R.I.P. PRIDE

Rest in peace, PRIDE Fighting Championships.

March 27th, 2007; Dream Stage Entertainment announced the sale of all assets of PRIDE Fighting Championship would be taking place after their final show on April 8th.

April 8th has come and gone, and what a disappointment of a show it was. The card had to be the worst Pride has ever assembled; the rumored Wanderlei Silva VS. Igor Vovchanchyn fight never happened, so all that us fans were left to salivate over was Ricardo Arona, Sokoudjou, Kazuyuki Fujita and Jeff Monson.

No match on the card went to a decision; this wasn't a feat accomplished by the fights being exciting, rather than by poor matchmaking that culminated in largely boring contests that barely entertained.

The highlight of the night for me was once again seeing the legendary Kazushi Sakuraba make a guest appearance in a PRIDE ring, much to the pleasure of the fans in attendance at the Saitama super arena. A truly emotional moment took place where both the aging legend and former pro-wrestler Kiyoshi Tamura agreed to cross the bridge between K-1 Hero's and PRIDE by having a final matchup that would end their bitter rivalry. Although this, with explanation, would have seemed a fairly interesting segment, it was one of those times when the emotion was clearly lost in translation.

The fights themselves were lackluster; the Japanese audience was treated to a colossal encounter that the American audiences must have been kicking themselves over; a meeting between Zuluzinho and Butterbean. Surprisingly, Butterbean pulled out the win via keylock in the opening stanza, taking his overall record to 10-3-1.

Akira Shoji took the fight at short notice, but didn't quite have what it took to take on controversial Dutch fighter Gilbert Yvel, who utilized both leglocks and brutal ground and pound to take the win in the first. I felt that this match summed up the atmosphere of the entire show. Instead of feeling like a good send off for CEO Nobuyuki Sakakibara, it felt like a show that was pieced together in the rubble of the explosion of MMA.

All night, promo videos were aired that featured the "first ten years of PRIDE". The best moments were displayed in an emotional manner, usually accompanied by similarly slow music. This show confirmed my suspicions; it was the funeral of the organization I loved so much.

Shinya Aoki pleased once again with an excellent submission display, the likes of which fans of PRIDE and Shooto alike are becoming accustomed to. Winning by armbar, Aoki looked impressive and made quick work of Brian Lo-A-Njoe, finishing him in less than two minutes. Worryingly though, Aoki's standup seemed weak; with a little more emphasis on striking and less on grappling, he could easily become one of the greatest lightweights the world has ever seen. Trust me on that one.

Ricardo Arona and Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou faced off, in somewhat of a revenge match after Sokoudjou knocked out veteran Antonio Rogerio Nogueira in Las Vegas a couple of months ago. In this fight, Sokoudjou had nothing to lose; people had already called his previous win a fluke, but he came out last night and proved himself to be the better fighter.

Arona's takedowns looked weak and certainly not what we've come to expect from the Brazilian Top Team ace. Sokoudjou took advantage of this, hitting Arona with a massive right uppercut from the clinch, following it up with punches and kicks on the ground. Fluke? Definitely not. This guy is here to stay, and given he's meant to be a top level Judo player, it's scary that we haven't even seen his ground game yet.

The main event saw Jeff Monson and Kazuyuki Fujita battle it out in a "UFC VS. PRIDE" grudge match, promised to be the first of many inter-promotional rivalries. Monson, a former Abu Dhabi competitor seemed to have problems taking the fight to the mat, but once he got there he made short work of the PRIDE representative with a first round Rear naked choke. This match was just plain boring. Stalemates often occurred in a position where Fujita was easily able to deliver knees to the head; he opted not to, but rather to stick it out and attempt to get the fight back to their feet. Words cannot explain how boring this fight was.

Comparisons are often made in booking between Wrestling and MMA; a good feud is built on a simple premise, then the two combatants duke it out, much to the delight of the audience. I wish whoever was booking this show would learn from that. There was no previous history between the two fighters, and all we had to be interested in was the loose UFC/PRIDE link that seemed to consume the entire show. It is hard to be disappointed in a show where the card looked so weak anyway; I guess that I just wished for too much for the swansong of the "old" company.

Where will PRIDE go now? What direction is the company taking? The lightweight grand prix of this year was highly advertised, and will be the first show under the new ownership. According to pamphlets that the media grabbed hold of, the tournament promises to feature such fighters as Takanori Gomi, Hayato Mach Sakurai, Diego Sanchez and Matt Hughes.

At least we've got something to look forward to.

Share |