PRIDE middleweight championship
Wanderlei Silva vs Mitsuhiro Kanehara

Murilo Ninja vs Ricardo Arona

Already announced:

Nobuhiko Takada vs Kiyoshi Tamura

Don Frye vs Hidehiko Yoshida

• Paul Buentello Vs. Mike Kyle
• Dan "The Beast" Severn Vs. Mark "The Bear" Smith
• Rocky Batastini Vs. Seth Petruzelli
• Betiss "Super" Mansouri Vs. Dennis "Superman" Hallman
• Chad Bannon ("DOA" of Battle Dome) Vs. Rick Collup
• Jason House Vs. James Fanshier
• Jimmy Walker Vs. Gary Grate

Dark Matches:

• Chad Davis Vs. Roberto Ramirez
• Sean Gray Vs. Brian Foster

Perhaps the most intriguing fight of the night is Dan "The Beast" Severn, a name every MMA fan will recognize, taking on Mark Smith who seems to be the perennial hunter of vets of the early UFC. After Dan’s loss to Pedro Rizzo, his career slid in the eyes of many to taking on relatively inexperienced fighters in promotions seeking name recognition over quality matches such as Dan’s loss to rookie Jonathon Wiezorek in RSF1 or his controversial win over Travis Fulton in WEC1. Dan’s KOTC debut win came this summer against John Jensen, marking a possible turning point for Dan of drawing his career to a close against higher competition as evidenced by taking on Mark Smith.

Smith started his career in the early days of HOOKnSHOOT where he won four of his five fights before moving around various promotions including KOTC5 and Gladiator Challenge 1, but mostly regional shows like Ultimate Pankration. In that time he became noted for the amount of early UFC fighters he has faced – he lost a decision to Joe Charles in ’99, beat Zane Frazier in ’01, and won a decision over Remco Pardoel in ’02. Mark has won three of his four fights in ’02, but they were against Pardoel who has been having an off year, Samu Samu (in Samu’s debut fight) who is now 0-2, and 1-5 Ron Faircloth;while his loss was to Kerry "Meat Truck" Schall out of Miletich Martial Arts. Now holding a record of 11-6 Smith, is doing okay but to take the next step needs to beat a high profile fighter and Severn, although not usually thought of as one of the top fighters in the sport today, still holds a name with enough clout in the minds of old school fans to bring respectability. Will Severn continue on his rise back to glory or will his attempt to get back in the limelight be the reason he falls? This one could be intense.

Another one to watch for is 10-6 Dennis Hallman making his KOTC debut against 3-0-1 Betiss Mansouri. Mansouri only fights about once a year and is known for either getting a quick submission, as he did in 1:15 against Eddy Ellis and 0:20 of r2 against Adrian Serrano, or going the distance as he did in his one decision win and one draw. Hallman’s 10-6 record is misleading as he suffered a four loss losing streak in 2000 but went 6-2 since then with the two losses being a title shot against former UFC champ Jens Pulver followed by Amaury Bitetti. Now, with three more wins under his belt, look for Hallman to try to use this show to vault back into contender status where he belongs.

Also on the card 6-5 Paul Buentello, who started out last year with three losses in a row but has since turned it around to three wins in a row, takes on up-and-comer Mike Kyle, a 2-1 fighter with his only loss to former champion Daniel Bobish. James House vs. James Fanshier looks to be the most even fight of the night while Gary Grate vs. Jim Walker could be interpreted as KOTC vet vs. IFC vet. The only bout on the card so far that does not seem of much interest is 0-2 Rick Collup vs. unknown Chad Bannon.

Saturday, November 9th, 2002
Marist High School
1241 Kennedy Blvd.
Bayonne, NJ
Seating Starts at 5:30 PM, Event Starts at 7:00 PM. For Tickets and Event info, go to: www.grapplers.com/zone/news.cfm?#213

Main Event of the Night:

• *Jon Weidler*, Hybrid Elite vs. *Mark Colangelo*, Renzo Gracie NYC

Superfights:

• Nakapan Phungephorn, Linxx vs. Vlad Koulikov, Ultimate Sambo
• Todd Margolis, Linxx/Lloyd Irvin vs. Forrest Petz, ISFA Shootfighting/Dan Bobbish
• Joe VanBrackle, Yamasaki/Muay Thai vs. Jeff Williamson, Professional Karate Academy
• Brian “Big Fam” Shepard, Tai Kai vs. Brad Cunningham, Freestyle
• Dante Rivera, Team End Game/Eddy Rolon vs. Chris Scanlon, Kioto Jiu Jitsu
• Jay-Shannon Russell, Team Hunter vs. Joey “Knockdown” Brown, Team End Game

The Undercard:

• Carlos Moreno, BAMA vs. Jeremiah Fountain, Tai Kai
• Norm Schack, Renzo Gracie/Martain’s vs. John Ryan, V-Force Fighting
• Rich Latta, Renzo/Hatfield vs. Mark Papadimitriou, Combined Martial Arts
• Steve Hankin, Combat Zone vs. John Timlin, Combined Martial Arts
• Mike Acosta, Yamasaki vs. Deividas Taurosevicivs, PKA

• Pancrase Gate#1/Middleweight 2×5 Min Rounds
  Hidenobu Koike(Freelance) drew Hidehiko Hasegawa(Sk.Absolute) at Full Time Limit.

• Pancrase Gate#2/Lightweight 2×5 Min Rounds
  Hideaki Hirayama(P’s Lab Yokohama) drew Tomoya Miyashita(Battlearts B-Club) at Full Time Limit.

• Pro-Match#1/Welterweight 2×5 Min Rounds
  Hiroyuki Nozawa(Stand) def. Minoru Ozawa(V-Cross) By Unanimous Judges Decision at Full Time Limit.

• Pro-Match#2/Featherweight 2×5 Min Rounds
  Miki Shida(P’s Lab Tokyo) def. Takahiro Sanehara(Team Shinagawa) By Unanimous Judges Decision At Full Time Limit.

• Pro-Match#3/Welterweight 2×5 Min Rounds
  Kenji Arai(Pancraseism) def. Takehiro Kat0(1997 All Japan Kyokushin Karate Lightweight Champion/1997 All Japan Kyokushin Karate Lightweight Champion/Kiguchi Workout Studio) By Majority Judges Decision At Full Time Limit.

• Pro-Match#4/Middleweight 2×5 Min Rounds
  Hikaru Sato(Pancraseism) drew Susumu Yamazaki(1998, 1999 Hokutoki Heavyweight Champion/2001 Hokutoki Absolute Class Champion/Daidojuku Hombu Dojo) At Full Time Limit.

• Pro-Match#5/Welterweight 2×5 Min Rounds
  Satoru Kitaoka(Pancraseism) def. Taro Minato(Former Ma Japan Kickboxing Middleweight Champion/Former U.K.F. World Middleweight Champion/K.I.B.A.) By Majority Judges Decision At Full Time Limit.

• Pro-Match#6/Welterweight 3×5 Min Rounds
  Koji Oishi(Welterweight 2nd Ranked/Pancraseism) def. Juan Ayala (F.F.C. Lightweight Champion/U.S.A./Todd Medina Freestyle Jiu Jitsu) by Unanimous Judges Decision At Full Time Limit.

• Pro-Match#7/Middleweight 3×5 Min Rounds
  Chris Lytle(Middleweight 2nd Ranked/U.S.A./I.F. Academy) def. Yuji Hoshino(Middleweight 3rd Ranked/Rjw/Central) By Triangle Choke At 1r 2:12.

• Pro-Match#8/Middleweight 3×5 Min Rounds
  Izuru Takeuchi(Former Shooto Lightheavyweight 3rd Ranked/Sk.Absolute) def. Nathan Marquardt(Former Middleweight K.O.P./Middleweight 1st Ranked/U.S.A./Colorado Stars)