Brazilians, Overeem Advance to August’s PRIDE GP Finals
GP Matches
Akira Fujimoto Jun 26, 2005
TOKYO, June 26 — Saitama Super Arena is a massive building, one
where 45,102 souls gathered Sunday night to bear witness to the
second round of PRIDE’s Middleweight Grand Prix, featuring several
of the world’s best 205-pound fighters.
Sunday’s main event featured Hidehiko Yoshida dojo member Kazuhiro Nakamura against Wanderlei Silva, the reigning PRIDE middleweight (205 pounds) and middleweight Grand Prix champion. My head told me Silva was going to win this one, but my heart said that if anyone could pull off an upset, it would be Nakamura.
Silva has fought two hard bouts with Yoshida and many were hoping
for another classic with his protégé. Backstage I saw Silva warm up
with his trainer; he worked sprawls and knees and looked just
devastating.
The fight started with Nakamura, who fought in a short sleeve judo gi top and shorts, and Silva trading punches. I was a little shocked that Nakamura was willing to stand and trade with Silva in a bout that looked a bit like a K-1 match. Eventually the two fighters got into a clinch and Nakamura ended up on the ground, to which Silva responded by attempting some of his infamous stomps.
It looked like Nakamura almost expected Silva to stand down for a second while he ripped off his gi top. Of course, Silva did no such thing and kept coming at Nakamura full throttle. A second after Nakamura got the gi top off, he was downed by a punch from Silva.
After another brief scramble, Silva managed to mount his opponent. From here he started to rain down with strikes and the fight was stopped at the 5:24 mark of round one. With the victory Silva, one of three Brazilians to gain the distinction, earned entry into August’s GP Finals.
Silva’s Chute Boxe team member, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, took on Brazilian Top Team fighter Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. This was probably the most exciting bout of the night, as both fighters came out swinging. Once again, this fight looked more like a K-1 match rather than an MMA fight; whenever they were on their feet, they just went at each other throwing vicious bombs.
Both fighters got knocked down with punches during the course of this slobber knocker. Shogun was able to Greco-Roman Nogueira down several times, yet on the ground both fighters struggled hard to get good positions. Nogueira attempted several kimuras and triangles.
These guys kept pounding each other for 20 minutes until the final bell signaled no more. Shogun took the unanimous decision. Afterwards, the effects of the fight could be seen on Shogun, who sported a really nasty looking black eye.
In another highly anticipated Grand Prix fight, crowd favorite Kazushi Sakuraba took on Ricardo Arona. Prior to this match, Sherdog.com’s Masa Fukui and I saw a bicycle in the backstage area and wondered what it was doing there. A little later, our speculation was answered when we saw Sakuraba, dressed up as a Japanese junior high school student, riding the bike down the walkway to the ring.
The first round started and both fighters moved around, feeling each other out. Eventually Sakuraba, who came to the ring with mountains of tape on both knees, went for a shot. But Arona caught him and fired some knees from the top. Both fighters got to their feet and continued to circle around the ring. Sakuraba went in for another shot, only to be caught in a similar situation, with Arona holding on to him and firing knees to his head.
Towards the end of the round, with both fighters on the canvas, Sakuraba had a nice attempt at an armbar, but it slipped away from him.
While watching this on the monitor in the post-fight interview space, Shogun and some other members of the Chute Boxe team stood right behind me in the adjacent warm up area watching as well.
The second period was a tough one for Sakuraba. Arona caught him after a failed shot attempt and drove knees to his head from the top. This is how most of the round played out. The Japanese star survived to see the end of the round but he couldn’t continue into the third.
Backstage I saw Sakuraba having to be helped to his dressing room. Apparently after the fight he went directly to the hospital. Hopefully we’ll be able to see him fight another day, but I think that retirement may be looming.
The only tournament match-up without a Brazilian competitor featured “The Demolition Man” Alistair Overeem versus the master of the Russian hook, Igor Vovchanchyn. I was really looking forward to this fight and my money was on Igor — seeing him in real life, you quickly realize that his guy is one tough, strong dude.
The fight started and Overeem threw some of his patented knees. Action briefly went to the ground where Overeem took side control. Eventually they got to their feet and the Dutchman caught Vovchanchyn in a standing guillotine, choking his fellow European for the tapout just 80 seconds after the opening bell. This was a pretty quick victory, which was both surprising and disappointing.
One of the great things about being backstage is that you get to see how the fighters are outside of the ring. Vovchanchyn chatted up a storm with Sergei Kharitonov next to the interview area while Overeem had his gorgeous girlfriend with him.
During his interview, Overeem said that he had a strange dream that he would win with a guillotine. He further stated that he’s comfortable on the ground but prefers striking, and that he was hoping to face the winner of the Sakuraba-Arona fight.
Sunday’s main event featured Hidehiko Yoshida dojo member Kazuhiro Nakamura against Wanderlei Silva, the reigning PRIDE middleweight (205 pounds) and middleweight Grand Prix champion. My head told me Silva was going to win this one, but my heart said that if anyone could pull off an upset, it would be Nakamura.
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The fight started with Nakamura, who fought in a short sleeve judo gi top and shorts, and Silva trading punches. I was a little shocked that Nakamura was willing to stand and trade with Silva in a bout that looked a bit like a K-1 match. Eventually the two fighters got into a clinch and Nakamura ended up on the ground, to which Silva responded by attempting some of his infamous stomps.
After some scrambling, both fighters got back to their feet and the
slugfest continued. You could see that the bunching up of
Nakamura’s gi was interfering with his punching, so while facing
Silva he quickly ripped it off. This was where the beginning of the
end happened for Nakamura.
It looked like Nakamura almost expected Silva to stand down for a second while he ripped off his gi top. Of course, Silva did no such thing and kept coming at Nakamura full throttle. A second after Nakamura got the gi top off, he was downed by a punch from Silva.
After another brief scramble, Silva managed to mount his opponent. From here he started to rain down with strikes and the fight was stopped at the 5:24 mark of round one. With the victory Silva, one of three Brazilians to gain the distinction, earned entry into August’s GP Finals.
Silva’s Chute Boxe team member, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, took on Brazilian Top Team fighter Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. This was probably the most exciting bout of the night, as both fighters came out swinging. Once again, this fight looked more like a K-1 match rather than an MMA fight; whenever they were on their feet, they just went at each other throwing vicious bombs.
Both fighters got knocked down with punches during the course of this slobber knocker. Shogun was able to Greco-Roman Nogueira down several times, yet on the ground both fighters struggled hard to get good positions. Nogueira attempted several kimuras and triangles.
These guys kept pounding each other for 20 minutes until the final bell signaled no more. Shogun took the unanimous decision. Afterwards, the effects of the fight could be seen on Shogun, who sported a really nasty looking black eye.
In another highly anticipated Grand Prix fight, crowd favorite Kazushi Sakuraba took on Ricardo Arona. Prior to this match, Sherdog.com’s Masa Fukui and I saw a bicycle in the backstage area and wondered what it was doing there. A little later, our speculation was answered when we saw Sakuraba, dressed up as a Japanese junior high school student, riding the bike down the walkway to the ring.
The first round started and both fighters moved around, feeling each other out. Eventually Sakuraba, who came to the ring with mountains of tape on both knees, went for a shot. But Arona caught him and fired some knees from the top. Both fighters got to their feet and continued to circle around the ring. Sakuraba went in for another shot, only to be caught in a similar situation, with Arona holding on to him and firing knees to his head.
Towards the end of the round, with both fighters on the canvas, Sakuraba had a nice attempt at an armbar, but it slipped away from him.
While watching this on the monitor in the post-fight interview space, Shogun and some other members of the Chute Boxe team stood right behind me in the adjacent warm up area watching as well.
The second period was a tough one for Sakuraba. Arona caught him after a failed shot attempt and drove knees to his head from the top. This is how most of the round played out. The Japanese star survived to see the end of the round but he couldn’t continue into the third.
Backstage I saw Sakuraba having to be helped to his dressing room. Apparently after the fight he went directly to the hospital. Hopefully we’ll be able to see him fight another day, but I think that retirement may be looming.
The only tournament match-up without a Brazilian competitor featured “The Demolition Man” Alistair Overeem versus the master of the Russian hook, Igor Vovchanchyn. I was really looking forward to this fight and my money was on Igor — seeing him in real life, you quickly realize that his guy is one tough, strong dude.
The fight started and Overeem threw some of his patented knees. Action briefly went to the ground where Overeem took side control. Eventually they got to their feet and the Dutchman caught Vovchanchyn in a standing guillotine, choking his fellow European for the tapout just 80 seconds after the opening bell. This was a pretty quick victory, which was both surprising and disappointing.
One of the great things about being backstage is that you get to see how the fighters are outside of the ring. Vovchanchyn chatted up a storm with Sergei Kharitonov next to the interview area while Overeem had his gorgeous girlfriend with him.
During his interview, Overeem said that he had a strange dream that he would win with a guillotine. He further stated that he’s comfortable on the ground but prefers striking, and that he was hoping to face the winner of the Sakuraba-Arona fight.
