Pride Shockwave 2006 Fedor/CroCop Leaving?

Training Powerlifting
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Well it appears that Pride’s terrible business year might get worse. First came the news that Pride was unable to get a TV contract for NYE, and Mirko and Barnett both declined a title fight with Fedor (Mirko b/c of foot surgery, Barnett b/c he was burnt out from fighting Aleks/Hunt/Nog/Cro Cop/Nastula), and now it appears that with one fight left on his Pride contract Fedor has signed a temporary deal with BoDog fight. It appears that he will fight Jeff Monson in Russia next March. It will be interesting to contrast how Sylvia fought Monson with how Fedor will, and I’m sure the fans attitude towards the uninspiring piece of crap that was that fight played into this:

Now, Mirko has only one fight left on his contract with DSE and the UFC has approached him with a deal:

http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=3039&zoneid=2

Apparently Dana wasn’t pissing around saying he was going to sign the world’s best fighters in 2007. Obviously nothing is official yet, and Fedor could come back to Pride as he has fought in Inoki Bam-Ye before while in Pride, but if Fedor leaves Mirko has no reason to really stick around. In that case, RIP Tim Sylvia, you had a good run.

So, 2007 is looking to be a big year for MMA. Pride could see many of it’s top stars picked off as the company has lost a huge portion of it’s revenue and has no choice but to reinvent itself. If that means more good fighters in the USA then I’m cool with it. I like Pride’s rules and presentation but seeing these guys here would be tops.

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I don’t see Sylvia’s brute tactics working any wonders against a guy like Cro Cop. And I also think that he will bring a new dimension to the UFC and other fighters will be forced to incorporate kicks into their repertoire as he has.

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I do not see the big deal with Fedor fighting in Russia for Bodog. One fight in his home country. I think Pride can deal with that.
If Pride lets go of Crocop, who will Crocop fight? I do not doubt the UFC being able to pay Crocop what he wants especially with ppv deals. So he beats Sylvia and Vera, then he fights Congos the rest of his time there.
Also I think mmaweekly’s rankings are garbage. Yes this has nothing to do with anything, just wanted to say that.

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[quote]otoko wrote:
I do not see the big deal with Fedor fighting in Russia for Bodog. One fight in his home country. I think Pride can deal with that.
[/quote]

I don’t think it would have been a big deal awhile ago, but Pride isn’t exactly sitting pretty right now. BoDog has a lot of money, and after NYE they are the only organization with a contract for Fedor. There is a pretty good chance he will come back to Pride, especially for a fight with Mirko, but make no mistake about it he fights for money and his family’s security first.

Interestingly, a few different sources, including Dave Meltzer who is pretty reliable, are reporting that DSE is trying to sell Pride FC to several groups in South Korea and North America.

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Fedor should go to ufc. I would love to see a new world champion.

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How is Fedor vs. Jeff Monson even considered a fight?

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[quote]John S. wrote:
Fedor should go to ufc. I would love to see a new world champion.[/quote]

I think where Fedor sits he is the closest thing to a world champion MMA has. He’s in the toughest division, and has beat all comers. Beating Timmah would just be another W on his record and another belt to put on his waist. Make no mistake, he is Number 1 right now.

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[quote]Donut62 wrote:
otoko wrote:
I do not see the big deal with Fedor fighting in Russia for Bodog. One fight in his home country. I think Pride can deal with that.

I don’t think it would have been a big deal awhile ago, but Pride isn’t exactly sitting pretty right now. BoDog has a lot of money, and after NYE they are the only organization with a contract for Fedor. There is a pretty good chance he will come back to Pride, especially for a fight with Mirko, but make no mistake about it he fights for money and his family’s security first.

Interestingly, a few different sources, including Dave Meltzer who is pretty reliable, are reporting that DSE is trying to sell Pride FC to several groups in South Korea and North America.
[/quote]

Do you know who Bodog is financed by?
I do not know Pride’s financial situation. I do not think anybody knows or can know. It is hard enough to figure out listed Japanese corporations, a company like DSE is impossible. If they act like other Japanese companies by moving money through their various divisions it would explain how they are able to survive.
If they do have financial backing from the Yakuza and the Yakuza wished for the production to go on and keep their talent, well they would get what they wish.
I rather not see the mma world fractured more. If Bodog does sign Fedor but lets Fedor defend his Pride title in Japan, I can live with that.
Pride did the American show and a show with 2H2H in Holland so they must have some way to finance their shows.

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[quote]otoko wrote:

Do you know who Bodog is financed by?

[/quote]

Calvin Ayre, a billionaire and on the short list for richest man in the world (Forbes shows he is the 746th richest man in the world).

As far as everything else, you’re right no one can really know what Pride is doing behind closed doors and only time will tell.

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Crocop coming to the UFC Heavyweight division would be amazing, at least for a while. After that Dana and the UFC would really have to step their game up to get even better talent, because I don’t see any fighters in the UFC now that could take Crocop. I like watching dominant fighters, but the same guy winning all the time gets old. That’s why I wish Fedor and Crocop would hurry up and fight again.

How long will Crocop’s foot keep him on the bench?

Make sure to check out Jesse Cohen’s interview with Nathan Marquardt in MMA #5:

http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=1363458

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[quote]taylorsj wrote:

How long will Crocop’s foot keep him on the bench?

[/quote]

Cro Cop will fight on NYE for Pride, basically against a shit can. Rumors say Bobby Ologun (shudders) or possibly Mike Tyson. His foot will be about 90%, but he has made it quite clear that he will not use his left foot full contact until after mid-January, so if they can’t find some Japanese celebrity for him to kill we probably won’t see him. He says that by February he will 100% and ready to roll for Pride 33.

He also got surgery on his nose to clear his nasal passages which had been clogged by tissue since Randleman drilled him with the gorilla punch. This is why Mirko often breathed from his mouth and appeared winded.

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[quote]Donut62 wrote:
He also got surgery on his nose to clear his nasal passages which had been clogged by tissue since Randleman drilled him with the gorilla punch. This is why Mirko often breathed from his mouth and appeared winded.[/quote]

Yikes! That makes my nose hurt just thinking about it. I think I’m going to have to watch that fight again, now.

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Fedor,you are NEXT!

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[quote]otoko wrote:
Donut62 wrote:
otoko wrote:
I do not see the big deal with Fedor fighting in Russia for Bodog. One fight in his home country. I think Pride can deal with that.

I don’t think it would have been a big deal awhile ago, but Pride isn’t exactly sitting pretty right now. BoDog has a lot of money, and after NYE they are the only organization with a contract for Fedor. There is a pretty good chance he will come back to Pride, especially for a fight with Mirko, but make no mistake about it he fights for money and his family’s security first.

Interestingly, a few different sources, including Dave Meltzer who is pretty reliable, are reporting that DSE is trying to sell Pride FC to several groups in South Korea and North America.

Do you know who Bodog is financed by?
I do not know Pride’s financial situation. I do not think anybody knows or can know. It is hard enough to figure out listed Japanese corporations, a company like DSE is impossible. If they act like other Japanese companies by moving money through their various divisions it would explain how they are able to survive.
If they do have financial backing from the Yakuza and the Yakuza wished for the production to go on and keep their talent, well they would get what they wish.
I rather not see the mma world fractured more. If Bodog does sign Fedor but lets Fedor defend his Pride title in Japan, I can live with that.
Pride did the American show and a show with 2H2H in Holland so they must have some way to finance their shows.
[/quote]

If Pride is in financial difficulty, and I agree that it is impossible to know, I’d like to see Bodog merge with Pride. It would mean greater financial security for Pride and less fracturing of the mma world. Would new ownership in Pride likely result in a new TV contract?

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Could we see Crocop and Fedor in the octagon? One can only dream… or have a nightmare if you are Tim Sylvia.

http://www.mmaweekly.com/index.asp

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Stole this translation from lyotowho on Sherdog. If you read this, thanks man.

So apparently Mirko will make an announcement Sunday. Cro Cop has pulled this same shit before to black mail Pride into giving him more money, he is a very shrewd businessman. It appears Pride hasn’t give him an opponent yet for NYE, which is quite upset about. Rampage’s biggest beef with Pride was the fact that they don’t give opponents till the last second, which I can understand.

Also, Pride announced Gomi/Ishida for NYE…except it’s non-title. Thanks for nothing dick wads.

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WFA is apparently dead. Which means Rampage will be looking for a contract. Chuck vs Jackson 2???

The UFC could be so stacked soon it would be crazy.

Too bad I like Pride better.

Speaking of Pride…Shockwave: Should be a pretty exciting show.

Bodog…I like Monson but I say Fedor is going to win late 1st round or mid second.

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[quote]ArcaneCocaine wrote:
WFA is apparently dead. Which means Rampage will be looking for a contract. Chuck vs Jackson 2???

The UFC could be so stacked soon it would be crazy.

Too bad I like Pride better.

Speaking of Pride…Shockwave: Should be a pretty exciting show.

Bodog…I like Monson but I say Fedor is going to win late 1st round or mid second.[/quote]

Yeah I agree, I like Pride’s rules, ring, and presentation better. I don’t like their bullshit “Title Fights” once every year, and I don’t like waiting a day to watch the PPV. I don’t like that they give their fighters 2 to 3 weeks notice for a major fight.

I don’t like seeing Giant Silva or Zulu in the ring, everytime Giant Silva steps into the ring an angel loses its wings. The WFA has pretty much died from what I’m reading, and with a few pick offs from Pride The UFC could be fucking stacked to the max. Watching and seeing live fights with Cro Cop and company trump whatever Pride does. So much for American champions though…I wonder how that will affect marketing.

Fedor vs Hunt is an interesting fight, as is Shogun/Nak. Hunt brings his fat kiwi athleticism and retard strength so he can certainly get lucky if anyone can against Fedor. Obviously Fedor will play rock-paper-scissors and want to take this down quick and get the sub.

Closing the distance on Hunt is dangerous though. The Russian experiment doesn’t have 6 inches of height advantage and 270 pounds of mass to hurl at him like Barnett did, so I doubt he will beat him with such ease as Josh showed. Hopefully Mark puts down the donuts and drags his ass to a gym for the first time in 4 years so he doesn’t embarass himself, because I’ll probably root for him for old times sake.

Shogun/Nak I see going to decision with Shogun getting a win. Nak has improved a lot and can pull off an upset if anyone at 205 can aganst Mauricio. But Shogun is going to get mother-fucking violent I feel and put a general hurting on Nak.

The fact that Gomi/Isihida isn’t for the belt makes me want to punch a baby and I won’t talk about it further.

Hell, let’s make this the Shockwave thread as well.

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[quote]Donut62 wrote:
Yeah I agree, I like Pride’s rules, ring, and presentation better. I don’t like their bullshit “Title Fights” once every year, and I don’t like waiting a day to watch the PPV. I don’t like that they give their fighters 2 to 3 weeks notice for a major fight.

[/quote]

I agree. However, I’d take Pride’s once a year title fights against UFC’s asking every fighter after they win if he thinks he’s ready for a title fight!

I also hate hoe the UFC tosses its fighters as soon as they lose a title fight (not always, but frequently).

OK, enough whining, now I’ll just look forward to two events over the New Year’s week-end.

What are peoples predictions for Tito vs. Chuck?

I want Tito to take him down and beat him, but for some reason I think he’ll try to stand up with Chuck and get KO’d.

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[quote]Donut62 wrote:
Also, Pride announced Gomi/Ishida for NYE…except it’s non-title. Thanks for nothing dick wads.
[/quote]

Nice! Ishida is the bomb.