Arnold Classic Teams With Gracie Fighting Championships

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I originally posted this story on Wednesday, after reading about this event on numerous websites. I received an e-mail from a cat named Smo that cleared things up, so consider this the Director’s Cut/Special Edition of this piece.

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The Gracie Fighting Championships will take place on March 3rd from The Nationwide Arena in my hometown of Columbus, Ohio. The legendary Gracie family’s Team Gracie will battle Mark “The Hammer” Coleman’s Team Hammer House live on pay-per-view.

The card is as follows.

  • Daniel Gracie vs. Wes Sims
  • Fabio Leopoldo vs. Matt Lindland
  • Fabricio “Morango” Cames vs. Mike Pyle
  • Daniel Moraes vs. Forrest Petz
  • Michael O’Donnell vs. Jon Koppenhaver
  • Michael French vs. Fredson Paixao
  • Rhalan Gracie vs. Dustin Hazlett
  • Vitor “Shaolin” Ribeiro vs. Chris Brennan
  • Alexsandar Ustinov vs. Dan “The Bull” Bobish

What makes this event unique, aside from being in Columbus, Ohio, the black hole of entertainment, is that GFC is part of The Arnold Classic weekend. The Arnold Classic, named after its founder Arnold Schwarzenegger, is a bodybuilding competition that celebrates genetic freaks. Ridiculously muscle-bound mutants get up on stage and pose, and I suppose they win something. All the info I’ve seen about the competition is rather vague. It does mention the Governor of California in every other sentence though.

There are numerous events that take place during the Arnold Classic weekend. You have the Arnold Classic for the men, the Ms. International for the women, and a whole bunch of other shit, including martial arts, cheerleading, and a 5k pump and run, to name a few. There is also the Arnold Expo, which has booths set up from various companies, as well as athletes. Look, there’s a lot of shit to do at this thing.

From the event’s press release: “In addition to the action in the ring, boxing legend Joe Frazier will be on hand to receive the Arnold Classic Lifetime Achievement Award from California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Many other television, wrestling, and professional wrestling stars are also expected to be in attendance.”

This is the weirdest event I’ve ever seen. How in hell they picked Columbus to hold it at, I’ll never know. It just seems like such a random place to do it. When I think of bodybuilding (which is admittedly rare), I think about Venice Beach in California. I don’t think of the Buckeye State’s capital.

Columbus isn’t really know for athletics; especially compared to a city like New York or Miami. We do have some fine teams from The Ohio State University, the Columbus Clippers (the New York Yankees’ Triple-A team), and our NHL franchise, the Columbus Blue Jackets (even though they stink). Mark Coleman is from Columbus, as well as boxer Buster Douglas. Come to think of it, Douglas is about the least athletic motherf*cker I can think of. I don’t know why I’m so hung up on the location of this event. Maybe it’s because I’m used to seeing things like tractor pulls around here.

I checked Ticketmaster, and good seats are still available for the pay-per-view. They’re a little pricey though, considering I don’t know who most of the fighters are. A VIP ticket for the entire weekend is $350. Yeah, I’m gonna drop 350 bucks so I can walk around and have a bunch of meatheads tell me how out of shape I am. Sign me the f*ck up.

I’m almost tempted to go to the GFC event, but I think I’ll save some cash and check it out on pay-per-view. Gracie Fighting Championships Presents Team Gracie vs. Team Hammer House will air live on pay-per-view on March 3rd, beginning at 9pm (EST). Unless you’re a diehard Gracie or Coleman fan, I would recommend saving your money for UFC 58, which airs the following night.

Special thanks to Smo for helping me out with this one.

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Ross McTavish makes his Inside Pulse debut with a preview of this Sunday’s Pride FC: Unbreakable pay-per-view. I hate this f*ckin’ guy already, because his writing makes me look like the hack that I truly am. Look for me to compensate with even more profanity-laced tirades in the coming weeks.