Pride Total Elimination 2003: Results and Event Recap
Pride Total Elimination 2003 took place on August 10, 2003, at Saitama Super Arena. Wanderlei Silva knocked out Kazushi Sakuraba at 5:01 of round one in the main event. Mirko Cro Cop knocked out Igor Vovchanchyn with a head kick, Hidehiko Yoshida submitted Kiyoshi Tamura, and Quinton Jackson defeated Murilo Bustamante by split decision.
Opening the 2003 Middleweight Grand Prix
Total Elimination hosted the tournament quarterfinals rather than crowning the Grand Prix winner. Silva, Yoshida and Jackson advanced alongside Chuck Liddell, who knocked out Alistair Overeem with punches at 3:09 of the opening round. Yoshida’s victory over Tamura came by an Ezekiel choke at 5:06.
The four qualifiers continued at Final Conflict in November, when the semifinals and final took place on the same night. Silva eventually won that tournament, but his August victory over Sakuraba was the first stage of that campaign.
Heavyweight action outside the tournament
The supporting bouts included Fedor Emelianenko’s 69-second TKO of Gary Goodridge with soccer kicks and punches. Cro Cop’s head-kick finish of Vovchanchyn followed at 1:29, while Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira went the distance to defeat Ricco Rodriguez by unanimous decision.
Those heavyweight contests were separate from the middleweight bracket. Together they explain the event’s broad appeal: established heavyweights shared the card with an eight-man tournament’s opening round. Five of the seven bouts ended in first-round finishes, while Jackson–Bustamante and Nogueira–Rodriguez reached the judges. The combination gave the show both immediate highlights and results that shaped the later Grand Prix finale.
Selected Bout Results
- Wanderlei Silva defeated Kazushi Sakuraba by KO (Punch); round 1, 5:01.
- Hidehiko Yoshida defeated Kiyoshi Tamura by Submission (Ezekiel Choke); round 1, 5:06.
- Mirko Filipovic defeated Igor Vovchanchyn by KO (Head Kick); round 1, 1:29.
- Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira defeated Ricco Rodriguez by Decision (Unanimous); round 3, 5:00.
- Quinton Jackson defeated Murilo Bustamante by Decision (Split); round 3, 5:00.
- Chuck Liddell defeated Alistair Overeem by KO (Punches); round 1, 3:09.
- Fedor Emelianenko defeated Gary Goodridge by TKO (Soccer Kicks and Punches); round 1, 1:09.
Sources
Article Tags
Pride Total Elimination 2003, MMA History, Mixed Martial Arts, Event Results
