Influcted
25-02-2007, 21:55
http://www.fightopinion.com/2007/02/...s-at-pride-33/ (http://www.fightopinion.com/2007/02/24/fight-opinion-weekly-disastrous-fight-results-at-pride-33/)
By Zach Arnold
Comments off
PRIDE 33 will go down as an event that, on paper, had a fight card line-up that looked like a turkey but produced some exciting fights. Short-term, the event was successful. Long-term, however, major damage was done to several of PRIDE’s key Japanese assets.
There is no turning back to Japan now for PRIDE.
The image that PRIDE’s American promoters tried to present for this event versus what the promotion has tried to present their Japanese fans at home are two entirely different pictures. Going into the PRIDE 33 event, the one match that PRIDE spent some time seriously promoting in the media was Takanori Gomi vs. Nick Diaz. The main event (Vanderlei Silva vs. Dan Henderson for the 205-pound Middleweight title) was briefly discussed, but not pushed. Throughout the PRIDE 33 card, themes pushed in America were not the same as the themes pushed in Japan.
A very positive step forward for PRIDE on the US PPV telecast was the duo of Lon McEachern and Josh Barnett. The two made a great combination for calling the action in the ring. Barnett was especially strong on color commentary. Good work from both men.
One fighter who suffered major damage to his PRIDE career was Kazuo Misaki, winner of PRIDE’s 2006 Welterweight (185-pound) GP tournament. Misaki beat PRIDE’s Welterweight champion, Dan Henderson, on August 26th last year in Nagoya. The upset win propelled Misaki in the Welterweight GP tournament, with that tournament’s semi-finals and finals happening at Bushido on November 3rd at Yokohama Arena. Because the Bushido event went over six hours in length and was considered a boring disaster by promoters, it’s an event that DSE promoters rarely discuss in public or acknowledge. Misaki, due to an injury by Paulo Filho, defeated Denis Kang in an exciting Welterweight GP tournament finals match to win the event. It was a high point in Misaki’s career, and most assuredly set-up on paper an anticipated match between Misaki (the 2006 Welterweight GP champion) and Dan Henderson (PRIDE welterweight champion). DSE had an opportunity to book the fight for their New Year’s Eve event.
They didn’t.
The promotion then had a chance to book the fight for their PRIDE 33 event in Las Vegas.
They didn’t.
Instead, PRIDE decided to strangely book Kazuo Misaki against ICON Sport 170-pound champion Frank Trigg. Trigg had only fought once in the PRIDE ring (PRIDE 8 in November of 1999). His only relation to PRIDE was replacing Bas Rutten as color commentator on PRIDE PPVs and PRIDE Fox Sports Net shows. That’s it. That was the only marketing qualifications for placing Trigg in a fight against Misaki. In the eyes of the PRIDE promoters, because he’s an American who fought for UFC and is a face of PRIDE in America, he’s acceptable to book against Misaki in a fight. On paper, Misaki vs. Trigg made little sense to book. If Trigg won the fight, it would be viewed by casual American MMA fans as an ex-UFC fighter beating PRIDE’s second-best Welterweight on paper (behind Henderson). If Misaki won the fight, he beat a fighter who normally fights at a weight-class below Welterweight and a fighter who’s most memorable lowlight was getting choked out by Matt Hughes. For Misaki, this fight had little to no benefit for him whatsoever. For DSE, this clearly was a situation in which they didn’t bother to protect Misaki in their matchmaking. For Trigg, he had everything to gain and little to lose.
Frank Trigg ended up defeating Kazuo Misaki via unanimous decision (winning all three rounds, 30-27, on the scorecards). Misaki’s image in Japan takes a big hit from this loss. It also limits what fight options he has coming up in PRIDE. More than likely, Misaki will have to face a healthy Denis Kang in a re-match. That is not a good outcome for Misaki.
However, the night of career damage in PRIDE just started after Misaki’s loss. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, the little brother of #2 PRIDE Heavyweight Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, faced off against Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou (from Cameroon). Sokoudjou was a massive underdog going into this fight, ranging anywhere from +1000 to +1600 in major online sportsbooks. In an interview with Brazilian journalist Denis Martins, Rogerio Nogueira told Martins that he had only managed to see video tape of one Sokoudjou fight (in WEC) and that obtaining footage of Sokoudjou was very hard for him to do. And this bugged him, because he (Rogerio) likes to watch tapes of his opponents so that he isn’t surprised by anything that occurs in the ring. The back-story behind Rogerio’s appearance on PRIDE 33 made the stakes even higher. His bigger brother, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, has struggled to politically keep his top position in the PRIDE organization. However, after two very exciting fights with Josh Barnett last year in Japan, big Nogueira has managed to keep his political clout. Little Nogueira, however, has had trouble getting booked on a lot of PRIDE shows. The most notable win in Rogerio’s career in the PRIDE ring was on NYE several years ago against Kazushi Sakuraba. For Rogerio Nogueira, he had little to gain and a lot to lose facing Sokoudjou on the PRIDE 33 show.
In one of the biggest upsets in MMA history, Sokoudjou KO’d Rogerio Nogueira on the PRIDE 33 event. To say that this caused major career damage to Rogerio Nogueira would be the understatement of the year. Indirectly, this also affects the political power of BTT (Brazilian Top Team) in PRIDE. Everyone is left stunned with this fight outcome. The damage to the Nogueira name in Japan has been done.
By Zach Arnold
Comments off
PRIDE 33 will go down as an event that, on paper, had a fight card line-up that looked like a turkey but produced some exciting fights. Short-term, the event was successful. Long-term, however, major damage was done to several of PRIDE’s key Japanese assets.
There is no turning back to Japan now for PRIDE.
The image that PRIDE’s American promoters tried to present for this event versus what the promotion has tried to present their Japanese fans at home are two entirely different pictures. Going into the PRIDE 33 event, the one match that PRIDE spent some time seriously promoting in the media was Takanori Gomi vs. Nick Diaz. The main event (Vanderlei Silva vs. Dan Henderson for the 205-pound Middleweight title) was briefly discussed, but not pushed. Throughout the PRIDE 33 card, themes pushed in America were not the same as the themes pushed in Japan.
A very positive step forward for PRIDE on the US PPV telecast was the duo of Lon McEachern and Josh Barnett. The two made a great combination for calling the action in the ring. Barnett was especially strong on color commentary. Good work from both men.
One fighter who suffered major damage to his PRIDE career was Kazuo Misaki, winner of PRIDE’s 2006 Welterweight (185-pound) GP tournament. Misaki beat PRIDE’s Welterweight champion, Dan Henderson, on August 26th last year in Nagoya. The upset win propelled Misaki in the Welterweight GP tournament, with that tournament’s semi-finals and finals happening at Bushido on November 3rd at Yokohama Arena. Because the Bushido event went over six hours in length and was considered a boring disaster by promoters, it’s an event that DSE promoters rarely discuss in public or acknowledge. Misaki, due to an injury by Paulo Filho, defeated Denis Kang in an exciting Welterweight GP tournament finals match to win the event. It was a high point in Misaki’s career, and most assuredly set-up on paper an anticipated match between Misaki (the 2006 Welterweight GP champion) and Dan Henderson (PRIDE welterweight champion). DSE had an opportunity to book the fight for their New Year’s Eve event.
They didn’t.
The promotion then had a chance to book the fight for their PRIDE 33 event in Las Vegas.
They didn’t.
Instead, PRIDE decided to strangely book Kazuo Misaki against ICON Sport 170-pound champion Frank Trigg. Trigg had only fought once in the PRIDE ring (PRIDE 8 in November of 1999). His only relation to PRIDE was replacing Bas Rutten as color commentator on PRIDE PPVs and PRIDE Fox Sports Net shows. That’s it. That was the only marketing qualifications for placing Trigg in a fight against Misaki. In the eyes of the PRIDE promoters, because he’s an American who fought for UFC and is a face of PRIDE in America, he’s acceptable to book against Misaki in a fight. On paper, Misaki vs. Trigg made little sense to book. If Trigg won the fight, it would be viewed by casual American MMA fans as an ex-UFC fighter beating PRIDE’s second-best Welterweight on paper (behind Henderson). If Misaki won the fight, he beat a fighter who normally fights at a weight-class below Welterweight and a fighter who’s most memorable lowlight was getting choked out by Matt Hughes. For Misaki, this fight had little to no benefit for him whatsoever. For DSE, this clearly was a situation in which they didn’t bother to protect Misaki in their matchmaking. For Trigg, he had everything to gain and little to lose.
Frank Trigg ended up defeating Kazuo Misaki via unanimous decision (winning all three rounds, 30-27, on the scorecards). Misaki’s image in Japan takes a big hit from this loss. It also limits what fight options he has coming up in PRIDE. More than likely, Misaki will have to face a healthy Denis Kang in a re-match. That is not a good outcome for Misaki.
However, the night of career damage in PRIDE just started after Misaki’s loss. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, the little brother of #2 PRIDE Heavyweight Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, faced off against Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou (from Cameroon). Sokoudjou was a massive underdog going into this fight, ranging anywhere from +1000 to +1600 in major online sportsbooks. In an interview with Brazilian journalist Denis Martins, Rogerio Nogueira told Martins that he had only managed to see video tape of one Sokoudjou fight (in WEC) and that obtaining footage of Sokoudjou was very hard for him to do. And this bugged him, because he (Rogerio) likes to watch tapes of his opponents so that he isn’t surprised by anything that occurs in the ring. The back-story behind Rogerio’s appearance on PRIDE 33 made the stakes even higher. His bigger brother, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, has struggled to politically keep his top position in the PRIDE organization. However, after two very exciting fights with Josh Barnett last year in Japan, big Nogueira has managed to keep his political clout. Little Nogueira, however, has had trouble getting booked on a lot of PRIDE shows. The most notable win in Rogerio’s career in the PRIDE ring was on NYE several years ago against Kazushi Sakuraba. For Rogerio Nogueira, he had little to gain and a lot to lose facing Sokoudjou on the PRIDE 33 show.
In one of the biggest upsets in MMA history, Sokoudjou KO’d Rogerio Nogueira on the PRIDE 33 event. To say that this caused major career damage to Rogerio Nogueira would be the understatement of the year. Indirectly, this also affects the political power of BTT (Brazilian Top Team) in PRIDE. Everyone is left stunned with this fight outcome. The damage to the Nogueira name in Japan has been done.