Pride Fight

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Op vrijdag 24 februari 2006 12:47 schreef Noener het volgende:
Beetje oneerlijk kwa gewicht. Maar dat doen ze wel meer bij Pride. Vind ik wel jammer eigenlijk. Gewichtsklassen zijn er niet voor niks. Net zoals Hunt tegen Silva een tijdje geleden. Dat had van mij ook niet gehoeven.
Maar mocht het ooit gebeuren dan Fedor bij Ground & pound.

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TOKYO, Feb. 26 — After a string of unbelievable shows, PRIDE 31 didn’t seem like the strongest offering that DSE has ever put forth. On paper, this show appeared a little lackluster. But Sunday evening at the Saitama Super Arena this event really delivered the goods.

Perhaps the most anticipated match-up of the evening was the bout between Chute Boxe fighter Mauricio Rua (Pictures) and Mark Coleman (Pictures).

“Shogun” Rua had an incredible 2005, going through Quinton Jackson (Pictures), Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (Pictures), Alistair Overeem (Pictures) and Ricardo Arona (Pictures) to take the PRIDE Middleweight Grand Prix title.

After losses to Fedor Emelianenko (Pictures) and Mirko Filipovic (Pictures) in PRIDE, Coleman entered this fight on the strength of a victory at Bushido Europe last October.

The stakes were high, with the winner of the bout gaining a berth into the upcoming PRIDE Open Weight Grand Prix. Moving up a weight class, “Shogun” was actually heavier than his American counterpart, tipping the scales at 227 pounds, whereas Coleman came in at 224.

After avoiding a big kick from “Shogun” right off the opening bell, Coleman charged into a clinch and managed to quickly get around to Rua’s back, only to see the Chute Boxe fighter roll and offer a solid triangle attempt. From here Coleman picked up the young Brazilian a la “Rampage” Jackson — though not as dramatically — and slammed him to the mat to escape the technique.

Upon losing the triangle, Rua grabbed on to Coleman’s leg, searching for a kneebar before transitioning to a toehold. “The Hammer” fended off the technique, getting to his feet and taking “Shogun” down just as the Chute Boxe fighter was off-balance.

On his way down, Rua twisted to face the mat and landed hard on his right arm. Upon impact, the Brazilian fighter’s elbow contorted a strange angle. Instantly seeing that something was wrong with Rua’s arm, the referee came charging in, pushing Coleman off the top of Shogun and calling an end to the fight at the 49-second mark.

This is where things reach a boiling point.

With the referee still holding Coleman, Chute Boxe members come charging to the ring to protect their teammate. In the flash of an eye, amongst the hordes of managers, trainers, PRIDE officials, judges, referees and security people all in the ring trying to separate everyone, Wanderlei Silva (Pictures) charged into the ring and went after Coleman. Then in the next instant, Coleman training partner Phil Baroni (Pictures) went after Silva.

As this chaotic scene unfolded, doctors attended to “Shogun” as he screamed in pain. The injury looked horrific on the reply — his right arm bent at a disturbingly unnatural angle at his elbow.

Rua left the ring under his own power and was immediately taken to hospital. At the time of this writing the extent of the Chute Boxe fighter’s injury is not yet known, but it’s likely he will be out of action for an extended period of time.

Backstage in his post-fight interview, Coleman stated that the whole melee happened in the heat of the moment and that he didn’t blame the Chute Boxe team for coming in and backing their fighter. He then added that similar to Chute Boxe, Hammer House is also like a family, and thanked Baroni for coming in and watching his back.