To the surprise of presumably no one, #1 seed Mauricio Rua has advanced to the Sweet 16. Shogun took advantage of the old Pride rules and stomped the grounded #8 Vladimir Matyushenko into a pulp, taking home the final spot in the next round by a score of 29-6.
With that, round 1 is over. Not the most dramatic round, with most fights going as expected. But things get a lot tougher now.
Today, we start with a bang and maybe the match-up I am most intrigued by in this entire tournament, as long-time Team Quest partners do battle.