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Emin - Gracie - Archivio Lettere Part. 2

March 6, 1995

Gracie Jiu-Jitsu (R)

Dear Mr. Wallenwein:

In regards to your letter of March 3, 1995, in behalf of Mr. Emin
Boztepe, please note the following points:

1. The promoter of the UFC, made a professional and courteous
invitation to famous martial artists to satisfy the requests
of hundreds of fans all over the world, demanding such an
invitation.

2. I can not control what fans write in the Internet, but I must
inform you that I do not support Mr. Boztepe being called a
"chicken".

3. I didn't find Mr. Boztepe's suggestion of using Benny
Urquidez's or Gene Labelle's schools as a neutral ground, to
be neutral. I thought the Police Academy would truly be
"neutral ground", because Benny Urquidez, Gene Labelle, along
with many other popular martial artists, have met there many
times.

4. As far as scheduling something at the Police Academy you must
understand that I do not have final say in the availability
of their gym. Therefore, when I was informed of the possible
opening, I immediately passed on the information to Mr. Boztepe
who replied "I need more time."

Now for the good news. I have obtained clearance for this demonstration
to take place at the Los Angeles Police Academy, on March 9th, 10th,
or 13th at 8:00pm at their gym. The address is: 1880 N Academy Dr.,
Los Angeles, CA. Please choose one of these dates and reply to me by
fax immediately (310)782-1310.

Your requests for the conditions of the demonstration: waivers, video
taping/promotion, are all agreed upon.

Please understand that Royce Gracie, "The Ultimate Fighter", is
making an unusual exception in your case, as he does not participate
in demonstrations outside of the UFC.

Let's make sure that Mr. Boztepe does not pass up this opportunity.
Otherwise, the fans may think he was using the "gossip" on the
Internet and various other magazines, as a publicity stunt. If you
are concerned with them calling him "chicken" now, imagine what they
will call him if he does not show up at all....

Again, please fax me back immediately with the date you have chosen.

Cordially,

Rorion Gracie
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March 6, 1995

Alexander R. Wallenwein
Attorney At Law

Dear Mr. Gracie:

I am pleased to see that you are so willing to have your little
brother Royce defend your family's honor. As you know, Mr.
Boztepe has always preferred to fight you, personally, but Royce
will be an acceptable alternative.

As to the fight location, the Police Academy is unacceptable
because in the State of California fights in the nature of the
challenge match between Royce and Mr. Boztepe - full contact, no
rules, no referees, no time limits - are against the law. The
L.A. Police Department is sworn to uphold the law. They will not
tolerate such a fight without intervening when it begins to get
interesting. Whether Benny Urquidez and Gene LaBelle have met
there on occasion or not has nothing to do with the neutrality
or lack thereof of this fight location.

Your response does not comply with the conditions given in our
last letter to you. Mr. Boztepe will only fight at one of the
three magazine gyms listed there: Martial Arts Gazette, Inside
Kung Fu, or Black Belt Magazine, UNLESS the Los Angeles Chief of
Police or the Chief of the Police Academy gives a written guarantee,
on his personal stationary and signed by him, that such fights are
(a) legal in California, (b) that no law enforcement personnel
will intervene in the fight in any way until it is over, and
(c) that after the fight none of the participants or their
promoters/representatives will be charged with violating any laws.
That written guarantee should be faxed by the author directly to
my office.

If you can provide such a written guarantee, Mr. Boztepe will be
happy to choose one of the dates provided in your letter dated
March 6, 1995. If not, it is up to you to still comply with the
conditions set out in our letter of March 1, 1995.

I must make one final but crucial point: In your letter of this
date you call the fight a "demonstration". Please note once and
for all that this is not intended to be a "demonstration." It
is intended to be a no rules,no holds barred fight. One fighter
wins when the other indicates his submission by tapping out or
throwing the towel. Are the fights in the UFC also just
"demonstrations?"

Please clearly state your position regarding this issue or define
what precisely you mean by that word, today, by fax. In Mr.
Boztepe and the martial art public's mind a "demonstration" is
equivalent to a "show." Please understand that this is NOT going
to be a "show." If you and your brother have any different
perception of the nature of the upcoming fight, please let us
know now. Otherwise, your brother might accidently be seriously
injured without his actual consent. You must be very clear about
this.

Very truly yours,

Alexander R. Wallenwein
-----------------------------------------------------------------
March 6, 1995

Gracie Jiu-Jitsu (R)

Dear Mr. Wallenwein:

In response to your fax of March 6, 1995, what would make this
fight "legal" if we did it at Martial Arts Gazette, Inside Kung Fu,
or Black Belt Magazine? They are all located in the State of
California. Wouldn't you be legally concerned about this as well?

This is why the UFC was developed and it takes place in other
states, so there will be no legal impediments.

I agree to have Royce face Mr. Boztepe, if you have any publisher
of one of the above publications, fax to me, a confirmation of
the following: a) that such fights are legal in California;
b) no law enforcement personnel will intervene with the fight
until it is over; and c) that after the fight none of the
participants or promoters will be charged with violating any
laws.

Furthermore, they must also agree to allow only 5 people from
each camp to enter their facility - other than the press.

Cordially,

Rorion Gracie
-----------------------------------------------------------------
THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER

The Highs and Lows of Winning, by Royce Gracie

The Ultimate Fighting Championship has given me a great platform for
demonstrating what my family has believed in for over 65 years: That
the techniques of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu(R) prepare the best fighters in the
world. Winning at the UFC has made what we do very popular, and the
results are that I am getting a lot of attention, and our Academy is
growing like crazy. The publicity surrounding the UFC is very
controversial, and I receive many requests from the media for
interviews. I like to fight and I like the rewards, both emotional
and financial.

The only down side to being The Ultimate Fighting Champion is the
clowns I must deal with who claim to challenge me or the Gracie
Family, and who hide behind the publicity stunt of a challenge with no
intention of meeting me in the octagon. They use the tactics of a
challenge in an attempt to discredit the integrity of my victories,
and support their weak claims of fighting superiority. They then have
the audacity to explain why they do not want or need to fight in the
UFC.

I heard that there were over 400 applications for UFC IV, and many
fighters make no bones about who they are after - me! We also receive
many direct requests at the Academy from fighters who want to
challenge me, and who feel they deserve special treatment over all of
the other fighters in the UFC, because they are who they think they
are. The final insult comes when we bend over backwards to
accommodate a challenger, who then badgers us with excuses and the
fight never happens.

The most recent example is Emin Boztepe. First came his challenge,
then he told everyone why he does not need to fight in the UFC,
finally all the reasons why a scheduled fight outside the UFC will
never take place. All the while boasting of his alleged fighting
superiority.

In Boztepe's original challenge letter he made two requests. First,
that he fight only a Gracie. Second, that the winner takes all the
money (Boztepe said he would donate his to charity). Boztepe was
offered a special fight with me in UFC V by Art Davie. With this
offer all the conditions of Boztepe's challenge were met, but Boztepe
then said that he would not compete at the UFC. My brother Rorion,
then went to the effort of setting up a special match at a neutral
location, the Police Academy in Los Angeles. Boztepe then said the
fight was illegal in California, and he would not compete at the
Police Academy because my brother is a "member" and therefore it is
not neutral ground. For the record, the Police Academy is not a
health club and does not have "members". Rorion sits on a civilian
panel that assists the Police Academy with its self defense training.
So does Benny Urquidez and Gene LeBell, whose honor Boztepe is
supposedly defending. Just in case this new excuse is not enough,
Boztepe has his lawyer send a list of guarantees that must be met
before the fight is scheduled. Boztepe then suggested an alternative
location, and when my brother requested the same guarantees as
requested by Boztepe's lawyers, they accused me of not wanting to
fight.

I sometimes feel like the lion tamer at a circus dealing with real
lions who have the courage to step into the octagon. I regard
individuals like Boztepe as the clowns who entertain the audience
between performances. Boztepe has an open invitation, and a
guaranteed place at any UFC, yet he cannot bring himself to enter.
He requests a private match, then assigns his lawyer the task of
making sure it never happens.

I can only conclude that Boztepe was never serious about fighting a
Gracie in the first place.

This latest example of a publicity stunt by Boztepe is the final
reason why we will no longer take challenges outside the UFC. I
respect the fighters who have the courage to step into the octagon.
The reason the Ultimate Fighting Championship was developed was to
eliminate legal impediments to staging a real life no-holds-barred
fight. Anyone who wants to fight only the Gracies, please respect
the other fighters who have the guts to compete in the UFC. This
is how to get to Royce Gracie.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
April 3, 1995

My original challenge letter was addressed to the Gracie family
because Rorion promotes himself as the head of the Gracie family,
and it appeared that his actions were representative of the entire
family. It has since become quite clear that the entire problem
is with Rorion Gracie (and his partner, Art Davie). It is widely
known now that even Rorion's associates and members of his own
family have trouble with him because of some of his attitudes.
In light of this, I would like to make it quite clear that I have
no problem with any member of the Gracie family other than Rorion
Gracie. I have made it quite clear directly to Rorion that it is
him whom I wish to fight. So far he will not respond to this, and
insists that I fight his little brother Royce. I have nothing
against Royce, but will fight him if he insists on being his brother's
puppet in this matter. Rorion now is even trying to drag other
members of his family in to fight his battles for him - battles
he won't fight himself.

I would also like to make it clear exactly what has been said and
done. Art Davie, Rorion Gracie's partner in WOW Promotions which
promotes the UFCs, called me and invited me to fight in the UFC.
I explained that I only believe in fighting in self-defense, not
for sport, but thanked him for the invitation. A week later,
Gracie Jiu Jitsu students began posting messages on the Internet
essentially calling me chicken for not competing in the UFC. Since
information posted had only been discussed between myself and Art
Davie, I immediately called Art, who denied saying such things
about me and insisted that it was all a misunderstanding and that
no ill will was intended. The GJJ students later publicly apologized
on the Internet, but at least one GJJ student still keeps writing
offensive and misleading - often false - messages.

The damage was done. I did not realize at the time how powerful
a medium the Internet is for quickly and widely spreading news,
opinions, and even gossip. Over the next few months, false rumors
that I refused a direct challenge from the Gracies quickly spread
worldwide. And since the only one I had ever talked to was Art
Davie, I knew that only Art and/or his partner Rorion could be the
original source of these rumors. When the same exact thing was
later done in the martial arts press to old, respected martial
artists such as Gene LeBell, I knew that this was no simple
misunderstanding, but rather a purposeful effort on the part of
Rorion Gracie and Art Davie to promote Gracie Jiu-Jitsu and the UFCs
by questioning the courage of famous and respected martial artists
around the world and even damaging their reputations. Seeing
beginning level Wing Chun people invited and placed in the UFCs and
promoted as world-class representatives of their arts only served
to strengthen my perception that Rorion Gracie (and his partner, Art
Davie) were deliberately attacking other martial artists and their
arts to build up Gracie Jiu-Jitsu and the UFCs and make a fortune in
the process.

At this point I decided to respond to the Gracies' long-standing open
challenge with a counter challenge. In my letter, I asked only that
I fight only a Gracie, that the event be recorded/televised, and
that the profits after expenses go to charity. Rorion's public reply
offered me a slot in the UFC with no guarantee of fighting a Gracie.
Art Davie wrote me a letter and later called, each time threatening to
sue me if I did not publicly retract statements I made which compared
the UFCs to professional wrestling. During the phone conversation,
it was mentioned in passing that a possible special fight in the UFC
directly with Royce Gracie might be offered me. Later, a letter was
sent to Inside Kung Fu Magazine offering me the special bout. However,
since neither Art Davie nor Rorion is willing to do this for charity,
and since they are threatening to sue me and the UFC is their event,
I will not meet them under these conditions. I do not feel like
making those who would sue me any wealthier. Rorion later amended
his offer to include an offer for me to come fight Royce at Rorion's
school in Torrance.

Since it was obvious that we could not come to terms for a fight at
the UFCs, and since walking directly into their school to fight them
would not be very wise, I countered with a request that the fight be
on neutral ground, and suggested Benny Urquidez's Jet Center or Gene
LeBell's gymnasium. Rorion refused to hold the fight at either
location. About the same time, and without my prior knowledge,
the Martial Arts Gazette called Rorion and confidentially
offered their gym for the challenge match. Rorion refused the offer.

During a phone conversation on February 17th, Rorion told me that
I must fight one of their students first to prove myself worthy of
fighting Royce! Or one of my students must fight one of
theirs first. I told him this was ridiculous, and that I wanted
to fight him, Rorion. Rorion replied, "No!!! You fight Royce!"
I said, "Then I will fight you after I beat Royce," to which Rorion
would not reply. Rorion, like his promoter, prefers sitting behind
a desk in a nice suit and tie challenging and humiliating well-known
and respected martial artists of any style because they both know
that they will not fight anyway.

Rorion was supposed to call back that night with a location and date
for the fight, but did not call back until Tuesday, February 21. He
then offered to let me fight Royce at the Los Angeles Police Academy
in only two days. I asked that it be held one week later because
this was not enough notice to get the media and a professional video
team there. So the fight was scheduled for March 2 with Royce at the
LA Police Academy. Four or five days before the fight was to happen,
Rorion Gracie called me and cancelled the fight, saying that the LA
Police Academy Gym was unavailable for the fight on March 2 and that
he would call back in a couple weeks when other arrangements could
be made. After this cancellation by Rorion, both my attorney and
friends of mine within the law enforcement community advised me not
to fight at the LA Police Academy without a written guarantee that
the police would neither interfere nor bring charges against anyone.
Everyone knows that the police would not really allow a no rules,
bareknuckle fight on their property!

On March 3, my attorney sent a letter to Rorion Gracie summarizing
the events thus far and suggesting that the fight be held on March
14, 1995, at the gym of the Martial Arts Gazette, or at Inside
Kung Fu or Black Belt Magazine if Rorion preferred. He also
said that if Rorion and his promoter apologized to those they
had insulted through their media efforts no fight would be necessary
and that this was actually the preferred solution.

On March 6, 1995, Rorion Gracie responded with a letter which said:
a) The promoter of the UFC had made a professional and courteous
invitation to famous martial artists at the request of fans the
world over; b) he cannot control what "fans" write on the Internet
but that he doesn't support me being called chicken; c) he didn't
think Urquidez's or LeBell's schools were neutral; and d) he
doesn't have control of the LA Police Academy gym's schedule. He
then said he had permission for the "demonstration" to be held on
March 9, 10, or 13 and requested me to choose a date. He agreed
to waivers and taping conditions.

My attorney replied back by fax the same day saying that
a fight at the Police Academy is unacceptable (because Police are
sworn to uphold the law, and such a fight is allegedly illegal in
California) unless the Chief of Police or Chief of the Academy
provides a written guarantee that a) the fight is legal, b) the
police won't intervene, and c) no charges will be filed against
anyone. He also stated that without such a written guarantee
Rorion was still expected to comply with the original conditions
(a fight at the Martial Arts Gazette, Inside Kung Fu, or Black
Belt Magazine). Most important, he questioned Rorion's use of
the word "demonstration". Apparently, the Police were only told
that the gym was to be used for a martial arts demonstration
rather than a no rules, no referees, bareknuckle challenge fight.

Rorion responded the same day with a fax in which he wonders why
I should be concerned about fighting an allegedly illegal
fight on police property in front of police more than I would about
fighting the same allegedly illegal fight at a magazine gymnasium
(with no police present). He then states Royce will only fight at
one of the above magazine's gyms if the chosen magazine will provide
the same three written guarantees that my attorney asked of the
police.

I feel it should be obvious that doing a no rules, bareknuckle
challenge fight on police property and in front of the police (who
are expecting a mere martial arts demonstration!) is far different
than doing a fight in front of magazine publishers who have no legal
power, especially since both sides have agreed to sign waivers not
to press any charges against the other.

So this is where it currently stands: Rorion refuses to fight me
himself. No matter what. Period. He also refuses to let the fight
be done at Gene LeBell's gym or at Benny Urquidez's Jet Center.
Rorion refused a direct, confidential, personal offer from the Martial
Arts Gazette to have the fight there. He cancelled the March 2nd,
1995 fight that was originally agreed upon at the Los Angeles Police
Academy and he refused to let Royce fight on March 14th, 1995 at the
Martial Arts Gazette or Inside Kung Fu or Black Belt Magazine.

At this point I find myself deeply surprised at Rorion Gracie's
apparent lack of honor in this situation. But his statement in one
letter that he does not support me "being called a 'chicken'" seems
to indicate that he has some honor. Now if he would just say this
about the others whom he or his associates have insulted, challenged,
or humiliated, and apologize publicly, this whole mess would be done.
Or he could just take off his suit and tie and come out from behind
his desk and fight me himself.

Emin Boztepe
Chief Instructor of the AWTO