According to Gryphon, Pride DSE President Sakakibara says V. Silva vs. Y. Kondo will be NON TITLE FIGHT. If Kondo wins the fight, he will get a rematch against Silva in summer for the title.
Talk about protecting your champions!
Also, if Kondo loses, the winner of Arona vs. Rampage will fight Silva for the title next in summer.
"Talk about protecting your champions!"
Why say that?
I think it's a respectful move to the PRIDE fighters like Jackson, Henderson, and Arona who have moved up in the rankings and EARNED a title shot in that SAME organization.
Kondo is a great fighter, but who has he beaten in PRIDE to deserve a title shot as opposed to one of the fighters I mentioned?
I don't understand non-title fights... if he dosen't deserve the shot, then he should fight... Let Vandy fight someine who does deserve it...
Doesnt matter if Kondo beats Silva.
Arona will take it in the summer cuz he's the best.
And people say the UFC title situation is in shambles...
"I don't understand non-title fights... "
It's all about the marquee value.
Fans will pay to see this fight, title on the line or not.
I support non-title fights for:
1. Established champs that have defended successfully a number of times.
or
2. When the champ is fighting a tomato can
in Pride they still fight 3 rounds, championship bout or not. In the UFC they don't, they only fight 3 rounds instead of 5. So I don't care if a Pride fight is not for the belt, we still get the same amount of action under the same circumstances. Can't say that about the UFC.
JMHO,
dj
"Arona will take it in the summer cuz he's the best. "
ROTFLMFAO!
I have always been under the belief, that if a guy is the champ, any fight he has should be for the title.
I'll tell you why it's a non title fight. Because Pride wants exclusive "rights" on Kondo's fights, and Kondo is not going there for whatever his reasons are..
Kondo is tied to Pancrase, and is apparently loyal to that organization. He's also doing good financially there.
Sakakibara is a pimp.
BTW - I have no doubt that Silva will beat Kondo convincingly.
There's no champion protection going on here.
Yuki Kondo is dead.
Period.
Yeah, I don't really care whether the fight is for the title or not although I think they're justified in not giving Kondo a title shot right away. Again, Jackson earned a title fight by beating Randleman and Arona deserves one as well. Even Hendo deserves a shot more than Kondo IMO.
I want to see the fight and because Pride doesn't change the rules for title fights, it really makes no difference to me...except Kondo would be guaranteed to return if he wins.
I personally don't care about the title. If Kondo wins, he won't get less respect (at least not from me) because he isn't wearing the belt. Though I know there are plenty of people who do base their rankings on who happens to have a belt (which is utterly dependent on who the promotions decide to give a shot to, etc) rather than on who has been performing the best.
The only guy thats capable of beating Silva and it's gonna be a non-title fight.
quit your whining about Rampage and Arona.
Rampage has been beat already. The conditions going in before the fight were even, so don't give me no freshness/ unfreshness.
Arona has been way too inactive. Kondo fought and won 5 fights and only lost 1 in the period that Arona was out. In addition, ARona has no finishing skills, is boring as hell. He doesn't get the shot.
That leaves, Yuki Kondo, LHW Pancrase CHamp and former Open weight Pancrase Champ. He is the most deserving and pride is protecting their golden boy.
And all you hater STFU about Pride protecting "japanese fighters" it's all about the dollars baby and they don't want that going to Pancrase.
the only guy capable of beating SILVA NOW! hello. Silva has improved by leaps and bounds as has Kondo, you don't base the current status of a fighter based on fights that happened years ago especially since they've both been very active.
In addition since this is going to be a non-title fight I'm sure Silva's going to come in at 220-230 lbs. and Kondo's gonna stay at 194. Ridiculous. Talk about protection baby.
"The only guy thats capable of beating Silva and it's gonna be a non-title fight."
You're out of your fucking mind. Stop while you're ahead.
... oh wait, there were 5 more lines of blithering fucking idiocy following that initial statement. Good thing for me I'm not wasting my time, or braincells, trying to comprehend whatever supporting thesis you put behind such a maleducated statement.
Me and you, Yoshida... we watch the same MMA, right? Like, same Vanderlei? Same Kondo? Right?
"Me and you, Yoshida... we watch the same MMA, right? Like, same Vanderlei? Same Kondo? Right? "
Henderson and Rampage have already been beat. Rampage did worse than Alexander Otsuka of all people.
Arona has been way too inactive.
Randy COuture/Belfort fight for another organization.
Kondo Yuki has beaten two of the most elite grapplers in MMA in sperry and kikuta, KOed them both. He has also went to the third round, getting better of the stand up exchanges with Josh Barnett, who outweighted him by 70 fucking lbs. He has beaten SHW Semmy SChilt 2x, beat HW Pete williams, KTFO royler's top student Saolo Riberio, KTFO Frank Shamrock, beaten pancrase stars MInowa and Kiuma Kunioku.
now your going to tell me that this guy is not the most deserving taking into account all the conditions? kondo yuki is one of the few in the world that can beat silva. I stand with my original assertion.
Silva defending his title is a Joke. I hope to hell he loses.