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 Now that Limp Bizkit has been kicked off the bill, the UFC Expo will now feature 50% less douche. Plus we can start paying more attention to some of the other events that are going on, like the big grappling tournament featuring some interesting people: In the headline superfight on Friday, July 10th, mixed martial arts pioneer Rumina “Moon Wolf” Sato faces Ulysses “Useless” Gomez. Also in action on Friday, July 10th, against an opponent to be determined, will be The Ultimate Fighter 8's Vinicius Magalhaes. Here's where being a grappling ignoramus sucks. I'd love to tell you all sorts of interesting things about these guys but I don't know shit past the fact that Sato is a Shooto champ and Gomez is a 7-time Grappler's Quest and Pankration world champ. We all remember Vinny as proof that even awesome jits can't survive a few good punches to the face. And Jeff Glover is ... Jeff Glover. I really need to get someone to write the grappling posts for me. Suffice to say it's gonna be some good shit, and let's hope the UFC does an expo every year and as it gets better maybe we'll also see the participation of more top UFC fighters alongside the best of the grappling world.  Bill Cooper is the shit. I can't believe they would do this matchup. Either someone is trying to embarrass Joe or I'm just really underestimating his bjj.  "I don’t know shit past the fact that Sato is a Shooto champ"haha  "I don't know shit past the fact that Sato is a Shooto champ"Sato is a former pacific-rim Shooto Champion at 143 lbs, though that is a distinction that doesn't count nearly as much as the Shooto world championship at the same weight. That title and distinction is something he has been chasing all of his professional life. The reason why seeing him in a grappling match at the UFC Fan Expo is interesting is that Dana White and Joe Silva, since taking over Zuffa, have professed a great interest in signing certain Shootors to have in the octagon--Rumina Sato chiefly, amongst them. However, Sato had vowed to never venture outside of Shooto until he'd captured the world title (much like their champions have tended to do--the first being Uno). After choking a billion times (to former Shooto luminaries such as Takanori Gomi and Lion Takeshi), he has stuck to his guns and stayed in Shooto, for better or worse. As such, he's one of the most popular fighters in Shooto (known for his reckless, high paced and high flying gappling style), and is something of their tragic hero figure (of which Shooto has a few--most notably Yuki Nakai, the guy who got his eye gouged and blinded by Gerard Gordeau). Seeing him grapple at the UFC fan expo will be something of a neat but sad reminder (to hardcore fans, at least) of what could have been, had Sato actually captured the Shooto world championship. "since taking over Zuffa"err, I meant... *"since Zuffa took over the UFC" and yeah, Lion Takeshi isn't a former Shooto luminary, but rather a current one. That distinction would have been more fitting if Shooto would have allowed him in the Sengoku FWGP.
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