PRIDE Grand Prix Tournament 2003

February 3, 2003

Puroresufan.com/njpw has the PRIDE Tournament pencilled in for August 2003. Hopefully this means we get to see some matches we haven't seen before, such as Nogueria and Silva, or something to that effect. Tournaments are always cool in MMA because anybody can end up fighting anybody. Hopefully they won't have goofy stips like no time limit (Royce/Sakuraba).

This might be the first PPV, MMA OR wrestling, that I'm going to shill the cash out for.

February 3, 2003

They're doing it like the last one aren't they? With the first round being one show and the rest of the tourney being the next?

February 4, 2003

I hope they show it on eurosport for free again!!! :lol:

Chunk · February 4, 2003

I hope they show it on eurosport for free again!!!

So do I. I didnt find out about the last free UFC show, until after it had been on.

If it is shown on Euro sport, someone should post the details here first. That way, fools like me wont miss it

ChUnK!

February 5, 2003

They are doing two Grand Prix Tournaments this year, a Heavyweight and a Middleweight.

Both tournaments are being done in two parts...an opening round and a final round, just like the original Pride Grand Prix won by Mark Coleman.

February 5, 2003

Man...I kind of wish they were doing one tournament again.

Nothing cooler than Sakuraba, as a middleweight, fighting Vovchanchyn to a draw after going 90 minutes with Gracie.

February 5, 2003

That was great, no doubt.

I think the problem is, DSE is starting to see that putting their Middleweight guys in the ring with Heavyweights can damage their credibility if they lose.

I know the loss to Cro-Cop hurt Saku's stature in some people's eyes, and a lot of fans wish he's stick to fighting guys in his own weight division.

In my opinion, PRIDE would be wise to go with the THREE weight division format that they are rumored to.

Lightweight, Middleweight and Heavyweight.

I'm not saying I'd like to see them go to the lengths that UFC did, because in the UFC, if a guy has a good shit, he shifts divisions. They have what, 6 now?

I KNOW Zuffa HAD to do that to get licensed and back on PPV, so it was probably worth it, but I still think that many championships dillute their meaning.

3 simple divisions would be the way to go, IMO. That way, guys can fight fighters their own size, and avoid injuries.

Maybe once a year, they could have an open-weight division PPV, like they do in the ADCC, or the old UFC "David vs. Goliath" tournament.

February 6, 2003

Well, after looking at the past few PRIDE events, these look to be the fighters in the running for tournament selections. Note: Otsuka, Yamamoto, et. al. you have to include, for the simple reason they keep coming back no matter how many times they get their asses beat.

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira

Don Frye

Vanderlei Silva

Bob Sapp

Kevin Randleman

Heath Herring

Murilo Ninja

Semmy Schilt

Kiyoshi Tamura

Daijiro Matsui

Norihisa Yamamoto

Alexander Otsuka

Hidehiko Yoshida

Rodrigo Gracie

Fedor Emelianenko

Anderson Silva

Ricardo Arona

Igor Vovchanchyn

Mario Sperry

Quinton Jackson

Dan Henderson

Kazushi Sakuraba

Alex Steibling

Mirko Cro Cop

Guy Mezger

Gary Goodridge

Jerrel Venetiaan

Makes you wonder how they will divide the heavyweights and middleweights, since there seems to be an abundance of the former.

February 6, 2003

FUCK!!!!! I did it again! My brother needs to sign his ass out when he's done, cuz I just posted using his name, so bps if you want to delete that post do it, cuz my bro has never posted a MMA or wrestling post for that matter.