In the welterweight reserve match, DEEP and SHOOTO veteran Ryuta Sakurai (Pictures) faced off against BTT member Paulo Filho (Pictures). Following a takedown, Filho attempted a Kimura from half guard, then scored the mount, transitioned to take his opponent’s back and then into an armbar. Sakurai struggled to hang on but was forced to tapout at the 3:49 second mark of the first round.
Mishima scored the first takedown in this one, then moved to the side, his opponent’s back, and finally to the mount where he began to rain down punches. Bennett amazing managed to struggle to his feet and after a brief exchange picked Mishima up to chest level and slammed him into the mat. Both fighters then went for leg submissions and after a battle of attrition, Bennett was forced to tap out.
Just as Bennett was giving his post-fight interview, he managed to catch the extremely short Azeredo-Kotani fight on a television monitor. He then basically stated that he didn’t know how some of the fighters got into the tournament and that he was upset that PRIDE only made him an alternate rather than putting him into the mix.