Issue 104

August 2013

Things we hear, things we see, things we know.

Japanese lightweight star Shinya Aoki teases drop to featherweight

ONE FC lightweight champion Shinya Aoki recently teased he’s considering a drop to 145lb. Speaking to Fighters Only affiliate magazine Gong Kakutogi, the Japanese grappler, who fights out of Singapore’s Evolve Gym, revealed that two weeks after he submitted Kotetsu Boku at 155lb at ONE FC 8 he was back to within 1.5lb of his fight weight. He noted: “Supposing I drop to the featherweight division, that is likely to make the move comfortable… Can I drop to the featherweight division by staying in good condition? I might try it.” 

Agency claims number of Anderson Silva's Twitter followers are 'fake'

A report from marketing and talent agency Ingrained Media claims that several MMA figures’ Twitter accounts are followed by large numbers of ‘fake’ accounts, and that about 47% of the nearly 3.5 million following UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva are thought to be bogus. The report stresses there’s no evidence to suggest any of the people surveyed bought or did anything nefarious to attain those followers, but of the 64 MMA accounts assessed, on average 24% of the followers were fake.

Former UFC fighter Luke Cummo now advocate against MMA

Ex-UFC welterweight Luke Cummo is rallying against MMA. A former TUF competitor who last fought at UFC 87 in 2008, Cummo stated in a video on his YouTube channel that he believes MMA is a “mindless, stupid industry profiting from the spilled blood of the innocent.” The New Yorker is seeking to establish a modified version of the sport called League of Assassins, where knockouts aren’t permitted and fighters instead earn XP (experience points) for successful techniques and for holding, not cranking, submissions.

FILA drops regulation of amateur MMA, allows IMMAF to step in

Amateur MMA will now be governed worldwide by the International Mixed Martial Arts Federation (IMMAF) after the International Wrestling Federation (FILA) announced it is removing that discipline of the sport from its federation. August Wallen, IMMAF president, said: “This was the best decision possible that FILA could make regarding MMA. Now we can start to heal the fragmentation within the MMA community and secure strong and unified international representation for MMA everywhere.”