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What was PRIDE? Another top ten...
What was Pride? (Or hopefully, what is Pride). I wanted to create another top ten list, not just of the best fights (as I've read, well done by MMAlegend), but of the definition of Pride Fighting...What it means and what it has given us over the years...
10) Matsui and Shoji...I know many will cry foul at their inclusion in any top ten list, but I think they are what it is all about. Mr. blood and Mr. Pride. Two B/C level fighters, with A+ level hearts. They always came to fight and they always came to win. They almost never won, but they damned near fought to the death every night. Perennial underdogs and perennially overmatched, they are two men that would never quit.
9) Saku's entrances/entertainment...Super Mario (vs DonkeyKong), Tiger mask, three masked Sakurabas entering the ring, the Mongolian chop, the infinite array of guard passes. Nobody in the history of the game has combined showmanship with skill as Sakuraba has, and I fear nobody ever will. So many fighters say they fight for the fans. Sakuraba really did.
8) 2000 Grand Prix...The one that started it all, attended by the greatest fighters of the era, it was the Grand Prix that all others will be measured by...And capped with Coleman's unforgettable celebration: attempting to jump over the ropes, only to be rejected back onto the mat. The greatest G.P., followed by possibly the funniest moment in MMA history.
7)Igor Vovachanchyn...For my money, the greatest fighter in the history of MMA to never wear a crown for the big two organizations. Too big for 205'er, too small for a heavyweight, he was nonetheless a force of nature and a KO machine. Never a dull fight.
6) Chonan's flying scissors/Randleman KO's Crocop/Sok KO's lil Nog/two gogoplatas...time and time again we have seen the impossible become possible. Anything that can happen in a fight, will happen in a fight, and we've seen that in the Pride ring.
5) Gomi and Shogun's Grand Prix runs...both fighters tore through the best of their divisions (Kawajiri and Sakurai, Page, lil Nog and Arona) to capture the belts and prove themselves, on that night, the undisputed kings of their divisions, further establishing the Pride G.P.'s as the most important events in MMA.
4) Nog vs Bob Sapp...The best against the beast. There have been a million odd matchups and a million David vs Goliath matches, but never one quite as competetive and compelling as this one. There were moments where you feared for Nog's life...then he won.
3) Renzo's dislocation...Sakuraba vs Renzo Gracie, the heart of the blood feud, a million viewers wincing, and Renzo Gracie refuses to tap. That is Pride. That's what it's all about.
2) Crocop vs Fedor/Fedor vs Nog/Page vs Wand...the opportunity to see the two greatest fighters in their divisions, in their primes, fight.
1) Sakuraba vs Royce Gracie...enough has been said about this one over the years, but I would like to remind everyone about two often overlooked points. First, Saku agreed to Royce's rules (he didn't have to. How many fighters would?). And second, incredibly, after a 90 minute war with Royce, Sakuraba went on to face Igor Vovachanchyn, one of the most dangerous fighters on the planet, on the same night. Unbelievable.
I've watched every Pride event, in the order they happened, and these are my top ten of what Pride is all about. There have been a hundred great fights, (and a number of terrible ones), but I feel these are the events and moments that give the deeper meaning to the Pride banner.
Anything I've left out?
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