So, PRIDE was the best thing going in Japan this decade and killed people's interest in professional wrestling. That makes the puroresu fans sad, but you're a fan of professional wrestling and can appreciate both a work and a shoot. I know you can.

PRIDE

Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Vernon White (Pride 2)
Carlos Newton vs. Kazushi Sakuraba (Pride 3)
Daijiro Matsui vs Carlos Newton (Pride 6)
Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Ebenezer Fontes Braga (Pride 6)
Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Anthony Macias (Pride 7)
Wanderlei Silva vs. Guy Mezger (Pride 10)
Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Renzo Gracie (Pride 10)
Dan Henderson vs. Wanderlei Silva (Pride 12)
"Pele" Jose Landi-Jons vs. Daijiro Matsui (Pride 14)
Guz Mezger vs. Chuck Liddell (Pride 14)
Igor Vovchanchyn vs. Masaaki Satake (Pride 15)
Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Quinton Jackson (Pride 15)
Dajiro Matsui vs. Murilo "Ninja" Rua (Pride 16)
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Mark Coleman (Pride 16)
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Heath Herring (Pride 17)
"Pele" Jose Landi-Jons vs. Carlos Newton (Pride 19)
Heath Herring vs. Igor Vovchanchyn (Pride 19)
Enson Inoue vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (Pride 19)
Ricardo Arona vs. Dan Henderson (Pride 20)
Ninja Rua vs. Mario Sperry (Pride 20)
Jeremy Horn vs. Gilbert Yvel (Pride 21)
Don Frye vs. Yoshihiro Takayama (Pride 21)
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Bob Sapp (Pride Shockwave 2002)
Quinton Jackson vs. Igor Vovchanchyn (Pride 22)
Fedor Emelianenko vs. Heath Herring (Pride 23)
Dan Henderson vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (Pride 24)
Kazuhiro Nakamura vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (Pride 25)
Alex Steibling vs. Akira Shoji (Pride 25)
Fedor Emelianenko vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (Pride 25)
Anderson Silva vs. Daiji Takase (Pride 26)
Fedor Emelianenko vs. Kazuyuki Fujita (Pride 26)
Quinton Jackson vs. Chuck Liddell (Pride Final Conflict 2003)
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Mirko Filipovic (Pride Final Conflict 2003)
Quinton Jackson vs. Ikuhisa Minowa (Pride Shockwave 2003)
Murilo Bustamante vs. Kazuhiro Nakamura (Pride Final Conflict 2004)
Sergei Kharitonov vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (Pride Final Conflict 2004)
Ryo Chonan vs. Anderson Silva (Pride Shockwave 2004)
Mark Hunt vs. Wanderlei Silva (Pride Shockwave 2004)
Fedor Emelianenko vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (Pride Shockwave 2004)
Mauricio Shogun Rua vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (Pride Critical Countdown 2005)
Ricardo Arona vs. Wanderlei Silva (Pride Final Conflict 2005)
Mauricio Shogun Rua vs. Alistair Overeem (Pride Final Conflict 2005)
Fedor Emelianenko vs. Mirko Filipovic (Pride Final Conflict 2005)
Mirko Filipovic vs. Wanderlei Silva (Pride Final Conflict Absolute)
Josh Barnett vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (Pride Final Conflict Absolute)
Mirko Filipovic vs. Josh Barnett (Pride Final Conflict Absolute)
Takanori Gomi vs. Nick Diaz (Pride 33)
Dan Henderson vs. Wanderlei Silva (Pride 33)

BUSHIDO

Carlos Newton vs. Renzo Gracie (Bushido 1)
Ralph Gracie vs. Dokonjonosuke Mishima (Bushido 1)
Mauricio Rua vs. Akira Shoji (Bushido 1)
Kazuo Misaki vs. Jorge Patino Macaco (Bushido 3)
Ricardo Almeida vs. Ryo Chonan (Bushido 3)
Ryan Gracie vs. Ikuhisa Minowa (Bushido 3)
Dokonjonosuke Mishima vs. Marcus Aurelio (Bushido 4)
Luiz Azeredo vs. Takanori Gomi (Bushido 7)
Dan Henderson vs. Akihiro Gono (Bushido 9)
Hayato Sakurai vs. Jens Pulver (Bushido 9)
Joachim Hansen vs. Yves Edwards (Bushido 9)
Takanori Gomi vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri (Bushido 9)
Joachim Hansen vs. Hayato Sakurai (Bushido 9)
Luiz Azeredo vs. Takanori Gomi (Bushido 9)

SHOOTO

Caol Uno vs. Rumina Sato (Shooto – 10th Anniversary Event)
Noboru Asahi vs. Alexandre Franca "Pequeno" Nogueira II (Shooto - Renaxis 4)
Hayato Sakurai vs. Frank Trigg (Shooto – R.E.A.D. Final)
Rumina Sato vs. Takumi Nakayama (Shooto - Treasure Hunt 11)
Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Vitor Ribeiro (Shooto 2004 – Year-End Show)

HERO'S

Joachim Hansen vs. Caol Uno (Hero's 1)
Hideo Tokoro vs. Alexandre Franca Nogueira (Hero's 2)
Caol Uno vs. Hideo Tokoro (Hero's 3)
Ivan Menjivar vs. Hideo Tokoro (Hero's 6)

YARENNOKA!

Mitsuhiro Ishida vs. Gilbert Melendez (Yarennoka!)

DREAM

Eddie Alvarez vs. Joachim Hansen (Dream 3)
Hideo Tokoro vs. Darren Uyenoyama (Dream 4)
Eddie Alvarez vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri (Dream 5)
Abel Cullum vs. Hideo Tokoro (Dream 9)

Antonio Noguiera vs Bob Sapp PRIDE shockwave 2002: The First MMA fight I ever saw. I remember downloading it in 2006. It felt like an epic wrestling match. Couldn't tell it was a shoot. Plus it went to three rounds. Bob Sapp's piledriver/Powerbomb looking move was awesome.

"Pele" Jose Landi-Jons vs. Carlos Newton (Pride 19)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAgaXAL_VO4

This was all about the knee and Pele fucking up the fight thereafter.

One of my favourite PRIDE fights:

Carlos Newton vs. Kazushi Sakuraba (Pride 3)

Part 1 -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6y1LiT5iqs
Part 2 -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cp_oycm8eEE

Kazushi Sakuraba vs Vernon White (Pride 2)

Awesome fight, Sakuraba is constantly going after White's arm and is just fearless on the mat. Vernon gets Sakuraba's back a few times, and Sakuraba is totally calm. Lots of great grappling, although it might be unusual for a modern MMA fan to see very little ground striking. Great exchanges as well and it set the stage for the style of future Sakuraba bouts.

http://z11.invisionfree.com/wrestling_ko/i...?showtopic=2797

Here's a freevlog version of the fight should anyone prefer to watch it this way:

http://www.freevlog.hu/play?v=u47c8cddbb2aff

Enson Inoue vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (Pride 19)

Inoue had lost his previous three fights and he lasts longer than anyone expected him to do here. Obviously, he's no match for Nog (who was the PRIDE Heavyweight Champion at this point in time) but he survives some tough positions. One of the cool moments is Nog pulling out this great looking omoplata/ankle lock combo and a cool triangle choke transition for the choke out victory.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvCNiYaInHA

Kazushi Sakuraba vs Allan Goes (Pride 4)
This isn't list worthy, but it's an interesting fight and it has some pretty cool moments so I thought I would just mention it. It got a bit repetitive at the end, and Sakuraba was not doing anything towards the end. He just couldn't figure out a way to beat Goes and it started to lose steam in the last round as Sakuraba just stood there getting kicked. There wasn't any judges on the first few PRIDE shows, so it ends in a draw even though Goes really won the fight. But it does have some neat stuff and I dug a lot of Goes' different kick variations from lying on the mat. Pretty fun fight but not great.

Kazushi Sakuraba vs Vitor Belfot (Pride 5)
This is one of my favorite fights from the early PRIDE days, but it might be too one sided to add to a list of great PRIDE fights. Vitor opens up with a big time flurry of strikes, and that's pretty much it for Vitor in this fight. Sakuraba spends the entire 1st round just destroying Belfort's legs to the point that they become an ugly mess. Odd to see Vitor wanting to go to the mat while Sakuraba wants to stand up. In the 2nd round, Sakuraba is able to stand up with Vitor and gets the better of every exchange with some great punches and spinning kicks. Vitor would then casually lay down every once in a while, so Sakuraba was just delivering brutal legkicks. Sakuraba finishes off this total domination of Vitor with TWO FLYING FOOT STOMPS!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AhAkB-NhkQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjOcCwP8-as

I think this should be added to the list OJ:

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs Heath Herring (Pride 17)

This was the fight to crown the first ever PRIDE Heavyweight Champion and it's an amazing display of the abilities of Nogueira. Nogueira just destroys Herring for 20 minutes with his sharp striking and his frequent submission attempts. Nogueira also uses nasty knee strikes and impressive wrestling takedowns. I must also say kudos to Herring for escaping so many positions, avoiding some potential sweeps and being able to survive this entire tough fight. Nogueira gets the easy decision and gets the belt wrapped around his waist by Antonio Inoki. Even though it's one sided, the Nogueira fanboy in me makes this my favorite MMA Heavyweight Title fight ever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LaOkR1HBPw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjBcvD9lBrk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efxL0-0xkSM

There is a lot of awesome shit in PRIDE so I think it's a good idea to link to cool short stuff that's not list worthy:

Gilbert Yvel vs Gary Goodridge (Pride 10)

A brutal 28 second highkick knockout.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kine9hM69B4

Alexander Otsuka vs Mike Bourke (Pride 11)

Carl Greco has a trademark tricked out double armbar submission he loves to use in BattlArts (most memorably in his great match with Bas Rutten), and Alexander Otsuka is able to pull it out in a Pride fight for the victory! Master Eddie Bravo is very impressed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJur3JDBt18

Kevin Randleman vs Mirko Cro Cop (Pride Total Elimination 2004)

Kevin Randleman was on a two-loss streak (against Rampage and Sakuraba) and it was expected that Cro Cop was going to easily walked through him on his way to Grand Prix finals. But...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWuf34hCE-0

Allan Goes vs. Alex Stiebling (Pride 18)

Allan Goes is a matwizard and has some good submission attempts, including a nice side choke and a good armbar. Alex Stiebling is a scrappy young escape artist, and looks good finding ways out of such dangerous hooks. One of the most exciting moments of the fight is Stiebling escaping a straight armbar by twisting around and getting side position. Goes was easily winning the fight early on, and had good control of Stiebling throughout Round 1. But as the match progressed, Stiebling got more confident in his skills and started to bring the fight back to Goes. By Round 3, Stiebling was pushing the action and started raining down knees and fists to score a TKO victory (although it might be considered an early stoppage). Good fight.

Alex Andrade vs. Murilo Rua (Pride 18)

This was a solid straightforward beating from Ninja to Andrade and it was pretty entertaining with some nice commentary from Rutten, Quadros, and Hume. It's something one would want to see if one is interested in viewing a strong performance from Ninja Rua. Rua displayed some nice transitions in his offense and looked great at delivering nasty strikes to Andrade's noggin.

Nogueira/Herring was the fight that really sold me on Nog. As great as Fedor is, Nogueira was a guy who always seemed to come back from impossible situations. Probably my all-time favourite fighter.

There's an awesome Frank Shamrock/Goes Pancrase match that I'll try and find a way to share with everyone.

Daniel have you seen the Couture/Nogueira fight from August?

This is one of those funny PRIDE moments that gets brought up whenever my buddies and I reminiscence about the good old days of PRIDE. This moment has also been made into this awesome cartoon at MMAUG board.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5nPZcCGnDs

Kyle Sturgeon vs Nobuhiko Takada (Pride 3)

If you ever wondered what a fixed MMA fight looks liked, than this is the fight for you! Amusingly shitty as Takada does this really embarrassing overselling for a couple of Sturgeon's kicks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZL11fBSLPw (Japanese version)
http://z11.invisionfree.com/wrestling_ko/i...?showtopic=2817 (English Version)

Valentijn Overeem vs. Igor Vovchanchyn (Pride 18)

This was good little scrap what went back and forth and provided an unexpected finish. Fun fight and both guys looked good surviving tough spots.

Jeremy Horn vs Akira Shoji (Pride 18)

Journeyman Jeremy Horn is one of my favorite fighters to watch and Akira Shoji is one of the cool bit players of Pride that is fondly remembered for being really difficult to finish off. So I had never seen this fight before, and in my mind this was a bit of a minor mid-card dream fight. But to be honest, Round 1 was pretty underwhelming and I was growing restless. Both of them were being rather conservative in their performances although Horn was controlling the fight from his back. Round 2 picked up the pace, and had Horn show some good technique in his standing abilities and his groundwork. Round 3 also had some more good stuff from Horn, as he attempted to put away Shoji. As expected to those familiar with Shoji's work, he defended well against some quality submission attempts from Horn. Solid fight that grew on me, and got pretty fun at the end.

Wanderlei Silva vs Alexander Otsuka (Pride 18)

Otsuka is my favorite BattlArts worker and my favorite Pride punching bag. There is melancholy feel as Otsuka calmly walks to the ring to his regular great entrance song. as he awaits to get a violent beating from Silva. Only advantage Otsuka has in this fight is his weight. Early on, Otsuka tries to close the distance to neutralize Silva's striking, but as expected, Silva nails some nasty strikes throughout the fight. Soccer kicks, stomps, knees and nose-breaking punches that tear Otsuka apart. The only bright moment for Otsuka was when he avoided Silva's triangle attempt, secured sidemount position, and hit a grounded knee on Silva's noggin. Unfortunately for Otsuka, as soon as he hit the knee, Round 2 was over. Entertaining for a squash but considering the huge gap of talent involved, Silva really should have put Otsuka away earlier in the fight. Stephen Quadros talked about how Alexander Otsuka told Quadros that one day he would love to open an ice cream shop. I happen to think Alexander Otsuka would be an awesome ice cream man and I hope his dream comes true one day.

Yoshihiro Takayama vs Semmy Schilt (Pride 18)

Nothing match, Schilt just easily picked him apart and got the KO 3 minutes in.

Pride 18 ended up being a pretty enjoyable and underrated show. I haven't found Pride 18 links on the internet, so I'll try to rip my DVD and upload it at some point in the near future.

We already put the better PRIDE 19 fights on the list, but thought I would make some brief comments on the other fights...

Wallid Ismail vs Alex Stiebling (Pride 19)

Some quality grappling combat on display here in this good fight. The beginning of Round 2 was really cool as they tried some neat submissions and got stuck in some positions that I don't think I've ever seen in an MMA fight. Bas Rutten got all giddy and excited and proclaimed that the submissions here were "like pro wrestling submissions but they actually work!". Indeed Bas, indeed.

Heath Herring vs. Igor Vovchanchyn (Pride 19)

This was a big time heavyweight fight that had some really exciting exchanges at certain points of the encounter. It had some cool escapes from both guys and it had some dramatic moments, although I don't agree with Quadros and Rutten's comparison to the Nog-Herring classic. By Round 3 they were getting a bit tired, but this is still a very good Heavyweight contest.

Don Frye vs Ken Shamrock (Pride 19)

There was a game that some guys at my childhood Jr. High and High School would play to resolve disputes or to prove who was tougher. They would lean against each other, and throw one body shot after another until one "se rindia" (quit). Anyways, Round 1 of this Pride contest reminded me of that old school game. Shamrock and Frye just stood there leaning against each other and threw body shots for most of the round until Shamrock hooked a ruthless knee bar that permanently damaged Frye's legs. I think the kids in my school showed more spirit than Shamrock and Frye did here. Although, Frye did show his toughness for surviving those vicious leglocks. Round 3 had a few more memorable moments and I think Shamrock has a charisma that makes him always entertaining even his lackluster bouts. But I wouldn't recommend you guys to see this fight.

Wanderlai Silva vs Kiyoshi Tamura (Pride 19)

Same thought I had about the Otsuka/Silva fight, Silva really took too long to put Tamura away. Tamura looked lost in there and like time had passed him by. Tamura looked so defeated after the final blow that Silva delivered. The RINGS day were over.

This is the awesome PRIDE 20 intro with Bas Rutten and Stephen Quadros:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIPxDV91v0o

Masaaki Satake vs Quinton Jackson (Pride 20)

This was really fun as Jackson took him down with a huge scoop slam and pounded on him brutally with some knees. When they stood back up, Jackson nailed him with a nasty back suplex and a punch for good measure for the victory.

I think these two fights belongs on the list:

Ricardo Arona vs. Dan Henderson (Pride 20)

Other than Nogueira, Arona is the man who has given Fedor the most trouble, so it's no surprise to see such a great performance out of him here. Henderson busted out this great combo of putting Arona in a can opener and then releasing it just in time for a huge hook to the face. Henderson also pulled out this great swinging bodylock takedown and a sweep reversal. But this was Arona's fight, as he provided aggressive takdowns and was always working towards trying to stop Henderson. He did his best to stay on top of Henderson, as evidenced in the moment when Henderson tried to headlock his way out of being under Arona's mount and Arona comfortably countered that with a rear naked choke attempt. As Bas Rutten screamed at one point, "Wow, this is a great fight!".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QTQkerNQSk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5uHt9HUoUk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCzcoTrXMz8

Ninja Rua vs Mario Sperry (Pride 20)

Bas Rutten was marking out huge over the entrance music of Rua and then when Rua stepped out dressed as a NINJA with a sword, Quadros and Rutten just lost their shit. I thought that was going to be the peak of this, but the fight ended up turning into a hell of a war. Both guys stepped up, had some great wild brawling exchanges that rocked both of them at different points during the fight. Also, some very close calls when it came to submissions as the former World Submission Grappling Champion almost hooked Rua with two kimuras and a triangle choke. Round 3 was a bit of a let down compared to the first two rounds and Sperry was really gassing out, but that's minor nitpicking. Postmatch was very emotional as both Ninja Rua and Sperry's cornerman Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira started crying.

Sanae Kikuta vs. Alexander Otsuka (Pride 20)

Alexander Otsuka has Solar and Ultraman as his cornermen and goes over to shake Kikuta's hand. As Kikuta reaches to shake it, Otsuka pulls away and it's on! So Kikuta makes him pay by using Otsuka's head as a speed ball for the next 20 minutes and putting Otsuka in a vicious straight armbar (Otsuka refuses to tap and shockingly escaped). Otsuka's face was a mess and even worse, he had a golf sized ball growing out of his head. Otsuka's major offense were these light playful slaps and petting Kikuta's hair. Like Solar vs Suzuki a few weeks prior to this fight, Otsuka also snuck in some lowblows as it appeared to be that Otsuka's strategy was to annoy Kikuta. Postmatch had Otsuka celebrating like he won the World Title as the audience went crazy and then sarcastically clapping when Kikuta was awarded the obvious decision. Otsuka teased that he was going to make up and shake Kikuta's hand, but just pulled it away again and flipped him the middle finger. Not a good match, but man this was an amusing contest. Awesome.

Wanderlai Silva vs Mirko Cro Cop (Pride 20)

This had special rules because it was a interpromotional PRIDE vs K1 bout that had no judges, rope escapes and five 3:00 minute rounds. This was pretty fun and crowd was super hot. Great bodykicks and it was entertaining but that's it and a bit of a disappointment.

Are you adding any of these to the list?

I think Arona/Henderson and Ninja Rua/Sperry are great fights so they should be on the list if it's cool with you.

I just felt like writing some thoughts on the other bouts surrounding the great matches since I've been watching a lot of PRIDE lately. I think to avoid confusion in the future, I should bold the matches I feel belong on the list.

Carl Malenko vs Egan Inoue (Pride 6)

A bit dry and slow for the first 20 minutes, but the overtime period had some good grappling and had both guys attempting to pull ahead of each other. If one were to just see those 5 minutes of overtime, one would probably think it was very good but as a whole, the match is ok.

Daijiro Matsui vs Carlos Newton (Pride 6)

Incredible! Matsui is a scrappy young underdog that gets out of impossible situations and has big wide eyes always observing everything around him like the kid from Il Posto. I've mentioned before on this board that I think Carlos Newton is the most likable MMA fighter ever and this is probably his greatest fight. In his first two fights at PRIDE 3 and PRIDE 4, Matsui had shown potential and had impressed us with his defensive skills, but this is his coming out party. Great grappling and some awesome reversals. Beautiful counters, sweeps, and submission attempts. Newton was constantly working to secure an armbar and Matsui was impressive in the way he escaped them. Also, Matsui's striking abilities had improved tremendously from his previous fights. But Newton's striking was still superior (he had recently trained with El Guapo) and he busted out this great looking axe kick directly to Matsui's back. Matsui also attempted a donkey kick, a jumping side kick and took a page out of Sakuraba's book by pulling out a cartwheel that transitioned directly to a straight right punch to a grounded Newton. The overtime period had Newton pulling slightly ahead of this back and forth fight with some great striking skills, including one memorable brutal punch. On the scale of Carlos Newton vs former UWFi pro wrestlers, I think this surpasses Newton vs Sakuraba from PRIDE 3.

Does Stephen Quadros remind anyone else of Dave Meltzer?

Edit: I always dug Daijiro Matsui. He was totally outclassed for the most part but a respectable fighter all the same. His win over Pele was awesome.

I never really thought about it. Dave seems to be in a state of urgency almost all the time on his audio and it's actually kinda charming how animated he could get about something. Quadros is a lot more relaxed and composed in his commentating, he's probably the easiest American MMA announcer to listen to.

Kazushi Sakuraba vs Ebenezer Fontes Braga (Pride 6)

Sakuraba has early problems with Braga, and has trouble dealing with the aggressive striking style that Braga presents. When they hit the ground, Sakuraba teases doing his flying foot stomp and Braga leaps to his feet in a great moment. Last portion of the fight is spent on the mat where they constantly struggle for position and look for openings to finish the fight. By this point in his career, Sakuraba had gotten better at using striking as a way to set up his submissions on the ground. Very exciting and competitive fight.

Bob Schrijber vs Dajiro Matsui (Pride 7)

Bob Schrijber is a kickboxer from Holland, and Bas tells us his nickname is "Dirty Bob" since he is notorious in Holland for fighting dirty. Bas explains that Bob is a nice guy, but that he's a streetfighter that's been in hundreds of street fights in Holland and gets carried away in the excitement of the fight. Schrijiber has a 40 pound weight advantage and a lot of striking power, so this is a big test for Matsui. Matsui struggles throughout the fight to keep it grounded but "Dirty Bob" cheap shots Matsui with a right hook when the referee had stopped the action and does an illegal soccer kick on Matsui. There is always a hope that Matsui is going to come back and defeat him since Matsui is good at taking him down. But after the bell rings to signal the end of Round 1 and with Matsui on his hands and knees, Dirty Bob hits an illegal axe kick to the back of Matsui's head for the DQ. If this had Matsui submitting him at the end, I probably would have been tempted to list this.

Wanderlai Silva vs Carl Greco (Pride 7)

This falls into the same pattern as the other "Wanderlai Silva vs Great Pro Wrestlers (Alexander Otsuka, Kiyoshi Tamura)" matches. Carl is clearly outmatched and just tries to hang on for the duration of this losing fight. Kinda slow, with a few bursts here and there.

Branko Cikatic vs Maurice Smith (Pride 7)

This was pretty funny since Branko taps out from a simple forearm across the throat, and Bas dryly comments that all he had to do to escape was turn his head. Branko also had a huge problem in his PRIDE fights of holding onto the ropes, and Bas suggests that PRIDE officials connect the ropes to high voltage and press a button whenever Brako grabs them.

Akira Shoji vs Larry Parker (Pride 7)

Good fight, Larry was impressive in this bout but gassed as the fight moved along. By the end, Shoji was clearly ahead and was doing a fine job outstriking Larry. The highlight of this fight included this awesome moment where Shoji kicked Larry's leg, Larry then spun around right into a huge right hand by Shoji in a moment that would feel right at home in a Dick Murdoch match. If you're a Shoji fan, you would probably enjoy this.

Kazushi Sakuraba vs Anthony Macias (Pride 7)

Sakuraba is the MVP of all these early PRIDE shows and this is another one of my favorite MMA fights. Macias has been immortalized in MMA history by being the recipient of Dan Severn's rolling german suplexes at UFC 4 and this is probably his other most famous fight (with the exception of the UFC 6 Taktarov work). This is a great show from Sakuraba, he is great at working the ground and trying to find ways to set up his straight armbar. Unlike a lot of the wrestlers of this era that just attempted to hold on to their position to try to win dull fights, Sakuraba is using his position to transition and set up submissions. Sakuraba also hits a beautiful belly to belly suplex and does an awesome running sidekick to a grounded Macias. When Sakuraba goes for his flying double foot stomp, Macias blocks that in a spectacular moment and Quadros reminisces of the film Enter the Dragon. It was like Sakuraba was Johnny Saint and Macias was the guy along for the ride, as even Macias was smiling at certain points watching Sakuraba unleash his bag of neat tricks. Post-match had Sakuraba goofing off by throwing his team mate Matsui to the mat. Awesome.

Wanderlai Silva vs Dajiro Matsui (Pride 8)

Matsui was just totally overwhelmed by Silva for the entire duration of the fight and took a really horrible beating. Silva was hitting some incredible strikes throughout the fight and was doing an awesome job from fighting from his back. I love Silva so this was a very fun fight for me.

The Goes-Malenko fight had a cool arm choke by Goes that resulted in Malenko screaming at the top of his lungs immediately after he tapped out. Also the Coleman-Morais fight is one of the most boring fights in PRIDE history and another reason why Coleman is probably my least favorite high level MMA fighter ever. I thought I should post this Igor Vovchanchyn vs Francisco Bueno knockout since it's one of the most memorable knockouts in MMA history:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfFFIF1IcJ4

Kazushi Sakuraba vs Royler Gracie (Pride 8)

PRIDE 8 was headlined by two Gracie vs pro wrestler fights, the first one being an uneventful Alexander Otsuka vs Renzo Gracie fight and the second one being this very memorable fight. This is similar to how I feel about the Sakuraba-Belfort fight, both that it's a favorite fight of mine from the early PRIDE days (mostly due to nostalgic reasons as this Royler-Sakuraba fight was my introduction to PRIDE and Sakuraba) and that it has a similar pattern of Sakuraba just destroying his opponent via legkicks. This had special Gracie rules which were 15 minute rounds, the referee couldn't order a stand up, and no judges. Royler Gracie was a grappling master, who had won the Abu Dhabi tournament three years in a row and was considered by his family to be the most technical in the clan. The whole fight is pretty much Gracie just butt scooting, asking Sakuraba if he would like to get on the ground, and Sakuraba just unleashing magnificent legkicks on Royler. A group of my friends practice Muay Thai, so legkicks are something that I am easily entertained by. In between the legkicks, he would also sneak in kicks to Royler's face and at one point even dragged Royler by his feet across the mat in an amusing moment. I can see how the stoppage would be controversial since Royler Gracie is double jointed but the kimura did look tight and Sakuraba really did destroy him for almost 30 minutes. I'm a bit tempted to put this on the list for historical and nostalgic purposes but it's not a great fight. But I won't mind if anyone does feel it should be added to the list.

PRIDE 9

PRIDE 9 was a pretty shitty show, I guess the highlights would be Carlos Newton easily beating Naoki Sano and Akira Shoji armbarring a priest. I guess some of Ricco's strikes did look great in the 2nd round, especially his ear slaps, but that's pretty much it.

PRIDE 10
http://z11.invisionfree.com/wrestling_ko/i...?showtopic=2786

Wanderlei Silva vs Guy Mezger (Pride 10)

This is the type of fight that Dana White would throw Best Fight Bonuses at, you know where guys just slug it out recklessly. In some cases those "Fight of the Night" winners are really awful like the Shogun-Coleman fight from January and the Quarry-Credeur fight from September. But in this case, this was a 3 minute war and a great fight within this particular slugfest genre of MMA fighting. Both guys looked great, as Mezger was hitting some really great strikes and Silva's comeback at the end was spectacular.

Ken Shamrock vs Kazuyuki Fujita (Pride 10)

This is a pretty funny fight. Shamrock is just destroying Fujita, and turns Fujita's face into an ugly mess. Then Shamrock gasses out, tells Pete Williams "PETEY MY HEART!", and begs his corner to throw the towel in. Newton-Hughes was a great MMA finish added to pro wrestling and I think this would be a pretty amusing finish for TNA to attempt to do with an obvious steroid abuser.

Kazushi Sakuraba vs Renzo Gracie (Pride 10)

Sakuraba was far more patient and cautious when fighting against the Gracies as opposed to his other fights. Round 1 was spent mostly as a striking battle and it was interesting to see Renzo being the more aggressive of the two. Renzo was a bit lackluster in previous PRIDE fights so this ended up impressing us since he showed some solid striking ability. He was doing a nice job landing good legkicks but a decent amount of Renzo's punches missed. Sakuraba did do a good job of refusing to go to the ground and had great takedown defense. Also, Sakuraba's teasing his trademark Mongolian chop as a set up for a legkick was quite neat. The beginning of Round 2 had Renzo lying on the mat, and doing a surprisingly good job of defending himself against Sakuraba's usual offense. Later in the round, Renzo also did a great job of defending takedowns and hitting Sakuraba with some nice strikes. Really close fight, and I could see people thinking Renzo was winning this. But...spinning kimura! Probably the most famous finish out of either fighters career, and a severe finish for this fight. Post-match is awesome as Sakuraba is getting challenged by Ryan Gracie and Vitor Belfort, and the whole ring is filled with fighters just goofing off while Quadros and Bravo are in a state of ecstasy.

PRIDE 11

While PRIDE 11 was entertaining and never dragged, it was a really fucking weird show. Yoshiaki Yatsu has his first of two fights with Gary Goodridge to build Goodridge back up after the KO of PRIDE 10 and Eddie Bravo makes the comment that Yoshiaki Yatsu is "the Hulk Hogan of Japan". It was really ugly and uncomfortable as Yatsu was never knocked down but just stood there getting his faced caved in by some brutal shots. The whole night was a bunch of one sided affairs where PRIDE guys got easy victories over tomato cans for the most part. Just an odd minor show I guess.

Here's Sakuraba/Braga:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_HcpjsTKFY

Sakuraba vs. Macias:
http://video.google.co.jp/videoplay?docid=...Anthony+Macias#

Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Quinton Jackson, Pride 15

Enjoyed this. Pretty much the entire fight is Sakuraba trying to submit Jackson and Jackson either countering Sakuraba's submissions with slams or powering out of them. I have no idea why Jackson tried to toss Sakuraba over the top rope when he put him in an armbar, as I'd have to assume that would be a DQ or no contest. Sakuraba eventually manages to choke Jackson out.

Here's the link to the fight:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVsejA6AnR4

Yeah, it's a really exciting bout and it's one of the first PRIDE bouts I show to people that want to get introduced to PRIDE.

PRIDE 12 was a mixed event, with some awfully long boring fights. Newton vs De Oliveira is a borderline pick, the first round is really exciting and features some great grappling. Round 2 is a bit of a let down, but I'll link the fight below since it's a good fight. The Kazuyuki Fujita vs Gilbert Yvel fight is where the term "lay and pray" originated from thanks to Quadros using it to accurately describe the action. Kerr/Vovchanchyn has some of the loudest booing I've ever seeing for a PRIDE fight. Also, the Herring of the pre-UFC days is so awesome, it's a shame that Herring is long gone.

Carlos Newton vs John De Oliveira (Pride 12)

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5xvhd_ne...iveira-12_sport
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5y2y6_ne...iveira-22_sport

Dan Henderson vs Wanderlei Silva (Pride 12)

Another borderline pick, but I think it's a good enough fight to end up on the list. Silva is the clear winner for most of the match, but Henderson does win a couple of striking exchanges and looks good defending and reacting to Silva's strikes. Round 2 slows down a bit from the exciting first one, but it's still a solid enough.

http://freevlog.hu/video/10770.html

Kazushi Sakuraba vs Ryan Gracie (Pride 12)

Ryan came in with his body all taped up, and a really bad shoulder injury. Ryan was really intense, but Sakuraba easily controlled most of the fight with his grappling ability and some submission attempts. This was only scheduled as a 1 Round fight due to Ryan's injury, and it felt like an exciting energetic fight since this took place after two excruciatingly boring fights (Fujita/Yvel and Igor/Kerr). The next PRIDE show after this is headlined by the first showdown of Sakuraba vs Silva...

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5xd0r_ka...an-gracie_sport

Not a PRIDE fight but I'll chuck it in here anyway.

Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Tsuyoshi Kohsaka (DEEP 6)

Part 1 -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGiL0BgrHgM
Part 2 -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1sXyQhvEDs

Speaking of Sakuraba-Ryan Gracie, I heard that the reason for Ryan to be all taped up, was because like a month before the fight he had a Closed Door Fight with a Wallid Ismail student called Tico and when they were fighting Tico threw Ryan on a table and he injured his shoulder.

Good fight this and one of the more exciting Tamura shoots:

Ikuhisa Minowa vs. Kiyoshi Tamura (DEEP 6)
Part 1 -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXT6i-KqK8M
Part 2 -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thfs5uXi-YM

Okay, back to PRIDE.

There's a bunch of backstory that would probably help people appreciate this fight better, but instead enjoy an exciting stand-up fight.

Takanori Gomi vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri (Bushido 9)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nuVPplzOoU

Thought I'd add a bit of discussion. I never really followed people's comments about PRIDE, so I'll just throw this out there -- is it me or did they kill Sakuraba by feeding him to Wanderlei Silva?

I mean it would've been a pretty big deal if Sakuraba had beaten Silva and from memory their return bout wasn't that bad a fight, but Sakuraba never seemed the same afterwards. Instead of showcasing his wizardry, they seemed to showcase his foolishness in taking horrendous beatings.

This is Mike Lorefice's favourite PRIDE fight. Why? Beats me, but it's an interesting match.

Carlos Newton vs. Renzo Gracie (Bushido 1)
http://video.google.co.jp/videoplay?docid=....+Renzo+Gracie#

After Sakuraba lost to Silva on 3/25/01, they had an instant grudge match angle that was even bigger than the Gracies storyline. So he gets Jackson in the summer and they sell out the Tokyo Dome in November based on the crowning of a middleweight champion, a heavyweight title, and Takada retiring.

Saku/Silva II has them matched evenly but then the slam busts up Saku's shoulder and he is done. But it's not the knockout from the prior march and fans can see that he is pretty evenly matched. Unfortunately, the injury is such that it requires a lot of time to heal.

By this time (mid 2002), the MMA boom in Japan is in full swing and the major storyline is K-1 vs. Pride, specifically CroCop vs. Pro Wrestlers. So at Shockwave he gets CroCop and handles him okay until the size difference is just too much.

Since Saku became such a HUGE draw, they obviously felt he needed to be matched up in huge matches as the shows he wasn't on were not drawing as well.

It was a completely stupid move and he would probably still be a decent fighter if he had fought at his weight class but that isn't the Japanese mentality.

Added --

Ricardo Almeida vs. Ryo Chonan (Bushido 3)
Dan Henderson vs. Akihiro Gono (Bushido 9)

The first fight is one of my all-time favourite PRIDE fights. Almeida spent most of the fight in the dominant position, but he was always working and Chonan's defence was amazing. Ryo had a couple of spectacular reversals but wasn't able to mount much offence. Still, an exciting fight.

The second fight is an awesome performance from Dan Henderson.

More from the tournament:

Joachim Hansen vs. Yves Edwards (Bushido 9)

Part 1 -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agRvE8y8lDs
Part 2 -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tPOKjfCgeI

Nice fight this. Lots of action. This is one PRIDE show that's actually worth getting the DVD. I rent it every now and again and it holds up year after year.

Added --

Hayato Sakurai vs. Jens Pulver (Bushido 9)

This was such an exciting fight. Sakurai was explosive and looked fantastic. Pretty much all three of the opening tournament fights are must-sees IMO. Might as well watch the 11 second KO in match four too.

Added -- Luiz Azeredo vs. Takanori Gomi (Bushido 7)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zD6JEyc4Ew

This is the famous fight where Gomi loses his cool at the end. Highly entertaining if you ask me, but I guess it depends on which side of the fence you sit on.

Here's a pretty cool music video version -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twbtu00jWOc

Added -- Joachim Hansen vs. Hayato Sakurai (Bushido 9)

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5la7n_jo...o-sakurai_sport

This was such a great fight. MMA at its best if you ask me.