Results from PRIDE 34 "Kamikaze".
-Yoshihiro Nakao def. Edson Drago via Submission (neck-crank) in Round 1.
-Butterbean def. Zulu via Submission (kimura) in Round 1.
-Makoto Takimoto def. Zelg Galesic via Submission (kimura) in Round 1.
-Gilbert Yvel def. Akira Shoji via TKO (strikes) in Round 1.
-James Thompson def. Don Frye via TKO (strikes) in Round 1.
-Shinya Aoki def. Brian Lo-A-Njoe via Submission (armbar) in Round 1.
-Sokoudjou def. Ricardo Arona via TKO (strikes) in Round 1.
-Jeff Monson def. Kazuyuki Fujita via Submission (rear naked choke) in Round 1.
UFC Buys Pride?
The rumors swirling around the sale of Pride FC have been ongoing for quite some time, but things flared up again on Monday when Sherdog.com started talking about strong rumors from some of their sources, who said that the deal has finally been struck.
MMAWeekly has confirmed , including sources in Japan that are extremely close to the situation, that the deal has indeed been reached. From what we understand, Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta have come to an agreement that would put Pride in their hands. But remember, that is an agreement, not a finalized transaction. As with any business transaction as complex as the purchase of one company by another, things are never 100% finalized until the proverbial keys to the front door have finally changed hands.
With that said, unless something changes at the eleventh hour, it appears that Pride will soon fall under the ownership of the Fertitta brothers. According to sources, the purchase is believed to include fighter contracts, Pride’s video library, and the Pride FC name brand. The issue of fighter contracts is one of the more touchy points, as there can be variables in each individual contract that will have to be dealt with, and no information has come forth that states which fighters would be included.
It was not immediately clear when the deal would be announced, although it is believed that Nobuyuki Sakikabara, the President & CEO Of Dream Stage Entertainment (Pride’s present owner), is traveling to the United States this week in regards to matters related to the agreement.
Is Wanderlei Silva finished?
This may sound like crazy talk, but from a fan and writer's perspective, it appears as though Silva is on his way out, if he wasn't been already. This may sound a little harsh but if you really think about it for a while, the only time Silva has looked like the real "Axe Murderer" against world-class opposition (note: an emphasis on "world class") was back on Halloween '04 when he tore up Quinton Jackson.
Sure he certainly bludgeoned Kazuhiro Nakamura and Kazuyuki Fujita, but let's face it: those two aren't exactly "Shogun" and "Rampage." His close tussles with Hidehiko Yoshida could be construed as signs of decline mainly because Yoshida isn't an A level fighter. Yoshida is a tremendous judoka and he is naturally bigger than Silva, but Wanderlei never dominated the Japanese icon in either of their two fights.
Silva also dropped a lackluster decision to archrival Ricardo Arona and though he avenged the loss to his tattooed nemesis, he didn't blow him out of the water like "Shogun" or Jackson did. Let's also not forget the controversial loss to former K-1 World Grand Prix champion Mark Hunt. And although I thought Silva did enough to deserve the decision, Hunt was still a novice to MMA and Silva looked listless. His duel with eventual 2006 Open-Weight Grand Prix champ Mirko Filipovic surfaced, which directly preceded Saturday's knockout loss to Henderson.
Why has Silva looked less-than-spectacular lately? One can be ring burnout, because Silva, unlike most world champions, fights all the time. It seems like he fights on every other full-blown PRIDE event and ever since he won the middleweight crown by besting Kazushi Sakuraba in November 2001, he has competed in a whopping 19 professional fights — and that's not even including the thousands of hours spent in the gym and hundreds of sparring sessions he plunged into headfirst. Compared to other elite world champions of his era, Silva was the busiest.
Since winning the belt, the "Axe Murderer" has been toppled only four times and had one draw. In that same span, Chuck Liddell fought 13 times (two losses), Couture 10 times (five losses), Tito Ortiz nine times (three losses), Fedor Emelianenko 19 (zero losses), Matt Hughes 14 (two losses) and Dan Henderson 15 (four losses).
Aside from Fedor, who is arguably the greatest fighter ever, Wanderlei has been the most impressive and has toppled the better competition overall. His only losses, aside from the Henderson shellacking on Saturday and the points loss to Arona, came from fighting heavyweights.
After pondering what Silva's been through during his title reign, it's a wonder he held onto the title for that long. The man has been busy and by not resting as much as the others, losing his title before retirement was inevitable.
Another piece of the jigsaw puzzle is the amount of punishment he's had to endure throughout his title reign. At some point in virtually every fighter's career there is a breaking point and no matter how great a fighter is or how much training he's endured, his body just shuts down.
Translation: shot.
Maybe it happened against "Cro Cop." Maybe it was against Henderson. Maybe it actually hasn't even happened. Either way, when an elite fighter, or even a very good, successful fighter, is dominated so thoroughly and knocked out so viciously in back-to-back battles, it's usually a sign of a shot fighter.
Silva is only 30 years old, yet he has done it all. Perhaps he has totally burned himself out. It happened to Pedro Rizzo, Igor Vovchanchyn and, when speaking of elite warriors, it happened to Mark Coleman and Randy Couture.
While it seems unlikely, considering how relatively young he is, I'm hoping Silva has not succumbed to that same fistic death sentence. (Hmm, I am wondering if Silva will become the Marco Antonio Barrera of MMA.) I don't think he's done yet, but only future fights will tell us for sure.
Pride 33 Highlight Videos
Dan Henderson vs Wanderlei Silva 2
Gomi vs Diaz
Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou
Mauricio Shogun Rua vs. Alistair Overeem
Pride 33 Updated Fight Card
-Vanderlei Silva (c) vs. Dan Henderson (PRIDE MW Title)
-Takanori Gomi vs. Nick Diaz
-Mauricio "Shogun" Rua vs. Alistair Overeem
-Frank Trigg vs. Kazuo Misaki
-Sergei Kharitonov vs. Gilbert Yvel
-Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou
-Hayato Sakurai vs. Mac Danzig
-Kazuhiro Nakamura vs. Travis Wiuff
Discuss about Pride 33 here.
Pride 33 Updated Fight Card
Shaping up to be an awesome card.
-Vanderlei Silva (c) vs. Dan Henderson (PRIDE MW Title)
-Takanori Gomi vs. Nick Diaz
-Mauricio "Shogun" Rua vs. Alistair Overeem
-Frank Trigg vs. Kazuo Misaki
-Sergei Kharitonov vs. Gilbert Yvel
-Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou
-Hayato Sakurai vs. Mac Danzig
-Kazuhiro Nakamura vs. Travis Wiuff
Cage Rage’s Zelg Galesic Signs for a 5 fight deal with Pride
Zelg Galesic, who successfully defeated Mark Weir via TKO in 40 Seconds of the first round at Cage Rage 19 to become the new Cage Rage British Welterweight Champion, has signed a multi-fight contract with Pride Fighting Championships. His signing to Pride casts doubt on the possibility of him making his first title defence.
Cage Rage promoter, Dave O'Donnell, confirmed that Galesic has one fight remaining on his contract and they are looking to sign him to a new two-fight deal after the existing contract expires. But with the Pride offer it may not be possible to run concurrent contracts (aka: James Thompson).
Charles Joseph has been the guiding force in Zelg Galesic's career and is responsible for setting up the new contract, he is aware of the remaining fight for Cage Rage and is looking to honor the contract; however, he accepts that some negotiation may be required by all parties as he expects that Pride will look to us Galesic as soon as possible.
At present no opponents or dates have been put forward to Galesic for his Pride debut as the ink on the contract is still drying.
UFC’s Nick Diaz Signs for Pride
Nick Diaz has signed a two-fight contract with Pride and will make his Pride debut on the promotion's February 24th event in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Diaz will be cutting to lightweight for his fight at Pride 33 on February 24th, and he expects to face a top-level opponent. Pride previously announced the participation of two lightweights on the Pride 33 card: Takanori Gomi and Hayato "Mach" Sakurai, who are the #1 and #2 Lightweights in the MMAWeekly Rankings.
Though it's not known who Diaz will be fighting, Gomi and Sakurai are two of the many possibilities. If Diaz does fight Gomi, it will not be for Gomi's Pride Lightweight Title, as Pride previously announced that Gomi's fight at Pride 33 will be a non-title fight.
Earlier this week, it was announced that Diaz signed with the Showtime-backed Elite Xtreme Combat, for which he is expected to make his debut in May. Diaz' contracts with Pride and EXC do not conflict with each other, as EXC has no problem with non-exclusive contracts, and Pride entered its negotiations with Diaz knowing that he was already under contract with EXC.
Regardless of who Diaz fights at Pride 33, he will be fighting at Pride's lightweight limit of 160 pounds. The lightweight limit for MMA in the United States is usually 155 pounds, but promotions like Pride also have the option of holding fights at "catch weights" such as 160 pounds.
Diaz normally fights at 170 pounds and is currently the #9-ranked 170-pound fighter in the MMAWeekly Rankings.
Diaz is a UFC veteran who won the last two fights on his UFC contract at UFC 62 and UFC 65, respectively. Diaz had been scheduled to face Thomas "Wildman" Denny on the Gracie Fighting Championships event on January 20th, but the event was postponed.
Pride Showdown Fedor vs Hunt Video
Pride Shockwave Results
Kiyoshi Tamura def. Ikuhisa Minowa via KO (soccer kicks) at 1:18 of Round 1.
Shinya Aoki def. Joachim Hansen via Submission (gogoplata) at 2:24 of Round 1.
Akihiro Gono def. Yuki Kondo via Split Decision after 2 Rounds.
Mauricio Rua def. Kazuhiro Nakamura via Unanimous Decision after 3 Rounds.
Gilbert Melendez def. Tatsuya Kawajiri via Unanimous Decision after 3 Rounds.
Kazuyuki Fujita def. Eldari Kurtanidze via Submission (strikes) at 2:09 of Round 1.
Takanori Gomi def. Mitsuhiro Ishida via TKO (strikes) at 1:14 of Round 1.
James Thompson def. Hidehiko Yoshida via TKO (strikes) at 7:50 of Round 1.
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira def. Josh Barnett via Unanimous Decision after 3 Rounds.
Fedor Emelianenko def. Mark Hunt via Submission (kimura) at 8:16 of Round 1.
Talk about Pride Shockwave here.
