Pride Grand Prix 2000 Opening Round

Pride Grand Prix 2000 Opening Round

A poster or logo for Pride Grand Prix 2000 Opening Round.
Information
Promotion Pride Fighting Championships
Date January 30, 2000
Venue Tokyo Dome
City Tokyo
Attendance 48,316[1]
Event chronology

Pride 8 Pride Grand Prix 2000 Opening Round Pride Grand Prix 2000 Finals

The Pride Grand Prix 2000 Opening Round was a mixed martial arts event held by the Pride Fighting Championships. It took place at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan on January 30, 2000. The event began the Pride Openweight tournament of 2000.


Cancelled appearances

Fighters

Frank Shamrock: The then-semi-retired UFC middleweight champion was negotiating a fight with Kazushi Sakuraba when he was offered a slot in the tournament. “I was most into fighting Sakuraba,” he said, “and thought they were just using him as a carrot for the tourney, which would hold no Sakuraba at the end.”

Tom Erikson: The hulking freestyle wrestler had perpetual trouble getting bouts due to a smothering fighting style; allegedly, some fighters had it guaranteed in their contracts they would never have to face the 6-foot-3, 285-pound fighter. Erikson was not invited to the Grand Prix, a slight he attributes to the possible influence of other grapplers in the fold.

Randy Couture: He was offered a Pride contract but opted to re-sign with the UFC instead. He defeated Kevin Randleman to earn his second heavyweight title in November 2000.

Kevin Randleman: He was announced as Sakuraba’s opening round opponent by the promotion, but his status as the UFC’s champion prohibited his participation; Randleman claims no knowledge of the deal.

Allan Goes: Was announced as Hans Nijman’s original opponent but has no recollection of being invited; Kazuyuki Fujita fought Nijman instead.

Naoya Ogawa: Nobuhiko Takada’s original opponent, he was unable to come to terms with the promotion for his participation despite being present at an early news conference to give Takada flowers for his “funeral.”

Tra Telligman and Carlos Barreto: Both were to be involved in a reserve match for the opening round; the bout was cancelled when Barreto suffered an injury.

Wallid Ismail: He floated the idea of facing Royce Gracie in an opening-round rematch of their 1998 grappling match in Brazil. (Gracie lost via choke.) The promotion opted for Takada instead.

Tskhadaze Zaouri: A former professional arm wrestler, Zaouri was slated to face Gary Goodridge in the opening round; he was unable to schedule a travel Visa in time.[2]

Officials

John McCarthy: He was approached by Pride to officiate the GP bouts; SEG, the UFC’s then-current owner, resolved their contractual issues with McCarthy and he remained with the U.S. promotion.[3]

Results

Openweight Opening Round
Weight class Method Round Time Notes
Openweight Royce Gracie def. Nobuhiko Takada Decision (Unanimous) 1 15:00
Openweight Mark Kerr def. Enson Inoue Decision (Unanimous) 1 15:00
Openweight Igor Vovchanchyn def. Alexander Otsuka Decision (Unanimous) 1 15:00
Openweight Mark Coleman def. Masaaki Satake submission (neck crank) 1 1:14
Openweight Kazushi Sakuraba def. Guy Mezger TKO (retirement) 1 15:00 [lower-alpha 1]
Openweight Kazuyuki Fujita def. Hans Nijman submission (scarf hold) 1 2:48
Openweight Akira Shoji def. Ebenezer Fontes Braga Decision (Unanimous) 1 15:00
Openweight Gary Goodridge def. Osamu Kawakara submission (forearm choke) 1 0:51
Alternate Bout
Openweight Wanderlei Silva def. Bob Schrijber submission (rear-naked choke) 1 2:42
  1. ↑ Mezger forfeited the fight by leaving the ring after the bout was declared a draw and sent to an overtime round.

Pride 2000 Grand Prix Bracket

Opening Round
January 30, 2000		 Quarter-finals
May 1, 2000		 Semi-finals
May 1, 2000		 Final
May 1, 2000
                           
           
 Brazil Royce Gracie  DEC
 Japan Nobuhiko Takada    
 Brazil Royce Gracie  
   Japan Kazushi Sakuraba    
 Japan Kazushi Sakuraba  TKO
 United States Guy Mezger  15:00  
 Japan Kazushi Sakuraba  
   Ukraine Igor Vovchanchyn    
 Ukraine Igor Vovchanchyn  DEC
 Japan Alexander Otsuka    
 Ukraine Igor Vovchanchyn  
   Canada Gary Goodridge    
 Canada Gary Goodridge  SUB
 Japan Osamu Kawahara  0:51  
 Ukraine Igor Vovchanchyn  
   United States Mark Coleman  
 United States Mark Coleman  SUB
 Japan Masaaki Satake  1:14  
 United States Mark Coleman  
   Japan Akira Shoji    
 Japan Akira Shoji  DEC
 Brazil Ebenezer Fontes Braga    
 United States Mark Coleman  
   Japan Kazuyuki Fujita    
 United States Mark Kerr  DEC
 United States Enson Inoue    
 United States Mark Kerr  
   Japan Kazuyuki Fujita    
 Japan Kazuyuki Fujita  SUB
 Netherlands Hans Nijman  2:48  

See also

References

  1. ↑ PRIDE and Glory
  2. ↑ PRIDE and Glory
  3. ↑ PRIDE and Glory
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