Hendo and Gomi Pride GP wins, Usyk bests Joshua: OTD
Hendo and Gomi stood tall in the Pride FC ring on this day in combat sports history, that also saw a changing of the guard in boxing’s heavyweight championship ranks. September 25th has historically seen some big happenings in both boxing and mixed martial arts, which we will look back on today.
Four years ago today, Oleksandr Usyk achieved his first taste of heavyweight glory in his first outing with Anthony Joshua. The Ukrainian combatant defeated AJ by way of unanimous decision at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to claim the WBO, WBA, and IBF world titles to begin his reign atop the weight category which continues to this day.
Henderson and Gomi stand tall in their respective pride grand prix fields
Twenty years ago today, Hendo and Gomi emerged triumphant from their respective grand prix fields in the Pride FC ring. This took place at Pride Bushido 9 with Henderson and Gomi competing in the welterweight and lightweight tournament brackets, respectively.
Dan Henderson would advance to the grand prix finals in short order as the MMA legend would knockout Ryo Chonan less than thirty seconds into their bout. Henderson would then best Akihiro Gono later on in the same night and the former would again score a KO win. The former UFC tournament winner would stop Gono around the eight minute mark of the fight and also added a Pride FC tournament title to his decorated mantle.
Takanori Gomi had his classic contest with Tatsuya Kawajiri on this very night and the former stood tall over the latter when the dust settled at Pride Bushido 9. Gomi would finish Kawajiri with a rear naked choke around the eight minute mark of the opening round and punch his ticket to the last stage of the grand prix.
That win vaulted Gomi to the tournament finals later on that same night and went against Luiz Azeredo in what was a rematch from their Pride Bushido 7 bout. ‘The Fireball Kid’ would go 2-0 over Azeredo and secured a unanimous decision win inside Tokyo’s Ariake Coliseum to become the lightweight grand prix champion on a night where Hendo and Gomi emerged triumphantly.
