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[Dominus]

- PRIDE MAKING BIG CHANGES IN 2007
Wednesday, November 29, 2006 - by Al Yu - MMAWeekly.com


In a recent issue of Gong Magazine, Dream Stage Entertainment CEO Nobuyuki Sakakibara announced several changes that Pride will undergo in the near future, including the fact that the Bushido series of events has been discontinued in Japan and will be combined with the regular Pride shows in the future.

As a result, all Pride shows from this point forward will feature fights in all four of Pride's weight classes (160 pounds, 183 pounds, 205 pounds, and heavyweight).

Sakakibara also announced that the Pride Grand Prix for any given weight class will only be held once every four years, much like the Olympics. Since Pride has four weight classes, this means that there will be one new Grand Prix tournament each year.

While Sakakibara did not mention which one of Pride's four weight classes will have a Grand Prix in 2007, it's almost certain that it's not going to be 183 pounds and it's not going to be heavyweight (or "open weight"), since Pride just held Grand Prix tournaments for both of those weight classes in 2006.

That would leave the 205-pound division and the 160-pound division as the two remaining possibilities for a Grand Prix in 2007. Previously, Pride held Grand Prix tournaments for the 160-pound division in 2005, and for the 205-pound division in both 2003 and 2005.

With each of Pride's weight classes only having a Grand Prix tournament once every four years, Sakakibara also stated that the four Pride title belts (currently held by Fedor Emelianenko, Wanderlei Silva, Dan Henderson, and Takanori Gomi) will be defended much more often. Specifically, Sakakibara said there will be at least one title fight on every Pride show from now on.

One thing that Sakakibara did not announce was a Japanese TV deal for the New Year's Eve Pride Shockwave show. The originally hyped announcement date of November 10th has come and gone with no announcement being made. Further, all of the major Japanese TV networks have released their schedules for the big night on NYE, with no Pride broadcast in sight.

Fuji TV terminated its broadcasting agreement with Pride earlier this year due to several company scandals. The cancellation came despite the fact that on December 31st of last year, Pride drew its highest New Year's Eve ratings ever and won the head-to-head New Year's Eve ratings battle with K-1 for the first time, in what would turn out to be the final Fuji TV airing of the Pride New Year's Eve show.

This year's installment of the New Year's Eve show, along with future Pride shows, will still be available in Japan on the satellite-based pay-per-view channel SkyPerfecTV, and in the United States on various cable and satellite pay-per-view outlets.

Despite the lack of a TV deal in Japan, or perhaps in part because of it, Pride is aggressively pursuing its plans for expansion, and Sakakibara stated that there will be up to twelve Pride events in 2007, with up to six of those events being held in the United States.

[b0sH]

All sounds pretty good news, the changes that are needed seem to be made.

However holding 6 out of 12 events in the US may cause them some problems. The last USA card was pretty weak and there is a big hole with no ground kicking or elbows allowed, that's gota be filled. May see Dana White up the spending a bit with Pride encroaching on "UFC-territory".

[chungt79]

I love the idea of combining Bushido into Pride. There will be much more variety of fights in each event and the idea that there will be more title defenses is good too. Only thing I dont like about it is the 4 years between GPs in each weight class. So many things can happen in 4 years for a fighter. He can go to another organization or since MMA is such a injury prone sport, a major star may be briefly injured during the GP and the thought of him having to wait another 4 years for GP is sad. They should perhaps have it every two years instead.

[Dominus]

I agree, except with the Pride USA show. I really enjoyed it. The matches were quick, but were action packed. I loved the production of the event and it really seemed like an Olympic event, rather than a MMA fight. They needd to polish up a few things, but it was only their first USA show. They will take that first show, find out what wasn't that great and try to improve. i would assume that the other USA shows will be more polished.

I didn't really miss the knees, and stomps . You see alot of different moves when you can't use the same old knees to the head and stomps to the face. It makes the fighters become more creative.

[Beatts35]

Good artilce, it looks like Pride is reshaping a few things and will continue to do well and hopefully grow in 2007. It sounds like Pride will be coming to the States more. Maybe they feel with no tv deal in Japan spliting time between the US and Japan will be their best chance of making money.

Its great that they are going to be combinding Bushido into their regular cards. But will they have fights at the same show that follow different rules?

The fact that Pride sees the need to have a title fight on every card shows a major chance in their model. I think we'll see their belts move around a bit with their champs having to fight 4 times a year.

Having 1 tourney going a year is also a smart move. It will really make them more special knowing you'll have to wate 4 years to see each weight class. Other than droping or adding weight most fighters may only be able to fight in 2 or 3 tourneys in their career now.

I've also seen on their website that Wandi's Febuary fight will be a title fight in the States. How is it really going to work having a guy fight here and in japan under different rules for the belt? they really need to address that maybe they need to have some of their japanese mob friends "have a chat" with the State Athletic Commissions. Or they need to go to an unregulated state and help start a commision (like dana did in nevada) and help shape the rules. Who knows Pride's new home in the States could be Kansas or Nebraska (half kidding).

I love Pride and I'm glab they are making changes, all good sounding ones at that for now. I still believe they could be on the brink of going under if 2007 isn't big for them. They need to get a good tv deal somewhere or they are going to blow their hole wad in a few live shows.

[flashy]

It's a good sign that Pride is responding to their critics. It's obviously uncertain as to whether or not the changes will pay off, but at least they're making the effort.

edit: damn lol, what happened to my post count, owned

[Malice]

1 GP every 4 years? that totally sucks...they should make it 2 years.

Overall awesome news and I am glad they are going to be in the States. Hopefully I can get to a couple shows. I just hope they stay the hell away from WWE.

[adriandmangan]

sounds good apart from gps i must agree, 4 years way too long.

Great to hear they're going to have a lot more US shows, went last time it was great, got to meet all fighters i wanted to meet except Crocop.
Fedor
Rampage
Wandi
Shogun
Ninja
Barnett
Nakamura
I'd recommend going to everyone, and i did find it made easier viewing with ring as opposed to octagon.
Hopefully will get to meet Crocop there in feb., see you all there

[Dominus]

You are still getting one GP per year. That's still very good. It's just different weight class every year. Also they said that due to this, there will be a title defended on every PPV. That's a real good trade off. It takes about a half a year to complete a Gp. So they can't have all their top fighters in tournaments, then who will be fighting for and defending the titles.

[iced]

Originally Posted by Rockx

1 GP every 4 years? that totally sucks...they should make it 2 years.

Overall awesome news and I am glad they are going to be in the States. Hopefully I can get to a couple shows. I just hope they stay the hell away from WWE.

i agree 4 years....a lotta things can happen in that amount of time. having 4 weight classes, they could split it up and rotate between two weight classes a year.