by Matt Culbertson
published on Friday, October 19, 2007

STING LIKE A BEE: Christian Grosinsky, 25, of Tempe practices a punch sequence with ASU nursing graduate Lars Havens at the Student Recreation Complex. Pankration is a form of mixed martial arts that includes wrestling, kickboxing and other forms of fighting.

“Where else can you choke your professor, slap an attorney, punch your boss or in one case kick a politician without getting into trouble?”

For Jeff Funicello, the mixed martial arts coach who posed the question, ASU Pankration is the safe and legal way for ASU students to fulfill that fantasy and train to compete in martial arts.

Four times a week, a group of mostly ASU undergraduate students meet in the Student Recreation Complex to train in mixed martial art disciplines nearly 3,000 years old, called pankration.

Funicello, a 17-year veteran of the sport, said about half of the team competes in competitions ranging from local events to international bouts.

“Where else can a Christian fight a Muslim, or a Hindu fight a Jew, and walk away good friends?” Funicello said in an e-mail about pankration.

Heavyweight champion Randy Couture has severed ties with the Ultimate Fighting Championship, his Las Vegas spokesman said on Thursday.

Spokesman Sean O’Heir of Couture’s Xtreme Couture MMA said Thursday that the UFC Hall of Famer had vacated his championship and resigned as an analyst on UFC television broadcasts.

O’Heir said Couture was hoping for a fight to be made against Fedor Emelianenko, who is the top-ranked mixed martial artist in the Yahoo! Sports poll. Reports surfaced Tuesday that Emelianenko had signed with a new promoter, M-1.

“He was disappointed when he couldn’t get a fight with Fedor,” O’Heir said. “That would have been his legacy fight.”

The story was first reported by Brian Knapp of The Fight Network, which has a business relationship with Couture. Loretta Hunt, its managing editor of MMA news content, is writing Couture’s biography, and Couture frequently appears on the network.

UFC president Dana White released a statement Thursday in which he said he was not surprised by Couture’s announcement.

He left the door open for Couture to fight again in the UFC as he remains under contract.

By Gary Mihoces, USA TODAY

In decades past, an outstanding college wrestler like Johny Hendricks probably would have focused his post-graduate efforts on trying to make the Olympics. Instead, he’ll make his mixed martial arts debut in a cage match Friday night in Oklahoma City.

The two-time NCAA champion from Oklahoma State says he was drawn by a new challenge, potential financial rewards down the road, the contract he already has with a Texas-based management company — and a brand of fighting that goes beyond wrestling.

“I really like getting to kick people, hit people and do wrestling as well. That’s what really made me fall in love with this sport,” says Hendricks, 24, of Edmonds, Okla., who graduated in the spring.

Hendricks will make his debut in the pro welterweight division (156-170 pounds) against Victor Ratcliff of Talequah, Okla., another newcomer who has a record of 1-0 and a background Brazilian jiu jitsu. It’s the last fight on a 10-fight card billed as the “Ultimate Night of Champions.”

Oklahoma State has produced past Olympic wrestling champions such as John Smith, Kenny Monday and Kendall Cross. Hendricks says he plans to go full-tilt in mixed martial arts and he has no plan to take a shot at next year’s Olympic trials for freestyle wrestling.

Johny Hendricks

By Jenni Carlson
Staff Writer
Willie Gunter wants to be a mixed martial arts fighter when he grows up.

He already has a nickname picked out — “The Beast.”

He has a way to reach his dream, too.

Wrestling.

Already a winner of two state wrestling titles at Midwest City High, Gunter would hardly be the first wrestler to transition into the combat sport that has taken the country by storm. Fact is, mixed martial arts and its major league, the Ultimate Fighting Championship, have former wrestlers to thank for the surge in popularity.

And with college greats like Johny Hendricks and Jake Rosholt joining the ranks, wrestling might just supply mixed martial arts’ next generation of stars.

Today’s NCAA champs could be tomorrow’s MMA celebrities.

“It’s like the NBA is to college basketball. It’s like the NFL is to college football,” said Ted Ehrhardt, who manages Hendricks and Rosholt, both multiple national champions at Oklahoma State. “This is going to be what it is for college wrestling.”

The Ultimate Fighting Championship, or UFC as it’s known by millions, is the pro league that wrestlers have never had.

John P. Katsantonis

ARLINGTON, TEXAS — In the wake of Jake Rosholt and Eric Bradley’s stunning SRO victories at ‘Masters of the Cage XV’ last month, Team Takedown (TTD) is preparing its latest fighting machines, OSU-NCAA wrestling champ Johny Hendricks and his OSU-NCAA/Big 12 teammate Shane Roller, to headline a ten-fight card for ‘Masters of the Cage XVI’ on September 28, 2007 at the Coca-Cola Bricktown Event Center in Oklahoma City.

“Ultimate Night Of Champions: Masters of the Cage XVI” will feature:

– Johny Hendricks v. Victor Rackliff (Welterweight)
– Jake Rosholt v. Mike Messina (Light Heavyweight Title)
– Eric Bradley v. James Head (Middleweight Title) and
– Shane Roller v. Jake Pruitt (Lightweight)

Beginning September 28, 2007 at 8pm (Doors Open 6:30pm), tickets range from$35.00 to $175.00, and are available at http://www.fightpass.com and 888-377-2229.

College Wrestling Greats Hendricks and Roller Set for Pro MMA Fight Debuts

Since “MOTC XV” sold out well before the fights, it is strongly recommended that those wanting tickets should order them now, as the event will sell out quickly.

Hendricks and Roller’s professional MMA debut will be officiated by MMA’s best-known referee, “Big John” McCarthy, and veteran MMA ring announcer A.L. Haizlip will call the shots.

by Jake Rossen (jrossen@sherdog.com)

The pugilistic pride of Oklahoma State University, UFC heavyweight
champion Randy Couture (Pictures) originally began his college studies
at Washington State in 1981.

Had he stuck to his intention of completing his education there, the
mixed martial arts Hall of Fame might be short one member.

“They dropped the wrestling program at Washington State,” remembered
Couture. “Fortunately, I had already left and gone into the service
and stopped my matriculation clock. It would’ve made a difference in
my wrestling career.

“They cut it for two reasons. One, the coach was a knucklehead. Two,
Title IX was their excuse and a way to get rid of wrestling.”

Title IX — a law created in 1972 to promote gender equality among
high school and college pursuits, including athletics — has in its
35-year history become a point of contention for critics who say that
the policy has the ironic effect of discriminating against men and for
advocates who believe that opportunity should be equal to enrollment.

By Mike Chiappetta
NBCSports.com

As the world of mixed martial arts continues to grow, it is a predictable development that the caliber of athletes attracted to the sport continues to rise.

One interesting concept is “Team Takedown,” a management company that is actively recruiting amateur wrestlers with top resumes.

Recently, two of their clients, Jake Rosholt and Eric Bradley, won their debut MMA matches.

Rosholt, for example, was a three-time NCAA champion and four-time all-American while at Oklahoma State University, while Bradley is a two-time All-American. Rosholt recently relocated to Las Vegas to train at Randy Couture’s Xtreme Couture gym. Ironically, Couture is also an OSU alum.

Rosholt had only been training three months when he won his first fight just last week.

“It was awesome, a blast,” Rosholt told OSU’s Daily O’Collegian after winning the Masters of the Cage light-heavyweight title. “I just have to go on and train harder and get better. I love it.”

Another wrestling champ hoping to eventually find his way into professional MMA, and more specifically, the UFC, is Ben Askren, a two-time National Champion from the University of Missouri. Askren finished his career with an 87-match win streak and a 153-8 record, and perhaps most impressively, won the Dan Hodge Trophy (wrestling’s equivalent of the Heisman) twice.

Once considered barbaric; now big at arenas
BY JASON WILLIAMS | ENQUIRER CONTRIBUTOR

Mixed martial arts - which combines boxing, karate, wrestling and more - has afforded teachers, construction workers and businessmen the opportunity to fight their way to national and international fame.

It’s a big reason why MMA, which features two combatants in a ring or cage with each trying to win by knockout, submission or points, is “America’s fastest growing sport,” as proclaimed on a cover of Sports Illustrated last month: You and your neighbor can relate.

Violent as it is, MMA has “applied a choke hold to that golden 18-to-34 male demographic,” according to SI.

Some fighters think that is because the primitive, mano-y-mano nature of MMA helps men relate to their inner being better than any other sport.

“I personally think that there is a fighter inside of everyone,” said Levi Adams, of Covington, scheduled to make his professional debut in the MMA Big Show event tonight at Cincinnati Gardens. “Every time they watch a fight, that fighter comes out just a little bit. Everyone wants to fight their enemies, whether they are people or just problems. Everyone wants to face that fear. I think MMA lets them live that little dream out.”

Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt instructor Charles Dos Anjos gives his perspective on how MMA may becoming too big for it’s own good, and how the sport of wrestling relates in the whole mix. Also, see notes below on former Iowa Hawkeye Eric Juergens and his foray into MMA as well as previews on upcoming big fights and a Grappling 101 reading list.

By Jeremy O’Kasick - TWM Freelance Writer

Diehard fight fans must have mixed feelings about how MMA has gone big-time corporate and commercial.

On one hand, the sport has arrived, offering more top-notch televised bouts and fast-rising leagues than ever before. After years of being far from the mainstream spotlight, traditional martial arts, like wrestling, judo, Muy Thai kickboxing, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu, are finally earning high respect from all sports fans, and their top practitioners are finding a way to make a living.

On the other hand, now MMA is becoming all about the money. Furthermore, whereas traditional martial arts have an ancient foundation of tradition and respect, now all you have to do is flip on the idiot box to endless MMA trash talking and hype. Besides longtime MMA fans, the consequences of that image has also drawn concern from traditional martial arts instructors and coaches.

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., — Imperia Entertainment, Inc. (Pink Sheets: IPEI) announced today that Judge David O. Carter has denied James Hergott’s Motion for Preliminary Injunction against the company and Never Submit, LLC. “In order for an injunction to issue, Hergott has to show there is a reasonable likelihood he would prevail on the merits of his case and that he would suffer irreparable injury if the production were not stopped. The fact that the order has been denied says that he has failed to make these showings,” said Kenneth Eade, company Chairman. This means that production on “Never Submit” is full speed ahead,” he added.

In its opposition, the company pointed out the fact that Hergott cannot claim a copyright infringement for the story and script of “Never Submit,” because, in return for Imperia producing the picture, Hergott, in writing, assigned all of his right, title and interest to the story and the script in exchange for 15% of the adjusted gross proceeds of the picture as well as 15% of any merchandising revenues received. Hergott submitted his first draft of the script to Imperia while President of the company, and Imperia developed the script and covered all the costs of development, pre production, auditions and travel, that Imperia’s Chairman and Creative Director rewrote virtually all of the dialogue in the script, and that Don Dunn, the current director, and Imperia’s production team have since made extensive revisions to it.