Complete Pride SHOCKWAVE Recap & New Photos! (UPDATED 1/1 NEW PHOTOS) - 1/1/2004
by John Merrill; Photos by Michael Grannis

PRIDE FC Shockwave 2003: Live from Saitama Super Arena

From sunny Saitama, Japan, and Insidefighting.com, a Happy New Years to you all! We look forward to entering 2004 with all of you, our faithful readers.

Finally, after weeks of speculation and guesswork as to who would be competing, PRIDE Shockwave 2003 has materialized and Im loving the material I see! Proven sensations like Quinton Rampage Jackson, Don The Predator Frye, and Murilo Ninja Rua have been kind enough to grace us with their presence, as well such enigmas as the gigantic Paulo Silva Cesar. As always, PRIDE has aimed high and hit lets get right down to it!

After the usual stunning display of pyrotechnics and music, the evening kicked off with the promise of some seriously hardcore MMA as Quinton Rampage Jackson faced Ikuhisa The Punk Minowa. Jackson entered the ring looking extremely relaxed, while Minowa bounced around like he couldnt wait to get into the ring. Minowa began with the immediate takedown, but soon seemed to regret this as Jackson almost immediately reversed into the mount on the ground, stood up, and proceeded to slam Minowa just seconds later. From this point, things seemed to be rapidly going downhill for the smaller Minowa as Rampage abused him with numerous knees and other strikes in the side mount. But Minowa wouldnt be finished so easily, and he brought it to his feet one more time, almost successfully executing a guillotine choke. But the rest of the fight was all Rampage, as he brutally tested Minowas chin, raining down knees and punches from the side mount.

The second round began with Rampage immediately slamming Minowa to the canvas for the third time in the fight. It seemed like the same story as the first round, with Rampage continuously punishing Minowa with knees until suddenly, perhaps in an effort to end the fight, Minowa struck Rampage in the groin area with an elbow. This ended the fight by referee stoppage. At first, both fighters exchanged some hard words back and forth, but quickly calmed-down, and embraced in the middle. The illegal strike was possibly an effort on the part of Minowa to avoid the further beating that seemed inevitable at the time.

The second spectacle of the night featured the monstrous Paulo Silva Cesar, better known as Giant Silva against Heath The Destroyer Herring. At 75, 528 lbs, Silva actually managed to do something few fighters before had ever managed to do make Herring look like a big kid. As the fight began, both fighters approached each other somewhat cautiously, circling around the ring and getting the feel for each other. Herrings plan of attack seemed to favor softening up the humongous Silva with low kicks to the inner thigh and the giant didnt seem to like it one bit. At one point, as Silva lunged and missed, Herring actually taunted him by pretending to wave a cloth at his side as if he were a bullfighter, much to the amusement of the crowd. Silva seemed somewhat lost in MMA rules until he finally managed to land some monstrous open-handed haymakers to the top of herrings head, sending him reeling. But Herring hung-tough, and the leg kicks resumed. For a very long time both fighters continued to circle each other, with Herring landing the occasional thigh kick, but with little else happening for the remainder of the first round.

The second round began with a very familiar story indeed, as Herring resumed his attack on Silvas legs. But this time Silva seemed to have developed a somewhat different strategy, trying to follow up Herrings kicks with blows of his own. This strategy met with little success, but continued until the end of the round. The third round, however, was a different story. Silva opened by quickly catching Herrings leg, which sent both fighters plummeting to the ground. There, Silva attempted to quickly end the fight with a weak choke attempt, but it was Herring who would quickly break free, reverse the situation, and pull Silva backward into a rear-naked choke. David had submitted Goliath.

The third match of the night featured the always-entertaining Hayato Mach Sakurai in his PRIDE debut against veteran Daiju Takase. After what appeared to be a tentative beginning by both fighters, Takase exploded with a double-leg takedown. But after doing virtually nothing on the ground, both fighters went back to their feet for a moment, and then quickly resumed fighting on the ground. This time, it was Sakurai pulling Takase into his guard, and attempting a nearly successful guillotine choke. Takase pulled free, however, and the fight resumed without much happening. This resulted in a yellow card for inaction for both fighters. This seemed to give both fighters a new motivation to trade knees and punches with each other on their feet for a few moments, making the fight suddenly look more like a Muay Thai bout. At the end of the round, both fighters went to the ground one more time, where Takase would eventually begin to put a triangle choke on Sakurai, which seemed to be working just as the round ended. Saved by the bell.

The second round began with Takase immediately opting to bring Sakurai into his guard again. But Sakurai would again work his way back to his feet, and briefly punish Takase on the ground with leg kicks. But then, the cycle of briefly trading blows on their feet, and then returning to the guard, would continue for the rest of the round. At this point, it had certainly been a fight full of highs and lows.

The third round commenced by resuming the abovementioned cycle, with exception to some exciting takedowns by Sakurai. The only other real highlights for the rest of the fight were some impressive knees and punches by Sakurai, although Sakurai would be the only one visibly bleeding at the end of the fight. In the end, it would be a well-deserved unanimous decision in favor of Sakurai.

The fourth exciting match of the night featured PRIDE staple Akira Shoji vs. Murilo Ninja Rua two fighters on a mission to avoid a losing streak. Both fighters wasted no time as Ninja jumped in with two strong leg kicks, followed by a brief takedown on the part of Shoji. Things did not stay on the ground for long though. Ninja came to his feet, breaking loose with a flurry of punches, kicks, and knees and the final knee would catch Shoji square in the face, putting him flat on his back. A rather convincing knockout for the always-improving Rua!

The fifth bout of the night had tremendous potential. Not only could the match between judo master Hidehiko Yoshida and MMA legend Royce Gracie help cure the deep bitterness over the outcome of their first match, but it would also have far deeper implications to many. It would be the ultimate showdown of styles Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu vs. Japanese Judo. After a brief review of some of the heated words exchanged between these two rivals, the tension in the building was running on high.

The battle began with both fighters looking intensely focused, and neither fighter wanting to do anything too risky. But suddenly, Royce Gracie delivered a punishing kick straight to Yoshidas groin. This resulted in a yellow card for Royce, and a brief stoppage of the fight. But after the fight resumed, it would be Yoshida who would connect with a quick punch, followed by a takedown. What followed would be an exciting and hard to describe chess match between two obvious masters of their respective styles each of them looking for weaknesses in the others armor. As the end of the round approached, however, it soon became clear that Yoshida was in trouble, and Royce was getting the upper hand. This brought the action to something of a halt as Yoshida spent the remainder of the round simply trying to avoid a submission.

The second round began with both fighters getting a feel for each other on their feet again, but quickly morphed into a mirror image of the first round. Both fighters continued to grapple, looking for openings, but nothing presented itself. This changed, however, as Yoshida began to show visible signs of fatigue. This eventually gave Royce an opportunity to deliver some painful ground-and-pound action to the head and body of Yoshida. The pounding took place from the full-mount position as well as the rear-mount, creating a very humiliating picture for Yoshida especially as the Gracie entourage mocked his lack of effort from the ringside. It soon seemed apparent as well that any rules preventing unlimited rounds clearly favored Hikehiko Yoshida in this fight. Although the match would end in a draw, there was no doubt in anyones mind who had won the match Royce Gracie domination from beginning to end. Royce had achieved his redemption, and appeared no worse for the wear.

The sixth fight of the night showed extreme promise, to say the least. The retirement match of one of PRIDEs hardest hitters, Gary Big Daddy Goodridge. And what better way to end ones career than in a slug-out with Don The Predator Frye? Before the match, both fighters went on video showing great respect for each other, but predicting that this one was going to be a brawl. Pure and simple. As the fight prepared to begin, Goodridge crossed the ring and, in a tremendous show of class, gave Frye a hug. Both fighters clearly respected each other.

What happened next was, quite honestly, completely unexpected by yours truly. After delivering a few well-placed punches, Goodridge followed up one of his initial bombs with a brutal right high kick that wouldve turned CroCop green with envy. Frye immediately fell to the mat in a heap, knocked cold by the blow, and suddenly Goodridge had a far more memorable retirement match than most wouldve predicted. Following a tearful thank you speech, Goodridge and his trainers returned to the lockers as Queens, We are the Champions played in the background. Thanks for all of the vivid memories, Gary.

The seventh match of the evening featured up-and-coming star Daniel Gracie, fresh off of his first MMA loss at Bushido, against pro-wrestler Wataru Sakata. The fight began with both fighters trading low kicks with only limited success. At first, it seemed somewhat uneventful as both fighters rolled around on the ground, essentially tying each other up and preventing any action. But after a few minutes, Gracie appeared to be wearing-out Sakata, and eventually became able to pound him from the full-mount position. As Sakata attempted to roll out of the mount, he stuck his arm out just enough for Gracie to get a hold of it, which resulted in a submission by arm bar. Essentially, the Gracies were 2-0 on the night.

The nights eighth match would be another showdown of two legends in their respective fields Mario Sperry and Yuki Kondo. This one had all the makings of a technical war, but fell somewhat short of expectations. Sperry began the battle as the aggressor, going for the quick takedown, but eventually paid for his efforts as he absorbed punch after punch from Kondo. These punches took their toll on Sperry who seemed visibly dazed, and who now had a badly bleeding cut open near his eye. Kondo then capitalized on Sperrys dazed state to land some more punishing knees to the head. After this, the referee intervened and the fight would end by doctor stoppage due to Sperrys wounds.

The ninth match of the night featured hard-nosed warrior Kiyoshi Tamura against somewhat larger K-1 sensation Rony Sefo. Sefo began the fight obviously intending to trade blows, but appeared somewhat sluggish and indecisive. This indecision resulted in a quick takedown and mount by Tamura, and Sefo, somewhat expectedly, looked like a fish out of water on the ground. It was only a matter of seconds before Tamura turned this awkward position into the second submission by arm bar of the night. Most would agree that such an ending could have been easily predicted.

And finally, the main event, and last match of 2003 The Gracie Killer Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Antonio Rogerio Minotoro Nogueira. Would Sakuraba continue his winning ways against practitioners of BJJ? Or would this be Nogueiras chance to establish himself as every bit the equal of his overachieving brother? We would soon know, and as the fight kicked-off, it was Nogueira who exploded into the match with some quick Muay Thai style knees to Sakurabas head. He didnt seem intent on wasting any time here. Sakuraba survived the initial onslaught, however, and actually managed to open a grizzly wound on Nogueiras eye with a quick counter right. This quickly brought Sakuraba back into the fight, and both fighters traded a fair number of effective blows on their feet for a few minutes. But this decision to trade blows eventually turned the tide of the fight into Nogueiras favor again, and a few well-timed punches later, Sakuraba was starting to look seriously phased.

As the second round began, Nogueira once again landed a number of devastating knees to Sakurabas head, taking even more of the wind out of his sails. They then briefly went to the ground, but were once again stood-up. Both fighters seemed to be trying to save their energy after that, and Nogueiras eye cut once more began to bleed, seemingly impairing his vision a bit. But the second round ended with a bang as Nogueira attempted a ferocious triangle choke, while simultaneously pounding Sakurabas head from above. Despite this effort, Sakuraba broke free once again, and just managed to roll out of the position as the bell rang.

The third and final round of the year began with both fighters deciding to turn things into a boxing match and a brutal boxing match at that. Both fighters landed furious flurries of punches to the other during the opening minutes, and Sakuraba continued to demonstrate his iron chin by virtually blocking with his head at times. Most people would probably not have predicted that a battle between two such exceptional grapplers as Sakuraba and Nogueira could look so much like a Tough Man contest. But only time would save Sakuraba, and as the last five seconds of the round counted down, Nogueira knocked Sakuraba into the corner with a devastating combo, and began kicking him in the head repeatedly. The bell rang, saving the helpless Sakuraba from a knockout, but not in time to save him from the damage he had received. Sakuraba had blood literally flowing from his mouth, and the decision would be a unanimous one in favor of Nogueira. Mini-Nog proved to be the real deal, indeed.

Insidefighting.com would like to thank PRIDE and DSE, once again, for putting together an all-around fabulous show. If Final Conflict and Shockwave 2003 are any indication of what we can expect in the upcoming year, then I think we all have quite a bit to celebrate this evening.

Happy New Years once again, to you all!

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