| Pride Grand Prix 2000 Finals |
Article Index for Pride |
Website Links For Pride |
Information AboutPride Grand Prix 2000 Finals |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT PRIDE GRAND PRIX 2000 FINALS | |
| 2000 in mixed martial arts | |
|
PRIDE Grand Prix 2000 Finals was a Mixed Martial Arts event held by the PRIDE Fighting Championships . It took place at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo , Japan on May 1 , 2000 . The event concluded the PRIDE open-weight tournament of 2000. It is famous for containing probably the most anticipated match in mixed martial arts history, Royce Gracie vs. Kazushi Sakuraba . Mark Coleman won the tournament by defeating Igor Vovchanchyn in the finals. QUARTERFINALS Igor Vovchanchyn Knocked Out Gary Goodridge , 10:14 into Round 1 of their fight. Kazushi Sakuraba defeated Royce Gracie by TKO after a mind-boggling 90 minutes of fighting. This rules were modified for this bout so that the number of rounds was unlimited. After the sixth 15-minute round, Royce could no longer continue due to damage to his legs. His corner threw in the towel. To this day, it is still Royce Gracie's only career loss in mixed martial arts competition. Mark Coleman defeated Akira Shoji by judge's decision. Kazuyuki Fujita defeated Mark Kerr by judge's decision. This result was a major upset. SEMIFINALS Igor Vovchanchyn defeated Kazushi Sakuraba by TKO at the end of Round 1. Sakuraba somehow held his own with Vovchanchyn despite his marathon fight earlier in the night. Exhaustion ultimately got the best of Sakuraba, and his corner threw in the towel after Round 1 was completed. His final total for the night was 105 minutes of fighting. Mark Coleman defeated Kazuyuki Fujita by TKO. Fujita, suffering from injuries from his previous fight with Kerr, forfeited the match immediately, effectively giving Coleman a bye into the finals. FINALS Mark Coleman defeated Igor Vovchanchyn by to his head. With his victory, Mark Coleman won the PRIDE Grand Prix championship and a $250,000 prize. OTHER FIGHTS The PRIDE Grand Prix 2000 Finals featured two extra fights on the card that were not part of the tournament. Guy Mezger defeated Masaaki Satake by judge's decision. Ken Shamrock defeated Alexander Otsuka by TKO, 9:43 into the first round. The referee stopped the fight as Otsuka was succumbing to Shamrock's punches. REFERENCES SEE ALSO |
|
|