Which fighter won the 2006 PRIDE Openweight Grand Prix?

Mirko Cro Cop won the 2006 PRIDE Openweight Grand Prix.

The tournament allowed fighters from different weight classes to compete for a single openweight prize. Cro Cop defeated Ikuhisa Minowa and Hidehiko Yoshida before stopping Wanderlei Silva in the semifinal at PRIDE Final Conflict 2006.

In the final, held on September 10, 2006, Cro Cop defeated Josh Barnett by technical submission after Barnett suffered a shoulder injury. The victory made Cro Cop the tournament champion and one of the most prominent heavyweight fighters in Japanese MMA.

The event is sometimes confused with PRIDE’s heavyweight championship history. The Openweight Grand Prix was a tournament title, not the same as winning the regular PRIDE heavyweight belt. Cro Cop’s signature weapon was his left high kick, which became one of MMA’s most recognizable techniques.