What was wrong with Fedor? He did pull off the win but he did not look like himself at all. He got taken down by Hunt and he looked sluggish the whole fight.
Yoshida also did not look like himself. It looked as though he just gassed or something.
Why did Prides two biggest draws have such uncharacteristic performances?
Fedor has been out of action for awhile now, probably alittle ring rust and Yoshida got this fight on 10 days notice(so did Thompson) and was just out of shape. The announcer even mentioned that Yoshida said he wasn't in good shape.
Fedor had a long lay off from the hand surgery, and had a broken toe before the Hunt fight, that limited his training time severly made his mobility pretty bad during the match.
ttt
Something was missing, he didn't have the spark he usually has. Hopefully he hasn't already peaked.
Yoshida didn't look bad until he fell through the ropes and slammed his head on the edge of the ring.
Yoshida was destroying a much heavier and stronger fighter on the feet, and he was dominating him on the ground.
Watch the Yoshida fight again, after he hits his head, he can't even stand straight and basically becomes a human punching bag.
"But Yoshida was never anything special."
umm. nothing special? A 1 dimensional judoka who in his first MMA fight finished Royce Gracie. And yes he did finish Royce, rewatch the fight, Royce's hand goes limp and he was clearly out. Ref checked his arm as well.
Yoshida beat HUNT, who has beaten Silva and Crocop.
YOshida beat Frye, submitted him.
Yoshida beat Tamura, a fighter that beat renzo, militech and Horn.
Yoshida oustruck Tank abbot on the feet.
Yoshida took wand to decision twice, as a 1 dimensional judoka.
Nothing great my ass. Yoshida had an awesome career in MMA.
"Ummm..it was Hunt's first ever mma fight..what do you expect?"
and up until the Fedor fight, Hunt has fought the same way as when he debuted. Did you see the Barnett fight? he was just as green on the ground as when he debuted.
This is no argument.
"Yet he lost...twice."
and??? People are ranking Matt lindland #1 because he did well against Rampage. Yoshida in taking Wand to a split decision, proved that he was on an elite level at LHW.
You have to remember, he lost to James Thompson a SHW, which is 2 weightclasses above his normal weight.
In addition, he was kicking james thomposn's ass before falling on his head.
"Ummm..it was Hunt's first ever mma fight..what do you expect?"
and up until the Fedor fight, Hunt has fought the same way as when he debuted. Did you see the Barnett fight? he was just as green on the ground as when he debuted.
This is no argument. "
well he got totally owned by rulon gardner in his 1st and only mma fight.
he fought royce twice in mma? well the draw* mma fight i saw against 175lbs royce he looked pretty bad to say the least.
he did beat tank* and frye*.and tamura.and i guess losing twice to a decision to wand is something to be proud of.
"You have to remember, he lost to Josh Thompson a SHW, which is 2 weightclasses above his normal weight.
In addition, he was kicking josh thomposn's ass before falling on his head."
josh thomson is actually 4 weightclasses below him and they have never fought.i think yoshida would have a chance against him.
If you say that Yoshida isn't a good fighter it just means that you don't really train much except here, on the keyboard.
Fedor looked like he was conserving himself, I would guess the toe injury limited his cardio training leading up to the fight. He just didn't push the pace like he usually does. That being said I neved felt he was in any real danger, he was just being more patient than usual.
Wasn't Fedor originally scheduled not to fight because of the toe injury? I could be wrong but I thought I remember an announcement stating such.
Yoshida did not beat Royce either. I watched the video and Royce never did go out. In that case you should give Royce the win over Saku because at one point Saku tapped out on Royce at one point during the fight. There is video of it that clearly shows him tapping out.
due revival.
Watch the original vid, not some youtube shit.
Royce's hand goes limp, Yoshida feels that, asks the ref "is he out?" ref checks Royce's arm, and stops the fight.
Unless you think Yoshida is a liar, those are the facts.
Even if you think Yoshida is a liar, Royce's hand still goes limp.