Pride Fighters Coming To UFC

[BROOKLYNSTANDUP]

During the UFC 71 post-fight press conference, Ultimate Fighting Championship President Dana White confirmed what Josh Gross reported last week: The purchase of Pride Fighting Championships has been finalized.

"We’re still trying to figure out this whole Pride and UFC thing. The deal is done. We acquired the company yesterday or the day before," White told the media at the UFC 71 post-fight press conference.

White continued, "Talking about all the Pride stuff, we're going to work on that stuff over the next [weeks] now that the deal is officially closed. You can't start running a business when you don't own it yet. We've owned it for two days. I know we made the big announcement [on March 27], but it might have been a little premature. The deal wasn't done yet. The deal was pending, but we were far enough along where we felt comfortable announcing the deal. Now that it's closed two days ago, we'll get that straightened out."

Now that the deal is done, questions still remain surrounding Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta’s plans for the newly acquired Japanese mixed martial arts promotion. Originally, it was announced that the UFC and Pride would be run separately, and while there would be super-fight match-ups between champions, all of the top Pride fighters would be staying in Pride.

White’s comments concerning the Pride fighters and what he plans to do with them indicate that many of Pride's top fighters will be assimilated into the UFC. White said, "We’re going to have them all. We’re going to have them all. At the end of the day, if you want to fight the best fighters in the world, if you want to cement your place in history... and at the end of the day, the money is great, all that stuff is good, but for me I’m one of those types of people... it’s all about cementing your place in history. Who is the greatest fighter in every weight division? It’s here. It’s in the UFC. They’re all going to be here."

When asked about one of Pride’s biggest stars, Wanderlei Silva, White said, "We're going to have them all here. He [Silva] is going to be here. They're all going to fight... they're all under contract.” White also said that Silva would likely be Chuck Liddell's next opponent.

When asked about Fedor Emelianenko, who is the Pride Heavyweight Champion and the #1 ranked heavyweight fighter in the world, White said, "We're working on Fedor right now, too. We're working on everybody. Everybody means everybody, all of them. We're trying to get them all. They're all going to be here. If not now, eventually we'll have them all."

What about the Pride champions? White addressed that question as well: "I don’t think we should disrespect the guys who have belts in Pride. They were champions in that organization, and they have belts, too. We’ve still got to figure this thing out, but at the end of the day the great thing is that the best are going to fight the best. That’s all that really matters at the end of the day."

source: mmaweekly.com


everyone pretty much saw this coming, but liddell vs silva is finally gonna happen... wanderlei is not suppose to fight for the rest of the year, but to face chuck ill bet were gonna see him sooner than later... and fedor is coming over here 2

[bigox420]

I hope they still put on pride shows.That will suck if they just take the fighters. Not looking good for that. I have been waiting for Liddell vs Silva for a long time.I can't see any buddy taking Fedor out right now. Couture is good but Fedor is a beast and is no joke on the ground.

[colhu7]

man i was really looking foward to a mma superbowl between pride and ufc like they said they would do. but that looks like it wont happen.

since ufc is getting all the best fighters. every ufc ppv better be nothing but high quality fighters. they dont have anymore excuses to put on a ufc with one fight with great fighters. look at ufc 72. on paper it looks horrible but you never know what will happen in mma. now ufc 73 is going to be amazing. 73 should be cards that we hopefully get used too.

[BROOKLYNSTANDUP]

yea 72 dont look nothing special, sh*t is funny with all the irish fighters cause they in belfast... but ufc has 2 or 3 of them a year with boring undercards..


i just hope pride isnt left behind in all of this cause cause of dana white's ego...

[Answ3r]

If he just brought in all the Pride fighters to UFC, they'd dominate. Fedor is an animal if you've seen him fight and would tear through the UFC's heavyweight division

[Cutty Olds]

^^^
The UFC doesn't have a Heavy Weight division Couture proved it!! :lol:

[Gramz]

I read that article earlier on mmaweekly... it reads like an eulogy for Pride. Maybe we will got some great matchups out of it though. RIP to modern-day Vale Tudo though. I will miss soccer stomps and headstomps.

[Lex Lossis]

yea 72 dont look nothing special

Are you sh*ttin me? You must be just now getting into MMA. :lol:

[Gramz]

the rumored card for UFC 72 looks weak as fu*k... UFC is including a lot of fighters with Irish descent I think though to make a good card for Ireland.

This card looks amazing to you?

Main Event: Rich Franklin vs. Yushin Okami (this may be their weakest main event in some time)

Co Main-Event: Forrest Griffin vs. Hector Ramirez (you gotta be kidding me as a co-main event)

Tyson Griffin vs. Clay Guida (it may be a good fight but enough to make me buy)

Jason MacDonald vs. Rory Singer (I'll pass as well, I will still watch the fight but definitely not an intriguing match-up)

Those are the main four fights on that card... I WOULD DEFINITELY SAY NOTHING SPECIAL ABOUT THAT CARD AS WELL. maybe you're the one who just got into MMA if you think there is anything special about that card.

Look at UFC 73 compard to 72:

Main Event: Anderson Silva vs. Nathan Marquardt for the Middleweight Title
This fight is going to be real good. I saw footage of how Marquardt dominated Dean Lister with relative ease. He's slept-on by most but he is going to give the Spider everything he can handle.

Co Main-Event: Rashad Evans vs. Tito Ortiz
I ain't even gotta say much about this matchup. We finally get to see Evans against somebody with some nice wrestling skills as his own. Should be a good test to see how good Evans really is.

Co Main-Event: Sean Sherk vs. Hermes Franca
This is a title bout also and should be all action.

BIG NOG vs. Heath Herring
This is NOG's UFC debut.

The other undercard fights has Kenny Florian fighting, Drew Fickett and Chris Lytle in a match-up, Jorge Gurgel, Stephan Bonnar etc. etc.

UFC 73 is the one to be excited for.

[Lex Lossis]

I agree, 73 is a fu*kin amazing card, but NOG isn't confirmed on UFC's website. There's a lot of missing slots on UFC's website so I'll wait to judge, but what they have so far is amazing. 72 is good tho, how is Rich Franklin and Yushin Okami a weak main event?

The TECHNICAL aspects of MMA will be brought to light in that match ^^

[Gramz]

Franklin and Okami is a not a main-event caliber fight for a PPV. It would be an awesome main event for a UFN but not a PPV. Griffin-Ramirez as your co main event... WHAT A JOKE. I hope with the all new acquistions, more of the cards will look like 73.

[Lex Lossis]

Franklin and Okami is a not a main-event caliber fight for a PPV.

........................................ .


LOL DO YOU KNOW WHO RICH "THE ACE" FRANKLIN IS?



A LEGEND point blank. no argument.
ppl have been waiting to see him fight again since that devastating loss to Anderson Silva

[Gramz]

A Legend huh? Are you fu*king serious?: The two toughest opponents he has fought, have knocked him out. (Lyoto Machida and Anderson Silva)...

Fedor is a legend.
Couture is a legend.

Franklin's most impressive victories to date are his dismantlings of Evan Tanner. Ace is a good fighter but very far from a great one.

I have to laugh at how people just toss the word "legend" around these days. He's far from being considered a legend in the sport of MMA, I'm sure he would even tell you that himself.

[Lex Lossis]

The UFC calls him a legend and so do other fighters so we'll leave it at that.

[Gramz]

like I said, he's a good fighter but far from a great fighter. We'll leave it at that.

[BROOKLYNSTANDUP]

ace is my boy, be aint no legend... he hasnt beaten enough top caliber fighters to be legend...

there arent many legends in mma and he aint one of them...

[BROOKLYNSTANDUP]

The UFC calls him a legend and so do other fighters so we'll leave it at that.

UFC also called liddell the most devastating striker and best lightweight in the world and we all know that aint true..

[Lex Lossis]

UFC also called liddell the most devastating striker and best lightweight in the world and we all know that aint true..

He is the most devastating striker and it's light heavy weight, not lightweight division.

[Arkanjal]

Franklin and Okami is a not a main-event caliber fight for a PPV. It would be an awesome main event for a UFN but not a PPV. Griffin-Ramirez as your co main event... WHAT A JOKE. I hope with the all new acquistions, more of the cards will look like 73.

i think 72 was originally supposed to be free...but some tv deal fell through (i think it was HBO) so they had to move it to PPV.

i still think the fights will be competitive, but not having a championship bouts and having so many up-and-commers makes it look weak.

73 is STACKED tho......hence the name :lol:

[bibbyboi]

Dan Henderson supposed to fight in UFC right??? Dude will dominate the middleweight division....Fedor better come to UFC or at least stay at Pride...Bodog aint a good look for him....one thing though....UFC needs to pay the fighters more....sh*t is blowing up and the fighters are still only getting paid a little bit....

[bigox420]

Dan Henderson will be fighting in the light heavy weight division.
Henderson vs Rampage.

[bibbyboi]

^^well either way dudes a beast....he has the potential to hold both weight class' belts at the same time...

[yumflip]

Hopefully w/all of the fighters absorbed by UFC, a weekly or bi weekly tv show will come outta this...us it as a platform to build up potential contenders & fighters on the rebound, before they're PPV draws....I wonder who's gonna get the first crack @ Fedor?...or should I say, who's gonna get they head cracked by Fedor first?

[icedout921]

73 should be fu*king amazing..

but 72 has a chance to be good as well. 71's undercard looked weak as fu*k to me but actcually had some good ass fights.

[colhu7]

also with all the new fighters they should have a ufn and ufc ppv every 2 weeks. have a ufc then 2 weeks later have a ufn then 2 weeks later have a ufc and so on. this might be to much but they need to have more ufns to build up fighters. just a thought

[BROOKLYNSTANDUP]

He is the most devastating striker and it's light heavy weight, not lightweight division.

listen i respect chuck just as much as everyone he was one of my fav and yes his an amazing striker, but he fought quinton twice, the first fight quinton ate a sh*t load of huge bombs and came back and whooped his ass and on sat quinton ended the fight in a matter of a minute.. that makes rampage a better striker in my book right now... wanderlei beat the sh*t out of rampage with strikers in both their fights so i would say hes even better.. chuck has fought alot of submission fighters in his time and guys who just have never taken a punch like that...

listen i hope im wrong cause it looks like wanderlei vs chuck next... so we will see, im hoping iceman comes back to the top and whoops everyone's ass cause if pride takes over ufc's talent wont look so good

[BROOKLYNSTANDUP]

also with all the new fighters they should have a ufn and ufc ppv every 2 weeks. have a ufc then 2 weeks later have a ufn then 2 weeks later have a ufc and so on. this might be to much but they need to have more ufns to build up fighters. just a thought

yea i feel that, alot of these guys on the prelimanary boughts get no spotlight cause the average ufc watcher does not watch the fights after the main event..

ufn gives these fighters a chance to show what they got and move up... plus some of the best knockouts have come on ufn...

[yumflip]

yea i feel that, alot of these guys on the prelimanary boughts get no spotlight cause the average ufc watcher does not watch the fights after the main event..

ufn gives these fighters a chance to show what they got and move up... plus some of the best knockouts have come on ufn...

They should use the UFN's as a mini-PPV situation to spotlight contenders, but a weekly show would give the audience a chance to follow fighters from the ground up...probably should look to another channel besides Spike for their next TV venture...hopefully a network channel...Spike's been good to UFC, but the opportunity to expand may be better realized on a network TV situation...

[icedout921]

Chuck is a very good striker but not the most devasting striker. He's the best counter puncher though.

[BROOKLYNSTANDUP]

^^^ def

[Slick CM Rick]

Are you sh*ttin me? You must be just now getting into MMA. :lol:

im a big rich fan, but hes no legend

and the ufc 72 card looks weak as fu*k

you seem like your the one just getting into MMA

[BROOKLYNSTANDUP]

^^^ def

a legend is someone who not only has a great fighting resume, but impacts the sport and changes the way we look at it...

rich is a good fighter but hes not a legend...

couture is a legend because of the amount of times hes won the lhw and hw belt... plus hes the only person to win both the light heavweight and heavyweight belts... he out striked chuck liddell who was the best stiker in ufc at the time and who had basically manhandled everyone he face.. plus he beat tim sylvia at a plus 40 age to win the belt again...

liddell is a legend because he has the most wins in the ocatagon plus we had never seen a striker like that in the octagon before, he single handedly took out a whole division, where they had to have fighters fight him 2 or three times over... plus he brought ufc in the spotlight...

gracie, shamrock and severn are legends because what they did for the sport and how they showed this country what the sport was made of, not to mention there fighting records...

frank shamrock= legend in ufc because hes the only undefeated champion ever in the ufc's history, probably the greatest ever in his prime in the octagon...

these are legends.. franklin has beaten so-so fighters in his career like a over the hill evan tanner and frank shamrock and lost to the only one that was opposing to him and not only got beat but dismantled... until he avenges his loss, goes on another good run through good fighters, and makes a huge impact in this sport he wont be legend..

[Gramz]

You are forgetting the name Fedor with all this talk of MMA Legends...

[Lex Lossis]

Have ya'll seen any of the fighters on the UFC 72 card? If not, then how can you see it's weak? Just cuz you dunno most of them...?

and yea i know all those dudes are legends, stop tryna act like i don't know MMA like that based off of ONE statement.

[Patrickthadude]

They need to replace Joe Rogan with Bas Rutten on color commentary for UFC... That dude is hilarious... They always have pride on at the bar I go to and just listening to that dude's comments during the fights makes the show more entertaining for me... Having a comedian as your commentator makes your league look bad in the first place... and he isn't that funny... Bas is a former champ, legit baddass, and funny.

[Slick CM Rick]

^^^ def

a legend is someone who not only has a great fighting resume, but impacts the sport and changes the way we look at it...

rich is a good fighter but hes not a legend...

couture is a legend because of the amount of times hes won the lhw and hw belt... plus hes the only person to win both the light heavweight and heavyweight belts... he out striked chuck liddell who was the best stiker in ufc at the time and who had basically manhandled everyone he face.. plus he beat tim sylvia at a plus 40 age to win the belt again...

liddell is a legend because he has the most wins in the ocatagon plus we had never seen a striker like that in the octagon before, he single handedly took out a whole division, where they had to have fighters fight him 2 or three times over... plus he brought ufc in the spotlight...

gracie, shamrock and severn are legends because what they did for the sport and how they showed this country what the sport was made of, not to mention there fighting records...

frank shamrock= legend in ufc because hes the only undefeated champion ever in the ufc's history, probably the greatest ever in his prime in the octagon...

these are legends.. franklin has beaten so-so fighters in his career like a over the hill evan tanner and frank shamrock and lost to the only one that was opposing to him and not only got beat but dismantled... until he avenges his loss, goes on another good run through good fighters, and makes a huge impact in this sport he wont be legend..

rich franklin never beat frank shamrock, they never fought

maybe your getting frank confused with ken:thefukk:

[soundtrack]

did i just read some one say rich franklins a legend??????????


wtf ,between the boxing and mma section lex lossis is the most clueless poster when it comes to both sports imho

[Arkanjal]

They need to replace Joe Rogan with Bas Rutten on color commentary for UFC... That dude is hilarious... They always have pride on at the bar I go to and just listening to that dude's comments during the fights makes the show more entertaining for me... Having a comedian as your commentator makes your league look bad in the first place... and he isn't that funny... Bas is a former champ, legit baddass, and funny.

:smh: rogans an excellent announcer, he knows his sh*t and is fun to listen to.

i wouldnt complain about bring bas in...but Rogan is great for the UFC. He's a great announcer, and does some really good promo work for the UFC & MMA as a whole.

[Lex Lossis]

wtf ,between the boxing and mma section lex lossis is the most clueless poster when it comes to both sports imho

How the hell am I clueless? Cuz I said Rich Franklin was a legend and PBF is a boring trash talker? You do realize that the entire UFC calls Rich Franklin a legend, call joe rogan and mike goldberg morons, call Rich's fans morons, etc....

He's beaten pretty good fighters, but yeah I probably did go overboard on my emphasis. Regardless, Rich is a GREAT fighter. His skill is amazing.

[dutch_master]

I've never posted on this place before, and i just came across today and read this post. I'm from japan, and i gotta say MMA world now days is weak in general. i've attended several events of pride in japan but it's f*ckin incredible. i've seen fedor vs nogeira, sakuraba, silva, henderson, rampage, cro-cop...on and on. what i would like to see is bringin over fighters like Gomi, who is considered best light/walter weight fighter. why rampage? just because he beat chuck in pride tournament? what about fighters like silva, who beat rampage? or arona, shogun. they are mad ill. i even think nogeira would dominate in UFC. Dan henderson won the first title in RINGS, then he won the pride tournament. is he gonna dominate? no i don't think so. i don't think he is in his prime anymore, but i'm not sayin he is wack. what i wanna say is that this MMA thing is just gettin over populated. just like hip-hop when sh*t gets commercialized it kinda gets corny to me. i just think pride has way better fighter than ufc. yes, cro-cop did lose, but it seemed like he was expectin middle and dropped his guard and it was high, good-nite. but u gotta understand cro-cop use to be a k-1 fighter. not knowing any ground moves and made it up to fight against fedor is amazing. he is mad good at breaking the tackle. i still think cro-cop is better than the dude he lost against and if he fights him again i think he will beat him, just like the time he lost against kevin randelman, and beat him the next time. pride was bought by UFC and it's just getting more attention in america. i mean every pride event had 40,000 - 50,000 people attending. they just had some type of law-suit issue and lost the public view license from fuju-tv which is like Fox or abc in america. and last, rich franklin is good, but not even close to be called a legend. how come people don't mention dudes like gracie? Inoki vs Mohammed Ali, besically got this MMA sh*t poppin. kimura vs gracie(father) is the reason why they have a move called kimura lock(arm submission). i just think people are just getting started to expose to MMA, and true legends are not in their prime or already retired. i mean MMA been poppin in japan before this UFC sh*t come on man.

[Bedlam]

I just wanna see Fedor crack all these lames in UFC. He never even fights anymore in Pride

[BROOKLYNSTANDUP]

^^^^^^^
nobody fights in pride no more, Pride is dead

[Cutty Olds]

I've never posted on this place before, and i just came across today and read this post. I'm from japan, and i gotta say MMA world now days is weak in general. i've attended several events of pride in japan but it's f*ckin incredible. i've seen fedor vs nogeira, sakuraba, silva, henderson, rampage, cro-cop...on and on. what i would like to see is bringin over fighters like Gomi, who is considered best light/walter weight fighter. why rampage? just because he beat chuck in pride tournament? what about fighters like silva, who beat rampage? or arona, shogun. they are mad ill. i even think nogeira would dominate in UFC. Dan henderson won the first title in RINGS, then he won the pride tournament. is he gonna dominate? no i don't think so. i don't think he is in his prime anymore, but i'm not sayin he is wack. what i wanna say is that this MMA thing is just gettin over populated. just like hip-hop when sh*t gets commercialized it kinda gets corny to me. i just think pride has way better fighter than ufc. yes, cro-cop did lose, but it seemed like he was expectin middle and dropped his guard and it was high, good-nite. but u gotta understand cro-cop use to be a k-1 fighter. not knowing any ground moves and made it up to fight against fedor is amazing. he is mad good at breaking the tackle. i still think cro-cop is better than the dude he lost against and if he fights him again i think he will beat him, just like the time he lost against kevin randelman, and beat him the next time. pride was bought by UFC and it's just getting more attention in america. i mean every pride event had 40,000 - 50,000 people attending. they just had some type of law-suit issue and lost the public view license from fuju-tv which is like Fox or abc in america. and last, rich franklin is good, but not even close to be called a legend. how come people don't mention dudes like gracie? Inoki vs Mohammed Ali, besically got this MMA sh*t poppin. kimura vs gracie(father) is the reason why they have a move called kimura lock(arm submission). i just think people are just getting started to expose to MMA, and true legends are not in their prime or already retired. i mean MMA been poppin in japan before this UFC sh*t come on man.


Since you just found this section on here i'll plug you in





Most people who post in here already knows these things...some have even been fighting this style of fighting in here for years..

Pride was FULL of tomatoe cans man, that ain't no secret but, they had some amazing fighters as well...them being brought over to the UFC just deepens the pool of quality fighters this is in no way shape or form being "over populated" if anything it helps bring it to the fore front and improves the the quality of the fighters over all and makes it more appealing. Especially since we don't have any Mob ties to our orginaztion.

Also your thing on UFC -vs- Pride with the fighters you named

We seen Wanderlai Silva in the Octagon already...he got his head beat in by the former phenome Vitor Belfort and beat by Tito Ortiz

Dan Henderson used to be a UFC fighter...I still think he's good enough to compete even though he might have a lil wear on the tread of them tires.

fu*k Gomi he ain't the best with them 2 fu*kin losses on his record but he's holding on to that belt!:thefukk: Good fighter but his #1 ranking is definitely in question.

We mention Gracie all the time, Shamrock, and Severn all the time on here before we got our part in the sports section..I've trained in seminars from 2 out of 3 I just named (No Gracie but I've done seminars with Dean Lister and Marcelo Garcia :applause: ) I even mentiond the fight with Muhammed Ali and Inoki in a fight with one of them cats in a boxing -vs- MMA thread a while back

Anyone who has done any submission wrestling knows why a kimura is called a kimura.

You got here LATE doc, haha give us some credit bruh! I know you were in Japan but, that does not mean we didn't know what was going on over here in the US...The sport is just getting new fans that are into MMA over here. So yeah your going to see some newbs...it's no different from boxing or any other sport people start to get into,Some of us though have been on it for quite a while.

[RediKnight]

I also wanted to give my http://forums.relicnews.com/images/smilies/twocents.gif on this.


I've never posted on this place before, and i just came across today and read this post. I'm from japan, and i gotta say MMA world now days is weak in general.

MMA is peaking right now and if you pay any attention there is no way you can deny that. If it wasn't peaking right now there is no way the UFC could afford to buy Pride and the WEC. How can you ignore that it has blown up so much that ESPN and Sports Illustrated are now forced to cover it. 5 years ago they were adamant that they would never cover what they thought was a bar-room brawl or bloodsport. We all know that Pride was popping off for awhile now and that was in large part due to the skill of fighters like the Gracies and Sakuraba. But you forget that the Gracies built their legend first in the UFC years before they ever fought in Pride. The Japanese culture is much more accepting of multiple fighting arts than the US is.

what i would like to see is bringin over fighters like Gomi, who is considered best light/walter weight fighter. why rampage? just because he beat chuck in pride tournament? what about fighters like silva, who beat rampage? or arona, shogun. they are mad ill. i even think nogeira would dominate in UFC.

You are wayyyy late on this post. First off I don't know how Gomi can be considered the #1 Lightweight in the world, when he got beat by Nick Diaz who within the past year got beat by an Ultimate Fighter Contestant. But either way you are not the only one who thinks he's #1 so to each its own. Did you not know that Gomi's mentor Sakurai is already scheduled for an upcoming UFC event? Do you actually think that the UFC doesn't know who Gomi is? Do you think after signing Sakurai that they are not in negotiations with Gomi? I guarantee they have had conversations with every top contender you name from Pride.

Why bring over Rampage? Are you kidding me? This guy has the most entertaining personality and character in all of MMA. Plus he beat the #1 superstar in all of MMA. I know Fedor is the most dominant, but celebrity status wise, NOBODY is bigger than Chuck. Plus how could you question the Rampage signing when he is the champ? But also to correct you they didn't bring him over from Pride. He was already fighting in the states and had left Pride. They acquired his contract by default when they purchased the WFA.

Also you must've missed that Shogun is already signed and Wanderlai will be Chuck's next fight. I guess you also missed that Noguiera is fighting in the UFC next weekend against Heath Herring. Catch up on the current events before you go trashing the UFC for not bringing over the talent you want to see.

Dan henderson won the first title in RINGS, then he won the pride tournament. is he gonna dominate? no i don't think so. i don't think he is in his prime anymore, but i'm not sayin he is wack.

Dan Henderson is probably one of the greatest champions Pride will ever know. Did you even know that Hendo just KO'ed the fu*k out of Wanderlai and holds both the 205lb. and 185lb. belts in Pride? Its amazing how you praise Pride so much but you say Hendo is not in his prime anymore when he is having the greatest and most successful year of his career. I can argue that no MMA fighter has EVER had a better year than Hendo is having right now. If he beats Rampage he will hold a total of 3 Championships Belts that span over the two most successful organizations MMA will ever know.

what i wanna say is that this MMA thing is just gettin over populated. just like hip-hop when sh*t gets commercialized it kinda gets corny to me. i just think pride has way better fighter than ufc. yes, cro-cop did lose, but it seemed like he was expectin middle and dropped his guard and it was high, good-nite. but u gotta understand cro-cop use to be a k-1 fighter. not knowing any ground moves and made it up to fight against fedor is amazing. he is mad good at breaking the tackle. i still think cro-cop is better than the dude he lost against and if he fights him again i think he will beat him, just like the time he lost against kevin randelman, and beat him the next time.

Cro-Cop is definetly one of my favorite fighters to watch but give credit where credit is due. Gonzaga's win was not lucky. He completely dominated one of the most dominant fighters in the game. He didn't win on a stupid cut or an early stoppage. He was able to shock the world by beating Cro Cop exactly the way people expected Cro Cop to end the fight. Gonzaga has a great career ahead of him and I think he is a much tougher matchup style-wise for Fedor than Cro Cop is.

pride was bought by UFC and it's just getting more attention in america. i mean every pride event had 40,000 - 50,000 people attending. they just had some type of law-suit issue and lost the public view license from fuju-tv which is like Fox or abc in america.

That's cool you've been able to attend Pride events, but it is obvious you are a borderline casual fan. I've never been to Japan or to a Pride event. But I can tell you that most of the people in this section know more about Pride than you do. You're trying to educate us but you say "some type of law-suit issue." Fuji TV dumped them because the media was able to link the executives of Pride to the Yakuza. I'm suprised you didn't tell us who they were like we don't know already.

and last, rich franklin is good, but not even close to be called a legend. how come people don't mention dudes like gracie?

I agree that calling Rich Franklin a legend already is definitely jumping the gun. There are only a handful of legends in the sport.

1. Royce Gracie - Easily the biggest legend in the sport. But you talk about MMA was poppin off in Japan before the UFC sh*t, but you fail to mention that the biggest legend in the sport built his name and his entire career from the early UFC's. I know the 90 minute battle with Saku added to his legendary status, but Royce would be just as legendary if he would've retired before that fight ever happened.

2. Sakuraba - Built his legendary status by being the Gracie killer and the 90 minute battle.

3. Ken Shamrock - Easily the biggest celebrity in all of MMA long before Pride ever got poppin' off. I think he's completely fallen off as a fighter, but he is still a legend.

After that you could make arguments for Inoki, Tito Ortiz, Dan Severn, Fedor, and Couture.

I've gone back and watched most of the classic legendary fights. Some of those fights are still amazing, but the good competitive fights were few and far between back in the day. The level of competition today is 1000% stronger than it was 10 years ago.

I also want to state that I truly believe that Pride is in no means "Dead." Dana has stated that after they purchased it they have had to clean up a lot of messes left behind by the previous ownership. Just as recent as a few days ago he stated that they are trying to clean up the mess and giving Pride fighters fights in the UFC in the MEANTIME.

Anybody is stupid who thinks that Zuffa doesn't want to tap into that 50,000+ fanbase that Pride had in Japan. And they will put on better quality fights when they do return to Japan because you won't have a bunch of sh*t cans like Butterbean and Zuluzinho fighting.

[KiNgJaMeS305]

when is fedor gonna fight in UFC and will they give him a title sho t right away or will he have to "climb the ladder"

[RediKnight]

when is fedor gonna fight in UFC

Soon.

will they give him a title sho t right away or will he have to "climb the ladder"

If Hendo gets an immediate title shot, you can bet your ass so will Fedor.

[bibbyboi]

If you consider Ken Shammrock a legend you are WRONG!!!!!!!!! He's a popular fighter but legend?? No way.....

Gomi got demolished by BJ Penn....BJ is the top lightweight in the world...well Sherk might give him problems but i doubt it....

Henderson is prolly the the second best fighter in the world...behind Fedor of course.....

[lilt9484]

Dont forget about Minotauro Nogeira on the UFc 73 card and i agree with ya'll and i felt the same way about 72 i wasnt about topay 40 bucks to watch it and i'm glad i didnt

[POMP]

I Wanna See Pilho Beat Everybody In 185 Get In Shape And Kill Everybody In 170 ...he Could Make 170 If He Got In Top Shape......

[BROOKLYNSTANDUP]

If you consider Ken Shammrock a legend you are WRONG!!!!!!!!! He's a popular fighter but legend?? No way.....

Gomi got demolished by BJ Penn....BJ is the top lightweight in the world...well Sherk might give him problems but i doubt it....

Henderson is prolly the the second best fighter in the world...behind Fedor of course.....


Ken Shamrock is one of the biggest legends mma history... he basically created mma in the united states along with royce gracie... there is no way u cannot consider him a legend...i will give u that he has no place in mma today because of its evolution into all styles of fighting, but he is by far a legend in mma....

and on henderson being the second best fighter in world ur crazy, i got the guy in my avi and i know there are better pound for pound fighters... shogun, and besides fedor the best pound for pound GSP.... regardless of his loss to serra, he is the most well rounded fighter besides fedor..

[dutch_master]

MMA is peaking right now and if you pay any attention there is no way you can deny that. If it wasn't peaking right now there is no way the UFC could afford to buy Pride and the WEC. How can you ignore that it has blown up so much that ESPN and Sports Illustrated are now forced to cover it. 5 years ago they were adamant that they would never cover what they thought was a bar-room brawl or bloodsport. We all know that Pride was popping off for awhile now and that was in large part due to the skill of fighters like the Gracies and Sakuraba. But you forget that the Gracies built their legend first in the UFC years before they ever fought in Pride. The Japanese culture is much more accepting of multiple fighting arts than the US is.
yeah i just wanted to say you guys do know your stuff. but i'm sayin is that you are talking about ESPN, SI pickin up, but dude that's just in America you are mentioning. like you said we accept MMA more so don't you think people like kid yamamoto, uno kaoru, gomi, sakuraba, had thire faces on the magazine in japan? it just started getting main stream in america man. i'm not sayin i don't like it but pride been like that, what u mean it was poppin for little bit. it had more crowd then UFC and every event they had was packed. so is K-1 event (but pride has better quality). gracie and sakuraba was the reason? ferdor, gomi, silva, rampage, nogeira. can't forget to mention Takada vs rickson was the reason speically because of rickson gracie that pride started poppin. you are only mentioning it's getting populor in America, so what it getts covered in ESPN, dawg it getts covered in regular news in other countries.
Why bring over Rampage? Are you kidding me? This guy has the most entertaining personality and character in all of MMA. Plus he beat the #1 superstar in all of MMA. I know Fedor is the most dominant, but celebrity status wise, NOBODY is bigger than Chuck. Plus how could you question the Rampage signing when he is the champ? But also to correct you they didn't bring him over from Pride. He was already fighting in the states and had left Pride. They acquired his contract by default when they purchased the WFA.
like i said chuck is the biggest super star in MMA? come on man, that's just in this country. chuck got beat man, so why isn't rampage the biggest superstar in MMA since he beat him. or matter fact why not silva? it's in this country b. and some one said silva has fought in UFC before yeah i know that. but did vitor fight in pride? and got beat by sakuraba who got beaten by silva. they u porbably gonna say sh*t like oh vitor was gettin old or whatever. dawg, sakuraba wasn't that young neither, so u can't really argue about that.
That's cool you've been able to attend Pride events, but it is obvious you are a borderline casual fan. I've never been to Japan or to a Pride event. But I can tell you that most of the people in this section know more about Pride than you do. You're trying to educate us but you say "some type of law-suit issue." Fuji TV dumped them because the media was able to link the executives of Pride to the Yakuza. I'm suprised you didn't tell us who they were like we don't know already.

u just don't know man...i don't know what to tell u. people knew pride, k-1, boxing is link to yakuza in japan somehow or they wouldn't get to fight in such a big arena. pride must not have pay their due so it some how leaked, dawg we knew from the beggining that it was connected to yakuza, whereever money is there is yakuza is an old sayin in japan, i don't know what u are tryin to say, i'm not tryin to disresect u but i just didn't think u guys are into MMA like that so i give u respect but i'm sorry it was obvious before it got public. i wasn't tryin to educate u but u don't know anythin about japanese yakuza and how can u talk about like u know anythin about it, to me u don't know sh*t about japanese culture or yakuza.

[RediKnight]

yeah i just wanted to say you guys do know your stuff. but i'm sayin is that you are talking about ESPN, SI pickin up, but dude that's just in America you are mentioning. like you said we accept MMA more so don't you think people like kid yamamoto, uno kaoru, gomi, sakuraba, had thire faces on the magazine in japan? it just started getting main stream in america man. i'm not sayin i don't like it but pride been like that, what u mean it was poppin for little bit. it had more crowd then UFC and every event they had was packed. so is K-1 event (but pride has better quality). gracie and sakuraba was the reason? ferdor, gomi, silva, rampage, nogeira. can't forget to mention Takada vs rickson was the reason speically because of rickson gracie that pride started poppin. you are only mentioning it's getting populor in America, so what it getts covered in ESPN, dawg it getts covered in regular news in other countries.

Yes we all know what kind of crowds Pride generated. But the fact is that even with 50,000-80,000 people at their events, Pride was not making the kind of profit over the past two years that the UFC was. Pride's president repeatedly said they were losing to the UFC when it came to profit, which is why they came to Vegas and were directly challenging the UFC fighters. K-1 has also tried desperately to tap into the UFC market. They thought they could get 60,000 to the Colisseum but failed horribly. With Americans, when we seriously get into a sport, we are willing to spend a lot of money to feed that itch and show our support. We buy the PPV's, T-Shirts, Posters, and even the Xyience energy drinks. Advertisers are willing to spend the money with the UFC because they know the fanbase will spend the money.

Trust me that every executive involved with any professional sport in Japan, would love to have regular coverage on ESPN and Sports Illustrated in America. My whole purpose for the ESPN and SI comments are because you said MMA is weak right now. To me that is the most idiotic statement. MMA has NEVER been more popular than it is right now. The level of competition is skyrocketing. Even smaller shows like the WEC and EliteXC are able to put on a decent event.

like i said chuck is the biggest super star in MMA? come on man, that's just in this country. chuck got beat man, so why isn't rampage the biggest superstar in MMA since he beat him. or matter fact why not silva? it's in this country b. and some one said silva has fought in UFC before yeah i know that. but did vitor fight in pride? and got beat by sakuraba who got beaten by silva. they u porbably gonna say sh*t like oh vitor was gettin old or whatever. dawg, sakuraba wasn't that young neither, so u can't really argue about that.

Dude you lost all credibility when you said they should be bringing over Shogun and Silva when it has already been reported that Shogun fights at UFC 76 and Wanderlai should fight Chuck shortly after that. And Yes, Chuck is still the biggest superstar in all of MMA. Rampage will be a major superstar but give it some time. Most of the UFC fans just saw him for the first time this year.

u just don't know man...i don't know what to tell u. people knew pride, k-1, boxing is link to yakuza in japan somehow or they wouldn't get to fight in such a big arena. pride must not have pay their due so it some how leaked, dawg we knew from the beggining that it was connected to yakuza, whereever money is there is yakuza is an old sayin in japan, i don't know what u are tryin to say, i'm not tryin to disresect u but i just didn't think u guys are into MMA like that so i give u respect but i'm sorry it was obvious before it got public. i wasn't tryin to educate u but u don't know anythin about japanese yakuza and how can u talk about like u know anythin about it, to me u don't know sh*t about japanese culture or yakuza.

:lol: :lol: Who gives a fu*k about the Yakuza in America? No one. They are nothing more than bad guys on TV to us. I only brought them up because you acted like you didn't know what the lawsuit was that lost them their TV contract.

The bottom line is that Pride executives took a great product and ran it into the ground. The UFC executives took a mediocre product and not only skyrocketed their organization, but the sport in general. I can honestly say that MMA would not be where it is today without SpikeTV and The Ultimate Fighter. That is the one point in the history of this sport, where you can actually put a finger on when the sport blew-up.

What cracks me up is that I guarantee that if the UFC did not have Rampage on their roster, you would be posting about "Chuck is not that good. Why doesn't the UFC bring Rampage over to fight him?"

But since the UFC did bring Rampage and he is now champion, you need something new to complain about like the rest of the whiny Japanese fans. So you say "why rampage? just because he beat chuck in pride tournament? what about fighters like silva, who beat rampage?"

And when all of the top fighters in the world fight in the UFC, I can see you complaining about "Why Joe Rogan? Why not Bas Rutten?"

Eventually all that will be left to complain about will be the soccer kicks and the Japanese music. STFU and realize you sound like a chick that hasn't changed her tampon in days.

[Lex Lossis]

damn RediKnight murked this dude...wow...