>>>This is really cool. From what I understand from reading everything here, this basically shows that grappling isn't that much better than striking. As Pride is an NHB fight which usually goes to a lot of grappling, and K-1 is striking only.<<<

Personally, I wouldn't quite draw that conclusion. I agree with you and think it is good that the K-1 guys weren't humiliated as a whole. I also think that with some ground training, that guys like Greco or CroCop could become competitive in NHB.

But these weren't true NHB contests and were conducted under rules which heavily favored the strikers. For one, the rounds were only 3 minutes, as opposed to a 10 minute and two 5 minute rounds in Pride. The short time period made it difficult for the grapplers to have enough time to work a submission. In many cases the K-1 guys were able to physically hold on to their opponent if taken down and ride out the end of the round.

Also the 5 shorter rounds meant more standup portions at the beginning of the round, where the K-1 guys would be more in their element.

Some other rule changes, were the fact that knees and kicks to the head were not allowed on the ground which also favored the guy on the bottom (mostly K-1 guys) and kept them from being pummeled into submission.

Also there were no judges. So if you could just survive you earned a draw. If these fights had been scored with Pride judging criteria, there would have been more winners and fewer draws.

But most importantly, was the fact that we saw a really poor field of fighters representing the Inoki or NHB side.

The only upper level guys were Erickson, Fujita, and Frye. Guys like Goodridge, Ishizawa and Yasuda have NHB wins but aren't elite fighters. And bums like Takada and Satake are extremely poor NHB fighters...if you can even call them that. And Nagata had no more NHB experience than the K-1 guys.

Also K-1 was represented by Braga and Rozen...both of whom have fought K-1, but have made more of a name for themselves in the NHB world.

Like I mentioned in a previous post, the contests really don't prove anything and seem extremely stupid to this K-1 / NHB / and pro-wrestling fan.