PRIDE FC 3 – 06.24.98
By Maffew Gregg on 23 November 2025
Pride Fighting Championships
June 24, 1998
Nippon Budokan
Time for more PRIDE! These aren’t going to be every week because they take a long-arse time to type up
Daijiro Matsui vs. Akira Shoji
Matsui is a stablemate of Sakuraba so Stephen is excited to see what he knows.
Stalling causes the ref to demand action at the start. Shoji accepts the challenge and lands a quick one-two across Matsui’s face. Shoji can’t capitalise because his glove needs fixing. That’s a lucky break. Doesn’t matter as Shoji lands more strikes, holding on and carrying on as Matsui attempts to leave the ring. Both men end up mid-way through the ropes with the ref doing little to prevent it. They’re still figuring those ropey rules out. Matsui attempts a takedown but Akira stops it. Doesn’t go anywhere. They stand up and do the same spot again. Booo, learn to work. Knees are landed to the shoulder instead of the head which are apparently banned now. We’ll see. Ref asks both men to stop fighting but they fall back on one another to the mat so the ref just allows it. This guy stinks. Akira appears to lock a sleeper in but Matsui wriggles out in an exciting moment. Akira delivers a spinebuster to end Round One.
Round Two starts with Bas doing Scarface impressions. Meanwhile a takedown that landed in the ropes results in a restart elsewhere as the commentators tell us the ring ropes are a good thing, actually. Nothing happens so it’s restarted on the feet. Matsui manages a takedown but Akira prevents him from leaving the mat which results in polite applause. Matsui thinks “fuck it” and starts landing strikes on the mat and stood-up. Crowd cheers him now. It’s just a damn popularity contest with you freaks. Matsui makes the mistake of going for the leg with both men ending up in the ropes again, with Matsui throwing strikes from the mat upwards. “When you don’t know your limitations, you just go for it.” Round screeches to a halt.
Round Three Of Maybe Three We Don’t Know starts with Matsui getting a quick wipe from the ref because he’s at “Mark Henry during his entrance” levels of moist. This continues to be uneventful. Matsui has a look of desperation on his face as Quadros yells “look at him, this is the thing he wants to do the most.” Akira finally lands more strikes but doesn’t follow up so he gets taken down again. “Why?” bellows Bas. Akira releases a long nothing-grapple to attempt to land strikes but misses most of them. One minute left, both lads go to the mat again but this time Matsui attempts to go for an ankle lock while Akira tries to go for the choke. Neither get anywhere but it was a nice tense closing minute.
Oh there’s a Round Four. Neither commentator knows how long it’s going. Akira manages some knees to the shoulder but both men are tired after going for thirty minutes. “I can’t picture either of these men knocking the other out. It’s like a cat chasing it’s shadow.” Akira ignores them and throws bombs but none land so he should have listened. Akira rests some more in a clinch before landing strikes that do actually hit. The commentators act as if they’re at ringside and Akira is listening to every word they’re saying. Quadros stops this when Akira lands a knee on his own arm which causes him to laugh in disbelief.
Three minutes left so Matsui attempts a guillotine before getting taken down and ending up on the mat yet again with his legs wrapped around Akira. “I don’t picture anything significant happening” Quadros says as Matsui gracefully slips out of the hold. Akira grapples Matsui so hard they fly through the ropes to end the fight. Crowd boos. The declaration of a Draw gets polite applause though.
I reckon this commentary was done immediately after PRIDE 2 which is why the commentators reacted so positively to such non-action. Decent first round and at least both guys were active as much as possible, but there was a hell of a lot of down time here. Skip this.
Emmanuel Yarbrough vs. Daiju Takase
Takase is 169lbs, Yarbrough is 600lbs so it’s the PRIDE FC debut of the FREAK SHOW FIGHT, BABYYYY.
Emmanuel is fresh off a career of erotic films in the 1970s but more importantly: appearing in Oz when it was still good.
He lost to Keith Hackney at UFC 3 (but not before forcing his foe out of the cage) but recovered enough to defeat Tatsuo Nakano in Shooto by uh smothering him with his tit fat.
“He should put his head between his legs and squeeze.” Takase naturally pivots and dodges his foe to start, landing the occasional punch before immediately retreating. It’s very Dark Souls. Emmanuel is patient with his strikes and movement for obvious reasons. “This is like a horror movie!” Takase allows Emmanuel to get too close and takes a gentle tap which is enough to send him into the ropes. Takase gets closer and closer to his prey but immediately jumps back whenever Emmanuel blinks. This is weirdly exciting so far. Emmanuel misses another jab so Takase tries to counter but walks into Emmanuel’s outstretched fist to get sent loopy. That was like Warrior running into Andre’s punch. Ref demands action so Takase does a forward roll. Fuck, it is Dark Souls.
Takase stalls some more with Emmanuel deciding to come to him instead. Takase lands some very quick very light strikes to show the ref he is trying. Quadros recommends Takase run around his foe until he gets dizzy and falls over like Humpty Dumpty. Emmanuel tries to connect with a strike that nearly causes him to fall down. “It’s OK, Japan is used to earthquakes! A 3.2 won’t move them!” Emmanuel is sweating like crazy from simply existing. Napoleon’s invasion of Russia didn’t require the manpower to get Emmanuel out of the corner. Round One ends with not much happening but I’m still enjoying it.
Round Two starts with Emmanuel grabbing Takase twice and nearly stuffing him through the ropes. Takase repeats his strategy of hitting and running for his life so the ref gives him a Yellow Card for stalling. This motivates him into going for a single leg (!) which Emmanuel counters by falling on top of of him (!!). He only lands on his legs so Takase frantically tries to escape his clutch as Quadros yells “this is like Jaws!” Thanks to Emmanuel’s perspiration, Takase is able to wriggle out into a decent position where he can attempt an armbar of some description. That doesn’t work so Takase changes tactics and wails away on Emmanuel’s thigh and face. This is enough for Takase to wriggle out some more and bloody his nose which is enough for the tap-out and giant pop.
A disgrace to not just MMA but fighting and weight divisions in general. I fucking loved it, A+
Takase would later defeat Anderson Silva, bloody hell really? Meanwhile Minowaman would make a career out of these types of encounters. Sadly this would be Emmanuel’s final fight.
Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Carlos Newton
Before the fight, Bas delivers the fighters some pre-match flowers which allows Bas to comment on Bas. “Wow who is that guy? He looks so young!” Bas lets everyone knows he’s going to fight Randy Couture for UFC…
…and once he’s finished with that, he’ll fight Rickson Gracie for PRIDE FC.
Bas pretends to be tired after running back to the announce desk, hopefully he has the energy to enjoy this fight. Sakuraba saved PRIDE FC 2 from being a DUD, and Carlos is great so this should be grand.
Carlos gets close to his opponent to start with Sakuraba landing low kicks to show he doesn’t care how close you are. Carlos tries to trip Sakuraba down but Sakuraba holds on and cartwheels him to the mat for the dominant position and that’s already the highlight of the night. Sakuraba’s unreal speed sees him spin around Carlos to trick him into an armbar but Carlos blocks it at the last possible second to get him off.
But Sakuraba remains in position, rolling constantly and beautifully. Yeah, even at this early stage of PRIDE FC you can tell he’s something special. Carlos wants to continue on the mat, with Sakuraba slowing down as the commentators suspect Sakuraba has a method to his madness and is stopping to throw Carlos off. Good point, Sakuraba has an answer for everything. Sakuraba again holds Carlos on the mat while spinning him around so he can try for the armbar again with Carlos again blocking at the last moment. Crowd rightly applauds that. Sakuraba teases a toe hold but then waves it off to laughter from the crowd.
Five minutes remaining so both men stand up. Sakuraba’s low kicks keep Carlos at bay until he tries for a takedown, getting caught in Sakuraba’s web of deceit again. Sakuraba even playfully shoves Carlos head down to the mat, all while maintaining control. Sakuraba punches Carlos which distracts him as Sakuraba attempts a toe hold. Carlos does manage to slip out and takes Sakuraba’s back, almost. You’d think he’d be able to do something from this position but no. Carlos either suspects Sakuraba can counter whatever he goes for or doesn’t have it in to attempt anything so he goes to the front, and back into Sakuraba’s focus. Both men jockey for position until they’re both up and throwing strikes to end the round. Exciting stuff so far.
Round Two starts with Carlos daring to take Sakuraba’s back and immediately being almost stuck in a kimura. Ah so that’s why. Some more beautiful transitions and neck cranking and rolling results in Carlos landing knees to the liver. “Nice, nice do that!” Sakuraba turtles on the mat with Carlos mounting him like a turtle shell. Carlos locks Sakuraba’s arm into a crossface/crucifix position but can’t capitalise. So he throws more strikes and they are LOUD. Sakuraba doesn’t care and absorbs them to roll on top and lock in an armbar which gets dangerously close to being fully applied but Carlos escapes again, using a lot of energy in the process.
Five minutes remaining sees Carlos on top but I blinked and then Sakuraba was on top with an ankle lock and a tap-out at 5:19.
Jesus I had to go back and see how he even got there because I missed it.
OK so Sakuraba goes to the ankle while rolling forward causing Carlos to try to stop him but the roll discombobulates him enough to where Sakuraba is able to switch to the other ankle and get the tap. Got that?
I can’t say enough positive things about Sakuraba, without these displays of flexibility and manoeuvrability these shows aren’t worth a damn. Carlos did his best but also seemed to know his limitations so was a step behind Sakuraba in certain holds. Recommended!
Gary Goodridge vs. Amir Rahnavardi
Gary was supposed to face KIMO but he blew his knee he needed the money so Amir is here on one day’s notice. Oh boy. Gary’s still fuming from his fluke loss to Ruas at PRIDE 2 so this is not a good day to be Amir. “This shows some courage and possibly some insanity.”
Gary amazingly allows Amir to throw a low kick and a jab while not protecting himself which doesn’t even make Gary blink as he proceeds to throw uppercuts and knees. Amir barely manages a Judo Throw which results in Gary on top and punching Amir’s fucking head in. Gary can be heard telling Amir “you can throw better than that” at Amir’s attempt at hugging Gary while landing tiny punches to the side. Quadros hilariously starts telling a story about how Amir rang him from Japan after losing a fight and realises mid-story that it’s THIS fight he was talking about. “Well we’ll need to cut that out” he says. It wasn’t.
Amir realises he’s stuck on the mat with a pissed off Gary punching him so does his best to wrangle out of this predicament and manages to lock in a knee bar. Commentators are amazed but also try warning Amir that he’s left himself wide open for more shots. Gary yells “your turn!” as he ends up on top of Amir to…tell him to go for the arm? And Amir goes for it?? Gary blocks the keylock by smothering him before saying something about the elbow. Gary then looms over Amir while daring him so punch him in the face while yelling “CHILD’S PLAY! OOOOO!!”
Fuck me. Gary then KOs Amir with three right hands to end a foregone conclusion.
An AMAZING showcase for Gary, the kind you used to get from watching Lee Scott on Worldwide. To paraphrase Ricky Hatton: “If you caught Gary Goodridge in bed with your wife, you’d tuck him in!”
Mark Kerr vs. Pedro Otavio
Kerr won last time against that idiot kickboxer Branko so let’s see how well he deals with someone who possibly knows the rules. Kerr looks like Dr Zahorian’s wet dream but Pedro looks like The Pug so it’s impossible to tell who has the advantage going in.
Kerr low kicks to start which is rude as I think Branko had his fist extended for the polite fist-bump. Branko puts his hand on his hips after that, like a disappointed mum. Kerr takes Branko down and proceeds to knee him in the face. Branko gets close to Kerr’s tummy so he can’t do that, so Kerr picks up his foe to move him away from the ropes. That was a freakish display of power. Kerr’s punches don’t go anywhere but he notices Branko is open for a Kimura which causes him to yell in pain for the audible submission victory for Kerr.
Branko is furious because he didn’t tap but he should be thanking the refs for saving his limb. Branko argues with the refs before throwing his knee pads into the crowd to take the pop away from Kerr. Impressive performance from Kerr, even if he’s two-for-two in terrible finishes so far.
Nobuhiko Takada vs. Kyle Sturgeon
Kyle’s only MMA fight and he’s main eventing against the company’s biggest cash cow who really needs a win right now. Hmmmm.
Kyle throws a gentle kick to Takada’s arm and he sells it by leaping backwards as if it hurt. Crowd “ooooos” so Takada allows Kyle to land a high kick to the face-area, with Takada falling to the mat and looking concerned.
That was way, way too theatrical and you can hear laughter from the crowd. Also Kyle doesn’t follow up with any strikes and allows Takada to recover, come on man. Kyle manages a takedown that is set-up so Takada can attempt an ankle lock so Kyle bounces out of his own hold. Bas is speechless. Kyle gets another takedown but Takada holds on. Takada gets in a heel hook with Kyle tapping like a wrestler, only after a few seconds of fighting the pain.
The commentators hold their tongue. Well I’m not getting paid by the Yakuza so I’ll say this fight was way worse than the Emmanuel freakshow fight from earlier. The more of these I watch, the less I like Takada who made an entire career out of being a bad-ass but can’t fake fight for shit.
Interesting Observer Notes
KRS held a press conference on 6/22 to promote its 6/24 Budokan Hall Pride Three event. Nobuhiko Takada, who is the big drawing card on the show, no-showed the press conference allowing opponent Kyle Sturgeon to run him down as being afraid (wow what a likable guy).
Takada will be spending six weeks in California training with Ruas and Bas Rutten for his tune-up match for Rickson Gracie in October. My feeling is with such a big match on the table, that Takada’s match on this show will have to be a work, and that Pride recognizes not only does he need to win for credibility, but they need his name on the card as a participant to sell tickets since the last show didn’t sell many tickets. (Sounds like a quandary).
This show, with Takada as the top draw, drew a crowd announced as 8,000 but paid attendance was closer to 4,500 in the 16,000-seat arena. (Yup.)
Overall: Better than PRIDE FC 2 but then again so was The Somme.
Sakuraba rules, the Emmanuel match is a must-see, and Gary looked terrifying. We’re still ironing out the creases but at least the commentators know the rules now. Uh, sometimes.