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Saturday, September 03, 2005
Taneo: Pride at stake
By Paul J. Taneo
Free-for-all
Wanderlei Silva is a winner, but not everybody loves him, especially the fighters he batters. Ricardo Arona is one of those. Not that he has been a losing victim of Silva’s hammer straights, hooks and leaden foot stomps. Arona won over Silva, only the fifth man in 35 fights to beat Silva in MMA.
So what did Arona do to upset the “Axe Murderer” in last Sunday’s Pride Total Elimination 2005 semifinals? It wasn’t much of a surprise really. Arona’s 12-2-0 slate may have paled against Silva’s record but Arona has taken some of the best in the sport and beaten them: Jeremy Horn, Guy Mezger, Dan Henderson, Kazushi Sakuraba. Arona has earned his slot near the top of the best MMA 200-pounders in the world. The only fighters who had defeated Arona were Fedor, yes, dammit, the Fedor Emelianenko and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.
Another noted fighter Arona beat was Murilo “Ninja” Rua, brother of Pride TE 2005 qualifier Mauricio “Shogun” and eventual...that’s another story. Arona had earned his rep and he showed Silva how.
Silva, of the notorious Chute Boxe muay Thai school, stared down with the young toughie, Arona, of rival Brazilian Top Team, during their official weigh-in. With one of the known universe’s most blood-curdling stares and just as frightening beatdowns, the Axe Murderer surely has earned his calling card.
They started the first round showing a lot of respect, measuring each other out from a distance in a circle dance of potential violence. It was Arona who broke the spell with a thundering right leg kick that took Silva’s left leg from under him. Arona quickly stomped on Silva with the same leg but Silva defended himself with raised legs that caught Arona on the waist and had locked on the guard, Arona unable to pass.
Arona threw punches on the supine Silva, who skillfully defended himself. This scenario was played out practically all throughout three rounds. The referee restarted the match in some instances and the two Brazilians automatically charged in at each other with bombs. Silva also tried to lock Silva’s neck with his arms and knee him in the body and head but Arona slipped out. Arona was more cautious in the strike exchanges as he usually stepped back and attempted to shoot and back to the ground they went.
STAND YOUR GROUND. It went on practically like this the length of the match and Arona gained more points than Silva to earn a unanimous-decision win. As the referee raised Arona’s arm after the decision was read, Silva looked away with his left hand on his hip as if thinking he should have stood his ground on the standup and struck it out as he might have gotten in a lucky KO punch.
Silva’s corner didn’t seem so disappointed as Rudimar Federigo still had one more Chute Boxe fighter in the card.
The other semis pairing was more decisive as “Shogun” Rua, Silva’s gymmate, relentlessly pursued Alistair Overeem up and on the ground.
Overeem, in overlong orange shorts cut in the way his fellow K1 fighter Michael McDonald wears his, chose not to change the strategy that had earned him two earlier wins – the guillotine choke. But Rua was too elusive to be caught in that submission hold, obviously having prepared an escape route after seeing Overeem win over Vitor Belfort and Igor Vovchanchyn in that manner. Overeem was able to knee Shogun while they were on the ground but these did not affect Shogun.
UNPREPARED. It turned out it was Overeem who hadn’t prepared for Rua’s power and relentlessness as the tall Dutch withered away under Shogun’s attack and nifty takedowns. He maneuvered his way back up from the side control and with Overeem holding on to his left ankle, he managed a “soccer” kick with his free leg that missed Overeem’s head followed by a stomp.
Going back to the ground, Shogun proved to be the better transition shifter and eventually mounted Overeem. Punch after punch, Overeem suffered and it did not take long for the referee to stop the fight as Shogun moved up from Overeem’s belly to his chest, pinning the Dutchman’s left arm and shoulder with his right knee, still slamming fists into Overeem’s head.
At 6:42 of the first round, Shogun earned a slot in the finals against his countryman Ricardo Arona.
Fans had fervently hoped that Silva had won over Arona to arrange an all-Chute Boxe final. But Shogun-Arona had on paper just as much promise for a technically-sound brawl as both are very capable strikes-first ground-second technicians. And the all-Brazil Chute Boxe-Brazilian Top Team final did not let down the audience.
(paulotaneo@yahoo.com)
(September 3, 2005 issue)
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