Lister Gunning for Bushido Victories and PRIDE GP Slot
Fighting His Way Into The Grand Prix
Mike Sloan Apr 1, 2005
When Lister steps foot into that Bushido ring on April 3, he will
face Japanese fan favorite, Akira Shoji. A veteran of almost 30
professional fights, Shoji, while limited, is a formidable
opponent, one who should cause Lister some problems. Looking at
Shoji’s history, those 11 losses on his ledger are deceiving as
virtually every one came against the crème de le crème of MMA.
Losing to such adversaries as Dan Henderson, Semmy Schilt, Murilo Rua, Jeremy Horn, Paulo Filho, Igor Vovchanchyn and Mark Coleman isn’t exactly a death knell for one’s career. Taking that into consideration, Lister knows that even when his opponent has more losses than he has professional fights, he would be foolhardy to take Shoji lightly.
“Different styles make different fights,” professed Lister about
Shoji’s usually aggressive ring tactics. “I think that he feels
that he has a good style to beat me. He is someone who is more of a
pure striker. As far as good fighter/bad fighter, he’s been around
for a while; he’s got a lot of experience. I heard that he’s
improved a lot and has improved his striking. I’m sure he’s been
working on his takedown defense. He’s not going to be easy to take
down. He’s going to have a strategy to beat me and he is definitely
someone that I respect. He’s someone that I definitely have to
train right for.”
A win over Shoji is something Lister absolutely needs in order to advance into the PRIDE middleweight Grand Prix. The winner of Bushido’s four-man bracket is slated to close out the 16-man GP roster.
“It favors me and then it doesn’t favor me,” Lister explained. “You can look at it because I am a submission grappler and I win most of my fights by submission. If I can submit someone fast—like within the first few minutes—that will be an advantage for me. However, because my opponent knows that, he will try and make it a patient, drawn out fight. If they try to rush in and overhand-right me and try to knock me out, it may be good for them—but it is also playing into my game. I think the strategy for all of my opponents in the tournament would be to try to take their time and hope that I make mistakes. I that sense, depending on if that will be my opponents’ strategy, it is going to be harder.”
With that said, Lister has also taken into consideration the fact that his body needs proper time to heal, especially if he becomes injured during battle.
“Long matches wouldn’t be a problem,” he claimed. “Injuries would be a problem, though, because it’s two fights (in one night). First of all after any fight, even short ones, you are going to have a hurt finger or a hurt knee or a bruised shin … something. That happens all the time. But two fights, though, that is going to be worse. Then there is the fact that I would only have about three weeks time to heal; then that would be another problem. But I am not worried about being too tired (between tournaments) because I recover pretty well. I recover well after extensive workouts, sparring or even matches. I do everything hard and a week later, I am totally rested. I may be sore and I may have some small injuries, but I’ll be totally rested. A major injury would impair my performance for the Grand Prix.”
A win over Shoji isn’t exactly a sure thing and if he is successful against the Japanese warrior, he’d have to square off against either Amar Suloev or Paulo Filho, either of whom could defeat Lister. And if he advances into the Grand Prix, things would only get tougher for the pugilist. To Lister, it doesn’t really matter who he faces as he just loves to compete.
“But I will say that there are three individuals who are in the Grand Prix who I am not necessarily friends with, but who I am pretty cool with,” Lister said about possible opponents once in the middleweight tourney. “I would prefer not to fight them in the first round. I’ll fight whoever it is that I am put in against because I am a professional fighter, but there are three people who I won’t mention by name that I would rather not fight in the first round. It’s not like I don’t want to fight them, it’s just that since I know them personally and am pretty cool with, I’d just like to not fight them in the first round. But again, whoever PRIDE puts in front of me, I’ll take it.”
Provided that Lister advances into the Grand Prix and even if he doesn’t win the whole shebang, there would assuredly be some interest from another organization this side of the Pacific. Insiders have being scratching their heads as to why Zuffa has not yet signed on the dangerous Lister into its ranks, but Dean himself thinks he knows why.
“I have met Dana White, Joe Silva and some of the other higher ups at the UFC,” Lister explained. “I know a lot of the fighters in the UFC, I’ve been in some of the corners and I have been at a lot of UFCs. I’ve helped fighters in training, like Tito Ortiz as his jiu-jitsu coach. I have been around the UFC a lot. I don’t know why exactly, but they’ve never expressed interest in me. If they have been interested, it wasn’t shown to me and I think that might be because I am more of a submission fighter. When I get on the ground I’ll hit, but I mainly look for submissions, so I don’t think that is what they are looking for. I think there might be some interest in me, but it hasn’t been communicated to me from them. Right now, I am happy with where I am in PRIDE. I think the UFC is a good organization. PRIDE is great, so I am happy being where I am.”
And with fighters as levelheaded and competitive as Lister, the sport of mixed martial arts is a happier place. Whether or not Lister becomes the new PRIDE middleweight champion remains to be seen, but one should know that he is focused. As the old saying goes, patience is a virtue.
He just hopes that time doesn’t run out.
Losing to such adversaries as Dan Henderson, Semmy Schilt, Murilo Rua, Jeremy Horn, Paulo Filho, Igor Vovchanchyn and Mark Coleman isn’t exactly a death knell for one’s career. Taking that into consideration, Lister knows that even when his opponent has more losses than he has professional fights, he would be foolhardy to take Shoji lightly.
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A win over Shoji is something Lister absolutely needs in order to advance into the PRIDE middleweight Grand Prix. The winner of Bushido’s four-man bracket is slated to close out the 16-man GP roster.
But with the two events only three weeks apart, can Lister afford
to take his time and battle it out for two long, arduous contests,
only to fight again in less than a month?
“It favors me and then it doesn’t favor me,” Lister explained. “You can look at it because I am a submission grappler and I win most of my fights by submission. If I can submit someone fast—like within the first few minutes—that will be an advantage for me. However, because my opponent knows that, he will try and make it a patient, drawn out fight. If they try to rush in and overhand-right me and try to knock me out, it may be good for them—but it is also playing into my game. I think the strategy for all of my opponents in the tournament would be to try to take their time and hope that I make mistakes. I that sense, depending on if that will be my opponents’ strategy, it is going to be harder.”
With that said, Lister has also taken into consideration the fact that his body needs proper time to heal, especially if he becomes injured during battle.
“Long matches wouldn’t be a problem,” he claimed. “Injuries would be a problem, though, because it’s two fights (in one night). First of all after any fight, even short ones, you are going to have a hurt finger or a hurt knee or a bruised shin … something. That happens all the time. But two fights, though, that is going to be worse. Then there is the fact that I would only have about three weeks time to heal; then that would be another problem. But I am not worried about being too tired (between tournaments) because I recover pretty well. I recover well after extensive workouts, sparring or even matches. I do everything hard and a week later, I am totally rested. I may be sore and I may have some small injuries, but I’ll be totally rested. A major injury would impair my performance for the Grand Prix.”
A win over Shoji isn’t exactly a sure thing and if he is successful against the Japanese warrior, he’d have to square off against either Amar Suloev or Paulo Filho, either of whom could defeat Lister. And if he advances into the Grand Prix, things would only get tougher for the pugilist. To Lister, it doesn’t really matter who he faces as he just loves to compete.
“But I will say that there are three individuals who are in the Grand Prix who I am not necessarily friends with, but who I am pretty cool with,” Lister said about possible opponents once in the middleweight tourney. “I would prefer not to fight them in the first round. I’ll fight whoever it is that I am put in against because I am a professional fighter, but there are three people who I won’t mention by name that I would rather not fight in the first round. It’s not like I don’t want to fight them, it’s just that since I know them personally and am pretty cool with, I’d just like to not fight them in the first round. But again, whoever PRIDE puts in front of me, I’ll take it.”
Provided that Lister advances into the Grand Prix and even if he doesn’t win the whole shebang, there would assuredly be some interest from another organization this side of the Pacific. Insiders have being scratching their heads as to why Zuffa has not yet signed on the dangerous Lister into its ranks, but Dean himself thinks he knows why.
“I have met Dana White, Joe Silva and some of the other higher ups at the UFC,” Lister explained. “I know a lot of the fighters in the UFC, I’ve been in some of the corners and I have been at a lot of UFCs. I’ve helped fighters in training, like Tito Ortiz as his jiu-jitsu coach. I have been around the UFC a lot. I don’t know why exactly, but they’ve never expressed interest in me. If they have been interested, it wasn’t shown to me and I think that might be because I am more of a submission fighter. When I get on the ground I’ll hit, but I mainly look for submissions, so I don’t think that is what they are looking for. I think there might be some interest in me, but it hasn’t been communicated to me from them. Right now, I am happy with where I am in PRIDE. I think the UFC is a good organization. PRIDE is great, so I am happy being where I am.”
And with fighters as levelheaded and competitive as Lister, the sport of mixed martial arts is a happier place. Whether or not Lister becomes the new PRIDE middleweight champion remains to be seen, but one should know that he is focused. As the old saying goes, patience is a virtue.
He just hopes that time doesn’t run out.
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