10/09/2006: ‘Uno Talks About Ivan Menjivar! Is Sakuraba Ready To Go?’HERO’S ‘Sammy Presents HERO’S 2006 Middleweight & Light-heavyweight Tournament Finals’Monday, October 9th, 2006Doors Open – 14:30Fight Starts – 16:00photo by Yoshinori Ihara (www.boutreview.com) / PIC: In front of HERO’S supervisor Akira Maeda (behind), Caol Uno poses for the reporters.FEG announced the semi-final match-ups of HERO’S middleweight tournament scheduled on October 9th at Yokokhama Arena.The super hot news is ‘The Pioneer’ Caol Uno taking on ‘The Pride of El Salvador,’ Ivan Menjivar from Canada, perhaps a premature final bout. Last week, at a press conference held at All Nippon Airways Hotel in Tokyo, Uno talked about his opponent, ‘Strike, throw, submission, everything he’s got is excellent. With him, I think I can do an, ‘this is MMA’ type of a fight. I am going to take a look at his tapes but I am not going to establish a specific strategy.’ Uno must pass Menjivar, then defeat the winner of the other semi- final fight, J.Z. Cavalcante and Rani Yahya, in the same night to capture the tournament crown but ‘I am just going to think about the first (semi-final) bout.’Uno, on August 15th, just became a father of twin boys, ‘No relation to winning and losing, I want to fight in a way kids can feel something from it.’Yokohama is Uno’s hometown, and at the same time Yokohama Arena is where his idol Kazushi Sakuraba won the UFC-J tournament and burst into the world wide MMA scene. For Uno, this place is special, ‘Always, the fan’s voice can be a big support for me.’ HERO’S Supervisor added ‘Uno and Menjivar have a similar style, they match-up well.’The light-heavyweight semi-finals will be announced before tickets go on sale on September 9th. Sakuraba, who took a barrage of punches to the head in a quarter- final fight went under MRI tests and was diagnosed as normal. However, FEG is taking an extra precaution. Sakuraba is going to be re-examined, and they will then come up with a decision on whether he will go on to fight in the semi-final of the light-heavyweight tournament.CARD SUBJECT TO CHANGE:Middleweight Tournament Semi-FinalsCaol Uno (Japan / Wajiu-tsu Keishu-kai Tokyo Headquarters) vs. Ivan Menjivar (Canada / Tristar Gym)J. Z. Cavalcanti (Brazil / American Top Team) vs. Rani Yahya (Brazil / Ataigi Jr. Jiu-jitsu)Light-heavyweight Tournament Semi-Finalists:- Kazushi Sakuraba (Japan / Freelance)- Shungo Oyama (Japan / Freelance)- Yoshihiro Akiyama (Japan / Freelance)- Melvin Manhoef (Holland / Show Time)Ticket Prices:SRS – 25,000 yenS – 15,000 yenA – 6,000 yen
