Customer Reviews

Pride Fighting Championships: Bushido, Vol. 7

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

 

 

The once great empire that was PRIDE Fighting Championships produced some of the best fight cards a fan could ever dream of. Internal problems crippled the organization and it has fallen and it's best fighters are headed for the UFC. Make no mistake, however, when PRIDE FC reigned there was NO ONE that could even come close to competing and it was events like this that that define the greatness of PRIDE. The Bushido series was originally developed as a way to showcase the up and coming talent of PRIDE FC. Translation: PRIDE had so much talent that they couldn't fit them on their once a month MegaCards so they created Bushido as a cheaper alternative to produce excellent fight cards, but not the superbowl MMA cards that PRIDE was becoming known for. Well little did they know that the Bushido series would become a fan favorite and go on to showcase the lighter weight classes of PRIDE fighting championships and STILL produce Superbowl-esque type fight cards. Do you get the point on how much PRIDE FC ruled? Anyways, Bushido 7 was suppose to mark the official turning point for the series and became the first of many legendary Bushido shows. Before I go on to a fight by fight review let me say this. Bushido 7 has everything a fight fan could dream of. High flying kicks, exciting knockouts, fast paced fights, slick submissions, ground fighting, stand up and everything in between. My personal favorite is the legendary Bushido 9, which if you're reading this and haven't bought there is clearly something wrong with your brain function. Bushido 7 is a close second. Secondly many of the fights are short and action packed and are perfect for those with short attention spans who just like to see blood and mayhem . Bushido 7 also has a couple of wars and strategic fights that are mixed in nicely with the all the action that can get the average fan more accustomed to the intellectual side of MMA. In short, it is a perfect DVD for hardcore MMA fans and newcomers alike. At the low price it's being advertised for you can't go wrong. [...].

Charles "Krazy Horse" Bennett vs. Yoshiro Maeda (8/10) - This is the opening fight that sets the tone for the whole event. Fast paced action, striking that ends with a brutal KO. Bennett is a fighter who is famous for his showmanships and in ring antics. However he has showed suprising athleticism and heavy hands which he uses with lethal efficiency in this brief battle.

Jens "Little Evil" Pulver vs. "Taisho" (8/10) - All of the old school UFC fans know who Jens Pulver is. The former Lightweight king with lightning fast hands tries to get back in the winner circle after a loss to Takanori Gomi which was a classic war. Not really sure who Taisho is but he has some cool tatoos. It doesn't matter. Jens shows that he's still got some hurtin bombs in another short, brutal fight. Oh yes, the average fans are loving this. No ground work and short, brutal fights. It only gets better.

Yves Edwards vs. Dokonjonusuke Mishima (8.5/10) - the first fight on the card that showcases two stars going head to head. Yves was consdiered to be the best UFC Lightweight at the time and was headed to PRIDE to test his skills. His first test would be the aging but still game Mishima. This one showcases the other side of MMA, the ground game. However it's fast paced and exciting and ends in a beautiful submission that even the hardest critique has to appreciate.

Aaron Riley vs. Michihiro Omigawa (8.5/10) - The action keeps coming and the fists and feet keep flying. Aaron Riley is an ATT fighter who is really young and already showcases some exception well rounded skills. It is clear that he is hear to put on a show as he faces the overmatched, but tough Judoka Omigawa. More striking that ends in a head kick KO. How can you not love the high kick knockouts!?

Hayato "Mach" Sakurai vs. Milton Viera (8/10) - The legend himself, Hayato Sakurai, one of the most exciting fighters ever is determined to come out of his recent(at the time) slump. He's dropped down to 160lbs and is ready to be back, better than ever. In his way is Milton Viera a man we've often seen cornering some of the great Brazilian Top Team fighters. Viera, whose ground game is exceptional, finally gets a chance to show his stuff. Unfortunately for him he is overmatched against the legendary well roundedness of Sakurai. This one is a very strategic and interesting ground match as Sakurai is forced to not play around and just take care of business against a very dangerous opponent.

Akihiro Gono vs. Crosely Gracie (8/10) - This one is another strategic match. However this one has some very exciting striking and just like with Sakurai and Viera we see two really good fighters engage in the MMA chess match. Gono has shown VAST improvement since Mauricio Rua used him as a punching bag in Bushido 2 and Gracie shocked everyone when he submitted "Mach" Sakurai the previous year. These two would meet and a very closely contested fight would ensure. Great fight and it's good too have two strategic matches in between all the action to show the new fans that there's more to MMA than just wild fights and knockouts. Sakurai/Viera was all ground and this one is mostly stand up.

Tatsuya "The Crusher" Kawajiri vs. In Seok Kim (8/10) - Tatsuya Kawajiri the current Shooto champion of his weight class has finally come to PRIDE amidst a world of hype. Kawajiri is a very powerful and well rounded fighter with great grappling skills. The fans are itching to see him go to work and he makes a bloody mess of his Korean opponent in this short, brutal fight. This one is pretty one-sided, but it's cool that we see another lightweight force has arrived in PRIDE to challenge for the title. The Japanese love Kawajiri so this is a great fight for them.

Ryo Chonan vs. Antonio "Elvis" Schembri (6/10) - Ryo Chonan catapulted himself to superstardom after an unbelievable submission win over Anderson Silva at Shockwave 2004. Ever since then, fans had been dying to see him in action and Schembri, the man famous for his miraculous come from behind victory of Sakuraba, would be a perfect test. Unfortunetaly this one is the dud of the night. Schembri had always been more of a Jiu-Jitsu purist and even though training with Chute Boxe acadamy has improved his stand up, he wants little to do with Chonan on his feet. While this fight isn't that bad, it's clearly the slowest one of the night and Schembri get's some tough breaks as he is punished heavily for stalling on the ground. Not the best fight, but it's a win over a quality opponent for Chonan.

Phil Baroni vs. Ikuhisa Minowa (9/10) - The co main event. New York trash talker and perfect pro-wrestling villain Phil Baroni has come to PRIDE after an embarassing streak of losses in the UFC. Baroni is famous for his trash talking but has shown some promising skills in MMA. He has devasting punches and great wrestling skills and is determined not only to resurrect his career but put on a good show in PRIDE. He is going up against the new Japanese hero, Ikuhisa Minowa. Minowa is a former pro wrestler himself who is famous for his showmanship, but has also shown promising skills as a good wrestler with good submissions. When these two meet we get an instant classic. The first round is a shockingly competative back and forth ground fight that really showcases the wrestling ability of both fighters. They are exhausted after the first round and decide to finish things off in style in the second. By that I mean they literally decide to beat the crap out of each other in an all out slugfest. Fight fans will love the second round as it is a Rocky movie come to life. Great fight, but the best is yet to come.

Takanori Gomi vs. Luis Azeredo (10/10) - The main event of the evening featured Bushido ace Takanori Gomi going up against Chute Boxe fighter Luis Azeredo. Gomi was the Japanese number one star and was already a marked man with fighters like Yves Edwards, Tatsuya Kawajiri, and Azeredo among others all chasing him. Azeredo would be his first true test and we would get a short, but unbeleivable classic between two awesome figthers. Folks this one is straight out of a Martial Arts movie. Azeredo comes out flying at Gomi with jumping high kicks and punches straight out of an 80s classic. Gomi is clearly caught off guard as Azeredo's flashy style is not just for the crowd, it is there for the win. Eventually Gomi gather's himself and lands one of the cleanest one-two punch KOs I've ever seen. What follows was almost as unbelievable as the match itself! Gomi loses his temper and continues to pound Azeredo after the match has been stopped and a brawl nearly insues. Gomi apologizes but Chute Boxe master Rudrimar Fedrigo and company are clearly upset. This would set up a classic Martial Arts rivalry between Gomi and Chute Boxe that would culminate in the classic rematch between Gomi and Azeredo in the semi-finals of the Bushido 9 tournament, but that kids, is another story.

[...].

Though the card is filled with people making their Pride debut, it is also filled with many names a MMA fan is well aware of from Gomi, Edwards, Baroni and Pulver. The card starts off with a bang and the first 4 fights end in dramatic fashion, there is a little lull in the middle three fights. They aren't bad, but much more technical. The last 2 fights are barn burners and worth the price of the dvd. I wish Pride would put these out a little faster, they have already held Bushido 13 back in November of last year, so they really need to put these out a little sooner. Worth buying.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. This is a commonplace in the United States, but maybe they don't have it in Japan. Certainly I would argue there was very little broke about Pride, which I considered the best of any of the mixed martial arts organizations which have come around in the last two decades. The amazing spectacle of the shows, the huge stadium audiences, the international nature of the talent, the less restrictive rules, and the long rounds all contributed to make excellent fights and great spectacle. And yet "don't fix it" was ignored by Pride brass when they came up with the idea for the BUSHIDO series. These were Pride fights with special rules designed to make for even more exciting contests between the contestants: the fights were shorter to create a greater sense of urgency, and the penalities for stalling or lack of aggression stiffer. It could be argued this fine-tuning of an already good product wasn't necessary, and there were certainly instances where it didn't work, but by and large BUSHIDO was an idea that yielded satisfying - and sometimes great - results.

PRIDE BUSHIDO 7 is by no means the best of this long-running series, but it is a very respectable entry all the same. Concentrating mainly on the lighter weight classes, it features several Pride staples, such as Takanori Gomi, Ryo Chonan, Punk Minowa, Akihiro Gono, Mach Sakurai, and Charles Bennett; also the entertaining Phil Baroni, young phenom Aaron Riley and UFC transplants Yves Edwards and Jens "Li'l Evil" Pulver. The main drawback is a few fights which underachieve in various different ways - dull performances, arguably premature stoppages, etc. - but by and large it's a good card. The best fights feature:

Phil Baroni vs. Ikuhisa "the Punk" Minowa. Talk about a crossroads battle. Trash-talking New Yawker Baroni was coming off a long bad run in the UFC and desperate to notch a win in his Pride debut; the always-entertaining Punk was on an impressive win streak and determined to crush Baroni for his disrespect. This was a good fight that became a highlight-reel slugfest in the second frame. Both fighters make an argument that you don't have to have a great record to be greatly entertaining: I'd rather see either of these two battle than many undefeated or once-defeated "stars" in the UFC today.

Takanori "the Fireball Kid" Gomi vs. Luiz Azeredo. Whatever "it" is - charisma, magnetism, command presence - Gomi has it. With his iron chin and vicious punching power, which I'm convinced comes partially from his baseball-playing, fastball-throwing days, the Kid is always a pleasure to watch. Azeredo, on the other hand, is a Chute Boxe academy monster with punishing fists who throws flying knees like it's going out of style. A classic slugger-vs-slugger matchup with a brutal finish and an in-the-ring scuffle afterwards.

Hayato "Mach" Sakurai vs. Milton Vierea. Sakurai is a well-rounded fighter with an assassin's calm in the ring. Vierea is a so-good-it's-sick Luta Libre (no gi ju-jitsu) black belt. Technical fights with lots of grappling are often boring, but this one is proof they don't have to be.

Akihiro Gono vs. Crosley Gracie. Anytime a Japanese fights a Gracie, a lot is on the line. The Japanese consider defeating a Gracie to be an accomplishment on par with winning a title; the Gracies are emotionally invested in showing the Japanese that their take on ju-jitsu is invincible. Gono came into this match as patient as a bear-trap; Gracie looked determined to attack, attack, and attack some more. Scoring the rounds of this fight was a cast-iron b*tch.

Like I said above, BUSHIDO 7 is not the best show ever put on by Pride or even by the Bushido series. It features "Krazy Horse" Bennett, an idiot who, while entertaining, does his best to give MMA fighters a bad name (for anyone interested in seeing him humiliated in a fight backstage with a Chute Boxe guy at Pride Shockwave 2005, go to [...]); it also has some dud fights. But overall it's entertaining and delivers the goods.

this bushido has some great knockouts,bushido vol 7 is a must buy for all mma fans.
bushido 7 features the co-main event fight between phil baroni vs the punk minowa and the main event between takanori gomi vs luiz azeredo.

best fights
1)phil baroni vs the punk minowa 2)akinoro gono vs crosley gracie 3)takanori gomi vs luis azeredo 4)aaron riley vs omigawa

Bushido 7 is the show where Gomi loses it against Alzeredo. Phil Braoni makes his Pride Debut against Minowa (a great fight). Hayato Mach Sakurai makes his lightweight Pride debut. Gono fight Crosley Gracie. Plus much more. I was told that this may have been the best of the Bushidos other than Bushido: The Tournament, and I think it's the best of the first 7.

BTW: Did I mention it that Gomi loses it against Alzeredo (but doesn't lose the match)?

5 stars

Gomi and Baroni just rock the house in this show. Some great fights. Definately a good show and worth the dough.