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Selected matches from SKY
PerfecTV! LIVE SPECIAL PRIDE.6 7/4/99 Kanagawa Yokohama Arena (12,580) Carlos Newton vs. Daijiro Matsui |
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Really good, exciting match. Both men were in great shape and fought hard for 25 minutes. These two weren't afraid to take risks. Matsui even did a cartwheel like Sakuraba in PRIDE.4, but Newton positioned his legs so Matsui would land right in his guard. Still, it worked for Matsui because he got to punch Newton in the face while Newton was getting him in the guard. The standup here was better from a viewer standpoint than the majority of shoot fights. Both men could strike, but neither was great at defending against strikes, so that made for good action. The weird thing about Matsui's defense was actually that he would just cover up when he was on all fours and Newton was standing to the side of him. This made some sense when the ropes were right next to him on the other side, but when they weren't he would have been much better off rolling to the side Newton wasn't on until he had enough separation to safely get back to his feet. The match got off to a really good start with Matsui catching Newton with a right. Newton soon tagged Matsui with a punch when he was looking to shoot. Newton had an udehishigigyakujujigatame (cross armbreaker), but couldn't get Matsui to his back. Thus, Matsui was able to stand up and pull his arm out then throw punches down at Newton, although none of them really landed. Newton almost had the arm bar again 2 1/2 minutes later after suplexing Matsui, but Matsui lifted him a little and slammed him. After two of these, Matsui got his arm free and was able to throw some punches while in Newton's guard. Newton almost had the udehishigigyakujujigatame for the third time, but Matsui punched and kneed to avoid it. Matsui got a pretty deep little cut to the left of his left eye, but it wasn't bleeding much so he was all right. Matsui tried a tobi giri (jumping kick) at one pint, but in a real fight everyone sees these things coming and avoids them. The second round was not as exciting as the first because they were on the mat a lot more and they weren't as active because they had expended so much energy already. It was called a draw after the second 10:00 round expired so they went into a 5:00 extra round. Newton seemed to have more bounce left in him for overtime, but Matsui was far more aggressive so it was mainly Newton avoiding Matsui's attempts to engage. Newton landed a killer uppercut at one point, but Matsui kept coming at him. Newton got more blows in because Matsui was getting sloppy from tiring out. Newton never came close to putting him away though so it was back to the judges. This was a tough decision because Matsui got hit more in overtime, but he was taking it to Newton and he did have some success. Newton was the more talented fighter, and he won the decision 3-0, but Matsui showed that Sakuraba isn't the only one in Takada dojo that has a lot of heart and determination. Jason: This was a very competitive and exciting fight. They were pretty much even through the first two rounds even though I felt that Newton could have capitalized on the fact that Matsui seemed to give him his back late in both rounds, Newton just seemed unsure whether to strike or to go for a choke. He did get some good strikes in from this position though, but was too passive with them. Special Thanks to: Jason Higgs 25:00 |
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