PRIDE 33: A Night of Upsets

by: DarthMolen 1 year, 9 months, 5 days, 5 hours, 45 minutes ago

Release Date:

2/24/2007

Company:

PRIDE

Series:

PRIDE USA

 

Last Saturday night should be deemed “The Night of Upsets”. PRIDE had set up a storyline of Gaijin vs. Japanese where they expected all their brightest and greatest to own lots of American and ex-UFC stars. Things didn’t go as planned.

Wanderlei Silva vs. Dan Henderson
This match was a slugfest. It went back and forth with Dan “Hollywood” Henderson actually owning Vandy after the first round. Wanderlei did not look as crisp and was constantly moving backwards as Dan Henderson pushed the pace and controlled the arena. Eventually Dan Henderson landed a spinning hammerfist in the third round that send Silva reeling. This move didn’t finish Vandy off but it was the signal of the end. Shortly thereafter, Dan came in with a straight right and a left hook that knocked the champion out. Dan wins in the third round by KO and is both the 185 and 205 lb. PRIDE champion.

Sokoudjou vs. Antonio Rougerio Nogueira
The upset of the night happened in this match. Sokoudjou is brand new to the sport and actually interviewed with Komikazee first. He was expected to lie down for Nogueira but Sokoudjou did nothing of the sort. He came out with some really strong lower leg kicks that caused Antonio to drop his guard slighly and left the fatal opening. Sokoudjou then pounced right after one of his leg kicks with a left hook that knocked Antonio out cold. Sokoudjou wins in 28 seconds by KO

Gomi vs. Nick Diaz
This fight was billed in Japan as Gomi vs. top UFC star. It was supposed to be the start of his “raid” into the UFC lightweights. Nothing went as planned for the Japanese superstar. Nick Diaz isn’t an upper echelon UFC fighter, but he ain’t a patsy either. Nick came in with a chip on his shoulder and took it to Gomi. The first round was spectacular with punches flying from both sides. Gomi even landed a flush hit on Nick’s chin that fell him to the canvas. Unfortunately, Gomi gassed at the end of the first round and Nick took over from there. In the second round, Nick started to taunt with his upraised hands and was landing shots at will. Gomi was wobbling from exhaustion and throwing haymakers to no avail. Eventually Nick took him down and applied a gogoplata to force the tapout. Nick Diaz wins by submission in the second round.

All three of these fights were spectacular to behold. Whether they helped PRIDE out in the long-run remains to be seen. There were others on the card. For the full reviews, see this great article on Sherdog.