Rafael Sapo, who picked up his fifth win in six fights with a knockout of Travis Lutter at the recent Moosin MMA event in Massachusetts, has signed a four-fight deal with the UFC.

Renzo Gracie announced the middleweight fighter's signing via his official website.

Natal is an instructor ("professor") at Gracie's New York City-based academy.

New York City, New York (July 5, 2010) – Continuing its quest to seek out the world’s next mixed martial arts superstars, M-1 Global’s highly anticipated M-1 Selection 2010 – Americas Semi-Final world tournament bouts are set with the live event taking place August 7, 2010 at Bally’s Casino Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

“M-1 Global is committed to finding the next generation of MMA superstars and the Selection tournament plays a pivotal role as the proving ground for these young fighters,” says Evgeni Kogan, Director of Operations of the mixed martial arts powerhouse, M-1Global. “The semi-finals represent the mid-point and its win – and earn a spot in the finals – or go home. The caliber of competition gets markedly tougher from here on.”

The semi-final round bouts feature rising American stars; all expecting to demonstrate spectacular athleticism as they create fireworks within the ring.

Tournament fighters include:

Josh Bacallao and GeorgeSheppard Lightweight Division

Pat Audinwood and Dennis Bermudez Lightweight Division

Robert Rodriguez and Daniel Viscaya Light Heavyweight Division

Tom Gallicchio and Aaron Meisner Welterweight Division

Reggie Pena and Colin Schrader Welterweight Division

Shane Primm and Mike Geurin Middleweight Division

Tyson Jeffries and Plinio Cruz Middleweight Division

Byron Byrd and Mike Foster Light Heavyweight Division

Medi Hassan and Pat Bennett Heavyweight Division

Andrei Kapylov and Kenny Garner Heavyweight Division

· Additional bouts to be announced

The M-1 Selection 2010 – Americas Final round match-ups will be determined at the conclusion of the August 7th event in preparation for the September 18th showcase of the 2010 M-1 Selection Championships.

The “M-1 Selection” is the world’s premiere MMA competition where the next generation of superstars are given the opportunity to showcase their skills on the world stage with fighters being eliminated after only one loss; victory will advance the winning fighters throughout the tournament and earn them a trip to the championship event where they will compete for the coveted “M-1 Selection” title.

The “M-1 Selection” tournament is broken down into global regions: Western Europe, Eastern Europe, and the Americas with each region hosting three rounds and a final of the ““M-1 Selection” tournament. The winning fighter in each weight class will gain the opportunity to fight on the larger international stage.

The tournament features some of the best up-and-coming fighters from each region as they begin the journey towards a tournament victory.

Starting June 28, M-1 Global, home of the world’s most dangerous fighter, Fedor Emelianenko, is launching its search to find Europe’s top ring girls to sport the M-1 brand and want North America’s fan-feedback in choosing the winners. Go to www.m-1ringgirls.com between June 28-July 12 to vote and make your voice heard.

“Our North American fan base is extremely important to us and we wanted to ensure they were able to participate in the voting process,” says M-1 Global’s Director of Operations, Evgeni Kogan. “The submissions for our ring girl contest have been through the roof and this is shaping up to one of our most successful promotions to date.”

Between June 28 – July 12, M-1 Global’s “Queen of the Ring” ring girl search will undertake seven preliminary elimination voting stages with a new group of contestants being posted to

www.m-1ringgirls.com every two days. The winners from each round will advance to the final selections with the top 10 ring girls being showcased live at the M-1 Selection 2010 – Eastern Europe Final Round on July 22 in Moscow, Russia and as part of the reality show, M-1 Fighter coming later this year.

About M-1 Global:

Founded in 1998 by Vadim Finkelchtein and Sergey Matvienko, M-1 Global has established itself in the realm of mixed martial arts (MMA) as the premiere entity for discovering and developing the world’s next-generation of superstar fighters. With offices in St. Petersburg, Amsterdam, New York City, Washington DC, Los Angeles and affiliates in Kuala Lumpur, Seoul, Tokyo and Paris, the M-1 brand stages its M-1 Selection, M-1 Challenge, M-1 Breakthrough events worldwide and its co-produced Strikeforce events in the United States; captivating the live, television and broadband audiences with its superior production values and match-ups.

Starting June 28, M-1 Global, home of the world’s most dangerous fighter, Fedor Emelianenko, is launching its search to find Europe’s top ring girls to sport the M-1 brand and want North America’s fan-feedback in choosing the winners. Go to www.m-1ringgirls.com between June 28-July 12 to vote and make your voice heard.

“Our North American fan base is extremely important to us and we wanted to ensure they were able to participate in the voting process,” says M-1 Global’s Director of Operations, Evgeni Kogan. “The submissions for our ring girl contest have been through the roof and this is shaping up to one of our most successful promotions to date.”

Between June 28 – July 12, M-1 Global’s “Queen of the Ring” ring girl search will undertake seven preliminary elimination voting stages with a new group of contestants being posted to

www.m-1ringgirls.com every two days. The winners from each round will advance to the final selections with the top 10 ring girls being showcased live at the M-1 Selection 2010 – Eastern Europe Final Round on July 22 in Moscow, Russia and as part of the reality show, M-1 Fighter coming later this year.

About M-1 Global:

Founded in 1998 by Vadim Finkelchtein and Sergey Matvienko, M-1 Global has established itself in the realm of mixed martial arts (MMA) as the premiere entity for discovering and developing the world’s next-generation of superstar fighters. With offices in St. Petersburg, Amsterdam, New York City, Washington DC, Los Angeles and affiliates in Kuala Lumpur, Seoul, Tokyo and Paris, the M-1 brand stages its M-1 Selection, M-1 Challenge, M-1 Breakthrough events worldwide and its co-produced Strikeforce events in the United States; captivating the live, television and broadband audiences with its superior production values and match-ups.

Bruno Malfacine received by his Alliance teammates after his victory over Caio Terra for the 2010 rooster weight gold medal. All images courtesy Cohost Dan.

by Philippe Balmant

I traveled from New York City with the (mG)inaction team to Long Beach California for the 4 day Mundials event for my first time ever. I found myself in a feeling of Jiu-Jitsu Nirvana. When first arriving at the Walter Pyramid I was blown away. This looks like something out of the movie Stargate. I said to myself, “What a perfect venue to host the Mundials.” Once inside the electricity is running through my body. I felt a great festive atmosphere inside the Pyramid. This event marks my first time linking up with the entire Alliance team. Meeting Mestre Jacare and the General Fabio Gurgel to me was worth the trip alone. Watching the white/blue belts competing in 8 rings at the same time kept me looking everywhere.

The acai stand was my source of a much needed refreshing energy boost when one was needed. I limited myself to two acai bowls per day. One thing was obvious from jump street, that this energy I felt was only going to go up, till the black belt finals on Sunday exploded in full effect! From Friday through Saturday the matches were coming and going non stop. One thing I found hard was when there were 3 or 4 world champions fighting in different rings all at the same time, now that was crazy. When Sunday June 6th arrived, where there were 8 rings are now only two.

There is a connection at the Mundials, like to the BJJ life source we all share, within your own team, between academies from fighters to supporters. It’s a high dose of Jiu-Jitsu on its biggest platform with a sprinkle of a carnival type atmosphere. I fell in love with it. My best experience was meeting Rickson. My favorite moment was when my professor Marcelo Garcia won his 4th black belt Mundial title, even though the last 8 seconds had me on Skype with God. Yes!!!!

Great matches, great victories, gracious defeats, quick submissions, a back and forth war, by 1 point, by 1 advantage, or by judges decision, with BJJ history being made. Mega props to Roger Gracie. The 2010 Mundials had it all. By the end I had pretty much lost my voice, was running around on pure adrenaline and hollering at Caleb and Dan from The Fightworks Podcast. Podium, medals, pictures. That’s all folks. Except for the voice of Tony Torres still in my head saying, “You have now been DQ’d………” Nobody says it better than that guy.

A few hours later with a celebratory dinner for team Alliance, the General gives us our first toast in which he brings to light that today June 6th 2010 marks 28 years since the legendary Mestre Rolls Gracie passed away. With Alliance winning its 5th World title, and Mestre Jacare receiving his red & black belt, our entire Alliance team ended this amazing night with joy, laughter and happiness.

- Caleb

The author and his Alliance teammates.

New York City, New York (June 7, 2010) – Fans attending the “M-1 Global Selection” 2nd round event on June 26th in Atlantic City won’t miss the highly anticipated Fedor vs. Werdum bout. Based on fan feedback, M-1 Global will be airing “The Last Emperor’s” contest through close circuit telecast during the live event.

“We are about delivering the fan experience and we felt it was imperative to enable our audience the opportunity to witness Fedor take on Werdum as it unfolds,” says M-1 Global co-founder Vadim Finkelchtein. “Fedor is the world’s greatest pound-for-pound fighter and MMA fans made it clear that they wanted to see this bout; we had to make it happen.”

The second round of “The M-1 Selection, Americas,” featuring American rising-stars expecting to throw heavy leather, will be held Saturday June 26 at Bally’s Casino Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

This “M1 Selection Americas” match-ups will be announced shortly with bouts showcasing elimination fights in the lightweight, welterweight, and middleweight categories with the winners advancing to the Americas third single-knockout round.

The “M-1 Selection” is the world’s premiere MMA competition where the next generation of superstars are given the opportunity to showcase their skills on the world stage with fighters being eliminated after only one loss; two victories earns them a trip to the championship event where they will compete for the coveted “M-1 Selection” title.

The “M-1 Selection” tournament is broken down into four global regions: Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia and the Americas with each region hosting three rounds and a final of the ““M-1 Selection” tournament. The winning fighter in each weight class will join their team to represent his region in the 2010 M-1 Challenge.

The tournament features some of the best up-and-coming fighters from each region as they begin the journey towards a tournament victory. An Americas light heavyweight and heavyweight round is also scheduled for 2010.

How to see the fights:
M-1 Global Selection tournament events will take place live on June 26, August 7 and September 18 at the coveted Bally’s Casino Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Tickets are priced at $55.00-$125.00 and are available to purchase through Ticketmaster at 1-800-736-1420 and www.TicketMaster.com.

Doors open at 7:00 pm, first fight at 7:30 PM/ET.

Go to www.M-1Global.com for additional information.

Renzo Gracie will be holding a gi tournament in New York City. There will be no walk-in registration. Registration deadline is June 21.

The athlete will weigh in with his gi on before his first match.

Hunter College
68th Street & Lexington Avenue
New York, NY
MAP

More information on the official site.

2008 Middleweight world champion and 2009 silver medalist Sergio Moraes will be offering a seminar in New York City. Gi only. 3pm to 6pm. Cost: $80.

Marcelo Garcia Jiu-Jitsu
25w 36th st 6th floor
(between 5th and 6th ave )
NY-NY 10018
MAP

More information on the official site.

Gracie Barra’s Phillipe Della Monica demonstrates a variation of the bow and arrow choke.

Get it? Small screen and small yoga mat? Big screen and big jiu-jitsu mat? Oh never mind. While my metaphor was a bit forced, it’s a workable entree into a little comparison of Brazilian jiu-jitsu and yoga.

Yoga and Brazilian jiu-jitsu have a lot in common if you think about it. (Especially if you think about it while seated between two bigger guys on a 5 hour long, sold out, stuffy flight from Charlotte to San Diego.) Both are activities where individuals go a few times a week. While proportion of men and women who train BJJ is probably not much like what’s found in yoga, I would bet the education levels and socioeconomic statuses of BJJ and yoga practitioners are not very different. Both yoga and BJJ have positive benefits for your physical and mental health, and can be practiced by almost any age. And I’m guessing people make some respectable money making instructional DVDs in both.

What really got my brain turning on BJJ and yoga was an article in the April 25 New York Times about a set of yoga studios run by Greg Gumucio in New York City. The article offers some fun points that allow us to compare and contrast yoga and jiu-jitsu. To start with: unlike some expensive yoga studios with serious attitude, you do not even have to pay to attend Gumucio’s. Classes are meant for everyone. According to the article, his website admirably proclaims: There will be no correct clothes, there will be no proper payment, there will be no right answers… no script no ego no pedestals.

While there can be correct clothes in jiu-jitsu (if you’re training in the gi, well, you need a gi), payments range greatly between schools (especially internationally), and there really is no “one way to do things”. Whatever works and is not against jiu-jitsu’s small handful of rules is welcomed. As for the rest:

• No script: there’s no one way to beat your opponent, that’s for sure. The fun thing about jiu-jitsu is just how many ways you can make your training partner tap (or get tapped).
• No ego: we all know the well known lesson that if you’re going to train jiu-jitsu you need to leave your own ego at the door. You can’t last in jiu-jitsu if you can’t get over yourself. On the other hand, it’s a fact that certain jiu-jitsu instructors have strong beliefs about the value of their instruction. (That’s a nice way to put it). Bravado is to be expected in anything where competition takes place.
• No pedestals. Again, whenever there’s competitive aspect to anything, the winners are often literally placed on a pedestal at the end of the event. Even if the winner at a jiu-jitsu event is the most humble guy out there (Marcelo Garcia comes to mind), his admirers will hold him in higher regard than others.

A few other points in the article resonated with me.

Yoga’s not about doing things in a certain type of place.

Have you ever been to the Gracie Academy in Torrance, California? The large, brightly lit locker rooms reminded me of the type you would find in a country club. The counter tops are marble. The lockers are made of polished wood with little Gracie “G” symbols on each. The lighting is bright, there’s comfortable carpet next to your locker, and towels are made available. The mats are cavernous and offer the academy’s well known “big ass fans” hanging from the ceiling make sure it never gets too hot.

While such amenities are very nice, it is not obviously required if you want to learn jiu-jitsu. In many jiu-jitsu academies there is not even heating or air conditioning. Some training environments in Brazil do not even offer what you’d call walls and what’s over your head is not so much a ceiling but an attempt to keep the sun or rain off the mats. In the end jiu-jitsu, like yoga, asks very little of its practitioners materially speaking. (If there are any active duty military service men or women reading this who are stationed abroad, please email me and tell me a little about training jiu-jitsu where you are!).

You are your own teacher.

Many of the BJJ superstars of today did not come from an environment where they were surrounded by other BJJ superstars. Perennial black belt absolute world champion Roger Gracie spends the majority of his time in London, with its nascent BJJ scene. Much of ADCC absolute champion Braulio Estima’s early training career was spent under Ze Radiola, who was a blue belt when he began offering classes. While Roger Gracie’s foil Xande Ribeiro has the benefit of training alongside his multiple time world champion brother Saulo Ribeiro, Xande received his black belt after relocating to the United States, and was not surrounded by a horde of incredible training partners either. While these are extreme cases, the fact remains that one’s journey in jiu-jitsu (like life, I suppose), is more in your control than you may realize. One’s progress in yoga is likely the same.

No emphasis on philosophy.

Traditional martial arts can be heavy on the philosophy. Some yoga styles involve some pretty heavy doctrine and even chanting. But Gumucio has eliminated that sort of thing from his yoga studios. You come in, do yoga, and go home. No ascent to higher planes of existence are involved.

I cannot speak for everyone, but the easy going attitude found in most jiu-jitsu schools is certainly something that hooked me. You come in, train jiu-jitsu, and go home. Of course, while some people (including myself) occasionally enjoy thinking about how the lessons we learn on the mat apply to life off the mat, that sort of thought is not something you spend time on during class. And while many jiu-jitsu people end up having a pretty similar lifestyle, there is no prescribed “way to be”.

I am not sure about you, but putting together this rambling article has increased my interest in learning a little more about yoga. I know lots of jiu-jitsu folks who turn to yoga when they’re injured and can’t do jiu-jitsu anyhow.

Last thought before closing: someone out there should organize a mixer for yoga and BJJ people. I am pretty sure yoga is more practiced mostly by health-minded young women, and BJJ is practiced mostly by health-minded young men. Seems like there is potential for serious chemistry. Think of the dates you could have: you visit the yoga studio, she comes and trains a little BJJ. Everybody wins!

Matrix Fights (www.MatrixFights.com) formally announced Monday that its second ever event is now scheduled for the legendary “The Arena” in Philadelphia, PA on Friday, June 11.

Coming off a sellout crowd in its debut event this past February, the promotion will look to continue to build on its reputation as one of the fastest growing promotions in the United States by featuring the East Coast return of UFC veteran Jay Silva as he takes on blue chip prospect Tim Williams in a middleweight contest.

Silva now resides in Huntington Beach, California but began his amateur mixed martial arts career in New Jersey. A bouncer at several popular New York City nightclubs, Silva accumulated a large fanbase and emerged as an underground legend.

The Brazilian-born fighter transitioned from being an underground legend to a mainstream figure after building a respectable 5-1 record as a pro and landing a multi-fight contract with the UFC in 2009. Despite having gone 0-2 during his brief stint with the UFC, Silva made a name for himself by going the distance with middleweight standouts Chris Leben and C.B. Dollaway.

“Silva’s evolution from an East Coast-based amateur to a UFC-caliber middleweight has been nothing short of remarkable,” said Matrix Fights President Jimmy Binns Jr. “Jay was already a beloved figure on the New Jersey MMA scene before going to the UFC. But he’s more popular than ever since making it to the big show. We’re happy that we’re going to give fans in the Tri-State area their first chance to see Jay since making it to the UFC.”

Silva, who is drawing interest from several major promotions, could be just one big win away from returning to the big show. Standing in his way is one of the fastest rising middleweight prospects in all of MMA, Tim Williams.

Despite elite-level jiu-jitsu credentials, Williams’ emergence as one of the top unsigned prospects in MMA had been considered improbable. Several years ago the Maryland native nearly lost his life in an auto accident that has left permanent scarring to portions of his face. Then, just last year, Williams was diagnosed with a brain aneurysm and his promising career was thought to be at a premature end.

Through all of his life-threatening battles, Williams has persevered and has achieved excellence in the cage; first as an amateur compiling a perfect 6-0 record and now as a pro, having gone 3-0 with three first round submissions.

“I am not sure if you are going to find a more inspirational fighter in MMA than Timmy Williams,” remarked Matrix Fights promoter Phil Migliarese. “Because of the things Tim has experienced in his life outside of the cage, it has made him fearless inside of it. Usually, you don’t see a 3-0 prospect accepting a fight against someone as experienced and dangerous as Jay Silva. But anything that Tim might experience in the cage is secondary to what he has endured outside of it.”

These days fighters with less than five fights rarely show up on the radars of major national MMA organizations such as the UFC, Strikeforce, and the Bellator Fighting Championships. However, an upset victory for Williams could expedite his ascension through the ranks and land him on a big show sooner rather than later.

“Matt Makowski vs. LeVon Maynard was a tremendous main event for our first show,” began Binns. “However, I think being able to bring Jay and Tim together sends a message to our fans that we’re going to deliver a show that at worst is as good as the first and potentially even better. Both Jay and Tim will have a lot at stake on June 11 and the victor is going to walk away with more than just their win bonus.”

In addition to Silva vs. Williams, Matrix Fights II will also feature Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Tim Carpenter competing for the first-time ever in his native Philadelphia. Williams, who trains at Balance Studios and is one of the best unsigned light heavyweights in the world will put his unblemished 5-0 record on the line against New York native Guybson Sa. Sa has just one pro fight on his resume but it was a memorable victory. Facing the vastly more experienced Ryan Contaldi, who was 5-2 at the time, Sa defeated the more experienced fighter in less than two minutes after executing a triangle choke.

Matrix Fights II will feature five pro fights and seven amateur contests with additional bouts set to be announced in the coming weeks. For ticket on-sale information as well as updates to the fight card, please visit MatrixFights.com.