Pride has announced the first confirmed match up on their website today:
Vanderlei Silva vs Yoshida
This match up was rumoured to happen anyhow after Silva announced at the last Pride show that he wanted to fight Yoshida in the first round
Pride also announced 2 additions to the GP: QUINTON JACKSON and DAN HENDERSON!!!!
is this the best ever GP or what???
So we have the following ten fighters announced already:
Wanderlei Silva
Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
Igor Vovchanchyn
Kazushi Sakuraba
Mauricio “Shogun” Rua
Yuki Kondo
Hidehiko Yoshida
Kazuhiro Nakamura
Quinton Rampage Jackson
Dan Henderson
6 places left to fill. Still rumours floating about some UFC fighters. Who else?
Silva and Yoshida already matched up. I'm guessing Silva will win to fight in the second round.
Damn this card is already so stacked.
Well, even though we already saw it, a rematch will be cool.
At least it guarantees we'll see Sak fight someone else in rd 1... HENDERSON PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sak vs Hendo would rule on so many levels.
Dan is better than Yuki, IMO. 2nd RD TKO
What's up with Arona, Overeem and Tamura? Aren't they in also?
Sick or not, Dan fought exactly the same against Kondo as he has against everybody else.
This tournament is beyond stacked. If Belfort and/or Tito are in it, my god...
Johnny Blaze - sorry, totally forgot about the mini tourney at the next Bushido :( You're right.
As far as Tamura, Saku wanted to fight him, and went as far as saying that if Tamura won't fight him, Saku will pull out of the GP completely. Tamura refused to fight Saku (so doesn't look like he'll be in at all then). Hopefully Saku decides to stay in :-)
How about a Igor Saku rematch at a lighter weight, when they're both fresh? I'd give it to igor, though it would be an easy match to hype up.
I'm thinking that Hendo will rematch Nakamura. Too bad Tamura won't step to fight Sakuraba. The Japanese fans realy want that to happen.
Sak vs. Igor would be cool. I think Sak might do better than most would think. But I think Sak wll get the winne of the mini-tourney (Lister, Filho, etc.)
LMAO @ Silva in a tourney with Jackson, Henderson, Arona, Nog and Igor...and they give him Yoshida in the first round.
I admire Silva for fighting Hunt on New Year's, but aside from Jackson, this dude never fights anyone worth a shit. Something tells me his road to the belt will consist of Yoshida, Nakamura, Sakuraba, and then an exhausted Henderson. Whoopy-do.
LMAO @ your RETARDED comment!!! Nobody has taken on better competition in recent years than Wanderlei Silva. Yeah, he is a real pussy. He only fought Vitor, Tito, Hunt, Cro-Cop, Henderson, Sakuraba ...
RamDaMan,
Aside from Jackson, please list one ranked light heavyweight that Vanderlei Silva has fought during the five years he's been in Pride.
As I'm sure you're aware, Sakuraba and Henderson are middleweights fighting up. Which is fine when they win, but if you have 20 lbs. on them, it's not exactly rocket science.
Holy shit im amped for this tourney. Sp many potentially awesome matchups.
"LMAO @ Silva in a tourney with Jackson, Henderson, Arona, Nog and Igor...and they give him Yoshida in the first round."
Pride likes to make $$$ so this matchup makes sense. Both are big stars there. In addition, since Silva is the reighning champ one could argue it makes sense that he gets a easier road to the finals.
Similarlly to a #1 seed in March Madness
Give Silva a break. He is the champion. If he wanted to cop an attitude, he could just decide not to fight in the tourney at all until the finals. But instead he is pretty much the most active champion in the world. He's been fighting a long time. Cant expect him to fight the Jacksons and Hendersons and Cro Cops every fight. Plus lets face it - his last fight against Yoshida was a classic. Lets see how this fight turns out. Silva will have a fire under his ass after his last loss.
Just NO fuckin pleasing some people. We have the best GP in the history of GP's (The KOK tourney could be ranked up there too though). and somebody is already bitching about the first match up, despite the fact that Silva fights his friggin heart out every fight every time every opponent.
Plus last Pride Silva, after asking the audience who he should fight next, pointed at Yoshi and said he wants him next.
Somehow DSE has brainwashed people into thinking that because Silva is the champ, he should be given easier - not harder - fights.
I just think it's incredibly fuckin' boring that now Silva has run through every single Japanese fighter out there, we have to watch him do it all over again.
Is anyone honestly more interested in Silva/Yoshida II than Silva/Igor, Silva/Nog, or even Silva/Overeem?
And by the way, I'm a fan of Vanderlei. If I wasn't, I wouldn't care less who he fights. I want to see him against the best at 205 before he hangs it up, and DSE is totally oblivious.
"I admire Silva for fighting Hunt on New Year's, but aside from Jackson, this dude never fights anyone worth a shit."
LOL... So you admire Silva for fighting Hunt but you despise Silva for fighting the man that beat Hunt? That?s some great logic. You should get an award for that...
Henderson fights at 190-195 without cutting weight. That is actually lighter than a lot of 185lbers walk around weight. If he fought in UFC they'd have him at MW, and rightly so. Have you seen Hendo standing next to LHW Randy Couture? Not even close in size. And why the hate for "Decision Dan"? Is it because of his KO's of Renzo and Bustamonte? I doubt it is because of his KO of Nakamura. The guy pulled an IV out of his arm and climbed into the ring with Kondo (a fight I thought was a draw), most of you ladies probably skip work if you get the sniffles.
They're all Light heavy's... stop being little bitches
"if he had pussy his name would be danielle. but since he doesnt his name is dan and he fights in pride middleweight division. its his choice, not some internet fanboys choice to cut weight. if he doesnt do it and choses to fight in pride middleweight division at 195lbs then thats what he is. not a ufc 185lber. silvas a natural 185lber too incase you have forgotten. randy is a natural heavyweight. they all fight at 205 division because thats what they think is best for them."
And your points are? What of all that actually disagrees with anything I said? The UFC tries to keep fighters at lower weights so as not to upset the NSAC, I didn't say I thought fighters shouldn't move up if they wish.
"How much he weighs when he fights is irrelevant. He has not fought at 185 in years and fights at LHW (if he is a small LHW or not is irrelevant) If he does not fight at 185 then he is not a MW especially since he has never weighed in at 185 in Pride. Henderson fights at LHW. Just because YOU feel he should fight at 185 or he is too small or whatever doesnt make him a MW until he fights as a MW"
LOL. A little sensitive are we?
And your points are? What of all that actually disagrees with anything I said? The UFC tries to keep fighters at lower weights so as not to upset the NSAC, I didn't say I thought fighters shouldn't move up if they wish.
My only point is that perhaps he deserves a little respect for fighting guys with a walkaround weight a good twenty five pounds more than his. The fact that he is the same size and weight as guys who fight at 185lbs and twenty five pounds lighter than guys who fight at 205lbs is not irrellevant, it is reality, a reality HE is responsible for. I give him credit for having the balls (like BJ Penn, Kondo, Renzo and others) to fight guys outside of what would be his weightclass if he chose it. Not that outlandish really. BTW, I NEVER said he SHOULD fight at any particular weight.
Dan is the best- he will win it all.