According to Sherdog, Antonio Silva has verbally agreed to fight Russian PRIDE standout Sergei Kharitonov for EliteXC’s vacant heavyweight crown at “Saturday Night Fights” on July 26th, pending approval from the California State Athletic Commission; the CSAC previously blocked Silva from competing at K-1 Dynamite!! USA last June due to a pituitary gland tumor, but “Bigfoot/Pezao” underwent surgery last summer to have it removed.
Kharitonov holds a career record of 15-3, with notable wins over Fabricio Werdum, Alistair Overeem, and Semmy Schilt. If the matchup comes together, it would certainly alleviate some of the concerns we’ve had regarding the EliteXC heavyweight title’s legitimacy, considering that Kharitonov is more talented and deserving of a belt than any other heavyweight currently on their roster. So keep your fingers crossed, and you might just see Silva vs. Kharitonov headlining the three-fight Showtime card that will lead into the CBS broadcast.
In other news…
— Vernon “Tiger” White has been dropped from the Affliction: Banned lineup after testing positive for a banned diuretic after competing at a regional event. Replacing White in his light-heavyweight bout against Antonio Rogerio Nogueria will be Edwin Dewees, the TUF 4 alum who snapped a four-fight losing streak recently by submitting Richard Blake at a NoLimit Fighting card in Houston.
— Phil Baroni’s first opponent as a welterweight will be Scott Jansen, a Cage Rage Contenders vet with a record of 3-2. The match is slated to go down at Cage Rage 27 on July 12th.
— Karo Parisyan’s next fight is likely to take place at UFC 88 against Yoshiyuki Yoshida (who choked out Jon “War Machine” Koppenhaver during his Octagon debut at UFC 84), and Luke Cummo (6-5) may be looking at a “win or get fired” match when he faces Tamdan McCrory at UFC 87.
I have nothing against Kimbo Slice, but I would love to see James Thompson run right out and smash Kimbo in this fight. However, I don’t think that is going to happen. Both fighters are exciting to watch, I predict James Thompson will rush out and try to trade punches with Kimbo, and inevitably Kimbo [...]
From PRIDE Critical Countdown 2005 (6/26/2005). Because not much is going on this morning and I’ve been wanting to run the fight that produced this:
From Sakuraba’s divebomb attacks in the first round, to Arona’s relentless knees, to the “holy shit” moment when the second frame is over and Saku’s roadkill-face emerges, it’s a minor classic. Enjoy.
PRIDE FC has returned to DVD with last week’s release of PRIDE: Shockwave 2006.
The staff at MMAmania.com spoke directly with the distributor who has confirmed that a total of 12 PRIDE FC DVD’s will be released over the next 18 months. In addition to Shockwave 2006, PRIDE 33: Second Coming is scheduled for release on June 9.
Zuffa — the parent company of the Ultimate Fighting Championship — purchased the Japanese mixed martial arts promotion (and its biggest rival) early last year. With no television deal and most of its top fighters signing UFC contracts, the entity known as PRIDE became no more.
Now fans will have an opportunity to relive the glory days on DVD. MMAmania.com will preview each disc as its title and release date become available.
In the meantime, here’s a quick peek at PRIDE Shockwave 2006:
PRIDE SHOCKWAVE 2006
Saitama Super Arena, December 31st, 2006
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This should be a great event. I’m watching Dream III right now. I’ll do Play-By-Play as long as I’m awake and feeling like it. Maybe Jason Miller will have an awesome ring entrance. Also, it has the old PrideFC lady announcer with an awesome voice. I’m hoping to Nick Diaz, Jason Miller, Kawajiri, and Caol [...]
Russow eyes biggest test in debut of Adrenaline MMA
HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. — As a Chicago policeman, Mike Russow has become accustomed to dangerous situations.
So, it is understandable when Russow only smiles and refers to fighting veteran Jeff Monson in a professional mixed martial arts bout as a “great opportunity.” Russow, 9-1 in his pro career, [...]
…backstage at PRIDE Total Elimination 2004, directly after being subbed by Fedor Emelianenko via armbar. Lovely bit of behind-the-scenes MMA history, with Kevin Randleman and Fedor making plans to drink some vodka at the end. Props to MMAScraps for the find. (Audio NSFW.)
Devoted fans of Anderson Silva know that his pro record is 21-4, with three of his losses coming by way of total horseshit — or at least justifiable means. Anybody could be excused for losing their pro debut, and the Spider lost his, by a decision against the very talented Luiz Azeredo at Meca World Vale Tudo 1 (5/27/00). More well-known are his losses to Ryo Chonan (due to a one-in-a-million flying scissor/heel hook) and Yushin Okami (due to a disqualification for an illegal upkick).
There’s really only one true black mark on Silva’s record — his submission loss to Daiju Takase at PRIDE 26 (6/8/03). At the time, Silva was a well-respected 9-1 up-and-comer who held wins over Hayato “Mach” Sakurai, Roan Carneiro, and Carlos Newton. His opponent was an outmatched 4-7-1 can who was being served up to give the promising Chute Boxe fighter another impressive win. But things didn’t go according to the script, with Takase scoring an early takedown, working some GnP, nearly ending the fight with an armlock, then flipping into a triangle choke that forced Silva to tap on his feet.
Takase lost four of his next six fights and faded back into obscurity. Anderson Silva is currently the greatest fighter in the world.
First, the Arona/Rampage Jackson fight from 2004, which went down at PRIDE - Critical Countdown and was cloaked in controversy. At the 1:10 mark, Arona lands a kick and several shots to Rampage’s melon that seems to temporarily KO Jackson. After pleading with the ref to stop the fight before Rampage pulled it together, Arona found himself again on the bottom-side of the grappling match. Exactly a minute later, Rampage power-slams Arona — which included an accidental, yet illegal head-butt — to end the fight.
And here’s Arona’s last fight, which happened at PRIDE 34 around a year ago. In case your memory is as shitty as mine, the handy internet tells us that Arona got KTFO by Sokoudjou at 1:59 of the first round.
Here’s hoping when Arona comes back he retains the form he showed against guys like Kazushi Sakuraba, Dean Lister, Dan Henderson, Murilo Rua, Guy Mezger, and Jeremy Horn (twice). Only time will tell…
