Pride News:barnett Out Of The Scene,in Comes Rodriguez
|
PRIDE News: Barnett Out of the Scene, in Comes Rodriguez By Eduardo Alonso The never-ending tale of Minotauro’s opponent for PRIDE’s August 10th event may now be finally coming to an end, as one more occurred today. After training for a long time believing he would have to face PRIDE’s sensation Mirko Cro Cop Filipovic, former PRIDE Heavyweight champion Rodrigo Minotauro Nogueira ended up receiving information he would have to fight former UFC stand out Josh Barnett, in Josh’s PRIDE debut. The fight between Minotauro and Barnett, which highly anticipated ever since the American challenged the Brazilian after Nogueira’s win over Bob Sapp, is now going to have to wait once again as Josh Barnett decided to take part in a Japanese Pro-Wrestling event and postpone his PRIDE debut for the near future. With that, DSE secured former UFC Heavyweight champion and PRIDE veteran Ricco Rodriguez as Minotauro’s opponent, and now negotiations are on in the final stages, with this fight on the verge of being announced at any minute to take place at the PRIDE GP, as a single bout. The interesting side of this match-up is that both fighters already fought each other in a submission wrestling match at the Abu Dhabi tournament once, with Rodriguez beating Minotauro by knee bar. This is a chance for revenge for Nogueira, who recently avenged his only MMA loss (at 1999 RINGS King of Kings) against Dan Henderson in PRIDE 24. The Brazilian fighter is confident in his win and is welcoming this chance to redeem himself in the PRIDE ring. FCF will keep you posted on new developments for the PRIDE August 10th card. |
|
Murray Steals the Show at Extreme Force: Genesis By Jim Burman
Lee Murray knocked out Jose "Pele" Landi-Jons with some crisp short punches early in the second round to send the Wembley Conference Centre into a near riot at last night’s Extreme Force: Genesis show in London. Pele gave Murray a real fight, refusing to trade bombs but looking for the tie up and ground and pound from the outset. Cornered by Renzo Gracie, Pele clinched to land knees and took Murray to the ground for most of the first round. Murray looked more frustrated than hurt as the round ended but just 32 seconds into the second he found his mark with a right hand that rocked Pele and dropped the Brazilian to one knee. Murray gave his opponent no time to recover and landed a further two punches to end the fight. Whilst Murray’s performance was far from flawless he showed again that all he needs is one good punch and it’s lights out. The show, despite numerous dropouts (Arrab, Pulver, Freeman) ran smoothly with the undercard providing some great entertainment. American Jason Black took no time in despatching Michael Johnson, taking him down, passing his guard, landing knees that seemed to loaded up in the lighting rig (!) and then tapping him out with a reverse guillotine. Black showed real skill and technique in this win and hopefully we’ll get to see him on these shores again soon. James Zikic and Cyrille Diabete fought the fight of the night with Zikic demonstrating his boxing prowess, Diabete demonstrating his muay thai efficiency and both showing uncanny ground games. The decision eventually went to Diabete but Zikic must be commended on an exciting performance. The original headline fight of the night could not go ahead as Freeman rang in sick from his hotel room on the day of the show. It’s been rumoured that two fighters offered to replace him, Mark Epstein and Tengiz Tedoradze, but Overeem was understandably reluctant to accept at just a few hours notice. Tedoradze co-incidentally dominated UFC veteran Remco Pardoel earlier in the night and was willing to fight twice! As predicted Jean Silva opened his fight with a Capoera spinning back kick to double leg takedown combination much to the appreciation of the crowd. Working meticulously he eventually tapped out last minute stand in Robbie Oliver four minutes into the fist round. Oliver lasted well considering the circumstance but Silva’s preparation for original opponent Jens Pulver showed. Full details of the show to be found in an upcoming issue. Gaz Roriston def Mark Day 1:30 rd2 by rear naked choke Check back tomorrow for more pictures |
