News and Notes from a Night in Osaka
More from Backstage
Masa Fukui Apr 23, 2005
OK, one last thing. As a member of the American press, whenever I
face Mr. Sakakibara I can’t help asking something about the UFC and
PRIDE. This time I asked if he’s sending former PRIDE heavyweight
champion Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira to the UFC. Or if it’s not
“Minotauro,” whom are they sending and when will he fight in the
UFC.
“We can’t say the exact name at this point yet,” Sakakibara answered. “But we are thinking about sending a fighter to the UFC event in June. At the same time we’ll welcome lightweight and middleweight fighters from UFC for the Bushido tournament. UFC is a good partner for our business, so we want to cooperate and support each other.”
OK, that’s about it. It’s 5 freaking a.m. My partner Stephen
Martinez is snoring so loud in the bed and I’m still typing in
front of my PC. This is not fair; I need to go bed too (different
bed, off course). But before I wrap everything up, I’d like to
share some of the words that non-English-speaking fighters said
during their post-fight interview.
Yuki Kondo: “I lost but I feel fresh now. I did everything I could and got beat up. I don’t believe that weight affected the fight. But this time, somewhere in my heart, I felt a bit of a weight disadvantage against Igor. When he armlocked me, I was still fine. I was still far from a tapout, but I was surprised that he went for submission in the ground game.”
Igor Vovchanchyn: “I think the fight went very good. And Yuki Kondo was very strong and I respect him a lot. I wanted to fight on my feet. But it ended up going to the ground. Maybe Yuki Kondo wanted the fight in the ground? I thought my armlock could finish the fight. I’ll fight whoever PRIDE set me up in the second round.”
Vitor Belfort: “I wanted to fight on my feet. But he went to the ground. When he tried to trap me in triangle, I was very surprised. PRIDE grew a lot from four years ago. I think all the progress that PRIDE had in past four years is very positive for this sport. This time, my corner couldn’t come with me. But some shit happen in the life. So that can’t be a reason why I lost today. I wanted put the exciting show more than just being representing UFC. I lost today, but I think I did fine with that point (put the exciting fight). I’d like to fight in PRIDE again in the future.”
Yoon Dong Sik: “I don’t remember that much about the fight because I got knocked out and my memory is blown away.”
Kazushi Sakuraba: “I don’t like a quick win. Well, I didn’t like quick win, but I actually felt good when the referee raised my hand. Now I start liking quick wins. I really didn’t mind if he wore gi or no gi — doesn’t change my game plan at all. Was that KO win? I thought that was referee stoppage. Knockout? Really? Oh well. His punch was heavy and that punch wasn’t a punch from total beginner. He must have train boxing for some long time. I don’t want to say who I want to fight, but somebody who’s not strong. All of my injury is recovered very well. I can’t tell how good I am from today’s quick fight, but I’m glad that I didn’t get any injury today.”
“We can’t say the exact name at this point yet,” Sakakibara answered. “But we are thinking about sending a fighter to the UFC event in June. At the same time we’ll welcome lightweight and middleweight fighters from UFC for the Bushido tournament. UFC is a good partner for our business, so we want to cooperate and support each other.”
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Yuki Kondo: “I lost but I feel fresh now. I did everything I could and got beat up. I don’t believe that weight affected the fight. But this time, somewhere in my heart, I felt a bit of a weight disadvantage against Igor. When he armlocked me, I was still fine. I was still far from a tapout, but I was surprised that he went for submission in the ground game.”
Igor Vovchanchyn: “I think the fight went very good. And Yuki Kondo was very strong and I respect him a lot. I wanted to fight on my feet. But it ended up going to the ground. Maybe Yuki Kondo wanted the fight in the ground? I thought my armlock could finish the fight. I’ll fight whoever PRIDE set me up in the second round.”
Vitor Belfort: “I wanted to fight on my feet. But he went to the ground. When he tried to trap me in triangle, I was very surprised. PRIDE grew a lot from four years ago. I think all the progress that PRIDE had in past four years is very positive for this sport. This time, my corner couldn’t come with me. But some shit happen in the life. So that can’t be a reason why I lost today. I wanted put the exciting show more than just being representing UFC. I lost today, but I think I did fine with that point (put the exciting fight). I’d like to fight in PRIDE again in the future.”
Yoon Dong Sik: “I don’t remember that much about the fight because I got knocked out and my memory is blown away.”
Kazushi Sakuraba: “I don’t like a quick win. Well, I didn’t like quick win, but I actually felt good when the referee raised my hand. Now I start liking quick wins. I really didn’t mind if he wore gi or no gi — doesn’t change my game plan at all. Was that KO win? I thought that was referee stoppage. Knockout? Really? Oh well. His punch was heavy and that punch wasn’t a punch from total beginner. He must have train boxing for some long time. I don’t want to say who I want to fight, but somebody who’s not strong. All of my injury is recovered very well. I can’t tell how good I am from today’s quick fight, but I’m glad that I didn’t get any injury today.”
