The opening round took place at Pride Total Elimination on April 23, 2005. It was a good night for the Chute Boxe academy, as its two biggest stars, Silva and Rua, advanced to the second round. It was also a harbinger of things to come. Silva advanced only after a hard-fought 20 minutes with Hidehiko Yoshida in which the older, smaller judoka fearlessly stood and traded with “The Axe Murderer.” Meanwhile, “Shogun,” Silva’s protégé and eventual grand prix winner, obliterated Jackson with soccer kicks against the ropes in under five minutes.
From there, Rua went on to win the tournament in August by smashing Overeem and Ricardo Arona in the same night to win the trophy and make his case as the top fighter in the world in his weight class. He eventually racked up a 12-1 record in Pride—the only loss was the result of a freakish arm injury against Mark Coleman—before he moved on to the UFC, where, after a rough debut, he went on to win the light heavyweight belt.