Just My Thoughts: From UFC to PRIDE to K-1

Mike SloanMay 03, 2005

And finally, let’s delve into the world that is K-1 USA. I can exhale a sigh of relief as the heads at K-1 decided to not pit real kickboxers against sumo wrestlers. Thank God for that one!

But looking back at this past weekend’s K-1 event, it’s always great to see a heavy underdog win an eight-man tournament, isn’t it? Of course, I would have preferred Michael McDonald to not be injured just two days before the event (and not just because my great interview with him didn’t get posted, either) but injuries in training happen. No worries.

But who would have thought that Glaube Feitosa would have won the entire tourney? Certainly not I and I’m pretty positive that 99.9 percent of the fight fans around the world will say the same thing. Congrats to him as he surely earned it that night. A full-length feature on Mr. Feitosa will be coming very shortly, so just stay tuned.

I’d like to further discuss my thoughts on the Roufus-Musashi and Bonjasky-Mighty Mo fights, but I’ll save my energy for later. Interviews with three of those fighters should be posted on this very site this week, so I won’t give my opinions on them until after our one-on-ones can be read and viewed.

So, which of the three events dominated? With the three major organizations scheduling events in successive weeks, the debate should have been raging for days now, but the outcome is p retty easy to explain.

UFC 52 was hands down the best event out of the three. Hell, the UFC TUF finale can even be considered as it was certainly better than the latest PRIDE and a tad better than K-1 USA. It’s not too difficult to see where I’m going with this so I’ll cut to the chase and list them how I felt each event placed:

1) UFC 52 - easily
2) K-1 USA - a tough second
3) PRIDE: Total Elimination - edged out by K-1

Until then, I’ll see you at the fights and maybe on our forums …