MMA News UPDATE!

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

My GOD! BIG Rematch for YOSHIDA! Cro Cop vs. FEDOR?! SILVA speaks! NEW Chute Boxe Member?!! Spratt-out, St. Pierre-in! New Years Eve in Japan BIGGEST DAY IN MMA HISTORY?!!!1 K-1 in the USA?! SUPERFUCKINGNATURAL UFC 46?!?! READ THE NEWS!!!!!

 

PRIDE FC SHOCKWAVE 2003!

 

From Dream Stage Entertainment

 

December 1, 2003

 

LOS ANGELES, California – The mixed martial arts year of 2003 is not over yet for PRIDE FC fans! Scheduled for December 31, 2003 from the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan is PRIDE FC’s New Year’s Eve spectacular … SHOCKWAVE 2003.

 

Headlining the fight card will be the long-awaited rematch between Royce Gracie and Hidehiko Yoshida. These two submission artists battled at SHOCKWAVE 2002 and the result was the controversial finish in which Yoshida was victorious via gi choke, though Gracie protested that he did not tap and was not unconscious. This rematch continues the epic rivalry between Gracie Jiu Jitsu and Japanese Judo, which began over 50 years ago when Helio Gracie fought Masahiko Kimura in a match to prove who had the superior fighting style.

 

Also on the SHOCKWAVE 2003 fight card: Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira, Wanderlei Silva, Ryan Gracie, Don “The Predator” Frye, Heath Herring, Mario Sperry, and Hayato “Mach” Sakurai. Match-ups will be announced soon.

 

Though SHOCKWAVE 2003 will not be available in North America via pay per view, travel packages are available on pridefc.com and a DVD of the event will follow in the first quarter of 2004.

(MMAWeekly.com)

 

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ST.PIERRE PUNCHES TICKET TO UFC 46; DIAZ LOOKS AHEAD TO UFC 47

 

It was a crazy weekend to say the least in the MMA world. If you missed out and weren't with us on Saturday and Sunday, then you missed some important fights.

 

Pete Spratt was upset in Canada this weekend losing to George St.Pierre by submission in the first round. As a result, Spratt will not be fighting in January against Karo Parisyan at UFC 46. MMAWeekly.com has learned that St.Pierre signed a contract last night to face Parisyan at UFC 46.

 

Another guy that who was thought to maybe face Parisyan if Spratt lost was Nick Diaz. Diaz had the impressive win over Jeremy Jackson at UFC 44. Diaz most likely won't return to the Octagon until UFC 47.

 

MMAWeekly has learned that Diaz most likely will face Robbie Lawler at UFC 47. This will be a fight that Diaz and his people feel could make the "name" in the UFC, but right now that is just talk as Diaz will be a part of the card, but they have only talked about the possibility of facing Lawler, nothing has been signed as of yet. (MMAWeekly.com)

 

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Wanderlei Speaks Post Surgery!

 

We caught up with Wanderlei SIlva, and many thigns were on his mind. First was his new teammate Daniel Acacio who was recently added to the ChuteBoxe team. 'Daniel Acacio is coming to and that will help. I am certain that from now on, he'll change his style and technique. He's a great fighter and we have plans for him, and we hopefor him to fight in the PrideFC.'

 

 

After the departure of former teammates Assuerio Silva, Anderson Silva and other Chute Boxe's members, people might make a mistake thinking that the team was weakened. The champ guarantees 'Our team continues strong. We bought in Daniel Acacio. In the next month you'll have BIG a surprise. A great vale tudo name is talking with us and we are in negotiations to integrate the team. I invited the athlete, who is an athlete of reputation and he said that he's thinking about it seriously. He said i9t would be an honor integrating with ChuteBoxe. I believe that he will accept. Let's wait 'cause it will surprise everybody, but I can say he is a heavyweight, and a top Jiu-Jitsu fighter.'

 

Wanderlei also spoke about his Wednesday surgery to correct a problem in his elbow. He is 100% healthy now and explained what happened 'For some time I had a problem in my left elbow, due to the kicks that I blocked in training. It swelled up before the GP, I had a ball on the elbow, a soft ball, but the fight was so close, there wasn nothing to do. The doctors said that it was better to leave it and have surgery later. It was operated in this Wednesday. That was a good surgery, the doctor said that he pulled a lot of liquid from the elbow I had bursitis, but it is all corrected. The doctor who operated on me was the same that operated my knee. This surgery was at the end of the year, last year I operated on my knee and this year was the elbow. I will be back to training in two or three weeks, then I'll be able to rehab properly and I'll be able to train for the next competition.' (news.adcombat.com)

 

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K-1 MMA in the USA: 'We Are Going To Compete with the UFC'

 

Text by André Araújo - Team TATAME

 

After hosting the first ever K-1 MMA event held recently in Brazil, the president of K-1 Brazil, Sérgio Batarelli announced a new weight class (up to 70kg) for K-1 MMA.

 

Brazilian Márfio Canoletti, who won the K-1 World Max 2002 is one of the fighters who looks forward to K-1 MMA. 'I want to fight Vale-Tudo so much, but I do realize I have a lot to learn with my ground techniques' stated Canoletti. Another fighter who has been invited to fight in the K-1 show is 'The Brazilian Beast' Montanha Silva. The next event is called K-1 Premium Dynamite and it will take place in Japan on December 31st. As of now the only confirmed fight is between the former Sumo champion Taro Akebono and Bob Sapp.

 

During the K-1 MMA press conference, Batarelli announced that he intends to do four K-1 shows per year in Brazil, and he also revealed plans for a K-1 MMA show in United States. 'We sold the broadcasting to a pay-per-view channel. We are goingcompete with Ultimate,' celebrates Batarelli. (news.adcombat.com)

 

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DSE held a press conference with the Japanese media today to discuss their December 31st show and a few future plans. Below are the announcements regarding their immediate plans for 2004:

 

1.) PRIDE 27 will take place on February 1st at the Osaka Castle Hall. Since Minotauro is fighting on December 31st, Fedor Emeilanenko vs. Mirko 'Cro Cop' Filipovic will take place on PRIDE 27, in what will complete a round robin format between the three heavyweights. The winner will face 'Minotauro' Nogueira in the spring.

 

2.) PRIDE Bushido volume 2 will take place on February 15th at the Yokohama Arena.

 

3.) PRIDE will do their Las Vegas show on March 26th. A location has not been given yet.

 

4.) The PRIDE Heavyweight Grand Prix will open in June, with the finals concluding in August.

 

http://www.fightsport.com/fsport/js...&memberID=10123 (Via Ironlife MB)

 

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COUTURE TO DEFEND LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE AGAINST BELFORT LIVE ON PAY-PER-VIEW AT UFC 46: SUPER NATURAL, JANUARY 31

 

Matt Hughes To Meet BJ Penn For Welterweight Crown In Ultimate Fighting Championship Super Bowl Weekend Show At Mandalay Bay In Las Vegas

 

Heavyweights Frank Mir, Wes Sims To Battle In Rematch;

British Middleweight Lee Murray To Clash With Jorge Rivera

 

TICKETS NOW ON SALE!

 

LAS VEGAS, December 2, 2003…Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Light Heavyweight Champion Randy "The Natural" Couture will defend his title for the first time against Brazilian phenom Vitor Belfort in the main event of UFC 46: Super Natural LIVE on pay-per-view at 10 p.m. EST, Saturday, January 31, at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.

 

In the co-main event of the Super Bowl Saturday fight show, Welterweight Champion Matt Hughes will defend his belt for the sixth time when he meets one of the world’s top rated fighters, BJ Penn, who will move up from the lightweight division for the title fight. In two feature matches on the eight-fight card, Las Vegas Heavyweight Frank Mir will again fight Wes Sims in the much-anticipated re-match of their June 6 bout, and Lee Murray, one of Britain’s top ranked middleweights will clash with Jorge Rivera. The remainder of the card will be announced. Live event tickets, $350, $250, $150, $75 and $35, are now on sale at the Mandalay Bay Events Center box office in Las Vegas, at all Ticketmaster locations, www.ticketmaster.com and www.mandalaybay.com. Tickets also may be ordered by telephone at 1-877-632-7400 or 1-702-474-4000. Ticket purchases are limited to eight per person and are subject to transaction fees. UFC 46: Super Natural also will be available on pay-per-view on iNDemand, DirecTV, Dish Network, TVN, Echostar, Bell ExpressVu and Viewers Choice Canada. The suggested retail price is $29.95. Couture and Belfort fought six years ago in an epic battle that Couture won by technical knockout. Now both are at the peak of their careers and are ready for a re-match. Belfort vows the outcome will be different this time, but Couture says the light heavyweight division suits him well and he won’t be relinquishing the belt any time soon.

 

Couture (12-5-0 in mixed martial arts) from Portland, Ore., is the 40-year-old superman who has blitzed the light heavyweight division since he dropped down from heavyweight in June and defeated then number one contender Chuck Liddell to capture the interim championship. He followed with an even more impressive defeat of Tito Ortiz by unanimous decision September 21 to capture the light heavyweight crown outright. Couture, the former two-time heavyweight champion, is the only fighter in the UFC’s 10-year history to win titles in two different weight classifications.

 

Belfort (11-3-0) from Rio de Janeiro, is one of the world’s top-ranked light heavyweight fighters. He is coming off a dominating performance in June in Las Vegas where he defeated Marvin Eastman by technical knockout in just 1:10 of the first round. Belfort’s mastery of jiu jitsu and his lightning quick hands established his reputation early on. He exploded on the scene in 1997 at just 19 dazzling fans and opponents alike with his furious hands and punching power. He won his first three fights with devastating punches, including a 53 second knockout of the legendary Tank Abbott.

 

Penn (6-1-1) from Hilo, Hawaii, is the undisputed top lightweight fighter in the world. A threat both striking and on the ground, the energetic, young Hawaiian is always looking for a new challenge. He may have accepted his greatest one yet moving up a weight class to challenge the seemingly unstoppable Welterweight World Champion Hughes (30-3-0) from Hillsboro, Ill.

Since winning the welterweight crown in November 2001 with a knockout of Carlos Newton, Hughes has destroyed everyone in his path including highly-rated Frank Trigg with a rear naked choke in just 3:54 of the first round at UFC 45: Revolution. Hughes, known for his high amplitude body slams and devastating ground and pound attack, is considered the pound-for-pound strongest fighter in mixed martial arts. He is at the absolute top of his game right now and everyone wants to know if Penn will shock the world or if he has bitten off more than he can chew against the most dominant welterweight champion in UFC history.

 

The Mir-Sims bout not only will be a re-match but also a grudge match. Sims, the 6’10" Hammer House fighter, and 6’3’ submission expert Mir first battled at UFC 43: Meltdown. Mir (6-1-0) from Las Vegas, started strong taking Sims down and working for a submission. The fight ended when Sims (6-2-1) from Columbus, Ohio, was disqualified for repeatedly stomping Mir in the face, a tactic that is illegal under UFC fight rules. Sims claims the stomps were payback for Mir eye gouging him earlier in the fight. Both agree the only way to settle their differences is with a rematch and both are confident it is their hand that will be raised at the end.

 

The Murray-Rivera fight will pit two fighters of similar styles. Rivera made an impressive debut at UFC 44: Undisputed in September with a three-round unanimous decision over David Loiseau, one of Canada’s top middleweights. After sustaining a head cut in the first round, Rivera (7-1-0) of Milford, Mass., came back strong to win all three rounds with his boxing skills. Murray (8-1-1) from London, England, will be making his UFC debut. He also is an accomplished boxer and submission specialist who says bluntly that his favorite technique is the knockout. He currently holds middleweight titles in World Extreme Force, Millennium Brawl and is the CFC British champion.

 

The Ultimate Fighting Championship, headquartered in Las Vegas, Nev., is the world’s premier mixed martial arts sports association. Owned and operated by Zuffa, LLC, the UFC programs six live pay-per-view events yearly through cable and satellite providers. In addition to its U.S. distribution on iNDemand, DirecTV, Dish Network, Echostar, TVN, Bell ExpressVu and Viewer’s Choice Canada, UFC events are distributed internationally through WOWOW, Inc., in Japan, Globosat in Brazil, Main Event Television in Australia and Sky Network Television in New Zealand. Zuffa, LLC licenses the distribution of UFC video games through Crave Entertainment and TDK Mediactive and its fight show DVDs through Studio Works Entertainment, a Ventura Distribution company.

 

The UFC’s next live PPV event will be UFC 46: Super Natural at 10 p.m. EST, Saturday, January 31, during Super Bowl weekend from the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nev. For more information, visit the web site at (www.ufc.tv)

Edited December 2, 2003 by RavishingRickRudo

[Lord of The Curry 0]

Cro-Cop vs Fedor?

 

*blows*

 

*blows his.........uh...............ah, fuck it. blows his load. i'm lazy.*

[Guest The Son of Sting]

SHOCKWAVE 2003 will not be available in North America via pay per view

 

 

Why not?What possible reason is there for this not being on ppv?

 

Why is Takayama on the Pride poster when he is fighting on the Inoki show?

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

1. Gracie vs. Yoshida - I'm hyped for this one! Anytime Royce gets in the ring it's a must-watch, and this is no different.

 

2. Silva, Nog, Ryan, Frye, Herring, Sperry, Sakurai - SPERRY! RYAN! SAKURAI! YEAH! Looks to be a great show. WHY ISN'T THIS ON PPV?!?!?!

 

3. St Pierre vs. Karo Parisyan - this could steal the show at UFC 46 (which is an impressive task given that card). St. Pierre RULES. The guy is a powerhouse in the ring and is very well rounded. Parisyan RULES. VIVA JUDO! Hopefully this won't be a Hendo/Busta affair where it ends in a quick KO - let's hope this goes to the 3rd round and finishes there.

 

4. New ChuteBoxe Member? - Notable. Brazilian. Heavyweight. Jiu Jitsu. You know, Silva and Nog were acting all chummy at the end of the last ppv...

 

5. K-1 MMA in the US - them, along with PRIDE and the UFC... oh YEAH, MMA in 04 is going to fucking OWN!

 

6. Cro cop vs. Fedor - this is from FightSport, which has the rep. of being the 1wrestling of MMA. But if it's true... AWESOME. Though I am not nearly as excited for it since Cro Cop has already been defeated.

 

7. PRIDE in the US - see K1.

 

8. GP in June - Will the heavyweight GP be better than the Middleweight? It could very well be.

 

9. Couture vs. Belfort - YEAH DADDY! This is what I'm talkin bout! This is the card UFC 45 should have been! This is already bought and loved.

 

10. Hughes vs. Penn and Sims vs Mir - There's actually a Matt Hughes fight that I WANT to see! Sims vs. Mir I've been BEGGING for ever since UFC 43. They had a really good fight before the DQ finish and this should be no different.

[Styles 0]

So wait I'm a little confused, at the last Pride show they announced that Fedor would face Nogueira to unify the 2 belts, but now Fedor will face Cro Crop in a #1 contenders match to see who gets a shot at Nogueira? Could someone clarify?

[razazteca 0]

K-1 has been showing some fights on ESPN2 but I am not impressed. But of course it was just some minor league fights to enter the Japanese big shows, like North American champion or something. I thought K-1 has been running shows out of Las Vegas for years now?

[Guest BionicRedneck]

Hughes will destroy BJ.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

K-1 *MMA*

[Lei Tong 0]

I guess here is as good a place as any:

 

 

Pancrase 11/30 Results(results from MMAWeekly):

 

1st match: Feather-Weight (3x5 min rounds)

Win: Yoshiro Maeda (PANCRASE Inagaki-Gumi)

Loss: Barrett Yoshida (Grappling Unlimited)

by KO (Punches on the ground) at 1R 1:29

 

(Maeda goes 7-0 in his first year of MMA, while Barrett drops his second straight by KO)

 

2nd match: Middle-Weight (3x5 min rounds)

Draw: Kazuo Misaki (PANCRASE GRABAKA)

Draw: Jake Shields (Cesar Gracie Jiu-Jitsu)

by Majority Decision (M1-0S)

 

(BAH. Would someone please take Shields out already?)

 

3rd match: Superheavy-Weight (3x5 min rounds)

Draw: Ron Waterman (Team Impact)

Draw: Jimmy Ambriz (New Japan Pro-Wrestling)

by Unanimous Decision

 

(What? You mean Waterman isn't the unstoppable monster he LOOKS like? You don't say... )

 

4th match: Lightheavy-Weight (3x5 min rounds)

Win: Akihiro Gono (PANCRASE GRABAKA)

Loss: Nilson de Castro (Chute Boxe Academy)

by Unanimous Decision

 

(Gono's highly underrated, but I expected him to finish De Castro. Oh, well)

 

5th match: Welter-Weight K.O.P. Title match (3x5 min rounds)

Win: Kiuma Kunioku (PANCRASE ism)

Loss: Kenichi Serizawa (Wajyutsu Keisyukai)

by Unanimous Decision.

* Kunioku defended the title.

 

(As expected. Haven't seen any of Serizawa's fights, but nothing on his record made me think he'd take Kunioku)

 

6th match: Middle-Weight K.O.P. Title match (3x5 min rounds)

Win: Ricardo Almeida (Renzo Gracie Jiu-Jitsu)

Loss: Nathan Marquardt (Colorado Stars)

by Front Choke at 1R 4:53

* Almeida became new Middle-Weight K.O.P.

 

(Almeida seems born anew in Pancrase, going undefeated since his loss to Semenov and now MW champ)

 

7th match: Lightheavy-Weight K.O.P. Title match (3x5 min rounds)

Win: Yuki Kondo (PANCRASE ism)

Loss: Sanae Kikuta (PANCRASE GRABAKA)

by KO(Left Hook) at 2R 0:08

* Kondo became new Lightheavy-Weight K.O.P.

 

(Kondo's quickly becoming one of those guys that you wonder what they could do in a division of guys their size)

[Styles 0]

So wait I'm a little confused, at the last Pride show they announced that Fedor would face Nogueira to unify the 2 belts, but now Fedor will face Cro Crop in a #1 contenders match to see who gets a shot at Nogueira? Could someone clarify?

None of you hardcore MMAers care to answer this new fan's question about the apparent inconsistency?

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

That isn't 100% confirmed yet.

 

Fedor couldn't fight Cro Cop because of an injury, so Nogueira took his place. Noguiera beat Cro Cop to win the "interim" title and a guaranteed title shot (or Unification depending on how PRIDE plays it).

 

Noguiera can't fight Fedor, so Cro Cop - being #3 contender (and a big draw) - will take his place.

 

Since Noguiera is guaranteed a title shot, he fights the winner of Cro Cop vs. Fedor (the winner, thus, will have the PRIDE title).

 

Why the "Interim" title was made, I don't know. It was pointless. But they had to give the winner "something", I guess. Maybe they were copying what the UFC did.

[AboveAverage484 0]

It's not on American PPV because we will be getting a 1st quarter 2004 DVD release of it... hopefully.

 

It's going to be focused on what the Japanese people want to see, so essentially it's by the Japanese, for the Japanese.

 

Which kind of sucks.

[Guest NCJ]

I can't fucking wait for Penn vs. Hughes. Penn dosen't have anyone left in his division for him to face other than Pulver and I think he would dominant Pulver in the rematch. Honestly I think he would have been better off taking on Newton or Rua first to get him used to the weigth, but this is going to either be total domination by Hughes or the fight of the night. 2004 is going to be a huge year for MMA. So many fights that we have wanted to see for years will hopefully happen this year. Tito vs Chuck is probably going to happen at UFC 47. Hopefully we will get rematches between Silva and Rampage and Silva and Yoshida. The winner of Tito vs Chuck vs the winner of Vitor vs Randy and the losers possibly meeting each other or Franklin. Randy vs Silva could happen. Honestly I see this being the year that we get a joint UFC vs Pride show. I think they arre as close to doing that as ever before.

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

Anyone know why exactly Silva and...well, Silva were let go from Chutebox? I heard there was a falling out and that it wasn't just business, but I'm hazy on the details.

[Lei Tong 0]

How much Rudimar was taking out of fighters purses, at times up to 50%(not a typo).

[Guest NCJ]

Your kidding right. That is absolutely crazy.

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

Is Rudimar a company or a guy? I really have no idea.

[Lei Tong 0]

Rudimar Fedrigo, manager/leader/trainer of the Chute Boxe Academy.

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

How does a guy like that have so much power in the company? I mean even if he is the leader, you think guys would know that they're getting ripped off over here..

[Guest The Son of Sting]

Meltzer says in the latest WO that the reason Pride isnt on PPV is because the company only went ahead with the show by mid Novmember and had missed the deadline to buy the time slot.

[Lei Tong 0]

Well, Rudimar took these guys in from a young age and trained them for free, so you can imagine that an intense loyalty was/is there, and for what's he done for them, a higher than 10% cut can be expected (although 50 is rediculous).

[Guest The Son of Sting]

I just read that Inoki wants to sign Nakamura vs. Fedor for new years eve.I guess Nakamura doesnt like having a face.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

 

Here's a pic of Rudimar (far right)

 

AAAAAAAAAND for shits and giggles, a pic of Nog and Wand

 

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

SPERRY! Makes his return to PRIDE. THE WORLDS STRONGEST MAN is thinking about MMA? NO not THAT worlds strongest man! Will we have another NATHAN JONES?! OR maybe the next BOB SAPP! Is either GOOD?! NOGUIERA! Will not compete New Years Eve. NOGUIERA WILL! and against SAKURABA! WHA? LEARN! MORE! IIIIIIIT'SSSSSSSS

 

MMA News UPDATE! December 9th 2003!

 

"WORLD'S STRONGEST MAN" CONSIDERING MMA

 

He stands 6 '7, weighs 325lbs, and was named the 1998 "World's Strongest Man", but there is one more thing you might not know about this athlete from Sweden.

 

Magnus Samuelsson may now be on the verge of entering the world of Mixed Martial Arts. There have been a number of reports surfacing in Japan over the past few days, but it does appear that Samuelsson is much more then a casual fan of MMA. In fact the "World's Strongest Man" is a personal friend of the legendary Royce Gracie, and it appears that Gracie is the one that is pushing Samuelsson to consider fighting in Japan.

 

MMAWeekly has learned that Gracie has asked Samuelsson to accompany him to the ring for the upcoming PRIDE event on December 31st. Whether or not this trancends into a PRIDE debut remains to be seen, but one more reason for fans to eagerly anticipate this upcoming year-end DSE event. (mmaweekly.com)

 

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Mário Sperry faces Don Frye at Pride

 

Our friends from Brazilian Top Team confirms: Zé Mário Sperry faces the vet Don Frye at December 31 Pride. Sperry's last fight was on September,2002, when he defeated Andrey Kopylov by TKO. During this time, the Zen Machine went on a surgery due to a hands injury after a training with Rodrigo Minotauro. Don Frye was at Pride 26, this June, when he lost to Mark Coleman by judges decision.

(tatame.com)

 

Antonio Rodrigo Noguiera injured.

 

A Japanese website just reported (www.sanspo.com) that Nog will not be able to compete on 12/31/03. He sustained a broken nose and a fracture in his right arm when he fought CroCop. He thought he might be healed up by 12/31, but he doesn't think he will be.

 

Fedor vs. TK

 

The Japanese media is now reporting that Fedor Emeianenko will most likely face T.K. Kohsaka on the Antonio Inoki show, scheduled for December 31st.

 

Kohsaka has a cut stoppage win over Fedor dating back to their days in the RINGS organization

 

Antonio Rogerio Noguiera faces Sakuraba!

 

"Brazilian journalist reports the following matchups will take place at the PRIDE SP show on December 31st:

 

Mario Sperry vs. Don Frye

Rogerio 'Minotoro' Nogueira vs. Kazushi Sakuraba"

 

Rogerio is Rodrigo "MINOTAURO" brother.

 

http://www.fightsport.com/fightsport/news/news.htm (via IRONLIFE.com)

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

Rudimar doesn't look that old himself, and I wonder how much he takes from the big stars, like Wand.

 

Is there anyway at all to see this show? I know it's not on Directv but anyway? I mean they're just crazy, who puts a show like this on New Year's Eve? Or maybe I'm just conditioned to expecting crap like Rikishi wishing me to have a safe holiday. Fucker.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

I don't know why they have it on New Years Night (I'm assuming it's a big ratings time in Japan... I guess... ) but Meltzer is saying it's to the biggest thing ever where the big tv networks are throwing around cash like there's no tomorrow in order to get the big stars and to have the biggest shows.

 

Rudimar looks younger in that pic than he does on TV.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

I can safely say that we haven't seen ANYTHING like what is going to happen on New Years Eve. Can you imagine what the wrestling equivalent of this would mean to wrestling fans? They'd be going BONKERS.

[Guest The Son of Sting]

The worlds strongest man is on tv every year over here (UK) and Magnus Samuelsson is impressive,he once broke an other guys arm in the arm wrestling heat.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

Him and Big Daddy should have an ARM WRESTLING contest. Finally, Gary can put his discipline to the test!

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

Two Interviews via PRIDE.com

 

 

A press conference regarding the New Year's Eve PRIDE SPECIAL 2003 was held in Tokyo on December 1st. With three different fighting events broadcasting on the same night, a lot of attention has been placed on PRIDE. PRIDE's first shot of the battle was fired here with the announcement of a rematch between Hidehiko Yoshida and Royce Gracie.

Their connection began in August of last year. It was the pro-debut for Hidehiko Yoshida, an Olympic Gold Medalist and his first opponent was none other than Royce Gracie. The official account was that Yoshida beat Royce by choking him unconscious with a sleeve-choke. However, it was not so simple. As soon as the referee stopped the fight, Royce was on his feet, declaring that he was not out. Additionally, he protested that the fight should be declared a no-contest on the grounds that the contract forbid referee stops. Unfortunately for Royce, the decision was not overturned.

 

Since then, Royce has continued to petition PRIDE for rematch. Although he was not scheduled to fight in October's PRIDE Bushido, when he heard that Yoshida would be Team Japan's coach, he came to Japan as the coach of Team Gracie and challenged Yoshida, "Yoshida, don't run from me. That fight isn't finished yet."

 

Royce's request was finally realized and a rematch was set-up. Yoshida also had a lot of motivation for their fight, "I feel that fight isn't over yet. Honestly, I've got some injuries but I will fight through them. I want to settle everything this time."

 

Their last match-up had no striking to the face while standing and no striking on the ground at all. This time however, the match will be held under regular PRIDE rules. However, the rounds are expected to be unlimited 10-minute rounds with no doctor stops and no referee stops, similar to the Sakuraba/Royce fight. This will be a decisive fight.

 

Regarding the event's concept, DSE President Sakakibara commented, "We don't plan on losing the New Year's Eve battle. I think PRIDE has shown the true face of fighting men this year. I was that face to be out there on New Year's Eve as well." PRIDE has Wanderlei Silva, who won the November 9th Grand Prix, and Antonio Nogueira schedule to fight and it looks like it will be a line-up of PRIDE All-Stars."

 

PRIDE General Director Nobuhiko Takada also gave an explanation regarding the absence of Kazuhiro Sakuraba, who was scheduled to attend the conference. "Sakuraba really wants to fight on New Year's Eve. However, it is true that his right leg is injured. I think that he is having a little trouble now, both physically and mentally." Takada also explained that there would be an announcement soon to announce whether Sakuraba will actually fight on New Year's Eve.

 

Q&A

 

PRIDE Fighting Championships: What is your condition like now?

 

Hidehiko Yoshida: I've only done light training since the fight in November. The real training will start from today.

 

PRIDE: What do you think of your fight with Silva?

 

Yoshida: Everyone tells me that it was a good fight but I feel nothing but regret. If you don't win, you are a loser.

 

PRIDE: And the fight with Royce?

 

Yoshida: I want this fight to decide everything. He had some objections the last time so I want to completely choke him out or submit him this time.

 

PRIDE: Have the rules been decided yet?

 

Sakakibara: Striking will be under normal PRIDE rules. There won't be any referee stops or doctor stops. The rounds are still under consideration but it will probably be like the Sakuraba vs. Royce fight. Basically, under vale tudo rules.

 

PRIDE: Would you accept unlimited rounds?

 

Yoshida: Of course.

 

Sakakibara: There are also television considerations. If they will fight 5 hours for us, we only need this one fight! (laughing) Regardless of the number of rounds, I want them to fight like men.

 

PRIDE: If there are unlimited rounds, do you think your fighting style will change?

 

Yoshida: I don't think it's really relevant. If I need to strike, I will. I want to finish this. That's all I want to do.

 

PRIDE: What about Sakuraba?

 

Takada: There have been reports that Sakuraba is wondering whether to fight or not. That is not true. The only thing Sakuraba wants to do is fight. Despite his desires, the condition of his right instep is not very good. He's troubled now because of that, both physically and mentally. I think there will be an answer within a few days.

 

Post-Conference Q&A with President Sakakibara

 

PRIDE: What is happening with the card?

 

Sakakibara: It's being constructed as we speak. We've made many offers and expect it to be fixed within a week.

 

PRIDE: There have been rumors of a 4th match up between Silva and Sakuraba.

 

Sakakibara: I know that Sakuraba would like to fight Silva again but I don't want to let them do too much. Silva just had surgery on his elbow and to be honest, I don't want him to have a hard fight right now.

 

PRIDE: What kind of card will it be?

 

Sakakibara: I want it to be a card that shows what it means to be a man. It will be around 8 or 9 fights.

 

PRIDE: Will there be more revenge matches?

 

Sakakibara: Not necessarily.

 

PRIDE: Will Yoshida and Royce be the main fight?

 

Sakakibara: I don't know yet. We've won't be able to beat (K-1's) viewer rate for Akebono VS. Sapp. I'm sure that will be their final match so we have to work around that.

 

PRIDE: There's also been talk of Nogueira fighting in Inoki's event.

 

Sakakibara: Won't happen. That's just the newspapers making up stories. Nogueira has an exclusive contract with PRIDE. So, there's no chance of him fighting in another ring. Mirko, on the other hand, doesn't have an exclusive contract. However, no one knows if the Inoki Event will continue to be held next year and Mirko himself has expressed an interested in fighting Fedor and gaining the PRIDE Heavyweight belt so I'm sure he will continue to participate in PRIDE.

 

PRIDE: What does next year's schedule look like?

 

Sakakibara: We are planning to hold the Opening Round of the Heavyweight Grand Prix in April with the Final Round in June. If those dates don't work out exactly, I still want to have the Grand Prix finished by August.

 

PRIDE: What about Las Vegas?

 

Sakakibara: We are planning to have an event there on March 26th.

 

PRIDE: It's going to be a tight schedule for the Heavyweights.

 

Sakakibara: Yes, it certainly will be. If Nogueira fights on New Year's Eve, we may not have the title match in February and have a Fedor/Mirko fight instead. We are concentrating on making the Heavyweight Grand Prix a success next year. I think this will bring out new strengths in all 3 of them.

 

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Amateur PRIDE

The referees and judges of PRIDE have come together to assist in the development of the next generation of PRIDE fighters. The first Amateur Exchange Meeting was held in November. The goals were to foster exchange of MMA techniques and provide a sparring opportunity that would benefit the amateur fighters. Additionally, they made selections for fighters to appear in the first amateur PRIDE event, PRIDE Challenge 1. The event is scheduled to take place in January 2004.

Only 21 people were present due to the short notice. However, there was a large group of trainers, referees, Olympic athletes and MMA fighters present to teach the up-and-comers about weight training and conditioning, wrestling and sparring.

 

"I'd like to have an amateur competition about once every three months. It should be a neutral ring where fighters of any style and organization can test themselves, just like the real PRIDE", PRIDE Rule Director and Referee, Yuji Shimada commented.

 

"Fighters with no affiliations are also welcome. It's basically impossible for someone just starting out to jump into the main PRIDE event but we would like to raise some new fighters that are skilled enough to compete in THE BEST and DEEP'S Future Fight. That's the path to PRIDE. We want to hold events across Japan in order to bring in a wide variety of competitors." Shimada went on to explain that these exchange events will be held approximately once every two months, along with seminars put on by the coaches that have created today's PRIDE fighters.