Table Of Content00MMAEncycl_i-iv__ 02/09/10 3:54 PM Page i
ECW Press
00MMAEncycl_i-iv__ 02/09/10 3:54 PM Page ii
Copyright © Jonathan Snowden and Kendall Shields, 2010
Published by ECW Press
2120 Queen Street East, Suite 200, Toronto, Ontario, Canada m4e 1e2
416-694-3348 [email protected]
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted in any form by any process — electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or other-
wise — without the prior written permission of the copyright owners and ECW Press. The scanning,
uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission
of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions,
and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the
authors’ rights is appreciated.
library and archives canada cataloguing in publication
Snowden, Jonathan, 1975-
The MMA encyclopedia / Jonathan Snowden and Kendall Shields.
Includes bibliographical references.
isbn 978-1-55022-923-3
1. Mixed martial arts--Encyclopedias. i. Shields, Kendall ii. Title.
gv1102.7.m59s65 2010 796.81503 c2010-901256-9
Developing Editor: Michael Holmes
Cover Design: Dave Gee
Text Design: Tania Craan
Color Section Design: Rachel Ironstone
Typesetting: Gail Nina
Photos copyright © Peter Lockley, 2010
Printing: Solisco Tri-Graphic 1 2 3 4 5
The publication of The MMA Encyclopediahas been generously supported by the Government of Ontario through
Ontario Book Publishing Tax Credit, by the OMDC Book Fund, an initiative of the Ontario Media Development
Corporation, and by the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund.
printed and bound in canada
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Contents
Introduction v
A: Abbott–Arona 1 M: Machida–Muay Thai 267
B: Bader–Bustamante 21 N: Nakamura–North-south 301
C: Cage Force–Cummo 49 O: Ogawa–Overeem 313
D: Danzig–Dream 81 P: Pancrase–Pulver 325
E: Edgar–Ezequiel choke 95 Q: Quadros 349
F: Faber–Funaki 111 R: Randleman–Rutten 351
G: Garcia–Guillotine choke 129 S: Sakuraba–Sylvia 373
H: Hackney–Hunt 163 T: Tadeu–TUF 457
I: IFL–International Vale Tudo U: Ultimate Fighting Championship–Uno 479
Championship 189 V: Vale Tudo–Vovchanchyn 489
J: Jackson–Just Bleed Guy 197 W: War Machine–Wrestling 497
K: Kang–Kung fu 213 Y: Yamada–Yvel 513
L: Lashley–Luta Livre 235 Z: ZST–Zuffa 523
Appendix I: Ultimate Fighting Championship Results 525
Appendix II: Other Major MMA Results 561
Notes on the Photos 583
Acknowledgments 585
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Introduction
On its surface, mixed martial arts is a simple game. There’s something uni-
versal about fighting, after all. And when two combatants square off inside a
cage in a brutal contest that leaves one man standing and the other unwilling
or unable to continue, audiences connect on a visceral, primal level, not an in-
tellectual one. So why, you might ask, is this book necessary?
Because, as simple as the concept of mixed martial arts may be, the exe-
cution is infinitely complex. Take the fistic repertoire of traditional western
boxing and add to that the precise savagery of Muay Thai kickboxing, the ex-
plosive athleticism of collegiate and international wrestling, the dynamic
grappling techniques of judo and sambo, and the methodical submission fight-
ing of the world’s top Brazilian Jiu-jitsu stylists. These diverse disciplines,
each one complex enough to warrant a lifetime of study on its own, now reg-
ularly collide, with fascinating results, at mma events the world over.
With The MMA Encyclopedia we hope to provide some insight into the
techniques, styles, and tactics on display in the cage, as well as shed light upon
the fighters and promotions that have helped make mma one of the fastest
growing sports in the world. Along the way, many of the sport’s luminaries
tell their own stories under the heading “In Their Own Words.” The entries
are arranged alphabetically, and when we make reference to a topic addressed
elsewhere in the encyclopedia, the subject appears in bold type. As you’ll see,
the world of mixed martial arts is deeply interconnected.
Peter Lockley has provided some of his top notch photography to illustrate
the book, and Chris “Mookie” Harrington helped put together the appen-
dices: a complete look at the results from every major fight show in both
America and Japan as well as a collection of interesting miscellany. We hope
you’ll agree that these combined efforts have yielded the best overall picture
of the mixed martial arts industry ever put to press.
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A
Abbott, David
Nickname:Tank Height:6’
Weight:285 lbs Born:4/16/65
Debut:UFC6 (7/14/95) Career Record:10–14
Notable Wins:Paul Varelans (UFC6); Yoji Anjo (UFC15.5); Wesley “Cabbage” Correira
(ROTR 7)
Notable Losses:Oleg Taktarov (UFC6); Dan Severn (Ultimate Ultimate 95); Don Frye
(Ultimate Ultimate 96); Pedro Rizzo (UFC17.5); Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson
(EliteXC: Street Certified)
It wasn’t the brutal knockout of the
400-pound John Matua that made
David “Tank” Abbott stand out in a
crowded mma landscape. It was the
dance — just a little shimmy mimick-
ing Matua’s scary convulsions as he
lay unconscious on the mat — that im-
mediately made Abbott one of the
UFC’s biggest stars.
Before Abbott burst onto the scene
in 1995 at ufc 6, the ufc was filled
with respectful athletes, martial artists
who conducted themselves with class
and dignity. With his crass interviews,
often mocking his opponents and
making light of the trauma he had just
inflicted on their brains with his ham-
mering fists, Abbott was a breath of
fresh air. He was the anti–martial
artist, a welcoming and familiar figure
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for fans who still weren’t sure what to make of Gracie Jiu-jitsuand the ground
game. This was a fighter they could feel comfortable with: a bar fighter with
a bald head, barrel chest, and long beard. This was what a fighter was sup-
posed to look like.
“I just got out of jail for beating somebody up — in fact, a cop’s son,”
Abbott said. His background gave ufc promoters reason to worry. But
Abbott had a solid case for his inclusion in the event. “Isn’t this supposed to
be about fighting? And they said, ‘Yeah, but you’ve got to have some kind of
a black belt or something.’ And I said, ‘That’s not what I’m about. I’m about
fighting in the streets.’ They called me a couple days later and said, ‘We came
up with this thing called Tank Abbott. It’s from the Every Which Way But
Loose movie from Clint Eastwood.’ That’s where the Tank came from.”
It was a brilliant marketing ploy, not just by Semaphore Entertainment
Group, but by Abbott himself. The Tank may have looked like an ignorant
thug, but that was for show. He was a legitimately tough guy, but he was also
a college graduate and a junior college wrestling star. This wasn’t part of the
ufc’s pitch, though. Fans preferred to think of Abbott as a menacing street
fighter and that was what seg gave them.
Unfortunately for Abbott, the martial artists he professed to hate so much
were more than a match for him. Abbott’s career is filled with devastating
knockouts of journeymen and tomato cans, but every time he stood in the
cage with a legitimate martial artist, he lost and lost convincingly. Even in de-
feat, Tank was still able to convince fans he was the tougher guy. He was
famous for heading to the bar while his conqueror headed to the hospital.
It was an act that seemed to age poorly. If tapping out to a sneering Frank
Mir’s toe holddidn’t kill the Abbott myth, a first round knockout in just 43sec-
onds at the hands of street fighter Kimbo Slice surely did. Despite these
convincing losses, Abbott will continue to fight on. As long as there are pro-
moters who are willing to pay big bucks for the nostalgia of having Tank
Abbott on their cards, the Tank will be there, lacing up his gloves and ready
to fall down for old time’s sake.
n Tank Abbott: Wrestling Star
During his UFCrun, Tank Abbott’s biggest nemesis was the promotion’s pretty
boy Ken Shamrock. One SEGinsider thought of Shamrock’s Lion’s Denand
Abbott’s crew as the Sharks and the Jets. Like the gangs in West Side Story,
the two crews seemed destined to rumble. Instead, the fireworks were all verbal,
especially after Shamrock left fighting for professional wrestling. Abbott
mocked him mercilessly, but as the UFCpaychecks got smaller, Abbott’s oppo-
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sition to pro wrestling shrank as well. In 1999, Abbott took the leap with Time
Warner’s World Championship Wrestling.
He joined the promotion in a tumultuous time. WCW had peaked with an
evil Hulk Hogan leading his New World Order stable against aging good guys
like Sting and Ric Flair. They were desperate for the next big thing and were
tossing ideas against the wall with reckless abandon. Abbott was far from the
only experiment; WCW also brought in KISS to help christen a KISS Demon
character and signed the rapper Master P to headline a rap versus country
music feud.
In this creative chasm, Abbott’s wrestling persona changed by the day. He
was a tough guy with one-punch-knockout power during a “Colors on a Pole”
match with Big Al at one pay-per-view and the goofy dancing bodyguard for the
boy-band knockoff “3 Count” at another show.
“The powers that be in WCW were changing every day; you never knew
who was in charge. They just came up with new ideas and things for me to do. I
think they were hoping it wouldn’t go well for me,” Abbott said. “I thought it
was actually kind of funny to go out and dance with those guys. What the hell —
let’s go have some fun.”
Achilles hold: see Leg locks
ADCC
The Abu Dhabi Combat Club Submission Wrestling World Championship —
more often referred to as adcc, or simply Abu Dhabi — is the most presti-
gious competition in the world of no-gi submission grappling. Founded by
mma enthusiast Sheik Tahnoon Bin Zayed Al Nahyan and his Brazilian Jiu-
jitsu instructor Nelson Monteiro in 1998, the adcc’s mandate is to bring
grapplers from various disciplines together to compete under rules agreeable
to competitors from all styles — though adcc rules resemble those of
Brazilian Jiu-jitsu more closely than those of any other art or sport. And in-
deed, Brazilian Jiu-jitsu practitioners have enjoyed far more success at adcc
than representatives of sambo, judo, or wrestling. Aside from Mark Kerr and
Sanae Kikuta, representing wrestling and judo respectively, all adcc champi-
ons have been top Brazilian Jiu-jitsu exponents. This is no doubt due to at
least two factors: the undeniable, inherent quality of Brazilian Jiu-jitsu as the
premier submission discipline of its era, and the fact that the adcc is simply
not on the radar of active elite wrestlers and judo players. Perhaps one day
Sheik Tahnoon’s dream of top athletes from every major grappling discipline
competing under a common rule set will be fully realized. Until then, it is
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