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
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Amber
eric
capt.ADK'er
Yael Grauer
itzFORT
Singh is King
Fizzlesticks
WTFH
Studog
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
Record 9 – 2 – 1 (Win – Loss – Draw)
Wins 2 (T)KOs (22.22%)
5 Submissions (55.56%)
1 Decisions (11.11%)
1 Other (11.11%)
Losses 2 Decisions (100.00%)
Association Cro Cop Squad Gym
Height 6’4 (193cm)
Weight 242lbs (110kg)
Style Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Country Brazil
Result Opponent Method Event Title Date Round Time
Win against Aleksander Emelianenko Submission (Choke) 2H2H-Pride & Honor 11/12/2006 1
Loss against Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira Decision (Unanimous) PRIDE-Critical Coutdown Absolute 7/1/2006 3 5:00
Win against Alistair Overeem Submission (Kimura) PRIDE-Total Elimination Absolute 5/5/2006 2 3:43
Win against Jon Olav Einemo Decision (Unanimous) PRIDE 31-Dreamers 2/26/2006 3 5:00
Loss against Sergei Kharitonov Decision (Split) PRIDE 30-Fully Loaded 10/23/2005 3 5:00
Win against Roman Zentsov Submision (Triangle Armbar) PRIDE-Final Conflict 2005 8/28/2005 1 6:01
Win against Tom Erikson Submission (Choke) PRIDE 29-Fists Of Fire 2/20/2005 1 5:11
Win against Ebenezer Fontes Braga KO (Punch) JF 2-Jungle Fight 2 5/15/2004 2 1:28
Win against Gabriel Gonzaga TKO (Punches) JF 1-Jungle Fight 1 9/13/2003 3 2:11
Win against Kristof Midoux Submission (Triangle Choke) WAFF 2-World Absolute Fight 2 3/22/2003 1
Draw against James Zikic Draw MB 8-Millennium Brawl 8 9/22/2002 3
Win against Tengiz Tedoradze Submission (Triangle Choke) MB 7-Millennium Brawl 7 6/16/2002 1
YO THIS GUY LIKES TO BE A SUBMISSION GROUND FIGHTER BASED ON HIS RECORD … ???? YEA THIS IS GONNA BE A HOT FIGHT…. ANY WORD ON HIS CHIN?….
@PAtrick
Welll……he’s never been KO’d, and we all know about the Pitbull’s chin.
I THOUGHT ANDRIES CHIN IMPROVED WHEN HE FAUGHT SYLVIA 3 BUT IT HIS CHIN HAS SUCKED IN THE PAST…. BUT ANDREI GOT AND OK GROUND GAME I THINK??????????????????????????????????????????
?????????????????????
?????????
?????
??
?
The Pitbull does have a decent ground game, but his real strength is in his fists.
YEA HE JUST NEEDS TO GET PUNCHED IN THE FACE A FEW TIMES
Im sorry Im from a different culture, I don’t comprehend your corneist
Why am I not surprised?
@cody
I really don’t want to fill my friends email with all this nonsense, so please………………….TAPOUT!
@Dennis,
Iceman vs. any of those guys from Pride would be a stunning fight, Shogun is also one of my favorite fighters. I wouldn’t go nuts over Randy/Rampage…Randy has a four fight contract and said he wouldn’t go back to Light Heavy cause there is no one there he hasn’t fought yet except for Rampage, I don’t think it would lure him back just yet.
@Richard,
Yeah…Henderson is quite an animal. It would be an incredibly interesting fight. Henderson can look sloppy on his feet at times and Chuck is always keeping his composure, but Henderson has a hear to f a lion and is one of those guys that would literally die in there if he had to.
Henderson does have a ton of heart. I watching some of his older fights and the guy just don’t quit. I hope he can pull it off for the american crowd. I’d like to see him join the UFC and take on Anderson Silva.
Well…if the UFC actually ends up buying Pride, we might very well see fights like those. It’s wierd, in some ways I like the way that Pride and UFC are 2 separate entities that co-exist, with rivalries and bragging rights etc… if they were both owned by the UFC, it would create an overwhelming supply of talented fighters and matchups. Yet, at the same time, the way things are going…it doesn’t seem like we would ever get to see the dream fights that we all want.
I think it’s best to have at least two big promotions in MMA. There are to many top level fighters for one organization to keep busy. The ideal situation would be if all the organizations cooperated and let all the champs fight in a superbowl of MMA type event every couple of years. Then each organization would get the bragging rights of who really has the best fighters and the fans would get to see the matchups we debate here all the time.
No doubt that would be the best…having some type of super tournament in each weight class. The way Pride does their Open Grand Prix is a little dangerous, but if it was in the different weight classes, it would be awesome.
THE UFC NEEDS TO HAVE AN OPEN WEIGHT TOURNEY
The Nevada State Athletic Commision would never sanction such a tournament which sucks. I think every UFC fan would like to see one of the original 8 man winner fights the winner style format. It will probably never happen though.
UGH THAT SUCKS
@Amir
Whadaya think about a Tito/Rampage match?
Yo, everybody, Pride is on FSN right now. featuring……Fedor, Rampage, Silva, Trigg, Hollywood.
YOYOYO GO NICK DIAZ U PUNK
Gomi is fighting Arelio first
They have been showing that one all week. Watch and see how many times Nogueira has him in deep submission trouble and Dan escapes. The guy has a huge tolerance for pain and shows some impressive defense especially against a HW. He may just be able to pull it off this weekend.
Arelio chocked out Gomi first round, so you know what Diaz must do.
you know I’m in Hollywood’s corner on Saturday…
Hopefully his ego dosen’t get in the way and he does take Gomi down and try for a submission. I think he will be a little cocky at first and try to stand with him.
YO DENIS I DIDNT KNOW TITO AND RAMPAGE FAUGHT … WHO WON?
now Fedor is fighting little Zulu….
Fedor won by knockout…again first round.
Tito never fought Rampage, but I wish it would happen. Tito beat Silva, and Silva beat Rampage…….twice.
In fact, I’m watching Silva beat Rampage right now!
@Dennis
You haven’t seen these fights before? They have been replaying these same ones for over a month now. Pride does like to put on the side show fights like that.
Yep, but it’s still a blast!
Now is Hollywood’s time to shine…
Yea, my wife gets mad because i’ll watch fights every day of the week if there on even if I’ve already seen them.