In a movie adaptation of the documentary The Smashing Machine, which followed Mark Kerr around, Jean-Claude Van Damme is supposedly starring in the role as Mark Coleman. I'd like to know what went through their heads when they came up with that idea...
Zuffa released a Mauricio "Shogun" Rua highlight video to hype the upcoming Shogun / Forrest Griffin fight at UFC 76 (interestingly though it says PRIDE FC Worldwide in the intro text, I guess this is because technically PFCWW LLC owns the right to the footage and not Zuffa).
Noticeably missing are stomps and his dismantling of Rampage. Coincidence? This is Zuffa we're talking about so probably not.
You might remember the rumors about PRIDE lightweight champion Takanori Gomi signing with HERO's that floated around some weeks ago.
Now the rumor is back, and with a little more information to back it up. In an interview for the upcoming beach wrestling event on the 29th. Gomi spoke about his desire to fight for HERO's within the year, he confirmed that there is an offer from FEG, and if he was satisfied with it then he wants to fight for them.
I say good for him, UFC is most likely a dead end for most of the Japanese fighters anyway. Now lets hope others will follow him instead of just sitting idle and waiting.
Yoshida's VIVA JUDO! camp was held yesterday in Kamisu, Ibaraki, with 120 kids participating. Yoshida trained with the kids for about one and a half hour. Yoshida said in an interview that he wouldn't fight for anyone else then PRIDE, even if there were offers from other organizations and he had to sit out for the rest of the year and wait.
And yet he's sending his fighters to the UFC, Michihiro Omigawa will face Matt Wiman at UFC 76, and it was rumored that Kazuhiro Nakamura was going to face Chuck Liddell before they booked Keith Jardine instead.
The second installment of the DEEP co-promoted CMA Festival 2 event took place today in Korakuen Hall, Tokyo. The event, headlined by Ikuhisa Minowa whom also celebrated his 10th year in MMA, saw Japanese fighters pitted against Koreans out of the CMA Korea camp.
Minowa, outweighed by over 20 pounds, defeated Min-Seok Heo in the main event when the Korean's corner threw in the towel after the first round. Other noteworthy results were PRIDE prospect Dong-Hyun Kim's eleven seconds knockout over Maejima from a left straight, and Su-Hi Ham's decision win over Megumi Yabushita, despite being outweighed by 15 pounds (fight was under kickboxing rules).
Full results, winners in bold:
