For a few weeks leading up to Dream, I was really excited. Even though it meant staying up all night to see it, it made me nostalgic for old Pride shows. That, and I really wanted to see the Aoki Calvancanti fight. In the end, the show was a disappointment.
There definitely were a couple of good fights, but I don't think the magic of Pride is ever going to be recreated. Something about Pride just always felt so important and special, last night's show just kind of felt like novelty. Nothing summed it up better for me than Gil smiling and shrugging in defeat, because it didn't really matter anyway.
It was nice to see Cro Cop win again, though it's really hard to say the fight meant anything. He didn't look to be in tremendous shape to be honest, but he did kill that poor man.
If Dream can sign Fedor to a few fights then the whole dynamic will change, but for now it is just a novelty promotion.
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