Pride 25 Body Blow
March 16, 2003
Yokohama, Japan at Yokohama Arena
Fedor "The Last Emporer" Emelianenko vs. Antonio Rodrigo "Minotauro" Nogueira (C)
Both Fedor and Nogueira had begun their pro fighting careers around the same time and quickly established themselves as prospects in the Rings Fighting Network. It seemed that a showdown between the two was inevitable at some point as both men kept winning fight after fight. Nogueira burst onto the scene in Pride taking out hard-hitting Gary Goodridge and two-time UFC tournament winner Mark Coleman. After the Coleman fight, Big Nog, as he is known by hardcore fans, dispatched a young Heath Herring in an incredible slugfest to earn the first ever Pride heavyweight championship in November of 2001. At this point, Big Nog was well on his way to establishing a legacy that included the title of greatest fighter alive by many within the MMA community. He simply didn't lose and always found a way to snatch a victory out of the most dire of situations. Nogueira has been involved in some of the craziest fights I have ever seen and it is tough to set up the title fight with Fedor without getting off track. In any case, just know that Nogueira came into the Fedor fight considered a huge favorite after dispatching some great warriors such as Jeremy horn, Valentijn Overeem (2), Goodrich, Coleman, Enson Inoue, Semmy Schilt, Dan Henderson, and the massive Bob Sapp in an absolutely crazy fight.
Fedor Emelianenko is an absolutely devastating fighter. The man does not quit and seems to know what his opponent is going to do before they do. Emelianenko came into this fight looking to prove that his sambo skills were far superior to Big Nog's speciality, Brazilian jiu jitsu. Fedor completely dominated his first two opponents in Pride, future multi-time K-1 grand prix champion Semmy Schilt, and a very game "Texas Crazy Horse" Heath Herring. The Herring fight not only earned Fedor his title shot, but it showed how effective sambo can be against a pretty good wrestler. The question was whether or not sambo could nullify a great Brazilian jiu jitsu practitioner. Fedor is able to control his hips incredibly while on the ground and it makes it extremely difficult to keep him down, on the off chance that you can actually get him there. Despite his pudgy exterior, he has tremendous power and takedown defense, which makes for one hell of a good fighter. Some people have said that his reckless punching technique is a flaw in his game, but his speed seems to compensate for the looping punches he employs in every fight. At this particular time, Fedor vs Nogueira was the equivalent of Tyson vs Holyfield for pride fans. Let's review the fight and see what happened.
THE FIGHT
Round 1: Fedor stoically stands near his corner as the bell rings signaling the start of the round. They touch gloves and here we go. Big Nog throws out a jab and Fedor does the same, signaling Minotauro to shoot in for a double leg takedown but Fedor has none of it. Fedor lands a nice right hand lead and presses Nogueira up against the ropes and lands a left hook as he gets a takedown. Fedor begins working from Big Nog's half guard as Antonio grabs a leg and looks for the sweep but Fedor remains in control. Things begin to get interesting here as fedor has ample opportunity to stand and evade the ground game but he is content to stay in Big Nog's guard and dish out his own brand of punishment. Fedor lands a hard left hook and Nogueira immediately looks to bring him in close. Fedor breaks free, stands, and lands another hard left. Fedor stands again and drops a huge right bomb that just misses Nogueira's face and keeps swinging away. An incredible sequence here as Fedor reigns down 8 punches in succession while diving back into the guard of Nogueira. Minotauro takes the shots well and still looks to control Fedor on the ground. Emelianenko stays in the guard and keeps throwing heavy leather directly at the head of Nogueira.
Halfway into the first period now and fedor still remains in the guard of Nogueira. Nogueira looks for submission opportunities when he can, but fedor is relentless in his attack. The ref repositions both men in the center of the ring and Nogueira immediately looks for a triangle choke followed by a kimura attempt, but fedor shakes both off easily. Fedor lands a few short left hooks to the body of Rodrigo as they start inching towards the corner. Emelianenko drops a huge left but Nogueira is not fazed. Minotauro looks for another kimura and another but gets nowhere. The action slows a little here as Nogueira looks for wrist control but fedor lands sporadically with punches aimed at the dome of Nogueira. The best sequence of the fight starts here in the corner. Nogueira looks for another kimura but fedor pulls free and lands a hard right to the face of Nogueira that momentarily stuns him, followed by a left and a succession of 7 big bombs that land over and over again before ending up back in Nogueira's open guard. This is an incredible display by the challenger. More punches reign down by the Fedor but Nogueira gamely stays aware and keeps looking for openings when he can. Nogueira gains a reversal and ends up on top for the first time in the fight. Incredibly, Fedor lands a reversal of his own and is back in the guard of Nogueira. The bell sounds and round 1 is over.
Round 2: Nogueira gets the action started with a shoot for a takedown, but Fedor stuffs it. Nogueira grabs a single and gets nowhere fast, so he pulls guard with Emelianenko in fast pursuit. Unbelievably, Fedor jumps into Nogueira's guard and starts looking for openings. The action slows briefly before Fedor begins throwing bombs again. The ref repositions them and Fedor continues dominating the fight from the open guard of the champion. Fedor gains full mount for a second before losing it and standing up. He dives right back into Nogueira's guard to resume the onslaught. Nogueira can't do anything but attempt to control the wrists of Fedor as his ground game is being thoroughly nullified at this point. Nogueira executes a beautiful sweep and gains the top position mere seconds before the bell rings signaling the end of round 2.
In between rounds, Stephen Quadros remarks that Fedor hasn't thrown a punch while standing in the past nine minutes. That is nothing short of remarkable considering that most people felt Fedor's best chance at victory was with his boxing.
Round 3: Fedor starts out with a right hand lead but misses, but he forges ahead and earns a takedown. Fedor lands back in the champion's guard and looks to drop some heavy artillery. Nogueira waits for his opening and quickly grabs Fedor's arm and works an armbar attempt. Fedor rolls through and dives back into guard. The ref repositions them and the pattern continues. Fedor lands a short left punch to the face of the champ and evades a slick kneebar attempt by Nogueira. The action slows with Fedor firmly in control of the fight in every way imaginable. Another reposition and Nogueira takes another hard shot to the kisser. Nogueira is running out of time here to pull out one more of his trademark come-from- behind victories. Emelianenko lands a few more punches from the wide open guard of Nogueira. The round ends with both men on the ground and presumably with a new Pride heavyweight champion. Nogueira pounds the mat in frustration as surely he knows his championship is gone. The scores come in and Fedor has done it. A new Pride heavyweight champion is crowned. What a superb display of ground and pound by Emelianenko.
I had a lot of fun reviewing this fight and I would like readers to understand that I was unable to document all the action. Fedor remained busy nearly the entire first round with short punches that were thrown incredibly hard. I can simply not fathom how Nogueira took some of those shots and kept going. This a fight that has to be seen by anyone interested in MMA.
THE AFTERMATH
Fedor "The Last Emperor" Emelianenko: After this championship fight with Nogueira, Fedor went on to mesmerize Japanese fight fans as he out-classed, out-maneuvered, out-punched, and out-shined any and all comers within the Pride organization. Fedor went on to defeat a virtual who's who of MMA warriors that few can match. He holds wins over Ricardo Arona, Renato Sobral, Schilt, Herring, Nogueira (2 times, with 1 no contest), Kazuyuki Fujita, Gary Goodrich, Mark Coleman (2), Kevin Randleman, Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic, Matt Lindland, Tim Sylvia, Andrei Arlovski, and many other highly skilled fighters. One of the incredible things about Fedor is that his skills have always been solid. When he first came into Pride, he was already proficient at the ground game and clearly capable of avoiding much damage while standing against opponents with great striking skills. He makes domination looks easy against his foes, just like he did against Nogueira in this fight. In fact, Fedor has been in serious trouble of losing a fight so infrequently that many fans have called him a machine. Domination and devastation are two words that define the way Fedor fights. The man is simply the best pound for pound fighter currently competing, in my opinion.
Antonio Rodrigo "Minotauro" Nogueira: Nogueira is considered to be one of the top five fighters of all time, behind Fedor of course. Rodrigo has participated in several of the sport's most incredible come-from-behind victories ever. Leading up to this fight, he was riding an incredible twelve fight win streak and had already fought some of the very best guys at that time. One such guy was named Bob Sapp and Nogueira sustained a massive beating at the hands of the 375 pound Sapp shortly before locking in a fight ending armbar for the submission victory. The Sapp fight truly showed the fans what kind of heart Minotauro has and the depths of which he could pull out a victory. Nogueira became known as virtually unbeatable by the Japanese fans of Pride before Fedor came along. Leading up to the Emelianenko brawl, Nogueira earned wins over Gary Goodridge, Heath Herring (for the Pride championship), Mark Coleman, Sapp, Semmy Schilt, and Dan Henderson in a rematch from the Rings Kin of Kings tournament.
Although Fedor did not necessarily change everyone's perception of Nogueira as an excellent fighter with a chin made of granite, but Fedor did take his championship and control every aspect of the fight. After the Fedor loss, Nogueira got back on track and worked out five wins in a row. One of those wins was an armbar victory over Mirko Cro Cop at Pride Final Conflict 2003, in what I consider his best comeback victory. Finally, both Nogueira and Fedor made it to the finals of the 2004 Pride heavyweight grand prix tournament and rematched. The bout was stopped early due to cuts, and both men agreed to fight at Shockwave 2004. Fedor won again in dominating fashion, which left Nogueira's future in doubt. Nogueira would go on to earn several more victories in pride before making his way to the UFC and becoming the only man to win a championship in the UFC and Pride thus far. Big Nog is an icon of the sport and as of late has managed to win over some of the newer fans with his incredible jiu jitsu skills and granite chin.
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