Kawajiri thoughts on Prides diminsih and the ufc
Kawajiri: It was planned to an extent. Until then, the only time that I experienced such slugging was when I fought against Takanori Gomi (Pictures). At that time, the PRIDE Lightweight Grand Prix was scheduled for 2007. So thinking ahead, I felt that I needed more experience with hard slugging.
Sherdog: How tough was Melendez?
Kawajiri: He was tenacious.
Sherdog: Looking at the UFC, fighters who had success in Japan, such as Mirko "Cro Cop" and Mauricio Shogun, haven't had success as expected. Why do you think this is happening?
Kawajiri: That comes from the differences in fighting in the ring and the Octagon. There are different sets of rules and the length of rounds is different. Now that I think about it, the exact same thing was happening in the past when fighters who are used to the Octagon could not succeed in the Japanese ring.
Sherdog: Japanese fighters like Kazuhiro Nakamura (Pictures), Akihiro Gono (Pictures) and Ryo Chonan (Pictures) have now fought in the UFC. Are you interested in stepping in the UFC Octagon?
Kawajiri: As for now, not really. If you look at the lightweight division, the champion was caught with steroid use. The lightweight division doesn't seem to be swelling like the other weight classes. Also the exclusive contracts wouldn't work with me. I want to fight in Japan as well.
Sherdog: Some feel that the fighters are the worst victims of the disappearance of PRIDE. Fighters like you, Mitsuhiro Ishida (Pictures) and Shinya Aoki (Pictures) seemed very loyal and patiently waited for PRIDE to restart. Why did you have such loyalty?
Kawajiri: Because I knew that the Japanese staff members were dreaming of restarting PRIDE. They were working their butts off to restart PRIDE. I wanted to fight in front of those staff members and the fans in that ring. That's why I patiently waited.
The reason why I fight is because I want to be the best fighter in my weight class. I firmly believe that PRIDE was the site where the strongest in the world was determined. Once PRIDE was gone, I couldn't look at other organizations and consider that they were determining the strongest in the world.
It's like falling in love. You might get dumped by a girl, but you just can't forget about her. For the same reason, I couldn't forget about PRIDE and move on. If PRIDE was restarting, it would have been the best place for me to fight.
Very interesting comments from Kawajiri...
Comments on Sherk, the UFC LW division, and future possibility of fighting in the UFC.
The man makes some very good points about transitioning from the ring to the cage. He also makes good points on why he doesn't want to sign a contract with the ufc, and why it is likley that other fighters want be signing one. He said that the LW division is not really stacked right now but i highly disagree, even though i would some pride LW fighters(gomi,melendez, him, and Ishida) are all championship material. The UFC light weight division is no joke, and of these top fighters would give pride LW's a run for their money. I mean come on BJ, Sherk, Stevenson, Florian, Edgar, Tyson Griffen, all opponents who are capable of hanging with the best in the world.
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