UFC vs Pride

Which company had/has the better fights and PPV's in your opinion?

toss up now but a year ago I would of said pride.

I went with the UFC. They're more consistent. I think a lot of Pride fanboys forget how many awful fights were in Pride.

Rua vs Lil Nog
Cro Cop vs Big Nog
Cro Cop vs Fedor
Cro Cop vs Wandi
Hendo cs Wandi
Wandi vs Rampage
Big Nog vs Bob Sapp
Gomi vs Pulver
Gomi vs Diaz
Rampage vs Liddell
Fedor vs Big Nog
Wandi vs Sakurba

chorky777 wrote:

I went with the UFC. They're more consistent. I think a lot of Pride fanboys forget how many awful fights were in Pride.

Awful fights UFC?

68 events 97-07
vs
163 events 93-10

basis for comparison is a little skewed given the time lines. I think that is in favor of Pride though honestly. More out of less.

Head to head in 2005 or 2006... Pride without question. But now the UFC has a stable of their elite's (Including some that have fallen waaaay off) as well as fighters that have emerged since that time that weren't fighting for either org. You can't compare todays UFC against Pride's primetime really since some of the best fall into both groups...

I gave the UFC the edge, because they have actually found ways to promote the sport in a more positive light worldwide, have a good stable in every division vs. a couple of decent guys here, but this one is stacked, the modern UFC has really fixed their image and are the best promoters of the sport ever.

The modern UFC is all Pride guys and new fighters.

During the hayday it was Pride and by a mile and a half.

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2012/3/27/2905512/five-years-ago-ufc-purchases-pride-fighting-championships
March 27, 2007 was a year that changed everything in the MMA world. During a press conference in Tokyo, Japan, Lorenzo Fertitta announced that the UFC had purchased Pride Fighting Championships. With today serving as the five year anniversary of the announcement, we know that we never got some of the bigger ideas talked about in the purchase like the two promotions continuing to operate independently with a "Super Bowl" style event.

With it appearing to be a more difficult task than they expected, the UFC quickly shifted their talk to the UFC "not being wanted" in Japan, resulting in the way we saw the situation play out.

Here are some quotes from the press conference where the announcement was held (via ESPN):

"This is really going to change the face of MMA," Lorenzo Fertitta said. "Literally creating a sport that could be as big around the world as soccer. I liken it somewhat to when the NFC and AFC came together to create the NFL."

The deal allows the Fertitta brothers to broker the biggest MMA fights possible in the near future, increasing their influence in this sports entertainment business.

"We will be able to literally put on the fights that everyone wants to see," Lorenzo Fertitta said. "It will allow us to put on some of the biggest fights ever."

Star-divide

There was a single DSE promoted PRIDE event held following the sale and Zach Arnold of Fight Opinion discussed that show (as well as what happened in the wake of the sale) over at Fight Opinion:

What did happen was a rather pathetic ending for PRIDE. Their final show was in April of ‘07 at Saitama Super Arena and Nobuyuki Sakakibara, the front man for PRIDE, used the occasion and the show as his final goodbye. In addition to having graphics all over the arena with his face on them, he had the fighters on the card come out and talk about what a great man he was and how sad they were to see PRIDE die. It was a pathetic, but fitting spectacle for a man of such character.

Soon after the sale took place, Zuffa hired Spectrum Gaming to run the background check on DSE for ‘due diligence.' Yes, they did ‘due diligence' after the transaction instead of before it. I wonder why. This resulted in a legal battle between the two parties over the asset sale agreement. The initial report was that $70M USD was paid but most insiders believe the final total was in the $10-13M USD range.

While we may have never received the mega-crossover Super Bowl events that we all expected as MMA fans, Pride was on life support prior to the purchase anyway. The sport has grown so much over the past five years that wishing Pride was still around seems pointless.

It was a fantastic and wild ride while it lasted, but it had to end sometime. And the beginning of that end was five years ago today.

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2012/3/27/2906107/ufc-pride-buyout-fedor-emelianenko-mirko-cro-cop
Here, we take a look at 5 men who saw their careers irreversibly changed for the worse by the buy-out, plus 2 men who avoided that curse. First up, the top dogs who couldn't find that same success post-Pride. And we start off with a big one:

1. Fedor Emelianenko - Let's get this out of the way: Fedor has a winning record post-Pride. He's 7-3, with 2 of those wins coming against top 5 Heavyweights. Not bad, right? Maybe. But for the Fedor of the Pride era, "not bad" is not good enough. In Pride, he built up a powerful legacy as an unstoppable machine, and that legacy has been forever tarnished by events post-Pride. From the failed negotiations with the UFC, to the 3 straight loses, to the multiple wins over sub-par opposition, Fedor is just not the same mythological figure he once was in Pride, and he never will be again.

Five Years Ago: UFC Purchases Pride Fighting Championships

2. Mirko Cro Cop - The final Pride GP champion, Cro Cop left before the end of the company, but the writing was already on the wall. He came to the UFC with a mountain of hype, but never delivered. When Gabriel Gonzaga head kicked him into unconsciousness inb his 2nd post-Pride fight, Cro Cop was never the same. For fans of the steely KO artist from Pride, Cro Cop's UFC career has been downright painful to watch at times.


3. Takanori Gomi - If you've only seen recent Gomi, it's hard to understand just how hyped he was at the end of Pride. From 2004-2007 he was THE best Lightweight in the world, beyond a doubt. He had an incredible 13-1 run in Pride (or 13-2 depending on how you view the Nick Diaz fight), dispatching everyone put before him. Then he took a year off to sort through contractual issues when Pride closed. From his first fight back, it was clear that he had lost some of that famous fire. He's 6-5 since, and has only found that old Gomi magic on rare instances.

4. Paulo Filho - Like Gomi, Filho was seen as the world's #1 when Pride closed, this time in the Middleweight division. With a 14-0 record and a Pride GP crown, he seemed unstoppable. When he came to the WEC post-Pride it was a huge coup, and at first, he looked poised to keep dominating. Then he had the bizarre showing against Chael Sonnen in 2008, and that was that. Immediately his reputation changed from best in the world, to unreliable headcase. He's had very public issues with substance abuse, which have seemed to get the better of him in recent years, which is a shame, as he could have been one of the sport's true greats.

5. Ricardo Arona - Arona is an odd one. Near the end of 2005 he defeated Wanderlei Silva in an absolutely massive win. He made the finals of the 2005 Pride GP, and though he ended his Pride career with an upset loss to Sokoudjou, he was clearly one of the world's best at 205. Then Pride closed and Arona just... vanished. He's had one fight only in the past 5 years - a dull 2009 win over Marvin Eastman. Why did this possible champion just walk away? We may never know.

Mention has to be given to two men who, at one time, I was sure would be on this list. Both Shogun Rua and Mark Hunt seemed destined to join their companions as post-Pride wash-outs, yet both men have managed to pull together solid UFC careers. They are among the last vestiges of the Pride Never Die mentality, and it's been great watching their resurgences in recent years.

WOW OU you did some digging

Andrew the Raider King wrote:

WOW OU you did some digging

Naw, I know how to use the search feature.

OU wrote:

Andrew the Raider King wrote:

WOW OU you did some digging

Naw, I know how to use the search feature.

holy 30000 posts Batman! you left me in the dust son! i need to get my game on

PRIDE...better fights, better fighters when they were around..would have no doubts they still would have better fighters if they still were around, better rules, better presentation and production, i prefer the ring, and they built up their fighters as larger than life figures. This is why fans have such a love affair with PRIDE vets even after PRIDE. I wish every great fighter in the UFC fought for a japanese promotion and if i could go back and control which promotion went under, i would have chose the UFC...nothing against the UFC, its just how i like my MMA. Thats why im kind of bummed DREAM didnt really pan out and interest in MMA in Japan is kind of in the shitter.

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