Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Scenes From a Visit to Vitor "Shaolin" Ribeiro's School in NYC

MMA Journalist paid a visit to Vitor "Shaolin" Ribeiro's school in Midtown Manhattan tonight (check out the upcoming issue of Full Contact Fighter for the resulting interview). "Who the heck is Shaolin?" Why, you lousy noob! Shaolin is a three-time Mundial BJJ champ who's been a dominant force amongst lightweights worldwide for years. Sadly, he fights only in Japan now, but that could all change in the future.





Prediction for Extreme Challenge's "War at the Shore": It Could Be Awesome... or It Could Suck

Extreme Challenge's "War at the Shore" event, slated for January 23rd at the Tropicana Casino & Resort in Atlantic City, is just a little more than two weeks away, and based on what we know of the card - and what we don't know - MMA Journalist is predicting that the event could be very awesome. Or it could suck. It's still unknown if headliner Eddie Alvarez will be able to compete (thanks to Shinya Aoki's heelhook last week in Japan), and while the card is full of local stars and attractions, like Wilson Reis, Charlie Brenneman, Tuan Pham, Jesus Martinez and Zack Makovsky, they're facing unknowns from distant locales such as Ohio and Texas. Which begs the question: how many people are going to buy tickets to see a local guy fight someone no one knows anything about? Last but not least is Tara LaRosa, who is supposed to be on the card, but is still facing the illustrious "TBD". MMA Journalist will be there to liveblog regardless, but I sincerely hope this event works out. Extreme Challenge is too solid a brand for the promotion to come back to New Jersey and have a stinker.

Gray Maynard to Attempt to Make Sweet, Slow and Methodical Man-Love to Jim Miller at UFC 96

According to http://thegarv.com , Gray Maynard will be facing Jim Miller at UFC 96 - a match-up that will no doubt see the Xtreme Couture lightweight use his lay-and-pray strategy to attempt to make sweet, slow and methodical man-love to the exciting Octagon star. Both men are coming off of wins, with Maynard dry-humping Rich Clementi for the decision at UFC 90 and Miller dominating Matt Wiman in a heart-pounding three-round war at UFC Fight Night: "Fight for the Troops". The one-dimensional Maynard should have a tough time against the well-rounded Miller at UFC 96, though, and fans should expect a big, fat loss on his record after the March 7th event.