3 NEW fights announced for Otoko Matsuri

[FieldingMellish]

Source: www.prideofficial.com

They are:

Makoto Takimoto v. Sentoryu

Ikuhisa Minowa v. Stefan Leko

Choi Mu Bae v. Giant Silva

I'm not exactly surprised they've given Sentoryu to Takimoto (particularly if Mark Coleman was the other candidate as that would have been a BAD move). Henry Miller will have a huge weight advantage but that's about it. And of course it fits into the whole sport v. sport theme they're going with for Yoshida and Gardner. I'm hoping Takimoto looks impressive here and I think he will. Takimoto by submission late in the 1st.

Great to see 'The Punk' back. I'm a big Minowa fan and can't really see Leko beating him. Obviously he has far superior striking but as soon as they clinch or go to the ground he's in trouble. (And FieldingMellish wins the award for stating the completely obvious 2004). I wonder just how much Lewko's back injury has healed and how much training he's been able to do? Minowa by submission in the first 3 to 4 minutes. Go Punk!

Choi Mu Bae and Silva will be cool. Clumsy warfare in the Pride ring!!! Mu Bae by TKO from ground n' pound in the 2nd. I'm genuinely looking forward to this fight. OK it's not exactly going to be an exhibition of skill and technical prowess but this is New Year's Eve. Let's go nuts and have some fun.

[-=[DM]=-]

I don't really know what weight Minowa fights at, but as he has fought both silva and rampage I guess he is a LHW. Leko should definately cut down to LHW if he's aiming for a succesful mma career, he's always been a blown up LHW in K-1 and now when he actually has a LHW division to fight in he doesn't need to fight guys much bigger than him. Minowa vs Leko could be entertaining, I'm not sure yet.

And gawd why did Pride have to put Giant Silva on this card?? :(
well I guess he's a necassary evil to get the ratings from the pro wrestling fans but still... grumble..grr

[FieldingMellish]

Minowa is about 185 - 190 pounds or so. He was giving up significant weight to both Jackson and Silva. Though he did look like he'd bulked up quite a bit when he 'lost' to Ryan Gracie so he may be closer to 200 for this fight.

[-=[DM]=-]

is the pride NYE card complete with these three fights? wasn't mark hunt supposed to be on the card as well?

[FieldingMellish]

I've heard rumours of DSE trying to set up a Mark Hunt fight with Kiyoshi Tamura but aren't sure what came of that. Seems bizarre Tamura would turn down Sakuraba but be prepared to fight Hunt, but then Tamura is an odd guy.

With these three there are now what, 9 fights. I'd think that would normally be enough to fill the show BUT this is New Year's Eve and the show is going to be something like 5 hours long so I wouldn't be surprised if they added one or two more over the next few days.

[-=[DM]=-]

I've heard rumours of DSE trying to set up a Mark Hunt fight with Kiyoshi Tamura but aren't sure what came of that. Seems bizarre Tamura would turn down Sakuraba but be prepared to fight Hunt, but then Tamura is an odd guy.

Maybe armbarring ray sefo's brother gave him a taste for big samoans? :D

[( o Y o )]

Strange to see leko there when he was backstage at the GP and the word was there that he wants back in K-1....

[FieldingMellish]

Strange to see leko there when he was backstage at the GP and the word was there that he wants back in K-1....

Suppose that isn't surprising since Pride just threw him in with Ogawa when he needed back surgery. Still, didn't he sign a multi-fight deal with DSE?

[( o Y o )]

Suppose that isn't surprising since Pride just threw him in with Ogawa when he needed back surgery. Still, didn't he sign a multi-fight deal with DSE?

Unfortunately, yes.

[freefightdave]

Nothing that gets me aroused there. What about A.Silva vs. Ryo Chonan, was it just a rumour?

[FieldingMellish]

Nothing that gets me aroused there. What about A.Silva vs. Ryo Chonan, was it just a rumour?

Never heard that rumour. That would be a great fight though.

Still, Anderson Silva hasn't fought in Pride for quite awhile and may have signed some kind of deal with K-1. There was ALOT of confusion about that prior to him fighting Lee Murray at Cage Rage as for quite awhile it looked like the fight wouldn't actually happen.

[freefightdave]

It was at sherdog, someone read on puroresupower.

[Shinobu]

Leko - Minowa is really something I look forward to. This one will be entertaining.
The other two match-ups I don't really get excited about, but it's NYE and I honestly expected worse.
All in all the show will likely be a total blast.

[RedHawk]

I thought for sure we would see the rematch between Giant Silva and Sentoryu. It's pretty much a night of rematches.

Makoto Takimoto v. Sentoryu

Didn't Sentoryu win by KO in his last fight? I'm picking Takimoto by sub in rd1.


Ikuhisa Minowa v. Stefan Leko

Leko is not ready. Minowa by GnP round 2.

(And FieldingMellish wins the award for stating the completely obvious 2004). :-)


Choi Mu Bae v. Giant Silva


Choi Mu Bae rd 1 GnP. I hope Giant Silva doesn't get hurt.

[Jules]

Great to see 'The Punk' back. I'm a big Minowa fan and can't really see Leko beating him. Obviously he has far superior striking but as soon as they clinch or go to the ground he's in trouble. (And FieldingMellish wins the award for stating the completely obvious 2004). I wonder just how much Lewko's back injury has healed and how much training he's been able to do? Minowa by submission in the first 3 to 4 minutes. Go Punk!


I always enjoy watching Minowa fight. Unfortunately I feel sorry that Leko is wasting his talent in PRIDE and don't particularly want to see him loose embarrassingly again...though he probably will.



Choi Mu Bae and Silva will be cool. Clumsy warfare in the Pride ring!!! Mu Bae by TKO from ground n' pound in the 2nd. I'm genuinely looking forward to this fight. OK it's not exactly going to be an exhibition of skill and technical prowess but this is New Year's Eve. Let's go nuts and have some fun.

I quite agree. Choi has really managed to get the crowd behind him, has a huge set of balls and an unbreakabke heart. Silva is...well, Giant Silva. Put them in the ring together and at the very least we will get a very entertaining fight.

I agree that not ever fight on the card needs to be a match made in heaven. Some just need to be fun.

[( o Y o )]

announcement pix

http://ca.c.yimg.jp/sports/sn2004121619575200004823m/sportsnavi.yahoo.co.jp/fight/pict/200412/im00004823.jpg
http://ca.c.yimg.jp/sports/sn2004121619591100004825m/sportsnavi.yahoo.co.jp/fight/pict/200412/im00004825.jpg
http://ca.c.yimg.jp/sports/sn2004121619582700004824m/sportsnavi.yahoo.co.jp/fight/pict/200412/im00004824.jpg

[RedHawk]

Sentoryu looks like he's ready. Should be a good fight. I know that Sentoryu takes his MMA career seriously, so I expect him to put up a good fight. I'm anxious to see how Takimoto will go about taking Miller down. hehehehee

[Shinobu]

Sentoryu is pretty gangster.
And what happened to Minowa's mullet?! He's bound to loose without it.

[MZN]

Sentoryu is pretty gangster.
And what happened to Minowa's mullet?! He's bound to loose without it.

I had a hard time recognizing him without the mullet :).

Minowa vs Leko hmm sounds good but I guess Leko will be armbarred unless he's able to get the slam going :D.

[( o Y o )]

I wonder how well his back is to be attempting slams though?

[MZN]

I wonder how well his back is to be attempting slams though?

eh, my bad I forgot Leko's back :D

[-=[DM]=-]

And what happened to Minowa's mullet?! He's bound to loose without it.
Maybe the mullet jinxed him? He didn't do too good with it.

[FieldingMellish]

Minowa won loads of fights with the mullet. It is the source of terror and his strength!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Go Punk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!