Issue 043

November 2008

The Heat opens up

Karo Parisyan has always been noted for his fiery personality as much as his fighting style, but the man known as ‘The Heat’ has stunned fans by opening up about his personal life.  

The judo specialist has revealed he suffers from an anxiety disorder and regular panic attacks. “I thought it was heart problems,” Parisyan told the website Sherdog. “But when I asked the doctor what was wrong, he said throughout the years, all the stress you go through in fighting, working out to fight – all that stuff you go through – it builds up like a bubble, and eventually it bursts and hits you 

with panic attacks. That’s what they told me. Twelve years down the line you start burning out, and somehow you have to repair it.”

With one out of every 75 Americans suffering from similar problems, Parisyan is confident he can carry on fighting, yet revealed the condition brings its own unique problems. “I think my biggest problem with these panic attacks is I’m not able sleep. Sometimes my bed becomes like a casket, like a dungeon. I can’t go in the bed. I have to sleep on a couch sitting up and stuff.”  

Ike defeats The WEC via Stoppage

The WEC found themselves KO’d before the fight had begun when they faced off with Hurricane Ike. Their event scheduled for 10th September, which would have taken place in Florida, was canceled due to the severe weather ripping through the state.  

“Due to the potential of a major hurricane hitting the South Florida area we were compelled to postpone the event,” said WEC vice president of operations and production, Peter Dropick. “For the safety of our fans, the fighters and our staff we felt it was in the best interest to make this decision.”

The event, which sees Urijah Faber defend his 145lb title against Mike Thomas Brown and Paulo Filho rematch Chael Sonnen, was pushed back to November 5th.  

TUF 9: UK vs USA

TUF 8 may still be on our TV screens but the call for fighters to apply for TUF 9 is already out, and this time the twist is that two teams will face off in a battle of nations.  Open auditions for welterweight and middleweight fighters will take place in London on, October 20th, with US auditions planned for the week after, in Chicago.  

So far no announcement has been made as to who the team coaches will be.  

UFC picks up another Italian 

Light heavyweight Ivan Serati is the latest European fighter to be picked up by the UFC.  The Italian, who has a record of 10-2-0 and has fought on events such as Cage Rage, is only the second Italian fighter to join the promotion, following in the footsteps of countryman Alessio Sakara.  

Affliction team up with Golden Boy

The fledgling MMA promotion, who canceled their proposed October event for undisclosed reasons, have announced they are to team up with boxing promotional company Golden Boy. The two companies will begin to host mixed-discipline fight cards containing both boxing and MMA as early as the beginning of 2009.  

The Fight Professor stays busy

Commentator, TV presenter, actor and musician – Stephen Quadros is a man of many talents. The veteran voice of MMA, best known as ‘The Fight Professor’, has been extra busy in recent months. Aside from appearing in episodes of the popular TV show Dexter, his band, 7th Sun, in which Stephen plays the drums, have just released their first album (titled ‘From The Beginning’).  

On top of all this, he’s been just as busy in the MMA world, calling the action for Showtime. “I am in my second year working with Showtime. This has been a welcome and professional change for me,” said ‘The Fight Professor’, who calls the action for Showtime broadcasts of EliteXC and the ShoXC events.  

For more information on Stephen Quadros go to www.StephenQuadros.com or www.myspace.com/StephenQuadros. 

RIP Evan Tanner

Evan Tanner was an unusual, often reluctant fighter. An adventurer with a phenomenal appetite for books who constantly moved from city to city and one job to another, he never fully dedicated himself to the sport he was so good at and his adult life was marked by ongoing battles with depression and heavy drinking.  

His fighting career began in 1997 when friends persuaded him to step in the ring for the USWF promotion in his birthplace (he surely never had a ‘hometown’) of Amarillo, Texas. Using his wrestling base, sheer strength and natural athleticism, Tanner quickly became the group’s biggest star, pulling crowds of up to 4000 at a time when such numbers were exceptionally rare. Famously, the very intelligent, thoughtful Tanner first learned to wrestle from instructional manuals and studied submissions via Gracie video tapes.

Finding his way to the UFC in 1999, Tanner fought 17 times for the promotion, engaging in memorable battles with Phil Baroni, Rich Franklin, David Loiseau and, most recently, Kendall Grove. His finest display saw him smash his way through the heavily favoured David Terrell for the UFC middleweight title in 2005. Walking away from the sport in 2006, he returned earlier this year, losing to Yushin Okami and Grove despite having finally decided to truly devote himself to fighting.  

On 2 September Tanner set off on one of his semi-regular camping trips to contemplate life, ride his motorbike and simply experience the wilderness. This time he didn’t return. Tragically, the 37-year-old died of heat exposure just a couple of miles from his campsite in the desert. His body was found on 8 September in Southern California’s Palo Verde mountain range.  

To join fans in paying respects to Tanner, visit www.evantanner.net.  

Renzo gets own documentary

A brand new documentary film, titled ‘Renzo Gracie: Legacy’, will premiere at the first annual US Sports Film Festival in Philadelphia in October. The documentary, which was directed by Gethin Aldous, was filmed over a ten-year period. It chronicles the life and career of Gracie, one of the most respected members of the famous fighting family.  

The film follows Gracie from his early days learning the sport in his native Brazil to his time coming to New York and becoming a world champion. With some extremely rare behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with top MMA names such as BJ Penn and Pat Miletich, the film promises an intimate look at one of the sport’s living legends.