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[Bubbles]

The “PRIDE” curse is alive and well following Kang’s upset loss at UFC 93

Denis Kang’s mildly surprising submission defeat against Alan Belcher during last night’s UFC 93 telecast will go down as yet another disappointing UFC debut by former a PRIDE star.

Many of PRIDE’s once mighty stars have now migrated to the UFC, and with few exceptions all have provided their share of disappointing moments.

When the UFC “stole” Mirko Cro Cop from PRIDE in late-2006, many pundits believed that the promotion had executed one of the biggest coups in the sport’s young history. However, the end result was nothing more than one of the sports biggest busts.

The Croatian striking specialist made his UFC debut at UFC 67 in February 2007 against a hand-picked opponent in Eddie Sanchez. The matchup was put together as a showcase for Cro Cop to demonstrate to American fight fans the same lethal left high kick that made him a star in Japan.

It’s almost two years later and UFC owners Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta and UFC President Dana White are still waiting for that coffin kick. The disappointment created by Cro Cop’s TKO of Sanchez via punches instead of the infamous high kick pales in comparison to the upset defeats he’d go on to suffer against Gabriel Gonzaga and Cheick Kongo.

The theory of a PRIDE curse began to gain traction even before Cro Cop’s formal arrival. At the time, Heath Herring’s unanimous decision to Jake O’Brien at UFC Fight Night 8 seemed like an aberration at the time. Little did we know that it would become a trend.

At UFC 73, Herring stepped up and gave former PRIDE heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira a run for his money. Then, Marcus Aurelio lost his Octagon debut to Clay Guida at UFC 74. At UFC 79, Wanderlei Silva lost in his return to the UFC against Chuck Liddell.

Still not buying the idea that a “PRIDE curse” truly exists?

Do you need to be reminded that both Silva and Nogueira are coming off disappointing performances at UFC 92 last month; that Fabricio Werdum was dropped from the promotion soon after being upset by newcomer Junior dos Santos at UFC 90; and that Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou got the pink slip following his UFC 89 loss to Luiz Cane.

Is it overkill to mention that Bushido standouts Akihiro Gono and Ryo Chonan are a combined 2-3 inside of the Octagon and that Kazuhiro Nakamura not only went 0-2, but tested positive for marijuana following his debut at UFC 76?

Oh, and how could I forget the horrific encore at UFC 93 of Shogun Rua’s submission loss to Forrest Griffin during his Octagon debut at UFC 76? Did we really wait a year and a half for that performance? Rua is lucky that he won, otherwise, he might have joined Aurelio, Werdum, and Sokoudjou as former PRIDE standouts that were sent packing by the UFC.

Thus far, the only PRIDE success stories in the UFC are Dan Henderson and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson but there are a couple of caveats that must be mentioned. First, Henderson fought in the UFC before he ever competed in PRIDE and Jackson came over to the UFC directly from the now-defunct WFA as opposed to coming directly from PRIDE.

Was it unreasonable to expect Kang to “break the curse?” Considering Kang went through a 13 month stretch between 2007-2008 in which he lost three times in four fights, the expectations set for him might have been too high.

But those high expectations were set because Kang was once a consensus top ten middleweight who has recorded notable victories over Murilo “Ninja” Rua, Amar Suloev, Andrei Semenov, and Gono. After recording consecutive victories over Marvin Eastman and Jae Young Kim on small shows, Kang fans thought he might be back to his former self.

There was a hope leading up to his UFC debut that the semi-high profile free agent acquisition could emerge as a legitimate challenger to current middleweight champion Anderon Silva after recording 1-2 wins. After the first round, Kang hardly looked like a legitimate threat to Silva but he didn’t look bad either.

Despite appearing stiff and mechanical while standing against Belcher, Kang was still efficient in his striking and showed a decisive advantage on the ground during brief exchanges. It appeared as though Kang was getting over some rust and Octagon jitters before hitting his stride. But before he could, seemingly out of nowhere, Kang displayed one of his mental errors that have become trademark in recent years. He left his neck out and Belcher took it, forcing him to tap with just 24 seconds remaining in the round.

Despite the disappointing effort, Kang remains an extremely gifted fighter who could still emerge as a challenger to Silva. While the UFC brass can’t be happy with his performance, he will likely get second and even a third chance because he is of Korean heritage and the company has plans to expand into South Korea in the future. The fact that Kang is also a Canadian citizen is another feather in his cap as Canadian UFC fans love to support their own.

Needless to say, Kang will get a second chance to make a first impression. However, when you look at the history of all of PRIDE’s former stars that have tried and failed to establish themselves in the UFC, the odds of making it aren’t in his favor.

Hopefully this curse will end soon!

[carbondioxide830]

yea i was just talking about that today. the pride guys arent looking too good in ufc are they lol?

hendo, wandy, shogun, cro cop, herring, & kang all lost their first fights in the ufc (some their first back in the ufc) and then u have nog who was schooled by frank mir.

i dnt think its a curse as much as it is these guys just being too full of themselves and/or coming ill prepared for their octagon debuts.

[Sakara=Excitement]

The disappointment created by Cro Cop’s TKO of Sanchez via punches instead of the infamous high kick pales in comparison to the upset defeats he’d go on to suffer against Gabriel Gonzaga and Cheick Kongo.

Are you KIDDING me. I mean this is just a ridiculous statement. Cro Cop destroyed Sanchez and when did that become a disappointment? Get off of it. And the same can be said for the UFC guys going over to Pride. Change of rules, change of fighting arena i.e. cage/ring. Those things come in to play. It's like NFL guys playing on an Arena football field. It would matter.

Chuck was 2-1 in Pride/16-5 in the UFC
Guy Mezger was 5-6 in Pride/4-1 in the UFC
Vitor was 5-4 in Pride/7-4 in the UFC
Carlos Newton 5-4 in Pride/3-4 in the UFC
Anderson Silva was 3-2 in pride before coming over
Mark Kerr 6-4 in Pride/4-0 in the UFC
Pedro Rizzo 0-2 in Pride/9-5 in the UFC
Josh Barnett 5-4 in Pride/3-1 in the UFC
Gan McGee 0-2 in Pride/2-2 in the UFC
Kevin Randleman 4-7 in Pride/4-4 in the UFC

I'm sure I could go on but it's two different worlds. Some fighters do better than others.

[Mirko45]

Go back and rewatch the CC/Sanchez fight, Sanchez didn't get destroyed and Mirko looked pretty damn unremarkable

[Fedorlei Gomipierre]

I'll buy the PRIDE curse the moment Fedor loses his first UFC bout hook line and sinker, but until then, there haven't been many top tier fighters of PRIDE who've bombed too bad.

As far as I'm concerned Nog, Fedor, Gomi, Crocop and Wandy were Pride, and that UFC track record isnt too bad.

As far as I'm concerned, alot of the problems regarding PRIDE revolve around freakshow fights and their reprocussions that the fighters are now experiencing to this day aftewards.

I'm more positive of the Diff'rent Strokes curse.

[willpunisher]

Only HENDO and RAMPAGE? ahhammmm are we forgetting the best pound for pound killer Anderson Silva? the man has killed everyone that has been put in front of him.

and as i much as i love Shogun i was very disappointed last night. At the end of the first round i was really happy i was like wow he is so calm and cautious, was killing Coleman with the leg kicks.. than second and third round came and i was like jesus christ, the old shogun is never coming back.. than when he got on the mic and sounded dead i was like oh fuck me... Shogun needs to go back to Chute Boxe academy to get his killer instinct back cuz ever since he left for his Universidade Da Luta camp that he made with his brother he has been really shitty.. He could never have a great fight like he did back in the day against Rampage, Arona, Alistar and all those guys he destroyed in pride.. iand I DEF dont want to see him go against Chuck. no way.. no fucking way.. Chuck will probably knock his head off if he comes to fight the way did against Coleman.. Shogun could have had the chance to have knocked Coleman the fuck out when he had his hands way down to his waist.. maybe a head kick ALA Maurice Smith and Rashad or vicious punch to the face.. =( i hate to say it but the old Shogun is never coming back...

[grambino]

Nog - UFC belt
Rampage - UFC belt
Silva - UFC belt


Big Nog came in and won the belt. Jackson did the same. Anderson Silva hasn't lost. Henderson only lost to Silva and Jackson who are Pride guys and he just beat one of the UFC poster children. Chuck got his ass handed to him when he went to the Pride tournament and Big Shart lasted all of the blink of an eye against Fedor. Everything can be spun to suit an argument, but in the end the Pride guys have done well to come to the UFC and take belts.

[Sakara=Excitement]

Originally Posted by Mirko45

Go back and rewatch the CC/Sanchez fight, Sanchez didn't get destroyed and Mirko looked pretty damn unremarkable

What?:headscratch: Did you watch that fight? Here watch it again

Mirko Filipovic vs Eddie Sanchez UFC 67 Video - Watch MMA Fights Free Videos

He had Eddie running backwards more than Kalib Starnes. Cro Cop looked crisp with his strikes and finished him convincingly.

[Sakara=Excitement]

Originally Posted by grambino

Nog - UFC belt
Rampage - UFC belt
Silva - UFC belt


Big Nog came in and won the belt. Jackson did the same. Anderson Silva hasn't lost. Henderson only lost to Silva and Jackson who are Pride guys and he just beat one of the UFC poster children. Chuck got his ass handed to him when he went to the Pride tournament and Big Shart lasted all of the blink of an eye against Fedor. Everything can be spun to suit an argument, but in the end the Pride guys have done well to come to the UFC and take belts.

Well before the tourny he knocked out Mezger and in the tourny knocked out Overeem before losing to Jackson. you're right, he got his ass handed to him. SIlva wasn't really a "Pride" guy only fighting their 5 times with a 3-2 record. And 'Page and Nog both lost their belts fairly fast once gaining them.

[Ramma]

I hate.. I mean... I friggin hate this stupid argument.

PRIDE > UFC is just as strong of an argument as UFC > PRIDE.


And do you know why? Because good fighters came from both promotions and some fighters, who were good, did not do well in both promotions.

I guess the UFC having 3 former PRIDE fighters as champions at once (don't call Anderson a PRIDE fighter if you don't want to, but he is 8-0 in the UFC, 3-2 in PRIDE, which still works) and two of the unification bouts all containing PRIDE fighters adds to the "PRIDE Curse"



Fact is, right now is not a good time for any seasoned fighter. Just like Cro Cop and Wanderlei being thus far unsuccessful in the UFC.... Faces of the UFC like Liddell, Hughes, and Couture are losing to UNRANKED fighters. Just like some of the PRIDE guys. Oh, maybe there is a trend and some substance to that idea.

It is easy to pick in the PRIDE fighters, but the faces of the UFC are doing far from spectacular right now.

Stars are fading, and it has nothing to do with being a PRIDE fighter, or a UFC fighter. It has EVERYTHING to do with the new guys coming up and the old guys heading out. I mean, you are going to tell me that Wanderlei getting KO'd back to back by guys that he already beat (Hendo and Cro Cop [draw my ass, special rules are dumb]) a sign of good things to come after a 30+ fight career? Come back down to reality.


^^ Of course, no one talks about that.



This article is crap, and that guy needs to get of the UFC juice.