The unexpected news rippled through the news channels yesterday with Sherdog at the epicenter of the reports: Strikeforce light-heavyweight champion Gegard Mousasi has decided to cease his business relationship with the Russian-based promotional machine, M-1 Global.

After careful consideration, I have decided that it is in my best interest to part ways with M-1 Global.

Mousasi's fight career was being managed by Apy Echteld (employed by M-1 Global), and the Armenian fighter has also stated that "someone close" to him will now be handling that task instead of Echteld.  A column by MMAJunkie divulges an offer of "lifetime security" for Mousasi that was vetoed by an unnamed M-1 executive, which may have propagated Mousasi's departure.

I love the sport with a true passion; much like I'm assuming anyone reading this article does.  One of the facets I enjoy most about MMA is witnessing the meteoric rise of fighters who materialize out of nowhere to isolate themselves as standout competitors through dominant and exciting performances.

In that vein, I would like to introduce Amilcar Alves, an 11-1 fighter who has taken the Brazilian combat scene by storm by overwhelming his opponents with an immeasurable array of offensive weapons.  Training alongside elite-echelon fighters at the highly touted Nova Uniao fight team like world champion Jose Aldo, top Sengoku featherweight Marlon Sandro, and upcoming UFC brawler Ronnys Torres, Alves is known for unleashing a hurricane of hostile Muay Thai on the feet, and he's also proficient with aggressive submissions on the mat.

He has an extensive 25 years years of experience with Judo, 10 years with Muay Thai, and now several years of intense Brazilian Jiu Jitsu under the tutelage of the great Andre Pederneiras.  Pederneiras has overseen such submission grappling greats as B.J. Penn, Vitor "Shaolin" Ribeiro, Marc Laimon, Marcus Aurelio, and Renato "Charuto" Verissimo.

After trouncing Fernando Paulon (video), the only fighter to ever best him

There are two reasons why you should know and love Brazilian MMA fighter Joaquim "Mamute" Ferreira:  the first is that he is the only fighter to not only defeat UFC heavyweight mangler Junior Dos Santos, but finish him with a slick armbar; the second is that he is an old school Sepultura fan and the Cavalera brothers are what got him into fighting.

You say you have no idea who or what a "Sepultura" is?  You probably either get the senior discount on your McDonald's coffee, listen to Michael Bolton, or you're an avid badminton fan (not that there's anything wrong with any of those exemplary qualities).

Before we get into the interview, let's discuss Mamute's losses.  A quick glance at his 8-3 record does not relate the full story nor reflect the talent that this young man exudes.  He suffered his first two losses on the same night in the XFC tournament in Rio De Janeiro.  He first engaged Andre Mussi to a grueling decision that most believed Mamute should have won, and as a testament to this, Mussi was unable to continue in the tournament finals because he was too worn-down and injured from Mamute's submissions.  Exhausted himself, Mamute stepped up and took Mussi's position in the tournament finals later that evening against a man named Junior Dos Santos.

I was able to catch up with Ron Foster, a former MMA fighter and the man in charge of making the magic happen for the rapidly accelerating Shine Fight Promotions.

Shine Fights vaulted into the MMA spotlight with the star-studded lineup of their second event, titled "ATT vs. The World".  The card featured a compelling and diverse blend of both experienced veterans as well as promising up and comers, such as Yves Edwards, Roan Carneiro, Micah Miller, Jorge "Macaco" Patino, Junior Assuncao, and Luis "Buscape" Firmino.

Shine Fights has been swallowing up oodles of talent as of late, signing former pro boxer Ricardo Mayorga (who will make his MMA debut for the promotion in March of 2010), Murilo "Ninja" Rua, and Russian fighter Alexander Shlemenko, to name a few.  The upcoming Shine card will feature Mayorga's debut against a yet to be announced opponent (although Din Thomas is quite vocally lobbying for the fight), Hector Lombard vs. Alexandre "Cacareco" Ferreira, the rematch between Luis Azeredo and Luis "Buscape" Firmino from their stellar fight at Pride Bushido 6, and exciting Luta Livre fighter Luciano Azevedo versus the HIT Squad's BJJ coach, Kyle Watson.

 

Jerry Bohlander is one of the original members of the infamous Lions Den camp, the first official UFC Lightweight Champion, and one of the fighters who inspired my involvement with MMA.

I was fortunate enough to get a chance to correspond with Jerry on a number of topics, such as training at "The Den", what he thinks of the evolution of the UFC and MMA, and what it was like being coached by Ken and Frank Shamrock. Jerry also discusses his war with Scott Ferrozzo, which is still one of my all-time favorite fights.

Since you were such a prominent figure in MMA during a unique time in the sport’s youth, how do you feel about what the sport has evolved into today?

"I think the growth is great. The potential for a fighter to make a great living is there. I like the fact that there are so many quality clubs right now that offer a variety of techniques, skills, and styles. Of course, just about every McDojo out there offers some kind of MMA class with an expert instructor. Even in the little town that I live in there is a guy claiming to have trained extensively with Ken and frank (Shamrock). By extensively he is referring to the 1 time a week he used to drive out to the Lodi Lions Den back when we used to train there. Anyway, I’m going to get off of my high horse and tell you that I appreciate where the sport is going. It offers a lot for the guy or girl that is willing to put in the time and effort to excel."

Today I was on a conference call with Jon Jones's co-managers Ryan Ciotoli and Gary Marino.  We discussed the Matt Hamill fight and the stoppage.  They plan to appeal the ruling that gave Jones a DQ loss and will attempt to have the loss changed to a no-contest.

TheGARV.com:  Hey guys, thanks for the call.  First off, I just want to say that Jones looked great in there against Hamill.  Amazing performance.

Ryan Ciotoli:  Oh yeah.  He did the things he wanted to do.  I talked to Jon and he’s not disappointed by the performance, just the result.

TheGARV.com:  After the fight he said he accepted the ruling.  But now after reviewing the tapes, you feel he has a case for a no-contest?

Ryan Ciotoli: He doesn’t want to embarrass anyone but he feels that the fair ruling would be a no contest.   After the fight we watched the tapes again and there were a few things that stuck out in our minds that the ref did wrong. We'd  like to see the loss removed.

TheGARV.com: What should the ref have done differently?

Gary Marino: The ref said to Matt Hamill, "Are you done?" but Matt didn’t answer and he called the fight.   If he would have stood Matt up, cleaned the blood out of his eyes, and brought in his interpretor, he would have found out right there that Matt could not continue due to the shoulder injury.  The commissioner  said at the press conference that if an illegal blow is the cause of the end of the fight, then it has to be ruled a DQ.  But in reality, the illegal elbows did not end the fight, it was the shoulder injury.  If the ref had communicated better, he would have seen it was the shoulder not the nose.

Ryan Ciotoli: I also think that Matt felt he'd lost the fight and didn’t see Mazzagatti standing over him.   Mazzagatti should have cleaned off  Matt’s face and brought in the doctor to evaluate him.   Brazilians have translators;  Matt does as well.  But his interpretor was not used by the ref.  Jones did throw some questionable elbows.  Jon was looking for a different angle and it wasn’t intentional.  And if you look at the slow motion replay, it doesn’t look like 12 to 6, there was a curve to it.  Maybe 12 to 7 or 12 to 8.  Plus there was no warnings from the ref prior to the stoppage.

The Garv.com was tipped off that the young Shine Fights promotion is continuing to thrive and show promise by reeling in impressive acquisitions to their growing roster.

The latest signing is Luta-Livre wizard and Renovacao Fight Team member Luciano Azevedo, who is best known for being the only man to beat (and finish) Jose Aldo, who is the newly crowned WEC champion and #1 featherweight fighter in the world.  Azevedo also agreed to venture up a weight class for the opportunity to face Hayato "Mach" Sakurai in Pride.  In addition to Aldo, Azevedo holds wins over Rodrigo Damm, Din Thomas, and he just triangled Jean Silva in the first round at WFE 5.

The Garv.com has been supporting Luciano Azevedo in his quest to cross the pond and make a splash in the American MMA scene.  Anyone who has ever seen an Azevedo fight can attest to the insane pace he holds throughout, his tenacious and well-rounded striking onslaught, and the Luta-Livre based ground game that allows him to thoroughly devour opponents on the mat.  He is one of the most exciting fighters in the game today.

Shine Fights has also picked up former Chute Boxe striker and Luta Livre black belt Daniel Acacio, who is riding a three-fight win streak after falling to the talented Mamed Khalidov, who just KO'd top middleweight Jorge Santiago in Sengoku.  Acacio had an exciting and memorable run in Pride FC:  he showed the best way to handle guard-pullers by annihilating Daiju Takase with soccer kicks, edged the crafty Kazuo Misaki on the score cards, and lost to Akihiro Gono in Bushido 9's Gran Prix.  Check out Acacio's highlight reel here.

The final pick-up for Shine Fights is a hot prospect, mostly unknown in the states, named Amilcar Alves.  Alves is a rising star out of the stacked Nova Uniao team with a 10-1 record who is currently enjoying an impressive seven-fight stretch in the "W" column.  Alves has the sound grappling pedigree one would expect from a member of the prestigious Nova Uniao camp, but also boasts a deadly striking repertoire to lock him in as a very formidable and well-rounded adversary. 

Another key move for Shine Fights was inking a deal with colorful boxer Ricardo Mayorga, and they have already held two events with surprisingly enticing match-ups that feature well-renowned names in MMA, such as Yves Edwards, Roan Carneiro, Luiz "Buscape" Firmino, Jorge "Macaco" Patino, and Micah Miller.  Please join us in supporting Shine Fights in their strides to establish themselves as an ascending promotion to take notice of.

 

 

These photographs were taken by Nick Komic over the course of last weekend's Strikeforce event, and are featured in full on M-1 Global's website.  Thanks to TSGIGOR for another lead on unique Fedor material.

There are many more shots after the jump.  Enjoy!