Just a friendly reminder that the inaugural Amazon Forest Combat show is tomorrow and for those of you who want to watch it, we’ll have a stream. Fair warning: Chael Sonnen tells us the Internet quality in Brazil is slightly better than dial-up, so the quality may be a bit less than 720p.
Anyway, the card for this show is a good one and definitely worth watching. According to the promotion’s website, it should be live around 8:00 pm ET Wednesday.
(Main event, huh? Interesting choice.)
Just a friendly reminder that the inaugural Amazon Forest Combat show is tomorrow and for those of you who want to watch it, we’ll have a stream. Fair warning: Chael Sonnen tells us the Internet quality in Brazil is slightly better than dial-up, so the quality may be a bit less than 720p.
Anyway, the card for this show is a good one and definitely worth watching. According to the promotion’s website, it should be live around 8:00 pm ET Wednesday.
Satoshi Ishii versus Paulo Filho should be a great scrap, as should Ronys Torres versus Drew Fickett and Lopes Dileno versus Ian MacCall. Antonio Braga Neto versus Maiquel Falcao has potential as long as both fighters engage and it doesn’t end up looking like Harris-Falcao. One way to ensure this would be to have Neto dress up like Falcao’s wife. Too soon?
Although the expiration date on the Royler Gracie-Masakatsu Ueda fight may have passed some time ago, it’s worth watching simply because it might be Royler’s last bout.
If Karo Parisyan is in as good as shape as we’re told he’s in (and judging by this photo he is) and has been taking his training seriously since being back with Gokor Chivichyan, Jordan Smith might be in trouble.
For those of you who are JuJu Panicat fans, she’ll be the ring card girl at the event.
Check back in later tonight for the live stream of the event and don’t ever say we don’t look after the Potato Nation.
Amazon Forest Combat September 14, 2011 Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil
Royler Gracie vs. Masakatsu Ueda
Satoshi Ishii vs. Paulo Filho
Josh Burkman vs. Roan Carneiro
Antonio Braga Neto vs. Maiquel Falcao
Alexandre “Capitao” vs. Shanon Slack
Jordan Smith vs. Karo Parisyan
Ronys Torres vs. Drew Fickett
Lopes Dileno vs. Ian MacCall
George Clay vs. Anthony Birchak
Funny thing about literal translations: they’re rarely very good at saying exactly what you mean, rather they tend to sort-of-in-a-general-way communicate a rough idea. And sometimes, they’re downright misleading. Take judo, for example. The Japanese translates into English imprecisely to begin with: ju translates literally as “gentle” or “soft”, while do is “way” or “path”. Both of these concepts relate more to the philosophy of judo — conservation of energy and an emphasis on technique — than a description of the style and action. Ask anyone who’s ever tried a few classes in the “gentle way“, and they’ll tell you that it’s anything but. Any class that begins with learning how to fall down with minimal pain runs a significant risk of being brutal.
Judo was born in the late 19th Century by a Japanese jujitsu fella by the name of Jiguro Kano, known to his brodogs as “Da Jigumon”. Kano had begun training as a result of being bullied growing up —a storythat stillrings truethrough time. At the time, “jujitsu” was something of a generic term for unarmed fighting, and schools varied wildy in technique, training methods, and instruction.
Funny thing about literal translations: they’re rarely very good at saying exactly what you mean; rather, they tend to sort-of-in-a-general-way communicate a rough idea. And sometimes, they’re downright misleading. Take judo, for example. The Japanese translates into English imprecisely to begin with: ju translates literally as “gentle” or “soft”, while do is “way” or “path”. Both of these concepts relate more to the philosophy of judo — conservation of energy and an emphasis on technique — than a description of the style and action. Ask anyone who’s ever tried a few classes in the “gentle way“, and they’ll tell you that it’s anything but. Any class that begins with learning how to fall down with minimal pain runs a significant risk of being brutal.
Judo was born in the late 19th Century by a Japanese jujitsu fella by the name of Jiguro Kano, known to his brodogs as “Da Jigumon”. Kano had begun training as a result of being bullied growing up –a storythat stillrings truethrough time. At the time, “jujitsu” was something of a generic term for unarmed fighting, and schools varied wildy in technique, training methods, and instruction.
Kano redefined weaponless combat by focusing on a relative handful of techniques from jujitsu schools, emphasizing techniques that were a) actually applicable in real life situations (so they threw out the Scorpion kick and the Torture Rack) and b) safe to practice on a live partner (so they dropped the tiger claw eye gouge to spinal cord asplosion touch of death).
His break from practicing martial arts primarily through kata (waving your arms around in the air and looking all silly) and placing an importance on randori (actual ass kicking with a real live person) was revolutionary.
Japanese jujitsu schools continued to develop, influence, and challenge judo. It was a small jujitsu school (Fusen ryu) that was on the vanguard of ground-based grappling that led to a heightened interest in learning something besides how to throw someone to the ground really hard. The result was a surge of ne waza judo around the turn of the century, just when Mitsuyo Maeda was studying martial arts. A student of both classical-style jujitsu and Jiguro Kano’s judo, Maeda emigrated to Brazil before World War I, where he met a Brazilian fella by the name of Gracie. But that’s a whole other story.
Judo continues to evolve, particularly the rules of international competition. But throwing somebody down really hard is still really, really awesome.
Judo Strengths
Judo players tend to bring a great deal of upper body strength to the cage for MMA, and their standing clinch work is as good as any style. They tend to be explosive athletes, with knockout power. Add to that training with submissions and ground fighting, and it is a powerful base.
Judo’s popularity in MMA waxes and wanes — remember when Karo Parisyan was an exciting new prospect? — and with an influx of new blood lately, interest is gaining again.
The uchi mata is one of the throws you may spot in MMA. Megumi Fujii has a beautiful uchi mata, and that’s not slang for anything. Judo master/sambo savant/all-round grappling ninja Gokor Chivichyan won a gold medal at the 2008 USJA/USJF Winter Nationals with an uchi mata, and we found this very cool video of his demonstrating a slick kneebar off of a defended uchi mata. And that’s just one throw. Judo has, like, a whole lot.
Ok, Nation, brush up on your Japanese, go watch a few YouTube videos, and get out there and start hip tossing fools. It’s what Jiguro Kano would want.*
By Mike Russell (Parisyan says he’s motivated to beat Smith and get back on the winning track.) Karo “The Heat” Parisyan (19-7) will take on Jordan “Mata Ele” Smith (15-2-1) September 14 at the upstart Amazon Forest Combat promotion’s first event in Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil.
Parisyan informed CagePotato.com last night that the bout agreements for the fight have been signed and said that he’s excited to get back out and put on an even better performance than he did in his last outing in May at MMA Live 1against Ryan “The Real Deal” Ford in London, Ontario, Canada. He was winning the fight heading into the third round, having controlled the action using takedowns and his trademark judo throws, but was caught with a well-timed knee by the Canadian welterweight standout who recently signed with Bellator and the bout was stopped due to a cut. The heartbreaking loss left a bad taste in Parisyan’s mouth and motivated him to up his training intensity while awaiting word of his next bout.
By Mike Russell (Parisyan says he’s motivated to beat Smith and get back on the winning track.) Karo “The Heat” Parisyan (19-7) will take on Jordan “Mata Ele” Smith (15-2-1) September 14 at the upstart Amazon Forest Combat promotion’s first event in Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil.
Parisyan informed CagePotato.com last night that the bout agreements for the fight have been signed and said that he’s excited to get back out and put on an even better performance than he did in his last outing in May at MMA Live 1against Ryan “The Real Deal” Ford in London, Ontario, Canada. He was winning the fight heading into the third round, having controlled the action using takedowns and his trademark judo throws, but was caught with a well-timed knee by the Canadian welterweight standout who recently signed with Bellator and the bout was stopped due to a cut. The heartbreaking loss left a bad taste in Parisyan’s mouth and motivated him to up his training intensity while awaiting word of his next bout.
As we reported in June, the Armenian judoka texted Dana White to let the UFC president know that he was willing to step in for Nate Marquardt at UFC Live on Versus 4 on short notice after the Team Jackson’s fighter wasn’t cleared to face Rick Story because of high levels of testosterone which were a result of a mistimed testosterone replacement injection. Charlie Brenneman got the fight, but Parisyan’s offer likely gained him some respect in the eyes of White, who cut the beleaguered fighter who once struggled with addiction and anxiety for the second time in his career following a disappointing loss to Dennis Hallman at UFC 123 last November.
Karo has since turned the corner and says that he has his demons in check and seems motivated for the first time in a while, which hopefully will mean we’ll soon see a resurgence of “The Heat.” UFC commentator Joe Rogan has said that a motivated Karo Parisyan is a dangerous Karo Parisyan and if his rededication to the sport is any indication, Jordan Smith may be in trouble.
Also on the card will be a middleweight match-up between Japanese Olympic judo gold medalist Saoshi Ishii and former PRIDE standout and WEC 185-pound champion Paulo Filho and Royler Gracie’s final MMA bout against Shooto champion Masakatsu Ueda.
———-
Amazon Forest Combat 1
September 14, 2011
Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil
Satoshi Ishii vs. Paulo Filho
Royler Gracie vs. Masakatsu Ueda
Josh Burkman vs. Roan Carneiro
Antonio Braga Neto vs. Maiquel Falcao
Alexandre “Capitao” vs. Shanon Slack
Jordan Smith vs. Karo Parisyan
Ronys Torres vs. Drew Fickett
Lopes Dileno vs. Ian MacCall
George Clay vs. Anthony Birchak
Genki Sudo vs. Royler Gracie, from K-1 Romanex 5/22/2004
When we last checked in on Royler Gracie, the forty five year old Brazilian was looking for an opponent for Amazon Forest Combat’s inaugural event on September 14th. Initially, we reported that Royler turned down an ADCC bout with Eddie Bravo in hopes of getting him to fight at this event. Later, it was revealed that Hideo Tokoro was initially targeted as an opponent for Royler Gracie, but that fight fell through because Tokoro will more than likely be fighting at a Dream September event. Now, as Sherdog reported earlier today, former Shooto champion Masakatsu Ueda has stepped up to fight Royler Gracie in what will be his final MMA bout.
Royler Gracie is 5-4-1 in his professional MMA career. He hasn’t fought since losing to Hideo Tokoro at K-1 Premium 2006 Dynamite!! on New Year’s Eve, 2006. Ueda, meanwhile, is 13-1-2 and riding a three fight win streak. He most recently knocked out Rumina Sato with a body kick on July 18th. If you’re a believer in “momentum” and/or “cage rust”, then Ueda is easily the early favorite.
Genki Sudo vs. Royler Gracie, from K-1 Romanex 5/22/2004
When we last checked in on Royler Gracie, the forty five year old Brazilian was looking for an opponent for Amazon Forest Combat’s inaugural event on September 14th. Initially, we reported that Royler turned down an ADCC bout with Eddie Bravo in hopes of getting him to fight at this event. Later, it was revealed that Hideo Tokoro was initially targeted as an opponent for Royler Gracie, but that fight fell through because Tokoro will more than likely be fighting at a Dream September event. Now, as Sherdog reported earlier today, former Shooto champion Masakatsu Ueda has stepped up to fight Royler Gracie in what will be his final MMA bout.
Royler Gracie is 5-4-1 in his professional MMA career. He hasn’t fought since losing to Hideo Tokoro at K-1 Premium 2006 Dynamite!! on New Year’s Eve, 2006. Ueda, meanwhile, is 13-1-2 and riding a three fight win streak. He most recently knocked out Rumina Sato with a body kick on July 18th. If you’re a believer in “momentum” and/or “cage rust”, then Ueda is easily the early favorite.
Interestingly, the bout will be contested at a catch weight of 154 pounds. Masakatsu Ueda is a natural bantamweight who held Shooto’s featherweight (132 lbs in Shooto’s weight classes) title. Of course, given that the only other fight currently set for this card is Paulo Filho vs. Satoshi Ishii, this doesn’t come as much of a surprise. Weight classes are for gangsters in America, not fighters in Brazil.
Visa issues have knocked former Olympic judo gold medalist Satoshi Ishii out of his Strikeforce debut on April 1.
Unbeaten light-heavyweight Lorenz Larkin (8-0) will replace him in a bout against Scott Lighty, Strikeforce confirmed in a press release.
According to the promotion, Ishii was unable to secure a visa at least partly due to the natural disasters that have struck his home country of Japan over the last few weeks.
Filed under: Strikeforce, NewsSatoshi Ishii isn’t a member of Strikeforce … yet.
Reports out of Japan state that the former Olympic judoka is set to debut for Strikeforce as early as Feb. 12, but Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker told MMA Fighting on Wedn…
Reports out of Japan state that the former Olympic judoka is set to debut for Strikeforce as early as Feb. 12, but Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker told MMA Fighting on Wednesday that the organization has not come to terms with Ishii.
Visa issues have knocked former Olympic judo gold medalist 
