Monday, Jul 16, 2001
Super Brawl 21 Press Conference
|
Super Brawl 21 Press Conference July 16, 2001 10:00 AM 24-Hour Fitness Kapiolani Blvd. Honolulu, Hawaii By Michael Onzuka – Mike@onzuka.com The press conference went as planned. Thanks to slow car repair service, I arrived a bit late, but since there is a Brazilian in the show, I had a lot of time before it began (heh heh). Basically, the press conference was to let Marcelo Tigre, Wesley "Cabbage" Cabrerra, and Egan Inoue speak their minds and build the fight. Both Cabbage and Egan were pretty quiet with their comments, but Marcelo had a lot to say.  All three fighters sat at a table and promoter T. Jay Thompson brought a film crew to video the press conference. Egan admitted that he did not know much about his opponent, Brett Al-Azzawi, but his style of mixing up the stand-up and ground would remain the same. Basically, Egan and Cabbage stated that they will let their fighting speak for themselves in the ring, while Marcelo explained that he lives a fighter’s life and fights for pride, for his students to be proud of him, and for survival. Tiger stated that he is ready to fight any day, at any time. One interesting thing to note was that Tiger stated that when he gets hit, it wakes him up and gets him more in tune with the fight. From the fights that I have seen of Marcelo’s, I have to agree and add that in order to get 100% out of Tiger, you have to give him a couple good shots. He also stated that the last time when he first faced Inoue, he was all alone with no team, physically sick, and did not know how to prepare properly. At that time, Marcelo’s motto was, "No train, Fight!" Marcelo now has a personal trainer that has been working to increase his cardio and flexibility. He has brought in professional boxers to increase his punching power. After the interview, Tiger was boiling and he told T. Jay and myself that he wants to fight right now and I could see in his eyes that he was not just talking trash. He said that he is going to take his students back to his school and "work off" some energy. I don’t think we will see a more refined technical bobbing and weaving Tiger, but one that has more power and the same balls to stay in range to cause some serious damage. Cabbage has the size and physical toughness to stand there with Tiger so if both fighters keep the fight standing, there should be some major leather flying and some very hard hits. The Road To Tiger/Inoue II FIGHT CARD
|
David Yeung 150lbs 5’7" 150 lbs (Muay Thai) 0-1 |
Vs. | Gabe Lemley 5’10" 145 lbs (Team Extreme) 2-2 |
Melchor Manabusen 150 lbs. (Enson Inoue’s Pure Bred, Guam) 0-0 |
Vs. | Jay R. Palmer 150 lbs (Universal Rough House) 21-10 |
Iwi Kohanu 135 lbs (Nova Uniao, Big Island) 0-0 |
Vs. | Lincoln Tyler 5’6" 135 lbs (Freelance) 3-1 |
Rick Graveson 5’10’ 199 lbs (Team Extreme) 21-11 |
Vs. | Paul Ano 5’10" 200 lbs (Grappling Unlimited) 0-0 |
Kim Morishita 150 lbs (Maui) 2-0 |
Vs. | Gary Frietas 5’7" 150 lbs (Grappling Unlimited) 2-1-1 |
Ben Earwood 176 lbs (Team Extreme) 19-2 |
Vs. | John Crisostomo 5’7" 176 lbs (Grappling Unlimited) 7-5 |
Dennis Reed 195 lbs (Team Extreme) 32-21 |
Vs. | Niko Vitale 195 lbs (Grappling Unlimited) 7-1 |
Ronald "Machine Gun" Jhun 180 lbs (Jesus is Lord) 20-5 |
Vs. | Dave Strasser 180 lbs (Team Extreme) 17-2 |
Cabbage Cabrerra 6’3" 270 lbs (Grappling Unlimited) 0-2 |
Vs. | Marcelo Tiger 5’11" 205 lbs (Team Tiger) 33-1 |
Brett Al-Azzawi 185 lbs (Team Extreme) 10-9 |
Vs. | Egan Inoue 190 lbs (Grappling Unlimited) 6-2 |
|
From DSE USA: PRIDE 15 PPV Schedule For North America We are pleased to announce PRIDE-15 (PRIDE FC “Raging Rumble”) will be on PPV in North America as shown below. We are going to release additional information for Viewer’s Choice Canada shortly. Regards, DIRECTV SCHEDULES Replays * All Day Ticket Dish Network Replays * All Day Ticket BellExpress Vu Replays *3 exhibitions per night (9:00pm ET , Midnight ET, 3:00am ET) Viewer’s Choice Canada Replays *All day ticket |
|
Vitor Belfort Leaves Brazilian Top Team! By Eduardo Alonso After lots of speculation, the "phenom" Vitor Belfort just told FCF today that he is really out of the Brazilian Top Team! Not only Vitor, but his old teammates Allan Goes, Carlão Barreto and Ricardo Arona among others all left the Brazilian Top Team to form a new fighting team! Vitor told FCF that he is training a lot of Muay Thai with Luis Alves, and that he is already training very hard for his upcoming UFC title fight against Tito Ortiz. Belfort also said that he is very happy with his new deal with the UFC, since the UFC is taking good care of fighters, and especially because the UFC is helping the sport to grow a lot! Belfort mentioned that he signed a long contract with the UFC, and that he is looking forward to a good partnership with the event over the years. "the Phenom" went on to say that the UFC not only paid him well, giving him the right value, they are also treating the fighters very well, understanding that they need to invest in the concept of stars, helping to build the sport and take it mainstream. The Brazilian Top Team started as a new NHB/Jiu Jitsu oriented team, with several former Carlson Gracie fighters, who left the Carlson team to form what would be one of the toughest and most talented fighting teams in the world. However, now most of the MMA community in Brazil is suprised with the news of a brand new fighting team in the country! With several talents like Belfort, this new team can only achieve success, and everybody is left wondering what will happen with the Brazilian Top Team. |
posted by Full Contact Fighter @ 8:00 pm
