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PRIDE Secret Files: The 30 Sealed Plans!
A new book has been released in Japan today. This book is by Kamipro and is about PRIDE and some of the plans that never happened. I found a list of some of the content on Kakutolog (who found them on the cover of the book).
Here is some of the content (keep in mind, there could be some errors in there):
The true ambition of Lorenzo when he bought PRIDE.
DREAM was born from the PRIDE LW GP that was supposed to happen in 2008.
PRIDE.1 was Takada vs. Rickson and Sakuraba vs. Renzo.
Something about Akira Maeda making an entry in the opening performance of Takada vs. Rickson, with a “!?” after.
The plan of Riki Choshu, Shinya Hashimoto and Masakatsu Funaki participating.
The other side of the termination of Royce vs Kerr.
Keisuke Kuwata (singer) vs. Tsuyoshi Nagabuchi (singer) realization by PRIDE?
Something about a sumo wrestler (KONISHIKI) acquisition of PRIDE.
A plan about a reality show.
Something about Holyfield.
Big Van Vader participation in PRIDE.
PRIDE Bushido was “PRIDE Survival”.
PRIDE Lightweight division was born from the life or death crisis of PRIDE Bushido.
Plan of Bushido being televised by NTV.
Mike Tyson vs. Mirko, Fedor, Nogueira.
Takanori Gomi vs. Boxing champ Tokuyama Masamori was close.
There was a plan for Kiyoshi Tamura to be the Tiger Mask of MMA.
GSP and Kimbo should have been in PRIDE.
About the backstage stuff on the materialization of Sakuraba vs. Tamura.
The PRIDE revival that was planned in secret.
+ Some more.
Also features six long interviews with Shinya Aoki, DEEP President Shigeru Saeki, Hayato “Mach” Sakurai/Minowaman, Kazuo Misaki, Tatsuya Kawajiri and Ryo Chonan.
SENGOKU Sign Antonio Silva! The Fighter Who Once Kissed Another Fighter Returns
The fourth fight for SENGOKU NO RAN 2009 was announced today. Antonio Silva has been signed, as was rumored, and he will make his SENGOKU debut on January 4th against Yoshihiro “KISS” Nakao. KISS hasn’t fought since May when he KO’d Big Jim York.
I thought we would’ve maybe have seen Nakao vs. Fujita on January 4th as Nakao wanted this fight before, so it’ll be interesting to see who else Fujita faces if he participates.
Update: Nakao was in a traffic accident not too long ago, but he is healed now.
SENGOKU NO RAN 2009
Date: January 4th, 2009
Place: Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan
SENGOKU Lightweight Title Fight (5×5):
Takanori Gomi vs. Satoru Kitaoka
SENGOKU Middleweight Title Fight (5×5):
Kazuo Misaki vs. Jorge Santiago
Light Heavyweight Fight:
Hidehiko Yoshida vs. Sanae Kikuta
Heavyweight Fight:
Antonio Silva vs. Yoshihiro “KISS” Nakao
Possible Fights:
Josh Barnett vs. Kevin Randleman
Possible Participants:
King Mo
Pawel Nastula
Hiroshi Izumi
Paul Daley
Antonie Jaoude
Dave Herman
Beijing 2008 Medalist
DREAM Vs. K-1! Kawajiri And Mousasi Return
Two new fights were announced for Dynamite!! today. Tatsuya Kawajiri will make his K-1 debut as he takes on K-1 MAX veteran Takeda Kozo and DREAM Middleweight champion Gegard Mousasi will take on K-1 veteran Musashi in a K-1 rules fight.
Update: FEG President Tanigawa said that it is up to the doctor whether Masato will participate on NYE or not.
Update #2: Mousasi wants Musashi to change his ring name to his real name, Akio Mori, if Mousasi is victorious. In Japanese, Mousasi and Musashi are pronounced the same (Mu-sa-shi).
Update #3: Dynamite!! will be aired on NYE in Japan from 19:00 to 23:54. Before that on the same channel, there will be a Boxing match from 18:00 to 19:00. Takefumi Sakata will defend his WBA Flyweight title against Thai Denkaosan Kaovichit.
Update #4: Tanigawa also said that he wants to construct more K-1 X DREAM fights from this year. He said that fighters such as Badr Hari and Semmy Schilt want to challenge MMA from the K-1 side. Any such announcements will have to wait until after the K-1 WGP Finals in December.
FieLDS Dynamite!! ~Yuuki no Chikara 2008~
Date: December 31st, 2008
Place: Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan
Middleweight Fight:
Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Kiyoshi Tamura
Lightweight Fight:
Joachim Hansen vs. J.Z.Calvan
K-1 Rules Fights:
Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Takeda Kozo
Gegard Mousasi vs. Musashi
K-1 Koshien Final Fight:
HIROYA/Shimada vs. Kusakabe/Urabe
K-1 Koshien Semifinal Fights:
HIROYA vs. Shota Shimada
Ryuya Kusakabe vs. Koya Urabe
Possible Fights:
Mirko CroCop vs. Alistair Overeem
Kimbo Slice vs. Seth Petruzelli
Possible Participants:
Choi Hong Man
Semmy Schilt
Vitor “Shaolin” Ribeiro
New Mirko Interviews! The War Of Words With Overeem Continues
Thanks as always to Robert at betwwx for translating these.
Original article translated from: Dnevnik.hr
Mirko Responds to Overeem
After another jap by Alaisteir Overeem over the weekend, Cro Cop contacted Nova TV to tell us his side of the story. In short phone interview Cro Cop tells us why the NYE rematch hasn’t been signed yet.
The acquisitions keep upcoming from Alaister Overeems camp. The Dutchmen claims that Mirko is deliberately refusing to sign the contract that would make the NYE bout official.
The Croatian fighter vehemently denied those accusations to us in a short phone interview.
“Overeem is a fool. He knows too well that is up to the individual organizations to set-up any match-ups. I’m in a difficult situation as I don’t know who to prepare for in this upcoming bout. I’m not sure with which sparing partners to go with.
Original article translated from: Vecernji.hr
Cro Cop Want to Fight Overeem…In His Basement
Mirko Filipovic’s patience has run out. We can’t remember the last time Mirko called us to make a statement. But apparently Overeem’s last comments were the final straw.
“I don’t like the war of words but Alistair has called me out so many times, which by the way the internet media havs gladly reported about, that I fell my silence would just confirm his acquisitions.”
The Croatian fighter decided to issue a challenge to Overeem. He’s challenging him to a fight in his home basement in Zagreb.
“I don’t want the public to think that I’m afraid of him, if Overeem doesn’t want to wait for New year’s eve or some other date next year to fight me. If he doesn’t believe I don’t get to choose my opponent and that maybe Dream doesn’t want us to fight on New year then he can come to Zagreb next weekend and we can fight in my cage with neutral referees.”
We’ll set up accommodation for him and his team and Nova TV can set up a live coverage of the fight which could be seen on the internet around the globe.”
” Should he not show up I urge him to stop calling me out until the rematch happens. He has an opportunity stand behind his words. We’ll fight for honor.”
SENGOKUG! November 23rd, 2008
SENGOKUG! – November 23rd, 2008 Download
This episode is a review of the 2008 SENGOKU Middleweight GP with clips from each fight and some backstage footage.
Interviews! SENGOKU Featherweight GP In 2009
Tanigawa And Kuniyasu Interviews
In the latest GONGKAKU magazine there are a couple of interviews. One with FEG president Tanigawa and one with WVR PR Kuniyasu.
Tanigawa said in his interview that he doesn’t think Norifumi “KID” Yamamoto will be ready for NYE. He also said that while he cannot go into details about Akiyama’s contract, it still remains.
Kuniyasu said that starting in March of 2009, a SENGOKU Featherweight GP will commence. DREAM is also holding a Featherweight GP next year, but the difference is that DREAM’s will be at 63 kg while SENGOKU’s will be at 65 kg.
Alistair Confirms Mirko Fight At Dynamite!!
Alistair Overeem tells FiveOuncesOfPain.com in a new interview that the rematch between him and Mirko CroCop will happen on NYE.
Mirko also confirmed this fight in October so it looks like it’s a done deal.
Roger Likely Not Fighting On January 4th! K-1 & DREAM On HDNet
Roger Gracie Likely Not Fighting On Jan 4th
In a new article at ADCCNews it says that
At this point, Roger’s participation will likely wait until Sengoku’s next offering after New Year’s, currently scheduled for the end of February or the beginning of March.
Gracie’s manager commented ‘Roger wants to fight now, in fact he personally wanted to fight in September. The main thing is he has to take care of himself long term, because he is only at the beginning of his career. The doctor’s who examined him diagnosed that his career was at risk. He wanted to compete anyway! So we wanted to take a cerebral approach and not rush to fight because of the competitive juices.’
However,
Gracie is expected to be a guest at Sengoku’s New Year’s event, where he will be doing promotion. ‘Roger is ready to support Sengoku as a promotion, and he is ready to give his all in the ring and out’ closes his manager.
Read the whole article here.
DREAM & K-1 On HDNet
You can read everything on these two links at MMAOnline.com. Here and here. You should really get HDNet if you can, K-1 MAX alone is worth it. Not even the Japanese get live and full K-1 MAX events. Click here for the webpage of HDNet.
Mousasi And Fedor To Participate In ADCC 2009
DREAM Middleweight champion Gegard Mousasi and Fedor Emelianenko have both been announced as participants of ADCC 2009 according to ADCCNews. Click here for details. We will probably see a decent amount of DREAM & SENGOKU fighters in the competition.
Heavyweight Tournament At HEAT! Ryuta Noji Vs. Yang Dong Yi
HEAT8 on December 14th will be the start (and the finish?) of a 4-man(?) Heavyweight tournament. PRIDE veteran SENTORYU will face Junpei Hamada in one fight and Kyokushin Karate turned MMA fighter Ryuta Noji will face undefeated SENGOKU veteran Yang Dong Yi in the other.
Noji is someone who I have wanted to see on one of the big events for a while now. It’s not everyday you see a Japanese Heavyweight at his level. He will have a tough time against Yi’s wrestling though.
The event will also feature other tournaments on the card, both MMA and Kickboxing rules.
Nightmare Of Battle 