Pride OWGP **SPOILERS**

PiZaRR-0

Much betteR than i thought it would be.

Barnett/Alex was excellent, Alex's standout was savage early on, his boxing is brilliant, especially his movement. Barnett seems to be in good form, turned into a bit of a cardio battle at the end. Barnett was smart goin for the body. He threw a lovely left hook to the body, overhand right and right leg kick. If Alex cardio was better who knows, but Barnetts keylock as the end was nasty, however alex was wrecked.

Lookin forward to round 2!!!

dlofnep

Barnett had a 6 pack!!

Thompson v Fujita made me cringe. I hate watching him fight.

Kosaka was a compete warrior. He kept going at Hunt even after getting clattered by hooks left right and centre. Mediocre event but TK's performance stood out.

PiZaRR-0

Apparently is TK's last fight. Think thats why he was gettin so pumped up just before round 2. Also the fact that he was gettin smacked around the place might also have been a reason to go mad!

Good matchups for round 2 would be

Fujita vs. Hunt
Cro Cop vs Yoshida
Nog vs Werdum
Fedor vs Barnett

Then a possible Semi of

Cro Cop vs Nog
Fedor vs Hunt

Then, i would love this

Cro Cop vs Fedor 2!!

batman_oh

some good matches there, alex shuda had barnett i thought, he was owning him stand up
verdum did well to beat overeem too
kosaka was a legend against hunt, and as for janes thompson, hmm, what a sack, although he has improved slightly

Clive

batman_oh wrote:

as for janes thompson, hmm, what a sack, although he has improved slightly

Say what? He dominated the standup and even put one of the best HW wrestlers in Pride on his back. He completely shut Fujita down for eight minutes until he gassed.

dlofnep

Thompson looked clumsy.. The only thing he had for him on Fujita was size and strength. I smiled when he got dropped. yeah he's worked on his takedown defense and his standup but he still looks too clumsy and I don't like watching him fight at all. I think there are far more deserving heavyweights to be in Pride than James Thompson.

batman_oh

he gets by on his sheer size
punches are innacurate and kicks sucked, he is incredibly clumsy but his knees and his take down defence looked decent
he has improved
he cud get good, the potential is there and because hes a fan favourite hell get the chance too
throw out that zulu chap tho

Clive

Fujita destroyed Sapp who is bigger and stronger than Thompson, so I don't think it's fair to say he's just relying on that.

batman_oh

ok maybe im goin a little bit too much by his past efforts
he is goin the right way anyway, improved much over his last efforts

dlofnep

Clive wrote:

Fujita destroyed Sapp who is bigger and stronger than Thompson, so I don't think it's fair to say he's just relying on that.

If Fujita had of standing with Sapp he would of being beat down the same too. Fujita didn't try for many takedowns in his fight with Thompson, I expected alot more.

Thompson has no skill or ability. All he has is size and a little bit of mma training to make his size work for him. In truth, he's awful and does not deserve to be in Pride. Him & Zulu should fight in a can leaves town match.

Clive

Fujita went for four full shots in the first minute and level changed looking for an opening at least the same amount again.

Amazingly, since he has "no skill or ability" Thompson managed to not get taken down and dominate the standup and clinch.

There are plenty of criticisms you could make of him, but saying "all he has is size and a little bit of mma training" is ridiculous.

As for deserving to be in Pride, there's no qualification, no league tables, DSE is a business and they put in the fighters people want to see. If he's honestly "awful" then why did it take Fujita the guts of ten minutes to finish him? There's not enough of a size difference to account for that unless Fujita too is out of his league.

dlofnep

Clive wrote:

Fujita went for four full shots in the first minute and level changed looking for an opening at least the same amount again.

Amazingly, since he has "no skill or ability" Thompson managed to not get taken down and dominate the standup and clinch.

There are plenty of criticisms you could make of him, but saying "all he has is size and a little bit of mma training" is ridiculous.

As for deserving to be in Pride, there's no qualification, no league tables, DSE is a business and they put in the fighters people want to see. If he's honestly "awful" then why did it take Fujita the guts of ten minutes to finish him? There's not enough of a size difference to account for that unless Fujita too is out of his league.

Not enough size difference? What are you crazy? Thompson towered over him and had about 40lbs on him. Not to mention, when you fight someone like fujita and he doesn't try setup a shot throwing a few punches firstly then it's not going to be hard to stuff the takedown.. Thompson saw it a mile off.

Yes there is not set rules for introducing a fighter to Pride, but I as a fan don't want to see him fight.

It's also not hard to dominate standup when you have a significant size and reach advantage. Combined with the fact that Fujita isn't the greatest of strikers, it doesn't say much for Thompson.

Clive

So you're saying that a 15-20 kilo weight advantage in the heavyweight category is enough for someone who "has no skill or ability" and is "awful" to dominate someone at an elite level until they gas?

Somebody call Japan and tell them I want Kid Yamamoto and Gomi!

when you fight someone like fujita and he doesn't try setup a shot throwing a few punches firstly then it's not going to be hard to stuff the takedown...

Didn't work for Sapp now did it?

It's also not hard to dominate standup when you have a significant size and reach advantage.

Didn't work for Sapp now did it?

PiZaRR-0

Somebody call Japan and tell them I want Kid Yamamoto and Gomi!

I dunno, Gomi's probably on the chubby side now, eating lots of food cause he's depressed!

Thompson isnt as muck at Batman is making out. He would have won that fight if he'd listened to his corner. If he had of stayed down and tried to aim some of those strikes he may have done some damadge. As soon as he stood up, that was it, game over.

His kicks are terrible though seriously, at one stage i thought he was takin a step forward then realised he was kickin!!!

He's a nice chap too, he was over at one of the Rings, when BJ was there.

As regards sapp, i'll stick my neck out and say sapp has a crap chin compared to thompson. When sapp gets hit he turtles up a bit.

Thompson should fight giant silva though, now that would be a skillfull MMA fight.

Last point, thompson has improved loads.

dlofnep

Clive wrote:

So you're saying that a 15-20 kilo weight advantage in the heavyweight category is enough for someone who "has no skill or ability" and is "awful" to dominate someone at an elite level until they gas?

Fujita is not exactly at elite level, he's a decent heavyweight for sure. Size is very important - Thompson obviously has MMA training, so he's worked on his takedown defence and standup - But his standup is nowhere near being great and his reach helped him "dominate the standup", combined with the fact that Fujita is not exactly a K-1 calibre striker, it's not really hard.

Clive wrote:

Somebody call Japan and tell them I want Kid Yamamoto and Gomi!

What has kid or gomi have to do with anything?

Clive wrote:

Didn't work for Sapp now did it?

Sapp didn't strike with Fujita.. Fujita applied his trade and took him down. If they had of traded strikes, Fujita would of fallen for sure.

Thompson stuffed some takedown attempts, I'll give you that - But he's not a skilled fighter and will never be a threat to the heavyweight division. He gets into Pride on his appearance alone.

Valmont

Fujita is an absolute monster, anyone see him rock Fedor? and he absolutely destroyed sapp, I think Bob Sapp is pure entertainment but he got mauled in that fight

Werdums kimura from his back was sweet, don't see much of them in Pride or the UFC.

Nog vs. Cro Cop 2 is going to be awesome (if it happens), it's been 3 years since they fought so it'll be interesting to see how cro cop's BJJ defence has improved

also I hope cro cop wins coz i definitely don't want to see nog vs. fedor 3 (or 4), it'll just go the same way as last time

I was looking forward to coleman in this, too bad

padraic mchale

where did you see this event? Do Bravo do it or do you watch it online

padraic mchale

oops i see the other post now with the links

damo

wow - the second round is looking tasty, i reckon anyone out of fedor, crocop, barnett & nog can definately win it, and i think hunt, werdum, yoshida & fujita all have a chance too, total elimination is gonna be a great card