Nippon Joho: Aftermath of PRIDE GP
Saku & the Heavyweight Belt
Stephen Martinez Jun 27, 2005
Arona Abused Sakuraba
The subtitle makes it look like this is out of the crime section from a magazine or newspaper, but there are no other words to describe the display of power that Ricardo Arona put on Kazushi Sakuraba last Sunday.
Arona might be leaving the shadows of the lay-and-pray label just
to step into the world of a punishment machine ready to unleash at
any moment. Just to see Sakuraba face right after the fight made me
wonder for a second at what moment during the fight Mario Sperry, Roan Carneiro and the rest of BTT
jumped into the ring to help Arona beat Sakuraba like a rabid gang,
because it sure looked liked 10 people just jumped Sakuraba after
he took the wrong turn in a dark alley.
Now to bring all these arguments about Sakuraba’s weight, how old he is, the injuries, weight division, etc., are pointless in my opinion. Sakuraba knew what he was getting into and he paid for this. Still this doesn’t take away from the fact that seeing him like he was at the end of the bout is just heartbreaking.
Another interesting thing was the fact that hundreds of Japanese fans sported Sakuraba t-shirts at Saitama Super Arena or how PRIDE made this special “Sakuraba support” section inside the arena for fans to cheers for the Japanese warrior. At the end, it was even more heartbreaking to see the fans leaving with a little glance of disappointment and sadness mix in their faces.
Only one question remains: What next for Sakuraba? Everyone, including me, remembers how he beat four Gracies in the now famous series of fights. But this was long time ago and since then too much water has passed under the bridge. When I think about Sakuraba now, I remember all the brutal beating at the hands of Silva, the broken orbital bone from the “Cro Cop” fight, the knees to the head from Schembri or Rogerio Nogueira soccer kicking him a few years ago.
This is not the way I want to remember him. I don’t want to see him take any more beatings like the one on Sunday. I just hope PRIDE does a Sakuraba vs. Tamura retirement match and then have Sakuraba work with PRIDE to help MMA grow in Japan, just not anymore as a fighter.
To close this part, I left with a bitter taste after witnessing Arona rubbing Sakuraba’s cuts and eyes before the last doctor check. This is not illegal under PRIDE rules as far as I know, but I don’t see the need to use those low tactics when you basically are dominating the match.
PRIDE Delivers Fedor vs. “Cro Cop”
Finally the prayers from millions of MMA fans around the world have been answered. Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic took a quick workout over Russian fighter Ibragim Magomedov. Close to four minutes into the first round “Cro Cop” landed a punishing quick to the Russians midsection that sent the fighter down with probably some broken ribs.
After this “Cro Cop” did the smartest move possible by calling out both PRIDE representative Takada and current PRIDE heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko to the ring to once and for all confirm the elusive title match. After confirmation from Fedor and Takada’s side the crowd erupted in joy to hear that these two will finally meet at Saitama Super Arena on August 28 to settle this once and for all.
Now the fans seem to be really behind “Cro Cop” these days because he got one of the biggest reactions from the fans at the introduction, before and after his bout with Magomedov. If I get to categorize both fighters popularity right now in Japan, judging by the reaction last Sunday I will give my vote without thinking twice to “Cro Cop.”
The Croatian heavyweight is also getting some extra attention from the media regarding the upcoming movie debut “Ultimate Force,” staring none other than Filipovic as the main star. The movie is not coming out in theaters, just DVD release on September 22 in the Japanese market.
DSE took the time to show the trailer in the big screen inside Saitama Super Arena. From what we see in the trailers, “Cro Cop” is out in full force using machine-guns, kicking enemies and kissing the main girl.
The subtitle makes it look like this is out of the crime section from a magazine or newspaper, but there are no other words to describe the display of power that Ricardo Arona put on Kazushi Sakuraba last Sunday.
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Now to bring all these arguments about Sakuraba’s weight, how old he is, the injuries, weight division, etc., are pointless in my opinion. Sakuraba knew what he was getting into and he paid for this. Still this doesn’t take away from the fact that seeing him like he was at the end of the bout is just heartbreaking.
In case the fans get to see the Japanese PPV please pay attention
to Sakuraba entrance before the match. His theme for this
tournament was like a little kid going back to school. In fact for
this event Sakuraba wore a high school uniform and rode a bicycle
on the way to the ring, same as many Japanese high school student
do everyday on the way to school. The irony here is to see Sakuraba
going to the ring like this just to get beat up by the school
bully, Arona.
Another interesting thing was the fact that hundreds of Japanese fans sported Sakuraba t-shirts at Saitama Super Arena or how PRIDE made this special “Sakuraba support” section inside the arena for fans to cheers for the Japanese warrior. At the end, it was even more heartbreaking to see the fans leaving with a little glance of disappointment and sadness mix in their faces.
Only one question remains: What next for Sakuraba? Everyone, including me, remembers how he beat four Gracies in the now famous series of fights. But this was long time ago and since then too much water has passed under the bridge. When I think about Sakuraba now, I remember all the brutal beating at the hands of Silva, the broken orbital bone from the “Cro Cop” fight, the knees to the head from Schembri or Rogerio Nogueira soccer kicking him a few years ago.
This is not the way I want to remember him. I don’t want to see him take any more beatings like the one on Sunday. I just hope PRIDE does a Sakuraba vs. Tamura retirement match and then have Sakuraba work with PRIDE to help MMA grow in Japan, just not anymore as a fighter.
To close this part, I left with a bitter taste after witnessing Arona rubbing Sakuraba’s cuts and eyes before the last doctor check. This is not illegal under PRIDE rules as far as I know, but I don’t see the need to use those low tactics when you basically are dominating the match.
PRIDE Delivers Fedor vs. “Cro Cop”
Finally the prayers from millions of MMA fans around the world have been answered. Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic took a quick workout over Russian fighter Ibragim Magomedov. Close to four minutes into the first round “Cro Cop” landed a punishing quick to the Russians midsection that sent the fighter down with probably some broken ribs.
After this “Cro Cop” did the smartest move possible by calling out both PRIDE representative Takada and current PRIDE heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko to the ring to once and for all confirm the elusive title match. After confirmation from Fedor and Takada’s side the crowd erupted in joy to hear that these two will finally meet at Saitama Super Arena on August 28 to settle this once and for all.
Now the fans seem to be really behind “Cro Cop” these days because he got one of the biggest reactions from the fans at the introduction, before and after his bout with Magomedov. If I get to categorize both fighters popularity right now in Japan, judging by the reaction last Sunday I will give my vote without thinking twice to “Cro Cop.”
The Croatian heavyweight is also getting some extra attention from the media regarding the upcoming movie debut “Ultimate Force,” staring none other than Filipovic as the main star. The movie is not coming out in theaters, just DVD release on September 22 in the Japanese market.
DSE took the time to show the trailer in the big screen inside Saitama Super Arena. From what we see in the trailers, “Cro Cop” is out in full force using machine-guns, kicking enemies and kissing the main girl.
