September 23, 2002

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Sunday, Sep 22, 2002

September 23, 2002

We regret to announce the passing of Jose Alonso Filho on September 21, 2002, grandfather of FCF’s Eduardo Alonso. Our deepest condolences go out to Eduardo and his family.

From Koichi "Booker K" Kawasaki:

K-1 JAPAN SERIES
Results from
K-1 ANDY SPIRITS 2002 JAPAN GP FINAL
Held Sept. 22, 2002 – Osaka Jo Hall

1st match:Opening Fight
Hiroki Kurosawa def. Wataru Suda – R2 2:39 TKO (referee stop)

JAPAN GP Tournament (3min 3R)
2nd match:
Tsuyoshi Nakasako def. Ryuta Noji – R3 Decision (3-0)

3rd match:
Yusuke Fujimoto def. Tooru Ooishi – R3 1:47 KO

4th match:
Musashi def. Hiromi Amada – Extension R Decision (2-0)

5th match:
Tatsufumi Tomihira def. Nobu Hayashi – Extension R Decision (3-0)

Semi-Final 1st Match
7th match:
Tsuyoshi Nakasako def. Yusuke Fujimoto – R3 2:18 KO

Semi-Final 2nd Match
8th match:
Musashi def. Tatsufumi Tomihira – R3 Decision (3-0)

Final
11th match:
Musashi def. Tsuyoshi Nakasako – Re-Extension R Decision (3-0)

SUPER FIGHTS

6th match: K-1 rule
Bob Sapp def. Cyril Abidi – R1 1:17 KO

9th match: K-1 rule
Petr Vandrachek def. Great Kusatsu – R2 1:32 KO

10th match: K-1 rule
Mike Bernardo def. Tom Erickson – R1 2:30 KO

The Faces of UFC 39

The Ultimate Fighting Championship will make its East Coast homecoming this Friday, September 27th with UFC 39 at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. Fittingly dubbed "The Warriors Return," the card hosts many returning players to the UFC’s ever-growing (and changing) rosters, as well as a couple of fresh new faces hoping to make an impression on MMA fans throughout the world. Full Contact Fighter caught up with a number of these participants and in a series of interviews called "The Faces of UFC 39," brings the fighters’ words to the fans’ ears.

The Faces of UFC 39:
Wes "Cabbage" Corriera
By Loretta Hunt

Cabbage -photo by Mike Onzuka

Coming in at 6’3" and 265 pounds, Wes "Cabbage" Corriera makes his UFC heavyweight debut following a seven-fight winning streak this past year at the SuperBrawl and Shogun promotions. Representing Grappling Unlimited, the home of spirited fighting brothers Enson and Egan Inoue, it will take nothing short of a knockout or submission to stop the freight train that is Correira. With a style reminiscent of the "old school" brawlers of yesteryear, opponent Tim Sylvia, of Miletich Martial Arts, may have his hands quite full come Friday night. An agreeable and jovial giant, Corriera lets us in on just how his training is going, his thoughts on fellow heavyweight Sylvia, what it means to have BJ Penn as a teammate, and just why he’s called "Cabbage."

FCF: Thanks for taking the time to talk Wes. As UFC 39 will be your first introduction to many MMA fans out there, I’d like to go back to the beginning and ask how you first got into mixed martial arts?
Cabbage: Okay. I used to train a lot of boxing and kickboxing when I was younger, but I never got a chance to compete. I did wrestling for one year in high school and I also used to take judo and became a brown belt. I also took karate for a week before I figured out that it was full of crap. When I turned 18, I started training jiu-jitsu with B.J. [Penn]. I had my first extreme fight when I was twenty years old. It was my first MMA fight and I’ve loved it ever since then.

FCF: All of this training has occurred in your native homeland of Hawaii?
Cabbage: Yes, I study with Adrian Silver- he’s me and B.J.’s boxing coach over here. With my kickboxing, I’ve been working with my teammates. Recently, I went to Thailand to study Muay Thai. B.J. and I started jiu-jitsu about the same time about four years ago. We went to high school together. I represent Grappling Unlimited with Egan and Enson Inoue when I fight, but when I come down here, I always have a place to train with B.J. We train in a cage together and I have a lot of technical guys to work out with. When I go to Grappling Unlimited [three islands over from Hilo, Hawaii on Oahu], I’ve got bigger guys to roll with and beat up a little. They beat me up too. I’ll have Egan and Adrian in my corner for the fight- possibly Enson as well.

FCF: That ‘s quite a corner to have.
Cabbage: Don’t worry. They’ll be no Pride reenactments here.

Click here to continue the interview

posted by Full Contact Fighter @ 8:00 pm

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