Fighter Profile: Alexandre Ribeiro

Alexandre "Xande" Ribeiro is a professional Jiu-Jitsu competitor, mixed martial artist and submission wrestler.He is the current Absolute (open weight) World Jiu-Jitsu Champion and is widely considered to be one of the world's top grapplers. He was the first person in the world to submit the American fighter Jeff Monson. He is currently a competitor in Japan's Sengoku Mixed Martial Arts promotion and trains for his fights at The Arena (www.thearenamma.com), a professional MMA training gym in San Diego. Xande's teammates include Diego Sanchez, Rani Yahya and Joe Duarte

Championships and accomplishments

World Jiu-Jitsu Champion in the Absolute (open weight) division - 2006 and 2008

World Jiu-Jitsu Champion in the Heavyweight division - 2008, 2007, 2006 and 2004

World Jiu-Jitsu Champion in the Medium Heavyweight division - 2000

ADCC Submission Wrestling World Champion in the 88-99kg division - 2007

Pan-American Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Champion in the Super-Heavyweight division for black belts - 2005 and 2006

Pan-American Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Champion in the Medium Heavyweight division for black belts - 2002

Pan-American Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Champion in the Adult Absolute division for black belts - 2001

Pan-American Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Champion in the Lightweight division for purple belts - 1999

Pan-American Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Champion in the Featherweight division for purple belts - 1998

3 Time Grapplers Quest Champion

2 Time World Cup Champion

Placements in the World Jiu-Jitsu Championship

2008: 1st in Absolute and Heavyweight division.2007: 3rd in Absolute and 1st in Adult Heavyweight division.

2006: 1st in Absolute and Heavyweight division.2005: 2nd in Super-Heavyweight division.

2004: 1st in Heavyweight division and 3rd in Adult Absolute division.

2002: 3rd in Absolute division.

2000: 1st in Medium-Heavyweight division.

1997: 3rd in Lightweight division.

Placements in the Pan-american Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Championship

2006: 1st in the Super-Heavyweight division for black belts and 2nd in the Adult Absolute division for black belts.

2005: 1st in the Super-Heavyweight division for black belts and 2nd in the Adult Absolute division for black belts.

2002: 1st in the Medium-Heavyweight division for black belts and 3rd in the Adult Absolute division for black belts.

2001: 1st in the Absolute division for black belts and 3rd in the Adult Medium-Heavyweight division for black belts.1999: 1st in the Lightweight division for purple belts

1998: 1st in the Featherweight division for purple belts

MMA Record

02/05/09 - Defeated Keiichiro Yamamiya by KO in the third round at Sengoku 8

28/09/08 - Defeated Takashi Sugiura By TKO in the Third Round at Sengoku 3

TCB’s Opinion

Alexandre is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu machine that often leaves his opponents on the matt wondering what had just happened while in turn his arm is raised.

His already impressive record shows the skills this man can bring to the table and with two knockouts to his name already in MMA he is by no means a one trick pony. Think of Damian Maia with punching power and you won’t be far from where this man lies in terms of MMA skills.

Look for Alexandre to make waves when he enters Mixed Martial Arts on a more permanent basis in 2009 / 2010.

For more Video's check out http://www.youtube.com/

Fighter Profile: Roger Gracie - Sept '08

Roger Gracie Gomes is a highly-decorated Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner. He is a member of the Gracie family, the son of Reyla Gracie (who is the daughter of Carlos Gracie) and Mauricio Motta Gomes (one of the six Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belts of Rolls Gracie).

His most notable achievement to date is winning the ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship in 2005, taking first place in the 88–98kg and Open-weight categories by submitting all eight opponents—a feat that had not previously been achieved.

Gracie is the main instructor at The Roger Gracie Academy located in West London, England. His fellow black belt instructors include Jude Samuel and Ray Stevens, who is a multiple judo champion and BJJ black belt.

Gracie defeated Ron Waterman in his mixed martial arts debut by armbar submission in the 1st round at the Bodogfight pay-per-view USA vs Russia.On the 18th May 2008 Roger Gracie competed in the Japanese MMA event Sengoku 2, where he defeated Yuki Kondo at 2:40 min of round 1 by rear naked choke.

TCB MMA'S OPINION

Roger is one of the best BJJ Practitioners not only of recent time but of all time. This probably comes with the territory from a Gracie family member but unlike most of his family Roger is yet to really test himself in the world of MMA and at the time of writing only ever competed twice. In those wins he defeated the wrestling legend Ron Waterman in 2006 and recently took a submission victory over Yuki Kondo via rear naked choke at the Sengoku event. Rumors have circulated recently that Roger may be looking to throw himself into the sport more which is probably making fighters within his weight class run for the hills. There is no doubt soon after he does make that jump, a world title will be just around the corner.

PICS







VIDEO'S

ADCC2005 Roger Gracie vs Shinya Aoki

Sengoku II Roger Gracie vs Yuki Kondo

Fighter Profile: Eddie Alvarez

Eddie Alvarez is an American Mixed Martial Arts fighter who currently fights in the Lightweight division for Japanese MMA promotion DREAM. Right now he is fighting out of the Fight Factory gym. Like fellow DREAM fighter Kid Yamamoto, Alvarez is still relatively unknown to casual MMA fans despite holding notable wins over Joachim Hansen, Tatsuya Kawajiri, and Andre Amade. His recent fights in DREAM look set to put an end to this anonymity though as his impressive performances gather more and more attention.

Although Alvarez is mainly known for his stand-up skills & KO power, he also has excellent wrestling & submission skills (he was a two-time All-American wrestler in high school.) After leaving high school Alvarez began training in MMA & made his pro debut after only 8 months of training. For the early part of his career Alvarez competed in the welterweight division, despite the fact that he was at a size disadvantage against most of his welterweight opponents he still managed to win his first 10 fights. Alvarez suffered the only loss of his career thus far at a Bodog Fight event against Nick “The GOAT” Thompson.

Since that loss Eddie has dropped down to the Lightweight division, where he has put together a 5 fight win streak. 3 of those 5 fights took place in the DREAM Lightweight Grand Prix, a tournament in which Alvarez was largely overlooked, with most fans backing either JZ Cavalcante or Shinya Aoki to walk away with the belt.

Alvarez TKO’d Andre "Dida", a dangerous striker from the Chute Boxe Academy, in the 1st round of the tournament. In the second round of the tournament Eddie defeated Norwegian fighter & eventual Lightweight Grand Prix winner, Joachim Hansen via unanimous decision.
With JZ eliminated in the 2nd round & after an impressive win over Hansen, people started to mention Alvarez as a potential winner of the Grand Prix. In the 3rd round of the Grand Prix, Alvarez continued his good form as he knocked out Tatsuya Kawajiri in the first round. But despite winning his 3rd round bout, he was unable to advance in the tournament due to a cut and severe swelling under his right eye. With Hansen coming back and going on to win the tournament, a rubber match between Alvarez and “Hellboy” must surely happen in the not too distant future?

Fighter Profile: Andre Gusmao

Andre Gusmao is a Brazilian MMA fighter from the city of Goiania. He stands at 6 foot 2 and weighs in at 205Ibs.



A veteran of the International Fight League where he fought as an alternate for Renzo Gracie's New York Pitbulls.

He holds disciplines in both Capoeira and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. With some fight fans referring to him as the best Capoeira practitioner in the world.


His Mixed Martial arts record stands at 5 wins 0 losses and 0 draws. Only one man has made it to the final bell with all the rest either being knocked out or submitted in the process. Below are some of his casualties:

Mike Ciesnolevicz KO (Knee) 9/20/2007 Round One
Wojtek Kaszowski Submission (Rear Naked Choke) 6/16/2007 Round One
Brent Beauparlant Decision (Unanimous) 12/29/2006 Round Three
Mike Ciesnolevicz TKO (Strikes) 9/23/2006 Round Two
John Swangler TKO (Strikes) 4/22/2006 Round One

As Of June 25th 2008, The Ultimate Fighting Championship made an the official announcement that Gusmao would make his debut for the company at UFC 87 against another unbeaten fighter Jon Jones

Fighter Profile: Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto

Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto is a Japanese MMA fighter who currently fights in the Featherweight division of Japanese promotion DREAM. He currently fights out of the Purebred Tokyo/Krazy Bee gym. Although he is relatively unknown by casual fans outside of Japan, Kid is a huge star in his homeland and is considered to be one of the best pound 4 pound fighters in the world today (He is currently ranked number 8 on our very own Pound 4 Pound list).

Kid quickly established a reputation as an aggressive, well-rounded fighter after his early performances for the Shooto promotion. As he had more and more fights his popularity continued to grow due to his exciting fighting style and controversial persona. With KO power in both hands and an excellent wrestling background, Kid presents a tough fight for anyone in the Featherweight or Lightweight divisions.

Kid’s wrestling is one of his biggest strengths, at one point he even took a break from MMA to concentrate on qualifying in Freestyle Wrestling for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He had hoped to win the Olympic Gold medal and follow in his father’s footsteps, (Ikuei Yamamoto represented Japan in the 1972 Olympic games in Munich). However his hopes of winning gold ended prematurely, after an injury prevented Yamamoto from competing in the wrestling qualifiers. With this injury, Kid would have no choice but to leave his hopes of competing in the 2008 Olympic Games and return to Mixed Martial Arts.

With only a single controversial loss on his record, which came at the hands of Stephen Palling in a fight that Kid was dominating until the referee decided to step in and end the bout due to a cut that Kid had suffered earlier in the fight, therefore declaring Stephen Palling as the winner. Kid’s record is otherwise almost spotless with 12 of his 17 wins via KO, he has never been KO’d or submitted and he is currently one of the top two fighters to beat in the Featherweight division. That other fighter being current WEC Featherweight champion Urijah Faber. A fight against Faber is considered to be Kid’s biggest challenge out there by many MMA fans and if this fight were to happen early next year then it would definitely be one of the most highly anticipated Featherweight matches in recent memory. Before this fight can take place however, Kid will need to get past one of Faber’s training partners at the next DREAM event. Joseph Benavidez has relatively little MMA experience with a professional record of 1-0, but he has been highly touted as one of the Featherweights to watch in the future, so Kid shouldn’t be taking this fight lightly if a fight against Faber is to take place in the near future.

Fighter Profile: Miguel Torres

Miguel Torres hails from Indiana in East Chicago and is being groomed for very big things in the world of MMA,

Miguel although still at a relatively young age of 27 is already the WEC Bantamweight champion which by the way doesn't look like changing any time soon, such as his dominance.

At the time of writing Miguel holds a MMA record of 34 wins with only one loss which may I add have already been avenged, that loss on his record came against Ryan Ackerman in 2003 in which he lost a unanimous decision, It took nearly two years to avenge that loss but when he met Ackerman again Miguel was all business and submitted him with a arm bar in the very first round, Since that only loss in 2003 he has gone unbeaten throughout 15 contests and has sometimes made it look quite easy in the cage.

Miguel's chosen disciplines are Brazilian Jiu Jitsu & Muay Thai which coupled together creates a very dangerous fighter who possesses a style that would present problems for any fighter whether it be ground or standing.



His last two outings have probably seen Torres enter the public eye with wins against Chase Beebe in which he captured the WEC title via Guillotine choke and then last time out defending his title against Yoshiro Maeda which he won via Doctors stoppage in round third in which many consider it to be a fight of the year candidate.

Miguel is already being talked about in terms of his position in the Top ten P4P fighters by MMA experts and our very own MMA expert Daniel Foley will be adding him to our list later in the month,

On closing I would encourage any supporter of MMA to catch a few of Torres fights on YouTube or Dailymotion (I have added the fight against Chase Beebe below) and see why we have made him our featured fighter this month

Fighter Profile: "Ruthless" Robbie Lawler

"Ruthless" Robbie Lawler (born March 20, 1982) is the current EliteXC middleweight champion. He is a member of Matt Hughes’ H.I.T. Squad, having previously trained with Pat Miletich at Miletich Fighting Systems along with fellow mixed martial artists Tim “The Maine-iac” Syliva, Jeremy Horn & Jens Pulver.

Lawler is known for his aggressive stand-up and vicious ground and pound; he has KO power in both hands and good wrestling skills. In the past his style has been border line reckless, but as of late Lawler has started maturing as a fighter and is a lot more patient now when looking for the KO.

On March 31, 2007, he fought Frank Trigg for the ICON middleweight championship and ended up winning by a brutal KO in the fourth round. He captured his second Middleweight title on September 15, 2007, against Murilo "Ninja" Rua. This time Lawler was fighting for the EliteXC middleweight championship and won by TKO in the third round. Lawler was a lot more methodical in his approach to this fight, pacing himself while waiting for Ninja to tire himself out before unleashing some big shots and TKO’ing the PRIDE veteran.

The “Ruthless” one was later stripped of his ICON title after pulling out of his fight against Hawaii's Kala "Kolohe" Hose due to injury. He is now scheduled to defend his Middleweight title against Scott Smith on the next EliteXC card which takes place May 31^st 2008. If Lawler wins this fight a match against Phil Baroni has been mentioned numerous times and could very well happen if the New York Bad Ass can also win his next fight. Other than Baroni one of the biggest fights for Lawler in the middleweight division, outside of the UFC, is Cung Le who recently won the Strikeforce title. This fight doesn’t look like it’ll happen this year but EliteXC and Strikeforce have co-promoted events in the past and we could very well see this fight in the future.