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| PRIDE SHOCKWAVE 2003 |
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| Written by Administrator | |
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PRIDE SHOCKWAVE 2003
DISK 1 Quinton Jackson took on Ikuhisa Minowa in the opening contest. Minowa almost scored the upset after a few minutes when he locked in a guillotine but Jackson successfully powered out. Minowa had several submission moves in his arsenal but every time he tried to execute one of them, Jackson exploded and slammed, punched or kicked his way out of trouble. Heath Herring was up next and he had the unenviable task of facing the aptly named Giant Silva who stood well over 7 feet tall. Herring’s game plan was obviously to chop the big man down as he kept laying in with kicks to the inside of Silva’s legs. Herring was working the crowd in between kicks by dancing in the middle of the ring. When Silva finally caught Herring with a big right hand it was obvious that he was capable of hurting Herring. The fight between Akiro Shoji and Murilo Ninja went to the ground immediately but when they returned to their feet, Ninja knocked out Shoki with a knee to the head after 2mins 41 seconds. MMA legend Royce Gracie was in action next against Hidehiko Yoshida. Within seconds Gracie hit Yoshida with a kick to the groin which resulted in a delay as Yoshida recovered. The fight was a long ground grapple as both fighters nullified the other’s skills. It wasn’t a bad fight but I expected more from two fighters of Gracie and Yoshida’s ability. Gary Goodridge knocked out Don Frye with a high roundhouse kick inside 30 seconds. Former WCW and WWE Champion, Bill Goldberg, joined Mauro Ranallo and Bas Rutten for commentary for the match between Daniel Gracie and Wataru Sakata. This was a strategic ground battle which went about eight minutes until Gracie locked in an armbar and although Sakata showed his tenacity by refusing to tap out, the referee stopped the contest. It should be noted that Goldberg, while commentating, was very respectful and full of admiration for MMA fighters and mentioned several times that MMA competitors were much tougher than he was. Yuki Kondo bust open Mario Sperry with a couple of hard knee shots which led to the referee halting the contest so the doctor could check on Sperry but they quickly called for the bell after a brief examination. Kiyoshi Tamura beat Rony Sefu by submission in a short ground affair when he locked in an armbar. The main event truly deserved it’s spot as this was almost certainly the most entertaining fight of Shockwave 2003. Kazushi Sakuraba was shook in the opening seconds after taking some knee shots from Antonio Rogerio Nogueira in their bout. Despite most of the offence coming from Nogueira, the fight was temporarily stopped when Nogueira had to receive medical attention for a cut. The pace throughout the first round was amazing as Nogueira kept going after Sakuraba and only his ability to counter moves kept him in with a shout. Any lesser fighter would have been knocked out by Nogueira within five minutes. SUMMARY: This event entertains from start to finish although I must admit I was surprisingly disappointed with Royce Gracie‘s encounter with Yoshida but I think I had hyped that fight up too much for my own good. We start with the powerhouse, Quentin Jackson. The Herring v Silva bout is entertaining simply because of how funny it is to see this absolute mismatch. The knockouts by Goodridge and Ninja are worth watching, as is Daniel Gracie‘s victory Sakata. As good as the event is though, the DVD is worth purchasing for the main event alone. I am not usually a lover of fights that go the distance as they usually do so due to a lack of action but the battle between Nogueira and Sakuraba is as far away from that kind of fight as you could possibly get. Nogueira showed how good he was and Sakuraba showed how tough he was in what the Don Frye and Mauro Ranallo called ‘match of the year’…no arguments from me! The bonus disk is packed with extras including uncut interviews, both pre and post fight, a ring girl featuretter and a pre-fight video featuring Royce Gracie. The disk also includes a bonus fight between Hayato Sakurai and Daiju Takase. The only other comments I will make about the bonus disk is that, in all honesty, it wasn’t needed! The fights on disk 1 are enough to entertain any MMA fan whether you’re an avid lover of the sport or a casual fan - in fact this is the ideal DVD for casual fans or newcomers because you will be hooked after watching this event. I can’t recommend this DVD enough…buy it now by clicking the link at the bottom of this review, you won’t be disappointed!!!
Product ID: PRIDE1017 |
