Pride FC finally arrives in America, October 21st with their 1st MMA show on our soil! A long time coming, many hardcore fans have waited their whole lives for this event. (No elbows, head kicks, or knees to the head will be allowed at this event per Nevada Athletic Commission rules)
*The stands may have been half empty, but the action was a good as any Pride FC event, and the card was excellent. Wanderlei Silva even got on the mic at one point, telling the UFC's Chuck Liddell, that he would return to Vegas in February to fight him!
Fedor "The Last Emperor" Emelianenko 23-1 vs Mark "The Hammer" Coleman15-7: What2Look4-Fedor is the best fighter in all the world, while Coleman is a multi-champion, possibly, past his prime. Both do most of their damage with ground & pound, though Fedor will have the advantage on the feet. Both men like to press the action and both display great power.
Result-Fedor wins by armbar in the 2nd after putting Mark Coleman's face through the meat grinder. Mark then brought up his children to meet the champion. Awkward considering the kids were crying at the wrecked appearance of their father. Anywho, the best fighter is back after a year long layoff, and looked as good and dominant as ever.
"Shogun" Rua 13-2 vs Kevin "The Monster" Randleman 16-11: What2Look4-Rua will be limited since his favorite weapon is the soccer kicks to the head which will not be allowed. Still, Rua will have youth on his side, and superior striking while standing. Randleman is no slouch with the hands (ask Cro Cop), and his bread and butter will be the ground and pound. Randleman will probably have trouble taking Shogun to the ground and must rely on his explosiveness to surprise Rua.
Result-Rua gets the sub win with a wicked knee bar. Randleman scored an immediate takedown, but Rua got his leg and put on a very painful ankle lock. Randleman grimiced in pain but fought through it, only to have Rua switch position for the knee bar win.
Josh Barnett 19-4 vs Pawel Nastula 1-2: Welcome home Barnett. What2Look4-Barnett has the all around game while Nastula is a Judo expert. Barnett will try to stand more than normal, and wear down Nastula for the eventual submission. Nastula will try to survive.
Result-Barnett battled through a tough fight he was losing badly. Pawel rocked him on the feet and did good on the ground and pound only to get caught by a brilliant ankle lock that ended the match.
Dan Henderson 20-5 vs Vitor Belfort14-7: What2Look4-Trade and grade! They guys have deadly hands and love to throw. Look for both men to open up with some strikes. Whoever gets rocked 1st, will go for the takedown. These guys are even on the ground and even on the feet.
Result-Henderson A decent fight with both guys putting out good effort. The problem was that, as usual, both men gassed and the pace slowed. Still, an entertaining bout with Dan outworking Vitor and scoring enough each round to win the decision.
Nakamura 10-5 vs Travis Galbraith 10-3: W2L4-Both of these guys will do most of their fighting on the ground. Nak is a judo specialist, while Travis lives by submissions. Travis is really talented, but has not fought near, no where near, the level of competition Nakamura has.
Result-Nakamura had the crowd behind him (surprisingly) and wanted to stand with the larger Galbraith. Both men landed good shots but it was Nak who seemed to hurt the other fighter. In round 2 of this really exciting fight, Nak landed a knee right in the face of Travis dropping him to the mat. He then followed up with hammer fists securing a nice TKO win.
Joey Villasenor 22-4 vs "Ruthless" Robbie Lawler 11-4: W2L4-One of the most interesting fights on the card. Both Americans need the win badly, and both love to throw down. Joey just has a much more superior game, and if he is smart, will just take Robbie down and submit him. If they stand long, Robbie's anvil like hands will KO anyone!
Result-Lawler Robbie came out fast and caught Joey with a good punch, and then a vicious knee that knocked Joey down. His eyes glazed already, Robbie landed some hard punches forcing the quick end to the bout. Very impressive for Lawler in his Pride FC debut!
Phil "NYBA" Baroni 9-7 vs Nishijima 0-3: W2L4-Nish is a Japanese Pro Boxer. Phil has heavy, heavy hands and probably for the 1st time in his career, he has the advantage if the fight goes to the floor where Nish knows next to nothing. Smart money says if Phil gets in any sort of trouble while they slug it out, he'll take it to the ground for a G&P win.
Result-Baroni by submission? Yes, that shows just how bad Nish is on the ground. They didn't throw punches at all. Phil just came out and took Nish down and slowly worked for the kimura victory. It was almost embarrassing to watch Phil win with a move he didn't even know the name of.
Sean O'Haire vs Butterbean: W2L4-Gee, I think Butterbean will want to slug it out, and Sean is a kickboxer (and former pro wrestler) who likes to do the same. Butterbean is near impossible to KO, and Sean has been KO'd twice in his short career. This is the freak show match the Japanese love to put together.
Result-Butterbean by KO Was there any doubt? Sean was rocked from the 1st punch and decided to make the obvious error and continue to stand. The Bean wins easily.
Pretty good show, though hardly anyone showed up, and we hope the PPV sales are good. This was still a much, much better event that anything the UFC has put on this year. Hopefully, the UFC fans will stay with Pride in the future.-MMA Mafia
This puts us at 18-7 on our picks in the last 3 events
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