I don’t normally due full previews of Pride Fighting Championships events, but seeing as how their next event is this Friday Saturday in Las Vegas, I thought I’d give a little preview. Plus, there are some really excellent fights on this card and several well-known fighters to the American crowd.
Wanderlei Silva vs Dan Henderson - This fight is a title fight for the Pride Light Heavyweight championship belt which Wanderlei Silva currently holds. Dan Henderson, who is also the Pride Middleweight title holder, fough Wanderlei Silva once before and lost a close decision in December of 2000. Wanderlei Silva is coming of a loss to Mirko Cro Cop in the Pride Open Weight Grand Prix while Dan Henderson is coming off a decision victory over Vitor Belfort at Pride 32. Both these fighters are extemely confident in their stand up skills and both fighters can be a little wild at times on the feet while throwing bombs. Henderson relies on his strong right hand, while Wanderlei’s sweeping punches some from both sides.
Here is a small sample from their last fight:
A few key factors to watch for in this fight will be Dan Henderson’s wrestling and the rule changes for Pride in Las Vegas. Henderson clearly has the edge on the ground, and it will be interesting to see if he tries to utilize his ground game during this fight. Silva will not be able to use knees on the ground and stomps during this fight due to the NSAC rules, and it will be interesting to see if that plays a factor in his performance. In the end, I think Wanderlei takes this fight. Henderson hasn’t looked that impressive to me lately in his two fights with Misaki and against Belfort. Winner: Wanderlei Silva
Takanori Gomi vs Nick Diaz - This matchup could easily end up being the fight of the night. Nick Diaz has a somewhat “notorious” reputation here in North America; you either love him or hate him (personally I’m on the loving side of the fence). Diaz has a weird on-again, off-again relationship with the UFC and has finally landed in Pride where he has wanted to fight for a while. Takanori Gomi his the Pride lightweight champion, and even though this will not be a title fight, I’m sure Nick Diaz will be preparing as if it were. I don’t really see this fight hitting the ground at all, but in my opinion Diaz should try to take the fight on the ground and work his excellent submission game against Gomi. Gomi has proven his weakness is on the ground, and we saw Marcus Aurelio choke out Gomi last April to everyones suprise. But, if you like standup battles, I think you are in for a treat in this one, so don’t blink or you might miss something. Winner: Nick Diaz
Mauricio Rua vs Alistair Overeem - Winner: Mauricio Rua
Hayato Sakurai vs Mac Danzig - Winner: Hayato Sakurai
Kazuo Misaki vs Frank Trigg - Winner: Frank Trigg
Antonio Nogueira vs Rameau Sokoudjou - Winner: Antonio Nogueira
Joachim Hansen vs Jason Ireland - Winner: Joachim Hansen
Sergei Kharitonov vs Mike Russow - Winner: Sergei Kharitonov
ooooo oooo ooo
Diaz? I like Nick, but really……..
I hope Dan beats the stomp out of wandaleer.
I was a little disappointed in Dan’s last fight with Vetor also. I was watching some Pride last night on FSN and they showed Dan’s fight against the heavy weight Nogueira and he showed some amazing heart and submission defense. I hope he can pull off the upset because it seems like Pride put him in as the american so Silva could beat him in the USA. Despite giving up a lot of weight I think Henderson will give a good account of himself. Likewise I hope Diaz wins because so much hype has gone into Gomi and Silva’s american debuts. Diaz definitaly has a better chance than Dan because they are closer in weight but Nick should be bigger and the better on the ground. He is pretty confident in his stand up so I think he will stand and trade for a while to see what happens. If he starts getting caught on the feet I hope he is wise enough to take Gomi down and try for a submission. I’m looking forward to the Rua vs Overeem fight also. Both of these guys are good fighters from their feet but Rua obviously has a big advantage on the ground. Their first fight Overeem was doing pretty well until Shogun got him to the ground. Trigg fighting in Pride again should be fun to watch. They have Misaki ranked as #4 so it should be a defining test for Frank. He’s pretty funny when he’s doing the FSN broadcasts sometimes refering to his inability to defend the rear naked choke. Obviously reffering to the GSP and Hughes fights in the UFC. Looks like a good fight card and I like how Pride tends to show all the fights on the card not only 5-6 like the UFC. There have been rumors again that Silva vs Liddell might happen after this fight so we’ll see if that materializes. I’ll believe it when they are in the same ring untill then it’s still just rumors.
@MAD
I left out Shogun. This dude is the shiit!
I’d rather see him fight Chuck than Wandaleeer…
I really think Dan will be Silvy because the Wand can’t bite, pinch, poke eyes, kick behind the head, stomp on faces on the ground, attack the groin, etc. etc. etc.
@MAD
I left out Shogun. This dude is the shiit!
I’d rather see him fight Chuck than Wandaleeer…
I really think Dan will beat Silvy because the Wand can’t bite, pinch, poke eyes, kick behind the head, stomp on faces on the ground, attack the groin, etc. etc. etc.
yoyoyoyoo ANY OF YOU GUYS KNOW WHEN THIS EVENT IS?
@PATRICK
see above….”I don’t normally due full previews of Pride Fighting Championships events, but seeing as how their next event is this Friday in Las Vegas, I thought I’d give a little preview. “
The fights are this Saturday the 24th not Friday.
See what I get for taking somebodies word. Next time I’ll be sure to look it up before I jump. Thanks MAD!
YO I LOVE NICK DIAZ HOW HE KICKED
ROBBIE LAWLERS *** I HOPE HE BECOMES THE NEW PRIDE CHAMP
@Dr. J
I agree with all of the picks except for diaz beating gomi. I actually think that gomi will handle diaz quite easily in the fight. I am not that big of a fan of diaz because I really dont think that he is that good of a fighter. He has a very good guard on the ground but other than that I think he is in average fighter. But I really like gomi in this fight because even if diaz was a better fighter he will have trouble adjusting to the new company.
hillybilly i know why u dont like wandy cuz he would kill the sh*it out of liddel and rua who ur wet off now will kill liddel to im sorry buddy but pride has at least four guys would beat liddel and if liddel moves up and fights cro crop i think i would respect him more cuz then he really is trying to fight the best in the world
damn im trying to put up more comments then hillybilly but damn homie do u work
i heard some crazy sh*it right now first did any one know that joe rogan is a f ing comedian i didnt know that and second he gots some beef with carlos mencia about mencia stealing jokes u have to see the video go to dailymotion and type in carlos mencia and its the first video i know this aint mma but its hilarious
yesss dr.j thank you for posting about the upcomming pride event. i love pridefc and i want to see it do well. people are talking about it and that might make them want to watch it and thats good for all the fans. so for all you true mma fans buy the pay per view if you can afford it dont wait till sunday afternoon and download it or even better if you can buy tickets and go see the show. remember if we spend some money on these events the company’s will have more money to put on better shows with better fighters. imagine a card with 5 or 6 headline caliber fights instead of 1 or 2.
[...] MMA HQ: PRIDE 33 show preview [...]
this is going to be an awesome card. i think diaz vs. gomi is gonna be good. rua vs. overeem should be awesome. nogueira vs. sokoudjou? i’m not sure but i think this sokoudjou dude is in trouble. misaki vs. trigg and sakurai vs. danzig should be fun to watch. and silva vs. henderson should be 2 or 3 rounds of face punching fun.
my picks for winners:
silva
gomi
sakurai
trigg? maybe?!?
rua
nogueira
@RJ
Good picks…..but I want to add that I’m pulling for Diaz & Trigg, but for some reason I don’t think they’ll pull it off.
Hey ***,
you’re getting better……. that Rogan/Mencia agruement is priceless!
thanks hillbilly i didnt even know he was a comic ,i thought people would get a kick out of it
I never really liked Joe, until now.
DENNIS WHOS UR FAVORITE FIGHTER AND Y?
@Partrick
That’s easy, check my web link…. The ICEMAN cometh.
But I don’t only like him because he’s the champ, I like the way he handles himself, the way he trains, and the way he shrugs off the hypesters.
Chuck don’t come into the octagon screaming obscenities, or wearing T-shirts that say Rampage Sux!
He trains hard to hit hard………period. He’s a stand up guy that will go toe to toe with any old smoe.
He don’t just talk, but walks the walk.
Bottom line, he’s earned my respect……that’s why.
By the way, that’s also why I like Cro Cop….
GOOD CHOICE DENNIS .I HOPE CHUCK IS CHAMP FOR A WHILE… RAMPAGE WONT BEET HIM….
YO DR J… OR DENIS….. HOW MUCH DO U THINK DANA MAKES IN A YEAR….WIKIPEDIA SAYS THAT DANA OWNS 10 PERCENT OF ZUFFA…??????? HOW MUCH U THINK HE MAKES EVERY EVENT OR YEAR?
I think you guys are giving Diaz too much credit. Hes always been a good fighter, and hes got alot of potential, but i wouldnt classify him as a GREAT fighter. Over the years his HEAD has become grossly oversized, i think hes WAY too cocky these days.
For some of you guys who dont know, After Riggs beat Diaz, while they were both in the hospital he punched Riggs in the face and started a scrap in the hospital. Just ONE example of the guys poor sportsmanship.
Dr J is right, Diaz could beat Gomi on the ground, but hes WAY too cocky to try and take him down, he WILL try to stand with Gomi, and he WILL get knocked out. The only unknown factor in this fight is that Diaz is dropping down in weight, hes never fought at this weight before, it could be good or it could be bad. Lucky for Diaz its basically UFC style rules so that atleast wont be a big factor.
Overeem is a good fighter, training under Bas Rutten, but everyone knows what Shogun is made of.. Shogun gets the edge in this fight, but it should be a crazy fight!
Ive always been a fan of Sakurai, hes a very well rounded fighter and i hope he pulls this one out! Personally id like to see him fight Gomi again heh
Trigg and Nogueira should both win their fights unless something unexpected happens.
Henderson vs Silva?? dam! this is gonna be a tough fight for both guys, Like most of you im a HUGE Silva fan, but Henderson is nobody to sleep on, hes Infinatley better than Silva on the ground and hes a good striker. This could easily go either way, but ill be cheering for my boy Silva..
This is one of the best Pride cards in a while!! for those of you who arent really Big Pride fans, GET THIS EVENT MAN! real talk!
Hey BV,
I think that most of us agree that Diaz is NOT world champion material. In fact, only Dr. J. has made the mistake of not picking GOMI.
Gotta disagree about Silly though, as I said before,
“@MAD
I left out Shogun. This dude is the shiit!
I’d rather see him fight Chuck than Wandaleeer…
I really think Dan will beat Silvy because the Wand can’t bite, pinch, poke eyes, kick behind the head, stomp on faces on the ground, attack the groin, etc. etc. etc.
Left by Dennis 23 hours, 35 minutes ago
Oh, and I forgot, did you see the wand’s face after Hollywood was done with him?
YO WANDERLEI IS ONE UGLY DUDE
@ Dr. J.
got a suggestion regarding avatars….I noticed that anytime I click on the little gray head, the link is http://www.gravatar.com, but in actuality, everytime I get redirected to site.gravatar.com, so………..
just maybe in your code, you should make that change too!
Hopefully, then our gravatars will work.
What do you guys think of Liddell vs. Henderson?
@DENNIS,
thanks for the suggestion but the actual API call to grab the avatars is linked to http://www.gravatar.com still.
the API calls are working fine, and your gravatar seems to be the only one that isn’t working.
@ALL
Don’t count Diaz out at all. i know how good Gomi is, but I’ve also seen him fight enough times to know his weaknesses.
@Dr J
My avatar isnt working either bro.
@DENNIS and BV
you can see that your gravatar isn’t working by going to this link:
http://www.gravatar.com/avatar.php?gravatar_id=b4f4e429560b426605ed234ba6a27577
that is the link for the email address you use. So either you don’t have a gravatar setup correctly on their website, or its a problem on their end. nothing that I can do.
@BV
same thing with you dude. here is your link
http://www.gravatar.com/avatar.php?gravatar_id=ec6bfd1208375ed9b5e47d1f8fb5a83c
nothing comes back but the generic icon
@Dr. J.
again… The only gravatars I can see is yours, Gatties, and sometimes RJ’s.
@Dr. J.
actually, I have two different ones set up on the same email. Here is the properties for the first one:
http://site.gravatar.com/images/files/thumbs/109020.gif
@Amir,
If I was setting up the matches instead of Joe Silva….
I like ICEMAN vs. Shogun better
Henderson vs. Tito
Randy vs. Rampage
Wandaleer vs. Babalu
@DENNIS and @BV
email me the email address you use and I’ll look at it.
drj [at] mmahq [dot] com
amir henderson is a beast and has a brick for a right hand i think he would give the iceman a run for his money ,and dr j isn t the only one that picks diaz over gomi i think diaz can pull it it and i doubt if gomi kos him the kids got to much heart and overeem is a animal himself even though chuck beat him he was giving chuck a good fight and patrick i cant believe that u asked hillbilly who is his favorite tell him to show u his pic of his tattoo that says “the iceman always gets me hot “its right above “chucks bi*tch “on his azz
This will be the first Pride event I have watched since living in Brazil in 2001. They show all the Pride fights for free in Brazil, pretty good stuff. I actually think this card is going to show the UFC up, the fights in my opinion just from looking into the card are going to be much more active and explosive because this organization is wanting to prove themselves to the U.S. market, and show what MMA is. I think Silva is an awesome fighter, this will be good. I am watching this Saturday at 8pm Central time on ppv, it will be worth the bucks!
i agree with u kansas i dont normally by pride but im for sure getting this my personnal favorites for this card are shogun and khatonov
i mean buy
Ok, here we go again……….***
You really need to slow down. I can hardly understand what you’re saying with Quinton’s nutz in your mouth.
I said it before, and I’ll say it again………
Don’t be a ***……………………***.
come on hillbilly u have to admit that was pertty funny and i dont care if u say i like rampage hes my favorite fighter i just hate it when u say i like ortiz i dont
@Dr.J.
Would you be willing to try this/.
An optional “default” parameter may follow that specifies the full, URL encoded URL, protocol included, of a GIF, JPEG, or PNG image that should be returned if either the requested email address has no associated gravatar, or that gravatar has a rating higher than is allowed by the “rating” parameter.
&default=http%3A%2F%2Fsite.gravatar.com%2Fimages%2Ffiles%2Fthumbs%3F109020.gif
alright i didnt want to ask but wtf is this gravatar i been reading about it what is it
@***
See the little gray head with the question mark….you’re supposed to be able to replace that with any picture of your choosing, but it’s tough to get it to work.
@Dr.J.
or
&default=http://site.gravatar.com/images/files/thumbs/109020.gif
so u mean all this talking about gravatar is just for that what kind of picture ur going to put up chuck with a heart around him and xoxoxoxo ’s LOL
testing
@Dr. J.
setup a different account at gravatar.com with different email….still no avatar…
@***
actually is was a picture I found on the internet of Tito T-bagging you at band camp.
good one hillbilly and actually i played the tuba in high school
@DENNIS,
I can’t pass in the default option with your gravatar link, because then every single person on MMA HQ who doesn’t have a gravatar account will get that icon as the default. I do already pass in the default option with a link to the gray icon with the ? over their face that you see now. If I were to use your link at the default, every single user would get that if they didn’t have an account.
I’m telling you man, its nothing on my end here with my code. It’s something on gravatar.com’s end
Personally I think Gomi will destroy Diaz, but if I’ve learned one thing from lurking on this site…it is that you should take notice when Dr.J picks an upset.
I noticed Maxx is working also, and here is his properties:
>http://www.mmahq.com/wp-content/gravatars/global/dff8cb9cce3c8b09aacbfcb094b98d9e
Shouldn’t mine have the same format?
@MAX
Who’s on your gravatar?
ANYONE HAVE ANY THOUGHTS ON FRANKLIN VS MCDONALD….. IM WORRIED ABOUT RICH ON THIS ONE???
@Patrick
Don’t be so quick to give up on ACE! Like Matt, he went into his last fight unprepared, and NOT hungry enough. I think that you’ll be happy with the outcome this time against Jason.
Rich will bring it with the fury of a dethroned champ. Jason will get KO’d in the second round.
@DENNIS,
Maxx’s image has a different path because I got a valid gravatar back from gravatar.com. If a valid gravatar is returned to me from gravatar.com I store that image file locally on my MMA HQ server so that I don’t have to request it from gravatar.com each time. It saves me time and money by doing it that way. So, since I request and received a valid image from gravatar.com for Maxx I stored it locally and that file path you see is the path to the location on the MMA HQ server.
Since I have never gotten a valid gravatar image for your email address from gravatar.com, I don’t have anything to store locally.
Trust me, its not a problem with my system or code at all. Have you tried contacting the guys at gravatar.com and see what they say? The problem is on their end.
GOOD CUZ I CANT STAND JASON….. THE “TUF KILLER” HOW G@Y…. MAN HE SUCKS
@Dr. J.
I believe you, and have been complaining to Tom Werner to no avail.
WHATS UP WITH NATE QUARRY IS HE EVER GONNA FIGHT AGAIN???? WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM ANYWAYS?
MAN I JUST CANT GET OVER HOW UGLY WANDERLEI IS LOL
YO WHOS THIS DUDE Fabricio Werdum
THIS GUY IS WHO ARLOVSKI IS TAKIN ON
?????????????????????
@Patrick
I know you don’t want to hear this, but Fabricio is going to give the Pitbull something to think about. This guy is coaching Cro Cop, and has beat Aleksander Emelianenko .
@Patrick
The Rock really should not have been fighting in the first place, especially not against a guy like ACE.
He has a defected disc in his back, and has been out on surgery and rehab.
Even if he fights again, hard to take him serious as a contender.
OH BOY THAT SUCKS
@ Patrick……..from Sherdog
Name Fabricio Werdum
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