PRIDE Open-Weight GP Lives Up to Hype:
Werdum, Hunt, Fujita, Filipovic, Nogueira and Yoshida Advance On
Report and photos by Nori Yoshida

Dream Stage Entertainment kicked off their inaugural PRIDE Open-Weight Grand Prix, Friday, March 5th, with an amazing show. There was not a dull moment as three knockouts and four submissions sent Fabricio Werdum, Mark Hunt, Kazuyuki Fujita, Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Hidehiko Yoshida into the second round set for July 1. Even the non-Grand Prix opening fight between Gilbert Yvel and Roman Zentsov ended in the first round. It took four and a half minutes, longer than the 25 seconds Zentsov spent to knock out Pedro Rizzo in PRIDE 31, but it left the same final image. After barely escaping an armlock, Yvel caught a left hook from the Russian and, like Rizzo, literally collapsed to the mat. The KO marked the arrival of yet another member of the Red Devil Sports Club with extremely dangerous fists.

The first tournament fight of the night between Alistair Overeem and Fabricio Werdum set the tone for a series of incredible fights. Overeem, who had clearly bulked up from the past year as a middleweight, took on the former Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion who has been quickly making a name for himself in the PRIDE heavyweight ranks. The first round went by without much action, but with Werdum repeatedly dropping to the ground and trying to drag Overeem into his guard, it was clear the Brazilian wanted to take the fight to the mats. The Dutchman was in trouble early in the second round when Werdum caught him in a front choke, but luckily fell out of the ring and the fight was re-set on their feet. Still, Overeem never really got started, getting sucked into the jiu-jitsu champion's pace, and Werdum, after being taken down, finished the fight with an armlock with Overeem in his guard.

Every second of the 14-minute battle between Mark Hunt and Tsuyoshi "TK" Kosaka was memorable. The premiere veteran of Japanese MMA, Kosaka showed that there would be no easy victories in this Open-Weight GP. After a right straight from Hunt dropped Kosaka in the early minutes of the fight, Kosaka reversed Hunt's side-mount and took his back. But the former K-1 heavyweight champion escaped a near rear-naked choke, took multiple blows to the head, almost got caught in an armbar and at the five-minute mark, showed Kosaka that his 68-pound advantage was nothing to take lightly, as he stood back on his feet.

The rest of the first round was a boxing match and Hunt dazed TK a few times with heavy blows to the head. Kosaka showed the heart of a champion as he remained aggressive and threw punches even when it seemed like he would be knocked out at any moment. Hunt was unable to finish the fight even from a full mount in the closing seconds of the round.

Kosaka looked like the fight had just begun when he came out for the second round, trying over and over to take down the Samoan heavyweight. A knee to the head of a lunging Kosaka dropped him with a minute left in the second, and his aggressiveness got the better of him when Hunt landed a left to his face. Kosaka didn't seem to realize that he had been motionless on his knees in the corner as the referee stopped the fight. Hunt had already walked away.

Josh Barnett Victorious
Barnett Victorious
Two completely different styles of fighting went toe-to-toe in an equally exciting fourth fight of the night. Josh Barnett, the former UFC Heavyweight Champion, was constantly moving like an outside boxer, looking for his opportunity to strike, while a slow-stepping Aleksander Emelianenko pushed the action showing little fear of throwing or taking a punch. Barnett was looking for the takedown early in the fight, but the accurate punches of Emelianenko kept him at a distance. At the five-minute mark, both fighters started throwing a flurry of punches and the American landed a good knee to his opponent's body, but later caught a punch to the nose that left him bloody throughout the fight. Emelianenko did the majority of the damage in the first round, but Barnett looked composed and kept searching for an opportunity. He got his chance early in the second when he threw Emelianenko, who was perhaps a little tired, to the ground and took a side-mount. A knee to the face led to a skillful keylock and the champion's brother was forced to tapout. Barnett, a crowd favorite, pumped up the stadium after his victory saying, "Fedor, you are already dead," and his performance proved that he would be a force going into the second round.

Thompson (left) vs. Fujita
Thompson (left) vs. Fujita
The action continued into the fifth fight, facing-off Kazuyuki Fujita against James Thompson for a slot in the GP's second round. While Thompson has had three straight victories with only four minutes logged in through it all, none of them were against significant contenders, and Fujita, a PRIDE veteran, proved that it would not be a cakewalk in the GP. In what most thought would be one of the least exciting of the tournament cards, a "battle of the beasts" ensued.

Thompson showed an atypical style, staying calm and trying to set up his KO with low kicks and body blows, and the much larger Englishman was able to use his size advantage and push the fight. Thompson guarded against the shooting Fujita well, and landed good knees to his face. Near the three-minute mark, Thompson ended up on top in a guard after Fujita failed a takedown attempt, but was ineffective. Back on their feet moments later, Fujita made his move, unloading on the 6'5" Thompson with a flurry of punches. It seemed as if every blow was landing and the last of them, a right hook to the jaw ended the fight with 1:36 left in on the clock. It looked like Thompson's jaw flew off of his face as they replayed the knockout on the Jumbotron and the big man was understandably on the canvas for a while.

The last three fights lasted exactly six minutes combined. PRIDE executive Nobuyuki Sakakibara said after the event that, in hindsight, if he could change the order of the cards, he would have. There was no Minowa magic against Mirko Filipovic, perhaps giving a clear answer to what the open-weight tournament was created to find out. Middleweights do not belong in a ring with heavyweights. The 5 inch, 29-pound size difference was a clear factor as Filipovic pushed the fight with ease. He barely flinched at a summersault kick by Minowa, which left the Japanese pro-wrestler on the ground, and "Cro Cop" pounded away. The only defense came from the referee who stopped the fight in just over a minute.

The other heavyweight superstar, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, showed an equal amount of ease in getting to the second round. If Minowa proved that too little weight is a great disadvantage, Zuluzinho proved that too much weight can be one, too. Nogueira failed a takedown but demonstrated his jiu-jitsu prowess as he reversed his position quickly and took a side-mount. He went to work with knees and punches and then switched to mount. The 167-pound weight difference was no problem for the Brazilian Top Team star as he finished the fight with an armbar, which Zuluzinho practically begged for by sticking his long arm out from the bottom of mount.

Ground skills prevailed in the last fight of the night as well, when Hidehiko Yoshida went up against former WBF boxing champion Yosuke Nishijima. Yoshida took Nishijima down early in the round after an exchange of unlanded kicks. Nishijima was caught on the bottom of an awkward half-guard with his arms were tied up and it was not much better when Yoshida took full mount moments later. A second of excitement ran through the crowd of 47,423 when Nishijima reversed and took the top position, but it faded just as fast when they realized the boxer was caught in a triangle choke. The two and a half minute final fight of the night had the feel of a lower card bout, but nevertheless, the end result of this opening round was the making of four unpredictable match-ups in July.
  • Roman Zentsov def. Gilbert Yvel - KO 4:55 R1
  • Fabricio Werdum def. Alistair Overeem - Submission (Kimura) 3:43 R2
  • Mark Hunt def. Tsuyoshi Kosaka - KO 4:15 R2
  • Josh Barnett def. Aleksander Emelianenko – Submission (Keylock) 1:57 R2
  • Kazuyuki Fujita def. James Thompson - KO 8:25 R1
  • Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic def. Ikuhisa Minowa - KO 1:10 R1
  • Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira def. Zuluzinho – Submission (Armbar) 2:17 R1
  • Hidehiko Yoshida def. Yosuke Nishijima – Submission (Triangle Choke) 2:33 R1
PRIDE Open-Weight Grand Prix
North American PPV premiere: May 5, 2006

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