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MMA |OT2| - Thread of Athletes, Fighters, Personalities, and Sports Entertainment

M

Master Thespian

Member
EYEL1NER said:
I think lower level might be out of the question for me too. I don't think I would be able to talk the guy going with me into getting those seats except there are some in the $100 to $250 range still available.
Damn...
Click to expand...
Me and a couple buddies are going and one of our friends is in dire financial straights so in order to get him to come too without us all ending up with shitty seats we split the cost of his ticket three ways. I should've signed up for the fight club a day earlier so I could've tried to get the front row on the lower level, but our seats are still really good.
 
H

Host Samurai

Member
Anybody on MMA GAF have UFC3? I logged in 40 hours since Friday. This was the first time I did that with a video game in years. Beating up Jones on Advanced/Comp/Sim in Pride with Pride Wand was one of the most satisfying gaming experiences I had in a long time.

I chose Leban to be my punching bag in the game but damn hes hard and has a granite chin. His stats are deceiving in the game with only an 83 and trying to KO him with Vitor or Wand is quite a difficult task.

After so much time with the game, I find it almost perfect. The matches last long and you can now have 5 round competitive wars. Pride mode is damn good, best part of the game. I watch all the Pride entrances just to hear the crazy Pride lady say some of the UFC fighters names and "Fiiiiiiiighting out of the reeeeeeed coooooooorner". LMFAO @ the samurai announcer.

My only real complaints are the CAF mode. Why can't we use call out names for all the fighters with generic names like Ross and Josh if they are already recorded? and where are Rampages USA Pride shorts? Why can't I use this for my CAF? Custom options are terribly bad compared to what Yukes does for the WWE games.

I also want more Pride fighters as DLC. I can understand no Fedor or Saku. Here is what I would like to see as DLC for Pride

-Arona
-Werdum
-Igor
-Rutten (Why is he not in?)
-Fujita
-Yoshida
-Sergei
-Renzo
-Rickson

The Pride roster, while solid is such a tease. I WANT MORE. I would have liked to see Cung Le in the game because he would be fun to use with his crazy kicking style and to match him up with Machida in Pride mode.

Oh and LMFAO @ Bas saying Overeem likes horse meat during the Pride commentary.
 
P

parrotbeak

Member
Maklershed said:
Oh maaaaaaaan I hope we can get a stream and a nerd chat for this one:

http://mmajunkie.com/news/27504/ex-...yssen-headlines-all-female-invicta-1-card.mma
Click to expand...
I'm putting it on my calendar.

Maklershed said:
Hopefully they have enough ambulances for that event.
Click to expand...
School nurse needs to work OT that weekend.

Host Samurai said:
Anybody on MMA GAF have UFC3?
Click to expand...
I don't play games anymore. The last one I finished was probably RE4 on GC and although I still have my ps2, gc and xbox (not 360) set up, I haven't played anything in years, except for occasional Tekken nights with friends. But this post and everything else I've read about UFC3 makes me want to buy it. I do have a big tax return coming...But can I justify dropping $400 on a new system and game when I'm not even playing games right now?
 
H

Heel

Member
Ugh, apparently Brunson failed his medical and is out against Jacare. I was looking forward to that one...

Jacare will stay on the card against an opponent TBA.

x3TNt.jpg
 
B

bone_and_sinew

breaking down barriers in gratuitous nudity
I don't know why Showtime decided to renew if they won't let Zuffa brass run the show. It's such a shitty promotion now.
 
H

Heel

Member
I think this Strikeforce card is a lot better top-to-bottom than the last one. The prelims look better than a Challengers card.


MAIN CARD (Showtime)
Champ Miesha Tate vs. Ronda Rousey (for female bantamweight title)
K.J. Noons vs. Josh Thomson
Paul Daley vs. Kazuo Misaki
Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza vs. TBA
Lumumba Sayers vs. Scott Smith

PRELIMINARY CARD (Showtime Extreme)
Alexis Davis vs. Sarah Kaufman
Caros Fodor vs. Pat Healy
Ryan Couture vs. Conor Heun
Roger Bowling vs. Brandon Saling
 
S

Sinatar

Official GAF Bottom Feeder
Heel said:
I think this Strikeforce card is a lot better top-to-bottom than the last one. The prelims look better than a Challengers card.


MAIN CARD (Showtime)
Champ Miesha Tate vs. Ronda Rousey (for female bantamweight title)
K.J. Noons vs. Josh Thomson
Paul Daley vs. Kazuo Misaki
Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza vs. TBA
Lumumba Sayers vs. Scott Smith

PRELIMINARY CARD (Showtime Extreme)
Alexis Davis vs. Sarah Kaufman
Caros Fodor vs. Pat Healy
Ryan Couture vs. Conor Heun
Roger Bowling vs. Brandon Saling
Click to expand...

Yea that's just about every piece of talent Strikeforce has outside of Luke Rockhold.
 
DKehoe

DKehoe

Member
Thought MMA GAF might be interested in an article from a back issue of the Wrestling Observer from 1994 that went up today. Is basically what led to the formation of Pride:

In a throwback to the type of thing that occurred in pro wrestling on occasion in the early part of the century and what no doubt will go down in wrestling history as one of its legendary stories that will be re-told for decades, the latest UWFI grandstand challenge backfired. Not only did this become a major news story in Japan and leave UWFI with something of a p.r. black eye, it also, along with several other things that took place, served to close the gap between interest in Japanese pro wrestling and other fighting forms.

As has been reported here several times, UWFI has thrown out grandstand challenges to Rickson (pronounced Hickson) Gracie, 36, the older brother of Royce Gracie of Ultimate Fight fame. Rickson Gracie (generally considered within the Jiu-Jitsu world to be legitimately tougher than his brother) along with his brother and the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu style have gained an enormous amount of popularity in Japan among the hybrid breed of wrestling and martial arts fans. This stemmed initially from Royce Gracie beating Ken Wayne Shamrock at the first UFC and spread when UFC and Gracie family videos become a hot item in Japan. Rickson capitalized on this a few months back by doing his own version of a UFC show (held in a boxing/wrestling ring as opposed to an octagon and with combatants wearing karate gloves instead of fighting bare-knuckle) in Tokyo and winning with what appeared to be little competition.

UWFI, which, as attendance figures show, has gained considerable popularity particularly among the hardcore Tokyo fans, to the point that based on the sometimes misleading stat of average attendance per show, it would be the No. 1 promotion anywhere and its top star, Nobuhiko Takada would be the hottest drawing card. Even though UWFI is a far more brutal style than most traditional pro wrestling, it is still pro wrestling at its base, but purports to be something different. With Lou Thesz, who has probably more experience at working different angles within the pro wrestling game than anyone living involved in the promotion, they have done several notable angles, grandstand challenges really, that are throwbacks to the 1920s U.S. promotional wars where companies would put their world titles on legitimate shooters and challenge the "workers" on top for the other promotions, which of course wouldn't accept. This would give the promotion issuing the challenge a public credibility as somehow being the tougher and more legitimate promotion and having the more worthy real champion.

The first grandstand challenge was made by UWFI to Masa Chono, then-NWA world heavyweight champion of New Japan, to take a match with Takada to determine who the real world champion was. This turned into enough of a story to the point actual negotiations, themselves something of a grandstand response by New Japan, took place. UWFI continued to challenge all the world champions, and then to make its own angle come true, signed Vader, at the time the WCW champion, for a huge money deal which eventually led to Vader submitting to Takada before more than 46,000 fans at a Tokyo baseball stadium one year ago to get over UWFI's storyline. Eventually the UWFI fans accepted Vader as a one of their regulars opposed to being a WCW wrestler and they did the right thing for business, eventually putting him over Takada this year to give them a series of matches with those two and Gary Albright that could do consistent huge business. The second grandstand challenge was earlier this year when UWFI offered a supposed $1 million purse to all the world champions from other major organizations if they could win UWFI's "Best in the world" tournament. This challenge got a lot of press in Japan, although it was ignored publicly by All Japan, WCW and WWF. New Japan failed to issue a response although Shinya Hashimoto, at the time the IWGP champ, blasted UWFI publicly, while WAR star Genichiro Tenryu gave an excuse why he couldn't appear. The grandstand play got even more heated when Rings star Akira Maeda was challenged, and he, a past-his-prime former major draw in Japan who made his reputation basically the same way, challenged back and put UWFI in hot water for a response, which ended with the public clamoring for a Maeda vs. Takada match, but since both sides were doing grandstands rather than setting up a pre-planned angle, nothing materialized.
The latest grandstand involved the Gracie brothers, first Royce, and the Rickson. At the UWFI shows in early October, the organization made announcements basically challenging either Royce or Rickson to appear on its 11/30 show for a cage match with Takada. Rumors abound that UWFI actually was in negotiations with Rickson before this, but whether that was the case or not, by the time the announcement was made, negotiations had fallen through. Apparently since Satoru Sayama, a pro wrestling legend of the early 80s as Tiger Mask, was involved in the promotion of the Gracie UFC in Japan, he explained the pro wrestling business to Gracie who it is believed wanted no part of it. UWFI was trying to work its own angle that it was the real toughest fighting group in the world as opposed to the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu which had become a hot item among hardcore wrestling and martial arts fans in Japan and people believed they were tougher than wrestlers. By November, Yoji Anjyo, 27, a UWFI mid-card wrestler who reportedly is considered the best of the Japanese crew when it comes to submission wrestling and who has a reputation for being a very tough individual, made a few challenges to Rickson Gracie, including a press conference in mid-November where he claimed he could beat Rickson Gracie in less than one minute.

To everyone's shock, Anjyo took the challenge one step farther. He flew to the United States earlier this week with no fanfare to back down Gracie and end the Gracie myth in Japan. Unannounced, on 12/7 at about 11:10 a.m., he showed up at the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu academy in Santa Monica where Rickson is the main instructor, went in and issued the challenge, expecting Rickson not to respond with since he would be facing an unknown foe with an unknown style and being given no notice. Anjyo would be played up in the press as backing Gracie down if Gracie didn't accept. Those close to the scene said that Anjyo was fully confident that in a shootfight an "80 kilogram (176 pound) guy" was no match for him at 220. Indeed Anjyo, who along with Yuko Miyato are heavily involved in the office and booking end of UWFI and largely pushed these grandstand ideas to get the group over as the real deal, had talked of another follow-up angle to take down Gracie. They would send a young UWFI wrestler to train with Gracie for several months and learn the style, and then challenge the sansei, force a showdown and beat him. Anjyo believed they wouldn't even have to send Masahito Kakihara or Kiyoshi Tamura (UWFI's two most talented younger wrestlers) because even a lesser talented guy once learning the technique would be able to beat the smaller Gracie and expose the myth. Anjyo's confidence in his "shoot" ability was pretty strong based on his training and sparring work at the UWFI dojo where he was considered the best guy at submissions and a tough guy when it comes to fighting, because in what people claim was a shoot several years ago on a major card of the old UWF at the Tokyo Dome, Anjyo held a Muay Thai world champion kick boxer to a draw under Muay Thai rules, although Anjyo had an advantage in that he was several weight divisions up from the Muay Thai fighter. Additionally in the context of a worked match, he was forced into a confrontational position with an uncooperative Iron Sheik and humiliated him before they did their worked finish. Even though Sheik was old and fat at the time, he was still very much a feared man in the business.
The background takes longer to explain than what actually happened. In front of about 20 students in the academy, Gracie maneuvered himself on top of Anjyo and pummeled his face and body straight down with punches, similar to the style he employed in winning the Japanese UFC and that his brother used in most of his UFC matches. To Anjyo's credit, even though he was getting pounded into oblivion, he didn't quit for what is believed to have been five to seven minutes until Gracie maneuvered him into a choke sleeper. But, according to an eye-witness, it was completely one-sided with Anjyo getting no significant offense in. Anjyo's face when it was over was said to have looked roughly twice as bad as a heavyweight boxer who had been pounded into oblivion.

Although in many ways this came off as the greatest angle of all to set up a Takada vs. Gracie match, those there insist there was no way in the world this match was anything but a shoot angle that backfired. Indeed, those within the Japanese wrestling business over the weekend, all pretty well acknowledged it wasn't an angle, although fans, who expect angles like this, are now all primed for a match with Takada that, unless Gracie agrees to work a program, will never take place and many are saying this will be a major blow to the UWFI promotion. My guess is that since it was Anjyo, a mid-card guy, it won't really be a major blow. If it had been Takada in that situation, it would have been twenty times the story and have been a real p.r. disaster for the company.
Click to expand...
 
H

Heel

Member
Chamber said:
It's Fedor, brothers! Believe!
Click to expand...

Let's temper our expectations, friend. Did he finally get the call he's been waiting for?

ibbgFmVA93oyIC.png


I'd actually like to see someone like Kawajiri or Bibiano Fernandes come over. Other possibilities that I'd consider "pretty big" are...Marquardt, Sylvia, Khalidov, Aoki.
 
M

Maklershed

Member
Heel said:
Let's temper our expectations, friend. Did he finally get the call he's been waiting for?

ibbgFmVA93oyIC.png


I'd actually like to see someone like Kawajiri or Bibiano Fernandes come over. Other possibilities that I'd consider "pretty big" are...Marquardt, Sylvia, Khalidov, Aoki.
Click to expand...

Oh man don't get me started on that fat piece of shit. I can't believe he's gonna be the ProElite heavyweight champ solely based on the fact that he stands in the center of the ring and his opponents are afraid to attack him. Talk about luck of the draw.

And good call on Fernandes. He's probably the best mma guy out there that isn't signed by UFC yet.

Heel said:
Shit, how about Sp*ng?

Enomoto brothers have been great, but I wouldn't call them "pretty big". If it's on that level someone like Vinny Magalhaes is possible since he's tired of M-1.
Click to expand...

I know Yasubey isn't the best in the world but his fights are exciting as hell. He always brings it.
 
H

Heel

Member
Maklershed said:
I know Yasubey isn't the best in the world but his fights are exciting as hell. He always brings it.
Click to expand...

Enomoto vs. Magamedov in March. Gonna be a barn burner.

I'd be surprised if we haven't named who it is already. There really isn't a lot of "pretty big free agents" left in MMA.
 
O

op_ivy

Fallen Xbot (cannot continue gaining levels in this class)
DKehoe said:
Thought MMA GAF might be interested in an article from a back issue of the Wrestling Observer from 1994 that went up today. Is basically what led to the formation of Pride:
Click to expand...

i'll read it dream style, thank you



In a throwback to the type of thing that occurred in pro wrestling on occasion in the early part of the century and what no doubt will go down in wrestling history as one of its legendary stories that will be re-told for decades, the latest UWFI grandstand challenge backfired. Not only did this become a major news story in Japan and leave UWFI with something of a p.r. black eye, it also, along with several other things that took place, served to close the gap between interest in Japanese pro wrestling and other fighting forms. As has been reported here several times, UWFI has thrown out grandstand challenges to Rickson (pronounced Hickson) Gracie, 36, the older brother of Royce Gracie of Ultimate Fight fame. Rickson Gracie (generally considered within the Jiu-Jitsu world to be legitimately tougher than his brother) along with his brother and the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu style have gained an enormous amount of popularity in Japan among the hybrid breed of wrestling and martial arts fans. This stemmed initially from Royce Gracie beating Ken Wayne Shamrock at the first UFC and spread when UFC and Gracie family videos become a hot item in Japan. Rickson capitalized on this a few months back by doing his own version of a UFC show (held in a boxing/wrestling ring as opposed to an octagon and with combatants wearing karate gloves instead of fighting bare-knuckle) in Tokyo and winning with what appeared to be little competition. UWFI, which, as attendance figures show, has gained considerable popularity particularly among the hardcore Tokyo fans, to the point that based on the sometimes misleading stat of average attendance per show, it would be the No. 1 promotion anywhere and its top star, Nobuhiko Takada would be the hottest drawing card. Even though UWFI is a far more brutal style than most traditional pro wrestling, it is still pro wrestling at its base, but purports to be something different. With Lou Thesz, who has probably more experience at working different angles within the pro wrestling game than anyone living involved in the promotion, they have done several notable angles, grandstand challenges really, that are throwbacks to the 1920s U.S. promotional wars where companies would put their world titles on legitimate shooters and challenge the "workers" on top for the other promotions, which of course wouldn't accept. This would give the promotion issuing the challenge a public credibility as somehow being the tougher and more legitimate promotion and having the more worthy real champion. The first grandstand challenge was made by UWFI to Masa Chono, then-NWA world heavyweight champion of New Japan, to take a match with Takada to determine who the real world champion was. This turned into enough of a story to the point actual negotiations, themselves something of a grandstand response by New Japan, took place. UWFI continued to challenge all the world champions, and then to make its own angle come true, signed Vader, at the time the WCW champion, for a huge money deal which eventually led to Vader submitting to Takada before more than 46,000 fans at a Tokyo baseball stadium one year ago to get over UWFI's storyline. Eventually the UWFI fans accepted Vader as a one of their regulars opposed to being a WCW wrestler and they did the right thing for business, eventually putting him over Takada this year to give them a series of matches with those two and Gary Albright that could do consistent huge business. The second grandstand challenge was earlier this year when UWFI offered a supposed $1 million purse to all the world champions from other major organizations if they could win UWFI's "Best in the world" tournament. This challenge got a lot of press in Japan, although it was ignored publicly by All Japan, WCW and WWF. New Japan failed to issue a response although Shinya Hashimoto, at the time the IWGP champ, blasted UWFI publicly, while WAR star Genichiro Tenryu gave an excuse why he couldn't appear. The grandstand play got even more heated when Rings star Akira Maeda was challenged, and he, a past-his-prime former major draw in Japan who made his reputation basically the same way, challenged back and put UWFI in hot water for a response, which ended with the public clamoring for a Maeda vs. Takada match, but since both sides were doing grandstands rather than setting up a pre-planned angle, nothing materialized. The latest grandstand involved the Gracie brothers, first Royce, and the Rickson. At the UWFI shows in early October, the organization made announcements basically challenging either Royce or Rickson to appear on its 11/30 show for a cage match with Takada. Rumors abound that UWFI actually was in negotiations with Rickson before this, but whether that was the case or not, by the time the announcement was made, negotiations had fallen through. Apparently since Satoru Sayama, a pro wrestling legend of the early 80s as Tiger Mask, was involved in the promotion of the Gracie UFC in Japan, he explained the pro wrestling business to Gracie who it is believed wanted no part of it. UWFI was trying to work its own angle that it was the real toughest fighting group in the world as opposed to the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu which had become a hot item among hardcore wrestling and martial arts fans in Japan and people believed they were tougher than wrestlers. By November, Yoji Anjyo, 27, a UWFI mid-card wrestler who reportedly is considered the best of the Japanese crew when it comes to submission wrestling and who has a reputation for being a very tough individual, made a few challenges to Rickson Gracie, including a press conference in mid-November where he claimed he could beat Rickson Gracie in less than one minute. To everyone's shock, Anjyo took the challenge one step farther. He flew to the United States earlier this week with no fanfare to back down Gracie and end the Gracie myth in Japan. Unannounced, on 12/7 at about 11:10 a.m., he showed up at the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu academy in Santa Monica where Rickson is the main instructor, went in and issued the challenge, expecting Rickson not to respond with since he would be facing an unknown foe with an unknown style and being given no notice. Anjyo would be played up in the press as backing Gracie down if Gracie didn't accept. Those close to the scene said that Anjyo was fully confident that in a shootfight an "80 kilogram (176 pound) guy" was no match for him at 220. Indeed Anjyo, who along with Yuko Miyato are heavily involved in the office and booking end of UWFI and largely pushed these grandstand ideas to get the group over as the real deal, had talked of another follow-up angle to take down Gracie. They would send a young UWFI wrestler to train with Gracie for several months and learn the style, and then challenge the sansei, force a showdown and beat him. Anjyo believed they wouldn't even have to send Masahito Kakihara or Kiyoshi Tamura (UWFI's two most talented younger wrestlers) because even a lesser talented guy once learning the technique would be able to beat the smaller Gracie and expose the myth. Anjyo's confidence in his "shoot" ability was pretty strong based on his training and sparring work at the UWFI dojo where he was considered the best guy at submissions and a tough guy when it comes to fighting, because in what people claim was a shoot several years ago on a major card of the old UWF at the Tokyo Dome, Anjyo held a Muay Thai world champion kick boxer to a draw under Muay Thai rules, although Anjyo had an advantage in that he was several weight divisions up from the Muay Thai fighter. Additionally in the context of a worked match, he was forced into a confrontational position with an uncooperative Iron Sheik and humiliated him before they did their worked finish. Even though Sheik was old and fat at the time, he was still very much a feared man in the business. The background takes longer to explain than what actually happened. In front of about 20 students in the academy, Gracie maneuvered himself on top of Anjyo and pummeled his face and body straight down with punches, similar to the style he employed in winning the Japanese UFC and that his brother used in most of his UFC matches. To Anjyo's credit, even though he was getting pounded into oblivion, he didn't quit for what is believed to have been five to seven minutes until Gracie maneuvered him into a choke sleeper. But, according to an eye-witness, it was completely one-sided with Anjyo getting no significant offense in. Anjyo's face when it was over was said to have looked roughly twice as bad as a heavyweight boxer who had been pounded into oblivion. Although in many ways this came off as the greatest angle of all to set up a Takada vs. Gracie match, those there insist there was no way in the world this match was anything but a shoot angle that backfired. Indeed, those within the Japanese wrestling business over the weekend, all pretty well acknowledged it wasn't an angle, although fans, who expect angles like this, are now all primed for a match with Takada that, unless Gracie agrees to work a program, will never take place and many are saying this will be a major blow to the UWFI promotion. My guess is that since it was Anjyo, a mid-card guy, it won't really be a major blow. If it had been Takada in that situation, it would have been twenty times the story and have been a real p.r. disaster for the company.
 
P

parrotbeak

Member
op_ivy said:
i'll read it dream style, thank you



In a throwback to the type of thing that occurred in pro wrestling on occasion in the early part of the century and what no doubt will go down in wrestling history as one of its legendary stories that will be re-told for decades, the latest UWFI grandstand challenge backfired. Not only did this become a major news story in Japan and leave UWFI with something of a p.r. black eye, it also, along with several other things that took place, served to close the gap between interest in Japanese pro wrestling and other fighting forms. As has been reported here several times, UWFI has thrown out grandstand challenges to Rickson (pronounced Hickson) Gracie, 36, the older brother of Royce Gracie of Ultimate Fight fame. Rickson Gracie (generally considered within the Jiu-Jitsu world to be legitimately tougher than his brother) along with his brother and the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu style have gained an enormous amount of popularity in Japan among the hybrid breed of wrestling and martial arts fans. This stemmed initially from Royce Gracie beating Ken Wayne Shamrock at the first UFC and spread when UFC and Gracie family videos become a hot item in Japan. Rickson capitalized on this a few months back by doing his own version of a UFC show (held in a boxing/wrestling ring as opposed to an octagon and with combatants wearing karate gloves instead of fighting bare-knuckle) in Tokyo and winning with what appeared to be little competition. UWFI, which, as attendance figures show, has gained considerable popularity particularly among the hardcore Tokyo fans, to the point that based on the sometimes misleading stat of average attendance per show, it would be the No. 1 promotion anywhere and its top star, Nobuhiko Takada would be the hottest drawing card. Even though UWFI is a far more brutal style than most traditional pro wrestling, it is still pro wrestling at its base, but purports to be something different. With Lou Thesz, who has probably more experience at working different angles within the pro wrestling game than anyone living involved in the promotion, they have done several notable angles, grandstand challenges really, that are throwbacks to the 1920s U.S. promotional wars where companies would put their world titles on legitimate shooters and challenge the "workers" on top for the other promotions, which of course wouldn't accept. This would give the promotion issuing the challenge a public credibility as somehow being the tougher and more legitimate promotion and having the more worthy real champion. The first grandstand challenge was made by UWFI to Masa Chono, then-NWA world heavyweight champion of New Japan, to take a match with Takada to determine who the real world champion was. This turned into enough of a story to the point actual negotiations, themselves something of a grandstand response by New Japan, took place. UWFI continued to challenge all the world champions, and then to make its own angle come true, signed Vader, at the time the WCW champion, for a huge money deal which eventually led to Vader submitting to Takada before more than 46,000 fans at a Tokyo baseball stadium one year ago to get over UWFI's storyline. Eventually the UWFI fans accepted Vader as a one of their regulars opposed to being a WCW wrestler and they did the right thing for business, eventually putting him over Takada this year to give them a series of matches with those two and Gary Albright that could do consistent huge business. The second grandstand challenge was earlier this year when UWFI offered a supposed $1 million purse to all the world champions from other major organizations if they could win UWFI's "Best in the world" tournament. This challenge got a lot of press in Japan, although it was ignored publicly by All Japan, WCW and WWF. New Japan failed to issue a response although Shinya Hashimoto, at the time the IWGP champ, blasted UWFI publicly, while WAR star Genichiro Tenryu gave an excuse why he couldn't appear. The grandstand play got even more heated when Rings star Akira Maeda was challenged, and he, a past-his-prime former major draw in Japan who made his reputation basically the same way, challenged back and put UWFI in hot water for a response, which ended with the public clamoring for a Maeda vs. Takada match, but since both sides were doing grandstands rather than setting up a pre-planned angle, nothing materialized. The latest grandstand involved the Gracie brothers, first Royce, and the Rickson. At the UWFI shows in early October, the organization made announcements basically challenging either Royce or Rickson to appear on its 11/30 show for a cage match with Takada. Rumors abound that UWFI actually was in negotiations with Rickson before this, but whether that was the case or not, by the time the announcement was made, negotiations had fallen through. Apparently since Satoru Sayama, a pro wrestling legend of the early 80s as Tiger Mask, was involved in the promotion of the Gracie UFC in Japan, he explained the pro wrestling business to Gracie who it is believed wanted no part of it. UWFI was trying to work its own angle that it was the real toughest fighting group in the world as opposed to the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu which had become a hot item among hardcore wrestling and martial arts fans in Japan and people believed they were tougher than wrestlers. By November, Yoji Anjyo, 27, a UWFI mid-card wrestler who reportedly is considered the best of the Japanese crew when it comes to submission wrestling and who has a reputation for being a very tough individual, made a few challenges to Rickson Gracie, including a press conference in mid-November where he claimed he could beat Rickson Gracie in less than one minute. To everyone's shock, Anjyo took the challenge one step farther. He flew to the United States earlier this week with no fanfare to back down Gracie and end the Gracie myth in Japan. Unannounced, on 12/7 at about 11:10 a.m., he showed up at the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu academy in Santa Monica where Rickson is the main instructor, went in and issued the challenge, expecting Rickson not to respond with since he would be facing an unknown foe with an unknown style and being given no notice. Anjyo would be played up in the press as backing Gracie down if Gracie didn't accept. Those close to the scene said that Anjyo was fully confident that in a shootfight an "80 kilogram (176 pound) guy" was no match for him at 220. Indeed Anjyo, who along with Yuko Miyato are heavily involved in the office and booking end of UWFI and largely pushed these grandstand ideas to get the group over as the real deal, had talked of another follow-up angle to take down Gracie. They would send a young UWFI wrestler to train with Gracie for several months and learn the style, and then challenge the sansei, force a showdown and beat him. Anjyo believed they wouldn't even have to send Masahito Kakihara or Kiyoshi Tamura (UWFI's two most talented younger wrestlers) because even a lesser talented guy once learning the technique would be able to beat the smaller Gracie and expose the myth. Anjyo's confidence in his "shoot" ability was pretty strong based on his training and sparring work at the UWFI dojo where he was considered the best guy at submissions and a tough guy when it comes to fighting, because in what people claim was a shoot several years ago on a major card of the old UWF at the Tokyo Dome, Anjyo held a Muay Thai world champion kick boxer to a draw under Muay Thai rules, although Anjyo had an advantage in that he was several weight divisions up from the Muay Thai fighter. Additionally in the context of a worked match, he was forced into a confrontational position with an uncooperative Iron Sheik and humiliated him before they did their worked finish. Even though Sheik was old and fat at the time, he was still very much a feared man in the business. The background takes longer to explain than what actually happened. In front of about 20 students in the academy, Gracie maneuvered himself on top of Anjyo and pummeled his face and body straight down with punches, similar to the style he employed in winning the Japanese UFC and that his brother used in most of his UFC matches. To Anjyo's credit, even though he was getting pounded into oblivion, he didn't quit for what is believed to have been five to seven minutes until Gracie maneuvered him into a choke sleeper. But, according to an eye-witness, it was completely one-sided with Anjyo getting no significant offense in. Anjyo's face when it was over was said to have looked roughly twice as bad as a heavyweight boxer who had been pounded into oblivion. Although in many ways this came off as the greatest angle of all to set up a Takada vs. Gracie match, those there insist there was no way in the world this match was anything but a shoot angle that backfired. Indeed, those within the Japanese wrestling business over the weekend, all pretty well acknowledged it wasn't an angle, although fans, who expect angles like this, are now all primed for a match with Takada that, unless Gracie agrees to work a program, will never take place and many are saying this will be a major blow to the UWFI promotion. My guess is that since it was Anjyo, a mid-card guy, it won't really be a major blow. If it had been Takada in that situation, it would have been twenty times the story and have been a real p.r. disaster for the company.
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Haha, I was going to do that but got distracted.
 
P

polyh3dron

Banned
Maklershed said:
Pleeeeeease be Gohkan Saki or Yasubey Enomoto.

It's probably gonna be someone like Jamie Varner or Gerald Harris or something.
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  • Varner is free, but was cut from the UFC a while back so this wouldn't exactly be big news.
  • Gerald Harris has a contract with DREAM, was also cut from the UFC not too long ago and wouldn't be that big of a deal.
  • Eddie Alvarez will be a free agent later this year but is most likely in an exclusive negotiation period with Bellator.
  • Aoki has his Bellator fight lined up with Alvarez and most likely there wouldn't be any news of him signing with the UFC until after this fight if he were to sign with them.
  • Fedor? lol
  • Kawajiri, Bibiano, Enomoto, Khalidov, Saki... My money is on one of them.
 
H

Heel

Member
Maklershed said:
Yeah I thought that was announced last week? Maybe it was just rumor.
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It's always been a rumor but it's been a lock for a while now. They've been interested in him for years now but he overstayed his Visa and couldn't get in the country. It got resolved and it was only a matter of time. Posted about it last year sometime. Maybe a few years late but still an interesting signing.
 
D

Dagless M.D.

Member
Fuck, Glover Teixeira has been talked about getting into the ufc for like five years now. Hope its not too late for him.

Edit: Probably more than five years, just realised it's been that long since Pride folded
 
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