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Pride c
PRIDE 25 Results
Sunday, March 16, 2003 Japan
Pride came out with a BANG! The argument can be made that this was the BEST Pride ever. It was filled with a lot of surprises and a lot of action. Here we go…
Fight
1 They both came out and touched gloves in the center of the ring - Nakamura shoots in but Nogueira counters and ties him up. Nakamura grabs around Noguiera's upper waist with Nogueira’s left arm in the inside and lifts him up and around for a full body judo slam. Nogueira is in the full guard, unable to do much. The ref stands them back up - after a couple of unsuccessful shots, Nogueira is finally able to pull Nakamura down into a half guard. Nogueira, trying to slip his leg out, is rolled over and Nakamura stands-up but comes back down into Nogueira’s guard. Nogueira almost catches him with an arm bar, then a triangle from his guard - that’s how the round ends.
Round two - Nogueira came out with a kick and some good punches. Nakamura, again, is able to take Nogueira down and rolled out of a bad position into a top position. Nakamura stands back up, the ref tells Nogueira to stand-up and once again Nakamura takes or pulls Nogueira onto the ground. But on the ground, Nakamura is unable to cause any damage. The ref puts them back in the center of the ring. Nogueira passes the guard and gets Nakamura’s back, puts his hooks in and acts like he is going to go for a choke but transitions it into an arm bar - Nakamura taps. - Nogueira wins by arm bar submission in round two.
Fight 2 Alex Stiebling vs. Akira Shoji Stiebling looked real good, throwing some good, low Thai kicks and using his jab. Shoji wanted no part of that and clinched and wrapped his right leg through the inside of Stiebling’s left leg and took him down. They landed in the half guard with Shoji on top. Shoji gets to the side mount and delivers some punches as Shoji try’s to get the full mount. Stiebling puts him back into the half guard. Shoji again, gets out of the half guard and into the north south position and delivered a good knee, then Stiebling puts Shoji right back into the half guard. The rest of the round goes the same way - Shoji mostly on top unable to really cause any damage.
Round two - Stiebling catches Shoji with a good right hand but doesn't follow it up. Both men square up and start delivering punches. Shoji catches Stiebling with a solid right and sends him to the floor. Shoji rushes in and starts raining down punches - many land, the ref is about to stop the fight but Stiebling reverses and gets the full mount – it’s his time to rain punches. Shoji turns Stiebling, puts his hooks in and almost gets the choke. Shoji lets go of the choke and starts punching to the sides of Stiebling's head. The ref is about to stop the fight but the bell rings.
Round three - Stiebling came out like a kick-boxer, keeping his distance, just picking his shots with most of them landing. Shoji lands a left/right combo but it does no damage. The rest of the round goes the same way. Stiebling pressed the action and landed a lot of his shots. It seemed like the decision would go to Stiebling. It doesn't, it goes to Shoji by a split decision. Very controversial outcome. Winner – Shoji by three round split decision.
Fight 3 Newton throws a left and clinches and takes Silva down. Newton gets the full mount and delivers some short punches but Silva pushes him away and escapes and gets into the full guard. Both fighters start working from there and stay busy but the ref stands them up and gives Silva a yellow card for stalling (for those of you who don’t what a yellow card is, it’s a penalty unique to NHB where you get 10% of your winnings deducted). Silva comes back out to prove a point - after a few seconds standing, Newton ducks and Silva delivers a straight knee the connects to the left side of Newton’s face and knocks him out. Silva jumped on him and delivered a couple more punches before the ref stepped in - the fight is over. Silva wins by TKO.
Fight 4 Henderson came out swinging with some heavy leather and caught Ohyama with a right/left combo. Ohyama was stunned but fought back, also delivering some punches of his own. They both break away and circle the center of the ring. Ohyama clinched and took Henderson down with a sweep but Henderson stood back up. Ohyama lands the knee, so Henderson takes Ohyama down and gets in the side mount but Ohyama pushes away and gets back up. They start throwing blows again. Henderson lands a straight right and follows it with a slam to the ground. Henderson doesn't let up - following with punch after punch. The ref steps in and stops the bout. Henderson wins by TKO.
Nino ''Elvis'' Schembri vs. Kazushi Sakuraba Sakuraba looked real confident. He delivered a high kick but it was blocked. Sakuraba is just picking his punches. Sakuraba rushed in, Schembri tried a flying guard but Sakuraba just moved back. Schembri stood back up and once again, Sakuraba picks his kicks and punches, most of them landing. Schembri doesn't know what or how to stop the punches and kicks. Sakuraba does a double chop and rushes Schembri with punches, they clinch and Schembri reaches around Sakuraba's head with both arms and delivers a straight knee that catches Sakuraba flush in the chin, sending him down to the ground and out on his knees. Schembri delivers a couple of more knees that put Sakuraba away. The ref steps in to stop the bout. Schembri the winner by TKO - “Elvis” has rocked the building.
They rush in at each other but stop short - they circle, Randleman throws a left hook, Jackson ducks and grabs a single leg and takes Randleman down. But as soon as Randleman touched the ground, he gets back up into a clinch. Randleman pushed Jackson back but Jackson delivered some knees. The ref broke them apart and back to the center of the ring. Randleman delivered a hard left, Jackson blocks. Once again, Randleman tries for the take down but Jackson defends. They stay clinched and the ref breaks them apart again. Randleman, again, tries to take Jackson down but can’t. Jackson delivered a couple of good knees while they were clinched - Randleman also delivered a couple of good lefts just before he shot in. They pulled away and Randleman clinched again. Jackson just uses his knees and lands some but the ref steps in again, this time giving both fighters a yellow card. This time, both fighters deliver a stiff left to each other and circle. Randleman throws a couple of more lefts but misses, Jackson gets close and they clinch again. Jackson reaches around Randleman’s head and delivers a right knee that catches Randleman on the chin and follows it with a right uppercut and left hook sending him to the ground. Jackson jumps on the full mount and put his left hand on Randleman's throat and chin holding him down delivering some hard rights. Randleman is out! The ref steps in and stops the bout. Winner - Jackson by TKO.
After the fight, Jackson got the mic and looked toward Vanderlai SIlva and told him “I want you boy.” Silva jumps into the ring to face Jackson. Silva screams at Jackson “its my belt” and pushes Jackson. It gets crazy in there - people jump in, stopping Silva and Jackson from fighting. Silva punches at Jackson but misses. They pull Jackson out of the ring and hold Silva on the ropes. Silva gets the mic and tells the audience that he is the champ and calls out Jackson to “come on, come on.” Jackson tries to get back into the ring but people hold him back. Jackson goes back to his dressing room. This fight is scheduled for June. Vanderlai Silva vs. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. It's going to be a good one!
Fight 7 Heavyweight Title Bout Fedor Emelianenko vs. Antonio Roderigo Nogueira The fight everyone was waiting for. Both fighters came out to the center and touch gloves. They seemed really calm. Nogueira shoots and goes for the ankle pick but Emelianenko pulls away. Emelianenko throws a hard right but misses. Nogueira pulls him down and into his guard. Emelianenko starts delivering rights and lefts that land on the face on Nogueira. Nogueira attempts a kimura but Emelianenko just pulls out and delivers a hard right. Emilianenko is content in staying in Nogueira's guard because he is causing some damage. Nogueira goes for a triangle choke and again Emelianenko just pulls away. With about a minute left in the round, Nogueira reverses the position and gets the side mount and delivers punches but then Emelianenko rolls Nogueira. Nogueira quickly gets in the full guard and the bell rings.
Round two - Emelianenko looks fresh. Nogueira shoots for a double leg but can’t get it so he falls to the guard position and Emelianenko follows. Most of this round goes the same as the first round. Emelianenko landing most of his punches, causing damage. Nogueira attempted triangles and arm bars but not really getting close to any submission.
Round three - Emelianenko came out with a right that misses, they clinched and down they go. Emelianenko lands on top. Nogueira goes for a shoulder lock and then for the leg ala Frank Mir with Tank Abott but Emelianenko once again, just pulls away. The rest of the fight goes the same - Emelianenko landed a lot of hard punches from Nogueiras guard causing a lot of damage and Nogueira attempting some submissions without success. The bell rings, the fight is over. It goes to the Judges scorecard. After the bell rang, Nogueira slams the floor with the knowledge that he has just lost the fight. And yes, he is correct. Fedor Emelianenko wins a unanimous decision and the Heavyweight title.
What an event! Al (3/17/03)
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