So far each time Ricardo Almeida has tried to re enter the battle zone since his retirement form MMA four years ago at the tender age of twenty four, it seems that the gods are trying to keep him away from his professional return. After a bum steer from a very wealthy organization, and the collapse of another, his opponent Middleweight fighter Alan Belcher has pulled out from the UFC 81 card due to a severe case of bronchitis, leaving very little time to find the Brazilian Gracie trained star an opponent for this Saturday night’s showdown in Las Vegas.

But as luck will have it, an undefeated fighter from the Alaska Fighting Championship veteran Rob Yundt will be replacing Belcher and saving the day. Yundt is a product of the AFC and this will be his first venture outside his home turf. Ricardo Almeida is certainly a big step up for this game opponent, but what will be tested is Ricardo’s time away from the striking aspect of this sport. While Yundt is a dynamic and strong wrestler, his ground n pound style might set him up for Almeida’s supreme submission game which he has been cultivating his entire four years away from MMA.

Almeida before stepping away was middleweight King of Pancrase and was on a six-fight roll when he abruptly decided to cultivate his jiu-jitsu sensei status in his own academy in New Jersey. Although this is another obstacle thrown in Almeida’s return, as a long time professional he should be able to well adapt to this opponent and hopefully overturn his 1-2 status thus far in the UFC of yesterday. Almeida and Yundt will still be a part of the pay-per-view portion of the card.

'Minotauro vs. The Maniac, Two Former Kings of Pancrase' - January 29th, 2008

As all things come around, an interesting aspect of the UFC 81 main card is the return of two former Kings of Pancrase. Ricardo Almeida, the King of Pancrase who took the title from Nathan Marquart, returns to the UFC after a six-year absence including an early retirement. Meanwhile since his own departure from the Japanese stage, Nate “The Great” who has not even had good luck in the octagon so far will be taking on a long time MMA veteran Gumby, Jeremy Horn who once fought a tight hard battle against the man who plans to put another belt in his collection Minotauro. The heavy weight blow out topping off the card includes former pro wrestler Brock Lesnar vs. former heavy champion Frank Mir, and Rodrigo Antonio Nogueira vs. Tim Silva for the Interim Heavyweight title.

Although American MMA fans criticize the Pro Wrestling “freak show” aspect of Japanese organizations, even, ZUFFA is capable of taking the Lucha Libre bait from self declared super man Brock Lesnar who will be stepping into the heavyweight octagon against a super well versed submission man who lost his belt to a motorcycle accident that left him with a career altering broken leg.

For Lesnar, his power and amateur wrestling conditioning will be an asset against Frank Mir, but as long as Mir himself is well conditioned, he should pull of the submission against a usual suspect. Fighters like Nick “The Goat” Thompson have sworn that this very successful amateur wrestling hero is “the real thing,” the real what? With an almost perfect amateur-wrestling career this NCAA Champion had a 33-0 record in high school and 101-5 in college. He has an almost cartoon hero massive physique, and while Lesnar might intimidate, wrestlers are the suckers born to be submitted by jiu jitsu masters.

For Frank Mir this is definitely an opportunity to prove the true worth of the martial artist’s spirit while educating the fans with his submission skills. As long as Frank has a full tank and keeps his composure, a takedown from the former pro wrestler should only help set up the trap wrestlers always seem to fall for called a triangle.

Number Two
Meanwhile in the other battle of big versus bigger, Rodrigo Antonio Nogueira is once again going to have to settle of an interim belt as he did in the former PRIDE FC. Nogueira was PRIDE’s first Heavyweight Champion, gaining and then defending the title six times in a year and a half until Fedor Emilianenko emerged. Another irony is that Fedor (the only other Heavy belt holder in PRIDE) and Nogueira had both planted their MMA roots and blossomed in Akira Maeda’s RINGS show. Nogueira is definitely a peculiarly tough specimen with indomitable mental power, intelligent striking and tricky technical sudden submissions; this and his time well spent with jiu jitsu coach Amaury Bittetti should get him past the giant Tim Silva. Not counting the long limbed large Maniac by any means, if Nogueira fails in his title shot he may meet the same fate as others from PRIDE, falling in the wayside.

Overall UFC 81 has some very interesting match-ups. Also headed for another war is Gleison Tibau on his fifth trip inside the octagon, and his first since joining the American Top Team, which seems to be capitalizing upon many talented fighters from around the world right now, especially of course Brazil. Tibau will be taking on once beaten Tyson Griffin. Also on the card is Chris Lytle, while veteran Marvin Eastman will be taking on a very game Terry Martin in a probable standing war.

'"Cachorrao" Ricardo Almeida Fighting in UFC 81' -January 10th, 2008

Shocking the MMA world after an abrupt retirement from MMA back in mid 2004 and an even longer absence from the octagon the man who defeated a then seemingly invincible Nathan Marquart for the King of Pancrase title, Cachorrao (Big Dog) Ricardo Almeida is making his return to the UFC.

Although Ricardo threatened to return to the fight scene a few times before in 2007, contractual, organizational or bureaucratic problems and plain bad luck seemed to get in the way of this man’s imminent desire to return to MMA after a premature departure. Almeida was supposed to face off against Superman Dennis Hallman as of most recent, but the entire event was cancelled. Always looking at the bright side of things though Cachorrao instead wound up with a six fight deal with the biggest show in the globe, the UFC.

Almeida had very suddenly surprised everyone in the MMA community by deciding to retire from mixed martial arts while at the top of his game since it was never truly his intention to become a fighter, and rather he chose the path of the teacher, carrying on the Gracie tradition of jiu jitsu, eventually migrating to Weehawken, New Jersey.

It was back in December of 2000 that a twenty two year old Almeida made his MMA debut filling in for his future brother in law Renzo Gracie in a PRIDE match up against Akira Shoji. It was a war of attrition and Almeida not only hung tough with the larger Shoji, but also wound up triumphant as well in a decision. His next fight would be half a year later against Matt Lindland, inside the octagon but Cachorrao came out getting disqualified in the third round for the repeated instinct of the up kick to a “downed” opponent. His only other profession loss as an MMA fighter would come a couple fights later also inside the UFC’s octagon against a then very hot commodity named Andre Seminov. Almeida himself even once admitted that this was the first time he felt truly outclassed, but of course it became the most valuable lesson for this fighter as he went on to become King of Pancrase and defeated a Ryo Chonan who was peaking for his final MMA duel in PRIDE BUSHIDO.

It will be interesting to see how Almeida readapts to the MMA game with UFC rules, especially after he made his real mark in the Japanese landscape which offered more weapons such as kicks and stomps and knees to the downed opponent. Although Almeida has not been far from the training mats, the cage is definitely another world, which seems to favor the grappler and requires implementing very different strategies than inside the ropes. So far Cachorrao has a 1-2 record in the UFC, but that was only the beginning of his career, as he now has the opportunity to turn things around. He will be confronting Alan "The Talent" Belcher at UFC 81 on February 2nd.

UFC 81 Breaking Point
Saturday, February 2, 2008
Mandalay Bay Events Center
Las Vegas, Nevada

Complete Card:
Heavyweight Interim Title Bout 5 x 5 min. Rounds



Tim Sylvia vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira 


Heavyweight Bout 3 x 5 min. Rounds



Frank Mir vs. Brock Lesnar

Middleweight Bout 185 lbs. 3 x 5 min. Rounds




Jeremy Horn vs. Nate Marquardt

Middleweight Bout 185 lbs. 3 x 5 min. Rounds




Ricardo Almeida vs. Rob Yundt 


Lightweight Bout 155 lbs. 3 x 5 min. Rounds

 

Gleison Tibau vs. Tyson Griffin

Welterweight Bout 170 lbs. 3 x 5 min. Rounds

 

Chris Lytle vs. Kyle Bradley

Light Heavyweight Bout 205 lbs. 3 x 5 min. Rounds

 

Marvin Eastman vs. Terry Martin

Welterweight Bout 170 lbs. 3 x 5 min. Rounds 

Keita Nakamura vs. Rob Emerson