PRIDE 30: “Fully Loaded”
October 23, 2005
Saitama Super Arena, Tokyo, Japan

By Stephen Quadros, “The Fight Professor”

I no longer work as the lead commentator for PRIDE. And I am glad everything is going well for the organization and wish them continued success. But I was daydreaming just a minute ago, in preparation of penning this article, and I suddenly pictured a fairly comedic, St. Patrick’s Day style show opening based on the well thought out name of the English language version of this particular show, “Fully Loaded”.

(Pause)

Anyway… as morbid as it sounds, I actually think the Japanese title, “Starting Over” might have been at least closer to the predominant theme here because the majority of these great competitors are returning after a losing effort in their last PRIDE appearance (Kazushi Sakuraba, Ken Shamrock, Cro Cop, Rampage Jackson, Josh Barnett, Ninja, etc.). But to have a show called “Fully Loaded” and NOT feature any or all of PRIDE’s three reigning champions, Fedor Emelianenko, Wanderlei Silva and now Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, or even PRIDE’s only existing “former champion” Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira, seems like a bit of a stretch.

Mirko Filipovic

Josh Barnett

What a welcome rematch this is. Barnett seems destined for a title shot against PRIDE heavyweight champion Fedor “Untouchable” Emelianenko. But he must first get by “Cro Cop”, and that will not be an easy task…on paper (Mirko won the first time when Barnett sustained a shoulder injury early in the match). We’ve heard to no end about Mirko’s left high lick and his sprawl. But what the public may not be aware of is his ever-improving jiu-jitsu game. Under the tutelage of Fabricio Werdum, Mirko has grown by leaps and bounds in the grappling department. But in his upcoming second go ‘round with “The Baby Faced Assassin” I have three words that may be of help in regards to a potential ground duel: don’t go there. As “good” as Mirko now has evolved at the submission game in the gym, Barnett is light years ahead of him in that category, especially under the stress of the big lights and crowds at the big shows. Filipovic MUST keep this on his feet to win it. Most fans will remember when big Josh was KO’d by Pedro Rizzo way back in 2001 (UFC 30). But what people should also remember in that fight is that Barnett was doing extremely well early …with kickboxing. The point would be that after seeing Fedor, who was not known previously for his standup (as compared to his ground and pound), push Cro Cop around while on his feet in their title fight in August, Josh should adopt a similar game plan, since in my opinion he probably has as good if not better standup striking skills than the Russian does. So should Barnett’s game plan be exclusively standup? No. He should use his kickboxing to set up the takedown because Mirko is too good at defending the simple straight-in single or double (leg) shot. Mirko will be thinking about defending the takedown and that will make him in theory more susceptible to strikes while upright (see Filipovic versus Randleman for a quick reminder). But because Barnett is powerful enough to hurt anyone in the division with his punching and kicking, he will be able to get the Croatian’s mind off takedowns by whacking him in the head. Since being stripped of his UFC belt that he won by stopping Randy Couture, Josh has stayed active in Japan, balancing between pro-wrestling and MMA. The upside of this regimen is that he stayed ‘busy’. The cons are that his head got into the mentality of pro-wrestling and his body has had more opportunities to get injured. We know that Mirko has suffered from occasional back problems and that Barnett has been plagued by nickel-and-dime ailments other than his shoulder. So the injury handicap quotient they may be about equal. Conditioning will be the most important factor in this fight. I don’t foresee a freak ending like last time. I see a very competitive match that will showcase big guys with big skills. I do feel that Barnett will eventually get Mirko on his back and submit him (I predicted that last time too). A title shot would/should be the next step for Josh after that. “If” Mirko wins he might have to do a ‘title elimination’ bout with Kharitonov (Barnett may fall into that scenario too, should as I predict, he defeats Cro Cop) before stepping back in with Fedor. But please, no more “interim titles”, (ugh).

Kazushi Sakuraba

Ken Shamrock

PRIDE has always known how to use the ‘celebrity’ card when necessary and here it is in this match. There is no known ‘heat’ (rivalry) that I know of between these two MMA icons (although Sakuraba has teasingly referred to Shamrock in the past by Ken’s pro-wrestling nickname “The World’ Most Dangerous Man”), unless Ken can dream up something based on Sakuraba’s new training partner (and three-time conqueror) Wanderlei Silva. Here would be the thinking on this: if Ken defeats Saku does he suddenly qualify for a title shot with Silva, which would thus set up a fight where Wanderlei would avenge his “new” friend’s (Sakuraba’s) loss? I hope not, or at least not until after Silva faces Ricardo Arona again for his individual middleweight title (Arona decisioned Silva in the recent middleweight grand prix but Wanderlei’s individual championship was not at stake). I could understand how the above Shamrock-over-Saku-then-Wanderlei sequence of matches would be good “business” in a box office sense. But now that PRIDE has reactivated the tournament format, and the results of that format are a direct implication on where fighters might be ranked for individual title shots, having the ‘Ken over Saku, then Ken against Wanderlei for the title’ chain of events might also send a mixed signal about how one gets into a position of securing a chance to vie for the championship. Why? Because neither is currently ranked in the top ten and Shamrock has not fought in a tournament since 1996 and Sakuraba has not made the semi-finals or finals of a tournament since 1997. The marquee value of this match is its most important asset and is also its hoped-for crossover appeal for further penetration into the US market (Ken is responsible for the Zuffa era UFC’s highest pay per view numbers when he faced Tito Ortiz in 2002). It will be interesting simply because these are two of THE most charismatic figures ever in MMA. A key element will be if there is any weight restriction in the match. Shamrock is the bigger of the two and has fought most of his career as a heavyweight. But I don’t feel he represents the kind of threat that Cro Cop or Silva did when they pummeled Saku. Plus Kazushi has been training at Chute Boxe academy in Brazil, you might say. Yes, but for how long (August 18th till October 1st?)? And was that for PR or will the month or so that he spent down there really change his style? Sakuraba is/was one of the greatest fighters and personalities to ever set foot into MMA. But the “legacy” of his injuries and ability to absorb punishment are now threatening to overshadow his accomplishments as a winner in the game. So now we have Shamrock versus Sakuraba. Who will win? I don’t know, probably the guy who has the most left… But more important than that question is what will happen next after this fight? If Saku is victorious, will he continue the slow self-destruction of campaigning at 205 pounds or drop down to 185, where he should have been fighting for years? If Ken gets the win will he be in the ring with Silva, Shogun, Arona or Jackson next? Either way, the future may be frightening indeed.

Quinton Jackson

Hirotaka Yokoi

Quinton “Rampage” Jackson is (still) the great American hope in PRIDE’s ‘middleweight’ (205 pound) division. Having stumbled lately by losing to the skyrocket kid, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua in his last match at PRIDE Total Elimination (April 2005), he has gone back to basics and taken time to rebuild his support group. Now training with Juanito Ibarra for his boxing and Antonio McKee (and others) for his wrestling and submissions, Jackson hopes to reconvene his status as the man who will be king, instead of the one who would have been. Quinton’s kryptonite has been the Chute Boxe style as dished out most recently by Shogun, who undoubtedly learned the framework for beating Jackson from his teammate Wanderlei, who crushed the Yank twice with that team’s Muay Thai mayhem. But Hirotaka Yokoi is an entirely different animal and some even view this as a rebuilder fight for Jackson (after an impressive 10-0 start Yokoi has lost his last 3 fights). A product of the pre-Takanori Gomi-striker era, Yokoi is a slickster on the floor, ala Sakuraba or Minotauro. As spirited as he is Yokoi is also limited when it comes to applying or defending the kickboxing, boxing and Thai boxing aspects of the game. Therefore QJ should make this into a K-1 fight. The American’s wrestling has always been underrated but it will be his key here to A) keep the fight standing and B) use his naturally heavy hands to score the knock out. Yokoi may try some crazy, desperate moves but he will eventually cave to the crunch instituted by the man known as Rampage.

Sergei Kharitonov

Fabricio Werdum

Fabricio Werdum has beaten some fairly tough guys so far with submission wins over Tom Erikson, Kristof Midoux and Roman Zentzov. But a good number of experts feel that Sergei Kharitonov is a cut above that breed of competition. Kharitonov is the guy who most fighters in the heavyweight division wish would just vanish. Yes, he is a threat to everyone, including Fedor. But before we start salivating over an all-Russia heavyweight championship match, let’s just keep focused on Sergei versus his latest Brazilian challenge. Up to this point he is 1-1 against guys from Rio De Janeiro: in his last entry into PRIDE (June 2005) Kharitonov dispensed of former UFC slugger Pedro Rizzo with a volley of violence at 2:02 of round one and before that he lost a competitive decision to submission superman Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira (PRIDE Final Conflict, August 2004). One could say that Werdum is closer stylistically to Nogueira than he is to Rizzo. But that is not to say that he can’t bang a little bit. A non-martial artist friend of mine told me recently his philosophy on fighting and I tended to agree with him, as I summed up my basic theory when things appear to be competitive: the meanest dog wins. In this clash that would be Kharitonov. Werdum isn’t exactly Bambi himself, as his undefeated record shows (of his 6-0-1 stats all his wins are inside the distance), so this will be an unbelievable struggle for both men. I do pick Kharitonov but it surely will not be easy. Whoever wins this should face the winner of Barnett/Cro Cop in a title challenger elimination bout, almost like a mini 4-man tournament, the victor facing Fedor for his championship.

Murilo “Ninja” Rua

Murad Chunkaiev

Welcome back Ninja. Rua by submission

Makoto Takimoto

Yoon Dong Sik

Takimoto.

Sentoryu

Zuluzinho

Sentoryu.

James "The Colossus" Thompson

Alexandru Lungu

Ever watch the Discovery Channel and see two massive buffalos butting heads in the middle of a prairie? That is what we have here. Alexandru Lungu has won his country's national Judo title 30 times! And he weighs over 350 pounds; he's humungous! Once you see a photo of the guy you cannot help but wonder can he be stopped with anything short of an elephant gun? That is James Thompson's job; after being the bull in the past, James, who isn't exactly a shrimp at 6' 5", 260+, may now be forced to become the matador to some extent. But let's be real here, this is going to be a head on collision. I will use the "I-word" when sizing up this battle of behemoths: 'if' James can hurt Lungu and getting him moving backwards in the Brit's early bombing raid(with punches) he will probably win by KO or TKO. But 'if' they clinch and the Romanian gets Big Jim on his back, Thompson may lose by ground and pound or a neck crank. One thing is for sure, it will not make it out of the first round and the man who imposes his game plan first will be victorious.

Stephen Quadros, “The Fight Professor”, has worked as a host and play-by-play commentator for some of the world’s greatest fight organizations including: PRIDE, K-1 and Inoki Bom Ba Ye.  He currently balances his activities between acting, freelancing around the globe as a host/commentator for major fight shows (World Extreme Cagefighting, Cage Rage, etc.), choreographing fight scenes for feature films and playing drums for the band, Sacred Cowboys.  Visit Mr. Quadros on the world wide web at: www.StephenQuadros.com