It’s rare that in MMA we see two guys legitimately despise each other and take the hatred into the fight with them.
The late Ryan Gracie always had a reputation for being a bit of a nutjob. But this time, it may have been too much.
In the summer of 2002, the never ending feud between the Japanese and the Brazilians in PRIDE escalated on August 28th, 2002 at K-1 and PRIDE’s joint mega event: Dynamite 2002. 1992 Olympic Gold Medalist Hidehiko Yoshida, a beloved Japanese athlete, made his MMA debut against MMA pioneer Royce Gracie in one of the feature bouts on the card. Yoshida won via submission, but Gracie protested claiming he never tapped out. The Gracie’s were known to never tap out. Ever. In fact, Royler and Renzo Gracie BOTH got their arms broken by Kazushi Sakuraba for not tapping out. Royce later alleged that there was a conspiracy, because the referee and the judges were Japanese, they screwed Royce and gave the win to Yoshida in front of 91,107 people at Tokyo National Stadium. Needless to say, the Gracie family was already not too happy.
As the fight between Ryan Gracie and Shungo Oyama drew closer, tensions began to build from both camps. Oyama was seen as a rebel and already had a win over Ryan’s brother Renzo. Word got out that Oyama challenged Ryan Gracie to a street fight before they stepped into the ring for their scheduled bout on September 29, 2002 at PRIDE.22. Ryan’s short fuse is legendary, as stories of him challenging people to bar fights on the streets of Brazil were commonplace in MMA circles. He was more than happy to grand Oyama his wishes, but fortunately for the integrity of the sport, that never manifested. Ryan Gracie, in an interview with Stephen Quadros, claimed that after the fight in the ring at PRIDE, he’d be more than happy to rematch him in the hotel room. He was dead serious when he said it.
With all the talk of Fedor and whether he was going to retire or not, I decided to post one of his more famous fights. It was Pride Critical Countdown 2004 and the second round of the heavyweight grand prix. Earlier on the show, Sergei Kharitonov (yep, the same one in the Strikeforce tournament) won his fight against Semmy Schilt.
Fedor and Kevin Randleman were in the main event. Randleman got a takedown to start the fight and Fedor was able to get back to his feet, but with his back to Randleman. Randleman suplexed him right on the back of his head. Eventually, Fedor transitioned and was able to submit Randleman fairly quickly.
UFC 112: Invincible is now in the books and the show will indeed be remembered for a long time – but probably for the wrong reasons. It was the first UFC event in the middle east, broadcast live from Abu Dhabi. Never before has a main event angered UFC President Dana White quite as much as this one. We have full coverage right here on FGB. In addition, Frankie Edgar shocked the world by beating the invincible champion BJ Penn to capture the UFC Lightweight Championship in a somewhat controversial 5 round decision. Controversy was definitely the appropro word for this event.
Cactus Jim Thumbs in the middle.
Best – Grove versus Munoz
Worst – Gracie versus Hughes
The show started off great with the first 3 fights delivering quality entertainment. The Hughes versus Gracie fight stunk things up and stalled any momentum the card had gained. Penn versus Edgar was fun to watch, although I didn’t agree with the judges scores. The first few rounds of the main event were entertaining, although not at all competitive. The last 3 rounds were just terrible. The fights I was looking forward to failed to deliver, but the earlier fights saved the card from being a complete debacle. So next fight we’ll see Silva cut to 170 rather than see Georges come up. It’ll be interesting, but not as interesting as Georges at 185 or a catch weight somewhere in between. Penn should get a rematch in his next fight. I have a feeling that he and Edgar will each fight someone else before they meet again. Bring on Strikeforce on April 17!
GG
Thumbs down
Best fight: Kendall Grove vs. Mark Munoz
Worst fight: Anderson Silva vs. Demian Maia Continue Reading »
In what can be considered a rare occassion, UFC cut Mark Coleman from his contract today after his second round loss to Randy Couture at this past weekend’s UFC 109 PPV. A lot of people were hopeful that Coleman would get one more fight in the UFC against Tito Ortiz after the post-fight comments exchanged from the two, but as of today that does not appear to be the case.
Coleman, 45, has been a UFC headliner since the mid 90s when he captured the UFC Heavyweight Championship at UFC 12 with a win over Dan “The Beast” Severn. The peak of his career would have to be in 2000 when he won the PRIDE 2000 Openweight Grand Prix tournament with a win over Igor Vovchanchyn in the Tokyo Dome. At UFC 82, Coleman was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame.
Fact is, the biggest drawing events in combat sports are almost always more often the grudge matches with two guys who dislike each other than a random match for a random title.
PRIDE.19 is a prime example of the beauty that was PRIDE. PRIDE took two Americans, who didn’t like each other and perhaps don’t exchange Christmas gifts even to this day, Don “The Predator” Frye and Ken Shamrock. Neither guy was really an uber-popular face on Japan on the level of a Sakuraba or Takada, but a combination of brilliant marketing, great promos, and educated fans, make this a true highlight of the PRIDE era.
Both made their names in the embryotic era of the UFC and had their names etched in stone as legends of the time. Both disliked each other due to comments made by each other, many of which very personal. Frye accused Ken of cheating on his then-girlfriend Alicia Webb, known to WWF fans as Ryan Shamrock, his on screen sister (yeah, kinda creepy). Frye also said that Frank Shamrock, who has legitimate family heat with brother Ken, would be cornering him. Both were considered “American Heroes” by the Japanese due to the fighting spirit that they showed in the UFC, as well as PRIDE.
Frye had a couple of notable fights in PRIDE. He faced Gilbert Yvel in a fight that had more fowls than anything. Yvel personified the term “rule breaker”. It was quite the spectacle. More yellow cards were given out here than green cards in Little Havana (Trust me, I would know – I used to have one!).
Shamrock had some memorable encounters too. He faced Alexander Otsuka in a match that I swore up and down was a work until Dave Meltzer told me directly that it wasn’t on an edition of Wrestling Observer Radio last year. Then he faced Fujita in another controversial match. By the way, Otsuka and Fujita were both pro wrestlers in Japan, like Ken in the WWF, so ughh… I’m still a tiny bit skeptical.
So while they were known stars, neither were true veterans of the PRIDE ring.
Kevin Iole over at Yahoo Sports is reporting that Dan “Hollywood” Henderson and the Ultimate Fighting Championships have not come to terms and that he will be leaving the UFC.
Henderson is a former PRIDE Welterweight and Middleweight Champion and one of the top competitors in the sport, most recently famous for devastatingly knocking out Michael Bisping at UFC 100. After his knock out to Bisping, Henderson was scheduled to get a title shot at UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva, but after some political moves by Silva, it became apparent that the fight was in jeopardy of happening. Henderson is a former Olympian who has a stunning win/loss record in mixed martial arts and is famous for never being knocked out, his almost unblockable take-downs, and his big right hand of pain and suffering. Besides that, he was a coach on the Ultimate Fighter 9 as well as the only man to simultaneously hold two titles in two different weight classes in the history of MMA.
Personally, I am a fan of Henderson and am hoping he returns sooner than later. With the loss of Hendo AND Rampage, I am sad.
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