Issue 018

October 2006

Brock Lesnar to enter MMA

American professional wrestling star Brock Lesnar has reached an agreement to compete in K-1 HERO’s. 

Lesnar, an ex-employee of the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) professional wrestling company, is expected to debut early in 2007. 

A University of Minnesota graduate and wrestling team member, he took the 2000 NCAA title before moving from amateur freestyle wrestling to the staged or ‘worked’ bouts as seen in the WWE. 

Beefy Lesnar, 29, has participated in numerous athletic competitions including American football. 

Making his announcement from centre-ring at the K-1 World GP in Las Vegas in August, he said he will be training with MMA legend Royce Gracie, and the two appeared at a press conference after the K-1 event. 

“The doors of opportunity are opening for me,” said Lesnar. “Training for mixed martial arts is not easy, I have to learn striking, kicking, defence and submissions.” 

The former wrestler has long been rumoured to be considering a move to MMA, and has recently finished a stint training at the Miletich Fighting Systems camp in Iowa. 

“K-1 asked me to train Brock, to build my own champion,” said Gracie. “He's a professional athlete and wrestler so I will teach him some finishing holds. I have never worked with anyone this size, since I don’t have his physique I’ll show him what I know, as long as he promises not to come back and fight me and my family later!” 

When asked what fans could expect from him in MMA, the decorated wrestler was clear as to what his strategy would be. “I was a takedown artist in wrestling, and I hope to do that again. My goal is to get guys on the ground -- that's what I’m comfortable with - and then beat their heads in!” 

Lesnar’s debut fight is tentatively set for the February 2007. K-1 spokesman and producer Mr. Tanigawa commented, “I’m not going to be impatient; he wants to train for half a year.” When asked who Lesnar would face in his debut, Tanigawa laughed, “I haven’'t decided yet, but it isn’t Bob Sapp. That's all I know for sure.” 

Gracie wants a rematch with Hughes! 

Royce Gracie has said in a recent interview that he has approached the UFC about a rematch with welterweight champion Matt Hughes. 

When asked if he was surprised at the result of their last fight, he answered bizarrely; “No, we knew what he was planning to do. We worked out his game-plan before the fight, and he did exactly what we expected. I over-trained for the fight. That was all. I started training too much, too hard, for too long. He did exactly what we expected.”

Claiming over-training was the reason for his loos seems unusual considering the outcome of the fight, which saw Hughes dominate until the referee stoppage at the end of round one. 

Gracie has said that he has entered a dialogue with the UFC in hope of securing sa rematch. “We are talking to them. We shall see” said Gracie. 

K-1 charity auction

In honour of the memory of Swiss K-1 legend and former World Grand Prix champion Andy Hug (who passed away in 2000 due to leukaemia) K-1 HERO'S held a charity auction in Tokyo, Japan in front of 150 fans.

Three well-known HERO's fighters took part in offering items to the auction. A gi worn by judo Olympian Yoshihiro Akiyama brought in approximately US$515.

Former freestyle wrestling standout Kazuyuki Miyata's official Olympic jersey from the 2000 Sydney Games was auctioned out and took approx US$340. A ball autograph signed by Genki Sudo fetched US$170 from a doting female fan.

Kazuyuki Miyata also announced that he would return to the ring within the year after his four second KO loss to Kid Yamamoto, which left him with a broken jaw. 

Liddell vs Silva in doubt

It appears the much-anticipated mixed martial arts bout between rival champions Chuck Liddell and Wanderlei Silva, scheduled for November, might be off.

UFC president Dana White had announced that the winner of the light heavyweight title fight between Chuck Liddell and Babalu Sobral would meet Wanderlei Silva, star of the PRIDE Fighting Championships, but White has had difficulty negotiating a deal with the Japanese promotion and has said a Silva fight would

not occur.

“I don’t even know if Silva’s going to happen,” said White, citing problems in dealing with PRIDE. 

White said UFC 65 would probably feature Liddell against Tito Ortiz instead. 

ZST to hit Europe

September will see a new MMA promotion in Finland, as the team behind the successful “The Cage” event have formed the “Nordic Fight Sport Promotions” company and are to hold the first Scandinavian ZST franchise. 

The event features fifteen MMA bouts of which seven are contested under ZST-rules, and eight under the MMA rules of the Finnish Mixed Martial Arts Federation.

In the main event local star Miika Mehmet makes his long awaited comeback against the Lithuanian PRIDE-veteran Egidijus Valavicius.

Other matchups feature Anton Kuivanen and Jerry Kvarnström who take on Japanese fighters Hiroki Kotani and Masayuki Okude.

The show also features fighters such as Miika Mehmet, Thomas Hytten, Kristen Lexell and Thomas Valentin. 

This is planned to be one of the biggest MMA events in Northern Europe and will be broadcast on Finnish TV. 

BJ Penn to replace injured GSP

Georges St. Pierre's has sustained a severe groin strain and has been told he will not be able to recover in time to rematch UFC welterweight champion Matt Hughes on September 23^rd. 

The UFC announced on its website that the chosen replacement is BJ Penn, the only man to beat the champion mixed martial artist since March 2001. 

Penn defeated Hughes by submission in January 2004 to capture the UFC belt, but failed contract negotiations between Penn and the UFC saw the Hawaiian relinquish the belt and sign a three-fight deal with K-1.

The 27-year-old from Hilo, Hawaii battled with the UFC in court, trading lawsuits related to his contract with the UFC. An agreement was reached, and Penn and the Las Vegas-based promotion agreed to a new deal in November 2005. 

Penn has appeared in the Octagon only once since then, losing a split decision to St. Pierre, which gave the injured Canadian a shot at Hughes' title.

Now it will be Penn who will contest for the title he claims is still rightfully his. Penn defeated Hughes for the title welterweight champion, but couldn’t defend it due to the aforementioned legal difficulties. 

“I thrive on these big fights, I thrive on pressure, and that’s when I perform my best,” said Penn, who was already in training for an October UFC bout when he got the call to replace St. Pierre.

Hughes was not dismayed by the change of opponent, and is keen to face Penn once more. “Now I’ve got something to really look forward to. I’ve already beat Georges and here I get to fight BJ Penn, a guy who’s beaten me. I’m a month out and I can really concentrate on Penn now, and I’m looking forward to it.”

Do or die time for Cyborg at Pride?

The nasty striker of Chute Boxe, Evangelista ‘Cyborg’ Santos, was schooled in his first appearance at PRIDE, when he was dominated by judo fighter Kazuhiro Nakamura in July. 

Anyone who knows Cyborg knows he fights to kill or be killed, and rarely gives an apathetic performance like he did in his last fight in Japan, so Cyborg has been given a second chance of proving himself as he was announced to compete in an upcoming event against boxer Yosuke Nishijima, a completely different kind of opponent than Nakamura.