PRIDEFC: Critical Countdown 2005

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

Thursday, June 23, 2005

TOKYO, Japan – The bout order has been announced for PRIDE FIGHTING’S next event, CRITICAL COUNTDOWN 2005.

 

FIGHTCARD:

(Shown in order from first to last)

 

Sergei Kharitonov (Russia) vs. Pedro Rizzo (Brazil)

Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (Brazil) vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (Brazil) *

Igor Vovchanchyn (Ukraine) vs. Alistair Overeem (Holland) *

Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic (Croatia) vs. Ibragim Magomedov (Russia)

Makoto Takimoto (Japan) vs. Kiyoshi Tamura (Japan)

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (Brazil) vs. Pawel Nastula (Poland)

Kazushi Sakuraba (Japan) vs. Ricardo Arona (Brazil) *

Wanderlei Silva (Brazil) vs. Kazuhiro Nakamura (Japan) *

 

* Tournament Match (Participants and Matches Subject to Change)

 

PRIDE FIGHTING’S 2005 Middleweight Grand Prix Tournament spans three events … TOTAL ELIMINATION (opening round), CRITICAL COUNTDOWN (Second Round) and FINAL CONFLICT (Semi-Finals and Finals). The date for FINAL CONFLICT will be announced soon.

 

CRITICAL COUNTDOWN 2005 premieres on North American pay per view via iNDEMAND, DIRECTV, DISH NETWORK, UrbanXtra, TVN1, VU!, and Viewer’s Choice Canada on July 1st at 10:00pm EST, 7:00pm PST (including a countdown show at 9:30pm EST, 6:30pm PST). For additional replay times, please contact your pay per view provider.

[Dangerous A 0]

I am thinking Silva and Vovchanchyn will be in the finals of the GP. My darkhorse is "Shogun" Rua. Rog Nog may also spoil it some. I have zero faith in the native guys in this show to go all the way.

 

Haven't seen Magomedov fight, but I heard he shouldn't be taken lightly. Kharitonov v. Rizzo should be damn good as well. Another great Pride show on paper. (I say that because the last show was great on paper, but ended up a bit disappointing. That's the trade off for legitimacy)

[AboveAverage484 0]

I'm not sure about Magomedev. He has only two losses, one against Gilbert Yvel in his first fight, and another against Travis Wiuff, who is no slouch either. However, all twelve of his wins have come against relative no names. I guess time will tell.

[Lei Tong 0]

"So far Ibragim has been submitted by a striker & outstruck by a wrestler. By this logic, Mirko should win via a boring lay & pray JD." -Mr. Blue

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

It's true, getting choked out by Gilbert Yvel is EMBARRASSING. I would ask how he deserves a shot at a bonafide top five HW, but this is PRIDE we're talking about.

 

Only good thing about this match will be the potential for a brawl after the fight, or big interview/staredown. Fedor will be cornering whatshisname, and after seeing his boy get taken out by High kick, hopefully he will be fired up for the eventual post match segment with the two. Of course, he's only been his boy for like a year, so who knows if there is any connection. Ah well.

 

I am suprised this is that early on the show though, thought it would be the last of the HW matches at least.

 

I'll be the first (and probably last) to say it: I think Sakuraba matches up really well with Arona, and could easily see him do to him what he does to every other BJJ guy he faces. I know Arona is a lot bigger than him, but when it comes to pure wrestling ability obviously Saku is better. Will he win? Probably not, but he has a better shot with Arona than with any of the other guys. If his body isn't broken down from getting his ass kicked all those times, he could easily pull this off.

 

I think Lil Nog is gonna beat Shogun, on the feet at that. His pure boxing technique is better than Shogun's slaphappy flailing style. I still have to see that Vladdy match though to see just how bad he was roughed up. Why hasn't Vladdy dropped to LHW? He's only like 215, that's less than what a lot of LHW fight at.

 

Vov will pound out Overreem on the ground I think, and Silva will KO (or carry, I don't know) Nak.

 

Sergei got the worse end of the striking game with Noguiera, the only chance he has on the feet with Pedro is if he is fucked up mentally or if a wind blows through the ring and cuts his face. He would be smart to use his sambo and pound him out I think. He could probably do it since Pedro is not much off of his back. He generally just likes to stand back up. But who knows, maybe all those visits to the sports psychologist will pay off and he will KO Sergei. I just don't think Sergei is stupid enough to stand with him. If he does to strike rather than set up a takedown, he will be knocked out.

 

The Favourites should go over in the other three fights. I can't say I'm looking forward to this card much. I have become more of a fan of the UFC in the past year really, and this card doesn't really pull me back. I will be psyched up for the August card though, no doubt. The LHW Finals plus Cro Cop vs. Fedor and I assume Josh Barnett will be back. With UFC 54, August looks to be an amazing month for MMA.

 

Mauro Ranallo also sucks, like really bad, like worse than Mike Goldberg and Jim Brown and that Kickboxing chick from UFC 1 put together. Okay not that bad, but he really sucks. Worst one of the bunch right now I think. Worse even than Damon the Dog. The only guy that I heard that was worse was that worthless fuck on the IFC Tournament show.

[Guest Brian]

The LHW Finals plus Cro Cop vs. Fedor and I assume Josh Barnett will be back. With UFC 54, August looks to be an amazing month for MMA.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Don't forget Ultimate Fight Night (or whatever the free show on Spike is called).

 

I've got mixed feelings about this. The only thing I have high expectations for right now is Nog/Shogun. I think Arona/Sak is going to be good on the ground, and it should be, but I have this weird vibe about Sak's ability to really bring it. Overeem and Volchanchyn feels like a mis-match to me, with the height and reach of Overeem, meaning that it could be a good ground and pound, but how competitive will be if it goes there. Silva should run over Nok, and that should be good, but only as good as it can be. So after last show and the way guys came out, I just can't tell what to expect.

[AboveAverage484 0]

It's true, getting choked out by Gilbert Yvel is EMBARRASSING. I would ask how he deserves a shot at a bonafide top five HW, but this is PRIDE we're talking about.

 

Well, it was only his first fight.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

 

I think what really makes it funny is that they both have this serious expression on their faces.

[Guest Brian]

I'll provide some spoiler from what I've read, re-editing this at time. Thanks to Sherdog and MMAWeekly forums.

Rizzo went down, KO, 1st. Dominate by Sergei.

 

Rua vs. Nog looks like a barnburner through the first. Lots of slugging, lots of Rua takedowns, Nog sub attempts. Seems pretty even. Sounds like the ref was very ready to stand these guys up. I think Nog has the edge. Both guys have ahd their chins tested.

 

Round two ended with a cut over Nog's eye. Shogun has total control from the clinch with his takedowns. Nog's had a bunch of triangle/armbar attempts but Shogun doesn't seem to be in danger.

 

Round 3 just ended. Shogun had Nog really rocked. Nog bleeding throughout, had to get it cleaned mid-round.

 

Unanimous Decision for Shogun. Sounds like an excellent fight. Maybe worth the price of admission alone.

 

Holy SHIT. Overeem came out like a man of fire, set up his guillotine and submitted Igor in under 90 seconds. I'm stunned.

 

I'm still reeling from Igor losing. CroCop vs. Magomedov is up.

 

Mirko dominated the stand-up, finished him up with body kick to the liver (or broken rib).

 

Cro cop called out Takada and Fedor. Shit is going down.

 

Nothing major in Tamura/Takimoto so far. Tamura's hurting him with low kicks and a good frontkick, Taki got in a few takedowns.

 

Very inactive second, all standing. Taki was rocked once. Looks to be passable at best.

 

Doesn't sound like much of a fight. Said to be boring. Taki pushed it in the third a little, got Tamura's nose to go, but nothing of note. Decision for Tamura, unanimous.

 

Nastula and Noguiera sounded active at first, but Nastula gassed and Noguiera was able to mount and reign down the punches.

 

Round one of Sakuraba and Arona sounds like a lot of feeling out, slow to start. Lots of knees from Arona, continues into the second. Saku is bleeding from the ear, had to check it in the last minute. Ends with both guys on the ropes.

 

Arona gets in a couple of soccer kicks, Saku's got a golf ball sized lump (or two) covering his eye, and he's a bloody mess. Had to stop it, corner threw in the towel.

 

Silva stopped Nakamura at 5:24. Nakamura took off his gi mid-round and Silva pounces, which doesn't make complete sense to me but that's what they both have.

 

So ends the show. Sounds decent, but below expectations for most again. I'll post what Meltz says later on.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

Believe me now?

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

Oh c'mon now, that last line was a spoiler. I now know for sure the result of one match.

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

Spoiler re: Rizzo-Kharitanov

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HOLY FUCKING SHIT! I don't know what happened there, but even as Sergei kept tagging him, I expected Rizzo to eventually counterpunch his way to a KO. VERY impressive win for Sergei, and while Rizzo isn't the marquee win he used to be, the fact that he KO'ed him standing while bringing and getting Rizzo to trade with him, just makes it that much better. I want to see him fight a healthy Barnett in August, or any contender for that matter, along with the LHW finals and Cro Cop-Fedor, should make for an awesome card. A rematch with Nog in the future would be fun too. Rua-Overreem and Silva-Arona looks like the way to go, all I can say is that at least now Silva won't have one easy match on the most important night of the tournament, so people will (hopefully) stop bitching if he wins again. I think for sure Chute Boxe will be seperated, while I think they'll make Arona take on Shogun, but I'd much rather Shogun-Overreem. Overall this card wasn't that great much like most expected, save for Shogun's match, though I haven't seen Arona or Wand's matches. I honestly think those will just be squashes. Somewhat fun in Nastula/Noguiera and Rizzo-Kharitanov, but don't hold up in the long run.

 

 

 

 

 

 

SPOILER FINISH

[Styles 0]

OK so for those of us who don't like spoilers, can anyone who read them sum up if this show sounds worth it or not? Was it a disappointment like the last Pride, or did this exceed expectations?

[Guest Brian]

Semi-Spoiler for Slapnuts:

 

 

 

It depends. Meltzer says people are saying Shogun and Nog had a FOTY. But nothing else sounds worth it at all. I'm just going to pick it up on DVD unless my brother and his friends want to see Wand fight. I've got to make it up to my girl for staying up posting spoiler on here until three in the morning, though.

[Guest Brian]

Oh yeah, If you don't want to be spoiled, don't go to sherdog. They have spoilers right on the front page.

[Styles 0]

Oh yeah, If you don't want to be spoiled, don't go to sherdog. They have spoilers right on the front page.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Yeah, too late for me, luckily the match they spoiled was a pretty obvious one for me anyway.

 

Cro Cop over whatshiname via TKO