TOKYO, July 19 — I guess by now you’ve checked the Bushido results, pictures and videos provided by my sidekick Masa Fukui and myself. Also I believe anyone interested in the results already read the quick report I provided with Masa’s help on the front page.
Sherdog fans deserve more than this so I decided to write another report about PRIDE Bushido in Nagoya and the interesting things I saw once I stepped near the Nagoya Rainbow Hall this past Sunday. Also, just a reminder, as in my previous articles this is not a play-by-play of what happened on Sunday so I won’t talk about all the fights.
Hey Rudimar, do you have any lightweights left?
When you work PRIDE shows as part of the press you get the chance to go backstage, stay around the press conference room and check closely the post-fight interviews from pretty much all the fighters in the card.
One thing I noticed, and probably the fans out there can notice the same, is the repetitiveness of the Japanese press questions to the fighters (please check Masa’s videos). Usually the questions range from “From what do you think about your opponent?” to “What was your strategy?” to “How you like PRIDE and Japan?.”
While all these questions are valid to a point and I totally give credit to the Japanese press for standing there and asking fighters they probably don’t know many things about it something for the Japanese fans to read, one needs to wonder why don’t they ask more original questions?
This leads to the Chute Boxe post-fight interviews with Jean Silva and Daniel Acacio. I was really close to throwing my axe at Chute Boxe head honcho Rudimar Fedrigo and ask, “Rudimar, do you have any more lightweights left to face Gomi because the Japanese ace sure seems to run over everything you throw at him?”
But common sense kicked in and I figured this could be interpreted like a rude question, and more than likely I would need to start running with the whole Chute Boxe crew chasing me through Nagoya to stomp me to death.
Now to get back on point, Gomi has looked fantastic taking on the Chute Boxe army. He destroyed Jadson Costa, out-struck Azeredo and out-grappled Jean Silva. Fans probably wonder why Gomi didn’t show up with is usual “PRIDE style” of knocking out opponents in the first round against Silva. I guess the answer can be found in Gomi’s words.
“Silva’s attitude reminded me where I was early in my career back in SHOOTO, with no worries about winning or losing,” Gomi said.
His words are deep and reflect his current state of mind in PRIDE: Gomi is the man to beat if you want to be on top. And I think everyone else knows this by now.
The way Gomi fought Sunday was not in any way a result of his being outclassed by Silva. In fact Silva was surviving more than trying to beat Gomi. Now, since I’ve watched him for so many years in SHOOTO, I never jumped on the Gomi PRIDE bandwagon. What he did versus Silva didn’t surprise me at all.
While Gomi’s striking skills have improved leaps and bounds from his old SHOOTO days he still remains, at his core, a solid wrestler with good ground-and-pound, good submission skills and granite chin. All those attributes came in handy at the moment he was fighting Silva. Gomi basically mounted the better offensive while on the ground, taking Silva’s back with a close rear-naked choke, several Kimuras and the last armbar attempt to close the fight.
I think Gomi is more dangerous now than he’s ever been.
He already passed the pressure to establish himself as a top contender in PRIDE. He scored six straight wins in PRIDE, all by finishing his opponent in the first round. And in case Gomi’s words are really from the heart, he’s without doubt under no pressure at all to perform in PRIDE at this moment.
This, my friends, is going to be dangerous to any other top lightweight fighters looking to make a name through Gomi.