Posted by UFC Junkie on March 25, 2007 at 2:16 pm ET

Dana WhiteSherdog.com has an interesting report today on the possible sale of PRIDE Fighting Championships to Zuffa LLC’s (parent company of the UFC) Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta. What seemed to be all but a done deal could be in jeopardy. That’s the impression, anyway, from the comments given by UFC president Dana White.

Many fight fans have taken this as a clear sign that the deal may not happen.

I’m not necessarily buying it, though.

From Sherdog.com:

UFC president Dana White told Sherdog.com Saturday night in Las Vegas that there is not a concrete deal in place for Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta to purchase PRIDE at this time.

When questioned about reports claiming PRIDE president Nobuyuki Sakakibara had informed his American staff that PRIDE was in the process of selling to the Fertittas, White quipped: “I ran Wanderlei Silva out there and said he was going to fight Chuck Liddell because Mr. Sakakibara said it was done. So take that for what its worth.”

White was adamant about the lack of a deal despite the flurry of reports claiming an agreement had been reached.

“Like most things,” he said, “about 70 percent of what you hear is bullshit.”

That part about the Silva-Liddell fight really stuck out to me.

I see two possible explanations for White’s comments:

1) The deal, in fact, has fallen apart at the midnight hour, and White is making sure the blame is directed toward PRIDE and not the UFC. White has been adamant that the Silva-Liddell fight — one that he publicly announced during a UFC pay-per-per view event — never happened because PRIDE management reneged on a promise to deliver Silva for the bout. For the most part, UFC fans have bought the excuse, and White’s hoping they’ll do the same with the UFC’s purchase of PRIDE if it doesn’t happen.

2) White is a showman, and by denying the rumors, the official announcement will be all the more surprising. The possible sale is known by even casual UFC fans, so the official announcement is hardly going to surprise anyone. By hinting the sale may not happen, perhaps the UFC can surprise a few people if and when the announcement comes. (And, if for some reason, the deal does fall through, at least he can say he tried to tell us.)

If you want to do a little more reading about this whole thing, you can go through the UFCjunkie.com archives. Or better yet, head over to FightOpinion.com. Zach Arnold has covered the particulars of the story better than anyone over the past week, and he has the added perk of letting us know how the Japanese media is covering the story. Fight Opinion Radio also has an interview with former PRIDE USA President Ed Fishman, which brings a whole new dynamic to the story.

(Some of the best discussions are in the “Comments” sections of his postings, so don’t skip over those.)

Also, there appears to be a PRIDE press conference on Tuesday in which an “important announcement” is supposed to be made.

Perhaps we’ll get some definite answers then.