In a huge mismatch of size and skill, PRIDE heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko (Pictures) faced off against Zuluzinho Zuluzinho (Pictures). Fedor is a big guy, but he looked tiny next to Zulu.
After a few shots on the ground, Zulu managed to stand back up, only to be immediately put back down again with a right hand. Fedor followed up with a few more punches before the referee came in and stopped the fight at the 26-second mark.
The results of this fight should not come as a shock to anyone who knows anything about the PRIDE champion. Zuluzinho was just totally outclassed by Fedor and looked slow as molasses compared to the champion’s speed.
The fight between Mirko Filipovic (Pictures) and Mark Hunt (Pictures) has reestablished my belief that Hunt has a bowling ball for a head — it is physically impossible for any man to knock this guy out.
In the third round “Cro Cop” landed a textbook high kick right to Hunt’s head. In the replay you could see the sweat flying upon impact. This kick would have knocked out any other fighter and probably would’ve killed a normal person. But Hunt just shrugged it off and kept fighting. Unbelievable.
The Croatian Filipovic wore shoes in this fight. I was going to ask him why he chose to do this in the post-fight interview, but PRIDE was pressed for time after the event and cut both his and Hunt’s interviews. Was “Cro Cop” planning to shoot for a takedown? Perhaps the answer to this riddle will reveal itself in the next few days.
This fight remained standing throughout except for the final minute. At the start of the bout the fighters engaged in a kicking war, but eventually Hunt started to rely more on his punches.
Hunt was basically using the same strategy that Fedor used when he defeated “Cro Cop” in August — always coming forward and closing the distance so Filipovic couldn’t plant and kick. Hunt totally controlled the real estate in the ring, causing “Cro Cop” to backpedal throughout the fight. On the inside, Hunt mixed up his targets, throwing hands to the head and body. Filipovic looked staggered by the end of the first round.
In this match there also appeared to be several firsts: “Cro Cop” used an axe kick in the second and third rounds, both of which connected; and Hunt threw a spinning back kick in the second that just barely missed his foe’s chin.
After a good combo by Hunt in the corner that finished with a great uppercut, “Cro Cop” walked away, turning his back to Hunt and shaking his head as if to show that he was all right. Hunt chased after his opponent and nearly nailed him just as Filipovic was turning his eyes back to him again.
The fight went to the ground in the last minute after a melee and “Cro Cop” got side position. I’m not sure what fight one of the judges was watching, as it was clear that Hunt had won, but Hunt officially took a split decision.
In an interesting match-up “The Gracie Hunter” Kazushi Sakuraba (Pictures) faced off against the slightly weird yet always-entertaining Ikuhisa Minowa (Pictures). PRIDE had hoped that Sakuraba’s opponent would be Kiyoshi Tamura (Pictures), but that deal fell through and Minowa was chosen instead. Part of Minowa’s training for this fight was to go to batting cage and dodge fastballs coming from a pitching machine.
Both fighters put on quite a performance on the ground. Minowa had a great kneebar attempt and then transitioned to an ankle-lock. For a second it looked like Sakuraba was in really trouble and might have to tap. Sakuraba got to Minowa’s back and worked for a choked, but the technique that he really used effectively was the Kimura.
The first time Sakuraba got it on he really held on to it, even following Minowa as he stood up. The second time he put on a standing Kimura while Minowa was standing at his back. After a bit of moving around both fell to the ground and Sakuraba ended up in side position, still hanging onto the submission. From here he twisted it back, looking for the end.
Sakuraba really had this technique on. It looked extremely painful and Minowa fought it off as long as he could, but eventually the referee had seen enough and stopped the fight. This was a good call. Had Sakuraba gone just a few more inches he might have totally wrecked Minowa’s shoulder.
During his backstage interview, Minowa said that he couldn’t remember the last time he lost by decision. In case he was wondering, it was against Kazuki Okubo (Pictures) at DEEP 3rd Impact in 2001.