FRANK SHAMROCK REPRESENTS THE WEST COAST IN A RUMBLE WITH EAST COAST NATIVE RICARDO ALMEIDA

Uncasville, CT (AUGUST 1, 2002) – Kicking off the Labor Day Holiday weekend this year, World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) announced that they have signed "The Fight of The Decade" for their "East Coast Vs. West Coast-Rumble Under The Sun" event to be held at The Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville Connecticut on August 31 at 8:00 p.m.

The WEC is extremely proud to announce that it has signed one of the worlds top submission specialists, Frank Shamrock, to represent the West Coast in an all out battle against the East Coast’s Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu technician and Renzo Gracie disciple Ricardo Almeida. These warriors are lethal weapons in their own right and are known for never backing down from a good battle. Expect to see a war for who can make the other succumb to their arsenal of submissions first. This fight has all the makings of a good night of pulse-pounding action that is not to be missed!

Tickets will go on sale this Saturday, August 3rd for the Saturday, August 31st card through www.tickets.com and at the Mohegan Sun Arena box office (1-800-mohegan). Ticket prices range from $25 to $200.

The Mohegan Sun, owned by the Mohegan Tribe, is one of the largest, most spectacular entertainment, gaming, shopping and meeting destinations in the United States. Situated on 240 acres along the Thames River in scenic Southeastern Connecticut, the Mohegan Sun is within easy access of New York, Boston, Hartford and Providence. With its state-of-the-art lighting and sound system, and 10,000 seat capacity, the Mohegan Sun arena is the premier entertainment venue on the East Coast.

The WEC features single elimination matches in which top competitors from all over the world use any and all fighting styles such as boxing, wrestling, kickboxing, karate, jiu-jitsu, judo, tae kwon do, kenpo and more inside a Pentagonal cage. The WEC is the ultimate crossover sport capturing the attention of whole new generations of martial arts fans and yet still it appeals to traditional boxing and wrestling fans. It is truly the best of all worlds.

Stay tuned for the official card line-up, which will be released soon.

MMA fans get into heated debates all the time… who’s the better fighter… how much a certain rule sucks… bad decision… bad stoppage. What’s your hot topic for debate right now? What’s on your mind? Let us know what you’re thinking — sound off about anything… your thoughts on a specific promotion, what a fighter said in an interview, a bad call, a great fight… anything. This is your chance to be heard around the world — sound off!
Some of the commentary we receive may appear in the upcoming issue of FCF.

• Pride Heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira is finally set and ready to fight in UFO on August 8th. After much talk his management confirmed his participation in the new Japanese event since he is allowed to do so by contract. Also, after Minotauro expressed his will to fight at Shockwave if Pride wants him to do so, FCF was informed that the champion’s camp is already negotiating a fight between Rodrigo Minotauro and K-1’s Mark Hunt! Right now they are negotiating the rules for the fight, which will probably be Pride rules. The fight isn’t signed yet, but it’s close to being signed.
• Speaking of Minotauro, he and his twin brother Rogerio Nogueira are leaving for Japan this Thursday. The "Zen Machine" Mario Sperry will be leaving on Friday due to some visa issues. The three of them are in shape and anxious to fight at the Tokyo Dome. Sperry, who is also a manager, will stay a few extra days after his fight to take care of some business in the land of the rising sun.
• Vitor Belfort is continuing to train hard after his fight against Chuck Liddell. Despite some early rumors of Belfort losing motivation once again, this is not the case as "The Phenom" told FCF he is training very hard at Macaco’s academy in Sao Paulo and is probably fighting on the November UFC card, with Evan Tanner being a likely opponent. Belfort, who appeared in some TV shows in Brazil this week, said to Full Contact Fighter that (contrary to Internet rumors) a rematch with Chuck Liddell would be very much welcomed, and he is still very serious about his training and fighting career.
• Speaking of TV, starting next week Brazil will have its first fighting only channel! "Premier Combate" will be a premium cable channel that will show UFC, Pride, Meca, KOTC, and other NHB events, both old and recent, as well as some boxing matches. The channel, which is a SporTV partner, will also feature special interviews and coverage of fighters training and will begin broadcasting only on Fridays charging a monthly fee to its viewers. Best wishes for the new channel and hopes that more fighting channels will appear all over the world.
• UFC Middleweight champion Murilo Bustamante will be also leaving for Japan this week to corner his friends and teammates at the UFO event. After this short stay in Japan Murilo will be flying to the USA where he will teach some seminars at the American Top Team academy. Once he returns to Brazil, Bustamante plans to finally be able to define his situation regarding a new contract with the UFC.
• Speaking of the UFC, Vale Tudo legend and Chute Boxe’s eternal star Jose Pele Landi is training hard and told Full Contact Fighter he is very much willing to fight in the UFC! Pele is eager to fight in the Octagon and hopes to be able to do it as soon as possible. Chute Boxe’s manager Rudimar Fedrigo also told FCF he will do everything he can to make Pele’s wish a reality, as he wants the Chute Boxe team to have a steady and positive relationship with the Ultimate Fighting Championship in the years to come.
• As the Chute Boxe team never stops working, Pride veteran and Heavyweight contender Assuerio Silva is finally recovering from his knee surgery. Assuerio is doing physiotherapy every day and is already training hard at the Chute Boxe academy. His Muay Thai is getting sharper and he is reported to be weighing 110kg now, with a very low percentage of body fat. Silva is expected to be ready to fight again in two months and will return to Pride as soon as possible, as his goal is to be the Pride Heavyweight Champion, and according to Master Rudimar this is bound to happen in the near future.
• Another star from Curitiba who is continuing to train hard is Vanderlei Silva. Vanderlei has been sparring a lot and preparing himself for his likely fight at Shockwave, but the deal hasn’t been closed yet. During the course of this week his probable opponent changed, however is still very likely that it’ll be a K-1 fighter under Pride rules. Vanderlei is eager to fight and expects the deal to be inked by the end of this week. On a side note, Chute Boxe’s rising stars Anderson Silva and Murilo "Ninja" Rua are both training hard as always, and they’ll be likely both be fighting on Pride’s September card against yet to be named opponents.
• The Jiu-Jitsu community was agitated these past days with two Jiu-Jitsu World Championships going on at once. The Jiu-Jitsu "World Cup", created by Nova Uniao, attracted several top athletes from teams such as the Brazilian Top Team and Alliance with the payment of purses to the fighters, while the traditional "BJJ Worlds" promoted by the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Confederation and had the presence of Gracie Barra and Gracie Humaita. However one of the biggest attractions at the "BJJ worlds" was the presence, outside of the mats, of Rickson and Renzo Gracie. The Gracie cousins came down to Brazil for the World Championship and the presence of the legendary fighters in Brazil is already a major happening for Jiu-Jitsu practitioners. Rickson plans to return to the NHB ring in 2003.