Jeff Monson vs Tengiz Tedoradze: MONSON by choke

Dave Roche vs Gerald Strebendt: STREBENDT by submission

Monson vs Tedoradze
Monson is one of the best and most active submission grapplers in the world. He will compete anywhere, anytime. He does boxing matches in addition to submisson grappling, jiu-jitsu and MMA. He was known mainly as a wrestler but in the last year or so he's really become a submission fighter having a great guard and submits most of his opponents. His weakness is the stand up game but has shown improvement when he TKO'd his last opponent with a knee to the body. Tedorize has an impressive record of 14-2 and has shown a well-rounded game, ending fights with both submissions and striking. The only question mark is the quality of his opponents. His only 2 opponents I'm familiar with are Remco Pardoe and James Thompson, both of whom he beat with strikes. His two losses have been by triangle. Monson will want to take it to the ground and Tedorize will try to keep it standing. I feel that Monson's experience will be too much. He'll mix it up on the feet for a bit before taking it to the ground where he'll eventually get the choke.

Roche vs Strebendt
Strebendt is a UFC vet with an exciting style of submission grappling by always going for the finish. He was the first to pull off Eddie Bravo's famous Twister submission (a painful spine lock where you twist your opponents torso) in a MMA bout. He'll go for the crazy submissions if they are there. He's lost to the bigger names he's fought with TKO losses to Josh Thompson and Sean Sherk. Roche has an undefeated record of 3-0, all by way of submission. I don't recognize the names of his opponents. This will be a submission chess match. The smart fighter here will try to get top position on the ground and use striking to negate the bottom guy’s submissions. I feel Strebendts experience of higher caliber opponents will give him the edge where he'll submit Roche.

Yoshiro Maeda vs Minoru Tsuiki: MAEDA by KO

Not many people outside of Japan know Maeda, but those keeping track of his last few fights can't help but be impressed. With a MMA record of 11-0, Maeda throws serious bombs. Six of his ten wins have been by KO/TKO's. With guys in this light a weight class, you need to be packing dynamite to be able to get a clean KO. Its a testament to how good a striker he is. He's already KO'd two standout ADCC veterans in Baret Yoshida and Soca and decisioned elite BJJer Fredson Paixao. Tsuiki is listed as 2-2 and hasn't fought anyone of note. He seems to favor submissions and has been vulnerable to strikes in that one of his losses is by TKO. This should be an easy fight for Maeda to keep the rust off. He'll keep it on the feet, defending any takedown attempts by Tsuiki and get the KO.

Renato Tavares vs Masakazu Imanari: TAVARES by decision

Tavares has been extremely active this year in MMA and submission grappling. He's won most of his bouts in convincing fashion. Like Couture, age isn't holding Tavares back, but he's coming off a decision loss in his last fight to wrestler Mike Brown. Imanari is an exciting ZST fighter who specializes in foot locks, especially heel hooks. He is 5-3 with his biggest win to date being a stunning 39 second heel hook over well established BJJ black belt, Jorge Gurgel. Since that fight he's lost his last two bouts by decision to BJJ fighters Marcus Aurelio and Buscape. Imanari goes for submissions over position and ever since catching Jorge in that lightning fast submission, I think the rest of the BJJers who fight him have wisened up to his game. If Tavares has done his homework on Imanari he should be able to keep his feet out of danger and use his superior ground positioning to dominate him, keeping him on the defensive to take the decision.

Jacare vs Adriano Silva: JACARE by submission

Givanildo Santana vs Marcelo Garcia: GARCIA by rear naked

Saulo Ribeiro vs Claudio Cury: SAULO by submission

Andre Macedo vs Braulio Estima: ESTIMA by submission

Jacare vs Adriano
Jacare is the man right now in BJJ and has been destroying nearly everyone including the other young phenom, Margarida by 11x0 as well as Terere. He won an incredible match against Roger Gracie, escaping an armlock that was completely locked in, which did ligament damage to his arm. His heart matches his technique. I'm not familiar with Adriano. Even if I was, its hard to bet against Jacare. He makes well-known black belts look like blue belts. Adriano will be another notch on his list of victims. Jacare by submission.

Givanildo vs Garcia
Garcia has been just as unstoppable as Jacare, but without the gi. His gi game isn't too far behind though. His specialty is the arm drag to take the back and sink the inevitable rear naked. He's made the x-guard sweet popular as well. I can't comment on Givanildo as I've never head of him. So I'm going to have to go with Garcia by complete domination to finish with him taking the back and getting the rear naked choke.

Saulo vs Cury
Saulo hasn't been as dominant as a few years ago, but he's still one of the top guys in both gi and no gi. His slow, methodical positioning game usually gets him the win. Again, no comment on Cury, never heard of him. Look for Saulo to get the takedown, pass the guard and either submit Cury from the sidemount or from mount.

Macedo vs Estima
I first saw Estima on the Pan Am's 04 DVD and he really impressed me with his De La Riva sweeps. I believe he swept Cassio Werneck a couple of times with it and then choked him out. Never heard of Macedo. Watch for Estima to pull guard, sweep Macedo with the De La Riva into mount and finish with a choke from there.

.......I'm not sure how the rest of the bracket is paired up, but if its like the lineup above, I'll take Jacare over Garcia by points and Saulo over Estima by points. In the finals I'll take Jacare over Saulo by points to win the tournament, although a submission wouldn’t be as surprising either.

Shaolin vs Tatsuya Kawajiri: SHAOLIN by decision

Katsuya Toida vs Rumina Sato: SATO by submission

Pequeno vs Hideki Kadowaki: PEQUENO by guillotine

Akira Kikuchi vs Jake Shields: SHIELDS by decision

Hiroyuki Takaya vs Gilbert Melendez: TAKAYA by decision

Shaolin vs Kawajiri
Shaolin is one of those gifted BJJers thats been able to take his dominance in BJJ and apply it to MMA. He's the current shooto champ with a 10-0 record. A few years back I remember him being active in the amateur wrestling circuit and at one point said if he had to phase out bjj to advance in wrestling, he would do it. Luckily he chose MMA instead, but his base in wrestling has helped him take his opponents to the mat where he dominates and usually submits them with his signature arm triangle choke. He's used it to dispatch Joe Hurley, Joachim Hansen, Eddi Yagin and Nakayama. Other wins via decision have been over Bow, Kawajiri and Menjivar.Kawajiri is one of the top fighters in his weight class but is still relatively unknown to most western fans. With a record of 11-2-2, his most recent wins have been the most impressive. Within the past year and a half, he's decisioned Yves Edwards and was the first fighter to finish Ryan Bow decisively by TKO. His last fight was a TKO win over Mindaugas Laurinaitis. This is a rematch from 2 years ago where Shoalin walked away with the decision. Kawajiri is 4-0-1 since then and I believe is ranked #1 at his weight in shooto. Shaolin is 4-0 since then so both have been equally active. I think this fight will play out much like the first. Kawajiri is used to being on top when the fight hits the ground. But against Shaolin's superior wrestling he'll be fighting off his back. Shaolin's jiu-jitsu will also give him the edge when it comes to superior ground positioning. This should be enough to negate Kawajiri's ground and pound game and having him defending against being mounted and arm triangled. I'll say Shoalin positionally dominates Kawajiri to take the decision.

Toida vs Sato
Sato is a glimmer of the star he was in the mid / late 90's. To his credit he's hung in there, but has suffered a few tough losses in a devastating TKO loss to former shooto champ Hansen and was guillotined in about 40 seconds by current shooto Champ Pequeno. Sato was impressive in his last fight showing his old self by totally dominating Bao Quach by throwing him down, obtaining mount and locking the armbar. Toida started his shooto career in late '98 and has an 8-4 record. His biggest win to date was a decision over Baret Yoshida 3 1/2 years ago. Since then he's gone 2-2, taking Pequeno the distance but losing the decision and getting kneebarred by Naoya Uematsu. Toida's submission defense is good as shown with his fights against Baret and Pequeno. But against someone like Sato that defense will be tested, and I don't think Toida will pass. Sato looked great against Quach and his confidence will carry over in this fight. Toida's strategy is to get top position on the mat and ground and pound to a decision. But I think Sato will be too slick for Toida and eventually submit him.

Pequeno vs Kadowaki
Pequeno has the prestige of being one of the only fighters that can pull of one submission over and over and over, and even though everyone knows it’s coming, no one can stop it. His ten-finger guillotine has been trademark-finishing move since his debut in Shooto, over 6 1/2 years ago. Its amazing in that not only has he finished off some of the best at his weight with the move, he's done it more than once to the same guy. Noboru Asahi got caught both times he fought Pequeno. Uchu Tatasumi and Tetso Katsuto (both extremely good fighters) got guillotined in their rematches with him. Pequeno was even able to turn the tables on Rumina Sato and give him a taste of what Rumina's old victims must've felt like after being submitted so quickly. Pequeno was able to finish Sato with the guillotine in just 40 seconds. That was Pequeno's last fight over a year ago. Kadowaki is listed as 8-4-1. His biggest win to date was when he tapped Bao Quach with a rear naked. He's lost to the bigger names he's fought. Kid Yamamoto TKO'd him, Katsuta decisioned him and in Kadwaki's last fight, Uematsu guillotined him in 45 seconds. That last fight is a BIG red flag that Kadowaki is in trouble. If Uematsu can catch Kadowaki that fast with a guillotine, then it shouldn't be any problem for Pequeno. The only 2 times Pequeno has lost has been by ground and pound and TKO'd from a punch while standing. Kadowaki doesn't pose a threat in either area in that he's mainly a submission fighter, which Pequeno always does well against. Despite Pequeno's yearlong layoff, I say he lands his dreaded ten-finger guillotine without much trouble.

Kikuchi vs Shields
Kikuchi is a fast rising star in the shooto ranks. He's well known as a submission machine when it comes to bending arms the wrong way, be it an straight armbar, keylock, kimura, etc. He's beaten fighters like Nakayama, Ikemoto, Jutaro Nakao with his only loss being a decision to current shooto champ Jake Shields. Shields has racked up some very impressive wins over his career. A decision victory over Hayato "Mach" Sakurai put him on the map, and he showed his performance wasn't a fluke when he handed Kikuchi his first loss taking the decision. His last fight was a win over Ray "Bradda" Cooper via rear naked. I think this fight will be a repeat of their first one, with Shields playing it safe by getting the takedown, staying in Kikuchi's guard and ground and pounding a decision win. Kikuchi is good enough that he's a threat to submit anyone, but I don't think he's going to pull it off this time. Shields by decision.

Takaya vs Melendez
At 4-0-1, Takaya has made a name for himself in his last 2 fights. Earlier this year he took on Joao Roque and was getting positionally dominated in the first round. In the 2nd Takaya punished Roque on the feet and effectively stopped his takedowns. It was a enough to turn the tide and end it with a draw. It raised a lot of eyebrows in that Takaya was a relative unknown and gave top ranked Roque, all he could handle. Then Takaya took on Stephen Palling and KO'd him with a brutal head kick. His style is starting to remind me of someone...can we say Cro Cop? Melendez is out of the Cesar Gracie fight team, and like everyone else on that team the guy looks like a beast. He's got a 5-0 record and finished every fight by TKO. His biggest win to date is over Stephen Palling. Prior to checking out Melendez's record I thought this was going to be a one sided fight in favor of Takaya. But after seeing Melendez's fight team and undefeated record with all by TKO wins...wow, this fight sounds like its going to be a war with some serious leather being thrown. Both are undefeated, but on this night I say Melendez will lose the decision. I'll give Takaya the edge with how well he's done against slightly higher-level competition. Takaya by decision.

(kickboxing rules)
Duane Ludwig vs Lee King: LUDWIG by KO

John Cronk vs Pete Spratt: SPRATT by TKO

Ludwig vs King
We all know Ludwig for his deadly striking in his MMA bouts and has done well for himself in the K-1 league showing he can hang with elite standup fighters. With an kickboxing record of 8-4, his losses have come at the hands of some of the best in K-1 (decision losses to Alex Gong, Masato, Albert Kraus and John Wayne Parr). King records stands at 0-1-1. Based off that, I'll pick Ludwig to KO him in the first round. There is too large a gap in experience for Ludwig to lose this one.

Cronk vs Spratt
Cronk's recod is dead even at 10-10. He's a low level gatekeeper in that he's beaten all the smaller names he's fought and lost to all the big ones. His last fight was a bloody TKO loss to Shonie Carter, three weeks ago. Pete Spratt hasn't had the best luck in MMA recently, but this bout should be a good opportunity to vent his frustrations. Spratt throws some nasty kicks as we all saw when he handed a red hot Robbie Lawler his first loss by TKO. I'll think those same kicks to do the same to Cronk.

Tim Sylvia vs Wes Sims: SYLVIA by KO

Mark Moreno vs Jason Miller: MILLER by choke

Rich Franklin vs Curtis Stout: FRANKLIN by TKO

Ron Fields vs Niko Vitale: VITALE by toehold

Sylvia vs Sims
This will be Sylvia's first fight after recovering from a broken forearm and first pro loss to Frank Mir. Sylvia fights out of the Miletich camped and they've honed him into a KO machine. With his long reach and heavy hands, his specialty is putting people to sleep. He first captured people's attention when he won the Superbrawl 8 man tournament back in 2002, finishing all 3 opponents with strikes. Two fights later he debuted int the UFC and stopped an iron chinned Cabbage. People still weren't sure how good he was until he sent Ricco Rodriguez into La La Land while he was the champ. Most didn't give his last opponent, Mir, much of a chance. Sylvia made the mistake of taking the fight to the ground and letting his guard down. In classic Mir style, he tied up the quick submission and snapped Sylvia's forearm. Prior to this blemish, Sylvia seemed almost unstoppable. On the other end of the spectrum, Sims has been on a downward spiral ever since he debuted in the UFC. A TKO win over BJJ black belt Conan Silviera got Sims his ticket into the big time, but since that date he's racked up a 1-5 record (he's 7-6 overall). He was getting positionally dominated by Mir until he slammed his way out of an armbar and then used illegal stomps to the face to get himself DQ'd. A rematch proved disastrous when Mir brutally KO'd him on the feet. Another KO loss followed at the hands of Mike Kyle, then to an unknown in Ricardeou Francois. Sims notched a TKO win over another unknown, but then got keylocked by Anthony Hardonk in his last fight. If nothing else, I have to credit Sims for having an enormous set of balls for stepping in the ring with one of the top fighters in his weight after suffering such a rough string of losses. Sims just keeps plugging forward despite each loss and I have to respect that. That said, this will be a massacre. Sylvia is going to walk up to Sims, plant a couple of punches on his face and that will be all she wrote. Sylvia's hunger to get back to his winning way, coupled with his dislike for Sims, guarantees a short, brutal fight. Sylvia by KO.

Moreno vs Miller
Miller has made a name for himself of late by doing well last year in GrappleTV's So. Cal. Pro-Am Invitational submission tournament where he beat stand out grapplers Sean Spangler (points), Kenny Bond (rear naked) and KOTC fighter Joe Stevenson (arm triangle) only to lose in the finals of the heavy weight bracket to tourney champ Rener Gracie (gi choke). Not many picked Miller to win when he was lined up to fight Egan Inoue. This was supposed to be a warm up match for Egan who was coming out of retirement to avenge his KO loss to shooto champ Suda. Miller had other plans and handed Egan a TKO loss. Based on that performance he was invited to fight in the UFC, but some things came up in Millers personal life that cancelled his debut. Miller is coming off a win over Ron Jhun via arm triangle. Moreno is one of the local fighters from Hawaii. I pulled up his record and its listed as 6-4-2. He favors striking but won his last fight via rear naked. Jeremy Jackson is the only opponent I recognize from his list. Jackson won that fight via rear naked. This fight should be one sided in favor of Miller. Moreno has shown his weakness is the ground game, at least in submission defense. That is Millers bread and butter. Look for Miller to take it to the ground and submit Moreno with a choke

Franklin vs Stout
Franklin is one of the most well rounded fighters at his weight. He's equally dangerous with his stand up and submissions. Franklin beat the tar out of Edwin Dewees and Evan Tanner in his first two UFC fights, but dropped a TKO loss to Ryoto Machida in a fight he took in Japan. Even with that being his sole loss (he's 15-1), it was enough to sideline his UFC career. After finally being invited back, Franklin showed his well roundedness in his last fight with Jorge Rivera. They both traded heavily on the feet, but then Franklin moved the fight to the ground where Rivera was weakest, and finished him with an armbar. Travis Fulton and Marvin Eastman are two other high profile fighters Franklin has finished. Stout is an active fighter who likes to mix it up on the feet with his muy thai skills. His biggest win to date is a TKO over Efrain Ruiz. Stout is a 2x UFC vet but came up short both times. He was ground and pounded to a decision by Phil Baroni and submitted by Trevor Prangley via neck crank. Other notable fights include a submission loss to Andrei Semenov and TKO loss to David Louisea. There should be some exciting stand up in this fight, similar to what we saw with Franklin vs Rivera. Franklin likes to trade, but playing to Stout's strength isn't the smartest strategy. Once Franklin has had his fill on the feet, he'll take it to the ground where Stout is weakest. From there he'll use his jiu-jitsu skills to gain position and then close it with a submission.

Fields vs Vitale
I pulled up Fields and his record is listed as 6-9. Most of his wins are by TKO / KO so he seems to be a striker. Nearly all his losses are by submission. His biggest fights have been to Mark Hughes and Jeremy Horn where he was finished in both. Most remember Vitale from his TKO loss to Matt Lindland and is probably underrated because of it. With an impressive record of 18-3, Vitale has won 3 in a row since that loss. One of those wins includes a decision over former UFC champ Dave Menne. Vitale is a natural athlete who used to play football until he found MMA. He favors submissions, specifically the toehold which is becoming his signature finish. Other notable victories include a TKO over Aaron Riley and a toehold win over Tyrone Roberts. Vitale shouldn't have much trouble with Fields. Vitale will probably avoid standing up with him since that’s where he's strong. Once Vitale gets it to the ground look for him to end it quickly with his toehold.

***gi match***
Jared Weiner vs Marcelo Cavalcante: WEINER by points

If I'm thinking of the right match, I believe this is a rematch from nearly 3 years ago. Cavalcante pulled half guard and sat there for almost the entire bout. Weiner worked hard trying to pass but don't think he ever did. He may have won on advantage. I know Weiner has remained active over the years, I haven't followed Cavalcante's progress. I'll go with Weiner to work his top game again for the win via points.

Pablo Popovich vs Tyrone Glover: POPOVICH by points

Daniel Valverde vs Enrico Cocco: COCCO by submission

Popovich vs Tyrone
Popovich is one of the top submission grapplers in the US, if not the top guy at his weight. He is a master of controlling the fight, making his opponent play his game and wins usually by points. Popovich resembles a mini Vitor Belfort and the dude is shredded. I've heard that all he does is train and workout. The results show it. Past wins include an armbar over Fransico Neto, tapped Marcos Avellan via rear naked, beat Marcio Feitosa on points in ADCC'03, won the ADCC US trials in '02, and beat Diego Sanchez on points. There are several other wins I can't think of. The guy competes and wins all of the time. Tyrone is also a BJJ black belt and is very exciting to watch. The first time I saw him in action was against Joe Scarola. Tyrone has got some of the nastiest and fastest toe holds I've ever seen. He had Scarola scrambling to get out of them and was limping off the mat when the match was over (Tyrone won by points). In the So Cal Pro Am Tournament in '03, Tyrone pulled off a spectacular flying toe hold to submit Guilloebel in less than a minute. He also put Andy Wang to sleep with an unusual modified guillotine that had everyone scratching their heads of what the move was. If Popovich can watch his feet, he has the type of game to shut Tyrone down. Tyrone has recently lost Kurt Pellegrino and Jay Hieron, both of which have a grappling style where they impose their will on you by taking you down, constantly come forward and having tight control once its on the ground. Popovich is the same way. He'll take Tyrone down careful to watch for the toe holds and control him to rack up points for the win.

Valverde vs Cocco
I haven't heard of Valverde before so I can't comment on him. Cocco is a very young fighter (16 or 17?) out of the Avellans Freestyle Fighting Academy in Florida. Last year I watched a highlight of him submitting Cesar Santos (bjj brown belt I think) in under a minute with an ankle lock. Cocco mirrors the style of his trainers, the Avellan brothers. He'll sit back into an ankle lock as soon as he's in someone's open guard. This throws off most people who expect the person to try passing their guard. Cocco has won several advanced men's tournaments and there has been a lot of talk about him. With this in mind I'll say he'll submit Valverde by foot lock.

Ivan Menjivar vs Boa Quach: MENJIVAR by decision

Menjivar is a submission wizard, somewhere along the lines of Sato. Watch his highlight clips and you'll see what I mean. This guy is quick, explosive and goes for the crazy moves like a one handed cartwheel guard pass into a kneebar in the span of 3 seconds. Extremely entertaining to watch. At 14-3 his only losses are to top dogs like undefeated Jason Black, Matt Serra and Shaolin. Black was the only one who could submit him (front choke). Quach has a 6-7 record with notable fights including decision wins over Joe Camacho and Uematsu, a decision loss to Curran and a KO loss to Crunkilton. Quach is coming off a submission loss via armbar to Rumina Sato. This should be a competitive fight. Both have similar skills on the feet and on the ground, although I think Menjivar has a slight edge in both. Menjivar's last fight was a TKO over Ryan Ackerman, so I think he'll want to display some of that against Quach. I'll say in the end their skills will prevent a decisive finish, so the judges will give the nod to Menjivar.

Joe Stevenson vs Lodan Sincaid: STEVENSON by TKO

Stevenson is fighter best known for his King of the Cage appearances. He's active in both MMA and submission grappling. His submissions skills are top notch and does better in submission grappling than most other MMA fighters. The lack of striking in submission grappling doesn't hurt his game at all. Just this past weekend he pulled out some major wins in a submission tournament beating Nick Diaz and Maros Avellan, both of whom have made big waves in the grappling world this year. He also beat Cassio Werneck by points last year. Stevenson has quite an impressive MMA record at 22-5. Notable wins include a decision over Edwin Dewees, a TKO over Jeremy Jackson and a guillotine over Joe Comacho in his last fight. His losses have been from big names like Jens Pulver (KO), Chris Brennan (triangle) and Ron Jhun (decision). His opponent Sincaid has an undefeated record of 6-0, displaying a well-rounded mix of submissions and KO wins. He beat an opponent named Jason Miller, but I think its a different Miller than the high profile one that TKO'd Egan Inoue and just choked out Ron Jhun. This should be Stevensons fight. He has a lot more experience against tougher competition and his confidence should be riding high off his submission grappling wins this past weekend. Stevenson has been ending fights with striking lately, which is his best weapon against a submissoin-oriented fighter like Sincaid. I'll say Stevenson by TKO

***8 Man Tournament***

Might Mo vs Kaokli Kaennorsing: MO by decision

Musashi vs Ray Sefo: SEFO by decision

Peter Aerts vs Francis Botha: AERTS by decision

Ernesto Hoost vs Remy Bonjasky: BONJASKY by decision

... this is an extremely tough call to make, but I'm gonna go with Bonjasky to win the tournament. That said, Hoost and Aerts have decent shots at the title as well.

***Individual Matches***

Hirome Amada vs Jerome LeBanner: LEBANNER by KO

Gary Goodridge vs Cyril Abidi: GOODRIDGE by TKO

***-66***

Rany Yahrya vs Renato Migliacio: YAHRYA by submission

Wagner Dos Santos vs Reinaldo Ribeiro: REINALDO by submission

Rodrigo Damm vs Augusto Mendes: DAMM by submission

....and Yahrya to win the division.

This is a really tough division to say who might win it. Reinaldo and Damm are both awesome with the gi, but I'm giving the edge to Yahrya to take it because of his extensive training without the gi, both for submission events and MMA. That in addition to him winning the trials for the previous ADCC. I'm not familiar with the opponents of Yahrya, Reinaldo and Damm so I'm picking all 3 of them to win by submission.

***-77***

Eduardo Guedes vs Daniel Moraes: MORAES by points

....and Moraes to win the division

Moraes has got a tough point game to beat. He's got a solid base and his game is almost that of a wrestler from what I've seen. He controls his opponents and racks up the points until time is up. I believe he'll repeat this process all the way to the finals to win it.

***-88***

Margarida vs Demian Maia: MARGARIDA by submission

Givanildo Santana vs Cumprido: CUMPRIDO by submission

Macaco vs Rodrigo Botti: MACACO by submission

....and Margarido to win the division

Margarida isn't the phenom without the gi as he is with the gi. But I still think he's got the talent to beat anyone in this trial division. Maia will be a tough match for him, but I think Cumprido will be his biggest challenge. I'm picking Macaco over Botti due to name familiarity. If Macaco meets up with Cumprido or Margarida he'll most likely get submitted. Margarida to win it.

***-99***

Gabriel Vella vs Roger Gracie: ROGER by points

....and Roger to win the division

This year has a good one for Roger. He's one of the few that threatened to beat Jacare and nearly did by almost breaking his arm. On top of that he mounted and choked out Terere. Vella should be a tough match for him. Roger's gi game is top notch but I'm not sure how that will translate to no gi. A lot of Roger's game is gi chokes. Vella has plenty of no gi experience and has even fought MMA and done well. I don't think Roger will catch Vella, so I'll say Roger takes it by points.

***+99***

Antoine Jaoude vs Marcos Moreno: JAOUDE by points

Fabiano Pega Leve vs Gabriel Napao: NAPAO by submission

Rodrigo Durok vs Leo Leite: LEITE by points

Denis Gomes vs Alex Paz: PAZ by submission

....and Napao to win the division

With Jaoude's Olympic wrestling background, he'll be able to determine when the match goes to the ground. He'll rack up points from takedowns and maintain control on the ground to beat Moreno. Napao has been on a tear and just got done beating Pe De Pano and choking out Xande in a gi tournament. He should be able to man handle Leve and submit him. I best remember Leite as being a very high level judoka and also the man that won the Mundials in '99 and beat Sperry on points in the process. Leite has got good throws and positional control on the ground. He'll use that to beat Durok on points. Paz competes here and there and has some notable wins. I'll pick him to submit Gomez as I've never heard of Gomez before. With the big names that Napao just beat and him being so active, he should be able to win it. Leite will probably be his toughest match, but I think he'll be able to out position the judoka to take it on points.

Joe Riggs vs Jason Chambers: RIGGS by points

Carlos Ortega vs Ulysses "Useless" Gomez: USELESS by submission

Riggs vs Chambers
Riggs has been fighting for over 3 years and racked up a record of 21-5. It looks like he's following Jens Pulvers lead in that he's primarily a striker but will take any type of match to stay busy. More power to him. I didn't think he'd be able to fend off Joe Doerkson's submissions in their UFC fight, but to my surprise he got out of everything that was thrown at him and came back for the brutal TKO win. He showed he had high level submission defense. Riggs used to weigh around 300 lbs and is used to dealing with the big boys. He commented that at his new weight, it feels like he's playing with children when it comes to power. Chambers has got a MMA record of 7-3 and has shown a wide arsenal of attacks with his submission wins. He's won fights with armbars, chokes and ankle locks. Of course things will be a little different since this match is straight submission grappling. Chambers will be working off his back once it hits the mat. From there he'll go submission hunting but Riggs' power and defensive technique should keep him safe. Rigg's isn't known for his submissions and probably won't catch Chambers. I feel Riggs will win the bout on points from takedowns and maintaining top position on the ground.

Dennis Kang vs Amar Suloev: SULOEV by decision

Andrei Semenov vs Matt Ewin: SEMENOV by submission

Mileo Voorn vs Ulysses Castro: CASTRO by TKO

Carlos Barreto vs Martin Malkhasyan: BARRETO by TKO

Kang vs Suloev
Suloev is a tough fighter from Russia and a stable mate of Semenov out of the Red Devil team. He's best known for his fight against Baroni where he was controlling the fight but then got taken out when Baroni rallied back and delivered some vicious shots on the ground. He went up against Lidell but lost a decision. He's faired better outside the UFC and is 17-4 and has a win over Semenov (before they were on the same team) via rear naked and a TKO over Din Thomas although the size difference was significant. His last fight was a lackluster decision over Dean Lister. To Suloev's credit he frustrated the ADCC Champion by stuffing his takedowns and caused Lister to be overly defensive on the feet. Kang is a very experienced with a well-rounded game of stand up and submissions. Though he seems to be a ground specialist and has most of his MMA wins by way of submission, he has KO'd UFC vet Keith Rockel and TKO'd 3 other opponents. This is a tough one to call. Kang has drawn with Suloev's teammate Semenov, so he can definitely hang with these guys. Suloev will want to keep it standing and Kang will trade on the feet too, but will want to take it to the ground before long. I think this fight may play out similar to Suloev's fight against Lister. He'll tag Kang on the feet while Kang defends and tries to close the distance where Suloev will shrug him off. I think Suloev will take the decision by controlling the fight on the feet.

Semenov vs Ewin
Semenov fights out of the Red Devil Team. Though he's got the face of a kid, this guy can hand out a serious beat down. He slipped out of every submission Ricardo Almeida could throw at him and came back for the TKO win. He holds an impressive record of 24-5-2. He's got a well rounded game of submissions and striking and has bested fighters like Amar Suloev, Darell Gholar and Flavio Moura. Ewin is coming into this fight with a record of 13-3, most by way of submission. The most well known opponent he's fought was Damien Riccio who managed to KO him. Coming off that loss, Ewin may be a bit apprehensive which isn't good when he's coming into this biggest fight of his career. Semenov has twice the experience and has fought much higher caliber opponents that his opponent. Semenov should be able to dispatch Ewin without much trouble. This fight should go to the ground early where both feel comfortable. Once it does Semenov will get the early submission.

Voorn vs Castro
Voorn is coming into this fight with a record of 8-2 with most wins by TKO. Valentijn Overeem has been Voorn's biggest name opponent. Voorn’s lost that fight by submission. Castro has beaten Dan Severn twice. Even though Severn is only a shadow of what he once was, that is still no small feat. Like Voorn he he's got a record of 8-2. This should be all Castro. He's been keeping active and has looked impressive against high-level fighters. Look for him to rock Voorn on the feet and then take it to the ground where he will pound out a TKO win.

Barreto vs Malkhasyan
Barreto is one of the pioneers of MMA and enjoyed the golden years of BJJ where being a black belt guaranteed you one-sided victories. He’s been critiqued as a boring fighter in his recent years, but to his credit he's stuck with the fight scene and even took some muy thai bouts to keep current and well rounded. Barreto has suffered a mix of wins and losses in his last few fights. He was brutally KO'd by Gilbert Yvel and has since lost decisions to Ian Freeman, Travis Wiuff and Aleksander Emelianenko. He's proved hard to finish in that most of his losses are by decision. On the flip side Barreto has shown much improved striking from his muy thai. He KO'd Ben Rothwell with a head kick and TKO'd Bobby Hoffman. Malkhasyan is Greco-roman wrestler out of the Red Devil team. He's got a lot of experience with a record of 16-5-1 with most wins by submission. He holds a win over Capoeira fighter Maestre Hulk and lost to Todd Medina by TKO and 2x to Bob Schreiber by TKO. Barreto should take this. He's fought and beat higher-level guys than Malkhasyan. Barreto could try to mix it up on the feet with his muy thai but it will inevitably go to the ground where he's most comfortable. Malkhasyan's biggest weapons are his submissions, but he won't catch Barreto. Most likely Barreto will out position Malkhasyan getting mount where he will hammer away with punches for the TKO.

Drew Fickett vs Nuri Shakir: FICKETT by submission

Fickett recently improved his MMA record to 23-2 winning a decision over BJJ black belt Kenny Florian. This upcoming bout against Shakir will be his 6th fight this year, which is a busy schedule considering his first fight was in April. Fickett's bread and butter is the ground where he has shown good submission offense and defense with his base in wrestling. He's submitted BJJ black belt Fabio Holanda with a rear naked and has had decision wins over big names like Dennis Hallman and Edwin DeWees. Shakir has a pro record of 5-8. He seems to favor submissions as his way of finishing fights. He's fought 3 well known names in Quincy Rice, Steve Berger and Aaron Riley. He's lost to all 3 (submitted by Rice and Berger and decisioned by Riley). This should be a one sided fight in favor of Fickett. Both favor the ground game, and Fickett will be able to shake off any submission attempts by Shakir. Fickett will control him from the top maintaining positional dominance and then apply the submission.

***8 Man Tournament***

George St. Pierre vs Henry Matamoros: ST. PIERRE by points

Kyle Sanford vs Cory McDonald

Rowan Cunningham vs Kyle Saunders

Jordan Damon vs TBA

St. Pierre as we all know is an up and coming UFC fighter. He sports a purple belt in BJJ and I'm sure he was kicking himself when he got caught in a textbook BJJ technique when he got armbarred by Matt Hughes while Hughes was defending a kimura. In addition to his bjj, St. Pierre has a great shoot (he raised a lot of eyebrows by taking Hughes down) and wrestling skills. Matamoros' specialty is the ground game, but I think he'll be out muscled here. Rich Clementi threw Matamoros around like a rag doll in their MMA fight and I think St. Pierre will be able to do the same in this grappling match. He'll dictate when the match goes to the mat with his superior takedowns and once there he'll control from the top to rack up points for the win. I'm not familiar with the other competitors. Damon has done well in MMA submitting several of his opponents, so I'll expect him to meet up with St. Pierre in the finals. I say St. Pierre takes the tournament beating Damon by points.

Noayuki Kotani vs Phil Johns: KOTANI by foot lock

Terry Martin vs Chael Sonnen: SONNEN by TKO

Kotani vs Johns
Kotani is the poster boy for Japan based ZST which is a toned down fightingevent similar to the old RINGS events. No striking is allowed once it hits the mat (at least no striking to the face). Kotani’s ground skills are excellent and specializes in lower body submissions. Johns has been fighting a long time and fought several big names. Unfortunately he’s come up short against most of them, and shown a weakness in his ground game by being caught with submissions. Once Kotani gets his rhythm and the ground game gets started, he should be able to catch Johns in a foot lock. Probably a heel hook. Kotani recently heel hooked ZST submission wizard Hideo Tokoro, so Johns shouldn't be too hard to catch. Rumina Sato submitted Johns back in '99 via toehold. Look for this fight to end in similar fashion.

Martin vs Sonnen
Martin has an impressive 6-0 pro record and shows a complete game with multiple KO and submission wins. Sonnen is a wrestler out of Team Quest and has fought a handful of high profile fights. With a record of 11-5-1, most of his wins to lesser known opponents have been by decision, and he's come up short against the more well known fighters. His biggest win to date was his last fight, a decision over Alex Steibling. He's shown he's susceptible to submissions with losses to Trevor Prangley by armbar and Forrest Griffin by triangle. He's also fought and lost to Jeremy Horn. Most recently he went to the Pride tryouts and was named most outstanding grappler. I'll say Martin's undefeated record ends here. He hasn't faced anyone of Sonnen's calibur. Martin's best bet is to try and keep it on the feet for as long as possible and try to get the KO. When he does get taken down he should hunt for the submission off his back, which is where Sonnen will likely put him. From there look for Sonnen to ground and pound a decision.

Gustavo "Ximu" Machado vs Keichiro Yamamiya

Ximu is a promising fighter that holds wins over top tier fighters. He's beaten Nate Quarry, Nilson De Castro, Allan Goes, Chris Haseman, Kiyoshi Tamura and Macaco, to name a few. He's well rounded with both submissions and striking. Yamamiya is a veteran of Pancrase with over 55 fights to his credit. He's fought a long list of top level guys and has had mixed results. He holds wins over Jason Delucia, Chris Lytle, Ikuhisu Minowa, Dennis Kang, Nathan Marquardt and most recently Chael Sonnen. He's drawn with Jeremy Horn and Tre Tellingman. This is a tough one to call. Yamamiya has the experience but I think Ximu is the better fighter. Both are well rounded enough that their standup and ground should negate each other. I feel Ximu will get the decision due to aggressivenss.

Jean Silva vs Sammy Shiavo: JEAN by submission

Paul Jenkins vs Gerald Strebendt: STREBENDT by submission

Mark Weir vs Matt Lindland: LINDLAND by TKO

Ian Freeman vs Ryan Robinson: FREEMAN by TKO

Cyrille Diabate vs Babablu: BABALU by submission

Jean vs Shiavo
Jean is a BJJ specialist and is coming off a draw in his last fight. In the fight prior that that, he triangled Gerald Strebendt in a rematch were Jean had lost their first fight from a rear naked. Jean also holds an impressive KO win over Leigh Remedios. Shaivo is listed as 3-2 against no one of note. This is a rematch from 2 years ago where Jean submitted him with a rear naked. I don't see this fight going any different than their last fight. Jean will take him down and submit him again.

Jenkins vs Strebendt
Jenkins is a heavy hitter with a lot of experience. With about 50 fights under his belt, he sports a record of 25-21-3. His biggest win is a TKO over Jean Silva 2 years ago. Another big name he's fought is Mark Weir early in his career (Weir quickly KO'd him). Strebendt is a UFC vet with an exciting style of submission grappling by always going for the finish. He was the first to pull off Eddie Bravo's famous Twister submission (a painful spine lock where you twist your opponents torso) in a MMA bout. He'll go for the crazy submissions if they are there. He's lost to the bigger names he's fought with TKO losses to Josh Thompson and Sean Sherk. This should be a tough fight for both guys. Jenkins will try to do his sprawl and brawl game and Strebendt will try to take it to the ground. I'll give a slight edge to Strebendt even though Jenkins has got the experience. I feel Strebendt has been against slightly higher level competition. Look for him to go immediately for the takedown where he'll get the submission.

Weir vs Lindland
Weir is known for his 10 second KO over Eugene Jackson and has also submitted Shannon Ritch and TKO'd Ben Earwood. He's kept busy in 2004 and this will be his sixth fight this year. He tapped MMA veteran Johil Oliveira with an arm triangle a few months ago. An Olympic silver medalist and one of the top MMA fighters at his weight, Lindland is a tall order for anyone. He's used his aggressiveness in wrestling and channeled it into his fights with great success. He comes at his opponent at full force, overwhelming them with a brutal ground and pound game. Unless Weir can fire off a KO shot in the first few moments of the fight, I think Lindland is going to be all over him on the ground. Lindland may test some of his stand up, but if he's smart he'll quickly tie up, use his Greco takedowns to get it to the mat and punch his way to a TKO win.

Freeman vs Robinson
Most remember Freeman from his dramatic TKO victory over heavily favored Frank Mir. Freeman's record stands at 15-6-1 and uses his heavy heands to end most fights. He's had mixed results with the bigger names he's fought. He decisioned Carlos Barreto, Tedd Williams and TKO'd Travis Fulton. He's lost to Osami Shibuya, Andrei Arlovski and Valentijn Overeem. Robinson has 5 fights under his belt and has only lost once. But he hasn't fought anyone of note. This should be a one sided fight in favor of Freeman. The only question mark could be ring rust. Freeman hasn't fought in over a year. Regardless, he should be able to make short work of Robinson TKOing him without too much trouble.

Diabate vs Babalu
Diabate is listed as a muy thai kickboxer with a record of 7-3-1. He holds wins over UFC and Pride veterans in James Zikic, Bob Schrieber and Lee Hasdell. Babalu is fresh off a decision win over Pele and back into fighting. He finished 2003 in impressive fashion by defeating three top level fighters (Trevor Prangley, Shogun and Jeremy Horn) in one night to take the IFC 8 man tournament title. Babalu is very well rounded. He's competed in muy thai, wrestling and submission grappling. His submission defense is excellent. He was able to fend off ADCC'03 champ Marcelo Garcia's lethal rear naked choke after Babalu had his back taken by Garcia in a no gi submission event. This fight should be all Babalu. Lately he's obtained the unenviable title of Mr. Decision. Almost all his fights have been going the distance. Only 2 of his last 12 fights have ended decisively. Diabate isn't on the level of most of Babalu's latest opponents so Babalu should be able to finish it. I say he gets the fight to the ground and then pulls off a submission.

Danny Ives vs Joe Lauzon: IVES by points

Ives has been a top competitor on the grappling circuit for several years winning many superfights and tournaments. Lauzon has made a name for himself recently by pulling off several impressive submission wins, some of which he's done by using what I'll call a flying reverse heel hook. He tapped Kip Kollar with it in one of his fights. Most recently in a MMA fight, Lauzon was taking a beating from UFC vet Mike Brown but managed to submit him in dramatic fashion towards the tail end of the fight. I'm going to put my money on Ives. I think his technique is too tight and polished for him to lose this one. I'll say he dominates positionally to take it via points.

**Gi**

Cassio Werneck vs Vinicius Magalhaes: CASSIO by points

Cleber Luciano vs Frederico Sabbatini: CLEBER by points

**No Gi**

Jay Hieron vs Suyan Quieroz: HIERON by points

Nick Diaz vs Macaco: MACACO by points

Cassio and Cleber have been competing more often than their opponents so thats why I'm picking them to win. Their not known as big finishers so points is the safe way to go.

I believe Heiron is a blue belt but with good wrestling skills. You may recall he had a UFC fight against George St. Pierre but got TKO'd. I've never heard of his opponent Quieroz but the guy must be good to be in a superfight. I'm gonna have to go with Hieron just based on name familiarity. I'll say he gets the takedown and controls from the top to get the points.

If the Diaz vs Macaco fight was MMA I'd go with Diaz. But I think in straight grappling, Macaco's black belt skills will overcome Diaz's purple belt even if its no gi. Diaz should be able to hang with him though. Macaco looks much bigger than Diaz in terms of muscle so I think he'll be able to control the fight working top position to get the win on points.

Niko Vitale vs Kristof Midoux: VITALE by toe hold

Yoshihiro Nakao vs Cabbage Correira: CABBAGE by TKO

Royler Gracie vs Kazuyuki Miyata: ROYLER by submission

Tom Howard vs Carter Williams: WILLIAMS by KO

BJ Penn vs Rodrigo Gracie: PENN by decision

Anthony Hardonk vs Wes Sims: Hardonk by KO

Vitale vs Midoux:
Most remember Vitale from his TKO loss to Matt Lindland and is probably underrated because of it. With an impressive record of 18-3, Vitale has won 3 in a row since that loss. One of those wins includes a decision over former UFC champ Dave Menne. Vitale is a natural athlete who used to play football until he found MMA. He favors submissions, specifically the toe hold which is becoming his signature finish. Other notable victories include a TKO over Aaron Riley and a toe hold win over Tyrone Roberts. Midoux is listed as 3-4 with losses to the bigger names he's fought. Travis Fulton, Jeremy Horn, Fabricio Werdum and Antoine Jaoude were able to finish him. This should be an easy fight for Vitale. If he can't put Midoux away on the feet, Vitale will take it to the ground and finish him with the toe hold.

Nakao vs Cabbage:
Nakao is a K-1 fighter. He has a no contest against Don Frye when Frye got head butted, and a win over a no namer. Cabbage as we all know is the big puncher out of Hawaii. Cabbage is a brawler and can take as much punishment as he dishes out. Tim Sylvia threw everything he had at him but Cabbage kept on coming until his corner finally showed mercy and threw in the towel for him. Unfortunately for him he's coming into this fight losing his last 2 fights. Andrei Arlovski TKO'd him earlier this year and a month later
John Marsh won a decision by using a hit and run method. If Cabbage presses the fight he should be able to win. Nakao shouldn't be underestimated and if Marsh was able to beat Cabbage on the feet (even barely), Nakao stands a decent chance. This should stay on the feet. Watch for Cabbage to throw his bombs and a knee here and there. If he doesn't put this guy away he should take the decision.

Royler vs Miyata:
Royler is the most accomplished Gracie when it comes to the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu / grappling world. A multiple time Mundial and ADCC champion, he's proven he's one of the best grapplers on the planet with or without the gi. Also one of the smallest Gracies, he isn't one to back down from a challenge and has always pushed himself by taking on and often beating much larger opponents. As successful as Royler has been at grappling, he's found found only mixed success in MMA. With a humble record of 3-2-1, his last MMA win was over 6 years ago in Pride to the much larger Yuhi Sano. Genki Sudo handed him his first decisive MMA loss by KOing him with knees followed by punches. Miyata is listed as 3-1-1 against no one of note. He seems to be more of a grappler but will throw punches in that 2 of his wins are by TKO. For Royler, this fight seems to be just what the doctor ordered. If it becomes a ground fight then Royler shouldn't have any problems having his way with Miyata. If Miyata is smart he'll try to keep it on the feet or if he ends up on top in the ground, stay on top employ a ground and pound strategy. I feel that Royler will get back on the winning track in this fight. Watch for him to either shoot for the takedown, or pull butterfly guard and then setup and an ankle submission, which he’ll use to advance his positioning if he can't get the tap. Look for Royler to be all over Miyata on the ground and get the submission.

Howard vs Williams:
Howard is listed as wrestler who has an 0-2 record. I don't know anything else about him. I'm not sure if his opponent is the K-1 Carter Williams or someone else. I'm assuming its the K-1 fighter. If it is, Williams should win this fight if he's been working on his takedown defense. Williams has solid standup skills as shown when he won a K-1 tournament in Vegas a couple years back. He hasn't done as well in K-1 of late, but he's shown he's good enough to at least hold his own against K-1's best. Look for Williams to play the sprawl and brawl game, eventually catching Howard on the feet for the KO win.

Penn vs Rodrigo:
Penn is what every BJJer that goes into MMA wants to become. Penn has the honor of being the first non Brazilian BJJ black belt to win the Mundials. After winning the biggest tournament in the BJJ world, Penn tried his hand at MMA and shot to the top right from the start. His high level ground game along with what he showed was an equally dangerous stand up game, had him tearing through nearly everyone in front of him. On top of his gifted fighting abilities, Penn has continually challenged himself by fighting the
most dominant names at or near his weight. He was the first to ever finish Takanori Gomi in a MMA fight and then disposed of one of the most dominant UFC champions ever in Matt Hughes. And in both cases the fights weren't even close which was an amazing feat. Rodrigo is arguably the best Gracie fighting MMA today (Crosley isn't far behind). As with any Gracie his ground game is second to none and he proved it by winning his ADCC division in 1998, beating Carlos Newton on points in the process. He's undefeated in MMA with a record of 5-0. In his debut in Pride he did what nearly no one else was able to do, submit the untappable (but very beatable) Daijiro Matsui by guillotine. Since then he went on to win decisions over other tough Japanese opponents in Daiju Takase, Yuki Sasaki and Hayato Mach Sakurai. This is an intriguing match up in that Penn and Rodrigo's ground games are so high level that they will probably cancel each other out. So the difference will probably be in the striking department, and that should be all Penn. Penn has got very heavy hands and will probably try to keep this fight on the feet where he will hunt for the type of KO's he was able to land against Kauro Uno and Din Thomas. Rodrigo seems to be evolving into a ground and pounder. His best bet is to put Penn onto his back and keep him there while working a Matt Hughes type strategy of peppering him with punches. I feel that Penn will edge out Rodrigo with the stand up and take the decision.

Hardonk vs Sims:
Hardonk trains out of the Vos gym in Holland so its safe to say his standup is good. His MMA record stands at 2-2. Sims is the heel for the UFC. He's lost his last 4 fights, with the last 3 being by KO / TKO. He was a former college basketball player before coming to MMA and training with the Hammer House guys. A TKO win over BJJ fighter Marcus Conan Silvieira got him into the UFC, but its been downhill since. Seeing as Sims doesn't fare very well on his feet and Hardonk is from Holland where standup is their bread and butter, things don't look good for Sims. Watch for Hardonk to have his way with a fast tiring Sims and get the KO on the feet.

Shonie Carter vs Buddy Clinton: SHONIE by TKO

Don Richards vs Travis Fulton: FULTON by KO

Shonie vs Clinton:
Shonie along with Jeremy Horn, Travis Fulton and Dan Severn is one of the constant workhorses of MMA. He has well over 70 fights and this will be his 8th fight this year. Shonie has an unorthodox fighting style. He's got great Greco-roman takedowns that often send opponents sailing through the air before landing on the mat. His wrestling and submission defense is excellent as well. Matt Serra went for submission after submission on him in their UFC fight, and Shonie kept escaping and ended it in dramatic fashion with a spinning backfist for the TKO win. Shonie also competes in nearly everything fight related. He's competed in wrestling, kickboxing, submission grappling, san shou, boxing and nearly anything else you can think of. Clinton is a relative unknown but has an undefeated record of 4-0. He favors submission s and the speed he's caught his opponents in them is similar to that of Rumina Sato in his early days. 3 of his 4 wins were in a minute or less (the time of the 4th fight wasn't confirmed). If Shonie could fend off Serra, I'm sure he can fend of Clinton. Shonie will play the sprawl and brawl game but will be comfortable wherever the fight goes. Clinton sounds dangerous so Shonie will have to keep on his toes when on the ground, but in the end I think Shonie will get the TKO win on the feet.

Fulton vs Richards:
Fulton holds the world record with having more MMA fights that anyone else on the planet. Its well over 200. Put it this way, he's had more draws (9) then some people have had fights. I don't see how someone who fights this much has the time to train. Each fight must be his daily training itself. Despite that assumption of his lack of training time, he's won 80% of his bouts. On the complete other end of the spectrum, Richards is listed as having had only 8 fights (3-4-1). Jeff Monson and John Dixson both submitted him. This will be another day at the office for Fulton. Look for him to walk in and promptly KO Richards on the feet.

Jay R. Palmer vs Kurt Pellegrino: PELLEGRINO by decision

Palmer is a fighter ouf of Hawaii with a crazy style. Formally listed as Tae Kwon Do, Palmer resembles an unpolished, mini Wanderlei Silva or an uncaged gorilla. Many of his wins come by means of stomping his opponents senseless. Its very sloppy but equally entertaining. Palmer used to be able to get away with his crazy style but as the fight game has progressed, his lack of ground game is costing him with several submission losses. His record now stands at 19-19-1. Pellegrino is a wreslter / BJJer out of Renzo Gracie's team and one of the top grapplers in the country. He's beaten BJJ purple belt star Mike Fowler 2x as well as BJJ black belt and ZST tournament winner, Marcus Aurelio in a grappling match. His double leg takedowns are lighting quick and his penetration when he shoots in is superb. He's 1-1 in pro fights and 5-0 in amateur fights. Most recently he made it to the finals of ADCC'05 Qualifiers beating Tyrone Glover on points only losing to Cameron Earle in the finals by guillotine. If Pellegrino can avoid Palmer's strikes, this should be his fight. Look for Pellegrino to take Palmer to the ground and pound out a decision win.

Dave Menne vs. Trevor Garrett

Menne is an extremely experienced and well rounded fighter and a former UFC champ. He's got a strong wrestling background and rounded it out with good submissions (he favors kneebars) and good standup. He's gone up against and beat some of the best fighters in his division. Some noteable wins have been over wins over Dennis Hallman, Jutaro Nakao, Chris Lytle, Carlos Newton and Fabiano Iha. Garrett comes into this fight with a pro record of 0-1 and an amateur record of 3-4. It looks as if this fight is just a tomatoe can match for Menne so he can pay the bills. Menne should be dominant in all aspects, and despite his reputation for going the distance too often he should be able to put away Garrett with whatever he wants. Menne has shown holes in his standup defense with KO / TKO losses to Phil Baroni, Murillo Bustamanate and Kiyoshi Tamura. So if Garrett wants to stand a chance, he should throw haymakers and pray one connects. Chances are slim. Look for Menne to win this one by submission.

Lee King vs. Sean Sherk
King is listed as 3-6 against no one of note. Thats all I could pull up on him. At 26-1-1 Sherk is top 3 at his weight. His only loss was a decision by Matt Hughes over a year ago. Since then Sherk has remained active with 10 wins in a row, only one of them going the distance. He's aware that his ground n pound style wasn't winning him many fans so he's been working his submissions (mainly chokes) and its showing. This fight will be another walk through for Sherk. He'll take the fight to the ground and promptly submit King with a choke. Someone get this guy back into the UFC!

Gilbert Yvel vs. Atte Backman

Yvel caught the attention of the Pride match makers with his a balls to the wall style of constant attacking on the feet. If anyone has seen his brutal massacre of Semmy Schilt then you can't but help but be impressed. He had several matches in Pride with mediocre results. His most spectacular fights during those years was when he KO'd Gary Goodrige with a Cro Cop style high kick to head. He also knocked Carlos Barreto into next week with a flying knee. Backman comes into this fight with a record of 3-1 and seems to favor submissions. Yvel's weakness is his ground game, and to his credit he's entered several grappling tournaments in an effort to round himself out. Backman's best bet is to try and take it to the ground and get the submission. Yvel hasn't been very active lately, but in his day he was able to fend of high level grapplers in TK (2x), Carlos Barreto, Kiyoshi Tamura and Jeremy Horn. Backman shouldn't present too much of a problem. Look for Yvel to play the sprawl and brawl game, getting the early KO.

Nathan Marquardt vs Kazuo Misaki: MARQUARDT by decision

TK vs Ron Waterman: WATERMAN by decision

Yuki Kondo vs Cyborg: KONDO by TKO

Iceman vs Sanae Kikuta: KIKUTA by submission

Marquardt vs Misaki
Marquardt is the former KOP and is very well rounded with good flying knees and a savvy ground game. He trains in Colorodo along side Duane Ludwig. Marquardt's had a lot of fights, around 25. The few losses that he's has had have been from from a decision or submission. Misaki is a very tough fighter who likes to scrap on the feet. Like Marquardt he's well rounded, with good submissions in addition to his standup. He just choked out Team Quest fighter Ed Herman with an arm triangle. These two have fought before with Marquardt getting the TKO win in 30 seconds. It won't end so early or decisively this time unless someone gets lucky. These two have got the skills to negate each others offenses. I see them trading on the feet with a bit of ground work thrown in. In the end I think it will be Marquardt edging out Misaki with his aggressiveness to a decision.

TK vs Waterman
TK has been fighting for a long time. He's mainly a submission fighter with good throws since his background is judo. He's fought the best in the business and has had mixed results. But he is the only one that can claim a win over Pride champ Fedor. They had a match in RINGS years back and TK cut Fedor with a punch in the first minute of the match that was stopped by the doctors. Waterman has improved a lot as a fighter over the past few years. He's become a master of submitting his opponents with the keylock. Waterman is used to being on top in most of his fights, and this will be no different. Both are mainly ground fighters so this shouldn't stay on the feet too long. Although if it does the edge should go to TK. Once it hits the ground look for TK to try in vain to submit Waterman from the bottom. His best bet is to go for a foot lock which he's good at, but I think Waterman will control him from the top. He won't be able to catch TK in a
keylock like most others, but I do feel he'll take the decision through ground control.

Kondo vs Cyborg
Kondo has been fighting on a regular basis since the mid 90's and has almost 60 fights to his credit. He's a very well rounded fighter that good submission skills but his bread and butter is striking be it on the feet or ground. The first fight I ever saw with Kondo was in '95 when he sent Frank Shamrock flying through the Pancrase ropes after a nasty combination and won via TKO. I've been impressed ever since. Here's a list of others he's
gone on to beat...Masa Funaki, Semmy Schilt, Pete Williams, Kiuma Kunioku, Guy Mezger, Ikuhisa Minowa, Jason DeLucia, Yoshiki Takahashi, Saulo Ribeiro, Cafe Dantas, Jason Godsey, Akira Gono, Sanae Kikuta and Mario Sperry. The list is staggering. Cyborg now trains at Chute Boxe and bears a close resemblance to Wanderlei Silva. Like his counterpart, Cyborg likes to trade on the feet but isn't as polished. He's lost to the bigger names he's fought (Shogun, Pele) but has KO'd some decent fighters in Osami Shibuya and K-1 fighter Jefferson Silva. Kondo is hungry to get back on the winning track and Cyborg is the perfect victim. Cyborg looks like Silva and trains at the same academy, so I'm sure Kondo will be looking to give a little payback. Kondo should have the edge wherever the fight goes, on the feet or ground. The smart move would be to take it to the ground in that a flash punch from Cyborg could get Kondo into trouble. I feel Kondo will take Cyborg down and then pound out the TKO win.

Iceman vs Kikuta
Kikuta has been an active fighter for many years, but didn't get full recognition and respect until he opened a lot of eyes by becoming the first competitor from Japan to win his division in ADCC, beating Saulo Ribeiro in the finals on points. Kikuta's background is in judo and he's got excellent takedowns that he sets up from the clinch. He ties up and then uses an inside leg trip to take it to the mat. In an early Pride he fought Renzo Gracie in a mararthon match that lasted 52 minutes before Renzo finally tapped him with a guillotine. He's fought and beaten several big names. I have no idea who Iceman is. I'm pretty sure its not Chuck Lidell because the hype about this bout has been nonexistant. Whoever he is, he's in a lot of trouble. Look for Kikuta to use his inside leg trip to take it to the mat, and get the submission shortly thereafter.

Wanderlei Silva vs Quinton Jackson: SILVA by TKO

Cro Cop vs Josh Barnett: BARNETT by submission

Dan Henderson vs Kazuhiro Nakayama: HENDERSON by TKO

Sergey Ignashov vs Ricardo Arona: ARONA by submission

Aleksander Emelianenko vs James Thompson: ALEKSANDER by submission

Dan Bobish vs Mark Hunt: HUNT by TKO

Alistar Overeem vs Hiromitsu Kanehara: ALISTAR by TKO

Silva vs Jackson
I don't think there is anyone else in MMA that is more feared than Silva. He is every reason why someone doesn't want to do MMA. The golden boy of Pride, he hasn't lost in over 4 years and is undefeated in Pride which is an amazing feat in the biggest organization in the world. A lot of people accuse Pride of feeding Silva tomotoe cans. But key wins in Dan Henderson and Quinton Jackson who are tough as hell, prove that he's one of the best. Quinton has earned his spot to challenge Silva again. He destroyed Ikuhisa Minowa with punches and handed Ricardo Arona his first decisive loss in MMA (Arona's only previous loss was a questionable decision to Fedor in RINGS) via huge powerbomb slam to get out of Arona's triangle attempt. This time both are coming in fresh and are looking to hurt each other. This standup exchange should be every MMA's fan's dream. Pure fury from both sides. Silva has to pay caution to Quinton getting too good a grip on him and power slamming him to the mat ala Vovchanchin. If Quinton does get Silva to the ground, there is a very real chance that he could keep top position and GnP him to a decision, similar to the way Tito Ortiz decisioned Silva. Quinton has to watch the Thai clinch and eating multiple knees like he did the first time. This is a tough call to make, but I have to go with Silva. His aggressiveness will give him the edge and will eventually wear down Quinton. Once Silva soften's Quinton's defenses and see's he's rocked, he'll rush in for the kill with everything he's got...punches, kicks and face stomps to take the win.

Cro Cop vs Barnett
Cro Cop is back on track after his devastating KO loss to Randleman. He's rattled off 3 wins with the last being his most impressive, a KO win over Fedor's brother Aleksander Emelianenko. In my opininon Barnett is one of the most underated heavyweights. For his size and physique, he is remarkably agile and good at submissions. Though not as active in MMA as Cro Cop, Barnett is on an 8 fight win streak against tough competition (finishing all of them) and hasn't lost in 3.5 years (KO to Pedro Rizzo). Obviously Cro Cop will want to keep this on the feet and Barnett is going to want to tie up and take it to the ground. I think Barnett learned his lesson against Rizzo not to get ballsy and trade with an elite kickboxer. Barnett should have size on Cro Cop and be able to use that to his advantage to rush in and take it to the ground. Cro Cop's last opponent in Fedor's brother has a similar size and body type to Barnett, so he should have some insight in to what to expect. Look for Barnett to play it cautious on the feet but eventually rushing and get Cro Cop to the mat. If he can keep Cro Cop there, look for Barnett to get the submission.

Henderson vs Nakayama
I'm not sure if I have the correct opponent for Henderson, but whoever it is, look for Henderson to win. Henderson should have this one in the bag. Anyone other than someone who is top 3 in this division shouldn't present any big problems for Henderson. He's got the wrestling to keep it on the feet or take it down whenever he wants. And he's blessed with extremely heavy hands that have KO'd a long list of people. Look for Henderson to sprawl and brawl knocking his opponent down. Once it hits the floor Henderson will dive in for the kill with brutal GnP to end it via ref stoppage.

Ignashov vs Arona
Ignashov is one of K-1's elite and has finished some of their best fighters by KO. He is always dangerous on the feet but his transition to MMA hasn't been as successful. This is Arona's first fight since his devastating KO loss to Quinton Jackson. He's pissed and anxious to get back in the mix. I don't usually pick Arona by submission, but Ignashov has shown a weak ground game that should be easy pickings once it hits the mat. Ignashov's biggest chance to win the fight is to time Arona's shot, then throw a knee to the head. He won his first MMA fight this way, so he'll probably be looking for it. I feel Arona will initially keep his distance then shoot in or tie up for the clinch (to avoid the knee's to the head if he shoots in) and then get a leg trip for the takedown. Once it hits the mat with Arona in top position, Ignashov will be a fish out of water and Arona should be able to finish him without much trouble.

Aleksander vs Thompson
Fedor's brother Aleksander is off to a good start in MMA having a record of 4-1, only losing to Cro Cop (KO kick). Assuerio Silva was his debut fight which was tough, but he gutted out the split decision win. His two opponents after that weren't against anyone significant. His last fight was a decision win over MMA veteran Carlos Barreto. Thompson is listed as having a record of 6-1 with the only fight of note being a decision win over Dan Severn. Several years back that would've been significant, but having beat Severn last month isn't as big of an achievment as it used to be. Severn is only a shadow of the fighter he once was. This should be a walkthrough for Aleksander. Look for him to take Thompson to the ground relatively early in the fight then slap on a submission for the win.

Bobish vs Hunt
Bobish is a big guy with a wrestling background. He relies on his size to manhandle his opponents to the mat and employ a ground and pound game. Hardcore UFC fans may remember him many years back when he fought in a 4 man tournament choking out Brian Johnston in the first round only to loss to Mark Kerr in the finals (chin to the eye). He also holds TKO wins over Eric Pele and UFC vet Mike Kyle. Mark Hunt is one of the stars of K-1 known for having a chin of steel. Even though his one and only MMA fight ended in an armbar loss to Hidehiko Yoshida, he showed a lot of promise for someone still new to the ground game. He had decent takedown defense and good striking. This is a tough fight to call. Bobish is a big guy that has a lot more MMA experience than Hunt, but his achilles heel is defending striking. If Hunt can play the sprawl and brawl game and follow Cro Cop's lead, he should be able to TKO Bobish. I'll say Hunt wins via strikes on the feet.

Alistar vs Kanehara
Alistar his a mainly a stand up fighter out of the Golden Glory Team in Holland. A few years ago his brother Valentijn was the one making big waves in the fighting world. But Alistar has managed to climb out of his brothers shadow and emerge as the better fighter of the two. Over the years Alistar has compiled an impressive record of 18-4, only losing once in his last 14 fights in 4 years (KO loss to Chuck Lidell). Kanehara is a veteran of the RINGS promotion which allowed him to utilize his submission game to its fullest. Though not physically imposing, his ground game was comparable to Sakuraba. Very unorthodox and with sneaky submissions. He had some big wins in RINGS over fighters like Jeremy Horn, Dave Menne, and ADCC standout Cacareco. His transistion to full MMA hasn't been as smooth. He suffered a beatdown at the hands of Wanderlei Silva and Cro Cop. Although to his credit he somehow managed to go the distance with Cro Cop showing a ton of heart. Unfortunately for Kanehara he's going up against another tough striker in Alistar. Look for Alistar to stuff his takedowns and take him out on the feet. This fight will resemble Kanehara's fights with Silva and Cro Cop. I'll say Alistar ends it with strikes for the TKO win.

***Welter Weight Tournament***

Jutaro Nakao
Daisuke Nakamura
Shinya Aoki
Yuji Hosino

This tournament is a continuation of what started off as an 8 man tournament. Like the Euphoria show, they've decided to hold each advancing round several months apart. Nakao is the most well known of this lineup using his signature triangle to finish fighters like Pat Miletich and Lavern Clark. I'm not familiar with any of the others, so I'll have to go with Nakao to use his triangle to submit his way to winning the whole thing. He finished his first round opponent with it, and I don't see the others stopping him.

Hermes Franca vs Manny Reyes Jr: FRANCA by submission

Mike Brown vs Renato Tavares: TAVARES by submission

Franca vs Reyes
Franca just got done submitting Phil Johns in under a minute at the last Euphoria show 2 weeks ago. His confidence should be up and training at BTT hasn't hurt him either. Franca's strength is his BJJ but he can hold his own on the feet, going the distance with Josh Thompson and Yves Edwards who both have good hands. Reyes is only listed at 2-0 against no one of note. This fight should be over quickly. Franca will take Reyes to the mat and submit him early in the fight. This should give Franca good momentum when he faces Rich Clementi in the next round of the Euphoria tournament in December.

Brown vs Tavares
Brown is a wrestler with good submissions. He's coming into this fight with a record of 6-3. Most will remember him for his UFC fight against Genki Sudo where he was submitted via triangle armbar. As with many pure wrestlers, his weakness is leaving himself open to submissions. He's also been caught by Hermes Franca. Tavares has been extremely active this year in MMA and submission grappling. He's won most of his bouts in convincing fashion. Like Couture, age isn't holding Tavares back at all. This fight will end up on the ground early in the fight with Brown most likely getting the takedown and Tavares fighting off his back. Look for Tavares to find a hole in Brown's defense and eventually catch him with a submission.

Javier Vazquez vs Kauro Uno: VAZQUEZ by decision

Back in '99 Uno showed his elite wrestling and submission skills by taking 2nd in his division in ADCC. On his way there he tapped John Lewis and Eddie Ruiz with a rear nakeds, only losing to Jean Jacques Machado in the finals by rear naked. He was also the first to tap Sato, in their year end shooto fight with, you guessed it, a rear naked choke. Uno's wrestling usually gives him an edge with takedowns and top control over his opponents. His unconventional setup for the rear naked as caught many people in it (including a young Din Thomas). Vazquez is a BJJ black belt and just won the American trials for ADCC'05 by triangling Jeff Glover and beating Alberto Crane on points in the finals. He's also out grappled Sato in shooto to take a decision. This should be an interesting bout in that both are used to having better wrestling skills than their opponent to get the takedown and keep top position. Uno hasn't had the same success that he used to have, where Vazquez seems to coming into his own, barring his knee injury. Uno has a bad habit of giving up his back and if he does that against Vazquez, he's going to be fighting off a choke for a while. The thing is, Uno's rear naked defense is awesome. BJ Penn, Rumina Sato and #1 ranked shooto fighter Kawajiri all had Uno's back and couldn't finish. Vazquez probably won't get the tap but I see him dominating positionally taking the back of Uno until time expires for the win.

Brandon Lee Hinkle vs Mike Bunchokovich: HINKLE by TKO

I've never heard of Bunchokovich and I don't envy his position. Hinkle has shown some extremely brutal ground n pound. Its up there with Kid Yamamoto and Matt Hughes. His vicious beat downs of shooto champ Masanori Suda and Yoshihisa Yamamoto were tough to watch. Mike better be on the ball with his submissions if he wants to stand a chance against Hinkle. Hinkle is a very aggressive wrestler. Look for him to take the fight to the ground where he'll take a submission hold if its there, but more likely look for him to ground and pound out a TKO victory.

Joe Doerkson vs Ed Herman: DOERKSON by submission

Landon Showalter vs Dennis Hallman: HALLMAN by submission

Doerkson vs Herman
Doerkson is coming off a tough TKO loss to Joe Riggs in both their UFC debuts. He'll be looking for redemption in this fight. Herman is a wrestler out of Team Quest that has a pretty good armbar and finished several fights with it. His last big fight was against Pancrase fighter Misaki where he was submitted by an arm triangle. I feel Herman will be a little outgunned here as well. This fight is definately going to the ground with Doerkson
probably working off his back. He may try working some of his standup against Herman to regain of his confidence on the feet. Once it does go to the ground, Doerkson will go to his bread and butter, one submission after another until he lands one.

Showalter vs Hallman
Despite having a losing record of 2-4, Showalter does have a big win under his belt in triangling Drew Fickett. But that was over a year ago and Fickett has improved dramatically in the past year or so. Hallman is fresh off a submission victory following a tough TKO loss in a rematch with nemesis Frank Trigg. If Hallman comes mentally ready and hasn't been slacking in training, he should have this one in the bag. Hallman will rush in, take it to the ground and then submit Showalter

Walter Farias vs Gabriel Napao: NAPAO by submission

Napao vs Farias
Napao a BJJ black belt thats done well in high level black belt competition. He's made a successful transitition to MMA compiling a 3-1 record only losing to another elite BJJer in Fabricio Werdum. All his wins have come by submission which includes a triangle win over Brandon Lee Hinkle. Farias has a record of 1-1-1. Besides that I know nothing else about him. Look for Napao to take this one to the ground and end it early with a submission.

***8 Man Lightweight Tournament***

Yves Edwards vs Naoyuki Kotani: EDWARDS by decision

Phils Johns vs Hermes Franca: FRANCA by submission

Rich Clementi vs Henry Matamoros: CLEMENTI by decision

Sergei Golyaev vs Joachim Hansen: HANSEN by TKO

Edwards vs Kotani
This is a classic striker vs grappler match. Kotani is the poster boy for Japan based ZST which is a toned down fighting event similar to the old RINGS events. No striking is allowed once it hits the mat (at least no striking to the face). Kotani’s ground skills are excellent and specializes in lower body submissions. Edwards will play the sprawl n brawl game against Kotani. Even if Kotani is able to take Edwards down, when you introduce striking into the mix it’s a whole other ball game. Kotani may be out of his element due when the shots come reigning down. Look for Edwards to pick apart Kotani on the feet to take the decision.

Johns vs Franca
Johns has been fighting a long time and fought several big names. Unfortunately he’s come up short against most of them, and shown a weakness in his ground game by being caught with submissions. Franca is hungry for a win. With back to back, close decision losses to Edwards and Josh Thompson he’s been training hard with his new team and home down in Brazil. This fight will go to the ground quickly with Franca pulling off a submission relatively early.

Clementi vs Matamoros
Clementi has been very active lately and has gotten some big wins, including a decision win over Kotani in ZST. Clementi prefers to mix it up on the feet but can handle himself on the ground as well. Matamoros prefers the ground game and has but has a big hurdle in front of him with Clementi. Clementi will defend the takedown and gain the upper hand on the feet. There he’ll rack up points with the judges out striking Matamoros and take the decision.

Golyaev vs Hansen
I’m not familiar with Golyaev but I hope he can take a punch. Hansen throws punches with very bad intentions. He gave Rumina Sato the worst beating I’ve ever seen and handed Gomi his first loss. Look for Hansen to trade on the feet, loosen up Golyaev then get it on the ground where he will pound out a TKO victory.

... I'll take Edwards to meet up with Hansen in the finals with Edwards winning it via decision. Edwards should have better stand up and be able to keep it on the feet. He needs to avoid being put on his back or he could receive a nasty barrage of Hansen punches. Even if it goes there, I believe Edwards will be able to get back up on his feet and work his standup for the win.

***8 Man Heavyweight Tournament***

Travis Wiuff vs Ibragim Magomedov: WIUFF by TKO

Pat Stano vs Jeff Monson: MONSON by submssion

Ulisses Castro vs Kerry Schall: CASTRO by decision

Roman Zentsov vs Antoine Jaude: JAUDE by decision

Wiuff vs Magomedov
Wiuff is on a roll TKOing almost everyone in his path. He’s got good wrestling and heavy hands. I don’t know who Magomedov is but he’s got a big task ahead of him. Look for Wiuff to rush in, take him to the mat and pound out a TKO win.

Stano vs Monson
I’m not familiar with Stano. Monson is workhorse. The guy competes in everything…MMA, BJJ, boxing, submission grappling, and he competes all the time. He’s morphed from a wrestler into a submission fighter. Monson will take the fight to the mat and will either take the decision or submit Stano. I’ll say he gets the submission.

Castro vs Schall
Castro has beaten Dan Severn twice. Even though Severn is only a shadow of what he once was, that is still no small feat. I’m not familiar with Schall. So based on that we’ll make this one short and sweet. Castro takes Schall to the mat and pounds out a decision.

Zenstov vs Jaude
Jaude just got back from Athens representing Brazil in the Olympics (wrestling). I believe he trains with the Marco Ruas team and had a few MMA bouts under his belt. I’m not familiar with his opponent Zenstov. Look for Jaude to take it to the mat and control positionally to take the decision.

....I pick Wiuff vs Castro in the finals with Wiuff getting the top position once he gets it to the ground and pounds out a decision.

***8 Man Lightweight Contendors***

Jorge Gurgel vs Keith Wilson: GURGEL by submission

David Goana vs Ryan Schultz: SCHULTZ by TKO

Gurgel vs Wilson
Gurgel is a very aggressive BJJer and great to watch. I don’t know who Wilson is so I can’t see this fight going very long. Gurgel will rush in, take Wilson to the ground and submit him shortly thereafter.

Goana vs Schutlz
Schultz put himself on the map this year by pulling off an upset decision win over UFC vet Gil Castillo. Schultz backed up his win with a solid performance in Superbrawl a month later winning 3 fights in one night to take an 8 man tournament. With a record of 8-2, he lost his 2nd fight via KO and then a TKO loss to Ronald Jhun. This fight should be all Schultz. He'll push the fight throwing heavy punches to get the TKO win.

Jason Miller vs Ronald Jhun: MILLER by choke

Miller has made a name for himself of late by doing well last year in GrappleTV's So. Cal. Pro-Am Invitational submission tournament where he beat stand out grapplers Sean Spangler (points), Kenny Bond (rear naked) and KOTC fighter Joe Stevenson (arm triangle) only to lose in the finals of the heavy weight bracket to tourney champ Rener Gracie (gi choke). Not many picked Miller to win when he was lined up to fight Egan Inoue. This was suppose to be a warm up match for Egan who was coming out of retirement to avenage his KO loss to shooto champ Suda. Miller had other plans and handed Egan a TKO loss. Based on that performance he was invited to fight in the UFC, but some things came up in Millers perosonal life that cancelled his debut. After years of fighting Jhun finally got a crack at the UFC only to loss via guillotine to Chris Lytle. Jhun is a well rounded fighter and at times has displayed Vitor Belfort hand speed. He's had mixed results with his last few fights. This should be Millers fight. Look for him to take it to the ground where he should be able to catch Jhun in a choke.

Jeff Curran vs Jason Dent: CURRAN by choke

Curran is a bjj black belt thats been very active. He first made a name for himself when he KO'd Baret Yoshida 2 years ago. Curran is well rounded and finishes most guys he fights but usually ends up on the losing end when he matches up with the big names. Notable wins include triangling Todd Lally, Dan Swift and he just got done guillotining former shooto veteran Mashiro Oishi. Dent has a record of 4-3 and seems to favor the submission game like Curran does. They both favor the triangle choke to end fights. Curran has good striking and will have the edge if he keeps it on the feet. I don't think Dent has the skills to hang with Curran on the ground either. I see Curran taking the fight to the ground where he feels comfortable and ending it with a choke (take your pick which).

Albert Kraus vs Kuhiruimaki Takayuki: KRAUS by KO

William Diendar vs Duane Ludwig: LUDWIG by KO

John Wayne Parr vs Arslan Magomedov: PARR by KO

Jadarnlora Narantungalag vs Norifumi 'Kid' Yamamoto - MMA match: KID by
submission

Genki Sudo vs Michael Lerma: LERMA by decision

Buokaw Por Puramuk vs Kozo Takeda: PURAMUK by KO

Narantungalag vs Kid
I'm just going to comment on the MMA match of this card since kickboxing isn't my specialty. Narantungalag is listed as 0-3 in kickboxing and I don't think has any experience in MMA. His last fight was a decision loss to Masato in K-1. Kid is arguably one of the best MMA fighters in his weight class. He comes from a family of Olympic calibur wrestlers (including his sister) and has very heavy hands which won him his last kickboxing bout by KO and numerous MMA fights by brutal TKO. He poses a threat to anyone in his weight class including the longest reigning shooto champ, Pequeno. This is poor matchmaking. Matching up a no name fighter who has yet to win, against one of the best fighters in the world. Kid is going to take Narantungalag straight to the mat and submit him with ease.

Robson Moura vs Mamoru: MOURA by decision

Rumvass Komas vs Akira Kikuchi: KIKUCHI by an arm submission

Takaharu Murahama vs Koutetsu Boku: MURAHAMA by TKO

Mindaugas Laurunatis vs Tatsuya Kawajiri: KAWAJIRI by TKO

Moura vs Mamoru
Moura is a top bjj player that is so far 2-1 against tough shooto fighters. His tight ground game has allowed him to positionally dominate his opponents once its taken to the mat and he has been able to elude the heavy strikes. Mamoru is an ex champ of shooto and has some heavy hands. He really made a name for himself when he TKO'd Baret Yoshida in late '99. He's got an impressive record of 11-2. This is a rematch from 2 years ago where Moura was able to take the decision. I feel this will be a close fight. Mamoru has won 3 fights in a row and hasn't lost since facing Moura. Look for Moura to work taking the fight ot the ground where he will play it safe, playing the position game and take the decision.

Komas vs Kikuchi
Komas is a fighter out of Lithuania with a record of 3-2-1. Both of his losses have been by submission (choke) and hasn't fought anyone notable. Kikuchi is a fast rising star in the shooto ranks. He's well known as a submission machine when it comes to bending arms the wrong way, be it an straight armbar, keylock, kimura, etc. He's beaten fighters like Nakayama, Ikemoto, Jutaro Nakao with his only loss being a decision to current shooto champ Jake Shields. This fight should be a walk through for Kikuchi. Look for him to take the fight to the ground and quickly apply the armbar.

Murahama vs Boku
Murahama is mainly a submission fighter with a lot of experience with 23 fights under his belt (10-8-5). Highlights of his career include being one of the few to submit his opponent (Chris Brennan) using the spinning / helicopter twirl into an anklelock (ala Genki Sudo). Two other big names he's fought are Ryan Bow (lost a decision) and Cromado who he lost to by TKO. His specialty is lower body submissions. Boku has a record of 6-3. His biggest name opponent was Yasumi who he holds a decision over. This is a rematch of 3.5 years ago where Murahama submitted him with a kneebar. I still see Murahama being the victor but this time taking the decision instead of the submission.

Laurunatis vs Kawajiri
Laurunatis is listed as 0-2 with the first loss being to a no namer and the second loss coming at the hands of ZST stand out, Naoyuki Kotani via triangle. Kawajiri is one of the top fighters in his weight class but is still relatively unknown to most western fans. With a record of 10-2-2, his most recent wins have been the most impressive. Within the past year he's decisioned Yves Edwards and was the first fighter to finish Ryan Bow decisively by TKO. His last fight was a draw with ex shooto champ Kauro Uno. Reports say Kawajiri, despite the draw got the best of Uno in that fight. This is a really bad match up. Laurunatis is a gold fish going into a shark tank. Kawajiri will take him down to the mat and TKO him with minimal effort. Kawajiri may even finish him on the feet for the heck of
it.

Fabio Holanda vs Kultar Gill: GILL by decision

Holanda is a submission wizard on the mat, but viewing his MMA record (0-3) it seems he's one of the bjjer's thats having a tough time making that transition to fighting. Two of those losses have been by decision and his last one was by submission to upcoming fighter Drew Fickett. Gill on the other hand has an impressive record of 5-1. His only loss coming from top fighter Yves Edwards by heel hook suprisingly. Gill has won most of his fights by submission, but I don't think he'll be able to catch Holanda. That being said, he's got more experience and probably more confidence than Holanda, going into this fight. Look for Gill to control the standup and if it hits the ground, maintain top position controlling the pace of the match. I'll say Holanda holds on until it goes the distance where Gill's hand will be raised.

Allan Goes vs Pierre Guillet: GOES by submission

Goes was one of MMA's early bjj stars who submitted opponents with ease and gave a young Frank Shamrock all he could handle in a Pancrase fight. As MMA evolved, Goes fell behind and a string of tough losses followed. His first was a KO loss via knees from a much bigger Mark Coleman. After that was a TKO loss by Alex Steibling and most recently a controversial verbal submission loss to Gustavo 'Ximu' Machado. I believe Guillet fights out of Canada and has compiled a record of 8-2-1. Like Goes, Guillet favors submissions. I don't think Guillet has the skills to hang with Goes on the ground. Guillet's last loss was via rear naked to Mathias Riccio, so up against someone like Goes he's going to have his hands full. Look for this fight to go to the ground early with Goes establishing position and then finishing off Guillet by submission.

Kurt Pellegrino vs Carlos Neto: PELLEGRINO by points

Rafael Correara vs Todd Margolis: MARGOLIS by points

Pellegrino vs Neto
Pellegrino is a wreslter / BJJer out of Renzo Gracie's team and one of the top grapplers in the country. He's beaten BJJ purple belt star Mike Fowler 2x as well as BJJ black belt and ZST tournament winner, Marcus Aurelio in a grappling match. His double leg takedowns are lighting quick and his penetration when he shoots in is superb. He's 1-0 in pro fights and 5-0 in amateur fights. Most recently he made it to the finals of ADCC'05 Qualifiers beating Tyrone Glover on points only losing to Cameron Earle in the finals by guillotine. All I was able to pull up about Carlos is that he's a bjj black belt out of BTT. That in itself is saying a lot with the pool of talent coming out of that group. Regardless, Pellegrino's takedowns and dominating ground control should see him to a victory by points. Pellegrino just has to be careful when shooting in as he's lost his last two competitions via guillotine by leaving his neck exposed.

Correara vs Margolis
Margolis is a bjj black belt with excellent takedowns that come from his wrestling background. He's gone up against the biggest names in grappling including Shaolin, Ricardo and Flavio Almeida, Xande Ribeiro, Terere, Cassio Werneck, Eduardo Telles, Ryron Gracie, the list is long. He's lost to most of them but the matches, especially when its no gi, are competitive. His strength lies in his takedowns which is his edge. I'm not familiar with Correara although I'm sure he's a bjj black belt. I'm not sure who to call on this one, but I guess I'm going to go with Margolis on points by getting the takedowns.

Sean Sherk vs Brody Farber: SHERK by submission

Edwin Aguilar vs Chael Sonnen: SONNEN by decision

Dennis Hallman vs Mike Seals: HALLMAN by submission

Sherk vs Farber
At 24-1-1 Sherk is top 3 at his weight. His only loss was a decision by Matt Hughes over a year ago. Since then Sherk has remained active with 8 wins in a row, only one of them going the distance. He's aware that his ground n pound style wasn't winning him many fans so he's been working his submissions and its showing. His last win was his most impressive as of late, TKOing submission whiz Gerald Strebendt. The only info I could pull up on Farber was his 5-1 record. He's got a couple of wins by submission but no one of note. This looks like another feeder fight to Sherk to keep him warmed up for any big calls he could get. This should be a fairly easy fight for Sherk. He'll take Farber to the ground and then submit him quickly.

Aguilar vs Sonnen
Aguilar is listed as being a sambo fighter. He has a record of 3-3 with two of his three wins by being way of strikes. His biggest win was a TKO over John Renken but he's lost to other names fighters like Homer Moore and most recently Carl Malenko. Sonnen is a wrestler out of Team Quest and has fought a handful of high profile fights. With a record of 8-4-1, most of his wins to lesser known opponents have been by decision, and he's come up short against the more well known fighters. His biggest win to date has been a decision over Homer Moore. He's shown he's susceptible to submissions with losses to Trevor Prangley by armbar and Forrest Griffin by triangle. He's also fought and lost to Jeremy Horn and most recently Pancrase fighter Keiichiro Yamamiya by decision. Sonnen should be able to take Aguilar down and control him on the ground to a decision.

Hallman vs Seal
Hallman is a very up and down fighter. One fight he'll have a spectacular submission win over a tough opponent, and the next he'll drop a fight to a no name up and comer. He's best known for submitting Matt Hughes twice (first time he guillotined him unconscoius and the 2nd was an armbar after Hughes picked him up for a slam) with a combined time in less than a 2 minutes. With over 30 fights, Hallman has got a lot of experience. Other than Hughes, other significant wins include armbarring Phil Johns, kimuraing Leigh Remedios, triangling Betiss Mansouri and guillotining Ray Cooper. Most of his losses have been by decision, but the few times he's been finished its been by punches. Seal has a record of 6-4-1 with no opponents of note. The only thing I know about him is that he likes to throw stikes in that most of his wins are by TKO/KO. If the right Hallman shows up he should be able to win this fight handidly. He'll take Seals down and then promptly submit him.

Renato Tavares vs Baret Yoshida: RENATO by points

Despite his age Renato from ATT has been very active in the submission grappling circuit and has squeezed in a MMA fight here and there. He's won most if not all of his recent fights in dominating fashion. Baret's grappling resume boasts credentials as one of the best grapplers in the world. Suprisingly he's lost his last 2 grappling bouts so he might be getting rusty since he's concentrates on MMA a lot. The first loss was by points in a gi match against Ueyama and the 2nd loss was a no gi bout against Pedro Brandao. If Baret hadn't lost those two fights I would think that Baret would win this by submission, but with Renato being on fire and Baret not doing so well, I gotta go with Renato to take it by points.

Gerald Strebendt vs Paul Daley: STREBENDT by submission

Strebendt is a UFC vet with an exciting style of submission grappling by always going for the finish. He was the first to pull off Eddie Bravo's famous Twister submission (a painful spine lock where you twist your opponents torso) in a MMA bout. He'll go for the crazy submissions if they are there. He's lost to the bigger names he's fought with TKO losses to Josh Thompson and Sean Sherk. Daley has a record of 3-3. He's apparently a striker with all 3 of this wins coming by way of TKO and all 3 losses by submission. He hasn't fought anyone I recognize. They both have the skill set that seems to be the others weakness, but I have a feeling Strebendt is better at submissions than Daley is at striking, so I'm going to go with Strebendt to get the submission fairly quickly.

**8 Man Tournament***
*its kickboxing with knees, throws and standing submission

Andy Souwer vs Ole Baguio Larsen: ?

Jens Pulver vs Dai Jyouan: PULVER by KO

Changpuek Caorseparsert vs Albert Kraus: KRAUS by KO

Kenichi Ogata vs Katel Kubis: ?

I'm only going to briefly comment on Pulver and Kraus's fights since I don't know the other 4 fighters. Pulver as everyone knows is a deadly puncher in MMA. He's backed that up going 3-0 in pro boxing. Pulver holds and impressive list of wins which include KO's over names like Joe Stevenson, Phil Johns, Lohn Lewis, Naoya Uematsu and Stephen Palling. He has decision wins over an equally impressive list. Pulver in the past has been labeled boring but with his latest fight streak he's now KOing people on a consistent basis, even in boxing. I've never heard of his opponent Jyouan or was able to pull up any info on him. Jyouan obviously is a decent kickboxer or else he wouldn't be in this tournament. Pulver has showed that against a better stand up fighter he can be finished, which was the case in back to back losses to Duane Ludwig and Jason Maxwell. I'm going to go with Pulver by KO, dominating the standup and landing the one punch that wobbles Jyouan followed by a flurry to finish it. And with standing submissions allowed, heck he might even get a guillotine.

I wasn't able to pull up any info on Caorseparsert, but judging from his name its safe to assume he's a muy thai fighter from the homeland (Thailand) where none of them are push overs. Kraus has established himself as one of the top tier guys in K-1. He's been kickboxing for 3 years and is 12-4-1. Big names he's beaten are Masato by decision (who's he fought 3 more times with and has a total record of 1-2-1), Duane Ludwig (KO) and a decision over Genki Sudo. His strongest weapons are his hands. Kraus should be able to win this fight handidly peppering Caorsepasert with combos until landing his left hook for the KO

The common opponent Kraus and Pulver have fought is Duane Ludwig. Ludwig was able to KO Pulver fast, and Kraus was able to do the same to Ludwig. Of course the old saying just because fighter A beat fighter B, yada yada yada doesn't always hold true, I believe it does hold some weight when making picks. I believe these two will meet up where it will turn into a boxing match. I believe Kraus has the sharper punches and I'll look for him to beat Pulver on a decision to win the tournament.

Pedro Brandao vs Mitsuyoshi Hayakawa: BRANDAO by points

Brandao has been very active the past year. He lost to Marcos Avellan in a no gi grappling fight (they had grappled once before where I believe Brandao had armbarred Marcos), then they met for a third time in a MMA fight and battled to a draw. If I remember correctly Brandao just recently beat Baret Yoshida in a no gi fight a couple of months ago. Hayakawa is
still Japan's top BJJer and has been active competing in the BJJ circuit, although has come up short when competing against Brazil's big names. Although Brandao has mainly been doing no gi and Hayakawa has been with the gi, I think Brandao will take it by points. The Brazilians have continued to show their dominance over their Japanese counterparts using the gi.

Yuki Nakai vs Ricardo De La Riva: RIVA by points

Nakai was Japan's first BJJ black belt and still competes often. He's lost most of his high profile BJJ matches but he finally scored a big win a few months ago with a victory over Alberto Crane by points. Most know De La Riva by the open guard / sweep variation that is named after him. He's up there in years and hasn't been active lately, but I think he's got the skills to pull of the win against Nakai, using of course his patented De La Riva sweep.

Tony Frykland vs Dennis Hallman: FRYKLAND by decision

Frykland made his debut in '97 fighting in the UFC tournament. With a style reminiscent of a smaller Tito Ortiz, Frykland steam rolled over his first opponent before getting tapped by Kevin Jackson in the finals via rear naked. He wouldn't return to the cage until 4 years later after joining Team Miletich. Here he was honed into even more of a ground and pound machine. Once he started fighting again in the middle of 2001 he rattled of 7 wins in a row which included a KO over Adriann Serrano and TKO's over Marcos Ruas' nephew Rodrigo Ruas, and Zack Light. He suffered a TKO loss via nasty cut to David Louiseau but bounced back with 2 more wins including one via guillotine over Eugene Jackson. His last fight was a decision loss to Matt Lindland. Hallman is a very up and down fighter. One fight he'll have a spectacular submission win over a tough opponent, and the next he'll drop a fight to a no name up and comer. He's best known for submitting Matt Hughes twice (first time he guillotined him unconscoius and the 2nd was an armbar after Hughes picked him up for a slam) with a combined time in less than a 2 minutes. With over 30 fights, Hallman has got a lot of experience. Other than Hughes, other significant wins include armbarring Phil Johns, kimuraing Leigh Remedios, triangling Betiss Mansouri and guillotining Ray Cooper. Most of his losses have been by decision, but the few times he's been finished its been by punches. This doesn't look to be a good matchup for Hallman. He doesn't seem to deal well with someone who is bigger and stronger than himself. He'll most definately be fighting off his back and eating a lot of punches from Fryklands ground and pound. This fight could end up similar to Hallman's last fight against Trigg. I'll say Frykland grounds and pounds his way to a decision.

Ricardeau Francois vs Wes Sims: SIMS by TKO

I've never heard of Francois but his record is listed at 3-2 with no big names. He seems to favor submissions slightly over strikes. We all know Sims from his colorful personality and NBA physique when he steps into the cage. So far he's 0-3 in the UFC with a DQ against Frank Mir for face stomps, got KO'd in a rematch, then got KO'd again against Mike Kyle. He hasn't done well but has been viewed entertaining enough by Zuffa to keep getting calls back. He was a college basketball player before trying his hand at fighting and joining Mark Coleman's Hammer House. Suprisingly most his wins in smaller shows have been by submission (as opposed to GnP) where he utilizes his long limbs. What got him noticed and into the UFC was a TKO win over early MMA veteran, Conan Silviera. He even fought and lost a decision to Dan Severn in his first fight. With 10 fights under Sims' belt he's got twice the experience of Francois and fought bigger names. I think Sims will take this fight handidly beating Francois down for the TKO win.

Ivan Menjivar vs Ryan Ackerman: MENJIVAR by submission

Menjivar is a submission wizard, somewhere along the lines of Sato. Watch his highlight clips and you'll see what I mean. This guy is quick, explosive and goes for the crazy moves like a one handed cartwheel guard pass into a kneebar in the span of 3 seconds. Extremely entertaining to watch. At 13-3 his only losses are to top dogs like undefeated Jason Black, Matt Serra and Shaolin. Black was the only one who could submit him (front choke). Ackerman has been fighting for almost 4 years and has just as much experience as Menjivar. He like his opponent favors submissions but isn't as sharp with them. Ackerman seems to be a high level gatekeeper with losses coming mainly from the big names. Rumina Sato, Stephen Palling and Jeff Curran have beaten him. Although experience is equal I don't think Ackerman is on Menjivar's level and will be overwhelmed by it. Menjivar to pull of the submission in the first round.

Randy Spence vs Ryan Schultz: SCHULTZ by TKO

Spence has a record of 7-5 with no opponents of note. He seems to favor the armbar as his main weapon. Schultz put himself on the map this year by pulling off an upset decision win over UFC vet Gil Castillo. Schultz backed up his win with a solid performance in Superbrawl a month later winning 3 fights in one night to take an 8 man tournament. With a record of 8-2, he lost his 2nd fight via KO and then a TKO loss to Ronald Jhun. This fight should be all Schultz. He'll push the fight throwing heavy punches to get the TKO win.

Antonio McKee vs Akbarh Arreola: MCKEE by decision

McKee is a BJJ fighter with good wrestling and lives in Califorinia. He's racked up quite a few fights over the past 5 years. His record stands at 14-3. His most impressive win so far is a decision over is ATT member Marcus Aurelio about a year ago. He also has decisions over UFC vet Edwin Dewees and Heath Sims and has taken undefeated Miletich fighter Jason Black to a draw. His only 3 losses were to Chris Brennan (KO kick to head), Ray Cooper (armbar) and a decision loss to Karo Parisyan. From what I was able to pull up on Arreola, he's only had 3 pro fights but to his credit has finished them all (1 Ko and 2 triangles). There is a big experience gap which will only help McKee. He should be able to take this fight to the ground and control Arreola without a problem, avoiding his triangles. The only question seems to be will McKee be able to finish? I say he takes the decision.

Roberto Travern vs Elvis Sinosic: TRAVERN by decision

Travern is one of the old school BJJers from Brazil that dabbled in MMA and had his most impressive showing of his grappling career in ADCC' 99. That year in the absolute he out pointed Fabiano Capoane, Garth Taylor, Luis Duarte and Mach Sakurai to win it. He took on Sperry in the following years superfight but lost on points. His MMA record is 6-2. Back in '97 when knowing BJJ almost guaranteed you a victory, he won an 8 man tournament in Russia fairly easily. He's lost to the only two big names he's fought. Dave Menne won a decision against him in RINGS and he was destroyed by then purple belt Frank Mir in Mir's UFC debut. Travern's achilles heel is striking which Mir used to setup an armbar that broke it. Elvis is known well by his fans since he's one of the most accessible and fan friendly fighters out there. His background is mainly BJJ under the Machados but has rounded out his game with striking. Elvis has gone up some of the best in the business and even though he's lost to most of the bigger names, he usually does well. He took Sanae Kikuta, Frank Shamrock, and Babalu the distance. Other big names that he fought but lost to were Tito Ortiz, Evan Tanner, Chris Haseman. Elvis's most impressive win was an armbar victory over Jeremy Horn in Elvis' UFC debut. This fight is almost guaranteed to go to the ground considering both their backgrounds. Elvis knows that his best shot is to try and keep it on the feet where he will probably have the edge in striking. If it goes to the ground I think Travern will dominate by maintaining top position while controlling positionally. I'll say Travern wins by decision but I'll be rooting for Elvis to pull it off.

Chael Sonnen vs Rory Singer: SONNEN by decision

Scott Norton vs Ryan Schultz: SCHULTZ by TKO

Trevor Prangley vs Ed Herman: PRANGLEY by submission

Sonnen is a wrestler out of Team Quest and has fought a handful of high profile fights. With a record of 8-4-1, most of his wins to lesser known opponents have been by decision, and he's come up short against the more well known fighters. His biggest win to date has been a decision over Homer Moore. He's shown he's susceptible to submissions with losses to Trevor Prangley by armbar and Forrest Griffin by triangle. He's also fought and lost to Jeremy Horn and most recently Pancrase fighter Keiichiro Yamamiya by decision. His opponent Rory Singer seems to be more of a submission fighter. His pro record is listed as 6-5 who also has losses to the more recognizable names he's fought. He took PRIDE vet Daijiru Matsui the distance as well as Ted Govola Jr. but lost to both fights. He also fought Dustin Denes but was armbarred. I think Sonnen's wrestling experience will come through for him in this fight. He'll take it to the ground and employ a ground and pound game to take the decision.

Norton has only 3 fights listed but has won all of them with 2 by rear naked choke. Although impressive, its been almost 2 years since his last fight so ring rust could be a factor. Schultz put himself on the map this year by pulling off an upset decision win over UFC vet Gil Castillo. Schultz backed up his win with a solid performance in Superbrawl a month later winning 3 fights in one night to take an 8 man tournament. With a record of 8-2, he lost his 2nd fight via KO and then a TKO loss to Ronald Jhun. This fight should be all Schultz. He'll push the fight throwing heavy punches to get the TKO win.

Prangley is a wrestler with good submissions. He made his debut in UFC a few months ago and was able to submit Curtis Stout via head and arm choke. Another impressive submission was an armbar over fellow wrestler Chael Sonnen. His record is 8-1 with the only lossing being by decision against Babalu a year ago. I believe Ed Herman is from Team Quest and is another wrestler with above average submissions involving armbars. He recently had his biggest fight to date against Pancrase fighter Kazuo Misaki and was submitted by an arm triangle. These guys seem to be copies of each other, both primarily wrestlers but have done well by incorporating submissions as their main way of ending fights. I'm going to give the edge to Prangley. He has more exprience and faced tougher competition than Herman. This fight is guaranteed to hit the ground where I feel a more submission savy Prangley will catch Herman for the tap.

*************************************************************

AFC Brazil
August 28, 2004 (Sunday)

Aaron Riley vs Maicon Alarcao: RILEY by TKO

Eric Tavares vs Marcel Ferreira: FERREIRA by decision

Jeff Monson vs Carlos Clayton: MONSON by submission

Riley despite his young age has all the experience of someone who is twice as old. Riley likes to play the stand up game and has a chin of steel to go along with it. Just ask Robbie Lawler who dished out everything he had and Riley just came coming forward. He's just as comfortable on the ground and fits the profile of a well rounded fighter. His record is 18-7. Alarcao has only 1 fight listed in his record which was a win by guillotine. His opponent isn't anyone I recognize. This should be a dominating fight by Riley. Alarcao is from Brazil and probably wants to go to the ground. Riley will be able to stuff his takedowns and play the sprawl and brawl game eventually getting the TKO on the feet.

Tavares has a record of 3-2 and is out of the Ruas Vale Tudo team. He seems to favor striking. Thats about all the info I can pull up on him. His opponent Ferreira is from American Top Team and has been tearing up the submission grappling scene. He has the same amount of MMA experience with a record of 3-1-1. His biggest fight was a draw with Japanese fighter Izuru Takeuchi. Ferreira has shown he's susceptible on the feet with his only loss being by KO. Tavares has a chance if he can keep it on the feet. But I think Ferreira's takedowns and ground game will be too much for him. I say Ferreira wins the decision after controlling positionally.

Monson is one of the best and most active submission grapplers in the world. He will compete anywhere, anytime. He does boxing matches in addition to submisson grappling, jiu-jitsu and MMA. He was known mainly as a wrestler but in the last year or so he's really become a submission fighter having a great guard and submits most of his opponents. His weakness is the stand up game. Clayton is a Luta Livre fighter from Brazil. He MMA record is 2-2 with his biggest fight being against RINGS fighter Andrei Kopylov. Clayton was submitted in quick fashion via armbar. This should be a walk through fight for Monson. He won't be threatened by Clayton's stand up and his ground game will negate anything Clayton will be able to bring to the table. Monson will get the takedown, quickly establish side control and then get the submission by choke.

************************************************************

2nd IGJJF Open Championship
August 28-29, 2004 (Saturday-Sunday)

Travis Lutter vs Ryron Gracie (gi match): LUTTER by points

Lutter along with David Terrell is one of the best submission grapplers in the US. He beat David Avellan 13x1 and was lined up to fight Terrell in a no gi submission match to determine who was # 1 in the US. Unfortunately an injury, I forget from who, cancelled the bout. Ryron along with his brother Rener is the son of Rorion Gracie and has shown he deserves the black belt he was awarded with several high profile wins. Ryron has armbarred Todd Margolis and beat Jeff Monson 12x11 after going for over an hour. This will be a rematch between the two but this time it will be in the gi. They fought 10 months ago where Lutter won 12x1. I know Lutter wasn't in a gi, but I'm not sure about Ryron. The fact that both will be in gi's benefits Ryron in that that is his main game. Even in no gi submission touraments him and Rener seem to prefer to at least wear the gi top. Despite this advantage, I think Lutter will still edge out Ryron on points to take the win.

Randleman is never going to learn the submission game. I knew whoever was put on their back in this fight was going to lose. Randelman looked promsiing at first but couldn't maintain the top position. Waterman's got that keylock as a signature move, and if he was ontop he was gonna land that. Prior to the submission it was a very boring GnP game by Randleman.

Silva vs Kondo was everything we hoped. The same fury from Silva that we've all come to expect and Kondo traded punches just like he said he would. Props to him for a big set of balls. I have to say even though Silva's done plenty of face stomping, this particular fight showed the most brutal stomps I've seen. The stomps actually ended the fight. Looked like Silva was trying to put out a piece of newspaper that was on fire by stomping it out. Ouch.

This was Cro Cop's first big test since losing to Randleman. Aleksander was very aggressive taking the fight to Cro Cop but he should've played a smarter game and gone for the takedown more instead of trading. He paid for it to with Cro Cop landing his signature high kick then finishing it off on the ground with punches. Brutal and impressive as hell. Cro Cop is back and I'm sure Fedor will want to avenge his brother down the road!

Minotauro showed good stand up against Kharitonov and did well on the ground too getting mount at one point. Props for Kharitonov for taking him the distance, but it was a good decision.

There is no question that the Fedor vs Ogawa fight was legit. Fedor was back to his classic self and unleashed a hellacious fury of punches at Ogawa who tried for a trip but ended up screwing up and Fedor landed on top and got mount, then transitioned into an armbar that he cranked the hell out of for the submission. Anyone who dislikes Ogawa would love this fight. Personally I think Ogawa's an asshole since he doesn't shake hands. Seeing Fedor demolish him was really satisfying.

I thought Fedor vs Minotauro 2 looked similar to their first fight with Fedor having the slight advantage before it was declared a no contest from Fedor's cut. I'm gonna have to go with Fedor by decision when they fight again. I hope Mino wins though. This could actually help Mino in that he'll be more fresh for this fight since he went the distance and Fedor's fight ended less than a minute, which is what everyone was afraid of who was rootign for Mino to win.

August 21, 2004

UFC 49 Results/Breakdown

Diaz - Karo was a war. Both throwing good punches and scrambling positions on the ground. They showed the first 2 rounds but skipped the 3rd and showed Karo winning the decision.

Edwards - Thompson was a nice back and forth fight too. Thompson had some nice takedowns, but the end came when Edwards was behind Thompson in a bear hug, then Thompson seperated and was turning around to face him when Edwards threw a beautiful head kick that smashed into Thompson face leaving him sprawled on the floor. Edwards rushed in and threw flurried punches at Thompson to cap it off.

Lytle and Jhun was back and forth too. Lots of position scrambling and punches. Lytle finally sunk a nice guillotine which Jhun did his best to fight out of but then tapped w/ both hands.

Terrell vs Lindland last about 22 seconds. They traded and Terrell dropped Lindland with a left, landed in his guard then smashed him with about 5 more brutal shots on the chin to finish him. INCREDIBLE debut for Terrell. His stock will go through the roof.

Eilers and Kyle traded some nice shots. Eilers connected with a big punch that dropped Kyle onto his back, Eilers followed him down and landed a few more punches for the finish.

Liddell and White had a nice stand up war with Lidell on the verge of finishing White on multiple occassions. Good job on the refs letting it go on. It was a jab that dropped White and you could see he was done when lying on his stomach not moving much.

Riggs did a very impressive ground and pound game on Doerkson. Getting the takedowns and controlling from the top when on the ground. Doerkson tried to work to a high guard to get a submission, but Riggs shut it down and pounded on him till Doerkson tapped from the strikes. Wow, you don't see that very often.

Lidell was on a hot streak for several years, then hit a couple of speed bumps with decisive losses to Randy Couture and Quinton Jackson. Lidell's stunning come back fight against Tito put him back in the fast lane. Vernon White has paid his dues and has been fighting MMA for over 10 years, originally starting off in Pancrase and has racked up almost 50 fights. This should be a sweet stand up fight as both guys prefer to trade on the feet. Despite White having the large experience edge, he doesn't have the skills of Lidell. This seems to be a tune up bout for Lidell lining him up for greater things down the road. White is good enough to give Lidell a run for his money, but I think Lidell will find his way to White's chin to end it in a KO.

Terrell is one of the best submission grapplers in the US and has both the hype and resume to prove it. In submission he's beaten Todd Margolis 2x (both times by submission), Cameran Earle, David Avellan, Dean Lister, Ricardo Almeida, Margarida....the list is impressive. He's 4-1 in MMA with a decision loss to Vernon White back in his debut when he was 19. Its 5 years later and Terrell has had a couple of fights in Pancrase where he finished Sasaki (KO punch) and Shibuya (rear naked choke). Lindland needs no introduction. An Olympic silver medalist and one of the top MMA fighters at his weight, Lindland is an especially tough opponent for someone who's still getting their feet wet in MMA like Terrell is. He's used his aggressiveness in wrestling and channeled it into his fights quite well. He comes at his opponent at full force, overwhelming them with a brutal ground and pound game. Terrell is really going to have his hands full with Lindland, but has the talent to pull off a submission or possible KO. He's shown KO power against Sasaki and his submissions are second to none. Lindland won't try to stand with Terrell for too long, look for the takedown and work his ground and pound game from the top. Even though Lindland was caught 2x by Bustamante, he's also shown he can avoid submissions in MMA with his fights against Ricardo Almeida and Niko Vitale (who has a dangerous toe hold). If Terrell does win this fight, it won't be by decision. But in the end I think Lindland's aggressiveness and experience will win him a judges decision via ground and pound.

Belfort has been isolated in Big Bear for the last 2 months and claims he's never trained this intensely for a fight. With the kidnapping of his sister less of a distraction than in their last meeting, Belfort's mental state and focus should be much better. We all know Belfort's got the hands, but we haven't seen the machine gun hand combo's of old in years, save for his fight with Marvin Eastman. Belfort proved his ground game was world class in ADCC, beating Ricco Rodriguez and Genki Sudo. Couture is having his best days of his MMA career and is one of the older fighters in the sport. His dirty boxing from the clinch combined with his Olympic calibur Greco Roman wrestling skills have helped him demolish two of MMA's brightest stars in Lidell and Tito. Belfort is a good fighter, but I don't think this fight will turn out any better for him than it did for Tito and Lidell. Look for Couture to initiate the tie up and start his dirty boxing, holding onto the back of Belfort's head while punching it with the other. After loosening him up, he'll take Belfort to the ground and start his ground and pound game to a TKO victory, much like their first fight.

Karo burst onto everyone's radar screen when he submitted Dave Strasser in a way never before done in the Octagon, with a Sakuraba-esque like kimura. Karo is a world class judoka and one of Gene LeBelle's top students. Most of his wins have come via submission, although he's decisioned some of the bigger names he's fought. Antonio McKee, Fernando Vasconcelos and Shonie Carter have all lost decisions to him. Karo's only losses were from ground and pound specialists in Sean Sherk 2x and rising UFC fighter, George St. Pierre. Diaz is one of the top dogs out of Cesar Garcie's impressive fight team. His base is BJJ but as everyone saw in his last fight, he's just as good with his hands as Robbie Lawler found out we he landed face first on the canvas. Diaz's record is 9-2 with a loss to Jeremy Jackson which he rematched 2 more times and won both, and a close split decision to shooto fighter Hironaka. Diaz seems to use submission and striking equally. He's finished half of his opponents using both methods evenly. Karo is used to being dominant on the ground against most of his opponents, but he'll have an equal in Diaz, if not being the underdog. Karo by no means wants to stay on the feet with Diaz so look for him to try and clinch up and go for the throw, end up ontop and either work a ground and pound game or go for one of his unorthodox kimuras. Diaz knows that he's got the stand up over Karo so he'll probably do the same game he did against Lawler and sprawl and brawl. If it does go to the ground it won't be a problem for him either. But I feel it will go the distance with Diaz getting the nod from controlling the fight wherever it ends up.

Eilers was prepping for a career in the NFL until shoulder surgery left him out of the loop for a year. While recovering Eilers hooked up with old friend Pulver and took up fighting to stay in shape. In his debut he took Severn the distance and down the road gave Cabbage all he could handle. He lost both fights via decision but still impressed since he was a no namer. With 8 wins he's managed to finish each opponent off with strikes. Kyle
trains out the American Kickboxing Academy and based on results of his fights (he's 7-2), he style seems to be a mirror image of Eilers. Each of his wins have been by KO/TKO. This should be an interesting fight not only because both these guys have been friends from childhood, but they throw heavy leather. This one won't go the distance so look for Kyle to outstrike his old friend and land shots similar to the way he did on Wes Sims, getting the TKO.

Doerkson is a submission machine, transitioning from one submission to another until he gets the tap. He's got a record of 25-5 with 19 of them being by submission. Doerkson's whole training regime was BJJ until 3 consecutive losses to Egan Inoue, David Louiseau, and Stephan Potvin forced him to round out his game with stand up. Since his last loss to Potvin he's on a 10 fight winning streak ending 3 of them with striking. Some of the bigger names he's beaten are Lee Murray, Adrianne Serrano, Anthony Macias, John Alessio, Denis Kang and Chris Leben. Riggs has been fighting for about 3.5 years now and racked up a record of 18-5. The guy is a punching machine KOing most of his opponents but hasn't faced the level of competition Doerkson has. On paper this is classic striker vs grappler although don't be suprised if you see Doerkson work some stand up. The fight won't stay on the feet long and Doerkson will take him down on the mat where its his world. Riggs has lost to the bigger names he's fought and was submitted by Travis Fulton and Alex Steibling, who are mainly known as strikers and are nowhere near as good at submissions as Doerkson. Once it hits the mat look for him to pull out a relatively fast submission.

Edwards is a deadly striker and can handle himself well on the ground, as he showed when he toyed with Tank training partner Eddie Ruiz and choked out Rich Clementi. I remember hearing once that Edwards shattered some guys pallet at the top of his mouth with a knee. Nasty. Thompson has an extremely impressive record of 25-1-1. I believe he's mainly a wrestler but uses striking well and has heavy hands. This should be a very interesting match. Edwards is a defensive fighter so look for Thompson to be pushing the fight and initiating the trade. Thompson knows that he has a better shot of beating Edwards on the ground so he will probably go for the takedown and employ his ground and pound. I see this fight as being fairly even, going back and forth but with Thompson edging out the decision due to aggressiveness.

Nakamura is just coming off a split decision loss with his rematch against the the lesser known twin Nogueira brother, Minotoro. He's got a judo background and is from the Hidehiko Yoshida camp. He's shown improved ground skills with his last fight against Minotoro by taking him the distance. He was armbarred in their first fight. Nakamura also won a decision over Daniel Gracie. Bustamante is finally back in the ring. He's one of the few BJJer's who's hands are almost as dangerous as his ground game. He should be able to handle Nakamura if it stays on the feet or goes to the ground. If Bustamante wishes, he can play the sprawl and brawl game and go for the KO. He dropped both Lindland and Menne with punches so I'm sure he can do it Nakamura. Minotoro had the upper hand with punching exchanges and Bustamante's got better hands than him. Even if Nakamura lands a throw, he won't be able to hang with Bustamante's ground game and will most likely get submitted. Look for Bustamante to pepper Nakamura on the feet with punches until Nakamura takes it to the ground with a throw attempt. Once on the ground Bustamante will work his slick ground game. It has a decent chance of going the distance, but I think Bustamante will catch Nakamura in a submission.

Randleman's last fight was against Fedor where he landed that spectacular suplex but ended shortly afterwards with Fedor getting the kimura. With his head now clear after his fathers death, Randleman has hopefully been able to focus more on training. Waterman has improved a lot as a fighter over the past few years. He's become a master of submitting his opponents with the keylock. Waterman is used to being on top in most of his fights, but against Randleman I think he'll get put on his back. I see Randleman as more of a natural athlete and will use his speed and power to rush in and take Waterman to the mat. Randleman has to be careful of not ending up on his back. If he does he is very suspetible to getting keylocked. But I see Randleman ground and pounding to a decision win.

Kondo has been fighting on a regular basis since the mid 90's and has almost 60 fights to his credit. He's a very well rounded fighter that good submission skills but his bread and butter is striking be it on the feet or ground. The first fight I ever saw with Kondo was in '95 when he sent Frank Shamrock flying through the Pancrase ropes after a nasty combination and won via TKO. I've been impressed ever since. Here's a list of others he's
gone on to beat...Masa Funaki, Semmy Schilt, Pete Williams, Kiuma Kunioku, Guy Mezger, Ikuhisa Minowa, Jason DeLucia, Yoshiki Takahashi, Saulo Ribeiro, Cafe Dantas, Jason Godsey, Akira Gono, Sanae Kikuta and Mario Sperry. The list is staggering. Good old Silva. I don't think there is anyone else in MMA that is more feared. He is every reason why someone doesn't want to do MMA. The golden boy of Pride, he hasn't lost in over 4 years and is undefeated in Pride which is an amazing feat in the biggest organization in the world. A lot of people accuse Pride of feeding Silva tomotoe cans. But two key wins in Dan Henderson and Quinton Jackson who are tough as hell, prove that he's one of the best. What makes this match interesting is that Silva beats the living hell out of his opponents winning by TKO, and Kondo has never lost by KO or TKO. In almost 60 fights that is impressive. This fight should make for some incredible firework as both like to throw heavy, heavy bombs. I don't see Kondo being able to match Silva's fury and aggressiveness, and I'll say Kondo will experience his first loss by TKO.

Never one to shy away after a loss, Cro Cop has handed out two beat downs since his devstating KO loss to Randleman. Even though Kanehara and Oyama were sacrificial lambs, they accomplished the goal of having Cro Cop get his confidence and fire back. Fedor's brother Aleksander is off to a good start in MMA being undefeated in 3 fights. Assuerio Silva was his debut fight which was tough, but he gutted out the split decision win. His last two opponents haven't been anyone significant. Aleksander may be in over his head here, but being the brother of Fedor you can't count him out. He's got good throws and a decent ground and pound game, but he's not going to be able to deal with Cro Cop's striking and with his takedown defense, Aleksander better do some serious takedown training. I feel Cro Cop will do his usual sprawl and brawl where he'll finish Aleksander of by TKO.

Minotauro hasn't lost in a year and a half, since he fought Fedor. He seems to be back on a roll with his spinning choke. Kharitonov's shown his well roundedness armbarring LA Giant and taking out Schilt and Ninja with punches. This fight should be very entertaining. Minotauro claims he's going to stand with him, which isn't the best idea even though he's got the hands for it. Kharitonov's ground game isn't on the level of Minotauro's, and yes even though Mino would face the possiblity of the Kharitonov fight ending up like his Fedor fight, I think its a risk worth taking. I see the fight going like this...Mino trades punches and tries to back Kharitonov into a corner. If Kharitonov shoots, watch for the spinning choke. If that doesn't happen I think Minotauro will shoot the takedown, sit out if Kharitonov sprawls, and take the top position while hunting for submissions which he will eventually get.

Ogawa finally faces a big name in MMA and this is where his undefeated MMA streak will likely end. Ogawa's name is synonymous with work, but I think there is too much on the line for Fedor to take a dive. Ogawa will try to tie up with Fedor, get the throw or leg trip and try somehow to get the submission. Fedor on the other hand will keep it on the feet as long as possible, but seeing as how he likes submissions just as much as striking, I can see him not resisiting the takedown if it comes. From what I've seen his ground game is probably better than Ogawa's if not equal. I think Fedor will put his submission game on the shelf and keep Ogawa on the feet where he'll be a fish out of water. Fedor by TKO.

Fedor vs Minotauro, if it happens it will be the most anticipated final and rematch in a long time. Minotauro is the likeable people's champ. Fedor is the ice cold, emotionless termintor. Minotauro comes into this fight knowing that Fedor is no push over and won't underestimate him as he might have the first time, and he's got his new spinning choke. Unfortunantely for Mino, he'll probably be exhausted from his Kharitonov fight. On the other hand Fedor will be fresh from his fight Ogawa and be wary of the spinning choke. I think the odds are stacked against Mino, so if he does win it should be spectacular. I want him to win, but unfortunately I think reality will set in and have this fight be a repeat of their first, with Fedor ground and pounding out a decision win, taking the tournament. Prove me wrong Minotauro!!!

I'm assuming Horn is has recovered from his groin injury that he got when he lost a decision to Anderson Silva recently. This should be a close fight between the former King of Pancrase and Horn. Both are very well rounded, with the edge going to Horn on the ground and Marquardt on the feet. I'm going to have to give it to Horn based on experience. Marquardt's had a lot of fights, around 25. But Horn has nearly 4 times that, with close to 100. The few losses that Marquardt has had have been from from a decision or submission, which plays in Horns favor. If Horn's injurty doesn't get in the way, I feel that Horn will control the pace of the fight taking it to the ground where he will control Marquardt positionally while throwing strikes. A submission is possible, but a decision is more likely.

Back in Severn's earlier years, I would probably have him winning this fight via decision by grounding and pounding. But Severn's best years are behind him and his performances are showing his age. He's barely able to keep eeking out decisions against no namers. Pe De Pano is one of jiu-jitsu's best and biggest. Even though this is his MMA debut, I feel he will exploit Severn's loose ground game, pull him to guard and easily catch him in a triangle or armbar to finish the fight early.

Pete Spratt hasn't had the best luck in MMA recently, but this bout should be a good opportunity to vent his frustrations since its K-1 standup rules. Spratt throws some nasty kicks as we all saw when he handed a red hot Robbie Lawler his first loss by TKO. John Cronk is another MMA fighter and has one boxing match under his belt. Unfortunately it ended in a 1st round KO loss. Spratt should be able to eat Cronk for lunch. Look for him to throw some hard kicks to the body and end it in a KO.

I don't know who James Irvin is other than what his record shows. He's listed as 5-1 with most fights ending in the 1st round. He's coming off a first round loss via rare naked choke. I don't recognize anyone he's fought. Wiuff has been very busy lately with 5 fights in 2004 and is on a 16 fight winning streak. His last loss was a year and a half ago. Some of the bigger names he's beaten are Travis Fulton 2x, Carlos Barreto and John Dixson. Wiuff is a very big dude and has a background in wrestling that makes him even more tough to throw around. That coupled with his heavy hands make him a ground and pound machine. I think Wiuff will take Irvin to the ground and demolish him with strikes.

Mike Van Arsdale is an Olympic calibur wrestler and one of those natural athletes with a lot of speed and power. Few people know that he holds a wrestling win over current Olympian Cael Sanderson (who went undefeated in college at 159-0). Arsdale has an MMA record of 6-1 with his only loss being by KO to Wanderlei Silva many years ago. Arsdale's most notable win is a TKO over submission specialist Chris Haseman. I don't know who his opponent Mussi is, and wasn't able to come up with any records of him. If this is his first MMA fight, he's in for a world of hurt. I doubt it is since someone would have to be very deranged to match someone up against Arsdale for their debut. In any case, look for Arsdale to take it quicky to the mat and submit Mussi quickly.

If Wiuff vs Arsdale happens in the finals, I think its a tough call to see who wins. Wiuff is on a roll and has an experience edge on Arsdale and has been very active. Despite that, Arsdale is a better wrestler and athlete. If Arsdale can get it to the ground and maintain top position, I think Arsdale should by able to TKO him with strikes.

Below is one of the fights on the card with my pick and breakdown...

Rich Clementi vs Tom Kirk: CLEMENTI by TKO

This past year Clementi has established himself as a force to be reckoned with in the MMA world. In the ZST 16 man tournament, he pulled off his most impressive win with an upset over Kotani (who many thought was the man that was going to take the tournament) by winning a decision. Clementi made it all the way to the finals where he lost by TKO when Marcus Aurelio broke his nose with a punch. Clementi likes to trade on the feet and has good submission defense although he can be caught as shown when Yves Edwards tapped him with a rear naked in their UFC fight. He's coming off an impressive TKO win over the tough Eddie Yagin. Kirk's record is shown as being 5-8-1 with losses to the bigger names he's fought like Sam Morgan (choke) and Phil Johns (decision). Based on his wins by either by KO or TKO it looks like he likes to throw leather as well. This should make for an entertaining fight with lots of strikes. I feel Clementi has the sharper skills and experience will finish Kirk by TKO.

Below are some the fights on the card with my picks and breakdowns...

*--8-Man Grand Prix--*

Akebono vs Zang Qing Jun: JUN by decision

Dolgosuren Sumiyabazar vs Shingo Koyasu: don't know either fighter

Tsuyoshi Nakasako Lee Myeon Ju: don't know either fighter

Kaoklai Kaennorsing vs Dennis Kang: KANG by KO

*--Single Fights--*

Peter Aerts vs Glaube Feitosa: AERTS by KO

Khattou vs Remy Bonjasky: BONJASKY by KO

Jerome LeBanner vs Mariano: LEBANNER by KO

Akebono vs Jun: The former sumo wrestler Akebono's transition to kickboxing hasn't had much success. He's now 0-2 with a decision loss to Musashi and a KO loss to Bob Sapp which happened in front of Akebono's wife and kids which I'm sure traumatized them. I know nothing about Jun other than the fact that he's probably had some kickboxing experience due to the fact that he's in this tournament. And that experience combined with Akebono's record will make me go with Jun by decision. If Musashi couldn't KO him I don't see a no namer doing it either.

Kaennorsing vs Kang: Kang is a very experienced MMA fighter that does have KO power. Though he seems to be a ground specialist and has most of his MMA wins by way of submission, he has KO'd UFC vet Keith Rockel and TKO'd 3 other opponents. I've never heard of Kaennorsing so I'm going to have to go with Kang's hands and experience to give him the edge and get the KO.

...I'll also go with Kang to take the rest of the tournament. Nakasako seems to have the most experience out of the bunch but looking at his recod usually comes up short when going up against good opponents.

Aerts vs Feitosa: One of the greatest fighters in the K-1 circuit, Aerts has proven himself time and time again. Having a ton of experience at 44-16-1, and KOing some of K-1's best, he poses a threat to anyone he faces. Feitosa's record isn't very impressive. At 3-8 his most notable win is over MMA fighter Allistar Overeem. This is a rematch where Aerts won a decision 2 years ago. I don't see the outcome being any different except
this time I'll go with Aerts by KO instead.

Khattou vs Bonjasky: Khattou hasn't had that many fights. His most notable being a decision loss to Cyril Abidi and a decision win over Francis Botha. His record stands at 5-2. Bonjasky is one of the new stars of K-1. His flying knees, aggressive style and nasty kicks making him exciting to watch and dangerous. With a record of 16-7 he has wins over Vernon White (KO flying kick), decisions
over McDonald, Abidi, Musashi and Botha. Bonjasky should be able to handle Khattou without too much trouble, peppering him with knees to get the KO.

LeBanner vs Mariano: Le Banner is another legend of K-1 and one of the best kickboxers to not ever win a K-1 tournament title. With a record of 30-9-1 he has KO'd Hoost, Satake, Bernardo, Aerts, Filho, Nortje, Frye, Goodridge, and Musashi. The list is staggering. This guy knows how to throw bombs and take them as you can tell by his off center nose. I wasn't able to pull up any info on Mariano so safe to is that he'll be on the receiving end of one of Le Banners strikes and taking a nap on the canvas. Le Banner by KO.

Below are some the fights on the card with my picks and breakdowns...

Alexey Ignashov vs Josip Bodrozic: IGNASHOV by KO

These two have fought before with Ignashov getting the nod in a split decision. Ignashov has made quite the impression lately in K-1 and MMA racking up several KO's in the past few months. His kickboxing record is listed as 23-6. Notable losses include a DQ and decision loss to Leko, and decision losses to Venetiaan and Fransico Filho. Wins include a decision over Peter Aerts and KO / TKO wins over Cyril Abidi, Mike Bernardo, Jan Nortje and the iron chinned Carter Williams. Bodrozic is listed as 2-3 with his only notable fight with a big name being a decision loss to Ignashov. With Ignashov being on fire lately and KOing some of K-1's big names, I feel Ignashov will decisively end this rematch in a KO.

Below are some the fights on the card with my picks and breakdowns...

Ryan Bow vs Takumi: BOW by submission

Gesias "JZ" Calvancanti vs Joachim Hansen: HANSEN by TKO

Yasuhiro Urushitani vs Junji Ikoma: URUSHITANI by decision

Bow vs Takumi: Bow is from the US but moved to Japan in pursuit of his dream to fight. Bow's slick ground game mirrors the top shooto fighters he's trained with he's able to speak Japanese fluently. With an 11-6 record, his losses have been by decision to the top guys in his division. Most others he's submitted handidly. Notable wins include decisions over Takaharu Murahama, Yasumi and Cromado (fighter who guillotined Uno unconscious) and winning an 8 man tournament early in his career, all by submission. Bow has fought the toughest in his division and taken them the distance. This list includes Gomi, Mishima, Shaolin, and Joao Roque . All were losses but he's always put up one hell of a fight. He sent Gomi to the hospital after their fight from knees that fractured either his cheekbone or orbital. I can't remember which. His only decisive loss was to Kawajiri by TKO who is the top guy in his weight class. I don't know as much about Takumi but he holds a 1-1 record against Kawajiri so he must be tough. Like Bow, Takumi prefers submissions so this fight will most likely be a chess match on the mat. He has a win over Matamoros by verbal submission, but other than that no other big name victories. He has a draw with Sato which is fairly impressive for someone who isn't a big name. But it looks like he is suseptible to getting caught in submissions himself, as revealed by his losses to Cromado by guillotine, Shoalin by arm triangle, Aurelio by armbar. He's also been decisioned by Joachim Hansen and TKO'd by Kawajiri in their rematch. Look for this fight to hit the ground with Bow establishing position then moving in to land the submission.

Calvancanti vs Hansen: Calvancanti is listed as being 3-0 with 2 of them ending in submission. I don't know much else about him other than he was lined up to be in this weekends Grapplers Quest pro tournament so he's obviously a ground specialist. He's got a tall order in front of him with Hansen. Hansen first caught everyone's attention when handed a previously undefeated Gomi his first loss and captured the shooto title. He then backed up that stunning victory with a brutal TKO over submission star Rumina Sato. Sato as usual was hunting for a foot / leg submissions when Hansen started reigning down brutal punches that had Sato sprawled out over
the canvas. It looked like someone hitting a hamster with a shovel. That proved Hansen was for real. Hansen has dangerous hands but is susceptible to submissions. Shaolin took his title and made quick work of him with an arm triangle. Hansen was also submitted in his 2nd MMA fight to an unknown fighter Jani Lax via rear naked. He entered a submission tournament about 6 months ago and was submitted in that as well. If Calvacanti can weather the fists he has a chance, but I feel it was be Hansen via TKO by punches on the ground.

Urushitani vs Ikoma: Urushitani caught my attention when he beat BJJ and ADCC standout Robson Moura by decision. Prior to this Moura scored an impressive decision win over former shooto champ Mamoru (who in turn has TKO'd Baret Yoshida so he's legit) so he had transitioned well into MMA for his debut. Getting a win over a grappler like Moura is saying something. Urushitani's record is 7-2-1, with every single fight going the distance. Not much in the way of a finisher. Ikoma is 5-5-1 and also fought Moura but lost a decision. I think its safe to say this fight will go to the distance with Urushitani getting his hand raised.

Drew Fickett defeated Kenny Florian: Split Decision

Reports said there this was a back and forth battle on the feet and the ground. This was a tough fight for a relatively inexperienced Kenny to take, but props to him for stepping in the ring anyway.

Jamal Patterson vs Greg Brown: fight didn't happen

Babalu vs Michael Bisping: fight didn't happen

Jorge Rivera defeated Mark Weir by TKO

Weir landed some big shots in this fight but Rivera took everything that Weir dished out and then fired back, getting a TKO win, I believe from a doctor stoppage on a cut.

Jean Francois Lenogue defeated Damien Riccio by decision:

Jean Silva vs Ollie Ellis: draw

Below is one of the fights on the card with my pick and breakdown...

Rich Clementi vs Tom Kirk: CLEMENTI by TKO

This past year Clementi has established himself as a force to be reckoned with in the MMA world. In the ZST 16 man tournament, he pulled off his most impressive win with an upset over Kotani (who many thought was the man that was going to take the tournament) by winning a decision. Clementi made it all the way to the finals where he lost by TKO when Marcus Aurelio broke his nose with a punch. Clementi likes to trade on the feet and has good submission defense although he can be caught as shown when Yves Edwards tapped him with a rear naked in their UFC fight. He's coming off an impressive TKO win over the tough Eddie Yagin. Kirk's record is shown as being 5-8-1 with losses to the bigger names he's fought like Sam Morgan (choke) and Phil Johns (decision). Based on his wins by either by KO or TKO it looks like he likes to throw leather as well. This should make for an entertaining fight with lots of strikes. I feel Clementi has the sharper skills and experience will finish Kirk by TKO.

Below are some the fights on the card with my picks and breakdowns...

*--8-Man Grand Prix--*

Akebono vs Zang Qing Jun: JUN by decision

Dolgosuren Sumiyabazar vs Shingo Koyasu: don't know either fighter

Tsuyoshi Nakasako Lee Myeon Ju: don't know either fighter

Kaoklai Kaennorsing vs Dennis Kang: KANG by KO

*--Single Fights--*

Peter Aerts vs Glaube Feitosa: AERTS by KO

Khattou vs Remy Bonjasky: BONJASKY by KO

Jerome LeBanner vs Mariano: LEBANNER by KO

Akebono vs Jun: The former sumo wrestler Akebono's transition to kickboxing hasn't had much success. He's now 0-2 with a decision loss to Musashi and a KO loss to Bob Sapp which happened in front of Akebono's wife and kids which I'm sure traumatized them. I know nothing about Jun other than the fact that he's probably had some kickboxing experience due to the fact that he's in this tournament. And that experience combined with Akebono's record will make me go with Jun by decision. If Musashi couldn't KO him I don't see a no namer doing it either.

Kaennorsing vs Kang: Kang is a very experienced MMA fighter that does have KO power. Though he seems to be a ground specialist and has most of his MMA wins by way of submission, he has KO'd UFC vet Keith Rockel and TKO'd 3 other opponents. I've never heard of Kaennorsing so I'm going to have to go with Kang's hands and experience to give him the edge and get the KO.

...I'll also go with Kang to take the rest of the tournament. Nakasako seems to have the most experience out of the bunch but looking at his recod usually comes up short when going up against good opponents.

Aerts vs Feitosa: One of the greatest fighters in the K-1 circuit, Aerts has proven himself time and time again. Having a ton of experience at 44-16-1, and KOing some of K-1's best, he poses a threat to anyone he faces. Feitosa's record isn't very impressive. At 3-8 his most notable win is over MMA fighter Allistar Overeem. This is a rematch where Aerts won a decision 2 years ago. I don't see the outcome being any different except
this time I'll go with Aerts by KO instead.

Khattou vs Bonjasky: Khattou hasn't had that many fights. His most notable being a decision loss to Cyril Abidi and a decision win over Francis Botha. His record stands at 5-2. Bonjasky is one of the new stars of K-1. His flying knees, aggressive style and nasty kicks making him exciting to watch and dangerous. With a record of 16-7 he has wins over Vernon White (KO flying kick), decisions
over McDonald, Abidi, Musashi and Botha. Bonjasky should be able to handle Khattou without too much trouble, peppering him with knees to get the KO.

LeBanner vs Mariano: Le Banner is another legend of K-1 and one of the best kickboxers to not ever win a K-1 tournament title. With a record of 30-9-1 he has KO'd Hoost, Satake, Bernardo, Aerts, Filho, Nortje, Frye, Goodridge, and Musashi. The list is staggering. This guy knows how to throw bombs and take them as you can tell by his off center nose. I wasn't able to pull up any info on Mariano so safe to is that he'll be on the receiving end of one of Le Banners strikes and taking a nap on the canvas. Le Banner by KO.

Below are some the fights on the card with my picks and breakdowns...

Alexey Ignashov vs Josip Bodrozic: IGNASHOV by KO

These two have fought before with Ignashov getting the nod in a split decision. Ignashov has made quite the impression lately in K-1 and MMA racking up several KO's in the past few months. His kickboxing record is listed as 23-6. Notable losses include a DQ and decision loss to Leko, and decision losses to Venetiaan and Fransico Filho. Wins include a decision over Peter Aerts and KO / TKO wins over Cyril Abidi, Mike Bernardo, Jan Nortje and the iron chinned Carter Williams. Bodrozic is listed as 2-3 with his only notable fight with a big name being a decision loss to Ignashov. With Ignashov being on fire lately and KOing some of K-1's big names, I feel Ignashov will decisively end this rematch in a KO.

Below are some the fights on the card with my picks and breakdowns...

Ryan Bow vs Takumi: BOW by submission

Gesias "JZ" Calvancanti vs Joachim Hansen: HANSEN by TKO

Yasuhiro Urushitani vs Junji Ikoma: URUSHITANI by decision

Bow vs Takumi: Bow is from the US but moved to Japan in pursuit of his dream to fight. Bow's slick ground game mirrors the top shooto fighters he's trained with he's able to speak Japanese fluently. With an 11-6 record, his losses have been by decision to the top guys in his division. Most others he's submitted handidly. Notable wins include decisions over Takaharu Murahama, Yasumi and Cromado (fighter who guillotined Uno unconscious) and winning an 8 man tournament early in his career, all by submission. Bow has fought the toughest in his division and taken them the distance. This list includes Gomi, Mishima, Shaolin, and Joao Roque . All were losses but he's always put up one hell of a fight. He sent Gomi to the hospital after their fight from knees that fractured either his cheekbone or orbital. I can't remember which. His only decisive loss was to Kawajiri by TKO who is the top guy in his weight class. I don't know as much about Takumi but he holds a 1-1 record against Kawajiri so he must be tough. Like Bow, Takumi prefers submissions so this fight will most likely be a chess match on the mat. He has a win over Matamoros by verbal submission, but other than that no other big name victories. He has a draw with Sato which is fairly impressive for someone who isn't a big name. But it looks like he is suseptible to getting caught in submissions himself, as revealed by his losses to Cromado by guillotine, Shoalin by arm triangle, Aurelio by armbar. He's also been decisioned by Joachim Hansen and TKO'd by Kawajiri in their rematch. Look for this fight to hit the ground with Bow establishing position then moving in to land the submission.

Calvancanti vs Hansen: Calvancanti is listed as being 3-0 with 2 of them ending in submission. I don't know much else about him other than he was lined up to be in this weekends Grapplers Quest pro tournament so he's obviously a ground specialist. He's got a tall order in front of him with Hansen. Hansen first caught everyone's attention when handed a previously undefeated Gomi his first loss and captured the shooto title. He then backed up that stunning victory with a brutal TKO over submission star Rumina Sato. Sato as usual was hunting for a foot / leg submissions when Hansen started reigning down brutal punches that had Sato sprawled out over
the canvas. It looked like someone hitting a hamster with a shovel. That proved Hansen was for real. Hansen has dangerous hands but is susceptible to submissions. Shaolin took his title and made quick work of him with an arm triangle. Hansen was also submitted in his 2nd MMA fight to an unknown fighter Jani Lax via rear naked. He entered a submission tournament about 6 months ago and was submitted in that as well. If Calvacanti can weather the fists he has a chance, but I feel it was be Hansen via TKO by punches on the ground.

Urushitani vs Ikoma: Urushitani caught my attention when he beat BJJ and ADCC standout Robson Moura by decision. Prior to this Moura scored an impressive decision win over former shooto champ Mamoru (who in turn has TKO'd Baret Yoshida so he's legit) so he had transitioned well into MMA for his debut. Getting a win over a grappler like Moura is saying something. Urushitani's record is 7-2-1, with every single fight going the distance. Not much in the way of a finisher. Ikoma is 5-5-1 and also fought Moura but lost a decision. I think its safe to say this fight will go to the distance with Urushitani getting his hand raised.

Drew Fickett defeated Kenny Florian: Split Decision

Reports said there this was a back and forth battle on the feet and the ground. This was a tough fight for a relatively inexperienced Kenny to take, but props to him for stepping in the ring anyway.

Jamal Patterson vs Greg Brown: fight didn't happen

Babalu vs Michael Bisping: fight didn't happen

Jorge Rivera defeated Mark Weir by TKO

Weir landed some big shots in this fight but Rivera took everything that Weir dished out and then fired back, getting a TKO win, I believe from a doctor stoppage on a cut.

Jean Francois Lenogue defeated Damien Riccio by decision:

Jean Silva vs Ollie Ellis: draw

Grappler's Quest - 175 - 205 Bracket
July 17-18, 2004

My picks:

Pigtail: Kronenberg over Canup: submission

First round:
Leo Dalla over Kronenberg by submission
Macauley over Moriarty by submission
Chim Chim over McCarthy over by points
Ferreria over Dunlap by submission

Semis:
Dalla over Macauley by submission
Ferreria over Chim Chim by points

Finals:
Ferreria over Dalla: points

Translated from Sportsnavi:

Lightweight Class A Bout (1st Rd. Pacific Rim Tournament)
Rumina Sato wins by submission (arm bar) at 3:03 of the first round over Bao Quach

Welterweight Class A Bout
Vitor "Shaolin" Ribeiro wins a three round unanimous decision (3-0) over Mitsuhiro Ishida

Lightweight Class A Bout
Jens Pulver wins by knockout at 1:47 of the third round over Stephen Paling

Class A Light Heavyweight Championship Bout
Masanori Suda and Dustin Denes battled to a draw - Suda retains title

Class A Middleweight Championship Bout (Vacant)
Jake Shields wins by submission (rear naked choke) at 3:24 of the first round over Ray Cooper - Shields

becomes new middleweight champion

....this is a big win for Sato. He's had a couple of wins in his last few fights but all the big names he fought he lost to. We'll see if he can keep up the good streak.

Pulver is doing great lately. His last loss to Jason Maxwell was over a year ago and he's won everything since then. Another plus is that he's finishing his fights decisively, as opposed to getting decisions all the time like he used to. Pallings stock is dropping. He hasn't won in over a year and this is his 3rd loss in a row, with a draw before that. Suprisingly he's listed as high as #3 in shooto.

Suda is a lot tougher than most people give him credit for, and this shows it being able to hang w/ Denes. Tough break for Denes.

Big win for Shields in that he avenges his decision loss to Cooper 2 years ago and does it by submission no less. Shields is a tough fighter but is known being a bit lackluster in controlling to a decision. Good to see he's breaking out of that.

Jake Shields vs. Ray Cooper: R1-- Shields comes out strong.. Cooper gets the takedown.. Shields works Cooper back to the half guard...lots of ground action... Shields reverses position & is in Coopers guard... Shields working from guard & throwing short punches... Cooper has good guard defense... Cooper escapes... Cooper takes Shields down... Shields reverses Cooper... Shields takes Coopers back& sinks in rear naked choke.

Kenny Florian vs Drew Fickett: Kenny is BJJ black belt and is one of the top competitors in the grappling circuit on the east coast. He's still relatively new to MMA but has amassed a record of I think 3-0. I was able to pull up two of his fights which he won by TKO and kimura. Fickett is a tough opponent for anyone as revealed by his 22-2 record. He's got excellent wrestling and submission defenese and offense. His most notable victories were decision wins over UFC vets Edwin DeWees and Dennis Hallman, both very good at submissions. His two losses has been a close decision to DeWees (fought him twice) and a triangle to relative unknown Landon Showalter. Kenny will probably be working off his back and his best bet is to work for the triangle or lower body submissions. But I feel Fickett's experience will allow him to get the takedown, control position on the ground and pound out a decision.

Greg Brown vs Jamal Patterson: Jamal is a submission fighter out of Renzo's school. I didn't see any MMA fights listed under him, but he did just recently win an 8 man tournamnet at a Grapplers Quest, winning in impressive fashion by submitting everyone he went up against including American Top Team member Marcos "Machine" Oliveira by guillotine. Greg Brown is listed as being 1-1 in MMA with an armbar win and a TKO loss. I don't recognize either of his opponents. Jamal will want to take it to the ground, so Brown's best bet is to try and stuff the takedown and keep it on the feet. But I feel Jamal will get the takedown early and end it by submission.

K-1 World Max 2004: Results
July 7, 2004 (Wednesday)
Yoyogi Olympic Gymnasium (downtown Tokyo)

All bouts except fight nine are three rounds lasting three minutes each round with one overtime round if needed unless noted. The tournament final had a two round overtime if needed. Fight nine was a four round mixed rule bout with odd number rounds being fought under K-1 rules while even number rounds were fought under K-1 MMA rules.

Translated from Sportsnavi:

Reserve Fight:
Duane Ludwig wins a unanimous decision (28-27, 30-29, 30-28) over Serkan Yilmaz

Tournament Bout - Bracket A
Takayuki Kohiruimaki wins a unanimous decision (30-28, 29-28, 29-28) over Mike Zambidis

Tournament Bout - Bracket A
Baukaw Por.Puramuk wins an overtime one round split decision (10-9, 9-10, 10-9) over John Wayne Parr
After three rounds, the judges had it 30-30 on all scorecards

Tournament Bout - Bracket B
Masato wins a majority decision (30-29, 30-30, 30-29) over Jadamba Narantungalag

Tournament Bout - Bracket B
Albert Kraus wins a majority decision (30-29, 30-30, 30-29) over Shamil Gaidarbekov

Tournament Semi-Final Bout
Baukaw Por.Puramuk wins by knockout at :42 of the second round over Takayuki Kohiruimaki

Tournament Semi-Final Bout
Masato wins a unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-28) over Albert Kraus

K-1 Mixed Rules Bout (4 Rds)
"Kid" Yamamoto wins by submission (arm bar) at 2:40 of the second round over Yasuhiro Kazuya

Tournament Final
Baukaw Por.Puramuk wins an overtime one round unanimous decision (10-9, 10-9, 10-9) over Masato -

After three rounds, the judges had it a majority draw ( 29-29, 29-29, 29-28 for Masato) - Por.Puramuk wins tournament and becomes K-1 World Max 2004 Champion

... wow, Puramuk from Thailand, a relative unknown comes out of nowhere and decisions Parr and Masato and wins the whole thing. Damn impressive.

Besides the fights that Puramuk were in, all other results went as expected with Ludwig, Masato, Kraus and Kid winning their first fights. I'm suprised Kid took longer than 1 round to submit his guy.

This was also Masato and Kraus' 4th time fighting each other. Masato is now 2-1-1 against him.

Thanks to The Fight Game.tv for results.

Ahhh...just read why it took Kid 2 rounds. His fight alternated rounds between K-1 and MMA rules. The first round was k-1, the 2nd was MMA.

Just read the champ, Puramuk is supposedly the lightest of all the fighters in the tourney, is only 22 and has had around 300 thai fights.

Below is the fight card with my picks and explanations.

Babalu vs Michael Bisping: BABALU by submission

Mark Weir vs Jorge Rivera: RIVERA by decision

Jean Francois Lenogue vs Damien Riccio: RICCIO by submission

Jean Silva vs Ollie Ellis: JEAN by submission

Babalu vs Bisping: Bisping is listed with a 2-0 record via TKO and KO but over two relatively unknown opponents. Babalu on the other hand is well established and his record speaks for itself. He's very well rounded with a strong base in wrestling and kickboxing but crafty with his submissions too. His last outing was an extremely impressive showing winning 3 fights in one night to take the IFC 8 man tourney, decisioning Prangely and Horn, and guillotining Shogun. Other memorable wins was a KO over Brad Kohler via soccer kick to the head, a armbar victory over Illoukine and Fulton and decisions over Kanehara, Tamura (2x), Mo Smith, TK, and Elvis Sinosic. I don't think this fight will last long and will end with Babalu making short work of Bisping, taking him to the ground and submitting him.

Weir vs Rivera: Both these guys like to come out and trade. Weir is known for his 10 second KO over Eugene Jackson and has also submitted Shannon Ritch and TKO'd Ben Earwood. Rivera has had some wins over some bigger names, notably a decision over Tim Sylvia when they were amateurs. Other highlight wins include a TKOing submission expert Travis Lutter and a decision over standup fighter David Lousieu. Rivera has faced and beat tougher competition and should be able to control the fight standing up to take a decision. It should make for a good fight though since both seem to prefer standing up rather than fighting on the ground.

Riccio vs Lenogue: Lenogue's record is 3-3 with his only fight against a name fighter being a submission loss to Mark Weir via rear naked. Considering Weirs game is mainly stand up its not saying a whole lot for Lenogue's submission defense. Riccio, infamous for roughing up Robin Gracie in a challenge match at a seminar, has a 4-5 record according to Full Contact Fighters database. The two biggest names he's fought he's had losses to. He dropped a decision to shooto fighter Kuwabara and a TKO loss to Ikemoto. Not the cream of the crop in shooto, but tough guys nonetheless. Riccio looked good against Robin, even though Robin had no time to prepare. I'm gonna have to go with Riccio to submit Lenogue.

Jean vs Ellis: Jean is a BJJ specialist and is coming off a big win when he triangled Gerald Strebendt in a rematch were he had lost their first fight from a rear naked. Jean also holds an impressive KO win over Leigh Remedios. The only thing I could pull up on Ellis was a fighter by the name of Oliver Ellis. No idea if its the same guy. If it is, the guy has a 2-2 record with no big names. I'll say this match will be pretty one sided with Jean getting taking it to the ground and getting the submission.

Shooto - Soljah Fight Night
July 9, 2004 (Friday)
Blaisdell Arena, HI

Below is the fight card with my picks and explanations.

Quach vs Sato: QUACH by decision

Palling vs Pulver: PULVER by KO

Shaolin vs Ishida: SHAOLIN by arm triangle

Suda vs Denes: DENES by decision

Shields vs Cooper: SHIELDS by decision

Quach vs Sato: This will be a tough fight for both guys. Sato is a glimmer of the star he was in the mid / late 90's. To his credit he's hung in there, but has suffered a few tough losses in a devastating TKO loss to former shooto champ Hansen and was guillotined in about 40 seconds by current shooto Champ Pequeno. Quach has a 6-6 record with notable fights including decision wins over Joe Camacho and Uematsu, a decision loss to Curran and a KO loss to Crunkilton. Quach is coming off a submission loss via rear naked choke to Kadowaki but look for him to be well aware of Sato's submission and play it cautious in the ground game. Quach has the
skills to shut down Sato and control him on the ground to take the decision.

Palling vs Pulver: Pulver had a few tough losses after leaving the UFC and seemed to hit a slump, but lately has been on the rise back to the top. He's stayed active in all areas of fighting with a recent win on points against Parrumpinha in a no gi submission match, winning a decision in his pro boxing debut, and his latest MMA match getting a very impressive KO win over Uematsu. Palling on the other hand hasn't been fairing well. His last 3 fights been been a draw against Pequeno and 2 losses by TKO, the last one being to rising shooto fighter Takaya. His losses by way of TKO coupled with Pulver coming back to his winning ways via his fists looks like a recipe for another TKO, with Pulvers hand being raised.

Shaolin vs Ishida: Shaolin is one of those gifted BJJers thats been able to take his dominance in BJJ and apply it to MMA. He's the current shooto champ with a 9-0 record. A few years back I remember him being very active in the amateur wrestling circuit and at one point even said if he had to phase out bjj to advance in wrestling, he would do it. Luckily he chose MMA instead, but his base in wrestling has no doubt helped him take his opponents to the mat where he dominates and usually submits them with his signature arm triangle choke. He's used it to dispatch Hurley, Hansen, Yagin and Nakayama. Other wins via decision have been over Bow, Kawajiri and Menjivar. His opponent Ishida is relatively unknown and is 6-1 with all but one fight ending in a decision. He doesn't have wins over anyone I recognize. Look for Shaolin to get the takedown, pass guard and apply the arm triangle.

Suda vs Denes: This fight is the toughest for me to call. Suda seems to have a way of pulling out the win when the odds are stacked against him. He's got a ton of experience with a record of 20-8-2. His last big win was a TKO over Egan, but he also holds wins over Bradda Cooper (armbar), Sasaki, Jhun and Chonan (decisions). He doesn't seem consistent though, showing a great performance in one fight then losing badly in another. A good ground & pound game seems to be the way to beat him. And Denes is very good at that. With a 9-1 record, Denes holds a draw with Gono, a decision over Takeuchi and an armbar victory over an aging Serrano. His biggest fight was a decision loss to Shoji. I think Denes can neutralize Suda's game and control him on the ground to take the decision. But I think it could be very close.

Shields vs Cooper: This is a rematch of a fight that Shields lost a decision to almost 2 years ago. Since then Shields has racked up some very impressive wins. A decision victory over Sakurai put him on the map, and he showed his performance wasn't a fluke when he handed Kikuchi his first loss taking the decision. For anyone who doesn't know Kikuchi, the guy submits almost everybody with a submission where your arm is bent in a way it shouldn't be. Shields was able to shut him down. His last fight was a draw against a tough Misaki (who just decisioned Macaco in Bushido). Cooper has only had 2 fights since his fight with Shields, which was a decision win over Jay Buck and a quick guillotine loss to Hallman. Look for Shields to control the fight taking the decision.

K-1 World Max 2004 (World Tournament Final)
July 7, 2004 (Wednesday)
Yoyogi Olympic Gymnasium (downtown Tokyo)

Below are the match-ups with my picks along with explanations

Ludwig vs Yilmaz: We all know Ludwig for his deadly striking in his MMA bouts and has done well for himself in the K-1 league showing he can hang with elite standup fighters. With an kickboxing record of 6-4 with his losses coming at the hands of some of the best in K-1 (decision losses to Gong, Masato, Kraus and Parr), he has a few more fights to give him the experience edge over Yilmaz. Yilmaz has a record of 3-3 with his most notable fight being a decision loss to Masato. Ludwig should be able to put Yilmaz away without too much trouble.

Paramuk vs Parr: I didn't know anything about Parr until he fought Ludwig and dropped him several times, eventually taking the decision. Those who follow kickboxing speak very highy of Parr and his fight against Ludwig convinced me he's that good. Sherdog shows his record as being 4-2. I wasn't able to find anything on Paramuk so assuming he's a relative unknown, I gotta go with the power puncher Parr by KO.

Masato vs Narantungalag: The poster child for the lighter divisions of K-1, Masato is a celebrity in Japan who also models and has done some acting. He sports a record of 16-1-1. This includes decision wins against Kraus, Ludwig, Genki and Takehiro Murahama. He's also KO'd Kraus and TKO'd Murahama in seperate matches. His opponent Narantungalag most notable opponent was Kraus which he lost a decision. He's got one other fight on his record which was also a loss. This looks to be a pretty big mismatch which Masato should end rather quickly by KO.

Gaidarbekov vs Kraus: Kraus has a record of 11-3 with decision wins over Masato (which was their 1st of 3 fights) and Genki, and an impressive KO victory of Ludwig. I'm not familiar with his opponent Gaidarbekov, so I don't have much of a choice to go with the guy I know can trade with the best of them. Kraus by KO.

KID vs Yasuhiro (MMA rules): KID is arguably one of the best MMA fighters in his weight class. He comes from a family of Olympic calibur wrestlers (including his sister) and has very heavy hands which won him his last kickboxing bout by KO and numerous MMA fights by brutal TKO. He poses a threat to anyone in his weight class including the longest reigning shooto champ, Pequeno. I don't know what if Yasuhiro has any MMA experience, and sports a 3-3 kickboxing record. KID's last MMA fight he breezed through, and I don't think this will be any different. Look for KID to take Yasuhiro down and pound him into submission or grab a choke for the tap. This fight will end early.

IFC (PPV)
July 16, 2004

This tournament had some top level fighters even though a lotta people might not be familiar with them.

Trevor Prangley (choked out Stout in the last UFC) vs Babalu

Shogun (Ninja's brother) vs Eric Wanderlei (BJJ Champ)

Forrest Griffin vs Chael Sonnen

Babalu vs Shogun

Horn vs Griffin

Babalu vs Horn

...Waterman, Marquardt and Sauer also have fights on it.

Fighters

- Seichi Ikemoto

- Hiroki Nagaoka

- Jutaro Nakao

- Tetsuya Onose

- Yuji Hosino

- Kenji Arai

- Daisuke Nakamura

- Aoki Shinya

From what I understand this is an 8 man welterweight tournament. I'm not sure if this is going to be all done in one day or broken down over several weeks/months like PRIDE. In any case, the fighter I think who is going to win the tourament is triangle specialist Nakao. Half of his 12 submission wins have been way of triangle. Those victims have included Miletich (went completely unconscious), early NHB fighter Steve Nelson, boxer Lavern Clark and a handful other lesser known fighters. But he's shown his versatility with rounding out his wins with an impressive KO via punch over Tony DeSouza. The key to beating him is to be aware of the triangle and empose a ground and pound game which Menne, Sherk, and Ray "Bradda" Cooper used to take the decision. He has a few other losses but they have been to elite fighters like Sakurai, Kato, and rising shooto star Kikuchi.

I've heard of shooto fighter Ikemoto, who holds a wins over Damien Riccio (fighter who challenged Robin Gracie at a seminar) and Jay Buck, but he's lost to most of the higher profile names he's fought such as Berger, Strasser, Shonie and Kikuchi. I don't think he can beat Nakao if they meet up.

And don't confuse this Nakamura with the one that fought Minotoro (the twin) and decisioned Daniel Gracie. This is another guy.

ZST - July 4, 2004 (Sunday)

Lightweight Bout (Vale Tudo Rules)

Naoyuki Kotani vs. Remigijus Morkevicius

This match up of two of ZST's elite is a classic submission vs striker fight. Kotani was favored to win the 16 man tournament that was held earlier this year, until he was upset in a decision loss to Clementi.
Kotani has a long string of submission victories, most notabley over recent ZST submission wizard Tokoro early in his career (Kotani won the decision).

Morkevicius is said to have some of the most vicious knees in MMA. He sports an 8-2 MMA record with his first 5 fights all ending in KO's, the other 3 consisted of 2 TKO's and 1 submission by choke.

His weakness is definately the ground game, with his first loss being to Aurelio by triangle and then again to another triangle to Tokoro, which was his last fight. Look for Kotani to take it to the mat as soon as he can and slap on the submission. But he'll have to watch the knees as he's coming in for the takedown or he could wind up asleep.

I'll go with Kotani over Morkevicius by submission.