Boo
05-31-2007, 08:21 PM
What’s happening in the world of mixed martial arts now…
By Loretta Hunt ([Only registered and activated users can see links])
After a dramatic pause and much nail-biting, Kazushi Sakuraba was finally cleared today by the California State Athletic Commission to compete in this weekend’s K-1 “Dynamite!! USA” event against an avenging Royce Gracie.
When the original card was announced on that windy March 27 morning in the shadow of the gates of the towering Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, speculation’s nasty head turned immediately to the 37-year-old former daredevil of PRIDE’s unforgiving ring and the punishment the magnetic showman had taken from the likes of Brazilian demon Wanderlei Silva and others in recent years. Finally under the watchful eye of an independent regulatory body that wouldn’t sway its decision if the weathered fighter was deemed medically unfit to compete, many wondered whether Sakuraba would pass muster, or worse, what the tests would find.
Ironically, it was Hong Man Choi – the 7-foot-2 giant of South Korea – who first fell to the series of testing alien to the Japanese-based K-1 promotion. The absence of Choi, a megawatt star in Japan and Korea, was a substantial blow for the event’s international broadcast and one Fight Entertainment Group officials did not let go lightly as they scrambled to acquire Choi second and third opinions on an undisclosed medical condition. The CSAC stood firm.
Less than 48 hours before the first fighter lifts his foot onto the scales at the Wilshire Grand Hotel, the event’s once 12-fight roster is still in question. Debuting former WWE wrestler Brock Lesnar’s opponent is not locked, while various undercard bouts are riddled with incomplete medical work. Ticket sales for the venue have not been promising on what seemed like an impossible space to fill regardless of any MMA craze that swept the Nation. Making the jump from 15,000 (the number the UFC drew for its May 2006 UFC 60 event at the Staples Center) to the 70,000-plus needed to populate the Coliseum was always considered nothing short of ludicrous.
This can’t be the way FEG envisioned their U.S. invasion would go, but I’m sure the worldwide promotion has a visually savvy and grand-scale production up its sleeves for this massive gathering under the stars.
source ([Only registered and activated users can see links])
By Loretta Hunt ([Only registered and activated users can see links])
After a dramatic pause and much nail-biting, Kazushi Sakuraba was finally cleared today by the California State Athletic Commission to compete in this weekend’s K-1 “Dynamite!! USA” event against an avenging Royce Gracie.
When the original card was announced on that windy March 27 morning in the shadow of the gates of the towering Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, speculation’s nasty head turned immediately to the 37-year-old former daredevil of PRIDE’s unforgiving ring and the punishment the magnetic showman had taken from the likes of Brazilian demon Wanderlei Silva and others in recent years. Finally under the watchful eye of an independent regulatory body that wouldn’t sway its decision if the weathered fighter was deemed medically unfit to compete, many wondered whether Sakuraba would pass muster, or worse, what the tests would find.
Ironically, it was Hong Man Choi – the 7-foot-2 giant of South Korea – who first fell to the series of testing alien to the Japanese-based K-1 promotion. The absence of Choi, a megawatt star in Japan and Korea, was a substantial blow for the event’s international broadcast and one Fight Entertainment Group officials did not let go lightly as they scrambled to acquire Choi second and third opinions on an undisclosed medical condition. The CSAC stood firm.
Less than 48 hours before the first fighter lifts his foot onto the scales at the Wilshire Grand Hotel, the event’s once 12-fight roster is still in question. Debuting former WWE wrestler Brock Lesnar’s opponent is not locked, while various undercard bouts are riddled with incomplete medical work. Ticket sales for the venue have not been promising on what seemed like an impossible space to fill regardless of any MMA craze that swept the Nation. Making the jump from 15,000 (the number the UFC drew for its May 2006 UFC 60 event at the Staples Center) to the 70,000-plus needed to populate the Coliseum was always considered nothing short of ludicrous.
This can’t be the way FEG envisioned their U.S. invasion would go, but I’m sure the worldwide promotion has a visually savvy and grand-scale production up its sleeves for this massive gathering under the stars.
source ([Only registered and activated users can see links])