Lil Nog nails Shogun during their epic battle in PRIDE.

from fightticker.com:
Edo at betwwx.com has the following translation of Brazilian publication Portal Do Vale Tudo's article on Rogerio Minotouro Nogueira's upcoming bout in Japan:

Rogerio Minotouro has confirmed that he'll be fighting at Sengoku 6 on November 1 at Saitame Arena in Japan. The Brazilian will face Rimbon Moise, who holds 23 professional MMA fights to his name with his most recent win coming in August.

Minotouro has confirmed the bout with Portal Do Vale Tudo.

"I can confirm the bout," he said, "He is a tough guy and has faced many good fighters. It will be tough. I am glad to return to Japan, where my career started and where I have a big fan following. I am very anxious to come back to fight there."

Minotouro was informed of his opponent only two weeks in advance.

"I was supposed to fight for Affliction but their card was postponed." He said, " I was coming off two knockout victories in 2008. I'm in great form. I'm in the best shape of my life."

Posted in Antonio Rogerio Nogueira Brazilian fighters Japan MMA Moise Rimbon Sengoku

Bookmark Permalink using

Comments (0)

Mo Lawal, a collegiate wrestling standout who just missed making the Olympic team this year - and who now trains with Team Quest - will make his pro debut at Sengoku V this Sunday against Travis "Diesel" Wiuff.

Wiuff, who has competed against the best in PRIDE and the UFC, has submissions and knock out power. Lawal's wrestling may be better than Wiuff's, but I have to give the nod to Wiuff with his mountain of experience.

Wiuff puts his dukes up to sqaure off; Lawal opts out. Wearing all white with a Japanese umbrella-wielding valet, the man definitely has charisma.

For a guy who's facing someone about 20 pounds heavier and with 50-something fights to his credit, Lawal's trying to play it cool.

Now that's a good lookin' belt right there.

Like its Japanese counterpart, DREAM, Sengoku is also having a middleweight grand prix. Here are the four fights for the title:
Yuki Kondo vs. Yuki Sasaki
Kazuhiro Nakamura vs. Paul Cahoon
Jorge Santiago vs. Logan Clark
Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos vs. Siyar Bahadurzada

Other fights on the card:
Xande Ribeiro vs. Takashi Sugiura
Kiuma Kunioku vs. A Sol Kwon
Jorge Masvidal vs. Ryan Schultz

Posted in Japan MMA Sengoku World Victory Road

Bookmark Permalink using

Comments (0)

Reminds of the game "hangman" ...

It's official - Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic will take on Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem in what can only be called a "grudge match" at DREAM.6 on Sept. 23. (BTW, I don't believe this is a title fight).

With the addition of this fight, we have the strongest DREAM card to date in the Japanese organziation's short history. Not only do we have this explosive heavyweight clahs, there's the finals of the middleweight grand prix.

The history between Overeem and Cro Cop is short but razor-sharp. The two fought in PRIDE for several years, but I've heard nothing about their relationship then. Although their was cross-over among PRIDE's two main weight classes, Overeem (light heavyweight) and Cro Cop (heavyweight) never fought.

Overeem's recent comments about Filipovic seem to have come out of left field, accusing Cro Cop, who has had one fight in Japan following his UFC exodus, of ducking him. Overeem has gone so far as to call Cro Cop a "douchebag." Maybe he means it; maybe he's just trying to hype the fight. Not sure on that one.

Cro Cop's response was to ask for DREAM to make the fight happen. Now we're going to see if Overeem can back up what he's been saying. He's had success as of late transitioning from LHW to HW, although his opponents have not been top-notch. Cro Cop, on the other hand, has struggled in the UFC, getting knocked out by Gabriel Gonzaga and schooled (along with some groin shots) by Cheick Kongo.

But I think this is just what Cro Cop needs. I think Overeem has awakened a sleeping giant. Overeem has always had trouble with his cardio. In Cro Cop, he is looking at a kickboxer of at least equal caliber. And Cro Cop, when he's on, has an extra large gas tank to boot. My preciction: left high kick to the head and a free trip to the morgue for Overeem, courtesy of Cro Cop.

Also on the card:
Nick Diaz vs. Hayato "Mach" Sakurai

middleweight grand prix finals:
Ronaldo jacare Souza vs. Zelg Galesic
Melvin Manhoef vs. Gegard Mousasi

grand prix reserve match:
Dong Sik Yoon vs. Andrews Nakahara

Hideo Toro vs. Atsushi Yamamoto
Sergei Kharitonov vs. Mighty Mo

Posted in Alistair Overeem DREAM News Japan MMA M. "Cro Cop" Filipovic

Bookmark Permalink using

Comments (0)

Overeem

Cro Cop

Ted's Take: This is good. I want to see an enraged Cro Cop get back to the form he once had in PRIDE. Overeem's been talking smack, calling Cro Cop a "douchebag" and accusing Cro Cop of ducking him. We'll see what happens, but it sounds like the biggest fight to hit Japan since PRIDE was dismembered.

from sherdog.com:
Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem (Pictures) confirmed to Sherdog.com that he will meet former Pride Open Weight Grand Prix winner Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic (Pictures) at Dream 6 on Sept. 23 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

"The fight is definitely happening, and I'm really glad," the 28-year-old Dutchman said. "I am already training very hard, and I'm 100 percent certain that it will not go the distance. I don't care if it is going to be by knockout or by submission, I don't want the fight to go to a judges' decision. I want to finish Mirko Cro Cop."

Overeem would not divulge if he had received a contract yet for the heavyweight bout.

Should the fight come to fruition, it would be Filipovic's first appearance inside a ring since his first-round obliteration of overmatched Japanese grappler Tatsuya Mizuno (Pictures) in March. Overeem, meanwhile, has stayed busy in recent months, as he knocked out Korean Ssireum fighter Tae Hyun Lee (Pictures) in June and submitted dangerous New Zealand kickboxer Mark Hunt (Pictures) in July.

Posted in Alistair Overeem DREAM News Japan MMA M. "Cro Cop" Filipovic

Bookmark Permalink using

Comments (0)

Ikuhisa Minowa was victorious again in his quest to become Japan's most successful open-weight fighter, submitting fellow longtime veteran and cult hero Don Frye with a first-round kneebar in the main event of DEEP's "Gladiator" show this morning at the Momotaro Arena in Okayama, Japan.

After stuffing Minowa's first takedown attempt, Frye quickly found himself on his back at the start of the bout. Minowa immediately dropped back for a heel hook and locked in the hold, but was unable to force Frye to tap. Minowa eventually switched to a kneebar, which after a few moments, finally forced Frye to give up.

Posted in DEEP Ikuhisa Minowa Japan MMA

Bookmark Permalink using

Comments (0)

World Victory Road's Sengoku, Japan's other major MMA organization (in addition to DREAM) has some major news.
First, this from nightmareofbattle.com:

The SENGOKU Middleweight GP which starts at SENGOKU V on September 28th is taking shape. Four participants have been announced and there are some great names in there. The four participants are Kazuhiro Nakamura who signs with SENGOKU and drops to Middleweight, SHOOTO Light Heavyweight Champion Siyar Bahadurzada who returns to the ring for the first time since his loss against Kazuo Misaki at SENGOKU I, 2007 Strikeforce Middlweight Tournament winner Jorge Santiago, and Evangelista Cyborg from Chute Boxe. The winner of this GP will probably face Kazuo Misaki in the first ever SENGOKU Middleweight Title fight.

Update: It will be an 8-man GP and they want three of the four final participants to be Japanese. The semifinals and final fights will take place in November.

and from bloodyelbow.com:

Frank Trigg joined BloodyElbow.com editor Luke Thomas on today's episode of "MMA Nation" and revealed that Fox Sports Net (FSN) is "working diligently" on a deal which would bring World Victory Road's "Sengoku" events to the American cable network.

Trigg cited the forthcoming deal as a major factor in his signing with the Japanese promotion, since a basic cable broadcast would provide more exposure for his Triggonomics apparel line than WVR's currently Japan-only pay-per-view showings. Trigg is set to face Makoto Takimoto - a world class judoka who took gold at the 2000 Olympics and currently holds a 4-4 record in MMA - at the fourth Sengoku event on August 24th.

Posted in All about MMA Japan MMA MMA Mixed Martial Arts PRIDE Sengoku World Victory Road

Bookmark Permalink using

Comments (0)

Ryo Chonan beat Anderson Silva in PRIDE with a flying scissor heel hook. Hear what he has to say about that in this short, but hilarious clip.

Posted in All about MMA Anderson Silva Japan MMA MMA Mixed Martial Arts PRIDE Ryo Chonan UFC News jiu-jitsu

Bookmark Permalink using

Comments (0)

DREAM, the Japanese MMA organization that rose up from the ashes of PRIDE, rolls on, having determined their grand prix lightweight champion in Joachim "Hellboy" Hansen and now is set to crown its middleweight grand prix champion.

In one bracket, we have Melvin Manhoef vs. Gegard Mousasi.

On the other side, there's Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza vs. Zelg Galesic.

Here's the quick and dirty: Manhoef is a feared striker, but has been susceptible to anything ground-related. Mousasi seems comfortable either standing or grappling. I see Mousasi getting the submission or decision win by ground dominance.

Jacare is a tough submission wizard, but I don' t think he's ever faced a striker on the level of Galesic, who is known as "Little Mirko." So, it's gonna be Mousasi vs. Galesic in the finals, with Mousasi taking home the grand prix championship.

Posted in All about MMA DREAM News Japan MMA MMA Mixed Martial Arts

Bookmark Permalink using

Comments (0)

Seems like every MMA pundit on the Internets has a radio show, so I figured what the heck. Here's the first edition of The MMA Explosion Radio Show. Took me a while to think up that title ... Anyway, I'm joined by Tom Joyce, my co-worker here at The Daily Record and videographer/producer virtuoso. Have a listen.

powered by ODEO

Posted in Adrenaline MMA News Affliction News All about MMA DREAM News EliteXC News Japan MMA MMA MMA in York Mixed Martial Arts PA MMA UFC News WAMMA News

Bookmark Permalink using

Comments (0)

This is happening on Monday and has a few names you might recognize. Should be good, and we get to see who will be the top lightweight in the organization. Then, maybe with some cross-promotional events, we can have that champion go against champs from Strikeforce, EliteXC, Cage rage, WAMMA, etc. There is already one cross-promotional fight on the DREAM.5 card: We have Alistair Overeem, who is the Strikeforce heavyweight chmapion, on the card against former K-1 powerhouse Mark Hunt.

Here's the line-up:
For the lightweight grand prix championship:
Shinya Aoki vs. Caol Uno
Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Eddie Alvarez
(semis and finals held the same night)

Reserve bout:
Joachim Hansen vs. Kultar Gil

Other fights:
Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Katsuyori Shibata
Motoki Miyazawa vs. Kuniyoshi Hironaka
Mark Hunt vs. Alistair Overeem

Posted in All about MMA DREAM News EliteXC News Japan MMA MMA Mixed Martial Arts Strikeforce News WAMMA News

Bookmark Permalink using

Comments (1)