The card in reverse order: K-1 World Grand Prix 2001 Champion Mark Hunt vs. former Japanese pro boxer Yousuke Nishijima.
Pride Middleweight GP 2005 Champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua vs. Pride GP 2000 Champion Mark Coleman.
Former Pride Heavyweight Champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Japanese superstar Kiyoshi Tamura in a rematch of their RINGS fight.
Hidehiko Yoshida protégé Kazuhiro Nakamura vs. KOP Open Weight Champion Josh Barnett.
Pride Heavyweight star Sergei Kharitonov vs. Golden Glory fighter Alistair Overeem.
Japanese journeyman Tsuyoshi Kohsaka vs. BTT leader Mario Sperry.
ADCC 2003 Heavyweight Champion Jon Olav Einemo makes his Pride debut vs. BJJ World Champion Fabricio Werdum.
Pride fan favorite Quinton “Rampage” Jackson vs. Korean Judoka Yoon Dong Sik.
Former UFC Heavyweight star Pedro Rizzo vs. Red Devil fighter Roman Zentsov.

Heavyweight Bout: Pedro Rizzo vs. Roman Zentsov

Pedro Rizzo has a 14-6 record in MMA and trains out of Ruas Vale Tudo with Justin Levens. Roman Zentsov has a 10-10 record and trains with the Red Devil Fight Club with Fedor Emelianenko. Rizzo is coming off a very disappointing loss to Pride heavyweight star Sergei Kharitonov at Pride Critical Countdown 2005. Zentsov is coming off an impressive knockout win over former Red Devil teammate Ibragim Magomedov at M-1 MFC: Russia vs. France. Both fighters faltered in their Pride debuts and a loss here for either fighter could signal the end of their run in Pride. This one should be an exciting stand-up war as both fighters are primarily strikers but they both excel in different aspects of striking. Rizzo uses low kicks as his primary weapon and Zentsov likes to throw heavy leather. The winner here makes a strong claim to be included in the Pride Open Weight GP, which takes place later this year.

In his fight against Kharitonov in his Pride debut, Rizzo was totally dominated the entire fight and had no answer for the aggressiveness that Kharitonov showed that night. Rizzo was coming off a long layoff and that probably played a factor into his poor performance. He will be looking to redeem himself and prove that he still has something left in him. Zentsov is praised as being a hard-hitting heavyweight by his Red Devil teammate Fedor Emeilanenko, but he never got a chance to show it in Pride as Fabricio Werdum quickly submitted him with a triangle/armbar combination in his debut. Zentsov recently broke a four fight-losing streak by knocking out teammate Ibragim Magomedov and will be looking to build on this in his return to Pride.

Rizzo should have no trouble in getting a win here as he basically outclasses Zentsov in every category, and he should be in a better mental and physical state going into this fight than he was in his Pride debut. Plain and simple, the only reason that Zentsov ever got a chance to fight in Pride was because he is Fedor’s teammate, and he is only being brought back to give Rizzo a win here. Zentsov might be able to land a couple of shots but expect Rizzo to end it with a brutal knockout.

Prediction: Pedro Rizzo by KO in the first round.

Middleweight Bout: Quinton “Rampage” Jackson vs. Yoon Dong Sik

Quinton “Rampage” Jackson has a 23-6 record in MMA and trains out Team Punishment with Tito Ortiz. Yoon Dong Sik has a 0-2 record and is freelance fighter out of Korea. Jackson is coming off an impressive win over former RINGS fighter Hirotaka Yokoi at Pride 30, while Sik is coming off a disappointing loss to fellow judoka Makoto Takimoto at Pride 30. Jackson is fighting the final fight on his Pride contract and hopes to have an impressive performance in order to get a fair deal on his next one. Sik will be looking to improve on his performance in his last fight, as he showed some decent looking skills in his close decision loss to Takimoto at Pride 30. This fight has quick ending written all over it and it may not be a pretty finish for the fighter on the losing end.

There isn’t very much to say or try to predict about this fight, as it was set-up for one obvious reason; to give Jackson a win and use it as a bargaining tool when contract negotiations begin. It’s obvious that Pride wants to retain Jackson and kill any chance of him ever going to the UFC with DSE giving him Sik as his opponent instead of Nogueira or Kharitonov as it was previously rumored. Jackson looked good in his win over Yokoi as he looked sharp and precise with strikes, which lead to his TKO victory. Sik showed tons of improvements in his fight with Takimoto as he showed that he could finally take a punch and was able to somewhat outwork Takimoto on the ground. Sik doesn’t even have a decent chance to win this fight as the only possible way that he might be able to pull off one of the biggest upsets in MMA history is with a flash submission.

Jackson should be able to end this quick and effectively with either a knockout or a barrage of strikes. Hopefully we will be able to see a crowd pleasing slam in the process as this fight too.

Prediction: Quinton “Rampage” Jackson by TKO in the first round.

Heavyweight Bout: Jon Olav Einemo vs. Fabricio Werdum

Jon Olav Einemo has a 5-0 record in MMA and trains out of Team Scandinavian with Joachim Hansen. Fabricio Werdum has a 6-1-1 and trains out of Team Cro Cop wit Mirko Cro Cop. Einemo is coming off an impressive submission victory over Mindaugas Kulikauskas at Shooto: Wanna Shooto 2003. Werdum is coming off a disappointing decision loss to Sergei Kharitonov at Pride 30. Both fighters are world-class grapplers and hold many grappling titles to their names. This fight has the chance to be the sleeper fight of the night for the stand up fan, as both fighters could put on excellent display of grappling in what should be a grappling fan’s dream come true. This will be a long and drawn out war of attrition with the winner putting himself in contention for a possible shot at the Pride Heavyweight Championship down the road.

Einemo is coming off a string of injuries that have kept him from making his long awaited Pride debut, but is now finally healed up and ready to impress the entire MMA world with his amazing grappling skills. He hasn’t fought in MMA since late 2003 and his last fight was a quick armbar win over an overmatched opponent. I have seen his earlier fights and he has shown some excellent ground control and has great ground and pound to complement his submission skills. Werdum is coming off a tough loss to Kharitonov in his last fight, though he showed that he belonged with Pride’s best heavyweights, as he held his own with Kharitonov. Werdum has shown excellent submission skills in his recent fights and is slowly improving his striking ever since he joined Team Cro Cop.

This is a tough fight to pick as both fighters are evenly matched and are very much alike in the way that they fight. Both Einemo and Werdum have bright futures in Pride but I’m going to have to pick Werdum based on his experience in Pride and the fact that Einemo hasn’t had an MMA fight in over two years.

Prediction: Fabricio Werdum by decision.      

Heavyweight Bout: Tsuyoshi Kohsaka vs. Mario Sperry

Tsuyoshi Kohsaka has an 18-10-1 record in MMA and trains out of A-Square with Yuta Watanabe. Mario Sperry has an 11-3 record and trains out of the Brazilian Top Team with Ricardo Arona. Kohsaka is coming off a disappointing loss to Mike Kyle at Pancrase Spiral 8. Sperry is coming off an impressive win over Hirotaka Yokoi at Pride 29. Both fighters are in the twilight of their careers and a win here could mean a bigger fight or two down the road before they hang up the gloves. This should be an intense grappling oriented fight due to the fact that both fighters have extensive grappling backgrounds.

Kohsaka is coming off a disappointing loss to Mike Kyle in his most recent fight. He looked good off his back with several submission attempts but took tons of punishment in the process including a brutal knee en route to the loss. He got a much-needed win over David Shvelidze with an armbar at a Rings Lithuania show in August. He was totally dominated by Fedor Emelianenko in his Pride debut at Pride Bushido 6. Sperry has fared better in his most recent fights as he outclassed Yokoi in his TKO win at Pride 29 and quickly disposed of Mike Bencic at Pride Bushido 2. Sperry has taken less punishment in his fights then Kohsaka and that could be a huge factor in this one. It all comes down to who is in better shape and is quicker to pull the trigger when it comes to pushing the pace of the fight. Sperry is coming off a one-year layoff but has been training year round at BTT and should be in excellent shape for this fight. Kohsaka is an excellent fighter but I believe that his best years are behind him and all the punishment that he has taken over the years has taken its toll on him, both physically and mentally.

I don’t expect Sperry to be able to finish Kohsaka but he should be able to outwork him the entire fight and win a decision, in what should be an entertaining fight to watch.

Prediction: Mario Sperry by decision.     

Open Weight Bout: Sergei Kharitonov vs. Alistair Overeem

Pride Heavyweight star Sergei Kharitonov takes on Golden Glory fighter Alistair Overeem. Sergei Kharitonov has a 13-1 record in MMA and trains out of the Russian Top Team with Bazigit "Volk" Atajev. Alistair Overeem has a 21-6 record in MMA and trains out of Team Golden Glory with Fatih Kocamis. Kharitonov is coming off an unimpressive win over Fabricio Werdum at Pride 30. Overeem is coming off a disappointing loss to Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at Pride Final Conflict 2005. Both fighters love to throw the leather and the winner of this fight should build some good momentum entering the Pride Open Weight GP. Overeem will be moving up in weight to take on Kharitonov and should give an excellent effort in this fight. This fight has slugfest written all over it and it should be a strong candidate for fight of the night.

Kharitonov is coming off a poor performance in his last fight with Werdum at Pride 30. He didn’t have the same aggressiveness that he has displayed in the past and also didn’t have the cardio we are used to seeing from him. It is reported that Kharitonov had a shoulder injury entering the fight and that is the reason that he was very conservative in his fight with Werdum. Kharitonov looks to redeem himself and give an impressive performance. Overeem is coming off a good year after making it to the semi-finals of the Pride Middleweight GP and losing to eventual champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. It was a high paced fight with Overeem looking good early and almost submitting Shogun with a guillotine choke but he gassed out and Shogun took over the fight, eventually winning by TKO. Overeem moves up in weight and hopes to have better cardio now that he doesn’t have to cut a large amount of weight to make the middleweight limit. This should be an exciting fight while it last and it’s going to be pure fireworks from start to finish. Kharitonov is just better then Overeem and should be able to get the win here because of his superior skills and because he is a natural heavyweight. Kharitonov should be able to win this one late in the fight with strikes.

Prediction: Sergei Kharitonov by TKO in the third round.

Open Weight Bout: Kazuhiro Nakamura vs. Josh Barnett

Kazuhiro Nakamura has an 8-4 record in MMA and trains out of the Yoshida Dojo with Hidehiko Yoshida. Josh Barnett has a 15-3 record and trains out of AMC Pankration with Matt Hume. Nakamura is coming of an impressive decision win over Yuki Kondo at Pride Shockwave 2005, while Barnett is coming off a disappointing loss to Mirko Cro Cop at Pride 30. Both fighters are looking to get a win here in order to gain entry into the Pride Open Weight GP later this year. Barnett was contemplating retirement after his loss to Mirko Cro Cop as he thought that he had a horrible fight and wasn’t the same fighter that he once was. Nakamura is coming off a very good 2005 as he went 4-1 with his only loss coming to Pride Middleweight Champion Wanderlei Silva. This should be an interesting fight considering that Barnett outweighs Nakamura by at least 20kg going into this fight.

Barnett did not look that great in his fight with Cro Cop, as he was really unable to do any serious damage even though he talked a lot of smack before it. Barnett has already stated that he is now fully healthy and has lost some of the extra weight that he had. Nakamura has looked good in his past couple of fights and it looks like his training in Brazil with Pedro Rizzo is starting to show its rewards. His striking looked good against Kondo, as he was able to hurt Kondo on several occasions during the fight. Nakamura has already stated that the weight difference shouldn’t be an issue because he is used to fighting bigger guys then him because of his Judo background. I am personally looking forward to this fight because I think even with all the odds against him; Nakamura has the best chance of any of the fighters this event to pull off the upset because of the natural talent that he has. Barnett has fought smaller guys like him and has had some trouble with them like in his fight with Yuki Kondo. Kondo gave him a hell of fight and it took Josh almost the whole three rounds to put him away with a sloppy choke.

I think that Nakamura will be able to outwork Barnett on the ground and should be able to take Barnett’s strikes without getting rocked too bad.

Prediction: Kazuhiro Nakamura by decision.

Open Weight Bout: Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Kiyoshi Tamura

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira has a 25-3-1 record in MMA and trains out of the Brazilian Top Team with Murilo Bustamante. Kiyoshi Tamura has a 13-8 record and trains out of the U-File Camp with Daisuke Nakamura.  Nogueira is coming off an impressive stoppage win over Pawel Nastula at Pride Critical Countdown 2005. Tamura is coming off an easy decision win over Makoto Takimoto at Pride Critical Countdown 2005. Both fighters are coming off short layoffs and will be looking to get an impressive win here. Nogueira is kind of in limbo due to the fact that it seems that he can’t beat Fedor Emelianenko, who happens to be the Pride Heavyweight Champion. Tamura has recently again killed any chances of him fighting Kazushi Sakuraba anytime soon by not agreeing to the terms offered. Expect this fight to be straight to the point and a bit entertaining for most fans.

Nogueira looked decent in his only MMA fight of 2005, in a convincing win over Olympic Judo gold medalist Pawel Nastula. Nogueira had a couple of shaky moments to start the fight but his experience and skill took over late, overwhelming Nastula and stopping him with strikes late in the first round. Nogueira was slated to fight on New Year’s Eve but due to injuries to some potential opponents, he was unable to participate and moved to fight on this card instead. Tamura is coming off an easy win over Makoto Takimoto, in a fight where it looked like he was playing around with Takimoto for most of it. Tamura used his experience to outwork the novice fighter en route to a decision win. Tamura still refuses for some reason to take a fight against his rival Kazushi Sakuraba, having turned it down again late last year. In some ways this fight serves two purposes; to give Nogueira a warm-up fight before the Pride Open Weight GP and to punish Tamura for again refusing to fight Sakuraba and killing Pride’s plan of setting up the big money fight between two ultra popular Japanese fighters.

Nogueira might take a while to get going but should take over midway through the first round and end the fight very much the same way that their prior fight ended, which was with a submission.

Prediction: Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira by submission in the first round.

Open Weight Bout: Mauricio “Shogun” Rua vs. Mark Coleman

Mauricio “Shogun” Rua has a 12-1 record in MMA and trains out of the Chute Boxe Academy with Wanderlei Silva. Mark Coleman has a 14-7 record and trains out of the Hammer House with Kevin Randleman. Shogun is coming off an impressive year, culminating with his win over Ricardo Arona at Pride Final Conflict 2005 to become the Pride Middleweight GP 2005 Champion. Coleman is coming off a relatively easy submission win over the mostly unknown Milco Voorn at Bushido Europe. For the first time in Pride history, two Pride GP Champions will meet in the ring to prove who the best of the best is. Shogun will be moving up in weight to fight Coleman and will use this fight as an evaluation to see whether he will make the permanent move up to heavyweight. Coleman is in the twilight of his career and will be looking for one last shining moment that will lead to a few more big name fights before he finally hangs up his gloves for good.

Shogun is coming off the best year that any fighter has ever had in MMA history by winning the Pride Middleweight GP 2005. He defeated Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Alistair Overeem and Ricardo Arona all of who are arguably top ten fighters in the Middleweight division. He looked very impressive in knocking out Arona, who has never been handled in that way before even by Wanderlei Silva or Fedor Emelianenko. Shogun will be looking to continue his hot streak this year and hopefully challenge for a title sometime this year whether it be for the Pride Middleweight Championship or the Pride Heavyweight Championship. Coleman is looking really good in training for this fight and looks to be in the best shape he has ever been in the last couple of years. Coleman doesn’t have too many fights left in him. He got a much needed win in his last fight and will be looking to use the momentum from that win to give a solid performance in this fight. Coleman’s best chance at beating Shogun will be to get an early takedown and be active with the ground and pound in order to keep the fight on the ground. It’s going to be tough to keep Shogun on the ground as he has shown in past fights that he can easily work off his back and get back to his feet.

Coleman will find some success early in the fight but I eventually see Shogun being able to get back on his feet and to do what he does best, which is land strikes and get the knockout.

Prediction: Mauricio “Shogun” Rua by KO in the first round.

 
Heavyweight Bout: Mark Hunt vs. Yousuke Nishijima

Mark Hunt has a 3-1 record in MMA and trains out of Liverpool Kickboxing in New Zealand. Yousuke Nishijima will be making his MMA debut in Pride and is a freelance fighter from Japan working out of Takada-Dojo currently. Hunt is coming off the biggest win of his career at Pride Shockwave 2005 when he won a decision over Mirko Cro Cop. Nishijima hasn’t seen action in the ring since 2003, when he still was a pro boxer. Hunt will be looking to build up momentum after his win over Cro Cop with a decisive victory over the debuting Nishijima. Nishijima has been training for the last year in anticipation for his MMA debut; places that he has trained include Takada Dojo with Kazushi Sakuraba, Golden Glory with Alistair Overeem and he spent some time last summer training with Croc Cop. Both fighters are strikers and this one should be a short and exciting slugfest, ending with a highlight reel knockout.

Hunt’s victory of Mirko was his first MMA fight since he defeated Wanderlei Silva a year prior at Pride Shockwave 2004, in what was another impressive performance by the kickboxing champion. There were rumors earlier in the year that Hunt and DSE had a falling out about how much money he should earn for fighting but those rumors now seem to be all but gone now. Hunt has been working hard on his ground game in the past couple of months as he looks to make himself a more complete MMA fighter. Nishijima will be making his debut on the biggest stage in MMA and in the main event against a fan favorite, if I were him I might be a wee bit nervous going into this fight. Nishijima is a former world champion in boxing in the Cruiserweight division as he was the WBO Cruiserweight Champion for a short period of time. It seems like Nishijima is taking his MMA debut more seriously them most believe he would have since he has been training in preparation for the last year at various different places.

Hunt should be able to win this fight based on experience and because he is basically impossible to knockout and that is where Nishijima has his only real chance of winning. Nishijima should be able to impress everyone and give a solid performance in a losing effort to Pride’s next star in Mark Hunt.

Prediction: Mark Hunt by KO in the first round