Final Thoughts from PRIDE 29
Final Thoughts from PRIDE 29
Masa Fukui Feb 28, 2005
TOKYO, Feb. 24 –If you get to come to backstage at a PRIDE event,
there is so much information you can get that you’d never see on a
pay-per-view. So I’ll share some of that info with you and add a
few of my thoughts, as usual.
Let’s start off with Sherdog.net forum regular Tom Erikson against wonder man, Fabricio Werdum. In this fight, most Japanese fans focused on newcomer Werdum because Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic mentioned his name whenever he had a chance; also Fabricio’s entry for PRDIE 29 was announced pretty early. So a lot of people must have a good image of this young man.
He is a jiu-jitsu world champion and trains with Cro Cop, who has
been proving himself is the best striker in MMA. (Sounds like
Fabricio is in the perfect environment for MMA training. Well, the
fight ended perfect for him, too, finishing Erikson in the first
round.)
If my memory is correct, I met Werdum at the world famous Beverly Hills Jiu-Jitsu Club, and my good friend female fighter Mayra Conde told me the Brazilian went to Abu Dhabi as Mark Kerr’s partner. Then, because Ricco Rodriguez didn’t join the tournament, Werdum replaced Ricco and amazingly advanced to the final.
But let’s look at the other corner. This man Erikson had an offer to fight just 12 days before the scheduled date. Twelve days notice, fellas! And fighting against the guy who’s already got on the top of the world in jiu-jitsu competition.
So Erikson hasn’t fought in PRIDE or any MMA competition for three years. And he took this 12-day notice fight. Should he have passed on this offer? What would you have done if you were a wrestling coach at Purdue University?
He’s been looking to fight in a big organization for a long time and he finally he got this offer from PRIDE. What would you do if you were him? Would you take this offer? To be honest, I’d take this offer if I were him. And either win or lose, I will appeal for next fight in any PRIDE show. And that’s what happened on him. I think it’s very smart move by Erikson. For him to take this offer is very professional.
No sarcasm is involved in my words at all. As a professional fighter, to be exposed in the media is very important. If you want to fight, you should come out in front of the media and say what you want.
This time, in the post-fight interview, Erikson appealed for another fight in PRIDE. Yes, he has a right to say that because he paid for it by his blood and braveness. He took this offer, which is setting him up against some kinda world champion in 12-days notice. Boy, you need a pair of hardcore cajones to take this offer.
In the fight, anything can be happen. How many times have we seen a fighter break his nose or get a serious injury? Let’s say Werdum is a grappler who may not have real good strikes. But, still, he can be knocked out (Travis Lutter put The Beastman into sleep). And this concussion can give you some serious brain damage. Or at least you’ll be suffered by anxiety headache.
While Quinton Jackson was complaining about fighting on short notice (more than twice as much as Erikson had) he took this offer. In addition, I agree with Quinton. One month is still very short if fighters wish to perform their best in the ring or octagon, especially in MMA. Let’s talk about this short notice issue another time.
Hopefully, somebody is listening to what Erikson said after the fight and he’ll get another shot in PRIDE. I don’t have any problem with that. I’d like to see how much he could improve his skill from here, when he has plenty time to prepare for the fight.
This sports evolves very quickly. The latest fight style can be old fashion in six months, so I hope he can adjust his style to the all the "new schoolers" with cooperation from his friend Gary “Big Daddy” Goodridge or his student Jon Fitch. Otherwise, his wrestling background can work only for brown hair Alice Cooper—I mean curly hair Silva. Good luck big man!
Let me see, my notes that I took at the Saitama Super Arena say, “Brazil is in carnival season. … And Kazu Nakamura is pissed.” Sorry it must be written by somebody else. I don’t remember. But let’s talk about this Japanese gentleman Nakamura.
He’s the only Japanese guy who won in PRIDE 29. It’s kinda sad. We host the show, but we had only one winner. (Oops, my bad. Mr. Tamura won the fight too.) Anyway, Kazu Nakamura focused well even though his opponent was changed right before the fight from Ryan Gracie to Stephen Leko. These two are very different fighters.
“I heard that my opponent is changed to Leko on Thursday last week.” Nakamura said after the fight. “When I heard that I can’t fight Ryan, I couldn’t train all day on that day because I was very disappointed.”
Since his opponent was changed, he faced other pressure. Leko has been finished in every single fight. Then what kind of pressure could he have? How about how he beats Leko? That’s how people evaluate Nakamura. And he told us so in the interview. But the fight went how he wanted.
He was saying in an interview before the fight he wants to beat his opponent until he cries. Well, Leko didn’t cry in the ring. He may be crying in his heart, but, well, I’m not gonna talk about Leko anymore. I already wrote about that. And Kazu won with ease.
Anyhow, you know what? Nakamura should have gone after Ryan really bad on New Years Eve. He should have put a fire in Ryan’s heart, like Josh Koscheck and Bobby Southworth pushed Chris Leben to the edge (without saying “fatherless bastard”).
After the fight against Leko, Kazu actually spoke on the mic 10 times better than what he did to Ryan’s face. “If there’s somebody who knows Ryan, tell him not to run away from me,” he said. “I’ll be the main, most featured fighter in up coming middleweight tournament. So, please remember my name. Just Kazu is good. And thank you for your support.”
It was short but at least he said “DON’T RUN AWAY FROM ME” to Ryan this time. That’s a progress. I think just those five words may make it done deal of Kazu-Ryan. Hopefully it happens.
In the post-fight interview, there was a question: “Would you fight Yoshida if you have to fight him in the tournament.” And this young soldier answered the question right away. “Yes, I don’t have any second thought for fighting against my sensei,” he said.
Wow, interesting. Hey, anyone reading this column, can you try to knockout your instructor? Some maybe really want to do that, but that’s just not me.
Let’s start off with Sherdog.net forum regular Tom Erikson against wonder man, Fabricio Werdum. In this fight, most Japanese fans focused on newcomer Werdum because Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic mentioned his name whenever he had a chance; also Fabricio’s entry for PRDIE 29 was announced pretty early. So a lot of people must have a good image of this young man.
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If my memory is correct, I met Werdum at the world famous Beverly Hills Jiu-Jitsu Club, and my good friend female fighter Mayra Conde told me the Brazilian went to Abu Dhabi as Mark Kerr’s partner. Then, because Ricco Rodriguez didn’t join the tournament, Werdum replaced Ricco and amazingly advanced to the final.
This guy is a natural.
But let’s look at the other corner. This man Erikson had an offer to fight just 12 days before the scheduled date. Twelve days notice, fellas! And fighting against the guy who’s already got on the top of the world in jiu-jitsu competition.
So Erikson hasn’t fought in PRIDE or any MMA competition for three years. And he took this 12-day notice fight. Should he have passed on this offer? What would you have done if you were a wrestling coach at Purdue University?
He’s been looking to fight in a big organization for a long time and he finally he got this offer from PRIDE. What would you do if you were him? Would you take this offer? To be honest, I’d take this offer if I were him. And either win or lose, I will appeal for next fight in any PRIDE show. And that’s what happened on him. I think it’s very smart move by Erikson. For him to take this offer is very professional.
No sarcasm is involved in my words at all. As a professional fighter, to be exposed in the media is very important. If you want to fight, you should come out in front of the media and say what you want.
This time, in the post-fight interview, Erikson appealed for another fight in PRIDE. Yes, he has a right to say that because he paid for it by his blood and braveness. He took this offer, which is setting him up against some kinda world champion in 12-days notice. Boy, you need a pair of hardcore cajones to take this offer.
In the fight, anything can be happen. How many times have we seen a fighter break his nose or get a serious injury? Let’s say Werdum is a grappler who may not have real good strikes. But, still, he can be knocked out (Travis Lutter put The Beastman into sleep). And this concussion can give you some serious brain damage. Or at least you’ll be suffered by anxiety headache.
While Quinton Jackson was complaining about fighting on short notice (more than twice as much as Erikson had) he took this offer. In addition, I agree with Quinton. One month is still very short if fighters wish to perform their best in the ring or octagon, especially in MMA. Let’s talk about this short notice issue another time.
Hopefully, somebody is listening to what Erikson said after the fight and he’ll get another shot in PRIDE. I don’t have any problem with that. I’d like to see how much he could improve his skill from here, when he has plenty time to prepare for the fight.
This sports evolves very quickly. The latest fight style can be old fashion in six months, so I hope he can adjust his style to the all the "new schoolers" with cooperation from his friend Gary “Big Daddy” Goodridge or his student Jon Fitch. Otherwise, his wrestling background can work only for brown hair Alice Cooper—I mean curly hair Silva. Good luck big man!
Let me see, my notes that I took at the Saitama Super Arena say, “Brazil is in carnival season. … And Kazu Nakamura is pissed.” Sorry it must be written by somebody else. I don’t remember. But let’s talk about this Japanese gentleman Nakamura.
He’s the only Japanese guy who won in PRIDE 29. It’s kinda sad. We host the show, but we had only one winner. (Oops, my bad. Mr. Tamura won the fight too.) Anyway, Kazu Nakamura focused well even though his opponent was changed right before the fight from Ryan Gracie to Stephen Leko. These two are very different fighters.
“I heard that my opponent is changed to Leko on Thursday last week.” Nakamura said after the fight. “When I heard that I can’t fight Ryan, I couldn’t train all day on that day because I was very disappointed.”
Since his opponent was changed, he faced other pressure. Leko has been finished in every single fight. Then what kind of pressure could he have? How about how he beats Leko? That’s how people evaluate Nakamura. And he told us so in the interview. But the fight went how he wanted.
He was saying in an interview before the fight he wants to beat his opponent until he cries. Well, Leko didn’t cry in the ring. He may be crying in his heart, but, well, I’m not gonna talk about Leko anymore. I already wrote about that. And Kazu won with ease.
Anyhow, you know what? Nakamura should have gone after Ryan really bad on New Years Eve. He should have put a fire in Ryan’s heart, like Josh Koscheck and Bobby Southworth pushed Chris Leben to the edge (without saying “fatherless bastard”).
After the fight against Leko, Kazu actually spoke on the mic 10 times better than what he did to Ryan’s face. “If there’s somebody who knows Ryan, tell him not to run away from me,” he said. “I’ll be the main, most featured fighter in up coming middleweight tournament. So, please remember my name. Just Kazu is good. And thank you for your support.”
It was short but at least he said “DON’T RUN AWAY FROM ME” to Ryan this time. That’s a progress. I think just those five words may make it done deal of Kazu-Ryan. Hopefully it happens.
In the post-fight interview, there was a question: “Would you fight Yoshida if you have to fight him in the tournament.” And this young soldier answered the question right away. “Yes, I don’t have any second thought for fighting against my sensei,” he said.
Wow, interesting. Hey, anyone reading this column, can you try to knockout your instructor? Some maybe really want to do that, but that’s just not me.
