Search - Pride Fighting Championships: Championship Chaos II on DVD

Pride: Championship Chaos 2

Matt | NJ | 08/04/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"November 24, 2002
Tokyo, Japan

Hirotaka Yokoi vs. Jerrell Venitiaan:
Yokoi is a submission fighter, while Venitiaan is a striker. It is obvious that Yokoi wants to take the fight to the ground and Venitiaan wants to keep it standing. Venitiaan is taken down immediately, so things don't look good for him from the outset. Yokoi controls him and continually passes his guard with ease. Yokoi even mounts Venitiaan a number of times in the first round. Venitiaan does not fight a smart fight.

Kevin "The Monster" Randleman vs. Kenichi Yamamoto:
Randleman makes the pre-fight statement that he was sick in his last fight, which he obviously lost, hence the excuse. For this fight, however, he claims to be 100%. Randleman controls the fight on the ground, even making submission attempts throughout the round. Bas Rutten makes the observation that this looks like a new Kevin Randleman. He has dropped some weight and he indeed looks to be a different fighter. The fight briefly goes to the feet and Randleman drops Yamamoto. It appears that Yamamoto is outclassed on the ground and standing... there's not much left for him to attempt.

Murilo "Ninja" Rua vs. Ricardo Arona:
These two want at each other badly. They both speak of the lack of respect the other has and how they are going to teach the other a lesson. By the time they are staring across the ring at each other, the air is electric. Rua opens with a high-flying knee. Arona almost catches him in mid-air... The action is frenzied in his high-energy fight. Arona gets a few takedowns, yet Rua appears to be the busier fighter. It is a very close fight. It ultimately goes to a decision and the winner will obviously have his sights set on Wanderlei Silva.

Heath "Texas Crazy Horse" Herring vs. Emelianenko Fedor:
I don't think anyone expected to see what they saw in this fight. Let me just say that in this fight, we witness a dominating force that changes the Pride heavyweight division... Amazing! This is a must-see. The winner gets to face Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira for the title.

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Semmy Schilt:
Nogueira again has his work cut out for him, facing a much larger opponent. He makes many attempts and after much struggle, finally gets Schilt down on the ground. After this, we all know what happens next.

Wanderlei "The Axe Murderer" Silva vs. Hirokitsu Kanehara:
Silva flurries early, landing good shots on Kanehara. Kanehara goes down under the pressure of the assault. He gets up, they exchange again with the same result - he goes down again. This one ends in a mercy stoppage.

Don "The Predator" Frye vs. Hidehiko Yoshida:
This is a decent fight, but you probably won't care for the outcome. I miss the young Don Frye.

Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Gilles Arsene:
Sakuraba controls the flow of the fight, although it's not all that exciting. It drags on until the 3rd round, when we finally see a submission applied to end it.

This is what I like about Pride Fighting: you get to see all of the stars each time out. One of the only criticisms I have of the UFC is that on most fight cards, you get one really good matchup (maybe 2, occassionally) and a bunch of up-and-comers fighting for recognition. In Pride, I see nearly all of the big names on every fight card. Championship Chaos 2 is another amazing and exciting event. I highly recommend it."

A very good event!

Brian J. Bennett | FPO, AP United States | 12/21/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"If you want another great event check out the first Championship Chaos show. It features some of the greatest and historic fights in the history of Pride. Including two of Pride's first ever championship fights. The heavyweight championship fight between Heath Herring and "Minotauro" Nogueira is among the greatest fights of all time, and definately in my top 10 list.

On this card however, there are also some very good fights. If you know about the Brazilian Top Team vs Chute Boxe rivalry, this card features a fight between two young guns from both teams in Ricardo Arona and Murilo Rua, with a lot of rivalry happening between them. This being only the second fight between both teams on the big stage of Pride, it foreshadows an intense competitiveness between the teams. Not only are both teams from different cities in Brazil, they also take Pride in their own styles of fighting. Brazilian Top Team being mainly Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and Chute Boxe being primarily Muay Thai.

If you buy this DVD you'll also get a very historic retirement fight you wouldn't have seen on ppv in America. Kiyoshi Tamura vs Nobuhiko Takada. Takada is one of the most famous faces in Japan and is the most popular pro-wrestler over there. This marks his retirement from pro-wrestling and fighting.

A couple of other very intense and aggressive fights include Fedor Emelianenko vs Heath Herring, and Wanderlei Silva vs Hiromitsu Kanehara. Fedor is the current heavyweight champion of Pride, and you can see why in this fight as he puts on a nonstop ground and pound clinic.

The famous judoka Hidehiko Yoshida also makes his debut under MMA rules in this event as he faces the most famous American fighter, Don Frye. If you're a fan of MMA you shouldn't hesitate to get this, and if you're not this would be a decent introduction to the sport."