From Tatame....
'Rickson if you think Vale-Tudo is at a low technical lthe evel nowadays why don't you came fight me on Pride? I challenge you to fight me for middleweight belt on December 31st'. This explosive statement was made last week in Japan by Pride Middleweight Champion Wanderlei Silva, after reading the last edition of Tatame Magazine that had Rickson Gracie on the cover. In the 7 page interview the Gracie family's head honcho summarized his career, telling for the first time about his Vale Tudo debut on the Rio de Janeiro streets and impressed the fans with controversial statements like: 'I´m cheering for Ricardo Arona in this Pride GP'. Rickson also promised to fight once or twice before retirement: 'I don't have any proposal right now but that's my plan. I really would like to do one or two fights before I stop', said the Gracie. But the most controversial part of the interview was undoubtfully when he said Minotauro's guard for Vale-Tudo is weak and also that he considers all Vale-Tudo fighters nowadays at a low technical level: 'Sometimes I'd rather see a beautiful K-1 fight than one of those bad Vale-Tudo fights', said Gracie in a statement that turned into the main subject of all brazilian fighters encounters in Tokyo in the days before Pride GP.
Considered the no1 rival of Rickson in Brazil during 80's, Marco Ruas (who came to Japan to support his students Pedro Rizzo) also complained about the part of the interview when Rickson told of day that he invaded Luta-Livre HQ to challenge Luta-Livre people. 'He said he challenged me and I asked four months to train. That was not true because I was 100% ready that day, but he said he was looking for Luta-Livre guys, not me. Everybody in Brazil always dreamed of seeing this fight. I think we finally could make it. We are about the same age. It would be a great pleasure for me to make a retirement fight against Rickson', said Ruas.
'Rickson if you think Vale-Tudo is at a low technical lthe evel nowadays why don't you came fight me on Pride? I challenge you to fight me for middleweight belt on December 31st'. This explosive statement was made last week in Japan by Pride Middleweight Champion Wanderlei Silva, after reading the last edition of Tatame Magazine that had Rickson Gracie on the cover. In the 7 page interview the Gracie family's head honcho summarized his career, telling for the first time about his Vale Tudo debut on the Rio de Janeiro streets and impressed the fans with controversial statements like: 'I´m cheering for Ricardo Arona in this Pride GP'. Rickson also promised to fight once or twice before retirement: 'I don't have any proposal right now but that's my plan. I really would like to do one or two fights before I stop', said the Gracie. But the most controversial part of the interview was undoubtfully when he said Minotauro's guard for Vale-Tudo is weak and also that he considers all Vale-Tudo fighters nowadays at a low technical level: 'Sometimes I'd rather see a beautiful K-1 fight than one of those bad Vale-Tudo fights', said Gracie in a statement that turned into the main subject of all brazilian fighters encounters in Tokyo in the days before Pride GP.
Considered the no1 rival of Rickson in Brazil during 80's, Marco Ruas (who came to Japan to support his students Pedro Rizzo) also complained about the part of the interview when Rickson told of day that he invaded Luta-Livre HQ to challenge Luta-Livre people. 'He said he challenged me and I asked four months to train. That was not true because I was 100% ready that day, but he said he was looking for Luta-Livre guys, not me. Everybody in Brazil always dreamed of seeing this fight. I think we finally could make it. We are about the same age. It would be a great pleasure for me to make a retirement fight against Rickson', said Ruas.
Comment