Sherdog.com Preview: PRIDE 31 “Unbreakable”
Josh Barnett vs. Kazuhiro Nakamura
Feb 24, 2006
BARNETT: Josh
Barnett (Pictures) is originally from Matt Hume (Pictures)’s AMC Pankration in Seattle but
represents New Japan Pro Wrestling with a professional record of
15-3 in MMA. He is a former UFC heavyweight champion and former
Pacific Northwest super heavyweight Pankration champ.
Barnett also competed in the ’99 and ‘00 Abu Dhabi Submission Wrestling Championships, losing both years in the opening round to the eventual champion of both tournaments: Mark Kerr.
He began fighting in kickboxing and MMA bouts in the 1990’s and
fought many bouts for the United Full Contact Federation (UFCF)
where he beat Bob Gilstrap.
Barnett won the Super Brawl 13 heavyweight tournament in Hawaii,
defeating
Juha Tuhkasaari in the quarters, John Marsh in the semis and
Bobby Hoffman (Pictures) in the finals. Barnett returned
to Super Brawl 16 and tapped Dan
Severn (Pictures) via armbar in what was a
career-making win.
“The Baby Faced Assassin” entered the Octagon for the first time against The Pit’s Gan McGee (Pictures). Barnett toppled McGee late in the second round when it appeared stamina was a factor. He returned to UFC 30 and won many fans over going toe-to-toe with Brazilian heavyweight Pedro Rizzo (Pictures). Barnett was knocked out but not before putting himself on the map.
Feeling the sting of the stigma associated with his name, Barnett moved on to professional wrestling in Japan. While there, he fought an MMA bout against Jimmy Ambriz (Pictures) on a New Japan Pro Wrestling card. Barnett pounded Ambriz, who at the time held the KOTC super heavyweight belt, in just three minutes.
Barnett submitted KOP Yuki Kondo (Pictures) in the Pancrase 10th Anniversary show and choked out Yoshiki Takahashi (Pictures) at another New Japan show. With his MMA career back on track, Barnett submitted Semmy Schilt (Pictures) for a second time in their Inoki Bom-Be-Ye ’03 rematch and blasted Rene Rooze (Pictures) in his K-1 MMA debut. At PRIDE 28 he met Mirko Filipovic (Pictures) and suffered a freak injury that caused him to submit after just 46 seconds of battle.
Following a year away from the sport, Barnett faced “Cro Cop” a second time. Though the bout went the distance, there was no question as to the victor. Barnett was dominated and later he admitted he didn’t prepare properly.
NAKAMURA: Kazuhiro Nakamura (Pictures) is the 2002 All-Japan 100-kilo Division Judo Champion and a training protégé of Olympic judo champion and World gold medalist Hidehiko Yoshida (Pictures). He trains out of the Yoshida Dojo under the tutelage of Yoshida, training partner Tsuyoshi Kohsaka (Pictures) and Muay Thai instructor Sergio Cunha.
Nakamura has also traveled to Brazil to train with Pedro Rizzo (Pictures) and Vitor Ribeiro (Pictures) at Nova Uniao. Nakamura is 8-4 in MMA, all in PRIDE, and he makes his 13th appearance in the PFC.
Nakamura debuted at PRIDE 25 against Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (Pictures). It was a good battle, with Nakamura showing his throwing skills and an ability to avoid the submission. In the second round “Minotoro” never let up, letting Nakamura think he was trying for a choke but instead maneuvering into an armbar for the win.
At PRIDE Bushido 1, Nakamura was pitted against Daniel Gracie. Early on there were no indications this was judo vs. jiu-jitsu as both fighters were happy to trade on the feet. Although lengthy, the ground battle was more entertaining than most because neither fighter backed down. Nakamura landed the better strikes in the exchanges and took the unanimous decision. He then defeated pro wrestler Dos Caras Jr. (Pictures) by decision at PRIDE 27 and submitted Dutch striker Chalid Arrab (Pictures) by armbar at PRIDE Bushido 3.
A rematch with “Minotoro” Nogueira took place at PRIDE Bushido 4 but Kazuhiro lost the two-round decision. At the ’04 Final Conflict show, he scored a career-making victory over Brazilian Top Team fighter Murilo Bustamante (Pictures). It was a unanimous decision win and opened the door for a bout with Team Quest fighter Dan Henderson (Pictures) at PRIDE 28. Unfortunately, a bizarre slam caused a serious injury to Nakamura and the bout was over in less than 90 seconds.
Nakamura stopped K-1 kickboxer Stefan Leko (Pictures) with strikes in less than a minute at PRIDE 29. He won an impressive unanimous decision over Kevin Randleman (Pictures) at the 2005 Total Elimination show. The bout served as the opening round of the Middleweight Grand Prix and Nakamura advanced to face Wanderlei Silva (Pictures) in the quarterfinals.
The bout with Silva was going well but a poorly timed attempt to discard his gi top left him open for attack and he fell to a barrage of strikes late in the first round.
At the Final Conflict ’05 show Nakamura faced MMA veteran Igor Vovchanchyn (Pictures). The two fought to a decision and the judoka pulled out the win, his most significant since the Bustamante bout one year earlier. Then he faced Yuki Kondo (Pictures) at the 2005 PRIDE: Shockwave show. Nakamura added Kondo’s name to his already impressive list of victories by taking a decision win over the former King of Pancrase.
MY PICK: Barnett. Nakamura stated he had the opportunity to train with Barnett for a short time in Japan. Josh is about 65 pounds heavier and the experience of being thrown around like a play toy has stayed with Nakamura. He’s intimidated to face Barnett and that is a bad mindset to have going into a fight. Fear is natural but he fights for a living. You should never give your opposition “bulletin board material” to pump themselves up. Kazuhiro’s goal is to get a shot in the Open Weight GP and DSE President Nobuyuki Sakakibara has already stated Nakamura would likely be in the show if he gave a good performance, even in a losing effort. That being said, he should try to purge all negative thoughts about the match from his mind. Barnett needs a big win over a competent opponent to stay in the mix. He’ll likely get a victory here but I don’t expect Nakamura to lie down. Barnett by TKO in the second round.
Barnett also competed in the ’99 and ‘00 Abu Dhabi Submission Wrestling Championships, losing both years in the opening round to the eventual champion of both tournaments: Mark Kerr.
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“The Baby Faced Assassin” entered the Octagon for the first time against The Pit’s Gan McGee (Pictures). Barnett toppled McGee late in the second round when it appeared stamina was a factor. He returned to UFC 30 and won many fans over going toe-to-toe with Brazilian heavyweight Pedro Rizzo (Pictures). Barnett was knocked out but not before putting himself on the map.
Barnett submitted the Open Weight King of Pancrase Semmy Schilt (Pictures) at UFC 32 and punished Hoffman
for a second time at UFC 34. He seemed poised to be the next great
heavyweight and got his shot at the title at UFC 36 against
Randy Couture (Pictures). Barnett won, stopping the former
champ with strikes in the second round. But he was later stripped
after testing positive for steroids.
Feeling the sting of the stigma associated with his name, Barnett moved on to professional wrestling in Japan. While there, he fought an MMA bout against Jimmy Ambriz (Pictures) on a New Japan Pro Wrestling card. Barnett pounded Ambriz, who at the time held the KOTC super heavyweight belt, in just three minutes.
Barnett submitted KOP Yuki Kondo (Pictures) in the Pancrase 10th Anniversary show and choked out Yoshiki Takahashi (Pictures) at another New Japan show. With his MMA career back on track, Barnett submitted Semmy Schilt (Pictures) for a second time in their Inoki Bom-Be-Ye ’03 rematch and blasted Rene Rooze (Pictures) in his K-1 MMA debut. At PRIDE 28 he met Mirko Filipovic (Pictures) and suffered a freak injury that caused him to submit after just 46 seconds of battle.
Following a year away from the sport, Barnett faced “Cro Cop” a second time. Though the bout went the distance, there was no question as to the victor. Barnett was dominated and later he admitted he didn’t prepare properly.
NAKAMURA: Kazuhiro Nakamura (Pictures) is the 2002 All-Japan 100-kilo Division Judo Champion and a training protégé of Olympic judo champion and World gold medalist Hidehiko Yoshida (Pictures). He trains out of the Yoshida Dojo under the tutelage of Yoshida, training partner Tsuyoshi Kohsaka (Pictures) and Muay Thai instructor Sergio Cunha.
Nakamura has also traveled to Brazil to train with Pedro Rizzo (Pictures) and Vitor Ribeiro (Pictures) at Nova Uniao. Nakamura is 8-4 in MMA, all in PRIDE, and he makes his 13th appearance in the PFC.
Nakamura debuted at PRIDE 25 against Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (Pictures). It was a good battle, with Nakamura showing his throwing skills and an ability to avoid the submission. In the second round “Minotoro” never let up, letting Nakamura think he was trying for a choke but instead maneuvering into an armbar for the win.
At PRIDE Bushido 1, Nakamura was pitted against Daniel Gracie. Early on there were no indications this was judo vs. jiu-jitsu as both fighters were happy to trade on the feet. Although lengthy, the ground battle was more entertaining than most because neither fighter backed down. Nakamura landed the better strikes in the exchanges and took the unanimous decision. He then defeated pro wrestler Dos Caras Jr. (Pictures) by decision at PRIDE 27 and submitted Dutch striker Chalid Arrab (Pictures) by armbar at PRIDE Bushido 3.
A rematch with “Minotoro” Nogueira took place at PRIDE Bushido 4 but Kazuhiro lost the two-round decision. At the ’04 Final Conflict show, he scored a career-making victory over Brazilian Top Team fighter Murilo Bustamante (Pictures). It was a unanimous decision win and opened the door for a bout with Team Quest fighter Dan Henderson (Pictures) at PRIDE 28. Unfortunately, a bizarre slam caused a serious injury to Nakamura and the bout was over in less than 90 seconds.
Nakamura stopped K-1 kickboxer Stefan Leko (Pictures) with strikes in less than a minute at PRIDE 29. He won an impressive unanimous decision over Kevin Randleman (Pictures) at the 2005 Total Elimination show. The bout served as the opening round of the Middleweight Grand Prix and Nakamura advanced to face Wanderlei Silva (Pictures) in the quarterfinals.
The bout with Silva was going well but a poorly timed attempt to discard his gi top left him open for attack and he fell to a barrage of strikes late in the first round.
At the Final Conflict ’05 show Nakamura faced MMA veteran Igor Vovchanchyn (Pictures). The two fought to a decision and the judoka pulled out the win, his most significant since the Bustamante bout one year earlier. Then he faced Yuki Kondo (Pictures) at the 2005 PRIDE: Shockwave show. Nakamura added Kondo’s name to his already impressive list of victories by taking a decision win over the former King of Pancrase.
MY PICK: Barnett. Nakamura stated he had the opportunity to train with Barnett for a short time in Japan. Josh is about 65 pounds heavier and the experience of being thrown around like a play toy has stayed with Nakamura. He’s intimidated to face Barnett and that is a bad mindset to have going into a fight. Fear is natural but he fights for a living. You should never give your opposition “bulletin board material” to pump themselves up. Kazuhiro’s goal is to get a shot in the Open Weight GP and DSE President Nobuyuki Sakakibara has already stated Nakamura would likely be in the show if he gave a good performance, even in a losing effort. That being said, he should try to purge all negative thoughts about the match from his mind. Barnett needs a big win over a competent opponent to stay in the mix. He’ll likely get a victory here but I don’t expect Nakamura to lie down. Barnett by TKO in the second round.
