Pride Fighting Championships: Bushido, Vol. 1

I disagree with most of the reviews on this site. What do they want? What do they expect? There aren’t any bad fights on this dvd. There isn’t one boring fight. I don’t know what these people are objecting to. The Gracies don’t just lay on their backs like turtles. What absurd nonsense. Rodrigo, Ralph and Ryan laying on their backs like turtles? What is this guy, nuts? Does Tank Abbott lay on his back like a turtle? If anything, the opponents of the Gracies would sometimes fight defensively to avoid getting submitted.

This was billed as a competition between five Gracies and Team Japan. Three of the Gracies win, and only one Japanese fighter wins. Carlos Newton is one of the world greats, and he gets a reasonably close decision over Renzo. Renzo is a gem. His sportsmanship makes you smile. When one of the judges awards the decision to Renzo, Renzo is shaking his head as if to say it should have been unanimous for Carlos Newton. What class! I love Renzo’s smile. He is such a kind gentleman. I met him at his school in Manhattan and he interrupted his extremely busy schedule, running a tournament, to stop and say hi to me and my 6 or 7 year old daughter. He didn’t know either of us. He just wanted to say hi, and chat a moment. What a hospitable, friendly guy.

My copy of the dvd didn’t have all the fights on it. I was unable to see Alex Emilianenko or Kharitonov. No Russians on my copy. When I tried to have the mouse point to those fights, it wouldn’t move. I don’t think those fights were on the dvd I had.

I do have to agree with one of the other reviewers who complained about the Mirko Cro Cop Filipovic fight. He fought a newcomer, and he simply kicked him in the head with his shin, and that was that. You can break a baseball bat with your shin.

One of the reviewers ridiculed the announcers. That was uncalled for. The announcers are okay. The reviewer was bragging that he knew that one of the fighters hurt his knee. So what. I watched the replay several times, and it was really hard to tell if the man hurt his knee or not. It wasn’t obvious at all at the point of contact. So stop showing off.

I really regret that Rickson Gracie didn’t fight for a world championship. I believe that he would have been a great champion for years. The sport really missed a lot by not seeing the greatest of the Gracies win a world championship and defend it. Even today, in 2006, I don’t think many fighters could beat him. Fedor Emilianenko, Andrei Arlovski, those guys would have to be favorites to win, but I wouldn’t be in a hurry to bet on Chuck Liddell or Mirko Cro Cop to beat Rickson Gracie right now. And Rickson is not a heavyweight.
Rating: 4 / 5

This is a great start to the Bushido series. The Japan vs Gracie set is decent and the Newton vs Renzo fight is unbelievable.
Rating: 5 / 5

PRIDE FC

BUSHIDO VOL. 1

I am sure if you are reading this you already know about the Bushido series that Pride Fighting Championship brought forth to the world. Bushido means “the way of the warrior” and basically this event was a faster paced fight with only two rounds. Of course this first event was also created because of the beef between Royce Gracie and Hidehiko Yoshida, thus the Team Gracie vs Team Japan thing. Both of them would be in corner of their team coaching and such.

1.EIJI MITSUORA VS CHRIS BRENNAN-the first fight on the card starts out with some controversy after a nice slam and a nice arm bar. It looks a lot like the reason the team thing came about for this event [Gracie - Yoshida]. The ref decides to re start the fight and Chris makes Eiji pay for that incident earlier and dominates him. After he tries for a while to get the arm bar he sinks in a sweet kimura. Controversy only adds to the fight and makes it more exciting.5/5

2.RODNEY FAVERUS VS CHALID ARRAB-the first round was pretty good but other than a sweep and a few good shots Chalid gets taken down and beat on a little. Not enough to stop him but enough to loose the round easy. Excellent second round as both get in a few good shots and take downs, but Arrab seemed like the aggressor in that round. The judges give it to Arrab and he takes the win even with the card.4/5

3.CARLOS NEWTON VS RENZO GRACIE-the first in the tournament matches between Team Gracie and Team Japan and also features one of my favorite fighters of all time Renzo Gracie. All I can say about the first round is WOW, what a great fight. These two put on one of the best displays of ground work ever. Submission after submission and reversal after reversal and some beautiful escapes. The second round is a lot like the first but with more striking, sadly Renzo losses the fight by split decision but he would get revenge later in his career. He would go on to beat Carlos in a rematch in the IFL later. This is a classic for sure much like their rematch would be later.5/5

4.DOKONJONOSUKE MISHIMA VS RALPH GRACIE-the second fight in the tournament of the night, and Ralph comes out looking crazy. Much like the previous fight this one is crazy and full of action. There was some beautiful transitions, submissions, knees, punches, and kicks. At first it looked like Mishima was going to steal the round Ralph just unloads on him and goes for a choke, Mishima is saved by the bell. The second round is even better as Ralph goes for a nice kimura and transitions into a pretty arm bar. Ralph Gracie gets the unanimous decision win and ties the tournament up one to one.5/5

5.KAZUHIRO NAKAMURA VS DANIEL GRACIE-the third fight in the tournament pits these two guys against each other. The first round was good with Kaz looking like the dominant fighter. Most of the round was spent on the ground. The second round had a lot more stand up with some heavy shots from these two big guys. Kaz takes the unanimous decision and gives the edge to team Japan.4/5

6.DAIJU TAKASE VS RODRIGO GRACIE-in the next fight it was do or die for team Gracie, if they were to lose this one they lose the series. The first round is pretty good with a mix of stand up and ground work. Gracie takes this round but they are really close together as far as skill level. The second round looks like the first but with a little more stand up from these two guys. There was a great moment in the clinch and Gracie ties it up two to two. That means the final fight decides who wins.4/5

7.KAZUHIRO HAMANAKA VS RYAN GRACIE-the fight is the tie breaker to see who takes it all, could it have been any other way. This fight does not go out of the first round as Ryan KO’s his opponent with some vicious soccer kicks, nasty looking. And with that Team Gracie wins the series even though afterwards Renzo announces to the crowd that there is no bad blood, although I love that Ryan calls out Yoshida .4.5/5

8.AKIRA SHOJI VS MAURICIO :SHOGUN” RUA-the great Shogun Rua is in action here against Akira, who gets the early take down on Rua. The great and legendary Royce Gracie is on the commentary for this fight, and what a good one. When this is on the ground every time Shoji gets the take down he controls the fight. But when it is standing Shogun dominates with all kinds of hard punches, kicks, and knees. Shogun wins with the KO.5/5

9.MIRKO “CRO COP” FILIPOVIC VS DOS CARAS JR.-this fight sees one of the sports legends in Cro Cop taking on the first Mexican fighter in Pride, he is also the first to fight with a mask on. The fight does not last long at all because Cro Cop lands one of his signature high kicks to the head, can you say knock out.5/5

ADDITIONAL MATCHES NOT SHOWN ON PAY-PER-VIEW

10.SERGEI KHARITONOV VS JASON SUTTIE-this is a pretty quick fight that sees Jason get dominated and taken down multiple times. From there the Jason gets pounded on until Sergei sinks in a nice arm bar. A good fight that should have been on the main card.4.5/5

11.ALEKSANDER EMELIANENKO VS ASSUERIO SILVA-ah yes Fedor’s brother is in this one and that is surprising that he was not on the televised event. Other than a few submission attempts from Silva Emelianenko dominates most of the round with some good strikes and ground and pound. Silva comes out hard in the second round and gets the take down and even mounts his opponent. Then he even gets his back and goes for the choke, but Aleksander reverses it and controls the rest of the round. Emelianenko ends up with the split decision win.4/5

This was an excellent event full of some great fights I would have to say one of the best in the Bushido series. I recommend you buy this immediately, you can get this as well as the next two in a box set.

Rating: 5 / 5