The highly anticipated Pride show is almost upon us and boasts some very intriguing match-ups that include a good mix of top American, Japanese and International talent. “Fully Loaded” includes such matchups as Josh Barnett taking on “Cro Cop” Mirko Filipovic for the second time, “The worlds most dangerous man” Ken Shamrock taking on Japanese legend Kazushi Sakuraba, as well as Sergei Kharatonov taking on “Cro Cops” jiu jitsu instructor Fabricio Werdum. For the full preview by MMA expert Mike Doyle Click More.

Josh Barnett vs. Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic

This is the long awaited rematch between two of the top heavyweights in the world, the first bout saw Josh Barnett’s freak shoulder injury award Mirko “Cro Cop” the victory in their last fight. However, most fans and Barnett himself view the first encounter as unfinished business and are anticipating a very exciting main event. Barnett is a former UFC heavyweight champion who is looking to solidify himself as one of the top contenders for Fedor Emelianenko’s title. Cro Cop on the other hand is fresh off his unsuccessful bid to become the heavyweight champion, losing a unanimous decision to Fedor in August and is primed for another run at the heavyweight belt. 

One of Barnett’s best-known fights was his classic stand-up war against Pedro Rizzo at UFC 30, he was certainly game in that fight but was eventually KO’d by a vicious right hand. During that fight many MMA observers were surprised Barnett elected to go toe-to-toe with Rizzo rather then try to take him down and work for a submission at a time when “The Rock” was considered by most to be the best striker in the sport. However, that experience will likely serve Barnett well as he prepares for his rematch against arguably the best striker in the sport today in “Cro Cop”. Interestingly, Barnett views Mirko’s stand-up as his biggest strength and at the same time his biggest weakness. He feels “Cro Cop” doesn’t like to get into brawls, he enjoys brawling on people but he doesn’t get into slugfests so Barnett might be looking to engage Mirko into a striking war and test what he calls a suspect chin. An approach that seems to work well against “Cro Cop” is to aggressively attack him as he tends to retreat when someone pushes the pace against him, as he did against both Emelianenko brothers (Fedor & Aleksander) and even with Barnett in their first fight.

As mentioned Mirko recently came up short in his quest to become the heavyweight champion, and it now appears “Cro Cop” might need to overcome some of the mental aspects of the game before he’s ready to reach the next level. Disaster seems to strike each time the spotlight is on “Cro Cop” and he’s beginning to get a reputation as someone who can’t win the “big fight”. In 2003, Cro Cop had the opportunity to become Pride’s interim heavyweight champion while Fedor was hurt and unable to defend his belt when he fought Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. However, in a fight Mirko dominated for most of the first round he found himself in one of Nogueira’s patented submissions and was forced to tap out early in the second round. The next setback occurred during the 2004 heavyweight Grand Prix, “Cro Cop” was back to his winning ways entering the tournament and was a solid favorite to end up meeting Fedor in the finals. Unfortunately, Kevin Randleman pulled off one of the biggest upsets in the history of MMA when he landed a perfect left hook that dropped “Cro Cop” to the mat and followed that up with some GnP forcing the referee to stop the fight. Most recently, “Cro Cop” was dominated by Fedor in one of the biggest hyped MMA matches of all time, and now finds himself looking to pick up the pieces in order to take another run at the title.

It’s no secret that if Cro Cop has time to get set and launch his deadly high left kick its lights out for anybody in the sport. He also has a lot of power behind his punches, which he displayed when he dropped Mark Coleman. However, when “Cro Cop” has been faced with an aggressive fighter who attacks him, he’s forced to retreat and is not as likely to be able to plant himself to use his deadliest weapon. Barnett has likely been training with that in mind, as he successfully rushed “Cro Cop” in their last fight and was able catch him off guard and score a takedown. It will be interesting to see what approach Barnett uses in this fight, but I think he’ll be prepared enough to neutralize Cro Cop when they are on their feet and eventually pull out a submission late in the fight or possibly earn a decision.

Prediction: Barnett via submission 

Ken Shamrock vs. Kazushi Sakuraba

This is truly a battle of Legend vs. Legend, as UFC hall of fame member Ken Shamrock makes his return to the Pride ring to battle Japanese hero Kazushi Sakuraba. Shamrock has been fighting since he was 5 years old on the streets, was a participant at UFC I, crowned the first ever Superfight champion in the UFC, and was one of the sports first true mixed martial artists. Sakuraba gained instant notoriety in Pride after he was anointed “The Gracie Hunter” for defeating Royler, Royce, Ryan, and Renzo in the span of about a year and then followed that up with an epic trilogy against middleweight king Wanderlei Silva. In order for Shamrock to still lay claim to being “The Worlds Most Dangerous Man” he desperately needs to win, otherwise the chance of seeing him compete in future Pride or UFC events is pretty slim.

Shamrock is a former top heavyweight fighter who is coming into this match having lost 3 of his last 4 fights. Having fought the majority of his career at heavyweight he’ll be required to cut weight in order to make the 205 lbs weight limit for this fight. This is nothing new for Shamrock as two of his recent losses (Tito Ortiz & Rich Franklin) occurred when he was fighting as a light heavyweight in the UFC. Against Ortiz, Shamrock complained that cutting the weight did affect his performance, combined with the fact he had a torn ACL. Nonetheless, he showed tremendous heart enduring 3 rounds of punishment at the hands (elbows) of the Huntington Beach Bad Boy until his corner stopped the fight between rounds. Afterwards he took some time off and had surgery to repair his shoulder and knee. Shamrock got the chance to test his reconstructed knee against Kimo at UFC 48 and appeared to have better balance in this fight as he dropped Kimo with a knee from the clinch early in the first round to record the TKO. However, most recently against Franklin he just looked flat. Shamrock applied his trademark heel hook early in the first round, but that was as close as he got to victory as Rich rolled out of the submission attempt and eventually won via first round TKO.

Sakuraba is also coming into this fight having lost his last match, he was thoroughly dominated by Ricardo Arona who punished him with a series of knee strikes until Sakuraba’s corner decided to stop the fight after the second round. After three grueling battles with Silva and his recent loss to Arona fans have to wonder how much more Sakuraba has left in him. Possibly in an attempt to get a new lease on his career he went to Brazil to train with the Chute Boxe academy and his former nemesis Wanderlei Silva. Sakuraba now claims to have added some Muay Thai and jiu-jitsu techniques to his already dangerous repertoire. Sakuraba has been more active and fought tougher competition (Arona, Nogueira, Silva, Randleman) over the past couple of years then Shamrock has, but it remains to be seen whether that experience will provide an edge or show the toll those battles have taken on Sakuraba’s body.    

Known for being a tricky fighter, Sakuraba’s fights are usually a chess match on the ground but Shamrock is by no means a stranger to grappling. Going into this fight some people feel Shamrock’s strength will be too much for Sakuraba to overcome, however he’s previously defeated two fighters in Kevin Randleman and Quinton Jackson who were both much stronger then him. I see this fight coming down to a couple of factors; first, Shamrock is fighting in Sakuraba’s backyard and that may cause Ken to fight somewhat tentative and not press the action, allowing Sakuraba to dictate the pace and get the crowd behind him and second, Shamrock really hasn’t looked impressive when he has fought at 205 lbs possibly due to the fact Ken doesn’t quite know how his body is able to perform when he’s below his normal fighting weight (approx. 220 lbs). This fight will likely end up on the ground where both fighters are most comfortable and at some point Shamrock will more then likely get caught in a submission.

Prediction: Sakuraba via submission 

Sergei Kharitonov vs. Fabricio Werdum

With all the notoriety Sergei Kharitonov has recently gained in Pride most people would have thought he would be fighting a top contender like Mirko Cro Cop, instead he’ll have to settle for Cro Cop’s BJJ coach Fabricio Werdum. Heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko’s recent victories over other top contenders like Cro Cop and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira now leaves Kharitonov in a position for a title shot in the very near future if he’s victorious at Fully Loaded. On the other hand, Werdum views being the underdog and fighting one of Pride’s most dangerous heavyweights as an opportunity to move closer to one day fighting for the belt himself.

Heading into Pride’s 2004 heavyweight tournament (Total Elimination) Kharitonov was one of the least known of the 16 fighters participating, however it was against Murilo “Ninja” Rua in the 1st round where he began making a name for himself. Prior to that fight there where a lot of question marks surrounding Sergei, he was skilled in submissions and throws but no one had really seen him exchanging strikes and Rua was an excellent striker. In the second biggest upset of the night (after Randleman/Cro Cop) Kharitonov showed everyone just how good his striking was and recorded a KO midway through round 1. Sergei followed that up with a vicious GnP victory over the mammoth 6’11 Semmy Schilt to advance to the Final Four against former heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. The experience and well rounded skills of Nogueira proved to be the difference in this fight, as he was very successful in trading strikes with Kharitonov for nearly half the first round, which ultimately lead to a takedown. Towards the end of the 1st round Nogueira was able to mount Sergei for nearly a minute that surely played into the judges scoring, eventually awarding a unanimous decision to Nogueira. There’s no question Kharitonov has improved in each of his fights, and he might have been at his best during his last Pride outing against Pedro Rizzo. In just over two minutes Rizzo was stopped due to strikes, and Kharitonov had now officially made his mark in the division by dominating a fighter who was arguably the sports best striker only a few years ago.

Werdum is a BJJ black belt and world champion who has definitely improved his striking since he began training with the Croatian sensation. Werdum is 2-0 in Pride and showed off his slick submission skills in his last fight against Roman Zentsov, going for a triangle he was able to transition it into a straight arm bar for the victory. Having a similar grappling background to Nogueira’s it appears Werdum will be looking to use the same strategy, throw some jabs and attack with a single leg takedown. Werdum believes Kharitonov leaves his left leg forward and he’ll be looking to take advantage of that.

Kharitonov was able to avoid getting caught in any submission attempts when he fought Nogueira, so it will be a tough task for Werdum to submit him. Also, Nogueira was very good standing up and exchanging strikes until he was able to shoot for a takedown, the question remains whether Werdum can stand and trade with Sergei to set up the takedown. I believe Werdum’s lack of experience combined with the fact that Kharitonov seems to improve in each and every fight will prove to be the difference in this match.

Prediction: Kharitonov via TKO

Quinton “Rampage” Jackson vs. Hirotaka Yokoi

Rampage is back! After rumors that he was a free agent and might possibly jump to the UFC Quinton Jackson is returning to Pride and is looking to get back to his winning ways, and in his path is Pride veteran Hirotaka Yokoi. Not too long ago Jackson was one of the top ranked 205 lbs fighters in the word, however after a couple of losses to Wanderlei Silva and a devastating loss to Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Rampage has seen his stock drop in the rankings. Yokoi is a very quick fighter who has lots of energy, and will be coming down from heavyweight to fight Rampage.

Ever since Team Punishment broke up, Rampage has openly talked about his lack of world class training partners, and judging by his last four performances it’s something worth acknowledging. Against Ricardo Arona, Rampage was getting dominated and appeared to be temporarily unconscious at one point in the fight until he himself admits he got a lucky slam to snatch victory out of the jaws of defeat. In his next fight he was KO’d in devastating fashion by Wanderlei Silva in a match Rampage claims he was overconfident going into, even though he lost their first bout. He won a close split decision victory over Murilo “Ninja” Rua that earned him a spot in this years Pride middleweight Grand Prix, however he seemed somewhat surprised himself by the announcement and even attempted to award Ninja the trophy. Jackson’s most recent fight was in the first round of the Grand Prix when he faced Ninja’s brother Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, and going into the fight he assured everyone that he had been more focused in his training. However, he was completely dismantled in less than 5 minutes and said after the fight he took Shogun very lightly and didn’t train too hard. The timing couldn’t be better for Rampage to make some changes, gone is former trainer Colin Oyama, and he’s finally returned to working out with guys his size like Tito Ortiz, and added people such as Jason “Mayhem” Miller, Karo Parisyan and Jeff Newton to the mix to help him prepare for this fight.

As mentioned Yokoi is dropping down from heavyweight to take this fight, and gave Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira all he could handle in the opening round of the 2004 heavyweight Grand Prix. Yokoi was able to use his judo background to execute a nice hip throw as well as a nice tripping takedown, however as in most fights Nogueira was able to find a way to pull out the win via submission. Going into this fight, Yokoi has lost his last 3 fights so he’ll undoubtedly be looking to get back into the win column.

For Rampage to be successful in this fight he needs to work behind the jab and make sure he’s getting off first, similar to how he fought Chuck Liddell. In his training he’s been working on improving his hands and wrestling so it would certainly appear he’s trying to get back to where he was as a fighter a couple of years ago. Even with the recent setbacks Jackson is still a serious force and for the first time in quite a while it appears he’s got a training camp that will get the most out of him.

Prediction: Jackson via TKO