Fighters Only

Issue 061

April 2010

Catch the latest news and hot interviews updated daily by our worldwide team of reporters

News: Silva vs Akiyama on the cards

A Silva-Akiyama bout has long been on the cards, and Fighters Only was told recently that the UFC is keen to put the fight on an event to be staged in Japan, which is high on the overseas hit-list for the company. “Akiyama wants that fight really bad,” said Dana White.

Interview: Rampage talks Wanderlei

FO: The intensity of the three fights between you two, the stare downs, the smack talk, they way you are both such strong personalities – a lot of people think you two really hate each other’s guts. Is that the case?

RAMPAGE: The thing about Wanderlei, I never disliked him. He didn’t like me. I never disliked Wanderlei even after he beat me twice. I came to UFC 20 when my friend Dave Roberts fought – this was years ago, before I even had a fight – and I saw Wanderlei knock somebody out and I was a fan of his. And I was always a fan of his; I liked the way he fought. I never had nothing against him. But last time I fought him I was just fed up with how he was talking and the stuff he was saying and it was just my time to take him out. The first two fights, it wasn’t my time to take him out.

Features: playing to your strengths

A recent UFC event hit home the importance of playing to your strengths in mixed martial arts. While fighters should always strive to be as well rounded as possible, it’s the bread and butter skill – the style that comes most naturally – that seldom lets you down. NCAA All-American wrestler and MMA journeyman Chael Sonnen executed his game plan to near perfection, defeating the favored Nate Marquardt with relative ease, simply by using his best skill set. NCAA Collegiate wrestler and MMA legend Mark Coleman seemingly arrived in the Octagon with no clue how he was going to best the ageless Randy Couture. He never even attempted to utilize his strongest suit and was subsequently submitted in the second round.

Features: the most infamous MMA match of them all

Although mainstream mixed martial arts is usually thought of as starting with the Ultimate Fighting Championship in 1993, one of the most famous (or infamous) MMA matches in history took place more than 15 years earlier and involved none other than Muhammad Ali. In 1976, ‘The Greatest’ was in his second reign as world heavyweight champion. In the previous two years he had defeated the likes of George Foreman and Joe Frazier. On June 26, he engaged in a battle with a Japanese professional wrestler called Antonio Inoki at the Budokan Arena, Tokyo. For all the wrong reasons their encounter would become almost as famous as ‘The Rumble in the Jungle’ and ‘The Thriller in Manila’.