Pride Bushido Volume 5 Re-Cap/Thoughts

Pride Fighting Championships Bushido Volume 5

October 14, 2004

Mauro Ranallo and Baz Rutten are the hosts/announcers of this show. Pride fights are two rounds. The first round is 10 minutes and the second round is 5 minutes. The fights are judged on the entire fight and not on individual rounds so there is no scoring system. Another big difference between Pride and UFC (besides that this takes place in a ring instead of a cage) is that they allow knees to grounded opponents in Pride.

Yasuhito Namekawa vs. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua

Rua is 2-0 in Pride and Yasuhito is 1-0 in Pride.

R1- Shogun charges right at him and hits him with a knee. They clinch and Shogun is hitting some knees. Shogun gets a take down into the corner. They get back up but Shogun knocks him down and Shogun is hitting some right hands. Shogun is dominating early. Shogun takes his back but Yasuhito flips over and gets in Shogun’s guard. Shogun quickly gets the fight back under control and is now in Yasuhito’s guard. Shogun gets side control. Yasuhito gets up but then is quickly knocked down and Shogun is just picking him apart. Shogun with kicks and punches. Shogun gets full mount and Yasuhito gives up his back. Shogun gives up the position and gets some nice kicks in and then gets back on top and is hitting some strikes. Shogun is just dominating. Shogun in full mount and again takes the back. Yasuhito’s face is a wreck. Shogun nails Yasuhito with two strong kicks to the face and then a punch and the ref finally ends this one.Shogun just looked awesome here and destroyed his opponent.

Winner: Mauricio “Shogun” Rua by TKO (ref stoppage) R1

Henry “Sentoryu” Miller vs. Mal Foki

Mal Foki has a twin brother that is also a fighter and Mauro interviews them backstage. Baz interviews Miller. This is a Heavyweight Fight. Both guys look really thick. Miller is over 300 pounds. This is Mal’s Pride debut, he is 5-2 overall so far. Miller is 0-1 in Pride fights.

R1- They are swinging early and Foki goes down quickly and this one is over. Sentoryu finished Foki quickly. This fight went about 30 seconds. Miller just hit him with a big right hook and then nailed a couple of punches on the ground and the ref stopped the fight as Foki was basically curled up in the fetal position.Sakuraba is shown at ringside after the fight is over.

Winner: Henry “Sentoryu” Miller by TKO (strikes) R1

Luiz “Buscape” Firmino vs. Masakazu Imanari

Buscape is currently working for the DREAM promotion in Japan (he lost to Kawajiri in the second round of their lightweight tournament). He is 1-0 in Pride fights going into this fight. He’s only 22 years old. This is Imanari’s debut in Pride.

R1- Buscape comes in immediately with a flying knee but it’s ducked and they take this one to the ground early. Imanari almost gets an arm bar early. Buscape is controlling the fight early but not doing a lot of damage. He is getting in some strikes. Buscape gets a choke in but Iminari reverses with an arm bar and Buscape releases. The second half of the round had Buscape dominating in terms of ring control but not doing a whole lot of damage. Buscape definitely in control and winning the fight so far.

R2- Iminari looking to get a leg submission on Buscape but is having trouble getting in position. Buscape gets a nice soccer kick to Iminari’s head. Iminari is trying to get low on Buscape and Buscape is hitting some good leg kicks. Not a tremendously entertaining fight but Buscape looked good.

Winner: Luiz “Buscape” Firmino by Decision (Unanimous)

Ikuhisa Minowa vs. Ryuki Ueyama

R1- Minowa controls the first round as he spends the majority of the round on top of Ryuki and in a dominate position. Ryuki gets a reversal with about two minutes left in the round and he gets some shots in on Minowa but Minowa again gains the dominant position at the end of the round.

R2- Ueyama controls this round as he tries for some submissions but has not been able to finish. Overall, this was a very bland but even fight. Minowa controlled the first round and Ueyama the second. So it’s pretty much Minowa controlling 9 minutes to Ueyama about 6. No one really inflicted much damage on their opponents. Decision will probably go to Minowa.

Winner: Ikuhisa Minowa by Decision (Split)

Heavyweight Fight- Igor Vovchanchyn vs. Shamoji Fujii

R1- Long feeling out process. Fujii tries a take down but Igor stuffs it and delivers some knees. Igor gets the first take down of the fight. Fujii gets a red card for basically being Igor’s punching bag (this means Fujii gets docked 10% of his purse) and the ref stands them back up. Igor knocks Fujii down with a couple of punches and finishes him with a soccer kick. Igor looked great in this fight.

Winner: Igor Vovchanchun by TKO (ref stoppage due to strikes)

Carlos Newton vs. Ryo Chonan

R1- Newton gets an immediate take down. Newton gets full mount and gets some Ground and Pound but Chonan rolls him over. Newton grabs an arm bar but Chonan turns out of the move. Chonan settles the fight down and is in Newton’s guard and is getting in some shots as Newton defends. Newton gets to his feet and Newton tries a take down but Chonan ends up on top. This is a pretty good fight so far. Much more active than the last fight. Newton gets an arm bar and Chonon hangs on and then turns into it and escapes. Great survival by Chonan. Newton sustains full mount but Chonan flips him over and postures up and gets some shots in on Newton. Chonan getting in some good shots and gets full mount. Newton pushes him off and Chonan tries for an arm bar but Newton gets out of the move. Chonan looks real good so far hand he’s got the advantage in the fight so far.

R2- They open up this round with some stand up and Chonan has him against the ropes and is laying into him with punches and knees. Chonan looks like he is going to finish this fight and Newton grabs a knee to try and survive. Chonan with more knees. Newton somehow takes Chonan’s back. The fight is stood up after Newton doesn’t do anything with the advantage. Chonon gets some strikes in on the ropes and hits him with a bunch of shots. Newton crumples to the ground and Chonan takes side control. One minute left in the fight. Chonan with a big knee to the head. Chonan with full mount and gets some Ground and Pound in and the fight ends with Chonan on top and pounding on Newton. Chonan clearly won this fight and looked very good in the process.

Winner: Ryo Chonan by Decision (Unanimous)

Hayato “Mach” Sakurai vs. Crosley Gracie

Sakurai is 2-1 in Pride and this is Gracie’s debut.

R1- They wage a stand up battle at the beginning of the fight with neither guy being dominant but a slight edge to Mach. They go to the ground and Mach controls early but then Gracie gets on top and does some damage. They stand back up and Gracie gets a take down after some back and forth stand up action. Gracie controls on the ground until the bell rings. Gracie won the first round, it will be interesting to see what happens in the second round.

R2- Gracie gets an immediate take down at the beginning of the round. Gracie quickly mounts and is getting in some punches although Mach is defending well. Mach gives up his back and Gracie goes for an arm bar and gets it and gets the tap. Nice move and good showing for Gracie.

Winner: Crosley Gracie by Submission (arm bar) R2 2:09

Takanori Gomi vs. Charles “Krazy Horse” Bennett

This is Bennett’s debut in Pride and Gomi is undefeated in Pride. This is tonight’s Main Event. Bas Rutten says that the fight will not go five minutes with explosive action.

R1- Charles Bennett jumps up on the turnbuckle and sits down for the first 5 seconds of the fight. Both guys swing with some wild shots. Gomi gets a take down and immediately mounts but Bennett escapes. They clinch and Gomi gets another take down. Gomi takes his back but Bennett sprawls out again. They mix it up on their feet. Gomi hits a big shot and then gets a slam take down. Gomi hits a big knee to Bennett’s head. Gomi gets a weird arm bar but releases and Bennett gets a big side suplex on Gomi. They are standing up and Gomi hits some knees and a shot and gets another take down. Gomi mounts again and gets some good shots. Both guys look winded. Gomi gets some Ground and Pound. They reach the five minute mark, so 5 minutes left in the round. Gomi gives up the mount and takes side control and grabs a kimura and it look like Gomi is going to break his arm but Bennett spins out and then finally the ref calls for the bell. Really good fight, definitely the fight of the night. Gomi looked like a champ and Bennett hung in there and had a good showing.

Winner: Takanori Gomi by Ref Stoppage (Kimura) R1

Verdict:
This was a pretty decent show capped off by a good Main Event in Gomi/Bennett. A couple of stand-outs from the show (besides the Main Event) were Shogun Rua, Crosley Gracie and Ryo Chonan.