bluto424

One thing that's always puzzled me is why, during the Pride years especially, Don Frye was never matched-up against Wanderlei Silva, who held a Pride championship belt for a few years.

BOTH Frye and Silva were two of Pride's biggest draws and fan favorites for years. You'd think they would have been matched-up to fight one another at some point during the glorious Pride Decade.

But perhaps I've answered my own question: could it be that the Pride promoters intentionally refrained from pitting these two superstars against one another precisely because to do so would inevitably take some of the luster away from one of them i.e. the loser of the bout?

Another fight that would have been very, very interesting and entertaining to see would have been the very patriotic Don Frye versus anarchist/communist Jeff Monson, the latter of whom, if memory serves, actually has communist symbols such as the hammer and sickle tattooed onto his body. (Monson's tats aren't just for show -- he was arrested last year after being caught on video spray-painting anarchist symbols and left-wing cliche's on government buildings somewhere in the Pacififc Northwest.)

Damone

Probably because Wanderlei would spend the majority of the fight riding Don Frye's mustache?

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kantowrestler

WTF? Where do I even start on that one?

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The Emoticon Guy

Damone

*Sigh* I remember when the posters on this board worshipped Don Frye's mustache. They also worshipped Ken Shamrock's sideburns and Guy Mezger's hair.

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smittyssports

It would be an interesting fight, not so sure how interesting it would be to see it now, but back in Pride days it would have been a classic probably.

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BotEmporium

kantowrestler

I think another good fight that could've taken place way back when would've been Frye versus Bas Rutten. Rutten was a good striker and so was Frye. They both had good ground game as well and if that match had happened it would've been great!

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Damone

Bas was going to make a comeback after the Randleman fight, but it never happened. Would have liked to have seen Bas vs Frye in 2002.

I've always wanted to see Frye vs Fujita.

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kantowrestler

Wasn't that fight in the works at some point?

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bluto424

Yes! I'm surprised I didn't think of that one as well. Woulda been a helluva match-up!

Fujita, alomg with Hidehiko Yoshida and Takenori Gomi, is one of my few Japanese favorites. In Pride he always reminded me of a hoodlum for some reason -- he just had the look of a tough-guy mobster. If the American La Cosa Nostra let in non-Italians Fujita would be worthy of membership based on looks alone! I was VERY disappointed when he lost to Silva. As I recall, they engaged in one heck of a stare-down when the ref was giving them instructions right before the bell.

ALL HAIL THE PRIDE DECADE! What an EXCITING, EXCITING and 1st-rate-organized promotion that was (except for the first few cards which were boring as could be -- based on those few first shows no one could have guessed that it would blossom into what I believe was the greatest MMA series in history!)

kantowrestler

Yeah, PRIDE had some of the best match-ups of the era. In fact it might've had the deepest talent pool of the time. Frye contributed to that very much!

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