So everybody who figured that Dana White would be operating Pride was essentially correct.

Full article at:
http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=3797&zoneid=13

Some excerpts...

"[UFC] president Dana White spoke in great detail during a pre-UFC 70 teleconference about his plans for the Pride Fighting Championships organization[...] Any pretense that White would not have anything to do with Pride [is] long gone, as [is] any pretense that Pride would not be controlled by Zuffa."

"[White] 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."

So... there you go, I guess...

i read the whole thing and the moral of the story is never trust a businessman

Thats........Goood

hes done great with UFC but he will ruin pride out of spite.

i think at some point very soon danas plate will be too full and sadly this probably is a bad sign for pride because to make his life easier he may bring in all the top talent to ufc and pride will become a feeder organization like wec. i know people have speculated on this before and ive been all for the purchase of pride so i wouldnt have to see it die out, but i think instead what we will be seeing is a slow death over a few short years. dana is great for mma imo but he is only one man and he seems to like to do everything himself which to me spells doom.....i really hope im wrong on this but it suddenly has started to look very bleak to me.

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Posted by cowcatcher

i think at some point very soon danas plate will be too full and sadly this probably is a bad sign for pride because to make his life easier he may bring in all the top talent to ufc and pride will become a feeder organization like wec. i know people have speculated on this before and ive been all for the purchase of pride so i wouldnt have to see it die out, but i think instead what we will be seeing is a slow death over a few short years. dana is great for mma imo but he is only one man and he seems to like to do everything himself which to me spells doom.....i really hope im wrong on this but it suddenly has started to look very bleak to me.

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well hell have extra time for pride since he gave HBO production rights.

dana in charge of pride and the HBO deal are bad

He is just a spokesman.

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Posted by nate22

He is just a spokesman.

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do spokesmen sign talent now? to me thats the meat of his job along with press related issues

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Posted by JunCTion

hes done great with UFC but he will ruin pride out of spite.

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I agree, Dana is putting his fingers in too many pies, and alone, he aint gonna be able to handle all this. Pride is gonna get turned into a WEC where new fighters hone their craft, as opposed to the super league where all the UFC beating talent used to compete. As far as Dana White is concerned, as long as UFC is top, no one else matters.

i dont necesarilly think he's gonna ruin PrideFC but i think ther going to change it alot and not be as appealing to Asian audiences and prob lose alot of loyal fans. I like the shows and all the antics before fights, i also like the UFC style of presenting everything. But i like them for different reasons. hopefully it wont change much.


What About the Rainbow Pants?!?!?!?

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Posted by Trapt1nw0nder

Thats........Goood

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No...its not

soon were gona watch PRIDE with gladiator music intro's and a cage
thats fine if im watching the UFC, but when I watch Pride I wana see a different show, with better production, more respectfull fans, Grand Prixs, stomps/knees/headkicks, RAINBOWPANTS, and alot more and sadly most of those things are dead.

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Posted by Mastodon2

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Posted by JunCTion

hes done great with UFC but he will ruin pride out of spite.

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I agree, Dana is putting his fingers in too many pies, and alone, he aint gonna be able to handle all this. Pride is gonna get turned into a WEC where new fighters hone their craft, as opposed to the super league where all the UFC beating talent used to compete. As far as Dana White is concerned, as long as UFC is top, no one else matters.

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he already said that the UFC will kick PRIDES ass. he has no respect for pride and within a year he will lose all of the japanese fans. hopefully someone in japan can start another org in the next few years.

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Posted by cowcatcher

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Posted by nate22

He is just a spokesman.

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do spokesmen sign talent now? to me thats the meat of his job along with press related issues

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I think he is just a spokesman too, and will be probably oversee all Zuffa owned companies. However ,when a new face of Pride guy is named he will run the day-to-day operations of Pride. Also, don't forget that MMAweekly's editors are real good friends with Trigg, so they probably aren 't too happy with Dana right now. So to sum it up. I think he is still the overall boss of everything Zuffa , but won't be running it day-to-day

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Posted by Northrend

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Posted by Trapt1nw0nder

Thats........Goood

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No...its not

soon were gona watch PRIDE with gladiator music intro's and a cage
thats fine if im watching the UFC, but when I watch Pride I wana see a different show, with better production, more respectfull fans, Grand Prixs, stomps/knees/headkicks, RAINBOWPANTS, and alot more and sadly most of those things are dead.

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Dana White is not stupid....he's not gonna make Pride a "feeder" like WEC like someone else said......UFC right now is Mostly huge in North America,and they will not ruin something that is already huge in Japan.

Im sure they will try to keep both orgs. as even as possible.......They already said NO to foot stomps and soccer kicks or knees to the head regardless of President..Pride 33 was under UFC rules,and it was said to be one of the best Pride events ever!..so its doesnt really worry me......The way Pride was run was the reason it was a failure.Im sure with these new rules Pride will be back on Japanese tv and back on top in no time...

as for respectable fans....i dont think that will change if the events are still held in Japan...its the American fans that are very disrespectful.......Grand Prix will still be held as far as we know

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Posted by Trapt1nw0nder

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Posted by Northrend

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Posted by Trapt1nw0nder

Thats........Goood

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No...its not

soon were gona watch PRIDE with gladiator music intro's and a cage
thats fine if im watching the UFC, but when I watch Pride I wana see a different show, with better production, more respectfull fans, Grand Prixs, stomps/knees/headkicks, RAINBOWPANTS, and alot more and sadly most of those things are dead.

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Dana White is not stupid....he's not gonna make Pride a "feeder" like WEC like someone else said......UFC right now is Mostly huge in North America,and they will not ruin something that is already huge in Japan.

Im sure they will try to keep both orgs. as even as possible.......They already said NO to foot stomps and soccer kicks or knees to the head regardless of President..Pride 33 was under UFC rules,and it was said to be one of the best Pride events ever!..so its doesnt really worry me......The way Pride was run was the reason it was a failure.Im sure with these new rules Pride will be back on Japanese tv and back on top in no time...

as for respectable fans....i dont think that will change if the events are still held in Japan...its the American fans that are very disrespectful.......Grand Prix will still be held as far as we know

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i hope im not hearing this right. are you saying pride was ruined cause of its rules. and pride33 was not one of the best (a couple of fights might have been)and it lost them money.

Hope this point doesn't get lost.

I agree that initially he will want UFC to rule. But I think there is so much on his plate, and I think he really wants to be a Fertita, I think he'll try to take a position overseeing both the PRIDE and UFC presidents... but yeah there'll be a year or two where he's trying to handle it all and concentrate it on UFC. But It think if he doesn't realize he has to delegate responsibility then he's gonna see someone else becoming #2. He's too scared for that to happen. He figures he should not just control the top two, he should control the top 3. That's too much for any man and he will realize that. He will accept the fact that he has to give up some of the minute control to get overall control. It's like a director who becomes a producer, you give up a bit of minute control but gain much more credit in the big picture. Dana, not that I endorse it, will be the first non fighter or ref inducted into the UFC HOF- just my prediction.

So aren't Pride and the UFC still supposed to be considered separate, COMPETING, companies?

If that's the case, then wouldn't Dana White (working for both) be considered a conflict of interest?

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Posted by JimiMak

Hope this point doesn't get lost.

I agree that initially he will want UFC to rule. But I think there is so much on his plate, and I think he really wants to be a Fertita, I think he'll try to take a position overseeing both the PRIDE and UFC presidents... but yeah there'll be a year or two where he's trying to handle it all and concentrate it on UFC. But It think if he doesn't realize he has to delegate responsibility then he's gonna see someone else becoming #2. He's too scared for that to happen. He figures he should not just control the top two, he should control the top 3. That's too much for any man and he will realize that. He will accept the fact that he has to give up some of the minute control to get overall control. It's like a director who becomes a producer, you give up a bit of minute control but gain much more credit in the big picture. Dana, not that I endorse it, will be the first non fighter or ref inducted into the UFC HOF- just my prediction.

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your point was not lost but who would he be willing to put attop the ufc & pride for himself to oversee

JunCTion- "Dana, not that I endorse it, will be the first non fighter or ref inducted into the UFC HOF- just my prediction. "

I disagree. Dana is too a fighter. Just ask Tito. Oh, wait he never found out. Hahaha.

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Posted by JWest12

JunCTion- "Dana, not that I endorse it, will be the first non fighter or ref inducted into the UFC HOF- just my prediction. "

I disagree. Dana is too a fighter. Just ask Tito. Oh, wait he never found out. Hahaha.

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hey dude that wasnt my prediction. it was JimiMaks. dont put those words in my mouth. the only way dana gets into the UFC hall of fame is cause he will order them to put him in.

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Posted by Rush

So aren't Pride and the UFC still supposed to be considered separate, COMPETING, companies?

If that's the case, then wouldn't Dana White (working for both) be considered a conflict of interest?

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fwiw, I don't believe either company is publicly traded. I also don't know how anti-trust laws might apply here, if at all (and I don't know if Japan even has anti-trust laws).

I think it might benefit the UFC to maintain Pride as an effective competitor. I guess the question remains whether Pride can raise it's game, so to speak, but Dana White seems to think it can, and will. He said in the press conference that he wouldn't be raiding Pride for it's fighters, that guys like Shogun and Fedor would remain "signature" Pride fighters if he can get them to sign exclusive contracts.

As a fan, I think having two more-or-less equal organizations makes the sport more interesting. If enough people agree with me, that should translate into $$, which would support a separate-but-equal business model for the two orgs.

Cooperation between the organizations could result in things like no competing events on the same weekend, for example, and fighters who hit a wall in one organization could perhaps be "traded" to the other. And of course an annual "Super Bowl of MMA" could be massive, in terms of fan interest and, hopefully, money and exposure for the sport. The web-rumor-mill said that the rematch between Chuck and Tito got a million PPV buys. Imagine what a UFC-Pride "Shockwave" show with Fedor-CroCop II as the main event would draw with a few months of promotion.

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Posted by JunCTion

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Posted by JimiMak

Hope this point doesn't get lost.

I agree that initially he will want UFC to rule. But I think there is so much on his plate, and I think he really wants to be a Fertita, I think he'll try to take a position overseeing both the PRIDE and UFC presidents... but yeah there'll be a year or two where he's trying to handle it all and concentrate it on UFC. But It think if he doesn't realize he has to delegate responsibility then he's gonna see someone else becoming #2. He's too scared for that to happen. He figures he should not just control the top two, he should control the top 3. That's too much for any man and he will realize that. He will accept the fact that he has to give up some of the minute control to get overall control. It's like a director who becomes a producer, you give up a bit of minute control but gain much more credit in the big picture. Dana, not that I endorse it, will be the first non fighter or ref inducted into the UFC HOF- just my prediction.

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your point was not lost but who would he be willing to put attop the ufc & pride for himself to oversee

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You're right, and that's the thing. It's gonna be a while before he will realize nevermind actually do this. The pride product is prob'ly gonna suffer. Unfortunately there's nothing we can do except support all mma especially smaller orgs. And I agree that he'll have to order himself in, but I'm sure he would have no problem doing that.

Well thats hope to god or what ever imaginery entity you believe in that White and make work out not just stack the UFC

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Posted by AchillesHeel
fwiw, I don't believe either company is publicly traded. I also don't know how anti-trust laws might apply here, if at all (and I don't know if Japan even has anti-trust laws).

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Neither company is public, but what does that have to do with it?

Unfortunately, our dream "Super Bowl" won't matter because it appears the Fertittas are going to let Dana/UFC will have the mahority of the top talent by year end anyways.

And I'm not a lawyer, but I think an anti-trust complaint has to be brought about by a company. (USFL v. NFL, Sun Microsystems/Netscape v. Microsoft) So unless they plan on suing themselves, it would need to be one of the smaller orgs. suing them. And they have to be doing some shady stuff for the case to go anywhere. Remember the USFL won the case, but because the NFL wasn't doing anything wrong, they only got $1 in damages.

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Posted by JunCTion

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Posted by JimiMak

Hope this point doesn't get lost.

I agree that initially he will want UFC to rule. But I think there is so much on his plate, and I think he really wants to be a Fertita, I think he'll try to take a position overseeing both the PRIDE and UFC presidents... but yeah there'll be a year or two where he's trying to handle it all and concentrate it on UFC. But It think if he doesn't realize he has to delegate responsibility then he's gonna see someone else becoming #2. He's too scared for that to happen. He figures he should not just control the top two, he should control the top 3. That's too much for any man and he will realize that. He will accept the fact that he has to give up some of the minute control to get overall control. It's like a director who becomes a producer, you give up a bit of minute control but gain much more credit in the big picture. Dana, not that I endorse it, will be the first non fighter or ref inducted into the UFC HOF- just my prediction.

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your point was not lost but who would he be willing to put attop the ufc & pride for himself to oversee

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IF this happens, and it's just speculation right now, I know who I would nominate. Couture for the UFC. Sakaraba for Pride

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Posted by Manfred

Unfortunately, our dream "Super Bowl" won't matter because it appears the Fertittas are going to let Dana/UFC will have the mahority of the top talent by year end anyways.

And I'm not a lawyer, but I think an anti-trust complaint has to be brought about by a company. (USFL v. NFL, Sun Microsystems/Netscape v. Microsoft) So unless they plan on suing themselves, it would need to be one of the smaller orgs. suing them. And they have to be doing some shady stuff for the case to go anywhere. Remember the USFL won the case, but because the NFL wasn't doing anything wrong, they only got $1 in damages.

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I did a bit of wiki research (I know it's not the best source, but it's better than nothing)

Source

A conflict of interest is a situation in which someone in a position of trust, such as a lawyer, a politician, executive or director of a corporation or a medical research scientist or physician, has competing professional or personal interests. Such competing interests can make it difficult to fulfill his or her duties impartially. Even if there is no evidence of improper actions, a conflict of interest can create an appearance of impropriety that can undermine confidence in the ability of that person to use his/her position with proper ethics. A conflict of interest can exist even if no unethical or improper act results from it. This is seen as a "conflict of roles" where the interest of ones self differs from that of others. The conflict can be mitigated by third party verification or third party evaluation noted below - - but it still exists.

More generally, conflict of interest can be defined as any situation in which an individual or corporation (either private or governmental) is in a position to exploit a professional or official capacity in some way for their personal or corporate benefit.

Depending upon the law or rules related to a particular organization, the existence of a conflict of interest may not, in and of itself, be evidence of wrongdoing. In fact, for many professionals, it is virtually impossible to avoid having conflicts of interest from time to time. A conflict of interest can, however, become a legal matter for example when an individual tries (and/or succeeds in) influencing the outcome of a decision, for personal benefit. A director or executive of a corporation will be subject to legal liability if a conflict of interest breaches their Duty of Loyalty.

There often is confusion over these two situations. Someone accused of a conflict of interest may deny that a conflict exists because he/she did not act improperly. In fact, a conflict of interest does exist even if there are no improper acts as a result of it. (One way to understand this is to use the term "conflict of roles". A person with two roles - an individual who owns stock and is also a government official, for example - may experience situations where those two roles conflict. The conflict can be mitigated - see below - but it still exists. In and of itself, having two roles is not illegal, but the differing roles will certainly provide an incentive for improper acts in some circumstances.)

The following are the most common forms of conflicts of interest:

Self-dealing, in which public and private interests collide, for example issues involving privately held business interests,

Outside employment, in which the interests of one job contradict another,

I took out the others.....

Regarding the post I made above, it sounds like if Pride and the UFC are supposed to be separate entities (companies), then Dana would be in a conflict of interest working for both of them at the same time and it's regardless of whether he does anything wrong.

I don't think it's right for Dana to operate in both companies.

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Posted by Rush

Neither company is public, but what does that have to do with it?

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Share-holders are one of the groups that can cry foul when there's a conflict of interest, and generate pressure for change. If Dana breaks no laws, and the Fertittas are on board with his actions, he can pretty much do whatever he wants. I think. Like I say, I'm no expert on these things.

Whether he wants to pillage Pride and run the organization into the ground is up in the air but, from what he's said, this doesn't appear to be the case. Of course, we've already seen that we can't take any of them at their word.

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Posted by AchillesHeel

Share-holders are one of the groups that can cry foul when there's a conflict of interest, and generate pressure for change. If Dana breaks no laws, and the Fertittas are on board with his actions, he can pretty much do whatever he wants. I think. Like I say, I'm no expert on these things.

Whether he wants to pillage Pride and run the organization into the ground is up in the air but, from what he's said, this doesn't appear to be the case. Of course, we've already seen that we can't take any of them at their word.

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True, but I can't see why the Fertittas would be ok with him (potentially) running pride down.

I also see what you are saying about Dana doing whatever he wants, but (as you can see from my post above) you don't have to do anything illegal for there to be a conflict on interest.

Sure, the Fertittas own both companies, but if the bulk of the employees at Pride harp about Dana (potentially) running Pride down (to boost the UFC) because their jobs might be in jeopardy, I can't see that boding well for the company as a whole.

Mind you I don't know anything about the topic either. I'm just throwing ideas around.

I just hope this doesn't fuck up either Pride or the UFC.