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Newsbits: PRIDE FC, K-1

PRIDE FC Pay-Per-View Times

In case you don't know what time the PRIDE FC Pay-Per-View event will air this Sunday ( November 9,

2003), here are some links to the PPV service providers so you can check your area:

For inDemand 

http://www.indemand.com/listings/listingsChooseProvider.jsp?page_sectionId=3

For Direct TV 

http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/see/SportsEvents.jsp

For Dish Network

http://www.dishnetwork.com/

For Expressvu

http://www.expressvu.com/home.asp

For  Viewers Choice

http://www.viewerschoice.ca/

For Star Choice

http://www.starchoice.com/

Remember though, Tokyo, Japan is ahead of the United States by 17 hours on the West Coast. The event

will be broadcast on PPV on a time delay basis. The event is scheduled to start at 5pm Tokyo time which

means the event will start at 12am PT / 3am ET on Sunday morning. So if you don't want to know the results

before the PPV airs, we highly suggest staying off the internet.

And in case you haven't heard yet, according to K-1USA writer Robert Trautvetter in Osaka, Japan, former

Sumo grand champion Akebono, the first foreign born sumo wrestler to earn the title of Yokozuna (Grand

Champion) is coming out of retirement and has signed with K-1. 

Akebono, the 64th Yokozuna, stands 6' 7" and weighed over 500 lbs. in his sumo days. In comparing him to

some of the big men in K-1, he is the same height as Bob Sapp but outweighs him by somewhere in the

neighborhood of 100 lbs. - give or take (Sapp is listed at 375 lbs.). The Brazilian Montanha Silva is listed at

7' 3" and over 400 lbs. but in two K-1 rules bouts, has yet to win. 

Akebono retired from Sumo in 2001. 

Trautvetter went on to write that Akebono is scheduled to fight Bob Sapp on December 31, 2003. 

It will be interesting to see if Akebono can take a punch and whether he can learn how to box and kick in

such a short period of time. 

(11/7/03)