SB Nation User Blog: bigcherry

Murilo Bustamante Talks Greasing in MMA, Mentions Dan Henderson

bigcherry — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 00:00:55 -0000

Leader of Brazilian Top Team and ex-UFC Champ, Murilo Bustamente gave a brief interview to Tatame, after his student Maurício Reis lost to Felipe Olivieri last week on the third edition of WOCS that took place in Rio de Janeiro.

During the fight Maurício complained several times to the referee, saying Felipe was greased. The referee called the event promoter who decided to let the fight go on because he couldn’t prove that the slippery was from greasing. Felipe ended up knocking Maurício out on the second round.

Here is what Murilo Bustamente had to say after the fight:

“In a fight between two athletes, one from Muay Thai and the other one from Jiu-Jitsu, its obvious that the use of oils and such gives an unfair advantage to the fighter that would rather keep the fight standing as he will be harder to take down and harder to submit.

An example is the fight between Toquinho and Henderson on the UFC. After the fight Toquinho complained that he had a hard time keeping the american down and that Dan’s legs were too slippery otherwise he wouldn’t have escaped that leg lock.

We (BTT) know that Toquinho wouldn´t made this up, but we were naive at the time bringing that up only after the fight was over. People that are using illegal substances must be punished.”

I have no idea if those allegations are true or what mesures will be taken to mitigate this risk, but i think that

greasing is far more common then we think. Maybe BJ did help the sport after all, intentionally or not, by encouraging people to talk about it and putting the spotlight on the problem.

Lyoto needs to focus on May 23

bigcherry — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 03:50:48 -0000

When i got the news yesterday that Lyoto would be fighting for UFC LHW belt on may 23, I immediately recalled a couple of stories i saw last week on the brazilian site “uol”.

http://esporte.uol.com.br/lutas/ultimas/2009/03/03/ult4362u501.jhtm

http://esporte.uol.com.br/lutas/ultimas/2009/03/04/ult4362u502.jhtm

The first one is about Lyoto acting on a movie that is suposed to be shot in Canada in march or april. Althought Lyoto said he doesn´t now what the movie is about, he accepted the invite of the director Hector Echavarria an argentine kickboxing fighter. Echavarria was also the director of “Never Surrender”, a 2009 film wich featured mma stars such as BJ Penn, GSP, Anderson Silva and Rampage.

On second one Lyoto says that japan’s olympic superstar Ishii is going to Belem, Lyoto’s home city in Brazil, to learn a little bit more about MMA. The story states that the two met in a hotel during UFC 94 and that Ishii is suposed to have arrived in march 5 and should stay for 15 to 20 days.

Any way, between acting on a movie and training a mma newcomer, it looks to me that Lyoto might have too many distractions right now. If Machida is smart enough he will set those things aside, starting from yesterday, and focus on Rashad full time. In my opinion this is not a easy fight for Lyoto and it is definitly a step up on the competion for him.

Wanderlei Silva Updates

bigcherry — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 01:18:55 -0000

I´ve read two articles regarding Wand, one from Tatame and the other one from his official blog.

The Tatame´s one states that Wand is back in the USA and training with Xtreme Couture. He is training with guys like Randy Couture, Shawn Tompkins and belive it or not Phil Baroni, the same Baroni who he traded some punchs and compliments after the Coleman and Shogun fight. He is still training with his team but he rolls with Couture twice a week, so he gets used to the octagon faster. He is supposed to fight in May 24.

In his blog, Wand says that his next opponent isn´t confirmed but there is lots of talk about Keith Jardine. He is also looking forward for the Anderson and Henderson fight. Wand said that if Henderson wins, he wouldn´t think twice about moving down to 185 and getting his revenge over Dan. In either case he is thinking seriously about going to 185, because of his lack of height.

Shogun Hopes to Avenge Wanderlei

bigcherry — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 17:06:58 -0000

Here's a translation of a Shogun´s interview by Tatame here in Brazil. As you guys probably already know, Shogun signed a fight with Chuck Liddell for June:

Shogun: "I will avenge Wanderlei"

On the road to Praia do Rosa, in Santa Catarina, where he will spend the Carnival with his wife, Mauricio Shogun confirmed to TATAME the confrontation against Chuck Liddell for June in the UFC. " I´ve confirmed that fight yesterday. It´s all set for June and I hope to make a big fight and represent well my new team, the Universidade da Luta - UDL (Fight University), "said Shogun, which hopes to avenge his friend Wanderlei Silva, who was defeated by Liddell at UFC 79.

"Certainly I will avenge Wanderlei," said the athlete, who hopes to make an knowledge exchange with Wanderlei for the fight. "He passed by Curitiba (where Shogun lives) very fast and left for Natal, but he called me and we chatted quite a bit. We will exchange knowledge for the fight, but I do not know when that will happen. Everything depends on the strategy that my team will assemble for this fight," explained Shogun, and he is already analyzing the game of the American.

"He has a very good Boxing and Wrestling. The game of Liddell is to stand and trade with a good takedown defense, then it could be a mistake to try to put him down, because that requires a lot of strength. Although I'm yet to draw the best tactic with Alejo Morales, my brother and the rest of the team, I can exchange with him on my feet without problems and win this fight standing up," Shogun closed.