Talk about it here.

This was fun to watch but I don't feel comfortable rating it or anything. First all, there's debate over whether it's a work or shoot. I wanted to include it so people could decide for themselves what they think. I was expecting something that basically looked like RINGS, but this doesn't look like that really at all. So I enjoyed it enough that I might start going through MMA at some point in the future, but even if it is worked, while that would indeed make it pro wrestling, it's a pretty foreign and isolated style by that standard.

Bas Rutten commentary YES. This started out good but once Ogawa took over, it got boring. Finish was nice though. Why isn't Hashimoto with Ogawa? As for if this is a work or shoot: I'm gonna say work. I mean why wouldn't the ref stop it when the guys kept putting feet on the ropes? If they did that in the octagon, Big john would stand them up.

I lean shoot. Anyway, this was a good slugfest match with Ogawa grinding Goodrich down and picking up the win in the second round. It was entertaining whether it was a work or a shoot.

I haven't seen this in four or five years but it was well known at the time that this was a work. Goodridge (unlike Coleman and others who lost to Takada) has always denied that it's a work and when the fight was brought up he always said that he got his ass kicked for real.

Thanks for the info Jose. If it was a work, Gary did get beat up badly

I thought that this was a bit too entertaining to be a shoot. Yeah I love MMA. Goodridge took a severe beating for a worked bout.

Maybe this is one of those Pancrase-style "drag it out a little bit" shoot fights that are worked for length? I dunno. It didn't look like worked shootstyle at all but there are openings when it looks like Ogawa could have ended the match and almost consciously chose not to. In any case, from a perception standpoint he solidifies his reputation as a genuine badass in Japan.