TOKYO, Feb. 26 — After a string of unbelievable shows, PRIDE 31 didn’t seem like the strongest offering that DSE has ever put forth. On paper, this show appeared a little lackluster. But Sunday evening at the Saitama Super Arena this event really delivered the goods.
“Shogun” Rua had an incredible 2005, going through Quinton Jackson (Pictures), Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (Pictures), Alistair Overeem (Pictures) and Ricardo Arona (Pictures) to take the PRIDE Middleweight Grand Prix title.
After losses to Fedor Emelianenko (Pictures) and Mirko Filipovic (Pictures) in PRIDE, Coleman entered this fight on the strength of a victory at Bushido Europe last October.
The stakes were high, with the winner of the bout gaining a berth into the upcoming PRIDE Open Weight Grand Prix. Moving up a weight class, “Shogun” was actually heavier than his American counterpart, tipping the scales at 227 pounds, whereas Coleman came in at 224.
After avoiding a big kick from “Shogun” right off the opening bell, Coleman charged into a clinch and managed to quickly get around to Rua’s back, only to see the Chute Boxe fighter roll and offer a solid triangle attempt. From here Coleman picked up the young Brazilian a la “Rampage” Jackson — though not as dramatically — and slammed him to the mat to escape the technique.
Upon losing the triangle, Rua grabbed on to Coleman’s leg, searching for a kneebar before transitioning to a toehold. “The Hammer” fended off the technique, getting to his feet and taking “Shogun” down just as the Chute Boxe fighter was off-balance.
On his way down, Rua twisted to face the mat and landed hard on his right arm. Upon impact, the Brazilian fighter’s elbow contorted a strange angle. Instantly seeing that something was wrong with Rua’s arm, the referee came charging in, pushing Coleman off the top of Shogun and calling an end to the fight at the 49-second mark.
This is where things reach a boiling point.
With the referee still holding Coleman, Chute Boxe members come charging to the ring to protect their teammate. In the flash of an eye, amongst the hordes of managers, trainers, PRIDE officials, judges, referees and security people all in the ring trying to separate everyone, Wanderlei Silva (Pictures) charged into the ring and went after Coleman. Then in the next instant, Coleman training partner Phil Baroni (Pictures) went after Silva.
As this chaotic scene unfolded, doctors attended to “Shogun” as he screamed in pain. The injury looked horrific on the reply — his right arm bent at a disturbingly unnatural angle at his elbow.
Rua left the ring under his own power and was immediately taken to hospital. At the time of this writing the extent of the Chute Boxe fighter’s injury is not yet known, but it’s likely he will be out of action for an extended period of time.
Backstage in his post-fight interview, Coleman stated that the whole melee happened in the heat of the moment and that he didn’t blame the Chute Boxe team for coming in and backing their fighter. He then added that similar to Chute Boxe, Hammer House is also like a family, and thanked Baroni for coming in and watching his back.
The main event of this card featured the MMA debut of Japanese cruiserweight boxing champion Yousuke Nishijima, who tipped the scales at 210 pounds, some 80 pounds less than his granite-chinned opponent, Mark Hunt (Pictures).
This bout was a real slobberknocker and went a lot longer than most thought it would. The first round saw Hunt, a former world champion in K-1, score a big double-leg takedown and take side-control before getting to the mount. Nishijima defended well, eventually bridging out from the bottom. Hunt took side once again in the round and had some good keylock attempts, even at one point looking for an armbar.
Both fighter’s threw a lot of bombs in the first, with perhaps Hunt scoring at a higher connection rate. By the end of the first 10 minutes both guys looked gassed and could barely punch each other.
The second saw more of the stand-up war. Nishijima moved around the ring well but toward the latter part of the round Hunt trapped him against the ropes and in the corners. From there Hunt unleashed vicious hand combinations that went unanswered by the Japanese boxer. In the closing seconds Nishijima fell to one knee from the strikes, but survived to hear the bell.
In the second intermission an army of doctors surrounded the Japanese fighter. It was obvious that he was fading, but he still answered the bell for the third round.
In the final round Hunt finish the job that he started in the second. The tough Kiwi fighter pushed Nishijima to the corner, landing a big right hand to the chin that sent the Japanese boxer to the mat for good at the 1:18 mark.
In another mismatch of size, U-File Camp founder Kiyoshi Tamura (Pictures) faced off against Brazilian Top Team’s Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (Pictures). This was actually the second time that these two faced each other, with the first encounter having taken place in RINGS six years ago.
After some striking from the opening bell, Nogueira scored a single-leg takedown on the Japanese fighter. On the floor the masterful Nogueira worked to Tamura’s back, where he tried to sink in a rear-naked choke. As Tamura defended the choke, hoping to twist into the former PRIDE heavyweight champion’s guard, the Brazilian transitioned to an armbar.
Tamura stood to try to get away from the technique, but he could not escape and was forced to tapout at the 2:24 mark of the first.