PRIDE FC: Final Conflict Recap

 

November 9, 2003

Tokyo, Japan

 

 

Sunday was the slowest day in history; At least, that’s how it felt. Waiting for the Pride FC: Final Conflict to be on was hard but it finally came. Pride was about to start.

 

Fight 1 - Gary "Big Daddy" Goodridge vs. Dan "The Bull" Bobish
Bobish walks toward Goodridge, they exchange punches - Bobish pulls away complaining about his eye - the ref doesn’t stop the fight. Goodridge keeps punching - Bobish goes to his knees with Goodridge punching away, finally the ref steps in and stops the fight. Goodridge winner by TKO.

 

 

Fight 2 - Quenton "Rampage" Jackson vs. Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell
Fighter's come out and right away, Rampage shows what he was made of. Liddell delivers rights and lefts to Rampage’s face - Rampage covers really well - now it’s Rampage’s turn - he delivers two straight stiff lefts that seem to stun Liddell  but Rampage doesn’t charge in - the entire round went the same way. Rampage landing straight left jabs and straight rights - Liddell trying to counter - at one point, Rampage lands a series of punches that send Liddell down but he gets back up and quickly recovers - the round ends.


Round 2
Rampage goes after Liddell right away using the same game plan that worked for him in the first round. Liddell looks tired and hurt - Rampage goes for a single leg but we all know he wants a slam, not a takedown. Liddell defends a couple of attempts but finally Rampage gets Liddell on one foot and then
hooks the other foot from the inside and slams Liddell from there. Rampage starts delivering punches and short elbows to Liddell’s side and face - after what seemed like a lot of punishment to Liddell, the ref steps in and stops the fight, but I thought I saw the ref pick up what looked like a white towel meaning Liddell’s corner threw in the towel to stop the fight. Either way, Rampage won by TKO ( punishment or corner stoppage from punishment)

 

 

Fight 3 - Vanderlei Silva vs. Hidehiko Yoshida

Silva comes at Yoshida but gets taken down but is able to pull guard. Silva is able to land a couple of punches but Yoshida makes a move that almost cost him the fight - he tries to pull away and Silva puts him in a triangle and holds him there for a while – finally, Yoshida pulls out of it and is able to get the side mount - Silva turns Yoshida but is still in his guard - Silva lands a couple of hard hammer punches to Yoshida’s face, then Silva pulls away and stands - Silva comes in, Yoshida grabs Silva’s head and takes him down - Yoshida applies a neck crank that seems to hurt Silva but he pulls out of it. Yoshida doesn’t let Silva up but while on his back, Silva lands a couple of upward kicks to Yoshida’s face and the bell rings.


Round 2
Yoshida comes in, Silva sprawls - Silva immediately lands a right punch and a kick that stuns Yoshida - both fighters are tired but go at it again - both fighters landing blows on each other - Yoshida goes for a double, Silva sprawls, then comes back and lands a knee, then a left punch - Yoshida is stunned and goes to his back pulling Silva to the ground on top of him. Yoshida reverses but the bell rings. It goes to the scorecards - Silva wins by unanimous decision

 

 

Fight 4 - Dan Henderson vs.  Murilo Bustamante

They come out to the center - Henderson starts measuring Bustamante right away - Bustamante goes in for the takedown, Henderson sprawls and then delivers a knee to the face that sends Bustamante down - Henderson goes in for the kill delivering punches to Bustamante’s face - as he is going down,  the ref steps
in and stops the fight. Henderson wins by TKO

 

Fight 5 - Heath Herring vs. Norihisa Yamamoto

Herring over Yamamoto by third round submission (rear naked choke) - Herring at the end of the fight was shaking his head because he just did not fight a good fight and knew it. It just didn't look the Herring of old. He looked very disappointed in himself.  

 

 

Fight 6 - Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Kevin Randleman

On paper, this looked like it would be a great and exiting match - but it wasn’t to be.

The round started with Sakuraba landing a left, but right away, Randleman took him down but was unable to do anything. There were only a couple of good moments - one for Randleman was where he landed a good leg kick that seemed to hurt Sakuraba and the other was Sakuraba had Randleman in a triangle but
round ended.

Round 2
This round goes the same as the first - Randleman looking for the one punch KO and Sakuraba just waiting to counter and catch Randleman in a submission - not a real exciting fight so far.

Round 3
Sakuraba throws a kick, Randleman take Sakuraba down to his knees - Sakuraba gets Randleman in a figure four with his arm ( like he had Renzo Gracie) - Randleman rolls out of it but Sakuraba turns it into a arm bar - Randleman tries to roll out of that but makes it worse and Sakuraba sinks in the arm bar.  Randleman had to tap. Sakuraba wins by submission (arm bar ).

 

Fight 7 - Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira vs. Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic

Nogueira shoots in, Cro Cop sprawls - Nogueira falls back and brings Cro Cop down in his guard - Nogueira right away starts going for a submission while eliminating Cro Cops punches - after a while, Cro Cop is able to pull away and stand - Cro Cop attempts a high kick that just misses but follows it with a right that lands but Nogueira shakes it off  - Nogueira desperately attempting to take Cro Cop down but Cro Cop just pushes Nogueira to the sides like nothing - CroCop seems to be in control - at the end of the round, Cro
Cop lands a hard kick to the head that sends Nogueira down but before Cro Cop can follow it up, the bell rings

Round 2
Nogueira comes in aggressively and is able to take Cro Cop down and get the full mount - till this point, Cro Cop seemed to be in control and winning the fight but now Nogueira was in the full mount and he starts landing punches to Cro Cops face - Cro Cop pushes him and turns, and as he is turning, he leaves his arm out there to push Nogueira off - Nogueira is able to get the arm bar and makes Cro Cop TAP - Nogueira by Submission

 

 

Fight 8 - Wanderlei Silva vs. Quinton Jackson

A stare down to kill from both fighters. The bell rings and right away, Rampage comes out for the slam but Silva catches him in a guillotine - Rampage lifts him like he’s going to slam him but he knows that if he does, he just might be helping Silva sink in the choke so instead, he brings him down slowly and works his way out of the choke - but then, Silva almost catches Rampage with an arm bar - Rampage pulls out of it and lands a couple of good punches while in the full guard - they scramble on the ground and the ref steps in to stand them up - Silva gets a yellow card - couldn’t tell if it was for stalling or punching Rampage while he was standing - Silva comes back strong - till this point, Rampage seemed to be in total control, out punching and out wrestling Silva - and as I think that, Silva lands a good right / left combo - then he goes in for the kill with about 8 knee strikes to Rampage’s face - many of them were blocked but the ones that got in hurt Rampage and he was wobbling all over the ring - but he was still fighting back and trying to stay up - but Silva lands a straight right that finally sends Rampage down and the ref steps in to stop the fight. Silva winner by TKO - Silva is PRIDE middleweight tournament champion.

 


This was one of the BEST, if not the BEST PRIDE FC I have ever watched. Just about all the fights could arguably have been main events. The organization did itself proud. All I have left to say is GREAT job and I can’t wait for the next one.

 

AL

 

(11/9/03)

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