NEW YORK - The majority owners of Ultimate Fighting Championship have agreed to buy their biggest mixed martial arts rival, Pride Fighting Championships, in a deal that will establish megafights among the outfits' titleholders and possibly attract huge pay-per-view audiences. [details (http://www.boxingscene.com/mma/?m=show&id=738)]

*cracks knuckles*

Modern day Media Godzilla folks.

I wonder if all the Pride fighter contracts are included with the sale.

They are, including Fedor

I love the idea of uniting the weight-classes and all, but I wonder if there is truth to what Dana said, about Pride adopting UFC rules. Especially since Pride is not his toy, in fact it's not even 10% his.

This is just the best.

There should be 1 set of Champions for the weight classes in MMA virtually.....and EliteXC should merge also.

Yeah I agree with you Knives.
Check this quote out from Dana,
The UFC will run separately from Pride, most of the employees are still in place at Pride and we’re gonna continue to run them as competitors and separate entities.

I have a feeling that Jerry Mullen is not among the "most employees" part. Do you have that same strange feeling Knives?

Yeah I agree with you Knives.
Check this quote out from Dana,


I have a feeling that Jerry Mullen is not among the "most employees" part. Do you have that same strange feeling Knives?

I haven't the slightest clue about people in the front office.

PRIDE with UFC rules is to terrible thing to think of. The current rules allow fights to be more flexible and exciting as opposed to the inconvenience of UFC’s.

Ah well, there’s always HERO’s.

For less than 70 mil???

Yeah I agree with you Knives.
Check this quote out from Dana,


I have a feeling that Jerry Mullen is not among the "most employees" part. Do you have that same strange feeling Knives?


Millen better not be one of the employees that stay. He's a complete horse's ass.

What is nice about this is the matchups that this will create. Hopefully they really will do a super Pride/UFC event once a year.

PRIDE with UFC rules is to terrible thing to think of. The current rules allow fights to be more flexible and exciting as opposed to the inconvenience of UFC’s.

Ah well, there’s always HERO’s.

Thats kinda what i was thinking, the thing is it seems MMA is still way bigger in Japan. This makes me think that Heros may step up and capture the japanese market and hense possibly become the biggest stage in the game, which is a possition previously held by pride. However, the fact that UFC owns the contracts of Pride fighters is a big development, for sure.

PRIDE with UFC rules is to terrible thing to think of. The current rules allow fights to be more flexible and exciting as opposed to the inconvenience of UFC’s.

Ah well, there’s always HERO’s.

For the most part HERO's rules are the same as the unified rules we use in the states, excluding elbows. Knees, kicks or stomps are not allowed to the head of a grounded opponent.

thats real cool. stiffer competition also.

For the most part HERO's rules are the same as the unified rules we use in the states, excluding elbows. Knees, kicks or stomps are not allowed to the head of a grounded opponent.Nah, (As Baserocks has mentioned) I’m saying that in the sense of another promotion rising through the ashes and capturing the biggest MMA market, Japan (the TV ratings suggest this may have already happened).

Maeda would never allow Soccer kicks, stomps etc to be put in place.

well atleast they decided to run ufc and pride as seperate entity.:boxing:

now we can see pride fighters go inside the octagon and ufc go to the pride ring.

lets see if the diff. in rules will intimidate fighters when they fight in the diff. brands.

I'm in complete shock. What were all those rumors about the million+ ppv sales they do in Japan? Where did all the money go, they lost their ppv contract and are immediately in trouble. Where did all the cash go?

well atleast they decided to run ufc and pride as seperate entity.:boxing:

now we can see pride fighters go inside the octagon and ufc go to the pride ring.

lets see if the diff. in rules will intimidate fighters when they fight in the diff. brands.


They're being run as seperate entities, but the rules for both are now the unified MMA rules that the UFC uses. Goodbye knees on the ground and stomps.

Goodbye knees on the ground and stomps.

One thing that's definitely going to suck.

That's simply part of this sport......well it should be everywhere.

Yeah, I can live without Stomps and Soccer kicks, but no knees on a downed opponent? I hope UFC finally convinces NSAC to allow knees on DO after they get a little more sanctioning. That way PRIDE and UFC will not be favoring sloppy wrestlers anymore.

I think the forearm strikes that Tito, Coleman, Kerr etc use(d) are amateurish, and if they're going to outlaw soccer kicks and stomps they should at least counterpart the entertainment. Because There's nothing exciting about watching Tito repeatedly throw a right forearm 150 times in a row......but I think it's exciting to watch Mirko and Shogun jump in the air and try to step on someone's face.....or when they use their soccer kicks.

Thats kinda what i was thinking, the thing is it seems MMA is still way bigger in Japan. This makes me think that Heros may step up and capture the japanese market and hense possibly become the biggest stage in the game, which is a possition previously held by pride. However, the fact that UFC owns the contracts of Pride fighters is a big development, for sure.

The stage for MMA is no longer in Japan, it's in the US. The opportunities to make money are so much bigger here.

Now that Pride has been sold, it should be much easier for Pride to get a TV deal in Japan since the yakuza connection will no longer exist. That was the death knell for Pride, losing the FujiTV contract.

The stage for MMA is no longer in Japan, it's in the US. The opportunities to make money are so much bigger here.

I disagree. While MMA has grown much in the US, MMA packs way larger venues and draws way larger tv audiences in japan than in the US. If you meet a Japanese person on the streets, chances are they can name their favorite fighters, and i even know sweet and innocent looking japanese girls that enjoy watching it. I dont think it is as popular or mainstream in the US, not yet anyway.

I disagree. While MMA has grown much in the US, MMA packs way larger venues and draws way larger tv audiences in japan than in the US. If you meet a Japanese person on the streets, chances are they can name their favorite fighters, and i even know sweet and innocent looking japanese girls that enjoy watching it. I dont think it is as popular or mainstream in the US, not yet anyway.

- Also the big "tsunami" of the MMA boom in the US spearheaded by UFC was about to reach the shore.

Sakakibara: That was another big factor: The entry of powers with abundant financial resources and the big success of the UFC. Last year saw a major shift in the balance of power in the MMA market. If you compare the size of the MMA market between the U.S. and Japan, the U.S. market is 30, 40 times the size of the Japanese market.

- I had no clue how big it was, but I know it's a fact.

Sakakibara: The UFC have almost 1 million PPV subscribers, which is impossible to match for the size of the Japanese market. They are even coming neck and neck in ticket sales where we've been outperforming them. I also have to mention the sponsorship, and I am telling you that the sponsorship we've got for the show in Las Vegas was way higher than what we usually get in Japan.

- That's why PRIDE wants to go to the U.S.

Sakakibara: Come to think of the market value, you cannot ignore the difference in the market size between Japan and the U.S. So, the bad faith of Fuji TV and the booming American Market are two factors that have made it harder and harder for DSE to protect the best ring in the world.

The rest can be found here.
http://www.pridefc.com/pride2005/index.php?mainpage=news&news_id=1035

This is great. I cant wait to see Fedor wipe out the heavyweight division in the UFC. Maybe if the one dimensional fighter Chuck Liddel is somehow the champ after Fedor wipes out the heavies, maybe he will fight Fedor:ugh: That's the look chuck will have if the contract to fight Fedor is offered . Fedor's not that much bigger than chuck. Now the UFC will be worth watching, Iv always enjoyed the pride fighter's much more than the UFC stars.

Vince Mcmahon of MMA dont ya think