman and no damage was done. Guillard reverses and gives up his back, but is not able to choke him out and gets reversed but pulls guard. The round ends with Guillard in Burkman's guard.

ROUND 3: Guillard comes out trying to get the KO but doesn;t have much success. Burkman eventually gets the clinch and takes Guillard down again. Burkman throws some short elbows, while Guillard tries to contain him from the bottom. Guillard is almost gets back to his feet, but Burkman is able to keep him in his guard. The round ends, and Burkman is awarded the unanimous victory .

After the fight, it was discovered that Guillard had broken his hand during the second round but his corner was unaware. After the fight Guillard reflected and said that he 'froze up' but he did not quit.

A preview of episode three shows Burkman in an arm sling and a new fighter coming into the house. The first heavyweight elimination bout will also take place on next week's show.

All in all, it was an average episode. The team competition was not too exciting, and the fight was average. Melvin Guillard supplied the only real spark on the show. But with Guillard now eliminated from the show, it remains to be seen if any of the remaining fighters can provide that same kind of spark in front of the camera."

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


Single matchups:
Jutaro Nakao vs. Eoh Won Jin
Din Thomas vs. Tyrone Glover
Jun Ishii vs. TBA
Kei Yamamiya vs. Kim Jin O
Hidehiko Hasegawa vs. Seichi Ikemoto
Satoko Shinashi vs. Noriko Okamoto
Kazunori Yakota vs. Hiroki Nagaoka
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:
Sam Greco vs. Shungo Oyama
Akira Kikuchi vs. Kiuma Kunioku
Yoshihiro Nakao vs. Fae Falamoe
Zuluzinho vs. Sylvester Terkay
Hermes Franca vs. Koutetsu Boku

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. TBA (Sanae Kikuta is out due to injury)

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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:
Ernesto Hoost

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Rickson Gracie


Rickson Gracie announced a new promotion he's helping to promote called 'The Budo Challenge'

Four fighters from different martial arts disciplines will be chosen for each of the six weight classes. Each weight class will have a single elimination tournament to decide its champion.

The event will take place in Los Angeles, California, from October 17th to the 21st. The following prize money will be awarded per weight division:

1st Place: USD$4,000;
2nd Place: USD$2,000;
3rd Place: USD$500 (two prizes)

Any interested fighters can contact the Budo Challenge Selection Committee in care of Kid Peligro at kidpeligro@gmail.com.

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Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic a day after his fight against Fedor Emelianenko.

Mirko 'Cro Cop' Filipovic announced to the Croatian media and said that DSE/PRIDE has told him his next fight will be against Josh Barnett on the October PRIDE card.

He added that if he gets past Barnett, DSE/PRIDE will make a rematch between him and Rodrigo 'Minotauro' Nogueira. And after that, a possible fight against Mark Hunt also awaits Cro Cop.

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Takanori Gomi (top)

The Japanese media reports that the matchup of Takanori Gomi vs. Tetsuya Kawajiri will most likely take place in the first round of the upcoming PRIDE Lightweight GP.

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Hidehiko Yoshida

The Japanese media reports that Hidehiko Yoshida and Kazuhiro Nakamura are scheduled to appear on an upcoming episode of the 'Best Damn Sports Show Period' on FSN.

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By Tape Lord

Mark Hunt

Hello my friends, my postal connections in the DSE/PRIDE organization are telling me that the matchup of Mark Hunt vs. Sergei Kharitonov will most likely take place on the PRIDE GP card in October.

The winner will most likely be next in line to challenge Fedor Emelianenko for his heavyweight belt.

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A clip of Kazushi Sakuraba getting KO'ed for a third time by Vanderlei Silva (right) was aired on ESPN's Sportscenter.

This morning's edition of ESPN: 'Sportscenter' featured a segment called 'The Ultimate Highlight', which aired a brief clip of Vanderlei Silva knocking out Kazushi Sakuraba.

The KO was taken from the third fight between Silva and Sakuraba.

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Hermes Franca

The Japanese media reports that the matchup of Hermes Franca vs. Koutetsu Boku has been added to the HERO's GP card on September 7th.

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HEAVYWEIGHT


1.) Fedor Emelianenko Russia
2.) Rodrigo 'Minotauro' Nogueira Brazil
3.) Mirko 'Cro Cop' Filipovic Croatia
4.) Sergei Kharitonov Russia
5.) Fabricio Werdum Brazil
6.) Andrei Arlovski Belarus
7.) Frank Mir USA
8.) Pedro Rizzo Brazil
9.) Tim Sylvia USA
10.) Alexander Emelianenko Russia


LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT


1.) Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua Brazil
2.) Ricardo Arona Brazil
3.) Vanderlei Silva Brazil
4.) Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson USA
5.) Chuck Liddell USA
6.) Randy Couture USA
7.) Rogerio 'Minotoro' Nogueira Brazil
8.) Alistair Overeem Holland
9.) Renato 'Babalu' Sobral Brazil
10.) Vitor Belfort Brazil


MIDDLEWEIGHT


1.) Dan Henderson USA
2.) Murilo Bustamante Brazil
3.) Kazushi Sakuraba Japan
4.) Rich Franklin USA
5.) Paulo Filho Brazil
6.) Yuki Kondo Japan
7.) Anderson Silva Brazil
8.) Evan Tanner USA
9.) Phil Baroni USA
10.) Ryo Chonan Japan


WELTERWEIGHT


1.) B.J. Penn USA
2.) Matt Hughes USA
3.) Georges St-Pierre Canada
4.) Frank Trigg USA
5.) Renato 'Charuto' Verissimo Brazil
6.) Antonio Schembri Brazil
7.) Daniel Acacio Brazil
8.) Sean Sherk USA
9.) Crosley Gracie Brazil
10.) Carlos Newton Canada


LIGHTWEIGHT


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


FEATHERWEIGHT


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


AFP fighter rankings can be viewed at AFP TOP 10

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Fedor Emelianenko

Fedor Emelianenko announced that he is going to have immediate surgery on his injured right hand.

Fedor's problematic right hand has not fully recovered since it re-broke earlier in the year. A full recovery is expected after surgery.

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Mauricio "Shogun" Rua

Sources in the Brazilian media are saying that Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua may move up to the heavyweight division.

It's no secret that Chute Boxe manager and head trainer, Rudimar Fedrigo, has planned to eventually have Shogun move up to the heavyweight division. According to these sources, Rudimar feels that now may be the right time, especially coming off of Shogun winning the PRIDE 205-pound GP.

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"Tank" Abbott (center) getting choked out by Hidehiko Yoshida.

Sources in the Japanese media are saying that 'Tank' Abbott may be on the PRIDE card in October.

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Ricardo Arona (bottom)

Ricardo Arona is claimed in a post-fight interview that the reason he lost to Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua was because he hit his head on the ground at some point in the fight and became disoriented.

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Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic a day after his fight against Fedor Emelianenko.


Mirko 'Cro Cop' Filipovic spoke with the Japanese media after losing to Fedor Emelianenko. Here's what Cro Cop had to say regarding the fight:


"I cannot explaine why I gassed out after 1. round,I was very focused and calm,there was no reason to gas out so quickly! On training, I was simulating a hard fight for 30 minutes with no problem, but today I lost my energy after only 10 minutes!

Congrats to Fedor because he had dominated for most of the fight. The judges desicion was right and fair. I was comfortable on the ground, in fact later in match I prefered to be on the ground because I didnt have energy to attack in stand up fight. In first round I rocked him once, and instead to try to finish him with boxing I tried with high kick and slipped! If I knew that I will surprisingly gas out, I would try to be much more aggresive in the 1st round.

I really don't have the explanation why I lost my energy! I had my chance, but it is over now!" Mirko 'Cro Cop' Filipovic


Editor's note: Cro Cop, taking as many body shots as you did against Fedor will make anyone "gas out" quickly ;)

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


Single matchups:
Fedor Emelianenko defeats Mirko 'Cro Cop' Filipovic by unanimous decision.
Hidehiko Yoshida defeats 'Tank' Abbott by choke at 7:40, RD 1.
Fabricio Werdum defeats Roman Zentsov by triangle choke at 6:01, RD 1.
Kazuhiro Nakamura defeats Igor Vovchanchyn by unanimous decision.


PRIDE GP semifinals:
Ricardo Arona defeats Vanderlei Silva by unanimous decision.
Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua defeats Alistair Overeem by TKO at 6:42, RD 1.

PRIDE GP final:
Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua defeats Ricardo Arona by KO at 2:54, RD 1.

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Paulo Filho

Brazilian magazine 'Tatame' talked with Paulo Filho about the upcoming PRIDE 185-pound GP. One of the topics covered was the possibility of Filho eventually facing his teammate Murilo Bustamante if both fighters advance in the GP. Here's what Filho had to say about it:


"I hope Murilo (Bustamante) is put in the other bracket, so that if we have to fight it will be in the final. Either way, I have to beat Sakurai first. That will be a good fight for me, because he (Sakurai) likes to trade strikes and he won't run away from the fight." -Paulo Filho

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Murilo Bustamante (top)

Brazilian magazine 'Tatame' took pictures of a training session at the Brazilian Top Team academy in Brazil, and reports that Murilo Bustamante is hard at work, preparing for the upcoming PRIDE 185-pound GP.

Bustamante is scheduled to face SHOOTO champion Masanori Suda in the first round of the GP.

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Antonio Silva (center)

The Brazilian media reports that the winner of the James Thompson vs. Andy Costello matchup will most likely face BTT's Antonio Silva for his Cage Rage heavyweight belt.

Thompson and Costello will face each other on the Cage Rage 13 card on September 10th.

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