Legends Couture And Rutten Launch Hollywood Gym
 Legends Couture and Rutten Launch Hollywood Gym IFL Anacondas Among Notable Trainees By Loretta Hunt HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — It won’t be just any other mixed martial arts gym. With a daring Dutchman and an amiable American great at the helm, that is for certain. Over a year in the making, Bas Rutten and Randy Couture finally saw a partnership dream come to fruition with the opening of the LEGENDS Mixed Martial Arts Training Center in North Hollywood on Tuesday. The facility, located on La Brea Ave., opened its doors at 7 am. By 4 pm, over 50 bodies were spread throughout the gym’s ring, grappling mats, and two punching bag areas, groups of Muay Thai strikers and grapplers herded through exercise after exercise.
Among them, Rutten’s International Fight League team – the Anacondas – were put through their paces by their coach for an upcoming event on September 9 in Portland Oregon where they are scheduled to meet Antonio Inoki’s Tokyo Sabres. Along with returnees Mike Pyle, Jay Hieron, Alex Schoenauer, Amir Rahnavardi, and Krzysztof Soszynski, newcomer Chris Horodecki. Looking more like a pudgy 14 year old who wondered in off the street, Canadian Horodecki, hailing from Rutten-affiliate Shawn Tompkin’s team, will fill the Anaconda’s lightweight slot. 18-year Horodecki caught the eye of IFL brass when he KOed Pitbull Erik Owings at the promotion’s last event.
Welterweight Frank Trigg was also in attendance with a pair of his young charges, along with Chris Riley and his Bomb Squad roster. Riley closed down his local Bomb Squad gym to join forces as a managing partner and trainer with the LEGENDS’ crew. He brings with him female Muay Thai instructor Roxy Richardson (who’ll also manage) and in-house instructor Eddie Bravo and his 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu contingent. Also scheduled to teach at the facility: MMA standouts Jason "Mayhem" Miller (who rolled with the Anacondas) and Karo Parisyan, as well as Kickboxing/Muay Thai legend Rob Kamen. (A full list of trainers is at www.legendsmma.com). Couture, himself, is back in training after a few months of seminar touring and a two-week trip to Iraq to visit American troops. Couture is preparing for a grappling match with recent Mundial and Worlds Absolute Champion Alexandre "Xande" Ribeiro for LASubX’s next event on October 13. Hitting the bags not far from the legend, Eric Balfour, of HBO’s "Six Feet Under and most recently NBC’s "Conviction," is among the celebrity clientele the gym will naturally bring with its locale and high profile trainers. Couture and Rutten, looking to impart their teachings on those who’ll listen, are ready for it. |
