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Pride Fighting Cnampionship Grand Prix 2000
Pride grand prix took place in early 2000 and contained 16 of the best mixed martial arts/No hold's barred fighters in the world. No weight divisions, very few rules. Fighters like: Kazushi Sakuraba, Royce Grace, Igor Vovchanchyn, Mark Kerr, Mark Coleman, Gary Goordidge, Ricco rodriguez along with 9 others... It took place on 2 seperate nights, the opening rounds, and the final rounds. One fight between royce gracie and Sakuraba is 90 minutes in length. In all other versions this fight is edited. Great fights and a great event for any fight fan.
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MMA's most impressive tournament ever!
The beginning of the new millenium saw the rise and take over of Pride(DSE) as the premiere Mixed Martial Arts organization. Because of the popularity of the sport and no interference from politicians, Pride brought in only top-billed fighters from all around the world. With the millenium, Pride kicked things off with a 16-man tournament that would take place over 2 different shows. The first round would take in a January show (GP-Opening Round), while the remainder of the tourney would take place in one night. One night to decide the Grand Prix Champion!The Grand Prix finals had many intriguing what ifs and strange wrinkles. Who would win the possible match up between Mark Coleman and Mark Kerr, who are both excellent wrestlers and good friends. How would Ken Shamrock fair in his fight against Alexander Otsuka? Shamrock did the WWF thing, and was back to prove to many and himself he still had the goods to excel in MMA. But the most intriguing story of the night was the Royce Gracie/Kazushi Sakuraba fight. Gracie and Pride agreed that all his fights that evening were to be with unlimited rounds and can only be stopped by the fighter or his corner. Really it was a throwback to Gracie's UFC days, where there were almost no rules involved. How long would Gracie and Sakuraba fight? Will Royce ever tap or give up? These were burning questions that were answered.Other than the tournamnet, two exhibition fights took place. Guy Metzger would fight Masaaski Satake and Ken Shamrock would battle Alexander Otsuka. The Satake/Metzger fight would be dull, but the Shamrock/Otsuka fight would result in a KO. As far as the main card, Gary Goodridge and Igor Vovchanchyn kicked things off in a rock em' sock em' all out slugfest. The pace of the fight would only result in a KO. The winner of this fight would face the winner of the Gracie/Sakuraba fight. That eventual winner would have to wait almost 3 hours for their next fight.Fight #2 was the long awaited Sakuraba-Gracie Fight. Sakuraba had established himself as a hero in the eyes of his fans in Japan and all over the world. His exciting fighting style coupled with his victory over Royler Gracie had earned him the nickname "Gracie Hunter". Royce Gracie was back in the ring after a 5- year layoff. When he left the MMA scene, he was arguably the best fighter in the world. At 178 pounds he was neither the strongest or most intimidating fighter. At his heyday he used 100% jiu-jitsu to dispose of good, but not great fighters. So the stage was set for the new generation: Sakuraba versus the old-school legend: Gracie. With the special rules, the fight itself was a classic war. A war that lasted 6 complete rounds which equaled to an astounding 1 hour and 30 minutes! While slow at times, the fight I believe became the most important fight in MMA history. They will continue to talk about this one forever!After the long wait, Mark Coleman was anxious to fight the sturdy Akira Shoji. While there was a clear winner, the loser of the fight showed a lot of heart.Fight # 4 was between Mark Kerr and Kazuyuki Fujita. Kerr along with Vovchanchyn were considered by many experts as the favorites to win the tournament. The fight was lopsided and left many gamblers angry.The event was incredible, the eventual winner of the tournament was exhausted and well deserving. On a side note, the commentators were not bad at all. I think we (MMA fans) are use to certain UFC announcers. While not being "professional", Stephen Quadros along with Maurice Smith and Bas Rutten certainly did a good job. I especially enjoyed their commentary in the Gracie/Sakuraba fight, staying clear of annoying and predictable cliches. This is the center piece of my MMA collection.
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Better than the opening round!
I liked this one better because I found more of the fights interesting. Warning: the Royce Gracie v. Kazushi Sakuraba fight took forever and was not as exciting as Sakuraba's fights usually are. Not strong in the submissions arena, but lots of striking action. Includes all the big names: Igor Vovchanchyn, Ken Shamrock, Mark Kerr, Mark Coleman.
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