Pride Critical Countdown 2004 took place on June 20th, 2004 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. Featuring the 2nd Round of the Pride Heavyweight tournament the event was main evented by tournament contestants Fedor Emelianenko and Kevin Randleman. Randleman nearly won after suplexing Fedor right on his head but almost instantly Fedor reversed their positions and beat Randleman by kimura. Other tournament winners included Rodrigo Nogueira, Sergei Kharitonov, and Naoya Ogawa. Also on the card was the famous bout between Rampage Jackson and Ricardo Arona where Rampage beat Arona but a slam that knocked out Arona.
UFC 37.5: As Real As It Gets took place on June 22nd, 2002 at the Bellagio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. An event that was booked at the last minute was named 37.5 as UFC 38 was already scheduled to take place 3 weeks later in England. Scheduled to help promote the UFC on Fox Sport's Net the best fight of the night would be broad casted during the show which ended up being the first mixed martial arts fight to air on US cable television. Main event featured a number one contender bout for Randy Couture's Light Heavyweight title between Chuck Liddell and Vitor Belfort. Liddell ended winning the fight by unanimous decision.
Pride 21:Demolition took place on June 23rd, 2002 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. Main event bout featured Don Frye taking on Yoshihiro Takayama in what many people consider one of the most entertaining fights of all time. Fyre ended up beating Takayama in the first round by TKO after 6 minutes of trading blows in the slug feast. The co-main event featured the debut of future Pride Champion Fedor Emelianenko who defeated Semmy Schilt by decision. Also victorious at the event included Renzo Gracie, Jeremy Horn and Anderson Silva.
The Ultimate Fighter Season 5 Finale took place on June 23rd, 2007 at the Palms Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Main event was coaches B.J. Penn and Jens Pulver squaring off which to date is the only season of TUF to have the coaches fight on the finale. Penn won the grudge match by submission in the 2nd round. Also featured was the TUF season 5 finalists Nate Diaz and Manny Gamburyan, Nate won after Manny injured his shoulder in the 2nd round.
Other events taking place during this week: Pride 3 June 24th, 1998, The Ultimate Fighter: Season 9 Finale June 20th, 2009, The Ultimate Fighter Season 3 Finale June 24th, 2006
Birthdays
Quinton Jackson born June 20th, 1978 in Memphis, Tennessee"Rampage" is the former UFC champion and Pride star who sports a 32-8 career record. Know for his powerful slams most notable the already mentioned bout against Ricardo Arona who trapped Rampage in a triangle choke but Rampage lifted Arona above his head and slam him down to mat knocking him unconscious. Coincedently that bout took place on Rampage's 26th birthday. A coach on the ultimate fighter on two occassions (season 7 and 10) Rampage's carismatic personality led to a brief retirement of MMA to presue a career in acting where he starred in the A-Team as B.A Barakus. The very long list of notable wins for Jackson include Chuck Liddell, Wanderlei Silva, Lyoto Machida and Dan Henderson
Roy Nelson born June 20th, 1976 in Las Vegas, Nevada
"Big Country" is not exactly known for his physic however the Renzo Gracie Black Belt has amassed a 15-6 career record, collecting a IFL Title and winning Season 10 of TUF along the way. During that season of TUF one of his wins included street fighter Kimbo Slice who he beat by TKO. Notable wins for Roy include Stefan Struve, and Brendan Schaub.
Randy Couture born June 22nd, 1963 in Everett, Washington
One of the most popular MMA fighters in the world, now retired "The Natural" finished his career with a 19-11 career record. His many UFC records include being the first fighter to win titles in 2 different weight clases, the most title reigns with 5, most title fights with 15 and the most total UFC fights with 24. Coach of season 1 of the Ultimate Fighter opposite rival Chuck Liddell, their trilogy of bouts still to this day are some of the biggest fights in UFC history. The first UFC Hall Of Famer has now presued a full time acting career after starring in The Expendables and The Scorpion King. Randy will still stay involved in MMA at some capacity as he is owner of popular gym Xtreme Couture. Notable wins in his historic career include Chuck Liddell, Tito Ortiz, Tim Slyvia, Vitor Belfort, Kevin Randleman and Pedro Rizzo. Although not on the same level of competition of the mention victories Randy's win over boxing champion James Toney should be noticed due to it being the first MMA vs Boxing bout to get so much exposure as it did.
Brian Bowles born June 22nd in Charlestown, West Virginia
The top 10 ranked Bantamweight is the former WEC champion and currently holds a 9-1 career record. Bowles only defeat came by the hands of current UFC Bantamweight champion after Brian broke his right hand and was not able to continue after the 2nd round. Bowles is now working his way back to a title fight after beating Damacio Page in his last outing by guillotine choke 3:30 into the first round, strangely enough Bowles beat Page in a bout in 2008 but the exact same method at the exact same time. Including the mentioned Page other notable wins for Bowles include Miguel Torres and Charlie Valencia.
Also celebrating birthdays this week: Mike Swick June 19th, 1979, Mike Van Arsdale June 20th, 1965, Nick Thompson June 23rd, 1981 Tweet
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