Pride Never Die

[Mick Dojang]

I missed the Pride era as it was happening (first I heard of it was watching Sakuraba's Gracie fights years after the fact) so I'm playing catchup now. Seemed like a major peak for MMA in terms of sheer spectacle and entertainment. Watched all of Final Conflict 2005 yesterday, loved it.

I keep seeing 'Pride Never Die', it's a cool slogan but where did it come from? Was it a mistranslated slogan used by the company or something?

 

[David Street]

Legends Never Die.

 

[Bobby Boulders]

I applaud you for going back and watching. PRIDE was every bit as important to the development of MMA as was the UFC, and definitely one of the highest points for the sport. I'd suggest, too, going back and watching old Pancrase cards, as well, and also K1 Hero*s, Sekgoku, and DREAM, which were all along the same lines and have names you might recognize. I'd also recommend watching earlier Western orgs like Extreme Fighting and IFL (although idk that IFL cards are really out there, but EF/Battlecade should be).

This YouTube channel has a ton of stuff, if you're interested in MMA history.

Kakutogi Road

If you're on Patreon, which is a subscription based service, I believe they have a bunch of stuff not available on their YouTube channel. Someone from that camp posts here in Worldwide semi-frequently, too

 

[PrideNverDies]

The golden era of MMA

 

[TXstriker]

I applaud you for going back and watching. PRIDE was every bit as important to the development of MMA as was the UFC, and definitely one of the highest points for the sport. I'd suggest, too, going back and watching old Pancrase cards, as well, and also K1 Hero*s, Sekgoku, and DREAM, which were all along the same lines and have names you might recognize. I'd also recommend watching earlier Western orgs like Extreme Fighting and IFL (although idk that IFL cards are really out there, but EF/Battlecade should be).

This YouTube channel has a ton of stuff, if you're interested in MMA history.

Kakutogi Road

If you're on Patreon, which is a subscription based service, I believe they have a bunch of stuff not available on their YouTube channel. Someone from that camp posts here in Worldwide semi-frequently, too

Katugi road is awesome,footage to watch for months.

 

[Bobby Boulders]

Katugi road is awesome,footage to watch for months.

I find myself getting sucked in every time I get a recommendation from that channel. Whoever those guys are, they've put in so much work, for years and years now. Truly using heroes of MMA fandom.

 

[TXstriker]

I find myself getting sucked in every time I get a recommendation from that channel. Whoever those guys are, they've put in so much work, for years and years now. Truly using heroes of MMA fandom.

Agreed,It’s worth the $10 for their old K-1/pancrase cards alone.

Edit:just renewed my membership,lots of new material on there! This new layout on the site has a twitter/x vibe to it.

 

[Bobby Boulders]

Agreed,It’s worth the $10 for their old K-1/pancrase cards alone.

Edit:just renewed my membership,lots of new material on there! This new layout on the site has a twitter/x vibe to it.

I'ma check it out. I've never subbed to their Patreon, but am well aware that it has more than their YouTube channel, which has a ton of obscure and old shit. They even had some golden age K1 events, which is awesome.

There was another YouTube channel that had a shitload of obscure shit, I can't remember what it's called, something Brazilian. They had a ton of hard to find stuff. I'ma try and find it.

 

[Bobby Boulders]

Was not Brazilian, it was called Serbiocroata de Bosnia Galego. And it got nixed from youtube altogether. And I'm sad.

 

[TRVITMVNZ]

Wait for it. Good things will happen

 

[Killer Kadoogan]

PRIDE FC was the best MMA organization ever as far as I'm concerned. Where the top talent, the top level production, the top rule set, all combined into one high level international MMA show of the highest prestige and class. Good for you going back. If I could erase my memory and re-watch those events, I would. The events, the fighters, the fucking tournaments, the Bushido events, all were so insane back then. I'm glad we have Rizin with Sakakibara again, it inches close to what PRIDE was about, but definitely not the same. And that is OK. There is something special about JMMA when it's done like this, a proper spectacle, with real fighters, and a way better ruleset.

 

[Mick Dojang]

View attachment 1041945

Legends Never Die.

So it was a random crowd sign that became a meme?

 

[David Street]

So it was a random crowd sign that became a meme?

The exact quote is from Babe Ruth: “Heroes get remembered, but legends never die.”

This led to the summary "Legends never die" and when things are called legends, like 'I want to be a legendary so I will never die' we used to say as kids. So when something is legendary or history changing the common saying is it will never die.

Not sure who started saying it about PRIDE but it was a natural.

 

[Mick Dojang]

PRIDE FC was the best MMA organization ever as far as I'm concerned. Where the top talent, the top level production, the top rule set, all combined into one high level international MMA show of the highest prestige and class. Good for you going back. If I could erase my memory and re-watch those events, I would. The events, the fighters, the fucking tournaments, the Bushido events, all were so insane back then. I'm glad we have Rizin with Sakakibara again, it inches close to what PRIDE was about, but definitely not the same. And that is OK. There is something special about JMMA when it's done like this, a proper spectacle, with real fighters, and a way better ruleset.

It definitely benefitted from keeping some of that Pro Wrestling DNA in the mix, the focus was clearly on entertainment. By comparison UFC seems to have focused on making their promotion look like a sport to get the regulators off their backs,it produced a very different product. Rizin seems to lean into that a bit, but I think being focused on lighter weight classes also changes the vibe a lot compared to Pride.

The only thing I dislike about JMMA is the ring. I think it looks better aesthetically but the restarts in the centre really break up the action, it can get a bit frustrating. E.g. Fedor vs Nog in Pride 25 was a banger but every time Fedor got comfortable and started smashing Big Nog on the ground by the ropes they restarted it, bit frustrating

 

[Bluesbreaker]

Was not Brazilian, it was called Serbiocroata de Bosnia Galego. And it got nixed from youtube altogether. And I'm sad.

That channel really sucked me back in to watching classic events after years of being a lapsed fan.

Who'd have thought that in 2023, I'd be watching Sam Morgan, Aaron Riley, Jason Delucia, Jani Lax and Pedro Octavio.

 

[Bobby Boulders]

That channel really sucked me back in to watching classic events after years of being a lapsed fan.

Who'd have thought that in 2023, I'd be watching Sam Morgan, Aaron Riley, Jason Delucia, Jani Lax and Pedro Octavio.

Was a really good channel. I imagine a copyright claim was filed against them, and whomever it was is a jerk. That channel felt necessary.

 

[CyberRubberDuck]

I missed the Pride era as it was happening (first I heard of it was watching Sakuraba's Gracie fights years after the fact) so I'm playing catchup now. Seemed like a major peak for MMA in terms of sheer spectacle and entertainment. Watched all of Final Conflict 2005 yesterday, loved it.

I keep seeing 'Pride Never Die', it's a cool slogan but where did it come from? Was it a mistranslated slogan used by the company or something?

Those were the days.
Was absolutely gutted when UFC swallowed and got rid of Pride.

Now look what that fucking word means

 

[Cartiac]

I keep seeing 'Pride Never Die', it's a cool slogan but where did it come from? Was it a mistranslated slogan used by the company or something?

Yea, I think that slogan may have been mistranslated from homo to MMA at some point, kinda the same way WWF was killed off.

To be serious, Pride FC was very exciting and fun to watch. There is also a good case to be made that the success of Pride in Japan coinciding with UFC failing massively in the US provided the basis of viability Dana used to obtain that original investment to purchase UFC and turn MMA into a legitimately recognized major sport in the US.