NEWS: Pride Sale Pending

[Panzerfaust]

by Sherdog.com Staff

PRIDE CEO Nobuyuki Sakakibara informed staff inside the Japanese promoter's Los Angeles office Wednesday that he was stepping down as part of an agreement to sell the company to Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta, who own the UFC.

According to a report by Dave Meltzer at wrestlingobserver.com, Sakakibara suggested only minor points separate the deal, which Sherdog.com first rumored on Monday, from reaching its conclusion. No contract has been signed, the report said.

While Sakakibara appears to be leaving a company he's been a part of since its inception in 1997, the man who stepped in as PRIDE CEO after Naoto Morishita committed suicide told his staff that the company would remain intact and autonomous from the UFC, but that hurdles no longer remain between UFC versus PRIDE cards, Meltzer reported.

[Panzerfaust]

This makes me wanna ****ing puke, the goddamn Ferttita scum now virtually have a monopoly on MMA.

I am glad and proud I can say I saw a true Pride event live. It will never be the same.

Thank you Pride for giving the true MMA fans the dream matches and all the exciting fights.

RIP Pride
1997-2007

[Panzerfaust]

This makes me sad:


Thank you Pride for...

-giving us star studded 10 fight cards
-giving it all you got in regards to your production
-making me ditch a hot date so I could watch the OWGP Finals.
-bringing me on the verge of tears when Crocop finally won
-giving us the Gracie Hunter
-turning fighters into LEGENDS
-the vale tudo rules
-the Grand Prix's
-for the theme song.....I play it in my car.....when I'm alone
-letting us meet the fighters
-searching worldwide for the best talent
-for not being sponsored by Xyience or Mickey's "fine" malt liquor
-for Lenne Hardt. No fight will ever be the same without the crazy shrieking banshee announcing it
-the Axe Murderer
-making me call in sick at work and drive 400 miles...twice... to Las Vegas and letting me experience two of the greatest nights of my life
-for not even allowing me enough time to use the restroom at Pride 33
-the freak show fights....everyone acts like they hate them...but they were god damn entertaining
-giving fighters a second chance
-Fedor vs. Crocop
-showing me that MMA is a sport of class, honor, and respect.

Last but not least, thank you for caring for the "fighting spirit" of the human being and letting the world's greatest warriors battle on the grandest stage that the world has ever seen.

[QuieTSToRM33]

Thank you Pride for...


-for the theme song.....I play it in my car.....when I'm alone

I can SO see that !

[QuieTSToRM33]

This makes me sad:


Thank you Pride for...

-giving us star studded 10 fight cards
-giving it all you got in regards to your production
-making me ditch a hot date so I could watch the OWGP Finals.
-bringing me on the verge of tears when Crocop finally won
-giving us the Gracie Hunter
-turning fighters into LEGENDS
-the vale tudo rules
-the Grand Prix's
-for the theme song.....I play it in my car.....when I'm alone
-letting us meet the fighters
-searching worldwide for the best talent
-for not being sponsored by Xyience or Mickey's "fine" malt liquor
-for Lenne Hardt. No fight will ever be the same without the crazy shrieking banshee announcing it
-the Axe Murderer
-making me call in sick at work and drive 400 miles...twice... to Las Vegas and letting me experience two of the greatest nights of my life
-for not even allowing me enough time to use the restroom at Pride 33
-the freak show fights....everyone acts like they hate them...but they were god damn entertaining
-giving fighters a second chance
-Fedor vs. Crocop
-showing me that MMA is a sport of class, honor, and respect.

Last but not least, thank you for caring for the "fighting spirit" of the human being and letting the world's greatest warriors battle on the grandest stage that the world has ever seen.

I saw this on sherdog.

[Panzerfaust]

Yes, i took that from The Korean, i saw him at both shows.

[Panzerfaust]

JIGGA said it best:

Honestly, i haven't posted here in a very very long time, but have been part of sherdog since 99..however, reading the SADDEST NEWS THIS YEAR on Pride being sold to UFC, i couldn't resist.

What the hell is wrong with you people and Thank you pride, thank you Sakikabara...etc?

There is NOTHING good about ufc buying PRIDE. Let me rewind and say it again..NOTHING GOOD.

1. Say goodbye to the diversity of MMA culture
2. Say goodbye to the japanese culture that PRIDE flourished on, and made it so magical
3. Ever heard of Vince McMahon? and the buyout of ECW, and WCW? ya..its pro wrestling but its business.

Once again, its business. Once you out your competition, your business drowns. Your fans dont apreaciate it anymore. How much hype was it that we thought Silva would fight a UFC fighter or vice versa? Quinton, BJ..etc..because morally it was PRIDE vs. UFC

Now all that will be gone and its all under one roof. Monopolization of any industry only hurts the business and sure there are IFL, WEC KOTC..but the 2 big guys are UFC and PRIDE and now only UFC..

So please, if you REALLY know your MMA, you're disgracing everything by saying thank you for this and thank you for that. In fact, you might as well goto the underground forum.

[godkilla]

this sucks. does this mean shogun wont be kicking people in the head anymore? lol

[sonar1234]

I have all the Pride DVDs so i guess i can always look back on them.

That is a tragedy, i really hope that K-1 MMA picks up the real Pride stars.

[testisbest]

I am upset by this as well, but I saw it coming. At least we'll get those dream match ups at 205. This might make for some pretty good fights this year.

[Panzerfaust]

I would also like to think about the dream matchups etc..

But now it will be all ****ed up. So far Pride is being sold under the assumption that the Fertitta's will leave the Pride brand intact and operating in Japan. No word on the rules etc.

The problem now is, say Shogun goes to the UFC to fight. There will be no knees to a downed opponent, no soccer kicks, stomps. But he will have elbows (that is wicked to think Shogun with elbows, any Chute Boxe fighter with elbows is just asking to get cut the **** up).

I just don't like two seperate sets of rules and if the fighters bounce back and forth, i see some losses happening that normally might not happen.

We see fights all the time in the UFC that would have ended a fight by KO/TKO but with the limitations of the rules, allowed the other fighter to stall and win a JD.

(IE: Herring's last fight, if he could have thrown knees, O'Brien would still be eating through a straw).

I have always hated the cage, it is terrible for the sport and only fuels ignorant comments calling these athletes "Barbarians, Animals etc".

I guess we will have to sit back and wait and see what happens, it just really sucks.

[sonar1234]

Pride should stay in Japan, and keep the ring.

[BgMc31]

Monopolization ruins other businesses but not sports. Look at the NFL, NBA, Major League Baseball, etc. It works in sports, but not other businesses. Boxing would benefit from a monopoly. It's multiple feds that prevent marquee match ups. A monopoly in sports prevents multiple champions in the same weight classes and things of the like. The Fertittas are great business men. They took a struggling bingo business and turned it into the 3rd largest casino company in the world. They are in the process of selling their casinoes for 5.5 billion.

I admit, Pride had better fighters, but how many threads on this forum were dedicated to who would win if this Pride fighter fought this UFC fighter. Now is the chance to see all those marquee matchups. This, IMO, is a great thing. I wish boxing, powerlifting, and strongman would follow suit!!!!

[testisbest]

I think they'll bring the NSAC rules to Japan and every other place they hold events only so they can have the super fights in the states. I'm alright with that. Although I feel that elbows cause more fights to end than soccer kicks and stomps. I wonder if they'll start drug testing in Japan?

[Box This*]

This makes me sad:


Thank you Pride for...

-giving us star studded 10 fight cards
-giving it all you got in regards to your production
-making me ditch a hot date so I could watch the OWGP Finals.
-bringing me on the verge of tears when Crocop finally won
-giving us the Gracie Hunter
-turning fighters into LEGENDS
-the vale tudo rules
-the Grand Prix's
-for the theme song.....I play it in my car.....when I'm alone
-letting us meet the fighters
-searching worldwide for the best talent
-for not being sponsored by Xyience or Mickey's "fine" malt liquor
-for Lenne Hardt. No fight will ever be the same without the crazy shrieking banshee announcing it
-the Axe Murderer
-making me call in sick at work and drive 400 miles...twice... to Las Vegas and letting me experience two of the greatest nights of my life
-for not even allowing me enough time to use the restroom at Pride 33
-the freak show fights....everyone acts like they hate them...but they were god damn entertaining
-giving fighters a second chance
-Fedor vs. Crocop
-showing me that MMA is a sport of class, honor, and respect.

Last but not least, thank you for caring for the "fighting spirit" of the human being and letting the world's greatest warriors battle on the grandest stage that the world has ever seen.

Getting kinda Freaky now

[Box This*]

Do you think cro cop is shitting his pants just incase he has to fight fedor again ?

[BG]

Do you think cro cop is shitting his pants just incase he has to fight fedor again ?

Why would he shit his pants, it was one of the best fights ever, imo he left Pride because they wouldnt let him fight Fedor again.

[pepperoni]

Do you think cro cop is shitting his pants just incase he has to fight fedor again ?

I think he wants to fight Fedor again, but he could only wait for so long in Pride to get that re-match.

[Vinlander]

MMA is such a fledgling sport in the United States that it will be heavily affected by this buy-out. UFC is very political and cartoonish in comparison to PRIDE FC, which gave off more of a "pro sports" atmosphere. I think this is an abstraction rather than anything concrete one could make an arguement on, but it's important to have ambience, especially when trying to win over 300 million new fans.

Dreamstage was, despite all of its faults, producing a much better product, hands-down.

[$$TML 4 LIFE$$]

Monopolization ruins other businesses but not sports. Look at the NFL, NBA, Major League Baseball, etc. It works in sports, but not other businesses. Boxing would benefit from a monopoly. It's multiple feds that prevent marquee match ups. A monopoly in sports prevents multiple champions in the same weight classes and things of the like. The Fertittas are great business men. They took a struggling bingo business and turned it into the 3rd largest casino company in the world. They are in the process of selling their casinoes for 5.5 billion.

I admit, Pride had better fighters, but how many threads on this forum were dedicated to who would win if this Pride fighter fought this UFC fighter. Now is the chance to see all those marquee matchups. This, IMO, is a great thing. I wish boxing, powerlifting, and strongman would follow suit!!!!

Tottaly agree ill n e 1 talks about on these forums is who would win between this ufc fighter and that pride fighter and now were finally gonna c it. I think this is good news. This is a good year for mma dream matches!!!

[Box This*]

Why would he shit his pants, it was one of the best fights ever, imo he left Pride because they wouldnt let him fight Fedor again.

Wasnt aware of that i thought he had a previous where he couldnt beat the number 1 fighter and left the IFA to become a champion.

Somthing i read.