PRIDE Announces Complete Bushido Grand Prix Brackets
Stephen Martinez Sep 1, 2005
TOKYO, Sept. 1 — Dream Stage Entertainment officially released the
full brackets today for the upcoming Lightweight Bushido Grand Prix
(73-kg./160-lb.), joining the already announced Welterweight Grand
Prix (83-kg./183-lb.) to be held at Ariake Colosseum in Tokyo,
Japan on September 25.
Lightweight Grand Prix opening round matches:
Bracket A
Takanori Gomi (Pictures) vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri (Pictures)
Luiz Azeredo (Pictures) vs. Naoyuki Kotani (Pictures)
Bracket B
Hayato Sakurai (Pictures) vs. Jens Pulver (Pictures)
Yves Edwards (Pictures) vs. Joachim Hansen (Pictures)
Dokonjonosuke Mishima (Pictures) vs. Charles Bennett (Pictures)
From the lightweight line-up the biggest surprise is the fight between current PRIDE Bushido ace Takanori Gomi (Pictures) and SHOOTO welterweight (154-lb.) champion Tatsuya Kawajiri (Pictures).
While many fans out there will wonder and question who at DSE came with the illogical idea to literally kill Japan’s only hopes of crowning a PRIDE champion by pairing these two in the first round, one also needs to realize this fight would help to determinate and give answer to the eternal debate between who is the No. 1 155-pound fighter in the world.
ZST top gun Naoyuki Kotani (Pictures) is finally making his Bushido debut since he was introduced back in Bushido 7. Kotani brings a 2-4-1 record since early 2004, losing to the likes of Marcus Aurelio (Pictures), Rich Clementi (Pictures), Yves Edwards (Pictures) and Roger Huerta (Pictures). His only two wins in the same period are against Hideo Tokoro (Pictures) and Remigijus Morkevicius. Oddly enough Tokoro and Morkevicius are participants in the other lightweight tournament held on September 7 by PRIDE’s rival company, HERO’s.
Kotani’s opponent in the first round is Chute Boxe wild striker Luiz Azeredo (Pictures), who is coming off a brutal knockout loss at hands of Takanori Gomi (Pictures) back in Bushido 7. Azeredo had made clear the desire to rematch Gomi and avenge his lost. More likely the recent performance by teammate Shogun Rua at PRIDE Middleweight GP would be the extra incentive Azeredo needed in order to fulfill his revenge against the Japanese ace.
On the other side of the tournament a match that will surely catch fans attention is the bout between Texan Yves Edwards (Pictures) and Scandinavian nightmare Joachim Hansen (Pictures).
Edwards returns to Bushido after a successful debut against crowd favorite Dokonjonosuke Mishima (Pictures), winning by surprise armbar in the first round. Hansen, meanwhile, is coming off a tough decision win against Kenichiro Togashi (Pictures) back in SHOOTO on August 20.
This will mark Hansen’s third fight in three months. The biggest question is how will Hansen’s condition be coming into this match against the very tough Edwards.
The other fight in bracket B places SHOOTO legend Hayato “Mach” Sakurai, who is finally fighting in this new weight division after intensive workouts with personal friend Matt Hume (Pictures) and the rest of AMC Pankration gym back in Seattle.
While Hume told Sherdog.com that Sakurai’s condition is 100 percent coming to this event, fans would like to see how Sakurai’s current state of mind is following a questionable decision win against jiu-jitsu and judo prodigy Shinya Aoki (Pictures) in SHOOTO on August 20, and his recent marriage just a couple of days ago.
Facing “Mach” Sakurai in the first round we have Japanese crowd favorite and heavy-hitter Jens Pulver (Pictures). The ex-UFC champion holds a 3-1 record since early 2004 with three brutal knockout victories over the likes of Naoya Uematsu (Pictures), Stephen Palling (Pictures) and Taisho with his only setback coming against Gomi.
The reserve match for the lightweight tournament will be a dispute between Osaka’s crowd favorite Dokonjonosuke Mishima (Pictures) against the always-entertainment Charles “Krazy Horse” Bennett. While these two are not officially included in the lightweight tournament, both Mishima and Bennett will play an important role inside the tournament because just in case any of the fighters gets injured, PRIDE will select the winner of this match as an official replacement.
All these lightweight stars join the group of welterweights previously announced by DSE to determinate who will be the new Bushido champion in this division.
Bracket A
Phil Baroni (Pictures) vs. Ikuhisa Minowa (Pictures)
Masanori Suda (Pictures) vs. Murilo Bustamante (Pictures)
Bracket B
Ryo Chonan (Pictures) vs. Dan Henderson (Pictures)
Akihiro Gono (Pictures) vs. Daniel Acacio (Pictures)
Reserve Fight
Ryuta Sakurai (Pictures) vs. Paulo Filho (Pictures)
Full details about the tournament’s round system and the date of the finals have not officially been released by DSE, but most likely the tournament fights will go the same route as the last PRIDE Middleweight Grand Prix, which featured fights consisting of one 10 minute round and one five minute round.
Fighters in both tournaments will need to win twice on Sept. 25 in order move onto the finals, meaning including the reserve bouts there will be 14 fights on the card. The finals to crown both the Lightweight and Welterweight champion will be held at PRIDE’s festival on December 31.
Lightweight Grand Prix opening round matches:
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Takanori Gomi (Pictures) vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri (Pictures)
Luiz Azeredo (Pictures) vs. Naoyuki Kotani (Pictures)
Bracket B
Hayato Sakurai (Pictures) vs. Jens Pulver (Pictures)
Yves Edwards (Pictures) vs. Joachim Hansen (Pictures)
Reserve Fight
Dokonjonosuke Mishima (Pictures) vs. Charles Bennett (Pictures)
From the lightweight line-up the biggest surprise is the fight between current PRIDE Bushido ace Takanori Gomi (Pictures) and SHOOTO welterweight (154-lb.) champion Tatsuya Kawajiri (Pictures).
While many fans out there will wonder and question who at DSE came with the illogical idea to literally kill Japan’s only hopes of crowning a PRIDE champion by pairing these two in the first round, one also needs to realize this fight would help to determinate and give answer to the eternal debate between who is the No. 1 155-pound fighter in the world.
ZST top gun Naoyuki Kotani (Pictures) is finally making his Bushido debut since he was introduced back in Bushido 7. Kotani brings a 2-4-1 record since early 2004, losing to the likes of Marcus Aurelio (Pictures), Rich Clementi (Pictures), Yves Edwards (Pictures) and Roger Huerta (Pictures). His only two wins in the same period are against Hideo Tokoro (Pictures) and Remigijus Morkevicius. Oddly enough Tokoro and Morkevicius are participants in the other lightweight tournament held on September 7 by PRIDE’s rival company, HERO’s.
Kotani’s opponent in the first round is Chute Boxe wild striker Luiz Azeredo (Pictures), who is coming off a brutal knockout loss at hands of Takanori Gomi (Pictures) back in Bushido 7. Azeredo had made clear the desire to rematch Gomi and avenge his lost. More likely the recent performance by teammate Shogun Rua at PRIDE Middleweight GP would be the extra incentive Azeredo needed in order to fulfill his revenge against the Japanese ace.
On the other side of the tournament a match that will surely catch fans attention is the bout between Texan Yves Edwards (Pictures) and Scandinavian nightmare Joachim Hansen (Pictures).
Edwards returns to Bushido after a successful debut against crowd favorite Dokonjonosuke Mishima (Pictures), winning by surprise armbar in the first round. Hansen, meanwhile, is coming off a tough decision win against Kenichiro Togashi (Pictures) back in SHOOTO on August 20.
This will mark Hansen’s third fight in three months. The biggest question is how will Hansen’s condition be coming into this match against the very tough Edwards.
The other fight in bracket B places SHOOTO legend Hayato “Mach” Sakurai, who is finally fighting in this new weight division after intensive workouts with personal friend Matt Hume (Pictures) and the rest of AMC Pankration gym back in Seattle.
While Hume told Sherdog.com that Sakurai’s condition is 100 percent coming to this event, fans would like to see how Sakurai’s current state of mind is following a questionable decision win against jiu-jitsu and judo prodigy Shinya Aoki (Pictures) in SHOOTO on August 20, and his recent marriage just a couple of days ago.
Facing “Mach” Sakurai in the first round we have Japanese crowd favorite and heavy-hitter Jens Pulver (Pictures). The ex-UFC champion holds a 3-1 record since early 2004 with three brutal knockout victories over the likes of Naoya Uematsu (Pictures), Stephen Palling (Pictures) and Taisho with his only setback coming against Gomi.
The reserve match for the lightweight tournament will be a dispute between Osaka’s crowd favorite Dokonjonosuke Mishima (Pictures) against the always-entertainment Charles “Krazy Horse” Bennett. While these two are not officially included in the lightweight tournament, both Mishima and Bennett will play an important role inside the tournament because just in case any of the fighters gets injured, PRIDE will select the winner of this match as an official replacement.
All these lightweight stars join the group of welterweights previously announced by DSE to determinate who will be the new Bushido champion in this division.
Bracket A
Phil Baroni (Pictures) vs. Ikuhisa Minowa (Pictures)
Masanori Suda (Pictures) vs. Murilo Bustamante (Pictures)
Bracket B
Ryo Chonan (Pictures) vs. Dan Henderson (Pictures)
Akihiro Gono (Pictures) vs. Daniel Acacio (Pictures)
Reserve Fight
Ryuta Sakurai (Pictures) vs. Paulo Filho (Pictures)
Full details about the tournament’s round system and the date of the finals have not officially been released by DSE, but most likely the tournament fights will go the same route as the last PRIDE Middleweight Grand Prix, which featured fights consisting of one 10 minute round and one five minute round.
Fighters in both tournaments will need to win twice on Sept. 25 in order move onto the finals, meaning including the reserve bouts there will be 14 fights on the card. The finals to crown both the Lightweight and Welterweight champion will be held at PRIDE’s festival on December 31.
