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Pride 32: The Real Deal was a mixed martial arts event and was held by the Pride Fighting Championships. The event took place on October 21, 2006, at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was the first Pride event to be held outside of Japan, and in front of an audience of 11,727 (8,079 paid).

Background[]

Since the event took place in Nevada, Pride had to modify its rules to follow Nevada's version of the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts for this event. Pride followed Nevada's MMA rules for the most part, in effect using the same rules as other promotions in Nevada like the UFC, but it used a ring to stage contests and prohibited elbows to the head as it already did in its own rules (Elbow strikes are allowed in UFC). Matches were three rounds of five minutes each, and if a match went the distance, it would be judged by Nevada's 10-point must system with Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) judges, which is different from Pride's own judging criteria. The disclosed fighter payroll for the event was $495,000.

Marvin Eastman was scheduled to face Kazuhiro Nakamura, but a contract dispute with the World Fighting Alliance prevented Eastman from taking part. Eastman was then replaced by Travis Galbraith.

Mark Hunt was originally announced to be fighting Eric Esch in an MMA match. But the NSAC would not allow Hunt to fight Esch, they argued that Hunt’s wins over Wanderlei Silva and Mirko Filipovic gave him an unfair mat advantage. Pride had stated that "visa issues" were preventing Hunt from competing in the bout, but it was later confirmed that Hunt could not compete due to the NSAC's ruling. Hunt was replaced by Sean O'Haire. During the fighter entrance for the match between Esch and O'Haire the commentators stated that O'Haire was a replacement for Hunt who was scheduled to face Esch in a boxing match, which had suggested that if the NSAC had still allowed Hunt to fight, the match between Hunt and Esch would have been an exhibition boxing match.

Wanderlei Silva was also expected to fight at the event, but was barred by the NSAC as Silva had been knocked out one month prior.

The fight between Phil Baroni and Yosuke Nishijima was ruled a submission victory, though Nishijima did not tap out. The referee in charge ended the fight in order to protect Nishijima from injury. The match was therefore ruled a Technical Submission.

Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipović had also been thought to fight, as seen in the earlier Pride 32 promotional poster, but was unfit to fight as he had injured his foot in a previous match in an earlier Pride event.

After the event, Vitor Belfort and Pawel Nastula both tested positive for banned substances; Nastula for nandrolone and Belfort for 4-hydroxytestosterone. Nastula decided to fight within the 9 month imposed ban by the NSAC, therefore probably ending any hope of ever seeing him fight again in North America. Kevin Randleman also provided a dubious urine sample, of which was stated "It was either allegedly non-human urine or urine from a dead human being," by the NSAC. All three of the fighters who have been suspected had been defeated in their respective match-ups. Nastula's camp has since protested the test results, and the issue is under further investigation.

Results[]

Pride 32 event poster

Original Pride 32 event poster

USA flag Joey Villasenor vs. USA flag Robbie Lawler

Lawler defeated Villasenor by KO (flying knee) at 0:22 of round one.

JPN flag Kazuhiro Nakamura vs. CAN flag Travis Galbraith

Nakamura defeated Galbraith by TKO (strikes) at 1:16 of round two.

USA flag Phil Baroni vs. JPN flag Yosuke Nishijima

Baroni defeated Nishijima by submission (Kimura) at 3:20 of round one.

USA flag Dan Henderson vs. BRA flag Vitor Belfort

Henderson defeated Belfort by unanimous decision.

USA flag Eric "Butterbean" Esch vs. USA flag Sean O'Haire

Esch defeated O'Haire by TKO (strikes) at 0:29 of round one.

USA flag Josh Barnett vs. POL flag Pawel Nastula

Barnett defeated Nastula by submission (toe hold) at 3:04 of round two.

BRA flag Mauricio Rua vs. USA flag Kevin Randleman

Rua defeated Randleman by submission (kneebar) at 2:35 of round one.

RUS flag Fedor Emelianenko vs. USA flag Mark Coleman

Emelianenko defeated Coleman by submission (armbar) at 1:15 of round two.

Fighter payouts[]

  • Fedor Emelianenko: $100,000
  • Mark Coleman: $70,000
  • Josh Barnett: $60,000
  • Dan Henderson: $50,000
  • Kevin Randleman: $40,000
  • Vitor Belfort: $30,000
  • Eric "Butterbean" Esch: $30,000
  • Mauricio "Shogun" Rua: $25,000
  • Pawel Nastula: $20,000
  • Phil Baroni: $15,000
  • Yosuke Nishijima: $15,000
  • Sean O'Haire: $15,000
  • Kazuhiro Nakamura: $10,000
  • Robbie Lawler: $10,000
  • Joey Villasenor: $3,000
  • Travis Galbraith: $2,000

External links[]

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