PRIDE 33 Predictions By Our Grateness
By: Alan Lee
Posted: Saturday, February 24, 2007 @ 10:14 AM ET

decadentscion@hotmail.com

Match 1: Joachim Hansen (Team Wodan Norway) vs. Jason Ireland (Tap or Snap Submission Factory, USA)

Joachim Hansen was a former SHOOTO champion, who has knocked out former SHOOTO champ Caol Uno, current DEEP champ Masakazu Imanari, and Chute Boxe’s Luiz Azeredo with knees, and TKOed SHOOTO legend Rumina Sato with punches. However, he recently lost to current SHOOTO Champion Shinya Aoki at the PRIDE Man Festival Sadame event via Gogoplata, a very rare luchatastic submission that is pretty hard to apply. For a BJJ stylist, he has more KO wins than submissions (6 by knockout and 2 by submission). Most of his defeats have been by submission also. With that said, most of Jason Ireland’s fights have been contested in cages. He has also been submitted by top-level submission specialists of the BJJ ilk including Saulo Ribeiro, and more recently Jorge Gurgel. Although Hansen is not great at earning submission wins, his experience and harder hands will either earn him a decision victory or allow him to setup a flash knockout with a knee again. Possible Outcome: R2 KO by Hansen (Knee or Elbow GnP)

Match 2: Kazuo Misaki (GRABAKA, Japan) vs Frank “Twinkle Toes” Trigg (R-1 Gym, USA)

Trigg is going to fight in his more natural weight. However, it is somewhat late in his career to move up a weight class (though he beat Mayhem Miller in this division recently). Misaki is the 2006 PRIDE welterweight GP Champion, amidst controversy. Both Trigg and Misaki are good in the Clinch and have good takedowns. However, on the ground, Misaki is very adept at submissions while Trigg prefers Ground and Pound. Misaki is younger, more versatile in this environment, knows to sprint when it counts, and have more momentum, as PRIDE seems to make him a future headliner (although the judges will be Las Vegas goons so there will be no biased decisions FOR Misaki). Trigg also has to worry about getting back into the broadcast booth. Maybe it will be a repeat of Jerry Lawler in the Royal Rumble all over again. Possible Outcome: Decision for Misaki.

Match 3: James Lee (MASH Academy, USA) vs Travis Wuiff (Elite Performance, USA)

I am not interested in this fight whatsoever. At least with Nakamura, there would have been something to say. An unknown fighter vs a boring fighter. Possible Outcome: R1 Submission by Travis by a very slow GnP TOO LATE into the round. Next…

Match 4: Antonio “Minotoro” Rogerio Nogueira (Brazilian Top Team, Brazil) vs Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou (Team Quest, USA/ Cameroon)

Yeah… Sokoudjou, who has been training with Team Quest, has been knocked out by Glover Texeira, a decent striker. Rogerio Nogueira is a swank (to steal a term from Dean Rasmussen) NATIONAL BOXING CHAMPION, who also had Olympic prospects. His Boxing technique is technical but very powerful also, as he nearly dispatched Shogun Rua with his fists. Even if Sokudjou attempts to summon the Power of the Punch with a flurry, Minotoro, being a former law student (which means he probably swore some BS oath to Goddess Harmonia) would raise his defenses, circle away (or Bob and Weave), and then counter. Then if Sokoudjou, 2001 US Open Judo Champion and Cameroon National Team member tries to implement his Judo techniques and Quest Greco-Roman training, Lil Nog would just fustigate him with his grappling prowess (he trained BJJ with Mario Sperry, Olympian wrestling with Darrel Gholar, and probably some Judo also in his past). I would pray for the latter type of thrashing if I was Rameau Thierry. Possible Outcome: R1 KO by Rogerio (Hook), or R1 Submission by Rogerio (probably Cross Armbar).

Match 5: Hayato MACH Sakurai (MACH Dojo, Japan) vs Mac Danzig (Millennia JJ, USA)

The battle of MACHDojo vs the MacDanzig~! This is a very interesting match as Danzig clams that MACH is his idol and that this is a dream match for him. Danzig is very proficient is submissions, striking, and takedowns. MACH is very proficient in submissions and striking but has more experience and can outbox ranked Boxers, knocking out Jens Pulver and knocking down Joachim Hansen with a job. He also has had much much more hospital stays. But Danzig also has not had many world-class opponents. Mac’s best submissions are Chokes, which MACH is good at avoiding. It would be hard to guess the winner but based on prior fights, I would go with MACH. Possible Outcome: R1 KO by MACH (Jab or Straight followed by a flurry)

Match 6: Sergei Kharitanov (Russian Top Team, Russia) vs Michael Russow (USA)

In his last two fights, two elite level strikers outstrike Kharitanov, the protégé of the legendary Volk Han. Kharitanov is a very technical Olympic level Boxer. Russow has had only three fights, in which he won by flash submission. Barring Goddess Discordia causing chaos, the data presented seems to indicate… Possible Outcome: R1 KO by Sergei (probably a Hook or a Body Shot)

Match 7: Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (Academia Chute Boxe, Brazil) vs Alistair “Ovaries” Overeem (Golden Glory Team, Netherlands)

When I went to train in Sambo, the Russian national grappling style, my coach’s fiancée, kept calling then-orange trunks Overeem “ovaries” during the PRIDE GP show when Shogun first dispatched him relatively quick. And it prolly does take a large pair of juevos to wear what Danshoku Dino probably wouldn’t even have in his closet. Overeem has long limbs and uses them liberally at times to repel his opponent with low roundhouse kicks to the legs. He has a decent Plum Clinch also, which he may use to transition from knees to a Guillotine Choke, his trump card. However, the Rua brothers seem very well versed with leg submissions (seeing as how Ovaries’ teammate Chunkaiev of Chechnya was dispatched by a Heel Hook and Shogun destroyed Kevin Randleman with a Kneebar), lower body takedowns, and leg kick defense, thus countering Alistair’s main weapon. Alistair’s trump card will then have to compete with Shogun’s BJJ mastery, if it gets to that stage as Shogun’s Boxing technique seems somewhat sharper than Ovaries, and Plum Clinch cannot be initiated if the more agile Shogun (it seems that Shogun probably may be near the upper echelon of agility in fightsports, perhaps but a step down from the likes of a young Remy Bonjansky) keeps circling in punching range. Possible Outcome: R2 KO by Shogun (probably a Hook or a Soccer Ball Kick)

Match 8: Takanori Gomi (Team RASCAL, Japan) vs Nick Diaz (Caesar Gracie Academy, USA)

Nick Diaz is like a Magic the Gathering © card or a spell from Advanced Dungeons And Dragons ©; if you flip a coin heads, his strikes cannot wing even a sleeping mosquito, but if tails is the result, then a punch of his can fell a giant. Mind you, its not that his fists have no strength to them, its because his laziness in a fight can turn a mosquito into a giant. He also keeps his hands down as if he was asking for someone to sock his goofy mug. This plays into Gomi’s strength as The Rascal can outbox ranked Boxers. Diaz’s takedowns are not good compared to Gomi’s Wrestling technique, which might cause Lil Nicky to Pull Guard where Gomi likes to hit people hard. Also, this is the first time Diaz will enter Gomi’s territory in the Lightweight Division. This may prove to be his last. Diaz has never been knocked out, as he ahs a hard chin, but this may be the perfect time for him to be HUMBLED~! Possible Outcome: R1 TKO by Gomi (via Straight probably followed by some GnP).

Match 9: Wanderlei “The Axe Murderer” Silva (Academia Chute Boxe, Brazil) vs “Hollywood” Dan Henderson (Team Quest, USA)

The first time they fought was an epic brawl like something described in the epic of Grendel and Beowulf by one of their Nordic ancestors. If this battle took place a millennium ago, one of them would have ascended to Valhalla, Hall of Heroes, while the other fall to Nifelheim, the frozen underworld of the Frost Giants. Wanderlei and Dan respect each other, so a more diligent Wanderlei will be in this fight to be wary of Dangerous Dan’s Dangerous Superman Overhand. Dan meanwhile has been on a streak of caution, maybe too much that he lacks ambition. If WAND initiates a Plum Clinch, Dan would counter with a Pummel (the amateur wrestling one not the literal one) and some flurries. This will be another close fight, to be decided by WAND’s health and Hendo’s luck. Possible outcome: Decision for Silva.

©Copyright 2007, Canvas Chronicle. All rights are reserved and all content is protected by law.