PRIDE 33: The Second Coming February 24, Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas, Nevada
What a show! PRIDE 33 gave us crazy one-punch knockouts, stunning upsets, and another early contender for 2007’s match of the year. If you haven’t seen this yet, I sincerely recommend that you avoid all spoilers and either order the replay, punch “PRIDE 33” into the YouTube search engine, or download the fights before reading this (or any other) report. There’s stuff that happens here that I would hate to spoil for you, the kind of stuff that’ll make you glad you’re an MMA fan.
Joachim “Hellboy” Hansen vs. Jason Ireland
Hellboy is one of PRIDE’s most popular fighters. Ireland got called up from the US Indy promotion King of the Cage to serve as a stepping stone on Hansen’s journey back from the stunning Gogoplata submission that he suffered at the hands (and legs) of Shinya Aoki at Shockwave on New Year’s Eve. Ireland showed amazing toughness by hanging with the far superior Hansen until early in the third round. After absorbing twelve minutes of punishment, the Detroit native took Hansen down, only to get caught into a triangle attempt. Hellboy quickly maneuvered into position for an armbar, leaving Ireland no choice but to submit. This was a good opening bout. It was all action, even though it was completely one-sided.
Kazuo Misaki vs. Frank “Twinkle Toes” Trigg
Icon Middleweight Champion Frank Trigg is probably best known for being choked out in four minutes by Matt Hughes and then by Georges St. Pierre in consecutive fights. Misaki came into the fight on a bit of a roll, having won the 2006 PRIDE Middleweight Tournament in controversial fashion. Knowing that Misaki has choked out six fighters in his professional career, I had expected him to make short work of the American. Trigg surprised many observers by dominating the fight with takedowns, positioning, and control to earn a unanimous decision victory. Trigg simply looked bigger and stronger than his Japanese opponent, perhaps a result of the greater emphasis that American fighters put on cutting weight and rehydrating. Unlike most 15-minute ‘ground it out’ decisions, this fight never seemed to drag. It was fascinating to watch Twinkle Toes maintain control.
James Lee vs. Travis Wiuff
KOTC veteran James Lee was brought in a last-minute replacement for the superb judoka Kazuhiro Nakamura, who had injured his knee. Late replacement fighters often tend to come in under-prepared, so Wiuff was generally expected to earn an easy victory. Instead, Lee provided us with our first upset of the evening. The commentators joked about Wiuff’s Randy Orton-like high cheekbones, and pointed out that he has been working to improve his stand-up game. As if to prove them wrong, Wiuff left his chin wide open. Lee caught him with a crushing right, beat him down, and sunk in a Guillotine for a 39-second submission win.
Sokoudjou vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou is a judo champion who trains with Dan Henderson as a member of Team Quest. That should have been enough to earn him some respect, but the powers that be at PRIDE’s official website didn’t find him worthy of either a first name or a specific country of origin, billing him as Sokoudjou from Africa. As one of PRIDE’s top middleweight contenders as well as the newly-appointed Brazilian Olympic team boxing representative, Nogueira was probably expected to make short work of the Cameroonian. Sokoudjou made his fourth pro fight a memorable one, however, as he threw four quick right kicks (low, high, low, high) before catching the dodging Brazilian with a powerful left hook that knocked him flat out. This 23-second fight could end up as both the KO of the year and the upset of the year for 2007.
Hayato “Mach” Sakurai vs. Mac Danzig
Former KOTC Lightweight Champion Danzig is not shy about admitting that the former Shooto Middleweight Champion is his MMA idol. Sakurai, who won twenty straight fights between 1996 and 2001, was coming off of two straight first round KO victories in Bushido competition and was expected to add a third in this bout. Danzig did well to survive a very fast-paced first round. In the second, Mach threw some hard low kicks while waiting for the right moment to spring. With one minute left in the round Danzig dropped his left hand just slightly, and immediately fell victim to a stunning right hook.
Sergei Kharitonov vs. Mike Russow
Coming off of tough losses to Aleks Emelianenko and Alistair Overeem, Kharitonov was badly in need of a win. Russow, an All American wrestler with a more than passing resemblance to Bob Backlund, was brought in to give him one. After a great stare down, it only took about a minute for the slightly pudgy Russow to start sucking wind. To his credit, he kept coming forward, knocking Kharitonov down after the Russian missed a kick. Showing composure under pressure, Kharitonov absorbed a couple of punches before trapping the American in an armbar from the bottom position.
Mauricio “Shogun” Rua vs. Alistair Overeem
There seems to be some disagreement about how to pronounce the 2006 Middleweight Tournament Champion’s name. The pre-fight video voice-over guy and the commentators use “Hoo-ah.” PRIDE’s Japanese ring announcer uses “HWA!” Lenne Hardt, the wonderful female announcer with the powerful screeching voice, topped them all by announcing the winner of the fight as “Roo-ah!” However you say it (I prefer “Shogun”) Rua has Overeem’s number. The diving punch that Shogun threw at the chin of his supine opponent was a thing of devastating beauty. Given how the rest of the evening went, I’d say it’s only a matter of time before Rua is wearing the PRIDE FC middleweight belt.
Takanori Gomi vs. Nick Diaz
Conventional wisdom had it that Diaz’ only chance was to take Gomi to the ground. They probably said the same thing before his destruction of Robbie Lawler. The 6’1″ American instead used his superior reach to keep the 5’8″ Japanese striker at bay. Diaz threw quick straight jabs, while Gomi threw wild looping punches. Both men got tagged in the first, but Gomi seemed to get the worst of it. After three and a half minutes of crazy back and forth action, Gomi spent the remainder of the first round staggering around like he was drunk, with his arms hanging uselessly by his side. Early in the second, Gomi used his knees to open up a cut under Diaz’ right eye. Despite the cut, The Gracie Jiu Jitsu master was winning the stand-up war and Gomi was forced to go for a takedown. This proved to be a fatal mistake, as Diaz quickly trapped the PRIDE champion in a slick Gogoplata for a surprising submission victory. This match is in contention with Edgar vs. Griffin for the 2007 FOTY award. It also throws some gasoline on the always-smoldering argument about whether PRIDE or the UFC has the better fighters.
Wanderlei Silva vs. Dan Henderson
Under ordinary circumstances, this would have easily taken honours for Best KO, and Biggest Upset, and probably Fight of the Night. After surviving a slow first round, Hendo came out confidently in the second, took Silva down, and imposed his will on the Middleweight Champion. Perhaps the Cro Cop KO had taken something out of The Axe Murderer’s soul. It’s worth mentioning that, in a country where they test for steroids, Silva looked less muscular, less lean, and less aggressive than he usually does. Maybe the Misaki loss was just a fluke, and Henderson really is “America’s Best.” Whatever the case may be, what happened was that at the two minute mark of the third round Henderson caught Silva with a picture perfect spinning back fist, and a few seconds later knocked him cold with a hard left hook.
Henderson now holds two titles. Shogun Rua no longer has to face his Chute Box teammate if he wants to wear the Middleweight belt.
Now Diaz has beaten Gomi, who has beaten Sakurai, who has beaten Trigg, who has beaten Misaki, who has beaten Henderson, who has beaten Silva…
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The Inside Pulse
This was as good as MMA gets. It’s a must-see show, full of excitement and drama.
