Yes sir I miss pride aswell..what's nor too miss???pride was the golden Age of mma. Just like the 70's heavyweights were to boxing and also the fab four in the 80's is what pride was for mma.the greAt times that will never come back ..rip pride we love you.
My Interest in MMA has been decreasing. I still watch it just dont tend to get excited anymore. I miss Pride.
by "talent pool" you mean in the US? Because when PrideFC was around they had most of the best fighters fighting regularly now its spread out over the UFC, Strikeforce, Dream, etc. I actually think the "talent pool" is more spread out now then it was back then.
I think the rules favoring wrestlers is what is holding the sport back tbh. If you listen to what people don't like about MMA the biggest complaint is men laying on each other NOT doing anything, ie wrestlers. Why do you think collegiate wrestling is NEVER on television?
People need to understand that when you have one guy lying in another's guard, this is NOT wrestling, its BJJ. Lay and pray is not something you will ever see in a collegiate wrestling match; however it is something you see in grappling comps like ADCC.
Sweet jesus, what is seen can not be unseen! I have just youtubed collegiate wrestling [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cV9c7Bi3TQ[/ame] That **** is gayer than the movie Big boys in boots.
The knees to the head were a bit sick i remember watching a Herring fight and he was kneeing the brains of someone sick to watch.
pride was the BEST. i got into mma watching the ufc royce gracie show all the way to mark coleman. because ufc said all these guyz were the best of the best i BELIEVED it like a STUPID ASS. then when i finally got the internet and started following other sourcez it didnt take my ass long to come across PRIDE. I waz stunned, i laughed i cryed i felt good all over that i had been tricked by the ufc promotional bullshyte. i saw this guy named SHOGUN that waz unreal and who i had NEVER heard of, then i saw this guy SILVA who i waz like, "holy shyte this guy would kick ass in UFC", then i found out about IGOR who had never been mentioned by UFC and waz already well into his PRIME. the guy waz a freakin monster and had been for yearz while the UFC waz supposedly scouring the globe only bringing in the best fighterz. then i got so interested in it i watched this guy dubbed BIG NOG. this guy waz like royce gracie but 50lbz bigger. not 50lbz of body builder muscle but 50lbz of workable solid size. BIG NOG waz freakin amazing in his DAY back at PRIDE. he had a aura about him that waz invincible. never seen anyone get handled so well and keep his composure like he did. watched as his composure under fire would rattle the guy that waz man handling him. watched as he would pretend to possum and sucker the top man into a bad position and sub him instantly with movez right outta the grayce playbookz. oh my the memoriez bring tearz to me eyez. i became aware that all the fighterz in the world were paying close attention to PRIDE and learning and adapting so much of their FUTURE stylez based on the success of BIG NOG, SHOGUN and SILVA etc etc in PRIDE. these guyz adapting their sytlez to match these guyz where the guyz fighting in the UFC. I remember when smith fought coleman. **** i hated smithz attitude because he waz like, "ufc fighterz arent nothin there are all kindz of fighterz that could kick there ass" i waz like what a goof to make such a obvious statement of denial. after smith beat coleman i waz stunned and started looking into smithz career. the UFC had billed him as the LONE GREAT FIGHTER that had never before entered the OCTOGUN and workin 60 hourz a week at the time i believed it cuss im a jackass. then i discovered that before smith beat coleman he had fought all kindz of top fighterz that were completely off the chartz and had KICKED smithz ass. i waz like, "the guy waz tellin the truth ffs". ok now to the climax of my pride love affair back in the dayz. along comez this sort o chubby big russian dude named fedor. right away i noticed the AURA within him. the FOCUS. the ability to be punched right in the face and have the ability and alertness of mind to trick the guy that punched him into making a offensive mistake and somehow do this all in the time span of less then a second or so depending on the exact situation. i saw a technique that i had never seen before. open hand slapz. the first thing i thought waz WOW thatz so GAY. then i watched as the next strike he would close his fist and belt the guyz face off. i understood that when fedor waz slappin the guy he waz multytaskin and waznt payin attention to wether the slap connected but rather paying more attention to his OVERALL POSITION and the position of his oppenent. thus i became aware that when he would connect with his slapz he could dodge his opponentz strike at the sametime because he hadnt commited a majority of his FOCUS and FORCE into the slap punch. it waz brillent, as soon as he would dodge his oppenetz strike he would be in better position because his opponent who put everything into his strike and MISSED waz off balance. as his opponent would then be totally unconcerned and defiant to being slapped in the face he would not consider it a IMMEDIATE THREAT and thus fedor would then use the SLAP as his guide and range finder and throw the same dam strike again but this time without the SLAP and with more force and his FIST and stun the hell out of his opponent and then usually finish him off quickly from there or punish the crap out of him from there on. plus he did this on the ground even better. when on the ground on either his back or on top when most GREAT ground and pounderz of the time would simply be waiting trying to LOOK for a opening fedor would slap and hammer fist guyz but he did it DIFFERENTLY then i had ever seen before. most IDIOTz like coleman etc etc etc would throw these type of apparently stupid ground strikez with the INTENTIONz that they would DAMAGE a guy and then they would get frustrated when they didnt have that much effect. fedor never did that. i became aware that fedor kept CALM when using these techniquez because he never used them thinking they would DAMAGE a guy, he used them to DISTRACT his opponent. then as soon as his opponent would shift position to block the apparently useless ground strikez fedor would be ready and waiting and would either go right for a submission and finish the fight or would shift his position and begin landing HUGE ground strikez. after watching this i began thinking that the two best heavyweight fighterz on the planet were BIG NOG and FEDOR. i remember thinkin these guyz would do to coleman what maurice smith did to coleman but they would do it alot better and faster. i remember thinking that smith waz actually pretty garbage compared to these guyz other than he had mastered the skillz of how to stay alive and survive a over powering ground and pounder that could steam roll anyone in the first few minutez of the fight. i remember thinking smith could only do this with patience and confidence to wait for the over powering ground and pounder to tire himself out while BIG NOG and FEDOR didnt even need to wait for that as they could simply trick the ground and pounder into a over aggressive position and FINISH the FIGHT right there and then. what a build up to the climax cuss i havent even cum yet so fedor goes up against BIG NOG. ANYONE that had internet and waz aware of this at the time it went down waz aware that all the TOP FIGHTERz and TOP TRAINERz in the world were PAYING ATTENTION to this fight when it came along. nobody knew what would happen and everyone in the know already considered them the TWO BEST HEAVYz in the world. the fight waz unbelievable as neither one of them ever lost that aura within themselvez and it went the full distance. fedor being the winner by UD (i think UD) the main difference being that fedorz ground strikez and standing strikez were superiour to BIG NOGz. FEDOR and BIG NOGz awesome submission skillz were both to such a high level they ended up canceling each other out regardless to a bunch of great attemptz by each. these were the type of guyz that could be getting choked out and go into a relaxed state of mind and come up with a escape plan that would actually work. both of them did that all fight right to the end with the only difference being FEDOR had been able to land some WICKED strikez on BIG NOG both on ground and on feet. then i think they fought again and maybe that waz the fight fedor got poked in the eye and it waz a N/C (but i could be mixed up) regardless in either there 2nd fight (if im wrong bout the N/C or there 3rd fight it basically waz simalar to their first fight except FEDOR pounded BIG NOG way way more. honestly i didnt see BIG NOG ever lose his aura during the fight but at the end of it i think it hit him that fedor waz on a different LEVEL above him. personally speaking that second fight and how BIG NOG survived FEDOR to the last bell waz one of the most impressive thingz ive seen in MMA. i think EVERY BJJ fighter in the world came up with the same thought, "hmm BJJ is not INVINSIBLE and needz to add more STRIKING into itz teachingz to take it to the next level because SUBMISSIONz alone is not enough against the NEW BREED of top fighterz" i think every top fighter in the world CHANGED so much of their future stratagiez based on these two dudez i think BIG NOG left the best of himself on the PRIDE matz before he even came over to UFC and i think he has done pretty dam well regardless. i think all the PRIDE fighterz taught all the current TOP FIGHTERz how to take their abilitiez and stratagiez to the NEXT LEVEL i think brock has been so successful because by the time he got interested in MMA the guyz that trained him told him right from the start that he's not gonna make it if he thinkz he can just get into the RING and fight on the FORCE athletic ability and ADRENALINE alone. i think brock from the start actually realized this and took this seriously regardless i think it didnt SINK in until frank mir submitted him after brock waz having his way with mir. i think brock went back to his trainerz and WISELY and BRAVELY said, "ok u ****erz were right i gotta keep my witz about me even when i think i could ***** slap someone into unconciouness" i think he then started taking his trainerz even more seriously and came back and DESTROYED mir by NEVER taking him for granted until the REF waz in his face screamin at him that the fight waz over. i dont think that brock is unbeatable by any meanz and i think that fedor would still have a good shot at taking him out at this stage of his career. i do think that had brock not had the advantage of the KNOWLEDGE of PRIDEz successez and would have gone into PRIDE back in itz hayday to face FEDOR and BIG NOG they both would have beat him so bad without him having a clue to what went wrong that he would of packed up shop and headed back to the WWE yes so in closing i do miss PRIDE
And now people are doing the couture clinch against the fence which doesn't help entertainment value. It seems alot of fighters are adding this to their gameplan.
latineg, can you sum up what you wrote and repost it? I miss Pride as well, I think the boat was missed when UFC/Pride didnt have the Superbowl of MMA at years end. Pitting champions against Champions. That I believe wouldve broken all PPV records.
How on earth was it a tad too much? You had the pioneers of MMA in the deepest divisions in the world with best heavies fighting the best available. Soccer Kicks and stomps were awesome!
