For those of you who haven't seen it yet, Todd Hester (Grappling Mag) has written a piece over at ADCC blasting PRIDE officials and the matchups planned for the next PRIDE show.
I am all for legitimate fights by top fighters of the world in such a large venue with as much publicity as PRIDE. But we have to understand that this is their show, not ours. The Japanese fans think a certain way for whatever reason, and the promoters and officials at PRIDE are probably doing what they think is best for the public in Japan. They don't give a damn what a small piece of the pie (as in American fans) think of their show and they figure we will all tune in to the show anyway since it is still better than pretty much any other MMA show out there. While a matchup such as Takada vs Vovchanchin is not something we are interested in, there must be great fan demand for it over there, otherwise it wouldn't be happening.
Hester is also very insulting to Sakuraba and Mike Bourke. He dismisses Bourke as having no skill and for being a mindless brawler. Well, Bourke did win a few fights in KOTC, which is now affiliated with PRIDE, and maybe he has earned a shot to fight in the bigger show. That makes sense to me and I think what Hester writes is offensive. Then he goes after Sak and said that Sak criticizes Rickson for avoiding tough opponents but he is fighting this pushover Shannon Rich. He said he is no longer considering Sak for fighter of the year in Kung Fu because he is taking this easy fight! That sounds so ridiculous to me after seeing Sak take so many tough challenges this year and last year! Incidentally, last year's "fighter of the year" was none other than Wallid Ismail, who did not do a fight or sport match the whole year, other than one match against an out of touch Royce a month before the year actually began. Hester is a fool. Boo Hester.
I am all for legitimate fights by top fighters of the world in such a large venue with as much publicity as PRIDE. But we have to understand that this is their show, not ours. The Japanese fans think a certain way for whatever reason, and the promoters and officials at PRIDE are probably doing what they think is best for the public in Japan. They don't give a damn what a small piece of the pie (as in American fans) think of their show and they figure we will all tune in to the show anyway since it is still better than pretty much any other MMA show out there. While a matchup such as Takada vs Vovchanchin is not something we are interested in, there must be great fan demand for it over there, otherwise it wouldn't be happening.
Hester is also very insulting to Sakuraba and Mike Bourke. He dismisses Bourke as having no skill and for being a mindless brawler. Well, Bourke did win a few fights in KOTC, which is now affiliated with PRIDE, and maybe he has earned a shot to fight in the bigger show. That makes sense to me and I think what Hester writes is offensive. Then he goes after Sak and said that Sak criticizes Rickson for avoiding tough opponents but he is fighting this pushover Shannon Rich. He said he is no longer considering Sak for fighter of the year in Kung Fu because he is taking this easy fight! That sounds so ridiculous to me after seeing Sak take so many tough challenges this year and last year! Incidentally, last year's "fighter of the year" was none other than Wallid Ismail, who did not do a fight or sport match the whole year, other than one match against an out of touch Royce a month before the year actually began. Hester is a fool. Boo Hester.
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