The Brazilian Beat
Royce fighting again, Rizzo trained with Chute Boxe, Barreto surgery update, Chute Boxe camp agitated, Meca going overseas, BJJ World Cup and more!

The Brazilian Beat:
      As they say, the world never stops turning and many surprises may appear down the road. One can never really be sure about something, until it happens, as those are the ways of life, or, maybe we should say, the ways of "Pride." It's a known fact that the Japanese organization usually decides things at the last minute, and changes plans all the time. The Pride Middleweight Grand Prix finals, in late August, was just one more case of fans getting surprised in some sense, as well as this time most of the MMA community in Brazil, as the announcement of Wanderlei Silva versus Ricardo Arona truly took many (including this writer, Mauricio Shogun, Wanderlei Silva and others) by surprise. One way or another, it certainly added more drama to the show, and guarantee another glorious and dramatic MMA history chapter on its way when the bell rings in Japan, on August 28th! With all that, it's needless to say that the fight scene in Brazil is wild right now, and many other things are happening in the meantime, as the world of Jiu-Jitsu is having its most important days of the year, fighters are training, recovering and making contacts all the time, and we will continue to maintain the balance, bouncing back and overtaking the obstacles, always in the now wild, and sometimes extravagant, Brazilian rhythm as the Beat keeps going!
  • MMA legend Royce Gracie will likely be back to the ring at the very end of 2005. Sources close to the BJJ legend report that his camp is negotiating with the K-1 organization for a likely participation on the traditional year end event, in the never ending battle between Pride and K-1 for Japanese TV ratings on New Year's Eve. Negotiations are still in the early stages, so no opponent is Known as yet. Rumors are running rampant that K-1 may push for a Bob Sapp versus Royce Gracie showdown. Meanwhile, Royce keeps running his very successful seminar business, doing a European tour that includes seminars in England, Scotland, Italy, Israel and a well-deserved vacation in Spain with his family.

  • Brazilian Top Team heavyweight fighter Carlos Barreto finally had his knee surgery last week, and is currently recovering at his house in Rio de Janeiro. Injured at the last edition of Jungle Fight, in the early moments of his fight against UFC veteran Vladimir Matyushenko, Barreto had to wait surgery on his left knee to find out the exact extent of the injury. According to the doctors the surgery was a complete success, and although the injury turned out to be truly severe, Barreto is recovering very well, and is likely to be able to fight again until the end of 2005! At this moment the UFC and Pride vet has to stay resting in his house, without putting any weight on his left leg, and in about two weeks will start the Physical Therapy sessions that will complete his recovery process.

  • Former Chute Boxe fighter and current Muay Thai Dream Team member, Anderson Silva, will be making his professional Boxing debut this coming August! Known as a stand-up fighter with high-level skills in Muay Thai, Anderson has practiced Amateur Boxing in the past, and now trough an invitation from his friend Rodrigo Minotauro Nogueira, and Brazilian Boxing trainer Luis Dorea, the Pride veteran decided to go in this new venture and make his debut at the second edition of Minotauro Fight, scheduled for August 5th, in the city of Salvador, Brazil. Anderson's opponent will be Ulisses Lopes, a former State of Bahia champion, who has a record of five wins and four loses. The MMA fighter is very excited and has been training a lot of Boxing looking forward to this fight.

  • This past July 16th, Chute Boxe team conquered one more victory for their camp, as heavyweights Edcarlos "Monstro" and Julio Cesar "Jamanta" won their brackets at a MMA tournament fought in the gorgeous city of Tenerife, Spain, making the tourney finals an "all-Chute Boxe" extravaganza. The tournament counted with fighters from several countries, and the Chute Boxe fighters, who were joined by Murilo Ninja Rua in Spain, dominated easily their first bouts. Once in the final, they did an exhibition match-up, since at that tournament it was pointless to have two teammates fighting, which will be entirely different at the Pride GP finals, if needed, according to the Chute Boxe headquarters.

  • During the trip to Spain, Pride veteran Murilo Ninja Rua took the chance to do some special classes to local fighters, and got back to Brazil this past Wednesday night. As he got back, Ninja decided to cancel his European seminar tour scheduled for late August and early September, in order to focus and dedicate to his training for a likely UFC debut this coming October. Murilo is studying the possibility of doing, however, some U.S. seminars after his possible UFC participation.

  • Speaking of the Chute Boxe team, rumors have that Chute Boxe founder Rudimar Fedrigo, and his partner at Meca Vale Tudo, Jorge Guimaraes, have plans to be taking the traditional Brazilian MMA show to European soil around the end of the year, with the first ever edition of Meca in Portugal! The last five or six Meca shows have been already broadcast to Portugal trough cable television, and the event is reported to draw good ratings over there. With that, and the fact that Brazil and Portugal speaks the same language, although with some small differences, has been attracting business relationships that may lead to the first Meca Portugal still in 2005. FCF will keep an eye on the developments.

  • This past few days, in the city of Sao Paulo, the largest in Brazil, the 2005 edition of the Jiu-Jitsu World Cup, by CBJJO, brought the best of the "Smooth Art" to compete in the Ibirapuera arena, attracted by their interesting money prizes, so rare in Jiu-Jitsu competition. The tournament started on the Wendesday, July 20th, with blue belts and women, and rolled until this Sunday July 24th, when the black belts finally decided their faith. The biggest stand out was without a doubt, Saulo Ribeiro's brother Xande Ribeiro, who won both the super-heavyweight division and the absolute division, taking home a prize money of more than 5.000 dollars. Here are the champions at black belt, and check out full coverage at the August FCF issue!
    • Roosterweight: Gabriel Morais (Monteiro Jiu-Jitsu)
    • Super Featherweight: Ricardo Vieira (Brasa Jiu-Jitsu)
    • Featherweight: Rubes Charles (TT Jiu-Jitsu)
    • Lightweight: Leo Santos (Nova Uniao)
    • Middleweight: Gustavo Campos (Brazilian Top Team)
    • Light-heavyweight: Demain Maia (Brasa)
    • Heavyweight: Robert Drysadale (Brasa)
    • Super-heavyweight: Xande Ribeiro (Gracie Humaita)
    • Over: Leo Leite (Brasa)
    • Absolute: Xande Ribeiro (Gracie Humaita)
  • Recovering from a broken hand suffered at the last Jungle Fight edition, in his winning effort over Carlos Baruck, Chute Boxe fighter Jorge "Macaco" Patino will he headlining the third edition of Show Fight, in the city of Sao Paulo, Brazil, next September 30th. The show will take place in the Ibirapuera arena, that holds up to more than 10.000 spectators, and will count with both Boxing and MMA matches. Macaco will face Ryan Gracie student Gabriel Vella, who defeated Meca veteran Claudio Godoy at the second edition of Show Fight. Patino, who was forced to withdraw from a Cage Rage participation due to his broken hand, and now has plans for a busy schedule in the coming months, including a bout at Jungle Fight 5 in Las Vegas in September 9th, headlining Show Fight 3 and his Cage Rage debut in October. Macaco also told the Brazilian press that if he defeates Gabriel Vella, he plans on challenging Ryan Gracie for a bout that could take place in Pride!

  • Speaking of Chute Boxe, the famous striker's team headquarters are busy right now with Pride announcing the matches for the Middleweight Grand Prix finals on late August. The news that Wanderlei Silva will be taking Ricardon Arona on the semi-finals took many by surprise, as it was strongly believed in Curitiba that Arona and Shogun would fight each other as a semi-final match up. Now, Wanderlei is training as hard as ever as it's no secret to anyone that he and Arona have bad blood going on, and more than just a spot in the final in on stake at this bout. Mauricio Shogun, on the other hand, resumed his rest period after healing some wounds from his last bout, and is back on training for his fight against Alistair Overeem, as the Chute Boxe camp wants to put two fighters in the final, as a sign of dominance in the 205lbs division.

  • As planned after his Pride debut, where he lost to Sergei Kharitonov, Pedro Rizzo has already showed up at the Chute Boxe academy and trained with its fighters! Chute Boxe and Ruas Vale Tudo are now co-operating, sharing training and techniques, and Rizzo wasn't the only one to visit the famous academy from Curitiba! Beto Leitao, Ruas Vale Tudo Wrestling coach and trainer, also went to Chute Boxe to share some techniques, and plans include future visits from Marco Ruas and maybe even K-1 legend Peter Aerts. "The Rock" is reported to have liked the training a lot, as well as the Chute Boxe members.