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Its technical name is “Sambo.” While it’s not incorrect to translate it as “Sombo” or even “Sam,” it is actually an acronym that stands for SAMozashchita Bez Oruzhiya, meaning “self-defense…
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You might expect the American Kickboxing Academy to be a sleek, state-of-the-art facility. With all the elite fighters it has produced, you probably wouldn’t expect to find it sitting between a Big Lots and a craft store, in a strip…
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Nine Seasons, 108 Episodes, Nine Finales, 15 Winners, and even more careers made and improved by the experience of being on the most important and influential television show in mixed martial arts history: UFC and Spike-TV’s The…
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So Natasha, were you ever expecting to be a UFC girl? Oh no, absolutely not. It was definitely something that you would love to do and you see and you go, ‘oh, that would be fun!’. How did that happen, did you just show up for…
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The scene is set, the lights have been tested. Now there’s nothing left to do but wait. We sit in the Aegean Room , a small meeting space on the second floor of the Argosy Casino Hotel & Spa, an extravagant monument to an imagined…
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“Rags to riches” stories are a dime a dozen. It’s almost cliché to wax poetic about a determined soul who worked his way out of austere conditions to hit the big time. But your mother always taught you that hard work…
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Toughness comes naturally to Muhammed “Mo” Lawal, or King Mo, as the fighting world has come to know him. It never occurred to him to be anything but tough, so when he shredded his ACL during a Sengoku fight against Ryo…
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Vigorous Creatures – Lost - An important Call Twilight on the edge of the Mojave Desert. A jackrabbit the size of a terrier lopes into the middle of the road, where I’m standing outside my parked car. I make eye contact with the…
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Déjà Vu! You’ve seen her before, strutting her stuff on MMA’s biggest stage, but away from The Octagon Edith Labelle takes on a persona that will be sure to have you doing a double take. Where did you grow up and…
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Our sport is young, but already we have seen legends rise and fall, men whose abilities and accomplishments left an indelible impression on martial arts, combat sports, and popular culture. For this reason we are proud to announce the…
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