PRIDE Fighting Championships makes its second stop at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas this Saturday. Many of the Japanese organizations top fighters will appear on the pay-per-view card.
Gomi, Misaki and Sakurai represent a virtual Japanese armada against a trio of tough Americans Diaz, Trigg and Danzig intent on making the most of their opportunity.
Shogun Rua fights an unnecessary rematch with
Alistair Overeem (Pictures). Minotoro faces
Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou (Pictures) in one that has me scratching my head. And
Joachim Hansen (Pictures) takes on
Jason Ireland in the opening affair.
The card lost what promised to be a loser drinks soup for a week bout between
Sergei Kharitonov (Pictures) and
Gilbert Yvel (Pictures) because the Dutch heavyweight slapped around a ref in 2004 and the upstanding state of Nevada denied him a license to fight. Instead, Kharitonov will meet undefeated Midwest grappler
Michael Russow.
Kazuhiro Nakamura (Pictures) injured his left knee and will likely be replaced by
James Lee, which should work nicely for
Travis Wiuff (Pictures).
We havent even touched on the headliner yet. Wanderlei The Axe Murderer Silva meets
Dan Henderson (Pictures) in a rematch of their thriller from PRIDE 12 in 2000.
Get ready for a card so strong itll make PRIDEs last trip to Vegas look like a dress rehearsal.