Oh yes... it's true! Travis Bagent (ranked 4th in the world) has confirmed that he wants to meet Arsen Liliev (ranked 8th in the world) at the Istanbul event the 2nd of August!
Initially it was planned that the eagerly awaited rematch between John Brzenk and Devon Larratt would take place at the time but John unfortunately suffered a shoulder injury during the Vendetta against Denis Cyplenkov in Las Vegas, and John's and Devon's meeting in Istanbul has been deferred for an indefinite future. Now let's keep our fingers crossed that John heals as he should and that he is back again soon!
As soon as the match got cancelled the other day Engin began planning for a replacement match, and quite promptly Liliev agreed to meet any of the armwrestlers ranked above him in Istanbul, except Devon (ranked 1st in the world), who he simply thought would be too much for him. Engin searched and he searched... but it proved more difficult than he thought to find anyone who wanted to meet this 85 kg monster from Russia, although there is no specific weight limit the challenger needs to keep.
But, Travis finally heard about the match and confirmed his participation, and now we have an almost ridiculously interesting match to look forward to in only four weeks!!!

Personally I think it's hard to predict who the winner will be in this incredible match, since there are so many factors that matters and even the slightest difference in strength can result in a total dominance for either of the competitors.
What makes the outcome of the match even harder to predict is that we don't know much about Travis' shape at the moment since he hasn't competed that much lately.
He lost to Georgi Gelashvili in New York not long ago, but should we take that as a hint that this match against Arsen might not be as easy for him as many believe? Or... did it rather had to do with Georgi's style that is particularly uncomfortable for Travis?
I guess the answer to that differs depending on who you ask, but in my own opinion I think Arsen's incredible wrist strength in combination with his strong side pressure can be compared to the uncomfortable hook Georgi utilized, so I definitely think that Arsen is fully capable of winning against Travis.

I take for granted that there will be a lot of gripping and difficulties to get the matches started, and most if not all matches will go to straps. What happens next is the big question, and even though I think it's almost impossible to guess the winner of this match I'm gonna go with Travis on this one if I have to choose. I think his large hand, backpressure and fast starts will be a little too much for Arsen to handle. My guess on the score: 3-2 or 4-1 to Travis.
But Travis better show up in great shape and with the strongest mind he can bring forth!

The other supermatches we can look forward to see in Istanbul is Pascal Girard VS Dursun Onder and Janis Amolins VS Immanuel Ozyurek.

Read more on Northeastboard in the threads "anyone to pull Arsen Liliev?" and "Arsen Liliev vs Travis Bagent".

"This isn't Homer Simpson's version of professional arm wrestling. This isn't you daring a buddy to sit down at a table and prove you're stronger than his little sister.

These guys have biceps that appear to be built from curling small automobiles.

"Some people might be surprised," John Brzenk said, "but I've never really been a big advocate of weightlifting."

Read more on Lvrj.com...

Paul "Mighty" Maiden, GBR VS Johan Lindholm, SWE.

Devon Larratt, CAN VS Marcio Barboza, BRA.

Neil Pickup, GBR VS Garry Ricketts, GBR.

This weekend during the Wild Arm tournament in Storuman, Sweden, Jonas Hellström, -95 kg, was the one everybody talked about. He attended four weight classes in which he managed to get very impressive wins against two of our best heavyweights, Ralf Johansson and P-O Svedberg. In total he won three golds (left + right -95 kg and left +95 kg) and one bronze in the +95 kg category with right arm.

More than 200 photos from the event have been posted on the organizing club's website www.storumanarmsport.se. Photographers: Andreas Johansson and Thomas Sarlin.

See the photos here... 

Click here for results...

Today we got a new champion of the women's overall left hand class here in Sweden! A few weeks ago Felicia Rydstedt was brave enough to challenge the reigning champion Heidi Andersson for the left hand title, and today they met at the Wild Arm tournament up in Storuman, in the northern part of Sweden.
They met in best out of three ranking matches of which Heidi won the first match quite quickly, and then Felicia wounded up by winning the two remaining matches. According to Felicia herself they had a loose grip in all three matches and it was rather about who was faster in the start than pure strength vs. strength.
Felicia also added that she was happy that the first ranking matches for women have been held in Sweden, and now she hopes to see more women challenge each other for the ranking places, both new challengers for the 5th place, and challenges from the already ranked women. I couldn't agree more! Keep the challenges coming ladies!!!
Felicia will now keep preparing for the upcoming World Championship in Italy in September!

The new updated ranking:

Top 5 Overall Left Women:

1. Felicia Rydstedt
2. Heidi Andersson
3. Sarah Bäckman
4. Camilla Berg
5. Fia Reisek

 
Saturday November 14th, 2009

Block 17's venue

Gävle, Sweden

Tournament starts at 11 am

Novice, Pro, Super Fights!

For more info, call
Johnny Lindholm +46 70-364 2571,
Per Lantz +46 73-626 8215
Jimmy Wahlman +46 70-645 3917

"You've probably never heard of John Brzenk (pictured in yellow), a 45-year-old lineservice mechanic for Delta Airlines. It's a shame that you haven't, as he is one of the most dominant men to ever engage in armwrestling. Known as the "Michael Jordan of Armwrestling," Brzenk served as the inspiration for Sylvester Stallone's character in the 1987 movie "Over the Top." Now, 22 years after the movie premiered, he is still competing and still mowing over his competition.

Brzenk -- who actually did once win a tractor-trailer for winning a tournament --  competed on Friday night in the American debut of the Professional Armwrestling League in Las Vegas. He was matched up against Denis Cyplenkov, a 28-year-old Russian with 24-inch biceps and massive hands."

Read more on Sports.Yahoo.com...

Engin talking about the importance of wrist strength on Northeastboard.com:
"I prefer to pull someone who has 20% stronger back pressure than i have but with a weak wrist than someone who has 10% less back pressure but with a stronger wrist than i have.it is your hand and wrist that make what you have effective since you cant apply your maximal strength without having control on it.

wrist strength does not only mean wrist curling."

1st Round

Las Vegas - June 19, 2009

All matches from the Vendetta in Vegas with John Brzenk VS Denis Cyplenkov and Michael Todd VS Ion Oncescu have been posted on Armpower.net! A...mazing matches!!! You don't want to miss these!

- Michael Todd, USA VS Ion Oncescu, Romania

- John Brzenk, USA VS Denis Cyplenkov

See the photos on Armwrestlingmachine.com...

Las Vegas - June 19, 2009

Las Vegas - June 19, 2009

VENDETTA RESULTS

June 19, Las Vegas

This was said on Northeastboard by Josh Handeland, who was one of the lucky ones to see the Vendetta live on Armpower.net: "Awesome matches! USA was amazing! Michael Todd impressed the hell out of me beating Ion 6-0! John did great too, looks like Denis has also improved but he still needs to work on his wrist a ton, it's way behind his arm. Seems to me like John was sleeping on the last match, but still most people would not move John's arm."

Read more on Northeastboard.com and Armpower.net...

Updates from the Vendetta with John Brzenk VS Denis Cyplenkov and Michael Todd VS Ion Oncescu in Vegas are being posted on Northeastboard! The first match will start at 20:30 Las Vegas time (5:30 Warsaw time and 7:30 Moscow time), so keep an eye on the board for fast updates!

See updates in the thread "ARMFIGHT LAS VEGAS LIVE!" and some other info about the Vendetta here...

On Armpower.net you can also see a few before shots of the competitors and at this page the official weights of the competitors have been announced:

John Brzenk (USA) - 103kg

Denis Cyplenkov (RUSSIA) - 137kg

Michael Todd (USA) - 112kg

Ion Oncescu (ROMANIA) - 100kg

Here are the confirmed supermatches as of today for the 2009 SEAC:

Steve "Razor" Rau VS Alex Jigalko, Right and Left Handed

Dave Chaffee VS Rob Vigeant Jr., Right Handed

Jeremy Plaster VS Danial Worley, Left Handed

Matt Harris VS Angel Cosme, Left Handed

Bill Sinks VS Chad Silvers, Right Handed

Malin Kleinsmith VS Joyce King

Chris Heath VS Jeremy Wiswell, Right and Left Handed

Kelli Nelson VS Beth Westberry

See tournament info here...

...and see the latest info on Northeastboard...

FLASHBACK

2008 Mike Gould Classic

You see??? It's a little mini-Neil!!! ha ha..:) Wonderful! :)

"Hi Guys

sorry for the late message replying to many of you guys but I have been struggling to find a free minute between visitors, Nappy changes a running round after the newest & lightest member of "The FreaKShop" U.K. Team.
 
For those of you who don't already know (I think most of you do however) his name is "Dempsey Evander Pickup" and he was born on Tuesday 09/06/09 at around 04.25Hrs weighing in at a reasonably solid 8 lbs 5 oz.

He has been a handful in his first few days & tired Ally and myself out pretty good BUT he is IRON and has a cracking little character already, Ally & myself are both : ) RIDICULOUSLY HAPPY : ) with the brand new little Man in our lives.

Thank you sooo much for all the well wishes, Flowers & Gifts which you have all been sending over, all have been warmly received and greatly appreciated and I can tell you that you guys have had Ally getting all Emotional whilst reading the messages more than once ; )
 
Anyway I've attached the most recent picture of the main man himself (above) taken today Sat 13th July whilst he was quite happy just Chillin out in one of his favourite hang outs............ his Grand Dad Wiz's knee

Cheers

Nez (& Ally)  ; )"

Ironworld.ru has posted a videoclip with ArmFights for the title of Absolute champion of Saint-Petersburg, Russia. It's quite a large clip with lots of matches!

See the video on Ironworld.ru...

Engin has updated the international world ranking again, now with changes after the European Championship in Sofia, Bulgaria!

I'm not sure if it's just me but I think the ranking just get's more and more interesting to watch. I even started laughing here for myself when I just watched the new updated ranking and I thought they almost looked too good to be true! I don't really know what it depends on, but since I'm convinced that Engin makes an equally good job now as before, I think it rather has to do that it simply contains a bit of extra interesting placings right now. Don't you agree?

See Engin's international ranking...

More info on Nycarms.com...

Practise table with Khadzimurat Zoloev and Lubomir Jagnesak.

See promo on Armpower.net...