PRIDE never die: Ranking the top 25 PRIDE fighters in history

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RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – MAY 10: UFC ambassador Antonio Rodrigo ‘Minotauro’ Nogueira interacts with fans during a Q&A session before the UFC 237 weigh-in at Jeunesse Arena on May 10, 2019 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo by Buda Mendes/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images) /

7. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (full name needed), is one of the best heavyweights of all time; full stop. He won a world title in the UFC, granted it was an interim one, and won another in PRIDE. His list of wins in both companies reads like a who’s who of ax murderers in the industry. In his first eight fights in PRIDE, the man they called Big Nog was 8-0, defeating Enson Inoue, Heath Herring, the monstrous Bob Sapp, Dan Henderson, Semmy Schilt, Mark Coleman, Sanae Kikuta and Gary Goodridge. Of those names, it was Herring for whom he defeated for the inaugural heavyweight championship.

Things were going so well at that point. Until Fedor Emelianenko happened. Emelianenko always seems to happen to PRIDE fighters. Rodrigo’s loss to Emelianeknko at PRIDE 25, but wouldn’t be deterred. He would then go on another tear beating Ricco Rodriguez, Mirko Cro Cop, Hirotaka Yokoi, Heath Herring, and Sergei Kharitonov before facing off with Emelianenko twice more. He would have his second fight with Emelianenko end in a no contest, before losing the third rematch. All in all, the older Nogueira brother went 18-3 (1 NC) in PRIDE, with his only three losses coming to Emelianenko and former UFC heavyweight champion Josh Barnett. If you gotta lose, you wanna lose to the best.

6. Takanori Gomi

When Takanori Gomi debuted in PRIDE at the Bushido 2 event, he was already 14-2 but coming off back to back losses to B. J. Penn and Joachim Hansen. He would debut with a win over Jadyson Costa before defeating names like Ralph Gracie, Fabio Mello, Charles Bennett, Jens Pulver, Luiz Azeredo (twice), and Hayato Sakurai. Over the course of the ten fight streak Gomi won, he also claimed the PRIDE Lightweight Grand Prix and the PRIDE lightweight championships.

During his career in PRIDE, he went 13-1 (1, NC) with his lone loss being to Marcus Aurelio at Bushido 10. An infamous bout in Las Vegas at the end of PRIDE’s tenure against Nick Diaz would’ve been his second loss, but Diaz popped for marijuana in a drug test, and the victory for Diaz was overturned to a no contest. Despite his sterling record, the one big blemish is the fact he rarely defended his title, a staple in PRIDE. Gomi would only defend his belt once, in a winning effort.