Ogawa/Goodridge: The Fix That Wasn't

TRYHARD 2001

TRYHARD 2001

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I recently read someone on here answering a question on fixed fights in Pride and bringing this one up. I'd forgotten that this was popularly believed to be a work back in the day. Honestly, I have no idea why that is, other than people not giving Ogawa credit for being as good as he was, particularly as a grappler. They just couldn't believe that he could beat Gary, despite the fact that Gary was never that great a fighter... particularly as a grappler.

All I can say is go watch the fight and try to tell me with a straight face it was a work. Goodridge came out throwing bombs for the first minute, clipping and staggering Ogawa early, before he got rocked by a straight left, clinched and thrown to the mat with ease by a former judo world champion. The ensuing 9 minutes consisted of Gary powering out of americana attempts, getting mounted and controlled from the sidemount, and getting punched in the face. If this were a work, Gary would have tapped to the first attempt, not sustained a beating like that for the remainder of the round. In the second, Naoya caught him with the americana after throwing him to the mat and that was that. No fix here, guys.

The fact is, Gary gassed early and hard in this one and he went up against a grappler who was every bit as big and strong as him with a lot more talent that took full advantage of that. Ogawa was far from a world beater, but he was pretty good and at least in this instance he was not involved in the working of a fight. IIRC, Goodridge addressed this rumour and said that, while a vague offer of money was offered from Pride should he lose the fight, he turned it down and got beaten fairly.

Just wanted to set the record straight on this front. We can now go back to watching Cyborg punch some nobody in the mouth...
 
What record are you setting straight? Goodridge flat out told everybody that PRIDE fixed fights. He turned down a dive and still lost. Big of him to admit, and I am grateful for that truth, because it shows that PRIDE has zero credibility in MMA history. Even though it was so god damn entertaining and I miss the shit out of it.
 
TRYHARD 2001 said:
I recently read someone on here answering a question on fixed fights in Pride and bringing this one up. I'd forgotten that this was popularly believed to be a work back in the day. Honestly, I have no idea why that is, other than people not giving Ogawa credit for being as good as he was, particularly as a grappler. They just couldn't believe that he could beat Gary, despite the fact that Gary was never that great a fighter... particularly as a grappler.

All I can say is go watch the fight and try to tell me with a straight face it was a work. Goodridge came out throwing bombs for the first minute, clipping and staggering Ogawa early, before he got rocked by a straight left, clinched and thrown to the mat with ease by a former judo world champion. The ensuing 9 minutes consisted of Gary powering out of americana attempts, getting mounted and controlled from the sidemount, and getting punched in the face. If this were a work, Gary would have tapped to the first attempt, not sustained a beating like that for the remainder of the round. In the second, Naoya caught him with the americana after throwing him to the mat and that was that. No fix here, guys.

The fact is, Gary gassed early and hard in this one and he went up against a grappler who was every bit as big and strong as him with a lot more talent that took full advantage of that. Ogawa was far from a world beater, but he was pretty good and at least in this instance he was not involved in the working of a fight. IIRC, Goodridge addressed this rumour and said that, while a vague offer of money was offered from Pride should he lose the fight, he turned it down and got beaten fairly.

Just wanted to set the record straight on this front. We can now go back to watching Cyborg punch some nobody in the mouth...
Click to expand...

Good Ol´Daddy was never a real reliable source.. He even said that 90%, no less, of the early Pride fights were fixed!
 
The quickness with which Gary secured that crucifix and the brutality of the beatdown gave a lot of fighters something to think about.

Rickson wanted to grapple Ogawa.
 
IronMan374 said:
What record are you setting straight? Goodridge flat out told everybody that PRIDE fixed fights. He turned down a dive and still lost. Big of him to admit, and I am grateful for that truth, because it shows that PRIDE has zero credibility in MMA history. Even though it was so god damn entertaining and I miss the shit out of it.
Click to expand...
b wtf.gif
 
I'll believe these guys when they say that a fight they won was fixed.

Agree that Ogawa vs Gary didn't look fixed. Ogawa is an all-time great of Judo, he underperformed in MMA but was still capable of beating gary
 
IronMan374 said:
thx fr the rspns, my frnd.
Click to expand...

Good Ol´Daddy said 90% of the early Pride were fixed, and u said u agree.

This is PRIDE 1:

Rickson Gracie def. Nobuhiko Takada Submission (armbar) 1 4:47
Kimo Leopoldo vs. Dan Severn Draw (time expired) 1 30:00
Branko Cikatic vs. Ralph White No Contest 1 1:52 [a]
Koji Kitao def. Nathan Jones Submission (keylock) 1 2:14
Renzo Gracie vs. Akira Shoji Draw (time expired) 3 10:00
Gary Goodridge def. Oleg Taktarov KO (punch) 1 4:57
Kazunari Murakami def. John Dixson Submission (armbar) 1 1:34


SHOW ME : 90% = 6 Fights fixed here.

WAITING...

Rampage waiting.png
 
Katsumi Yamada said:
I'll believe these guys when they say that a fight they won was fixed.
Click to expand...

Gary flat out said they approached him to take a dive. He refused. And still lost fairly.

That's as good as "a fight they won was fixed", in my book. Also, I'll bet most of the fighters that won had no idea the other guy was taking a dive.
 
DaPunkMinowaMan said:
Good Ol´Daddy said 90% of the early Pride were fixed, and u said u agree.

This is PRIDE 1:

Rickson Gracie def. Nobuhiko Takada Submission (armbar) 1 4:47
Kimo Leopoldo vs. Dan Severn Draw (time expired) 1 30:00
Branko Cikatic vs. Ralph White No Contest 1 1:52 [a]
Koji Kitao def. Nathan Jones Submission (keylock) 1 2:14
Renzo Gracie vs. Akira Shoji Draw (time expired) 3 10:00
Gary Goodridge def. Oleg Taktarov KO (punch) 1 4:57
Kazunari Murakami def. John Dixson Submission (armbar) 1 1:34


SHOW ME : 90% = 6 Fights fixed here.

WAITING...

View attachment 232375
Click to expand...

Keep waiting. What credibility do I have? None. Goodridge was the guy backstage, and I believe what he said.
 
DaPunkMinowaMan said:
I REPEAT: SHOW ME 90%=6 FIGHTS.
Click to expand...

I don't know what you want from me.
d6f.jpg
 
Never has bothered me that Pride possibly fixed fights. The legendary fights and fighters kept me tuned in.
 
IronMan374 said:
What record are you setting straigth? Goodridge flat out told everybody that PRIDE fixed fights. He turned down a dive and still lost. Big of him to admit, and I am grateful for that truth, because it shows that PRIDE has zero credibility in MMA history. Even though it was so god damn entertaining and I miss the shit out of it.
Click to expand...

Out of curiosity, when did you become a fan of MMA?

Regardless, I'm setting the record straight on this fight. It wasn't a work, Ogawa beat Gary's ass, and any claims to the contrary are complete lies. As far as Pride having zero credibility with regards to MMA, I can only assume you're referring to Coleman/Takada, which is the only for sure work I can think of in Pride's history. Feel free to name some more, but one fixed fight does not take away from the absolute classics Pride provided us with. It had freak show fights that shouldn't have happened, but it also gave us the best fighters of that era competing in their primes, in an environment that encouraged fighting over just competing. Bottom line, Pride was awesome and claims that 90% of the fights were fixed are lies, whether they come from an embittered punch drunk journeyman or random internet trolls who don't have any concept of what they speak of.

For the record, Taktarov/Macias was a work. By your logic, UFC has no credibility in MMA history.
 
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