UFC Buys PRIDE - Huge MMA News!

On March 27th, 2007, a bombshell was dropped on the MMA world. Nobuyuki Sakakibara, the president of Japan’s Dream Stage Entertainment, announced that Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta III, co-owners of Zuffa and its subsidiary, the Ultimate Fighting Championship, had made a deal to acquire all assets of PRIDE Fighting Championships from Dream Stage Entertainment. This deal would kick in after PRIDE 34: Kamikaze and be worth about $70 million U.S. dollars.

Needless to say, this is huge news in the MMA world, as the UFC now controls the two major organizations. In some respects, it’s sort of like when Vince McMahon bought out WCW. Of course, the biggest difference is that Vince McMahon promptly ran WCW out of business. The UFC, on the other hand, has already announced its intention of keeping the two brands separate and running occasional crossover shows (they have already compared it to the AFL-NFL merger).

Dream Stage Entertainment’s CEO and majority owner, Nobuyuki Sakakibara, will resign, but the rest of the staff will stay pretty much in place. According to Lorenzo Fertitta, the two major goals of the new PRIDE will be to create a commission that will oversee MMA events on a worldwide scale (with more streamlined rules) and to secure a major television deal in Japan.

Immediately after PRIDE 34, the organization will be adapting to the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts, which the UFC already follows. These rules allow elbows on the ground, but no kneeing or soccer kicks. Weight classes will be realigned, but judging will remain the same as it has been.

And for those of you who are wondering what in the hell happened to PRIDE (which has always had a stronger stable of fighters), let’s take a brief look.

In January of 2003, DSE President Naoto Morishita hung himself in his hotel room, allegedly because his mistress wanted to end their relationship. Others believe that trouble with tax authorities and the Japanese mafia (yakuza) may have also played a role. Nobuyuki Sakakibara later assumed the role of President.

In the following years, DSE was hounded by allegations that it was a front for the yakuza. After proof was provided , the Fuji Network terminated their television contract with PRIDE due to breach of contract. This only left them with a pay-per-view carrier. It’s no coincidence that this loss of a television contract occurred less than a year before they were forced to sell their holdings. But by severing their ties with the old regime, the new PRIDE should have no trouble in once again gaining a much-needed network deal.

While it sucks to see the death of PRIDE, keep in mind that it’s essentially just a change in ownership. And since many hardcore fans look at PRIDE as having the superior fighters, it won’t be long before we’ll get to see some dream match-ups when the companies have their occasional crossover show. Just think, there’s a chance that we could see Fedor, Gomi, Couture, Franklin, Henderson, Silva, and Liddell all on one show. Now that’s cause for celebration!

UFC Buys PRIDE - Huge MMA News!