What do you guys think about the three fights announced so far for Pride NYE?

[*ChuteBoxe*]

Three damn good fights so far:

Fedor vs. Mark Hunt- Hunt may not deserve the title shot, but he is a very dangerous opponent for anyone.  Common sense would tell you that all Fedor has to do is take the fight to the ground and submit Hunt, but will he?  When he fought Cro-cop he opted to play Mirko's game (stand up) and he not only held his own, he beat him.  I think Fedor will end up either getting a Gnp stoppage, or submission victory over Hunt, but not before exchanging a bit of hands with Hunt.

Gilbert Melendez  vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri- This is my favorite match up of the three so far, Gilbert is undefeated and has a few solid wins under his belt and is ready for this step up to the next level.  Tatsuya has alot more experience and has been in with better caliber fighters than Gilbert has.  In the end I see Gilbert pulling off the upset win.

Shinya Aoki vs. Joachim Hansen- This match features two pretty good grapplers, but the edge in stand-up clearly goes to Hansen.  Hansen has the better chin, the better stand up, and can hang on the ground with Aoki.  I think he will end up finishing Aoki in brutal fashion.  I think the winner of this fight should fight the winner of Melendez/Kawajiri for the number 1 contender spot.

I would buy the PPV on these three fights alone, but I know there is alot more bad ass fights to come.

[Fury]

Three great looking fights in my opinion. The card is only going to get better, too. I'm hoping Arona is on it, haven't seen him fight in a while.

I'm curious to see who they match him up against, my guess is it will be either Yoshida or Nakamura.  Pride said they were trying to stay away from rematches for this show so that narrows the field a bit.

[*ChuteBoxe*]

Three great looking fights in my opinion. The card is only going to get better, too. I'm hoping Arona is on it, haven't seen him fight in a while.

I'm curious to see who they match him up against, my guess is it will be either Yoshida or Nakamura.  Pride said they were trying to stay away from rematches for this show so that narrows the field a bit.

[Fury]

I'm curious to see who they match him up against, my guess is it will be either Yoshida or Nakamura.  Pride said they were trying to stay away from rematches for this show so that narrows the field a bit.

Could be interesting. Nakamura seems to be getting better with every fight.

[americanbulldog]

Three damn good fights so far:

Fedor vs. Mark Hunt- Hunt may not deserve the title shot, but he is a very dangerous opponent for anyone.  Common sense would tell you that all Fedor has to do is take the fight to the ground and submit Hunt, but will he?  When he fought Cro-cop he opted to play Mirko's game (stand up) and he not only held his own, he beat him.  I think Fedor will end up either getting a Gnp stoppage, or submission victory over Hunt, but not before exchanging a bit of hands with Hunt.

Gilbert Melendez  vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri- This is my favorite match up of the three so far, Gilbert is undefeated and has a few solid wins under his belt and is ready for this step up to the next level.  Tatsuya has alot more experience and has been in with better caliber fighters than Gilbert has.  In the end I see Gilbert pulling off the upset win.

Shinya Aoki vs. Joachim Hansen- This match features two pretty good grapplers, but the edge in stand-up clearly goes to Hansen.  Hansen has the better chin, the better stand up, and can hang on the ground with Aoki.  I think he will end up finishing Aoki in brutal fashion.  I think the winner of this fight should fight the winner of Melendez/Kawajiri for the number 1 contender spot.

I would buy the PPV on these three fights alone, but I know there is alot more bad ass fights to come.

Aoki/Hansen has me sold already.  I attended a seminar Aoki did nearly a year ago.  He is very smooth, and slick with his subs. 

[danielson]

Three great looking fights in my opinion. The card is only going to get better, too. I'm hoping Arona is on it, haven't seen him fight in a while.

I'm curious to see who they match him up against, my guess is it will be either Yoshida or Nakamura.  Pride said they were trying to stay away from rematches for this show so that narrows the field a bit.

I'm curious to see who they match him up against, my guess is it will be either Yoshida or Nakamura.  Pride said they were trying to stay away from rematches for this show so that narrows the field a bit.

What gives?

Could be interesting. Nakamura seems to be getting better with every fight.

Then you answered your own question that he repeated

[Fury]

What gives?

Then you answered your own question that he repeated

I didn't put that in my comment. Just noticed that myself.

[*ChuteBoxe*]

Nevermind about Nakamura, he is rumored to be fighting Shogun.

[Fury]

Nevermind about Nakamura, he is rumored to be fighting Shogun.

Yeah, it's all over the boards today. That could be an interesting fight I guess....as long as Nakamura keeps it on the ground.

[sandycoosworth]

Three damn good fights so far:

Fedor vs. Mark Hunt- Hunt may not deserve the title shot, but he is a very dangerous opponent for anyone.  Common sense would tell you that all Fedor has to do is take the fight to the ground and submit Hunt, but will he?  When he fought Cro-cop he opted to play Mirko's game (stand up) and he not only held his own, he beat him.  I think Fedor will end up either getting a Gnp stoppage, or submission victory over Hunt, but not before exchanging a bit of hands with Hunt.

You're confusing Fedor's attempt to press the fight (ie to take away Mirkos left leg) with an attempt to "play his game": In the first half of the first round, Mirko was too strong to be taken down, but as he gassed Fedor put Mirko on the ground every chance he got, and while there he did his best to GNP/pass guard etc, however Mirko pretty much neutralized him.

[Fury]

Mirko didn't do much on the ground in escaping, etc. But he did a damn good job of slowing down Fedor's G'n'P. His face looked fine after the fight. Can't wait for the rematch.

[*ChuteBoxe*]

You're confusing Fedor's attempt to press the fight (ie to take away Mirkos left leg) with an attempt to "play his game": In the first half of the first round, Mirko was too strong to be taken down, but as he gassed Fedor put Mirko on the ground every chance he got, and while there he did his best to GNP/pass guard etc, however Mirko pretty much neutralized him.

I agree with the fact that Fedor pressed the fight, but, I think you're confusing Fedor's best Gnp and Mirko's alleged neutralization of fedors ground assault.  If you pay close attention to the fight Fedor threw like two or three punches with his right hand while in Mirko's guard.  Fedor fought Mirko with a badly injured right hand which required surgery and a steel plate to fix (that's also the reason for his recent 9 month layoff).  It wasn't so much that Mirko neutralized his Gnp, it's that it didn't exist due to that injury.  In reality, Fedor beat Mirko with one hand, and if his hand was healthy Mirko's face would have been hamburger meat.

[sandycoosworth]

I agree with the fact that Fedor pressed the fight, but, I think you're confusing Fedor's best Gnp and Mirko's alleged neutralization of fedors ground assault. 

Actually, the reason Fedor had so many problems with his GnP had much more to do with CroCop playing a conservative guard game with his tree trunk legs and holding on to Fedor than it did with Fedor's hand(which wasn't at 100% but was still used no less than a dozen times in the 20 mins of fighting). The only times Fedor passed guard were when Mirko lost his mind and went for triangles, but he was able to reguard almost immediately. Had Mirko been more active from the bottom he would have received a much more prototypical Emelianenko GnP beatdown

[rccs]

Three damn good fights so far:

Fedor vs. Mark Hunt- Hunt may not deserve the title shot, but he is a very dangerous opponent for anyone.  Common sense would tell you that all Fedor has to do is take the fight to the ground and submit Hunt, but will he?  When he fought Cro-cop he opted to play Mirko's game (stand up) and he not only held his own, he beat him.  I think Fedor will end up either getting a Gnp stoppage, or submission victory over Hunt, but not before exchanging a bit of hands with Hunt.

Gilbert Melendez  vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri- This is my favorite match up of the three so far, Gilbert is undefeated and has a few solid wins under his belt and is ready for this step up to the next level.  Tatsuya has alot more experience and has been in with better caliber fighters than Gilbert has.  In the end I see Gilbert pulling off the upset win.

Shinya Aoki vs. Joachim Hansen- This match features two pretty good grapplers, but the edge in stand-up clearly goes to Hansen.  Hansen has the better chin, the better stand up, and can hang on the ground with Aoki.  I think he will end up finishing Aoki in brutal fashion.  I think the winner of this fight should fight the winner of Melendez/Kawajiri for the number 1 contender spot.

I would buy the PPV on these three fights alone, but I know there is alot more bad ass fights to come.

Wich day is Fedor going to fight? Will it be broadcasted?

[*ChuteBoxe*]

New Years Eve on PPV, although there might be some sort of delay in the US.

[Fury]

It usually airs the night after New Years, January 1st.