Competitive Bouts, Early Stoppages Mark Pride 30
Competitive Bouts, Early Stoppages
Jason Nowe Oct 23, 2005
TOKYO, Oct. 23 — On an absolutely beautiful day in Tokyo the
Saitama Super Arena played host to PRIDE 30. While the English
title of this event was Fully Loaded, the actual theme was all
about second chances, forgetting the past and making a fresh start
— hence the event’s Japanese tagline of Starting Over.
The main event pitted Mirko Filipovic (Pictures) against former UFC heavyweight champion Josh Barnett (Pictures). This was a rematch of a PRIDE 28 encounter that took place almost a year ago, which was cut short by a freak shoulder injury suffered by Barnett.
This was a chance for Cro Cop to prove after his decisive defeat at
the hands of PRIDE heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko
(Pictures) only a mere two months ago
that he’s still one of the top heavyweights in the world.
For Barnett, who had not fought in almost a year due to his shoulder injury, it was an opportunity to show that his defeat to the Croatian was nothing more than a fluke, and that he should be the one in top contention for Fedor’s title.
Barnett made his first mistake of the match when he had Cro Cop in a clinch against the ropes. He seemed to be attempting a belly-to-belly suplex, but the maneuver backfired and he ended up dragging Filipovic on top of him into the mount.
Cro Cop was fairly inactive on the top and couldn’t capitalize on the advantageous position that came his way. Eventually Barnett was able to buck hard and throw his opponent off.
The closing moments of the first saw the two fighters coming together in what looked like a head-on car accident — just as Cro Cop was coming in for a kick, Barnett came in with an overhand right and both connecting at the same time.
Barnett continued to go for the clinch in the second, attacking Cro Cop’s legs in close with hard knees, forcing the American to lift his leg in defense. From here, Cro Cop scored an excellent trip on the AMC fighter, taking side and then the mount for the second time.
Once again, Cro Cop was fairly inactive on the top and did relatively little aside from pinning his opponent down. At one point the Croatian tried to sit up to rain down punches, but was almost bucked off for his efforts.
After a long period on the bottom, a visibly tired Barnett was able to work out from the mount, but Cro Cop went with the flow and transitioned to north-south position, then to the side, firing a strong knee to Barnett’s head.
Cro Cop scored a big combination with a kick followed with lightning fast punches in the third, badly staggering Barnett. However he recovered from this onslaught and started firing some low kicks of his own. On the ground, Cro Cop got to half guard, but once again really couldn’t capitalize. The round ended with Barnett going for an ankle lock attempt on a standing Cro Cop.
The fight went to the judges and Cro Cop received the well-deserved unanimous victory.
Backstage, Barnett said that his conditioning was not up to par for this fight and he would have to think about his fighting future. Cro Cop noted that he dominated all of the positioning in the fight and stated further that he feels ready to rematch with Fedor at any time.
Legends Collide
Two legends faced for the first time as Kazushi Sakuraba (Pictures) squared off against Ken Shamrock (Pictures). Both of these fighters were coming off tough losses and were in desperate need of a victory.
The bout started cautiously, with both fighters moving around the ring. Sakuraba often feigned the shot, but Shamrock seemed ready for it. After a few brief exchanges on their feet, the Japanese grappler came charging in out of nowhere with a left hand that caught the American veteran square on the chin. Shamrock staggered back and fell towards the ropes, turning his back to his opponent.
Sakuraba followed Shamrock down, continuing to throw punches to the head from behind. The referee charged in to stop the fight and Shamrock, who quickly regained his feet, couldn’t believe the call. He complained to the referee that he was still in the fight but to no avail.
This one looked like a case of a flash knockout: Sakuraba caught Shamrock cleanly with the left, rocking him and sending him to the mat, but the Lion’s Den fighter seemed to recover just as Sakuraba was throwing punches at him from behind. Unfortunately, Shamrock turned his back to the Japanese legend as he fell into the ropes, which may have made him seem defenseless in the referee’s view.
Shamrock was clearly upset with this call. After his fight he did not come to the backstage interview area and speak with the media. This is definitely a tough, unlucky loss for such a great pioneer this sport.
The main event pitted Mirko Filipovic (Pictures) against former UFC heavyweight champion Josh Barnett (Pictures). This was a rematch of a PRIDE 28 encounter that took place almost a year ago, which was cut short by a freak shoulder injury suffered by Barnett.
Advertisement
For Barnett, who had not fought in almost a year due to his shoulder injury, it was an opportunity to show that his defeat to the Croatian was nothing more than a fluke, and that he should be the one in top contention for Fedor’s title.
The AMC fighter had a big weight advantage in this one, making Cro
Cop look small by comparison. The fight started out with Barnett
chasing Cro Cop around the ring, often locking up in a clinch and
throwing knees and body shots. Rather than try to fight from here,
Cro Cop opted to push away and escape from the American.
Barnett made his first mistake of the match when he had Cro Cop in a clinch against the ropes. He seemed to be attempting a belly-to-belly suplex, but the maneuver backfired and he ended up dragging Filipovic on top of him into the mount.
Cro Cop was fairly inactive on the top and couldn’t capitalize on the advantageous position that came his way. Eventually Barnett was able to buck hard and throw his opponent off.
The closing moments of the first saw the two fighters coming together in what looked like a head-on car accident — just as Cro Cop was coming in for a kick, Barnett came in with an overhand right and both connecting at the same time.
Barnett continued to go for the clinch in the second, attacking Cro Cop’s legs in close with hard knees, forcing the American to lift his leg in defense. From here, Cro Cop scored an excellent trip on the AMC fighter, taking side and then the mount for the second time.
Once again, Cro Cop was fairly inactive on the top and did relatively little aside from pinning his opponent down. At one point the Croatian tried to sit up to rain down punches, but was almost bucked off for his efforts.
After a long period on the bottom, a visibly tired Barnett was able to work out from the mount, but Cro Cop went with the flow and transitioned to north-south position, then to the side, firing a strong knee to Barnett’s head.
Cro Cop scored a big combination with a kick followed with lightning fast punches in the third, badly staggering Barnett. However he recovered from this onslaught and started firing some low kicks of his own. On the ground, Cro Cop got to half guard, but once again really couldn’t capitalize. The round ended with Barnett going for an ankle lock attempt on a standing Cro Cop.
The fight went to the judges and Cro Cop received the well-deserved unanimous victory.
Backstage, Barnett said that his conditioning was not up to par for this fight and he would have to think about his fighting future. Cro Cop noted that he dominated all of the positioning in the fight and stated further that he feels ready to rematch with Fedor at any time.
Legends Collide
Two legends faced for the first time as Kazushi Sakuraba (Pictures) squared off against Ken Shamrock (Pictures). Both of these fighters were coming off tough losses and were in desperate need of a victory.
The bout started cautiously, with both fighters moving around the ring. Sakuraba often feigned the shot, but Shamrock seemed ready for it. After a few brief exchanges on their feet, the Japanese grappler came charging in out of nowhere with a left hand that caught the American veteran square on the chin. Shamrock staggered back and fell towards the ropes, turning his back to his opponent.
Sakuraba followed Shamrock down, continuing to throw punches to the head from behind. The referee charged in to stop the fight and Shamrock, who quickly regained his feet, couldn’t believe the call. He complained to the referee that he was still in the fight but to no avail.
This one looked like a case of a flash knockout: Sakuraba caught Shamrock cleanly with the left, rocking him and sending him to the mat, but the Lion’s Den fighter seemed to recover just as Sakuraba was throwing punches at him from behind. Unfortunately, Shamrock turned his back to the Japanese legend as he fell into the ropes, which may have made him seem defenseless in the referee’s view.
Shamrock was clearly upset with this call. After his fight he did not come to the backstage interview area and speak with the media. This is definitely a tough, unlucky loss for such a great pioneer this sport.
