Pride Bushido: The Tournament

[Manji]

Pride Bushido is on this Sunday....

Pride FC just keeps it comin...
Another top quality event....
The lightweight tournament is just packed with talent. Too bad Gomi and Kawajiri are going at it already... Should have had them fight in the next Bushido with the Grand Prix format.

If they added Genki Sudo and Kid Yamamoto (from K-1).... this would have showcased the best lightweight fighters in MMA.



Fight Card


Welterweight Tournament Bouts

Phil Baroni ( USA ) vs. Ikuhisa “The Punk” Minowa ( Japan )

Masanori Suda ( Japan ) vs. Murilo Bustamante ( Brazil )

Ryo Chonan ( Japan ) vs. Dan Henderson ( USA )

Akihiro Gono ( Japan ) vs.Daniel Acacio ( Brazil )

Reserve Bout

Ryuta Sakurai ( Japan ) vs. Paulo Filho ( Brazil )


Lightweight Tournament Bouts

Takanori Gomi ( Japan ) vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri ( Japan )

Naoyuki Kotani ( Japan ) vs. Luis Azeredo ( Brazil )

Hayato “Mach” Sakurai ( Japan ) vs. Jens Pulver ( USA )

Yves Edwards ( USA ) vs. Joachim Hansen ( Norway )

Reserve Bout

Dokonjonosuke Mishima ( Japan ) vs. Charles “Krazy Horse” Bennett ( USA )

 

[Manji]

Another unbelievable event....
Guys, if you're going to watch just one Mixed Martial Arts Fight; watch this one..... The quality of the fights and fighters were clearly shown in this tournament; especially in the Lightweight Division...



1 Paulo Filho Ryuta Sakurai Submission (Armbar) 3:49 1

2 Akihiro Gono Daniel Acacio Decision (Unaminous) 5:00 2

3 Dan Henderson Ryo Chonan KO (Punch) 0:22 1

4 Ikuhisa Minowa Phil Baroni Decision (Unaminous) 5:00 2

5 Murilo Bustamante Masanori Suda Submission (Armbar) 3:20 1


6 Dokonjonosuke Mishima Charles Bennett Submission (Ankle Lock) 4:04 1

7 Hayato Sakurai Jens Pulver TKO (Strikes) 8:56 1

8 Joachim Hansen Yves Edwards Decision (Split) 5:00 2

9 Takanori Gomi Tatsuya Kawajiri Submission (Rear Naked Choke) 7:42 1

10 Luiz Azeredo Naoyuki Kotani KO (Punch) 0:11 1

11 Dan Henderson Akihiro Gono KO (Punch) 7:58 1

12 Murilo Bustamante Ikuhisa Minowa TKO (Strikes) 9:51 1

13 Hayato Sakurai Joachim Hansen Decision (Unaminous) 5:00 2

14 Takanori Gomi Luiz Azeredo Decision (Unaminous) 5:00 2


Will expand on the Tournament tomorrow. Just finished watching the fight at 400 am and I am ready to hit the sack....

 

[Manji]

Although there does not seem to be too much interest in the Pride Bushido thread I will just post a very brief review. Hopefully, I can convince some guys into giving Pride (and MMA in general) a try....


First of all... If you have not seen Bushido: The Tournament; I strongly recommend that you do... You will not regret it....


The display of athleticism, conditioning and training, toughness and heart were shown in this tournament.
A high degree of Boxing, Muay Thai (Thai boxing) and Grappling skills were demonstrated in this tournament.


At least five of the fights will be remembered for a long while..
The lightweight fights actually overshadowed the Welterweights... The Welterweight fights were good but the lightweight fights were amazing.



Joachim Hansen (Norway) versus Yves Edwards (USA)
Both fighters went at it non-stop for minutes. Great fight that moved back and forth from stand up fighting to ground fighting... Perhaps the closest fight of the night and Hansen may have edged out Yves because of a strong last minute showing in the final round.



Mach Sakurai (Japan) versus Jens Pulver (USA)
Sakurai dominated this fight, taking apart Pulver with his powerful legs kicks. Pulver displayed his toughness and it was pretty impressive that he lasted as long as he did with the damage he took. This fight was almost all stand up and Pulver displayed his boxing skills while Sakurai showed his Thai boxing and Boxing skills.



Taknori Gomi (Japan) versus Tatsuya Kawajiri (Japan)
Great fight. Gomi and Kawajiri fought a hard fight and it was Kawijiri who ultimatly lost due to Gomi's strong stand up and all around power and ferocity.



Mach Sakurai (Japan) versus Joachim Hansen (Norway)
A great fight. After fighting fifeteen minutes straight with Edwards, Hansen fought almost at full power against Sakurai. Sakurai looked more dangerous and hurt Hansen with some good punches. Sakurai really demonstrated that he is extraordinarily strong in all aspects of MMA by throwing great strikes with both legs and hand and dominated on the ground as well as attempting submissions.




Taknori Gomi (Japan) versus Luiz Azeredo (Brazil)
After fighting a tough first fight with Kawajiri, the coming second fight did not look good for Gomi. Azeredo's first fight against Kotani lasted twenty seconds (Kotani sucked and didn't deserve to fight in this tournament) and was fresh and fully ready for his second fight with Gomi. Azeredo appeared extremely confident at the beginning of the fight and probably figured Gomi would not have enough gas in the tank to fight a tough fight with the Brazilian Chuteboxe fighter.
Gomi shocked Azeredo and pressed the attack for the full fifeteen minutes. Azeredo was back pedalling for most of the fight and was hit by some powerful punches by Gomi. Gomi pressed hard for the full fifeteen minutes and won by Unanimous Decision.