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PRIDE on FSN TV special
By Zach Arnold | April 9, 2006
By Zach Arnold
On Sunday night, Fox Sports Net aired a PRIDE TV special centered around the Bushido 10 show. It started off with a rap-themed intro video package, with Phil Baroni saying, “This is PRIDE, welcome to the show.” They debuted a new video graphics package.
The annoying female announcer Lenny Hart did her introduction of Jay Glazer and Frank Trigg, as they walked down the Ariake Colosseum (spelled “Ariake Coliseum” on TV) rampway with the FSN logo on the TV screen behind them. Trigg made a ridiculous comparison of Fedor and Mike Tyson in his prime, doing the hard sell of Fedor. A quick video package aired to introduce people to what the PRIDE match rules are.
The Denis Kang vs. Mark Weir fight was shown. Glazer said on camera that Weir had “Floyd Mayweather hand-speed.” Kang was a relentless bulldog in the match and had no trouble beating Weir. After the fight, an interview with Kang aired.
Next was a fight between Yves Edwards (spelled Yves “Edwars” on the video screen) vs. Seichi Ikemoto. The fight is JIP (joined in progress) half-way through round one. Was there some audio-sweetening of the crowd noise here? I’m not sure if it happened here, but it did happen later in the show.
An old fight between Igor Vovchanchyn & Mirko Cro Cop was shown.
Jay Glazer compared Phil Baroni to TO (Terrell Owens) and Allen Iverson, as he gets underneath the skin of his opponents. Glazer closes out by saying, “The New York Bad Ass comes to Tokyo… Welcome to his world.” An interview package with Baroni & Mark Coleman airs, with Baroni talking about how he was labeled as finished after losing in UFC and that Coleman invited him to PRIDE.
The ring introduction of Phil Baroni is shown, and clearly you can hear the audio of the crowd being sweetened. Kondo was already show in the ring (edited). The fight between Yuki Kondo and Phil Baroni is lightning fast, as Kondo did a no-guard style approach and really left himself open. Baroni destroyed Kondo with a hard right hook. After the match, Baroni got on the house microphone and did some basic Japanese, then thanked PRIDE and his coaches (and broke down to cry afterwards).
In the backstage post-match interview, Baroni told Glazer that the Japanese brought him in as a sacrificial lamb, and that he overcame personal problems and injuries to return. “I’m back.” Baroni made the argument that he’s the best fighter at his weight class. When asked about FSN doing more prime-time PRIDE specials, Baroni said that he wanted FOX to climb aboard his back and bring the sport to new heights. Baroni also said that he told the referee not to touch his hair because he didn’t want it messed up.
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