Nippon Joho: Analyzing Bushido 8

Learning to be humble through victory and defeats

Love him or hate him, you can’t turn your back on Phil Baroni now. He came from being a doubtful contender in the UFC to revamp his career with back-to-back knockouts over PRIDE’s top 185-pound contenders.

But one needs to wonder why he still feels the need to be disrespectful? In case you didn’t hear, check Baroni’s post-fight video here on Sherdog.com when Baroni calls Ryo Chonan “pig face.”

Now Baroni is 2-2 with tasteless comments about Asian fighters while he’s signed by an Asian promotion. I mean some fans may think it’s funny to hear Baroni call a Korean judoka “pork fried rice” on national pay-per-view. Other may roll with the “pig face” comment, but I don’t think it’s at all necessary to call people names when you are doing so good in Japan, especially after your former organization didn’t give you any more chances.

At least he should try to learn from his corners Mark Coleman and Kevin Randleman that inside the ring is all business, but outside the ring be respectful and appreciative of opponents, PRIDE and the Japanese fans.

On the other side, fans probably wonder what’s next for Ryo Chonan. Was he overrated? No, he still is a top contender inside his division with clear victories over Carlos Newton, Hayato “Mach” Sakurai, Nino Schembri and Anderson Silva. I just think he needs to be aggressive rather than being so passive, waiting for opponents to make mistakes.

For Baroni, he must wait for the upcoming PRIDE Bushido GP when he will be one of the top guys to beat. Since Baroni just beat their two aces in Minowa and Chonan, I guess DSE is in a difficult position to find another Japanese contender to face Baroni.

I hope DSE reads this because I think I’ve the answer: Akihiro Gono. Sure Gono has not looked spectacular in PRIDE going 1-1, but he could give Baroni and the fans what they want with an amazing standing war.

Minowa is the people’s champion

So what’s the deal with Ikuhisa Minowa these days? When he fights people close in weight he looks terrible. When he fights 205 pounds he just get run over. But when he fights heavyweights he looks like Superman. Sounds strange, doesn’t it?

Let’s jump to Minowa’s fight versus Kimo Leopoldo and how many fans are claiming something is “funny” about this match. Kimo is supposed to be a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt but I beg any fans out there to show me when did you see Kimo using black belt skills to fight?

After a quick look to the always-trusty Sherdog.com Fight Finder I noticed Kimo had some submission wins since 2003, most notably a arm-triangle choke over Tank Abbott and a “forearm choke” over rookie Marcus Royster. Now let’s take a look to Minowa’s record over the same period of time.

Minowa had four submission victories via leg attacks (kneebar, toe-, ankle-, Achilles-locks and a heelhook). What reason is everyone jumping and calling “work” to this fight when Minowa had finished opponents with similar locks for quite some time?

(By the way, before fans start to point out my conclusion comes based in Fight Finder records I feel obligated to tell everyone I’ve watched each and every fight I’m talking about here.)

I really hope the U.S. pay-per-view shows the big reaction Minowa got from the fans in Nagoya, especially during his victory walk back to the locker rooms “Minowa, Minowa!” chants echoed all over the place. Right after the show was over and I was in the press interview room I could still hear chants of “Minowa” outside the hall, making it difficult to hear fighter’s comments at the moment.