Dana White: Dissolving of PRIDE Fighting Championships a “Possibility”

Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta, owners of Zuffa LLC (the UFC’s parent company), finalized their purchase of PRIDE Fighting Championships last month, and UFC president Dana White hasn’t ruled out the possibility that the UFC will simply take PRIDE’s best talent and then disband the Japanese-based organization.

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i think it's safe to say

RIP PRIDE

I think Dana White is the most hated man in Japan lol

dana white is the most hated man.

wow dana doesnt care about japanese fan base....

Pride 33, the second coming...I loved the female screaming announcer. Please consider her some of the best talent...please!

Dana is a dumb-ass. If he goes global it grabs the industry by the balls. No one could compete fairly with Dana. Besides it could have brought the U.S. some money. There's a lot of Billionares in Japan and other countries who love that shit too

I would be a bad move to throw away the Pride name in Japan. I don't think Pride should be another org, but they should use the name when they go to Japan. They will have more "Street Cred"

I think they should've ran PRIDE as a seperate entity, cross promotion, and have that huge "superbowl of mma" in december every year. Think of the money they would've made. I think Dana's ego got in the way, they would sell out arenas over there averaging 40,000 with as much as 90,000. Financially it doesn't make any sense.

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Posted by szucconi

I would be a bad move to throw away the Pride name in Japan. I don't think Pride should be another org, but they should use the name when they go to Japan. They will have more "Street Cred"

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hahaha street cred

I think it is the right thing to do taking everything into consideration......i was a big pride fan.....but Pride wouldnt be the same now.........UFC would still hold events in Japan.....because they can't ignore crowds of 60,000......the difference is, the Fighters will be in an octagon not a ring.

For those saying that Dana is stupid that is wrong. If it was not for him, MMA would still be on the bottom of the pile, of events to watch, for people in north amarica. He was able to bring mma into the main stream in north america and I know that a lot of my friends started to watch UFC after the TUFF show began. Before that they would make fun of me for watching it, just like they did for WWE, but that is a multi Billion dollor company now. Dana is right to take the talent from Japan and bring it over. They will be able to do two shows in Japan a year with the rosters that they have. I would bet on there being two shown in a month. Hell in June the UFC has 3 major shows going on.

http://www.fightopinion.com/2007/06/19/report-pride-returns-on-august-18th/


Nikkan Sports reported on Wednesday morning that the first show of the 'shinsei' (newborn) PRIDE will happen on August 18th at Saitama Super Arena (the same 'home' building that DSE used). The theme of the show will be a "Japanese all-star" presentation, centered around Hidehiko Yoshida.

You know I think Dana's a smart man but dissolving Pride is a flat-out stupid move if he does it.

I hope that last link is accurate.

Why spend all that money and time when you can have the best fighters and best cards in one org in your own territory.

Selling out a 60,000+ seat venue is why. You can't do that anywhere else at this point. Japan is way too huge of a market to ignore it and the UFC is going everywhere but Japan it seems. It's a no brainer, even if they bring all the top guys to the UFC and leave all the Japanese fighters in Pride they would still make some good coin over there I'm sure.

I think the move is a mistake for the main reason that if all the great fighters are in one organization, how often do you think we'll see them fight (at the rate of about 5 bouts per PPV event)? That is unless of course MMA because a regular mainstream (free) event on TV or every PPV event is nothing but title (or top contender) fights. My fear is that the PPV events will become even more numerous, which I don't think will stand the test of time with fans.

A regular series of undercard bouts on TV with quarterly title/top contender fights would be the only option I can see (if all the top fighters are in one organization)

As for the Japanese fan base, well, if Pride is dissolved I can realistically see another new organization take it's place. Whether or not it will be successful is another story.

Don't think this will happen. I just don't want to believe it

I hope that zuffa have big plans for Pride...

Because there is more money to be made in Japan then in the U.S.

japan loves Bob Sapp!........ lol

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Posted by Primo

I think they should've ran PRIDE as a seperate entity, cross promotion, and have that huge "superbowl of mma" in december every year. Think of the money they would've made. I think Dana's ego got in the way, they would sell out arenas over there averaging 40,000 with as much as 90,000. Financially it doesn't make any sense.

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This is very true. The numbers of people who attended Pride events was massive...made UFC event turnouts look pathetic by comparison!

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Posted by Primo

I think they should've ran PRIDE as a seperate entity, cross promotion, and have that huge "superbowl of mma" in december every year. Think of the money they would've made. I think Dana's ego got in the way, they would sell out arenas over there averaging 40,000 with as much as 90,000. Financially it doesn't make any sense.

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Pride lost their TV contract and that was the end. Pride fell apart because of the "finances." If Dana could get a TV contract going over their, he has one with Spike and Versus here, he would be in better shape.