I splooged myself when I watched this. Unbelieveable. Apparently there are plans for some more cross over fights coming too, I saw Fujita mentioned as fighting in the UFC.
Without 4 point strikes Wandy’s game is dimished, no doubt. But keep in mind that in his two career-defining wins over Rampage he did all of his damage standing and clinching. If Wandy gets Chuck clinched on the fence Lidell will get his face broken.
Some people are slamming the UFC, which I frequently do as well, but no matter where Chuck would fight he would be a top guy. UFC has some great fighters (unless you ignore the fucking pile of shit that is their HW’s), it’s their depth that is lacking. Lidell-Ortiz-Franklin-Hughes are all top guys no matter where they fight.
My dream Pride to UFC cross over (besides this one)? Aleksander Emelianenko to Pride. He would wipe the floor with Tim Syliva or AA. And the Emelianenko’s could reign supreme over all HW’s.
didnt tito ortiz beat silva? and didnt liddell beat ortiz?
Go back and watch that fight. Silva rocked Tito pretty good, and almost had him out before he broke away and literally ran across the cage before turning to fight again. Then when Wandy got rocked a little, they stopped it instantly. Little shady to me. I think there is a reason Wandy has never come back to UFC, he got robbed and is being taken care of properly in Pride.
Aside from that, I think this could be a great fight.
Yea, Tito won a decision against Silva in 2000. Rampage beat Chuck in 2003, and Silva has murdered Rampage with knees twice since then. So it’s all really moot.
For what it is worth, I still say Shogun is the best 205 pound fighter in the world. Maybe we’ll see a UFC guy like Tito come and fight him.
It’s good that Dana and Zuffa know what the fans want to see. I’m glad they worked this out. Hopefully we’ll see more cross over fights like Filho vs. Hughes or Franklin vs. Dennis Kang. So many great match ups could come of this.
I think this is a business decision for Pride. Since they have lost their tv deal and are coming to America they need exposure. If Silva can win his fights it will help Pride in America. The lack of four point knees and stomps is too bad. Though I do not think it would make a big difference against Chuck. Against Tito and Sobral it would. If SIlva wins the OWGP, Silva would have maybe the toughest year by any fighter ever maybe. Winning the OWGP would give him a fight against Fedor. Winning the OWGP means he would have to beat Barnett, Nog, Mirko, two of them. Liddel, and Fedor.
Belfort ran Silva over. Tito won a decision over Silva. Chuck beat Belfort and KO’ed Tito. Rampage knocked Chuck out. Silva beat up Rampage twice.
Now that that’s been said, it doesn’t matter. Each of them can beat the other. If I were a betting man I’d bet on Silva. He has more weapons and more heart and I believe better conditioning. Chuck has really hard, accurate shots and Silva can be hit, but he can also take a shot as seen when he fought Mirko and Hunt. It’s anybody’s night really and they certainly both have the puncher’s chance and I can’t wait to see it.
Hell it’s gotta be better than Sylvia vs. Arlovski again or Tito vs. Shamrock
Some people are slamming the UFC, which I frequently do as well, but no matter where Chuck would fight he would be a top guy. UFC has some great fighters (unless you ignore the fucking pile of shit that is their HW’s), it’s their depth that is lacking. Lidell-Ortiz-Franklin-Hughes are all top guys no matter where they fight.
[quote]iatguy wrote:
WhiteFlash wrote:
I think he was saying “average” to illustrate a point, not calling Silva average.
Well, an average fighter like Anderson Silva from Pride came to UFC couple weeks ago and beat up Leban. I consider Anderson average but not W. Silva.[/quote]
I’m not sure what the point of this post is. Anyone beating up Leben doesn’t say much.
leben is an out of shape drunk rage fighter. he is a throw back to what UFC Was like when it first started, same with shamcock. they dont belong in the ufc anymore
keep in mind that wanderlei drops his opponents before he starts to knee or stomp etc., wanderlei’s overagressiveness might be at a disadvantage because chuck could land a big one, but Silva has fought and stood up with bigger and stronger strikers than chuck(crocop, hunt).
[quote]WolBarret wrote:
can someone tell me why Pride is having problems and resorting to UFC? Isn’t it a money maker in Japan?
And if Pride closes down, where would Cro cop, Fedor, and the whole crew go…
Also, I just got into Pride recently, so i don’t know nearly as much as you guys.[/quote]
They lost their deal with FujiTV, which provided PrideFC coverage on free television across Japan. Pride (who is run by Dream Stage Entertainment) lost the deal because several investigative reports brought forth accusations that DSE is yakuza (japanese mafia) run company, and reported several instances where DSE acted very shady. The FujiTV deal was about one quarter of their revenue and was their biggest source of publicity, so now DSE has to figure out how to clean up the Pride name and get a TV deal back. In the meantime, they want to increase their revenues in North America to make the company financially sound again, and possibly even make Pirde grow bigger. So far they have announced a Pride event in Las Vegas in October, they are showing next months Bushido tournament event on free TV here in the USA (FSN, I believe), and now have one of their biggest names fighting in the UFC on behalf of Pride.
I doubt that Pride would lose it’s top heavyweights if they get too money crunched. The HW’s are Pride’s glory division. It’s more likely that we could see some high paid fighters from lower weight classes going away.
If Pride did fold, it’s most likely that K-1 would absorb the big names like Fedor, Nog, Cro Cop etc. K-1 wipes its ass with million dollar bills, and would pay them better than they are getting paid now I would assume. The irony is that K-1 is way more crooked than Pride could hope to be. And they like to treat their fighters like shit (a la Bob Sapp).
Chuck liddell will own silva. Hes way hungrier. Liddell never has had the worldwide fame that wand is enjoying right now. I was in Africa last week and I saw a kid wearing wands chute box shirt.
Pride just announced Fujita’s participation on the same card as Lidell-Silva (who would he fight, maybe Monsoon?), and Phil Baroni posted that he will be fighting on that card as well. It looks they are going to do a full-on Pride vs UFC card, with the LHW belt being unified. Awesome! I doubt they will put any other belt holders into the mix, there seems to be a lot at stake already.
[quote]Donut62 wrote:
Pride just announced Fujita’s participation on the same card as Lidell-Silva (who would he fight, maybe Monsoon?), and Phil Baroni posted that he will be fighting on that card as well. It looks they are going to do a full-on Pride vs UFC card, with the LHW belt being unified. Awesome! I doubt they will put any other belt holders into the mix, there seems to be a lot at stake already.[/quote]
ok - so my cycnical brains been working overtime.
Pride lose TV contract
Pride has other much bigger contract in pipeline as Pride FC is massive and very lucrative ratings winner.
Pride keeps this quietish.
Meanwhile, a semi pride UFC match up occurs.
Maybe to many coincidences - pride will announce its new TV contract ans has a bumper sell out TV audience, especially in the USA due to the UFC connection
[quote]titopuente wrote:
Chuck liddell will own silva. Hes way hungrier. Liddell never has had the worldwide fame that wand is enjoying right now. I was in Africa last week and I saw a kid wearing wands chute box shirt. [/quote]
That cannot be a reason why Liddell will beat Silva. I do not think could grasp how hungry each is and compare their hunger.
Liddell fights in America. As far as many Americans care Liddell is the best fighter in the world.
I think Liddell is a good fighter. He is getting older though. The guys he has fought besides Rampage and Bustamante are not really good stand-up fighters. So it should be a challenge for him.
[quote]WolBarret wrote:
can someone tell me why Pride is having problems and resorting to UFC? Isn’t it a money maker in Japan?
And if Pride closes down, where would Cro cop, Fedor, and the whole crew go…
Also, I just got into Pride recently, so i don’t know nearly as much as you guys.[/quote]
They lost their broadcast tv(Fuji tv) deal. They still have their cable tv(Skyperfect) deal even though Fuji tv is a shareholder in SkyPerfect. I heard and thought they were going to lose their cable tv deal, they did not.
Pride’s president said that livegate sales make up a majority of their revenue. As long as fans come to see the shows there will be Pride. They have the support of the top fighters also.
I think sending Silva to the UFC is good. UFC is number one in America, they can market Pride through the UFC by having SIlva fight. Pride’s goal is to set up an American production. SO they will have the Japanese Pride show, Bushido show, and the Pride America show.