Sherdog.com is announcing that Pawel Nastula will face Josh Barnett at the next Pride show. Should be interesting. Nastula is still waiting for his first "warm-up" fight in MMA.
"Nastula is still waiting for his first "warm-up" fight in MMA."
Well, he pretty much got it in that BTT guy he beat but then everyone else has been either been a top HW thats either way bigger or one of the top 4 fighters in the world.
Him vs. Yoshida would be fun or in Pride....hmm, Kharitonov?
'should be interesting'
why is that?
He's only fought 3 times, right? Lost to Nog and Alex E. and then won (which would be his warm-up fight).
But, yeah, the guy definitely needs to take a few non-top 10 HWs, but he is kinda old for MMA as well, so he is probably just getting what extra money he can while his name is somewhat recognizable in Japan (cause he was a MACHINE in the mid-90s in judo...too bad he came to this sport so late in his career).
If Barnett is too bruised up, he actually stands a chance...gas is the big factor. Will Barnett have it? Will Nastula?
Barnett heavy fav. though given his recent performance against Nog on the mat.
Natsula has gassed pretty bad against Nog and Aleks, quite early aswell.
Natsula will lose again.
Pawel fought 2 fairly big names in his debut, 2nd fight. This will be a good test for Barnett. Polish Power !!!
"Nastula has no business fighting the big names in MMA in Pride like he is"
He has done extremely well for an old man with basically no mma experience against top fighters.
you guys have no idea what this guy would have done in mma 10 years ago...
"you guys have no idea what this guy would have done in mma 10 years ago."
Yeah? Give us your best crystal ball insights dude.
"Nastula has no business fighting the big names in MMA in Pride like he is"
Except that he almost armlocked Aleks.
"10 years ago, Nastula would have tapped to Royce, imo."
10 years ago he was way better than he is now. He would have beat Royce in the early UFCs
If we didn't realize by now, Pride doesn't just care about win / losses. Nastula is good, has a lot of heart
'should be interesting'
"why is that?"
Because a world champion judoka is facing the best catch wrestler in the world in a fight. How could it not be interesting?
if only the Gracies hadn't seen that book with the triangle choke in it, we'd be wearing Severn t-shirts! (just saw the end of Lethal Weapon)
Oh, well, maybe fighting the best MMA fighters in the world on the biggest MMA stage is better than whatever else he'd been doing?