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Eddie Bravo talks about the Pride Grand Prix
Reported By: Boxing Insider - 02/01/2005 06:15 PM
Boxinginsider.com: Let's start off with Eddie Bravo, Heavyweight Pride Grand Prix. Obviously the upset of the night and the fight that had everyone talking was Kevin Randleman knocking out Mirko Cro Cop. What went through your mind when you saw Kevin land that left hook and what was your overall take on that fight?
Eddie Bravo: I think I was just as shocked as everyone else was on this planet. It just shows you that even the best strikers in the world are just human and they have human chins, even if it's Cro Cop or Ernesto Hoost or Jerome Le Banner. All you have to do is catch them with one good shot, and even though they are the so-called best strikers on the planet they can get caught themselves.
Boxinginsider.com: What do you think Kevin's chances are of advancing into the final round?
Eddie Bravo: I think he has a great chance. The guy's in incredible shape. He has always been a tremendous athlete. He is one of the best college wrestlers of all time. His hands aren't too shabby either. He gave Bas Ruttan hell. He gave Pedro Rizzo some trouble. He's an already accomplished wrestler, so a wrestler of his caliber combined with some good hands can always win the Grand Prix. So he has a good chance.
Boxinginsider.com: Another big surprise was Giant Silva getting a Kimura. Sentoryu obviously had very little submission and grappling experience due to being a sumo wrestler. What would you have done to escape that position?
Eddie Bravo: That's a very easy move to escape, especially since Sentoryu had Silva in side control. All he had to do was to spin to the other side and he could actually have had Giant Silva in an arm bar. A very basic trick. That just showed how inexperienced he really is on the ground.
Boxinginsider.com: This may sound a little crazy, but do you think Giant Silva has a chance to win the whole tournament?
Eddie Bravo: Anybody has the chance to win the whole tournament, but I wouldn't bet my money on Giant Silva. I would say at this point in his career he doesn't have the experience. He's not coming into this sport with any of the three phases that you need. He's not an accomplished wrestler. He's not a known striker, and he's not a jujitsu guy. He just started learning all three. He just comes in with pure size and strength, and I don't think that's enough to win the Grand Prix -- but who knows?
BoxingInsider.com: Heath Herring is back on a winning track with his first round KO of Takahasi. Do you think he has a chance to surprise a lot of people in this tournament?
Eddie Bravo: Again, everybody has the chance to win, but he had a lot of trouble with Nogueira. He got crushed by Fedor. He'll probably eventually meet up with one of them again. So, based on how he did with Fedor and Nogueira in the past, I would say he's not the favorite to win the Grand Prix.
BoxingInsider.com: Defending champion Mark Coleman was knocked out of the tournament by Fedor. Were you surprised at the technique that Fedor used to secure that arm bar?
Eddie Bravo: Absolutely. Arm barring an olympic caliber wrestler with 250 pounds of pure power is not easy. I had no idea that Fedor could move off his back. It's very rare for a guy over 230 to have a guard. There are a couple of fighters out there who have showed that they have a dangerous guard -- you know, Josh Burnett, Nogueira, and maybe there are a couple of other guys out there -- but it's very rare. To see how fast and smooth Fedor worked with that arm bar was amazing. You know, I became a fan. I'm a fan of anybody who can attack off their back.
BoxingInsider.com: Ogawa is one of the Japanese favorites in this tournament and is an Olympic gold medallist in judo. How would you rate his grappling skills?
Eddie Bravo: I think as a grappler he's probably pretty good. He's got tremendous base and balance from his judo. As far as submissions go, I don't know how smooth he is with submissions, but I know he's going to be hard to submit. He's a big, powerful guy. He has a chance of winning, just based on his judo experience -- and his MMA experience isn't too bad either. He has tremendous power and he has a lot of experience, so there's a chance that he could take it all.
BoxingInsider.com: Minotauro Nogueira used an interesting spinning choke to finish off Yokoi. What do you think Minotauro's chances of winning this tournament are?
Eddie Bravo: He has a really good chance of winning it all. The only one who stands in his way is Fedor. They fought before and Fedor neutralized Nogueira's game and pretty much dominated him. He still has a pretty good chance of winning it all, but overall I think Fedor has the best chance of winning it all.
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Eddie Bravo: People are interested, Eddie, tell us about your DVD and where people can buy it.
Eddie Bravo: My DVD is still available. It's getting great reviews. Everyone's loving it. You can buy it on www.sherdog.com and www.onthemat.com. It has 17 of my grappling matches from Blue Belt all the way to the Royler match. It gives you an insight to my career in jujitsu. Buy it. You won't regret it.
BoxingInsider.com: We'll finish up this one with: tell us the latest on your book.
Eddie Bravo: The latest on my book is that I've just signed the contract with McGraw-Hill, which is one of the biggest book publishers in the United States. It's going to be the first jujitsu book on a major label.. We're about a third of the way through and we're very excited about it. The D-day should be some time in the Fall.
Eddie Bravo is a regular boxinginsider.com contributor and be reached at twisterbravo@sbcglobal.net
Eddie Bravo will be breaking down the next round of Prides Grand Prix, UFC 48, and K-1 Romanex in future columns for boxinginsider.com!
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