The Road To Egan-tiger 2:marcelo Tigre

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Thursday, Jul 12, 2001

The Road To Egan-tiger 2:marcelo Tigre

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The Road To Egan-Tiger 2:
Marcelo Tigre
By Chris Onzuka – Chris@Onzuka.com

The wild man from Brazil returns to the ring on American soil once again. Marcelo Tigre [Tigre is the Portuguese spelling of Tiger] has not been as active as he would like to have been, but then again, he would be happy if he could fight every other day. Tigre takes on Egan Inoue’s number one student in an event that is titled, "The Road to Egan/Tiger 2." Egan Inoue will fight Tigre’s top student on the same card. These fights are meant to serve as "tune up" fights before their much-anticipated rematch. I caught up with Tigre at the Team Tiger gym, which has expanded its offerings and grown since I last went there.

FCF: The last time you fought was in Japan at Deep 2001. Tell us about your fight there.
Marcelo Tigre: For this event I was in good shape and ready to fight, but people always say that I don’t care about the rules, that I want to make my own rules. But this time, they [Deep 2001 organizers] put rules and nobody followed them. I tried to follow the rules, but [my opponent] didn’t. Now I know what rules I am going to follow. I tried to follow the rules and do good in Japan because Japan is the best place for fight. I had a little problem before my fight, but all my fights are like that. As the fight goes on, all my opponents know that they cannot beat me because my heart is big. Then it becomes to easy for me and I always finish them, like in Japan. I have a good name in Japan. I am going to fight there again in Deep 2001 and Pancrase after the fight at SuperBrawl in Hawaii.

FCF: Do you have any dates when those fights are?
MT: July 21^st, I have a fight in SuperBrawl. On the 28^th of the same month, I fight in Pancrase. I fly straight to Japan after SuperBrawl. And then after that fight, I come back to Hawaii because of my students. I have a big team here and I have to take care of my students. Then I go back to Japan to fight in Deep 2001 for my belt. I think it is on August 15^th.

FCF: Do you know who your opponent is for the Pancrase fight?
MT: I don’t know who my opponent is yet. The next SuperBrawl event in October, I am going to fight again with Egan Inoue. I am also going to fight with Kimo [Leopoldo] at the Blaisdell [arena in Hawaii]. I think it is October 21^st. That is my schedule for now.

FCF: You’re fighting Egan and Kimo in the same month? When is the fight with Egan?
MT: I think October 12^th. I have a paper with the date on it. We signed the contract already.

FCF: You don’t mind fighting two big fights so close together?
MT: No, this is good for me, it will make me in shape. Like I told you, I have a big team that takes care of me. I have my personal trainer who stretches me. She came from Brazil, her name is Patricia. She came to help me with my flexibility because I have no flexibility. But I am better now, before it was "no train, just fight." But now, I got to change everything to make me more stronger because there is always someone big for me to fight. I fight any weight, I don’t care about the weight. I don’t care when I am going to fight. I can fight today. I can fight tomorrow. It doesn’t matter because I am a fighter. I am like an animal. An animal fights to survive, that is my way.

Click here to continue with the Marcelo Tigre interview

From the event’s promoter:

HOOKnSHOOT SHOWDOWN
is This Weekend
Memorial Coliseum, Evansville, IN.
Saturday, July 14^th, 2001

HnS poster

"This is our summer show, we are going to have some fun" crows promoter Jeff Osborne. "We expect a packed crowd again, mainly due to the return of Aaron Riley and the additional media stir that has caused. He is doing morning radio shows, we are scheduled to have the news here in Evansville cover the weigh ins on Friday at 6PM, the atmosphere is great" continues Osborne. "And then we have the tag team grappling – in typical HnS fashion, we are just going to see how this plays out, but we think it could be a real crowd pleaser. The fighters involved sound excited too, so…" says Osborne "Poof, before your very eyes, we are experimenting!"

HOOKNSHOOT TITLE BOUT (3 Rounds):

(Middleweight HnS TITLE MATCH) Aaron Riley (Champion – AMC Pankration,
Evansville, IN) v. Yves Edwards (#2 ranked, 3rd Column, Houston, TX)

2 round matches:

(over 220 lbs) Frank Mir (Ricardo Pires BJJ, Las Vegas, NV.) v. Jerome Smith
(Extreme CF, FT Campbell, KY)

(200 lbs) Mike McPherson (Submissions, Tulsa, OK.) v. Ray Casias (The
Fighter’s Guild, Nashville, TN.) (145 lbs) tbd v. Rocky Long (3rd Column,
Houston, TX)

(167 lbs) Eddie Miller (3rd Column, San Antonio, TX) v. Andy Dodd (Extreme CF,
FT Campbell, KY)

(187 lbs) Joseph Baize (Submissions, Owensboro, KY.) v. Bradley Burrick
(Bethany Karate Club/Metro Fight Club, Sterling Hts. MI.)

(205 lbs) Tom Jones (Submissions, Tulsa, OK.) v. Alvin Robinson (Extreme CF,
FT Campbell, KY)

SPECIAL NOTE: Regarding RUAS VALE TUDO and Manuel Garcia. Garcia was announced as fighting Ivan Salaverri. This match will not happen on this show, however it is necessary to correct an error. Garcia, from Spain has traveled on several occasions to Brazil to train with the RUAS TEAM, however he is not an "official" member of the team. We announced Manuel as a member in error in our prior press release. Manuel will fight in HOOKnSHOOT in 2001, and when he does he will represent Spain. Apologies to both parties for the confusion.