THOMAS CALDWELL REPORTING …
ART OF WAR 3
Media Conference Call
Art of War 3 “USA vs. Brazil” is scheduled for September 1st in Dallas, Texas. The main event of the card will be Pedro Rizzo vs. Jeff Monson for the Heavyweight championship. Other fighters on the card include Jeremy Horn, Ron Waterman, among a host of others. I took part in to the media conference call today and here are some of the news and notes from that call.
Jeff Monson has a fight scheduled on August 17th. Just a few weeks before the Art of War show. Monson said: “I’ve kind of been like Horn in the past, in that I just keep fighting, I slowed down with the UFC because I had to. But I’ve fought back-to-back weekends before, and it’s not like I’m taking either one of the fights lightly. I plan on peaking on this fight but plan on winning both fights.”
Monson has been training in England at the Red Corner Gym for the past few months, but plans to come home to the states in the next week or so to finish up training at American Top Team. He says that his training is the same no matter where he is at in the world, but that he could have more peace and concentration in England.
If for some reason Monson can’t fight Rizzo on September 1st, there is a back up plan and his name is Ricco Rodriguez. They have put Ricco on retainer to be their stand-by guy.
Rizzo says that he will be 100 percent come fight time and that he is in perfect shape.
Rizzo said has a lot of respect for Jeff and thinks that it will be a good fight. He thinks that Jeff will try to take the fight to the ground, but Rizzo said that he felt comfortable whereever the fight goes.
Rizzo’s Prediction: “Everybody knows that it would be hard to submit Jeff Monson. I’m a good striker, so I think I will try to knock him out. But I’m experienced enough to know that predictions mean nothing because anything can happen in a fight. But I think I can end the fight with a knockout.”
When asked about his reach advantage, Rizzo responded that he wasn’t that much taller than Jeff Monson; Rizzo thought Jeff was six foot even, and didn’t think the two inches would matter.
(Editor’s Note: I’m pretty sure that Monson is 5'9'' and Rizzo should have a pretty good reach advantage.)
Horn has been training at his Gym in Salt Lake City.
Horn said that every fight is now a tough fight. That's why he doesn’t fight a dozen times a year anymore.
Says that he hasn't lost any interest in fighting but has gained interest in other things such as coaching.
Horn said that he expects to fight for a very long time, and when asked if he saw himself fighting in five years, he said yes.
About Horn's future, he said that he will allow Monte Cox to make the decisions on that. And that he trusts Cox to do what is in Horn's best interest.
The PPV will be available globally with a U.S. price of $29.95 with the price in Canada yet to be determined.
Tickets are between $30 and $300.
Check the forums a bit later for some audio of the conference call.
DISCUSS THIS NEWS IN THE MMANEWS.COM FORUMS >>
![]()
