PRIDE Grand Prix 2000 Finals

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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 one of the most anticipated matches in mixed martial arts history, Royce Gracie vs. Kazushi Sakuraba. Mark Coleman won the tournament by defeating Igor Vovchanchyn in the finals.

Mark Coleman, winner of the tournament
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Mark Coleman, winner of the tournament

Contents

[edit] Results

[edit] Quarterfinals

[edit] Igor Vovchanchyn vs. Gary Goodridge

Vovchanchyn knocked out Goodridge, 10:14 into Round 1 of their fight.

[edit] Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Royce Gracie

Sakuraba defeated Royce Gracie by TKO after 90 minutes of fighting, the longest fight in modern MMA history. The rules were modified for this bout so that the number of rounds was unlimited and there were no referee stoppages. After the sixth 15-minute round, Royce could no longer continue due to damage to his legs. His corner threw in the towel.

[edit] Mark Coleman vs. Akira Shoji

Coleman defeated Shoji by judge's decision.

[edit] Kazuyuki Fujita vs. Mark Kerr

Fujita defeated Kerr by judge's decision. This result was a major upset.

[edit] Semifinals

[edit] Igor Vovchanchyn vs. Kazushi Sakuraba

Vovchanchyn defeated Sakuraba by TKO at the end of Round 1. Sakuraba held his own with Vovchanchyn, despite his extended 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.

[edit] Mark Coleman vs. Kazuyuki Fujita

Coleman defeated 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.

[edit] Finals

[edit] Mark Coleman vs. Igor Vovchanchyn

Coleman defeated Vovchanchyn by submission, 3:09 into Round 2. Vovchanchyn submitted as Coleman was delivering several knee strikes to his head. With his victory, Mark Coleman won the PRIDE Grand Prix championship and a $250,000 prize.

[edit] Other Fights

The PRIDE Grand Prix 2000 Finals featured two extra fights on the card that were not part of the tournament.

[edit] Guy Mezger vs. Masaaki Satake

Mezger defeated Satake by judge's decision.

[edit] Ken Shamrock vs. Alexander Otsuka

Shamrock defeated Otsuka by TKO, 9:43 into the first round. The referee stopped the fight as Otsuka was succumbing to Shamrock's punches.

[edit] PRIDE 2000 Grand Prix Bracket

  First round Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals
                                     
 Royce Gracie    
 Nobuhiko Takada    
   Royce Gracie    
   Kazushi Sakuraba    
 Kazushi Sakuraba  
 Guy Mezger    
   Kazushi Sakuraba    
   Igor Vovchanchyn    
 Igor Vovchanchyn    
 Alexander Otsuka    
   Igor Vovchanchyn  
   Gary Goodridge    
 Gary Goodridge  
 Osamu Tachihikari    
   Igor Vovchanchyn  
   Mark Coleman  
 Mark Coleman    
 Masaaki Satake    
   Mark Coleman  
   Akira Shoji    
 Ebenezer Fontes Braga  
 Akira Shoji    
   Mark Coleman  
   Kazuyuki Fujita    
 Mark Kerr    
 Enson Inoue    
   Mark Kerr  
   Kazuyuki Fujita    
 Kazuyuki Fujita  
 Hans Nijman    

[edit] References

[edit] See also