This Day in MMA History: Oct. 31 (Pride 28)

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On Oct. 31, 2004, Pride Fighting Championships was in Saitama, Japan, for Pride 28.

In the main event, Wanderlei Silva knocked out Quinton Jackson in the second round with knees to defend his middleweight title. This fight was a rematch from their first battle a year before in the finals of the 2003 Middleweight Grand Prix, which Silva also won with a violent flurry of knees and punches. The two would go on to fight again four years later at UFC 92, where Jackson won by knockout, and then in 2018 at Bellator 206, where Jackson evened the series at 2-2 with a TKO victory.

The co-main event saw Mirko Filipovic beat Josh Barnett due to a freak shoulder injury to the American, who in trying to block the Croatian’s trademark left high kick got his arm bent awkwardly resulting in a dislocated shoulder. The card also saw Dan Henderson beat Kazuhiro Nakamura due to another shoulder injury and Mark Hunt beat Dan Bobish by TKO. Alistair Overeem and Aleksander Emelianenko also picked up wins on the card.

Continued Reading » Original Recap: Silva Stops Jackson to Retain Pride Middleweight Title