TOKYO, Dec. 31 — To say that 2006 has been a tough year for the PRIDE Fighting Championships would be a major understatement.
Things haven’t gotten any easier for the company.
Yet, despite all the hardships of the past year, PRIDE fought hard to avoid relinquishing its title as the preeminent mixed martial arts promoter in the world by putting together an absolutely jaw-dropping card for “Shockwave,” the organization’s traditional New Year’s Eve extravaganza, at a packed Saitama Super Arena.
The PRIDE heavyweight title was on the line in the main event as champion Fedor Emelianenko (Pictures) faced off against New Zealand’s Mark Hunt (Pictures).
Fedor has proven his stand-up prowess throughout many wars, particularly against dangerous striker Mirko “Cro Cop.” Hunt, of course, came from kickboxing and captured the coveted K-1 World Grand Prix title in 2001.
While the Kiwi has certainly evolved and progressed as mixed martial artist since his first outing against Hidehiko Yoshida (Pictures) in 2004, there was no doubt coming into tonight that his biggest weakness would on the ground when compared to the Russian Sambo master.
Hunt, 31, really brought the fight to Fedor and despite the apparent disparity in terms of grappling skill, the hefty fighter really held his own on the mat.
Fedor scored a takedown and landed in mount. He quickly twisted for an armbar attempt, but Hunt saw it coming and rolled with the technique. After a tense moment, Hunt managed to escape to side-control.
From here Hunt ground his forearm into the 30-year-old champion’s face and pinned the Russian to the mat for a fairly long time by keep his hips low. Emelianenko escaped, however, and once again scored with a Greco-Roman takedown following a restart. But the throw backfired and once again Hunt took side-position.
This time the New Zealander really took advantage and applied a very deep keylock that bent the champion’s arm in a manner we had not seen before. It looked like the Russian champion was in danger of being submitted, but Emelianenko displayed his renowned calm-under-pressure demeanor by escaping and working to his feet after Hunt took mount.
In the clinch the Russian once again got a takedown to half-guard. From here he applied a Kimura. Hunt fought to get it off, but Emelianenko sealed the deal by jumping through to half and cranking on the technique, leaving Hunt no other option but to tap.
Hunt (5-3-0) pushed the champ further than any other fighter in recent memory, even coming close to a submission. This fight attests to the level that Hunt has reached in a relatively short period of time. But once again it was Fedor Emelianenko (Pictures), 25-1-0 (1 NC), who had his hand raised as he showed why he’s the No. 1 fighter in the world.
“Minotauro” bests Barnett
Revenge was no doubt on the mind of former PRIDE heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (Pictures) when he faced off against Josh Barnett (Pictures).
The two, of course, met just last September in the semifinals PRIDE’s Open-weight Grand Prix, where Barnett edged out a razor-thin decision victory over the Brazilian.
Nogueira, 30, put on an absolute boxing clinic in this one — moving around, slipping punches and throwing multi-punch counters. The former champ inflicted damage to his American opponent with sharp knees from the Thai clinch, as well.
Barnett also displayed some excellent striking throughout the opening 10-minute period, but as Nogueira picked away the 29-year-old American’s defense weakened and his conditioning began to fail.
The second and third rounds were all Nogueira. The Brazilian continued to score, connecting with well-timed and well-placed counterpunches. Barnett (20-5-0) had a deep guillotine towards the end of the fight, and during one exchange nearly had Nogueira in a Kimura as they fell to the mat, but Barnett was too exhausted from the punishment he took in previous rounds to pose a serious threat to the Brazilian at the end.
The two fighters traded right to the final bell, and this time it was Nogueira who walked away with the unanimous victory.
This was a very solid performance on the part of Nogueira (29-4-1), and no doubt puts him right at the front of the line to challenge again for the heavyweight title.
“Fireball Kid” fire bombs Ishida
PRIDE lightweight champion Takanori Gomi (Pictures) squared off in a non-title bout against Mitsuhiro Ishida (Pictures). Gomi, 28, had been on an absolute tear, going 10-0 in PRIDE before losing to Marcus Aurelio (Marcus Aurelio' class='LinkSilver'>Pictures) to start his 2006 campaign in April. The “Fireball Kid” avenged the loss this past November, but not all that impressively.
Ishida, the Shooto Pacific Rim champion who just two days ago turned 26, has been dominating his opponents in PRIDE with excellent wrestling and ground control. Prior to this match-up, the T-Blood fighter said that he was going to strengthen his midsection to take Gomi’s notorious body shots.
It didn’t last long.
Ishida (14-3-1) came out kicking, but the PRIDE 160-pound champ parried what his opponent threw at him. Rather than go for his trademark takedowns, Ishida seemed to want to stand with Gomi.
Just after Ishida fired a kick, Gomi (26-3-0) countered with a hellacious left cross that sent Ishida falling to the mat. From here Gomi followed his opponent down and rained down punches until the referee stepped in and put a stop to the fight.
Though his belt wasn’t on the line, there’s no doubt the dominant victory helps cement Gomi’s claim on PRIDE’s lightweight title.