Sherdog’s Top 10: Greatest Pride FC Fighters

7. Takanori Gomi

Pride was mostly known for its great fighters at the heavier weights, but it also produced the legendary lightweight Gomi, who was No. 7 on Sherdog's 10 Greatest Lightweights list and finishes in an identical spot here. He started out as a big, powerful wrestler for the weight class, rare in Japan. By the time “The Fireball Kid” joined Pride from Shooto, he was developing what would become the sharpest, best boxing in the division. He reeled off 10 straight wins in Pride and became its lightweight champion, including a knockout of reigning UFC lightweight champion Jens Pulver, a knockout and then easy decision over Luiz Azeredo, a submission of bitter rival and fellow Japanese MMA legend Tatsuya Kawajiri, and finally, a win in the finals of the Grand Prix against another lightweight legend in Hayato Sakurai. Gomi then suffered a shocking submission loss to Marcus Aurelio, and while he barely won the rematch via decision, he was already starting to slip from the elite of the division at only 28 years old. He did score a sensational knockout of contender Mitsuhiro Ishida in a little over a minute combining punches and soccer kicks, but his last appearance for the promotion was unfortunate. After being beaten up with punches in round 1, Nick Diaz submitted Gomi with an exceptionally rare gogoplata in Round 2, though it was later changed to a no contest due to Diaz testing positive for cannabis. Regardless of whether you consider him to be 13-1 with 1 no contest or 13-2 in the promotion, Gomi attained all-time greatness while also having his key weakness exposed and starting to decline near the end. Quite a journey for just 3 years!

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