Review of Pride FC: 15 and 16

Introduction

The next in FightDVD`s archive releases is PRIDE 15 ("Raging Rumble") and 16 ("Beasts From The East"). These events were held on 29th July 2001 and 24th September 2001 respectively. PRIDE 15 had a main event of Ryan Gracie facing Tokimitsu Ishizawa, whilst PRIDE 16 presented Mark Coleman vs Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.

Video

Video is presented in 4:3 fullscreen PAL and is excellent for a DVD of this genre. Although - due to its NTSC origins - the image may be slightly softer than UK viewers are used to, clarity of the image is very good, and I have no hesitation in saying that live-to-tape sports events don`t come much better than this.

Audio

Audio is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 and is also very good. Everything is clearly mixed, from entrance music to the in-ring action. This also goes for the commentary, provided in a very informative and entertaining manner by "Fight Professor" Stephen Quadros and "El Guapo" Bas Rutten.

Features

Virtually the same extras adorn both discs. There is an image gallery for the respective events, and identical "Rules of PRIDE" and "Glossary of Fight Terms" text pages.

Conclusion

PRIDE 15 got underway with what many termed an upset, as Valentijn Overeem faced Assuerio Silva in a match which was short, but had plenty of attacking verve. Wallid Ismail vs Shungo Oyama was a step down from that, but it did have an excellent conclusion. Masaaki Satake and Igor Vovchanchyn then hammered each other in the next contest, which was surprisingly long, although very much worth watching.

Mark Kerr did his very best to send this reviewer to sleep in his next bout with Heath Herring. Kerr`s style is one-dimensional; take your opponent to the ground and lay on him. Herring was not amused and by the end of this fight, had made his feelings well known.

At least Kerr vs Herring had a dramatic conclusion to the match, which is more than can be said for Ebenezer Fontes Braga vs Daijiro Matsui, which was a very long match with little excitement at all. The debut of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira turned things up considerably, and whilst his contest with "Big Daddy" Gary Goodridge was short, it was high on skill.

The match of the night once again belonged to crowd favourite Kazushi Sakuraba, as he took on newcomer Quinton "Rampage" Jackson. The latter is the type of fighter who puts everything into a fight, and with the crowd anticipation at huge levels, this was an excellent contest.

In hindsight then, placing Ryan Gracie vs Tokimitsu Ishizawa (pro wrestler Kendo Ka Shin) in the main event was a poor decision, although this re-match from PRIDE 10 suffered tremendously because of an injury to one of the participants.

Whilst the main event was a little flat due to the aforementioned injury, the bouts featuring Sakuraba and Jackson, Goodridge and Nogueira, and Satake and Vovchanchyn are all worth catching. On the flip side, only Matsui vs Braga is worth avoiding.


PRIDE 16 opened with a tribute to people of the United States by the North American participants, after the tragic events of September 11th. There was also a one minute`s silence held in the arena.

Veteran pro wrestler Yoshiaki Yatsu squared off against Gary Goodridge in the opening contest, which featured a rather odd finish. After a very interesting segment on how PRIDE`s judges rule a contest, Yoshihisa Yamamoto and Assuerio Silva fought an extremely short yet brutal bout. Daijiro Matsui and Murilo "Ninja" Rua then contested another brutal contest, which was equally one-sided. There was a little too much ground-work in this one for me, but at least maintained a positive, attacking spirit throughout.

Next, Guy Mezger and Ricardo Arona produced a contest that was shockingly bland considering the reputations of these two, before 6ft 11" Semmy Schilt took on 5ft 6" Akira Shoji, in a bout which simply must have been put together as a freak show.

Thankfully, PRIDE 16 saved its best two matches for last, as Don Frye and Gilbert Yvel tore down the house in a crazy match where all manner of rules were violated, and Mark Coleman went up against Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, in what was a fascinating battle of technique.

Overall, PRIDE 15 & 16 is a good double-disc set, highlighted by the appearances of Nogueira and Sakuraba. Fans of this era of PRIDE should definitely look into this, and those with a passing interested could certainly do worse.