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Good group of fighters. We'll have to wait and see what the matchups are. All Fedor has to do is take Hunt to the ground, and he should be able to submit him easily.
New Year's Eve is going to be great...check the list of fighters...
Fedor vs Mark Hunt for HW le is the only announced matchup so far.
but more participating fighters are listed on Pride's site...
So using MMAWeekly's rankings, the card will feature:
The #1, #2, #3, #4 and #9 heavyweights in the world.
The #2, #3, #4 and #10 light heavyweights in the world.
The #4, #6 and #7 middleweights in the world.
And the #1, #2, #3, #4, #7 and #10 lightweights in the world.
18 top 10 fighters!!!
I'm sure a few of these will end up dropping off due to injury, etc... , even if half dropped off that's 9 top 10 fighters...
I'm expecting to see Fedor vs Barnett at the next Pride Vegas show (Feb 24th) based on this. I'll be buying my tickets in the next week or so...
UFC 66 is the night before this event (Dec 30th) and it features just 3 top 10 fighters... (Chuck, o, Arlovski)
With that said, I'll still be watching both events...
If you've never ordered a Pride PPV, this is the one to get...stay tuned for matchups...
Rumored so far is:
Silva vs Arona (rubber match)
Good group of fighters. We'll have to wait and see what the matchups are. All Fedor has to do is take Hunt to the ground, and he should be able to submit him easily.
Or might he choose to out-strike him to prove a point? Have to tune in to find out
If that list doesn't change much, there aren't too many scrubs to make mis-matches with...
That would not be the smartest gameplan for Fedor, but it would be a uva lot of fun to watch.Or might he choose to out-strike him to prove a point? Have to tune in to find out
It definitely wouldn't be smart, and I don't really expect him to do that because he's such a great game planner, but you never know. He might try to show off his striking a bit...
He toyed with Coleman, but Hunt is much more dangerous...
Fedor/Hunt should be a great match but I'm a little disappointed that it will not be the Fedor/Crocop rematch. Maybe I was expecting it to happen too soon after the OWGP.
Who do guys think Crocop will fight? Perhaps Nog? I doubt we'll see another JB/Crocop match. I'd say they would feed Crocop a can but there's not really any cans listed.
Crocop just had foot surgery...they're not going to put a less than 100% anybody up against Fedor. That wouldn't be fair to the fans or Crocop Barnett is worn down (look at the list of people he's fought this year!). I wouldn't be surprised to see him fight Fedor in Vegas...
It'll probably be Nog for Crocop, although that's not an easy task either! There's risk that he could lose...
Barnett vs Fujita?
We'll just have to wait and see I guess...
Looks like Crocop gets a tune-up fight after his surgery...vs this guy...
http://www.sherdog.com/fightfinder/f...ighterID=11894
Gomi vs Ishida is another solid rumor right now...
and big changes for Pride...
http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/...articleid=3005
One of the most common complaints about Pride is non- le fights with belt holders, so it looks like that will become less common or go away completely. Also too many tournaments...1 a year is good, so each weight class has a tourny every 4 yrs. I like mixing the lower weight classes that would've usually been on a Bushido card with the rest of the weights too. I think "Bushidos" were confusing to the casual Pride fan. If all this is true, Pride just got even better in my opinion...
This looks like good news. If Pride can get their champions in more le defense matches then it will be great for us fans and more fair to the contenders. Did we even see Wanderlei defend his le once in 2006? I loved watching him fight in the OWGP but we gotta see some le defenses.
No, and he won't be on NYE eve either. (not fighting Arona or Little Nog)
http://www.sherdog.com/news/articles.asp?n_id=6189
vs Minowa on NYE is a rumor...
It's not like he did nothing in 2006 though...he fought 2 HW's in the OWGP tourny. Can't fault him for that. He's shown he'll fight anybody...
I'll be at Pride 33 in Vegas to see him defend his belt, so I'm happy
^^^Yeah, I don't fault Wandy at all. His 2006 kept me thoroughly entertained. The Fujita fight was incredibly exciting. The fact that he was so outsized and still managed to deliver the KO to Ironhead was amazing. The Crocop fight was also impressive. I felt like Silva was outmatched and he probably knew it. He still stepped up and fought until he could not fight anymore. That's the heart of a champ.
I'm a huge Wanderlei fan but I guess I would just like to see more le shots.
This is such a "have your cake and eat it too" issue. Many fans wish that UFC would have Grand Prix style tournaments but of course this doesn't happen due to the athletic commission policies. Now here I am complaining about too many GP's in Pride. Some people are just never satisfied.
hahaha...true...you can't ever please EVERYBODY...^^^Yeah, I don't fault Wandy at all. His 2006 kept me thoroughly entertained. The Fujita fight was incredibly exciting. The fact that he was so outsized and still managed to deliver the KO to Ironhead was amazing. The Crocop fight was also impressive. I felt like Silva was outmatched and he probably knew it. He still stepped up and fought until he could not fight anymore. That's the heart of a champ.
I'm a huge Wanderlei fan but I guess I would just like to see more le shots.
This is such a "have your cake and eat it too" issue. Many fans wish that UFC would have Grand Prix style tournaments but of course this doesn't happen due to the athletic commission policies. Now here I am complaining about too many GP's in Pride. Some people are just never satisfied.
Silva kept fighting in the Crocop fight despite barely being able to see out of his right eye (or not at all maybe?). He had to know that getting a left kick to the skull was a high possibility. In my eyes, he's the man for getting his ass kicked like that...
A 205 lb tourny in 2007 would be great. Dana would never send Chuck over if he's still the champ, but I could see o, Babalu, Couture?, etc being invited. If Chuck keeps winning I doubt we'll ever see Silva - Liddell. I'm rooting for o because of that. Maybe it'll happen if he's not the champ. , give me Shogun - Liddell...I'd be happy with that!
A guy with ZERO mma experience and 2 K-1 fights fighting Crocop? Talk about a ed up mismatch.
Yea, I don't know much about the guy...he's popular in Japan for some reason. He's an actor / comedian based on what I've read...
He does have some MMA experience though. He lost to Royce Gracie...
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...38487234292595
Read more about him here...
http://www.sherdog.net/forums/showthread.php?t=467004
I hope that rumor isn't true...I'd rather Crocop rest up for Feb in Vegas if that's the matchup...
Last edited by LEONARD; 11-30-2006 at 12:26 PM.
He should do a whole stand-up act on how stupid this match is.
Oh, good find on the Gracie match. It wasn't in fight finder. Very strange interview afterwards.
I had never seen or heard of that Royce fight. That made my day!
I'm predicting that Cropcop gives us a 1st Round KO via LHK.
Nah, he'll rest the left foot after cracking it on Silva's head...
His right kicks are nothing to sneeze at...KO via RHK...
Gilbert Melendez (#10 LW) vs Tatsuya Kawajiri (#3 LW)...
Source: Gilbert's myspace page...
of a LW matchup there!
I am not trying to be "provincial" here, but why do only a few asian fighters take matches outside their ethnicity?
Or is it a total coincidence?
Do they??
Here are some random events from the past couple years...
Shockwave 2004
Ikuhisa Minowa vs Stefan Leko
Mu Bae Choi vs Paulo Cesar Silva
Ryan Gracie vs Yoji Anjo
Ryo Chonan vs Anderson Silva
Makoto Takimoto vs Henry Miller
Rulon Gardner vs Hidehiko Yoshida
Mirko Filipovic vs Kevin Randleman
Dan Henderson vs Yuki Kondo
Takanori Gomi vs Jens Pulver
Mark Hunt vs Wanderlei Silva
Fedor Emelianenko vs Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
8 Asians...all fought non-Asians.
--------------------
Total Elimination, 2005
Kazuhiro Nakamura vs Kevin Randleman
Ricardo Arona vs Dean Lister
Igor Vovchanchyn vs Yuki Kondo
Alistair Overeem vs Vitor Belfort
Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs Dan Henderson
Kazushi Sakuraba vs Dong Sik Yoon
Mauricio Rua vs Quinton Jackson
Wanderlei Silva vs Hidehiko Yoshida
5 Asians, 2 matched up
----------------------
Critical Countdown 2005
Sergei Kharitonov vs Pedro Rizzo
Mauricio Rua vs Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
Alistair Overeem vs Igor Vovchanchyn
Mirko Filipovic vs Ibragim Magomedov
Kiyoshi Tamura vs Makoto Takimoto
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs Pawel Nastula
Ricardo Arona vs Kazushi Sakuraba
Wanderlei Silva vs Kazuhiro Nakamura
4 Asians, 2 matched up
---------------
Final Conflict 2005
Kazuhiro Nakamura Igor Vovchanchyn
Ricardo Arona Wanderlei Silva
Mauricio Rua Alistair Overeem
Fabricio Werdum Roman Zentsov
Hidehiko Yoshida David Abbott
Fedor Emelianenko Mirko Filipovic
Mauricio Rua Ricardo Arona
2 Asians, not matched up
--------------------
Total Elimination Absolute 2006
Roman Zentsov Gilbert Yvel
Fabricio Werdum Alistair Overeem
Mark Hunt Tsuyoshi Kohsaka
Josh Barnett Aleksander Emelianenko
Kazuyuki Fujita James Thompson
Mirko Filipovic Ikuhisa Minowa
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira Wagner da Conceicao Martins
Hidehiko Yoshida Yosuke Nishijima
5, 2 matched up
----------------------
Critical Countdown Absolute 2006
Pawel Nastula Edson Drago
Yoshihiro Nakao Eun Su Lee
Vitor Belfort Yoshiki Takahashi
Antonio Rogerio Nogueira Alistair Overeem
Kazuhiro Nakamura Evangelista Santos
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira Fabricio Werdum
Wanderlei Silva Kazuyuki Fujita
Josh Barnett Mark Hunt
Mirko Filipovic Hidehiko Yoshida
6, 2 matched up
--------------------
Final Conflict Absolute 2006
Evangelista Santos Yosuke Nishijima
Mirko Filipovic Wanderlei Silva
Josh Barnett Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
Aleksander Emelianenko Sergei Kharitonov
Ricardo Morais Lee Tae-Hyun
Kazuhiro Nakamura Yoshihiro Nakao
Mauricio Rua Cyrille Diabate
Ricardo Arona Alistair Overeem
Mirko Filipovic Josh Barnett
4, 2 matched up
------------------
Bushido 13 2006
Gegard Mousasi Hector Lombard
Paulo Filho Kazuo Misaki
Denis Kang Akihiro Gono
Murilo Bustamante Dong Sik Yoon
Luiz Firmino Nobuhiro Obiya
Joe Pearson Yoshiro Maeda
Sanae Kikuta Jean Francois Lenogue
Ikuhisa Minowa Mike Plotcheck
Mitsuhiro Ishida David Bielkheden
Shinya Aoki Clay French
Takanori Gomi Marcus Aurelio
Kazuo Misaki Denis Kang
11, none matched up...
45 Asians...only 5 Asian-Asian matchups...
I know that's pretty informal and incomplete, so take it for what it's worth...
I seriously didnt intend for it to come across like I was implying something else. It was honestly just a question (judging by the card in your first post).
Like I said, it seems it was a total coincidence based on previous matchups.
Question answered.
Another LW matchup is set...
Joachim Hansen (#4 Lightweight)* vs. Shinya Aoki
Awesome
Ahhh...you probably made the mistake that many have. The picture I posted only shows one matchup (Fedor vs Hunt)...the rest are just fighters that could be on the card. There just happens to be a lot of Japanese fights next to other Japanese fighters...
LOL. 'nuff said.
I'm pretty happy for Trigg in his victory and his return to mma. Didn't it seem premature when he retired from fighting? He had some tough losses over the last couple of years but I always thought with some good training that he could still be top level guy or atleast a good gatekeeper. Plus there's no shame in losing to GSP and Hughes. It's good to see him back.
^^^My bad. I meant to post this in the Bodog thread.
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