7 Things to Take Away from Bushido 4
By Joe Hall
- Either Pride wants action in their fights or they've found a sneaky way to cut costs
Red penalty cards for stalling, which apparently result in a 10% reduction in a fighter's pay, were generously distributed at Bushido 4. Dean Lister and Amar Suloev received two each, sparking speculation that they would've made minimum wage had their fight been scheduled for three rounds instead of two.
Brady Fink also got one, Akira Shoji got one, Paulo Filho got one, Fabio Mello got one, Kazuhiro Nakamura got one, Rogerio Nogueira got one. Even I got one, presumably for falling asleep during the Filho-Shoji fight, which resulted in a lack of action on my behalf that warranted the card.
- Oyama is a hired punching bag
Shungo Oyama has a death wish, and I'm beginning to think Pride can't grant it. They matched the Japanese fighter, a natural middleweight, against Wanderlei Silva, but the Axe Murderer didn't get the job done. Then they paired him against Dan Henderson, who came fairly close in a bout last year. The grand finale came at Bushido 4, when they lured him into the ring with the most feared striker in the sport, heavyweight Mirko Filipovic.
The odds were fair that Oyama would at least be knocked into a slobbering fit and maybe even suffer some permanent damage. Still, with a 38-pound weight advantage and an infinite skill advantage, "Cro Cop" didn't so much as send Oyama out on a stretcher. The suits at Pride must be dismayed; if Cro Cop can't hammer a nail in Oyama's coffin and Bob Sapp is contracted to K-1, where do they turn next?
In all seriousness, Oyama gets hit and goes down pretty quick, typically limiting his pain and suffering to about a minute or so. Regardless, throwing him in there against Cro Cop is a heinous act. I realize the Croatian's image suffered to some degree in his knockout loss to Randleman and then-when he came back too early and they let him-against Kanehara, who took him the distance.
The reality, however, is that a healthy and recharged Cro Cop is every bit as dangerous as the fighter that kicked Igor Vovchanchyn in the head. If the intention is to reassert his appeal as a lethal striker before his next marquee matchup in August, then at least find another heavyweight for him to stomp. There are plenty of 220-plus-pound opponents that Cro Cop would have mowed down just as quickly and without the level of risk that comes with shoving a grossly undersized and under skilled foe into the fire.
On a similar note, I don't have a problem with Hayato Sakurai being matched against Brady Fink. The match was, I'm assuming, put together on the same principle as Cro Cop-Oyama: to reestablish a fighter. Sakurai could use a few wins, and he was given a young opponent, about his size, who had some decent skills but would very likely lose. I would have rather seen Sakurai against Chris Leben, but I understand why we saw Fink instead. The methods by which Pride chose to rebuild Cro Cop and Sakurai were not entirely different; one way was ethical, however, and legitimate while the other was not.
- Lister needs more experience
Experience is the key that can unlock Dean Lister's game. He has the tools, but he needs more time in the ring, in real fights against good strikers. At some points during his fight against Amar Suloev his standup looked capable; at others he was stuck in the corner flinching awkwardly.
Some grapplers turned fighters never get over the fear of getting hit, never get comfortable standing with someone better than them on the feet. You have to, though. You have to be able to stand in there long enough to create an opening for a takedown because almost everyone at the level Lister's fighting at can sprawl on a double leg that is shot from a distance. If they see it coming, they'll stop it.
Lister wasn't comfortable on the feet, and that screwed up his ability to control distance and set up takedowns. Suloev's takedown defense was also very good and his hips very quick. If Lister had set up his shots, however, I don't think he would have had such a problem getting him down.
- Once the Giant is down, he can't get up
Enough said. No sense picking on the friendly Giant after taking another beating.
- Takanori Gomi has the killer instinct some fighters lack
Gomi was the most impressive fighter at Bushido 4. His wrestling and striking on the ground have always been top-notch, and now his standup game is becoming equally dangerous.
Perhaps most impressive is Gomi's relentlessness. Once he had Fabio Mello hurt, the fight became a sprint to the finish line. Gomi's cardio and killer instinct drove him to plunge knee after knee into Mello's midsection until the Brazilian finally dropped. Mello lasted a few more seconds, but there was no way he was going to survive that round with Gomi.
At this point in his career, I'd take Gomi over any lightweight in the world-except
B.J. Penn.
- Mishima is tough to submit from your back
Marcus Aurelio stayed on his back too long against Dokonjonosuke Mishima. A couple of relatively near submissions early may have misled him into believing his best chance of winning was on his back.
Mishima's game plan was to defend the submission attempts and then punch through the openings, and he did that very well. He actually took Aurelio down only once; most of the damage he did from the top came after Aurelio had pulled him down into the top position.
Once it became apparent that subbing Mishima from his back wasn't going to happen, Aurelio should have switched his focus to reversing his opponent-which was Mishima's objective when Aurelio was on top of him-or escaping to his feet. Aurelio is world-class on his back and has the ability to submit a great number of lightweights from there. He wasn't going to catch Mishima, though, and he stuck to that goal a little too stubbornly.
- Quinton Jackson says the things we're thinking … and the things we're not thinking
Love him or hate him, some of the fights at Bushido 4 would have been miserable without Jackson in the booth. Just like us, his mind wonders when a fight grows dull. "What's on that guy's back?" asked Jackson, referring to what looked like tape on Nakamura's back. Then, when the fight turned boring, he instructed Rogerio Nogueira to "rip a piece of tape off" of Nakamura. If only Nogueira had listened.
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