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By Brian Sweet, MMATorch DVD Specialist
Pride 25 Body Blow
March 16, 2003
Yokohama, Japan at Yokohama Arena
Anderson "The Spider" Silva vs. Carlos "The Ronin" Newton
Leading up to this fight, Carlos Newton had just finished up his UFC contract with a submission win over Pete Spratt at UFC 40. Newton had enjoyed success in the UFC and is a former UFC welterweight champion. Although he lost the title on his first title defense, Newton had great conditioning and was a fantastic wrestler. Carlos was involved in a famous brawl with matt Hughes at UFC 34, when Matt performed a slam off a Newton triangle choke attempt, which rendered both men unconscious. Hughes was declared the victor, and thus the new UFC welterweight champion. Since the win was disputed, Newton was granted a rematch, which he lost via TKO at UFC 38 in London. Aside from his UFC success, Newton was also a Pride veteran dating way back to Pride 3 in 1998. Newton was looking to reestablish himself as a top tier fighter. Anderson Silva however, had other plans.
Silva came into this brawl already known as an excellent muay thai striker and was undefeated in his last eight fights. Silva was looking for his third win in a row inside a Pride ring, but he also had revenge on his mind. Newton earned a submission win over Silva's fellow chute box stable mate, Jose Landi-Jons a year previously at pride 19. Anderson was looking to defend the honor of chute box and to establish himself as a top guy within the Pride organization. As we all know, an angry Anderson Silva spells disaster for his opponents. Silva wanted a win here in a bad way. This fight is a classic grappler vs. striker match up, as pointed out by Stephen Quadros and was very intriguing going in. Let's find out what happened.
THE FIGHT
Round 1: Newton starts out throwing a left jab followed by a left hook that both find their mark. Anderson is clearly looking to counter here, and throws a right cross that just misses Newton's face. Newton ducks under and looks for a takedown and Silva pulls guard. Newton transitions to side control and looks for the mount quickly and gets it. Newton looks to set up an armbar with a few punches but Silva defends well. Newton almost slips on a kimura, but Silva regains full guard quickly. Some technical ground work here. The ref repositions both men in the middle of the ring and Silva applies a triangle body lock and throws a few punches from his back. Newton is looking to work some ground and pound but doesn't accomplish much as Silva pulls him in close. The action slows before the ref stands both fighters up and issues Silva a yellow card for stalling. The fighters reset and Silva works from the southpaw stance and lands a nice right jab followed by a straight left that finds its mark. They circle each other and Silva lands a beautiful flying knee as Newton simultaneously shoots in for a takedown. The effect is devastating as Newton is hurt badly. Silva pounces and lands four consecutive right hands to the face of Newton and knocks him clean out. Beautiful knockout here. Silva screams in celebration as the chute box team surround him to join in.
THE AFTERMATH
Anderson "The Spider" Silva: Anyone who follows the UFC even a little knows who Anderson Silva is. The man has been unstoppable since entering the UFC and is undefeated in three and a half years. Back when this fight occurred, he was already viewed as a star on the rise, but things didn't quite work out as planned for a while. Three months after this fight, Silva suffered a surprising loss at the hands of lightly regarded Daiju Takase, who at that point, was only known for a win over the massive 600 pound Emmanuel Yarborough way back at Pride 3. Takase locked in a triangle choke nearly nine minutes into the Silva fight and derailed the Spider's winning streak. Anderson would pick up three more wins outside of the Pride organization before suffering another set back at Pride's 2004 Shockwave show at the hands of Ryo Chonan. Chonan managed to execute a beautiful flying heel hook which caused Silva to submit shortly thereafter in one of the most famous maneuvers ever seen in a Pride ring.
After the Chonan loss, Silva got down to business and began transforming into the fighter we know him as today. Silva's only loss since Shockwave was a DQ caused by an illegal kick, which can hardly be considered a legitimate in my opinion. Anderson would enter the UFC and dominate the middleweight division in the summer of 2006, and remains a top contender for the mythical title of pound for pound champion. The wins on his resume include some of the toughest warriors in all of MMA including Dan Henderson, Rich Franklin (2), Nate Marquardt, Forrest griffin, Thales Leites, Patrick Cote, Jeremy Horn, Hayoto Sakurai, Alex Stiebling, Tony Fryklund, and several others that could main event anywhere in the world. He is simply put, a great fighter in every way possible.
Carlos "The Ronin" Newton: Newton was always considered a good fighter, but he just could never manage to win fights against top ranked competition. Pat Miletich is the exception to that statement. Newton was indeed a former UFC welterweight champ, but his ability to remain patient during fights was always a problem. He had a tendency to rush for a takedown and Silva capitalized on that in this scrap. Newton would go on to win a split decision victory over Renzo Gracie in his next fight, but would then endure a three fight losing streak beginning with his last appearance in the UFC. He lost a hard fought brawl with Renato Verissimo at UFC 46 and then make his way back to Pride and suffer back to back defeats on Bushido cards. He then took a two year hiatus from fighting and finally returned at K-1 Hero's 7 with a remarkable showing against Tokimitsu Ishizawa. Impatience plagued him again as he suffered another three fight losing streak at the hands of Renzo gracie, Matt Lindland, and Shungo Oyama before taking another two year hiatus from fighting. He made a triumphant return to fighting this year and earned two victories, most recently over Shonie Carter. Newton seems hot and cold at the same time when he fights. He is capable of winning fights, yet his ground game hasn't developed as quickly as the sport has grown. Carlos most likely, won't become a serious contender in a major organization again, but he will always be forever recorded as a UFC champion.
[Anderson Silva art credit Cory Gould (c) MMATorch]
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