OK, here we are, the finals. Brazilian against Brazilian. Arona in his corner with Sperry, “Minotauro” and Bustamante. Shogun seconded by Rudimar Fedrigo, Rafael Cordiero and maybe Silva.
OK, again, which one is fresher? Which one took less damage?
I gotta say Shogun. As I wrote above, Arona will fight against the middleweight champion for 15 minutes. Even if Arona could hold Silva on his back, they have to exchange a lot. Arona, who is used to grappling, will use a lot of energy for something he is not a natural at. Also, Silva is very fast. I’m sure Arona will have some damage here and there.
How about Shogun? I predicted he will finish his semifinal bout in the first round. And if I compared Silva to Overeem, Silva is a better striker in MMA. So, I see, Arona having more damage.
I’m assuming this fight will be determined by how they walk into the ring. By what kind of conditions they are in. Their fighting ability is almost at the same level, despite the fact that their styles are different.
The key will be who can own the center of the ring and who gives pressure first. And to this point I see Shogun staying in center. Shogun will set the tone for this fight. Arona’s weapon is very speedy takedowns, but will he lose that speed because of exhaustion, or damage from the first fight?
Do you see Arona striking back good against Shogun?
Do you see Arona taking Shogun down and dominating the fight from top?
Do you see, Shogun nailing Arona with knees?
I see this fight ending with Shogun’s victory by TKO in the second round.
I’m done with my Grand Prix thoughts. I’ll tell you what: my pick is useless. It’s just one of many thought from thousands of MMA fans. True, I watch fights a lot. True, I try to think about the fights a lot. True, I sometimes talk to pro fighters. But you know, some people learn from nothing. And some other people can’t learn from Einstein.
You know, nobody can pick the winner 100 percent of the time. Even psychics can’t, can they? So I’ll be just happy if my thoughts in this story can be a bit of spice for your MMA fantasy.
At last, I’d like to say thank you to all the fighters. Especially those who I mentioned in this column. Wanderlei Silva (Pictures), Ricardo Arona (Pictures), Alistair Overeem (Pictures) and Mauricio Rua (Pictures) are already a part of legend. To be honest, I don’t know what will happen on Sunday.
Us writers can write whatever we want to. But we’ll never be able to write what really happens. The fighter is the only one who can create the legend, with their hard training, with their body, their technique, and their soul. So I’ll just enjoy watching how you fighters develop and wrap up the story from this page to the next page of the book called PRIDE Middleweight Grand Prix “Final Conflict” 2005.