Fight Facts: Pride FC Anniversary Edition

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C

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As you probably know by now, I used to write for Vice Sports and now I'm collaborating with Combat Docket to put these articles together now known as Fight Facts. Formerly Cage Captions, it's the same great info presented almost the same way. Fightland Forever!

Like usual, if you have any questions or suggestions, let me know, and if you have other inquiries into Pride FC stats, I can hopefully answer them.

Fight Facts: Pride FC

10/11/17

Total Number of Pride FC Fights: 588
Total Number of Pride FC Events: 68


Pride FC brought MMA fans some of the best fights in the history of the sport, in their nearly ten year run as Japan’s and the world’s premier mixed martial arts organization. On the 20th Anniversary of Pride FC 1, we break down all 68 of its glorious events, from top to bottom.


First Fight, October 11, 1997:
Kazunari Murakami submits John Dixson by Armbar at 1:34 of the first round at Pride 1


Final Fight, April 8, 2007:
Jeff Monson submits Kazuyuki Fujita by Rear Naked Choke at 6:37 of the first round at Pride 34


Wins and Losses

Most Wins:

22 - Wanderlei Silva

18 - Igor Vovchanchyn, Kazushi Sakuraba, Mirko Cro Cop

17 - Antonio Rodrigo (Big) Nogueira

14 - Fedor Emelianenko

13 - Dan Henderson, Takanori Gomi

12 – Heath Herring, Kazuhiro Nakamura, Mauricio Rua, Quinton Jackson


Most Losses:

12 - Akira Shoji

9 – Alexander Otsuka, Gary Goodridge

8 – Daijiro Matsui, Igor Vovchanchyn, Ikuhisa Minowa, Kazushi Sakuraba

7 – Alistair Overeem, Gilbert Yvel, Kazuhiro Nakamura, Kevin Randleman, Masaaki Satake, Murilo Rua


Highest Winning Percentage (with at least 10 fights):

Fedor Emelianenko – 93.3%

Mauricio Rua – 92.9%

Takanori Gomi – 86.7%

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira – 81%

Antonio Rogerio Nogueira – 80%

Wanderlei Silva – 78.6%

Mirko Cro Cop – 75%

HM: Paulo Filho went 8-0 in Pride


Most Appearances in Pride:

28 – Wanderlei Silva

27 – Igor Vovchanchyn, Kazushi Sakuraba

24 – Mirko Cro Cop

23 – Akira Shoji

21 – Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira

19 – Gary Goodridge

18 – Dan Henderson

17 – Heath Herring, Ikuhisa Minowa, Kazuhiro Nakamura, Quinton Jackson

15 – Daijiro Matsui, Fedor Emelianenko, Takanori Gomi


Stoppages

Finish Rates:

34.5% KO/TKO

31.6% Submission


Most Stoppages on a Card:

9 – Pride 10, Pride 28, Pride Bushido 9, Pride Bushido 12


Fewest Stoppages on a Card:

2 – Pride 12


Most Stoppage Wins:

16 – Mirko Cro Cop, Wanderlei Silva

15 – Kazushi Sakuraba

12 – Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Igor Vovchanchyn

10 – Fedor Emelianenko, Heath Herring, Mauricio Rua, Takanori Gomi

9 – Gary Goodridge, Quinton Jackson

8 - Dan Henderson


Most Stoppage Losses:

7 – Akira Shoji, Gary Goodridge, Ikuhisa Minowa, Kazushi Sakuraba

6 – Alistair Overeem, Kevin Randleman, Paulo Cesar Silva

5 – Igor Vovchanchyn, Mark Coleman, Nobuhiko Takada, Shungo Oyama


Knockouts

Most KO/TKO Wins:

15 – Wanderlei Silva

13 – Mirko Cro Cop

9 – Igor Vovchanchyn, Mauricio Rua

8 – Dan Henderson

7 – Gary Goodridge, Quinton Jackson, Takanori Gomi


Most Times Knocked Out:

7 – Kazushi Sakuraba

6 – Ikuhisa Minowa

5 – Akira Shoji



Submissions

Most Popular Submissions:

Armbar – 29%

Rear Naked Choke – 14.5%

Kimura – 7.5%

Guillotine Choke – 7%


Unique (officially pulled off once) Submissions:

Double Armbar – Alexander Otsuka over Mike Bourke

Ezekiel Choke – Hidehiko Yoshida over Kiyoshi Tamura

Flying Scissor Heel Hook – Ryo Chonan over Anderson Silva

Flying Triangle Choke – Shinya Aoki over Clay French

Gogoplata* – Shinya Aoki over Joachim Hansen

Scarf-Hold Headlock – Kazuyuki Fujita over Hans Nijman

Single Wing Choke – Hidehiko Yoshida over Tank Abbott

Smother Choke – Ricco Rodriguez over Takayuki Okada

Strangle Choke – Tom Erikson over Matt Skelton

* The other Gogoplata was performed by Nick Diaz at Pride 33 against Takanori Gomi, but it was overturned to a NC


Fight Length

Longest Fights in Pride FC History:

90 Minutes – Kazushi Sakuraba defeats Royce Gracie by TKO (Corner Stoppage) after Round 6

50 Minutes, 43 Seconds – Renzo Gracie submits Sanae Kikuta by Guillotine Choke in Round 6

40 Minutes – Daijiro Matsui and Akira Shoji fight to a Draw


Shortest Fights in Pride FC History:

6 Seconds – Takanori Gomi TKOs Ralph Gracie with Knees

11 Seconds – 5 Way Tie, three One Punch KOs and two TKOs – KOs: Aleksander Emelianenko, Mario Sperry, Luiz Azeredo – TKOs: Bob Sapp, Assuerio Silva

Honorable Mention: 2 seconds, Kazuyuki Fujita’s corner threw in the towel against Mark Coleman at Pride GP 2000 Finals


15 Stats of Pride FC:

FIFTEEN Title Fights

FOURTEEN Fights stopped by the Doctors

THIRTEEN Bushido cards

TWELVE Fighters tapped to strikes

ELEVEN Soccer Kick Knockouts

TEN Draws

NINE-ty Thousand announced fans (91,107 to be precise) at Shockwave

EIGHT Tournaments

SEVEN Head Kick KOs

SIX Rounds for Sakuraba and Gracie

FIVE Lights shut out by knees (and 17 more by TKO!)

FOUR Gracies Hunted by Sakuraba (Royler, Royce, Renzo, Ryan)

THREE Fighters quit mid-fight

TWO Slam Knockouts

ONE and only Pride FC, Pride Never Die!


Thanks for reading, everybody, and be sure to check out my new buddies at Combat Docket!
 

Wild

Zi Nazi
Admin
Dec 31, 2014
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22 motherfucking wins for Wand. Fuck that is impressive and tends to be forgotten in today's MMA. What a savage he was back in the day.
 
C

Ceiling Fan

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22 motherfucking wins for Wand. Fuck that is impressive and tends to be forgotten in today's MMA. What a savage he was back in the day.
Dude knocked out 15 other dudes in Pride alone. I had forgotten some of these achievements and overrated some other ones. I didn't remember Shogun only lost once in Pride, either.
 

Wild

Zi Nazi
Admin
Dec 31, 2014
89,676
129,088
Dude knocked out 15 other dudes in Pride alone. I had forgotten some of these achievements and overrated some other ones. I didn't remember Shogun only lost once in Pride, either.
PRIDE had the stud stable in their hay day. What a roster.
 

Rambo John J

Baker Team
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Jan 17, 2015
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I have all the Pride DVDS...original Japanese versions

Bushido and tournaments included

the bonus features/footage is priceless...along with bas/quadros and bas/mauro commentary

pure gold jerry
 

Rambo John J

Baker Team
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Jan 17, 2015
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Dude knocked out 15 other dudes in Pride alone. I had forgotten some of these achievements and overrated some other ones. I didn't remember Shogun only lost once in Pride, either.
Shogun was quite an amazing athlete as a young man...still has more heart than 99% of MMA but his athleticism was off the hook back then...he could literally fly
 

Rambo John J

Baker Team
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Jan 17, 2015
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Dude knocked out 15 other dudes in Pride alone. I had forgotten some of these achievements and overrated some other ones. I didn't remember Shogun only lost once in Pride, either.
shogun lost to a broken arm...totally changed career trajectory

came back a totally different fighter....still amazing but without the fearless acrobatics
 

La Paix

Fuck this place
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My favourite write up of yours yet @jeicex I was smiling up until most times KOd, Saku :(

These two here though...


 

BrunoMcGyver

Bruno no dey carry last
Dec 30, 2015
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Pride 1 was the first mma event I ever watched - 6 years after it happened.

It was 2003 and I was looking at temporary stall which sold videos (vcr back then) at my then local shopping centre. I stumbled upon these videos saying 'Pride' and looked at the back where they were spruiking martial art vs martial art.

I thought that looked like something I'd like so I bought one. I thought it would be logical to buy Pride 1 since it was the first one. Man, I remember seeing that Murikami arm bar (didn't know it was a work) and thought "wtf!?"

Then I saw Goodridge almost kill Oleg and I was like "Holy fucking shit!!!!" Then I remember the K1 rules match with Cikatic who soccer kicked the other feller and caused that big fucking hematoma on his head.

I fell in love.

Bought shitloads of Pride vids after that and loved it all...It was only 3-4 months later I found out about UFC when I joined Sherdog. Seemed like yesterday.

Man I'm fucking old.
 

crowbar

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Jan 27, 2015
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The Pride sticker on my truck is dirty so,I had a custom one made at the flea market that I have not put on yet.


 

Rambo John J

Baker Team
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Jan 17, 2015
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Pride 1 was the first mma event I ever watched - 6 years after it happened.

It was 2003 and I was looking at temporary stall which sold videos (vcr back then) at my then local shopping centre. I stumbled upon these videos saying 'Pride' and looked at the back where they were spruiking martial art vs martial art.

I thought that looked like something I'd like so I bought one. I thought it would be logical to buy Pride 1 since it was the first one. Man, I remember seeing that Murikami arm bar (didn't know it was a work) and thought "wtf!?"

Then I saw Goodridge almost kill Oleg and I was like "Holy fucking shit!!!!" Then I remember the K1 rules match with Cikatic who soccer kicked the other feller and caused that big fucking hematoma on his head.

I fell in love.

Bought shitloads of Pride vids after that and loved it all...It was only 3-4 months later I found out about UFC when I joined Sherdog. Seemed like yesterday.

Man I'm fucking old.
 
C

Ceiling Fan

Guest
I had a blast writing this up, because it means I had another excuse to go back and watch some legendary fights. I also watched some...less...than legendary fights, like a few matches from the first couple cards that weren't as exciting as they could have been. Renzo vs Kikuta's 50 minute thing was one such bout I struggled watching for the second (I always skipped it) time.

But I went through the glorious knockouts, subs, and so much more. I took a screenshot of each of the unique submissions, you can find them posted on the full version of the article.
 

Ted Williams' head

It's freezing in here!
Sep 23, 2015
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Pride is what MMA should be - great production values and no PED testing.

Cool stats, the Sakuraba most KO'd one made me sad though.
 

Ted Williams' head

It's freezing in here!
Sep 23, 2015
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I also watched some...less...than legendary fights, like a few matches from the first couple cards that weren't as exciting as they could have been
what do u reckon is the worst pride fight ever? Kimo/Severn, Kerr/Duarte, Crocop/Takada, Renzo/Ohara, and like u said Renzo/Kikuta were fucking putrid.
 

Rambo John J

Baker Team
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what do u reckon is the worst pride fight ever? Kimo/Severn, Kerr/Duarte, Crocop/Takada, Renzo/Ohara, and like u said Renzo/Kikuta were fucking putrid.
royce and saku the tournament 90 minute match was pretty odd to view

it wore me out to view it LOL
 
C

Ceiling Fan

Guest
royce and saku the tournament 90 minute match was pretty odd to view

it wore me out to view it LOL
I'm glad someone else said it so I'm not the first to mention it, but the Royce vs Sakuraba fight is one of the most overrated fights of all time. Sure it had good moments, but over the span of a feature length film, it did not have nearly enough action or excitement to keep me interested for so long. It was important and significant, but I see it on top lists all the time.

On Tapology, it's regarded as the 24th greatest fight in MMA history, and as far as the fight itself goes, nah. I think it's beloved because of its extreme length, and the fact that it's Sakuraba vs Gracie. It feels like one of those accomplishments fight fans say to other fight fans to let them know they're legit - like it's a code word of sorts.
 

La Paix

Fuck this place
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I'm glad someone else said it so I'm not the first to mention it, but the Royce vs Sakuraba fight is one of the most overrated fights of all time. Sure it had good moments, but over the span of a feature length film, it did not have nearly enough action or excitement to keep me interested for so long. It was important and significant, but I see it on top lists all the time.

On Tapology, it's regarded as the 24th greatest fight in MMA history, and as far as the fight itself goes, nah. I think it's beloved because of its extreme length, and the fact that it's Sakuraba vs Gracie. It feels like one of those accomplishments fight fans say to other fight fans to let them know they're legit - like it's a code word of sorts.
Saku vs Newton for best "grappling" match in PRIDE.