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.
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Caesar Gracie
John
Yael Grauer
Dale
Tyler Johnson
felo
Mike
Tony
Shawn
Ben Cartlidge
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 DOES GO HEAVYWIEGHT TO TAKE ON LIKE CRO COP OR ANYOEN I THINK HE WOULD LOSE
What if Cro Cop drops down?
Crocops not much bigger than Chuck. Mirko last fought at 228 and didn’t have to cut weight. Liddell walks around normally at 220-225 and cuts to make 205. I don’t think it would be very hard for Crocop to do the same. I think Mirko would KO Chuck or dismantle him with leg kicks. The only way to beat Mirko seems to be to ground him and keep him there like Fedor did. Unless you have submission skills like Big Nog. I can’t see Chuck winning this because their styles are basically the same and Mirko seems much stronger than Liddell.
I agree that Mirko seems on the surface to be a superior fighter, mainly because of his deadly kicks, but I would not place a bet on him.
Chuck could easily come up with a victory here, simply because his punches are accurately placed from weird angles….one could do it!
PLUS CRO COPS CHIN AINT ALL THAT
I’m not saying Chuck can’t pull it off, just that it would be a dramatic step up in competition for him. The only time Mirko went out from a punch was the Randleman fight. He put his hands down and Randleman through everything he had into it. Mirko went 20 full minutes with Fedor and was hit cleanly many times and didn’t get KO’d. I wouldn’t say Crocop has a weak chin. Chuck has never faced a striker with equal or better skill and more power. I’m a big fan of both and would love to see this fight but I think Mirko still has the edge at this point.
I DIDNT SAY HIS CHIN WAS WEAK I SAID ITS NOT SO HOT
Wow.
Chuck Vs Mirko
Does someone actually think Chuck could bet him?
someone say yes, and turn yourself into an idiot.
i will be idiot. i think chuck could beat cro cop. i’m not saying he would beat him for sure, i’m just say liddell has a style that would work well against a guy like cro cop.
here here…
Hey RJ,
you are one of the lucky ones to get a working gravatar.
The gravatar website has been failing for the last two weeks, and now doesn’t even come up.
Tom Werner SUCKS, as Patrick would say.
I DONT KNOW BOYS WOULD BE A GREAT FIGHT
YO DR. J ITS THURSDAY… WHERES THOSE PREDICTIONS… IM AT WORK BORED I NEED SOMETHING TO READ.
LOL
i dont know why my gravitar is the only one that works….. it must be the studly black eye in the pic just fits on this site lol
guys i kow im late on this but i got this card and im a pride fan these fights were the best ive ever seen i cried when diaz won hes been one of my favorite fighters but i was shocked the way gomi wasnt even trying to block diazs shots maybe cuz they didnt have much on them who kows it didnt look like the best of gomi and im excited to see the rematch.nogiera has a chin of granite and to get ko in like 25 seconds means the other guys got some power.rua is a stud and will beat henderson for his 205 belt and henderson is a animal i never screamed so much in my life awesome fights
Wow!!!!! I was totally shocked to see what happened that night. But dang the whole night was nothing but knockouts and submissions!! hahaha i loved it!!!! But GEEZ was gomi gased after he went to the floor with diaz the first time. It was like he never recoverd from that. I never seen a gomi fight like that before. He fought like he was too tired to fight and really didnt want to fight(prolly because it wasnt a title fight), But that fight showed me 2…….no 3 things, one diaz is a reall angry and disturbed man, and gomi got a real, real, real good chin, and diaz is not playin around in the pride organization. And as for wanderlei and henderson. What was goin on with silva, you can tell something was wrong with him. He didnt come out with and intensity that he always has. He gave a staredown but it was a somewhat boring one, especially from what he normally does. And truthfully he came out with that same look he had on his face when he was about to fight cro cop. And he lost. Now he is saying that he was sick and had a fever the night before the fight and his tonsells were swollen or something, i buy it but then i dont, i mean if your not at 100% then you need to say something, pull out or something, gsp does it all the time, and that is smart, if you are not 100% you need to pull out. We will still respect you, i mean you are wanderlei silva, i dont think anyone will question you as a warrior just because you pull out. But to me dan didnt put on an spectacular show either. He was going for the takedown most of the fight anyway trying to wear silva down, so i think he new of silvas power, and he even said it” after he hit me with his punches and he didnt hur me i was ok”. I mean i was disapointed, silva sick or not knows what kind of business he is in. If you are not feeling that good before a fight, you need to get the oppent out of there as quick as possible. He didnt and he suffered the consiqunces. KNOCK OUT!!!!!!1
What a great world we live in…. Dan knocks the **** out of Silly,
and Randy knocks the **** out of Tim..
@dennis…..how come you dislike wanderlei silva so much. is it just that you dont like his style or something?
hey rj hillbilly doesnt like anyone who would beat up his precious iceman but newsflash hillbilly henderson now i think would also kick liddels azz
@RJ
Kimo challenged Dana to a $40 million, “winner take all” tournament of Pride vs. UFC…. at least that’s the rumor.
@***
Henderson ain’t ready for Chuck, but I do like him, and would like him to beat the little Silly.
Lambert dropped Babalu off the charts…
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT DIVISION (205-pound limit)
#1 Light Heavyweight Fighter in the World: Chuck Liddell
2. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua
3. Ricardo Arona
4. Dan Henderson
5. Wanderlei Silva
6. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
7. Quinton Jackson
8. Tito Ortiz
9. Kazuhiro Nakamura
10. Jason Lambert
MMAWeekly Rankings last updated on March 6, 2007
yeah he did but why not nogeira maybe they think that it was a lucky punch that dropped him
Hillbilly
he aint ready for chuck what the he*ll he just koed wandy with his left hand he dominated him on the ground and most of the stand up he took some of wandys best shots and it didnt drop him hes the first to hold two belts at a major organization and he aint ready for chuck ,Hillbilly get over chuck hes good but damn get off his nads bro