Pride 32

Background

This was the first Pride event to be held outside Japan. 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, however they prohibited elbows to the head. 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 was different from Pride's own judging criteria.

Marvin Eastman was scheduled to face Kazuhiro Nakamura, but a contract dispute with the World Fighting Alliance prevented Eastman from taking part. Eastman was 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 as 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.

Wanderlei Silva was also expected to fight at the event, but was barred by the NSAC as Silva had been knocked out at Pride Final Conflict Absolute on September 10, 41 days prior (knockout losses require a minimum 60 day suspension in Nevada).

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

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.

After the event, Vitor Belfort and Pawel Nastula both tested positive for banned substances; Nastula for nandrolone and Belfort for 4-hydroxytestosterone. 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.

The Pay-per-view price was $39.95. Tickets sold from $50 to $700. Regular Pride commentators Mauro Ranallo and Frank Trigg were joined on the call by Craig Minervini for the PPV broadcast. Ring announcing duties were split between Pride's usual English-language ring announcer Lenne Hardt and Japanese-language head ring announcer Kei Grant, who is also fluent in English.

Results

|Heavyweight | Fedor Emelianenko |def. | Mark Coleman |Submission (armbar) |2 |1:15 |Non-title bout. |Light Heavyweight | Maurício Rua |def. | Kevin Randleman |Submission (kneebar) |1 |2:35 |Randleman failed post-fight drug test. |Heavyweight | Josh Barnett |def. | Pawel Nastula |Submission (toe hold) |2 |3:04 |Nastula failed post-fight drug test. |Heavyweight | Eric Esch |def. | Sean O'Haire |KO (punches) |1 |0:29 | |Light Heavyweight | Dan Henderson |def. | Vitor Belfort |Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–24) |3 |5:00 |Belfort failed post-fight drug test. |Catchweight (195lb) | Phil Baroni |def. | Yosuke Nishijima |Technical Submission (kimura) |1 |3:20 | |Light Heavyweight | Kazuhiro Nakamura |def. | Travis Galbraith |TKO (punches) |2 |1:16 | |Middleweight | Robbie Lawler |def. | Joey Villasenor |KO (flying knee) |1 |0:22 |

References

References

1. link. (2006-11-16 '' – MMAWeekly.com news, September 19, 2006)
2. ''[http://www.sherdog.com/news/news.asp?n_id=5896 Pride "Real Deal" Not Quite Done Deal]'' – Sherdog.com, October 17, 2006
3. ''[http://www.sherdog.com/news/articles.asp?n_id=6130 Ten Things That Need to Change in Mixed Martial Arts]'' – Sherdog.com, November 14, 2006
4. ''[http://www.ivansblog.com/2006/10/mixed-martial-arts-josh-barnett-passes.html Josh Barnett Passes Drug Test; Mark Hunt Still Off Pride Card; Gardner Not on Pride Card]'' – MMAWeekly.com news (archived permalink), October 20, 2006
5. ''[http://www.sherdog.com/news/news/Report-Belfort-Nastula-Fail-PostFight-Drug-Test-5981 Belfort, Nastula Fail Post-Fight Drug Test]'' – Sherdog, October 26, 2006
6. ''[http://www.sherdog.com/news/news/Report-Randleman-Provided-Dubious-Urine-Sample-6064 Randleman Provided Dubious Urine Sample]'' – Sherdog.com, November 8, 2006
7. Haney, J. (2006, Oct 20). TAKE FIVE: Pride fighting championships. Las Vegas Sun, pp. A.8-A.8.