Pride 31 DREAMERS (“Unbreakable” in North America)
Roman Zentsov vs Pedro Rizzo
Apparently Rizzo, former UFC HW champ (among MANY other titles), has been in and out of “aggression training” with a shrink. If you’ve been following “The Rock’s” career, you’d understand why. Rizzo is one of the deadliest strikers in MMA’s short history, but over the past 5-10 years, he’s been SUPER inconsistent. I think his match with Zentsov was to be a confidence builder (a quick glance at the Pride 31 card in general would give you that impression), sacrificing Red Devil Fight Team’s most junior member to Rizzo. Well, twenty-six seconds into round one, we found out why Roman Zentsov is rubbing elbows with Fedor. Rizzo threw one of his trademark, oak tree snapping leg kicks, only to be countered with a jaw crushing left hook that knocked Rizzo the FUCK OUT (like, falling straight as a 2 X 4 flat on his back, arms in the HUSTLE pose out…)! This is a great victory for the Red Devil journeyman after Pride losses to CroCop and Fabricio Werdum. I think Rizzo could very well be done in MMA after this one. Crazy one punch KO victory for Zentsov with proud teammate in JEANS and a T-SHIRT, Fedor Emelianenko hoping into the ring to congratulate young Roman. Bas mentioned that in an interview, Zentsov mentioned that Fedor gave him a little tip about Rizzo that he said he didn’t want to divulge… I think we saw it just before Rizzo hit the ground.
Quinton Jackson vs. Yoon Dong Sik
Okay, I was expecting a squash in this match after seeing how fast the Korean Judoka was SQUASHED (and I’m talking Vader vs. Kaientai kind of SQUASH) by Sakuraba in his Pride Debut, and a decision loss to one of Yoshida Dojo’s young fighters, Makoto Takimoto (another Judo phenom). What I saw instead was a Rampage that OBVIOUSLY didn’t take this match as seriously as he should have (considering he’s on the comeback trail and is constantly talking about how much money he’s worth) and more surprisingly an EXPONENTIALLY improved Yoon Dong Sik! After being Koed by Sakuraba in his first match, I believed that Yoon had a glass jaw, but after watching Jackson unleash hell in the form of sharp knees, punches, and stomps to the head with no signs of a KO in sight, I’m starting to think Yoon is part Samoan. Jackson’s slams were stuffed right and left (throws are not the best tactic when you’re facing an Olympic Judoka), with a GREAT triangle slam defense involving Yoon releasing his leg lock in mid air and ending up on his FEET! Jackson looked puzzled and shocked, and by the end of the fight, didn’t look too happy with his DECISSION victory over Dong Sik. Yoon Dong Sik has been training at Takada Dojo for a while now, and Sakuraba was in his corner. The time at Takada Dojo has served Yoon well as he seems to have cinched up ALL loose ends in his game (can take a punch, throws great looking punch combos with stank on em’, etc). QJ better get his shit together, and quick. Yoon Dong Sik vs. Yoshida is a must happen match for this year, and I became an instant fan of the Korean after seeing how good he looked in the ring and the AMAZING improvements hes made in such a short time! What a stud!
Jon Olev Einemo Vs Fabricio Werdum
Not a bad match, but instead of a ground war that you’d think two Abu Dhabi BJJ tournament champs would put on, this was a sloppy stand up war. Einemo, “The European BJJ Wizard” is a monster of a Dutchman who didn’t do too much in his debut. Werdum, CroCop’s BJJ trainer, was able to throw some shitty looking combos that Einemo had no answer for. Give these dudes some time to round out their skills, and they’ll both be forces in the HW division. Great heart by Einemo, who looked like a can of smashed assholes by the end of the match. Unanimous Decision to Werdum.
Mario Sperry Vs Tsuyoshi Kosaka
The BATTLE OF THE COTTON TOPS! Sperry, founder of Brazilian Top Team (I think he’s 46) and TK, UFC, RINGS, (etc…) veteran put on a great show! Sperry came out with some strong combos, rocking the granite-crainiumed TK, but not putting him away. Unfortunately for Sperry, TK returned the favor, ending Sperry’s night with a rice left hook to the temple. Lights out, Mario! TK was very emotional after the fight, and told the crowd that he’s had a long career, and that after the Open Weight Tournament, he intends to retire from fighting. Takada and Yoshida were visible stirred by TK’s speech, with Yoshida even welling up a bit. Crazy shit.
Sergei Kharitonov Vs Alistar Overeem
The fight I predicted would be the show stealer and an all out war turned out VERY differently. If I had to bet the house on this fight, I’d have picked Kharitonov, and I’d be living in a fucking snow-bank for my shitty insight. Overeem looked MASSIVE in this fight, his first at HW. Normally he needs to cut a lot of weight to get to 205 (He’s 6’6” by the way), and he usually gasses out at the WORST possible times in fights. Overeem lived up to his “Demolition Man” moniker in this fight as he
completely dominated Kharitonov. I’ve never seen Sergei look so utterly defenseless in a fight, EVER. Overeem went for a quick takedown, got to side mount and proceeded to feed elbows into Kharitonov’s ribs. Once Sergei began to react to the elbows, Overeem and his Stacey Keibler-like endless legs began to find their target in the form of knees in Sergei’s face. Overeem easily passed the guard, threw a few punches, then DECIMATED Kharitonov with more knees to the head. Overeem has always been a favorite of mine, but I really never expected to see that kind of performance out of him. Kharitonov looked battered, swollen, bloodied, and lost at the end of the fight, he also badly injured his shoulder (somehow?…). Apparently, Mr. Overeem had a visit from a certain, former teammate of Sergei’s in Holland, some guy named “Fedor Emelianenko”, who trained with Overeem for about a month. Coincidence?
Kazuhiro Nakamura Vs Josh Barnett
Nak is a fave of mine (Yoshida Dojo’s PRODIGY), and so is Barnett if for no other reason than he’s aggressive as hell, wears a pro wrestling flag on his back with pride into ALL of him MMA matches, and is scared of NO MAN. Huge mismatch in size with Barnet outweighing Nak by at least 40 pounds. Nakamura has Barnett sized cojones, and never backed down from the “Baby Faced Assassin” once. The fight ended up on the ground, with Nak resisting the tap out even with an UGLY toehold applied by Barnett (a veteran of AMC Pankration, Matt Hume’s student who happens to specialize in leg locks), but eventually Barnett got Nak’s back, and choked him out (Nakamura didn’t tap). Too bad Barnett didn’t get to “Powerbomb” Nakamura like he said he wanted to, but a win is a win. Yoshida cornered Nak for the match, and was laughing and smiling the whole time his young prodigy was having his ass handed to him, USA style.
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira Vs Kiyoshi Tamura
Tamura is a fucking nut to have taken this fight. Big Nog outweighed Tamura by 50 + pounds (Nog 240ish, Tamura 180ish). Long story short, Nog by armbar.
Mauricio Shogun Rua Vs Mark Coleman
You all heard what happened in this one already. Coleman should not have been celebrating a “victory”. This fight should have been a No Contest, but be sure that this bullshit will be set straight in a rematch. Classless, amateurish bullshit from a veteran of the fight game, Coleman started celebrating when he saw Shogun’s forearm pointing in a direction it shouldn’t have been. Ninja jumped into the ring to help his brother, Coleman beaked off at him and it was on like muthafuckin neckbone. Coleman’s elderly father was even in the mix. Classless bullshit by both sides as Shogun needed a ring full of DOCTORS, not jackass, super reactive thugs. I predict a Silva slaughter of Baroni, and a Ninja or Silva vs Coleman in the near future. Brutal shit here.
Mark Hunt Vs Yosuke Nishijima
Another case of “fuck him, I’ll eat him alive” approach to conditioning on the part of Mark Hunt. Hunt, a sloppy 298 pounds looked shocked when he couldn’t find Nishijima’s number. If you guys get a chance to see Hunt/Nishijima, do it (look it up on Youtube or some shit), this was a WAR!Nishijima traded with Hunt and rocked the man who has NEVER been Koed in his career a few times. Hunt, not to be outdone, dropped a NEW MOVE on the MMA world that would make Kawada wince (I won’t spoil it for you!
). In the third round (13 minutes after Nishijima was supposed to have lasted), Hunt finally found the sweet spot, and put Nishijima away. This fight will put Nishijima on a fucking rocket and send him into huge levels of popularity among Japanese fans. Nishijima has GIGANTIC BALLS (that would have been a great name for this PPV), and working with Takada dojo, he can only get better.
Pretty good overall, minus the Hammer House/Chute Boxe bullshit. Lots of near upsets, lots of new starts, and a good indication of great things to come in Pride overall! Awesome shit!