Pride 33

One word: wow.

I can't remember the last event this good. 3 big upsets, only one decision, top fighters and great action. Best of all, it turned the MMA world upside down as much as any event can.

Nick Diaz really impressed tonight. He's always put on a good show in the UFC, but his last couple of fights he hasn't been able to really impose his will and keeps ending up on the wrong side of the judges cards. I was concerned he might be to big for 160, but looked great, and it was his height that allowed him to pick Gomi apart with striking (I loved how the commentator kept calling Diaz' striking 'unorthodox' as Gomi is swinging wildly). The finish was exceptional as well - the gogoplata seems to be THE new submission in Pride. Diaz also showed he has a chin, taking a heavy shot from Gomi and popping right back up.

For his part, the fireball kid seemed to gas very easily tonight, but I suspect that had a lot to do with the stinging shots Diaz kept landing at will on him. At the end of the first he was stumbling around the ring like he was drunk. Something must have been in the desert air last night though, because Gomi was not the only Pride superstar to forget his A game in Japan.

The most shocking upset of the night had to be Rogerio Nogeuira getting knocked out cold by an unkown Judoka; I would never have thought that a guy with his iron chin would go down in less than a minute, especially having seen the punishment he can take. Sokoudjou definitely has the physique, now he's made waves with his debut match - I'm anxious to see him fight a few more times. Maybe he can take on the former middleweight champion.

Looking back, I shouldn't have been as surprised as I was to see Wanderlei Silva crumple under Dan Henderson's left hook. Since moving down to middleweight, Henderson has developed some serious power (though usually in his right hand), knocking out many opponents, even one's you would think were better strikers, like Gono. I thought he might have trouble moving back up, but apparently not.

Henderson deserves props, but Silva didn't look like himself tonight. From the staredown, he didn't seem to have the usual aggression, and he definitely didn't fight like his usual self; much less aggressive, not pushing the action, and he didn't look like he had a gameplan. Maybe Crocop is still in his head, maybe he had problems training, who knows. What I do know is that there's no reason to write off Silva as washed up or past his prime as many on the usual forms are predictably doing. Crocop had a string of losses, Rampage got KOed twice by Silva in more dramatic fashion, and Couture suffered back to back losses to bigger men. 2 losses is hardly the end of the world. Besides, it's things like this that make MMA the most exciting and compelling sport on the planet. Fights can end in a split second, and good style matchups create possibilities unsuggested by win/loss records. Sometimes you get boring-as-hell snoozefests like UFC 33. Sometimes you get Pride 33. Sometimes theres a man, sometimes, there's a man.