Search - Pride Fighting Championships: High Octane on DVD

High Octane has its Highs and Lows (no spoilers)

Ghostman | LA, CA | 05/01/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Pride 28: High Octane showcases top caliber fighters like Heath Herring, Dan Henderson and Mirko Cro Cop. But there's one problem. The formula of the fight card pits Pride's cream of the crop veterans vs newcomers and rookies. This can be problematic for obvious reasons. The show is swamped with predictability and freak injuries.

Yet the PPV's saving grace is the highly anticipated main event Quinton "Rampage" Jackson vs Wanderlei "Axe Murderer" Silva. This is the explosive rematch from their first heated encounter in the 2003 Middleweight Championship bout, where Wanderlei Silva won by TKO. This time around, Quinton Jackson is bigger and badder than ever, and he is easily the toughest opponent Silva will face yet. This is one of the very few hyped matches that actually deliver the goods. If you're a fan of either fighter, the rest of the mediocre card becomes a forgivable byproduct of the PPV. However, if you're purchasing the event with intentions of watching a star-studded show stacked with your favorite fighters waging war against equally threatening opponents, I'm guessing you probably won't think very highly of High Octane.

The fight card is as follows (rated on a scale of 0-10):

PRELIMINARY MATCH
Soa Palalei vs Mu Bae Choi (8/10)

MAIN CARD
Heath Herring vs Hirotaka Yokoi (8/10)
Ricardo Arona vs Sergey Ignatov (6/10)
Dan Henderson vs Kazuhiro Nakamura (0/10)
Mark Hunt vs Daniel Bobish (8/10)
Alistair Overeem vs Hiromitsu Kanehara (5/10)
Aleksander Emelianenko vs James "The Colossus" Thompson (8/10)

CO-MAIN EVENTS
Mirko Cro Cop vs Josh Barnett (0/10)
Quinton "Rampage" Jackson vs Wanderlei Silva (10/10)"

Typical Pride event...

death | USA | 02/14/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Most of the fights on this card are mildly interesting at best. I am a huge MMA fan, but Pride has a way of boring the hell out of me. I give this a four star rating simply for the main event... it really is one of the best fights that Pride has to offer. Buy this DVD just to have this fight... I am serious."

Pride Fighting Championships 28: High Octane

Matt | NJ | 09/14/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This should be a great night of fights. On the card, we have the rematch between Pride Middleweight champ, Wanderlei Silva and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson. We also get to see Cro Cop take on Josh Barnett, which is also a highly anticipated fight. The rest of the fights could go either way, having little effect on the Pride divisions. Let's get to the action.

Hirotaka Yokoi v. Heath Herring:
They call Heath the "Texas Crazy Horse" over in Japan. He is a madman in there most of the time, which makes him an exciting fan favorite. He comes out blazing in this fight and the ref calls a timeout as Yokoi is taking knees to the head on the ground after being dropped. This is very strange. It all ends not too long after this point. This is a very good fight to kick off the event.

Ricardo Arona v. Sergey Ignatev:
Arona is coming back from being KO-slammed by Quinton Jackson, his only Pride loss. Arona looks great this time out and gets himself back on track with an excellent display of ground fighting technique. Arona lost his shot at fighting Wanderlei Silva for the title to Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, but he is determined to get back to top contender status.

Alexandre Emelianenko v. James Thompson:
This immediately turns into a wild slugfest. Thompson is making his Pride fighting debut. Do you think he makes a good showing or goes quickly down in flames in a matter of seconds?

Alistair Overeem v. Hiromitsu Kanehara:
Overeem had lost his last fight to the UFC's Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell by knockout. He is back in Pride and looking to re-establish himself. He dictates the pace of this lopsided fight. Kanehara doesn't give in, but he takes quite a beating to prove his heart.

Dan Bobish v. Mark Hunt:
Bobish is cut very early on by a knee. The fight is allowed to go on... This is a pretty decent fight, but you don't really see the best of Mark Hunt. We do get to see a very awkward knockout, though, which is always good.

Dan Henderson v. Kazuhiro Nakamura:
Dan Henderson is something of a wildman - inside the ring. Outside, he seems to be very stoic. We see the wildman again tonight and someone gets hurt...

Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic v. Josh Barnett:
This is Barnett's Pride debut...against Cro Cop... Should be awesome. Barnett talks trash before the fight. Cro Cop laughs it off, as usual. The fight BLOWS. You'll see what I mean. This was a huge letdown, given the buildup and gravity of this fight. Too bad it couldn't have gone differently. A rematch is offered after the fight and hopefully we will see it in time.

Wanderlei "The Axe Murderer" Silva v. Quinton "Rampage" Jackson:
This fight is ultra-hyped by Pride. The first time these two warriors met, Silva won in the first round. Jackson claims that Silva doesn't even hit hard and gives Chuck Liddell (who Rampage knocked out) more credit as a fighter. Jackson is on his cell phone during the playing of the Brazilian national anthem, showing no respect for Silva. I was dying to see this fight and it starts getting exciting around 2 minutes in. There is a lull in the action and then they are stood up, where they exchange and we see Silva fall to the mat. Silva turns the tide in the 2nd round and we see an amazing finish to this back and forth battle of the top middleweights in Pride Fighting. This is one of the better fights in Pride history! The DVD is a must-own."

High Octane

E. Pimenel | San Diego, CA | 11/29/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This event was dissapointing because of some freak injuries, but Wanderlei vs Rampage alone is worth the price this event.

Wanderlei Silva v Quinton Jackson- Probably the best fihgt of 2004 both guys were floored during the fight and came back to put on a great show.
Cro-Cop v Josh Barnett- Very dissapointing the way it ended.
James Thompson v Aleksander Emilianenko- This was a decent fight and you see Aleksander is for real.
Allistair Overeem v Hiromitsu Kanehara- All I have to say is mismatch, you get a chance to see what a thai boxer can do with their knees.
Dan Henderson v Kazuhiro Nakamura- I was really looking forward to this fight but it was very dissapointing"