Well, another Pride Fighting Championships event is in the books, and I must say that Pride 33 was all-around the best MMA event I have seen in several years. Other promotions should take notes from Pride; this is how an event should take place. We saw a total of 9 fights in a little over 3 hours. The UFC would do well following the same fight night schedule and avoid the 20-30 minutes of “chatter” and upcoming event previews that they subject us to on the PPV and instead show some of, if not all the undercard fights. Anyways, on to some thoughts of Pride 33.
- Wanderlei vs Henderson delivered exactly what was expected in a title fight. Henderson looks back to his old self after some slow performances against Belfort and Masaki, and proved he can stand and trade punches with anyone. In my opinion, Wanderlei may be starting to finally show that he is aging and that his “wild strikes” fight plan doesn’t work against an equally skilled opponent.
- While I am thrilled that Wanderlei lost, this probably mean we won’t see a fight between Liddell and Silva any time soon (if ever). To be honest, I really don’t think we should see the fight at this point. Wandy has not been knocked out in two straight fights, and there is no point in the UFC even offering Silva a chance to step on the mat against Liddell. It will be interesting to see how Pride handles Henderson having two belts at once. It will be very tough for any fighter to bounce back-and-forth between two different weight classes during the course of the year, nevermind that he would be fighting a #1 contender in each fight.
- The Nick Diaz vs. Takanori Gomi fight was exactly as I thought it would be: the fight of the night. I knew Diaz could stand and trade with Gomi, and I knew that Nick could easily take Gomi on the ground as well. That first round was a bit crazy and it reminded me of the 12th round in a Rocky Movie - with Gomi barely able to stand up and swinging wildly after bouncing off the ropes. The gogoplata that Diaz slapped on to end the fight was a thing of beauty.
- Shogun looked good against Overeem, and not being able to kick and stomp on the ground didn’t hinder him at all. Looks like Shogun is pretty much back to where he was before his injury against Mark Coleman.
- Sakurai looked precision perfect, as he always does. That guy is one of the top three lightweights in the world in my opinion.
- Frank Trigg looked excellent in his fight against Masaki, and it looks like Trigg has found a new home at 185 lbs. After easily dominating Jason Miller and now Masaki, you can make a case for Trigg being in the top 10 list of middleweights.
- While most of the MMA world is considering this event to be full of “upsets” with Diaz and Henderson both winning their fights, there was only one real “surprise” or “fluke” in my opinion: Antonio Nogueira losing to Sokoudjou. That won’t happen very often and it only proves that anything can happen in an MMA fight.
Like I said, I was very happy with Pride 33 and I hope all of you bought the PPV and were able to watch the fights live.
Cudos to Nick & Dan!
I’m really glad Nick won, even though I had him as the underdog.
I’m even more happy that Hollywood slapped around that big mouth Silly wandaliar. Maybe now more will agree that he doesn’t deserve a fight with the ICEMAN.
I’ll say it again that I will be totally dissappointed if Dana can’t put something together between Shogun and Chuck before he retires.
Did anyone else see Nick Diaz being a cheap ******* and trying to hold on to the choke even after the referre jumped in there. And why the hell was he flicking the camera off before the fight? He is a little disrespectful ***** and I cant wait until he gets a well deserved *** whooping.
OMG! Silva didnt even fight!! wtf was he doing!! omg i am gonna go cry now!!:’-(
i HATE chuck but after seeing wanderlei fight, i think chuck might just have him
Hopfully now Rua can get the title maybe? :\
but i still want to see Wanderlei get back into the ring after this and Sort himself out!!! anyone else think that might happen?
dana white might now allow chuck n silva to fight…. as he would really fancy Chuck now
yo dennis …. did u check out the chin gomi has holy shi tttt
@NEWMZ,
I could see Dana White being a scumbag and trying to set up a Wandi/Liddell fight NOW, I want to believe that there are many of us who are a little too smart that we could see right through something like that. The real matchup should undoubtedly be “Iceman” vs. Henderson or “Iceman” vs. Shogun.
Wandi has clearly lost some edge, I hope he takes some time off to recover and rest for his own health and safety, and then comes back. I trully believe that even though a current Wandi would lose to Chuck, he would be able to easily dominate the other weight classes in the UFC. In my opinion, Pride has proven to be detrimental to his health after the savage beatings he has recently taken.
I went to the IFL Atlanta show and saw 11 fights in three hours and fifteen minutes. The UFC has the job of handling sponsors and paid advertising that other promotions don’t have yet, but if they’re going to be successful in the American market they’re going to have to face that problem in the future. It’s a problem that fans don’t like, but promoters love.
I agree with Amir, I think Pride has “overused” Wandi to their name out there. I know he is taking the fights, but there is a lot of pressure there, he is ultimately the face of both Pride and Chute Boxe. I knew something was up when I watched the pre-fight meet and greet, it’s on youtube.com, Henderson warmed up and greeted the crowd, Wandi greeted the crowd, but didn’t warm up, said he was too tired to even do a pre-fight meet and greet warm up. I know because I lived and trained in Brazil for over a year, the flight is 18 hours long, and the time difference this time of year is four hours ahead, so for Wandi’s internal clock, he was actually fighting at 3 a.m. his time, that would be hard for anyone, and having a week or two to adjust won’t do the trick. When I moved down there, it took me over a month to adjust to the time difference. If he flew in from Japan, that’s even worse, like night and day. Henderson is in Texas, he didn’t have to deal with Jetlag and all that crap, even if he flew in to Vegas, that is a 1 hr domestic flight, nothing to it. I think Wandi will get some rest, and come back stronger, all I can say is if you give the guy 8 months to recover, he is going to come back strong. Anyone who watched the fight saw an already gassed and tired guy in that ring. I don’t want to steal Henderson’s thunder, he fought great, but under different circumstances, I think the fight would have been a little different.
Heres my take on last nights card..
one word… WOW!!!!
night of the underdogs, thats real talk man!
First let me say, the most impressive performance came from sakurai, he picked that guy apart! I wanna see sakurai back in the UFC!! great all around fighter, very cerebral.
Dam.. too bad for Nogueira.. but thats how it goes down sometimes..
Trigg.. blah.. hes his usual bland self, he will always be a B level fighter, but he got the win so.. congrats frank.
Overeem was doing GREAT against Shogun.. for a while.. he made ALOT of mistakes in that fight though. He had Shoguns back twice and he didnt try and capitalize on it, no to say you should try to submit Shogun cuz you probably get rolled, but he should have put some ground an pound on him. Then at the end, the commentators were saying he should have had his hands up to block the final punch. You cant block a punch like that from that position man lol, he had his back flat against the mat, he should have raised his upper back so he could have more leverage to shift his hips and dodge that shot. Anyways, Shogun does it again!
about Diaz.. I give pure respect to Diaz, he may have finally matured, he wasnt talking his usual sh*t and you could tell he had alot of respect for Gomi. With his 7″ reach advantage, he had a great game plan, he was working his jab like crazy and he set up some good shots on Gomi, i dont think he was really hurting Gomi with those shots but he was racking up mad points thats for sure. What a disciplined classy performance by Diaz last night! thats the Nick Diaz i want to see in all his future fights! WAY TO GO NICK!!!!!
about Gomi.. I think anyone who has seen Gomi fight before knows that Gomi was in terrible condition for that fight, he clearly did something wrong. If it was lack of training or he was sick or watever it was, he deserved to lose that fight. He did rock Diaz a few times, but thats what i expected to happen, the fact that he couldnt even go 1 round without completely gassing out was really pathetic..
I dont see how they can set up a fight with the champ and the title is not on the line, unless somthing happens like he didnt make weight or watever. Maybe this was a partially a factor for Gomi not training hard enough? i can only speculate.. who knows man.. the point is, at this point i consider Diaz to be the new Pride Lightweight Champ! what you guys think about that?
Henderson vs Silva.. i think Dennis put it best.. “dans the man†hehe. In response to Gatties, personally i think crocop ruined Silva man, thats why i dont like the open weight gp. I think if Silva fought Chuck right now, he would get knocked out. He doesnt look like the same fighter, defense doesnt win fights, he had a few moments there where he had dan in trouble, but Silva wasnt the agressor like he usually is, he just didnt seem hungry enough..
Put all this together and you get 2 words..
GREAT CARD! heh
@Dr J
I dont think you can really say the Diaz Gomi fight happened exactly as you thought.. The main factor in the fight was that Gomi gassed out in the first round, i dont think anyone would dispute that. Gomi beat himself man.. Not to take anything away from Diaz tho, he gave an amazing performance, he did everything right and he executed his gameplan perfectly. He should be the Pride lightweight champ now.
@ alen
I wouldnt say Diaz was cocky in this fight, compared to his usual antics, Diaz was on his best behaviour. Ya he flipped off the camera, but who really cares about that hehe he showed respect to Gomi, and after the fight he didnt jump around like a monkey screaming that hes the best or hes the champ. He was a real class act in that fight man, Diaz has definatly regained some of his lost respect for alot of fans.
Yea, great fight. But I think there’s still a small, small chance that Silva and Liddell meet. Silva should get a chance to get his belt back in a rubber match against Henderson. But who knows…he could lose again.
I disagree with you about Trigg. I can’t back up my statement, although. I just don’t think he’s in the top 10. Maybe top 11. LOL.
One thing I totally agree with…It was the best MMA event I’ve seen on T.V. Granted, I’ve really only been a fan for a couple of years. I had a good friend that was supposed to come over, but couldn’t. I rubbed it in his face….lucky for him I taped it!
Great Event. Go PRIDE. AND TO THE UFC….TAKE NOTES!!!!!
[...] MMA HQ: PRIDE 33: The Second Coming recap [...]
Dan is the Man!
@BVRASP,
When I say the Diaz vs. Gomi fight happened exactly as I thought it would, I mean that the fight was the fight of the night. The pace and style of the fight was exactly what I thought it would be. I, of course, didn’t anticipate Gomi gassing out as quickly as he did, but I knew this fight would be exciting right from the start. That is what I was referring too.
Plus, I did pick Diaz to win.
@MMAKansas
I hear you man, jet lag is no fun, and agree that was certainly a factor.
However, this ain’t Silly’s first ride, he completely knew the score coming in. He knows the time change, and he definately knows Hollywood.
Bottom line……..no excuses. Dan is the Man!
YOYOYOYOOYO PEEPS… LOL ANTONIO IS THE 3RD RANKED HEAVYWEIGHT IN THE WORLD… LOL MAN THAT SUCKS TO GO DOWN LIKE THAT…
DIAZ DESERVES TAHT WIN WOW
BTW WHENS R THEY GONNA PUT A STINKIN MMA CHANNEL OUT THERE????
You know what would be really cool?
Dana convinces Dan to beat the hell out of Anderson Silva…..and be the only guy with three belts!
what so dan now has two belts???
Hey Dr. J…Henderson gave Wandi a run for his money in their first fight, so I see no shame for Wandi losing to Crocop and Henderson. He is still a top 3 or 4 contender in the world at 205 and you have to love his attitude of “kill or be killed”. I respect him more for going in “ballz out” and putting it all on the line rather than someone whom goes in “not to lose” their belt.
Yes, he was the welterweight champion coming in and is now the middleweight champ also.
WOW WHAT AN ANIMAL
GSP NEEDS TO DO THE SAME THING AND KICK SILVAS
A SSS
For those saying Silva didn’t look like his usual self:
Reports are coming out that he was very sick (40+C - 105F fever) and spent Friday night in the hospital in Vegas. This isn’t to take anything away from Hendo who showed what a world class fighter and warrior he is, but just to say that Wanderlei is a real warrior and he should not be written off quite yet. He’s only 30 years old and has been a dominant force for over half a decade.
I think he just needs some time off to recharge and to retool his gameplan. Heck, Chuck and Randy hit some rough spots in their 30’s as well and needed to adjust but they’ve shown you can still be a dominant force into your late 30s - 40’s.
I WANT TO SEE THE THERMOMOTER FOR MYSELF
MAN I CANT STAND JASON MCDONALD…. I HOPE RICH KICKS HIS A SSS
Henderson having 2 belts in Pride shouldn’t be as big of a deal as Dr.J makes it out to be. Its not like Pride champions defend their belts all that often to begin with.
@Patrick
Don’t worry my friend……….Ace will dominate the poor boy.
IM GETTING TIRED OF HEARING THE TUF KILLER
@Dennis
I am not being facetious but the man didn’t look himself. It’s quite obvious that he was sick or hadn’t adjusted to the food/time change/climate change. It’s something easy to brush off as “he knows the deal†but the fact is, he has fought in the U.S. one time, he only fights in Japan or occasionally in Brazil. He doesn’t travel on short notice for fights like this so it’s a valid argument. The only time in Mike Tyson’s prime that he was knocked out was when he fought Buster Douglas, and he was sick as a dog in that fight. He didn’t look himself that night, and he crashed. Wanderlei is going to come back and kick the crap out of the middleweight division, mark my words. He is only 30 years old, he is younger than Tito Ortiz, or Chuck, or Tim Sylvia, or Matt Hughes; he will be around when those guys are long gone and he will rebound with fury man.
Yes, UFC needs to take notes from Pride for their fight cards. One thing that pisses me off is we were supposed to see GSP vs. Serra in Feb. that $40 ppv event included that fight before GSP injured his knee. Now it’s the main event for UFC 69 and we have to pay another $40 bucks to watch it. B.S complete b.s.
@MMAKansas
I repeat…I hear you bro. I travel allot, and can relate.
Seems like I remember saying that Matt didn’t look right when he lost. Rich didn’t look right when he lost, etc. etc. Everyone argued, so now I have to play, “devil’s advocate”.
Can’t take nothing away from Dan the Man….
BLAH BLAH BLAH…..EXCUSES
IF UR SO SICK… THEN PULL OUT OF THE FIGHT
@Dennis,
—Seems like I remember saying that Matt didn’t look right when he lost. Rich didn’t look right when he lost, etc. etc. Everyone argued, so now I have to play, “devil’s advocateâ€.—
Maybe I’m off here but, are you comparing Rich Franklin’s and Matt Hughes’ losses to Wandi’s? cause if you are that’s about the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. If the guy had a fever, that is a legitimate reason to underperform on top of his jetlag. When Franklin and Hughes got destroyed, were they not fighting here in the U.S.? in the same place they’ve fought a dozen times already? please clarify what you meant
@Amir
LOL, I get the point.
Don’t know about Wand’s fever or not, but my point was…. no excuses. Everyone has good and bad days. Everyone has some, “legitimate” excuse when they lose.
I’m sure that when Chuck loses, he’ll have one too.
Doesn’t take anything from Dan the Man!
NO CRAP NO EXCUSES!!!!!!!!!!!
Silva SICK?? Well I tell you what. After the first round he had a look of fear in his eyes. Like some said…he’s 30! That’s it! I will buy the PPV Silva vs Henderson 3, 2wks before it comes out. Get ready people. Silva WILL bounce back.
http://www.world-of-mma.blogspot.com
It’s also on the bottom of MMA SITES (on this page)
YES HE WILL
Oh ok, I see
I believe that when Hughes lost, he even admitted flat out that he had not trained. When Franklin lost, he didn’t put up a fight at all..but knowing Franklin, he is a warrior till the end and often fights with his injuries, but it’s not clear if something was wrong with him at the time. Wandi still put up a hell of a fight, of course, compared to his real true self…it looked unusual..but he still fough hard considering.
I know I’m a little late but that fight card was great. First Nogueira gets KO’d in under a minute. He needs to spar with his brother more so he can take the same level of punishment and keep going like Big Nog. It didn’t even look like the punch landed cleanly. Frank Trigg controlled the entire fight but I think he could have done more to try and finish it. He actually looked better at middleweight than WW maybe that’s a better fight weight for him. He seemed stronger than before and was dominant. Diaz vs Gomi was the fight of the night. I can’t believe Gomi gassed in the first round. Maybe he thought he would knock Diaz out early and didn’t train enough. I also picked Nick to win but the gogoplata was incredible to pull off. He was getting a little show boat action going for a minute but he deserves all the credit he’s due for that performance. Dan proved he can always hang with the big boys again. I don’t know about the supposed sickness or jetlag but Silva was dominated in that fight. He didn’t seem to have the power in his punches that he usually does so maybe something was affecting him. You can’t take anything fron Henderson’s win though, he is one tough guy. Rua was also impressive again. Overeem was doing pretty well again but Showgun is unstopable now. Forget Silva vs Liddell we need to see Showgun vs Liddell for the 205lb world champ. Overall this was a great card with some upsets in some peoples minds. Have to give Pride credit for showing all the fights and not talking through the intermissions all night. I hope Pride stays afloat and we see more fights like these. The UFC needs stiff competition like this to keep them honest and make them put together better fight cards. Silva, Nogueira and Gomi will bounce back and still be world class fighters it just wasn’t their night. I bet the Pride management didn’t think the night would go the way it did but they have to be happy with the results because the fans were happy.
@Mad
nice job……..no arguements here!
Fedor Emelianenko, the number 1 heavyweight fighter in the world or perhaps the world’s best mixed martial artist, was shocked after hearing that Wanderlei Silva took home a $150,000 paycheck after losing to Dan Henderson. Emelianenko submitted Mark “The Hammer” Coleman last year and went home with $100,000.
@Crocket
can’t blame him……….can you?
Pride has made Silva the face of the organization that’s probably why he’s getting payed so well. With Fedor taking only one fight contracts they should try and keep him happy. Fedor is the #1 MMA fighter untill someone dethrowns him. Pride should give him the same publicity and recognition because he is the best. Hopefully he gets pissed and joins the UFC. A rematch between Fedor and Crocop in the octagon would be awsome.
@Mad. You ain’t kindin. I think we’ll see Fedor in the UFC ring sometime soon. Doesn’t he only have like 2 fights with Bodog and 1-2 with Pride? He’s basically out there for the UFC to take. But they gotta spend the money. Cro Cop is foaming at the mouth wanting to get at Tim Silva. He would hold that crown for way way over a year, when he gets it. Unless UFC signs Fedor
Vegas PAY SCALES are in!!!!!!! Dan Henderson only made $50,000. But no one made less than $10,000 for a fight. Dr. J will be posting soon…I’m sure
wow….was i ever wrong! i havent been able to watch tv or get on the internet from last thursday till today so i missed the fight (still havent seen it) and right now is when i found out what happened. i think every pick i made was wrong….man i suck lol. good job to henderson and diaz those are big wins for both. dont start counting out silva and gomi just yet. nogueira now that just blows me away the dude that beat him is kind of a nobody as far as i can tell but then again i’ve never seen him fight befor so i really cant say anything about him except he’s now got one really big win and thats one fight i’ll have to see to believe. i’m going to try to get the fight tonight so i can have a better idea about what happened. crazy stuff man!
@RJ
Check out youtube.com. Search for Pride33, and you’ll find most, if not all the finishes there.
SO DENNIS WHAT DO U THINK IS GOING TO HAPPEN AT UFC 68
Nick moved up to #4…..
LIGHTWEIGHT DIVISION (160 pounds and lower)
#1 Lightweight Fighter in the World: Hayato Sakurai
2. Takanori Gomi
3. Gilbert Melendez
4. Nick Diaz
5. Tatsuya Kawajiri
6. Shinya Aoki
7. Vitor “Shaolin” Ribeiro
8. Joachim Hansen
9. Mitsuhiro Ishida
10. Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto
MMAWeekly Rankings last updated on February 27, 2007
LOL SEAN SHERK AINT EVEN ON THAT LIST….. Y NOT????? SHAWN IS WAY TO POWERFUL FOR ANY OF THOSE CATS…. UNLESS UR GSP… YO DENNIS WHEN IS DIAZ’S NEXT FIGHT
@Patrick
Here’s the rumors. Don’t know if they’re true yet…
Medical Suspensions Stemming from Pride 33:
-Nick Diaz has been medically suspended for six months (until August 24th) due to an injured and possibly broken orbital bone (the orbital bone is the bone that surrounds the eye socket). If Diaz is medically cleared before then, his minimum suspension would still last through April 26th.
-Dan Henderson has been medically suspended for six months (until August 24th) due to a broken second metacarpal in his right hand. If Henderson is medically cleared before then, his minimum suspension would still last through April 11th.
-Mac Danzig has been medically suspended for six months (until August 24th) due to an injured and possibly broken left thumb. If Danzig is medically cleared before then, his minimum suspension would still last through April 11th.
-Takanori Gomi has been medically suspended for six weeks (until April 11th) due to damage sustained in his submission loss.
-Wanderlei Silva has been medically suspended for six weeks (until April 11th) due to damage sustained in his KO loss.
-Alistair Overeem has been medically suspended for six weeks (until April 11th) due to damage sustained in his KO loss.
-Antonio Rogerio Nogueira has been medically suspended for six weeks (until April 11th) due to damage sustained in his KO loss.
-Jason Ireland has been medically suspended for six weeks (until April 11th) due to damage sustained in his submission loss.
-Travis Wiuff has been medically suspended for four weeks (until March 27th) due to damage sustained in his submission loss.
These are true. I’ve seen them on a rew sites now. Put a little damper on Pride’s available roster for their next show.
WHAT ABOUT FRANK TRIGG
@MAD
that’s an understatement…Their whole top lineup is injured!
@Patrick
Looks like Trigg is still as pretty as ever…… and may have to carry the next card!
ITS
@PAtrick…….
……regarding Twinkle Toes, here’s part of a recent interview.
___________________
MMANews.com: As far as this year, do you have any fights scheduled?
Frank Trigg: Nothing yet, we are working on a deal right now with PRIDE, hopefully Ill be in their June show, and their next two shows with the third one being in January in Las Vegas. Hopefully that will come through, and we are also waiting on WFA to let us know when their next event is.
MMANews.com: So you have no word from the WFA about when you’ll be defending your title?
Frank Trigg: No, I have no idea. They told me July, but they also told me it was gonna be in March before that, so who knows.
MMANews.com: How many fights would you like to get in before the end of this year?
Frank Trigg: As many as I can get. I’d like to fight six times a year but under the circumstances Ill take whatever’s left. You know, were hitting up to half way threw the year right now so if I can get three or four more in this year we’ll be ok.
@Amir
probably because Dan is middle weight, and Chuck is LHW. But he should enlist Dan to beat down Anderson Silva.
ICEMAN vs. SHOGUN
@Patrick
The injury list above is true, as confirmed by MAD.
It was officially released by The Nevada State Athletic Commission.
You guys have some pretty good comments on here. I would like somebody’s opinion about this; Tito can’t beat Chuck, would get killed by Cro-Cop if he dropped weight and will not fight Rampage. So would it be best for Tito to go after the middle weight title? Maybe in the future a Franklin vs Ortiz or Hughes vs Ortiz (if Hughes pursues this title).
SORRY DENNIS IF CHUCK DOE