TOKYO, Aug. 17 -- Well, well, well ... another great show at the world wide famous Saitama Super Arena: PRIDE Grand Prix "Final Conflict." Brothers Emelianenko, "Minotauro," Mirko, Sergei, Wanderlei, Kevin Randleman -- these are the names which lined up for the special night of fights.
Let's start from the beginning. I've heard the Super Bowl halftime show is the event you gotta see before you're buried. For me, this Pride Grand Prix opening show was a "must see" kind of event. Maybe because I understood all the words or maybe it was the fact that I was in the arena so I could feel all the energy inside the building ... whatever the reason is, man, this opening was nothing but "wow."
I had huge goose bump on my arms. No celebrity sang a song. No Janet Jackson nipple. But this opening conveyed to the people in the arena that we were about to witness some of the toughest fighters ever. I hope it came across on the pay-per-view.
Alright, let’s get down to business. Once gain, I won’t go blow-by-blow, so let me just share some of my thoughts.
First: Kazuhiro Nakamura. You have to wonder how many people thought he was a real fighter before this match against Murilo Bustamante. Now, how many people still think he’s just another Judo guy after defeating the former UFC middleweight champion?
Yes, it was decision, but he dominated the fight and showed some good skills in this match. I think it’s time to give him some credit. Now his record is 4-2-0. Both his loss are against Rogerio Nogueira, but, hey, Bustamante was once considered the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world. Even if Nakamura couldn’t finish Bustamante, shouldn’t we give him some respect this time?
"Today, my master (Hidehiko) Yoshida is in Athens as an Olympic reporter," said Nakamura after the fight. "Then (Kazushi) Sakuraba-san was in my corner and that really encouraged me. Also, I think now it’s time for me to start fighting even without my master. I can’t rely on my master forever."
He also commented about Murilo’s guard: "I had to be very careful when I got in his guard at the beginning. But after a while, his attack from the guard didn’t scare me at all." This half-way independent Japanese fighter now needs to showcase his finishing skill to the world, then he’ll get full credit from the MMA fans.
Another Japanese fighter, who bravely gained entrance into the Grand Prix final round, "Mr. Hustle," Naoya Ogawa, faced PRIDE heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko. Okay, I’ll ask you again: How many people thought Ogawa would win this fight? Nobody? ... Me neither. But I was looking forward to this fight more than anything. (Oops, I just lied. Maybe not "more than anything.")
You know, I didn’t expect Ogawa to win this fight, but I wanted to see how he’d lose it. As a Japanese, I believe there’s always aesthetics in a loss. Even when you lose, it's more important how you lose. If you lose like Yoshida did against Wanderlei Silva, people give you a lot of respect. Because of the way he lost, his fight was beautiful.
So how did Ogawa lose? Didn’t he turn around, and show his back? I bumped into a Czech friend of mine at the PRIDE show, and he told me that in his country, after what Ogawa did, people would say "he’s done." I don’t know if that was really Czech Language or not. Sounded very English to me, but I understood what he meant.
Yet, at the same time, PRIDE is held in Japan. As far as Ogawa is concerned, if he can sell tickets, he can come back. DSE President Sakakibara mentioned that Ogawa "may come back to PRIDE if he can touch so many fans hearts, even if he lost the fight."
Oh here’s another thing: There was a rumor match up between Ogawa and Yoshida at the December show. I don’t have any problem with it. But is it a nightmare for you? Hope Ogawa gets his confident back and steps in the ring as a man, and fights as a man. Or is that too much to ask of a guy who wears "I’m Chicken" T-shirts?
Next? Kevin Randleman! Have you guys checked his post-fight interview yet? He’s always a very good character when I film him after his fights. He speaks with humility and he’s a good talker. You know this guy came this far in MMA by only training with Mark Coleman (and maybe Wes Sims) -- basically no other instructors. Isn’t that amazing? Nowadays, MMA fighters do a lot of cross-training, but Randleman and Coleman basically train only with wrestling background.
During his post-fight interview, he freaked me out when he suddenly talked to me while his interview was going on. (I was scared to speak any English in front of all the other Japanese media. I’m just another stereotyped shy Japanese guy.) Next time, I wish he talks to all the Sherdog faithful through the lens of my video camera.
The fight itself was a wrestler-against-wrestler kinda contest. After getting keylocked by Ron Waterman, he told the media that he needs to learn submission or striking technique. So, please check it out the post-fight interview of H2O-man and Kevin Randelman; you’ll enjoy them.
Okay, let’s support another black man -- you know what I’m sayin’? The one and only Quinton "Rampage" Jackson will finally have his dream come true: a single-match title shot against Wanderlei Silva.
Sakakibara guaranteed this title match would take place in October or December, so that’s good news for Rampage. Do you remember Rampage's first appearance in PRIDE? It's been a long road for him to get this title shot.
Silva looks like he’s in very good shape. I asked him how his knee is and he answered, that it "still hurts a bit, but there's no problem to fight." He also mentioned that he anticipates the fight against Rampage will be extremely tough. Please check out the Wanderlei Silva post-fight interview.
Okay, what’s up now? Oh, yes, nothing other than GP Final. Can’t forget about it. Man? No champ after six months! And the show was over? You know, PRIDE created unfinished business a week before the was set to promote its "Unfinished Business."
But rules are rules. I checked the PRIDE Official rules, and there was a line that said if either fighter was injured by accident in the first round that the match should be ruled a No Contest. And PRIDE followed the rule, even though it took such a long time for head PRIDE referee Yuji Shimada to announce what is going on inside and beside the ring.
Later, President Sakakibara kindly explained: "We followed the rule, and it took time to convince the Brazilian Top Team (Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira) how we follow the official rule."
On August 17, Nogueira made a comment through DSE.
"I understood that DSE followed the rule," he said, "but my mind still can’t accept the reality -- because I trained really hard to payback Fedor, and I even thought I could die in the fight. If Fedor can’t continue to fight then I believe I won the fight. I’m very sorry and very disappointed the fight finished in the way it did."
I personally feel sorry for "Minotauro," but, again, the rules are the rules.
If this rule is not the best for MMA, then they should change the rule. But even if "Minotauro" won this match like Vitor Belfort won in UFC 46, MMA fans will still ask for the rematch.
"I’ll step in the ring if fans want me to," said Nogueira, "and will rematch against Fedor. This will clear up my cloudy mind, too. I’d like to say, I’m training real hard and want to prove I’m the No. 1 mixed martial artist. I guarantee that I’ll be back on the top of the pyramid for my teammates and for all the MMA fans!"
What a classy guy "Minotauro" is. This time he didn’t show up to the post-fight interview. It shows how deep he is mentally hurt, because he always shows up to the post-fight interview with other BTT members.
On the other side, Fedor got one nasty cut on his forehead. Right after he got cut, his action suddenly stopped on the ground and he began tasting Nogueira's striking from the bottom before the referee stopped the fight. That was a bad luck for both of them.
President Sakakibara commented that "DSE, as Promoter of PRIDE, will try to have a rematch of these two warriors in October or December." He also noted that the winner's purse of $182,000 hasn’t been paid to either of them. In addition the second place prize is about $46,000.
Okay folks, that’s all for now. I wanted write some about a Brazilian lightweight contender, or other fighters in a Roppongi night club story. But I’ll save it until the next time.