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Nate Quarry

Nate Quarry was recently interviewed by American journalist Keith Mills. Here's what Quarry had to say (Part 2 of a 2-part interview):


Interviewer: You were talking about how much the three fights in UFC in one year helped financially.

Quarry: I don’t think people really understand how low our payscale is. No-one that is fighting currently got into fighting to be rich and famous; we all got in for the love of the sport. I fought for five years with a full-time job. I’ve been training for nine years and quit my job three and a half years ago so I could pursue my dream of just fighting. Just to make ends meet bare bones $30,000 a year I had to fight that often. That is what a lot of people don’t understand about the sponsors and how much it has hurt us to not be able to give the shoutouts, first on Spike and now in UFC. I usually stay away from the forums, occasionally I’ll check in to see how things are going or what happened in the show and I saw a couple threads where the fans are really happy now the fighters weren’t giving shoutouts to Rich’s Tire Barn and Sprawl Shorts. All I could think to myself was ‘how ungrateful could you possibly be?’ You have people like myself that are training twice a day week after week to provide you with what is now free entertainment on Spike and you can’t give us thirty seconds of your time, will sit and watch the same commercials for a BK “double”...will sit and listen to that but when a fighter needs to double his purse or perhaps triple it or make an extra $1000 on top of what his entry-level purse is into the UFC $2000.

Interviewer: That is half the income cut away.

Quarry: You won your fight, you have made $4,000 and now the fans are saying ‘we don’t have thirty seconds to spare so this guy can make an extra $5,000 and train full-time to give us better fights in the future. You said I was busy because I fought three times, this will be my fourth time in one year. The people on TUF reality show got $5,000 to fight; $5,000 to show/$5,000 to win. If I stay on that same contract that is $40,000 if I win all four fights. Take away 20% for management and training fees, another third for taxes, and I don’t know about you but I need a place to live and occasionally like to eat….at the end of the day you are broke. It has just been this year I’ve been able to upgrade due to those four fights and the ability to get sponsors I finally was able to sell my seventeen year old Toyota.

Interviewer: I sympathize with you. Hopefully that might change now that you are fighting Rich Franklin. What do you think of fighting him?

Quarry: I think it is a great opportunity. I think it will be a wonderful fight. I think it is awesome that I was such an underdog. From what people have seen they are like ‘who is this guy, he has had three fights…why is he fighting for the title?’ I’ve had fifteen fights. I’ve been fighting for seven years, been training with world champions…it reminds me of back in the day when Ken Shamrock was fighting regularly in the UFC. I’d always watch that and see this cornerman in the background and think ‘who is that guy?’ Come to find out it was Frank Shamrock. All of a sudden he gets his break in the UFC and takes over. If you look at those old UFCs you will see one guy that has been cornering Randy (Couture) since Pedro Rizzo II and that was me. Since longer than I’ve been fighting I’ve been training with Randy Couture, Dan Henderson, Matt Lindland…

Interviewer: Everybody at Team Quest praises Robert Follis but now we are hearing bits and pieces about Randy being down in Vegas involved in a new gym or even team. Do you still have a chance to train with Randy or is he part of Team Quest anymore?

Quarry: He is down in Vegas and the L.A. area. He is reaching the end of his fighting career and is moving on with other things and we wish him the best. It is a natural progression. You can not or would not want to fight well past your prime. It is a very hard lifestyle. Even though he is not up here in Oregon as a training partner just looking at the example he has set as a fighter is phenomenal, knowing the human body can fight at a world championship level well into the 40s if need be…that takes away all the excuses I have at a comparatively young age off 33.

Interviewer: This is an interesting time at Team Quest with Randy moving on and Jay White joining. (White used to own a Team Renzo Gracie affiliate in New York). What has his affect if any on the team been?

Quarry: Jay White is a great addition to the team. We have been lacking for a while and he just moves in very smoothly. He has a very complete ground game as I had the ‘pleasure’ of finding out a few weeks ago when we sparred together for the first time. Where he came from was a little more traditional BJJ so we are working on getting some more aggressive ground-and-pound out of him and he is coming along very quickly with that. There aren’t going to be many Heavyweights in the world that are going to be able to stop him.

Interviewer: I’d like to hear your opinion of the rest of the team.

Quarry: We have a phenomenal team, some great up-and-comers. Once again Robert is the key to it. These people come from nowhere, they’ve come from the street to learn martial arts fitness or whatever and a year or two later you have an athlete, an undefeated fighter. Anybody can take an Olympic wrestler and teach them how to sprawl, black belt in BJJ or whatever and give them a little bit of hands and have a good fighter. To take somebody with no athletic background whatsoever like Chris Leben, Ed Herman, Ian Loveland and in just a couple years they are making waves in the world. Chris Leben fighting in the UFC. Ed Herman guaranteed will be fighting in the UFC very soon. Ian Loveland, too small for the UFC but once he makes it to Japan he is going to take over the country. This is all 100% coming from Robert Follis and his attention to detail.

Interviewer: Last month you were cornering Ryan Schultz in Vegas, two nights later were cornering several fighters at SportFight in Portland, and then off to UFC Two UFCs in four days for Leben and Sonnen. It seemed like you would be taking three weeks off of training.

Quarry: If you break it down and look at it that is not that big a deal. If you think about it I fly back to Connecticut six hours, maybe eight hours with a layover. I leave at ten in the morning but that time it is ten at night their time. There is no reason I can’t go to the gym in the morning and get a brutal workout in. Most likely I got two workouts the day before which I actually did because I was in Las Vegas. I went to the gym in the morning, flew back, drove from the airport to the gym, got another workout in, woke up the next morning and had a brutal workout…if you were to call Robert Follis and ask what his number one priority for training me for the Franklin fight he would not say ground-and-pound or jiu-jitsu, he would say ‘keeping him under control’. I can wake up in the morning, get a brutal workout in, corner some guys, get to sleep by midnight, and wake up the next morning and do the same thing.

Interviewer: Can you tell me your thoughts on the Chris Leben fight in Ultimate Fight Night 3?

Quarry: I thought it was a very good fight, especially for him to show how well-rounded his skills are. He is still a very young up-and-coming fighter and made a couple mistakes. He stayed in the guard a little too long I think. I feel if he had sat up and thrown some bombs down and hit him a couple more times that would have been a better strategy but it worked out. Like when I fought Pete Sell, my boxing coach called and said ‘I know you won in under a minute but here is the reality of the situation; You got hit five times and only hit him twice. You need to work on that’. There is always something.

Interviewer: What was it like cornering Chael’s UFC debut (UFC 55)?

Quarry: That was wonderful. The excitement on Chael’s face as he is going to the ring…we are standing under the awning before we actually walk out and he is jumping around like a kid at Christmas. He turns around and looks to our escort man, grabs him by the shoulders, the guy is like 80 years old and looks like Colonel Sanders, starts shaking and yells ‘I’m on TV, bitch!’ He had a blast. Obviously the fight didn’t go his way but the performance he put on, he did a great job giving up twenty pounds.

Interviewer: Leben and Sonnen’s fights are probably the ones the fans heard the most about but around the same time Schultz fought for the FFC belt and Horwich had a big fight against Vernon White. How responsible do you feel you are for the attention or the breaks the TQ up-and-comers and getting?

Quarry: I think TUF has done wonders for this sport in general. If you were to ask any promoter he would say ‘ever since TUF came out my ticket sales have gone through the roof’. When they say that they look at me and I look at them and say ‘you’re welcome’. I’ve been saying it for years, nobody cares about an organization. The UFC is a brand name and people recognize it and associate it with ‘extreme fighting’ but at the end of the day people want to see a hero. They want to be able to cheer for someone. Nobody remembers what belts Muhammad Ali fought for.

Interviewer: I didn’t get a chance to do an update with you since your Shonie Carter fight. Before that we talked about fighting on a Spike TV show in a smaller audience. What are your thoughts on fighting in front of a larger audience and on pay-per-view?

Quarry: Once you know your life for two months has been seen by millions of people all over the world there isn’t too much more that can make you nervous. Millions of people saw me cry on free TV. They saw me hug Chris Leben with our shirts off. There is not a whole lot more that can be done to embarrass me on TV.

Interviewer: Besides the TUF angle I’m looking at this as Team Extreme vs. Team Quest.

Quarry: I kind of look at it as Middleweight Champion Rich Franklin faces number one most overrated fighter Nathan Quarry.

Interviewer: Anything else you want to get across?

Quarry: Just I think this will be a phenomenal fight and it will be your money’s worth right there. There is a great card for this whole show. I know a lot of people are upset at the UFC for not allowing coverage by the MMA magazine and giving passes ay longer…I can’t understand a lot of the decisions they make but they are who I fight for and I think it is a phenomenal organization none the less.

Interviewer: Sponsors to thank?

Quarry: Sprawl shorts who have been with me for a while, World Fightwear warehouse which is a place you can go to buy all the cool gear, this time Cobb may step up, Benchmade Knives has been helping me out, Rich’s Tire Barn, and hopefully some biger sponsors as time goes on. If the fans would do me a personal favor or not even me, you got to love some fighter out there, e-mail the bigger sponsors like Nike and Gatorade because those are the guys that will give the fighters the money they need to not have a job. Like I said before, before I fought Sincaid I was sweeping the floor for eight dollars an hour so I could put food in my mouth and my daughter’s mouth. I have a friend Greg Piper who fought at the MGM Grand on a boxing undercard. It was a big card, a pay-per-view card, but his fight was not shown and was the first or second fight of the night. He made $35,000 for that. That is sixteen times what somebody stepping into the UFC will get. We need that sponsorship money. Thank God after a fight people want to buy you a drink (both laugh).

Bob Sapp

HERO'S
November 5th, 2005
Olympic Gymnasium-1
Seoul, Korea


Yoshihiro Akiyama defeats Masakatsu Okuda by TKO at 3:31, RD 1.
Sylvester Terkay defeats Mubae Choi by unanimous decision.
Bob Sapp defeats John Wang Kim by KO at 0:08, RD 1.
Chalid Arrab defeats Hiromitsu Kanehara by majority decision.
Min Soo Kim defeats Sean O'Haire by guillotine choke at 4:46, RD 1.
Yushin Okami defeats Myeon Ju Lee by TKO at 4:14, RD 1.
Kristof Midoux defeats Jun Soo Lim by TKO at 0:50, RD 1.
Kiuma Kunioku defeats Jung Hwan Cho by choke at 2:01, RD 1.
Shungo Oyama defeats Yun Sub Gwak by submission at 1:14, RD 1.
Jong Man Kim defeats Atsushi Yamamoto by TKO at 4:25, RD 2.
Hiroyuki Takaya defeats Do Hyung Kim by by unanimous decision.
Un Sik Song defeats Michihisa Asano by armbar at 3:40, RD 1.

Albert Kraus (center, with red gloves) defeating Chi-Bin Lim.

K-1 MAX 2005
November 5th, 2005
Olympic Gymnasium-1
Seoul, Korea


Single matchups:
Albert Kraus defeats Chi-Bin Lim by unanimous decision.
Remigijus Morkevicius defeats Soo-Hwan Lee by KO at 2:50, RD 2.
Kook-Hwan Kim defeats Hyun Seok by split decision.

Asia tournament first round matchups:
Kojiro defeats Se-Ki Kim by unanimous decision.
Jung-Woong Moon defeats Sang-Soo Lim by KO at 2:40, RD 2.
Sung-Hwan Park defeats Chung Han by TKO at 2:26, RD 1.
Jae-Sik Choi defeats Kinji by KO at 2:04, RD 1.
Jong-Yoon Choi defeats Gwang-Su Jeong by unanimous decision.
Ulzikhutga Gantumur defeats Eun-Tack Hong by unanimous decision.

Pancrase 2005 Spiral Tour
November 4th, 2005
Korakuen Hall
Tokyo, Japan


Poai Suganuma defeats Ryuta Noji by triangle choke at 3:12, RD 1.
Paul Rodriguez drew with Koji Oishi.
Kenji Arai defeats Furdjel de Windt by unanimous decision.
Izuru Takeuchi defeats Kozo Urita by unanimous decision.
Riki Fukuda defeats Yuta Nakamura by KO at 0:57, RD 1.
Kentaro Imaizumi drew with Takumi Murata.
Daizo Ishige defeats Shinsuke Shoji by majority decision.
Sotaro Yamada defeats Kazuhiro Inoue by rear naked choke at 2:51, RD 1.
Manabu Inoue defeats Nobuyuki Kato by TKO at 2:59, RD 2.
Aslan Dzeboev defeats Jimmy Akishige by KO at 0:20, RD 1.

Amar Suloev

M-1: 'Russia vs. France'
November 3rd, 2005
St. Petersburg, Russia

Ramaz Ahadulaev defeats Marc Emmanuel by choke.
Boris Jonstomp defeats Alexei Veselovzorov by TKO.
Amar Suloev defeats Damien Riccio by TKO.
Gregory Bouchelaghem defeats Andrei Semenov by decision.
Arman Gambaryan defeats Moise Rimbon by decision.
Erik Oganov defeats Maktar Gueye by armbar.
Sergey Golyaev defeats Bendy Casimir by armbar.

Diego Sanchez

The following article is courtesy of the 'Albuquerque Tribune':


Duke City fighter ready to step up
By Chris Cozzone
November 4, 2005


Albuquerque's Diego "the Nightmare" Sanchez is leading a horde of mixed martial artists starting to scale the wall of contention.

Sanchez is looking for another big victory that he hopes will lead to Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight king Matt Hughes.

Headlining "The Ultimate Fighter 2," airing live on Spike TV on Saturday from the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nev., Sanchez, 15-0, will be pitted against his toughest foe to date in Nick Diaz, 11-3, of Stockton, Calif.

In the UFC, Diaz is rated No. 4 while Sanchez is No. 5. Mixed martial arts is a form of gloveless boxing, martial arts, wrestling and street fighting.

Diaz has always been a dangerous ground fighter, but lately he has shown himself to be solid at stand-up, since beating top contender Robbie Lawler at UFC 47 last year. Lawler, a brawler, was favored, but Diaz won by outboxing and outpunching him and finally knocking him out.

"This is, by far, Diego's toughest opponent yet," said Sanchez's trainer, Greg Jackson of Jackson's Gaidojutsu, in a telephone interview Thursday afternoon after arriving in Las Vegas.

"Diaz is an amazing competitor. He's a real tough guy, very well-rounded, and has a vicious ground game and stand-up skills. We're in for a real war."

In the past two years, Diaz has complemented his ground arsenal by training with professional boxers.

Sanchez is known for his devastating "ground-and-pound" attacks and submission wrestling. His "up" skills, however, despite one pro boxing fight in which he knocked out a more experienced boxer, will not be to his advantage against Diaz.

"We've taken all of Diaz's skills into account in developing our game plan," Jackson said.

"All I can tell you is to expect the unexpected."

Barring any surprises and new developing skills from Sanchez, the fight is thought to be a contest of Diaz trying to keep the fight on his feet - picking Sanchez apart with punches and kicks, or going for a knockout - and Sanchez trying to take his man down, to beat him with his skills on the mat.

To spice things up, there's also a bit of bad blood. Diaz has called Sanchez arrogant and a TV star who hasn't fought a tough foe.

Sanchez says Diaz is merely jealous of the money he has made from his success on "The Ultimate Fighter" reality TV show.

Last season, Sanchez won the middleweight championship by taking out four experienced foes: Alex Karalexis, Josh Rafferty, Josh Koscheck and Kenny Florian. He went on to make his UFC debut in August on UFC 54 by surprising with his domination of experienced veteran Brian Gassaway to win a second-round stoppage.

"Diego performed very well," Jackson said. "We've seen the effects of his punching power, by taking a dangerous kickboxer like Gassaway to the ground and breaking the guy's orbital bone."

On the show, Sanchez fought at 185, but has since slimmed down to the 170-pound division ruled by Hughes.

"Hughes is two or three fights away - a year or so," Jackson said. "Diego is still a young fighter and will not be at his apex for another year or so.

By Two Albuquerque heavyweights appeared on the show. Dan Christison was eliminated early, and Keith Jardine lost a bout in a close decision to Rashad Evans last week. Jardine will still fight on the undercard of Saturday night's event, against 280-pound Kerry Schall.

"Keith showed holes in his game against Evans," said Jackson, who trains both Sanchez and Jardine.

"But we've spent months patching up the holes. The loss lit a fire under him, and he's made an amazing transformation."

Zuffa owned by the Fertitta brothers: Lorenzo and Frank III.

The following was posted by a fan on the UG forum:


As some of you know, Zuffa claims they own an octagon cage. This is a bunch of bullshit. They do not. They own an "Octagon mat": http://tarr.uspto.gov/servlet/tarr?regser=registration&entry=2098577

When you speak of a ring, you say turnbuckles, ropes, canvas,,,, but I have NEVER heard anyone refer to the flooring of a boxing ring as a "mat". What make a cage any different.

They talk about how they beat Bam! Entertainment on a video game, but I bet you didn't know they damn near lost that case: http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/com/sol/foia/ttab/2b_2c/2003/76273529.pdf

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Vitor Belfort

Cage Rage 14
December 3rd, 2005
London, England


Vitor Belfort vs. Antony Rea
Curtis Stout vs. Anderson Silva
Akira Shoji vs. Mark Weir
Tyrone Glover vs. Luis 'Buscape' Firmino
Alex Reid vs. Daijiro Matsui
Matt Lindland vs. Nino Schembri
Mark Epstein vs. Brian Adams
Sol Gilbert vs. Xavier Foupa-Pokam
Brad Pickett vs. Robbie Oliver
Robert Berry vs. Marc Goddard
Dean Bray vs. Nigel Whitear
Dave Legeno vs. Alan Murdock
Ross Mason vs. Darren Guisha
Ryan White vs. Mark Buchanan
Paul Daley vs. Joey Van Wanrooy

Vanderlei Silva

Below are some of the official and unoffical matchups that are being circulated in the Japanese media for the PRIDE card on December 31st. A total of 10-11 matchups is expected to take place on the card:


Fedor Emelianenko vs. Hidehiko Yoshida
Mirko 'Cro Cop' Filipovic vs. Mark Hunt or Rodrigo 'Minotauro' Nogueira
Rodrigo 'Minotauro' Nogueira vs. Sergei Kharitonov or Mark Hunt
Vanderlei Silva vs. Ricardo Arona
Dan Henderson vs. Murilo Bustamante
Takanori Gomi vs. Hayato Sakurai
Kazushi Sakuraba vs. TBA
Ken Shamrock vs. 'Tank' Abbott
Paulo Filho vs. Ryo Chonan
'Zuluzinho' vs. TBA

Rodrigo "Minotauro" Nogueira

Rodrigo 'Minotauro' Nogueira was recently interviewed by Brazilian journalist Denis Martins. Here's what Minotauro had to say:


Interviewer: Did you see the Cro Cop vs. Barnett fight?

Minotauro: No I didn't.

Interviewer: What did you think about the result of that fight?

Minotauro: My friends told me that Barnett used his weight in the first round to handle Cro Cop during the clinches. A heavy guy usually has the advantage at the beginning of a match. He took Cro Cop down, but he gassed and Cro Cop showed good stamina and ability on the ground. I think he got the mount because Barnett executed a throw which is not usual in a heavyweight fight.

Interviewer: Since you didn't watch Cro Cop vs. Barnett, what can you tell us about Fedor vs. Cro Cop?

Minotauro: Fedor kept intense pressure on Cro Cop for the entire fight. Fedor has a high pace, and when he dictated it, he dominated all the action. I think Cro Cop fought very well in the beginning, where he connected with a kick and some punches, but in the second and third round Fedor handled the fight in all of its aspects.

Interviewer: Will you fight Fedor on the December 31st card in Saitama?

Minotauro: I would like to, but I don't know if I will. I'm ready to fight him at any time. I know I'm going to fight on December 31st, but I do not know who my opponent will be. I think they might match me up against Cro Cop, but I really don't know anything about it.

Interviewer: Do you think you can finally face Barnett?

Minotauro: I don't know. Whatever PRIDE books for me, I'll take it and fight. I'm confident that I'll win and I think Barnett and myself will face each other soon.

Interviewer: Fans named the PRIDE 30 show a freak show. How did you see these new heavyweight fighters in Alexandru Lungu and Zuluzinho?

Minotauro: DSE is always looking for new talent on their shows. Sometimes they're successful and other times they are not. I think this last show didn't attract much attention from the fans as past shows have, maybe because there were no BTT fighters there. We have good charisma.

Interviewer: You had surgery on your shoulder three months ago. What is your condition right now?

Minotauro: I'm 100% healthy. This was the last surgery I healed, and I took extra attention to stay very well and not let it harm my training. My doctor told me to make 15 physiotherapy sessions, and I did 40.

Interviewer: Fedor beat you twice, but the fans still believe that you can beat him. How do you feel about it?

Minotauro: They've already watched me in several situations inside the ring. I took some tough heavyweights in a row and I never refused a fight. Fedor keeps a high pace and no doubt his wrestling is better than my wrestling. This is the difference, and he beat me twice due to this fact. I'm trying to improve my weakness. I'm happy because the fans recognize my efforts in the ring.

Interviewer: Any last words?

Minotauro: I don't have much to say, other than to just thank the fans and keep them updated with quick interviews like this one.

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

Former Boxercize instructor and current UFC president Dana White did an interview on November 2nd for Pro Karate Weekly, and made some interesting comments regarding the rumor that Don King and Tito Ortiz may be working together to promote MMA.

Here are some of Dana's quotes:


"If Tito Ortiz thinks we gave him a bad deal, wait til Don King gets done with him."

"Tito will be back in that apartment he was living in when I met him." (after Don King)

"If Don King's involved with the WFA, they'll have less shows then they had in their first run."

"I can guarantee you this....If Don King gets involved in MMA, Don King will make some money. The rest of the guys involved in the deal, I highly doubt it."

"And Tito's such a genius, I'm sure he'll cut a real good deal for himself. He's a step-over-a-dollar-to-pick-up-a-dime guy."

By Coffee Guy


Before reading any further, please read our disclaimer first.

The following exclusive report was sent to us by our Zuffa informant called 'Coffee Guy':


"Zuffa has hired Tom Gerbasi to work for the Zuffa website. Gerbasi used to work for MaxFighting, and does work for InsideBoxing and some other boxing site.

Gerbasi has also written for the Village Voice, which is based out of the Village section of New York City, which contains one of Amercia's most thriving and influential homosexual communities."



*This Coffee Guy Exclusive was filed on November 1st.

*Must credit Fightsport.com and the Coffee Guy Exclusive when discussing this story.

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 UFC confirmed what Fightsport.com first reported on September 15th, that the finals for the finale of 'The Ultimate Fighter': Season 2 will be:


Heavyweight final:
Rashad Evans vs. Brad Imes

Welterweight final:
Joe Stevenson vs. Luke Cummo



Below is the complete card for the finale, which will air on November 5th:

Diego Sanchez vs. Nick Diaz
Rashad Evans vs. Brad Imes
Luke Cummo vs. Joe Stevenson
Keith Jardine vs. Kerry Schall
Kenny Florian vs. Kit Cope
Marcus Davis vs. Melvin Guillard
Josh Burkman vs. Sammy Morgan

The following document was posted on the UG forum, and is supposedly a copy of one of the contracts Zuffa gave to one of the participants on 'The Ultimate Fighter' reality show. To view the contract in its larger size, click here

Forrest Griffin (left) and Frank "Frankiscool" Bishop in happier times.

Frank 'Frankiscool' Bishop, who is the longtime devoted fan and part-time manager of Forrest Griffin, announced that he and Griffin have parted ways where it pertains to business.

According to Frankiscool, he and Forrest remain very good friends, however. Here's what Frankiscool had to say:


"Forrest and I share a friendship above anything else. I know exactly where I stand with him. But then again, I can't be in Vegas, etc and I don't have connections to producers, agents, etc like some others do. Forrest has a realtionship with Zinken like a lot of other fighters do. It's been great for him. I mean, if they can get him X amount of $ from "Company A" then why not. Or if they have contacts with movie producers, etc. I want him to get all he can.

I solidified a feww sponsors for him and thus I get paid for those. Forrest took care of me for what I've done for him and I am greatful. I continue to help him whenever he needs me to take care of something. But again, he has his fights, he has his sponsors, so now he has an agent who does this full time and can help him more than I can." Frank 'Frankiscool' Bishop

We have contracted grappling enthusiast Andrew Bryant, who is also MMA's only known admitted homosexual insider, to write up a review of the recent KOTC: 'Execution', which he attended live:


"Myself, my partner, and one of our best friends, Quincy, made our way up to Reno for our first live MMA show, King of the Cage: Execution Day.

We got to Reno at about five in the afternoon for some Chicken Flinging (in the Circus Circus kiddie area) and casino wandering (my partner won 12 bucks, Quincy lost 3, and I abstained) as the doors didn't open until 5:30.

We eventually made our way over to the Events Center. We got inside with no getting searched, which is unfortunate because we were really looking forward to it, LOL. Last year when we went to the Events Center to see Motley Crue for my birthday, we not only got searched but I had to hike back to the car because my man purse was too big to take in.

Personally, I would be a bit more worried about what fight fans bring with them than 80's Hair Band fans, but maybe that's just me.

Below are the actual fight results (Eventually, heh). Don't read if you're one of those that are waiting for the Pay-Per-View.

Inside, all kinds of t-shirts were on sale, although no programs, boo hoo. You could also get your picture taken with a couple of ring girls, and yes, I was tempted to find out how much it cost just so I could post a "one of these fake breast thingies is not like the other" picture, but I decided against it.

Show started off with a "look at everyone getting their asses handed to them" video package. The announcer, Tyson Johnson, is introduced and the then ring girls come down. We immediately worry about the very skinny ring girl and debate as to whether or not we should go buy the poor girl a couple of hot dogs and some chili fries, but decide that she probably doesn't understand the importance of these things like we do. Also, that's a total mafia suit announcer man was wearing.

Steven Thames vs. Aaron Jamison: We immeadately root for Thames because he's cuter (we have to pick one guy and that's as good a reason as any). One of Thames's teammates is a bit late coming out and has to sprint down the ramp to catch up. The fight stared pretty fast with good aggression by both guys, but Jamison locked on a guillotine choke for the win. Much to our disapointment, Jamison puts his shirt back on for the official winner announcement.

Adam Torres vs. Ryan Healy: Ickie.. Torres was sporting the t-shit poncho. This is never acceptable and happens way to much in pro-wrestling, by the way. Healy hits a couple of very impressive slams before getting an armbar for the win.

Phil Garcia vs. Dan Molina: Garcia is fighting out of team Rare Greed (Breed, maybe?) Where do they come up with these team names? Molina is fighting out of the Lion's Den and Shamrock is cornering him. Yeah Ken! Yes, we are Shamrock fans, we admit it, LOL. In a fairly quick match Molina wins by weird foot lock thingie that looks incredibly painful. Garcia has to be helped to the back.

Joe Coda vs. Jaime Jara: Jara is fighting out of North Highlands and for some reason gets his own ring girls. And apparently his own cheering section on the floor, wow. He also sports an incredible amount of ink and is rather scarey looking. Good first round, lots of action with Jara almost getting an armbar at one point. For the first time the ring girls actually get to use the "Round 2" sign. Jara is declared the winner by a very split judges decision. Very good match, I hope it makes it onto the PPV.

We are now to the part of the actual PPV starting. We get reintro'ed to the announcer, ring girlsn and get a first intro to Brad Varet the very enthusiastic and lucky guy who gets to make sure that everyone has their mouth guards in and cups on. I'm assuming that he has other duties, but I'm not sure what they are.

We also get an extended shot of a highly classy sign that basically says that PRIDE and the UFC suck cock. Lovely.

Takefumi vs. Buddy Clinton: Takefumi does some Zen bonding with the mat while Clinton makes his way to the ring. No, no. You don't want to bond with the mat, that's not a position you want to get used to, LOL. Very decent first round including an attempt at a flying squirrel leap by Take to get past a downed Clinton's guard. This didn't quite work as planned, as Take ended up getting kicked in the gut. Take is apparently big on the random moves as he also ended the round with some really random spining and rolling kick thingies. Second round started with a whole lotta circling and not doing anything much to the annoyance of the crowd. Take eventually gets a BIG hit in and then finshes Clinton off by knockout.

Jason Weiss vs. Warpath: Fight mostly consisted of Warpath attempting to sink in a guillotine choke while hitting Weiss's back to little effect. Warpath eventually changed tactics and managed to knockout Weiss for the win. I'm not completely certain but fairly sure that Warpath used to be a pro wrestler in Sacramento. If so, he seems to be doing much better as a fighter, where the "I'm big and can hit hard" attack works much better. Go him.

Shawn Bias vs. Urijah Faber (Featherweight Championship): The crowd is absolutly in love with Faber, and I'm fairly certain that section 106 consisted of the entire town of Lincoln, where Faber is from. Really exciting fight for how short it was, both fighters were damn fast. UFC take note about the little guys would ya? Faber got a guillotine choke for the win. We screamed like moronic schoolgirls during his thank you speech.

Aaron Brink vs. Richard Montoya: Brink is fighting oot of his own "face punching academy", I kid you not. Montoya is another Lion's Den Fighter. We made several crude remarks towards Brink, cause well, he's not too bad on the eyes, and was sporting the words "spanky XXX" on his crotch. Montoya got cheers from us cause he's Lion's Den and came out in full geek gear including a button down shirt, a tie, and Revenge of the Nerds glasses. Lots of fighting for control before Montoya gets a guillotine. Yes, there were a lot of guillotines during the night.

Takumi Nakyama vs. Mac Danzig (Lightweight Championship): Another really good match that saw both fighters getting close to finishing it. Danzig finshed up the second round with a whole lotta fists and the match was called on what I thought was a doctor stoppage, but some sites are reporting that Nakayama's corner threw in the towel. All in all, the fight was VERY close until the end.

Final Thoughts: All in all, a really fun night. I've no doubt that all three of us will be making the trip back to Reno the next time King of the Cage is there. Even though we really had no idea who any of the fighters are, the live show atmosphere more than made up for our lack of knowledge. I'd very much recommend King of the Cage, or any live show for that matter, to any MMA fan.

Also, a very good night for the Lion's Den, with both of their fighters getting quick wins, which I'm sure will make Shamrock a bit happier after the way his last fight ended. We definitly plan on making the insanely long trip to Susanville should the Lion's Den have any shows.

UFC really needs to re-think it's policy on no Lightweight or Featherweight divisions seeing as those were the best matches of the night. The fact that they were title fights has some influence on this, I'm sure. But damn were the fighters fast and really fun to watch.

And we really should have bought that poor ring girl something to eat. Also there was a total of 13 viewed cup checks, heh."

Pancrase: '2005 Spiral Tour'
November 4th, 2005
Korakuen Hall
Tokyo, Japan


Ryuta Noji vs. Poai Suganuma
Koji Oishi vs. Paul Rodriguez
Kenji Arai vs. Furdjel De Windt
Izuru Takeuchi vs. Kozo Urita
Yuta Nakamura vs. Riki Fukuda
Kentaro Imaizumi vs. Takumi Murata
Daizo Ishige vs. Shinsuke Shoji
Kazuhiro Inoue vs. Sotaro Yamada
Nobuyuki vs. Manabu Inoue
Jimmy Akishige vs. Aslan Dzeboev

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

MFC 5: 'USA vs. Japan'
November 5th, 2005
Taj Mahal
Atlantic City, NJ

MMA matchups:
Wilson Gouviea vs. Kazuhiro Hamanaka
Joey Brown vs. Hiroyuki Abe
Kurt Pellegrino vs. Kazuki Okubo
Eddie Alvarez vs. Daisuke '13' Hanazawa
Chris Mac Grath vs. Shinichi Kojima
Stephen Haigh vs. Yuji Miyazaki
Chris Ligouri vs. Toraji Toraji
Jose Rodriguez vs. Yuichirou Tsuchida
Mike Patt vs. Yusuke Masuda
Alex Roberts vs. Jay White
Steve Bruno vs. Jay Jack
Bristol Marunde vs. Rich Attonito
Jason Guida vs. Pat Stano
Tara Larosa vs. Amanda Buckner

Kickboxing matchups:
Steven Berkolayko vs. TBA

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TKO 23: 'Extreme'
November 5th, 2005
Colisee Des Bois-Francs
Quebec, Canada


Shonie Carter vs. Jonathan Goulet
Donald Ouimet vs. Sam Stout
Dave Goulet vs. Chris Horodecki
Krzystof Soszynski vs. Martin Desilets
Fabio Holanda vs. Spencer Fisher
Max Marin vs. Thierry Quenneville
Stephane Vigneault vs. Greg Compton
Dan Ratiu vs. Dave Pariseau
Aaron Tregear vs. Dany Laflamme
James Haourt vs. Sylvain Cloutier



Any fighters still owed money by TKO president Stephane Patry, can contact him at:

Stephane Patry, President/CEO
TKO Communications Inc.
Tel: (450) 676-3666

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Zane Frazier

WFC: 'Fight Club'
November 5th, 2005
Budweiser Events Center
Loveland, CO


Alex Schoenauer vs. Shannon Ritch
Zane Frazier vs. Melville Calabaca
Jeff Willingham vs. Jake Hattan
Victor Vincelet vs. Terry Pettik
Teddy Cano vs. Paul O'Keefe

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SHOOTO
November 6th, 2005
Korakuen Hall
Tokyo, Japan


Sauli Heilimo vs. Kuniyoshi Hironaka
Daniel Lima vs. Kenji Osawa
Hatsu Hioki vs. Tony Niinimaki
Takeshi Inoue vs. Akitoshi Tamura
Tenkei Fujimiya vs. Hiroshi Nishioka
Yuki Shoujou vs. Yusei Shimokawa
Tetsu Hadairo vs. Takamaro Warita
Takeya Mizugaki vs. Teruyuki Matsumoto
K-taro Nakamura vs. Katsuaki Shinoka
Wicky Akiyo vs. Kasutani Sakae

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Below is the line-up for the K-1 2005 GP finals on November 19th:


Jerome LeBanner vs. Peter Aerts
Remy Bonjasky vs. Choi Hong-Man
Ray Sefo vs. Semmy Schilt
Ruslan Karaev vs. Musashi

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Rich Franklin

Below are the official and unofficial matchups that are scheduled for the UFC 56: 'Full Force' card on November 19th. A total of eight matchups are expected to be announced soon:


Rich Franklin vs. Nate Quarry
Matt Hughes vs. Joe Riggs
Tim Sylvia vs. Aussuerio Silva
Georges St-Pierre vs. Sean Sherk
Jeremy Horn vs. Mike Van Arsdale
Stephen Bonnar vs. James Irvin
Sam Hoger vs. Jeff Newton

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Jose "Pele" Landi-Jons

The Brazilian media reports that the Jungle Fight 5 card will take place on November 26th at the Tropical Hotel in Manaus, Brazil.

Jose 'Pele' Landi-Jons is supposedly scheduled to participate on the card.

Almost nude all male mud wrestling was featured prominently a few weeks ago on "The Ultimate Fighter".

Due to the homoerotic theme of 'The Ultimate Fighter' reality show, we have contracted grappling enthusiast Andrew Bryant, who is also MMA's only known admitted homosexual insider, to write up our weekly review of the show:


"As usual, they show a recap of the big hits and bloodiness of last episode. Jason has also been cleared for the last semifinal, so Marcus is now out. Unless Joe trips and falls directly on his forehead, of course.

Dana White is much more impressed with Rashad this tme around.

Weigh in: Oh my god, Joe is wearing the most fortunate pair of underwear I have ever seen. Men should ALWAYS wear bikini style. Someone needs to get that underwear and auction it off on E-Bay. I would definitely make a huge bid for it, LOL. Underwear good.

Matt Hughes declares it an easy win for Joe, and my partner and I just don't want to take a bathroom break and risk not seeing the underwear again, *Clackety Clack* LOL. Underwear good.

Joe weighs in at 170. White Hawaiian print undies are too girly even for me, but Joe makes them look SO good.

Jason weighs in at 170.5. Jason, you have a kinda weird looking body, but your shorts look good too. I don't know what they look like, but it looks good.

We pause the Tivo to focus on the hot TNA wrestler Christopher Daniels. Focus on the "hot". Focus. Let's just get the pain over with.

A Forrest Griffin Xyience commercial comes on again. I'll help you make weight Forrest, you'll make weight like you've never made weight before.

Round 1: Circling, jabs, Joe goes for a lazy takedown, Jason gets away. Joe hits a nasty sounding leg kick, and a good hit a few seconds later. Jason's eye is now all puffy. All in all, pretty hesitant from both guys so far. Drag this out much longer and Joe's gonna hit puberty.

Joe finaly goes for a takedown, and gets Jason up against the cage. Jason is fighting to get out of it, and while not exactly succeeding, manages to keep Joe from doing much else. Joe goes for a choke, followed by an armbar. Jason taps.

Damn and double damn. Kiss of fucking death.

Luke and Joe mock pose in the octogon. Well, not really caring who wins, guess I'll vote for Luke, purely on the fact that geeks gotta stick together.


Weigh in for the next fight: Seth 228, Brad 253.

They use the "block the eye poke" Stooge pose for the photo op. Tee hee, I love them both now.

Seth says he has some jumping spin kicks up his sleeves, Brad refers to them as the "behind the ass heal kick things". I don't think either of those is the technical term.

Brad comes to the octogon in his "look at me Vince, I would make a great pro-wrestler" outfit.

Round 1: Big scale issue going as the guys face off. Brad gets Seth against the fence, but Seth hits him with some serious fists. Back to the center of the octagon, Seth gets a nice kick at the jaw, although from Brad's lack of reaction it only grazed. Seth gets Brad down. Seth looks for a way past Brads guard while Rich Franklin yells at him to let Brad up. Seth on top, but an equal amount of hits from both guys. Seth gets up again and sticks with the kicks to the thighs.

Round 2: Matt suggests that Brad "punish" Seth with a punch everytime he goes for a kick. Kinda like the smack 'em on the nose with a newspaper training of puppies. Bad doggy, bad!

Brad comes out strong with punches, but Seth takes him down, but really doesn't do much at all. In fact, it's a hell of a lot of nothing. Ref stands them up, Brad again comes out fast, Seth again takes him down and does little to nothing. Oh for fucks sake. That is NOT working, do something else. What the Fuck?

Round 3: Brad takes Seth down this time and gets some good rib shots in, keeping Seth against the cage. We actually get up for a strawberries and champagne break and come back during the last minute of the match, due to the fight boring the hell out of us.

I wonder who's gonna win. Hmm, I wonder. Brad is declared the winner. Both Brad and Seth cry.

Dana White says that he was shocked when the Judges gave him the results as it is a split decision. Which judge was on crack is anyone's guess. Were they watching the same fight?

Don't get me wrong, I wanted Seth to win, but he essentially did nothing for the last two rounds.

Final thoughts: Well, I officially don't give a crap about the final matches. Brad's ok, Rashad is just kinda there, Joe has great bikini briefs but a riduculous nickname, and Luke is almost too weird even for me. Good thing Diaz vs. Sanchez looks to be very entertaining.

Underwear good."

Anderson Silva

Brazilian magazine 'Tatame' reports that former Chute Boxe star Anderson Silva is close to getting his Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt from Rodrigo 'Minotauro' Nogueira.

Anderson has been training often with the Nogueira brothers in BJJ and boxing since he left Chute Boxe. "Rodrigo and Rogerio are like brothers to me. Thanks to them, I improved my ground skills a lot", stated Anderson.

Renato "Babalu" Sobral

Renato 'Babalu' Sobral was recently interviewed by Japanese journalist Takimoto. Here's what Babalu had to say:


Interviewer: Hello Babalu, you are coming off nine straight victories. That is three years without losing, and you are consistently ranked as one of the top ten in the world at 93 kg (205 pounds). Do you feel you have arrived at the time of being the real champion?

Babalu: I don't know. I'm fighting of course. It all depends on the promoters and my manager. But someone will be in my line of fire, and I am going for the kill.

Interviewer: Tell us a little about your preparation for your recent fight against Chael Sonnen?

Babalu: Well, this fight was really difficult because I had a lot of problems. First because of the weight limit, I did something wrong with my diet and I arrived 9 kg (20 pounds) heavier and had a lot of difficulties to achieve the 93 kg (205 pounds) limit, and it left me very tired. Besides that, I was coming off an injury that made my preparation very different. My first month was only physical; the second was more the technical part. In reality, I fought in a rush. I was 65% prepared, but my coaches always believed in me, and I fought because I wanted to.

Interviewer: What did you know about his fight style?

Babalu: I knew he was part of the national wrestling team, and that we was coming in very well trained. This fight was the chance of his life.

Interviewer: Tell us how the fight was.

Babalu: To tell you the truth, I don't even remember it really well. Everything was real fast, with alot of positions. I only know that I won by triangle.

Interviewer: Before the fight, you promised to destroy his face. Did you acheive that?

Babalu: I didn't have time. The only thing that I had time to do was to break his foot with a heelhook and submit him.

Interviewer: Now you have one fight left on your contract. Do you have a proposal from PRIDE, or do you prefer to stay in the UFC?

Babalu: This thing my coaches and my manager decide. My desire is to become rich.

Interviewer: With the Gracie Barra Combat Team you already have five victories, three by submission, one by KO and one by unanimous decision. Can your style now be called Gracie Jiu-Jitsu?

Babalu: It can be called an upgrade in my career because of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu.

Interviewer: Do you know what will be your next fight?

Babalu: Not yet. I will only know after UFC 56.

Interviewer: Is there anybody that you wish to fight?

Babalu: Forrest Griffin. He thinks he is a star [because of TUF popularity] but he knows that I am the real star. But he already let it be clear that he doesn't want to fight against me. Let's see if the matchmaker can put this fight together.

Interviewer: And how about Chuck Liddell?

Babalu: Somewhere along the way he will be on my schedule. But his next fight is against Couture. I don't want to keep making challenges to him. But I do want to fight against the champion. So whoever comes, I will crash. Thank you guys!

Almost nude all male mud wrestling was featured prominently a few weeks ago on "The Ultimate Fighter".

Due to the homoerotic theme of 'The Ultimate Fighter' reality show, we have contracted grappling enthusiast Andrew Bryant, who is also MMA's only known admitted homosexual insider, to write up our weekly review of the show:


"As ususal, the show starts off with a recap of the knockout last week and previews of this week's fight, focusing on Keith's lack of fights on TUF so far and Rashad's dislike of having Matt Hughes in his corner.

I don't like Hughes either, but suck it up man. As for last week's fight, I think Luke may have just made his transition from Skywalker to Vader. He's totally found his inner Vader, LOL.

Backstage, Sammy is still upset and crying, saying that he gave up. Dude, it's not giving up if you are knocked unconcious, LOL.

Hughes is actually being a nice guy and comforting Sammy. I hate it when Matt is being nice, LOL. Sammy gets taken away in the ambulance, which I think was a first for this season. By the way, thank you for putting on pants, Sammy.

Those of you with a Tivo can go back and figure out what that meant, LOL. Viva la Pantalones!

Dr. Margaret comes in to check out out Luke. Look! Look! He's kinda smiling! Wow, its almost an expression.

Rashad worries about his hand injury back at the house. During the Team Franklin training session, Rich Franklin worries about how he can work with both Keith and Rashad without favoring one or the other.

Franklin then suggests to Rashad that maybe he should pick some of the other fighters to corner him instead of Hughes, Rashad doesn't want to offend Hughes. Rashad and Hughes are then supposed to have a training session, but Hughes is nowhere to be found. Gotta love the random kiddie pool slides in the background.

Weigh ins: Keith, 220.5, Rashad 219

Rashad finds a dead fly in his syrup and Seth bets him $100 to eat it, but he only gets $50 if he pukes it back up. I love my alternate sources of protein as much as the next guy, but this isn't Survivor, so they don't need the protein that badly.

Rashad does it with water. Seth starts laughing, which leads to gagging, which leads to both guys puking. Shit like this is why I didn't join a fraternity, LOL.

Fight day

Keith pracices his punches in the pool. I'm sure that's very effctive, but it looks ridiculous. Rashad gets his hand taped up while discussing strategy with Hughes.

Rashad comes out with a shirt on and his fighting shorts, which makes him look like he has no pants on, while Keith looks even scarier than normal with his black beanie.

Round 1: Rashad gets a big hit in early, knocking Keith down, but Keith gets back up quickly. Rashad's eye ball gets all swollen, and Keith looking like he's going to do the Karate Kid Swan thing. Rashad gets Keith against the cage but Keith almost gets a guillotine, followed by a whole lot of rolliness. Rashad maintains top control, and gets Keith against the cage. Keith almost gets an armbar, but gets a cut under the eye.

Round 2: Lots of circling, Keith gets a big hit, Rashad fights back. The swings start getting a bit wild. The depth perception for both of them seems to be a bit off right about now. Back to the fence and both guys are looking really tired, and Rashad's eye is completly shut now. Lots of punches, knees, and so forth, but nothing really connecting.

Round 3: Keith worries about the fight being boring. And he better not let Dana think it's boring for heaven's sake, LOL. Keith then gets bitchy. Big knees by Keith, Rashad fights him off, goes for a take down against the fence. Rashad with top control and opens another cut over Keiths eye with some elbows. Keith almost gets out, but Rashad gets a huge slam and gets Keith against the cage again. Big John calls for the doctor to check out Keith's cut. Fight continues, Rashad gets Keith down again and keeps him down until the fight ends.

Rashad is declared the winner.

Rashad changes his mind about Hughes and gives him respect at the end. As for me, I'd still like dick slap Hughes right across his smug face."

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.) Matt Lindland USA
9.) David Loiseau Canada
10.) Evan Tanner USA


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.) Karo Parisyan USA


LIGHTWEIGHT


1.) Hayato Sakurai Japan
2.) Takanori Gomi Japan
3.) Vitor 'Shaolin' Ribeiro Brazil
4.) Joachim Hansen Norway
5.) Tatsuya Kawajiri Japan
6.) Yves Edwards USA
7.) Genki Sudo Japan
8.) Kaoru Uno Japan
9.) Koutetsu Boku Japan
10.) Luis Azeredo Brazil


FEATHERWEIGHT


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


AFP fighter rankings can be viewed at AFP TOP 10

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Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic (left) dominating both the standup and ground game, enroute to defeating Josh Barnett for a second straight time.

The PRIDE official website interviewed Mirko 'Cro Cop' Filipovic a few days after his second victory over Josh Barnett. Here's what Cro Cop had to say:


Interviewer: This event had a sub-title of "Starting Over" (only in Japan). How do you feel about this?

Cro Cop: It was a very important fight. I put pressure on myself by fighting Josh, a former UFC Champion, 7 weeks immediately after I lost to Fedor. I'm glad it turned out the way it did.

Interviewer: You had the advantage on the ground. Was this in response to Barnett saying that you don't have a ground game?

Cro Cop: I was completely better on the ground. I think I had an advantage over Josh 2 or 3 times.

Interviewer: You took some knees in the thigh.

Cro Cop: There was no damage at all.

Interviewer: You still seem to be tired from the last fight. What do you think?

Cro Cop: This was definitely a short period for my body. The theme of this event was "Starting Over", and my opponent was Josh, so I thought this is something I have to do as a fighter.

Interviewer: What will you do from now?

Cro Cop: I'll leave that up to PRIDE.

Interviewer: How about New Year's Eve?

Cro Cop: I will be back.

Interviewer: You said before that you would like to fight Nogueira on New Year's Eve?

Cro Cop: Anybody will be fine. That's for PRIDE to decide.

Interviewer: When would you like to fight Fedor?

Cro Cop: If PRIDE will put the fight together, anytime.

Interviewer: You will probably have to fight Fedor in next year's Heavyweight Grand Prix. What do you think about that?

Cro Cop: I'm always ready.

Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic

After his victory over Josh Barnett on the PRIDE 30 card, Mirko 'Cro Cop' Filipovic announced to the audience that he would be participating on PRIDE's December 31st card.

Ray Sefo

Ray Sefo was recently interviewed by SportsNavi. Here's what Sefo had to say (translated by Akira S.:


Interviewer: What did you think when Schilt chose the spot opposite of you?

Sefo: I was sure that he was going to choose me.

Interviewer: Did you think "You're going down!" to him?

Sefo: Yeah I think so. I'll get around, attack aggressively, and knock him out. I think the only thing he'll do is try to knock me out. But I'll do that faster like a Shinkan-sen(bullet train)! (laughs)

Interviewer: Is this your first time fighting such a big guy?

Sefo: There was also Bob Sapp. (laughs) But Semmy is much bigger than him.

Interviewer: Do you like to overcome big fighters?

Sefo: That's right, like chopping down trees. I like to wear down big people.

Interviewer: If you beat Schilt in Quarter Final, then it's possible you will fight Hong-Man in Semi-Finals? What do you think of that?

Sefo: I like the idea of that very much, you know? So bring it on! I'm getting ready for the fight and training hard!

Interviewer: Schilt is tall fighter, so when he punches he might not guard his body, that is the time I think your hook will connect.

Sefo: You study everything very hard! (laughs) I'll show you a great fight on November 19th!

Interviewer: Frank Riles, who is Musashi's coach said, "The final fight will be between Musashi vs Sefo."

Sefo: That would be great! (laughs)

Interviewer: But Mr. Hasegawa, the Event Producer, expects Schilt to be the favorite"

Sefo: He should think about it a little harder. (laughs) I'm joking, but if lots of people say "Schilt will win", I'll get worked up and fight even harder just to prove that you all were wrong!

Interviewer: You wave your hands to the audience in the beginning, taunt other fighters by dropping your hands, and always give the fans a good show. Where did this all start?

Sefo: That's a very good question!(laughs) Looking back at my life, to promote myself as a fighter of course, I did modeling and acting. I think all these things are tied to entertaiment. I think some people have a destiny to be this way. I feel that it is my destiny to be an entertainer in this way.

Interviewer: Did you like to make fun of people the way you do now, when you were kid?

Sefo: No, I don't think so. I was shy when I was kid. But no one believes it. Everyone says "No way! You?!" (laughs) But I liked to play around at church a lot, so I think that might have been my beginning as an entertainer.

Interviewer: When you fight, you often drop your hands during a fight, right? Do you like do that type of performance for the fans?

Sefo: Well, I think to do it naturally. But I never think that I'll wave to people ahead of time. I build up for a fight. But I can relax during the fight, then I think of what I can do for for the fan's enjoyment spontaneously. I think this is very important for fans. I can't cut off my fights from the fans, you know? I'm happy if I do something for the fans, and make them happy so I'll continue to do this for a long time.

Interviewer: You know an ex-Japanese champ said, "Sefo has a lot of raw power and if he started to fight more seriously (no playing for the crowd or showing off) then he could be champion"

Sefo: Although that person feels this way, every fighter has his own unique style, for example, Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Leonard will clearly live on in our memories because they know how to delight the fans. On the internet or other places people say I cannot be a successful fighter because I wave to fans or other things like that, but I don't care. We are living in a world where people criticize and try to ruin other people's efforts, so I don't care. I'm happy if my fans are happy. I might not be aware of it, but when the fans are happy I get lots of energy and power from that. When I wave to fans, some people respond, and say "It's really great!",you know? I know I can't make everyone happy, so I'll do what I want, and follow my own path.

Interviewer: Good luck,and hang in there!

Sefo: Hai!

Katsuhiko Nagata

The Japanese media announced that K-1 has signed Japanese Olympic wrestling silver medalist Katsuhiko Nagata, and that Nagata will make his MMA debut on K-1's December 31st card.

Nagata will most likely fight at 185 pounds. He is also the brother of Japanese pro wrestling star Yuji Nagata.

Royce Gracie

Royce Gracie made the following statements on the UG forum regarding Eddie Bravo:


Royce when asked what he thought of Eddie Bravo's jiu-jitsu innovations: "I have no idea what Eddie Bravo is doing with jiu-jitsu."

Royce when asked if he thought Eddie Bravo got lucky when he submitted Royler Gracie: "Well what has Bravo done since?"

Lee Murray

Lee Murray released the following statement to all his fans who have been wishing him well while he recovers from multiple knife stabbings that almost claimed his life:


"Thanks to everyone supporting, praying, and concerned about me. When my trainers came to the hospital and said, "there are thousands of people on the internet praying for you", that gave me strength when I was dying in the hospital bed. I am back home and on my feet now, and it wont be long before I am back in the ring. Thanks." -Lee Murray

Josh Barnett (bottom left) was dominated in both the standup and ground game, enroute to losing a second straight fight to Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic.

The PRIDE official website interviewed Josh Barnett a few days after his second loss to Mirko 'Cro Cop' Filipovic. Here's what Barnett had to say:


Interviewer: Do you agree with the decision?

Barnett: I completely agree. I just didn't think it would go the way it did.

Interviewer: Has your shoulder completely healed?

Barnett: It's healed but it's not 100%.

Interviewer: Did it have any effect on the fight?

Barnett: There was no effect at all. The only effect it might have had was that I didn't train enough.

Interviewer: Was a standing fight one of your strategies?

Barnett: Yes and no. Don't you think so now that you've seen it? I wanted to take it to the ground and finish it there. I'm an MMA fighter and that's a big strength for me. I've knocked out Takada and Kitao with kicks. If it had been K-1, I probably would have done that and I probably would have won. My biggest problem is that my conditioning isn't good and I didn't train enough. I didn't have enough stamina.

Interviewer: How much training did you do? How much time do you think you would need to win?

Barnett: I had a month and a half. Normally, if I had a month I would have been doing a pro-wrestling tour and training for an MMA fight, so I don't think the problem was the length of time. It's difficult to do pro-wrestling and train for MMA at the same time. I can't say exactly what the problem was this time but the entire reason for my loss is that I didn't do what I needed to.

Interviewer: What is your next goal?

Barnett: I have several goals but I need to take another look at myself. I know to think about it for a while. This was my 36 th fight since I was 18. I know everyone expects a lot from me.

Interviewer: Pressuring him life Fedor did made it hard for him to attack you. Do you think that will work for everyone?

Barnett: I don't think it will work for everyone. Mirko is quick, smart and strong. He listens to what his corner man says. Fedor's fight went very well. Even if we have a rematch, I don't think my strategy will change much.

Interviewer: What do you think about Mirko's ground skills?

Barnett: Mirko is really a basic fighter but he's smart and his way of attacking was good. That's any important point and I was tired. I clinched with him but it didn't go well. He used the corners well, too. I think that strategy was sent from his corner. I was tired and wasn't able to respond to that.

Ken Shamrock (far left) supposedly in disbelief over the controversial quick stoppage to his fight with Kazushi Sakuraba.

Ken Shamrock announced that he has filed a petition with DSE/PRIDE over the controversial stoppage in his fight against Kazushi Sakuraba, which took place last week on the PRIDE 30 card.

Diego Sanchez

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


Interviewer: How do you feel about fighting Nick Diaz?

Sanchez: I'm happy to get to fight a guy in the top 10; he is number 8 in the world. I qualified myself as a top 10 fighter for a long time but a lot of people have said "Diego hasn't fought anybody", because a lot of the guys I have fought haven't been known yet. I've never been so fired up for a fight. I don't know what his deal is, he's trying to make it personal I guess.

Interviewer: How so?

Sanchez: He sent me some e-mails and stuff like that talking shit. It doesn't get to me or anything. Ever since that I have been doing nothing but training hard and training smart.

Interviewer: Tell me about training.

Sanchez: I got the call in September, so I had two or three weeks off when they told me I was fighting in November. I went straight to San Diego and started training with Rob Garcia on conditioning every day. We do boxing training and then strength and conditioning training, a lot of plyometrics and weight belts. I went to a top sports doctor... you know, you've kept track of my career, I went straight after TUF to ADCC '05, to this and that. I accumulated some, you could say injuries, but minor stuff because I could never afford to get any treatment. Now I'm back on my feet. I went out there for three weeks doing strict diet. I've never been this healthy; my body is totally detoxified and I recover faster.

Interviewer: How did that change from preparing for the Gassaway fight?

Sanchez: For that fight I trained eighteen days with Rob Garcia. In eighteen days I was able to get my body fat from 12 to 6 and get in the best shape of my life. I got sick right before the fight walking around the casino or on the airplane. I was fighting and coughing. In the first round I was starting to get a little tired but in no way was I gassed.

Interviewer: It looked like you were spending a lot of energy in the first round trying to take him down.

Sanchez: There really is no pacing for me. I'm in a condition where I can sprint the whole fight. Three rounds, I could sprint the whole three rounds. It's not so much he is hard to take down, I tried to take him down straight off the bat. Usually I can do that. Brian Gassaway is very strong, he fought some tough wrestlers and I knew he'd have some tough wrestling defense. He really only defended the first takedown, it happens and you go on to something else.

Interviewer: That was your first victory on pay-per-view. How did that feel?

Sanchez: It felt really worthwhile. I have a lot of fans that became fans watching TUF. Then I have all my die-hard fans that believe in me, and all my haters that no matter what think I'm going to lose.

Interviewer: Most fans either love you or hate you, there isn't any in-between but the bottom line is they all know you.

Sanchez: The only way I'm going to win over the fans is to continue to win. Everybody wants to see a good thing come to an end or a good thing keep going. Even when I beat Matt Hughes (in the future) they will say "Matt Hughes was out of his prime".

Interviewer: Ever since Nick's fight with Robbie Lawler he has shown a shift to using his hands much more, but before that he had a similar style to Jorge Santiago, who you beat. Even you and Nick had similar strategies in your early fights. Point is he has been working the hands.

Sanchez: I started out with an Olympic wrestling coach when I was in High School. Back then Nick Diaz was still on the swim team. No matter what he does I have those four years of wrestling on him. I'm going to take him down, he isn't going to be able to stop it. At nineteen I started doing submission. Maybe he is better at submission than me with the gi on but we aren't fighting with a gi. I'm going to be sweaty, I'm going to be slippery, and I'm going to beat him up with leather and that isn't jiu-jitsu. Yeah, he has trained striking, but not only do I think he got lucky with Robbie Lawler, he played a good gameplan bringing Robbie Lawler out of his mindset. By doing that, Robbie Lawler was going back the whole fight. (Lawler) throws wide shots and it was only a matter of time before any of the UFC fighters were going to watch tape and figure Robbie Lawler out. That is exactly what Nick Diaz did and my hat is off to him, he figured out Robbie Lawler and knocked him out but it's not like Nick Diaz is a K-1 fighter. He has one other knockout, that if you ask my opinion, looked like a human punching bag out there. If you ask me to give Diaz the respect the other fans are giving him, no, I'm not going to give it to him. I've been training with Francisco Bojado for two months.

Interviewer: To me, one huge factor is you were invited to ADCC '05 and he wasn't.

Sanchez: I went 0-0 with 2-time champion Marcelo Garcia until thirty seconds left in the match. I went nine minutes and thirty seconds going after him and it was even until thirty seconds left. I've beaten Pablo Popovitch who was runner-up. I had two and a half weeks notice for that. Nick Diaz is a purple belt in jiu-jitsu. I watched his fight against Karo Parisyan, and to me it is disheartening to see two fighters gassed in the first round.

Interviewer: You mentioned before his being disrespectful to Lawler, throwing him off his game. How does that affect you?

Sanchez: He sent me e-mails that were really personal, made some hateful comments to my family and my race. Talking smack about me, I'm like "this doesn't have to be personal". Why does a UFC fight come down to sending e-mails?

Interviewer: Hateful about race? Are you sure that was Nick and not someone saying they are Nick?

Sanchez: I sent a message (from a different account) that I was a potential sponsor (to check) and he responded. I've already forwarded the e-mails to Joe Silva and some others. It just makes me train harder.

Interviewer: I'm looking at his fight against Parisyan and yours against Santiago, but did you learn anything more from his two more recent fights?

Sanchez: I thought the fight with Fickett was stopped early. I didn't think he was doing any damage to Fickett. I didn't get much from that fight. Fickett kept trying to jump to guard on him and get that guillotine. I was like "what is he doing?" It didn't seem very smart to me. From a technical aspect I didn't get much from that fight. The fight with Oisihi... his last two opponents I didn't get much because I thought they fought horrible. What can I see that he is doing good when his opponents are not doing good?

Interviewer: You just came back from Rickson Gracie's Budo Challenge. What were your impressions of that show?

Sanchez: I thought it was a great sports show. It was a lot of the top jiu-jitsu guys in the world there. The points system was a lot better than any jiu-jitsu tournament I've ever seen. Guys were actually getting more points to go for submissions, driven to go for submissions more, and there were a lot more submissions. It took away the stalling aspect. To me it was an honor to be there at one of my hero's (shows) and be one of the guests.

Interviewer: I heard it was an invite-only crowd. Did you ask or did they offer?

Sanchez: Kid Peligro got that hooked up for me. Kid knows I'm the biggest Rickson fan out there. I think he is the smartest fighter of all time. They were selling tickets, too.

Interviewer: I haven't even seen results yet. How many competitors were there?

Sanchez: Each bracket had four people and there were four or five brackets.

Interviewer: Do you know who won?

Sanchez: I don't know if that is out because it is going to be on TV.

Interviewer: How about sponsors to thank.

Sanchez: My new good sponsors Xyience. Tim Fields of course out of South Carolina. Right now I have an open door. I'm not trying to sign no deals or anything like that.

Interviewer: Are you having trouble with sponsors because of the whole not being able to thank them on TV?

Sanchez: It sucks but whatever. We get to still put it on our shorts. Same thing. I feel after I fight this TV fight with Nick Diaz, and the performance I'm going to put on, a lot more doors are going to open.

Royce Gracie

K-1 announced the matchup of Royce Gracie vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama for their card on December 31st.

Mikhail Ilioukhine

K-1/HERO's announced that it will stage a HERO's Lithuania card on November 26th.

Mikhail Ilioukhine vs. Jordanas Poskaitis is scheduled to be the main event.

Tomomi "Taisho" Iwama

Japanese MMA veteran Tomomi 'Taisho' Iwama announced his retirement after his loss to Yoshiro Maeda on the recent DEEP GP card.

Rumble World Entertainment announced that its upcoming 'Rumble on the Rock', card that was scheduled for November 19th, has been postponed until January 20th.

Joe Riggs

Joe Riggs was recently interviewed by the ADCC newssite. Here's what Riggs had to say:


Interviewer: Can you confirm that you are fighting Matt Hughes for the UFC welterweight title on November 19th?

Riggs: Yes I am.

Interviewer: You were originally scheduled to fight Keith Wisniewski on the same date. No disrespect to him but he is not on the level of Matt Hughes. Will you be prepared now with the change of opponent?

Riggs: Oh yeah, I will be prepared. I'm coming off a two month training camp in Cincinnati for my last fight, and I only took a week off. So I'm in good shape. Matt is only a one dimensional fighter, so there's not too much I have to worry about. It's a 5-round fight, and I'm ready for it.

Interviewer: You have trained with Jeremy Horn in the past, and he has been with Team Militech and Matt Hughes for a while. I assume you are not training with him.

Riggs: I just talked to Jeremy now and he is staying out of it. He is not training with me or Matt, so no hard feelings. I'm still hanging out with him everyday. I told him I understand and I won't be training with him.

Interviewer: Who will you be training with for this fight then?

Riggs: Rich Franklin, Joe Doerksen, Travis Wiuff, and I'm probably going to bring Frank Trigg out here.

Interviewer: If this fight goes five rounds, are you prepared to go the distance?

Riggs: Oh Yeah, I'm ready to go five rounds. He is not going to sit there and trade with me on my feet, and that's what's really tiring. If he does take me down, I'm not going fight it. You guys will see how good I am off my back. I am real composed and I can 'ride' out five rounds, but I'm hoping it doesn't go that long.

Interviewer: What's the prediction for this fight?

Riggs: It's going to be bloody and I'm going to shock the world.

Interviewer: Looking back on your last UFC fight, you fought a good friend in Chris Lytle. How did you feel after that fight?

Riggs: I didn't like seeing Chris's face all busted up. It looked like his jaw were swollen, his eyes and his head. I didn't like to see that, but you know, it's a sport. I wasn't too happy with my performance. I thought I didn't perform too well, but I got the win over a tough guy. I stopped a guy who has never been stopped before. But I was pretty happy with it, besides Chris getting hurt.

Interviewer: Anything to say to the fans?

Riggs: Just keep on the look out, I'm coming. I'm coming to take the title.

Karo Parisyan

Karo Parisyan announced that due to an injury suffered in training, he will not be able to face Matt Hughes on the UFC 56 card on November 19th.

It is rumored that Joe Riggs will replace Parisyan on the card.

KOTC: 'Execution Day'
October 29th, 2005
Silver Legacy Casino
Reno, NV


Mac Danzig defeats Takumi Nakayama by TKO, RD 3.
Richard Montoya defeats Aaron Brink by guillotine choke at 1:55, RD 1.
Urijah Faber defeats Shawn Bias by guillotine choke at 1:24, RD 1.
Ruben Villarreal defeats Jason Weiss by TKO at 3:52, RD 1.
Takefumi Hanai defeats Buddy Clinton by KO, RD 2.
Jaime Jara defeats Joe Coda by split decision.
Dan Molina defeats Phil Garcia by ankle lock at 1:18, RD 1.
Ryan Healy defeats Adam Torres by armbar at 3:50, RD 1.
Aaron Jameson defeats Steven Thames by guillotine choke at 1:12, RD 1.

Icon Sport: 'Opposites Attract'
October 28th,2005
Blaisdell Arena
Honolulu, HI


Jason Miller defeats Falaniko Vitale by rear naked choke at 2:41, RD 2.
Karl James Noons defeats Harris Sarmiento by TKO at 4:37, RD 3.
Nick Ring defeats Mike Malone TKO at 3:04, RD 1.
Steve Byrnes defeats Bob Ostovich by keylock at 1:08, RD 2.
Harvey Nakamura defeats Ryan Lee by unanimous decision.
Brian Weihle defeats Jose Fernandez by unanimous decision.
Kevin DeLima defeats Chico Canteberas by TKO, RD 1.
Lyle Nicely drew with Bill Hall.
Ikaika Choy-Fu defeats Lorenzo Moreno by TKO, RD 3.
Makana Albino defeats Bryce Martinez by unanimous decision.

DEEP: '21st Impact'
October 28th, 2005
Korakuen Hall
Tokyo, Japan


DEEP 145-pound GP quarterfinals:
Yoshiro Maeda defeats Tomomi 'Taisho' Iwama by KO at 0:32, RD 1.
Masakazu Imanari defeats Fabio Mello by unanimous decision.
Mike Brown defeats Takeshi Yamazaki by unanimous decision.
Muanfahlek Kiatwichkien defeats Atsuhiro Tsuboi by KO at 1:32, RD 2.

Single matchups:
Yasuhito Namekawa defeats Jong Hyuk Moon by guillotine choke at 2:33, RD 1.
Cristiano Kaminishi defeats Takahiro Oba by TKO at 5:00, RD 1.
Milton Vieira defeats Hiroki Nagaoka by unanimous decision.
Ryuichi Murata defeats Ryuta Sakurai by TKO at 3:51, RD 1.
Ryuji Ohori defeats Yuya Shirai by TKO at 4:38, RD 1.
Hirohide Fujinuma defeats Wataru Takahashi by TKO at 2:26, RD 1.
Naoki Seki defeats Yutaro Miyamoto by majority decision.

SHOOTO: 'Soulful Fight'
October 28th, 2005
Kitazawa Town Hall
Tokyo, Japan


Akihiro Murayama defeats Masashi Yozen by unanimous decision.
Takahiro Hosoi defeats Mamoru Ohkouchi by TKO at 1:51, RD 1.
Masaaki Sugawara defeats Hiroyasu Kodera by TKO at 4:14, RD 1.
Hiroshi Nakamura defeats Seigi Fujioka by unanimous decision.
Ryuichi Miki defeats Hiroharu Matsufuji by rear naked choke at 1:56, RD 2.
Naoki Yahagi defeats Atsushi Asano by unanimous decision.

Takahito Iida

GCM: 'Demolition 23'
October 27th, 2005
Japan


Takahito Iida defeats Junichi Ohta by unanimous decision.
Wataru Miki defeats Santos Evaldo by TKO at 1:59, RD 1.
Mike Malone defeats Keitaro Maeda by TKO at 4:10, RD 2.
Yohei Ohta defeats Hidenobu Koike by majority decision.
D.J. Taiki defeats Takeshi Sato by TKO at 3:49, RD 1.
Eriya Matsuda defeats Naoki Yoshimura by unanimous decision.