My Pride GP 2nd round dream card would look like this:
Nog vs. Werdun
Hunt vs. Fujita
Fedor vs. Barnett
Yoshida vs. Cro Cop
Barnett vs. Fedor: A natural matchup following the buildup.
Nogueira vs. Cro Cop: A rematch that needs to happen. Both fighters have grown significantly (Cro Cop probably moreso) since their first encounter.
Fujita vs. Yoshida: A Japanese draw and an interesting matchup in it's own right.
Hunt vs. Werdum: A really good test of Hunt's submission defense (and takedown defense if he's got an ounce of brains).
Mine would go as follows:
Barnett-Fedor (Obvious)
Nogueira-Werdum (They are very similar to one another...both lanky submission wizards...pair em' up)
Fujita-Hunt (The two hardest heads in the biz)
Yoshi-Crocop (I want to see Crocop get put on his back and choked out. Yoshi is the perfect man for the job)
That being said, bad matchups with these eight is an impossibility. No matter how bizarre Pride match-ups have been in the past, there is no way that they can screw this up.
Johnny Blaze,
Your point is well taken, but isn't Zentsov then the man for the job.
Giant Silva should NEVER get into a ring again.
Mine would go...
Yoshida/Nog - two ground guys, Nog is still the shit IMO, vs a gold medal judoka, great stuff. I'd love to see Nog sub Yoshida.
Hunt/Fujita - as amichaelee pointed out- the two hardest heads and two of the best chins in the sport. King Kong vs Godzilla!
I wouldn't match up Fedor and CroCop again, not in the second round,so I'd probably go with ..
CroCop/Barnett - interesting challenge for both fighters
and Fedor/Werdum
...some potential great fights there. Viva Pride!
"My Pride GP 2nd round dream card would look like this:
Nog vs. Werdun
Hunt vs. Fujita
Fedor vs. Barnett
Yoshida vs. Cro Cop"
My sentiments exactly. I'll buy the PPV if they have these match-ups.
"That being said, bad matchups with these eight is an impossibility."
It could be if they just give us re-matches.
"Fedor-Barnett
Fujita-Hunt
Noguiera-CroCop
Yoshida-Werdum "
cardboardguy got it perfect...