Jungle Fight 1 was taped in this instance for Japanese TV and is in Manuas, one of the cities along the Amazon in a convention center area. But outdoors. Inoki is there and so are so, so many serious big talents in the sport. Guns And Roses playing constantly, it seems like. I haven't seen these forever and for some reason I remember Inoki flying in a helicopter there or something. Instead its just tourism footage I guess. Maybe this is indoors? I have no idea anymore.
Interesting note: Gonzaga/Werdum I was on this show but not part of the Japanese broadcast. Booo. But its on Youtube because it was part of a version televised for the Fight Network in Canada. EDIT 11/28 - I went ahead and tacked it onto the end.
1) Ebenezer Fontes Braga vs. Rodrigo Gripp Da Souza: Paulo Filho is a referee. Braga is a PRIDE vet, Gripp's walkout shirt has been detailed specifically for him with the use of a magic marker. HW bout, basically.
FIGHT: Braga Submission Rnd 1. The Oilman shoots early and ends up in a guillotine right away. Braga goes to his back and lets the ref know its all over. (2)
2) Lee Young Gun vs. Kazunari Murakami: Murakami is one of the ANGRIEST wrestlers ever. EVER. But he's a pro wrestler still.
FIGHT: Murakami Submission Rnd 1. Murakami flies over Gun's head while going for a flying knee and then is mounted. Gun sucks though and gets bucked off and ends up inside Murakami's guard. He gets an armbar and won't let go even after the tap to be a dick. OK? (0)
3) Justin McCully vs. Dario Amorim: The CRAZY ONE looks like a normal dude here instead of having that terrible beard. Dario is like 100 years old with his ridiculous mustache like he's hawking 40s in 1978.
FIGHT: McCully Unanimous Decision. A McCully decision boring? You don't say. Really terrible fight with McCully boxing to the clinch and then pushing the opponent back to the ropes and the fight stays there. And that happens over and over and over. Amorim does nothing as far as movement or technique wise to dissuade this activity, so we're stuck watching it happen over and over. McCully doesn't have the skill to get the man down where he can control him either, so its just a fight of positioning - McCully lands punches that bloody Amorim's nose. Amorim occasionally has McCully let him use the thai clinch to land a knee to the body. Otherwise its dirty boxing against the ropes for 15 minutes. (1)
4) Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Shane Eitner: Nakamura is a future IWGP champ and New Japan ace of some sort. Eitner is some dude for fought in the Valor promotion. Both wear shoes.
FIGHT: Nakamura Submission Rnd 1. This might not be a legitimate bout given the lack of really hard shots thrown by either man. The hardest blows thrown are with open palms. Nakamura is able to get down Eitner multiple times and passes the guard OK. He gets a keylock from half guard and he has his second pro MMA win. (1) for freakshow value.
And now we get Inoki coming to the ring surrounded by women in Carnival outfits. The NJPW people flown out are really stoked to see the Chin. Then Wallid Ismael gets in there, they give each other gifts, and Inoki takes his seat in the crowd. Must be indoors now that I think about it - the place has carpeting.
5) Lyoto Machida vs. Stephan Bonnar: Before there was TUF, before there was Machida's title run, there was this in the jungle. Bonnar enters to U2's Beautiful Day, Machida to Iron Maiden's Afraid of the Dark. Yes, this was a thing.
FIGHT: Machida TKO Rnd 1. (5)
Bonnar: Lack of athleticism is a big issue here. Machida learns to time him very quickly and the lack of setups or willingness to walk through hell to deliver his payload means that Bonnar is in trouble early in this one. He starts to get busted up early in the first - first a cut under the left eye, then the nose. He actually does a decent job of closing the distance in this fight and gets to the clinch, but can't do anything with it. Even has some success with his right hand and knees. But he's cut far worse by punches under the right eye and they have to stop it.
Machida: Good counter punching skills displayed as well as that money shot body kick. He doesn't really hurt Bonnar but the cuts he laces him up with are just as bad. Machida in a ring though is not the same as Machida in the octagon. So much easier in a 4 sided ring to force someone like that into a corner.
6) Mark Schultz vs. Leopoldo Montenegro: The last MMA fight for one of the great amateur wrestlers of the last 25 years.
FIGHT: Montenegro Submission Rnd 1. (1) for freakshow/historic nature.
Schultz: Mark had only one fight prior years before and it shows in his technique. He leads to shoot WITH FRONT KICKS, man. Schultz goes for a firemans carry and ends up getting a double, which is fine. But he's caught in a triangle almost immediately.
Montenegro: He's fighting a one tool fighter and he has a tool that is intended to nullify exactly what Schultz brings to the table. He really has nothing to worry about from Schultz given the man's bad knee and lack of training.
7) Ricardo Morais vs. Mestre Fumaca: Capioera vs. giant MMA fighter with no chin.
FIGHT: Morais TKO Rnd 1. Fumaca goes down really early from Morais' arm punching and Morais jumps on him. He ends it in mount popping Fumaca with shots until there's a stop. (1)
8) Lucas Lopes vs. Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos: When Santos was still a light heavyweight and still dangerous.
FIGHT: Santos TKO Rnd 2. Interesting note in the fight - during the first round, the light go out in the venue, forcing them to stop the fight until they come back on. Only in Brazil. (2)
Santos: Usual performance from Cyborg - he attacks straight ahead with punches in combination and swarms the guy in front of him. Lopes actually drops Cyborg in the first round during one of those wild exchanges, but that's about the most trouble Cyborg is ever actually in.
Lopes: Expends all he has in the first round trying to finish Cyborg when he hurts him and gasses out. He eventually falls victim to combination punching and low kicks from Cyborg and drops after a three punch combination ends with a low kick that sweeps him and brings in the ref.
Big Nog drops by to talk some.
9) Jorge "Macaco" Patino vs. Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza: Journeyman fights BJJ legend and future Strikeforce middleweight champ.
FIGHT: Patino TKO Rnd 1. Patino is going for takedowns with the same panache as Souza surprising me big time since I didn't remember crap about this fight. After they nearly go out of the ring, we get a restart standing, and they're just scrapping. What a poor, poor plan for Jacare. He ends up eating right hands from the more MMA experienced Patino and eventually gets dropped around 3 and a half minutes in. He tries to get up and keep fighting after Filho has come in to protect him, then just does a baby giraffe dance. (4)
BONUS FIGHT: Fabricio Werdum vs. Gabriel Gonzaga: Not included on the original program I have but could be found on Youtube. How does it improve the show? Noticeably, in fact. One downer is that Round 2 is trimmed for Canadian TV.
FIGHT: Werdum TKO Rnd 3 (4)
Werdum: Man, what a replay of the second fight. Err. Okay, so the second fight was a replay of this. Well, anyways - Werdum has problems with Gonzaga's wrestling in the first. Hell, he's mounted. And in the second, we see highlights of another Gonzaga takedown. But Werdum survives both. He escapes the mount by bucking and turning - it looked like Gonzaga thought he might be rolling for a leg lock, but to me it appeared that Gonzaga could have had the back. Oh well. Gonzaga gasses about 8 minutes in and from then on its all Werdum with punching standing. Gonzaga was always touted as a strong muay thai practitioner, and he sure doesn't look it in any of the Werdum fights.
Werdum, for his many negatives as a fighter, came out blazing here with a leaping side kick in the first round and brought pressure standing constantly. In the third, a dented up Gonzaga is taken down, fights off a key lock, and then gets smashed out with punches from mount.
Gonzaga: The more things change with Gonzaga, it seems they stay the same. Aside from the leg kick heard round the world, Gonzaga is lousy at engaging in the standup fight when he's not in total control as a grappler. You see it here, you see it with Kevin Jordan, you see it with Brendan Schaub. His cardio is poor, which you see in the rematch and in the Couture fight and in the fight with Schaub. Sometimes a guy can overcome and make something happen with his talents, but you see the negatives straight away even here and by this point, most guys are only gonna take baby steps progressing.
FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Santos/Lopes (Werdum/Gonzaga when included)
KO OF THE NIGHT: Patino/Souza
SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Braga/Souza
OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 4 out of 10. I have seen JF 1-5 before and aside from Machida cutting up Bonnar, I remember almost nothing about the fights. I still barely remember anything about from the fights and I just watched them. There are names here that people will recognize, but the fights they are in aren't that great. In fact, they generally suck and are barely watchable or are just flat out squashes. With Gonzaga/Werdum figured in, the rating actually jumps to a 5 out of 10 alone. At that point, its an average event to see with one really marquee interesting fight with an elite talent.
D&R Rating: 38% (17/45), w/the bonus: 42% (21/50)
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