Friday, Jul 05, 2002
Ruas Getting Ready To Fightand Training Hard In Brazil
 Ruas Getting Ready to Fight and Training Hard in Brazil The "King of the streets" is already back in Brazil and preparing for his next fight! Marco Ruas arrived in Rio de Janeiro this past week to begin the final phase of his preparation for his next — and possibly last — fight at the UFO event on August 8th. Despite his age, the former UFC Champion always manages to keep in great shape and came to Rio in good condition looking for the fight rhythm he needs to perform his best game in Japan. According to his student and training partner Pedro Rizzo, Ruas is ready for the task, "Marco is always in great shape, and things are no different this time. We’re anxious to see him back in the ring." Marco Ruas will stay in Rio de Janeiro training with the Ruas Vale Tudo Team for almost a month, until he heads off Japan for the fight. His opponent is rumored to be PRIDE veteran Murakami Kazunari, altough nothing is certain at this point. After dealing with several injury problems that affected his performance, this will be Marco’s second fight since recovering from a serious knee surgery, and many believe the outcome of the fight will determine whether this will be his fairwell fight or not. FCF will keep a close eye on his preparation for the fight, and further UFO card developments. |
 A Night of Freak Injuries at the WFA By Jim Genia (July 5, Las Vegas) The World Fighting Alliance Level 2 rocked The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino tonight as fans were treated to solid music, dazzling lights, plenty of beautiful women, and a few injuries that had the crowd groaning. Jermaine Andre came away the new WFA Middleweight Champ, and his opponent Joey Villasenor left with what seemed to be a broken ankle, while an irate Tim Lajcik was rushed off to the hospital after suffering an apparent self-inflicted broken toe, getting the loss despite having dominated UFC-legend Kimo for the entire duration of their two-minute match. The second installment of the WFA showed marked improvements over their debut — improvements that were nearly overshadowed by the freak injuries in the cage.  In the opening bout, light-heavyweight Marvin "the Beastman" Eastman [Pictured at right after the fight] redeemed his quick loss at the first show by taking down and staying on top of a very game Tom Sauer. Sauer, who took this fight on one day’s notice, displayed some nice kicking from the guard, but Eastman got the better of him and ended up in the mount raining down elbows. The doctor called a halt to the match at 1:35 of the second round due to a deep cut above Sauer’s eye. In the lightweight division, Shaolin [shown below post-fight with Andre Pederneiras] managed to get Hurley to the ground early and keep him there. Playing a grappling chess match, Shaolin and Hurley fought to improve their positions while occasionally peppering each other with blows. Then, at 1:19 of the second round, Shaolin caught Hurley in a side choke, and put the Lions Den fighter to sleep. Hurley had managed to defend well, but the Brazilian caught him. In the middleweight division, Team Punishment’s Tiki was unafraid to stand toe-to-toe with top kickboxer Kit Cope. Showing some solid kicks before clinching, Tiki got Cope to the ground and kept him there, raining down punches and forcing Cope to tap at the end of the second round. Heavyweights Aaron Brink and Valentijn Overeem went at it with both guns blazing. Overeem landed some hard kicks to Brink and took the fight to the ground, but Brink rallied and brought the fight back to their feet. From there it was all Brink, as he then overwhelmed the Dutch fighter with punches and forced the ref to halt the match at 2:24 of the first round.  Lajcik had a strong performance against Kimo, controlling him right from the start. Lajcik met every one of Kimo’s shoots with a solid sprawl [pictured at the top of this article], and answered the tattooed warrior’s attempted standing guillotine with a powerful slam. But a severely broken toe forced the doctor to halt the match at 1:55 of the first round, and Kimo was declared the winner as Lajcik was rushed off to the hospital. The toe, shown again and again on the giant screens, was unlike anything anyone (including the ringside doctor) had ever seen – a freak injury and tough break for Lajcik, who clearly was in control of the bout. Frank Trigg looked relaxed as he manhandled an overmatched Jason Medina. Medina, who took the fight on a day’s notice to replace Shonie Carter, did his best to stay out of trouble, but Trigg hit him with knees at will whenever they stood, and dropped elbows whenever they were on the ground. Medina tapped out at 3:43 of the first round. Trigg, sporting the words "Mohr Sports" written in magic marker on his back, had actor Jay Mohr from ESPN in his corner. With the WFA middleweight belt on the line, Jermaine Andre and Joey Villasenor seemed to come out with both guns blazing. Villasenor started off with a flying knee attempt, and Andre caught him and slammed him down to the mat. From there, the Team Extreme fighter fell back into a leglock attempt, but Villasenor was already tapping – he’d landed on his ankle wrong, and it appeared to be badly broken (a la Jason Deluca vs. Joe Slick in UFC Japan). At 0:21 of the first round, Andre was declared the winner. RESULTS:
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posted by Full Contact Fighter @ 8:00 pm
