Monday, February 8 4:37 pm PT: After the controversial report with Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Yoshizo Machida in the second issue, which motivated plenty of debate in the Internet forums, PVT Mag’s third edition features a cover story on Vitor Belfort.
Driven by the possibility of breaking another UFC record -- Belfort was the youngest fighter to win in the UFC and now wants to be the first to hold a championship title in three different weight classes -- “The Phenom” welcomed us to his karate gym. Apart from reminiscing about the greatest moments in his career, he discussed his hotly anticipated title bout against Anderson Silva. Belfort also remembered many interesting unpublished stories of his tough beginning with Carlson Gracie in the U.S. and revealed how fatherhood is making him a better fighter.
For this issue’s special feature, we visited jiu-jitsu’s muse, Kyra Gracie, at her home in Rio. We found out that Renzo’s nephew has already begun her boxing training in preparation for her debut on the MMA stage. The multiple-time world jiu-jitsu champion revealed that Cris Cyborg was her main source of inspiration.
In the “Heroes of The Ring” section, the controversial Pelé Landi tells unheard stories of his days in the IVC and with Chute Boxe. The Cuban recalled his best fights, talked about his two muay Thai fights against Anderson Silva and drafted his squad of all-time Brazilian MMA greats.
Closing out our third issue, we devoted Alonso’s Treasure Chest to a tribute to the two greatest icons in jiu-jitsu history: Hélio (who passed away on Jan. 29, 2009) and Carlson Gracie (who passed away on Feb. 1, 2006). They are two legendary forces of the fight world without whom we certainly wouldn’t be here talking about jiu-jitsu or MMA.
The Sherdog Radio Network kicked off another week of broadcasts with "The Savage Dog Show" and "Beatdown" programs on Monday.
On the "SDS" Greg and Jeff recapped UFC 109. Jeff also had his moment to gloat as he was the only SRN staffer to pick Chael Sonnen over Nate Marquardt. Greg and Jeff also took listener's calls and emails.
Meanwhile on "Beatdown'" Jack Encarnacao, Lotfi Sariahmed and myself were joined by World Extreme Cagefighting General Manager Reed Harris. Harris broke down the companies decision to move to pay-per-view this April and how he thinks Jose Aldo and Urijah Faber can be one of the best fights this year.
A fighter with indomitable will to succeed is a powerful thing. Leading into his UFC 109 bout with Randy Couture, Mark Coleman was exemplifying the kind of grit and attrition that had marked some of the bigger milestones in his career. If you didn’t expect him to win, you had to at least expect a fight.
His supporters got sobered up quickly. From bell one on Saturday, Coleman had no answers for a man several months older than himself: Couture beat him to the punch, time and again, worked him over in a clinch, and finally locked in a choke. It was a match between a wrestler-turned-MMA-fighter and a wrestler who fights in MMA. A marked difference.
Aided by Coleman’s frozen offense, Couture produced the kind of footage that will probably help propel him into an umpteenth title bid. And why not? There are few stories as enduring as Couture’s ability to remain a highly capable underdog. The suspense is leaking out, but Couture against Lyoto Machida is a big business fight. And the UFC is all business.
For purists, the real main event came 20 minutes prior when Chael Sonnen had the best -- and unlikeliest -- performance of his career, battering Nate Marquardt from inside Marquardt’s guard for 15 solid minutes. Sonnen has all the wrestling ability in the world, but was never able to put a complete game together for any consistent success. Now 3-1 in the UFC’s middleweight division, he could find himself up against Anderson Silva next. It may not be the reward he was expecting.
