Tokyo Dome, Japan, Oct 11, 1997

Rickson Gracie v. Nobuhiko Takada
Kimo v. Dan Severn
Gary Goodridge v. Oleg Taktarov
Akira Shoji v. Renzo Gracie
Nathan Jones v. Mitsuharu Kitao
Ralph White v. Branco Cikatic (Kickboxing)
Kazunari Murakami v. John Dixon

In mixed martial arts history, a look at the early UFC proves how far the sport has come. No time limits, bare knuckles, legal head butting, and so much more made the sport seem so unrefined, the likes of Senator John McCain (Republican-Arizona) sought to shut down the promotion in the United States. The UFC eventually reemerged, but it didn’t look the same as it did before. Knuckles were covered, and short guys could no longer take on huge sumo wrestlers. Basically, the UFC tried to go legit. So, why is this important in considering a Pride fight card?

Pride emerged just around the time the UFC was appearing to go under, and Pride could afford to pay more and promote the sport to an open-minded Japanese audience; rules have changed since, but the organization hasn’t really evolved as radically. Pride had the ability to emerge as a sport with a context preceding it, whether it’s the UFC in America, or Pancrase in Japan. A lot of the early Pride bouts somewhat look similar to the present day, although the deepening of the talent pool has lead to better fights.

In the year it was announced, the inaugural roster probably seemed interesting on paper. After all, Rickson Gracie was, and still is, a legend in Brazilian jiu jitsu, and Nubuhiko Takada, in pro-wrestling, could fill Japanese arenas with his name alone. Kimo and Severn had established mixed martial arts records in the UFC and other organizations, as did Goodridge and Taktarov. Renzo Gracie, before entering Pride, never had lost an MMA rules match – not to mention his international jiu jitsu reputation. Even Branco Cikatic, who appears under special kickboxing rules, built a name in K-1 by beating people like Ernesto Hoost. Still, for all the name power, Pride 1’s results are uneven in retrospect.

Severn and Kimo, both adept at wrestling and ground fighting, decide to stand and duke it out without throwing many punches; the result is a half-hour of the two circling each other, not doing much of anything. It’s one of the most boring Pride matches ever, partly due to the fight consisting of only one 30 minute round without breaks. Had this fight happened recently, both of them would have gotten many yellow cards for stalling.

Branco Cikatic, in the card’s only kickboxing bout, personifies unsportsmanlike conduct. After the fight opens, he comes out, offers to touch gloves, and then cheap-shots Ralph White with spinning kick to the midsection. Shortly thereafter, in a flurry, White goes to the ground, and Cikatic purposely shin-kicks him in the head, giving Ralph White a most horrific welt. Commentators Quadros and Rutten even remark about how unreal it looks – something straight out of the film Alien.

A lot of the other matches here are quickies. Former sumo yokozuna Mitsuharu Kitao keylocks Nathan Jones early. Jones hasn’t competed in mixed martial arts since; the Australian has, however, had an undistinguished stint in American pro-wrestling.

Rickson Gracie, with an arm bar, makes easy work of Takada – Kazunari Murakami does the same to an out-of-shape-looking John Dixon.

In a striking game of cat-and-mouse, Gary Goodridge KOs Oleg Taktarov early, and the knockout is vicious. Taktarov hits the ring face-first, which doesn’t stop Goodridge. He drops down for two hard shots while the Russian is out. It seems like an unforgivable lapse in officiating, as the ref should have stepped in; medics carted Taktarov off on a stretcher.

In comparison with everything else, Renzo Gracie and Akira Shoji put on the most substantive match. Renzo entered the event undefeated, with everything to lose because Shoji had neither the reputation nor the name recognition. In the resulting half hour, Renzo tries everything from a half-guillotine to other submission attempts, and Shoji demonstrates a range of escapes. As the fight lasts, one can even see Renzo getting a little frustrated as his attempts to dominate are thwarted and shutdown. Yet, he didn’t lose, and Shoji didn’t either. Still, if this draw ever benefited anybody, it’s Akira Shoji – he’s had a high profile career in Pride ever since.

On the whole Akira Shoji and Renzo Gracie cannot save this DVD, as there is nothing truly spectacular here – just a lot of quickly decided matches ending in tap-outs. Goodridge provides the lone knockout, and the kickboxing match is a travesty not worthy of disk space. It might be said that, despite these shortcomings, Pride 1 from the Tokyo Dome has its charm as a historical artifact. True, but that still doesn’t mean it offers a lot of memorable fights.

Pride 1, from the Tokyo Dome rates 2 out of 5