Kazushi Sakuraba was the first fighter to defeat Renzo Gracie at PRIDE, and he did it by breaking his arm with a kimura. Fourteen years later, they will meet again.
Sakuraba and Gracie, who haven’t competed in since 2011 and 2010, respectively, agreed to meet in a 20-minute submission-only grappling match at Metamoris 5 on Nov. 22, and the Brazilian veteran is happy to finally earn a chance to avenge that loss to “The Gracie Hunter.”
“I dropped everything I was doing to take this match,” Gracie told MMAFighting.com. “I was so busy you wouldn’t believe it, and I dropped it all to do this.”
“It doesn’t matter to me,” he said of the 20-minute time limit. “They could do a match with no time limit. I compete under any rules, and in this case, it’s a 20-minute submission-only match. Submission or draw, 20 minutes. It’s going to be fun.”
Renzo Gracie was already scheduled to meet another MMA veteran in Matt Hughes at ADCC 2015 in Brazil, so he had no trouble finding the best training partners for Metamoris 5.
“My training camp was amazing. I’m in excellent shape, feeling great,” he said. “I can’t wait to go there and grapple with him. I want to test myself against Sakuraba and see how this goes after 14 years of waiting.
“My gym is big, so I had a lot of training partners. I focused on submission grappling, no-gi jiu-jitsu training for the last three months. I rolled with Neiman, Igor, Gregor, Rolles and Daniel. I’m feeling great, training with everybody. It’s going to be a spectacular match to watch.”
Sakuraba has fought the who’s who of MMA from middleweight to heavyweight, but his lack of experience in grappling competition is a complicating factor for Gracie.
“His game is focused on MMA, so it’s hard to train for someone like that,” he said. “He’s always dangerous. You can’t underestimate a guy like that. He’s dangerous from any position. He’s unorthodox, he doesn’t follow a clear line of attack. He does whatever goes in his mind, so that makes him unpredictable. It’s a challenge.
“I talked to a lot of guys I know that trained with him, and everybody talked about the quality of his grappling, that he’s dangerous all the time,” he continued. “It’s going to be a 20-minute war. It’s going to be fun.
“He has some dangerous leg locks. He’s a dangerous guy. I have some good guillotines, some good armbars. I have some good attacks.”
Both fighters should weigh-in at 185 pounds for the match, and that’s something Renzo Gracie only found out during his interview with MMAFighting.com.
“Man, I have no idea. … Let me check the contract here,” he said about the weight limit. “Well, it says it’s at 185 pounds. I had no idea there was a weight limit, but that’s not a problem. I’m already at 186 pounds.”
Kazushi Sakuraba was the first fighter to defeat Renzo Gracie at PRIDE, and he did it by breaking his arm with a kimura. Fourteen years later, they will meet again.
Sakuraba and Gracie, who haven’t competed in since 2011 and 2010, respectively, agreed to meet in a 20-minute submission-only grappling match at Metamoris 5 on Nov. 22, and the Brazilian veteran is happy to finally earn a chance to avenge that loss to “The Gracie Hunter.”
“I dropped everything I was doing to take this match,” Gracie told MMAFighting.com. “I was so busy you wouldn’t believe it, and I dropped it all to do this.”
“It doesn’t matter to me,” he said of the 20-minute time limit. “They could do a match with no time limit. I compete under any rules, and in this case, it’s a 20-minute submission-only match. Submission or draw, 20 minutes. It’s going to be fun.”
Renzo Gracie was already scheduled to meet another MMA veteran in Matt Hughes at ADCC 2015 in Brazil, so he had no trouble finding the best training partners for Metamoris 5.
“My training camp was amazing. I’m in excellent shape, feeling great,” he said. “I can’t wait to go there and grapple with him. I want to test myself against Sakuraba and see how this goes after 14 years of waiting.
“My gym is big, so I had a lot of training partners. I focused on submission grappling, no-gi jiu-jitsu training for the last three months. I rolled with Neiman, Igor, Gregor, Rolles and Daniel. I’m feeling great, training with everybody. It’s going to be a spectacular match to watch.”
Sakuraba has fought the who’s who of MMA from middleweight to heavyweight, but his lack of experience in grappling competition is a complicating factor for Gracie.
“His game is focused on MMA, so it’s hard to train for someone like that,” he said. “He’s always dangerous. You can’t underestimate a guy like that. He’s dangerous from any position. He’s unorthodox, he doesn’t follow a clear line of attack. He does whatever goes in his mind, so that makes him unpredictable. It’s a challenge.
“I talked to a lot of guys I know that trained with him, and everybody talked about the quality of his grappling, that he’s dangerous all the time,” he continued. “It’s going to be a 20-minute war. It’s going to be fun.
“He has some dangerous leg locks. He’s a dangerous guy. I have some good guillotines, some good armbars. I have some good attacks.”
Both fighters should weigh-in at 185 pounds for the match, and that’s something Renzo Gracie only found out during his interview with MMAFighting.com.
“Man, I have no idea. … Let me check the contract here,” he said about the weight limit. “Well, it says it’s at 185 pounds. I had no idea there was a weight limit, but that’s not a problem. I’m already at 186 pounds.”
Bibiano Fernandes gave Joe Warren the fastest loss of his professional MMA career in 2009, but it looks like Warren still hasn’t forgotten that night.
Warren, who recently unified the Bellator bantamweight championship with a win over Eduardo Dantas, told MMA Junkie he would love to avenge his loss to current One FC 135-pound champion one day.
“Bibiano Fernandes – he’s who I want to fight,” Warren said. “He beat me in my first loss. I didn’t train, and I lost. He beat me in the Dream finals for the world championship belt, and that still kind of drags on me. That’s one guy I would like to fight before I’m done here. I would like to beat up Bibiano one of these days.”
Scheduled to defend his One FC belt against undefeated Dae Hwan Kim on Dec. 5, Fernandes is up to the bout.
With Fernandes and Warren under contract with different promotions, the Brazilian bantamweight has an idea to solve this situation.
“The kid is good, really tough, but if he wants to fight me again, I can give him an option: if you’re sad, give me a call, brother, and meet me at my gym in Canada,” Fernandes said. “We can fight there, closed doors, until one taps or gives up, an old school way to settle personal things. But if you want, we can also talk business and fight in a cage.”
Fernandes submitted Warren in 42 seconds with an armbar to win the Dream featherweight title five years ago, and has no doubt he would finish the Bellator champion again.
“Man, I’ll tap him both ways, in the gym or in a cage,” he said. “He talks too much.
“I heard he doesn’t accept that loss. Come on, man. You have to accept your wins and losses. Move on.”
Winner of 15 of his past 16 bouts, Fernandes says you need a “refined jiu-jitsu” to beat a wrestler like Warren, and that’s what lacked in Eduardo Dantas’ arsenal when they fought at Bellator 128.
“‘Dudu’ is good, but you have to have a strong mind to fight guys like that, especially wrestlers,” he said. “They will try to take you down, and you have to have a refined jiu-jitsu to fight a wrestler. Like Chael Sonnen once said, nothing beats wrestling, except jiu-jitsu. But you need a refined jiu-jitsu.”
Bibiano Fernandes gave Joe Warren the fastest loss of his professional MMA career in 2009, but it looks like Warren still hasn’t forgotten that night.
Warren, who recently unified the Bellator bantamweight championship with a win over Eduardo Dantas, told MMA Junkie he would love to avenge his loss to current One FC 135-pound champion one day.
“Bibiano Fernandes – he’s who I want to fight,” Warren said. “He beat me in my first loss. I didn’t train, and I lost. He beat me in the Dream finals for the world championship belt, and that still kind of drags on me. That’s one guy I would like to fight before I’m done here. I would like to beat up Bibiano one of these days.”
Scheduled to defend his One FC belt against undefeated Dae Hwan Kim on Dec. 5, Fernandes is up to the bout.
With Fernandes and Warren under contract with different promotions, the Brazilian bantamweight has an idea to solve this situation.
“The kid is good, really tough, but if he wants to fight me again, I can give him an option: if you’re sad, give me a call, brother, and meet me at my gym in Canada,” Fernandes said. “We can fight there, closed doors, until one taps or gives up, an old school way to settle personal things. But if you want, we can also talk business and fight in a cage.”
Fernandes submitted Warren in 42 seconds with an armbar to win the Dream featherweight title five years ago, and has no doubt he would finish the Bellator champion again.
“Man, I’ll tap him both ways, in the gym or in a cage,” he said. “He talks too much.
“I heard he doesn’t accept that loss. Come on, man. You have to accept your wins and losses. Move on.”
Winner of 15 of his past 16 bouts, Fernandes says you need a “refined jiu-jitsu” to beat a wrestler like Warren, and that’s what lacked in Eduardo Dantas’ arsenal when they fought at Bellator 128.
“‘Dudu’ is good, but you have to have a strong mind to fight guys like that, especially wrestlers,” he said. “They will try to take you down, and you have to have a refined jiu-jitsu to fight a wrestler. Like Chael Sonnen once said, nothing beats wrestling, except jiu-jitsu. But you need a refined jiu-jitsu.”
B.J. Penn has retired from MMA after a third loss to Frankie Edgar earlier this year, but he could return to competition in a different sport.
Metamoris founder Ralek Gracie told Ariel Helwani on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour that he has spoken to the former UFC lightweight and welterweight champion about competing in his grappling event in the future.
“We’ve heard back (from Penn), (but) timing-wise it just hasn’t really worked,” Ralek Gracie said. “I think it’s just really coming down to the right time and the right opponent, and doing something that really makes sense, something that gets him excited to do it.
“I would love to do something with B.J. Penn. I’d love to have him in my event,” he continued. “I think just him coming back to his roots as a grappler would just be incredible. People would just get to see a whole other side of him, embracing that side of his culture, which I think is really important to him, big part of his introduction to MMA. I’m definitely interested in doing something with B.J. Penn.”
Metamoris 5 takes place Saturday night in Long Beach, headlined by Renzo Gracie vs. Kazushi Sakuraba. For Penn, Gracie wants to find the perfect opponent.
“Even for someone like Renzo, there are very few people that would make Renzo wanna get on the mat. There are not a lot of people. And he’s a warrior, he will fight anybody,” Ralek Gracie said. “But really, when I said Sakuraba, he was like ‘I’m in, sign me up.’ And Saku had a similar response. So that kind of polarity, that energy between athletes, that’s my guy from the beginning. I want to do that with B.J.. I wanna get somebody that he feels brings that level of polarity.
“We have some ideas, but it’s not even … Him versus Ralph (Gracie) would be nuts. That’s kind of the drama. I don’t really need that either, but that would be nuts. We’re working it out. We’ll come up with something good.”
At Saturday’s Metamoris card, one of Ralek Gracie’s dreams will come true.
“That’s the dream fight for me. It really is,” he said of Renzo Gracie vs. Kazushi Sakuraba. “That match has potential to be better than Royler and Eddie Bravo. For me, it has so much culture. Saku has a whole different style. Renzo has the demons in his closet, his arm has been broken by this person. You know, it’s so rich. I absolutely think that’s going to be an incredible match.”
The event also features UFC welterweight number one contender Rory MacDonald in a 20-minute no-gi match with grappling wizard J.T. Torres.
“I think Rory is one of the few guys that is a MMA fighter and has the ability to go in there and just keep it even,” Gracie said. “And if he can keep it even, I think it’s going to either go one way or the other. Of course, statistically it’s less likely that he should be able to go in there and just get a decisively submission against J.T., but he has a 20-pound weight advantage, and that means something.
“I don’t see him going in there and being shy or scared, getting caught in the hype of ‘oh, I’m out of my element and this guy is better than me.’ I don’t think he’s mentally that weak. So, if he comes in mentally strong and he shows up with his best, man, that can go either way. … Ultimately, he’s going up against a lot against J.T., and J.T. does nothing but train submissions, and he doesn’t think about punches. So that’s something.”
B.J. Penn has retired from MMA after a third loss to Frankie Edgar earlier this year, but he could return to competition in a different sport.
Metamoris founder Ralek Gracie told Ariel Helwani on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour that he has spoken to the former UFC lightweight and welterweight champion about competing in his grappling event in the future.
“We’ve heard back (from Penn), (but) timing-wise it just hasn’t really worked,” Ralek Gracie said. “I think it’s just really coming down to the right time and the right opponent, and doing something that really makes sense, something that gets him excited to do it.
“I would love to do something with B.J. Penn. I’d love to have him in my event,” he continued. “I think just him coming back to his roots as a grappler would just be incredible. People would just get to see a whole other side of him, embracing that side of his culture, which I think is really important to him, big part of his introduction to MMA. I’m definitely interested in doing something with B.J. Penn.”
Metamoris 5 takes place Saturday night in Long Beach, headlined by Renzo Gracie vs. Kazushi Sakuraba. For Penn, Gracie wants to find the perfect opponent.
“Even for someone like Renzo, there are very few people that would make Renzo wanna get on the mat. There are not a lot of people. And he’s a warrior, he will fight anybody,” Ralek Gracie said. “But really, when I said Sakuraba, he was like ‘I’m in, sign me up.’ And Saku had a similar response. So that kind of polarity, that energy between athletes, that’s my guy from the beginning. I want to do that with B.J.. I wanna get somebody that he feels brings that level of polarity.
“We have some ideas, but it’s not even … Him versus Ralph (Gracie) would be nuts. That’s kind of the drama. I don’t really need that either, but that would be nuts. We’re working it out. We’ll come up with something good.”
At Saturday’s Metamoris card, one of Ralek Gracie’s dreams will come true.
“That’s the dream fight for me. It really is,” he said of Renzo Gracie vs. Kazushi Sakuraba. “That match has potential to be better than Royler and Eddie Bravo. For me, it has so much culture. Saku has a whole different style. Renzo has the demons in his closet, his arm has been broken by this person. You know, it’s so rich. I absolutely think that’s going to be an incredible match.”
The event also features UFC welterweight number one contender Rory MacDonald in a 20-minute no-gi match with grappling wizard J.T. Torres.
“I think Rory is one of the few guys that is a MMA fighter and has the ability to go in there and just keep it even,” Gracie said. “And if he can keep it even, I think it’s going to either go one way or the other. Of course, statistically it’s less likely that he should be able to go in there and just get a decisively submission against J.T., but he has a 20-pound weight advantage, and that means something.
“I don’t see him going in there and being shy or scared, getting caught in the hype of ‘oh, I’m out of my element and this guy is better than me.’ I don’t think he’s mentally that weak. So, if he comes in mentally strong and he shows up with his best, man, that can go either way. … Ultimately, he’s going up against a lot against J.T., and J.T. does nothing but train submissions, and he doesn’t think about punches. So that’s something.”
Kevin Casey was set to face UFC veteran Vinny Magalhaes at the upcoming Metamoris 5 in Long Beach, Calif, on Saturday night, but was forced out of the grappling match with an injury.
“We have some unfortunate news, and some pretty positive news,” Metamoris founder Ralek Gracie announced on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour. “The bad news is Kevin Casey is injured, he had to get emergency surgery on a blood clot over the weekend.”
The good news, Gracie said, is that any black belt in the world could be the one replacing Casey against Magalhaes.
“Normally, we would just replace Kevin with another person and make the announcement. But what we wanna do is invite the entire community of martial arts to engage,” Gracie said. “We’re basically created an open opportunity for any athlete to come in.
“You basically have to have a black belt in jiu-jitsu. If you don’t have a black belt in jiu-jitsu, but you’re like a really solid judo guy, or sambo, or something like that, and you have a black belt in that art, that works. But we’re open to anybody.
“If you can beat Vinny Magalhaes, we’re putting $10,000 on the line.”
If you lose or draw, you won’t get paid the $10,000.
If you’re interested in facing Magalhaes in a 20-minute grappling match at Metamoris 5, you can email [email protected] with your information (age, weight, where you train), photo and why they should pick you to compete.
“Vinny is willing to fight anybody at any weight,” Gracie said. “It’s pretty exciting. I’d like it to be somebody out of nowhere, that underdog story. That’s what I’m looking for.”
Kevin Casey was set to face UFC veteran Vinny Magalhaes at the upcoming Metamoris 5 in Long Beach, Calif, on Saturday night, but was forced out of the grappling match with an injury.
“We have some unfortunate news, and some pretty positive news,” Metamoris founder Ralek Gracie announced on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour. “The bad news is Kevin Casey is injured, he had to get emergency surgery on a blood clot over the weekend.”
The good news, Gracie said, is that any black belt in the world could be the one replacing Casey against Magalhaes.
“Normally, we would just replace Kevin with another person and make the announcement. But what we wanna do is invite the entire community of martial arts to engage,” Gracie said. “We’re basically created an open opportunity for any athlete to come in.
“You basically have to have a black belt in jiu-jitsu. If you don’t have a black belt in jiu-jitsu, but you’re like a really solid judo guy, or sambo, or something like that, and you have a black belt in that art, that works. But we’re open to anybody.
“If you can beat Vinny Magalhaes, we’re putting $10,000 on the line.”
If you lose or draw, you won’t get paid the $10,000.
If you’re interested in facing Magalhaes in a 20-minute grappling match at Metamoris 5, you can email [email protected] with your information (age, weight, where you train), photo and why they should pick you to compete.
“Vinny is willing to fight anybody at any weight,” Gracie said. “It’s pretty exciting. I’d like it to be somebody out of nowhere, that underdog story. That’s what I’m looking for.”
Former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva was hospitalized on Nov. 3 with lower back pain after a jiu-jitsu session at X-Gym in Rio de Janeiro, and he thought for a moment his career would be over.
“The Spider,” who is training to get back in action on Jan. 31 against Nick Diaz after shattering his left leg in a rematch with Chris Weidman in 2013, was afraid he wouldn’t be able to walk again.
“I couldn’t move or feel my legs and feet,” Silva told Veja Rio. “I was scared. I had never experienced anything like that before.”
The 39-year-old fighter spent the night at the Barra D’or hospital, and doctors said he had lower back pain.
“I couldn’t believe when I felt that back pain,” Silva said. “I thought I was going to be paralyzed.”
Silva was cleared to train again 10 days later, and his UFC 183 fight with Diaz is still on. The UFC legend doesn’t feel any back pain anymore, but his leg still hurts.
“I still feel pain in my leg, but I will kick with full force,” he said. “This is my ultimate test.”
Former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva was hospitalized on Nov. 3 with lower back pain after a jiu-jitsu session at X-Gym in Rio de Janeiro, and he thought for a moment his career would be over.
“The Spider,” who is training to get back in action on Jan. 31 against Nick Diaz after shattering his left leg in a rematch with Chris Weidman in 2013, was afraid he wouldn’t be able to walk again.
“I couldn’t move or feel my legs and feet,” Silva told Veja Rio. “I was scared. I had never experienced anything like that before.”
The 39-year-old fighter spent the night at the Barra D’or hospital, and doctors said he had lower back pain.
“I couldn’t believe when I felt that back pain,” Silva said. “I thought I was going to be paralyzed.”
Silva was cleared to train again 10 days later, and his UFC 183 fight with Diaz is still on. The UFC legend doesn’t feel any back pain anymore, but his leg still hurts.
“I still feel pain in my leg, but I will kick with full force,” he said. “This is my ultimate test.”
David Branch successfully defended his World Series of Fighting middleweight title for the first time on Nov. 15.
Headlining the WSOF 15 card in Tampa, Florida, the 185-pound middleweight champion scored his fifth win under the promotion’s banner with a fourth-round finish over UFC veteran Yushin Okami.
The grappling contest between Branch and Okami only lasted one round. From the second round on, both fighters decided to stand and trade punches. Branch started building his victory in the third round, connecting solid punches.
In the fourth round, Branch rocked Okami with a right straight punch. The Japanese veteran went down, and Branch followed with several hard punches, forcing the referee to mercifully stop the action.
Unbeaten in 12 professional fights coming into WSOF 15, the 155-pound champion Gaethje proved to have a great chin in the opening round against Guillard, who missed weight for the title fight. Gaethje moved forward the whole time, but Guillard was the one connecting the better shots.
Gaethje came back stronger in the second round, rocking Guillard with a right cross and a spinning elbow. Both fighters traded uppercuts and knees in the clinch, but couldn’t knock each other down.
The lightweight champion changed his game plan in the third and final round, mauling Guillard’s left leg with powerful leg kicks. Guillard could barely walk at some point, but Gaethje couldn’t get the finish.
After three rounds, Gaethje improved to 13-0 with a split decision victory, going the distance for the first time under the WSOF banner after scoring five straight finishes.
Jessica Aguilar still reigns supreme in the strawweight division. Coming off nine consecutive victories, the American Top Team talent successfully defended the WSOF championship for the second time, scoring a decision victory over Brazilian prospect Kalindra Faria.
After a close first round, Aguilar came back using more of her wrestling skills, taking the Brazilian down. She couldn’t keep the fight on the ground, as Faria went right back up most of the times, but did enough to comfortably win a triple 49-45 decision.
Chute Boxe veteran Jorge Patino “Macaco” scored a unanimous decision victory in the opening bout of WSOF 15’s main card.
Getting back to the WSOF cage following a TKO loss to Luis Palomino in January, the 41-year-old veteran dominated Eric Reynolds to win via decision in a bloody fight in Tampa. Working on takedowns and dozens of elbows from the mount, “Macaco” improves his record to 36-15-2 (with one no contests) in 19 years as a professional fighter.
David Branch successfully defended his World Series of Fighting middleweight title for the first time on Nov. 15.
Headlining the WSOF 15 card in Tampa, Florida, the 185-pound middleweight champion scored his fifth win under the promotion’s banner with a fourth-round finish over UFC veteran Yushin Okami.
The grappling contest between Branch and Okami only lasted one round. From the second round on, both fighters decided to stand and trade punches. Branch started building his victory in the third round, connecting solid punches.
In the fourth round, Branch rocked Okami with a right straight punch. The Japanese veteran went down, and Branch followed with several hard punches, forcing the referee to mercifully stop the action.
Unbeaten in 12 professional fights coming into WSOF 15, the 155-pound champion Gaethje proved to have a great chin in the opening round against Guillard, who missed weight for the title fight. Gaethje moved forward the whole time, but Guillard was the one connecting the better shots.
Gaethje came back stronger in the second round, rocking Guillard with a right cross and a spinning elbow. Both fighters traded uppercuts and knees in the clinch, but couldn’t knock each other down.
The lightweight champion changed his game plan in the third and final round, mauling Guillard’s left leg with powerful leg kicks. Guillard could barely walk at some point, but Gaethje couldn’t get the finish.
After three rounds, Gaethje improved to 13-0 with a split decision victory, going the distance for the first time under the WSOF banner after scoring five straight finishes.
Jessica Aguilar still reigns supreme in the strawweight division. Coming off nine consecutive victories, the American Top Team talent successfully defended the WSOF championship for the second time, scoring a decision victory over Brazilian prospect Kalindra Faria.
After a close first round, Aguilar came back using more of her wrestling skills, taking the Brazilian down. She couldn’t keep the fight on the ground, as Faria went right back up most of the times, but did enough to comfortably win a triple 49-45 decision.
Chute Boxe veteran Jorge Patino “Macaco” scored a unanimous decision victory in the opening bout of WSOF 15’s main card.
Getting back to the WSOF cage following a TKO loss to Luis Palomino in January, the 41-year-old veteran dominated Eric Reynolds to win via decision in a bloody fight in Tampa. Working on takedowns and dozens of elbows from the mount, “Macaco” improves his record to 36-15-2 (with one no contests) in 19 years as a professional fighter.
