GREAT article about two of my favorites.

By Jonathan Snowden

Royce Gracie was a legend of the sport, seemingly unbeatable. In 2000, after five years on the sideline, he returned to mixed martial arts to battle the world’s best. Could Kazushi Sakuraba, a pro wrestling jokester and undercard standout, possibly compete with the mythic Gracie? The answer to that question changed MMA history forever.

READ MORE via 52 Things I Love About MMA: Kazushi Sakuraba And Royce Gracie Make History – SBNation.com.

Just a random video I found on youtube. Sakuraba is teh great.

Mirko CroCop annouced today at a press conference in Japan that he has resigned from the UFC and joined a new fight organization called DREAM. It is said that his first fight with the new organization will be on March 15 in Japan.

The company behind the new fight promotion is the Fight Entertainment Group, which is the also the company behind K-1, and employs former executives of extinct PRIDE Fighting Championships, which was sold to the UFC last year.

Mirko has had a tough time in the UFC, losing two out of three fights. This gave new arguments to the “Pride vs. UFC” debates that had been raging for years.

This new DREAM company also announced a few other big name fighters that will be part of the organization, including Shinya Aoki, who will fight Gesias “JZ” Calvancante at the March 15 event. Other popular MMA fighters competing for the company are rumored to be Kazushi Sakuraba and Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto.

not as many people seem stoked about this event as i am.. i love the freakshow fights..

Melvin Manhoef vs. Yousuke Nishijima – awesome.. i’d love to see Nishijima win this one, dude is tough as nails (judging by his fight with Mark Hunt) and has some boxing skills, he’s an underdog though, not many people giving him a chance.. NISHIJIMA by KO

IKUHISA MINOWA vs. ZULU!!!! – awesome x2.. i love Minowa, the dude trains for fights by foot-racing airplanes, dodging baseballs from a batting cage, and…
(click here to read the rest of this entry on the MMA forum picks thread)