MMA THE BEST Vol.2（エムエムエー・ザ・ベスト・ボリュームツー）

MMA THE BEST Vol.2（エムエムエー・ザ・ベスト・ボリュームツー）

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開催年月日 2002年7月20日

開催地 日本

東京都 江東区

会場 ディファ有明

開始時刻 午後5時

試合数 全10試合

入場者数 1,192人

"MY LIEGE AND MADAM," we might well begin (or we might, well, begin), "to expostulate what majesty should be, what duty is, why day is day, night night, and time is time, were nothing but to waste night, day and time. Therefore, since brevity is the soul of wit, and tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes, I will be brief. Your noble son is MMA THE BEST Vol.2（エムエムエー・ザ・ベスト・ボリュームツー）. MMA THE BEST Vol.2（エムエムエー・ザ・ベスト・ボリュームツー）call I it; for to define true MMA THE BEST Vol.2（エムエムエー・ザ・ベスト・ボリュームツー）, what is’t but to be nothing else but MMA THE BEST Vol.2（エムエムエー・ザ・ベスト・ボリュームツー）? But let that go," we would concede, at which point you might understandably call for "More matter, with less art." To which we would rejoin: "I swear I use no art at all. That it is MMA THE BEST Vol.2（エムエムエー・ザ・ベスト・ボリュームツー）, ’tis true: ’tis true ’tis pity; and pity ’tis ’tis true. A foolish figure, but farewell it, for I will use no art. MMA THE BEST Vol.2（エムエムエー・ザ・ベスト・ボリュームツー）let us grant it then." With that much settled, at least, we would suggest: "now remains that we find out the cause of this effect, or rather say, the cause of this defect, for this effect defective comes by cause. Thus it remains, and the remainder thus. Perpend," would be the word we would land on, as it asks that we weigh, that we consider. 

And the first thing I would ask if we should maybe weigh and consider (briefly) before we address ourselves (briefly [honestly the plan this time around]) to this (fairly brief) stopover en route to the looming 史上最大の格闘技ワールド・カップ / Shijō saidai no kakutōgi wārudo kappu /  Dynamite! SUMMER NIGHT FEVER in 国立 / PRIDE SHOCKWAVE (which looms insanely largely) would be the name of the event itself: curious, isn't it? The last time we had a like event, it bore the title THE BEST（ザ・ベスト）; we might well expect the second in this minor series of minor events to follow as THE BEST Vol.2（ザ・ベスト・ボリュームツー）, but instead we have "MMA （エムエムエー）" making its curious début just ahead of all that. These are not three letters we have seen much of yet! And indeed, if we look ahead slightly to the aforementioned (you will recall that we mentioned it only slightly afore) 史上最大の格闘技ワールド・カップ / Shijō saidai no kakutōgi wārudo kappu, it is decidedly not a 史上最大のMMAワールド・カップ / Shijō saidai no MMA wārudo kappu; this is to say: it is a History's Greatest Kakutōgi World Cup, rather than a History's Greatest MMA World Cup, right? Related matters have been slightly on my mind lately, as I made the following item a part of our most recent family TeePublic order (you really should wait for the sales; they are substantial, and never far off):

Pretty nice, right? It offers the neatness of a stylish PRIDE FC t-shirt without the unneatness of sending any money at all to the present, ludicrously foul owners of that "intellectual property" (kind of a fake idea, and/although we might note, after the poet and teacher Ken Snyder, that "[i]n a sense what is called reality is no less 'fictive' than what we call fiction[;] [t]he difference is that the fictive of 'reality' is realized by force, is actual in the sense of its many contingent, felt acts, whereas the fictive of fiction is imaginative, allegorical, felt as an aesthetic response not a contingent force" [I have been perpending on that for nearly thirty years now]). Also it's kind of a faded aubergine heather! I'm excited for it to arrive! [UPDATE: it arrived, and is really nice.] This item is listed as "Pride FC Tokyo Japan T-Shirt" (designed and sold by "cagerepubliq"), but we can see that the kanji beneath the familiar logo (and indeed beneath the shade of a tasteful 鳥居 torii / Shinto shrine archway) says neither 東京 Tōkyō nor 日本 Nihon but instead 総合格闘技, which adds 総合 sо̄gо̄ (integrated, composite, synthesized [perhaps even mixed!]) to our familiar 格闘技 kakutо̄gi (combat sport). Not an entirely new term, necessarily, to those of us who routinely gather here amidst and among these electronic pages, sо̄gо̄ kakutо̄gi, but I don't think we've ever had a look at the Japanese Wikipeda entry for it! Not together, I mean! Hey let's! Could be interesting and fun! For instance, I think it is neat that right up front in that entry, its authors specify that the elements of kakutо̄gi that are being all sо̄gо̄'d up are, specifically: first, 打撃 dageki / striking (interestingly, the exact same word is used in baseball for batting), comprising both パンチ panchi and  キック kikku; second, 投げ技 nage-waza / throwing techniques (I have mentioned several of these previously, and may yet again); and finally 固技 katame-waza / grappling techniques, consisting of 抑込技 osaekomiwaza / pinning techniques, 関節技 kansetsu-waza / joint-locking techniques ("bone-locking," in the ancient texts [of the mid-twentieth century]), and 絞め技 shime-waza / strangulation techniques. That is, indeed, about the size of it, isn't it? But the language, I feel, is notable. That entry does specify, right up front, that the 英語 eigo / English for all of this is "mixed martial arts," its 略称 ryakushou / abbreviation simply "MMA." And so, if we set aside all coarse literalism, and translate according to a principle of nearest equivalent terms, or something akin to it, we would quite simply translate 総合格闘技 sо̄gо̄ kakutо̄gi into English using the broadly recognized and accepted "mixed martial arts" or "MMA" wherever we may find it, and that is of course exactly all you need to ever do at all (ever). But the Japanese comfort with—and indeed, at times, enthusiasm for—romaji, and the ease with which "MMA" would be understood by a Japanese audience, makes the use of anything else stand out a little, right? What, if any, connotations are attached to these distinct usages? (I have a student to whom I could refer this question, but I may not see him for several months.) A further point of interest (perhaps of complication, but certainly of interest): although the English-language Wikipedia entry for mixed martial arts suggests that "[t]he first documented use of the name mixed martial arts was in a review of UFC 1 by television critic Howard Rosenberg in 1993.[11][60]"; that, further, "[t]he term gained popularity when the website, newfullcontact.com (one of the biggest websites covering the sport at the time), hosted and reprinted the article"; that "[t]he first use of the term by a promotion was in September 1995 by Rick Blume, president and CEO of Battlecade Extreme Fighting, just after UFC 7.[61]"; and that, finally, "UFC official [. . .] Jeff Blatnick [. . .] was responsible for the Ultimate Fighting Championship officially adopting the name mixed martial arts," a 2012 MMA Fighting article in which our one true Dave Meltzer notes the passing of that same Jeff Blatnick (R.I.P.) observes (wrestling observes?) the following:

"The term mixed martial arts, used first in Japan for 1976 pro wrestling matches with Antonio Inoki against judo gold medalist Willem Ruska and Muhammad Ali, came about because of discussion Blatnick had with [Joe] Silva, who later became the UFC matchmaker, a position he still holds today [true at the time of writing, certainly, though no longer—ed.]. They were trying to come up with a name. Blatnick, when broadcasting a Japanese pro wrestling pay-per-view event that was set up to look realistic, in a sense like a predetermined version of UFC, said how the event was mixing the martial arts. Silva brought up that line from the show, and that's where the term mixed martial arts came from."

Certainly, whenever we encounter 総合格闘技 sо̄gо̄ kakutо̄gi, we would probably do well to simply translate it the way Antonio Inoki would have wanted (it's the least we can do [for him {may Allah be pleased with him, by the way}]). Oh hey also! I am reminded that the Japanese edition of the genuinely excellent 2010 EA SPORTS MMA (Bas is your sensei in it! imagine!) is adorned not by the images of Fedor Emelianenko and Randy Couture that you may recall (from a game from fourteen years ago that just about nobody bought), but instead Fedor Emelianenko and 吉田 秀彦 Yoshida Hidehiko (very soon to join us), and that they appear above not the words EA SPORTS MMA but instead EA SPORTS 総合格闘技:

And again, that's from 2010, so it's not like the term was just swallowed whole by the romaji, and that "MMA THE BEST Vol.2" is a forerunner of that inevitable enswallowment. All pretty interesting! If you're me! And maybe you? I acknowledge that it is entirely possible that we have gone too far in this direction for too little, but here I recall the words of the poet Carson Cistulli: when guests of his peerless FanGraphs Audio programme would express worries along similar lines (like, who could any of this possibly be for?), Cistulli would note that he himself was in no meaningful way unique, and so neither, it followed, were any of his interests or concerns; it follows further that if something was of interest to him, it would almost certainly be of interest to at least someone else, not because he is special, but precisely because he is not. There is, I think, a great freedom in this, a freedom that we continue to enjoy and indeed luxuriate in (I thank you again in all humility for your patience).

A final note, then, for now, on 総合格闘技 sо̄gо̄ kakutо̄gi (the term, I mean, rather than the phenomenon [we've got a bunch more to say about that]) that I really can't help but think is almost-too-perfectly relevant to our study (and forgive me if this is already well known to you, but): the series of Fighting Network RINGS video games released for the スーパーファミコン Super Famicom throughout the 1990s all carry the title  アストラル バウト 総合格闘技 which is to day ASTRAL BOUT: SOUGOU KAKUTOUGI, which takes us all the way back to the beginning, doesn't it? Perhaps you might enjoy a YouTube long-play of it! The introductory screens situate its project (and indeed our own) within The Long UWF (also, the score is fantastic)!

WITH ALL OF THAT SAID AND WHAT'S MORE SAID AT LENGTH let me reiterate that my plan for the remainder of our time together in this post is to address MMA THE BEST Vol.2（エムエムエー・ザ・ベスト・ボリュームツー）with all brevity and maybe even haste as a lower-tier Rob (or perhaps White?) Zombie track joins our hosts in welcoming us to tiny ディファ有明 Difa Ariake, a venue that no longer exists, as such, if I recall correctly. Ah, indeed I do: "Differ Ariake (ディファ有明, Difa Ariake), originally MZA Ariake, was an indoor sporting arena located in the Ariake neighborhood of Tokyo, Japan. It was open from July of 1988 until closing sometime 1991. It later reopened in 1999 as Differ Ariake. Differ Ariake closed in June 2018 and it was replaced by the newly-built Ariake Arena for the 2020 Summer Olympics and the 2020 Summer Paralympics.[1] The capacity of the arena was 1,246 seats. It was mainly used for professional wrestling and martial arts events. The arena became known as the home of Pro Wrestling Noah, housing the promotion's offices and training dojo.[1] The arena may be reached on a short walk from either Ariake Tennis no Mori Station on the New Transit Yurikamome or Kokusai-Tenjijō Station on the Rinkai Line." Well okay! I am immediately struck by the enormously yet charismatically poor video quality and tinnitus-emulating audio hiss that we will enjoy throughout our evening together. Hey look who is joining us as a guest on (日本語 Nihongo) commentary:

That's right, 高阪 剛, Kōsaka Tsuyoshi! Under whose scissors! Auspices thereof! You know how it goes! My hope is that Kohsaka will approach his rôle here in a manner akin to the path chosen by Bas Rutten, in the sense that he will have all kinds of ideas as to when the competitors should explode, except for it will be in relation to TK Scissors opportunities exclusively (it's a surprisingly versatile technique!).The first bout sees Jukei Nakajima, about whom I can find little, and about whom I previously knew nothing (the words karate and judo are spoken as he enters, so that's probably enough) quickly throw and defeat (via shoulder injury) Joe Son, who will likely die in prison.

Here's a treat: the mixed-fight début of judo-black-belt and shoot-style-enthusiast (my ears are burning!) 中村大介 Nakamura Daisuke! This is just great! His opponent is the journeyman Shannon Ritch, who enters in what our lead announcer enthusiastically describes as an 猪木のマスク Inoki no masuku, and it is easy to understand his enthusiasm for it:

It's honestly one of the best entrances I have ever seen. It is hard to imagine the match itself could live up to it, but it starts off compellingly enough: the fighters clinch immediately, and Nakamura's unsuccessful 内股 uchi-mata / inner-thigh throw means Ritch has an easy path to the back, which he takes, but Nakamura sits through and secures a 逆腕緘 gyaku-ude-garami grip to which he holds fast until he can rather elegantly sweep with it, all while Nakamura's U-File / U-Style pal 田村潔司 Tamura Kiyoshi looks on in barely discernible footage. Great stuff!

It's not long after that approving gaze that Nakamura enters into 抑込 osaekomi, attacks with a fairly crafty 袈裟絡み kesa-garami, and transitions, finally, to 腕挫十字固 ude-hishigi-juji-gatame for the tidy win. He did great!

I am as surprised as anyone, and more delighted than most, to find that our next bout, which is listed on the English-language Wikipedia entry for this even as Fatih Kocamis versus Takahiro Oba, is in fact according to the on-screen katakana a clash between FATIH "THE TERROR" KOCAMIS (which is totally fine, but wait for it . . .) and ANGLO-SAXON OBA (what on earth):

It saddens me that Oba's career (largely contested in DEEP) has not warranted its own Wikipedia entry, neither in English (fair enough) nor in Japanese (a shame), but, sure enough, this match is listed on the Japanese event page as ファティラ・コカミス (looks like there's a typo, as that ラ ra should be a フ fu like it is on-screen [but that's neither here nor there right now)]  vs. アングロサクソン大場 which is to say Fatih Kocamis vs. ANGLO-SAXON OBA and this is just bananas to me and I love bananas. A brief video introduction suggests that ANGLO-SAXON OBA has performed in BattlARTS, and enjoys leg-locks! My awareness of BattlARTS—beyond the common knowledge that they are 格闘探偵団 / Kakutō Tanteidan / Fighting Detectives—is really very poor, so I am afraid I have nothing to draw on here; I can confirm that Oba's name appears on the Japanese BattlARTS Wikipedia entry as a past participant, where, yep, his name appears as 大場貴弘（旧：アングロサクソン大場), "Oba Takahiro (formerly ANGLO-SAXON Oba)." How can literally any of this be! When I search アングロサクソン大場 broadly, the best results I get are this Bout Review page that suggests Oba played both high-school and university rugby, but which offers no insight into this most fascinating of sobriquets (noting only that he used to use it), and this overview of Beowulf that includes a helpful list of the several Japanese translations of that Anglo-Saxon (though Tolkien would note that no speaker of that language would have ever called it but Ænglisc) epic (though Tolkien would argue it is better understood as tragedy). Never before have I been—and perhaps never again shall I be—so utterly fascinated by an almost perfectly obscure fighter as they drop a clear-cut, unanimous decision on a completely minor card contested at the soon-to-be-dismantled Differ Ariake (The hall towered, its gables wide and high and awaiting a barbarous burning. That doom abided, but in time it would come: the killer instinct

unleashed among in-laws, the blood-lust rampant [haha not really don't worry]). I cannot help but feel that the true promise of our project has been realized? A little?

While I have been lost in these reveries, Vancouver's John Alessio (a fine mixed-fight journeyman; a BMX-bike-trick enthusiast [though aren't we all]) has stopped 光岡 映二 Mitsuoka Eiji (whom you may recall as 金網の申し子 Kanaami no Mōshigo, "The Heaven-sent Child of the Cage") on a truly nasty cut, and 岡田 貴幸 Okada Takayuki, better known to us as ジャイアント落合 Jaianto Ochiai, about whom we have every reason to be sad, has knocked  橋本 智彦 Hashimoto Tomohiko very much out in an instance of two pro-wrestling-minded former judoka who elect to "Stand and Wang." And actually, before I am even finished writing this present sentence, Alistair Overeem—still young and lean in this, his PRIDE début (though he is known well to us already through the KING OF KINGS-era Fighting Network RINGS)—finishes Takada Dojo's Yusuke Imamura with a fairly upsetting knee (amidst other weighty blows) in just forty-four seconds. Things are really humming along!

I very much like the sound of the spirited 高瀬 大樹 Takase Daiju versus Antônio "Nino" Schembri, whomst, you may recall, would sometimes dress up like (and indeed carry on in the manner of) Elvis (who, I would remind you, is everywhere): 

Takase takes an early lead on this judge's scorecard (I think I would actually be a pretty lousy judge, in all honesty, and you're about to see why) simply by being cornered by the elfin 宇野薫 Uno Kaoru, rightly admired by all for his deft ShootoISM. Oh dear: I have just now checked, and am lightly alarmed to see that Uno, who turned forty-nine just last week (hey happy birthday man), actually fought in Shooto as recently as last November; this is probably not good! That he lost by knockout only deepens my suspicion that this is not good. Also not that good: this first round, objectively, which saw a lot of Takase not doing much to pass Schembri's guard, and Schembri not able to do really get his hips going to make too much of anything happen down there, but although little can really be said to have "occurred," I can't say I found any of it at all unpleasant. Schembri jumps guard to open the second round, and I do not find that a practice that is pleasing æsthetically, but if he sweeps from here or snags hold of something from the bottom, you can't really fault him. He doesn't do any of that, though: Takase sneaks a leg over—passingly—and Schembri briefly attempts to take the back, but before you know it, we're right back as we were. Schembri schemes pretty hard on a 逆腕緘 gyaku-ude-garami / reverse entangled armlock / Kimura / double wrist-lock (feel to free to join in with any other good names for it!), but it does not come. The bout is restarted standing, with each athlete offered the caution and guidance of 指導 shido on account of how, at times, they're mostly just hanging out like bros down there (a noble pursuit, but not the one for right now). Split-decision win for Schembri! Takase seems legitimately surprised, but I can see it.

OH NO LOOK OUT EVERYBODY IT IS BOB SCHRIJBER aka "Dirty" Bob Schrijber, so named because of that he is dirty [sic]. We enter this bout rightly worried for the somewhat-forgotten Wajitsu Keishukai prospect Sokun Koh, to whom anything could happen. Phew, okay, don't worry: he made it through unfouled, and has claimed a split decision victory, to the great esteem of a small but enthusiastic group of Sokun Koh ultras (friends from the gym? dōjō pals?) to whom the camera returns periodically. 

As the tiny ディファ有明 Difa Ariake crowd trickles out of tiny ディファ有明 Difa Ariake, we are returned to the commentary table one final time, and offered very brief recapitulations of preliminary bouts that did not make it onto the broadcast proper. The first of these sees Yukiya Naito defeat Ken Orihashi via split decision in what was, it seems, just one single five-minute round, maybe? The second, perhaps of greater interest (to me, certainly, and I assume to the group), sees the professional début of 岡見 勇信 Okami Yūshin, who is victorious (via hitting) in 3:52, and has chosen quite a pre-fight look:

The actual finish of the bout is not shown, oddly, but we are offered highlights of his fine 支釣込足 sasae-tsurikomi-ashi and 小外掛 kosoto-gake (let's go). He's a compelling figure! We will see a little more of him—alas that it is only a little!—as we make our way through the PRIDE: BUSHIDO series in particular. I assume he is well known to many of us from his long mixed-fight career that, to my surprise, I have just now learned is ongoing at age forty-two: Okami's most recent contest occurred 12/2/23, a split decision win over Kim Jae-Young at the emphatically named SHOOTO: MOBSTYLES PRESENTS FIGHT&MOSH (video available here; Okami weathers an astonishingly direct kick to the groin around the nine-minute mark). Who knew! Here's something else that's new to me, too: his billing as Yushin "Thunder" Okami comes along later than you might think, as revealed by a Google-translated excerpt from this article (that I simply found linked to from Okami's English-language Wikipedia page): "Also, when asked about the origin of the nickname 'Thunder' that was given to him from this time on, he answered, 'I don't really want to say it, but . . . there is a great professional wrestling geek on the staff of the UFC, and he is the same person as Jushin from New Japan (Pro Wrestling) Jushin Thunder Liger. It's said that Yushin's wording is similar, so it's called Thunder,' he said, revealing the surprising origin." You know what, that is a surprising origin! One wonders if that staff member could perhaps have been known-Observer-subscriber Joe Silva, who has appeared once already in this post? Fella, I don't know! What I do know, with absolute certainty, is that is time to see WHAT DAVE MELTZER MAY HAVE HAD TO SAY ABOUT ANY OF IT:

August 5, 2002:

From a WON HOF candidates rundown:

"Don Frye – So what is pro wrestling? Does Pride count? In Japan it seems to since it’s covered as pro wrestling and it’s audience is pro wrestling fans. But shoot isn’t pro wrestling in the American mindset. But since he works in Japan, he should be viewed by Japanese standards. He’s the biggest foreign star in Japan pro wrestling right now, which doesn’t mean what it did in the days of Brody, Hansen, Mascaras, Abdullah and the Funks. Not a great worker as a pro wrestler, but has been the best American at being able to take the shoot rep and cultivate into pro wrestling stardom and far more charismatic than Ken Shamrock. Shamrock is a comparison point, because he had solid support as a candidate early on, largely from his UFC and Pancrase success. As he became a less than top WWF name, his support evaporated. Can’t overlook some legendary matches in front of huge crowds, but he also never had a run as IWGP champion. My gut is Frye will never get strong enough support. Japanese wrestling fans look at great workers and Americans don’t look at shoot. Wrestlers themselves won’t see him as a Hall of Famer because he never made it in the U.S. His longevity isn’t there yet, and with the injuries the real matches give you, he’s never going to have that. But he’s been in a key position on more huge shows than any foreigner in Japan of this era. I wouldn’t vote him in today, but in hindsight, this could be an intriguing pick. Then again, I always thought historically in hindsight, Shamrock would have been as a UFC pioneer, and history tells otherwise.

Kazushi Sakuraba – This is probably the most debatable person who will come up for election over the next several years. Based on his accomplishments in Pride, he’s either a lock, or because it’s Pride, he’ll be ignored. That controversy alone will probably keep him from ever getting in. To me, Sakuraba winning Wrestler of the Year in 2000 in virtually every Japanese poll and media awards, says that within his culture, he is a pro wrestler. But if Sakuraba is, then would somebody like Vanderlei Silva also be a candidate if he blazes through a few more years like this past one with important wins and drawing huge crowds? Sakuraba didn’t win Wrestler of the Year in the Observer poll in 2000. For drawing power, he’s in, as he’s done better in that regard than any small man in history. He’s had legendary matches and his run through the Gracies was one of the great money programs in history. He’s a very huge part of the success of his company. The downside is that because he’s done so many shoots, he’s probably already seen his best years. Also, because it’s shooting, like with Kiyoshi Tamura, once he keeps going when injuries have robbed him of his greatness, the ending will tarnish what he’s built up. The smart move would be to get out after a few more fights and try and keep the string going as a star in New Japan, but with the smarter Japanese audience to shoot vs. work than in years ago where the transition would have worked better, he isn’t guaranteed super success even though he would get the early big push."

on the steroid-test-failing front:

"In a turn of events that shocked the MMA world, the Nevada State Athletic commission suspended UFC heavyweight champion Josh Barnett for six months for testing positive for steroids after his 3/22 title win over Randy Couture in Las Vegas.
The suspension was a surprise because it came on the heels of interviews by commissioner Dr. Flip Homansky as well as commission head Marc Ratner, who talked about enforcing the steroid policy with suspensions effective January 1, 2003 to be fair with fighters, and that they would implement education processes for failed tests this year. Both interviews took the tact that because positives could possibly show up for steroids taken before the fighters were given the news about steroid testing on 1/1 or from over-the-counter supplements, they took the position that this year was more about education than punishment.
The suspension bans Barnett from not only UFC and from competing in Nevada, but in any state in the U.S. that has a commission that oversees MMA, as well as world wide for any organization that is licensed in Nevada, through 1/26. This includes K-1 and Pride (both of which had expressed interest in using him) and King of the Cage. UFC followed on 7/30 officially stripping him of his heavyweight title, and will likely have a new champ decided in a 9/23 match with Randy Couture vs. Rico Rodriguez. Barnett would be able to compete in events by local promoters in non-commission states, or for smaller Japanese groups or Japanese pro wrestling organizations (Barnett’s goal has always been to end up in pro wrestling in Japan). Nevada has made it clear that it would suspend the promotional license in Nevada of any company that used a suspended fighter.
Barnett’s suspension was largely due to the vociferous protesting publicly and at the hearing done by his manager and trainer, Matt Hume. Hume had sent out a press release days before the hearing heavily critical of the commission, its protocol in administering the test, and publicly talked of an agreement made between the sides.
What Hume had left out is that in the agreement on 5/24 from a teleconference where Barnett agreed to attend educational counseling and come out clean in a test (which Hume claimed Barnett did on 6/11), that he wouldn’t be suspended, is that Barnett also had to sign a written agreement which he refused to sign that would state that he wasn’t challenging the results of the test.
“His representative was contentious with the commission,” said Ratner. “I think he had the wrong approach and he hurt Josh’s case. The negative press release certainly didn’t help their cause at all”
Ratner noted that at the hearing, Hume kept talking about protocol of the testing rather than addressed what the test results showed.
“We’ve tested hundreds and hundreds of fighters over the years,” Ratner said, noting testing protocol had never been an issue.
Keith Keizer, the Chief Deputy Attorney General for the state of Nevada, who handles commission legal business, said the difference in the Barnett case and the Rick Roufas case is that Roufas never challenged the veracity of the results of the test.
What had made this story even more controversial is that it was well known Barnett and UFC had contract problems. Barnett’s last fight on his UFC contract was the Couture fight, and company officials knew beforehand of the possibility of problems should he win, because a lucrative offer could come from Pride and they could lose another champion. UFC had the right of first refusal, and in negotiations for a title defense, Hume had asked for $1.2 million, a ridiculous price given the financial state of the business. Because a breakdown in negotiations had taken place before the test result came out, the timing guaranteed UFC to be blamed in a process that it appears they tried to stay out of.
Barnett’s urine sample after the fight was divided into two, for separate tests, and both tests came back positive for steroids boldenone, fluoxymesterone and nandralone. He had previously tested positive for two steroids on 11/2, but that was a test done on four of the fighters by the commission for its own educational purposes as to whether or not steroid use was a problem in the sport. After several positives had come back from that educational testing, they informed fighters that as of 1/1, there would be random steroid tests. At this point, in recent K-1 and MMA shows, only participants in championship matches have been tested, with Barnett and K-1’s Roufas being the only positives thus far. More expansive testing is expected to take place starting next year.
In the press release, Hume complained Barnett was never informed he would be tested for anabolic agents, that the commission had never informed him of the failed 11/2 test, that one of the drugs can stay in the system up to 18 months and that if he had tested positive previously, why did UFC and Nevada allow him to get a championship match?
Hume and Tony Lato, the Chief Inspector for the commission, had words at the meeting, disagreeing on whether proper procedure had been used in separating Barnett’s samples. However, a series of witnesses said the procedure was valid and the results of the test accurate.
“The evidence was pretty one-sided,” said Keizer. “The likelihood of it (steroids) being in his system for anything other than intentional use seemed unlikely.”
Homansky spoke up after Hume complained, saying, “There is not a possibility of the process being flawed. Two steroids were found in this gentleman’s urine in November. The same two steroids were found four months later, plus a third drug that is added…to make them more effective. So, if the process was wrong in March by different people doing it, you’re saying that we had to make a mistake back in November also. It is my firm conclusion that this gentleman has been taking steroids to gain an unfair advantage.”
Homansky also claimed that while there were reports that two of the steroids could be found in over-the-counter nutritional supplements, that there has never been any evidence of fluoxymesterone positives from supplements. He also said the three drugs used, taken together, are a popular “stack” in that the combination of the three are more potent due to synergistic effect then the drugs on their own would normally be.
Homansky countered Hume’s contention, saying that he personally spoke to all fighters on the 11/2 show specifically talking to them about drug testing, and said that steroid use among fighters was illegal. He said Barnett was given a commission handbook on the rules which specifically talked about what substances were illegal, including steroids. Barnett at the hearing denied having ever used steroids, and he and Hume claim the positive tests may have been the result of using an over-the-counter andro product.
Ratner said that it was two hours into the hearing before Barnett himself spoke, denying any use of steroids, and found him to be an eloquent speaker. He believed Barnett should have spoken for himself and called him an excellent athlete who they would love to see back in the sport.
But he felt testing was needed for the good of the sport.
“There is no question that it enhances your chances of winning a fight when you’re stronger than your opponent,” he said. “In competition, that’s not fair.”
The continued delays of the Barnett hearing had kept UFC from being able to do anything with its heavyweight title. UFC didn’t want to take any action until the commission gave Barnett his hearing and upheld its test result.
The issue opens up an amazing can of worms in both MMA and kickboxing. Fighters with knowledge of being tested on a date should be able to beat the tests, or it could become an issue where some fighters who compete heavily jacked up, would avoid Nevada, since it is the only place such testing is being done. But it is bound to make promoters uneasy and fighters more careful when it comes to uncontrolled heavy usage."

and:

"OTHER JAPAN NOTES: There are some real talks going on with Bill Goldberg. The story that Goldberg would wrestle on the 8/30 All Japan Budokan Hall show is unlikely but not impossible. Goldberg’s manager, Barry Bloom, is one of the American producers of Pride which makes for easy openings of negotiations with that group. They are trying to get out the story that Kazuyoshi Ishii of K-1 is negotiating with Goldberg, since Ishii is the highest profile promoter in the country. The idea is linking Goldberg’s name with K-1 and Ishii would get Goldberg’s name in the news the most. But that story, which got a lot of play this past week, is pure publicity. Pride and K-1 are co-promoting the 8/28 stadium show, and while Goldberg would not fight on that show because he’s not about to do a shoot, the idea of him coming in for such a high profile week (and then go to All Japan as well to make an appearance) doesn’t sound inconceivable. There have been genuine offers from Pride and All Japan but Goldberg at press time had not agreed to either deal.

The situation with Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira is from a Pride standpoint, their stance is he won’t be stripped of the title for working the 8/8 Dome show for UFO, but if he doesn’t fight on the 8/28 big show, he’ll be stripped of his Pride heavyweight belt. Frank Shamrock is also off that show. This past week his opponent was changed from Shungo Oyama to Vanderlei Silva, and he felt 30 days wasn’t enough lead time to train for such a top level fighter when he’d be giving up 20 pounds."

August 26, 2002: 

"After more than a year of rumors and speculation, Bill Goldberg will return both to PPV in the U.S. as well as wrestling action in Japan on a tour at the end of the month. In addition, he has finally scheduled a negotiation meeting with Vince McMahon. Goldberg will start off working as an announcer on the 8/28 Tokyo Stadium Pride/K-1 show [not for us! we've got the Japanese broadcast! haha!—ed.]. I’m of the impression he won’t be doing the entire show and the regular Pride broadcast team of Stephen Quadros and Bas Rutten will be doing that, but Goldberg will be doing part of the show. He’ll have his first wrestling matches since January 14, 2001, when he was pinned in a retirement match (tag match with Goldberg & Dwayne Bruce losing to Buff Bagwell & Lex Luger) later that week for All Japan. Goldberg will work both of the company’s 30th year Anniversary shows on 8/30 and 8/31 at Budokan Hall, first wrestling Satoshi Kojima and the next night facing Taiyo Kea. The implications of this are interesting because one would expect Goldberg to go over on two of the company’s most valuable pieces of talent and its highest ranked under-35 year old wrestlers. That would only make sense if Goldberg was planning to come in as a regular attraction for the company, or at least build up to Goldberg doing a program with Keiji Muto or Genichiro Tenryu and putting them over. I’m not sure how it’ll help All Japan for Goldberg to go over Kojima in particular and then leave for WWE. Given Goldberg’s ring rust and lack of experience in Japanese style, if the matches are booked to go any length of time, they could run a major risk of exposing him as something less than his name value to that audience. Japanese fans do know of Goldberg as a legit American superstar, and everyone in WWE were over like crazy when they came. Kojima is one of the best around, but it is a different style and a guy who hasn’t been in the ring in forever and was limited and protected. Kea will be even more difficult unless they keep it short. His 8/28 appearance will air on PPV in the U.S. on 9/1."

and:

"PRIDE/K-1 DYNAMITE: In a figure that sounds as silly as the exaggerated numbers for Wrestlemanias in the 80s (when at times there used to be ridiculous claims of it grossing $35 million to even $100 million in one day, when it wasn’t even close), there was a claim they were expecting a 10 billion yen gross (that would be about $84.1 million) between live gate, PPV, merchandise and television revenue. There is no way possible that’s even in the ballpark. If it comes close to capacity, it will set the all-time live gate record, which is $7 million set on April 4, 1998 for the Inoki retirement show. The show is billed as “Dynamite” in Japan, but in the U.S., it is being advertised as “Shockwave.” The story is they are setting up 20,000 ringside seats on the field, which does hold 60,000 more for soccer so an 80,000 capacity figure is realistic, although they’ll announce 100,000 if they come close to getting it. They have expensive prices so if they do sellout, and at press time that isn’t the case, they could do in excess of a $9 million gate. We don’t have an official advance other than they are not close to selling that many seats. Privately, they went on the idea that K-1 has sold out the Tokyo Dome before and so has Pride, so if you combine the two audiences, which is always a dangerous way to think, you can sell 80,000 tickets. In promotion, it’s more if an event is super hot at the right time and K-1 and Pride are both past their drawing peak [that's super interesting to think about, that Pride already appeared to be past its drawing peak—ed.], which K-1 has figured out and that’s why K-1 is doing the interpromotional pro wrestling angle with Pride. There has been an internal feeling that the K-1 fans that sellout the Dome for the Grand Prix every year aren’t buying tickets to this event.

Besides the appearance of Bill Goldberg as an announcer, a few more matches were officially announced for the 8/28 Tokyo Stadium show. In the scariest, 2001 K-1 Grand Prix champion Mark Hunt faces Don Frye under K-1 rules. Seriously, Frye is most likely going to get destroyed in this match and it makes no sense to do so. Frye is the most over foreigner in both Pride and New Japan, and it’s completely insane to put him in a match that will not just on paper likely make him look bad, but could seriously injure him as well. Although Frye is a real fighter and did some boxing many years ago, he has never competed in a kickboxing match. Inoki really needs to do a better job protecting his guys. Frye would be going against a much younger but also more experienced in those rules 275-pound man with a great ability to take a punch and a tremendous knockout punch, and who won the toughest tournament in the world last year. If the fight was under Pride rules, Frye would have a fighting chance and probably be favored due to his experience under those rules and Hunt’s inexperience on the ground, but Hunt would still have the puncher’s chance. Another match, which is more of a freak show, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, in a non-title match, faces monstrous Bob Sapp. Nogueira’s disadvantage is this is only 20 days removed from his Tokyo Dome match and he’ll be giving up at least 130 pounds. The story on that one is if Nogueira can survive an initial onslaught and make the fight last, then Sapp’s weight will start working against him. In another K-1 rules match, Ernesto Hoost, the aging K-1 legend who has won the Grand Prix on three occasions, faces 6-11 1/2 King of Pancrase Semmy Schiltt. Hoost has just come off a win in Vegas over nearly as tall Jan “The Giant” Nortje and on paper, this should be a similar deal where Hoost’s leg kicks should pay off, but again, you never know with a reach difference like this and the fact Hoost is coming off only 10 days since his fight in Vegas. From all reports, Kazushi Sakuraba’s shoulder is not close to 100% after the injury at the November Tokyo Dome show in the Silva match. There is a lot of talk now that this show isn’t garnering the interest among pro wrestling fans because Sakuraba and Frye are the only pro wrestling names involved. But the opposite way of thinking, using Ogawa and Fujita as pro wrestlers on a shoot show, just bombed at the Tokyo Dome. Ishii was even talking about using Genichiro Tenryu and Kendo Kashin (same last minute attempt to garner interest that Inoki was doing, as Tenryu is too old and Kashin quit New Japan specifically because he wanted to get away from Inoki, who was forcing him into shoot matches that he didn’t want to do). Even though a lot of American sites think Hidehiko Yoshida (1992 Olympic gold medalist in judo), who faces Royce Gracie, is a well known national name, we’re told that most Japanese fans don’t know him and that he’s not one of the most famous sports stars in the country. That match at this point looks to have limited striking, in that body blows will be legal but nothing to the head, which favors Gracie. Royce Gracie always fights under rules that favor him [sure seemed that way!—ed]. Yoshida has no striking experience and his judo peak was ten years ago [all true!—ed.]. This match is another one where the general public interest doesn’t appear to be what they had hoped for it to be, as the idea of the 50th anniversary of Helio Gracie (who will be in Royce’s corner and is already in Japan) vs. Masahiko Kimura means something only to martial arts historians, which is an even smaller group than wrestling historians. As part of the Goldberg deal for All Japan, they are trying to get Keiji Muto to make an appearance at this show. Two other matches not finalized but being walked about are Vanderlei Silva vs. Ray Sefo and Murilo Ninja vs. Ricardo Arona."

I did not understand the references to a Dome show in the previous excerpt until I read this one:

"TOKYO DOME: Antonio Inoki’s reputation has taken hits for decades, but he always manages to come back to a power position. But his rep with NTV, which hadn’t worked with him in 30 years, was shot in one show, which will probably be the worst major show of the year. The 8/8 UFO Tokyo Dome show was an almost total disaster. Mike Tyson and Thomas Hearns, of course, never came to Japan after Inoki made the announcement of them appearing to try and get late ticket sales. Inoki never made a public explanation for this pathetic attempt, which apparently the public saw through. Tickets still didn’t move and there wasn’t even any kind of a rush to get the easily accessible free passes to the show. Barely 12,000 fans were at the show. Paid was a little more than 5,000, which was the worst showing by far for any sports entertainment type of show at the Tokyo Dome. Both the MMA and pro wrestling audience totally rejected the show and it’s the overdoing of mixing the two has laid that angle in Japan to waste. The audience, like in the U.S., is mature enough to now see both as totally different and just putting a name pro wrestler in a shoot unless it’s with the right opponent has little lure anymore. The show was designed more as an NTV prime time special, which drew a 10.8 rating. The number wasn’t a disaster, although NTV had financed much of the show with the idea it would deliver a 15.0. UFO had planned a second Tokyo Dome with the idea of Rickson Gracie vs. Naoya Ogawa, which would be a ticket seller and a probable gigantic ratings draw, but after this disaster, NTV at first wanted no part of it. Because of how poorly this came across, there may not be a second show, but it does appear NTV will finance a second show if Inoki can put the Gracie-Ogawa match together. There is talk of that happening either in January or February, with some talk of booking the Tokyo Dome on 2/20, which would be Inoki’s 60th birthday, as an Inoki festival. Ogawa did prove to be a television draw as his short match with an out-of-shape Matt Ghaffari drew an 18.0, with the peak being a 21.2 for the finish of the match. Had the match gone longer than 1:56, the rating probably would have grown substantially higher. 1. Hirotaka Yokoi (Zero-One pro wrestler) beat Bulldozer George in 1:47 with a choke; 2. Former UFC lightweight champ Jens Pulver won a unanimous decision over pro wrestler Takehiro Murahama (Osaka Pro Wrestling) after three rounds. Match didn’t air on TV and heard mixed reports. Murahama was pretty competitive, despite giving up size, but didn’t hear it was anything special as a match. Ever since Pulver beat B.J. Penn to become king of the division and had the contract dispute with UFC, he hasn’t looked impressive; 3. Vladimir Matyushenko won a unanimous decision over Antonio Rogerio Nogueira after three rounds. Matyushenko, who came in bigger and stronger, was able to take Nogueira down at will and keep him there; 4. In what was described as an incredible disaster, Joanie Laurer showed up and challenged anyone in the audience. Can you believe this? A pro wrestling manager type showed up with a woman named Chika Nakamura, who they claimed was the 2002 U.S. Golden Gloves womens boxing champion, but of Japanese descent. They did a pro wrestling match, which, as you can imagine since Nakamura had no training and Laurer isn’t any good, was terrible. Because the crowd was so quiet, fans in the first several rows could hear Laurer loudly telling Nakamura what to do throughout the short match. This was billed as an exhibition so it wasn’t a fraud to do pro wrestling, but nobody wanted to see it. It was very short, with Laurer winning with punches from the mount, as opposed to a wrestling finish. She then said she wanted to fight against the guys. Does nobody in New Japan see how pathetic this is going to turn out?; 5. Mario Sperry won a unanimous decision over Wataru Sakata (Zero-One pro wrestler). Sperry bled heavily from an elbow to the eye, to the point it was almost stopped and would have been a huge upset. Sakata held his own at times, but Sperry won a boring match; 6. Wallid Ismail beat pro wrestler Kazunari Murakami in 3:03 of the second round via ref stoppage. Murakami was bleeding badly from the nose and was dominated on the ground, which does his pro wrestling rep as a shooter wonders; 7. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira knocked out Pancrase’s Sanae Kikuta. This was the only good match on the TV program [you can see it HERE, if you are so inclined—ed]. Kikuta held his own on the ground with Pride’s heavyweight champ, even though he gave up 36 pounds. First round was competitive, with Kikuta gaining an advantage at one point but Nogueira scored two takedowns and the size difference was really noticeable. Nogueira realized it wasn’t the right strategy, and stayed on his feet the second round, scoring a knockout in 26 seconds with a terrific straight right that knocked Kikuta cold. Minutes later he had to be carried out on a stretcher. It was a spectacular finish; 8. Kazuyuki Fujita beat Tadao Yasuda in 2:46 in a battle of New Japan pro wrestlers. Inoki was commentating this match, and it was clear he was disappointed. Fujita won with a cranking headlock choke, which was booed by the fans since they hated the match and knew something weird was up. I won’t say this match was a work, but the two were training partners and people who have trained with both knew Fujita would have no trouble with him. Fujita seemed to try to beat Yasuda without hurting him. He had openings to use knees to the head and he wouldn’t, and once threw a kick to the body that he pulled. If they were doing a work, they’d have made it more exciting, but it was two guys put in a situation they didn’t want to be in; 9. Ogawa beat Matt Ghaffari in just 1:56 [available HERE, and it's quite a presentation—ed.]. Ghaffari showed up at 350 pounds with a huge gut and looked horrible. I’ve never seen a gut like this on a guy in MMA. He looked worse than Dusty Rhodes ever did, because all the weight was in his gut and he was wearing long pro wrestling tights with no shirt so he didn’t hide his Jerry Blackwell like physique. The match may have been a shoot as it was so short you couldn’t tell for sure. Ghaffari threw some very weak looking punches, but he’s not a puncher, so that’s not a sign. It was a candidate for worst match of the century. Ogawa threw a left to the nose, and it wasn’t even that great of a punch, and Ghaffari, who appeared to have never been punched before, just turned his head and quit. His nose may have been broken and it was bleeding. Ghaffari later blamed this on his contact lens coming out and not being able to see. He could have been told it was a work to let his guard down for Ogawa to find an opening. I don’t think Ghaffari knew that was the finish but it was so short nobody can tell for sure. Or it could have been a shoot, as Ghaffari was so out of shape Ogawa should have handled him. Only thing is, there is so much riding on Ogawa that they can’t afford to take risks since the idea was this was a build-up for Gracie-Ogawa. Anything can happen in a shoot. Even if Ghaffari brought nothing to the table except he was a great wrestler six years ago, there was too much at stake to risk, but it could have been a shoot because they believed he posed no risk in his untrained state. This was the MMA equivalent of the Patterson-Brisco evening gown match, but that at least had perverse entertainment value. Then again, so did this in that way of seeing just how bad a Tokyo Dome main event could be. Ghaffari was booed by the Japanese after the match. Rickson Gracie shook hands with both before the match and after the match on TV they built up a proposed Gracie-Ogawa match. Gracie did a speech before the match and talked about how hard the last two years of his life were (his teenage son was killed in a motorcycle accident). He said he was finally 100% and ready to fight, but it didn’t have the usual Gracie conviction."

September 2, 2002:

"Pride announced for its next show on 9/29 in Nagoya matches with Ryan Gracie vs. Shungo Oyama and Mario Sperry vs. Andrei Kopylov (one of those old Russian sambo submission guys who is way past his prime and doesn’t know any stand-up [that's true, but he shouldn't say it! we like Kopylov!—ed.]). This reminds me of Pride before it got hot where they would have these matches that just meant nothing when announced. We’ll probably have a lot more on Pride next week after the big show. Mark Coleman came to Japan for the big show this week. He said he’s nowhere near 100 percent, but would like to return on the November show at the Tokyo Dome."

And so, no mention at all of MMA THE BEST Vol.2（エムエムエー・ザ・ベスト・ボリュームツー）, perhaps understandably, but much to set the stage for 史上最大の格闘技ワールド・カップ / Shijō saidai no kakutōgi wārudo kappu /  Dynamite! SUMMER NIGHT FEVER in 国立 / PRIDE SHOCKWAVE! About which I am stoked! Let us reconvene soon to address it! Thanks as always for reading. In closing, and with very little comment, I offer you this image of Wanderlei Silva in the rôle of a television news broadcaster. Please be well.