Your Paragon of Virtue 0 Report post Posted April 23, 2004 Pride Grand Prix Total Elimination 2004 Preview: The eagerly awaited 16-man heavyweight tournament begins with a motley crew of long shot dark horses and legitimate contenders Pride Grand Prix Total Elimination 2004 Preview: The eagerly awaited 16-man heavyweight tournament begins with a motley crew of long shot dark horses and legitimate contenders. The event we?ve been salivating for is finally underway. The 2004 version of the heavyweight GP starts here and now with an interesting cast of characters. Some of them we know well and expected to be here. Some are colorful athletes that have been down on their luck and need something like the GP to rejuvenate their career. Much like 2001 GP champion Mark ?The Hammer? Coleman. Speaking of Coleman, is it just me or should the guy that won the last tournament be on the poster? How the heck did he lose his spot? Emelianenko (Russia), Nogueira (Brazil), even Filipovic (Croatia) I can understand but Herring? No disrespect to Heath but he really backed into this tournament. In my opinion, out of respect if for no other reason, Coleman should?ve been the American photo on the poster. But enough of that, let?s talk about who is fighting. As mentioned you have some of the top heavyweights in Pride right now including the ?big 3? in the division: former title holder (never beaten, just dethroned) Fedor Emelianenko, interim champion Antonio Rodrigo ?Minotauro? Nogueira and top contender Mirco ?Cro Cop? Filipovic taking part in this tournament. Another Pride veteran fighter that who has a legitimate shot to make the semi-final bracket is Murilo ?Ninja? Rua. And of course 2001 GP champion Mark ?The Hammer? Coleman is on board too. Then we have the ?hard luck? unit of Heath Herring, Kevin Randleman, Ron Waterman and Gan McGee. All good fighters but all are having hard times in Pride. The next group can described as ?interesting prospects? and have a shot to make some noise in the GP. This group, comprised of predominantly Japanese fighters, includes Hirotaka Yokoi, Yoshiki Takahashi, Naoya Ogawa and Sergei Kharitonov (obviously not Japanese). The final group I like to think of as the ?how did they talk you into this?? group and includes Brazilian pro-wrestler ?Giant? Silva, former sumo competitor ?Sentoryo? and K-1 standout Stefan Leko. Combined they have 1 MMA fight between them. Plugging in first-timers is not a new concept in Pride and there is always the possibility of an upset, but it is likely they are in the mix because they are both affordable and available to compete. The complete card looks like this: GP Tournament Bouts: ? Former PFC Heavyweight Champion Fedor Emelianenko battles PFC Grand Prix 2001 Champion Mark Coleman ? Interim PFC Heavyweight Champion Rodrigo Nogueira squares off against Hirotaka Yokoi of RINGS Japan ? Croatian kickboxer Mirko Filipovic takes on Hammer House wrestler Kevin Randleman ? Golden Glory fighter Heath Herring Pancrase veteran Yoshiki Takahashi meet in the ring ? Chute Boxe fighter Murilo Rua goes toe-to-toe with Russian Top Team fighter Sergei Kharitonov ? Inoki professional wrestler Naoya Ogawa faces K-1 kickboxer Stefan Leko ? Giant Brazilian professional wrestler Paulo Cesar Silva meets former sumo wrestling champion Henry Armstrong Miller ? S.L.O Kickboxing wrestler Gan McGee and EDIT: Semmy Schilt. Now we?ll look at each fighter?s accomplishments, assess their strengths, weaknesses, review some of their bouts against previous opponents, predict how they might beat their current opponent and in a special tournament-oriented addition of DOWN THE ROAD based on possible quarterfinal foes, forecast who might make for an entertaining adversary on the road to the title. Just thought I'd add the Sherdog update for this, it's pretty informative. So what are the bets on this one? I thought I'd lose the last UFC 47 card, but I got all of them right from what I remember, so I'm gonna go with some picks on this one, and see how I do. Fedor, Noguiera, Cro Cop, Leko, Silva, Kharitanov, Herring, Schilt. If the rumours are true, which I doubt, then I'd take Arona over Rampage. I suspect the Leko fight will be a work, since they're fighting a pro wrestling match later. That would be shitty. If Leko kicks his head into the first row like I expect, than I doubt it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Brush with Greatness 0 Report post Posted April 23, 2004 Exactly what time does this card start (central) and is it the regular alloted 3 hours? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RavishingRickRudo 0 Report post Posted April 23, 2004 The Tap Out Preview should be up either late today or tomorrow. I will say only this: the most in-depth coverage of the much-anticipated Giant Silva/Sentoryu WAR will be exclusive to TSM. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
razazteca 0 Report post Posted April 23, 2004 What is Giant Silva's record in MMA? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RavishingRickRudo 0 Report post Posted April 23, 2004 0-1 He fought Heath Herring at the New Years Eve show and lost to a rear naked choke. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
razazteca 0 Report post Posted April 23, 2004 Why does that match (Silva vs Sentoryu) seem like it belongs in 1994 UFC? Is Pride regressing to gimmick matches now? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RavishingRickRudo 0 Report post Posted April 23, 2004 They've always done them in one-shape or form. It's just with Bob Sapp, they're looking to clone that success (it seems). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Fear Report post Posted April 23, 2004 Why does that match (Silva vs Sentoryu) seem like it belongs in 1994 UFC? Is Pride regressing to gimmick matches now? Yes. They are following in K-1's footsteps. The fools. They've had stupid mis-matches in the past... and they had Takada, of course... but this is the first time they've booked a match THIS stupid, THIS ridiculous. In a years time, MMA fans will probably look at this match and say "THIS is where it wrong...". Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RavishingRickRudo 0 Report post Posted April 24, 2004 It's so fucking weird to see the UFC as the better company in the span of, what, 6 months?! At least, in terms of match-making. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
razazteca 0 Report post Posted April 24, 2004 Well UFC has the funny name gimmick fighters, how the hell did the fighter get the name CABBAGE? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RavishingRickRudo 0 Report post Posted April 24, 2004 Well, he looked like a cabbage-patch doll when he was younger and does the cabbage patch in the middle of the ring. Cabbage is a bit of a novelty - someone who can take shitloads of punishment - but he is a legit fighter. Giant Silva and Sentoryu are not. One could argue Shamrock/Kimo is a gimmick match, but that match isn't part of any tournament nor does it decide a contenders spot. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
razazteca 0 Report post Posted April 24, 2004 Would you consider Shamrock vs Kimo a special attraction grudge match between veterans who want to prove that they still "have it". I think it could be a "casual fan" interest match for the people who have no idea what Pride is but have seen several copies of old UFC tapes at video rental stores. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RavishingRickRudo 0 Report post Posted April 24, 2004 It's definitely trying to appeal to that kind of audience, as I've heard mainly groans from the "hardcore" fans. Kimo has a surprisingly strong following in the UFC, as the chants of "Kimo" in both his fights with Tank Abbott and Bob Sapp showed. Shamrock drew the biggest buyrate of the Zuffa era against Tito Ortiz, and probably has the most 'mainstream' recognition. Since I don't really like both guys, I'm not too into it, but I still want to see it because I think it will be an entertaining fight. It's a novelty fight, but not in the same regards as PRIDE (The UFC equivalent of Silva/Sentoryu, would be Big Show vs. Butterbean... and even then...) With "Payback" it is Come for the Shamrock/Kimo, stay for the Baroni/Tanner (at least, in the UFC's minds - they love them some Baroni), and Mir/Sylvia. It's good booking. Which is surprising, cause this is the same company that booked Hughes/Trigg as the ME of their 10th anniversary show. They've gotten really organized for 2004, setting up strong cards for UFC 46, 47, and now 48 with 49 being set up as well. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Your Paragon of Virtue 0 Report post Posted April 24, 2004 Mirko Cro Cop v. Kevin Randleman ___________________________________________________________ There were not many men who looked as dominant when they fought as when Mirko has this past year. He ended all of his fights in less than three minutes since coming to PRIDE as a full fledged MMA fighter. He was flashy, gaining a bit of cockiness along the way, talking about how he was going to be the first MMA Fighter to be both K1 champion and PRIDE HW Champion in the same year. The fact that he destroyed the high calibre of opponents that he faced only cemented this fact. We were all enamoured by "His Left Foot", as we tried not to blink in fear that we might miss the finish. Did I say all of his PRIDE fights? I meant all TWO of them. Did I say high calibre? I meant a broken down old fighter whom the sport has long passed (I hope I'm wrong, I really love Igor) and a wrestler whose not even great at that, and whose just *good* at everything. He didn't do anything to deserve the amount of hype that he had received during his initial undefeated run, and this was proven when he fought Antonio Noguiera, aka Minotauro, aka The Guy who just won't get KOed. And Cro Cop did try to KO him, but he just couldn't, and due to his suspect ground skills(something that K1 fighting really won't prepare you for, although getting run over by a truck prepares you to take in that punishment), he lost. Since that loss, Mirko has been taking fights in order to try and show that he's improved on the ground. He has fought a very tough wrestler in Ron H2O Waterman, and...no one else of note really. The point is that Mirko is focused too much on trying to show that he's great, instead of actually being great. He wanted to be the PRIDE Champion, but do it by doing what he did to be successful in K1. He wanted to show his improved ground skills, but he did by fighting a straight up wrestler who was clueless as to what he should do once he got to the ground. Unlike before, Cro Cop telling us he's improved immensely on the ground won't do it, he has to show us by hanging in there with the top guys on the ground, particularly the one that beat him. In this tournament, he will have the chance to do just that. _____________________________________________________________ Kevin Randleman is the ultimate case of being "all potential and not much else" in the world of MMA. He has world class wrestling skills and has good hands. That's a dangerous combination in MMA, yet he doesn't know how to use it. He seems to get hesitant and holds back. I can't explain it. I was pumped when I heard talking before his match at PRIDE Final Conflict. I expected him to go out and do what he said, that is tear through the LHW division. As usual, he flopped and when Bas Rutten, one of Kevin's biggest fans, told him that he didn't know why he seemed to hold back in the ring, Kevin gave him an equally uninformed answer: "I don't know why either." Kevin Randleman is a tough motherfucker. He emerged out of an abusive relationship as a kid and got out on his own. Upon crashing in his SUV the roof of his car ripped open, tearing the side of his head in the process, not to mention throw him out of the car with the engine on top of him. What does he do? Why he just throws it right back off. This guy has faced adversity in his life and has seemed to come out strong. So why can't he do that in MMA? He has had some generally boring fights, and the excitement is dictated by whomever he is fighting. He seems to tense up, and literally plays the LNP game while waiting for a Judge's decision. Fights that he should win in the first round, normally go to the end for a JD, which he sometimes loses. It seems that whenever he's the favourite, he fucks up big time. Kevin is a huge underdog here. Even if he gets past Cro Cop's wicked sprawl, he will not be able to finish from there, and Cro Cop can just as easily get back up. But "The Monster" will be training with his best friend and mentor Mark Coleman, who is also in the GP. How is that relevant? I don't know, because I don't see Kevin going past this round so I didn't feel like adding a little blurb on what he needs to prove, because I don't think he will. Even in losing though, if he manages to take it to Cro Cop and make things exciting, I would have to say that he would be one step further in becoming the Monster that should be sitting atop the LHW division. _______________________________________________________________ The question for this fight is "How long will Kevin keep Cro Cop on his back?", because that's his only hope to win the fight. I don't see it happening for very long though, let alone much at all because of Cro Cop's wicked sprawl. Knowing how cocky the guy is however, he might want to fight on the ground to "prove" something. Kevin has been talking about how much he's been training and how ready he is for this, but I'm hesitant to believe him since he's said that numerous times only to fall short. Cro Cop will win by KO via High Kick in the first round. Hopefully Kevin shows something though, he would be an interesting wrench in the division. I'm too lazy to provide real profiles, so I will link you to Sherdog where you can find it yourself lazy ass. Go to stats, than fighters or whatever Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Your Paragon of Virtue 0 Report post Posted April 24, 2004 Emilienenko Fedor v. Mark Coleman _______________________________________________________________ He walked into the octagon and tore up the competition, dominating everyone along the way in only his first night of Pro MMA competition. He popularized the Ground and Pound technique most wrestlers use today. Mark Coleman was the most dominant fighter the UFC had seen since Royce Gracie. He was gorilla strong and ended all of his fights very quickly, at an intense pace. Interestingly enough, these two factors hid what his strongest weakness was from us. It is well known that lots of muscles takes up lots of oxygen. Also, that it is much easier to go hard as Mark Coleman did when you know you will finish the fight in under three minutes, or not fight at all (a trend in tournaments that Mark Coleman has won). Eventually, you realize that gassing out in the ring is the worst thing that you can do, and everything that hurt before hurts like hell afterwards. "Believe me there is no worse feeling in the world than, being out there and being tired. Mark Kerr was in my corner against Maurice Smith, and the whole time he wanted to throw the towel in. *Intersplice clips of Maurice kicking Mark's ass* It's a horrible feeling..." - Mark Coleman, The Smashing Machine What has Mark Coleman done about this? Apparently he has worked on his striking since his loss to Nogueira years ago, but in his last fight with Don Frye I didn't notice much of anything. It was fairly boring to say the least., and he just took him down and pulled a Lay and Pray. Either way, upon winning the GP in 2000, Mark Coleman was once again a dominant heavyweight, and many thought that he'd be the contender for the first HW Title fight. Noguiera stopped him in a huge upset at the time, and coupled with the fact that he had many injuries he didn't fight for a year and a half. Is he back now, will he be able to defend his GP crown? He better be, because he will be facing a man who is the favourite for this competition, and someone who excels at all aspects of the fight game... _______________________________________________________________ Emilienenko Fedor is Mark Coleman with a vast set of submission skills. Emilienenko Fedor is Mark Coleman if he knew how to strike. Granted, Emilienenko Fedor is Mark Coleman if he was not as good at the takedown as he is now, but that's a small price to pay. With the most devastating GnP in the Heavyweight division, Emilienenko Fedor is Mark Coleman V 2.0. Fedor has earned all the hype he has gotten. He beat Gary at Gary's game, Noguiera at his game, and Herring at his. Sure, the ground game he uses tends to be the same, but he's never had to change it. If he hits like a motherfucker on the ground, why not keep it that way? He destroyed Gary on his feet, and that was before he started training with the Red Devil Club, notorious for their Kickboxing ability. Okay, I might be a tad biased here, but seriously now, those facts are arguable at least, definitive at best, and I'd say that they were closer to the latter. Fedor has credited Coleman in regards to the forming of his own GnP game. Is this just one of those things that fighters say? Probably, it's a nice compliment to have anyway though. You'll always hear Wanderlei Silva talk about how he trains the same for every fight, and he approaches it the same. Noguiera goes in with the same game plan as well. They are somehow proud of this fact. Sure, it works for them now, but will it always? It didn't for Noguiera, and the reason for that is that his opponent did NOT look at it the same as he did every fight. Fedor has one thing covered that very few underestimate in the ever evolving game of mixed martial arts; intelligence. He plans out for individual opponents because he knows that you cannot approach them all the same, he knows that every fighter has different strengths and weaknesses. He was asked to fight for the Title at PRIDE 24, but declined in order to better prepare for Noguiera. You think Nog had changed his gameplan? Obviously not, he looked at it much in the same way as he did all of his fights. It cost him. BIG. In the form of his head bouncing off the mat like five times. I also doubt Fedor's thumb was hurt, it might have been, but odds are he did it so that he could have apt time to prepare for a Cro Cop who would've approached it the same way he did his fight against Heath or Igor. People would have said that Fedor was ducking him, but if this were true I'd say that Fedor did Cro Cop the favour, as he lost in order to learn that this wasn't K1, along with the fact that he didn't have to suffer a beating to do it, but I digress. ________________________________________________________________ This is an old guard v. new guard kind of matchup, and that's what makes this the most interesting fight in the first round. It's the winner of the first GP vs. the favourite for the current one. It's definitely got the most interesting backstory, and will probably be the most telling. Will Fedor be able to handle Coleman's wrestling ability? He hasn't fought someone who was a better wrestler than he. Did Coleman learn from his mistakes in the past and improve his conditioning/striking? But I tell you, Fedor will beat Coleman. There's no doubt in my mind. On paper, Coleman has a chance to Lay and Pray, but I think that Fedor will knock him out standing before that has a chance to happen. His boxing skills make it easy for him to recover and defend the takedown, as he doesn't have a muay thai background that makes him commit (an advantage for once regarding standup skills). I say TKO Rd.1. Mark my words, Fedor will put Coleman on his back....in the same way Pete Williams did EDIT: Sherdog you lazy fucking ass Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Fear Report post Posted April 24, 2004 It's so fucking weird to see the UFC as the better company in the span of, what, 6 months?! At least, in terms of match-making. Agreed, but I'd say it's even less than 6 months (the MW GP was excellent, after all), maybe three. Since NYE. I'd point to the TV ratings for Bob Sapp/Akebono as being the main instigator of this madness that Pride appears to be suffering from. If only UFC had the same money DSE had. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RavishingRickRudo 0 Report post Posted April 24, 2004 http://thesmartmarks.com/artman/publish/article_1420.shtml ^^^^^ AHEM! *COUGH* *POINTS* Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RavishingRickRudo 0 Report post Posted April 24, 2004 November was when Pride had their best showing and UFC had one of their worst (in terms of relevance). Since then (which is 6 months ago), things have changed dramatically. Hence "in the span of 6 months". Just to clearify what I meant by that statement. I think that they rushed to get the NYE show out the gate and that hurt them as it has been a trend best shown with the GP, but by most accounts they still had the best show out of the 3. PRIDE 27 was a disaster though; at least in terms of my own personal interest. They were unable to get the promised unification bout between Fedor and Nog, and instead relied on Mark Kerr, Cro Cop and the "survival"/qualifying matches that didn't even count in retrospect. I don't think they are down for the count, it's just they need to have UFC-style long term booking... a year ago, had I said that PRIDE needs to be more like UFC, I would have shot myself. PRIDE has used freak show elements throughout their history - from Yarbourough vs. Takase to Shilt vs. Shoji to Sapp vs. Tamura - so I wouldn't exactly say their decision to put freaks in the GP is "out of character". Their methods are probably directly because of K-1, but inevitibly, it is because of the Japanese Audience. And I'd like to note that I'm well aware that I spell "Nogueira" "Noguiera"... it is my curse. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
razazteca 0 Report post Posted April 24, 2004 It's so fucking weird to see the UFC as the better company in the span of, what, 6 months?! At least, in terms of match-making. Agreed, but I'd say it's even less than 6 months (the MW GP was excellent, after all), maybe three. Since NYE. I'd point to the TV ratings for Bob Sapp/Akebono as being the main instigator of this madness that Pride appears to be suffering from. If only UFC had the same money DSE had. Akebono the famous sumo.........is'nt his rank high like Yokozuna or something had a fight with Bob Sapp? Was it worked and who won? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RavishingRickRudo 0 Report post Posted April 24, 2004 Not worked. Sapp won. I thought it was a pretty fun match but other folk blasted it... not technically sound, but fun Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Fear Report post Posted April 24, 2004 PRIDE has used freak show elements throughout their history - from Yarbourough vs. Takase to Shilt vs. Shoji to Sapp vs. Tamura - so I wouldn't exactly say their decision to put freaks in the GP is "out of character". Their methods are probably directly because of K-1, but inevitibly, it is because of the Japanese Audience. I wouldn't class those matches as freak shows, just silly mismatches. Takase, Schilt and Tamura are all good fighters thrown in there with guys much bigger/smaller than them, just for shits and giggles. No doubt Pride has done loads of silly mismatches before. But this is the first time (to the best of my memory) they've put together a match where neither guy has any experience whatsoever, and the ONLY reason they're booked is because of their physical size! That's the sole reason they're booked on what was supposed to be the greatest tournament in MMA history. This isn't little talented fighter vs. big huge untalented monster. This is monster vs. monster. And it's sickening. And I'm positive that the ludicrous 47.whatever rating that Sapp/Akebono did was what instigated it. Before that match, you had Sapp vs. little good fighters, which was silly and annoying. But that gimmick is apparently past it's sell by date, the new cool gimmick is two lumbering giants stinking up the ring. K-1's gone down the shitter, now Pride looks set to follow. Unless I'm jumping to wild conclusions, and this match is just a one off. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AmericanDragon 0 Report post Posted April 24, 2004 It's basically taking a really fat guy and making him fight a really tall guy. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RavishingRickRudo 0 Report post Posted April 24, 2004 While Silva/Sentoryu is a stretch for PRIDE, I think it is still in the same realm. Freak Shows have an appeal other than "I want to see who will win" - it's a car crash where you drive by and have to look and see. The fights I mentioned represent that and that is the appeal. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AmericanDragon 0 Report post Posted April 24, 2004 Does anyone know exactly when the event takes place? Not the ppv, the actual event. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lei Tong 0 Report post Posted April 24, 2004 I don't bother w/ James Hirth's event previews anymore. Most are copy & paste jobs from old article, and yet he doesn't evn have the smarts to correct information that's been wrong for years now. Also, don't buy the hype of Fedor's submission arsenal. I wouldn't put him in the top 15 of HW submission artists. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest neodragonsan Report post Posted April 25, 2004 Does anyone know exactly when the event takes place? Not the ppv, the actual event. By Japanese time, 4 pm on the 25th...or around 2 am Eastern. Same day as the PPV. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
The Ghost of bps21 0 Report post Posted April 25, 2004 I'm reading the spoiler on the observer site. I'll put this in spoiler text: OH MY FUCKING GOD. You'll see what I mean Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AmericanDragon 0 Report post Posted April 25, 2004 This is in response to the previous post. Hahahahaha, I saw the animated gif too. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest HungryJack Report post Posted April 25, 2004 that is INSANE. Who'da thunk that would happen? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Your Paragon of Virtue 0 Report post Posted April 26, 2004 I have to say that I regret reading the spoilers. Shit woulda been so much cooler and more markworthy had I watched it without knowing what happened. That is the *last* time I ever read the spoilers, no matter how bored I may be at the time or how anxious I might be of the event, because the viewing experience is much worse. Folks, that match and the card in general really *is* that unpredictable. 'tis the world of MMA. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
