BUSHIDO FC - The Journey

[RebelPaul]

BUSHIDO cards were always my favorite PRIDE events. The adjustment to rules made it exciting. However, when PRIDE died, so did BUSHIDO and my career as one of the matchmakers in PRIDE. I was the guy who nobody knew about. I preferred it that way. I grew up in Japan watching PRIDE and slowly found my way into working for Dream Stage Entertainment. I worked my way up into the matchmaking quarters. The moment I started to build momentum, it was over. The moment I found out I wasn’t going to be retained by the Fertittas and Dana White, I was sad. I really didn’t know what to do. Since they already had a matchmaker in the form of Joe Silva and didn’t want to add anyone else to the mix, I was left jobless. They had no use for me – a young, up-and-comer, who helped produced the concept of BUSHIDO originally in PRIDE. I was living in Japan. No job. No money. I thought about helping K-1 Heroes out, but it just wasn’t worth it right now. I had saved up enough money to survive, but it wasn’t going to make it. I knew I had to find a job and soon. I called up HUSTLE to see if they wanted to add me as a booker onto their writing staff. They said no. I thought about moving to the United States and helping out EliteXC or swallow my pride and ask if WEC wanted me to work for them. Luckily for me, I got a phone call from the Inokis. Antonio and Simon wanted to start up their own company. I went in for an interview and they offered me a job right after we had finished talking. They had money, but could they get the talent. I asked them if they had any talent lined up and they revealed that they had signed the biggest free agent in all of MMA – Fedor Emelianenko. I didn’t hesitate taking over the President job that they offered. They even allowed me to pick a name for the entire company. I wondered if the Fertittas had owned the BUSHIDO trademark. It happened that they didn’t, and I immediately decided to call the new company – BUSHIDO Fighting Championships. [I]Note: This was started before HDNET and Mark Cuban started his promotion. Hey, it’s fantasy, so I’ll do whatever I want. I combined MMA Complete and the default database. The only thing I didn’t import most of the companies from the default database. I only incorporated WEFF, so the females in the game wouldn’t go to waste. I am currently in February 2011 of the game. I am going to post a detailed history of the BUSHIDO for the first two years. Credit to the creator of the BUSHIDO logo and the creator of the databases.[/I]

[RebelPaul]

Rules Base Rules (Anywhere but the U.S.): [LIST] [*]Fought in a 23-by-23-feet ring. [*]Non-title bouts – First Round: 10 minutes, while Second and Third: 5 minutes [*]Title bouts – Five Rounds (1st – 10 minutes, 2-5 – 5 minutes) [*]Any fights that go the distance will be decided by the judges. [*]Strikes to a grounded opponent are legal [*]Kicks to the head of a person while they’re on their back are legal. [*]Kicks to the head of a person while they’re on their stomach are illegal. [*]Knees to the head of a person while they’re on their back are legal. [*]Knees to the head of a person while they’re on their stomach are legal. [*]Stomps to the head of a person while they’re on their back are legal. [*]Stomps to the head of a person while they’re on their stomach are illegal. [*]Spiking is legal. [*]Elbows to the head and face are illegal. [/LIST] All fights in the U.S. will be fought under the “Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts” under state regulation. Weight Classes: [LIST] [*]Featherweight (135-145) [*]Lightweight (146-155) [*]Welterweight (156-170) [*]Middleweight (170-185) [*]Light Heavyweight (186-205) [*]Heavyweight (206-265) [*]Super Heavyweight (266-700) [/LIST]

[RebelPaul]

BUSHIDO History [B][U]THE HISTORY OF BUSHIDO[/U][/B] [B][U] The Inception[/U][/B] The very first BUSHIDO card was held on January 25, 2008. It featured six fights and was headlined by Fedor Emelianenko taking on Jerome LeBanner. Fedor won his fight in a mere 48 seconds by knockout to establish himself as one of the top fighters in BUSHIDO. There were also two title fights on the first card. The top two ranked fighters in the welterweight and middleweight classes took on each other to decide the division’s respective champions. Hayato “Mach” Sakurai made an impressive BUSHIDO debut by knocking out Brian Schwartz with a right hook to win the welterweight title. Cung Le, one of the top middleweight fighters in the U.S., crossed the Pacific to take on the Kazushi Sakuraba for the middleweight title. Le dominated Sakuraba, who was clearly in his final days in a fighter, to claim the middleweight title. The performance drew just a mere 1,582 fans, but managed to earn BUSHIDO a part-time late-night TV slot on Samurai TV!. [B][U] Champions are crowned[/U][/B] Over the course of the next few months, the rest of the title picture was put together. Fedor defeated Kazayuki Fujita to win the heavyweight title. Shinya Aoki defeated Vitor Ribeiro to win the lightweight title. Vitor Belfort, who defeated Renato “Babalu” Sobral, claimed the light heavyweight title. Now with the champions crowned, the fighters knew whom they had to chase if they wanted to become one of the greatest. [B][U]Fezzik makes his debut[/U][/B] Hassan Fezzik, a well-known fighter in Europe, finally decided to make his BUSHIDO debut. He was ranked No. 3 in the world behind Fedor and the UFC’s Antonio Nogueria. He called out Fedor demanding a match after a dominating unanimous decision victory over Japanese legend Kunimichi Kikuchi. It wouldn’t take long for the matchmakers to make the fight happen between an undefeated fighter and the world’s best. [B][U]Sakuraba ends his career[/U][/B] While Fezzik’s career was beginning, the “Gracie Hunter’s” was ending. BUSHIDO could not secure a Gracie to fight Sakuraba in his final match, but he did fight in front of a decent sized crowd against Vitor Belfort – the BUSHIDO Light Heavyweight Champion. He lost in his final match by decision, but the fans thanked Sakuraba for a strong performance and his impact on the MMA world in Japan. [B][U]Fedor vs. Fezzik I[/U][/B] It didn’t take long for the two heavyweight freight trains to meet in a match. At BUSHIDO 8 – Enter the Storm, the two popular heavyweights clashed. Fedor proved to be too much for the young Fezzik, who scored a TKO victory in the second round of the fight. The crowd was on its feet the entire time creating an electric atmosphere. It was also BUSHIDO’s first-ever five-star match. It also marked the first time that a PPV had reached the American audience. [B][U] Shockwave 2008[/U][/B] There was one thing the Inokis and Paul Delos Santos wanted to do and that was maintain the tradition of holding a New Years Eve card. So they presented Shockwave – a homage to the old PRIDE events that occurred on New Years Eve. Fedor headlined the card taking on Vitor Belfort, who recently lost his light heavyweight title to reasonable, unknown Kirill Sidelnikov and moved to heavyweight. Fedor proved to be the world’s best again defeating Belfort in a decision. After the show, the typically soft-spoken Fedor thanked the fans and promised more action in the year 2009. Antonio Inoki and the rest of the fighters came out and introduced the New Year with his trademark “Ichi, Ni, San DAAAA!” [B][U]American Invasion[/U][/B] The success of the Fedor vs. Fezzik main event gave the Inokis an idea to expand into the American market. This coincided with the UFC’s surprising release of Matt Hughes. The Inokis immediately contacted him and asked him to sign a deal to end his career fighting with BUSHIDO. Hughes accepted, though reluctantly, and agreed to appear on the first American show held in Arizona. He was set to take on Ben Saunders, and much to the surprise of everyone in the audience, Sanders controlled Hughes for three-rounds en rout to a unanimous decision victory over the future Hall of Famer. The American card also marked the end of a career for Mark “The Hammer” Coleman. In his final match, he took on the newly motivated Ricco Rodriguez who knocked out Coleman in the first round of their fight. [B][U]UFC’s loss is BUSHIDO’s gain[/U][/B] Hughes’ defection was the first of many UFC departures to join BUSHIDO. Georges St. Pierre, “Shogun” Rua, Melvin Guillard, “Rampage” Jackson, BJ Penn, Roger Huerta, Wanderlei Silva, Rich Franklin and Anderson Silva were just some of the names that the UFC failed to resign and BUSHIDO signed them all to boost both name power and depth to a relatively thin roster. [B][U]Condit wins Welterweight Crown[/U][/B] Carlos Condit was one of the WEC fighters to join BUSHIDO. He quickly established himself as the ace of a very weak welterweight division that was in desperate need of a solid performer who could bring a sense of prestige to arguably BUSHIDO’s weakest division. With Condit’s victory and the massive signings, the welterweight went from the weakest to one of the more solid divisions. [B][U]Rampage and Penn climb to the top[/U][/B] The rest of 2009 went without any fanfare. Fedor was dominating. Cung Le was still the middleweight champion and Fezzik was working his way back for another title shot. It was announced in early November that Fezzik had done enough to earn another shot at Fedor and it would open up the 2010 year. However at Shockwave 2009, BJ Penn and “Rampage” Jackson validated their decision to join BUSHIDO by winning their respective titles in their weight classes. Also, Shockwave saw the debut of a new weight class in BUSHIDO. Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto defeated Jens Pulver to win the featherweight title and usher in a new era for the lower weight classes. [B][U] Fedor vs. Fezzik II[/U][/B] Was it destiny for Fezzik to dethrone the world’s best? Well, BUSHIDO 24: Destiny still stands as the best card ever put on by BUSHIDO. The show was held in the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, and saw a more-mature Fezzik push Fedor to the distance, but he still was no match for the consensus No. 1 fighter in the world. The BUSHIDO 24: Destiny card featured three four-star matches and two five-star matches. The fans rarely saw their seats and were cheering the entire night and it officially put BUSHIDO on the map in the United States. [B][U] Yamamoto vs. Faber[/U][/B] The moment that WEC released Urijah Faber, one of the dream matches was one step closer. BUSHIDO signed Faber and put him in a match to take on the featherweight champion “Kid” Yamamoto. The fight was schedule in California. Faber fought hard, but Yamamoto’s kickboxing and experience came into play. Yamamoto scored a TKO victory in the second round of the fight. After the fight, Faber vowed to win the belt after some training and growth. [B][U]GSP conquers Condit[/U][/B] The depth in the welterweight division was proven when Condit lost his eight-fight win streak against Georges “Rush” St. Pierre. Their match only lasted two rounds with GSP getting the better of the striking match and connected with a clean right hook to knock out Condit. The win extended GSP’s winning streak to five wins and right after he sought to avenge losses to Matt Serra and Matt Hughes. [B][U]Silva wins Middleweight Crown[/U][/B] Despite a shaky career in BUSHIDO, Anderson Silva found himself to be in the right position at the right time. Despite losing a No. 1 contender’s match against Jeremy Horn, Silva found himself fighting for the middleweight title against the undefeated Cung Le when Horn was injured in the fight against Silva. Silva didn’t waste his opportunity scoring a knockout victory over Le when his deadly Muay Thai knees knocked out Le to claim the title. Matchmakers that a rematch between Horn and Silva will take place, if Horn can prove that he is still a worthy competitor. [B][U]Rampage earns a bit of revenge[/U][/B] “Rampage” Jackson made a vow to avenge his losses to former Chute Boxe team members. He got his first opportunity at BUSHIDO 32: Revenge against “Shogun” Rua. This time a fully healthy Jackson and Rua traded strikes for the majority of the 30 minutes with Jackson getting the better of the two. Neither was able to score a knockout blow, but the judges sided with Jackson who landed harder and cleaner strikes. [B][U]Shockwave 2010[/U][/B] Shockwave 2010 did one thing – it shocked the world. Fedor was fighting in a non-title bout against Stephan Bonnar. Bonnar came out like a man possessed by fighting aggressively to Fedor and was overwhelming the heavyweight champion. It was three-rounds of non-stop aggression as Bonnar fought the fight of his life to score a unanimous decision victory over Fedor. Even though Fedor was on the card, the lightweights were the headliners. In the semi-final, up-and-coming Sheldon “The Don” Rayford took on former champion Shinya Aoki. Aoki proved his experience too much connecting with a right high kick that stunned Rayford, and Aoki finished with punches. In the main event, Yves Edward finally got his first title shot in BUSHIDO against BJ Penn. Edward had won 10 of his last 11 fights including a victory over Roger Huerta to earn the title shot. However, on this night Penn’s experience and superior skill took center stage. He fought a better fight and wore down Edwards en route to a TKO stoppage of the fight in the fourth round. [B][U]BUSHIDO 35: NO FEAR[/U][/B] The first card of the 2001 year featured the main event of Urijah Faber and Jens Pulver. Both men were eager to get another opportunity against Yamamoto. It was Pulver who got the better of Faber, who was fighting in front of a home crowd and he scored a victory over Faber via TKO. Also on this night, Wanderlei Silva earned some sweet revenge against Tito Ortiz winning a three-round war against the man who defeated him a long time ago. Silva pleaded for an opportunity at Rampage, only time can tell if he will get his opportunity. [B][U]The Future…[/U][/B] Now in it’s fourth year in existence, BUSHIDO is looking forward. As one of the top promotions in the world, BUSHIDO has many questions to answer in the year 2011 and on-ward. Is Fedor’s time up at the top of the heavyweight mountain? Can Hassan Fezzik finally defeat Fedor and claim the heavyweight title. Who will emerge as the king of the lightweights in a division that is the deepest in BUSHIDO? Can GSP keep up his dominance of the welterweights? How long will the inconsistent Anderson Silva keep the middleweight title? How will the light heavyweights steal the spotlight with a deep, but aging division? Only time will tell. That is the history of BUSHIDO

[RebelPaul]

Rankings And Champions [B][U]WEIGHT CLASS RANKINGS[/U][/B] [B][U]Featherweight Rankings:[/U][/B] [B][I]Champion: Norifumi Yamamoto[/I][/B] 1. Jens Pulver 2. Urijah Faber 3. Brad Pickett 4. Jeff Curan 5. Chris Cariaso [B][U]Lightweight Rankings:[/U][/B] [B][I]Champion: BJ Penn[/I][/B] 1. Shinya Aoki 2. Mac Danzig 3. Yves Edward 4. Sheldon Rayford 5. Roger Huerta [B][U]Welterweight Rankings:[/U][/B] [B][I]Champion: George St. Pierre[/I][/B] 1. Carlos Condit 2. Karo Parisyan 3. Diego Sanchez 4. Matt Serra 5. Melvin Guillard [B][U] Middleweight Rankings:[/U][/B] [B][I]Champion: Anderson Silva[/I][/B] 1. Rich Franklin 2. Robbie Lawler 3. Jeremy Horn 4. Paulo Filho 5. Denis Kang [B][U]Light Heavyweight Rankings:[/U][/B] [B][I]Champion: Quinton “Rampage” Jackson[/I][/B] 1. Forrest Griffin 2. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou 3. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua 4. Jeremy Williams 5. Rashad Evans [B][U]Heavyweight Rankings:[/U][/B] [B][I]Champion: Fedor Emelianenko[/I][/B] 1. Hassan Fezzik 2. Alistair Overeem 3. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira 4. Ricco Rodriguez 5. Vitor Belfort

[RebelPaul]

Bushido 36 - Validation Card Finalized BUSHIDO 36 - Validation Card Finalized Seminole Hard Rock Florida 2/27/11 [B]Main Event[/B] - BUSHIDO Middleweight title: Anderson Silva (c) vs. Robbie Lawler 2. [B]Heavyweight[/B] - Hassan Fezzik vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueria 3. [B]Light Heavyweight[/B] - Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou vs. Jeremy Williams 4. [B]Welterweight [/B]- Carlos Condit vs. Troy Mandaloniz 5. [B]Featherweight[/B] - Norifumi Yamamoto vs. Jeff Curran 6. [B]Light Heavyweight[/B] - Rashad Evans vs. Chris Leben 7. [B]Heavyweight [/B]- Kunimichi Kikuchi vs. Shane Gilchrist 8. [B]Lightweight[/B] - Frankie Edgar vs. Go Yamamoto 9. [B]Lightweight [/B]- Roger Huerta vs. Charles Bennett 10. [B]Lightweight[/B] - Mac Danzig vs. Luke Hilton 11. [B]Light Heavyweight[/B] - Kirill Sidelnikov vs. Edwin Dewees 12. [B]Light Heavyweight[/B] - Kuniaki Amagawa vs. Kala Kolohe Hose

[Carparama]

Wow, I'm glad to see you have Vitor Belfort, and that he's the #5 ranked Heavyweight. I'm really interested in this. Let's see where it takes you. :)