3. PART ONE OF THREE
After helping make Wanderlei Silva a star in Japan during their first encounter, Kazushi Sakuraba looked to avenge his 98-second loss nine months later at Pride 17. In front of 53,246 fans at the Tokyo Dome, Silva-Sakuraba 2 was hands down one of the most highly anticipated fights in the promotion’s history.
Unlike the first meeting, Sakuraba showed off his chops the second time around. Sakuraba managed to take Silva to the ground, working over his opponent with ground-and-pound, and even doubled up by getting in some legitimate shots on the feet. Unfortunately for Sakuraba and the thousands of Japanese fans in attendance, he suffered a shoulder injury during a guillotine choke attempt and was unable to make it out for the second round. As a result, Silva became the inaugural Pride middleweight champion and further cemented himself as Sakuraba’s arch nemesis.
The two men would fight again in 2003, with Silva putting the definitive stamp on a one-sided trilogy. Historically, this was monumental, as the event provided a major shift for the sport with rules changes, and at the time, Sakuraba was the closest thing Japanese MMA had to a Michael Jordan.
Number 2 » Dropping the Axe