"Loosing and winning is part of the career of a fighter who does not choose his opponents, like Wanderlei." -Rudimar Fedrigo

Anti Climax
Many fans greatest fear came true, and just as uneventfully and anticlimactically as Italia in the World Cup, Mirko Cro Cop in the PRIDE Open Weight GP was conveniently handed the crown. There would be no technically pretty, raucous or diverse all South American final, rather it would be an anti climactic third encounter between two fighters whose history has so far added up to lukewarm at most, perhaps due to styles or circumstance, but neither here nor there it was an unfulfilling final, as one warrior was already worn by the time the finals arrived.

Smaller Stones To Move
It's amazing how popular Mirko is in Japan as well as being relatively well known elsewhere. A mover and a shaker in Croatian society what's even more amazing is Cro Cop Filipovic's MMA record, which Dream Stage Entertainment (DSE) and his management built up in only five years time (twenty seven MMA fights) undoubtedly being very protective as to his competition. DSE certainly knows how to pave a road with steppingstones and when they drew Mirko's path and
possibilities for the Open Weight GP, it seems that they had one particular thing in mind, for him to have a real shot at becoming PRIDE's new "Ichiban." After all, this man advanced to the finals of the GP not fighting one single heavyweight until the very end, and conveniently enough, the man who decimated him was removed from his path by questionable judging and foresight.

Going for bust, Wanderlai would eventually succumb to Mirko in their second encounter in MMA.

Big Man

(All fighters coming from K-1 are XL and posses KO power) Despite Wanderlei being a couple kilos heavier according to the official weigh-in weight, he is shorter and has a smaller frame. We must not forget he is a "Middleweight" according to PRIDE measures, "Light- heavyweight" for those in the wasteland. In the old days of MMA, size might not have mattered, but in the new cross bred high tech full time training era of MMA, size is absolutely relative, a major factor in the top echelon of talented fighters.
Unlike other participants Cro Cop did take out all his opposition (that's also what happened in Cro Asia) in this tournament. Let us not belittle the fact that Cro Cop KO'd Wanderlei Silva, but we already knew someone was going to go out via KO, and as far as form dictated, Wanderlai's wild style showed gaps standing before a sinister K-1 striker.

Purple Heart
Silva was fighting with extra weight and padding on his frame, perhaps to absorb the strikes, while Mirko was at a leaner sharper weight, enabling him to strike more quickly, but he still seemed to heave despite the relatively fast KO over Wanderlei, perhaps from always using too much power. To Filipovic's credit, it was indeed shocking to see Silva go down like that for the first time since succumbing to Vitor Belfort's lightning combinations of yesteryear in the octagon.

The doctor's check for the eye before that was definitely annoying, giving the Brazilian time to recover, but also giving Mirko a nice break to get his breath back as well. Despite that pause it was an exciting fight as always, more so compliments of Wanderlei Silva whose heart is purple, always coming forward to the fight regardless of his foe, although he wound up splattered on the canvass this time. Silva refuses to believe that he is smaller than the competition and thus did not adjust his game against the left sided striker, eventually succumbing to the same ole shit; a left high kick. For some fans and press to dismiss him now is ludicrous when after all he was the only non heavy weight in the semi final of a giants ball.

Post Nogueira
"I know I'm in great shape, I've been training my ass off in practice…I felt that if I would have kept the pace…I would have finished him…" - Josh Barnett

Subjective
In this second fight of the GP, neither fighter convincingly imposed their strategy or dominance, and while Barnett by no means convincingly defeated Nogueira, Mino's experience alone made him the better candidate to advance and defeat Mirko. This decision is worthy of criticism and is very subjective. Its implications within PRIDE's politics could be speculated upon and argued back n forth. In a tight tournament fight the real question is, which fighter is better fit to go on in the tournament? And in this case, how did they fare previously?
At the end of the Barnett vs. Nogueira two round fight, in my opinion, Mr. Barnett seemed less likely to go on and conquer Mirko. This had to do with energy left in the reserves, physical conditioning and most of all style and perhaps determination. Nogueira worked for position, getting a full mount and gave up position for submission attempts, while Josh landed a straight right jab and a heavy left hook initially, while scrambling for position at the end of each round. Josh was not initiating the attack but Nogueira as a jiu jitsu practitioner many times will opt for the bottom position at awkward times, perhaps leaving a strange impression on the judges and inexperienced viewers.

Josh seemed tougher verbally after the fight than during the fight.

Will
Throughout the fight Nogueira showed more solid skill than Josh on the ground, working at a faster pace and with quickness getting behind him in chest to back position while standing, and controlling a Barnett who seemed to be fighting more for air at times, moving sluggishly sometimes, although with long g n p arms from the stand up. While Nogueira attempted to gain position and made submission attempts (in particular after getting the full mount, bruising Barnett's mug and then attempting an arm bar) Barnett seemed to have no real strategy, except to rest and then attempting to reverse the situation by bridging, bucking and arching his large frame.
"I had to let him chip away at me until I could make my move."
Barnett's submission attempts in this fight were minimal and fleeting at most (a guilloteen attempt) as Minotauro worked his arm through getting out within a few seconds, and a knee lock attempt before the final bell.
"Honestly, I didn't get up right away at the end of the fight cause he was screaming while I was knee barring him so, as far as I know when you yell it’s a tap out."

Of course another round would have resolved the ambiguity of this final decision, and I don’t think Barnett's stamina would have improved by then. On the other hand, at the end of Barnett vs. Nogueira, what might have been in the back of the judge's minds was the fact that they needed to crown a new champion, and after all Nogueira sacrificed Mirko to the submission gods of the Amazon already, while Josh...

Memory
For the judges to give Josh the benefit of the doubt and the forward nod, was perhaps a recipe for Mirko's success. After all Filipovic would have had a difficult time beating Nogueira, especially given that Minotauro in the past has already tested his stand up and survived for ten minutes against both of Cro Cop's not so secret weapons; the left round house and sinister hook. By the second round of that particular fight, the striker had worn himself out, as the submission master immediately took him to the ground and overwhelmed him with levers. It was obvious that Cro Cop still lacks an essential facet of MMA, the ground game. It was strategy, experience, a solid will and most all Jiu Jitsu that won Nogueira that war.
Despite the surge of success for strikers in MMA, people forget that striking, as a philosophy is inherently a waste of energy and you're gambling for the lucky shot, while clinching, grappling or Jiu Jitsu is about conserving energy for the long run and controlling the opponents' limbs/weapons. You can see this by the way Mirko always starts heaving after delivering as many specified strikes as possible looking for the KO.

Barnett pleaded "eye injury" unable to finish business with Cro Cop. It is now 0-3.

Wanderlei ignored the possibilities of a ground war, and that should have been Josh's clue towards an effective game plan as a jiu jitsu Puroresu practitioner. Conserving energy, getting in close and clinching to neutralize the strikes, using the superior length and weight advantage, tying him up and controlling him to the ground while using superior levers, might have been effective. Then again, last time around Mirko showed moments of out performing the Puroresu on the mat, but that was more due to a lack of fuel on Barnett's part. I guess Josh made the same mistake twice and was not as well conditioned as the last time around against Hunt.

On The Table
For most MMA fans, probably the least exciting possible equation and fight they wanted to see for the finals was Mirko vs. Barnett III. Nogueira vs. Silva was a wet dream (In World Cup terms it was Brazil vs. Argentina) while Barnett vs. Silva would have been odd perhaps, but at least a novelty unlike the novella "The Baby Faced Assassin" and Mirko have now become.
Josh didn't seem to have as much of a chance conditioning wise, having showed up six kilos (approximately fourteen pounds) heavier than the last round when he fought Mark Hunt, which to Josh's credit, was a strategically dominant and impressive victory. He seemed to be in amazing shape in that previous round of the tournament; it was also a quick fight. This time for Josh to prove that his win over Minotauro was not ambiguous,(2-1 split decision) he would have to submit Cro Cop despite of himself (two losses vs. Croat). Considering he had just fought in a fifteen minute conflict while Mirko had been resting after a seven minute war, which had a two minute break for a medical check, victory was perhaps mentally or morally difficult for Josh to conquer.

Red Tape
Just like the World Cup, the PRIDE Open Weight GP is a rare glimpse at the world's top MMA athletes battling for the number one position, but unfortunately just like the 2006 World Cup, it was a truly disappointing ending, as some of the world’s best where left sidelined by questionable refereeing and/or judging. One of the greatest problems with many sports such as MMA are the judge's, making split, stupid, or lopsided decisions in fights that are impossible to call. Nogueira vs. Barnett was one of those fights. A wiser "long term" thinker might have considered it was a tournament and given Nogueira the decision based purely on experience and conditioning.
Nogueira has never been finished in an MMA match with his now four losses being by decision. Two were split decision losses to Americans (Dan Henderson in Rings and now Josh Barnett) while the other two were to the Czar of the Heavyweights, Fedor Emilianenko. This alone is evidence enough to suggest that Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira was the more worthy participant to continue on to the finals to face and most likely defeat Mirko Filipovic.

Mirko's sensitive side consoles a war torn Barnett.

Barnett didn’t have the fuel or drive to take down Mirko in the finals end and that drain was visible at the conclusion of the previous fight.

Under Suspicion/Ranking
At best, the finals of the PRIDE Open Weight GP have opened up a new can of worms, leaving many questions now unanswered. First of all we already know Josh did, but can Mirko beat Mark Hunt? The reason I mention Hunt is because he emerged from K-1 and became one of only six K-1 GP champions.
Shortly after he was challenged by Mirko in K-1, Mark had been partying a bit too much and lost by decision. It's ironic that in the PRIDE ring Hunt was too much for Filipovic, while the Croat is now the new Open Weight GP "El Duche" on PRIDE stationery.
Meanwhile there is Fedor and Nogueira, the number one and two heavyweights in the world. Right there, that is three strikes against Mirko, leaving him at number four. (Even though Italy won the 2006 World Cup they are still ranked number five behind Brazil, France, Argentina and England). Obviously FIFA understands the fact that Italy (winner of the tournament) never faced the top competition except for France who defeated Brazil. (Equivalent of Barnett defeating Nogueira) Meanwhile, Mirko only faced Wanderlei Silva, as far as a top world ranked MMA contender aside from Barnett. Meanwhile, until Josh meets Nogueira in a PRIDE twenty-minute match and takes him out or wins decisively, his victory over Nogueira is at most susceptible to doubt.

Bah Hum Bug
After four months of anticipation and waiting, this Open Weight 2006 Grand Prix final ranks right there with the 2000 PRIDE Open Weight GP that was overshadowed by the hour and a half grappling seminar between Royce Gracie and Kazushi Sakuraba. In that show, the initial rungs of Mark Coleman's ladder to the trophy were Masaake Satake and Akira Shoji, hardly stiff competition. By the time Igor Vovchanchyn tapped in the final, most people had lost interest in the actual final. Once again we are left with the same unresolved feeling, and once again in 2006 the winner didn't necessarily face the stiffest of the competition.
I can't wait to see Nogueira vs. Barnett II. That should clear things up!

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