Ég ákvað að posta fyrir þá sem vildu, fullu og ýtarlegu review af Pride cardinu sem var haldið 31. Desember síðastliðinn.
As far as quality of matches is concerned, Pride won the New Year's MMA war. This card had some of great matches, a long awaited rematch, one surprisingly competitive spectacle involving a giant prowrestler and Heath Herring. Read on for highlights of the Pride Special.
Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Kazushi Sakuraba
Wow. What a great fight. Anyone who needed proof that “little” Nog has a bright future got it in New Year's Eve. Anyone who thinks Saku is finished needs to see this fight. From beginning to end, Nogueira/Sakuraba was a grueling drama of sharp punches and even sharper grappling technique.
True to his word, Nogueira tried to win standing. As soon as the bell rang, Nog shot across the ring launching a series of knees at the japanese legend. Saku ate a few and blocked a few, but he escaped an early KO. Less than a minute later, Saku caught Nogueira with a straight right before shooting for a single. It opened a big cut over the brazilian's eye and almost prompted a doctor stoppage.
The fight continued and saw both men landing hard punches and kicks, with the brazilian's being more accurate. But Saku was winning in the takedown, putting Nog on his back twice. In the brazilian's guard he was hacking away at Nog's cut with slaps and chops. Nogueira's eye started bleeding again.
The rest of the round saw Saku landing leg kicks and Nog tagging him with straights. Twice it looked like the japanese fighter was down and twice it ended in a defensive shoot for a single leg takedown. As the round closed, Nog was backing up Sakuraba with punches. Then Saku caught a kick and countered with a left straight that put him on his back.
After ten minutes of fighting, Sakuraba was sucking wind and looked a little dazed. But he was countering nicely and taking Nogueira down a lot. Nogueira was hurt and bleeding from right above the eye, but he was tagging Saku with some really accurate punches. It looked like a fight that could end at any moment.
Round 2 opened with more knees by Nogueira, but this time none get through. As he forces Sakuraba into and tries to take his head off with punches, Saku shoots. Nog defends and tries to transition into a crucifix submission. Saku turns hard to the left and dumps the brazilian on his head. As Saku tries to catch an arm, Nog pulls guard. After being stood up again, Nogueira's eye started bleeding againg and he was fighting cautious. But Saku was swinging at it any chance he got with straights and wild looping punches.
In the last minute, Nog went on the offensive, hitting Sakuraba with another nice straight. Before Saku could shoot for the single-leg again, Nogueira went for a guillotine choke and then fell back into the guard to cinch it tiight. But Sakuraba blocked the choke and escaped, only to have Nogueira immediately transition to a triangle choke/armlock combo. In the most harrowing moment of the fight, Nog almost had Saku's arm and head locked in, with Nog straining to past the fulcrum of his hips and Saku wrenching the elbow back between his legs. It looked like it was all over, but Saku escaped to the side and started looking for his own sub as the bell rang.
Round three opened with Nog hitting Saku with a stiff jab that was right on the button and Saku went straight for the single leg again. But the brazilian defended and drove Saku into the ropes, hitting him with knees and punches. But japanese legend gave as good as he got and drove Nogueira back with his own combinations. The round continued that way, with each fight jarring the other with hard punches. With two minutes to go, Sakuraba was coming forward with his hands low and eating punches. But Nogueira couldn't put him down. Then, with ten seconds left, Nogueira was backing Saku up when the japanese fighter slipped, covered while Nogueira threw a few shin kicks at him as the bell rang.
In the end, Nogueira was awarded a well-deserved decision. But Sakuraba definitely won back the respect he lost after his loss to Schembri. He proved his chin's still strong and his game's still top-shelf.
Royce Gracie vs. Hidehiko Yoshida
I'm not sure if the fans got what they wanted, but Royce sure seemed happy. In what looked more like an excerpt from the “Gracies in Action” video than a Pride fight, Royce got to punch Yoshida a lot on his way to a draw. But other than that, no one really seemed in trouble.
This fight started off weird. First, Royce decided to fight for the first time in his pro MMA career without a gi, but Yoshida kept his on. Then, in the first minute of the fight, Royce accidentally kicks Yoshida in the groin and gets a yellow card. But it seemingly served no purpose because there were no judges and thus no score cards to record it on. (Maybe they decided to give yellow cards in case on of the fighters fouled so many times they'd have to stop the fight.)
After the Yoshida's groin recovered, the fight started for real. Royce was throwing jabs and kicks, but Yoshida closed the distance and cuffed Gracie with a left hook and right uppercut as the brazilian rolled back into his guard. Then Royce had Yoshida in the half-guard. For the next few minutes it looked a lot like the first Yoshida/Gracie, with Royce trying for ankle locks and heel-holds but not getting them.
Near the 5 minute mark, Yoshida manged to escape the leg tie-up, pass Royce's guards, and get his back. As Gracie escaped, the judo champ tried an armlock. But Royce slipped out of it and ended up in Yoshida's half-guard, punching his ribs. Meanwhile, Yoshida attempted his infamous sleeve choke from the bottom position. The rounded ended with Royce getting mount position and then back position and pecking away at the japanese fighter with light punches while looking for an choke.
In the second and final round, Royce not wearing the gi started having an effect. He could control Yoshida's arms easily without worrying about his own. It seemed to make the tiring judo champ too cautious about getting arm locked or choked. After another back and forth battle to clamp on an ankle hold, Royce got the mount and then the back. Through it all Royce was punching while Yoshida was clinch, holding Gracie's hands, or covering up. He couldn't buck or roll Royce off and seemed content to take Gracie's light punches and not give up his neck or arm. Royce, on the other hand, seemed content to ride him and hit him a lot.
At the end of twenty minutes, it was declared a draw.
Gary Goodridge vs. Don Frye
This was billed as Goodridge's retirement bout. But it looked like it should've been Frye's too. After a few brief exchanges, Goodridge hit Frye upside the head with a solid shin kick and it was all over. Frye was face down on the canvas and out cold.
It was great for Goodridge to go out with a win, especially a KO. He deserved it for giving us so many great fights over the years. But it's also tough seeing a former champ in decline. That's four losses in a row now for Frye, if you count his K-1 misadvenure. It might be time for the former UFC great to call it a career.
Heath Herring vs. “Giant” Silva
Going into this fight, a lot of people predicted this would be an easy fight for Herring. “Giant” Silva is a freakishly large pro-wrestler who looks like a brazilian Andre the Giant with heavy metal hair. That is, he looks like a monster but there's no evidence he can fight like one. But Herring found his easy fight was a lot hard than everyone predicted.
First off, Herring was way smaller than Silva. The brazilian pro-wrestler was almost a foot taller and 90 lbs heavier. Second, Silva was pretty tough. Even though he moved like he was wearing metal knee braces, he took leg kicks from Herring for almost the entire first round and still kept chasing him. The problem was he had no technique. He seemed to be learning how to fight as he was fighting.
Most of the fight consisted over Herring kicking the giant's legs and quickly moving back out of range. When Silva would swing with huge, slow hook punches Herring duck and circle around to the side. When he crowded Herring into a corner, the american would literally duck and run the the other side of the ring. Silva's best moments came when he figured out he could catch Herring if he swung straight down, like he was mashing a fly on a table top. What followed was some slapstick comedy where Silva chased Herring around, swatting him on the top and the back of his head as the american struggled to keep his balance and get away.
The fight ended in the final round when Silva finally caught one of Herrings kicks and they tumbled to the ground together. Herring ended up on the bottom with the giant pro-wrestler trying to cradle him and crank his neck. But escaped and got Silva's back, finishing him with a rear naked choke at 35 seconds into the 3rd round.
Quinton Jackson vs. Ikuhisa Minowa
Sometimes you feel admiration for guys taking fights they can't win. Sometimes you just worry about how bad they'll get injured. In this fight, Minowa inspired a little of both feelings. Not only is Jackson 10 centimeters taller and ten kilos heavier, he's also the #2 middleweight in Pride, maybe in all of MMA. So there was little doubt about how this fight would turn out. All we could do was admire Minowa's guts and hope things didn't turn out too bad for him.
Things did turn out bad for the japanese challenger almost immediately. He scored a decent clinch and trip on Jackson, but “Rampage” rolled him off and mounted him. Minowa got to his feet and tried a standing kimura, only to have Jackson hoist him in the air and slam him on his head. The rest the first round was a repeating pattern. Jackson's punches or knees (or both) would start to get through Minowa's defenses. The japanese fighter would try a submission. After looking like he might be in trouble for a few seconds, Jackson would escape and resume beating on Minowa at a leisurely pace. Rinse and repeat…for ten long minutes.
The end came early in the second round when Jackson slammed a knee into Minowa's chin and the ref stopped it. Minowa was up immediately and in Jackson's face, apparently trying to show he wasn't really out. But it didn't matter. Minowa was on his way to a loss even if he managed to gut out a decision.
Jackson by TKO at 1:05 of the second round
Yuki Kondo vs. Mario Sperry
At first contact, Sperry was on Kondo like he was made of glue. Whether he was clinching, trying a takedown, or transitioning on the ground, the brazilian was hugging tight to whatever Kondo gave him and trying to do something with it. Unfortunately for Sperry, he could only keep it up for 3 minutes against the pancrase star. Once Kondo made some space and got the side position, he opened up a nasty cut near Sperry's eye with his some well placed knees. The doctor stopped the fight at 3:27 of the first round.
Kondo's post fight comment? “Silva's next,” he said matter-of-factly, then gave the microphone back and left the ring.
Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Rony Sefo
Rony Sefo, a kickboxer and brother of K-1 contender Ray Sefo, came into this bout outweighing Tamura by almost 50 lbs. But it didn't help because he didn't have a chance to land a single punch or kick. The japanese pro-wrestler from putting Sefo on his back and had the mount in a mere twenty seconds. Two minutes later, Tamura got the armlock and the win.
Tamura by armlock at 2:20 of the first round.
Daniel Gracie vs. Wataru Sakata
In a ho-hum match, Daniel Gracie stuffed Sakata's first takedown. Then Gracie ended up puttiing him on his back of a failed guillotine choke and kept him there most of the first five minutes, mostly just pounding on him. Even though the japanese wrestler reversed him once, Gracie soon got the top position and an armlock. The only excitement was when refused to tap and struggled desperately to escape, almost succeeding at one point before giving up.
Gracie by arm lock at 7:12 of the first round.
Murilo “Ninja” Rua vs. Akira Shoji
At first, Shoji seemed to do a good job of keeping Rua on the ground. But Chute Boxe guys usually don't stay there for long. Once he fought his way back to his feet, Rua unloaded on the Pride stalwart and KO'd him with a knee at 2:41 of the first round.
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