FIGHTSPORT 24-7

By Tape Lord


Hello my friends, my postal connections in the Japanese media are telling me to expect the following six first-round matchups for the PRIDE Heavyweight GP to be official (some have already been announced) by next week:


Rodrigo 'Minotauro' Nogueira vs. Hirotaka Yokoi
Mirko 'Cro Cop' Filipovic vs. Kevin Randleman
Fedor Emelianenko vs. Mark Coleman
Murilo 'Ninja' Rua vs. Sergei Kharitonov
Heath Herring vs. Ron Waterman
Don Frye vs. Yoshiki Takahashi


Ricardo Arona vs. Gan McGee is expected to be announced as an alternate matchup.

These same sources also say that Stefan Leko will be matched up against either 'Giant' Silva or Sentoryu.

DSE/PRIDE is also still trying to sign a big-name Japanese fighter (supposedly Naoya Ogawa) to the GP, and will match him up against either Giant Silva or Sentoryu as well.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Murilo "Ninja" Rua

Tape Lord reports that the matchup of Murilo 'Ninja' Rua vs. Sergei Kharitonov is a very strong possibility for the first round of the PRIDE Heavyweight GP on April 25th.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Ricardo Arona

The Japanese media reports that an alternate matchup of Ricardo Arona vs. Gan McGee will most likely take place at PRIDE Heavyweight GP on April 25th.

The winner will be the first alternate used in case of an injury to one of the main GP tournament fighters.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Rick Roufus

American kickboxing great Rick Roufus is claiming to have signed a contract with 'Too Famous Productions', with the hope that they can sign boxing legend Mike Tyson to face him in a kickboxing match.

According to kickboxing insiders in Las Vegas, this is mainly a publicity stunt to capitalize off of the Tyson signing with K-1. Too Famous Productions does have the signature of Roufus, but not Tyson's.

According to these same insiders, don't expect Tyson to sign for such a low-profile fight anytime soon unless very huge money is involved, or unless this fight happens in K-1.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Gan McGee

The Japanese media reports that Gan McGee will participate in an alternate fight for PRIDE Heavyweight GP on April 25th.

If McGee wins, he will be the first alternate used in case of an injury to one of the main GP tournament fighters. An opponent for McGee has not been named yet, but it is believed to be Ricardo Arona.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

DSE/PRIDE announced that their New Year's Eve show is now available on DVD.

The shpw was not aired in North America, and features the Royce Gracie vs. Hidehiko Yoshida matchup, as well as some other big name matchups.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Minotauro and CroCop confirmed for the GP.

PRIDE Heabyweight Grand Prix
April 25th, 2004 (opening round)
Japan


Listed below are the names of the fighters who are signed, and who are being considered for the opening round of the PRIDE Heavyweight Grand Prix.

The opening round will feature sixteen fighters, and is scheduled for April 25th:


Officially confirmed:
Rodrigo 'Minotauro' Nogueira
Mirko 'CroCop' Filipovic
Fedor Emelianenko
Heath Herring
Stefan Leko
Murilo 'Ninja' Rua
Mark Coleman
Kevin Randleman
Ron Waterman
Sergei Karitonov
Sentoryu aka Henry Miller
'Giant' Silva
Yoshiki Takahashi
Hirotaka Yokoi

Unofficially confirmed:
Don Frye
Ricardo Arona
Naoya Ogawa

Outside possibilty:
Semmy Schilt
Pedro Rizzo
Gan McGee
Tim Sylvia
Kazushi Sakuraba
Yoshihisa Yamamoto
Kazuhiro Nakamura
Yoshihiro Takayama

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Vitor Belfort

Sources in Brazil tell us that the rumors of Vitor Belfort going to PRIDE are inaccurate.

These same sources say that it is actually both PRIDE and K-1 that are interested in signing Belfort.

These sources go on to say that Belfort is interested in fighting for either PRIDE or K-1 in the future, but that right now he is focused on fighting Randy Couture again and completing his UFC contract.

After that, Belfort will look over his options and either re-sign with the UFC, or sign with either PRIDE or K-1. According to these sources, Belfort will most likely head off to Japan.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

By Tape Lord

Phil Baroni

Hello my friends, my postal connections in Japan are telling me that K-1 is looking to sign UFC showman Phil Baroni.

Baroni would be doing mainly MMA fights under their K-1 MMA promotion.

These same sources say that the talks have been only preliminary, and that Baroni is said to be highly interested in such a proposal.

However, these sources also say that Baroni is only interested in fighting for the UFC at the present time, but that he may change his tune if things don't go as planned in his upcoming fight against Evan Tanner in UFC 48. This is because these sources say that K-1 will still be interested in signing him whether he wins or loses his next fight.

More info to come on this in the next few weeks.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Francisco Filho

K-1 announced the matchup of Francisco Filho vs. Remy Bonjasky for their show on May 30th in Tokyo.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Jake Shields (top)

Sources close to Jake Shields report that he will be facing Ray Cooper for the SHOOTO 170-pound title on July 7th in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Stephen Palling

Todd Atkins reports the following from Japan:

SHOOTO has announced the matchup of Stephen Palling vs. Hiroyuki Takaya for their May 3rd show in Tokyo.

Takaya is one of SHOOTO's top up-and-comers, and they are pushing him very hard as a future star. Takaya is very much like Palling in that he loves to strike. This fight could be one of the better fights to happen so far this year.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Don Frye

Sankei Sports reports that Don Frye will face Yoshiki Takahashi in the first round of the PRIDE Heavyweight GP on April 25th.

PRIDE is expected to release their full GP line-up later today.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

B.J. Penn

UFC welterweight champion B.J. Penn made an appearance at today's K-1 Max show in Tokyo, and announced that he has signed on with the K-1 organization

Penn went on to say that he will be competing in an MMA bout on the K-1 'Dynamite!' show on May 22nd.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Ron Waterman (left)

The Japanese media is reporting that Ron Waterman will participate in the PRIDE Heavyweight GP, scheduled for April 25th. His opponent will most likely be Heath Herring.

According to the Japanese media, Waterman was asked to participate when it became apparent that Igor Vovchanchyn will most likely be out of the GP due to injury.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Yilmaz and Masato in action.

K-1 World Max 2004
April 7, 2004
Yoyogi Stadium
Tokyo, Japan


Tournament (K-1 rules):
Masato defeats Serkan Yilmaz by unanimous decision.
Albert Kraus defeats Jadamba Narantungalag by unanimous decision.
Buakaw Por.Puramuk defeats Jordan Tai by unanimous decision.
John Wayne Parr defeats Duane Ludwig by unanimous decision.
Shamil Gaydarbekov defeats Marfio Canoletti by majority decision.
Takayuki Kohiruimaki defeats Paolo Balicha by unanimous decision.
Mike Zambidis defeats Hayato by unanimous decision.
Jean Skarbowsky defeats Fuji Chalmsak by unanimous decision.
David defeats Kang En by KO at 2:20, RD 3.

Single fight (MMA rules):
Norifumi 'Kid' Yamamoto defeats Tony Valenti by rear naked choke at 0:58, RD 1.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Mike Tyson

K-1 announced that Mike Tyson will make his K-1 debut in the USA in either July or August of this year.

The show will be one of K-1's 'Dynamite!' shows, and will most likely take place in Las Vegas. Tyson's opponent has not been decided yet.

The official signing will take place this Thursday at the Regency Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, California.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Hidehiko Yoshida

Hiedhiko Yoshida announced to the Japanese media that he will not be participating in the PRIDE HEavyweight GP, which is scheduled for April 25th.

According to Yoshida, he does not have enough time to properly bulk up to heavyweight for the GP.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Joachim Hansen

Capital Punishment 2: 'Ticket To Japan'
April 5th, 2004
Helsinki, Finland


Rafles la Rose defeats Martin Ahlberg by guillotine choke.
Mika Ilmen defeats Danelius Razmus by KO.
David Bielkheden defeats Sigitas Antanavicius by TKO.
Janne Tulirinta defeats Arttu Nyman by unanimous decision.
Joachim Hansen defeats Yakut Metin by TKO.
Tommi Haapanen defeats Toni Hakala by decision.
Tom Niinimaki defeats Vincent Latoel by triangle choke.
Jani Lax defeats Mikael Lahdesmaki by unanimous decision.
Matteus Lahdesmaki drew with Olli Hartikainen.
Thomas Backman defeats Janne Rantanen.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Masato

K-1 World Max 2004
April 7, 2004
Yoyogi Stadium
Tokyo, Japan


Tournament (K-1 rules):
Masato vs. Serkan Yilmaz
Albert Kraus vs. Jadamba Narantungalag
Buakaw Por.Puramuk vs. Jordan Tai
Duane Ludwig vs. Johan Wayne Parr
Shamil Gaydarbekov vs. Marfio Canoletti
Takayuki Kohiruimaki vs. Paolo Balicha
Mike Zambidis vs. Hayato

Reserve match (K-1 rules):
Fuji Chalmsak vs. Jean Skarbowsky

Single fight (MMA rules):
Norifumi 'Kid' Yamamoto vs. Tony Valenti

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

SHOOTO
April 11th, 2004
Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium
Osaka, Japan


Class-A Bouts:
Takumi vs. Takashi Nakakura
Junji Ikoma vs. Itchaku Murata

Class-B Bouts:
Kenichiro Togashi vs. Romualdas Klimavicius
Seigi Fujioka vs. Tsutomu Shiiki
Takamitsu Oba vs. Keisuke Sakai
Koetsu Okazaki vs. Takao Tamura
Tetsuya Akihisa vs. Tsuyoshi Okada
Masanori Sugatani vs. Manabu Kanou

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

HEAT FC 3
April 16th, 2004
Natal, Brazil

Heat FC announced the following matchups for their April 16th show. The full card is expected to have around eight matchups:


Carlos Barreto vs. Mike Whitehead or Ben Christensen
Ebenezer Braga vs. Keith Jardine
Erick Tavares vs. Diego Sanches
Lucas Lopes vs. Fabiano Capoane
Milton Vieira vs. Delosman Paiva

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Storm GP champ Anderson Silva (right).

Storm Muay Thai promoter Rudimar Fedrigo announced that the show's next two editions will be held in Brazil, and will be only two days apart, on April 16th and then April 18th.

The April 16th show will take place in the city of Sao Paulo, and the April 18th show will take place in the city of Curitiba.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

SHOOTO
April 16th, 2004
Kitazawa Town Hall
Tokyo, Japan


Class-A Bouts:
Katsuya Toida vs. Jin Kazeta

Class-B Bouts:
Akitoshi Hokazono vs. Kenji Osawa
So Tazawa vs. Takamaro Watari
Yutaka Teduka vs. Toshinori Akagi
Koji Takeuchi vs. Wataru Miki
Akihiro Murayama vs. Ryuhei Sato

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Minotauro and CroCop confirmed for the GP.

PRIDE Heabyweight Grand Prix
April 25th, 2004 (opening round)
Japan


Listed below are the names of the fighters who are signed, and who are being considered for the opening round of the PRIDE Heavyweight Grand Prix.

The opening round will feature sixteen fighters, and is scheduled for April 25th:


Officially confirmed:
Rodrigo 'Minotauro' Nogueira
Mirko 'CroCop' Filipovic
Fedor Emelianenko
Igor Vovchanchyn
Heath Herring
Stefan Leko
Murilo 'Ninja' Rua
Mark Coleman
Kevin Randleman
Sergei Karitonov
Sentoryu aka Henry Miller
'Giant' Silva
Hirotaka Yokoi
Yoshihisa Yamamoto

Unofficially confirmed, and very strong possibilty:
Don Frye
Ricardo Arona
Hidehiko Yoshida
Kazushi Sakuraba
Kazuhiro Nakamura
Yoshihiro Takayama

Names have been mentioned in the media, but do not expect them in the GP:
Royce Gracie
Dan Henderson
Tom Erikson
Hiromitsu Kanehara
Kiyoshi Tamura

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

K-1: 'Battle At The Bellagio II'
Friday, April 30th, 2004
Bellagio Hotel and Casino
Las Vegas, NV


Rumored matchup:
Shannon Briggs vs. 'Tank Abbott


Fighters scheduled to compete:
Carter Williams
Michael McDonald
Dewey Cooper
Cung Le

Fighters that may participate:
Shannon Briggs
Francois Botha

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos (top)

Meca co-promoter Rudimar Fedrigo announced the following matchups for the Meca Vale Tudo 11 card, which is tentatively scheduled for sometime in April:


Evangelista 'Cyborg' Santos vs. Edson Drago
Daniel Acacio vs. Carlos Baruck
Luiz Azeredo vs. Roan Jucao
Jadyson Costa vs. TBA

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Kevin Randleman

The Japanese media report that Kevin Randleman will participate in the PRIDE Heavyweight GP on April 25th.

The Japanese media also added that Randleman;s first round opponent in the GP will most likely be Mirko 'Cro Cop' Filipovic.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Vanderlei Silva (left)

DSE/PRIDE announced that Vanderlei Silva vs. Yuki Kondo will take place as the main event for their PRIDE Bushido 3 show on May 23rd.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Igor Vovchanchyn

The Japanese media report that Igor Vovchanchyn may be possibly out of the PRIDE Heavyweight GP, which is scheduled for April 25th.

According to reports, Igor still has an injury that he sustained from his last fight. With Igor possibly out, and Sylvester Terkay definitely out, PRIDE may now has six spots to fill for their 16-man GP.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Ricardo Arona

Ricardo Arona told Brazilian magazine Tatame that he believes PRIDE will invite him to participate in the PRIDE Heavyweight GP, which is scheduled for April 25th.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Before reading any further, please read our disclaimer first.


A doctor based out of Nevada has sent us the following commentary regarding the announcement that Tim Sylvia's manager Monte Cox made about the Sylvia's latest steroid controversy:


"First off, Monte Cox is wrong about the numbers, Tim Sylvia didn't have '.00000000064'.

The .00000000064 figure Cox gives translates to 640 pg/ml, which is below the NSAC threshold for testing positive. Tim actually had 64 ng/ml, which has 2 less zeroes in it than 640 pg/ml.

He's correct about the stanozolol metabolites crystalizing in adipose tissue, as injectable stanozolol is in crystal form, and if it accumulates in adipose tissue it would crystalize. But I've never heard of someone testing positive nine months after their last use (Sylvia claims to have not used since two months before fighting Gan McGee on September 26th).

In my professional opinion the numbers don't seem to add up, but to be truthful I also have no problem if an athlete uses performance enhancing drugs. Below are two quotes I've included from experts in the field of steroid use" -Doctor in Vegas



"Oral AAS, such as Anavar, Winstrol (tablets), and Dianabol, are usually undetectable 3 to 4 days of after cessation. Injectable steroids usually have a much longer detection interval. Metabolites of nandrolone have been found in the urine of some athletes after 2 years it was reportedly last used. Stanozolol (Winstrol-V) has been detected in the urine of an athlete 4 months after cessation of its injection" -Dr. Mauro DiPasquale, 1992a

http://www.exrx.net/AnabolicSteroids/EludingTechniques.html



"Since Ben Johnson's unfortunate demise, stanazolol (Winstrol) has shot to the top of the rankings with track athletes. Much like the previously mentioned items, stanazolol became popular due to its fast clearance time and not necessarily because of its effectiveness. But that was when the old GCMS detection system was still in place. Athletes could stay on the drug right up to a few days before testing. When Ben stepped out on the track, little did he know the significance of the new GC-HRMS system and its ability to detect stanazolol metabolites up to 14 weeks out! In fact, the new system caught many athletes with their pants down. None of mine were caught, though!" -Brian Batcheldor

http://www.t-mag.com/html/body_59bb.html

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Tim Sylvia

Before reading any further, please read our disclaimer first.


Monte Cox released the following statement regarding the Tim Sylvia steroid situation. The results of Sylvia's recent steroid test have come back negative, contrary to what the UFC announced in their press release last Friday:


"Here is what happened in the Tim Sylvia test situation... pretty much, Josh Gross has it nailed in his story on Maxfighting...

Tim was required by the NSAC to produce a negative test before getting his license to compete in UFC 47... we knew this was going to take work because our doctor said once the stuff gets into your fat cells it can crystalize and stay there for more than a year. (don't start arguing roid issues, please. I know nothing about it, and am only stating what the doctor told us).

A test was taken many weeks prior to the UFC to see what the levels were... it was like .00000000064, which is very little.

Tim flew to Vegas to give the results to Zuffa and the NSAC and he offered to take a lie detector test to prove he had not used since the time he admitted to when he was suspended. NSAC officials said they believed him, and that the low amount was not consistent with somebody who had been using recently.

However, Tim still needed to work to get the remaining trace out of his body... and he used a herbal clensing thing-a-ma-jig... something that is completely OK to do.

Here's where it gets tricky... Wanting to give the herbs the most chance to work, he waited until he got to Vegas to take the test for the NSAC... he tried to do it Monday, but there was a problem (not sure what) and he was told to come back Tuesday. He took the test on Tuesday... and they hoped to get it back by Thursday afternoon... before the licensing and weigh-in.

As you know... the test results were not back until Friday. Zuffa had to make the changes in the lineup on Thursday and Tim was out.

We didn't learn that the test came back NEGATIVE until Tim was told by Dana White at the event.

As far as the release Zuffa put out saying Tim failed a test on Thursday... that's wrong and didn't happen. Not sure how that happened... probably in the rush to get something out quickly.

That's how this all came down... Zuffa and the NSAC will and has confirmed all of this in Gross' report." -Monte Cox

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

By Jake R

Tim Sylvia (top)

Before reading any further, please read our disclaimer first.


While I was at UFC 47 last Friday in Las Vegas, I heard many things being said amongst MMA insiders and the assorted media. Below are the main things that were being asked and speculated on regarding the issue:


1.) Why did they wait so long to have Tim Sylvia take the urine test for steroids?

2.) If an earlier test had been taken, the results would've been back way before.

3. The UFC asked Wesley 'Cabbage' Correira to replace Sylvia in the title fight.

4. Cabbage said no to the title , yes to just a regular non-title matchup. Speculation amongst MMA insiders at the show was that Cabbage would have tested positive to marijuana and didn't want to cause embarrassment to himself and the UFC.

5. The oddsmakers said over and over that something was up, in accordance with the Jake R Report.

6. The MMA insiders were saying that they believed Tim Sylvia had switched urine cups in his initial test, in which he tested negative. This is supposedly why Zuffa reported that the rumors about the positive test results were false. They knew if he took another urine test that he might test positive. This supposedly lead to the panic and the lies about Winstrol-V being left in fat cells, even though doctors say that Winstrol-V is usually out of your system in a matter of days. However, it must be stated that the MMA insiders who speculated this whole scenario had no proof to back these claims up other then speculation based on the re-shuffling of test dates and some alleged insider info.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Left to right: Machida, Fujita, Sapp, Greco, and Ignashov.

K-1: 'Dynamite'
May 22nd,, 2004
Japan


K-1 announced that their show on May 22nd will be a 'K-1 vs. Team Inoki' themed card with mostly MMA matchups. Below are some of the matchups that are expected to take place, as well as the probable lineups for both Team K-1 and Team Inoki:

MMA matchups:
Bob Sapp vs. Kazuyuki Fujita
Alexey Ignashov vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

Probable Team K-1 lineup:
Bob Sapp
Alexey Ignashov
Jerome LeBanner
Mark Hunt
Micheal McDonald
Peter Aerts
Sam Greco
Eric 'Butterbean' Esch
Genki Sudo
Norifumi 'Kid' Yamamoto

Probable Team Inoki lineup:
Kazayuki Fujita
Shinsuke Nakamura
Josh Barnett
'Lyoto' Machida
Sylvester Terkay
Tom Howard
Dolgosurem Sumbayazer
'Blue Wolf'
Masayuki Naruse
Kazunari Murakami

Discuss this at Fightsport.com