[PRIDE] 2002/11/24 Tokyo Dome "PRIDE 23"

[Hisaharu Tanabe]

Announced matches as of 2002/10/22:

Nobuhiko Takada Retirement Match
Nobuhiko Takada [Takada Dojo] vs. Kiyoshi Tamura [U-File Camp]

Hidehiko Yoshida [judo; Yoshida Dojo] vs. Don Frye [wrestling]

[Hisaharu Tanabe]

• Hirotaka Yokoi (R2 3'29" cross arm scissors) Jerrel Venetiaan
• Kevin Randleman (R3 1'16" ref stop) Kenichi Yamamoto
• Ricardo Arona (by points 3-0) Murilo "Ninja" Rua
• Emelianenko Fedor (doc stop after R1) Heath Herring
• Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (R1 6'36" triangle hold) Semmy Schilt
• PRIDE Middleweight Title Match: Wanderlei Silva (champion) (R1 3'31" TKO) Hiromitsu Kanehara
• Hidehiko Yoshida (R1 5'32" cross arm scissors) Don Frye
• Nobuhiko Takada Retirement Match: Kiyoshi Tamura (R2 1'00" KO) Nobuhiko Takada
• Kazushi Sakuraba (R3 2'08" cross arm scissors) Gilles Arsene

(source: Nikkan Sports)

[terrier mask]

What I didn't like is that they didn't show the Tamura/Takada bout in the US showing of the card. WHAT GIVES??????!!!!!!!!!!

[Muiyan]

Agreed, Terrier Mask, WHAT THE HELL?!
They rather spend more time on that boring crap Sakuraba/Arsene "match" (what a horrible match) than show someone's retirement match!

[terrier mask]

Thank you for agreeing, Muiyan. Why they didn't show the Takada retirement bout is beyond me. Well, there are 2 theories here:

1) No one in the US (save for us hardcore puro and MMA fans, on this wonderful site, thanx again Hisa ) knows who Nobuhiko Takada is, so no one cares (except for us, the hardcore)

2) Takada, the one retiring, lost the bout. But they still should've showed it cause he lost to a student of his, Kiyoshi Tamura.

Yeah, the Sakuraba/Arsene match was pretty bad. But, it wasn't Sak's fault, he did just about everything he was supposed to do to win (and put some excitement in the bout). But Giles Arsene should probably not fight in Pride for atleast a year or so. For not doing a thing in that bout, he should go and train up, by fighting in the UFC (hehehehee )

[CrimsonMask]

Maybe after all the gorgonzola surrounding the Takada-Coleman match...

So long from the Sunshine State...

[terrier mask]

What happened in the Takada/Coleman bout?? When did this happen??

[DANGEROUS DAN]

PRIDE 1 featured Takada - Coleman. It was a complete work. I spoke with Coleman personally about it last year. He said that he was paid enouh to put 1 of his daughters into college when the get old enough.

As Dibiase was known to say "everybody's got a price," yet no one can speak ill of the man. He did come back and win the tournament that to this day is the standard for gathering shoot talent in a winner take it all.

[terrier mask]

Thanx for the info. A complete work, eh?? I heard that almost all of Takada's bouts in Pride were works. I don't like that at all, but it is understandable though. Cause didn't Nobuhiku Takada pretty much put Pride on the map??? Cause he was big in NJPW and UWFi, so I could understand Takada's bouts being works.