The purchase of PrideFC in 2007

Crazy to think a few vets are still out there
 
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Tito Tapped said:
I've been around forever and this has never been the case. Rose tinted thoughts by people who likely only watched Pride via the old Jay Glazer show on Fox Sports 6-7 years after Pride was already dead.
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Ok 2018 join date. in the mid 2000s when the UFC was the B show with 1200 people at casinos, and Pride was selling out 60k arenas it was obvious who #1 was. Keep pretending though.
 
When it actually happened, I was thrilled that all the best fighters would finally be fighting each other. Now though, I kind of miss PRIDE. It had over the top production, but it sure was exciting to watch!
 
A lot of fans were excited about the possibility of seeing dream fights but anyone who saw the buyout of WCW knew what was coming. History repeated itself and everything stagnated once there was no competition and the dream-fight novelty had worn off.

I think the UFC was better with Pride around, too. MMA began to decline in quality after that and slowly but surely became commodified crap. The tail end of the WEC was the last exciting thing in MMA (good fighters and smaller roster), after that you had the Fox and Reebok deals, roster bloating, nobody vs nobody main events every week and the complete McDonaldisation of MMA.

People still think that they're watching history be made as it happens in MMA. Ask the average modern fan who Sakuraba or Fedor are and see how much history matters. It's easier than ever to watch all of those fights thanks to them being on Fight Pass but nobody cares. That's what MMA has become. Pride at least felt like something special in a way which the UFC never has.
 
What could have been? The last two Pride events that were organized in the states were great. You were starting to get a new wave of younger talent and I think you would have seen more unique matches that would not have happened in the UFC like the Gomi v Diaz classic.

Pride was the best org of all time and it was a shame it went under especially when you see what the UFC has become nowadays. Even though there were some Japanese orgs after Pride like Dream, I think the closest thing to Pride was Strikeforce.
 
HHJ said:
I honesly do believe they tried (because of the potential profit) but the japanese did not want to work with them. They didnt want to trade Yakuza for the Italians lol

Either way the PRIDE we knew would havve been forever changed.
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There's alot of revisionist history with that sale. The UFC got next to nothing in the deal aside form a few fighters and the DVD library. They found out after the fact that alot of the fighters contracts didn't come with the sale. Zuffa got royally screwed in the deal.
 
DoctorsStoppage said:
Alex and Serghei are two most promising HWs that were never champs (wasted talents). Their boxing skills, hand speed, height and weight, chins are excellent for the HW division. They lacked discipline, tdd, grappling and cardio. The word is Sergei hasn't been training seriously/at all for more than a decade, still wins fights.
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Sergei in his prime was an absolute monster, he had decent sambo skills in his early Pride Days.

Even after he stopped training and gained 30lbs of fat his hands were so good he KOd Reem and Prime Arlovski.

If he'd keep up his grappling training and entered UFC at the end of Pride he would've been a title contender.

I remember being impressed in Pride with the brutal mailing he gave Semmy Schilt and the way he completely took apart Pedro Rizzo.

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No idea why Ninja donated his body for that fight either. Reminds me of Maldonado Vs Stipe.



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Dead Spirit of MMA said:
People still think that they're watching history be made as it happens in MMA. Ask the average modern fan who Sakuraba or Fedor are and see how much history matters. It's easier than ever to watch all of those fights thanks to them being on Fight Pass but nobody cares. .
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This is a very good point. I couldnt have put this any better.
 
The cool thing during the PrideFC days, is that there were two orgs that had very good fighters.
The heavyweight talent was certainly in Japan, but in LHW and MW there was a lot of debate as to which org had the better fighters.

UFC had Rogan commentating, PrideFC had Bas Rutten. UFC had Bruce Buffer, PrideFC had the crazy screaming lady.
I always felt the showmanship/entertainment factor of PrideFC was ahead of UFC. And the quiet audience really made you feel closer to the fights and made the fights sound and feel more dramatic.

IMO, PrideFC was the better org in the golden age of MMA.
 
d3vil0ck said:
Ok 2018 join date. in the mid 2000s when the UFC was the B show with 1200 people at casinos, and Pride was selling out 60k arenas it was obvious who #1 was. Keep pretending though.
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<FookIsThatGuy>


I lost my OG plat account in a bet back in 2014. I was doing MMA before UFC was even a thing.

Go fuck off to YouTube and jerk to some more Fedor highlights you weebo
 
Dead Spirit of MMA said:
A lot of fans were excited about the possibility of seeing dream fights but anyone who saw the buyout of WCW knew what was coming. History repeated itself and everything stagnated once there was no competition and the dream-fight novelty had worn off.

I think the UFC was better with Pride around, too. MMA began to decline in quality after that and slowly but surely became commodified crap. The tail end of the WEC was the last exciting thing in MMA (good fighters and smaller roster), after that you had the Fox and Reebok deals, roster bloating, nobody vs nobody main events every week and the complete McDonaldisation of MMA.

People still think that they're watching history be made as it happens in MMA. Ask the average modern fan who Sakuraba or Fedor are and see how much history matters. It's easier than ever to watch all of those fights thanks to them being on Fight Pass but nobody cares. That's what MMA has become. Pride at least felt like something special in a way which the UFC never has.
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I would argue that whilst Pride had more of the presentation style of pro wrestling the UFC actually has more of the promotional style, the org itself having so much control of how the sport is viewed and analysed, the focus on fueds and perhaps more than anything how short termist it is, no respect for history at all with everything today always being the "best ever".

Multiple big orgs being around was I think much healthier for the sport, ment promoters were much more likely to proactively go after talent from other sports and just sign guys up much faster. Bellator is still around but its much more "UFC Jnr" that previous orgs like Pride or Strikeforce were, doesnt take many risks.
 
I was excited to see both promotions continue with a lot of crossover, but I preferred the UFC even then, so if one was going to disappear I preferred the way it worked out. I was genuinely excited to see so many "pride guys" come over the the UFC.

It was also genuinely nice to see the people who swore pride fighters were just better being brought back to reality as some guys did well, and others did poorly and it was about even keel.
 
Tito Tapped said:
I've been around forever and this has never been the case. Rose tinted thoughts by people who likely only watched Pride via the old Jay Glazer show on Fox Sports 6-7 years after Pride was already dead.
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Briefly, what's the real history? I never watched Pride way back.
 
At the time, I thought the UFC was getting scammed by the Japanese mafia. In that, I thought they were going to sell Pride and simply start another promotion that was of equal value.

Still waiting on that.:(
 
I was pretty childish about it (I was young too so it fit the bill) but I was pissed because I knew that would end the crazy freakshow fights
 
TheChance said:
There's alot of revisionist history with that sale. The UFC got next to nothing in the deal aside form a few fighters and the DVD library. They found out after the fact that alot of the fighters contracts didn't come with the sale. Zuffa got royally screwed in the deal.
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How did they get screwed? They made sure no one else was going to get some of the key fighters that were contracted to PRIDE (switching personal services contracts to the UFC contracts), the library and the brand. Ed Fishman, president of PRIDE USA believed he had the right of first refusal which was settled out of court. The WWE met with Sakikabara in Connecticut about a potential sale. And that is the short list of potential buyers that was reported. I'm sure Zuffa was more than happy to pay what they paid to keep any potential competitor out of their industry; they put out a potential fire before it began.

Fishman said that there were future events planed for Las Vegas and Atlantic City with casino backing (Caesar's, Venetian, etc.) . Zuffa may have also purchased PRIDE from keeping future events out of their own backyard as well.

Interesting interview with Ed Fishman about the motivation of Zuffa to purchase PRIDE for those that want an insiders perspective and a walk down memory lane.



 
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