Heath Herring vs. Giant Silva was fake as hell!

[Crimson Fury]

Second he actually beat his opponent in the first fight.

What? Who?

 

[Edwin]

I know that Pride supposedly mixed in some wrestling matches with their MMA, and Sonnen likes to make light of Pride's "fake fights". Well, here's one for sure.

PRIDE had deep pro-wrestling roots.

MMA in Japan is treated very differently than in America.

The weird thing is, it's on their MMA record as though it was a legit fight. I'm no expert, but I've seen a lot of MMA, and a lot of Pro Wrestling back in the day.

Why is it weird? You know how many well documented fixed fights appear on fighters Sherdog Fight Finders? Akira Maeda and Volk Han's entire record are made up of fixed fights in RINGS which was a shoot style pro-wrestling organization back then and the most recent U-Spirits event was a complete shoot style pro-wrestling event and it's still on the Sherdog Fight Finder.

This looked a hell of a lot more like Pro Wrestling than MMA to me. "Giant Silva" threw the slowest, most ridiculous looking punches that looked like he had no intention of actually landing. Herring seemed to be "leading" him around the ring, throwing the occasional leg kick.

You've probably never seen much of Giant Silva if this is new to you.

I'm not saying no real punches or kicks landed in that fight, but it was easily the most suspect MMA fight I have ever personally seen.

You need to see more MMA if this is "the most suspect MMA fight" you've ever seen.

Not taking any shots at you, I'm just being honest.

 

[xtramob]

LOL Giant Silva was awful.

 

[Bigj383]

TS has obviously never seen Takada vs Kyle Sturgeon at Pride 3

 

[KING BONES]

I remember I saw this fight on TV when I was in Japan... Herring looked tiny. I went to Roppongi later that night and actually saw Herring on the street. Dude was like 6'4. I then realized he had fought and defeated a real-life giant.

 

[White Whale]

LOL Giant Silva was awful.

Giant Silva was the best fighter in pride.

 

[cookdaddy]

Fight was legit you fucking idiots. Herring was overconfident early, ate a huge overhand sledgehammer on the top of his head from Silva which stunned him, and he became passive the rest of the fight. Is it really that hard to realize its legit?

 

[tenniswhiz]

Ever seen Nick Diaz vs. Koji Oishi in the UFC?

Silva's fights were real. He's just not a fighter. Herring gave the size a lot of respect in that fight.

Oishi’s VERY next fight was against Nate Diaz in Pancrase. It was only Nate’s 2nd pro fight.
Oishi won a decision.

 

[DayV]

Ogawa .vs. all of the guys in the 2004 GP up until Fedor was fake as fuck though. That includes Ogawa .vs. Giant Silva. I remember Japanese fans actually thought this guy had a chance against Fedor due to his fake wins. It was as if you give say give Stefan Struve three of the worst fighters in the heavyweight division in fixed fights then throw him in against Cain Velasquez, just stupid.

Ogawa was actually ranked in Top 15 at that time, he beat Gary Goodrdige in 1999 while Goodridge was ranked Top 10 fighter, that added to his judo medails, unbeaten record, win over very good kickboxer Leko and popularity in Japan made him decent win at that time.

Ogawa certanly had enough submission skill to beat some of Top 10 / 15 brawlers that were ranked in recent years if fight goes to the ground in 10 minute round and Pride rules.

 

[PalmStrike]

I always felt bad for Giant Silva...the way he groaned every time he got pounded on was quite sad but I honestly believe that dude wanted to be a fighter. He just wasn't nimble enough.

Ive watched EVERY Pride event at least 10 times and I can tell you what fights were, not exactly fake, but had "special" rules.


Most of the early Sakuraba fights.

vs Newton...all they did was grapple.

vs Vitor...clearly Vitor wasn't allowed to smash sakuraba like he could have.

Coleman vs Takada was probably the most obvious.

 

[Fedor_Silva]

WHO punches that bad though? I've never seen a professional fighter of any discipline throw a "punch" like that. Hulk Hogan's fake punches look much more dangerous than those real ones. Seriously....

It was the beggining of MMA. Giant Silva was never a professional fighter.

Context...

 

[uled]

Just saw this fight watching an episode of Best of Pride, so I apologize if this is old news to some of you.

I know that Pride supposedly mixed in some wrestling matches with their MMA, and Sonnen likes to make light of Pride's "fake fights". Well, here's one for sure.

The weird thing is, it's on their MMA record as though it was a legit fight. I'm no expert, but I've seen a lot of MMA, and a lot of Pro Wrestling back in the day. This looked a hell of a lot more like Pro Wrestling than MMA to me. "Giant Silva" threw the slowest, most ridiculous looking punches that looked like he had no intention of actually landing. Herring seemed to be "leading" him around the ring, throwing the occasional leg kick.

I'm not saying no real punches or kicks landed in that fight, but it was easily the most suspect MMA fight I have ever personally seen.

I would say that was a good performance for having zero mma experience

 

[marvinparsons]

I just watched all of Giant Silva's Pride fights and TBH they all looked fake to me. In basically every fight either nobody hits him in the head or when they do they are clearly taking something off those strikes.
Giant Silva couldn't fight at all so it makes sense that he took these "fights" with the provision that he wouldn't get seriously injured. He gets stopped in every fight while taking minimal damage. Highly suspect.

 

[marvinparsons]

I don't think Herring needed to work a fight in order to beat Giant Silva. Also, if it was a work, you'd think they would put on a better show. I don't doubt that there were some works even later in Pride, I just don't think that was one of them. Silva was just that bad.

Herring would obviously beat Silva, no work required. I think the work is that they want ppl to beat Silva (billed at 500 lbs) without seriously hurting him, who was there for a paycheck, not to fight. So Herring hits him with some leg kicks then subs him. No head kicks, stomps, or even punches to the face. I'm sure it doesn't require Silva to take a dive, more so the instruction is to Herring to take it easy and beat him by sub.

It'd be like if Ngannou fought Giant Silva. Zero work required to make Ngannou win, but a work is 100% required to keep Silva from having his jaw shattered and sent to the hospital.