MMA forgotten stories thread

[gono btw]

From my interview with remco pardoel concerning his fight with marco ruas: “He was not really fair. He used grease. So at that time I did not have the experience to fight a guy with oil over his body. I loved to get a rematch. He declined. Ruas has to live with the fact that he is a cheater. My Gi was full of grease. Maybe I can say that my technique wasn’t refined enough. But if he didn’t use any grease whatsoever, it would have been a different ending. I made an official complaint after the event and it was clear to feel that my Gi was greased up. A rematch never came. This fight, the one against Smith in the UK and one Pancrase fight I regret. All others I just won or lost fair and square. “

That Gi tho...

http://forums.sherdog.com/threads/deconstructing-mma-myths-part-1-hoyce-his-gi-ufc-1.3734725/

BTW:

 

[gono btw]

There is a crazy story about how Mark Coleman entered MMA.

Richard Hamilton was one of the earliest managers in MMA history. He actively tried recruiting wrestlers into the sport (Coleman, Severn and Fry where all his projects. He also introduced Mark Kerr and Tom Eriksson to the sport but they didn't sign with him specifically).

Anyways, Fry was one of his early successes. But Fry had a heated and virolic break-up with Hamilton after he won his first UFC tournament. This enraged Hamilton, whom wanted revenge.

Hamilton specifically recruited an Olympic-caliber wrestler (Coleman) to get revenge on Fry. If a college level wrestler could do so well, what about an Olympian, he reasoned. Before Coleman's fight with Fry at the Tournament finals -- Hamilton told some outrageous lies to make Don look lika a bad person. Including that he had seen Fry deliberately injure the knee of one of his students. He did all of this to make Coleman hate Fry. It worked. Mark went out and gave Don a savage beating, sending his opponent to the hospital. Hamilton had his revenge.

Coleman eventually caught on to Hamilton's behavior. The guy lied constantly and could act very strangely. For example, after Coleman's Tournament win, Hamilton gleefully informed Mark that he was on the witness protection program, despite having just been on National TV.

So in the end, just like Fry and Severn, Coleman parted ways with him and Hamilton faded into obscurity.

Don: "Everybody was dead scared of Coleman, but I took my ass-whoopin´like a man..."

On a side note, b4 his fight @ WVC vs Gurgel, Hamilton was hypin´ Kerr sayin´he was was even better than Coleman...

 

[gono btw]

Rampage was fighting marvin Eastman in king of the cage,I believe it was his 3rd pro fight. Ken shamrock who was commentating was remarking how he thought even tho rampage lost he showed alot of heart and could be something one day

Rampage was the one who wanted to wrassle back then tho...

 

[true_fan]

Here is a true story that happened to me: I was dating this average chick that I met online long time ago. She hated her sister and wouldn’t introduce me to her until later because she was afraid that she will steal me away since she was very hot. Anyway, her sister dated mostly black guys for some reason and one of them fought in the early UFC’s which I was into before I met the guy!
When I met that guy, he told me that he lost the first time but he was ready for another run. I thought he was trying to impress me and his girlfriend and was full of it, but later found out that he actually did fight twice, but forgot his name. Though, when we met we all went to a bodybuilding show and Ron Coleman was this fighter’s buddy so we shook hands and took some pics then came the interesting part. While watching the show, I was saying to myself damn that girl is so fine and she is dating this ugly dude, he was an ugly African American dude. Though, when I went to use the restroom that hot sister made an advance at me by rubbing her breasts against me while coming very close to kiss me!

End results, I played it cool and acted like nothing happened until I broke up with her sister. Then one day I saw her online dating and asked her out, she told me that she will never go out with somebody who slept with her sister! I was really disappointed!

I researched lately for that guy but I honestly forgot which one he was?

 

[gono btw]

Fighter called Kenneth Williams only ever had two fights in MMA in '99 and '01, ended up losing both by RNC. Unfortunately for him his opponents, although unknown at the time, were Chuck Liddell and Rampage.

http://m.sherdog.com/fighter/record/Kenneth-Williams-2370

 

[HHJ]

A lot of old school fighters used to oil up or grease up their bodies for fights. especially in brazil as chuck liddell has mentioned numerous times in interviews.

like i mentioned in earlier posts, aikiyama greased prior to his fight against sakuraba by rubbing lotion all over his body, letting it dry, sneaking the cheating trick past the referee who doesn't notice it because it only became slippery after he began to sweat. very common way of cheating.

akiyama being caught cheating against sakuraba

Mizaki beat him for vengeance and gave him a verbal beatdown after the fight

 

[gono btw]

A lot of old school fighters used to oil up or grease up their bodies for fights. especially in brazil as chuck liddell has mentioned numerous times in interviews.

like i mentioned in earlier posts, aikiyama greased prior to his fight against sakuraba by rubbing lotion all over his body, letting it dry, sneaking the cheating trick past the referee who doesn't notice it because it only became slippery after he began to sweat. very common way of cheating.

akiyama being caught cheating against sakuraba

 

[HHJ]

Renzo Gracie live tweeted during an attempted mugging . below is a video in which Renzo talks about the incident :


Some excerpts from his twitter during the incident :

Renzo_Gracie_BJJ ‏@RenzoGracieBJJ

22nd street and 10th ave right now two guys following me, can't help but have a big smile upon my face Im talking about a happy one ;-))))

Waiting for them... Are they really thinking I'm drunk??? They have to be kidding. Hahahaha

25th and 10ave ;-) they are getting closer lol ;-)

Ijust stop to take a pic, they pretend they are looking at the window, can't lie... My blood runs in a different speed, man I miss Brazil

JiuJitsu ;-))) never leave home without it ;-)

Please hold there for just a couple minutes ;-) be right back

They are coming closer, asking for a cigaret ;-) lol can't help but have a smile in my face. I don't smoke. Pretend to wobble. They smile

My hands hurt... Can't help but look at him the other one took off running, not much of a friend. Chicken :-/ I can still see him, he looks Back as he runs, no chance to catch him... Even though I began to try to run after him, I realize How slow I was. Fuck it :-///

This one asks me why did I do that, pretending to be stupid, one little kick to the ribs makes him whine and apologize, as I'm writing this.

I ask him if he was planing to rob me, he says no. All he wanted was a cigarette, lol I can't help but have a big smile upon my face, and .. The certainty that if it was an ordinary man he would be sad about his stolen goods. Fucking c--- cries like a bitch when the tide turns..

I can't help but take a pic as his nose bleeds and he wines and asks why did I do that... Like he doesn't know the reason...

My fucking hands hurt, hurt like hell...

Drove around two blocks... The other fellow disappear, I'm heading home... Angry for not finding the second one. Guess no sleeping tonight.

I knew it ;-) yessss

There is basic things like you don't come back to where the problem was.. You just don't, I knew he would, just going around the block would Be enough... Dumb f%#^ I just gave him the old style Rac****, it has been a while since the last time I did.. Choke him out 3 times...

And before he woke up I did hit each eye socket at least twice, tomorrow he will wake up like a rac****, and every time he woke up I was... Whispering at his ears.. That's what death feels like it.. Don't do that again. My fucking hand hurts, :-/ a lot

Next time I will use only the elbows, damn I miss that feeling, sometimes I wonder if the easy life has been making me Soft. All those years in Brazil, without knowing if I would make it home had to count for something, I can't lie I could have jump in a cab But I could not help, I could spot them from a mile away, walking was my option, thank you mayor Giuliani, nobody carries a gun in our Beautiful state, my lucky day, their bad day My hand hurts and @FrankieEdgar is here at 9:30am for some training, shoot damn little guy

Could not take a second pic guys sorry, believe I try, as I reach for my iPhone he almost took off :-/ fast mofo

@lucaatalla my brother calling you tomorrow to tell you some great stories, on the level of the ones in the Sydney Olympics in Australia when those Aborigines try to rob you by the train station near the Brazilian House ;-)

complete story including his tweets can be found here (very much worth the read) : http://www.mixedmartialarts.com/news/420892/Renzo-Gracie-live-tweets-through-an-attempted-mugging/

Renzo is nuts he probably beat up two innocent ppl. Fuckin tremendous

 

[gono btw]

fighter accusations that team Jackson fighters were greased during their fights

Tito Ortiz accused Rashad Evans of being greased.

Kenny Florian accused roger huerta , who trained at the jackson camp, of being greased. ( http://411mania.com/mma/kenny-florian-thinks-roger-huerta-may-have-greased-up-before-ufc-87-fight/ ) .

Keith jardine was accused of being greased in his fight against Francisco "Kiko" France. ( http://www.cagepotato.com/keith-jardine-accused-greasing-after-global-invasion-win/ ).

Sherk, Serra, Penn, and Hughes accused gsp of being greased.

Dean Lister accused Marquardt, who was also training at team jackson of being greased

Nick Diaz accused Diego Sanchez of being greased.

Dana White saying GSP's corner was greasing GSP :

Many were suspected:

Sperry in his fight vs Kopylov

Huas vs Pardoel

Rei Zulu in his 2nd fight vs Hickson (according to them Gracies)

 

[YOLOGOGOPLATA]

We need a collection of incidents or fights that Dana White has referred to as "the worst thing to happen in UFC"

 

[gono btw]

"Heel kicks to the kindey falls under kicking a downed opponent; even though the strike is thrown when both fighters are on the mat. First enforced at UFC 15. April 25, 1980 ; Rickson Gracie used heels to the kidneys extensively in his fight with Casimiro Rei Zulu Nascimento in their Canal 100 Vale Tudo fi ght in Brazil. Rickson and the rest of the Gracies used the kick to the kidneys as a standard in their ground game. The technique was eventually banned due to the fact repeated kicks cause nephrotic tissue in the kidney to retain water, swell and cause bleeding and other damage."

The irony: according to Rei Zulu, in the 2nd fight, them Gracies prohibited him to soccer kick...

 

[gono btw]

Big John McCarthy on Rorian Gracie being threatened by one of his family members : "Behind the scenes, Rorion was dealing with much more than mounting his first UFC event. On more than one occasion, Rorion called me to his hotel room to discuss his issues with his family. The UFC was a reunion of sorts for many members of the Gracie family, some of whom had flown in from Brazil. A few of Rorion's relatives weren't pleased with the way he'd trademarked the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu name in the United States and felt he was trying to monopolize jiu-jitsu here. Rorion had even legally stipulated that his brother Rickson add his first name to his own academy so it wouldn't be confused with Rorion's. Rorion told me he'd been physically threatened by one older family member, and he asked if I thought he should hire security or if I could get him a gun. I'd thought Rorion had all the answers, but in the end he wanted what I had. There's nothing better for self-defense than a gun. I didn't fulfill his request, of course. The night of the show, a few of Rorion's friends stood within earshot of him, just in case a confrontation erupted outside the cage. It was the first time I saw these little cracks that are present in all families, whether they're a martial arts dynasty or not."

Always found it hard to believe this one tbh...

 

[faustian]

First time Mirko CroCop challenged Fedor to fight him was after he KO'd an exiting fighter Igor Vovchanchyn on 10/08/2003. On 14/08/2004 with the same high kick to the head he dropped Alexander Emelianenko. Two months after Alexander was KO'd, Fedor met Crocop backstage at a PRIDE event. "Is your brother ok?"- CroCop asked After the win against Alexander, Mirko got four more, while spending only 9 minutes in the ring, meanwhile talking about fighting Fedor all the time. In the summer 2005 he was the most popular he's ever been. Everyone assumed that sambo fighter Emelianenko out of self preservation will try minimise Mirko's strengths and take him down as fast as possible.

Alexander Michkov, Fedor's striking coach: When I first saw Mirko, I immediately understood that this is a very high level fighter. He was very impressive. My opinion is: at that point Fedor was no match for him at striking. CroCop's base is kickboxing, his stand up game was much more varied. Fedor had boxing, because back in Stary Oskol we didn't have kickboxers of necessary level or weight. It was obvious that Fedor's kicking technique needs work. In preparation for the fight we put a lot of work into that aspect.

Roman Zentsov, MMA fighter, Fedor's sparring partner: It was a fight of two of the best of that time. Fedor was a reigning champion of PRIDE. Mirko was the greatest striker of that time, KO artist; very dangerous fighter. Fedor's road to that fight took more than a year. Everyone knew he was going to face Mirko, but no one knew when.

Vadim Filkenshtein, Fedor's manager: Japanese had their ways - they tried to make a public announcement: "In two months Fedor is fighting Mirko". But Fedor said: "I'm not ready to fight in two months. I have to prepare better for Mirko." By 28'th of august though Fedor would have had enough time to prepare.

WHAT FEDOR COULD DO STANDING UP?

At that point Fedor had 6 years of boxing practice. He hit hard, opponents fell, but his trainer Michkov recieved regular criticism from colleagues

Michkov: I heard this from other coaches all the time: "Why can't you put his hands up higher? Why are they so low?" I put them up once, almost to the classic boxing stance. And Fedor started to get hit in training. He says: "I put them up, I don't see the hits coming at me". So I told to keep them as high as it suits him. So he put them down again. And again I hear:" Man, why so low?"

Zentsov: Fedor is a very unorthodox fighter. We sparred in St. Petersburg with professional boxers and they a had problem with him in the ring. He's unorthodox, fast. The technique is unusual and the hits are hard.

Michkov: His strikes don't follow classic trajectories, more like an arc. And they tell me:" He swings on strikes too much", I say:" Guys, he hits, they fall. What else do you want?"

Vladimir Voronov, Fedor's wrestling coach: Preparation for Mirko is four stages: mountains, pioneer base "Raduga", Holland and a camp for the actual fight in Stary Oskol.

Michkov: Training in Holland is to perfect kicking technique and defence.

TRAINING IN THE MOUNTAINS

Zentsov: What sets Fedor apart from others is that he's a thinking fighter. He always thinks - on the ring and in training. At the same time Fedor is a workaholic of the type I've never seen before or after. His work ethic borderlines asceticism. What do I mean by that: there were no fancy gyms, we were wrestling on mats outside, in the summer we were jogging in waterproof training costumes - we made our workouts harder so the fights would go easier. We've met an athletics team in the mountains, and they were shocked, because our daily jogging distances were higher than theirs. Around 20 km a day, and in addition to that we had striking training, wrestling and conditioning. It was like this: 5km jogging in the morning. Shadowboxing and warm up after. Before the mid-day training we jog 10km in the mountains, an hour of wrestling after. In the evening 5 km and striking training. Our feet were blistered from all that running, clothes didn't have the time to dry off, skin didn't have the time to heal.

Voronov: The training went in the context of fatigue. It is especially effective at high elevation. Fedor always jogs a lot.

Zentsov : You train twice a day - you jog twice a day. You train three times a day - you jog three times. It's Fedor's rule, he likes jogging. This is what gives him stamina. Before I started training with him I ran maybe once a week. But he taught me that every workout starts from jogging. If workout starts at 4pm you start jogging at 3:30. When training starts everyone are still relaxed and you are already loaded, you heart is beating and you get used to wrestling and spar while feeling this way. It makes a lot of sense. Why do people train and train for the fight and after the second round they are gassed? Because before the fight you haven't even entered the ring yet but your heart is already racing, adrenaline is rushing through veins: you might be calm outside, but your body is on elevated rpm and expends resources. I'm not sure where that was though, Kislovodsk or Prielbrusje.

Voronov: It was Cheget, Prielbrusje.

Zentsov: That's right. Sometimes mountain mid day training would include 10 km jogging, then an hour workout with shots, kettlebells. We got really creative with those: throwing following the trajectory of punches, backward throws. It's actually nothing new, weightlifters Poddubny, Zass and other strongmen trained in a similar way 100 years ago.

TRAINING IN THE PIONEERS BASE (basically a soviet boyscout base)

Zentsov: After the mountains we had a long camp in Stary Oskol: we were living and training on the pioneer's base. Me and Fedor shared a room, the beds were on the opposite sides of walking path.

Voronov: We've been training at "Raduga" base for a long time and felt at home there. As for conditions... It was like this: three workouts a day. All outside.

Michkov:We trained there because we didn't really have any other options. Training conditions were unexistant. We put our mats on grass. Guys come back from jogging and the mat is red hot from the sun. Like a frying pan.

Zentsov: Yeah, and you fidget on that mat like an eel, it burns so much. If it rained we put mats in the hall and trained there for two hours.

Michkov: As for equipment we had a horisontal bar, parallel bars, sledge hammer, tire, barbell, kettlebels. Horisontal and parallel bars were and are Fedor's favorite. He never pushed for the maximum, but he does 30 reps per set. The schedule was: get up at 6:30 - half an hour before kids wake up. Jogging, warm up 30-45 min: boxing, stand up-wrestling. Shower, breakfast, rest. At 11 another workout, two hours. Shower, dinner, go to sleep. At 5pm another workout. Same food what kids ate, at the dining hall.

Zentov: The food is simple there, low fat, kompot. Portions were kid sized, but we could refill as much as we wanted. Sometimes during mid-day sleep, Fedor would drive to the city to buy fruits for the team. He was driving a simple Russian car "Lada" back then. Fedor never cared about status and things like that. We paid a lot of attention to recovery, which is understandable with the amount of training. We went to banya regularly. To the swimming pool as well. Also Fedor was probably the first Russian fighter who had a personal massage therapist. Generaly Russian attitude is: "pick up as much as you can, throw as far as possible". But without recovery this attitude leads to a very sad result. To be able to give everything you've got in training, you need to be protected from injuries. Or you get injured and then waste time for two weeks.

TRAINING IN HOLLAND

Michkov: Fedor's hands were on the level needed at that point, as for leg kicks and defence from them, there he was lacking. In Holland he imroved. His leg kicks speed increased. Before he used to sometimes overlook leg kicks and get hit. We worked and sparred a lot with boxers, but good kickboxers were always in demand.

Finkelshtein: In Holland Fedor did a very good job training under Johan Vos, a very good muay thai trainer. His student Ernesto Hoost holds three wins agains CroCop.

Zentsov: We spent around a month in Holland. Vadim(Finkelshtein) arranged everything so we were welcome everywhere we went. We went to Johan Vos's gym, Lucien Carbin's and other trainers. At that time I was training for Werdum and Fedor was working on his striking.

Michkov: Everyone were very helpfull and fourthcoming. All sparring partners assumed southpaw stance and imitated CroCop. Fedor's tactic was to spin to the left. Go forward and to the left. And sparring partners task was to throw left kicks to the liver and to the head.

Zentsov: Fedor preparation went with the help of Remy Bonjasky, Tyrone Spong, Gilbert Yvel, he sparred a lot with them. The task was to throw a left mavashi to the head. When it comes to striking, my impression was that our school is better with hands. But we had to work on legs there, and we especially learned a lot about defence from lowkicks and knees. I was writing down training programs into the notepad, it was a lot to remember. In Europe we finally understood that we need good equipment. Not because of the looks or something. Before we thought: "what's all this decorum for, we've got Russian character - we can spar bone to bone". But there we saw that good equipment allows to go full force in training. You shouldn't be worried about injuring your leg while training. After the first camp in Holland we learned our lesson. Vadim bought everything we needed. To ignore things like training equipment is to steal from yourself.

RAINING IN STARY OSKOL

Voronov: From Holland we went back to Stary Oskol, where we were building up for the actual fight

Zentsov: In Stary Oskol I lived either at Fedor's home, or at his family's second apartment with Sergey Kasanovsky. Fedor is a very hospitable man. I wasn't married back then, but now I understand how much Fedor's wife Oksana did for us. She was feeding the whole gang, can you imagine feeding five heavyweights? We were eating bucketfulls! You'll get tired washing dishes, not to mention cooking. Fedor insisted that we eat at his home, even if we were at his other apartment, dinner and supper at Fedor's place were mandatory. But those home cooked meals were delicious and the menu was different every time.
Broken bones

By the mid July Emelianenko won Russian sambo championship, while trying to go easy on his right hand. And 10 days later he meets with CroCop in Japan. Croatian has a fight with Ibragim Magomedov with Fedor at Magomedov's corner. Four minutes later Ibrahim falls down, leg kick to the liver. Two months left before Emelianenko - CroCop fight, everything seems smooth. But only on the surface. In 2003 Fedor KO'd Gary Goodridge in a minute, but he injured his right hand. That injury will bother him long after. The injury worsened in 2005, Emelianenko fought and won against Tsuyoshi Kohsaka. Leaving the ring he said: "Damn, he smeared his blood all over me". But that wasn't the only problem: in that fight Fedor seriously injured his right thumb. But amazingly he went on to fight CroCop four months after fractured thumb injury.

Zentsov: Fedor was training for the fight with a serious injury: the right hand was really busted. The fist could've come apart during fight, they were thinking whether or not to operate.

Michkov: All in all Fedor had three or four operations on that hand. At that time his hand was really injured. We tried to go easy on it. When Fedor worked the bag he couldn't hit with full force, the hand immediately started hurting. He used extra padding in his glove to make it a little softer.

Zentsov: Fedor went through the whole training with that injury, it couldn't stop hurting. I remember we drove off to x-ray his hand during mid day sleep. It was broken, there was a fragment of the bone that either couldn't regrow or kept shifting around.

Voronov: Fragments were floating around in the right thumb joint, there were a few of them. He couldn't execute a wrestling grab at full force nor strike.

Zentsov: And really they needed to operate on that hand, clean up, and give time to heal. But Fedor would've lost half a year. So he decided to endure. Some other guy would've postponed, but Fedor went on with it.

Michkov: We decided not to decline a fight, because the situation was already heating up. CroCop was saying to journalists that Fedor is ducking him

Voronov: There were also talks about giving CroCop an interim belt if Fedor declines a fight.

Michkov: So Fedor said:"I'm going to fight"

BEFORE THE FIGHT

Mirko CroCop expected problems on the ground from sambo fighter Emelianenko, and rightly so. He trained for the fight with the help of Fabricio Werdum who also had a fight on that date, against Roman Zentsov. Werdum will eventually spend around two years in Croatia, and five years later will become the first fighter to defeat Fedor Emelianenko, and ten years later will become a UFC champion. But that will be much later.

Michkov: CroCop, as I remember, arrived to Japan almost a month prior. They really liked him. A lot of people rooted in his favour.

Zentsov: We usually arrived to Japan 4 days prior. We counted acclimatization peaks compared them and decided that it's an optimal timeframe. Without getting too much into it, acclimatization in the East and in the West isn't the same thing.

Michkov: We arrived to Japan before noon, and two-three hours later we were sleepy as hell. But we endured till 9 pm, and only then went to sleep. Fall to sleep early and you'll end up staring at the ceiling all night. Amar Suloev once walked around the whole night, couldn't fall asleep. To sleep better, I went to a pharmacy and bought some herbal tea for Fedor to drink in the evening. He slept fine.

Zentsov: Did Fedor get nervous? We were close, but I haven't noticed any nervousness. I was always impressed with his calmness and focus before the fight.

Michkov: You don't see Fedor being nervous. He has amazing psyche. I remember my own feelings when I first got to Japanese stadium: 70 thousand people - I got scared! I think- poor Fedor, I wonder how he's taking it. But he's looking same as usual. Sometimes a person trains and trains, knows everything. Gets into the ring - can't do anything, too stressed.

Zentsov: That event was first for me in Japan. I was shocked: 50 thousand people, the sound of them, you can feel it inside. I was fighting myself much more than I was fighting Werdum there.

Michkov: We were playing cards before the fight, it helps to take your mind off. The camp is finished, you did what you had to. You can't change anything. So why stress out and sit somewhere shaking? And we played cards - joked around, sometimes cheated blatantly just to laugh and have fun.

Zentsov: It's a kind of a trick. At first it has no effect, but after a while you get into it and your mind switches. Heavyweights fight last, so there was a lot of waiting, you can burn out during this time. At first I played cards on slots but couldn't stop burning, thinking of upcoming fight. But later I've learned to take my mind off, stop thinking that I have to go out and fight right now. It really saves psychophysical resources.

THE FIGHT

Fight format: first round - 10 minutes, second and third - 5. No elbows, soccer kicks at the head of downed opponent - allowed. 47629 spectators. Pay-per-view: $29,95. Odds: Crocop-2,7; Fedor 1,45.

In the dressing room doctor anesthetizes Fedor's hand. Before the fight he warms up with a top kickboxer Tyrone Spong: he throws left kicks at Fedor on three levels: hip, liver, head. In the fight Fedor surprises everybody: he doesn't try to take Mirko down, he fights CroCop standing up and takes initiative, throws more shots

Finkelshtein: Everyone expected takedowns from Fedor followed by ground and pond and submissions. CroCop was preparing for that, his main sparring partner was Werdum. But Fedor didn't even try to take it to the ground, he started to score points standing up.

Voronov: I just want to note that with his hand injury it was tough to do takedowns.

Zentsov: I was sitting in the first row. One episode was especially memorable. I remeber it very clearly: CroCop throws a mightiest, loaded lowkick - Fedor puts up a hard block and bone hits bone, CroCop's shin to Fedor's knee. The sound was loud enough for me to hear. I felt how painful it was for both of them. I saw CroCop's eyes - his face was priceless. Fedor looked the same as ever. Being a striker myself, I know, when a wrestler suddenly starts to outstrike you it's unnerving. CroCop didn't expect Fedor to improve his striking so much in the short time he had.

Michkov: Why did Alexander Emelianenko lose to CroCop? He didn't stick to a gameplan. It was like this: Alex, not a step back, you have to make him move backwards and never do that yourself. How was he KO'd: he started backing up a little bit and CroCop landed his left to the head. Fedor learned this lesson, he pressed forward three rounds straight, pushing CroCop backwards, which countered his main weapon - legs. And Fedor even did a high kick himself.

Zentsov: That's how the breaking of CroCop went down. He knew that he's the downside on the ground. And suddenly a wrestler outstrikes him standing up even throws a kick to the head. Why couldn't he land his high kick clean? I remember the way we trained for that: every highkick must be punished. And Fedor after every attempt to do a highkick responded with series of punches himself. And CroCop started picking shots, became hesitant because after every highkick he had to deal with the flurry of swinging shots

Finkeshtein: What sets Fedor apart: usually fighters train, learn new techniques, but when they get into the ring, they only do what the always could. In CroCop fight Fedor showed everything he learned in Holland. Stuck to gameplan perfectly. I've never seen him doing a highkick before. Saw it first time. Croatian was demolished.

Zentsov: I was seated near Fedor's wife. Oksana had her fists clenched, she was biting her lip and in tears - first from fear then from happiness. It was a very hard fight for Fedor: he had to fight for 20 minutes with what was basically a broken hand. He was leaving the ring with a busted face and hands, but nevertheless with a belt.

Voronov: After the fight they froze Fedor's hand, gave painkillers and later in Russia he had an operation, put all the bits back in the pile.

WHEN THEY SAW IT IN RUSSIA

The fight Fedor-CroCop was shown much later - next year at night on NTV. Those broadcasts were paid for by Vadim Finkelshtein and only from those broadcasts people got to discover this new sport, that out of habit was called "no-rules fighting"

Natalya Bulanova, first PR-manager of M-1: I remember the situation before those midnight broadcasts on NTV very well. I offered exclusives with Fedor to a lot of papers and broadcast channels, but 99% of responces were:"We don't want it, we don't know who that is, don't call here anymore" And after those broadcasts our MMA fighters finally started to gain recognition.

Zentsov: I understand: without Fedor I wouldn't get those fights. I know it very well. He didn't just help me train, he gave a chance to fight in PRIDE

What was Fedor's impact: he was pulling everybody ahead. Everyone who got in his team started to train more, and grow as a fighter. Some didn't understand it and slacked off. But Fedor always cared for his family and his team. He made a way for us with his fists, to get recognition and to earn a living.

To remember all of it now, how we were training is a big pleasure. I have nothing but good memories about that time. It was hard, but it was fun

Original Source: http://www.sports.ru/tribuna/blogs/ohmyblog/825173.html
Credits to the translator Yau111 from r/

Holy shit, amazing read. Can't thank you enough for posting it

This part stood out to me:

Michkov: Fedor's hands were on the level needed at that point, as for leg kicks and defence from them, there he was lacking. In Holland he imroved. His leg kicks speed increased. Before he used to sometimes overlook leg kicks and get hit. We worked and sparred a lot with boxers, but good kickboxers were always in demand.

Finkelshtein: In Holland Fedor did a very good job training under Johan Vos, a very good muay thai trainer. His student Ernesto Hoost holds three wins agains CroCop.

And later:

Finkeshtein: What sets Fedor apart: usually fighters train, learn new techniques, but when they get into the ring, they only do what the always could. In CroCop fight Fedor showed everything he learned in Holland. Stuck to gameplan perfectly.

 

[frye666]

This might very well be a tall tale, but it has been around for years. They say in Igor's village where he grew up, if he had too much to drink, they rang the church bells to warn people to get inside.

 

[gono btw]

Excerpts from Big John McCarthy's book "Let's get it on"

BJM on the Ken Shamrock vs Royce Gracie rematch : "The fight was simply coma inducing, but I was able to laugh in the middle of it all when Bob Shamrock, Ken's feisty adoptive father, finally grew frustrated with his son's tactics and yelled, Well, if you're just going to lay there with him, you might as well start kissing him.; The always stoic Royce looked at the elder Shamrock and then at Ken and said, Please don't do that.

Epic & a slam dunk on Ken´s 'strategy'....

 

[gono btw]

In a attempt to replicate inoki vs muhammed ali, a exhibition bout between takada and ex boxing champ trevor berbick was arranged. The fight quickly fell apart as takada began kicking him . Berbick left the ring after having enough of getting




Inoki vs ali

http://forums.sherdog.com/threads/t...rbick-b4-coning-mayweather-this-week.3863593/

http://forums.sherdog.com/threads/the-day-kurmanov-the-boxer-submitted-ahmedov-the-jj.3874565/

http://forums.sherdog.com/threads/the-day-saad-muhammad-promised-a-ko-against-tamura.3875713/

http://forums.sherdog.com/threads/the-day-leg-lock-master-met-manos-de-piedra.3876141/

 

[Communion]

Mike Goldberg turned down a announcer job for wwe Monday night raw to stay in the ufc.

<{CMPALM}>

 

[frye666]

Renzo is nuts he probably beat up two innocent ppl. Fuckin tremendous

Lol! Classy guy. Steps on one guys neck that he beats, and spits on another.

 

[rzaraze]

Cool thread. Something different for a change. My brother asked me the other day if it was true if Dana and Tito almost fought. I told they wrtw supposed to box. I remember being pumped the day before thinking it might actually happen. Of course it never did.

 

[Rationality]

Sean Sherk was a great MMA fighter.