European Throwdown: Notes from Iberia to Siberia
Tim Leidecker Aug 10, 2007
The mixed martial arts phenomenon has officially hit the old
world.
European MMA is far removed from being "just Cage Rage" anymore. Events keep popping up in England, Scotland, Denmark and Germany; while the continent's top fighters continue to compete in some of the biggest promotions around the globe.
Swiss stars prefer the guillotine
Switzerland-based BTT member Augusto Frota (Pictures) and his top student Ivan Mussardo (Pictures) rebounded from tough losses at Shooto's "Back To Our Roots 2" in March to capture submission victories at Cage Wars' "Scotland The Brave" in Glasgow last weekend.
Also successful that night was Marcelo Lopez -- another promising pupil of Frota -- and CageWarriors bantamweight champion Paul McVeigh.
"Blitz" looking to strike in Vegas
Stefan Leko (Pictures) takes to the ring Saturday at the K-1 World Grand Prix in Las Vegas, an event "Blitz" has fond memories of.
Leko won the tournament in 2001, scoring a highlight reel knockout over Dutch legend Peter Aerts (Pictures) in the final. The 33-year-old German will participate in a "super fight" against "Mighty Mo" Siala Siliga (Pictures).
Also on the card, the always entertaining Ray Sefo (Pictures) and 6' 8" Björn Bregy do battle.
K-1 announced late Thursday that Israeli Ariel Mastov will step in for Chalid Arrab (Pictures), who was removed from the bill after he was unable to obtain credentials to enter the United States. Mastov will confront Czech Petr Vondracek.
The brackets for this years' eight-man tourney are as follows:
Aleksandr Pichkunov (Russia) vs. Tsuyoshi Nakasako (Japan)
Scott Lighty (USA) vs. Rick Cheek (Pictures) (USA)
Patrick Barry (USA) vs. Rickard Nordstrand (Sweden)
Zabit Samedov (Russia) vs. Esh'Chadar (USA)
BodogFIGHT season six: The Swedes are coming
Even though bodogFIGHT cancelled the participation of many German, English and Finnish fighters for the season six taping of its weekly TV show, it doesn't mean that there will be any shortage of Euro athletes when the cameras start rolling in Vancouver on Aug. 25.
There will be a quartet of Swedish fighters trying to make their mark for the promotion of billionaire Calvin Ayre: "Hilti NHB" fighter Piotr Jakaczynski joins teammates Sami Aziz , Diego Gonzalez and Per Eklund (Pictures) on the show.
Eklund is considered by many experts to be the best European fighter under 155-pounds who is not currently under contract in a major organization. The submission fighter from Stockholm is expected to face American Top Team member Rafael Diaz in one of the most intriguing match-ups of the upcoming season.
"Fighter Galla" returns with lightweight title fight
One of the biggest Danish events is the "Fighter Galla" out of Odense in Southern Denmark. On Sept. 22, the promoters will put on the fifth event of the series, again from Sct. Jørgens Hallen.
On the card is some of Denmark's top talent such as Sonny Nielsen and Kenneth Rosfort, as well as some very solid foreign fighters in undefeated German talent Florian Muller, Czech knockout artist Vaclav Pribyl and Dutch Shooto vet Marc Duncan (Pictures).
Also scheduled is Denmark's very first women's bout between Elina Nilsson from Sweden and "Dutchwoman" Willemijn van Zon.
Fighter Galla 5 Fight Card:
Morten Djursaa (Denmark) vs. Fatih Balci (Germany)
Danny Petterson (Denmark) vs. Premysl Rozum (Czech Republic)
Elina Nilsson (Sweden) vs. Willemijn van Zon (Holland)
Rasmus Bendtsen (Denmark) vs. Mohammad Omar (Germany)
Kenneth Rosfort (Denmark) vs. Frodi Hansen (Denmark)
Peter Kirkegaard (Denmark) vs. Florian Muller (Germany)
Mikael Taipalus (Denmark) vs. Vaclav Pribyl (Czech Republic)
John Olsen (Denmark) vs. Rauf Omar (Germany)
Sonny Nielsen (Denmark) vs. Marc Duncan (Pictures) (Holland)
Stapel can pick his spots
German MMA pioneer Mario Stapel has plenty of offers to fight in the next three months, despite only going .500 in his last four fights. The 30-year-old BJJ black belt has been contacted by Gladiator Challenge to fight on its Sept. 22 show in Sacramento, California.
Eight days later the lightweight from Gieben has an offer to face Australian BTT member Luke Picklum at FFC's "All or Nothing" event at the Kohlrabizirkus in Leipzig. In addition, Stapel could also book himself on his own show Oct. 6 at the Hessenhalle.
And if that wasn't enough, the Shooto veteran has been promised a FX3 title fight against Englishman Andre Winner (Pictures) on Nov. 24.
"Pythagoras" to fight in Pancrase
No, not the Greek mathematician and philosopher. French Top Team member Emmanuel "Pythagoras" Fernandez is set to make his Pancrase debut on Sept. 30. The 35-year-old submission specialist from Cognac turned more than a few heads when he handed previously unbeaten Alex Owen (Pictures) in their FX3 title clash back in July.
Emmanuel, who trains with his younger brother Frederic as well as Mohamed Khacha (Pictures) and the Schiavo brothers at FTT, will face Daichi Fujiwara (Pictures) from Pancrase Inagakigumi.
Fujiwara is known for his weird hairstyles, and recently had his unbeaten record snapped when he suffered a back injury against Miki Shida (Pictures) last December.
For more mixed martial arts news coverage in German language log on to Ground & Pound at www.groundandpound.de
European MMA is far removed from being "just Cage Rage" anymore. Events keep popping up in England, Scotland, Denmark and Germany; while the continent's top fighters continue to compete in some of the biggest promotions around the globe.
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Switzerland-based BTT member Augusto Frota (Pictures) and his top student Ivan Mussardo (Pictures) rebounded from tough losses at Shooto's "Back To Our Roots 2" in March to capture submission victories at Cage Wars' "Scotland The Brave" in Glasgow last weekend.
Frota took out Irishman Peter
Duncan via guillotine choke halfway through the second round to
improve to 8-3 while Mussardo needed only 22 seconds to finish
Martin Begley, who had
won the Ring Of Truth lightweight tournament a week before.
Also successful that night was Marcelo Lopez -- another promising pupil of Frota -- and CageWarriors bantamweight champion Paul McVeigh.
"Blitz" looking to strike in Vegas
Stefan Leko (Pictures) takes to the ring Saturday at the K-1 World Grand Prix in Las Vegas, an event "Blitz" has fond memories of.
Leko won the tournament in 2001, scoring a highlight reel knockout over Dutch legend Peter Aerts (Pictures) in the final. The 33-year-old German will participate in a "super fight" against "Mighty Mo" Siala Siliga (Pictures).
Also on the card, the always entertaining Ray Sefo (Pictures) and 6' 8" Björn Bregy do battle.
K-1 announced late Thursday that Israeli Ariel Mastov will step in for Chalid Arrab (Pictures), who was removed from the bill after he was unable to obtain credentials to enter the United States. Mastov will confront Czech Petr Vondracek.
The brackets for this years' eight-man tourney are as follows:
Aleksandr Pichkunov (Russia) vs. Tsuyoshi Nakasako (Japan)
Scott Lighty (USA) vs. Rick Cheek (Pictures) (USA)
Patrick Barry (USA) vs. Rickard Nordstrand (Sweden)
Zabit Samedov (Russia) vs. Esh'Chadar (USA)
BodogFIGHT season six: The Swedes are coming
Even though bodogFIGHT cancelled the participation of many German, English and Finnish fighters for the season six taping of its weekly TV show, it doesn't mean that there will be any shortage of Euro athletes when the cameras start rolling in Vancouver on Aug. 25.
There will be a quartet of Swedish fighters trying to make their mark for the promotion of billionaire Calvin Ayre: "Hilti NHB" fighter Piotr Jakaczynski joins teammates Sami Aziz , Diego Gonzalez and Per Eklund (Pictures) on the show.
Eklund is considered by many experts to be the best European fighter under 155-pounds who is not currently under contract in a major organization. The submission fighter from Stockholm is expected to face American Top Team member Rafael Diaz in one of the most intriguing match-ups of the upcoming season.
"Fighter Galla" returns with lightweight title fight
One of the biggest Danish events is the "Fighter Galla" out of Odense in Southern Denmark. On Sept. 22, the promoters will put on the fifth event of the series, again from Sct. Jørgens Hallen.
On the card is some of Denmark's top talent such as Sonny Nielsen and Kenneth Rosfort, as well as some very solid foreign fighters in undefeated German talent Florian Muller, Czech knockout artist Vaclav Pribyl and Dutch Shooto vet Marc Duncan (Pictures).
Also scheduled is Denmark's very first women's bout between Elina Nilsson from Sweden and "Dutchwoman" Willemijn van Zon.
Fighter Galla 5 Fight Card:
Morten Djursaa (Denmark) vs. Fatih Balci (Germany)
Danny Petterson (Denmark) vs. Premysl Rozum (Czech Republic)
Elina Nilsson (Sweden) vs. Willemijn van Zon (Holland)
Rasmus Bendtsen (Denmark) vs. Mohammad Omar (Germany)
Kenneth Rosfort (Denmark) vs. Frodi Hansen (Denmark)
Peter Kirkegaard (Denmark) vs. Florian Muller (Germany)
Mikael Taipalus (Denmark) vs. Vaclav Pribyl (Czech Republic)
John Olsen (Denmark) vs. Rauf Omar (Germany)
Sonny Nielsen (Denmark) vs. Marc Duncan (Pictures) (Holland)
Stapel can pick his spots
German MMA pioneer Mario Stapel has plenty of offers to fight in the next three months, despite only going .500 in his last four fights. The 30-year-old BJJ black belt has been contacted by Gladiator Challenge to fight on its Sept. 22 show in Sacramento, California.
Eight days later the lightweight from Gieben has an offer to face Australian BTT member Luke Picklum at FFC's "All or Nothing" event at the Kohlrabizirkus in Leipzig. In addition, Stapel could also book himself on his own show Oct. 6 at the Hessenhalle.
And if that wasn't enough, the Shooto veteran has been promised a FX3 title fight against Englishman Andre Winner (Pictures) on Nov. 24.
"Pythagoras" to fight in Pancrase
No, not the Greek mathematician and philosopher. French Top Team member Emmanuel "Pythagoras" Fernandez is set to make his Pancrase debut on Sept. 30. The 35-year-old submission specialist from Cognac turned more than a few heads when he handed previously unbeaten Alex Owen (Pictures) in their FX3 title clash back in July.
Emmanuel, who trains with his younger brother Frederic as well as Mohamed Khacha (Pictures) and the Schiavo brothers at FTT, will face Daichi Fujiwara (Pictures) from Pancrase Inagakigumi.
Fujiwara is known for his weird hairstyles, and recently had his unbeaten record snapped when he suffered a back injury against Miki Shida (Pictures) last December.
For more mixed martial arts news coverage in German language log on to Ground & Pound at www.groundandpound.de
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