Pride FC makes its U.S. debut
By Vanessa McConnell: UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) came on the scene and opened the door for MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) events in Las Vegas, for bringing the sport to fans in a live arena. Now MMA fans have Pride FC to thank for allowing Vegas to be the first state in the U.S. to host the sport live. Seasoning myself with the UFC only prepared me for the next level, Pride Fighting. Pride Fighting brings the most elite and dangerous fighters from all over the world to compete in a ring for honor, victory, strength, pride and most of all to defend their fighting styles.
The added touch of pyrotechnics, lights, and music set the sport above the rest; fans can be entertained while watching about eight good fights. From the ring announcers to the ring girls, it’s all pure entertainment. It all began in October 11, 1997 when Rickson Gracie fought Nobuhiko Takada in Pride I at the Tokyo Dome in Japan. Some would say it is has “created a fighting experience that trumps most rock concerts.” It’s almost like WWE and UFC mixed into one. It’s also great that the sport is respected and accepted by all other MMA sports, like UFC. It also is a part of the U.S. Army Combative Program.
Fedor came off the stage with snowflakes falling down in the dark misty arena to meet his opponent in the ring. Coleman came through a blaze of fire shooting out of the stage. In the first round, Coleman held on to Fedor’s leg during most of the round. He tried to take Fedor down on several attempts, but Fedor was standing strong. Fedor landed a few iron fists on Coleman and his eye began to swell and nose started bleeding. It was so bad at one point the referee had to call a time out to wipe the blood from Coleman’s face.
At the beginning of the second round, Coleman went straight for the leg in more attempts to take Fedor down, none of it was working. He managed to get on top of Fedor in the second round, but not for long and that was the last. Fedor forced Coleman to tap out in the second round after he pinned his arm behind his back. It was a brutal but sweet end. Coleman picked his pride up off the mat and gave Fedor a hug and bow before his daughters ran into the ring crying profusely. It was a sad reunion as the entire feature thereafter was about the heartbroken family crying all the way to the locker room. As the announcer interviewed Fedor after the fight, the camera’s followed Coleman and his baby girls to the locker room.
The preliminary matches that night were also action packed and just as brutal. In the co-main event with Kevin “The Monster” Randleman from the United States fighting Mauricio “Shogun” Rua from Brazil, Randleman came out ready to get down and dirty, but Rua was on his A-Game. It didn’t take long for this match to end up on the ground. Referee had to warn Randleman early to stop holding the ropes and once he was on the ground Rua took him out by a leg bar submission at 2:35 of the first round.
In the preliminary bout against Joey Villasenor from the United States and Robbie Lawlor, Lowler won by TKO of: 22 in the first round. After Lowler kicked Robbie a few times he went down and that’s when the ground and pound took over. In the match between Travis Galbraith from Canada and Kazuhiro Nakamura from Japan, Nakamura won by TKO in 1:16 of the second round. The only thing working in Galbraith’s favor was his ability to hold his opponent really close to avoid a serious beating. In the match between Phil Baroni from the U.S. and Yosuke Nishijima from Japan, Baroni won by TKO in 3:20 of the first round. They don’t call Baroni the “New York Bad Ass” for nothing. He was so excited about his victory he picked the ring girl up off her feet and held her for a minute.
In the prelim bout between Dan Henderson from the U.S. and Vitor Belfort from Brazil, the match went the full three rounds and Henderson won by unanimous decision. Both fighters put up a good fight, even though Belfort spent most of the fight on his back. He tried to slam Henderson a few times, but Henderson was not going down. Henderson was hitting him with solid jabs; good upper cuts and even kicked him in the rear a few times. Belfort caught Henderson with a few stunning blows but it didn’t take long for Henderson to put him on his back again.
One of the more impressive fights of the night was when 398 lb Eric “Butterbean” Esch, from the United States, stepped into the ring with 275 lb Sean O’Haire, also from the United States. It didn’t take but only 29 seconds into the first round for Butterbean to pound on O’Haire, until he dropped to his knees. A couple of more shots, O’Haire was laid out flat on the mat. Josh Barnett from the United States fought Pawel Nastula from Poland in a three round match that only went two rounds. Barnett won by ankle lock submission at 3:04 of the second round.
This was the first of many Pride FC events coming to the United States. Fans proved a point by packing out the Thomas & Mack Event Center in Las Vegas to witness the sport that is widely known in over 27 foreign counties. Now the United States can participate in all the glory. Before now, MMA fans had to purchase DVD’s, catch a Pay-Per-View event or view them on FSN (Fox Sports Network). Get ready for more Pride Fighting America, because they are here to stay. For more information visit www.pridefc.com.
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Posted October 25th, 2006 l 239 views
