PRIDE.15（プライド・フィフティーン）2001年7月29日

PRIDE.15

イベント詳細
シリーズ PRIDE（ナンバーシリーズ）
主催 DSE
開催年月日2001年7月29日
開催地日本
埼玉県さいたま市
会場 さいたまスーパーアリーナ
開始時刻 午後4時
試合数全 8試合
放送局フジテレビ
入場者数 27,323人

IN 無門關 THE GATELESS BARRIER (MANDARIN WÚMÉNGUĀN; JAPANESE MUMONKAN) SOMETIMES CALLED THE GATELESS GATEWAY OR THE GATELESS GATE COMPILED BY EKAI (CALLED MUMON) TRANSCRIBED BY NYOGEN SENZAKI AND HIS FRIEND PAUL REPS IT IS WRITTEN IN THE FORTY-THIRD KOAN "SHUZAN'S SHORT STAFF" THAT SHUZAN HELD OUT HIS SHORT STAFF AND SAID: "If you call this a short staff you oppose its reality. If you do not call it a short staff, you ignore the fact. Now what do you wish to call this?" To which Ekai (called Mumon) comments: "It cannot be expressed with words and it cannot be expressed without words. Now say quickly what it is." To which he appends the following verse:

Holding out the short staff,

He gave an order of life or death.

Positive and negative interwoven, 

Even Buddhas and patriarchs cannot 

     escape this attack.

NOR YET CAN THEY ESCAPE THE RETURN OF TKSCISSORS.BLOGSPOT.COM AFTER A NEARLY THREE-YEAR ABSENCE OF POSTINGS TO IT and yet what I am saying is obviously absurd in that they can easily escape this; the Buddhas and patriarchs are way more together than what I have implied about them in this ludicrous mischaracterization of their abilities with regard to attack escapes. NEVERTHELESS it pleases me greatly that we are together again—here, of all places; now, of all moments; we, of all people—to speak once more of the martial context of The Long UWF, an esoteric and entirely Romantic (ロマンチック/ romanchikku) notion that is also almost certainly incorrect. And it really has been some time, hasn't it! This being so, I think we could all benefit (I know I could!) from something of a reframing of the nature of our essay (in Montaigne's sense, an essai, an attempt; or, more humbly still, a try [on va essayer; we will try]). And so I quote now, liberally and to excess, from our PRIDE.1（プライド・ワン) 1997年10月11日 entry, first posted Wednesday, September 26, 2018 (who were we then; what were our cares):

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HELLO MY FRIENDS AND WELCOME ONCE MORE AND PERHAPS YOU WILL RECALL that some time ago I took possession (in the limited and ephemeral sense to which we grow accustomed in this floating world of transience and sorrow) of an impressively complete set of Kakutougi Revolutionary Spirits/Dream Stage Entertainment Pride Fighting Championship shows through means of a mighty torrent that included not only the vast and sprawling numbered Pride FCs, Grand Prix, and Bushidos contested (or whatever) in fantastic domes, coliseums, and super arenas, but even the various Pride: The Best artisanal microshows from the humbler ディファ有明 Difa Ariake and 後楽園ホール Kōrakuen Hōru. It seems really great! The only shortcoming to be found with any of this (aside from the obvious and immense human cost) is that, in keeping with broader dark trends concerning materials of this weirdly-not-that-recent-anymore era, very few of the Pride shows in this torrent are Japanese pay-per-view (early) or network television (later) broadcasts, but instead the western English-language pay-per-view émissions. It was not always thus! There was a time when either was obtainable! I swear this to be true! I suppose the Japanese broadcasts could still be sought from the traders (seekers all, they are) but there is very little question that they would require payment whereas this torrent was given freely as a kindness and I accept it gratefully as such. (Also I have a great many of these shows in my basement, several of them Japanese, surely, but they are in an area of my basement that remains, at the time of this writing, suboptimally sorted.) It might well be argued that our Japanese-broadcast-loss is more than made whole in the person of Bas Rutten, whose idiomatic (and yet not) English-language commentaries we may wish to accept as a kind of wergeld (that's not what that word means).

But as I say, a few of the files here are very much indeed the Japanese (frail) originals, including, maybe importantly, Ｄｙｎａｍｉｔｅ！ 史上最大の格闘技ワールド・カップ SUMMER NIGHT FEVER in 国立 which is to say Dynamite! Biggest Mixed Martial Arts World Cup - Summer Night Fever in the National Stadium which is to say Pride/K1 Shockwave Dynamite! before an apparently actual crowd of 91,107 -- a wild scene in any tongue, for sure, but if there were any of these show you'd really extra want in the Japanese broadcast, this would be pretty high on the list, right? And it was whilst jumping around this show (I did not watch start to finish in this instance) that I happened upon Kazushi Sakuraba's entrance to face Mirko Filipović -- the Cro Cop himself, a living a rebuke to those who would unduly malign taekwondo -- and hearing the crowd's response not just to Sakuraba himself, nor yet to the smoke-blowing (well, Daijiro Matsui helped some) Vader helmet, but to the reveal of the leather or I guess probably plastic (what am I a saddler) Vader mask beneath, in conjunction with being struck by just the madness of anyone ever thinking this was a thing to do, to have Sakuraba out there against Mirko Cro Cop, that I felt Everything Coming Together in a weird way that I am not prepared to defend but only to report: thinking, or perhaps more accurately feeling, how this really all is, as I have suggested several times before (a bunch of times, really, and possibly too many) that Pride really totally is part of what we have come to call The Long UWF (I am utterly convinced of this), but also how The Long UWF probably extends in time both ways, that it goes all the way back through Inoki's World Martial Arts Championship (if you were to point out that the 1984 UWF arose directly out of conflict with Inoki I would say yes of course it did this is the point entirely) to Rikidozan and Masahiko Kimura vs Hamilton's Sharpe Brothers (1936 Nazi Olympic credentials!) in 1954 and then all the way forward to to the end of Pride but really that's really probably it: the end of Pride now feels to me like the end of one surprisingly coherent thing (DREAM was an echo, RIZIN one so faint that it can scarcely be heard) that seemed epitomized as Sakuraba strolled to his doom in the 国立競技場 Kokuritsu kyōgijō National Stadium (they tore it down in 2015). I was thinking too about how the NJPW that has come back from the brink after the popular ruin (and yet weird æsthetic triumph) of the Inokiist NJPW (re)turn to professional wrestling as martial art (The Long UWF had already overtaken; Inokiism was its shadow) is NJPW in name only, really, to the extent that the commercially (and æsthetically, for sure) viable Tanahashi/Okada showman style (maybe the best iteration of that style ever, I think) that arose in the aftermath of The Long UWF's death has nothing to do with any of this at all, nothing to do with professional wrestling as either itself the strongest style or the (Saitama, Super) arena in which styles will be (fake) set against one another to determine which is in truth the strongest style, nothing to do with Inoki bringing in champions of various disciplines for the World Martial Arts matches that were presented as, and totally felt, realer than the other, also fake matches; or with the UWF breaking off and putting on matches that felt realer than the other, also fake matches (I pause to remind you that Leo Burke got in on this); or the UWFi/Pancrase/RINGS era in which the matches felt realer still, often because they actually were (although we must never lose sight of Dave Meltzer's tale of mid-1997 RINGS, in which Dave was understandably trying to figure out which matches were shoots and which worked, which led "someone there" to say to Dave, "You're a mark," to which Dave was like "but why?" to which he was like, "Well, when you really understand the business, you'll realize it doesn't matter, because it's all the same anyway." And Dave was like "woah" as he realized how things truly were, here in The Long UWF, a term he has never used nor has Tadashi Tanaka even though pretty much all of my foolish feelings and worse ideas on this are his fault [not really, he is blameless and true]). All of this builds until Nobuhiko Takada has to become the living sacrifice for professional wrestling against Rickson Gracie in KAKUTOUGI REVOLUTIONARY SPIRITS PRIDE ONE except maybe it wasn't simple defeat so much as transcendence as although Takada lost this bout (and in time these bouts) it meant finally and truly (like for real this time) that professional wrestling became a thing not separate [分 わかれ wakare 【 分かれ 】(n) offshoot; branch; fork; see also 横分 yoko wakare side separation, a noble waza] from the martial arts but a place where actual martial arts actually happened, this time in the realest way possible (witness, if you dare, all of the face-kicking), even if this wasn't exactly the plan until it became clear that Takada was totally going to have to fight for real lest the whole deal fall apart entirely before it could come off at all. That Sakuraba, of Takada Dojo, whose Cro-Cop-gallows-walk engendered this poor reflection or perhaps these several poor reflections, turned out able to defeat if not Rickson Gracie himself (it never came up), then a thoroughly creditable array of Gracies and Gracie-proxies, and thus fulfill the rôle of Symbolic Takada, was of course enormous, but, at the same time, not everything, as it is not as though Sakuraba defeated all martial artists (here's Cro Cop just now, for instance), nor even all Brazilian martial artists (who then loomed myth-large). It was extremely nice, and super interesting, but that things were even being contested where and as they were was the weird triumph of it, that professional wrestling had become the place where all of this occurred for real now (though not always [we'll get to it]) amongst and amidst professional wrestlers even if some of the principles did not identify as such (if your strange grandstanding-challenge-match martial arts family derides professional wrestling but claims Mitsuya Maeda as the source of its waza, then mister, and indeed missus, I don't even know what to tell you about the strange place you are in [nor, were I able to articulate it, should you listen]). Is it worth noting that the next (final?) Symbolic Takada (who might be a symbolic Maeda [who might be a symbolic Inoki {who might be a symbolic Rikidozan}]), Hidehiko Yoshida, makes his début at this very same Ｄｙｎａｍｉｔｅ！ 史上最大の格闘技ワールド・カップ SUMMER NIGHT FEVER? And dispatches with no real trouble (though not without controversy [if you are a dweeb]) Royce Gracie before Christ and the Buddhas and 91,107 and a network television audience of millions? There is nothing new or arguably even interesting in any of this and it is entirely possible that what I am describing above does not even constitute an idea however I can tell you for sure that it did constitute a feeling that I had as I encountered a moment at the intersection of physical culture and the æsthetic, a moment that is therefore literally crucial. I felt it all more heavily than I had previously, and the thing I felt most heavily of all wasn't even its continuity (though that did feel real) but the finality of it, that this is it, that when Pride is done, it's done, whatever it is we're describing (The Long UWF [obviously]). In a sense this is all about a truly realized strong style, isn't it, in that the UWF's rejection of Inoki was a rejection not of strong style but of a strong style deemed insufficiently strong (this led to conflict); and think too of how any credible claim to strong style post-Pride hinges on the stoic style forays (you are darn right I am using ファイヤープロレスリング Fire Pro Wrestling terms to deal with this) of Nakamura or Shibata, however ruinously -- but these ever-fainter echoes are not necessarily even that interesting, in this line of thought (feeling), except for the surrounding emptiness they reveal. This is all just thoroughly and irrevocably done! But that makes it all the more intriguing! Let us wander the ruins of this fallen kingdom, a little bit of Japanese and a decent amount of judo our compass and astrolabe! From time to time we will no doubt happen upon fellow travelers!

 

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And so here we sit in fellowship amidst those ruins (why stand when you could sit), having traveled, all of us, at least a little, probably (I always like to be home by bedtime, but I appreciate that others are more broadminded on this question). A further note, if you will first indulge and subsequently forgive me, on our method, specifically: since the earliest days of this writing, in which I addressed myself exclusively to The Matter of RINGS (please consider it alongside The Matter of Britain, The Matter of France, The Matter of Rome ["Ne sont que III matières à nul homme atandant / De France et de Bretaigne, et de Rome la grant," Jean Bodel, La Chanson des Saisnes {Song of the Saxons}]), my aim has been to write, insofar as I am able, alongside the events of which we speak, like specifically alongside them, which is to say that, ideally, the writing will begin as the show itself begins, and conclude no less decorously. In practice, this never really works. And yet it has been, and forever shall be, our doomed aim! So let's go! I haven't watched one of these in forever and if anything I grow with each passing day more sensitive to seeing people being hit so who knows how I will feel about it! Nietzsche, the horse in Turin! Don't laugh, it happens!        

OKAY HERE WE GO I DO NOT HAVE A GREAT SENSE OF WHERE WE ARE EXACTLY IN TERMS OF THE OVERALL TIMELINE I GUESS BUT VALENTIJN OVEREEM ASSUERIO SILBA SYUNGO OHYAMA WALLID ISMAIL MASAAKI SATAKE IGOR VOVCHANCHYN HEATH HERRING MARK KERR GARY GOODRIDGE ANTONIO RODRIGO NOGUEIRA KAZUSHI SAKURABA QUINTON "RAMPAGE" JACKSON RYAN GRACIE TOKIMATSU ISHIZAWA ARE THE NAMES BEFORE US AND IN EACH CASE THESE ARE THE POSTED SPELLINGS PLEASE DO NOT TAKE IT UP WITH ME BUT INSTEAD DIRECT YOUR INQUIRIES TO DREAM STAGE ENTERTAINMENT WHICH IS NOT AS GOOD A NAME AS KAKUTOUGI REVOLUTIONARY SPIRITS BUT WHAT CAN WE TAKE BUT THAT WHICH IS OFFERED and it is Stephen Quadros and Bas Rutten who semi-idiomatically welcome us to Saitama Sūpā Arīna (さいたまスーパーアリーナ) where we are introduced by a third, disembodied voice to "The Twenty-First Century Pride Girls" who are characterized as "fiery halos in the summer sky." I hope that the Pride Girls have found satisfaction and cultural attainment broadly speaking throughout the many years that now separate us from this spirited display of their youthful cheer. 

Would you believe that just now, even as we speak, I have been called away by a message from a student inquiring as to reasonably priced options for quality 道着 (どうぎ) dо̄gi? I recommended the Fushida ICON.v2 to her, and indeed to you should you be cost-consciously seeking, in this our martial present, a suitable garment in which to pursue the Way ("The Way is in training. One must continue to train," Musashi wrote in the Earth Book portion of The Book of Five Rings (RINGS) whilst a cave-hermit in 霊巌洞 Reigandō (literally "Spirit Rock Cave"), but to return once more to the (post-Musashi) martial past, a parade of fighters unfolds before us, featuring prominently yet dimly an obscured cage apparatus which, in the fullness of time, reveals both Kazushi Sakuraba and the débuting Quinton Jackson before us, but honestly all is shrouded but for 大山 峻護 Ōyama Shungo's high-level shiny Asics tracksuit, as clear as . . .

[590] 

月清し　遊行の持てる　砂の上 

芭蕉 

tsuki kiyoshi

Yugyō no moteru

suna no ue 

the clear moon

above the sand

Yugyō carried 

Bashō (1689)

Our first bout sees Assuerio Silva, whose dan-rank in 松濤館 Shōtōkan asks that we consider the pine waves, set against (perhaps partnered with?) Valentijn Overeem, known well to us through his several Fighting Network RINGS contests. Both Silva—then of the Chute Boxe Academy, not to be confused with the academy outside of which he was later shot (I am not making light: he was gravely injured, but has long since recovered [praise be to the most high])—and Overeem are known to be strikers, and so both Quadros and Rutten speak in anticipation of the "violence" that is to follow. Yet it is a violence of a kind other than their expectation (the violence of no-violence), as Silva enters for a low, tackling 双手刈 morote-gari, which Overeem eagerly accepts as an opportunity to secure a 前裸絞 mae-hadaka-jime in the mode often called "the guillotine." Overeem escapes and sweeps to the top, only to be welcomed to that position by Silva's 表三角絞 omote-sankaku-jime attack, from which he threatens also the crossmark armlock of 腕挫十字固 ude-hishigi-juji-gatame. Overeem resists all of this through substantial hitting, and, once standing, stomping (he does hold a Meca World Vale Tudo 2 win over Rodrigo Mamute grimly recorded as "Submission [Punches and Stomp]"). Silva cleverly entangles Overeem's right leg, however, and, just as Quadros notes that this may well be an error in judgment, as Overeem is himself a leglock expert, Assuerio Silva finishes with perhaps the most feared of all 足関節技 ashi-kansetsu-waza, the inside heel hook. I recently had occasion to be both delighted and mortified by the closely related outside heel hook in the context of an 一級 ikkyū/brown belt-focused 固め技 katame-waza review at the club: an eager 四級 yonkyū/orange belt, drilling the 巴投 tomoe-nage entry into the ashi-kansetsu of 足緘 ashi-garami (not the similarly named post-Danaher position), moved as though by instinct into an outside heel hook grip, which caused me to erupt in a nervous laughter at the unreal danger of this situation in which an utterly unmalicious, mild, and kind young fellow was about to pretty much accidently heel hook someone. That would have been ungood! I was right there, though, and everything was fine. This, by the way, is the entry of which we speak (the final movement of 固の形, katame-no-kata/forms of grappling, the lesser known of the two 乱取りの形 randori-no-kata/free practice forms):     

 

It's a honey!
    

Anyway, no harm done at the club the other night, and honestly none, or at least mercifully little, in this pleasant and surprising match between Assuerio Silva and Valentijn Overeem held before 27,323人 and also Vapo[u]rwave Wanderlei Silva.

  

Next we have Wallid Ismael, whom we have described thus in these pages previously: "What a character, this Wallid Ismail: a devoted Carlson Gracie guy who held jiu-jitsu wins over Ralph, Renzo, and Royce Gracie (koshi-jime in not that much time in that last one), and took a brutal, hospital-ensending beating from Edson Carvalho first in, and then later outside of, the great Georges Mehdi's judo club (Georges Mehdi would not put up with this kind of foolishness and cast them both out)." He is facing 大山 峻護 Ōyama Shungo, about whom we have also written! It's been so long; why not revisit it? Here we go: "As I understand it, Oyama was a strong domestic judo player (not a noted international to my knowledge) in his competition days, and attended 国際武道大学 Kokusai Budō Daigaku or International Budo University, which strongly implies training under the great 柏崎 克彦 Kashiwazaki Katsuhiko, a former world champion (1981 Maastricht) and enormous figure in judo pedagogy in the many years since, particularly as concerns two (intimately related!) branches of technique: 捨身技 sutemi-waza (sacrifice techniques) and 固技 katame-waza (grappling techniques) or 寝技 ne-waza (ground techniques). Kashiwazaki has been an enormous influence on the judo I have been taught, the judo that I teach, and the judo that our students share with the world once they leave us (it is a university club so they are only with us for so long, alas [and yet it is right]). Here is a link to Fighting Judo, the most beautifully photographed of his several books (I have . . . let's see: four in English, one in Japanese, and this one in pdf [it fetches too high a price amongst collectors for me], and they are all tremendous); here is JUDO TECHNIQUES: Newaza of Katsuhiko Kashiwazaki 柏崎 克彦 (Full Film), an endless resource; and here is what comes up when you search "Kashiwazaki" at the Let's Play Judo tumblr. He was often photographed by his friend Terrence Donavon, a major figure in 1960s English fashion photography (who directed "Addicted to Love," incidentally, and whose son [one of them] was a founder of Rockstar Games [I have not played any]), and so gets to look like this:

"Kashiwazaki has come to Montréal (the true centre of North American judo and so this is no surprise) in recent years to teach but that's still a little far for me. I don't think there's anything else I absolutely need to tell you about Katsuhiko Kashiwazaki right now other than that to also mention that he does Japanese-language commentary for International Judo Federation events (he may very well do domestic events as well but I do not know this) as indicated below:

And also he has shared at least one meal with 中井祐樹 Nakai Yūki, a crucial figure we have spoken of often (and yet has it been enough?):

"As you can see I have searched 柏崎 克彦 in twitter and have given myself over utterly to the results but all of this is to say that when Shungo Oyama was at IBU (ah it will always be 国際武道大学 Kokusai Budō Daigaku to me . . .) he was in very good hands. OH WAIT BREAKING NEWS KATSUHIKO KASHIWAZAKI'S 1981 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP MAASTRICHT GOLD MEDAL AND JUST HIS WHOLE VIBE WITH IT MAKES IT LOOK LIKE HE IS A PLAYABLE CHARACTER IN DEF JAM FIGHT FOR NEW YORK AND IS SPECIFICALLY FRIENDS WITH GHOST (or perhaps his greatest rival?):

END QUOTE wow okay that was really kind of a lot! It has been so long since we have spoken that I am finding I need to reacquaint myself with all that we have here (it's really kind of a lot!). 

Wallid, who plays into cartoonish expectation in his prefight interview, is all eye-scary now as he readies himself for Oyama, whose previous PRIDE bout saw him walloped by Wanderlei Silva in a mere thirty seconds. Oyama's theme music is tremendous. I really should find out what this is. Oh my goodness, if this resource is to be trusted (and the early returns are strong), this is a trance instantiation of "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence," the likes of which we might find here. It was of course mere weeks ago that we lost the great 坂本 龍一 Sakamoto Ryūichi, one of the truly great composers of our era, an artist for all time. This is a sombre moment despite its driving trance energy. And we're off! Oyama's trunks are shiny! Our second bout begins identically to the first, in that Ismail shoots in for a low, tackling morote-gari, which Oyama accepts as an opportunity for the mae-hadaka-jime of the guillotine choke. Oyama's seems a good deal tighter than the earlier example, but Wallid pops his head out and is punching away before you know it all the same. "He should try to flip him to the left, explode" is the advice our commentary team offers the low-key troubled Oyama. Both guys are doing pretty well I would argue. Ismail works hard to pass the guard, or we might say to enter 押さえ込み osaekomi (a matter of perspective!) but Oyama takes the opportunity afforded him by Ismail's movement to scramble first to his tummeroo and then back to his feet, where the cycle begins anew: Ismail's morote-gari, Oyama's soon-abandoned mae-hadaka-jime, Ismail's unthunderous but certainly not insubstantial hitting. VIRTUA FIGHTER 4 ADD ON THE CANVAS! VIRTUA FIGHTER 4 ADD ON THE CANVAS!

Ah, バーチャファイター4, only one iteration of バーチャファイター away from バーチャファイター4: エヴォゥチオン, perhaps the greatest of all バーチャファイターs! I am being tiresome with katakana just now! At the time, Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution really had the best representation of judo that had ever been managed in a video game, in my view, and by a lot. This representation was expanded upon thoughtfully in Virtua Fighter 5 (forgive me: バーチャファイター5), only to be somewhat forsaken in Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown, a game that I would tell you I did not particularly enjoy, and yet played enough of to, at the time, and despite not being "good" as such at video games, climb to the top 5% of the PS3 leaderboard in it (at the end, I do not believe I won so much as a single round against anyone ranked higher than I was; I was utterly outmatched at every turn; I was done, man, just completely finished). These days, my バーチャファイター is largely contested in the largely offline basement, in which my daughter unleashes endless barrages of バーチャ (bācha) strikes uponst me, punctuated at appropriate intervals by well-timed バーチャ (bācha) throws. Sometimes we have Pepsis. This is the way (and arguably the Way) to do it. As a final note on バーチャファイター / Virtua Fighter / Bācha Faitā (for the moment; in a broader sense this will continue indefinitely), I would like to note that the most æsthetic way to play the original game is not, as you might reasonably suspect, to play the arcade cabinet or an emulation thereof, but rather the Sega Genesis 32x port of it, which looks, and perhaps more importantly sounds, like this, if you can believe it (I only sometimes can).

Round one concludes very much in the fashion indicated by the above-posted screen-capture; round two begins with a pleasingly dynamic exchange in which Oyama climbs around Ismail's single-leg 朽木倒 kuchiki-taoshi, takes the back, but slips off in his attempt for an Iatskevich/Yaskevich roll (properly Jackēvičs, after the great Latvian champion Aleksandrs Jackēvičs) ude-hishigi-juji-gatame, an attempt very much in the mode of that demonstrated here by 小室 宏二 Komuro Kōji (who, like 中井祐樹 Nakai Yūki, trained under the famed 平田鼎 Hirata Kanae of 北海道大学 Hokkaidō daigaku / Hokkaido University / 北大 Hokudai). As seen at the Let's Play Judo tumblr: 

  

Although Oyama only attempted the technique depicted in the second of those animations, I include the first because it is such a good drill! And also because imagine if Oyama had tried it! That might have really got Wallid thinking! And it is all 崩し kuzushi (unbalancing), right? Well, would you look at that: Wallid has stacked his way through Oyama's omotoe-sankaku-jime triangle choke attack and has methodically worked his way to the match-ending osaekomi and 絞め技 shimewaza (it can be both!) of 肩固 kata-gatame, literally "shoulder hold" but called too the arm triangle or head-and-arm choke (good reasons for both!). Good finish, good match! 

My only "note," I suppose, would be that Oyama did not concede to the shime-waza by まいった maitta either physically or verbally, and I don't really care for that. Here is a useful and strangely poetic explanation of maitta from the excellent Judo Channel Glossary of Judo Terminology; it reads in part: "'Maitta' (Give up) is the sign given by the receiver of a Waza, indicating that he gives up. When a contestant has been rendered helpless by a Waza, he taps the opponent or the floor two times with his hand to indicate surrender. The contest is stopped at that point. The 'Maitta' (Give up) signal is given when a contestant is being subjected to an Osae komi waza (Hold-down techniques), a Shime waza (Strangling techniques), or a Katame-waza (Grappling techniques) which cannot be countered, and which is inflicting damage which cannot be endured." Rather than signal maitta, Oyama chose to go right out; he offered no defense to the technique, and was not working towards an escape (I am not suggesting one was available to him!). It is possible that you think this is "a cool thing to do," and I admit that decades ago I thought that it was. In the intervening thousands of hours on the mats, I have instead come to see it as silly, gross, and unsportsmanlike to compel your opponent/partner to maintain a hold until you are unconscious, or injured. I do not think that doing so makes you tough or brave. I would argue that it is in fact quite small of someone to refuse to acknowledge that they have been bested, and trying to transmute this more or less everyday occurrence (die the symbolic death of 一本 ippon a thousand times, then keep on dying it) into a spectacle of 受け uke's suffering rather than an acknowledgement of 取りtori's waza is not a negation of the self but an undue centering of it at the least appropriate time. I don't expect anyone else to feel this way about it, but these have been my thoughts on the matter for a good while now. Accidents happen, of course, and people go out sometimes: 腰絞め koshi-jime (the hip strangle/clock choke) and the 裏十字絞 ura-juji-jime (reverse cross strangle) we often call "the baseball bat choke" (owing to its neat grip!) often put people in trouble more quickly then they realize, and it is not altogether unusual for uke to miss their opportunity to signal their defeat to these sneaky-fast techniques. That's fine! And different! Pretty clearly! In any event, Wallid Ismael is headbutting the camera in victory as Bas Rutten notes that "the rear naked choke is not legal in judo," which is not only false, but which has also literally never been true.    

Wait, no, they're not putting 佐竹 雅昭 Satake Masaaki in there with Igor Vovchanchyn, are they? Our old friend, Masaaki Satake? We have known him since ASTRAL STEP: FINAL, all the way back in December of 1991 in the primary world of our experience (and since November 2016 in our recapitulation of that primary world [of our experience]). Surely he will be hit, just, like, way too hard? I have no small measure of respect for karate generally, and Masaaki Satake's karate specifically, but surely this is too much to ask of it? Actually no, to my enormous surprise, and not inconsiderable relief: Satake has gone the distance with Igor Vovchanchyn, largely (thought not completely!) evading the huge right hand that would be labeled "RUSSIAN HOOK" in ファイヤープロレスリング / Faiyā Puro Resuringu / Fire Pro Wrestling across several platforms, the crowd gasping each time (both here [the match we are enjoying together right now] and there [in Fire Pro]). He even endures punches on the ground from the position Fire Pro calls "CRUEL MOUNT," and which is absolutely as bad as it sounds, for the last minute or so of the second round. By the time all is said and done, Satake has been well and truly walloped, but he has met this walloping squarely, with such spirit that the crowd rightly chants his name with great vigour (a vigour one might well characterize as ample). The winner here is clear, certainly, but this was a very good match, and arguably a slightly great one, depending on one's tolerance for hitting (mine is of course low, and lowering). So taken am I with Satake's energy here that I feel compelled to look into the "Later Career" portion of his Wikipedia page; I share it with you now: "After his retirement from combat sports, Satake opened the Satake Dojo karate school in Kyoto City.[1] In 2007, he founded the Heisi Bushido school for human resource management and training and development.[18] In 2013, Satake was approved by the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan and received a candidacy for the 23rd House of Councilors regular election.[19] Despite general LDP victory, Satake was not elected." A failure to be elected as a member of the LDP represents a true unelectability, if my understanding of Japanese electoral politics as gleaned from several Barry Eisler novels and a long-lapsed subscription to The Economist is to be credited.

Next we have Heath Herring, coming off a decision loss to Vitor Belfort and yet seemingly still on his way up, against Mark Kerr, coming off a decision loss to the above-mentioned Igor Vovchanchyn, and seemingly not doing so great (the release of The Smashing Machine in the following year would extremely confirm this). It's not bad: the first round is mostly spent with Herring on his back, working hard to keep Kerr between his legs whilst getting punched up a little but not so much (easy for me to say, obviously), but he does threaten with a fairly deep 逆腕緘 gyaku-ude-garami / reverse arm-entanglement / figure-four armlock / Kimura for a sec near the start. Quadros and Rutten feel that this fight is a dud but I don't really! Round two is much the same, and the crowd actually turns on the match pretty hard whilst Quadros and Rutten plead with the referee for a stand-up, but honestly I continue not to mind? A yellow card for Kerr (ah, the guidance and caution of 指導 shido) and a stand-up do indeed follow, and Herring is psyched about it, as well he might be, as it affords him an opportunity to kick Kerr very much in the face, and finish him with the exact kind of knee strikes that have understandably come to be known as PRIDE knees; an opportunity of which he avails himself with alacrity. The listless crowd certainly welcomed this exciting finish! To me, though, there wasn't a thing wrong with this fight at any point, aside from, once again, the obvious human cost.

And here comes  松井 大二郎 Matsui Daijirō, whose lot is largely to battle courageously with our great support and then to lose, not just by decision, but by decisive decision. His last fight was a notable exception to what would seem to literally be his fate, a win over Jose Landi-Jons (by decision, obviously). His foe on this new day is another Brazilian, Ebenezer Fontes Braga, whose most recent bout (not at the time of this writing, but at the time of this fighting) was a loss to 小路晃 Shoji Akira, another often-overmatched-except-in-his-heart Japanese mainstay. "End of round one, not an exciting round by any stretch," is Stephen Quadros' analysis but once again, while I cannot exactly disagree with that assessment, I cannot say that I am too worried about it. It was quite a lot of Braga inside Matsui's legs and pitter-patting away, to be fair, but still. Round two is much more pleasing to our hosts, as their tastes run more towards the striking exchanges contained therein, but I feel like it's been two rounds of reasonable mixed fighting, which are then followed by a third of that same nature, and then it is through. Eebenezer Fontes Braga takes the decision.

And now Gary Goodridge, who if I recall correctly gave up good work welding at the Honda plant in Alliston to pursue his professional fighting career, and whose plight since the fateful day he made that weighty choice should give us all pause. I have learned just now from his Wikipedia page that Goodridge has accepted Islam in recent years, and is thus owed the respect afforded the seeker. I have myself read the noble Qu'ran some years ago, and was particularly moved by the words of the prophet Muhammad (عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ/alayhi as-salām/peace be upon him) with regard to the kindness that must be shown towards widows. We must not forget them. I am pleased to see that in this instance, Gary Goodridge's opponent is the great Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira (from wikipedia: "Not to be confused with Antônio Rogério Nogueira or Nog [Star Trek]), as it seems unlikely Gary will get hit all that much in this one. This is Nogueira's PRIDE début, though of course he is known as perfectly as anyone might be known to us in this context. Only four months prior, Nogueira was crowned a champion at RINGS 2/24/01: WORLD MEGA-BATTLE OPEN TOURNAMENT KING OF KINGS 2000 GRAND FINAL (read all about it here), having defeated Achmed Labasanov, 田村潔司 Tamura Kiyoshi, 金原弘光, Kanehara Hiromitsu, and Valentijn Overeem by submission, and the great Магомедха́н Аманула́евич Гамзатха́нов/Magomedkhan Amanulayevich Gamzatkhanov/VOLK HAN/Волк-хан/ヴォルク・ハン by decision (Volk Han went the distance against a young Nogueira! while old!). And now he stands before us in the PRIDE ring, a clear illustration of the longstanding and obviously correct mixed-fight assertion that the PRIDE heavyweight division was essentially the Fighting Network RINGS heavyweight division but with better contracts (in fairness, that is the best kind of contracts). 

In the opening moments, Nogueira seems hesitant to stand with Goodridge, which is eminently sensible. He twice attempts a double-leg morote-gari takedown, but Goodridge, cornered by both Mark Coleman and Tom Erikson, sprawls atop him ably. The second time, though, Nogueira pulls Goodridge into the niju-garami of half-guard, and though my file glitches for several seconds and I cannot discern precisely which expertly executed elementary sweep Nogueira performs here, rest assured it was one of them, and Nogueira is exactly where he would like to be relative to Goodridge, which is to say that he is not getting punched by him even a little. Quadros notes that Nogueira was the winner of the thirty-two-man RINGS KING OF KINGS tournament, but of course we are ourselves already enormously aware of that fact, almost embarrassingly so. Goodridge is such a strong man that he essentially hucks Nogueira off him in a single movement and scrambles back to his feet, but Nogueira snags a quick mae-hadaka-jime in the mode of the guillotine. Goodridge slips his head out, and throws several truly frightening punches (I am admittedly easily frightened; Nogueira is far more stalwart). Nogueira attempts what is perhaps the first ashi-sankaku-garami in PRIDE (I would have to go back and check!) as his corner urges omoplata! omoplata! as they very well might. Neither Quadros nor Rutten seem to recognize the threat posed by this technique, and interpret it as a failed armbar (spefically juji-gatame). I distinctly remember my first exposure to this versatile and just plain neat waza, and welcomed it as an answer not to a question that I had, so much as a feeling: if I've thrown up a juji-gatame attack from the bottom, and uke withdraws the arm I am attacking, but leaves the other one inside, surely there is something for me there? Aside from the sankaku-jime to the far side? Turns out yes! Anyway, Goodridge manages to square back up, which opens up the sankaku-jime on the near side, in this instance, and about sankaku-jime they were never wrong, The Old Masters: how well they understood its human position (W.H. Auden, "Musée des Beaux Arts").

 

Much like Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira himself, I really could not be any happier about the way that went.

 

From Nogueira, to 桜庭 和志 Sakuraba Kazushi! Against Quinton "Rampage" Jackson! Who we used to think of as quite a character but it got an awful lot worse than that, in ways that you may choose to revisit in both the "Controversies" and "Legal Issues" sections of his wikipedia page. It's fairly awful. I remember this match as being super good, and I am sure I am not alone in that remembrance. A Sakuraba match is its own reward, its own end, certainly, but this is also extremely useful in reorienting myself within the great sea of PRIDE after a this long absence: Sakuraba is coming off of his first loss to Wanderlei Silva (TKO [knees and soccer kicks] R1 1:38 [oh no]), not to be confused with his second, or indeed his third. Okay, yeah: this fairly short match really is super exciting, with three—no wait four—抱上/daki-age/hugging high lifts, each one causing a gasp from the crowd (I get it). Jackson, who would later describe PRIDE's efforts first to encourage him to lose willingly (specifically to be choked all the way out sans maitta), and, once he declined that suggestion, their insistence he lose more and more weight before the match, is totally tuckered out by the five-minute mark. From there, it is no great struggle for Sakuraba to work his way to Jackson's back and finish with a very clean hadaka-jime, to which Jackson taps, seemingly in further defiance of the ever-shady PRIDE's shady request (although I have never heard corroboration of Jackson's specific claims, I find them extremely easy to believe).

Our main event, weirdly (one wonders if this was the match order in the building, or merely on the English-language broadcast? that is information that is available, surely, and yet I am only one man), is a rematch of the PRIDE 10 contest betwixt 石澤 常光 Ishizawa Tokimitsu and Ryan Gracie. Let us revisit, briefly, our writing from that time: "If you read all of the Dave Meltzer excerpts in the previous post, you will perhaps recall an unreal amount of 'ink spilled' over the looming 石澤 常光 Ishizawa Tokimitsu (or if you prefer ケンドー・カシン Kendō Kashin) bout against Ryan Gracie? There was a lot of it! But the match itself is merely Gracie talking Ishizawa down in the corner, the crowd going bananas as Ishizawa holds a loose 'front face-lock', and then Gracie punching him super hard like eight times in a row when they both stand up real quick. Let me count actually let's see: it might have been twelve times. Two minutes and sixteen seconds. The commentators make much of Ryan's reputation in street fights as though that were a sikk thing to have, and not a disgrace for a grown-up, and I have made the poor decision to revisit the circumstances of Ryan Gracie's untimely death: 'On December 15, 2007 at 7:00am Ryan Gracie was found dead in a jail cell in São Paulo, Brazil. At approximately 1:30am, Gracie had been arrested for stealing and crashing a car and attempting to hijack a motorcycle. The owner of the motorcycle hit Gracie on the head, and he was detained by several cyclists until police arrived. A toxicological examination at the Medical Legal Institute was conducted, after which he was transported to the police station.[9] While in jail, Ryan Gracie's wife called psychiatrist Dr. Sabino Ferreira de Faria to attend to him. The psychiatrist was later accused of medical negligence by over prescribing medication and causing the death of Ryan. Ferreira was later sentenced to two years of community service for recklessness.[10] The doctor was with Gracie most of the night, and was notified of Ryan Gracie's death as he was driving home.[11] Gracie was found alone and slumped into a corner when police were doing a routine check of the jail cells.[9]' That's no way to go." All very dark. "Ryan Gracie has this aura about him; I'm not gonna say he's evil, but he's definitely a bad boy," is Stephen Quadros' read on the man. Mark Coleman, who has joined the booth, says that four or five years ago in Brazil, he saw some measure of that first hand; Coleman alludes to Gracie's fondness for weapons, and I don't think he means for example the foam ヌンチャク/ nunchaku with which I accidentally struck myself in the groin just the other day (it is an inevitability). The match itself is upon us now, and the crowd is so wildly into it that I cannot doubt any longer that this was the actual main event, as Japanese Professional Wrestler vs. A Gracie remains a white-hot long-term programme, apparently. Ishizawa has positioned this bout as the last of his career, should he lose it: he wouldn't even wrestle after! At least not professionally! There seems very little risk of that early, though, as Ishizawa does a pretty good job! He maintains a good strong top position when they're on the mat, and, when standing, is getting hit in the face way less often than he had in their previous meeting. The fight ends suddenly after a takedown and scramble, with Ryan Gracie clutching at his side. A rib injury perhaps? He is plainly in agony, and there is no question the match needed to be stopped. Ishizawa, then, lives to die (the symbolic death of ippon) another day! He is slapped and congratulated at ringside by the great Muhammad Hussain Inoki/猪木寛至 Inoki Kanji/アントニオ猪木 Antonio Inoki, who has gone to his reward since last we convened here amidst these (electronic) pages. There is so much to be said, yet what more can we truly say but رضي الله عنه / Raḍiya 'llāhu 'an-hu: may Allāh be pleased with him.     

Alright then, what did we learn in this, our first PRIDE FC in nearly three years, and our first TK Scissoring over that same period? Above all else, how little we've changed, I suppose, which is at once both consolation and indictment. But so it goes. Mostly I am just happy to be back at it! This was fun! Thank you as always for your attention to these matters; please be both happy and well until we speak again and also until we have fully dealt with WHAT DAVE MELTZER HAD TO SAY:

August 6, 2001

"Mixing pro wrestling with shooting in Japan has become a huge gamble in pro wrestling, which doesn't always pay off.

The luckiest beneficiary has been Kazuyuki Fujita, who simply outlasted gassed out Mark Kerr and Ken Shamrock for two high profile wins against guys who were pounding the beejesus out of him, and those wins led to him becoming IWGP heavyweight champion, which would likely be considered the No. 2 belt in the pro wrestling world these days. Even bigger was Naoya Ogawa, who became the biggest draw in Japan through being protected in a shoot environment and scoring some wins to go along with his 1992 judo silver medal and being what Japanese pro wrestling has always wanted, a big heavyweight pro wrestler who the public thinks is the real toughest man around. Yoshihiro Takayama, even in losing, because of his spirited performance against Fujita, didn't hurt his cause while taking a risk in that environment at the last Pride show. Kazushi Sakuraba, like Fujita, who was not a huge name in pro wrestling going in, made himself a superstar not just in pro wrestling (2000 Wrestler of the Year in most Japanese publications) but in the culture itself through shooting wins. Unlike Fujita, with Sakuraba, it was not much in the way of luck, as opposed to simply great skill, how he achieved his success.

There have been several unlucky. Just this weekend, WWWA world womens champion Kaoru Ito of All Japan Women, was victimized in a boring match against Erin Torhill, which also didn't draw, nor do any favors for their world title. LLPW, which had successfully pushed for years the idea that Shinobu Kandori was a killer if it was real, saw her bubble explode when she got knocked out in a shoot match on a pro wrestling show earlier this year. But without question, the guy who was hurt the most was Tokimitsu Ishizawa.

Kendo Ka Shin was a pushed rising New Japan junior heavyweight star whose submission based offense was more in vogue than the high flying junior heavyweight style of the past. He won the Super Juniors tournament and the IWGP jr. title in 1999, portrayed, as a shooter, based on his background as both a collegiate and national amateur champion (1992), and his gimmick of being a master of submissions such as his trademark flying armbar. On August 27, 2000 at the Seibu Dome, he was put in the ring with Ryan Gracie, both smaller and untested, but with that great family pedigree which meant box office and reputation. The idea was, he should be able to outwrestle Gracie, and any win by a pro wrestler over a Gracie makes them real, and New Japan could have a junior champ who would have more of a shooter aura and whatever drawing power that goes with it from his shoot win. To the shock of everyone, Gracie, with very little wrestling experience, exploded with a double leg takedown of Ishizawa, and with piston-like punches, knocked him silly in 2:16. From that point forward, Kendo Ka Shin was dead. The loss devastated fan interest in him and even his frequent good matches got no heat.

Basically, his career was put on the line as Antonio Inoki spent months trying to put the rematch together. This time, everything was different. Ishizawa had far stronger training in San Jose, working with kickboxers and amazing everyone with his wrestling ability. Gracie, on the other hand, hadn't fully recovered from bicep and shoulder tears while training for a losing effort against Sakuraba in December, pegging his condition at about 50 percent. Still, Ishizawa was the huge underdog based on the first match, and while everyone praised his wrestling ability, his ability as an all-around fighter didn't receive the same accolades. As Kendo Ka Shin, he said that he would retire if he didn't win, because, unless he put up a real strong performance in a close loss, a second loss would have spelled the end of him as a pushed pro wrestler anyway.

A combination of that storyline and the return of Sakuraba from various injuries and illnesses in the wake of his loss to Vanderlei Silva four months earlier drew a sellout crowd of 27,323 fans paying more than $3 million to the Saitama Super Arena on 7/29 for Pride 15, which also aired live on PPV in Japan and will air on PPV on 8/11 in the U.S. to dish owners and 8/17 in Canada on VC-Canada. It turned out to be Ishizawa's revenge, which outdrew the previous show in the same building headlined by Sakuraba vs. Silva.

This time, Gracie was unable to take Ishizawa down, while the reverse wasn't the case, and Ishizawa would follow his takedowns with knees to the head. In a very strange looking finish, Gracie started holding his side after missing on a takedown. He stopped moving and couldn't stand up, causing the match to be stopped. The next day, his entourage said that he had suffered broken ribs from the knees and wasn't able to continue. X-rays were given to the Japanese press showed a fractured rib. Newspapers reported the rib was fractured from knees to the ribs during the match, but apparently nobody could find a spot in the match where this happened. Ryan's older brother Renzo has since issued a challenge to Ishizawa for the next show, which is 9/24 at Osaka Castle Hall, but that isn't going to happen since New Japan announced that Kendo Ka Shin returns full-time on 9/7.

Gracie and Ishizawa was the main event of what has been called a tremendous show, which saw a strange series of circumstances leading up to Sakuraba's return.

Sakuraba's opponent was Quinton Jackson, an unknown fighter with a 9-1 record against lower level opponents in the California-based King of the Cage promotion. From a skill standpoint, he wasn't in Sakuraba's league. He was a guy with a good look, billed as a homeless maniac street fighter (not all of which was true, but made for interesting hype in Japan) in the pro wrestling type build-up for Sakuraba's comeback. On paper, the one advantage he had which could have tested Sakuraba is he walks around at 221 pounds. However, Pride told him for the fight he had to weigh in at 194, which would have given him about 11 pounds on Sakuraba. This was all part of the strange week of Quinton Jackson.

As he was leaving from Los Angeles for Tokyo on 7/25, he was detained by police, who accused him of a prior assault on police officers and a parole violation. When he got to the gate for his flight, the police showed up, pointing guns at him to keep him from boarding for the flight. Jackson apparently had a felony dating back to college, which he did time for and had missed probation meetings. He was handcuffed, and spent eight hours in jail. While this was going on, DSE officials, panicking, contacted the Lions Den in Texas, and arranged for Alex Andrade, who had experience in UFC and Pancrase, to be a replacement. Jackson was then bailed out by King of the Cage promoter Terry Trebilcock and Andrade was given the word he wasn't needed. Jackson had trained down to 209, but was told he had to get to 194 for a weigh-in the day of the show (there was a lot of controversy among some fighters who expected the weigh in to be a day earlier, giving them time to rehydrate and gain the water weight back, but Pride changed weigh-ins to day of the show, which Americans would say was to protect the naturally smaller Japanese but others would say is simply how it should be but usually isn't done in the fight world). He ended up dehydrating something fierce but still not getting to the weight and it appeared in the ring Sakuraba was giving away at least 20 pounds.

Neither Jackson nor Gracie were even at the rules meeting, with some changes being announced. They were dropping the ten point must system for rounds, and instead said judges should award fighters points for every show of superiority, which would be working toward a finish, near submission, effective takedown or striking, good ground control or stand-up combinations, ring generalship and overall aggressiveness. If there is a weight difference of more than 22 pounds, like in the Sakuraba match, the light fighter gets one point per round. All yellow cards or stalling calls are a one point deduction. The rule that in a fight with a 22-pound difference, the smaller man can make the call to abolish knees and kicking on the ground, was abolished. These changes are largely the result of controversy stemming from both the reaction to the Heath Herring vs. Vitor Belfort match having different rules than the other fights, something Herring was unaware of in training for the match. It ended with a result DSE probably wasn't wanting, Belfort by very controversial decision, since Herring was their best young heavyweight star, as well as the controversial decision.

During intermission, Antonio Inoki came out with Fujita, to announce Fujita would be fighting against a K-1 star on 8/19 in the same building. The booking plan worked out by Inoki and K-1 promoter Kazuyoshi Ishii is for two Pride vs. K-1 matches on the show, Fujita vs. Mirko Crocop (Mirko Filipovic), which was officially announced two days later, and Pride's Gilbert Yvel vs. Jerome LeBanner, which hasn't been announced and thus may all be changed before you read this. The feeling is that, if things go as planned, it would lead to the Fujita vs. LeBanner match they've been hyping for some time which in theory is a huge money fight. Yvel vs. LeBanner would be a safe win provided the fight stays standing, because as good as Yvel is standing, he likely couldn't stand up to the 270-pound LeBanner's firepower. Fujita vs. Crocop is a gamble, because if Fujita can't take Crocop down and finish him in the first round under Vale Tudo rules, which in theory he should be able to do, a second round under K-1 rules would be Fujita's undoing unless there is protection involved as Fujita can take a punch, but has weak punch defense, and three minutes standing against Crocop with his strengths would seem like an eternity to survive. The apparent rules are if there is a third round, it would be under pro wrestling rules, whatever that means. Being that Fujita holds New Japan's world heavyweight title, that is always something to be suspicious about.

1. Ausserio Silva defeated Valentijn Overeem in 2:47 with a heel hook. Silva, a teammate of Vanderlei Silva (no relation) and Pele of Chute Boxing in Curatiba, Brazil, was announced as having a 30-1 record with his only loss being via blood. Whether that's true or not, everyone seems skeptical. Silva got the takedown and went for a triangle. Overeem reversed and started pounding, but Silva again went for a triangle. Overeem stood up, and when he did so, Silva caught him in a heel hook. Said to be a good fight. Overeem looked like the big version of Overeem this time, since his weight has been known to vary as much as 30 pounds.

2. Wallid Ismail defeated Shungo Oyama in 14:44, which is just 16 seconds before the bell ending the second round. Oyama was cut early from punches. Oyama went for a few guillotines but couldn't get them. Ismail mainly gets on top and throws punches. Oyama went for an armbar at the end of the round. Second round saw Ismail score a reverse, went back to ground and pound, winning with a shoulderlock submission [肩固 kata-gatame is literally "shoulder hold" but this seems like a weird way to characterize the finish! but I get that he is relying on reports until Dave Gets Tape -- ed.].

3. Ebenezer Fontes Braga won a unanimous decision after three rounds (20:00) over Daijiro Matsui. The pro wrestler once again continued his streak of never being stopped, even in there with such dangerous fighters as Vanderlei Silva, Vitor Belfort and Igor Vovchanchyn. Braga, the superior standing fighter, was able to keep most of the match on his feet and got an easy decision in what was said to be an exciting fight. They did go to the ground with Braga on top in the first round and Matsui continually slapping Braga's ears and top of his head, some of which seemed more for entertainment value. Braga hit some big punches in the second round, and when Matsui was down as Braga sprawled, Braga kicked and stomped him. Matsui fell through the ropes in the third round, then got back in and did his dropkick spot he tries to do to show he's a pro wrestler, that never works.

4. Igor Vovchanchyn won a unanimous decision over Masaaki Satake after three rounds (20:00). This was described as the best fight on the show. Vovchanchyn opened throwing bombs, and after a big left, Satake started bleeding from the nose. More bombs, with combinations knocking Satake backwards. Satake was trying to counter with leg kicks. At one point he seemed to grab Vovchanchyn to hold on just to keep from falling. Satake was covered with blood and the doctor checked him, but Satake insisted on continuing. Vovchanchyn threw more punches, and they exchanged kicks. They exchanged knees with Satake bleeding everywhere. Satake came back with kicks and Vovchanchyn went to his body. Vovchanchyn went for a takedown, but couldn't get it, as the bell ended the first round. Second round saw Vovchanchyn get Satake to the ground and start pounding him, opening the cut worse and keeping him there most of the round. Third round saw Satake throw more kicks and Vovchanchyn more punches, with Satake holding his own standing. He again took Satake down and threw punches from the mount before the fight ended.

5. Heath Herring beat Mark Kerr in 14:54, or just six seconds before the end of the second round. They ended up on the ground early with Herring going for submissions and Kerr throwing punches from the top. Herring bled early but Kerr was looking tired. Kerr took him down again in the second round. Kerr just held him there and the crowd started booing. The ref gave Kerr a yellow card, which is now a heavy fine, and ordered a stand-up. At this point, Herring was able to nail a tired Kerr as he attempted a take down. He followed with a series of six knees, which bloodied Kerr up, and the fight was stopped with Kerr knocked silly. Crowd didn't like the early part but went nuts for the finish.

6. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira beat Gary Goodridge in 2:40. Goodridge got a huge pop coming out, a lot due to last week's win over Manabu Nakanishi at the Sapporo Dome. For whatever reason, Goodridge returned home to Canada over the week, and then flew back. Nogueira went from one attempted submission to anther while Goodridge threw punches. Nogueira was one step ahead the entire fight, finally getting the triangle for the tap out. Mark Coleman, who was Nogueira's scheduled opponent, but was injured in training a few weeks back, was in Goodridge's corner. Nogueira, after the win, challenged Coleman to a match. Coleman agreed to the match for the next Pride.

7. Kazushi Sakuraba beat Quinton Jackson in 5:41. Sakuraba, even though giving up weight, took Jackson down immediately. Jackson powered out, using power bomb and even a piledriver like move on Sakuraba. Sakuraba tried a pro wrestling spot where he went for a triangle off the power bomb in the air, but it didn't work and he ended up slammed hard. Sakuraba from the bottom went for an armbar, but Jackson picked him up and slammed him hard again. Sakuraba came back with some kicks and a takedown. Sakuraba went for a chicken wing but Jackson powered out. He then went for a kneebar, which Jackson got out of, and a choke, which he tapped to. Jackson appeared to be dominating until he gassed out. Said to be a spectacular match. Sakuraba suffered a black eye from taking a punch and was also banged up from the power bomb spot. He said the next day that he was going to have to find out from his doctor whether he'd be able to fight again by the next show.

8. Tokimitsu Ishizawa beat Ryan Gracie in 4:51. Ishizawa was able to keep Gracie from taking him down. He was able to take Gracie down and control him to throw knees to the head. Ishizawa took him down again and threw knees. Gracie went for another unsuccessful takedown and just stayed down and didn't move. He held his side, apparently suffering the rib injury, and the match was stopped."

August 13, 2001:

A reminder that our method here is to ctrl+f "PRIDE" and see what comes up, which means we also happen upon things that are not strictly related to, say, the previous or next PRIDE shows, but instead are more like this:

"Fujita beat Don Frye to keep the IWGP title. Fujita, who weighed 281, looked way too heavy, and actually made Frye look small next to him. This was a very good match, but no match was getting over in front of this crowd. Frye did the best matwork I've ever seen from him and his punches are also great. Fujita took Frye down and threw the knees to the head (actually the shoulder since this was a work) which is the Pride finisher the wrestlers now use. Frye does the best body shots in the business, probably because he really throws them and Fujita really takes them. Crowd even popped when, outside the ring, Fujita made his comeback pounding on Frye with a flurry of punches. Frye came back, even doing a flying armbar. Frye went for a guillotine choke but Fujita reversed it into a Northern lights suplex. Frye went for a spear, but Fujita sidestepped him on put on a guillotine choke before the ref stopped it at 7:32. After losing, Frye still went after Fujita and had to be pulled off him. ***1/4." 

OKAY HERE WE GO, AS DAVE GETS TAPE:

"Some thoughts on 7/29 Pride after watching the tape. Overall very good show. Production and entrances were phenomenal. Ausserio Silva vs. Valentijn Overeem was a match it appeared Overeem had won. He was pounding on him from the top and it was very close to being stopped. Don't know if Overeem, who was announced at 235, much bigger than his fight with Gary Goodridge, got tired, but he hesitated and Silva got away. They were working on the ground when Overeem seem to lapse and Silva got the heel hook. Funny about sizes, both billed at 6-3 but Overeem was several inches taller. Wallid Ismail vs. Shungo Oyama was very competitive. Ismail is really charismatic because he's got the greatest stare-down and facials. He's not a great wrestler, but is so persistent like a bulldog in takedowns. Oyama got a front guillotine and the hold is super over because of Jun Akiyama and pro wrestling. Crowd went nuts whenever Oyama went for a submission. First round started really heated but slowed in the last 5:00 because Ismail was on top doing ground and pound. Ismail got basically a choke in the second round and Oyama passed out. Ebenzer Fontes Braga vs. Daijiro Matsui wasn't a good fight, as Matsui was just overmatched. Braga had too much reach and too much size. Matsui couldn't do much except survive and take a pounding, and he's great at that, as he continued his streak of nobody finishing the fight although it was a one-sided decision. Igor Vovchanchyn vs. Masaaki Satake, as we had heard, was the show stealer. Match had super heat and was a great match. Amazing how good Satake looked here considering how poor he looked against Tadao Yasuda his last time out. Vovchanchyn is a great opponent for him to look good with because Satake's strength is standing doing leg kicks, and Vovchanchyn never blocks them. Vovchanchyn pounded Satake's face bloody, but Satake bruised the hell out of Vovchanchyn's legs with low kicks. Satake's defense on the ground was surprisingly good as in the second and third round, Vovchanchyn was able to take him down (surprising Vovchanchyn would want to do it but the leg kicks were getting to him) and really didn't hurt him from the mount that badly other than body shots. Mark Kerr vs. Heath Herring was a boring fight with a spectacular finish. After the first minute, Kerr basically held Herring down, and Herring couldn't get up. He didn't try anything, not wanting to lose his position. In the second round, with the crowd booing, after a stalling call, they were stood-up. Kerr was noticeably tired and Herring sprawled at the takedown attempt and nailed Kerr with eight knees to the head before it was stopped. Antonio Nogueira, as expected, looked awesome once the match with Gary Goodridge got to the ground. Goodridge has so much charisma. Nogueira to me looks to be a very dangerous opponent for Mark Coleman because he appears to be the best submission guy of all the heavyweights. Funny weight deal, Goodridge was billed at 235 here and at 260 a week earlier for New Japan and he looked exactly the same. Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Quinton Jackson was a tremendous match. Jackson was billed at 191 and Sakuraba at 187, but Jackson looked to have 20-25 pounds on him. Sakuraba is over with the crowd just a shade less than Rock in the U.S. He's a total superstar now and a bigger draw than any other pro wrestler, but it's a shame in a shoot environment he's already had so many fights that he's probably past his prime already. He looked tremendous constantly going for submissions early, but the stronger Jackson threw him around like a rag doll, doing a Takaiwa like double power bomb, second without a pretty landing. Sakuraba nearly got an armbar but Jackson lifted him and tried to throw him over the top rope, but instead gave him something similar to a power bomb again. Did it again. Sakuraba took a lot of punishment, but finally Jackson got tired and Sakuraba went from move-to-move on the ground before getting the choke. Total standing ovation. Tokimitsu Ishizawa vs. Ryan Gracie really just saw Ishizawa totally outwrestle Gracie. They billed Ishizawa again as a former IWGP jr. heavyweight champion. Ishizawa threw several knees to the ribs while on top, although none looked strong enough to have fractured Gracie's ribs. Finish did look strange, but Ishizawa dominated, and it seemed Gracie lost his will toward the end and quit, at least that's how insiders watching believed it. The official Gracie story is that he popped a rib while trying to resist a takedown, and with the X-ray showing a fracture, that could also be it as well, but he couldn't do anything on offense. Ishizawa totally got his revenge and made his pro wrestling career." 

August 20, 2001:

"On the 8/11 show, Kendo Ka Shin returned after his win on the 7/29 Pride show, doing a run-in after IWGP jr. champ Masayoshi Naruse pinned Shinya Makabe. Most likely, perhaps at the 10/8 Tokyo Dome, Ka Shin will challenge Naruse for the title. After redeeming himself against Ryan Gracie, it is likely he's in line for the big push, since New Japan likes pushing successful shooters, that they were hoping to give him last year, before Gracie destroyed him and killed all his heat."

Dave on "the sad plight of RINGS," a subject near to us all:

"OTHER JAPAN NOTES: The sad plight of RINGS became even more apparent with its 10th year anniversary show on 8/11 at the Tokyo Ariake Coliseum, which drew an estimated 4,000 fans in the 10,000 seat arena with tournaments to crown both a heavyweight (over 198) and middleweight (under 198) world champion. Ricardo Arona of Brazil won the middleweight title winning via decision over Jeremy Horn and then scoring a decisive win in the finals over Gustavo Ximu (who had beaten long-time regular Chris Haseman) via an overtime decision. Fedor Emilianenko won the heavyweight tournament, which didn't even have a final. He defeated favorite Renato Babalu in the first match by unanimous decision. Bobby Hoffman won the other semi over long-time RINGS veteran Mikhail Ilioukhine but was injured and couldn't come out for the championship. Hoffman-Ilioukhine was also weird, as they went to a draw and an overtime round was ordered, but Ilioukhine refused to go into overtime and thus forfeited. Reports we got was the highlight of the show to the fans was the only worked match, although it was billed as such (an "exhibition) beforehand with Volk Han over Yoshiaki Fujiwara. Han is an interview basically said his job now is to entertain fans. Things were really sad and the pressure got to Hiromitsu Kanehara, who lost the main event to much smaller Matt Hughes, who is freakishly strong and slammed Kanehara around. Kanehara is one of the few remaining stars still left under contract after all the budget cuts, as he was so worried about the company and his own future that he didn't show up in good condition, and was slammed by the freakishly strong Hughes three times. The proposed match with New Japan's Michiyoshi Ohara against Volk Ataev never happened as the New Japan/RINGS deal fell apart due to Maeda's temper tantrum attacking a reporter and breaking a camera outside the New Japan office after Maeda's meeting with Tatsumi Fujinami. Because of the bad pub, New Japan ditched the idea and instead, Aaron Brink was brought over as Ohara's replacement. Although RINGS' popularity had been declining for several years, since nobody was ever able to replace Akira Maeda as a drawing card (while Kiyoshi Tamura was an awesome worker and in his prime, a good shooter as well, he didn't have the years of media exposure Maeda had and didn't have the general public name), the interest weakened for the shows when they went to an all-shoot format because names fans didn't know were beating the stars. The past two King of Kings tournaments were huge successes, but in both cases (Dan Henderson and Antonio Nogueira), the tournament winners after getting their big payoff, ended up signing with Pride, which also signed away RINGS last world heavyweight champion, Gilbert Yvel. The regular shows in between had a hard time drawing and financial backer WOWOW had been cutting back its support."

and:

"Some notes from the American version of the Pride PPV. The show was really good, with announcers Stephen Quadros and Bas Rutten having their best performance by far. Rutten combines charm and insight and Quadros added a lot. A huge plus to the show was Quadros and Rutten handling the interviews, which improved 1,000% from previous shows in that the interviews helped build the story as opposed to random comments that went nowhere like in the past. They talked a lot about K-1, bringing up the big names like Ernesto Hoost, Jerome LeBanner and Peter Aerts. Heath Herring was pushed as the star of the show and they tried to push Herring vs. Kerr as an emotional changing of the guard, as they made the match seem important before it started, which made it seem less boring in the first round than it was. They also admitted late in the first round that it wasn't an exciting fight, which gave them some credibility because at that point it wasn't. It almost made the finish that much more dramatic and really tried to play up Herring as the new superstar of the sport with his win. They really played up the Wallid Ismail vs. Ryan Gracie feud from Brazil. There was a huge improvement from a production standpoint, showing more of the elaborate ring entrances. They even pushed the idea that Tank Abbott would be coming into Pride and brought his name up in an interview with Gary Goodridge, although for Japan and for his long-term stardom, Abbott vs. Herring would be a good idea because it's a great fight to get Herring over. Goodridge said he thought Abbott was an "asshole" but also called him intelligent. Then Goodridge went out and got choked by Nogueira. They edited out the first round of the Ebenezer Fontes Braga vs. Daijiro Matsui match, and also edited out Matsui taking the bump out of the ring, likely because they may not want people to see such a potentially dangerous fall.Quadros interviewed Quinton Jackson and asked, "Where do you see yourself in two years?: Jackson's response: "Since I'm only 23, I see myself being 25," which, unintentionally, was the line of the night. Jackson was bleeped a half dozen times during his interviews. After praising Quadros, do have to mention he pulled a timing worthy of a Lee Marshall, when, with Sakuraba having Jackson in an armbar which was a potential finish, he started reading off a list of names of people that Jackson wanted to thank for help training him. Quadros then interviewed Ryan and Renzo (as the translator) and talked more about Ismail than Ishizawa. They did a great job of building up that as a rare grudge match in pro wrestling style, with Ryan saying he'd fight him for free, and then Ryan went out there and got schooled by Ishizawa. They did tell the story about how Ishizawa said he would retire from pro wrestling if he lost, and I think they expected that to happen considering how hard they pushed Ryan vs. Ismail during the match."

August 27, 2001:

"Don Frye will be replacing Brian Johnston in the G-1 World tournament. Frye was negotiating with Pride for 9/24, which was in the middle of the tour so he's back with New Japan and ready for singles matches against the likes of Scott Hall, Scott Norton, Bam Bam Bigelow and Giant Silva."

and:

"The Mark Coleman vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira match originally scheduled for 7/29 at the Saitama Super Arena, canceled due to Coleman suffering a knee injury, was officially announced for the next Pride on 9/24 at Osaka Castle Hall. As mentioned before, this is the closest thing to a real world heavyweight championship match since Coleman won Pride's tournament in 2000 and Nogueira won the RINGS tournament in 2001. On paper, it's not necessarily an exciting match, but it is an interesting match mixing a former world class wrestler who has adapted well to MMA and has never even come close to having been submitted in a match against the best submission heavyweight. There will be eight matches on the show in total. At this point they are keeping Sakuraba off to rest him for the Silva match on 11/3, and Fujita needs to rest for Coleman, so I'm not sure what they are going to do about a main event to sell tickets. Last year in Osaka they put Ogawa vs. Satake in as judo vs. karate and it was a huge success on television."

September 3, 2001:

from the New Japan section:

"It appears that after his loss to Mirko Crocop, that IWGP champ Fujita may be pulled from Pride's 11/3 Tokyo Dome show where he was to fight Mark Coleman. Coleman would be a strong favorite in the match, but since Coleman also has a wrestling contract with New Japan, they would be able to benefit no matter how that match went in some form. However, I guess the feeling is they don't want to put Fujita in a position where he may lose two shoots in a row, and the feeling is it's more important to get his win back from Crocop. They will likely make that match in December at a big Inoki show planned, although that is dependent upon whether Crocop is in the 12/8 Grand Prix tournament for K-1 at the Tokyo Dome, and how well he would do in that tournament. Saw the Fujita vs. Crocop match and there isn't a lot to say that wasn't covered. Fujita came in too heavy, although he was down to 249 (from a far too heavy 281 four weeks earlier). Crocop was in tremendous shape at 218. Fujita's first two attempts at takedowns were a little slow and Crocop easily sidestepped them. The replay was amazing. It was evident the power of Crocop's knee to the temple was like someone nailing someone in the temple with a baseball bat. Fujita, who has a legitimately freakishly thick skull which allows him to take a lot of head trauma without being knocked out, was almost like a movie monster, stunned for a split second and then shrugging it off and continuing with the takedown. There is no question the match should have been stopped. I'd describe what Fujita's temple looked like from the knee as like a fairway at a golf course when someone just made a divot. One thing also notable. Some guys have charisma, and some don't. No matter who he beats and what he does, Fujita doesn't have it. He's a tough guy, but he's more like Rick Steiner than the Bill Goldberg they want him to be. The reality is, guys like Rock, Oscar de la Hoya and Goldberg can't be created and you can't give guys a million wins, or have guys even beat stars legit and become it. When you see Inoki, Ogawa and Fujita together, Inoki looks like somebody important, Ogawa has a certain presence and Fujita, who has actually legitimately beaten real people, looks like a jock with no personality. However, the rematch of Fujita vs. Crocop should be a big draw. There are tentative plans for a big show on New Years Eve at the same building, which, if Crocop isn't in the Grand Prix, would be where this would take place. Inoki said he wants more K-1 vs. pro wrestler matches and it is expected some will take place on the 11/3 Pride show at the Tokyo Dome. Inoki after the match said that if the Fujita vs. Crocop match was in Pride or New Japan, it wouldn't have been stopped, which is half true. It would have been stopped in Pride, but not in New Japan. This match was clearly a big deal to K-1, because Mike Bernardo and Jerome LeBanner rushed the ring and were hugging Crocop like crazy when he won."

and:

"Gary Goodridge vs. 45-year-old pro and one-time world class amateur wrestling star (1976 and 1980 Olympics) Yoshiaki Yatsu was announced for the 9/24 Pride show in another match-up of pro wrestlers, just eight days after Goodridge works the New Japan show in Nagoya. I can't begin to tell you how much I hate this match-up. Goodridge vs. Yatsu took place on October 31, 2000 and was a great spectator fight in that Goodridge pounded on Yatsu with bombs and Yatsu, had both little punch defense and an unbelievable capacity to take a blow, which kept the fight going far longer than it should have. But taking that kind of brain trauma at 44 showed the worst aspects of the sport, even though the match had super heat because Japanese fans loved Yatsu's ability to take punishment and the fact he wouldn't quit, which unfortunately for him in the long run, he should have. With Kazushi Sakuraba, Kazuyuki Fujita and Naoya Ogawa all not appearing on the show, no doubt Pride felt it had to have some Japanese pro wrestler involvement

With Fujita also looking to be off the 11/3 Tokyo Dome show for Pride, it appears Pride is trying to put together a Heath Herring vs. Mark Coleman match to go along with Ogawa vs. Nobuhiko Takada and Sakuraba vs. Vanderlei Silva. That match likely depends on Coleman getting past Antonio Nogueira on 9/24 or plans could change there, although a Coleman-Nogueira winner against Herring would make for a top heavyweight match. That is going to be the biggest weekend in MMA history with the Pride Dome show actually taking place (technically different days) on the same night as the UFC PPV in Atlantic City, which at this point already has three major matches lined up in Randy Couture vs. Pedro Rizzo for the heavyweight title, Carlos Newton vs. Hayato Sakurai for the 170-pound title and B.J. Penn vs. Caol Uno to determine the No. 1 contender at 155. Don Frye has expressed interest in facing Ricco Rodriguez on the show, but it's definitely a question whether the sides can come to money terms. UFC is also negotiating with Alexej Medvedev of Bulgaria, who may already be locked in for the 11/2 show. Medvedev was the silver medalist at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics in freestyle wrestling as a superheavyweight (finishing ahead of such notables as Bruce Baumgartner and Russian Andrei Shumilin), losing 3-0 to Mahmut Demir of Turkey in the gold medal match. He also competed in the Sydney Olympics but didn't medal. Medvedev actually has pro wrestling experience doing a 1992 match for PWFG where he put over Masakatsu Funaki."

and:

"Regarding Tank Abbott and Pride, the reports we have are that Abbott has one year left on his Time Warner deal and isn't interested in doing anything until after that expires. So I have zero clue why they did a promo to build up a Gary Goodridge vs. Abbott match on the last Pride PPV."

September 10, 2001:

"The so-called smooth working relationship between UFC and Pride, where both sides had agreed to stay out of bidding wars for talent, looks rocky after Brazilian Anderson Silva, fresh off beating formerly unbeaten Hayato Sakurai, has an apparent valid contract with both promotions.

UFC had planned for Sakurai to challenge Carlos Newton for its 170-pound championship on 11/4 in Atlantic City, but with Sakurai facing Silva, they had already worked on a back-up plan in the event Silva won, which would be Newton vs. Silva. Silva's manager signed the UFC contract. After Silva beat Sakurai, considered No. 1 in the world at his weight, contacted Pride's Koichi Kawasaki asking if he could make him a better offer. Pride reportedly offered Silva $50,000, a huge increase over the UFC offer, to face popular pro wrestler Daijiro Matsui on the 9/24 show at Osaka Castle Hall. Because Matsui will likely go in with a 15-pound weight advantage, most expect he would be able to beat Silva, giving him a strong win. UFC claims to have a valid contract with Silva, but now they may have to go back to the Newton vs. Sakurai plan, even with Sakurai coming off a loss.

It appears Don Frye will return to shootfighting for the first time since winning Ultimate Ultimate in 1996 at the show as supposedly a verbal deal has been agreed to for a match against Brad Kohler, a Midwestern indie pro wrestler who is a mid-level name in shootfighting and has appeared on several UFC shows as well as with RINGS. Kohler is a good test for Frye if it's on the level. We do have two pro wrestlers going at it and Kohler has done a pro wrestling job in a shootfight in the U.S. before to Dan Severn. Kohler and Frye are said to be friends since Frye has trained extensively in Minnesota under Brad Rheingans. Kohler has a good wrestling background is strong as hell and throws a hell of a punch, although at his height (maybe 5-6), Frye should be able to outbox him. Frye is in the New Japan World Grand Prix from 9/9 to 9/16 and to me, doing pro wrestling that close to a big fight is risky as hell, and then with his opponent as a pro wrestler naturally brings up suspicion.

Pride, proving to be the MMA version of the mid-80s WWF, not only raided Shooto of its new middleweight champion literally days after he had won the title, but once again left RINGS looking like the same period AWA, taking the latest of its champions in Ricardo Arona, who won the 198-pound world title in an 8/11 tournament, and is expected to face Pride regular Guy Mezger on 9/24. Mezger is looking to rebound after losing in what amounted to a promotion vs. promotion match with UFC's Chuck Liddell."

and

"With Frye expected to do the 9/24 Pride in Osaka, the feeling is he now can't win the G-1 World tournament, since the tournament winner on 9/16 faces Yuji Nagata on 9/23 in Osaka for the right to a title match with Fujita. Some speculation they'll give Giant Silva the monster push to really challenge Nagata's ability to get a *** match out of a broom."

and

"It looks like on the 11/3 Pride at the Tokyo Dome they'll be doing a best-of-five with pro wrestlers vs. K-1. There may be one hell of a story developing out of this next year. Pride's final show of the year is 12/23 where they'll debut in Fukuoka. Promoter Naoto Morishita said they are working on getting Kazuyuki Fujita vs. Mirko Crocop on one of those two shows, but they also have the Inoki show on 12/31 at Saitama Super Arena where they need a huge drawing main event. The original 11/3 plans seem to have fallen apart with the wrestler vs. K-1 theme and plans for Fujita vs. Crocop. The original top two matches on the show were to be Naoya Ogawa vs. Nobuhiko Takada and Kazushi Sakuraba's rematch with Vanderlei Silva. Takada this week said that he and Sakuraba were pulling out of Pride because he felt their matches shouldn't be out of the main event position for the Fujita match."

September 17, 2001:

"Naoya Ogawa is claiming that he hasn't decided on whether to work the 10/8 Tokyo Dome show or the K-1 show on the same date. He also said, regarding the 11/3 Pride show, that the only way he would work that show is if it's against Nobuhiko Takada (in other words, a huge money match that he should win and would likely be worked). Takada last week claimed he and Sakuraba were pulling out. Inoki said that to get the Ogawa vs. Fujita match, New Japan would have to pay 100 million yen ($850,000), which sounds like just something to build up press."

and

"Pride color commentator Bas Rutten, who during his shoot career held both the King of Pancrase title on two occasions (once beating Frank Shamrock for it) and the UFC heavyweight title (very controversial win over Kevin Randleman) will be doing his second pro wrestling match on 10/14 for Battlarts at Korakuen Hall. Rutten faces Carl Malenko (Carl Ognibene), who, besides having fought in Pride and other events in the past, is one of the most underrated pro wrestlers around, in Battlarts' biggest show in a few years at Tokyo Bay NK Hall. Rutten did one pro wrestling style match on the 12/31 Osaka Dome show, and looked bad. While not a done deal, Battlarts is attempting to bring Kaientai back from the WWF for this show. Also making their pro wrestling debuts are two Pride losers to Kazushi Sakuraba, as Quinton Jackson faces Alexander Otsuka and Shannon Ritch (who suffered a broken forearm in the 8/11 K-1 match with Frank Shamrock) faces Daijiro Matsui (who is actually a hell of a pro wrestler)."

and

"Pride officially announced three more matches to its 9/24 show in Osaka, which, with Mark Coleman vs. Antonio Nogueira and Gary Goodridge vs. Yoshiaki Yatsu makes five of eight bouts finalized. Don Frye, 36, does his first shoot match since Ultimate Ultimate in 1996, facing Holland's Gilbert Yvel. If nothing else, this is intriguing and dangerous for Frye, particularly since the fight is just days away and he's been on tour with New Japan doing wrestling. Yvel may be the most dangerous stand-up fighter in MMA, but has a weakness of being unable to avoid a takedown or being able to get up once taken down. Frye has a wrestling background so if he can use it, he should have the edge. The danger is if he can't take Yvel down (and much smaller guys with far less experience than Frye have been able to do so), he will likely suffer a brutal beating that will hurt him with his pro wrestling shooter gimmick. Igor Vovchanchyn faces Semmy Schiltt, Pancrase's heavyweight champion, so he's the latest big raid. Vovchanchyn is a 5-7 fireplug and Schiltt is a lean and rangy 6-11 so the visual will be something. Schiltt has incredible reach on Vovchanchyn. Schiltt was under contract to UFC as well, but the company cut him after his loss on the last show to Josh Barnett. Guy Mezger faces Ricardo Arona, who won both the Abu Dhabai submission championship and is the current 198-pound championship for RINGS, which he becomes the latest RINGS world champion to be raided by Pride in the manner of Vince McMahon raiding Verne Gagne in the 80s. Not announced yet, but talked about is Akira Shoji vs. Brad Kohler (who was originally talked about as being Frye's opponent). Show debuts on 10/13 on DirecTV and TVN

The Anderson Silva situation has changed again this week. As things stand right now, Pride has backed off on its contract because UFC was able to prove it had signed him first. Silva's people aren't happy because they are losing out on a $50,000 fight offer but they had already signed the UFC deal earlier. This means that at this point most likely Silva will face Carlos Newton for the 170-pound title on the 11/2 show."

September 25, 2001:

"Pride finalized its 9/24 Osaka show (10/13 PPV date in the U.S., called "Beasts from the East") as Mark Coleman vs. Rodrigo Nogueira, Don Frye vs. Gilbert Yvel, Igor Vovchanchyn vs. Semmy Schilt, Guy Mezger vs. Ricardo Arona, Daijiro Matsui vs. Murilo Ninja, Akira Shoji vs. ? (at press time we got a report unconfirmed by Pride that Brad Kohler, scheduled for this match, suffered an ankle injury in training early in the week and won't be able to fight), Assuerio Silva vs. Norihisa Yamamoto and Gary Goodridge vs. Yoshiaki Yatsu. The attendance at this show is going to be very interesting because they don't have a superstar Japanese pro wrestler anywhere on the card and the actual big ticket selling draw in Pride at this point is Sakuraba, who is still scheduled to face Vanderlei Silva on 11/3 at the Tokyo Dome. Pride has been extremely hot this year and this is a star-laden show, but this is mainly a foreigner show and in the past (when the promotion wasn't nearly this high profile), those shows had trouble selling. Pride's promotional idea around the show was the idea that the best of RINGS, Pride, Pancrase and Shooto would all appear on the show, but the Shooto part of it fell through due to the Anderson Silva situation in ending up with UFC. Don't know much about Ninja other than he's a 21-year-old Brazilian who people who have seen him think matches up well as far as having a good match with Matsui. Yamamoto is the former RINGS veteran doing his first match since leaving RINGS amid its financial problems. He's past his prime as a fighter, but has enough of a name that he could probably mean something against the right opponent, as had he faced Naoya Ogawa in Zero-One as scheduled, the match would have gotten a ton of pub since their angle did, but it fell through. Silva would be the heavy favorite in that match

Pride also announced Nobuhiko Takada for the Tokyo Dome even though they seem to be having problems, as well as Fujita, Heath Herring, Vovchanchyn and Coleman

Fuji Network in their nightly network news on 9/18 announced that Sakuraba would be holding a press conference this week with huge news, but at press time here nobody seemed to know what he would be revealing."

OKAY WOW THAT WAS A LOT! Dave really came through for us there! As I shall endeavour to come through for you, my friends, by writing again before three further years have elapsed (though, of course, who can say). Thanks again everybody! Take care! For real please do!