I almost missed the four Middleweight GP fights, for I too was at was at the party full of cute girls last night with my twin half brother, Masa. What better way to celebrate a historic event like the Pride Middleweight Grand Prix? But while Masa had to leave to put up the video of the weigh-in, I continued to party long into the night.
Since Mirko Filipovic couldn’t fight Fedor Emelianenko on this card due to the Russian’s injured hand, “Cro Cop” decided to take on Fedor’s buddy and fellow countryman Ibragim Magomedov. The Russian’s intro video showed some of this fights in the M-1 cage. As Sherdog.com Editor Josh Gross mentioned in his mailbag, I’m sure PRIDE president Noboyuki Sakakibara was sitting in the arena somewhere praying for “Cro Cop” not to get injured, as that would set back his big heavyweight match-up yet again.
Filipovic looked relaxed and composed in the warm-up space. Magomedov had Fedor in his corner. The fight began slowly, with both fighters moving around and feeling each other out. Both of these guys have one-punch knockout power and the Russian made sure to keep his right hand up and close to his head in anticipation of “Cro Cop’s” famous left leg high kick.
After a few exchanges the Croatian heavyweight fired a high kick that was mostly blocked by Magomedov. After a few more exchanges “Cro Cop” fired the kick again, this time grazing the Russian’s head and staggering him a bit. The kicks kept coming and eventually Filipovic landed a beauty flush into Magomedov’s ribs. The Russian collapsed and the fight was stopped 3:53 of round one.
After the fight “Cro Cop” called PRIDE matchmaker Nobuhiko Takada to the ring, who then called Fedor to enter. Fedor came down with the PRIDE heavyweight belt draped over his shoulder. The two stood in the ring and had some pictures taken to hype their August 28 match-up.
In his post-fight interview, “Cro Cop” said that his opponent was tougher than the thought and that he had to be careful not to get injured. He further stated that he is getting better on the ground, but he doesn’t think that his fight with Fedor will go to the ground.
In a fight that I was really excited about, Pedro “The Rock” Rizzo took on Russian Top Team member Sergei Kharitonov. Both of these guys are renowned strikers and many expected a long, hard-fought slobber knocker. But things didn’t go to well for Rizzo. This fight stayed mostly on the feet and Kharitonov dominated right from the start. He threw great combos to the head and body.
Rizzo looked totally outclassed, which is shocking when you consider all the wars he’d been in. Eventually the Russian finished Rizzo off with strikes 2:02 of the first round.
One has to wonder after a two-year layoff and the disappointment of last night if Rizzo can come back from this.
Former PRIDE heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira faced Polish judo legend Pawel Nastula. Before the fight I could hear Nogueira hitting pads in the warm up area. I know there was some confusion as to whether the fighters would be wearing gi’s or not, but in the end this turned out to be a no-gi affair.
This was a fairly enjoyable fight to watch. Nogueira took side control several times, but to his credit Nastula was able to escape. Eventually Nogueira took mount and rained down punches. This was enough to cause the referee to stop the fight 8:38 of round one.
For his first time in a PRIDE ring, however, I thought Nastula put in a pretty good performance, especially considering he was taking on a fighter the caliber of Nogueira.
Another Yoshida dojo member saw action on this night, as Makoto Takimoto faced off against Kiyoshi Tamura. Tamura got a huge reaction from the crowd. This fight was a bit disappointing, as it seemed that there were many breaks between the action and a lot of holding in the guard.
Tamura went after Takimoto’s legs, firing a lot of hard kicks, while Takimoto was able to put together some hand combinations. Tamura, however, covered up and blocked most of what was thrown at him. I was not expecting this one to go the distance, but it did and Tamura got the unanimous decision.