Best of PRIDE, and maybe DREAM too

[butoku]

Yeah Arona vs Saku, always gives me cringes but Arona is a MFer too, I mean he keep rubbing his fingers on Sakuraba´s cut, to make them worse to the point that Big Nog who was on the corner was so mad that he threatened to stop cornering him...

[ohtani's jacket]

Added:

Fedor Emelianenko vs. Kazuyuki Fujita (Pride 26)
Ricardo Arona vs. Wanderlei Silva (Pride Final Conflict 2005)
Mauricio Shogun Rua vs. Alistair Overeem (Pride Final Conflict 2005)

The first fight is the near knock out of Fedor that rocks the entire Yokohama Arena. The Arona/Silva fight isn't that great but a historic fight given how dominant Silva had been up until that point, and Rua is just a beautiful fighter to watch.

[ohtani's jacket]

Added:

Fedor Emelianenko vs. Mirko Filipovic (Pride Final Conflict 2005)

I wouldn't call this a classic but it lived up to its billing. The first round was an excellent heavyweight contest. The subsequent rounds were frustrating due to the lack of action, but all in all a good fight.

Also watched Barnett/Crocop from Pride 30, which I thought was pretty average.

[RagingNoodles]

This is the awesome hype promo that aired in Japan for the Cro Cop vs Fedor fight:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N78SuVHM9CM

Fedor Emelianenko vs Mirko Filipovic (8/28/2005)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=3JL000ZS

[RagingNoodles]

PRIDE 24 is a skippable show with the exception of the main event...

Dan Henderson vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (Pride 24)

Great fight, Nogueira wants his revenge for the fight in RINGS and Henderson is awesome as the underdog. Henderson looks great in Round 1, and surprises everyone by continuously escaping Rodrigo's submission attempts. Rodrigo was the clear winner, but Nog's fierce desire to finish the fight definitively and Henderson's resilience make this fight awesome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee1zbCsjTes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUi6X-VkuuU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmqPCOstuzg

[RagingNoodles]

PRIDE 25 is one of the greatest shows in PRIDE history. Every fight on it is something you would want to check out, and three fights are list-worthy. The Sakuraba vs Schembri does end in a depressing manner if you're a Saku fan, and the finishes to Silva-Newton, Jackson-Randleman, and Henderson-Oyama are all spectacular. The pull apart of Jackson and Silva is pretty great.

Kazuhiro Nakamura vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (Pride 25)

This was Nakamura's debut, and it had some really great grappling and guard work. Rogerio has some great submission attempts from the bottom and Nakamura shows some good skills throughout the fight.

Alex Steibling vs. Akira Shoji (Pride 25)

One of the coolest celebrations ever, and if you're a fan of Akira Shoji, this fight is awesome. While I enjoyed Round 1 and Round 3, this is all about Round 2, and it's an incredible round of action.

Fedor Emelianenko vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (Pride 25)

This is epic, one of my favorite performances ever from Fedor. Every submission attempt that Rodrigo throws from under him, is easily avoided by Fedor. Rodrigo tries everything that worked before, but Fedor's punching power is ridiculous. One of my favorites fight ever.

[ohtani's jacket]

That Fedor/Nogueira match is pretty much the best PRIDE fight ever.

[RagingNoodles]

At the very least, it's without a doubt in the Top 5 of PRIDE fights.

So today I watched the Otsuka-Yamamoto bout that was edited off the U.S. PPV of PRIDE 25: Body Blow. It was the worst match of the night but it was still okay and it had Otsuka doing a cradle piledriver and a jumping knee drop.

[ohtani's jacket]

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Mirko Filipovic (Pride Final Conflict 2003)

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6bc74_cr...-conflict_sport

This was such a cool fight. Sure, I appreciate Fedor dominating Crocop for three rounds, but there's nothing quite like Nog figuring his way out of a beating.

[butoku]

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Mirko Filipovic (Pride Final Conflict 2003)

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=DCPX3P0S