Customer Reviews

Pride FC - Fighting Championships: Grand Prix Finals

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The beginning of the new millenium saw the rise and take over of Pride(DSE) as the premiere Mixed Martial Arts organization. Because of the popularity of the sport and no interference from politicians, Pride brought in only top-billed fighters from all around the world. With the millenium, Pride kicked things off with a 16-man tournament that would take place over 2 different shows. The first round would take in a January show (GP-Opening Round), while the remainder of the tourney would take place in one night. One night to decide the Grand Prix Champion!

The Grand Prix finals had many intriguing what ifs and strange wrinkles. Who would win the possible match up between Mark Coleman and Mark Kerr, who are both excellent wrestlers and good friends. How would Ken Shamrock fair in his fight against Alexander Otsuka? Shamrock did the WWF thing, and was back to prove to many and himself he still had the goods to excel in MMA. But the most intriguing story of the night was the Royce Gracie/Kazushi Sakuraba fight. Gracie and Pride agreed that all his fights that evening were to be with unlimited rounds and can only be stopped by the fighter or his corner. Really it was a throwback to Gracie's UFC days, where there were almost no rules involved. How long would Gracie and Sakuraba fight? Will Royce ever tap or give up? These were burning questions that were answered.

Other than the tournamnet, two exhibition fights took place. Guy Metzger would fight Masaaski Satake and Ken Shamrock would battle Alexander Otsuka. The Satake/Metzger fight would be dull, but the Shamrock/Otsuka fight would result in a KO.

As far as the main card, Gary Goodridge and Igor Vovchanchyn kicked things off in a rock em' sock em' all out slugfest. The pace of the fight would only result in a KO. The winner of this fight would face the winner of the Gracie/Sakuraba fight. That eventual winner would have to wait almost 3 hours for their next fight.

Fight #2 was the long awaited Sakuraba-Gracie Fight. Sakuraba had established himself as a hero in the eyes of his fans in Japan and all over the world. His exciting fighting style coupled with his victory over Royler Gracie had earned him the nickname "Gracie Hunter". Royce Gracie was back in the ring after a 5- year layoff. When he left the MMA scene, he was arguably the best fighter in the world. At 178 pounds he was neither the strongest or most intimidating fighter. At his heyday he used 100% jiu-jitsu to dispose of good, but not great fighters. So the stage was set for the new generation: Sakuraba versus the old-school legend: Gracie. With the special rules, the fight itself was a classic war. A war that lasted 6 complete rounds which equaled to an astounding 1 hour and 30 minutes! While slow at times, the fight I believe became the most important fight in MMA history. They will continue to talk about this one forever!

After the long wait, Mark Coleman was anxious to fight the sturdy Akira Shoji. While there was a clear winner, the loser of the fight showed a lot of heart.

Fight # 4 was between Mark Kerr and Kazuyuki Fujita. Kerr along with Vovchanchyn were considered by many experts as the favorites to win the tournament. The fight was lopsided and left many gamblers angry.

The event was incredible, the eventual winner of the tournament was exhausted and well deserving. On a side note, the commentators were not bad at all. I think we (MMA fans) are use to certain UFC announcers. While not being "professional", Stephen Quadros along with Maurice Smith and Bas Rutten certainly did a good job. I especially enjoyed their commentary in the Gracie/Sakuraba fight, staying clear of annoying and predictable cliches.

This is the center piece of my MMA collection.

Pride grand prix took place in early 2000 and contained 16 of the best mixed martial arts/No hold's barred fighters in the world. No weight divisions, very few rules. Fighters like: Kazushi Sakuraba, Royce Grace, Igor Vovchanchyn, Mark Kerr, Mark Coleman, Gary Goordidge, Ricco rodriguez along with 9 others... It took place on 2 seperate nights, the opening rounds, and the final rounds. One fight between royce gracie and Sakuraba is 90 minutes in length. In all other versions this fight is edited. Great fights and a great event for any fight fan.

Pride is "THE" best MMA event in the world. Great fighters from seasoned pros like Royce Gracie and Ken Shamrock to some new talent from the orient like Sakuraba and Fujita. The Pride strongest selling point is the variety of the fights Kickboxers,Pro-wrestlers and of course Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. The DVD is superbly packaged and produced with commentary from UFC and Pancrase veteran "Bas Rutten" and UFC's Maurice Smith. The bouts are breathtaking Sakuraba vs Gracie "90 mins unedited" , Mark Coleman back to his best and Mark Kerr all feature on this disc. If you like UFC,KOTC and the like you will love this, BUY IT NOW!!! Pride has indeed set the new standard for MMA events UFC & Co take note this is the future . Hopefully Pride can persuade Rickson Gracie to return to avenge the Gracie name and maybe Frank Shamrock and Tito Ortiz will come and test themselves against the best..

the gracie-sakuraba match started off unremarkably and progressively upped the wow factor--one of my favorite battles ever. although some of the other matches were more explosive, they were a bit lop-sided with respect to combatants' skill and/or size; then again, that's part of the package in MMA competition. enough has been said below about the fights, so i'll go on to discuss some of the other aspects of this collection of fights.

the camera did a pretty competent job of capturing the action, but there were a few times when whoever was selecting camera views chose to focus on extraneous things (such as zooming in on audience members) when they should have kept their eye on the action. overall, though, the camera-work was a slight notch better than the UFC's--the UFC allowed the ref to block camera views enough times to be noticed (and views didn't change quickly enough in these situations), and zooming in through the octagon's chain-linked fence made the picture slightly less clean.

the commentary was for the most part focused on the matches, but again, the few lapses are noticeable. there was some, how should i put it, adoelscent banter during the gracie-sakuraba match, and commentators shouldn't allow their attention to wane that way; they were also confused about some of the rules, and such a lack of preparation is unprofessional. also, it seemed some of the commentators were a bit distant from their microphones on a number of occasions, and it was difficult to hear some of their more valid discussions.

prior to the fights, a compact presentation of background information (other than what's in the package insert) on the fighters would have been helpful. while not asking that the pride fc imitate the UFC, i would like to see something like UFC's tale of the tape, which i find helpful (though not always accurate).

i like that the japanese audience was much less boorish than their american counterparts. they got audibly excited when battles became heated, but they never seemed to degenerate into rudeness. i don't miss the UFC's audience's frequent descents into unthinking chants of "USA, USA, USA," especially because they often mistook minority americans as foreigners (then again, the UFC intentionally played up nationality factors, even though most of the participants were residents or citizens of the united states). MMA is an international thing, and the audiences that remember that make the viewing more tolerable.

Pride is putting out a special edition of this and the Finals in one big 4 or 5 disc set at the end of September. Don't pay the rip off artists on the marketplace $100+ for a used disc. This is a great event, but not worth pay two hundred to get them both.

Pride is the best Mixed Martial Arts promotion in the world. This DVD shows one of their most famous shows.

In the Grand Prix Tournament Finals are UFC 1,2, & 4 Tournament winner Royce Gracie, UFC Japan Tournament winner and Pride veteran Kazushi Sakuraba, UFC 8 finalist and IVC 1 Tournament winner "Big Daddy" Gary Goodridge, IFC Kiev Tournament winner and WVC 5 Tournament winner "The Lethal Weapon of the North" Igor Vovchanchyn, WVC 3 Tournament winner, UFC 14 & 15 Heavyweight tournament winner Mark Kerr, Lumax Cup veteran and Pride veteran Akira Shoji, Pride veteran Kazuyuki Fujita and UFC 10 & 11 tournament winner & former UFC Heavyweight champion Mark "The Hammer" Coleman.

In the first match of the Quarter Finals is between Royce Gracie and Kazushi Sakuraba. Gracie has beaten Dan Severn, Ken Shamrock and Pat Smith. Sakuraba has beaten Vernon "Tiger" White, Carlos Newton, Vitor Belfort, Ebenezer Fontes Braga, and Royce's brother Royler Gracie. This is under Royce's special rules with endless rounds. This is a great fight and deserves it's legendary status.

In the second match of the quarter finals is between Gary Goodridge and Igor Vovchanchyn. This a rematch from Pride 4 which Vovchanchyn won. Vovchanchyn has beaten Nick Nutter, Paul Varelans, Akira Shoji, Carlos Barreto and Alexander Otsuka. Goodridge has beaten Oleg Taktarov and Amir. Another good fight better than their first fight.

In the third match of the quarter finals is between Mark Coleman and Akira Shoji. Coleman has beaten Don Frye, Dan Severn and Ricardo Morisa. Shoji has beaten Guy Megzer and Ebenezer Fontes Braga. Another good fight.

In the last match of the quarter finals is between Mark Kerr and Kazuyuki Fujita. Kerr has beaten Paul Varelans, Fabio Gurgel, Daniel Bobish, Hugo Duarte, Perdo Otavio and Enson Inoue. Fujita has beaten Hans Nyman. This has one of the biggest upset of all time.

There are two special matches on the show. The first one is between Guy Megzer and Masaki Satake. Which is a boring match. The second is between Ken Shamrock and Alexander Otsuka which was good.

The semi finals and finals are good with the a exception of one match.

I highly recommand this.

Wondering where ROYCE GRACIE, MARK COLEMAN, FRANK SHAMROCK, VITOR BELFORT, GARY GOODRIDGE, MARK KERR ,VANDERLEI SILVA and BAS RUTTEN went to??? You'll find them all dishing out the beatings at PRIDE FC in Japan. The audience is so knowledgeable about their martial arts that the fighters are always going hard for the victory. You'll notice alot more skill in the matches too because Submissions gain more respect from the audience than knockouts. Thats not to say there are knockouts...if you need a modern day Tank Abbot fix then buy this and meet the Ukranian KO puncher called IGOR VOVCHANCHIN. The guy could punch a hole in a nuclear sub. To finally get to see KAZUSHI SAKURABA fighting for real is a lesson in finding what works in a fight...even if it hasn't been invented yet. The guy pulls off moves that no-one has ever thought of doing before...how do you defend against that? He proved he's got balls the size of Mt Fuji in this tournament. The promotors of the event have got it sooooo right, especially the entrances of the fighters...mind you I do kinda miss the cage that UFC and KOTC use. 2 DVD's choc full of action is good value though! This isn't the best PRIDE but it is better then 90% of all the other NHB titles for sale. I was a solid UFC fan all the way until I saw this...now I'm a fan of both.

I just got mine and I must say, it's even better than what I first thought! The 2-disc package is great, with a nice booklet showcasing the fighters. And this is no small event, this is the PRIDE FC, with some of the greatest fighters in the world. The Sakuraba-Royce battle, which lasts 1 and a half hour is splendid, with slow times at moments but constantly intriguing and it will keep you on the edge of your seat. Vovchanchin's matches are great, Ken Shamrock makes his return to MMA and all the other fights are interesting. The only deception I got is the lack of submission endings, but there are some great knockouts and some awesome techniques... Oh and only to see Saku, it's worth every penny!! You absolutely need this one if you're a fan of MMA!!

If you consider yourself an MMA fan, buy this right away! This is without a doubt the biggest Mixed Martial Arts event in history! Royce Gracie, Kazushi Sakuraba, Igor Vovchanchin, Mark Coleman, Gary Goodridge, Kazuyuki Fujita, and Akira Shoji...the biggest names in the industry competing in one 8-man tournament!...plus Ken Shamrock's return to NHB competition! Forget everything else...pick this up right now!

I can not wait to get this DVD. I've seen the list of fighter's for this DVD and the list is awesome. All the big names are fighting in this tournament. The Pride Fighting Championships are 100 times better than the UFC promotions.

Pride Fighting Championships are probably the best tournaments around. I have seen Pride 10 and that was a great tournament and I know that Pride Grand Prix is also going to be great!

This is a must buy for all fight fans.