FCF:   You recently stayed in Japan for the longest period of your life there, close to three weeks I believe, and during your stay, you shot a TV Commercial for Japan’s most popular razor. How was the experience of acting on such a commercial?
VS:     It was a very interesting experience, since it was a commercial of that importance. I think it was a smart move by the Japanese brand cause I’m famous there, and I believe it’s going to be a success. Everything we fighters do these days creates interest in the media and this brings even more media to the brand for free. I hope some other companies will have this vision and will use fighters in their advertising campaigns, because fighters are now more in evidence than ever.

FCF:   What else did you do in Japan during your stay?
VS:     The period I spent there was very useful. I recorded a number of interviews for several magazines and TV stations there. Thank God I worked a lot during my stay there.

FCF:   Did you miss your home a lot during the trip since it was, I believe, the longest of your life?
VS:     I missed my home a lot! My wife is pregnant, so I couldn’t wait to comeback to my house.

FCF:   How was the reaction of the TV producers in Japan regarding your participation on the shaver commercial? Do you think we’ll see more Wanderlei in future TV ventures?
VS:     I think so, cause I stayed in touch with the company that did the commercial and they told me they will want to do some other projects with me still this year.

FCF:   What is easier? Stepping inside the ring to fight against the likes of Cro Cop, Dan Henderson and others or act along with Mark Coleman on a TV commercial, having to "feel his shave"? [Laughs]
VS:     Man! [Laughs] This was really hard cause I didn’t have this sort of contact with another fighter ever before. But from all the other, non-Brazilian, PRIDE fighters he is the one I like the most. A very nice guy and a true professional. But I’m only used to touch girls you know, it was hard! [Laughs]

FCF:   Getting back to your fighting career, you have been recovering from knee surgery since the end of 2002. Give us a brief rundown on how is your recovery going along.
VS:     I’m already feeling very well. I’m already training close to everything, like Muay Thai, boxing, Jiu-Jitsu and wrestling. My recovery has been going great and I believe I’ll be like 110% in August! Without a doubt.

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Franklin (left) vs. Eastman

      UFC 42: "Sudden Impact" will bring no less than seven fresh faces into the Octagon on April 25th, and among those rookies will be one the sport’s best-kept secrets in the light-heavyweight division. His name: Rich Franklin, of Meat Truck Incorporated. Though he has thus far existed on the fringes of MMA mainstream, insiders know him well; his career highlights include out-slugging the slugger in Aaron Brink and quickly submitting a tough Marvin Eastman. At Sudden Impact, he’ll be facing top-ranked fighter Evan Tanner – no easy task for anyone, much less someone making their debut – but the well-rounded competitor certainly has the tools. When Franklin steps into the spotlight at UFC 42, he may just surprise you.

FCF:   Rich, tell me about yourself.
RF:     Well, I live here in Cincinnati, Ohio. I train here and I grew up all over Cincinnati. I’ve been training in martial arts probably about 10 years now. I started off in the traditional forms but as things progressed I got into Muay Thai kickboxing. Then I saw a couple UFCs, and one thing led to another and I decided to do a small show out in Indiana. I did pretty well in that show, had a couple amateur fights, and happened to be in the right place at the right time and picked up Monte Cox as my manager. Next thing you know, I find myself fighting in the UFC.

FCF:   What prompted you to start competing?
RF:     I played sports in high school, and if you actually saw pictures of me in high school – which I really wouldn’t want to show because it’s embarrassing that I was so thin – I wasn’t gifted physically to continue playing ball at a college level, which is what I really wanted to do. I was just looking for something competitive to do outside of high school to keep me active, and I got into the martial arts not really for the competitive aspect, but more so to know how to defend myself. One thing led to another and here I am.

FCF:   Tell me about your training right now.
RF:     It’s been pretty difficult. I’ve was originally getting ready for Mike Van Arsdale for the UFC, but that switched to Evan Tanner. But we’re training. A typical day for me: I usually get to the gym from nine in the morning and I lift from nine to 10:15, then we get started training at about 11, and we usually train from 11 to one. And each day we work something different. A certain day of the week we come in and work on our kickboxing, a certain day of the week it’ll be kickboxing with takedowns, a certain day we might do wrestling – so on and so forth… For the UFC I’ve been doing double sessions, and I’ll come back at night. I’ll get back to the gym at seven o’clock and I’ll roll from seven to nine with Jorge [Gurgel’s] jiu-jitsu class.

FCF:   So you’re training with the Meat Truck guys and you’re not training with the Miletich guys?
RF:     Meat Truck Incorporated has been my team, and Kerry [Schall] and I and Josh Rafferty, we were living on the west side of Cincinnati, and our school was actually shut down – we were having trouble keeping training partners. So we moved up to the north side of Cincinnati, closer to Dayton, and started training with Jorge Gurgel at his jiu-jitsu academy up there. I have him and all his students to train with. But right now I’m on my way to Iowa to train with the Miletich guys for a week. The base of my training, everything is done in Cincinnati. I just go there occasionally, a week here and a week there, just to pick up some new things and work with different guys.

In the main event, Forrest Petz and Chris Wells stood toe-to-toe for much of the first round, slugging each other at a dizzying pace. The fighters took turns wobbling the other, as both connected with mighty rights and lefts at different points during the opening five minutes. In the second, however, Wells appeared drained.

Petz vs. Wells

Petz defended the majority of his opponent’s takedown attempts during the round and peppered him with punches to earn a unanimous decision.

In other action, a bout between Chris Griffin and Mike Easton produced the most enlivening amateur match this reporter has ever witnessed. Replete with slams, sweeps, submission attempts and Mongolian Chops, the outstanding fight prompted everyone in attendance to stand and applaud the combatants’ efforts. Initially, Griffin was awarded a split decision victory, but, later in the evening, the fight was ruled a draw. More to come on Midevil’s Mayhem in the next issue of Full Contact Fighter.

Travis Short vs. Chad Hall
Winner: Short by submission (strikes from side mount) R1 2:00

Derek Ruiz vs. Keair
Winner: Ruiz by TKO (ref stoppage) R1 3:57

Brett Tillet vs. Sam Ottobre
Winner: Tillet by unanimous decision (10:00)

Westfall vs. Johnson

Chris Griffin vs. Mike Easton
Winner: Draw

Kevin Knabjan vs. Andrew Varney
Winner: Varney by unanimous decision (10:00)

Jose Villirisco vs. Stonnie Dennis
Winner: Villirisco by submission (armbar) R1 2:45

Billy Bob Westfall vs. Tim Johnson
Winner: Westfall by TKO (corner throws in towel after first round) R1 5:00

Nino "Elvis" Schembri vs Kazuhiro Hamanaka
(Brazil/Gracie Barra Academy) (Japan/Takada Dojo)

Kazuhiro Hamanaka

Team:Takada Dojo
DOB:October 24 1978
High: 172cm
Weight: 90kg
Martial Arts: Amateur Wrestling
Record:

2000 Inter College 2nd
2000 All Japan trials 3rd
2000 KBS Cup (Korea) 2nd
2001 All Japan Trials 97kg class free style 2nd
2001 All Japan Society 85kg class free style 1st
2001 All Japan Cup 97kg class free style 2nd
2002 All Japan trials 84kg class free style 4th
2002 All Japan Society 96kg class free style 2nd

Already announced;
Emelianenko Fedor(Russia/Russian Top Team) vs Kazuyuki Fujita (Japan/Inoki Office)
PRIDE Heavyweight champion
* this match is not title match.

PRIDE.26 REBORN
Date: June 8th 2003
Place: Yokohama Arena
Open:16:30 Start: 18:00

Here is new schedule of PRIDE.

PRIDE.26
June 8th
Place: Yokohama Arena

PRIDE GP 2003 Middleweight Tournament Opening
August 10th
Place: Saitama Super Arena

PRIDE GP 2003 Middleweight Tournament Final
Late October or Early November
Place: Tokyo Dome or Saitama Super Arena

PRIDE.27
January, 2004
Place: Las Vegas