The year 2002 is the 6th year in the history of the
Pride Fighting Championships
PRIDE Fighting Championships (Pride or Pride FC, founded as KRS-Pride) was a Japanese mixed martial arts promotion company. Its inaugural event was held at the Tokyo Dome on October 11, 1997. Pride held more than sixty mixed martial arts even ...
, a
mixed martial arts
Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, inc ...
promotion based in Japan. 2002 had 10 events beginning with, ''Pride FC: The Best, Vol. 1''.
Title fights
Debut Pride FC fighters
The following fighters fought their first Pride FC fight in 2002:
*
Achmed Labasanov
Achmed Labasanov (born April 24, 1978) is a former Chechen-Russian mixed martial artist who competed as a heavyweight between 1998 and 2002. During his career he has fought for organisations such as Fighting Network RINGS, IAFC - Absolute Fight ...
* Aji Susilo
* Akira Nitagai
*
Alistair Overeem
Alistair Cees Overeem (born 17 May 1980) is a Dutch professional heavyweight mixed martial artist and kickboxer, currently competing in the heavyweight division of Glory. He is a former Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion, Dream Heavyweight Cha ...
*
Anderson Silva
Anderson da Silva (; born 14 April 1975) is a Brazilian-American mixed martial artist and boxer. He is a former UFC Middleweight Champion and holds the record for the longest title reign in UFC history at 2,457 days. This started in 2006 and ...
*
Andrei Kopylov
Andrei Kopylov is a retired Russian sambist, professional wrestler and mixed martial artist. He competed in the heavyweight division of Fighting Network RINGS. He lost his last fight at PRIDE 22 - Beasts From The East 2 against Mario Sperry o ...
*
Antônio Rogério Nogueira
Antônio Rogério Nogueira (; born 2 June 1976), also known as Minotouro or Lil Nog, is a Brazilian former mixed martial artist who most recently competed in the UFC. He is the twin brother of Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira, the "Minotauro ...
*
Bazigit Atajev
Bazigit Atavovich Atajev (, ; born 3 December 1979) is a Russian mixed martial artist and '' sanshou'' kickboxer, who currently competes in the Light Heavyweight division. A professional since 2000, he has competed in RINGS and P ...
*
Bob Sapp
*
Daisuke Nakamura
*
Daniel Gracie
Daniel Simões, known professionally as Daniel Gracie, is a Brazilian former mixed martial artist, professional wrestler and practitioner of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He is cousin to Renzo Gracie, Ralph Gracie, Charles Gracie and Ryan Gracie.
Biog ...
* Demetrius Gioulacos
*
Eiji Mitsuoka
is a retired Japanese professional mixed martial artist. A professional competitor from 2001 until 2012, Mitsuoka fought for the UFC, DREAM, World Victory Road, PRIDE, Shooto, Cage Force, DEEP and King of the Cage promotions. Mitsuoka's nickna ...
*
Fatih Kocamis
Fatih Kocamis (Turkish ''Fatih Kocamış'') is a German/ Turkish retired mixed martial artist and kickboxer who fought in Pride Fighting Championships, RINGS, K-1 and M-1 Global. He trained with the Golden Glory team, alongside Chalid Arrab, S ...
*
Fedor Emelianenko
Fedor Vladimirovich Emelianenko ( rus, Фёдор Влади́мирович Емелья́ненко, r=Fyodor Vladimirovich Yemelyanenko, p=ˈfʲɵdər vlɐˈdʲimʲɪrəvʲɪtɕ jɪmʲɪˈlʲjænʲɪnkə, IPA; born ...
* Gilles Arsene
* Han Ten Yun
*
Hidehiko Yoshida
is a Japanese gold-medalist judoka and retired mixed martial artist. He is a longtime veteran of Japan's PRIDE Fighting Championships, competing in the Middleweight (93kg) and Heavyweight divisions. He won gold at the 1992 Sum ...
* Hidehisa Matsuda
*
Hiromitsu Kanehara
) is a former Japanese mixed martial artist and professional wrestler of Korean descent. A professional MMA competitor from 1998 until 2012, he found success in Fighting Network RINGS, gaining notable victories over Valentijn Overeem, Alexand ...
*
Hirotaka Yokoi
(born June 8, 1978) is a Japanese former mixed martial artist and professional wrestler. A professional MMA competitor from 2000 until 2007, Yokoi fought for PRIDE, Shooto, RINGS, and DEEP, while in professional wrestling he wrestled mainly fo ...
*
Jerrel Venetiaan
Jerrel Venetiaan (born March 9, 1971) is a retired Dutch kickboxer and mixed martial artist who fought in K-1. As a MMA fighter he fought in Pride Fighting Championships.
Championships and accomplishments
Kickboxing
*2004 King Of The Ring ...
*
Joe Son
Joseph Hyungmin Son ( ko, 손형민; born November 22, 1970) is a South Korean-born American convicted felon and a former mixed martial artist, kickboxer, professional wrestler and actor. Prior to his 2008 arrest, he was best known for his appe ...
*
John Alessio
John Paul Alessio (born July 5, 1979) is a Canadian retired professional mixed martial artist. A former competitor in Bellator's Lightweight division. A professional competitor since 1998, Alessio has also formerly competed for the UFC where he ...
* Jong Wang Kim
* Jukei Nakajima
* Kazuki Okubo
* Ken Orihashi
*
Kenichi Yamamoto
*
Kestutis Smirnovas
*
Kevin Randleman
Kevin Christopher Randleman (August 10, 1971 – February 11, 2016) was an American mixed martial artist, professional wrestler, and former UFC Heavyweight Champion. Randleman's background was in collegiate wrestling, in which he became ...
*
Kiyoshi Tamura
is a Japanese retired professional wrestler and mixed martial artist. Once a student of legendary professional wrestlers Billy Robinson, Lou Thesz and Akira Maeda, Tamura was known for his skills in catch wrestling and is considered to be one of ...
* Kyosuke Sasaki
* Lloyd Van Dams
*
Paulo Filho
Paulo Fernando de Souza Leite Filho, better known as simply Paulo Filho (; born May 24, 1978), is a Brazilian retired mixed martial artist who last competed in the Middleweight division. A professional competitor from 2000 until 2014, Fil ...
*
Ron Waterman
Ronald Waterman (born November 23, 1965) is a former American mixed martial artist, professional wrestler, and celebrity member of the Team Impact motivational group. He holds notable victories over Valentijn Overeem, Ricco Rodriguez, Kevin Ra ...
*
Rory Singer
Rory Michael Singer (born May 28, 1976) is an American mixed martial artist and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Black Belt. Although Rory had made a name for himself as a 185-pound prospect; his big break came after meeting the producers of TUF. They were fil ...
* Scott Bills
* Shinichiro Takamura
* Sokun Koh
* Steve White
* Takahiro Oba
*
Takashi Sugiura
is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently working for Pro Wrestling Noah (Noah). Sugiura, an accomplished amateur wrestler, joined Noah's dojo in 2000, making his professional debut on December 23, 2000, and thus becoming the first wrestler ...
* Tatsuya Iwasaki
*
Tim Catalfo
Timothy Lance Catalfo (born February 23, 1959) is an American former amateur wrestler, and mixed martial artist. A professional MMA competitor from 1997 until 2003, he competed for the PRIDE Fighting Championships and King of the Cage. He was vot ...
* Togo Togo
* Tomohiko Hashimoto
* Xue Do Won
* Yoshinori Kawakami
* Yoshinori Sasaki
* Yuji Hisamatsu
*
Yuki Sasaki
* Yukiya Naito
* Yuriy Kochkine
*
Yushin Okami
is a Japanese mixed martial artist. A professional competitor since 2002, Okami has competed for the UFC, PRIDE, Pancrase, M-1 Global, World Series of Fighting, DEEP, Professional Fighters League, and ONE Championship.
Mixed martial arts caree ...
* Yusuke Imamura
* Yutaro Miyamoto
Events list
Pride FC: The Best, Vol. 1
Pride FC: The Best, Vol. 1 was an event held on February 22, 2002 at the
Korakuen Hall
is a famous sports arena in Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan, which has hosted many notable boxing, professional wrestling, kickboxing, mixed martial arts and Lethwei matches.
History
On April 16, 1962, the Korakuen Hall was officially opened with ...
in
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
,
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
.
Results
Pride 19: Bad Blood
Pride 19: Bad Blood was an event held on February 24, 2002 at the
Saitama Super Arena
is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in Chūō-ku, Saitama, Saitama Prefecture, Japan. It opened preliminarily on May 5, 2000, and then was officially opened on September 1 of the same year. Its maximum spectator capacity is 36,500, making i ...
in
Saitama,
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
.
Results
Pride 20: Armed and Ready
Pride 20: Armed and Ready was an event held on April 28, 2002 at the
Yokohama Arena
is an indoor arena located in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. The capacity of the arena is 17,000 and was opened in 1989. The arena was modeled after US sports venue Madison Square Garden in New York City. It is a five-minute walk from the ...
in
Yokohama
is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...
,
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
.
Results
Pride 21: Demolition
Pride 21: Demolition was an event held on June 23, 2002 at the
Saitama Super Arena
is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in Chūō-ku, Saitama, Saitama Prefecture, Japan. It opened preliminarily on May 5, 2000, and then was officially opened on September 1 of the same year. Its maximum spectator capacity is 36,500, making i ...
in
Saitama,
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
. This event featured the PRIDE debut of MMA all-time greats
Fedor Emelianenko
Fedor Vladimirovich Emelianenko ( rus, Фёдор Влади́мирович Емелья́ненко, r=Fyodor Vladimirovich Yemelyanenko, p=ˈfʲɵdər vlɐˈdʲimʲɪrəvʲɪtɕ jɪmʲɪˈlʲjænʲɪnkə, IPA; born ...
and
Anderson Silva
Anderson da Silva (; born 14 April 1975) is a Brazilian-American mixed martial artist and boxer. He is a former UFC Middleweight Champion and holds the record for the longest title reign in UFC history at 2,457 days. This started in 2006 and ...
.
Results
Pride FC: The Best, Vol. 2
Pride FC: The Best, Vol. 2 was an event held on July 20, 2002 at the
Differ Ariake Arena
was an indoor sporting arena located in the Ariake neighborhood of Tokyo, Japan. The capacity of the arena is 1,246 seats and it was opened in 1999. It was mainly used for professional wrestling and martial arts events. The arena became known a ...
in
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
,
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
.
Results
Pride FC: Shockwave
Pride FC: Shockwave was an event held on August 28, 2002 at the
Tokyo National Stadium
The Japan National Stadium, officially named and formerly known as or , is a multi-purpose stadium used mostly for association football in Kasumigaoka, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. The facility served as the main stadium for the opening and ...
in
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
,
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
. The event was co-promoted by the
PRIDE Fighting Championships
PRIDE Fighting Championships (Pride or Pride FC, founded as KRS-Pride) was a Japanese mixed martial arts promotion company. Its inaugural event was held at the Tokyo Dome on October 11, 1997. Pride held more than sixty mixed martial arts even ...
and
K-1
Results
Pride 22: Beasts from the East 2
Pride 22: Beasts from the East 2 was an event held on September 29, 2002 at the
Nagoya Rainbow Hall
, formerly Nagoya Rainbow Hall, is an indoor sports arena located in Nagoya, Japan. From April 1, 2007, its name was changed to Nippon Gaishi Hall, to reflect the sponsorship of the NGK Insulators. The capacity of the arena is 10,000 people.
The ...
in
Nagoya
is the largest city in the Chūbu region, the fourth-most populous city and third most populous urban area in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020. Located on the Pacific coast in central Honshu, it is the capital and the most pop ...
,
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
. It featured the Pride debut of former UFC Heavyweight Champion
Kevin Randleman
Kevin Christopher Randleman (August 10, 1971 – February 11, 2016) was an American mixed martial artist, professional wrestler, and former UFC Heavyweight Champion. Randleman's background was in collegiate wrestling, in which he became ...
Results
Pride FC: The Best, Vol. 3
Pride FC: The Best, Vol. 3 was an event held on October 20, 2002 at the
Differ Ariake Arena
was an indoor sporting arena located in the Ariake neighborhood of Tokyo, Japan. The capacity of the arena is 1,246 seats and it was opened in 1999. It was mainly used for professional wrestling and martial arts events. The arena became known a ...
in
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
,
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
.
Results
Pride 23: Championship Chaos 2
Pride 23: Championship Chaos 2 was an event held on November 24, 2002 at the
Tokyo Dome
is an indoor stadium in Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan. It was designed as a baseball stadium following its predecessor, Korakuen Stadium. Construction on the stadium began on May 16, 1985, and it opened on March 17, 1988. It was built on the site of th ...
in
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
,
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
.
Results
Pride 24: Cold Fury 3
Pride 24: Cold Fury 3
was an event held on December 23, 2002 at the
Marine Messe Fukuoka
in Hakata-ku, Fukuoka, Japan is a collection of three separate buildings operated by the Fukuoka Convention Center Foundation.
Fukuoka Kokusai Center
The Fukuoka Kokusai Center opened in . A Sumo Tournament is held here every November. Man ...
in
Fukuoka
is the sixth-largest city in Japan, the second-largest port city after Yokohama, and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since ancie ...
,
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
.
Results
See also
*
Pride Fighting Championships
PRIDE Fighting Championships (Pride or Pride FC, founded as KRS-Pride) was a Japanese mixed martial arts promotion company. Its inaugural event was held at the Tokyo Dome on October 11, 1997. Pride held more than sixty mixed martial arts even ...
*
List of Pride Fighting Championships champions
Below is a list of Pride Fighting Championships champions and title defenses:
World champions Heavyweight Championship
:Weight limit: Over
Middleweight Championship
:Weight limit: to
Welterweight Championship
:Weight limit: to
Lightw ...
*
List of Pride Fighting events
Below is a list of mixed martial arts events scheduled and held by Pride Fighting Championships.
Events
Event locations
Seven cities in two countries have hosted a total of 68 events:
* Japan (66)
: Saitama, Saitama, Saitama – 25
: Tokyo ...
References
{{Reflist
Pride Fighting Championships events
2002 in mixed martial arts