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Guy Mezger vs. Egan
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Sherdog.com Dan Henderson vs. Renzo
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Sherdog.com Mark Coleman vs. Allan GoesCredit:
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Sherdog.com Tadao Yasuda vs. Masaaki
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Sherdog.com Wanderlei Silva vs. Kazushi
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Wanderlei Silva vs. Kazushi
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Wanderlei
Silva has tormented any number of opponents throughout his
storied career, none more so than Japanese legend
Kazushi
Sakuraba. Their one-sided rivalry began under the
Pride Fighting Championships banner with a clash in the
Pride 13 “Collision Course” main event on March 25, 2001 at the
Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. It was not a pleasant
experience for Sakuraba, who entered the ring on a three-fight
winning streak and left it with a few less brain cells on which to
operate.
The maniacally aggressive Silva swarmed from the start with punches
and Sakuraba enjoyed a brief glimmer of hope, as he dropped the
Brazilian to a knee with a sneaky right hand. Silva answered with a
clinch, pancaked Sakuraba to the canvas and began the bludgeoning.
Think Captain
Vidal bottle scene from “Pan’s Labyrinth.” Brain-scrambling
knees were first on the menu, and Sakuraba was left to crawl around
the ring in desperation, as he tried in vain to snatch a leg and
stop the beating. He was unsuccessful. Silva pinned him to the mat
in a kneeling position, blasted him with knees to the head, neck
and back and then finished it with soccer kicks. By the time the
referee pulled Silva away from the carnage, a grand total of 98
seconds had elapsed, and a dazed-and-confused Sakuraba was a bloody
mess.
Silva and Sakuraba would meet again on two subsequent occasions.
Both times, Sakuraba was on the receiving end of pure savagery. He
challenged “The Axe Murderer” for the vacant middleweight
championship some seven months later -- Sakuraba had submitted
Quinton
Jackson in the interim -- at Pride 17 and bowed out to a doctor
stoppage after the 10-minute first round. Silva and Sakuraba were
then paired opposite one another in the opening round of the 2003
Pride middleweight grand prix on Aug. 10, 2003. There, Silva cut
down the beloved Japanese icon with a lunging right hook. The blow
sent an unconscious Sakuraba bouncing off the canvas and made him
permanent fodder for highlight reels across the globe.
Though the miles had begun to pile up on Sakuraba, he recovered
enough from the Silva assaults to secure later victories over
former
Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight titleholder
Kevin
Randleman, future UFC hall of famer
Ken Shamrock
and
Pancrase
co-founder
Masakatsu
Funaki.
Silva’s three wins over Sakuraba were part of an 18-fight unbeaten
streak that saw the Brazilian establish himself as one of the most
feared fighters in the history of the sport. He had the Pride
middleweight championship on lockdown for more than five years
before surrendering it to
Dan
Henderson and then returning to the UFC for a long-awaited
showdown with
Chuck
Liddell. Silva never again reached the heights he enjoyed in
Pride, his destructive reign there perhaps best embodied in his
three matchups with Sakuraba.
Six of the eight bouts at Pride 13 concluded with first-round
finishes, four of them inside two minutes. None were as memorable
or as historically significant as Silva-Sakuraba 1, which took
place on this day 15 years ago.