Pride Open Weight GP, Part II

[size]

These boutes will be on July 1. Remember, Fedor pulled out due to a hand injury and was replaced by Silva.

Second Round Fights:
Mirko Cro Cop vs. Hidehiko Yoshida
Wanderlei Silva vs. Kazuyuki Fujita
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Fabricio Werdum
Josh Barnett vs. Mark Hunt


I am excited about seeing these fights. :woohoo:

 

[flytrapcan]

Shiat I never heard about Fedor, damn man keeps getting hurt. Yeah lookslike a good line up.

 

[Grassroots082]

Might be jumping the gun, but Cro Cop vs Wandy Part II. Hmmm Fujita is a big dude, I think he could put up a fight against Wandy. I think he could shake off a bat to the face, great chin.

 

[Sir Savage]

How do they pick who's going to fight who? Is it random drawing or something?

 

[jas123]

How do they pick who's going to fight who? Is it random drawing or something?

I think you could vote on the matchups on the Japanese version of the Pride site. Not sure if this was the only determining factor though.

I'm picking:

Wandy in the planet of the apes match
Cro Cop
Nog
Barnett

 

[size]

I think all of these fights have potential to be great.
The one I find the least exciting is the Nog vs Werdum b/c I just do not see how Werdum can beat Nog.
Barnett vs Hunt, I think will be really interesting.

 

[Alexander]

I think you could vote on the matchups on the Japanese version of the Pride site. Not sure if this was the only determining factor though.

I'm picking:

Wandy in the planet of the apes match
Cro Cop
Nog
Barnett

Yep, that's how I see it too. If it pans out like that I'd love to see Nog/Barnett and Wandy/Crocop, and then Nog/Crocop final.

 

[pistonpump]

the k1 mark hunt?

 

[size]

the k1 mark hunt?

Yes. In Pride, he has wins over CroCop and Wanderlei Silva both via decision. With his head of grantie, he is always fun to watch.

 

[pistonpump]

id love to see him full contact outside of k1. must be entertaining....i hear crocrop's name alot but cant say i have ever seen him before. im going to look him up.

 

[Ianhockey91]

Wand vs. Fujita is going to be a war! Tough one for silva though, very tough one.

 

[size]

Barnett's plan against Hunt: "Just win, baby! It’s pretty obvious, he’s a striker, he’s gonna keep it on the feet. I won’t say I’m a 'grappler' necessarily but I’m gonna put him on his back, look for the submission or try and pick him up and see if he can take all his weight on his head."

Should be fun to watch.

 

[Ianhockey91]

This should get you going for it

[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7QdcIchKR8&eurl="]YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.[/nomedia]

 

[Alexander]

WTF? What's up with the KKK and MLK in the video? Fedor's not even in the GP, but I liked that part. Great video all in all, just a few strange parts.

 

[Alexander]

Ian, who's your pick for Wand/Fujita? I gotta go with Wand.

 

[size]

What a strange clip, it confused me.

So hard to pick but here are mine:
CroCop, Fujita, Nogueira, and Hunt

Only one I am confident in is Nogueira.

 

[Alexander]

Crocop Wand Noguiera Barnett
Crocop Noguiera
Noguiera

 

[Rodja]

I am picking Wandy for this simple reason: he will not gas like Shamrock and Ken was owning Fujita before his "heart" incident. Also, Fujita has not faced an aggressive striker like Wandy before.

 

[Rodja]

I gotta go with Barnett over Hunt, I think Josh has trimmed the fat in Big Bear with Tito and Rampage and adjusted his gameplan, and Hunt has not done either, not that he could change much other than the fat this soon.

Wandy claims his striking has improved from new pro boxing coaching, gotta go with him also.

I would go with Barnett based on how easily Hunt can be taken down; Wandy did it on command and Barnett is actually a wrestler. Hopefully it is not a LnP match though.

 

[jas123]

Here's a link to two of the fights from the owgp (Hunt/Barnett and CC/Yoshida) if anyone's interested. Obviously, this contains "Spoilers".

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

 

[kwyckemynd00]

WTF? What's up with the KKK and MLK in the video? Fedor's not even in the GP, but I liked that part. Great video all in all, just a few strange parts.

Do you speak Japanese? I know I don't, so it looks confusing to me...maybe it would make more sense if we could speak / write in japanese. lol

 

[Pit Bull]

results and pics here:

MMA WEEKLY - Your #1 Source for Daily MMA News, Interviews, Multimedia, and More

 

[Alexander]

Silva really punished Fujita. Fujita did seem fine afterwards, which is amazing. Only time Fujita has ever really been damaged was when Fedor gave him the liver kick, hook to jaw, rear naked all in 5 seconds. He was seriously f*cked up after that, had me worried. Pretty great night of fights, I don't know why Alistair's corner threw the towel in? I doubt it will happen, but I'd really like to see Wand take the tournament.

 

[Dr Liftalot]

Silva really punished Fujita. Fujita did seem fine afterwards, which is amazing. Only time Fujita has ever really been damaged was when Fedor gave him the liver kick, hook to jaw, rear naked all in 5 seconds. He was seriously f*cked up after that, had me worried. Pretty great night of fights, I don't know why Alistair's corner threw the towel in? I doubt it will happen, but I'd really like to see Wand take the tournament.

Allistar had a Neck injurie*(aka the tape on his back/shoulders/neck) so he was like a fish out of water on the ground.

 

[jas123]

How did big Nog look at 244? More powerful or slower .....

I think CC/Silva and Barnett/Nog would be the best matchups for the next round.

 

[Ianhockey91]

How did big Nog look at 244? More powerful or slower .....

I think CC/Silva and Barnett/Nog would be the best matchups for the next round.

A little slower and not himslef bc he was fighting werdum and naturally would want to stay off the ground.

 

[Beowulf]

I was just watching those Youtube clips. Seeing the review, it did look like Takahashi was out before hitting the mat, or at least stunned to the point of bein defenseless. Regardless, it was a quick stop. OTOH, Silva was teeing up multiple soccer kicks, and Fujita was doing nothing to protect himself.

 

[Beowulf]

results and pics here:

MMA WEEKLY - Your #1 Source for Daily MMA News, Interviews, Multimedia, and More

Hey Pit, are you a member at mmaweekly? Any thoughts on if it is worth signing up? $5/month is pretty cheap.

 

[Alexander]

I was just watching those Youtube clips. Seeing the review, it did look like Takahashi was out before hitting the mat, or at least stunned to the point of bein defenseless. Regardless, it was a quick stop. OTOH, Silva was teeing up multiple soccer kicks, and Fujita was doing nothing to protect himself.

What does OTOH mean? What do you mean Fujita was doing nothing to protect himself? Fujita was wearing Silva down with skull shots to Silva's fists and shins. Yeah, Fujita rarely defends himself, he just takes the shots, and few people can put him away. Fujita's always fun to watch, if you can check out his fights with Kerr, Shamrock, Takayama, Sapp, Fedor, and a few others. Its always a war when Fujita is fighting.

 

[Alexander]

Oh, On The Other Hand I guess?

 

[Beowulf]

OTOH=on the other hand.

I just watched it on Youtube, so the quality was horrendous, but it looked like in the final onslaught Fujita was getting pounded and was basically just trying to stand up and turn his back. I saw at least 3-4 soccer kicks to the head, but like I said, the quality sucked, so maybe they weren't all landing.

 

[size]

Fujita is amazing. The amount of damage he can take is astounding. I want to see a Fujita vs Hunt.

 

[Alexander]

Fujita is amazing. The amount of damage he can take is astounding. I want to see a Fujita vs Hunt.

Definitely would love to see that fight. I'd have to go with Hunt. Fujita can take huge damage, but he can't dish out that much, except against Sapp.

 

[Alexander]

I'm not picking on Beowolf, just trying to make a joke about Fujita's ridiculous skull. I'm with you on Beowolf being a good non-TUF newb. These guys are few and far between so I'm glad he's into MMA and posting. Hunt does need some serious work on the ground. I don't understand why Cro-cop didn't take him down and pound him in there fight. I guess it was a macho thing, wanting to prove he's the better stand-up guy.

 

[Beowulf]

I want to see Hunt get some groundgame before he takes on anymore of the upper eschelon of Pride that will "Barnett" him otherwise.

Don't pick on Beowulf, Alexander, remember he's new to this, one of those good non-TUf noobs, poor guy is reliant on Youtube for the latest action.

Beo, do you use P2P? if so, hit me with a PM at the same name at the Avant Forum , and I'll give you an invite to a private MMA/K-1/Boxing tracker with a closed membership that puts the full latest events up in DVD and Xvid just a few hours after they are shown.

If you don't want it, maybe Alexander or Rodja will use it, but they are probably already hooked up.

I have no idea what P2P is, but I'll definitely take the offer. Thanks, bro!

Pick away, I like learning

As for the beating Fujita took: was it the piss poor quality, or was he really getting hit that much? And does a ref actually take a fighters skull into consideration when calling a fight?

The second question is a real question. Newb I am

 

[Beowulf]

PM sent

 

[Alexander]

I have no idea what P2P is, but I'll definitely take the offer. Thanks, bro!

Pick away, I like learning

As for the beating Fujita took: was it the piss poor quality, or was he really getting hit that much? And does a ref actually take a fighters skull into consideration when calling a fight?

The second question is a real question. Newb I am

He was really getting hit that much, and then some. I think the ref does take into consideration a fighters history in regards to being able to take a beating. Fujita took about 10 shots that would have put anyone else out, with the exception of Hunt and Nog.

 

[size]

On Hunt, I don't think he'll ever have a decent sprawl with those fat stubby legs.He was a puncher and low kicker almost exclusively in K-1,I personally never saw him throw a high kick, he's probably even less flexible now than he was then. He should damn well try though if he wants to stay in MMA.

I have seen Hunt throw a high kick to the head. I will try to find a fight clip for you.


Hunt was dominated by Barnett. I wrongly anticipated Barnett standing with him as Barnett stood with Aleks for some time to trade. I assumed he would take that route again, smartly he did not. Once on the ground, Hunt was completely outclassed.

Silva vs Fujita was a good fight. Silva came out with so much intensity, Fujita tried to match it but failed. The "stare down" before the fight was good.

Crocp looked good as well using many more low kicks and picking Yoshida apart with punches. One thing that really impressed me was Crocop's ability to maintain balance when Yoshida had him locked up for a judo toss.

 

[jas123]

A little slower and not himslef bc he was fighting werdum and naturally would want to stay off the ground.

Thanks, that's the only GP fight I didn't see online. For some reason, I don't see Nog winning it. I think Barnett might be a tough match for him. There is also a rumor that he only has about 20% vision in his right eye. Poor vision in right eye + a couple Crocop LHK = trouble even with Nogs iron chin. But then again Nog is a crafty SOB.

Has Crocop used low kicks much before? I haven't seen all of his fights and some that I have seen were the edited versions on the Fox Sports Network show. It seems like he should use them more if not like Rizzo used to do.

 

[Sir Savage]

Beo, do you use P2P? if so, hit me with a PM at the same name at the Avant Forum , and I'll give you an invite to a private MMA/K-1/Boxing tracker with a closed membership that puts the full latest events up in DVD and Xvid just a few hours after they are shown.

Does that offer also apply to one of the head honchos at the afforementioned company??