Pride 34 Kamikaze

Discussion in 'Fight Discussions' started by Apotheosis, Apr 4, 2007.

  1. Apotheosis

    Apotheosis Valued Member

    Pride's last "real" event under it's original ownership, figured it was time to make this topic

    Shinya Aoki vs. Brian Lo-A-Njoe
    Ricardo Arona vs. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou
    Bazigit Atajev vs. Gilbert Yvel
    Wagner da Conceicao Martins vs. Eric Esch
    Edson Drago vs. Yoshihiro Nakao
    Don Frye vs. James Thompson
    Kazuyuki Fujita vs. Jeff Monson
    Zelg Galesic vs. Makoto Takimoto
    Wanderlei Silva vs. Igor Vovchanchyn

    I'm ver interested in seeing whether Sokoudjou was a fluke, Don Frye, "little Mirko" Galesic....but also in Wandy vs Igor.

    It could easily be a third knockout for Wandy, since Igor lost to Nakamura and to Overeem I think that means he would drop quite a bit down the top 10 list and may very well end his career...would be ironic if Wandy's career was essentially ended on the same night that Pride "dies"
     
  2. Yohan

    Yohan In the Spirit of Yohan Supporter

    I'm going to have to watch this one! I dig the crap out of Zelg and really want to see his pride debut!
     
  3. Linguo

    Linguo Valued Member

    a meh card imo. kamikaze is right. i'm not really interested in in seeing silva vs. a faded igor. zelg vs. takimoto does nothing for me. while zelg has alot of hype, takimoto has never excited me. aoki vs. brian who? oh 4-5-3 brian against mostly not-so-stellar opponenets. why is yvel even allowed to fight anymore? fujita vs. monson? for some reason i think it might be a snoozer. drago vs. kiss? meh. zulu vs. butterbean? i mean seriously?

    i really think thierry was a fluke. thierry may be a tough guy, but i doubt he'll be able to handle arona. i could be wrong, but i think arona will win this easily. i'll probably skip this one and look for it being posted oh so briefly on youtube.
     
  4. neryo_tkd

    neryo_tkd Valued Member

    i'm cheering for silva :D
     
  5. Oversoul

    Oversoul Valued Member

    Igor has been gone for a while. I don't know how to gauge this one.
     
  6. Sever

    Sever Valued Member

    Silva/ Igor was one of the hoped-for marquee fights that never came to pass in the 2005 MWGP and it's still one I look forward to.
    Igor's been out of the game for a while and he didn't seem to keep his power too well when he dropped down to 205, whereas Silva's coming off two KO losses, the last one only a couple of months back. That could be affecting him, but with Igor's ring-rust and even loopier punches, I'm picking Silva. This could be the last time we see him stomp someone's face in unless either he jumps ship or the Fertita-owned Pride decides to dump the crappy unified rules down the line
    The only other fight that's really interesting to me is Thompson/ Frye and that's because I love watching Thompson fight, the rest of the card's pretty crappy, moreso considering the strength of their recent shows. Maybe DSE thought they'd leave a bad taste in the public's mouth before they go, who knows?
     
  7. BigRed389

    BigRed389 Valued Member

    I'm speculating(more like hoping) that this crappy card has something to do with saving up their top fighters for a mixed UFC-Pride event real soon. At least that's what I'd like to think.

    In addition to those fights though, I'm actually somewhat interested in seeing Butterbean v Zulu. I'm not a fan of "freakshow" fights, but when you put TWO freaks together...that's a legitimate fight!
     
  8. wazzabi

    wazzabi sushi eater

    are you serious? what's not there to like about freakshow fights? they're entertaining & hilarious to watch :D . the best freak fight would be bob sapp vs butterbean. i hope that can happen someday :D .
     
  9. BigRed389

    BigRed389 Valued Member

    That's not quite what I meant.

    I'm very interested in the Butterbean Zulu freakshow fight. That's a clash of Titans.

    On the other hand, it seems like a waste of a fight to put up a top notch technical fighter up against them.
    Genki Sudo vs Butterbean
    Fedor vs Zulu

    I would much rather have seen both of those guys fighting real talent.
     
  10. Gufbal1981

    Gufbal1981 waiting to train...

    Fedor vs. Zulu was a joke. That fight sucked majorly. On a different note, I am much more excited to see the BoDog Fight on April 14. Anyone else?
     
    Last edited: Apr 6, 2007
  11. wazzabi

    wazzabi sushi eater

    i don't mind it so much. it proves that skill beats size, and sometimes we need to be reminded of that. what better reminder than to make these fights happen?
     
  12. BigRed389

    BigRed389 Valued Member

    Dude...it took like 1:30 out of Fedor's day to beat his ass.

    That's an incredible waste of resources:
    Time for Fedor to train
    Time between fights for Fedor
    Money to pay the PRIDE HW champ

    And there's also the risk of freak injuries like a broken hand putting him out for half a year or so. Not worth it IMO.

    I don't think title contenders or champs should have to fight chumps.
     
  13. Sever

    Sever Valued Member

    And the last DSE Pride card takes another serious hit:

    Silva's out. Speculation says that the NSAC medical suspension after his last fight still stands. This still might be a fun card to watch, but on paper it's crap. It'll be a shame to see DSE and the good Pride rules sent off in such a manner

    http://www.pridefc.com/pride2005/index_new_temp.php#
     
    Last edited: Apr 7, 2007
  14. Apotheosis

    Apotheosis Valued Member

    Honestly, I am glad Silva is not fighting again...he needs a break

    This does seem a weak card, perhaps the UFC doesn't want Pride to use it's superstars for this event?
     
  15. wazzabi

    wazzabi sushi eater

    ya, wandy's been through a tough road. getting KTFO twice in a row is not good for your head. he should let his brain heal first.

    they could have at least put shogun on the card so he can enjoy his legendary jumping stomps one last time. if i were him i would cry for having the ferittas take away my favorite move :cry:
     
  16. Sever

    Sever Valued Member

    [EXPAND="Spoilers"]The story so far:

    Nakao by neck crank

    Butterbean by americana - yes, that's right

    Takimoto by an absolutely beautiful series of submissions ending in an americana. There was an omoplata in there

    Yvel by TKO

    Thompson by one of the most brutal KO's I've ever seen. The ref let this one go on WAY too long

    Sakikabara's farewell speech - no idea what he said (what with not speaking Japanese and all), but he had SAKURABA IN THE RING! Saku's back with Pride! :D I know he's half dead and should retire, but it's Sakuraba! It appears that they're hyping a fight that the Japanese have wanted for ages; Saku vs Tamura. That'd be OK to watch, at least Saku won't get murdered
    Sakuraba was crying under his mask. It was a pretty emotional moment, all in all, even though I've got no idea what was said

    Aoki's trousers were absolutely amazing tonight and if I weren't so cool, I would totally wear a pair myself :D It's the last time we'll see any of Aoki's funky trousers thanks to the stupid unified rules. Aoki by armbar in about a minute

    Arona/ Sokujou fight's just about to start. I might need some coffee for this one

    Sokudjou KO's Arona with a wicked right hand and a soccer kick! I think this guy might actually be the real deal - he stopped Arona's takedown attempt, broke away and smacked him clean on the jaw with that right hand. Wish I'd put some money on this show. A little early on the stoppage on this one, but I don't think Arona would've come back from there

    Monson/ Fujita's up next, they've just shown a Pride/ UFC video talking about a "world series" of matchups. Floated possibilities from Dana White included Shogun vs Liddell, Barnett vs Arlovski, Fedor vs Couture and St Pierre (or probably Serra now) vs Gomi
    Interesting side note - Serra tooled Gomi in ADCC a fair few years ago

    Monson beat Fujita by RNC. Not an awful fight there, actually. Not the best, but not the yawnfest I was expecting either

    All the fighters have shown tremendous respect for Sakikabara and DSE tonight, thanking him in their post fight speeches and so on. It's not been Pride's greatest event, but it's still been a good show to watch; it's had that real "end of an era" feel to it and everyone in attendance seems to be very emotional. Hopefully the Fertita's won't screw it up from here

    Fighters are in the ring for the end of the show, all thanking the fighters for putting on a show with no decisions and Sakikabara. Wanderlei looked like he was tearing up a little as he spoke, even the translator chick sounds a bit choked[/EXPAND]
     
    Last edited: Apr 9, 2007
  17. Oversoul

    Oversoul Valued Member

    [EXPAND="spoiler"]I was scared to do it after the Minotoro fight, but now I'm convinced. I'm jumping on the Sokoudjou bandwagon. He's somehow improved immensely since the fight against Glover Teixeira.[/EXPAND]
     
  18. Apotheosis

    Apotheosis Valued Member

    [EXPAND="Spoiler"]After GSP getting demolished I jumpe don his bandwagon, I figured as the underdog he has about a 100% chance of winning under current freakish conditions...he HAS to be a top 5 fighter at 205 now that he has knocked both Arona and Little Nog out both in the first round...

    In fact I don't think anyone else could have done that...Is this a African version of Chuck Liddell?

    Maybe even an improved version?[/EXPAND]
     
  19. wazzabi

    wazzabi sushi eater

    [EXPAND="Spoiler"]i'd love to see him fight chuck. would be a good fight. who's next for the african assassin? wanderlei? shogun?
    with this whole freaking upset trend, do you think it's possible that Fedor might lose to Lindland on April 14? and CroCop lose the Gonzaga on the 21st? i really hope these 2 events don't follow this trend...[/EXPAND]
     
  20. Oversoul

    Oversoul Valued Member

    [EXPAND="spoilers (kind of)"]Fedor is immune to upsets. Randleman and Hunt were supposed to get upsets, but Fedor's anti-upset aura protected him.

    As for Sokoudjou being compared to Chuck Liddell...

    I'd rank him higher. I mean, we only have MMAth to go off. Maybe Liddell's rematch against Rampage will reveal more. But Liddell has beaten Babalu, Tito Ortiz, Randy Couture, Jeremy Horn, etc., none of whom I'd rank alongside Arona or Little Nog. Nog had only ever lost by decision and he'd taken all the punishment Shogun could inflict and still kept attacking. Arona is a better grappler than anyone Liddell has fought and had only been knocked out by Shogun (right after he'd dominated Wanderlei Silva) and Rampage (which was by headbutt and kind of a fluke). Sokoudjou knocked them both out quickly. I don't think Chuck Liddell could do that. Liddell is good, but I'm convinced that Sokoudjou is better.[/EXPAND]
     

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