Customer Rating: 
Summary: fist of fire
Comment: this dvd is full of great mma fighters.From the first match to the last one is full of action. Fist of fire features the heavyweight fight between cro cop and coleman and the lightheavyweight fight between quinton jacskon and ninja rua.
best fights:
1)Rogerio nogueira vs alistair overeem 2)fabricio werdum vs tom erikson 3)quinton jackson vs ninja rua 4)coleman vs cro cop
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Solid Card
Comment: What happens when the uncontrollable force meets the immovable object? For MMA fans, this question could be applied to Mark Coleman, wrestler extraordinaire, possessing perhaps the best shoot (takedowns) in all of MMA versus Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic, deadly striker, with the best takedown defense in the business. There was also the intriguing battle of old school versus new school between these two as well. Their battle headlined Pride 29 - Fists of Fire.
A stacked card accompanied the main event featuring good match-ups and exciting results as well.
As the leader of the Brazilian Top Team, Mario Sperry has served more so as a trainer/teacher to the impressive fighters in his team. His peak as a fighter perhaps was 5-10 years ago, but even at 38 years old his skills and experience were enough to give anyone in his weight division problems. His opponent was a younger man looking to rack up a victory against a MMA legend. Hirotaka Yokoi's MMA career began with an impressive 10 straight victories. This earned him a spot at the Pride Heavyweight Grand Prix 2004, where he fought a game fight against Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. Nogueira defeated Yokoi applying the now famous "anaconda" choke. His second fight came against Heath Herring, but unfortunately ended in a TKO in Herring's favor. The two losses he suffered were against larger opponents and skillful ones at that. In Sperry, he had someone in his weight range and had a youth advantage. The fight between the old pro and youthful fighter was won via TKO in a exciting match to start off the show.
At 40 years young wrestler Tom Erickson was still a threat to any fighter that dared face him. Built like a bear and weighing in at 285 pounds he used his superior wrestling skills to smother and pound them to victory. He had though been inactive for nearly 3 years leading up to this fight, but had only suffered one loss in his career. Fabricio Werdum had no losses in his record and was Mirko Filipovic's grappling coach; these two facts earned him a shot at the big leagues of MMA. His debut was a difficult one, but Werdum's long guard game was thought to give him a chance against the big wrestler. This fight was rather intriguing and surprisingly dominating by the victor.
One of Pride's unfortunate punching-bag fighters, Hiromitsu Kanehara was once a good fighter, before losing 6 of his last 9 fights mostly in mismatches. His early career was credible, but his eroding skills were severely exposed and exploited by Pride FC. His latest tall challenge was against a young, but lethal Chute Boxe fighter. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua is Chute Boxe's youngest and arguably their most exciting fighter. His Pride FC record was flawless against mostly smaller competition. He was accustomed to overwhelming his opponents via strikes, especially with his knees and stomps. He was looking for bigger trees to chop down and Kanehara was in his way. This mismatch was just that and was at times painful to watch.
Veteran Pancrase fighter Yoshiki Takahashi has been in the MMA game for nearly 13 years, clearly as seasoned as any fighter can claim. His long career has seen him lock horns against legends and newer stars alike. Like many veterans, his skills peaked several years back, but Takahashi is still very crafty. His most known fight in the states was his battle against Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Wallid Ismail in UFC 12 back in 1997. In that fight he outclassed the favorite Ismail showing an uncanny ability to avoid the takedown and counter well. His debut in Pride came in the first round of the 2004 Heavyweight Grand Prix where he lost to Heath Herring. His skills would be put to the test against another veteran, but one that was very dangerous and making his Middleweight debut. Igor Vovchanchyn like Takahashi was a veteran of the sport. With 10 years under his belt and once being considered the absolute best fighter in the world, his career was starting to show signs of slowing. Vovchanchyn though decided to slim down to 205 and compete as a Middleweight instead. This meant problems to middleweights all over. The battle of these two vets would end via brutal knockout.
Making his debut in the first round of the 2004 Heavyweight Grand Prix, K-1 fighter Stefan Leko was looking to follow the footsteps of another former K-1 star (Mirko Cro Cop) who had made a successful transition to MMA. Leko was pitted against Japanese Judo fighter Naoya Ogawa, but looked uncomfortable and succumbed to an arm triangle choke. His second outing would be against Ikuhisa Minowa who was smaller but very well-rounded. The result would be an embarrassing: 27 second loss via heel hook. Now the "Blitz" was back against possibly his toughest test in Kazuhiro Nakamura. Nakamura was a Hidehiko Yoshida protégé that was beginning to make some noise in Pride. His only losses were against the much respected Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Dan Henderson. His grappling was very good and his standup was ever improving. The Leko/Nakamura battle would end quickly with relative ease from the victor.
A battle between an undefeated, but unproven fighter versus the newest force in the heavyweight division would be up next. Mu Bae Choi had amassed a 5-0 MMA record (4-0 in Pride), but mostly against lighter opposition. His last fight was an easy victory over a very large opponent in Paulo Cesar "Giant" Silva. His first legitimate test would be against a fighter who raised many eyebrows in the 2004 Heavyweight Grand Prix Tournament. Russian fighter Sergei Kharitonov was a relative unknown coming into the 2004 Heavyweight Grand Prix Tournament, but his destruction of his first round opponent Murilo "Ninja" Rua dismissed all doubts about his skills. He followed this impressive victory with a tko of the very dangerous Semmy Schilt. His last fight was a loss to veteran Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, but lost via decision. He was back to continue his impressive ways against a larger undefeated opponent. The battle of these two warriors was one-sided and sobering to watch.
Hailing from Azerbaijan, Aliev Makmud was making his Pride debut against another true veteran of MMA. Kiyoshi Tamura was marking his 10th year of MMA experience and was as ready as usual to step up to any challenge. This fight between Makmud and Tamura would be the strangest one of the night.
Brazilian Top Team Fighter Antonio Rogerio Nogueira is a fighter that possess a super ground game coupled with an impressive southpaw striking game that had resulted in convincing victories over legendary fighter Kazushi Sakuraba and young upstart Kazuhiro Nakamura twice. His opponent for this pride show would be his first test against a good striker. Alistair Overeem proved his worth in the 2003 Middleweight Grand Prix in a loss against Chuck Liddell. His early control of that fight had many people impressed, but unfortunately for him he gassed out and succumbed to Liddelll via knockout. His rep though as a fighter had grown and was being put to the test against a very balanced fighter in Nogueira. Their battle would be a treat to watch as both young fighters went at it with skill and intensity. In the end a unanimous decision was awarded to the rightful winner.
It is easy to feel bad for Quinton "Rampage" Jackson . He had defeated all of his opposition in route to two disappointing losses to Wanderlei Silva. His skills were top notch, but the "Axe Murderer" just had his number unfortunately. His next fight would be against a teammate of Silva, Chute Boxe fighter Murilo "Ninja" Rua. Ninja is an intense fighter much like Wanderlei Silva and was looking to capitalize on Jackson to lift him up to elite status. Their fight would be very close and many felt that the wrong verdict was given. On a side note, an earlier victor of this card challenges the victor of this match right on the ring!
Mark "the Hammer" Coleman was in need of a victory. Since losing his #1 fighter status in 2001 to Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Coleman had become inactive, mostly to injury but was so dominated in his bout against Fedor Emelianenko that many were starting to doubt whether he should hang the gloves up. A quality victory would be perfect to boost his career and line him up for a potential title shot. His opponent would be the most dangerous striker in all of MMA. Mirko Cro Cop sometimes would make really good fighters look juvenile. His world class striking couple with his takedown defense provided as an almost perfect combo that would helped him devour his opponents. Mark Coleman was the best wrestler he would have to face to date....something would have to give. Would Coleman be able to take Cro Cop down and ground and pound his way to victory? Or would Cro Cop sprawl and strike his way to glory? These questions would be answered quite clearly in their fight. A fight that ended quite convincingly.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Pride Fighting Championships 29: Fists of Fluff (Fire)
Comment: As usual, Pride puts on another great show. Yet, uncharacteristically there are a whole lot of garbage matchups on this DVD... You may find yourself fast-forwarding through more than a couple of rounds. That said, I still have to recommend the DVD. It's Pride and it's worth seeing.
Hirotaka Yokoi v. Mario Sperry:
This one is a snoozer early on. The ref has to step in and break the fighters on a few occassions. My hopes weren't high for a great fight, but in mixed martial arts there is always a chance. Sperry gets cut during the first exchange. This kicks the fight into a higher gear and things pick up from there...
Tom Erikson v. Fabricio Werdum:
Erikson has a slight upper-hand early. Werdum changes the flow of things with a flurry of punches. This fight isn't all that long and it is fairly interesting.
Mauricio "Shogun" Rua v. Hiromitsu Kanehara:
Shogun is a beast! He's another exciting fighter in the same vein as Wanderlei Silva or Rampage Jackson... All of his fights are entertaining. Shogun looks great here against Kanehara. Awesome and impressive performance!
Igor Vovchanchyn v. Yoshiki Takahashi:
Igor is much slimmed down for this fight. He is down to 205, fighting in the Middleweight division and he looks totally different to me. He looks different, but he sure hasn't lost any of his power. Igor is faster now, though... Uh Oh.
Kakuhiro Nakamura v. Stefan Leko:
I was not at all excited to see this one after having seen some past Stefan Leko fights in Pride. I don't consider it a spoiler to make it known that this one is stopped in the first round. Garbage!
Choi Mu Bae v. Sergey Kharitonev:
This one is pretty decent due to the performance of ONE of the fighters involved. It ends in fairly exciting fashion in the first round. You will get to see some pretty good striking.
Kiyoshi Tamura v. Allev Makhmud:
Makhmud is a little tank and he's extremely spastic. When he moves in on Tamura, it usually involves Makhmud leaving his feet for one reason or another. He jumps a lot when approaching, which is neither safe nor is it particularly effective. There is a great deal of confusion in the opening round. This one is worth watching just because it will leave you scratching your head and wondering what just happened.
Alistair Overeem v. Antonio ROGERIO Nogueira:
Alistair Overeem is a good striker. Granted. But there is something about his personality and the way it comes across that I don't like. He makes some foolish predictions before this fight and is proven thoroughly wrong during the fight... Great fight!
Quinton "Rampage" Jackson v. Murilo "Ninja" Rua:
Rampage is coming off of the most devastating loss of his career to champion Wanderlei Silva. Questions still circulate and remain unanswered as to how he will bounce-back for this fight. In the prefight interview, Jackson seems to be much calmer than usual. He has stopped the joking, become more religious and even grown out a full head of hair. In the ring, we see more of the same... He seems uninspired and we don't see much of the Rampage that we have come to love watching. The result of this fight is as shocking and incorrect a result as I've seen in mixed martial arts. This one is worth seeing, although the fight is a huge letdown.
THE MAIN EVENT...
Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic v. Mark "The Hammer" Coleman:
Mark Coleman has just turned 40. He has been around for what seems like forever and he has remained a respectable and powerful fighter. I respect Coleman and I enjoy seeing him fight, but I honestly didn't give him much of a chance against Cro Crop.
In conclusion, the DVD is worth seeing, but with the predictability of some of the fights and the pure lameness of others, I only suggest purchasing it if you're a die-hard fan. Definitely don't let this be your first exposure to MMA...
The DVD includes bonus interviews, fighter bios, photo gallery, behind the scenes footage with Bas Rutton, etc.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great dvd
Comment: For MMA and Pride fans this is a 5. For anyone kind-of interested its a 3 or a 4. That said, this dvd features some big names and younger fighters making a mark. It has some quick knockouts, and some decisions (bad decisions) and everything in-between.
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