dy-no-mite3000
03-01-2006, 06:30 PM
Gracie Fighting Championship:
Team Gracie vs. Team Hammer House Preview
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v495/chopsueychris/GFC030306.jpg
While the roots of Arnold Classic weekend stem from the bodybuilding competition started by Schwarzenegger, over time the event has grown into a massive sports and fitness festival that occupies a good portion of downtown Columbus, OH for a few days every Spring. Last year I was shocked at the numbers of people involved - press literature estimates 120,000 attendees and 15,000 competing athletes. The group at the expo, if agitated, could potentially make for one of the wildest riots in human history:
weightlifters, traditional martial artists, a truckload of Gracies, The Terminator, a huge tournament worth of submission grapplers, bodybuilders, MMA fighters, Joe Frazier and little kids tossing around Chinese weapons at high speeds.
This year?s event, running from March 3rd to March 5th, will be of special interest to Mixed Martial Arts fans. In addition to the Gracie World?s grappling tournament and the amateur MMA action that have been included in previous years, the festival will bring with it the with it a quality professional MMA card.
GFC (Gracie Fighting Championships) : Team Gracie vs. Team Hammer House
will help kick off the weekend on Friday March 3rd.
This Friday Night Fights event will mark the first time a live mixed martial arts pay per view has been broadcast from Columbus, and may well be the best MMA card that Ohio has seen thus far. This is not a particularly bold statement considering that the only other major Ohio PPV I can recall was KOTC: Payback in Cleveland, but the names that the promoters have put together here are fairly impressive nonetheless.
The format looks to be as follows:
2 MMA undercard dark matches and a K-1 rules kickboxing dark match to start the evening
3 MMA super fights
6 MMA matches in the Team Gracie vs. Team Hammer House format
-The evening will also include Schwarzenegger presenting a lifetime achievement award to boxer Joe Frazier.
Team Gracie vs. Team Hammer House Captains: Relson Gracie and Mark Coleman
Daniel Gracie v Wes ?The Project? Sims, Heavyweight Main Event
Daniel is by far the largest of the Gracies who?ve tried their hand at MMA, probably weighing in somewhere around 230. This is relative however, as Sims? primary weapon in the ring is the fact that he is absolutely ginormous. At 6?10?? 260 or so, Sims will dwarf the 6?2?? Gracie, who has been the larger man in his last two fights.
While Daniel may not be as slick on the ground as some members of his extended family and he?s far less experienced than many of them at using subs in a full contact environment, he will certainly outgun Sims in the submissions department. If he ends on up on his back, which he has in most of his fights, watch for the armbar which he seems to favor from that position. Daniel has displayed some decent standup skills for a BJJ fighter, and seems to enjoy raining down ground and pound, but Sims? power and daunting reach may give him some trouble if they end up trading. Wes has used his long legs to score triangle choke victories multiple times in his career, including his last fight, but I don?t think I?m exaggerating when I say that between 5 and 10 Gracie family member?s heads are likely to implode if he catches one here.
Though they may trade for a while, look for Gracie to get eventually this on the ground, probably on his back due to Sims? size and strength, and work for the finish. Sims needs to bring the brute strength survival skills he showed against Frank Mir, who could not find a way to tap him, and try to force Gracie into the same kind of grinding battle that Kazuhiro Nakamura did.
Fabio Leopoldo v Matt ?The Law? Lindland, Middleweight fight
Matt Lindland may be "boring" (an opinion which I don?t hold). He may be bald, have big ears, and carry a less than prototypical physique for a world class athlete (an opinion that?s hard to argue with). He may have never managed to capture a championship belt in the UFC (a fact). However, none of that changes the reality that Matt Lindland is a good fighter. A very good fighter. Along with Shaolin, he is the best talent on this card, and in the upper echelon of middleweight fighters in the world. He?s hard to
hit, he?s hard to sub, he will take you down eventually, and he?s relentless.
Leopoldo is a BJJ superstar, 3 time world and 5 time Brazilian national champion, trained under Renzo Gracie. Beyond that I know very little about him. I have not seen either of his fights, one being an impressive win over Pancrase regular Sasaki, but I can?t help but feel he?s being thrown to the
wolves here in only his third MMA appearance. Lindland has survived Almeida, Miletich, Salaverry, Vitale, Lutter, Doerksen, and Schembri on the ground. That is not good news for Fabio. Leopoldo has some serious work ahead if he wants to stage a monstrous upset and come out victorious here.
Gustavo ?Ximu? Machado v Mike Pyle, Middleweight fight
Pyle was originally scheduled to face Fabricio ?Morango? Cames, but Morango ran into visa problems and was forced to pull out of the fight. Ximu, who was originally scheduled to face Phil Baroni, will be stepping in to face Pyle. Pyle is amassing himself quite a nice record, and will be trying to make this his eighth win in a row. Machado racked up wins over Nilson de Castro, Yamamiya, and Sasaki in ?04 and ?05, but is coming off a loss to Thales Leites in a Storm Samurai event. This has the potential to unfold as an interesting grappling battle. Pyle is by far the best BJJ stylist on the Hammer House squad for the evening, and Ximu has earned wins over guys like Nate Quarry through ground control. Neither one of these guys are particularly dangerous strikers, so the fact that Ximu has been cracked by guys like Arona and Radach, and Pyle had some trouble with Semenov?s striking, may not come into play.
Daniel Moraes v Forrest Petz, Welterweight fight
The Royler Gracie trained Moraes will be making his MMA fighting debut on hostile territory. Petz is a puncher fighting out of Cleveland, and odds are the crowd will make him an immediate favorite when that is announced. As much as it pains me to type it, I?m afraid I have to. Everyone say it with me: ?This looks to be a classic striker vs. grappler battle.? How well will Moraes adjust to the hands of Petz and how well will Petz fend off Moraes? grappling are the obvious questions here.
Michael O?Donnell v Jon ?War Machine? Koppenhaver, Welterweight fight
O?Donnell is a 31 year old submission specialist fighting out of Pennsylvania. He?s an experienced grappler and instructor who learned his BJJ under Carlos Gracie Jr. Press materials list him as having a 15-2 MMA
record, claiming most of his matches won by submission, but I?ve only been able to unearth a record of two fights for him from online sources: a triangle choke win over Ryan Stout and a TKO loss to Petz.
A wrestler, Koppenhaver started his MMA career in 2004 and has gone 3 and 0 since. The former Southern California High School Wrestling star now fights out of Las Vegas, Nevada. Jon is only 23 years old and this, his fourth fight and first time on a major show, should be a good gauge of how he?s transitioning from wrestling to MMA.
Fredson Paixao v Michael French, Featherweight MMA
Press materials list this as WW but both fighters are normally in the 140 lb range. I?m very much looking forward to this fight as Paixao has shown some impressive potential in the last two years. French is a .500 fighter from the Monte Cox run Team Extreme. None of his wins have been against big name opponents, but he has been in the ring with Ivan Menjivar (loss by armbar), so he shouldn?t be surprised by Fredson?s ground skills. You may recognize Paixao as a regular in Brazil?s Jungle Fight promotion. He?s run up a 5-1 record, with wins over submission grappling star Rani Yahira and Fabio Mello. His first loss came to Pancrase superstar Yoshihiro Maeda. On paper Fredson overmatches French severely, and his grappling skills may prove too much for Mike to handle.
Super Fights
Vitor ?Shaolin? Ribeiro v Chris ?The Westside Strangler? Brennan, Lightweight fight
Vitor is one of the best lightweights in the world at 14-1. His only loss came in the Kawajiri rematch, and he?s got a list of quality wins over guys like Kawajiri, Menjivar, Hansen, and Ishida. Brennan is a mid level
veteran, who has been in with some big names but hasn?t often earned the W in his biggest fights. He has experience in Pride, UFC, and Shooto and plenty of experience against quality grapplers, but he has to know that in this match he might be looking at a long hard night of trying to avoiding getting side choked.
Brennan?s strength normally lies in his quality Jiu-Jitsu skills. Unfortunately for him, Shaolin?s strength lies in a far higher level of BJJ. Most of Brennan?s finishes have come from submissions, and while anyone can be caught, it?s very unlikely that he?s going to out maneuver Ribeiro on the ground. In order to survive Brennan must not be content to fall into a ground battle. He has to make Ribiero pay for and work hard to finish his
submission attempts, and do everything he can to avoid a sub grappling match. Brennan should be striving for a kickboxing war. Shaolin simply needs to do what Shaolin does, which is get guys to the ground, usually with smothering takedowns and go to work. Don?t make any mistakes underestimating Brennan?s Jiu-Jitsu, and don?t fall into the trap of standing and trading when for too long.
I expect this to be the fight of the night, as Brennan is good enough on the ground to make Shaolin work hard, and watching Shaolin in action is fascinating.
Daniel ?The Bull? Bobish v Ben Rothwell, Heavyweight fight
While this still has potential to be an entertaining fight live, I?m sort of disappointed in this matchup. This is not because I have anything against Ben Rothwell, who is filling in on late notice. The man who was
supposed to be fighting Bobish is Russian kick boxer Alexandr Ustinov. Ustinov is gigantic and thus far undefeated in MMA. Bobish weighs 330 and is from Ohio. Between those two facts I figured that even a sloppy fight would be a good show in person, and I looked forward to my first chance to see Ustinov in MMA action.
Fortunately, the people at GFC were nice enough to replace Ustinov with another gigantic striker in MFS? six foot, five inch tall Ben Rothwell. Rothwell has heavy hands, that are fairly quick for a guy that weighs in
around the UFC heavyweight limit. This bodes well for him as Bobish seems to really dislike getting hit. Bobish?s upside however is that he has the size, power, and wrestling ability to just maul you if you allow him to.
It?s no secret how this one is going to play out. Dan?s going to want to get inside, take Ben down, and use his weight and strength. Ben is going to want to hit him in the face while he tries. Keep in mind that the longer this fight goes, the better Rothwell looks, as Bobish has a history of gassing.
Dustin Hazlett v Rhalan Gracie, Middleweight fight
This is the youngest fight on the card by a large margin. Hazlett is 19 and has already had 6 pro MMA fights, going 4-2 with all his wins by submission. Another Ohioan, Dustin is from Cincinnati, and is affiliated
with Middletown Ohio?s Team Jorge Gurgel. Rhalan, making his MMA debut, is just 18. Trained by his father Relson, Rhalan has had considerable success in amateur BJJ tournaments.
Press materials make an interesting prediction about Rhalan?s fight strategy that?s worth quoting. ?A Gracie Jiu-Jitsu purist, he is not expected to throw any strikes.? That remains to be seen, but prepare for a
grappling battle.
Undercard Dark Matches
Carter ?The Beast? Williams v Gary ?Smiler? Turner
K-1 rules heavyweight kickboxing match
Steve Conkel v Brion Peoples
Heavyweight fight
Patrick Horner v Phil Cardella
Weight unknown
Gracie Fighting Championships presents Friday Night Fights: Team Gracie vs.
Team Hammer House
Friday March 3, 2006
As part of the Arnold Classic weekend March 3-5
Nationwide Arena
Columbus, Ohio, USA
Doors open: 7:00 PM (EST)
Fights begin: 8:00 PM (EST)
Live PPV begins: 9:00 PM (EST)
Tickets to GFC are on sale now and as of this writing, still available.
Tickets run from $20 to $100 and may be purchased at the Nationwide Arena
Ticket Office, all Ticketmaster locations, or by phone at (614) 431-3600.
Tickets are also available at the Blue Jacket Zones located at the Chiller
Dublin, Chiller Easton and Chiller North.
The event will be televised live on PPV. It will be broadcast nationally
in the US on iN DEMAND, and can be seen on cable as well as satellite
(Direct TV, Dish Network and Echo Star). In Canada it will be available on
Star Choice and Echo Star. Additionally, the proceedings will reportedly be
rebroadcast in Europe.
Discuss this event HERE! (http://www.bloodyknux.com/forum/showthread.php?p=344946#post344946)
- Joshua Tucker (http://www.bloodyknux.com/forum/member.php?u=188)
Team Gracie vs. Team Hammer House Preview
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v495/chopsueychris/GFC030306.jpg
While the roots of Arnold Classic weekend stem from the bodybuilding competition started by Schwarzenegger, over time the event has grown into a massive sports and fitness festival that occupies a good portion of downtown Columbus, OH for a few days every Spring. Last year I was shocked at the numbers of people involved - press literature estimates 120,000 attendees and 15,000 competing athletes. The group at the expo, if agitated, could potentially make for one of the wildest riots in human history:
weightlifters, traditional martial artists, a truckload of Gracies, The Terminator, a huge tournament worth of submission grapplers, bodybuilders, MMA fighters, Joe Frazier and little kids tossing around Chinese weapons at high speeds.
This year?s event, running from March 3rd to March 5th, will be of special interest to Mixed Martial Arts fans. In addition to the Gracie World?s grappling tournament and the amateur MMA action that have been included in previous years, the festival will bring with it the with it a quality professional MMA card.
GFC (Gracie Fighting Championships) : Team Gracie vs. Team Hammer House
will help kick off the weekend on Friday March 3rd.
This Friday Night Fights event will mark the first time a live mixed martial arts pay per view has been broadcast from Columbus, and may well be the best MMA card that Ohio has seen thus far. This is not a particularly bold statement considering that the only other major Ohio PPV I can recall was KOTC: Payback in Cleveland, but the names that the promoters have put together here are fairly impressive nonetheless.
The format looks to be as follows:
2 MMA undercard dark matches and a K-1 rules kickboxing dark match to start the evening
3 MMA super fights
6 MMA matches in the Team Gracie vs. Team Hammer House format
-The evening will also include Schwarzenegger presenting a lifetime achievement award to boxer Joe Frazier.
Team Gracie vs. Team Hammer House Captains: Relson Gracie and Mark Coleman
Daniel Gracie v Wes ?The Project? Sims, Heavyweight Main Event
Daniel is by far the largest of the Gracies who?ve tried their hand at MMA, probably weighing in somewhere around 230. This is relative however, as Sims? primary weapon in the ring is the fact that he is absolutely ginormous. At 6?10?? 260 or so, Sims will dwarf the 6?2?? Gracie, who has been the larger man in his last two fights.
While Daniel may not be as slick on the ground as some members of his extended family and he?s far less experienced than many of them at using subs in a full contact environment, he will certainly outgun Sims in the submissions department. If he ends on up on his back, which he has in most of his fights, watch for the armbar which he seems to favor from that position. Daniel has displayed some decent standup skills for a BJJ fighter, and seems to enjoy raining down ground and pound, but Sims? power and daunting reach may give him some trouble if they end up trading. Wes has used his long legs to score triangle choke victories multiple times in his career, including his last fight, but I don?t think I?m exaggerating when I say that between 5 and 10 Gracie family member?s heads are likely to implode if he catches one here.
Though they may trade for a while, look for Gracie to get eventually this on the ground, probably on his back due to Sims? size and strength, and work for the finish. Sims needs to bring the brute strength survival skills he showed against Frank Mir, who could not find a way to tap him, and try to force Gracie into the same kind of grinding battle that Kazuhiro Nakamura did.
Fabio Leopoldo v Matt ?The Law? Lindland, Middleweight fight
Matt Lindland may be "boring" (an opinion which I don?t hold). He may be bald, have big ears, and carry a less than prototypical physique for a world class athlete (an opinion that?s hard to argue with). He may have never managed to capture a championship belt in the UFC (a fact). However, none of that changes the reality that Matt Lindland is a good fighter. A very good fighter. Along with Shaolin, he is the best talent on this card, and in the upper echelon of middleweight fighters in the world. He?s hard to
hit, he?s hard to sub, he will take you down eventually, and he?s relentless.
Leopoldo is a BJJ superstar, 3 time world and 5 time Brazilian national champion, trained under Renzo Gracie. Beyond that I know very little about him. I have not seen either of his fights, one being an impressive win over Pancrase regular Sasaki, but I can?t help but feel he?s being thrown to the
wolves here in only his third MMA appearance. Lindland has survived Almeida, Miletich, Salaverry, Vitale, Lutter, Doerksen, and Schembri on the ground. That is not good news for Fabio. Leopoldo has some serious work ahead if he wants to stage a monstrous upset and come out victorious here.
Gustavo ?Ximu? Machado v Mike Pyle, Middleweight fight
Pyle was originally scheduled to face Fabricio ?Morango? Cames, but Morango ran into visa problems and was forced to pull out of the fight. Ximu, who was originally scheduled to face Phil Baroni, will be stepping in to face Pyle. Pyle is amassing himself quite a nice record, and will be trying to make this his eighth win in a row. Machado racked up wins over Nilson de Castro, Yamamiya, and Sasaki in ?04 and ?05, but is coming off a loss to Thales Leites in a Storm Samurai event. This has the potential to unfold as an interesting grappling battle. Pyle is by far the best BJJ stylist on the Hammer House squad for the evening, and Ximu has earned wins over guys like Nate Quarry through ground control. Neither one of these guys are particularly dangerous strikers, so the fact that Ximu has been cracked by guys like Arona and Radach, and Pyle had some trouble with Semenov?s striking, may not come into play.
Daniel Moraes v Forrest Petz, Welterweight fight
The Royler Gracie trained Moraes will be making his MMA fighting debut on hostile territory. Petz is a puncher fighting out of Cleveland, and odds are the crowd will make him an immediate favorite when that is announced. As much as it pains me to type it, I?m afraid I have to. Everyone say it with me: ?This looks to be a classic striker vs. grappler battle.? How well will Moraes adjust to the hands of Petz and how well will Petz fend off Moraes? grappling are the obvious questions here.
Michael O?Donnell v Jon ?War Machine? Koppenhaver, Welterweight fight
O?Donnell is a 31 year old submission specialist fighting out of Pennsylvania. He?s an experienced grappler and instructor who learned his BJJ under Carlos Gracie Jr. Press materials list him as having a 15-2 MMA
record, claiming most of his matches won by submission, but I?ve only been able to unearth a record of two fights for him from online sources: a triangle choke win over Ryan Stout and a TKO loss to Petz.
A wrestler, Koppenhaver started his MMA career in 2004 and has gone 3 and 0 since. The former Southern California High School Wrestling star now fights out of Las Vegas, Nevada. Jon is only 23 years old and this, his fourth fight and first time on a major show, should be a good gauge of how he?s transitioning from wrestling to MMA.
Fredson Paixao v Michael French, Featherweight MMA
Press materials list this as WW but both fighters are normally in the 140 lb range. I?m very much looking forward to this fight as Paixao has shown some impressive potential in the last two years. French is a .500 fighter from the Monte Cox run Team Extreme. None of his wins have been against big name opponents, but he has been in the ring with Ivan Menjivar (loss by armbar), so he shouldn?t be surprised by Fredson?s ground skills. You may recognize Paixao as a regular in Brazil?s Jungle Fight promotion. He?s run up a 5-1 record, with wins over submission grappling star Rani Yahira and Fabio Mello. His first loss came to Pancrase superstar Yoshihiro Maeda. On paper Fredson overmatches French severely, and his grappling skills may prove too much for Mike to handle.
Super Fights
Vitor ?Shaolin? Ribeiro v Chris ?The Westside Strangler? Brennan, Lightweight fight
Vitor is one of the best lightweights in the world at 14-1. His only loss came in the Kawajiri rematch, and he?s got a list of quality wins over guys like Kawajiri, Menjivar, Hansen, and Ishida. Brennan is a mid level
veteran, who has been in with some big names but hasn?t often earned the W in his biggest fights. He has experience in Pride, UFC, and Shooto and plenty of experience against quality grapplers, but he has to know that in this match he might be looking at a long hard night of trying to avoiding getting side choked.
Brennan?s strength normally lies in his quality Jiu-Jitsu skills. Unfortunately for him, Shaolin?s strength lies in a far higher level of BJJ. Most of Brennan?s finishes have come from submissions, and while anyone can be caught, it?s very unlikely that he?s going to out maneuver Ribeiro on the ground. In order to survive Brennan must not be content to fall into a ground battle. He has to make Ribiero pay for and work hard to finish his
submission attempts, and do everything he can to avoid a sub grappling match. Brennan should be striving for a kickboxing war. Shaolin simply needs to do what Shaolin does, which is get guys to the ground, usually with smothering takedowns and go to work. Don?t make any mistakes underestimating Brennan?s Jiu-Jitsu, and don?t fall into the trap of standing and trading when for too long.
I expect this to be the fight of the night, as Brennan is good enough on the ground to make Shaolin work hard, and watching Shaolin in action is fascinating.
Daniel ?The Bull? Bobish v Ben Rothwell, Heavyweight fight
While this still has potential to be an entertaining fight live, I?m sort of disappointed in this matchup. This is not because I have anything against Ben Rothwell, who is filling in on late notice. The man who was
supposed to be fighting Bobish is Russian kick boxer Alexandr Ustinov. Ustinov is gigantic and thus far undefeated in MMA. Bobish weighs 330 and is from Ohio. Between those two facts I figured that even a sloppy fight would be a good show in person, and I looked forward to my first chance to see Ustinov in MMA action.
Fortunately, the people at GFC were nice enough to replace Ustinov with another gigantic striker in MFS? six foot, five inch tall Ben Rothwell. Rothwell has heavy hands, that are fairly quick for a guy that weighs in
around the UFC heavyweight limit. This bodes well for him as Bobish seems to really dislike getting hit. Bobish?s upside however is that he has the size, power, and wrestling ability to just maul you if you allow him to.
It?s no secret how this one is going to play out. Dan?s going to want to get inside, take Ben down, and use his weight and strength. Ben is going to want to hit him in the face while he tries. Keep in mind that the longer this fight goes, the better Rothwell looks, as Bobish has a history of gassing.
Dustin Hazlett v Rhalan Gracie, Middleweight fight
This is the youngest fight on the card by a large margin. Hazlett is 19 and has already had 6 pro MMA fights, going 4-2 with all his wins by submission. Another Ohioan, Dustin is from Cincinnati, and is affiliated
with Middletown Ohio?s Team Jorge Gurgel. Rhalan, making his MMA debut, is just 18. Trained by his father Relson, Rhalan has had considerable success in amateur BJJ tournaments.
Press materials make an interesting prediction about Rhalan?s fight strategy that?s worth quoting. ?A Gracie Jiu-Jitsu purist, he is not expected to throw any strikes.? That remains to be seen, but prepare for a
grappling battle.
Undercard Dark Matches
Carter ?The Beast? Williams v Gary ?Smiler? Turner
K-1 rules heavyweight kickboxing match
Steve Conkel v Brion Peoples
Heavyweight fight
Patrick Horner v Phil Cardella
Weight unknown
Gracie Fighting Championships presents Friday Night Fights: Team Gracie vs.
Team Hammer House
Friday March 3, 2006
As part of the Arnold Classic weekend March 3-5
Nationwide Arena
Columbus, Ohio, USA
Doors open: 7:00 PM (EST)
Fights begin: 8:00 PM (EST)
Live PPV begins: 9:00 PM (EST)
Tickets to GFC are on sale now and as of this writing, still available.
Tickets run from $20 to $100 and may be purchased at the Nationwide Arena
Ticket Office, all Ticketmaster locations, or by phone at (614) 431-3600.
Tickets are also available at the Blue Jacket Zones located at the Chiller
Dublin, Chiller Easton and Chiller North.
The event will be televised live on PPV. It will be broadcast nationally
in the US on iN DEMAND, and can be seen on cable as well as satellite
(Direct TV, Dish Network and Echo Star). In Canada it will be available on
Star Choice and Echo Star. Additionally, the proceedings will reportedly be
rebroadcast in Europe.
Discuss this event HERE! (http://www.bloodyknux.com/forum/showthread.php?p=344946#post344946)
- Joshua Tucker (http://www.bloodyknux.com/forum/member.php?u=188)