Sherdog.com Preview: PRIDE 31 “Unbreakable”

Feb 24, 2006

The fights on this card will give fans an idea of who will fight in the Open Weight Grand Prix. This show is about “heart” — showing it in your performance, proving you have what it takes and realizing those who don’t “bring it” will be cast aside.

There are nine fights, but two bouts truly highlight the card: Kharitonov-Overeem and Kohsaka-Sperry. Fans will definitely be talking about those two bouts Monday morning. A handful of mismatches (Jackson-Yoon, Nogueira-Tamura and Hunt-Nishijima) pepper a card with some potentially entertaining slugfests (Rizzo-Zentsov and Rua-Coleman) and a pair of budding submission clinics (Werdum-Einemo and Barnett-Nakamura). Enjoy the fights!

To recap, my picks are:

Rizzo def. Zentsov TKO R1
Jackson def. Yoon KO R1
Werdum def. Einemo submission R1
Sperry def. Kohsaka decision 3R
Kharitonov def. Overeem TKO R3
Barnett def. Nakamura TKO R2
Nogueira def. Tamura submission R1
Rua def. Coleman KO R1
Hunt def. Nishijima KO R1