I have been watching Pride FC since around the time Saku and Royce fought the first time. The first PPV I ever actually ordered was Fedor vs Cro Cop. Pride was my favorite org.The presentation, the skill level of the fighters, the global- worldly feel, the rivalries, the stroylines, the personalities, the rules, the ring, the sprinkled in freakshow matches to keep things fun and interesting etc.
Watching Rizin last night was nostalgic and entertaining but at the same time you could also feel that current state of JMMA is quite sad in terms of talent and skill level. The presentation and production value were not bad, you could feel the effort and it wasn't much worse than what Pride was doing in its heyday. The lights, the stage, the introduction etc. Definitely gave that old Pride-o feel it just sucks that all it could be matched with in terms of talent was regional level skill level of fighters.
Seeing the Pride rules in effect and fully exercised by the fighters was awesome. Watching fighters go for kicks and knees to downed opponents definitely took me back to the god old days but the skills of the fighters didnt match the rules and presentation. Sure, in the old days Pride had its share of freakshows, mismatches and circus fights but they didnt feel so dominant on the card. Id say it felt more like they were just sprinkled on already great cards where the best were fighting the best.
-The Gabi Garcia fight was an absolute freakshow, mismatch of low skilled fighters for the sake of what exactly? Entertainment, I suppose. Definitely not a good look IMO.
-The Murata fight with terrible striking and poor grappling. Size disadvantage and just regional level skill at best if not worse. That Kimura attempt was white belt level and novice to say the least.
That Kimura kid who came out dancing to the Lombada and Wand's prehistoric sandstorm theme only to get KTFO by Krazy Horse in seconds. How did they let a kid fight a guy with 50 fights in his professional debut??? Id be lying if I said seeing all this didnt make me somewhat sad to see.
The Fujita and Baruto fight was boring as well and sad to watch.
Brain damaged Wand and Mirko agreeing to fight in December was sad to see as well. Like there is no new talent to build the event on. Just old, brain damaged legends who should be thinking of retiring soon. It was all just sad to see for someone who was around to see how mega JMMA once was.
If Pride FC was WANDERLEI SILVA, Rizin would be that Chute Boxe fighter named Fabio Silva who looked like Wand, talked like Wand, walked like Wand, and smelled like Wand and even had the same last name but ended up being a sad wannabe who got clobbered to death in can fashion.
The pic below is what JMMA once was: the best fighters in the world, fighting under the most exciting rulesset in a ring in japan in front of 50k crowds on cards sprinkled with some freakshows to keep things exciting.
What Rizin offers is Pride FC presentation and production value but piggybacked on a few brain damaged legends, some japanese wrestlers for tv ratings, some regional level fighters and some freakshows. I guess you have to start somewhere and thats what they are doing and seeing it was nostalgic and fun but Id be lying if I said it wasnt also sad.
Overall I appreciate Rizin and their efforts to revive JMMA but with the way the sport has been monopolized I dont know if they will ever be able to acquire the talent that they once had in Japan to match their presentation and production. You cant have such high level presentation with regional level fighters. It just wont work.
Does the lack of talent bother you? Or are you just happy to watch mixfight from a different scope like we saw with Rizin last night? For me Rizin will be OK but I dont think it will ever reach the level that Pride was once at.
