YOKOHAMA, Japan, Nov. 5 — Sometimes it can feel like fate has a funny sense of humor, but you can be sure that Paulo Filho (Pictures) isn’t laughing at the cards fate dealt him tonight at PRIDE Bushido’s Welterweight tournament finals.
Once again tonight, at the Yokohama Arena, this same scenario played out for Filho — only this time it was ligament damage sustained during his defeat of tough Grabaka striker Kazuo Misaki (Pictures) that forced him out of a finals showdown with American Top Team’s Denis Kang (Pictures).
As a result, Misaki was inserted against Kang, who bested Misaki’s teammate Akihiro Gono (Pictures) on his way to the final bout.
This one was the fight of the night.
Kang entered the ring heavily taped around his right shoulder, later revealing backstage that he had suffered damage to the area while fighting Gono.
Both fighters circled cautiously at the start until Kang scored a takedown that put him in Misaki’s guard. Kang largely controlled the pace of the fight up until the final few minutes of the round. After being taken to the mat again, Misaki worked his way back to his feet and began charging forward with punches, forcing Kang to backpedal around the ring.
Misaki sprawled out of a Kang takedown attempt and proceeded to fire knees to the Canadian’s head. The Grabaka fighter connected one final punch, knocking Kang to the mat, before the bell to end the round.
In round two Misaki again fired knees after avoiding being taken down. Kang had a really good armbar attempt from the bottom, but the Japanese fighter managed to step over to escape the technique. The fight ended with both fighters slugging it out to the final bell.
The fight went to the judges and it was Misaki who walked away with the split decision victory and the PRIDE Bushido 2006 Welterweight Grand Prix crown despite winning only one bout Sunday.
Filho’s powerful ground control style proved to be too much for Misaki in the tournament semifinals. After scoring a takedown in the opening minutes, the Brazilian Top Team fighter worked his way to the mount, where he covered Misaki like a blanket. Despite bridging several times and trying to work his legs up from behind, the Grabaka fighter just couldn’t shake off the tough Brazilian.
Still sitting in the mount and raining down punches, Filho managed to drag the fight to the corner and stacked Misaki against the bottom rope. Filho transitioned to the armbar, forcing the fortunate tournament winner to tap at the 9:43 of the first.
After perhaps the greatest ring entrance in the history of MMA, Gono proved that he belonged in the tournament, hanging tough with Kang. Both fighters were fairly cautious at the start of his one, picking their shots and moving around the ring. Kang drew first blood, connecting with a solid punch that sent the Grabaka fighter to the mat. But despite his opponent passing guard and taking side, Gono bumped hard and got back to his feet.
Both fighters tested each other in the second. Gono connected with several low kicks, and landed a nice uppercut-hook combo, but once again it was Kang who knocked the former Pancrase fighter to the mat towards the end of the round.
This was a fairly back-and-forth fight, and a bit tough to call until about the final minute or so. In the end, it was Kang who picked up the unanimous victory.