Full Contact Fighter Database

Home

>

News

>

Article

Media

Tuesday, Nov 05, 2002

Belfort Forms New Team, Ninja Is Eager And Rizzo Is Traveling The Globe!



Belfort Forms New Team, Ninja is Eager and Rizzo is Traveling the Globe!

The Brazilian Beat:
      What better way to start the month of November with the country’s biggest NHB event? MECA 7 will kick off a month that comes promising lots of NHB action, with two events in Brazil, MECA 7 and Bitetti Combat, plus probably the year’s two biggest shows abroad, PRIDE 23 and UFC 40! As always, Brazilian fighters are a big part of it, things couldn’t be more heated in the last few days on the Brazilian NHB scene. Since "The Beat" is leaving soon to Curitiba to bring you all the action of MECA 7, we’ll make this text short but leave you with the latest from behind the scenes in the home of the two PRIDE champions, as we bring you Rizzo’s recovery, Belfort’s new team, all the heat between Ninja and Arona, and more! Catch the rhythm and enjoy the beat, as we’re already flying away…

  • RVT fighter and UFC Heavyweight contender Pedro Rizzo is already back in training! After the usual initial post-surgery struggling, Rizzo is now feeling better and not only doing his physical training, but also doing some light technical training as well, from wrestling to striking. "The Rock" told FCF that he expects to do sparring sessions again around the end of December, and full training in January. Pedro is leaving Brazil today, November 6th, for the USA where he will help the final preparation of his teammate Renato Babalu for his UFC 40 bout against Chuck Liddell. Busy as always, the Brazilian fighter will go from the USA straight to Thailand to help his long-time friend Peter Aerts in his preparation for the K-1 Grand Prix. This will be the first time Rizzo goes to Thailand, and he will also be accompanying the Dutch striker to Japan for the K-1 mega event. Pedro Rizzo will finally be back in Brazil in mid-December, and FCF continue to follow his recovery.
  • While recovering from his knee surgery, Vitor Belfort has formed a new NHB team! Forming a team has been in Belfort’s plans for a good while, and now his plans have borne fruit. Brazil Fight Club is the country’s newest NHB team and will include "The Phenom" himself, along with Jorge "Macaco" Patino and other interesting names on the roster. Jiu-Jitsu star Fernando Terere is reported to be training with the team as well and the team is welcoming pro fighters who are willing to join them and be part of the new NHB force in Brazil. We will get together with Belfort and his new team soon to bring you the details and the names that may take the fighting world by assault soon.
  • Brazilian Top Team member and PRIDE veteran Mario Sperry broke his hand during a Muay Thai training session last week. "The Zen Machine" had, in fact, broken his hand during his fight against Andrei Kopylov at PRIDE 22 but didn’t notice it. Despite the pain he was feeling, Mario kept training and was unaware of the fact he had a broken hand, but after a hardcore Muay Thai training session, the pain was enormous prompting the Jiu-Jitsu legend to get x-rays which revealed the broken hand. Mario Sperry is now limited to light training and expects to be better in about a month or so, he will, however, continue to train his teammates and is going to Curitiba in the following days to attend at MECA 7.
  • Chute Boxe sensation and PRIDE veteran Murilo Ninja Rua is very eager to face former Brazilian Top Team member Ricardo Arona at PRIDE 23. In his own words, Ninja said he will "crush and demolish" Arona, because he feels the former RINGS champion talks to much and will pay the price in the Tokyo Dome ring. Murilo Ninja Rua has been training a lot at the Chute Boxe camp and is reported to be showing amazing cardio condition and sharp Muay Thai skills. This Friday he will be cornering his brother in his NHB debut at MECA 7.
  • On the other hand, two-time PRIDE winner Ricardo Arona has been training very hard for his PRIDE 23 clash against Ninja and isn’t taking the fight lightly by any means. Arona has been reported to be training a lot of wrestling and Muay Thai and is more powerful than ever! Out of all this rivalry and increasing fire and interest for the Arona vs. Ninja fight, one thing is for sure; the fans will be treated to a true battle in the Tokyo Dome ring at PRIDE 23!
  • PRIDE Middleweight champion Vanderlei Silva is continuously training non-stop for his title defense against Hiromitsu Kanehara at PRIDE 23! Silva told FCF that he is feeling as fast as ever on the exchanges, and that he is hitting even harder with his right hand now. Vanderlei has been doing several sparring sessions with both Anderson Silva and Murilo Ninja, but training isn’t the only thing going on in the life of the "Axe Murderer." Vanderlei Silva told Full Contact Fighter that he will be making a very special announcement at MECA 7 and his fans will be very pleased with the nice surprise he has been keeping from everybody! The Axe Murderer’s secret will be revealed on Friday, November 8th. FCF will be on hand to bring it to you.
  • The city of Sao Paulo will be holding a well promoted Jiu-Jitsu event on December 3rd, at the Direct TV Music Hall, an extremely nice facility that is usually used for pop and rock concerts. The event is called 1st Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt Challenge, and will feature only single matches between Jiu-Jitsu stars, with good prize money going to the winners. Fights like Leonardo Vieira vs. Fredson Paixao, Roberto Tozi vs. Saulo Ribeiro and the participation of names like Fernando Terere, Robson Moura and Jorge Macaco Patino will surely bring lots of excitement to the event. Stay tuned to FCF for future developments.

    MECA 7 is just around the corner and FCF is going to Curitiba tomorrow to bring you the best possible coverage of Brazil’s biggest NHB event nowadays. According to the promoters, the vast majority of the tickets have already been sold and a packed house will await the fighters on this Friday the 8th of November. PRIDE’s Koichi Kawasaki is already in Curitiba and all the fighters will also be arriving in Curitiba this Thursday. The rules meeting and weigh-ins are going to be held on the same Thursday at 7:00 PM Brazilian time, at the Caravelle Palace Hotel. Keep checking back for a MECA 7 preview and constant updates and results of all the NHB action in Curitiba.



FCF Survey
Give Us Your Thoughts…

Fan Report card and UFC 40 & WFA 3 Predictions

This month we ask you, the fans of our great sport, to grade the MMA promotions. What is your favorite and least favorite MMA promotion and why? Also, we’d like you to pick who you think will win at UFC & WFA later this month. The results of the survey and some of the commentary we receive may appear in the upcoming issue of FCF.

Click here to take the survey
 

From DSE/Pride:



PRIDE.23 Full Card Announced

PRIDE.23
DATE: November 24th, 2002
OPEN: 3:00 PM START 5:00 PM
PLACE: Tokyo Dome, Japan (Aichi-Pref, Japan)

MIDDLEWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP BOUT
Wanderlei Silva vs. Mitsuhiro Kanehara

HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP ELIMINATION BOUT
Heath Herring vs. Emelianenko Fedor

Don Frye vs. Hidehiko Yoshida
Nobuhiko Takada vs. Kiyoshi Tamura
Murilo "Ninja" Rua vs. Ricardo Arona
Rodrigo "Minotauro" Nogeuira vs. Semmy Schilt
Kevin Randleman vs. Kenichi Yamamoto
Jerrel Venetiaan vs. Hirotaka Yokoi
Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Gilles Arsene

posted by Full Contact Fighter @ 8:00 pm
Have a comment about this story? Please share with us by filling out the fields below.

Comments are closed.