Imagine if Saddam could have could cloned Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, programmed him with some CIA LSD like substance and then taken over the world. This must be a very scary thought for any MMA fighter today. You would wind up with an army that could submit legions, not to mention world domination. But there is no need to go that far to find top Brazilian fighters.

Now, imagine the movie West World, Brazilian style. Instead of Yule Brenner as a robot Cowboy picture perhaps Wanderlei Silva as a Pantanero, an undying breed of Brazilian Amazonian Cowboy, who drive cattle through dangerous tropical waters. Pele and the gang are riding by his side. They wrestle Croatian caiman, submitting Japanese anacondas and other weird tropical lizards. All in all, they are hard working humble people who in their daily lives randomly confront dangerous jaguars, wild boars, and even pro-wrestlers. Anyways, I think I’ve gone a little too far with my imagery.

Now switch over to Japan, the event is not Pride, but Pancrase, an organization full of very talented fighters who rarely fight in Pride due to "politics." There is a new middleweight King who is Renzo's brother-in-law. His name is Ricardo Almeida and he is a dynamic star on the rise. He has taken many of the Grabaka boys to the cleaners, and he has a little brother whose an up and coming world champion in Jiu-jitsu. Now picture that same tough Grabaka Pack and a fighter named Ita. He is to confront Evangelista Cyborg, who dangerously resembles Wanderlei with his surreal wildcat stare. You may think he is a cyber-clone constructed even larger scale than Silva, but no, he is just another one of The Boys From Brazil. This fight is absolutely frightening, as Ita is completely ineffective in his attack and then crumbles under the fierce force of this Cyborg's high tech super heavy stainless steel fists. This guy hits harder than the Terminator.

Now imagine something even more scary, Murillo Ninja's lit'l bro, Mauricio Shogun Rua; part of Wanderlei's Chute Boxe posse. He has already taken out Evangelista Cyborg back in the hood, but Shogun's stage is now Japan's Pride Bushido, where he will face MMA Martyr Akira Shoji. Akira comes out tough like a cartoon action hero standing toe to toe with the taller Shogun. But eventually Shogun overwhelms him with strikes and leg kicks, decimating him with stomps on the ground, only to pass him on to his big brother Murillo to further abuse him in the Pride New Year's Eve gig. Mauricio is slightly smaller than Murillo, and both are incredible forces to be dealt with in the middleweight and light heavy weight area. If I were Shoji, I would hope there are no more little brothers.

And speaking of brothers, how could we neglect Minotoro, he is easily breaking out from under his brother Minotauro's mythological shadow and slowly devouring the best Japan has to offer. In Deep he had an extremely elaborate technical and tactical match against TK Kosaka, perhaps Japan's finest Judo representative in MMA. Unlike his brother who finishes mostly with submissions, Minotoro delivered super hard heavy rocks to stun his way to victory. Most recently he did the same thing to Sakuraba, also taking it to the judges, proving his point with the punches and soccer kicks, not to mention awesome ground technique and defense.

Among the heavies is, Carlao Barreto, current HEAT heavyweight champion who now has Assuerio Silva from Chute Boxe, looking for his belt. Also running in Barreto’s posse is the unforgettable Alan Goes, who was once the only man who had gotten a draw against an unbeatable Sakuraba; he's not out of the game yet. Also from HEAT is Renato Babalu Sobral who had bad luck in the cage against Chuck Liddell who once fought in Vale Tudo. And don't forget team Jesus' die-hard Ebenezer Fuentes Braga who once took on a gigantic Mark Coleman as well as fighting in K-1, although he recently lost to American Griffin in Heat.

 
And speaking of Nogueira, there is one who is unrelated to the two up above. Alexandre "Pequeno" Nogueira is the current 145lb Shooto champion and has defended his belt successfully various times. He has taken out all his opponents in Deep, and just defended his title with a submission once again. Also in this weight class is Joao Roque (Nova Uniao) who has also been unbeatable in Deep and Shooto. Cloning fighters this size would allow us to send them into smaller spaces and submit the enemy. Now I feel like I’m really starting to think like the politicians and military minds, or is that an oxymoron?

Also in Shooto, only ten pounds up, there is a new Welterweight Champion named Vitor Shaolin Ribeiro. He is a three time BJJ World Champion from Nova Uniao. With a Katagatami, he just recently took out the Vicking Champion who took out a once seemingly indestructible Takinori Gomi. This kid is a force that is here to stay. Meanwhile the Viking Joaquin Hansen is sailing to Pride.

Or course, also missing from the Pride Light Heavy GP was Ricardo Arona who was subbed by Murilo Bustamante, who has had bad luck in his last two; first loosing to the judges and then and unfortunate well delivered knee by Brazilian Stalker, Dan Henderson. Arona is obviously one of the top light heavyweights in the world, and Murilo, we must remember is actually a middleweight and still a top contender there.

And speaking of top contenders, if you haven't seen Inoki's new Brazilian baby, Lyoto Machida, just ask former Cincinnati math teacher Rich Franklin who was undefeated in UFC competition until he stepped up to the challenge in Japan. Franklin was left counting and perhaps wishing he were back in teaching hell, Ohio. This Brazilian Karate and Jiu-jitsu man is rubbery, aggressive, agile and dangerous. He put Franklin in serious danger in the first round with a mount and a furious ground and pound flurry, which wound up tangled in the ropes. He then took out the tough American with a straight left, a right kick to the chest and chin followed by a left again. Before this fight, Lyoto crushed Stephan Boner in the Jungle Fight and destroyed Kengo in his MMA debut. If anyone could clone Lyoto it might be Inoki, so the world better watch out for this Brazilian/Japanese MMA hybrid. I suppose Big Brother and the Federales will digitally fingerprint these guys first, then the world.

Meanwhile, back at the octagon there is a very hungry Brazilian whom it seems that God himself has placed every possible obstacle from accidental head butts to poor judging in his path to conquer the heavyweight title. First, it was against former defending champion Kevin Randleman, and then the fathers' father man Randy Couture. Rizzo has knocked at hells gate three times in order to rule it, but has come up short or been shorted every time. But now that the UFC has chaos among the heavyweights, or shall we say the talent there is somewhat slim, and the champ was dropped due to doping, anything is possible. Pedro most recently took former heavy champ Rico Rodriguez out of his game and completely controlled him in a striking duel. Before that Pedro took out Trey Telligman in a legendary hard striking rematch. Pedro has beat Kosaka, Tank, Arlovsky, almost everyone, and is ready to take over hells Cage, that is unless he leaves for the rising sun. This last victory against Rodriguez was the last fight in Pedro's UFC contract and now there are rumors that this man might move on to Japan, perhaps K-1, K-1MMA or Pride.

Also in the cage, there is a new Brazilian lightweight who came back from the grips of Caol Uno, to knock out the Japanese legend. If Franca gets past his next opponent in Las Vegas, this should be considered an inside Brazilian attack. And, don't forget the fact that a still very young but clean and spiritually cleansed Vitor Belfort is hungry to avenge Randy Couture and take the light heavyweight title with him. Skeptic's forget that Belfort's slump started out against a then relatively unknown Kazushi Sakuraba. Vitor was the first sacrificed wolf toward Sakuraba's success. Vitor also took out Wanderlei in Brazil with deadly force and left right combinations, unlike Tito Ortiz, who used the lay and prey to win over the judges in an even match. Everything falls into place for a great build up towards a possible rematch between Wanderlei and Vitor, or a first encounter for Wanderlei/Couture, the two top Light Heavyweights in the MMA world currently.

Also galloping in from the distance from Ruas Vale Tudo is Rizzo's teammate Antoine Jaoude, a Hook n Shoot champion who lost by decision in his K-1/MMA special rules favoring the striker debut. This grappler is headed for the Olympics and could soon become a force in MMA as well. There is a whole new posse of Ruas fighters also coming up, too many names to mention. Wanderlei's boys can be heard training across the way. I'm not even going to get into the new generation of Gracie's, such as Crosley in Pancrase, or Rodrigo, Ralph, etc… or speculate on possible MMA futures for Gracie/Barra Jiu-jitsu fighters.

Of course, at the end of every hardworking victorious day our Brazilian urban and field grapplers have a grand and colorful open spit barbecue. First, they will cook up the Wild Pro Wrestler Boar that they had castrated out in the MMA jungles years before in order to fatten him up. Since no one has to make weight tomorrow, they will be serving some delicious Brazilian beef from the cattle they drove across these dangerous waters. They will also be serving up some "Costado do Yoshida," sauerkraut with "Leg o Cro Cop," and so on and so on… It's a full-blown party, musica, mininas, but there is so little time to celebrate in such a tough business.