I always wondered what this guy's story was; how did the promoters find him, what genuine experience did he have?
I know they originally hoped to sign Akira Maeda, but I'm not sure he would have been much better at the time, being well past his prime.
Gene Lebell as the announcer is hilarious
he was a stuntman named Bill maeda, one of the guys(joejitsuMD) here tracked him down years ago
"
Hi Joe,
You MUST be a big fan of MMA to remember that fight.
I got into that event through a stunt coordinator while working on a movie called “The Rock”. Everything from my height to my “record” was as you correctly stated “embellished”, but I had no knowledge of this until much later. To be honest, it wouldn’t have mattered. Even if I was 6’3", 225lbs. with a record of 200-0, The Mighty Gokor would have just had longer to enjoy defeating me than he did:)
The fight was not staged. I was instructed to go out there and do my best to kill him, which I did. My ground game at the time was obviously minimal, but I did try, just for my own sake. Gokor Chivichyan is a consummate gentleman, but when the bell rang, I was scared shitless. To this day I honestly believe that he could have run through the whole fight card without breaking a sweat. The man is a legend, and although grossly outmatched, I felt honored to meet (and be beaten by) him.
Hope that helps you out.
Aloha,
Bill (Mr.) Maeda"
the thread was gokor chivichyan vs rickson gracie
as an easter egg, there's an andre by the ox baker(it looks like an ox baker) on there too
I remember Bill Maeda the Hawaiian bodybuilder. Lol.
The 90s were the wild west days of mma with so much stuff that could never be done today.
de braco -as an easter egg, there's an andre by the ox baker(it looks like an ox baker) on there too
Fun fact, I still have a Rey Diogo tank top somewhere in storage that I won in a bet from Andre back around '98. Damn, today has been full of flashbacks and old memories.
I bought that event. Remember it well.
JoeHurley -de braco -as an easter egg, there's an andre by the ox baker(it looks like an ox baker) on there too
Fun fact, I still have a Rey Diogo tank top somewhere in storage that I won in a bet from Andre back around '98. Damn, today has been full of flashbacks and old memories.
wasn't that the prize for tapping furey?
Gokor stopped fighting NHB after he killed a man in a fight.
Gokor is the toughest that ever lived.
shen - I bought that event. Remember it well.
I was at the event / live.
Spent a lot of time taking to an Australian that I believe was a Gene Lebell blackbelt and trained with the Machados. Fellow gave a lot of sound advice about training to a small group of us strangers just asking questions.
John Donehue really enjoyed the conversation with this fellow. We were just a bunch of young guys going to a traditional jiu-jitsu school, learning what we could of BJJ from tapes and seminars. John was super helpful with his advice and answering questions. Again this was just while standing around at the event before it started and during as well.
Rico Chiapparelli was there as well although I did not recognize him at first, but I recall he was watching a seminar Gene taught the day before. I believe it was Ricco and Matt Linland and another group sitting around. Later I realized that was Ricco recognizing him from watching his NCAA win with all the crazy leg rides and reversals.
That may have been Matt Linland’s first MMA fight.
Hugo Duarte was kind of a scary looking cat up close.
Plenty of other people at the event but always stood out the way John Donehue was free with advice. As I type I recall enjoying his story about how he ended up in California and with Gene and later the Machados. Have not kept up with the guys journey since that time.
Brings back memories.
UltimateKeyboardWarrior - Gokor stopped fighting NHB after he killed a man in a fight.Gokor is the toughest that ever lived.
Gokors grandfather was a famous NHB fighter in armenia who was killed in a fight with his archenemy, the guy paid some guys to shoot gokors grandpa if he was losing to the old man. Well, Gokors grandpa broke the guys arms and was going for his legs when the shot rang out. Because of this, gokors parents tried to keep him out of sambo and NHB, but to no avail. True story…
de braco -JoeHurley -de braco -as an easter egg, there's an andre by the ox baker(it looks like an ox baker) on there too
Fun fact, I still have a Rey Diogo tank top somewhere in storage that I won in a bet from Andre back around '98. Damn, today has been full of flashbacks and old memories.
wasn't that the prize for tapping furey?
No prize for that other than plenty of laughs.
JoeHurley -de braco -JoeHurley -de braco -as an easter egg, there's an andre by the ox baker(it looks like an ox baker) on there too
Fun fact, I still have a Rey Diogo tank top somewhere in storage that I won in a bet from Andre back around '98. Damn, today has been full of flashbacks and old memories.
wasn't that the prize for tapping furey?
No prize for that other than plenty of laughs.
i couldn't believe he would agree to giving it a go. Was that at the grand opening of kens new lions den?