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Wednesday, Jul 09, 2003

Extreme Force Getting Into Gear

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Extreme Force Getting into Gear
By Jim Burman

      Exactly one year since the UFC left town, London is about to host the most ambitious and biggest domestic show ever. Extreme Force is bringing high quality international talent over to England’s capital for Sunday night’s inaugural event of what many hope will be a highly successful series.
      Headlining the card is Ian "The Machine" Freeman vs. Valentijn Overeem for a rematch of their 2001 2 Hot 2 Handle fight which saw the Dutchman the victor. Both fighters have developed since, with Freeman fighting in the UFC and Overeem fighting in Pride, but it remains to be seen if the Overeem has what it takes to beat Freeman on home soil. While this match-up is a great headliner, fan interest has peaked over the penultimate fight of the night between Lee Murray and Jose ‘Pele’ Landi-Jons. Lee Murray’s lightening fists have become notorious over the last twelve months, but Pele isn’t afraid to bang either. Murray’s fists versus Pele’s kicks and knees! With both fighters known to stand and trade, don’t expect this one to go the distance.

Jean Silva
Jean Silva

      Fans of the lighter weights are in for another great match with former UFC lightweight champ Jens Pulver taking on London’s adopted Brazilian son Jean Silva. Silva, a fan favorite in the UK due to his flamboyance and showmanship, will have his hands full with straight shooting Pulver who’s looking to put his career back on track after suffering consecutive losses.
      Two other UFC veterans on the card, James Zikic and Remco Pardoel, see action against France’s Cyrille Diabate and Georgia’s Tengiz Tedoradze respectively. Renato "Babalu" Sobral was due to face Golden Glory’s Chalid Arrab, but the German fighter suffered an ankle injury putting him out of the match with just over a week to go. After speaking to the promoters on Tuesday, it was apparent that there had been no shortage of offers to fight Babalu, just none that were wholly suitable. When speaking with the event’s co-promoter Paul Ivens, he explained that, "it was a matter of finding the right opponent for him… we couldn’t get anyone in the time [period] to make a good fight." With this in mind, the promoters decided to pull the fight from the show rather than include a possible mismatch.
      With other matches including American Jason Black fighting highly regarded up and comer Michael Johnson, ferocious Alex Evans against hardy Frenchman James Shiavo of Team LeBanner, fans packed into the Wembley Conference Centre will certainly be in for a treat. Rest assured that Full Contact Fighter will be in the thick of the action on Sunday night and you’ll be able to read about everything that goes down in an upcoming issue.

***STOP THE PRESSES***
The show’s promoters have just announced that Jens Pulver will not be fighting due to suspected broken ribs. The injury is severe enough to prevent Jens from even traveling, but Extreme Force have been able to secure a replacement in MFS fighter Spencer Fisher. The promoters also wish to extend their apologies to the fans for this unfortunate incident and wish Jens a speedy recovery.

Full Card

Mark Day (on top) in action
Mark Day
  • Ian Freeman (Team Extreme) vs. Valentijn Overeem (Golden Glory)
  • Jose Pele Landi vs. Lee Murray (Team Murray/London Shootfighters)
  • Spencer Fisher (Team Extreme) vs. Jean Silva (London Shootfighters/ Elite)
  • Michael Johnson (London Shootfighters/Peacocks) vs. Jason Black (Team Extreme)
  • Tengiz Tedoradze (Georgia) vs. Remco Pardoel (Holland)
  • Ricky Ninja Salhan (Ronin VT/London Shootfighters vs. Neil McLeod
  • Alex Evans (Ronin VT/London Shootfighters) vs. James Schiavo (Team Lebanner France)
  • James Zikic (London Shootfighters) vs. Cyrille Diabate (France)
  • Mark Day (Cambridge Free Fight) vs. Gaz Roriston (London Shootfighters/Peacocks)



Heat Fighting Championship:
Devion Peterson Injured,
Henze in as the Replacement
By Eduardo Alonso

As the newest MMA promotion in Brazil continues to work its debut card, and developments regarding the show continue to happen all the time. Young American fighter Devion Peterson, who is considered as a likely future star of the sport, is reported to have injured his knee and is out of the HEAT FC 1 card. His replacement is also another American fighter in HOOKnSHOOT veteran Scott Henze, who will now face hometown favorite and Bitetti Combat and WVC veteran Silmar Rodrigo. Henze is an experienced fighter and will most certainly give Silmar all he can handle this July 31st. Promoters are also hoping to announce two more fights still this week, one preliminary bout with local appeal, and a interesting undercard bout to add more talent to the show. PRIDE and UFC veteran Ebenezer Fontes Braga is also reported to already have an opponent, which will be announced later this week. In other HEAT related news, the event’s website is schedule to debut next week, and some more surprises are on the works to be announced soon. Here’s the card as of now, check back in the coming days for plenty of more Brazilian news in the next "Brazilian Beat", including Wallid’s new project, and PRIDE GP news: