Issue 153
April 2017
Pride Bushido 9, September 25th 2005
Two rounds of two tournaments in one evening made for possibly the greatest night of fights in MMA history.
Pride didn’t mess around when it organized its first tournaments in the Bushido middleweight (183lb) and welterweight (161lb) classes.
Each was formed with eight of the best fighters in the world, who all battled on one night to determine who would challenge for the title at that year’s Shockwave. It was a big card of 14 fights, but barely a moment failed to deliver.
EXPLOSIVE
Dan Henderson did what Dan Henderson does best. Two fights, two massive knockouts. Both Ryo Chonan and Akihiro Gono were blown up by his infamous ‘H-bombs’. They went down and he cruised through into the tournament final.
GREAT BALLS OF FIRE
The most outstanding performer on the night - and in Pride at the time - was Takanori Gomi. 'The Fireball Kid' was one of the best fighters in the world and vowed, as the self-proclaimed leader of Bushido, that he would win his tournament. There were a few doubts about that after his first encounter of the night.
A tough battle was expected against Shooto champion, Tatsuya Kawajiri, but Gomi broke him down with bludgeoning body shots before finishing him with knees, punches and a rear naked choke.
Then came a grudge match. The Japanese favorite was public enemy number one at the famous Chute Box gym for beating up Luiz Azeredo - during and after their fight - four months previously and he was out for revenge in this rematch. It was another war.
The Brazilian almost matched his opponent in terms of output, but Gomi just couldn't be hurt. He marched through everything to assault Azeredo with power-punch combinations for 15 minutes. There was just no stopping him and the Japanese fans went wild as he marched on towards the title.
MACH 5
Hayato Sakurai’s two wins confirmed he was back to his best after dropping to lightweight and starting to training with Matt Hume.
His back-and-forth battle with Jens Pulver was vintage ‘Mach’ and ended with a brutal body blow. Then he knocked Viking warrior Joachim Hansen down three times on his way to winning his semi-final.
MOUTH FOR WAR
The build-up to Phil Baroni vs. Ikuhisa Minowa 2 had the best trash talk of the night courtesy of ‘The New York Bad Ass’: “What lesson could he possibly learn from the last fight? F**king, don’t forget your shine box? I’ll f**king stomp your head in? He says he’s a passion fighter, ‘I love to trade.’ Well f**king trade bitch, because I’m going to be in the center of the ring.
He didn’t do s**t. All he did was hold. Got a couple of takedowns and stall.” As things turned out, that worked pretty well. Minowa won this rematch by getting a couple of takedowns, holding and stalling. Oh well.
MASKED MURDERER
Life is never dull when Charles Bennett aka ‘Krazy Horse’, aka ‘Kid Khaos’, aka ‘Felony’, is around. The extrovert KO artist wore a mask for a pre-fight interview and claimed he prepared for Dokonjonosuke Mishima by masturbating a lot. “It’s good for the biceps,” he claimed.
He continued his tomfoolery by ripping apart a soft toy in the ring and talking trash... He was then submitted in the first round.
ALSO FIGHTING AT PRIDE BUSHIDO 9
- Before he was known for losing his head and talking to Jesus during a WEC fight, Paulo Filho was a phenomenon. He improved to 10-0 by submitting Ryuta Sakurai.
- Rolling back the years in the middleweight tournament was Murilo Bustamante, who stopped Masanori Suda and Ikuhisa Minowa to reach the final.
- Yves Edwards came into the lightweight grand prix as the unofficial UFC champion, but was eliminated in the quarter-final by decision following a great fight with Joachim Hansen.
