6. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Mirko “Cro Crop” Filipovic PRIDE Final Conflict 2003
Nogueira was the inaugural Pride Heavyweight Champion, having won the title at PRIDE 17 by defeating Heath Herring. He would go on to win 5 straight as champion, before losing at PRIDE 25 to Fedor Emelianenko. But Fedor opted not to defend the title in order to take a booking with another company. This led to PRIDE scheduling this fight to determine the new interim heavyweight champion.
Cro Crop only had only transitioned from K-1 to MMA a couple of years before this, after having grown dissatisfied with the money offered in kickboxing. He was undefeated in his first 9 fights, and was favoured to beat Noguiera on this night. But as advanced a striker as Cro Crop was, he wasn’t as well versed at other aspects of MMA just yet. He was submitted via armbar in the 2nd round.
