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[Intellectual]

Originally Posted by STruC1x

I'm GLAD Pride is DONE!

I want this sport to grow... and with pride standing in the way, with it's ruthless rules and disadvantaged ring... this sport would have struggle for much longer.

DO YOU REALLY LOVE SEEING A FIGHTER GETTING STOMPED ON THE HEAD WITH A KICK WHILE FIGHTER IS DOWN?
I bet you do...
THEN... the fighter die's... and there is OUTRAGE!

Then comes them dumn politicians talking about human pitbull fighting... and it needs to be BANNED!???

I love what pride built... but there MUST be rules to protect fighters from live threatening injuries...

Then again... if you don't care... maybe you should go and find an underground ring... where you can fight with weapons?

C YA PRIDE... you would have NEVER made it maintream with your rules!

i tend not to be disrespectful to other members on the board, but you are an exception. Your opinionated post is worth, for a lack of better words, nothing.

i enjoyed both Pride and UFC. Pride had the better atmosphere and i enjoyed their ppv events much more. I preferred the Ring as well. it was more compact and less space for the fighters to run around.

It's great that UFC purchased Pride, but i was expecting the organizations to COMBINE. i was hoping UFC to have the Pride atmosphere, not just a bunch of their fighters. The adaptation of the ring would have been better personally for me, but Octagon is good as well. Ring has more class in my opinion.

[valheruking]

Originally Posted by STruC1x

I'm GLAD Pride is DONE!

I want this sport to grow... and with pride standing in the way, with it's ruthless rules and disadvantaged ring... this sport would have struggle for much longer.

DO YOU REALLY LOVE SEEING A FIGHTER GETTING STOMPED ON THE HEAD WITH A KICK WHILE FIGHTER IS DOWN?
I bet you do...
THEN... the fighter die's... and there is OUTRAGE!

Then comes them dumn politicians talking about human pitbull fighting... and it needs to be BANNED!???

This makes no sense, you do realize PRIDE was a Japanese company and the rules you are referring to are the Japanese ones which (i assume you mean US) politicians have nothing to do with. In the US their shows were ran under the rules of the CSAC, which meant no stomps etc.

Originally Posted by STruC1x

C YA PRIDE... you would have NEVER made it mainstream with your rules!

What the hell are you babbling about?, PRIDE was mainstream, as mainstream as an mma org can get, they were still selling out arenas and ppvs when they came to an end, it was their poor management and their shady dealings that led to their downfall, not some desperate bid to go mainstream, the need to for success in the US came from necessity as they had lost their Japanese tv deal, not because they weren't already a a big company over there, and if anything was going to hold them back in the US it wouldn't be their rules which they had to adapt to suit the athletic commissions.

[Clint]

Originally Posted by southsider

THIS IS MADNESS!!!

I wonder how the money was defrauded...

I imagine that they are probably going to argue misrepresentation. If DSE told them that the contracts would transfer (many of them didn't) or if DSE didn't reveal debts that the company owed, etc. Something like that would be my initial guess.

Originally Posted by Krazikarl

Good luck on collecting that money. The company by all accounts was run like crap and its overseas, so I dont see Zuffa getting any money from this.

lol for some reason suing the Yakuza does sound like a bad idea.

Originally Posted by atj-lucko

Elbows on the ground are worse than knees, they are responsible for most of the cuts that make people say its just a blood sport and UFC fans just want blood.
Myself I don't wanna see blood and would trade elbows to knees any day.

The Bloody fights and the Cage gives MMA a bad image not a ring.
What do you put in cages?? animals, people equate Cages with animals.

I'm pretty sure the people that get offended by the blood would get up in arms about a soccer kick to the face as well.

[jesusatemyhotdog]

Once again people seem to be engrossed in the romantic myth of Pride.

The fact is and remains that Pride was a corrupt and mismanaged organization that had direct ties to the Japanese mob. I am sure that DSE would have had no problem lying to the faces of the Fertittas in regards to their holdings and assets at the time of the sale.

[Warchief]

Originally Posted by Clint

lol for some reason suing the Yakuza does sound like a bad idea.

Well, the Fertitas have some connections on the Mafia's right? i hope it would not be a Gang War.

[mattyc]

Originally Posted by lovebuzzkurt

I bet Dana went over to japan like Zerkzes on a throne.

After watching 300, I have this mental image that made me throw up in my mouth a bit. Thanks a lot. Please, no one get any Photoshop ideas.

[POINDEXTER]

Is this possibly why the UFC wasn't able to resurrect Pride?

[willieshatner]

Originally Posted by jesusatemyhotdog

Once again people seem to be engrossed in the romantic myth of Pride.

The fact is and remains that Pride was a corrupt and mismanaged organization that had direct ties to the Japanese mob. I am sure that DSE would have had no problem lying to the faces of the Fertittas in regards to their holdings and assets at the time of the sale.

I've got no illusions about the kind of organization that Pride was... I mean historically most fight promotions have been corrupt on some level. Boxing had mob ties, still probably does.

I do miss the Pride shows though.

[Clint]

Originally Posted by POINDEXTER

Is this possibly why the UFC wasn't able to resurrect Pride?

It definitely could be. Especially since one of the theories on the Yakuza involvement is that Pride was effectively a money laundering system. They paid whoever they could in (dirty) cash and then made money back through legit channels (TV and ticket sales). If that is the case they could have been losing money all along since they would more than likely be willing to take a loss in exchange for having clean money.

Note: What I just said is a theory that has been mentioned before. I am not claiming to know the validity of any of it.

[BigBanda]

I think Clint pretty much nailed it but we wont know for sure till they release more information.

Just read this original release from Dana/Zuffa on there plans for PRIDE when it was first purchased:

DANA WHITE DISCUSSES PRIDE PLANS & FIGHTERS
Wednesday, April 18, 2007 - by MMAWeekly.com

Ultimate Fighting Championship president Dana White spoke in great detail during a pre-UFC 70 teleconference about his plans for the Pride Fighting Championships organization, which was recently purchased by UFC principal owners Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta.

The most striking aspect of White's answers to reporters' questions was the way in which he spoke of Pride as a company essentially owned-and-operated by the UFC. Any pretense from the initial buy-out announcement that White would not have anything to do with Pride (or would not be running Pride) was long gone, as was any pretense that Pride and the new company Pride FC Worldwide would not be controlled by Zuffa.

White set the tone for this early on in the conference call when he talked about how busy he is: "I'm working on that [the first round of the Pride Lightweight Grand Prix]. There's only so much I can do at once. We own the UFC, Pride, and WEC, so it's a lot of work."

White also said, "I'm working on a major TV deal for Pride in the U.S. and in Japan." When asked about the Pride USA office, he said that all of the Pride employees will be keeping their jobs but added, "I'm going to be the one going out and signing deals for Pride."

White's comments about Pride stand in stark contrast to the statements made by DSE executives when the announcement was made that UFC co-owners Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta were buying Pride. At the time, DSE president Nobuyuki Sakakibara said, "Lorenzo believes that Pride should maintain its luster, and he will make sure that Pride. is here to stay. I trust and believe in Lorenzo... but please don't misunderstand the situation. This is not a speech about the UFC purchasing Pride. The UFC will forever stay as a competitor to Pride, because the UFC is operated by Zuffa Entertainment and Mr. Dana White."

Obviously as we all know this didnt play out as they had planned. There was a huge mess over there and it seems the higher ups at PRIDE did "misrepresent" a lot of things to Dana and Co. Now PRIDE has basically banished and some of the fighters have reworked contracts with the UFC.