Kungfoolss
07-16-2003, 12:26 AM
Mike Coughlin runs down Pride Grand Prix
7/15/2003
On August 10th, 2003 the Pride Fighting Championships will be putting on what is potentially the biggest tournament in mixed martial arts history. In the grand tradition of armchair fighter, it’s time to take an early look at this monumental tournament. If this seems a little early, it is, but for good reason. On August 17th, my brother and I are going to be competing in the “Midwest Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Championships” so all of my upcoming free time will be spend training for that. (It turns out my toughest opponent was the evil “DONUT” who has tapped me out many a time in the past few weeks, and thus forcing me to drop 10 pounds in the next month. Ouch!) Anyways, I promise that I’ll eventually get back to the Pride DVD reviews, those just take much more time because I do go back and sit there and watch the entire show. On to the fighter dissection!
Kiyoshi Timura vs Hidehiko Yoshida
It’s a very difficult match to predict because Yoshida is still for all intents and purposes an unknown. He’s had one win of any note and that was a remarkably amazing destruction of Don Frye. (his match with Royce Gracie was a weird pseudo-grappling match, and MMA and grappling are so different) While Frye took Yoshida lightly, the ease with which Yoshida took Don apart is scary and would put Hidehiko on a different level than anyone I’ve ever seen. He took Frye down and schooled him like few men have ever been schooled. As far as MMA experience is concerned, Tamura has the edge by a large margin. He’s been in there with some truly awesome competition, and despite a few high profile losses, most notably to Wanderlei Silva and Bob Sapp (yes, I think that last one was an act of criminality as well) he does have some wins over some very game competition such as the legendary Renzo Gracie. However, Yoshida is an OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST IN JUDO! Often times, people will marvel at the level of skill a Mark Coleman or Mark Kerr possess, because they were good enough to hang with guys who just made the Olympic team. Yoshida not only was on the team, he faced the toughest competition on earth and defeated them. The standup edge has to go to Tamura, just because he’s had more experience and Yoshida is again, such a wildcard. I hate to bet against Tamura, because he’s one of my fav. wrestlers; however, I’m going to go with Yoshida because I think he might be the real deal. If what he did to Don Frye is any indication, Tamura, who is far smaller than Don, is in big trouble. Winner: Hidehiko Yoshida, probably by gi choke in the first 8 mins.
Chuck Liddell vs. Allistair Overeem.
God bless Pride for making matchups like this, because it’s so tough to tell who’s going to win. Neither guy is much of a ground fighter, though Overeem probably has the submission edge, but this fight isn’t going to the ground. Chuck was on a legendary streak until he ran into a brick wall named Randy Couture who decided he wasn’t read to pass the torch. In that fight, Chuck looked horrible. He barely did a thing for three rounds and it looked like Randy was on a different level than Chuck could dream of. However, fighters have bad nights, and I think that fight was what Chuck needed. He’s going to be hungry and dangerous. His chin is one of the best and his hands and feet are as heavy as they come. However, Overeem is not to be overlooked. Much like Yoshida, most people haven’t seen enough of him to really know what he has to offer, but rest assured, he deserves to be in this tournament. He has had K1 level experience in his native Holland and tremendously dangerous with his knee’s. I still think that Chuck just has to much experience and is to motivated to lose here. Winner: Chuck Liddell via KO. (anything close and Pride is gonna give it to Allistair, because they can’t afford to have a UFC star win the whole thing)
Quinton “Rampage” Jackson vs. Ricardo Arona
Good gosh who knows! There is no fighter on earth who can’t be beaten, but Rampage has looked pretty close to such a thing lately. The standup goes to Rampage no doubt, as Arona’s hands have never been very good and he has a very bad habit of leaving his chin exposed. However, Arona does train with the legendary Brazilian Top Team, so it’s completely possible that he’ll have newfound skills. The ground game is no doubt Arona’s. His victories in ADCC are nothing short of amazing and his control is out of this world. A black belt in jiu jitsu, he’s one of the top grapplers on earth. Yet, as I found out all to well myself, sub grappling and MMA really don’t have much in common. Arona is a guy that no one wanted to face, because he has a habit of making fights very boring and making other fighters look very bad, but he always wins. His takedowns are a thing of beauty, but Kevin Randleman is a takedown master, and Rampage showed one of the most incredible underhook sprawls I’ve ever seen at Pride 25. Both men are top 5 Light Heavy Weights, and both are a serious threat to champ Wanderlei Silva’s title. This match is another toss up, but I’m going with my gut and picking against my fellow BJJer. Winner: Quinton “Rampage” Jackson via TKO(ref stoppage from strikes).
Wanderlei Silva vs Kazushi Sakuraba
Reports have it that Saku BEGGED for this match. In their first matchup, Silva completely obliterated Saku in a scary manner. However, their second match was much different and Saku was winning a relatively close fight when he hooked a DEEEEEEEP guillotine choke in on Silva. No doubt the fight would have been over, however Silva picked Saku up and slammed him with what is best described as a legit Northern Lights Bomb. The move ruined Saku’s shoulder and knocked him out of action for several months. Since then, Silva has faced a very weird variety of challengers, none of whom is really world class. He faced a very green Mirko CroCop and got a draw. He’s beaten everyone he’s faced, but no one he’s faced has really been world class either. Saku came back to take on Mirko CroCop and was easily beating him when a fluke punch from the guard broke Saku’s eye bone. He then came back way to early from an injury and fought a pathetic Gilles Arsene with basically one leg. He got the victory with a third round arm bar, but looked horrible in the process. Finally, Saku took on “Nino” Shembrei at Pride 25 and looked like the “old Sakuraba” in the process. For 10 mins he dominated Nino and to use a cliché, ‘made him look like his bitch.’ Then out of nowhere, a fluke headbutt and knee’s KO’ed Saku. Another horrible loss for the one time unbeatable fighter. The fighter with one of the most impressive winning steaks of all time is now on a horrible bad luck streak. Many people are predicting the end for Kazushi Sakuraba with this fight. These people say that Silva has his number and that Saku is just to banged up to compete with these much larger opponents. I don’t care. Sakuraba is the most amazing fighter I’ve ever seen. He’s the single reason I ever decided to try my hand at fighting the first place. Smart money picks Silva, but I’m picking Sakuraba. Silva is coming off major knee surgery, and that is not something easily recovered from. I think that the man once called the “IQ fighter” is going to pick yet another trick out of his magic bag and make Silva tap. Sakuraba himself has said as much himself, telling the press that he wants to repay Silva for his prior losses two fold and make Silva scream, “I quit.” Winner: Sakuraba via armbar, securing his place in history as the greatest fighter to ever walk the earth.
The rest of the tournament is anyone’s guess, because Pride has stated that after the first round, they’re going to reshuffle everything and create new matchups. Apparently the concept of the tournament is foreign to people other than Vince McMahon.
-Michael Coughlin
michaelcoughlin8@yahoo.com
http://www.liveaudiowrestling.com/wo/news/headlines/default.asp?aID=7918
7/15/2003
On August 10th, 2003 the Pride Fighting Championships will be putting on what is potentially the biggest tournament in mixed martial arts history. In the grand tradition of armchair fighter, it’s time to take an early look at this monumental tournament. If this seems a little early, it is, but for good reason. On August 17th, my brother and I are going to be competing in the “Midwest Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Championships” so all of my upcoming free time will be spend training for that. (It turns out my toughest opponent was the evil “DONUT” who has tapped me out many a time in the past few weeks, and thus forcing me to drop 10 pounds in the next month. Ouch!) Anyways, I promise that I’ll eventually get back to the Pride DVD reviews, those just take much more time because I do go back and sit there and watch the entire show. On to the fighter dissection!
Kiyoshi Timura vs Hidehiko Yoshida
It’s a very difficult match to predict because Yoshida is still for all intents and purposes an unknown. He’s had one win of any note and that was a remarkably amazing destruction of Don Frye. (his match with Royce Gracie was a weird pseudo-grappling match, and MMA and grappling are so different) While Frye took Yoshida lightly, the ease with which Yoshida took Don apart is scary and would put Hidehiko on a different level than anyone I’ve ever seen. He took Frye down and schooled him like few men have ever been schooled. As far as MMA experience is concerned, Tamura has the edge by a large margin. He’s been in there with some truly awesome competition, and despite a few high profile losses, most notably to Wanderlei Silva and Bob Sapp (yes, I think that last one was an act of criminality as well) he does have some wins over some very game competition such as the legendary Renzo Gracie. However, Yoshida is an OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST IN JUDO! Often times, people will marvel at the level of skill a Mark Coleman or Mark Kerr possess, because they were good enough to hang with guys who just made the Olympic team. Yoshida not only was on the team, he faced the toughest competition on earth and defeated them. The standup edge has to go to Tamura, just because he’s had more experience and Yoshida is again, such a wildcard. I hate to bet against Tamura, because he’s one of my fav. wrestlers; however, I’m going to go with Yoshida because I think he might be the real deal. If what he did to Don Frye is any indication, Tamura, who is far smaller than Don, is in big trouble. Winner: Hidehiko Yoshida, probably by gi choke in the first 8 mins.
Chuck Liddell vs. Allistair Overeem.
God bless Pride for making matchups like this, because it’s so tough to tell who’s going to win. Neither guy is much of a ground fighter, though Overeem probably has the submission edge, but this fight isn’t going to the ground. Chuck was on a legendary streak until he ran into a brick wall named Randy Couture who decided he wasn’t read to pass the torch. In that fight, Chuck looked horrible. He barely did a thing for three rounds and it looked like Randy was on a different level than Chuck could dream of. However, fighters have bad nights, and I think that fight was what Chuck needed. He’s going to be hungry and dangerous. His chin is one of the best and his hands and feet are as heavy as they come. However, Overeem is not to be overlooked. Much like Yoshida, most people haven’t seen enough of him to really know what he has to offer, but rest assured, he deserves to be in this tournament. He has had K1 level experience in his native Holland and tremendously dangerous with his knee’s. I still think that Chuck just has to much experience and is to motivated to lose here. Winner: Chuck Liddell via KO. (anything close and Pride is gonna give it to Allistair, because they can’t afford to have a UFC star win the whole thing)
Quinton “Rampage” Jackson vs. Ricardo Arona
Good gosh who knows! There is no fighter on earth who can’t be beaten, but Rampage has looked pretty close to such a thing lately. The standup goes to Rampage no doubt, as Arona’s hands have never been very good and he has a very bad habit of leaving his chin exposed. However, Arona does train with the legendary Brazilian Top Team, so it’s completely possible that he’ll have newfound skills. The ground game is no doubt Arona’s. His victories in ADCC are nothing short of amazing and his control is out of this world. A black belt in jiu jitsu, he’s one of the top grapplers on earth. Yet, as I found out all to well myself, sub grappling and MMA really don’t have much in common. Arona is a guy that no one wanted to face, because he has a habit of making fights very boring and making other fighters look very bad, but he always wins. His takedowns are a thing of beauty, but Kevin Randleman is a takedown master, and Rampage showed one of the most incredible underhook sprawls I’ve ever seen at Pride 25. Both men are top 5 Light Heavy Weights, and both are a serious threat to champ Wanderlei Silva’s title. This match is another toss up, but I’m going with my gut and picking against my fellow BJJer. Winner: Quinton “Rampage” Jackson via TKO(ref stoppage from strikes).
Wanderlei Silva vs Kazushi Sakuraba
Reports have it that Saku BEGGED for this match. In their first matchup, Silva completely obliterated Saku in a scary manner. However, their second match was much different and Saku was winning a relatively close fight when he hooked a DEEEEEEEP guillotine choke in on Silva. No doubt the fight would have been over, however Silva picked Saku up and slammed him with what is best described as a legit Northern Lights Bomb. The move ruined Saku’s shoulder and knocked him out of action for several months. Since then, Silva has faced a very weird variety of challengers, none of whom is really world class. He faced a very green Mirko CroCop and got a draw. He’s beaten everyone he’s faced, but no one he’s faced has really been world class either. Saku came back to take on Mirko CroCop and was easily beating him when a fluke punch from the guard broke Saku’s eye bone. He then came back way to early from an injury and fought a pathetic Gilles Arsene with basically one leg. He got the victory with a third round arm bar, but looked horrible in the process. Finally, Saku took on “Nino” Shembrei at Pride 25 and looked like the “old Sakuraba” in the process. For 10 mins he dominated Nino and to use a cliché, ‘made him look like his bitch.’ Then out of nowhere, a fluke headbutt and knee’s KO’ed Saku. Another horrible loss for the one time unbeatable fighter. The fighter with one of the most impressive winning steaks of all time is now on a horrible bad luck streak. Many people are predicting the end for Kazushi Sakuraba with this fight. These people say that Silva has his number and that Saku is just to banged up to compete with these much larger opponents. I don’t care. Sakuraba is the most amazing fighter I’ve ever seen. He’s the single reason I ever decided to try my hand at fighting the first place. Smart money picks Silva, but I’m picking Sakuraba. Silva is coming off major knee surgery, and that is not something easily recovered from. I think that the man once called the “IQ fighter” is going to pick yet another trick out of his magic bag and make Silva tap. Sakuraba himself has said as much himself, telling the press that he wants to repay Silva for his prior losses two fold and make Silva scream, “I quit.” Winner: Sakuraba via armbar, securing his place in history as the greatest fighter to ever walk the earth.
The rest of the tournament is anyone’s guess, because Pride has stated that after the first round, they’re going to reshuffle everything and create new matchups. Apparently the concept of the tournament is foreign to people other than Vince McMahon.
-Michael Coughlin
michaelcoughlin8@yahoo.com
http://www.liveaudiowrestling.com/wo/news/headlines/default.asp?aID=7918
