My favorite memory, not really a moment, was ironically my first real memory of Pride. Without a doubt it was watching Sakuraba take on and outlast Royce in their memorable epic marathon match.
I happened to come across a brief summary of the PrideFC GP ppv while surfing through my satellite programs. I only clicked on it b/c I wanted to see what it was. While reading through it all I remember is seeing the names Royce Gracie and Mark Coleman, whom I recognized from watching some early UFC's with my college wrestling teammates.
Anyway I recall ordering the PPV on a whim, mainly thinking that ordering the PPV would give me the oppurtunity to see these two fight, as I automatically assumed these two would win their way to the finals and fight
After being blown away by watching some small stocky Russian guy (igor) KO the piss out of Goodridge, whom I recognized from the UFC. I couldn't believe what I saw and almost pissed myself from shock
This brings me to the next fight.........
I recall Royce Gracie coming out into the ring first with the whole Gracie family with him, all wearing their traditional GI attire. While watching the Gracies make their presence I was in a state of awe knowing that I was watching King's of the MMA world sanctifying the ring area with their presence. Remember thinking to myself......
'Now that would be the last family anyone would ever want to mess with'
Ironically in this fight, Royce was about to take on the one person crazy enough, to go to war with Gracies. Remember at the time the Gracie mystique was well established to the point that most people thought being a Gracie had immortal-like connotations.
As amazed as I was watching the Gracie's entrance, the subsequent one pratically floored me. The commentor (Bas) brought up his name which meant nothing to me, all I saw was a crazy entrance (never seen with MMA before) featuring 3 relatively little Japanese dudes in Masks walking into the ring. I was beggining to think that this was going to be somekind of 1on 3 handicapped matchup, which didn't seem all that unbelievable, considering the trio was comprised of what appeared to be a grouple of little zany Japanese characters.
Finally after the bell rang for the fighter introductions Sak took off his mask revealing orange hair. Up till then I always recalled Royce being matched up against fighters who seemed to twice outweigh him that were usually Crazy bad-ass shoot fighter roid-heads like Kimo and Shamrock. So with Sak I recall thinking; Does this guy have a the slightest clue who he's about to fight?
Anyway when the bell rang for the opening round little did I know the impact that fight would have on my life and lifestyle......safe to say I've been a Pride fan ever since.
Legacy of Sak and Gracie Family<-----Enjoy!
