Wondering about the Frye photo? BR wouldn't let me upload the PRIDE logo for some reason. So you're getting Don Frye. Thats' as far as the story goes.
Quick tangent about UFC 91: jiu jitsu is back, baby! I never believed the theory that submissions will become obsolete; they will obviously just become crazier and more intricate.
Fabulous job by Dustin “McLovin” Hazelett, Rafael dos Anjos, and Demian Maia. Your submissions are awesome and it was a pleasure watching you guys on Saturday. Had to mention that.
Part three!
18) Mark Coleman screaming at Randleman and Kerr
This list wouldn’t be complete without another appearance from the immortal Mark Coleman. When Coleman was cornering his guys, he simply never shut up, nor did he even consider switching to decaf.
Since the Japanese crowd was often quieter than Calvin Coolidge, you could hear the Hammer PLEADING with his guys, especially Randleman.
“C’MON KEV! DAMMIT! Beat ‘em to the punch! EVERY TIME!!!”
“Get up, Baroni! BE AGGRESSIVE! DAMMIT!!”
And my favorite:
“GOTTA DO SOMETHIN’, KERR!!!!!!”
(The next time you get coffee, scream this at the half witted barista who takes five minutes to make change of a five-dollar bill. It will make your day.)
19) Igor Vovchanchyn
A classic “man, where did he go?” guy, this pudgy heavy hitter from the Ukraine was arguably (actually, not really) PRIDE’s first feared striker.
His knockout of Francisco Bueno remains of the ten greatest KO’s I have ever seen, as well as one of my all-time favorites. Wherever you are, I miss ya, Igor. It’s just a shame he never got to fight Wanderlei.
- B/R Ticket Guide
20) The Sakuraba/Gracie feud
More for the history than anything else. The Royler vs. Saku mismatch at PRIDE 8 essentially put PRIDE on the map, and it was also the first time Saku made the “wait, you hairy little Brazilians REALLY think you can beat me?” face.
Saku went on to defeat Royce in a memorable 90-minute bout, and wins over Renzo and the late Ryan solidified Sakuraba’s reputation as PRIDE’s golden boy.
21) Bushido
But you guys already knew that.
22) Fedor vs. Fujita
In the words of the always-quotable Quinton Jackson, “what a fight!” When Iron Head winged a bomb with “Hand of God” written all over it, not only did it send Fedor stumbling like the late Anna Nicole Smith, it also set the unofficial world record for “Most Japanese People Defecating On Themselves At The Exact Same Time.”
And if that isn’t enough for you, just remember the moment when a bleeding-but-victorious Emelianenko raised his arm as Rampage remarked, “that is a champion, right there.”
If that didn’t give you goosebumps, maybe you should follow another sport.
23) The 10-minute round
Fujita vs. Thompson. Aleks vs. Sergei. Fedor vs. Hunt. Cro Cop vs. Wand II. Gomi vs. Kawajiri.
The list goes on and on.
All of these were rewatchable and remarkable wars, and all were won in the second half of the first round. This is not a coincidence.
To put a quarter in the “cliché jukebox,” the 10-minute round is truly what separated the men from the boys.
Some of the most telling faces PRIDE fighters made were the ones right after the PA announcer would say “three minutes left.” It was the “Crap, THREE more minutes? Really? I’ve already been sucking wind for a minute and a half” Face.
In case you were wondering, Alistair Overeem was the champion of this face, although he usually made it about four minutes in.
24) The American DVD extras
The pre-fight interviews were always at least decent, and they definitely didn’t involve fighters reading from cue cards.
But the immortal Bas Rutten was always doing something interesting, like on the PRIDE 29 DVD when he gave us a tour of Yokohama Arena that was unscripted and off-the-cuff.
Or on the Final Conflict 2003 DVD, when they showed a bunch of fighters (including some who lost the previous night) just sitting around and talking about the PRIDE game and how they are all friends, complete with footage of Rampage and Coleman getting their butts handed to them by some random girl.
I love that stuff. Give me that over footage of Forrest Griffin hitting pads. We know what it looks like when guys hit pads. I really need to enter electroshock therapy for this UFC thing, huh?
25) Ken Kaneko
Imagine someone like Brian Austin Green announcing that he will fight in the UFC, on New Years Eve, against Charles “Krazy Horse” Bennett. Then, imagine if this somehow happened. Bizarro World, you say? Not in Japan.
26) Bringing certain guys back even if they kept losing
What a novel concept. In the UFC, it’s often,”two losses in a row, and you’re done”. PRIDE built solid careers for guys like Daijiro Matsui and James Thompson simply because they always came to fight and they were charismatic performers.
PRIDE truly understood the concept of a “gatekeeper.” Gary Goodridge, anyone?
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about 1 month ago
I love Don. My best friend from high school read his book and tried to get a hold of him (this was about 9 or 10 years ago). He ended up getting Don's mother on the phone, who he said was the nicest lady ever. She ends up giving my friend her son's (Don's) direct house line. Next thing you know him and Don are best of buds and he's going out to Tucson to train with him. They still keep in touch.
about 1 month ago
Frye and Belfort should have fought each other...
about 1 month ago
nice,
Some of my personal favorite Pride moments are:
1) Coleman standing calmly on Wanderlei's throat with his boots, despite about 20 people trying to pull him off.
2) Fedor's infamous "shotgun blast" punch on Nog in the corner during his 1st round GnP, which sent announcers and Bas Rutten screaming on top of their lungs for the next 5 minutes.
3) (you had this one too) Fedor with blood flowing down the side of his face giving the camera a raised hand and the "Terminator" look, following his victory over Fujita, with Rampage Jackson screaming "What a fight!"
4) The Japanese in-ring announcer screaming "Josheeee BAAAAANETTTTTTTO!!!!!!!" or "Quintine Rumpageee JAAAACKSONNE!!!!!"
5) Crocop kicking Herring in the liver so hard that Herring falls and with crocop trying to finish the Japanese commentator screams on top of his lungs non-stop: MIRCO CROCOPPE, MIRCO CROCOPPE, MIRCO CROCOPPE!!!
about 1 month ago
Hey man good stuff "sniff". Dude I see you read my latest article all of these guys won't get off my back bcs the title read Racism and UFC it was a simple marketing ploy to get people to read, no one paid any attention to the article though
from about 1 month ago
Just wait til' part four.
I read your article. I sort of get what you're trying to say, but not entirely. But hey, if you want to deliberately mislead with your title, and people dont pick up on it, thats certainly not your fault. Screw 'em, I say. Then again, I don't care.
about 1 month ago
That's okay, Jared, few pay attention to my articles either Maybe we're too good? What's the name of your latest article?
Yes, Marcus, in my opinion Pride blew the UFC out of the water in every department (every department of interest to me). And that's why number 26 is my favorite item of your fine piece. Pride wanted the true warriors to stick around regardless of their record. The UFC wants names. And if they can't find them, they manufacture them by feeding them tomato cans and by hyping them 6-ways-to-Sunday.
about 1 month ago
Marcus,
You are a funny, insightful and interesting writer!! I love to read what you write, even if I don't know anything about MMA.
You know who this is, right?
about 1 month ago
I was wondering when Fedor versus Fujita was gonna come
another amazing article
about 1 month ago
Actually, the only fighters that fought in Pride that I like are Crocop, Arlovski, Rampage and Fedor--although I didn't realize who he was at the time. For some reason I could not remember all the foreign names and especially all the Japanese fighters whose names I could neither pronounce, spell or remember to be able to discuss them with anyone else.
from about 1 month ago
Arlovski in PRIDE? That would have been cool.
Mirko was once a top notch fighter, but he has this image of himself that is just ridiculous ... it's like he thinks he's a prince or something. He either didn't learn from his losses, or he's just been mailing it in since 2006. Either way, count me out.
Fedor is Buddha. I mean seriously, have you ever seen a Russian dude smile so much?
about 1 month ago
I just watched the Fedor vs. Fujita fight- Wow, that was a great fight. Has Fedor ever been rocked like he was after that punch. And he looked so out of sorts when he was dancing around and trying to find his footing. Great stuff.
from about 1 month ago
For sure. I've always liked Fujita ... that guy is insane. And it's not like it was a technical punch. He swung so hard, he probably would have fallen over had it not connected, as he did against Kerr. Hahah.
As for Fedor, I always liked the Fedor-Hunt fight. Some of the punches that BARELY missed were absolute haymakers, from both guys.
about 1 month ago
I covered the Fedor/Fujita fight in one of my articles. I'm glad you finally saw the fight, Brian.
And Fedor/Hunt? Can you believe that Hunt had Fedor in the Full mount?!
about 1 month ago
I was amazed that Fedor performed "the fish dance" without going down after Fujita laded that wild shot.
Actually, Fedor's only MMA "disco dance" was vs. Fajita.
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