Flashback - Pride 12

Gramercy Riffs · 12-08-2006, 12:00 AM

I just watched Pride 12 - Cold Fury for the first time in a few years. My thoughts:

Ikuhisa Minowa is the new Akira Shoji

Wanderlei Silva Vs. Dan Henderson was an absolute war, and now one of my favorite fights of all time. I'd love to see a rematch

The idea of Bas Rutten and Quadros commentating is better than the reality of it. They arn't as great as their reputation on here would suggest.

Pride Girls + Santa hats = Awesome

There was nobody better than Sakuraba in his prime

thats all.

Gramercy Riffs · 12-08-2006, 12:56 AM

Not a single view.
What, no love for classic Pride?

Andre_the_Great · 12-08-2006, 01:02 AM

Silva-Henderson was not a war. It was a war of Henderson's own self not to get knocked out or stomped to death. Dan was able to do NOTHING but land one very hard punch in the beginning minutes, Silva made him pay for the rest of the 10 minutes, putting Dan down with punches everytime he tried to get up or trade and stomping him into oblivion.

Prime Sakuraba was king, I'm sure he would have beaten Tito, Frank Shamrock, and any other big name guy at the time. I think he would have won the 2000GP if not for Gracie rules; I'm sure he would have managed prime Igor and even Coleman. Wand was simply too much, bad bad style matchup for a calm fighter like Saku. The only other fighter to have bigger achievements and impact is Wanderlei, imo.

Hohenheim · 12-08-2006, 01:08 AM

At that time Sakuraba was incredible, to me that best 185lbs in the world at that time, but a Pride later Wandy came and destroy him, but definitely Sakuraba was unbeatable at 185lbs on his prime to me. About Pride 12 I think it was a good event,but to many decisions. The best fights were Wandy vs. Hendo and Saku vs. Ryan, although there also not so great matches, Igor vs. Kerr took ages, as well as Fujita vs. Yvel, although Almeida vs. Shoji was good. And Yes the Pride ring girls look good on those outfits too.

MenTaLPiRacY** · 12-08-2006, 01:12 AM

I love classic Prides, i have all of the DVD 5 disk sets..

Gramercy Riffs · 12-08-2006, 01:12 AM

Yeah, I wish Saku would have never moved up in weight. Wanderlei, much like he did to Rampage, changed him as a fighter, and not for the better.

If he never moved up in weight to fight Wand x3, Rampage, Cro-Cop, ect. I think he would still be king at 185lbs

Toujourpret · 12-08-2006, 01:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gramercy Riffs

Yeah, I wish Saku would have never moved up in weight. Wanderlei, much like he did to Rampage, changed him as a fighter, and not for the better.

If he never moved up in weight to fight Wand x3, Rampage, Cro-Cop, ect. I think he would still be king at 185lbs

I agree. Some guys never fully recover from brutal knockouts. I think Sak and Rampage are two of them. Minowa on the other hand keeps asking for bigger guys.

Andre_the_Great · 12-08-2006, 01:19 AM

yea, when I watched his fight against Mirko CroCop, it came to my mind "who put this match together?". Hell yea Sakuraba is a great fighter and that fight was a great display of his heart and skills, but it was still very odd that a losing Sakuraba was matched up against a HW, K1 striker who was improving in mma. I also wonder what would have happend had Mirko not broken his orbit???

CROPopped · 12-08-2006, 01:22 AM

it was an okay event....2 or 3 good fights....hendo/wandy was great and of course saku...all the rest were pretty weak...early prides had too many decisions going on

gerin · 12-08-2006, 01:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gramercy Riffs

Yeah, I wish Saku would have never moved up in weight. Wanderlei, much like he did to Rampage, changed him as a fighter, and not for the better.

If he never moved up in weight to fight Wand x3, Rampage, Cro-Cop, ect. I think he would still be king at 185lbs

well, he didnt exactly move up
they never had a 185lb division before

the fact that he fought above his natural weight class is very respectable
but at the same time, he does gain an advantage of speed and he doesnt need to cut weight