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Mixed Martial Arts--- I went eight for eight with my picks for the opening round of the Pride Grand Prix, which is by far the deepest collection of talent in a single tournament in MMA history. I only got two of the eight "methods of victory" correct, but I'll still take 8-for-8 in picking winners. I thought that Kevin Randleman would predictably gas out, be unable to do anything, and get submitted by Kazuhiro Nakamura. Instead, Randleman gassed out, was unable to do anything, and lost a lopsided decision to Nakamura. Randleman has now lost five of his last six fights, although that one win sure was a doozy. Ricardo Arona vs. Dean Lister is a fight that I thought Arona would win by decision because he has been unable to finish people in the past whose submission defense is nowhere near the level of Lister's. Arona by decision ended up being exactly what happened, and was just one of two picks that I got exactly right.

Igor Vovchanchyn vs. Yuki Kondo is a fight that I thought Igor would win by KO. It seemed at various times like Igor could win by KO if he kept the fight standing, but instead he chose to show off "Igor Vovchanchyn the grappler," who dominated Kondo from bell to bell and won a unanimous decision. I thought Alistair Overeem would knock out Vitor Belfort after Belfort gassed out, and never in my craziest dreams would I have picked the actual outcome of Overeem winning by submission. I thought Antonio Rogerio Nogueira would beat Dan Henderson, but I didn't think Nogueira would be able to finish a fighter of Henderson's caliber. I was wrong as Nogueira out-fought Henderson in the stand-up, out-fought Henderson on the ground, and ultimately got the armbar submission.

Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Yoon Dong Sik is a fight that I had Sakuraba winning by submission, and instead Sakuraba won by quick knockout. I did pick Mauricio "Shogun" Rua to beat Quinton Jackson by knockout because Jackson simply hasn't been the same fighter since he met up with Vanderlei Silva. Shogun did knock out Jackson as I expected, but there's no way I thought it would be as quick and one-sided as it was. Finally, I thought Vanderlei Silva would beat Hidehiko Yoshida by knockout, and Yoshida surpassed my expectations just as he did in the first fight with Vanderlei. While Silva did pick up the win by decision, it was a good fight in which Yoshida showed a ton of heart.

Labels: Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), Pride Fighting Championships News

posted by Ivan Trembow at 3:22 PM

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