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Darrell Gholar

Brazilian magazine Tatame recently interviewed Darrell Gholar to see how he is recovering from his brain aneurysm. Here is what Gholar had to say (interview by Andre Araujo):


Tatame: You have been recieving treatment in Chicago (USA). What did they tell you?

Gholar: I have been to the doctor here in Chicago. He said the bleeding in my head has stopped. The most important thing for me now is to take my medicine, rest and not get stressed out. The cause of my illness was all the years of fighting, wrestling and playing American football.

Tatame: What do you think about how much the MMA has tried to help?

Gholar: The MMA community has been fabulous. I didn't know I had so many friends. Many, many people came to visit me in the hospital it was great to wake and see my students, friends and other people connected to the MMA world. Specially thanks to Artur Mariano and Carlos Baruckm who stood by me the entire time. I have been close with them since the first time we met.

Tatame: Do you have any plans to return to Brazil?

Gholar: I love Brazil and I have plans to return to Brazil as soon as my doctors allow me to. I hope they let me travel in a few weeks. It's important that I get back as soon as possible, my students depend on me. I'm really upset that this happened. It really hurts me that I'm not there for my students.

Tatame: You came to Rio to teach wrestling at BTT. How did that invitation come about?

Gholar: I first came to Brazil to teach wrestling to Vitor Belfort. Many of the guys from Brazilian Top Team trained at the same gym in Barra. When I found out that top fighters like Ze Mario Sperry, Murilo Bustamante, and Arona, to name a few, wanted to train wrestling with me I jumped at the chance. I worked with these guys for about 2 years. It was great working with that caliber athlete it makes the job fun and easier when you're working with top athletes who want to learn and who want to win.

Tatame: Do you have any messages for your fans in Brazil and around the world?

Gholar: I would like to thank everyone very much for there concern, and prayers during my illness. To all my students I would like to apologize for missing practices. I promise to be even more dedicated in our pursuit of excellence, when I return in a few weeks.

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Rodrigo Gracie

The Japanese media is reporting that an MMA matchup of Rodrigo Gracie vs. B.J. Penn will most likely take place in K-1 on either November 20th or December 31st.

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B.J. Penn

B.J. Penn, who sought to legally prevent the upcoming UFC welterweight title bout between Matt Hughes and Georges St-Pierre, was denied that motion this past Tuesday by Clark County (Nev.) District Court Judge Ken Corey.

The judge made his ruling after listening to legal arguments and testimony. The Hughes/St-Pierre title fight will take place as scheduled on October 22nd.

The ruling took place on September 30th in Nevada, and an official court order concerning the denial will be issued in the near future.

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Tito Ortiz (left) with a guy from the porn industry



Greetings MMA fans, Scoop McTroll here, bringing you The Inside Word, the latest news, rumors and gossip in the MMA scene. Todays Inside Word is that all is not well in the camp of former UFC Light Heavy Weight Champion Tito Ortiz. Sources close to Ortiz allege that he is experiencing some major personal problems and is allegedly estranged from his wife. Because of this they say he is not focused on his fight with Guy Mezger at all and has had a tough time during his training sessions. "He has the attitude that he can beat him because he beat him before, but I think he needs to train harder." said a source close to the UFC journeyman Ortiz. Whether this will impact on his performance against Mezger is yet to be seen. However, this rumor might be something that Guy Mezger will be interested to hear.

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The final eight.

K-1 announced the line-up for their K-1 2004 World GP finals card on December 4th:


2004 World GP tournament:
Remy Bonjasky vs. Ernesto Hoost
Peter Aerts vs. Franz Botha
Ray Sefo vs. Musashi
'Mighty' Mo Siligia vs. Kaoklai Kaennorsing

Reserve matchup:
Jerome LeBanner vs. Cyril Abidi

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Bonjasky vs. Akebono

K-1 WORLD GP 2004
September 25th, 2004
Nippon Budokan
Tokyo, Japan

All the winners (Remy Bonjasky already qualified) advance to the K-1 World GP Finals on December 4th:


Franz Botha defeats Jerome Le Banner by majority decision.
Musashi defeats Cyril Abidi by unanimous decision.
Remy Bonjasky defeats Akebono by KO at 0:33, RD 3.
Ray Sefo defeats Hiromi Amada by unanimous decision.
Ernesto Hoost defeats Glaube Feitosa by unanimous decision.
Peter Aerts defeats Michael McDonald by unanimous decision.
Kaoklai Kaennorsing defeats Alexey Ignashov by split decision in OT.
'Mighty' Mo Siligia defeats Gary Goodridge by KO at 2:58, RD 1.

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Pancrase 2004 Brave Tour
September 24th, 2004
Korakuen Hall
Tokyo, Japan


Keigo Takamori defeats Anthony Netzler by KO at 0:49, RD 1.
Heath Sims drew with Satoru Kitaoka.
Yuki Sasaki defeats Buck Meridith by triangle choke at 3:13, RD 2.
Alex Roberts defeats Kengo Watanabe by split decision.
Katsuya Inoue defeats Takuya Wada by unanimous decision.
Mitsuhiro Miura defeats Yuichi Nakanishi by majority decision.
Yuya Shirai defeats Mitsuyoshi Sato by by majority decision.
Naoki Seki drew with Daizo Ishige.

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Our sincere apologies for the lack of updates the last four weeks. Most of our staff was on vacation.

Everyone is back from vacation now and the news updates will be posted on a daily basis, just as before.

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Yokozuna Akebono to fight Royce Gracie


In yet another exclusive for the Jake R Report, reliable sources in Japan have informed me of a blockbuster of a fight strongly rumored and close to being made at this point and time: Japan's sumo legend Akebono vs the original UFC champion Royce Gracie under MMA rules!

As of right now, this reporter has learned the proposed match will take place as a K1 MMA fight on New Year's Eve in Japan. In addition, sources tell me Royce Gracie will be paid over seven figures for this fight, becoming the first non Japanese fighter to rival Rickson Gracie on the MMA payscale.

As my sources went on to explain, the Gracie name is huge in Japan, and Akebono is obviously even bigger. K1 officials were thrilled with the Sapp/Akebono ratings and believe Gracie/Akebono will not only draw in big ratings, but make the MMA portion of the K1 organization more popular with the mainstream.

As always, keep reading the Jake R report for breaking news and scoops that you won't read anywhere else.

*Jake R Report Exclusive: Must credit the Jake R Report when discussing or reproducing this article.

This exclusive Jake R Report was filed Tuesday, September 28th at 9:50 pm.


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