Eddie Bravo Previews New Year's Eve MMA! Reported By: Boxing Insider - 02/01/2005 06:29 PM By Ken Pishna, BoxingInsider.com Preparing for the New Year, broadcaster and jiujitsu master Eddie Bravo took time out of his busy schedule to sit down with BoxingInsider¹s Ken Pishna. Bravo gave us his thoughts on some of the bigger matchups on this year¹s Japanese New Year¹s Eve super shows. BoxingInsider.com: Let¹s jump right in to Pride¹s New Year¹s Eve show. Pride has put together a couple of big rematches on this card, starting off with Kevin Randleman and Mirko ³Cro Cop² Filipovic. Randleman shocked the world in the opening round of this year¹s Grand Prix by knocking Cro Cop out. Can he do it again? Eddie Bravo: I guess anything is possible, but I don¹t think it¹s going to go down like that last fight. I see Randleman getting the takedown; maybe once, maybe twice, maybe even three times. But I don¹t think Randleman¹s going to be able to pass Cro Cop¹s guard, there are going to be stand ups, there are going to be ends of rounds. So late in the fight, if Randleman¹s getting tired, we could see another Vovchanchyn/Kerr. Kerr was able to take Vovchanchyn down, but he was never able to pass his guard and finish him. He was trying to ground and pound, but it¹s hard to ground and pound a striker. I mean, he ground and pounded Cro Cop last time, but that was after that big left hook. BoxingInsider.com: Yeah, Cro Cop was already out at that point. Eddie Bravo: Yeah, he was already gone. I see Randleman getting the takedown, but he¹s not going to be able to pass Cro Cop¹s guard and I'll bet Cro Cop¹s goingto knock him out. BoxingInsider.com: I¹m saving my favorite fight on the Pride card for last, but first let¹s talk about the main event, the Pride heavyweight and Grand Prix title bout, Emelianenko Fedor and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. Now, Nog was doing well in their last fight before the accidental head butt. Do you think he can build on that and win this one? Eddie Bravo: Nogueira is my favorite fighter and I hope that he¹s able to build on that last fight and win, but Fedor, while he¹s not my favorite fighter, I think he¹s the best fighter. He¹s becoming one of my favorites, but I¹ll always pull for Nogueira. I respect Fedor and I love watching him fight. It¹s going to be hard to beat Fedor even if Nogueira does improve. FedorŠ he¹s like a machine. He¹s got serious standup and he¹s got great ground game. He caught Mark Coleman in an armbar from the guard, which is very hard to do. I don¹t think that Nogueira is going to be able to improve to the point that he¹s going to be able to hurt Fedor. It was nice to see Nogueira start to throw with some power on his feet, but I don¹t think it¹s going to be enough. He did keep Fedor closer [in the last fight] so that he wasn¹t getting bombed on like in their first fight and he was trying to get Fedor¹s back. That¹s when the head butt came. BoxingInsider.com: Nogueira seemed much more active in their second fight. Eddie Bravo: Yes, yes, much more active, but safer. He kept Fedor out of that zone where he had perfect punching range in Nogueira¹s guard. This time he held him closer. He¹s definitely working on some new stuff. I¹m rooting for Nogueira, but if I had to put money on the fight, I would go with Fedor. BoxingInsider.com: Like I said, I saved this Pride fight for last because it¹s my favorite fight on the card and that¹s Jens Pulver and Takanori Gomi. I¹m really excited to see Pride bringing some of the top lightweight fighters onto the main Pride card to show what they can do. Eddie Bravo: I can¹t wait to see this fight. Like you said, I like what Pride is doing. I mean, they created a show for the lightweights with Bushido and are putting the top fighters in the main Pride show, and that is great. I¹m excited about this fight. We¹ll get a chance to see just how good Pulver¹s striking has gotten. I¹ve heard a lot of good things about his striking, but I haven¹t actually seen it. I thought he was a pretty good striker back when he was making waves in the UFC. BoxingInsider.com: Gomi¹s not a bad striker himself. Do you think that Pulver is a better striker than Gomi? Eddie Bravo: I would say that Jens Pulver¹s striking is a lot better than Gomi¹s. Gomi is a wild striker, but who knows? All it takes is one connection. It seems that Pulver is more of a technical striker, but he does have power in that left hand. Gomi, he¹s a good striker, but he¹s a wild striker. It might be easier for Pulver to sit back and counter that wild stuff. BoxingInsider.com: That¹s a good point because Jens has been working a lot on his striking this past year by taking some pro boxing fights as well as mixed martial arts. Maybe that has helped him develop that counter puncher mentality. Eddie Bravo: Yeah, and Japan¹s not known for their pro boxers. Who knows? Sometimes a wild puncher is more successful than a technical puncher, you never know. Standing, I would give the edge to Jens Pulver. On the groundŠ you know, Jens was a wrestler in college and is claiming that his jiujitsu¹s getting pretty good. I ran into him at a UFC about eight months ago and he said, ³Man, I got some omo platas down bro.² Who knows, maybe his jiujitsu is pretty wicked right now. We haven¹t seen it in forever. We do know that Gomi is pretty good on the ground too. He¹s pretty good with leg locks and he¹s a pretty strong wrestler. I¹m very excited about this fight, this one could go either way. BoxingInsider.com: I¹ll tell you what, if Jens ends this fight with an omo plata (a type of shoulder lock applied with the legs), you have to give him a belt rank in jiujitsu. Eddie Bravo: Totally. [laughs] BoxingInsider.com: I have to say that of these two New Year¹s Eve shows in Japan, I¹m having a hard time getting excited about the K-1 fights. But there is one fight on the K-1 card that I have to talk to you about and that is Royce Gracie and Akebono. Now, Akebono hasn¹t had much success at all since he¹s made the move to K-1, but the guy is like 460, 470 pounds to Royce¹s 185. Is Royce crazy for taking this fight? Eddie Bravo: That¹s a great question. ³Is Royce Gracie crazy for taking this fight?² BoxingInsider.com: I mean, Royce has defeated some pretty big guys, but all Akebono has to do is fall on Royce wrong and he could mess up Royce¹s life for good. Eddie Bravo: I can¹t wait to see [laughs] Akebono in Royce¹s guard. BoxingInsider.com: Can Royce even get his legs around that massive body? Eddie Bravo: I don¹t think so. That¹s going to be crazy. I hope we get to see that. I mean, how do you finish that guy? Can Royce get his hooks in? [laughs] Can he get his back? Can he even mount him? He¹s going to mount him and the bottoms of his feet are going to be touching the ground instead of his knees. BoxingInsider.com: Can you apply a submission to a man that big? Eddie Bravo: I don¹t know. He might have to just try and get Akebono on his back and just punch him in the face, hammer fists or something. BoxingInsider.com: I think if Akebono gets on his back, he¹s not getting up. Eddie Bravo: I¹ve heard that Akebono is sick with leg locks though. We have to mention that. BoxingInsider.com: What? I hadn¹t heard that. Eddie Bravo: Yeah, the spinning toehold like Rumina Sato does and when he lands them he crushes you. [laughs] I¹m just kidding, I¹m just kidding. That would be great though if he was good at leg locks. BoxingInsider.com: All right. Well, I know you¹re a busy man Eddie. Thanks for taking the time to talk with us at BoxingInsider. Eddie Bravo: No problem. Eddie Bravo is a regular contributor to BoxingInsider.com. You can check out his web site and order his DVD at www.thetwister.tv . JewelryGuy.com - Factory Direct gold & Diamond Jewelry, Rings, Earrings, Bracelets - Find The Perfect Gift!! Ken Shamrock's Lion's Den Clothing - T Shirts, Skull caps, Sweatshirts, and More! Check out the NEW Lion's Den University Shirts! (>>) WrestlingDotCom.com - Pro Wrestling News & More! (Subscribe now for your chance to win FREE Ken Shamrock autographed MMA Gloves!) Poll script here