Still no UFC: Rio fight announced

[shady610]

i figured this would have leaked out already. i have to imagine that it will be tough to pick fighters with all the brazilians on the roster.

the only fighter that is gaurenteed to be on the show is Anderson. He has more than earned the right to headline and my guess is he will fight okami

[terpkeg]

I would expect another August card, PPV or Spike but probably PPV, in early August that they will start filling up first. I heard possibly Philly.

[Chairib]

UFC Rio will be in August and tickets are scheduled to be on sale in May.

Having the UFC come to Brazil and throw a show in Rio is a huge deal. Especially, in light of what happened after the Pentagon Combat fiasco.

Every Brazilian fighter is trying to be on this show, including Royce and Renzo Gracie. Nog wants to be healthy enough to fight on that show and Arona is planning on coming out of retirement then as well. You can count on Anderson Silva, Vitor Belfort, and Jose Aldo fighting.

[jin2daj]

UFC Rio will be in August and tickets are scheduled to be on sale in May.

Having the UFC come to Brazil and throw a show in Rio is a huge deal. Especially, in light of what happened after the Pentagon Combat fiasco.

Every Brazilian fighter is trying to be on this show, including Royce and Renzo Gracie. Nog wants to be healthy enough to fight on that show and Arona is planning on coming out of retirement then as well. You can count on Anderson Silva, Vitor Belfort, and Jose Aldo fighting.

whats the combat fiasco?

[RaiderNation MMA]

dude i heard royce gracie is gonna b on it!

[Chairib]

whats the combat fiasco?

Pentagon Combat is an event that happened in Rio back in 97 or so. It was promotion that was bankrolled by Sheikh Tahnoon Bin Zayed Al Nahyan and featured the big Jiu-Jitsu vs Luta Livre match featuring Renzo Gracie and Eugenio Tadeu. Renzo is one of the Sheikh's BJJ instructors. They hyped the hell out of it and pretty much all the big names in Brazilian MMA came out. Rio is the home of BJJ, all the major Gracie schools were founded there. Also, Eugenio Tadeu was a legendary Luta Livre fighter, next to Hugo Duarte there wasn't a bigger name.

Unfortunately, the only thing they didn't spend money on was security so by the time the Renzo/Eugenio fight started the area around the ring was crazy. It was only a matter of time but a fight broke out. So when Ryan Gracie and Luta Livre guy got into it out in the audience, it only took a split second for it to erupt into a full scale riot. Sucks too because that was such a great fight, very few come close to even rivaling the intensity of that match.

Though, they really should have known better to not have any security down there, putting BJJ guys together with Luta Livre guys back then was just asking for trouble. Those two schools hated each other back then, it was like the Bloods and the Crips. You had Luta Livre guys on the outside of the cage trying to kick, punch, and stab Renzo during the fight. It was nuts.

MMA matches were illegal in Rio after the riot and it wasn't until 2008 that they finally started allowing legitimate events again. It's also why UFC Brazil had to be held in Sao Paulo as well. Interesting side note about that UFC Brazil, right after Vitor beat Wanderlei, his camp rushed the Octagon and jumped the fence to celebrate and I'm told the UFC execs nearly shit their pants.

Oh that Sheikh, ended up just focusing his ADCC no-gi grappling tournament until just recently when he bought a small percentage of the UFC last year.

[bogbat]

Even though no fights are announced this should be great card if the top Brazilians get on it.

If Royce Gracie makes it onto the card I hope he's on the spike tv or facebook portion because although it will be interesting to see him fight again only relevant fights should be on the main card.

[FlashinLeather]

I don't see Royce beating anyone on the UFC roster...

[LayingThe$Down]

Interviewer: "Royce returning to the UFC in Rio?

Dana: "I don't think so."

Hardball negotiations or the truth? Hard to say.

http://www.mixedmartialarts.com/news/313713/Royce-preparing-for-UFC-Rio-Dana-White-dont-think-so/

It's at 2:35 in the vid.

[FlashinLeather]

Interviewer: "Royce returning to the UFC in Rio?

Dana: "I don't think so."

Hardball negotiations or the truth? Hard to say.

http://www.mixedmartialarts.com/news/313713/Royce-preparing-for-UFC-Rio-Dana-White-dont-think-so/

It's at 2:35 in the vid.

Dana has been known to lie in the past

[LayingThe$Down]

Dana has been known to lie in the past

How would lying about this serve the UFC's interests, though? No doubt dana has lied in the past, but I understood his reasoning in doing so then (most of the time, anyway).

Think of this: if Royce was going to be on the card, it would generate huge publicity in Brazil and work to the UFC's advantage, right?

How does it help the UFC to say publicly "Royce will not be on the Rio card" and kill any hype they could establish? And THEN put Royce on the card?

Putting Royce on the card makes sense in one way only: to sell tickets and get hype in Brazil. It makes no sense any other way because he is old and uncompetitive in 2011 MMA.

So, if Dana is going to put Royce on the card, isn't he shooting himself in the foot by first publicly declaring Royce will not be on the card?

Makes no sense to lie here imo.

[Chairib]

How would lying about this serve the UFC's interests, though? No doubt dana has lied in the past, but I understood his reasoning in doing so then (most of the time, anyway).

Think of this: if Royce was going to be on the card, it would generate huge publicity in Brazil and work to the UFC's advantage, right?

How does it help the UFC to say publicly "Royce will not be on the Rio card" and kill any hype they could establish? And THEN put Royce on the card?

Putting Royce on the card makes sense in one way only: to sell tickets and get hype in Brazil. It makes no sense any other way because he is old and uncompetitive in 2011 MMA.

So, if Dana is going to put Royce on the card, isn't he shooting himself in the foot by first publicly declaring Royce will not be on the card?

Makes no sense to lie here imo.

At this point Dana could say anything and it wouldn't detract from the hype surround UFC Rio. This is a huge event, not only for the UFC but for Brazilian MMA as well. Rio is the birthplace of BJJ and Vale Tudo, and to finally have an event there is a big deal.

Dana has 40 different Brazilian fighters currently campaigning to get on that card. As long as he gets the big names like Anderson Silva, Shogun, Belfort, and Aldo, he's going to be just fine. Getting a Gracie on the card would be a nice way to round it out. But the last thing he's going to do is agree to Royce or Renzo right off the bat, there's a lot of discussion going on right now because that's taking up a slot they could use for somebody a little more relevant.

Make no mistake Dana's words are clear: at this point the Gracies need them a whole lot more than, they need the Gracies.

[The HOFF]

MMAjunkie.com has confirmed that UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva and Yushin Okami have each verbally agreed to meet in August at "UFC: Rio," the UFC's first event in Brazil since 1998.

UFC president Dana White first revealed the booking to USA Today, and MMAjunkie.com subsequently confirmed that both parties are committed to the fight, though bout agreements have not yet been distributed.

[shady610]

This could be a great fight because i dont see okami stopping putting the pressure on anderson.

[JoshB]

I like that fight, expect Silva to win but maybe Okami can take a page out of Chaels book and win with his rasslin' skills

[THE_LOCKSMITH]

either UFC 133 or 134 August 27 in Rio

Anderson Silva vs Yusin Okami
Forrest Griffin vs Mauricio Rua

http://www.mmamania.com/2011/4/15/21...o-on-august-27

[sportsfanatic]

going to be interesting to find out what the odds for griffin vs rua will open at. probably rua heavy favorite but hoping maybe not.

[jin2daj]

Pentagon Combat is an event that happened in Rio back in 97 or so. It was promotion that was bankrolled by Sheikh Tahnoon Bin Zayed Al Nahyan and featured the big Jiu-Jitsu vs Luta Livre match featuring Renzo Gracie and Eugenio Tadeu. Renzo is one of the Sheikh's BJJ instructors. They hyped the hell out of it and pretty much all the big names in Brazilian MMA came out. Rio is the home of BJJ, all the major Gracie schools were founded there. Also, Eugenio Tadeu was a legendary Luta Livre fighter, next to Hugo Duarte there wasn't a bigger name.

Unfortunately, the only thing they didn't spend money on was security so by the time the Renzo/Eugenio fight started the area around the ring was crazy. It was only a matter of time but a fight broke out. So when Ryan Gracie and Luta Livre guy got into it out in the audience, it only took a split second for it to erupt into a full scale riot. Sucks too because that was such a great fight, very few come close to even rivaling the intensity of that match.

Though, they really should have known better to not have any security down there, putting BJJ guys together with Luta Livre guys back then was just asking for trouble. Those two schools hated each other back then, it was like the Bloods and the Crips. You had Luta Livre guys on the outside of the cage trying to kick, punch, and stab Renzo during the fight. It was nuts.

MMA matches were illegal in Rio after the riot and it wasn't until 2008 that they finally started allowing legitimate events again. It's also why UFC Brazil had to be held in Sao Paulo as well. Interesting side note about that UFC Brazil, right after Vitor beat Wanderlei, his camp rushed the Octagon and jumped the fence to celebrate and I'm told the UFC execs nearly shit their pants.

Oh that Sheikh, ended up just focusing his ADCC no-gi grappling tournament until just recently when he bought a small percentage of the UFC last year.

video is nuts!!!

thanks so much man.

cheers

[Pabinator]

Im glad Silva is fighting someone else and not Pierre at this point. I wanna see him go up after this instead of down in weight

[markteal]

either UFC 133 or 134 August 27 in Rio

Anderson Silva vs Yusin Okami

Can't wait to see this one if it happens

[sportsfanatic]

okami knows he actually lost the first fight. i'm already thinking about who silva will fight next after okami. sonnen rematch?

[xelance]

Additionally, a new light heavyweight matchup was revealed, as Luiz Cane meets Stanislav Nedkov.






UFC 134, originally announced as "UFC: Rio," takes place Aug. 27 at HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro and is expected to feature a middleweight title fight between Anderson Silva and the last man to hold a win over him, Yushin Okami.
Cane (11-3 MMA, 4-3 UFC) looks to build on the strength of an impressive March win over Eliot Marshall. The Brazilian slugger appeared in peak form after a change in training camps, and the positive result snapped a disappointing two-fight losing streak.
Meanwhile, the undefeated Nedkov (11-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) tries for the third time to make his octagon debut. The Bulgarian import previously was expected to face Rodney Wallace at UFC 117 and Steven Cantwell at UFC 120. Injury forced Nedkov out against Wallace, while a last-second injury to Cantwell left Nedkov's second attempt at a UFC debut a late scratch.

[Chairib]

Nedkov's finally fighting, it's about freaking time.

[stefan084]

even though he might not win, would still love to see Royce one more time

[jin2daj]

even though he might not win, would still love to see Royce one more time

sure as bonus fight but to take the place on the card of a REAL fight is not something i would be happy about paying for.

if royce fights he would be on the main card, he would be taking the place of somebody like tavares vs fisher or the luiz cane fight.


it might be just me but id rather watch real contenders.

[sportsfanatic]

royce needs to stay retired. age catches up with everyone. it's time to move on.

[xelance]

Nedkov's finally fighting, it's about freaking time.

haha, seriously!