Public Exhibition Training At Roman Plaza

Hayato "Mach" Sakurai, Kazuo Misaki, Takanori Gomi, the three Japanese fighters scheduled to fight at the upcoming PRIDE.33 event in Las Vegas, appeared in front of an excited public on February 21, 2007 for a training exhibition by the Roman Plaza at Caesars Palace.

"Mach" Sakurai was the first to make his appearance in front of a heated crowd, greeting the audience in English to express his enthusiasm for the match against Mac Danzig. After demonstrating his ground techniques against his corner man, he impressed the audience with his swift moves working mitts with special guest, Matt Hume.

Next to take the ring was Kazuo Misaki, who will be fighting Frank Trigg at the upcoming event. He began with a few judo techniques (harai-goshi, ippon-zeoi, etc.), followed by several ground technique demonstrations, and finishing off with punching mitts. At the end of his workout, he asserted that he is "not only here to overwhelm his opponent, Frank Trigg, but to overwhelm the crowd with his Samurai spirit."

Current light-weight champion, Takanori Gomi, made his entrance amidst loud cheers from the audience. He greeted the crowd in Japanese, claiming that his purpose here is to win at the upcoming match against Nick Diaz and make a great show. Gomi immediately grabbed the fan's attention with a bit of humor as he mounted the ring with his gloves and said, "I can't fight with two right-handed gloves." Despite his rather short workout punching mitts, his appearance left the crowd satisfied. Gomi was pursued by a herd of fans asking for autographs and photo opportunities as he stepped down from the ring.

The bouts lined up for Saturday's big event are sure to be top-class.