JEFF MONSON  

The Universal Warrior

Part 1-3

© Marc Wickert 
www.knucklepit.com

May 2, 2008, 
special thanks to Bryan Hamper

The Snowman’s last Octagon appearance was against Tim Sylvia at UFC 65: Bad Intentions on November 18, 2006. And although the fight was awarded to Tim after going the distance of five 5-minute rounds, Jeff won his 16 previous bouts and showed that he was the real deal. Despite his absence from the Octagon since late 2006, international interest in this outstanding warrior remains incredibly high.

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KEN TWADDELL 

Military Martial Arts Systems

Part 1-2

© Marc Wickert, www.knucklepit.com

May 2, 2008

“I see there’s a big trend in martial arts at the moment for realistic self defense – hence the popularity of military martial arts and mixed martial arts. And with today’s added violence, the threat of terrorism, and the fact that eighty percent of today’s population has practiced some form of martial arts, it’s all the more reason for people to study some form of realistic self defense,” says Twaddell.

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TRAVIS LUTTER

Laid-Back, Waiting for Crunch Time

© Marc Wickert 
www.knucklepit.com 
April 3, 2008

All photos copyright 2004 Zuffa LLC
Photography by Joshua Hedges

A former Ultimate Submission World Champion, Travis defeated a number of other world-class BJJ experts, including Ryron Gracie, to snare this internationally acclaimed title, and he has shown that his ground game is not to be underestimated. But Lutter has not competed since his match with Silva, and some fans are wondering how well prepared he will be for Franklin.

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© Marc Wickert 
www.knucklepit.com 
April 4, 2008

All photos copyright 2004 Zuffa LLC
Photography by Joshua Hedges

Today, Kenny is at home in Boston, having just taken his car for a service. It’s around 23 years since Kenny first became involved in a fighting system. “I really started martial arts with my whole family when I was a kid – taking up Shaolin Kenpo Karate. But I got more seriously into martial arts when I was in college at about twenty years old,” says Florian.

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HEATH HERRING

The MMA Legend From Amarillo, Texas

© Marc Wickert 
www.knucklepit.com 
March 31, 2008

All photos copyright 2004 Zuffa LLC
Photography by Joshua Hedges

Heath admits he’s not in full-swing training right now, but he is doing some cardio to get back into training shape after his recent victory over Cheick Kongo at UFC 82. “I went home to Texas for a week or so to see my mom and everybody. I’m a Texas boy: That’s home for me,” says Herring.

JONATHAN GOULET

2008 Is Going To Be My Year

© Marc Wickert, 
www.knucklepit.com

March 25, 2008

All photos copyright 2004 Zuffa LLC
Photography by Joshua Hedges

Jonathan says he trained this morning in boxing and BJJ as part of his preparation for the upcoming bout with Kuniyoshi Hironaka at UFC 83: Serra vs. St-Pierre 2, and he is now at home in Victoriaville, Quebec, despite spending most of his time in Montreal these days, working out with some other big names in Canadian MMA.

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DREW FICKETT  

The Master’s Ready for the Showdown

Part 1-2

© Marc Wickert, 
www.knucklepit.com

March 23, 2008

Special thanks to Bryan Hamper

“I’m in the best shape of my life right now. I finally was able to devote myself to training properly for this fight. Jake’s always in shape, so I think we'll both bring the best out in each other,” says Fickett.

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© Marc Wickert, 
www.knucklepit.com

March 20, 2008

Apart from being a key player in the engine room for many MMA fighters, Riggs has his own fighting history as the American Full Contact Champion and also the Canadian Jiu Jitsu Champion in the early ’90s.

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JOE DOERKSEN  

I’m Going for a Knockout in This Fight

Part 1-2

© Marc Wickert 
www.knucklepit.com 
March 21, 2008

All photos copyright 2004 Zuffa LLC
Photography by Joshua Hedges

“Then there are my main training partners that I’m working with as well: There are too many to list, like really good striking guys and really good grapplers, and a couple of guys who do both. So things are going pretty well, and in the next week or two, Jeremy Horn will be showing up for me to train with for two weeks before I leave.

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Part 1-4

©Marc Wickert, 
www.knucklepit.com

March 13, 2008

“While in the IFL, I was trying to catch up with everybody else: in submission, striking, and general ringmanship. The other guys with the IFL had about 10 fights behind them and they had a lot of experience. I think this year I’ll still be training in Toronto once a month, but I won’t have the catching up to do. And through Terry Riggs, I’m starting to understand the system now. 

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© Marc Wickert 
www.knucklepit.com 
January 24, 2008

All photos copyright 2004 Zuffa LLC
Photography by Joshua Hedges

Special thanks to Jennifer Wenk and Rachel Trontel

The above pre-fight conference took place on Thursday, January 24, at 10:00 am PST, and involved Tim Sylvia, Brock Lesnar, Frank Mir and UFC’s Craig Borsari, Senior Vice-President of Operations and Production. The paragraph below was provided by UFC.

About UFC 81

On the night before the biggest football game of the year, Super Bowl XLII, Ultimate Fighting Championship^® (UFC^®) organization takes center stage with an immense night of hard-hitting heavyweight fight action.  At UFC 81, former UFC Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir will put former WWE Champion and world-renowned superstar Brock Lesnar to the ultimate test, as Lesnar makes his move from the squared circle into the Octagon^™ to prove that he is for real. 

Part 1-10

© Marc Wickert 
www.knucklepit.com

December 10, 2007

But the real icing on the cake for Tank was when he first learnt about the introduction of legalized NHB events being held in the USA, and he quickly rose to fame as one of UFC’s hardest men. Living by the motto, “Anytime, any place”, it appeared Tank was made for the cage, and he is now fired up on all eight cylinders and rearing to lock bull bars with Kimbo Slice.

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© Marc Wickert 
www.knucklepit.com 
December 6, 2007

All photos copyright 2004 Zuffa LLC
Photography by Joshua Hedges

Special thank you to Shari L Spencer  

Previously, Georges had been traveling to Jackson’s Submission Fighting gym in Albuquerque for his training, however he is now back home in Quebec to prepare for his December 29 fight in what will be St-Pierre vs. Hughes III.

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© Marc Wickert 
www.knucklepit.com

December 4, 2007

All photos copyright 2004 Zuffa LLC
Photography by Joshua Hedges

“I liked to protect people. I never thought about winning or losing, or getting hurt. I’ve always had that heart. I think I got it from my family: We’re there to help, so it was just in my nature to get into fights – not as a bully, but to help out, to help individuals whether they could fight or not. I was always the guy who would stick up for people. It didn’t matter if it was against someone big, small… It didn’t matter to me,” says Ibarra.

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Part 1-3

© Marc Wickert, 
www.knucklepit.com

December 3, 2007

Recently Mick’s Double Dragon Gym became affiliated with the Gracie Sydney Gym. And Mick says it all came about by chance. “I train Ian Schaffa, and Ian was training ground with Bruno Panno (Gracie Sydney).  When Ian fought Kid Yamamoto on a K1: Heroes show, Bruno came to Japan as well and I got to know him. He invited me to train at his Caringbah club, so I took him up on that offer, and I met Alex Prates there. Alex asked if he could come to my gym to learn some stand up, so of coarse I invited him, and there it began: the Gracie Sydney-Double Dragon Team. 

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© Marc Wickert 
www.knucklepit.com 

Nov. 29, 2007

All photos copyright 2004 Zuffa LLC
Photography by Joshua Hedges

Now notched up in Rampage’s impressive 29-6 MMA record are earlier wins over such respected names as Igor Vovchanchyn, Kevin Randleman and Matt Lindland: impressive scalps indeed! And Quinton is currently on a six-fight winning streak, which takes in his three latest UFC bouts.

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