Pride FC and MMA

[Liberation1945]

i think we can all agree that pride's hw division is leaps and bounds ahead of ufc's.

you think silva doesnt have a reasonable chance of beating liddell? shogun? let's not forget what happened to liddell when he came to pride and jackson handed his ass to him(although liddell has gotten much better).

i do agree that ufc has it in the 170 range, but how many [notable] pride fighers are 170? while ufc's lw division is superior to that of pride, i think gomi is still one of the best(if no the best) in that weight class.

i admit i exaggerated when i said that pride's middle tier fighters can beat the best in the ufc, and i wish there was a universal weight division system because sometimes it's hard to compare fighters(like diaz and gomi where there is such a huge difference even among fighters in one organization's lw division).

[ktothe]

The word is Zuffa bought pride for 65 million. Chump change.

[mizanation]

what? i don't fucking believe it.

[mizanation]

The word is Zuffa bought pride for 65 million. Chump change.

OH SHIT! it's true! this is crazy.

[RobotRock]

Naw, the Ferittatas didn't buy Pride. But they are going to start doing some more cross promotion I believe. Shogun just signed a new contract giving him 4 fights, 2 in Pride and 2 in the UFC, so we might get to see him fight Liddell . Plus CroCop using the Pride theme song as his entracemusic... I think we know where his loyalties are. Should be an amazing year for MMA!

[ktothe]

I dont think it has much to do with loyalties. More so to do with contractual obligations. Thats why there were no clips when they were hyping him up at the UFC even before his first fight.

In other news: http://www.mmahq.com/2007/03/22/diego-sanchez-test-positive-for-mirijuana/

[ktothe]

Looks like you might be wrong about it being sold:

http://www.sherdog.com/news/news.asp?n_id=7048

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.

[BTT]

The deal is completly finalized.

[kronik]

Yep - Cro Cop + Fedor + UFC = skeet skeet skeet.

[wild_whiskey]

I feel like I could be friends with Fedor. I would be afraid to even say hello to CC.

[Liberation1945]

WAR SERRA

the end of that fight truly gave me chills.

...punchers chance or underrated fighter? hmm...

[Haz]

"UFC has LHW with Liddell - there's nobody in Pride at 205 who has a reasonable chance of beating him."

He goes by the name of Shogun.

Let Sokoudjou cook a little longer and he will be able to hang with the Iceman

[almondcrush]

i have mixed feelings about this deal

on the one hand im glad that pride's imo far superior roster will be able to benefit from the steadily rising popularity of ufc stateside (due in large part to "ultimate fighter")

but on the other i much much prefer pride's rules as well, and i feel as though any roster crossovers will likely be fought in that silly octagon w/o heel kicks from guard, knees from side guard, or stomps and the rest of ufc's restrictions

but i guess tbh stomps are pretty fucking dangerous

[almondcrush]

also i feel as though rampage has a highly overrated liddell outclassed

[wild_whiskey]

Pride fights will still be on seperate cards and billed as Pride FC.

Rules are not changing AFAIK - for pride, yellow cards are still in, elbows are still out. Not going to be in the octagon either.

Allowing elbows is IMO, the dumbest rule of UFC. Too many cut stoppages from random elbows. Take em out. I wish that they would instate the yellow card rule from Pride into UFC. Sanchez/Kos would have had to pay out there pockets from all the yellow cards for that snoozer of a "fight."

[ktothe]

The rules are changing. Pride will adopt UFC rules. There will be no other changes though, besides the fact there will be a lot more UFC guys going to Pride and vice-a-versa. There havent been that many stoppages due to cuts. I cant even remember the last one.

I dont see rampage beating Liddell these days, but this has been the year of WTF. With that said Lindland is going to tap Fedor via figure four leg lock. You wait and see.

[mizanation]

yeah, i hate elbows in the ufc. too many premature stoppages.

i'm gonna miss the ridiculous match ups that pride allowed. we are witnessing the end of an era.

[almondcrush]

lindland over emelianenko

when i read this i gasped audibly and my mouse hand knee jerked to the rep button (i had the worst intentions)

then i caught myself and realized that i was being silly

we fight fans need to stick together after all

[ktothe]

Hahaha, i wasnt being serious. But in a way I am. There have been so many matches this year with outcomes that were the complete opposite of what could logically be expected. If Lindland doesnt win by FFLL or something equally ridiculous I'll be surprised.

[mizanation]

yeah talk about upsets:

diaz beats gomi

serra beats st. pierre

henderson beats silva

and many others.

in mma, anything can happen. it's really amazing how people like fedor and silva can stay on top for so long. but as we saw with silva, no one is unbeatable.

[BTT]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIuTfXUwI0k

Owned?

UFC > Pride?

[ktothe]

A single kick to the head doesnt qualify UFC as being greater than pride. They are both great orginizations with great fighters. This is how MMA works. Its not like football where one stacked team is a sure fire bet against the other. Crocop just didnt train hard enough, and had no idea what to do on the ground against the cage. The dumbass doesnt even train in a cage. He probably didnt expect Napo (why is named Gonzales in the video its Gonzaga, he isnt mexican) to throw any head kicks. I sure as hell didnt.

I do think the average UFC fighter is much more aggressive than the average Pride fighter. Im interested to see if he has any injuries to that leg he landed on.

[Ahlvahroe]

so im watching the fight, yelling at the tv, why is the ref standing them up, you just saved crocop; wrong. id never seen gonzaga fight before i thought he was gonna get dominated, brutal finish.

[soyfunk]

nothing surprises me anymore

St-Pierre gets KO'd

now Crocop get's a taste of a high kick to the temple...

[wild_whiskey]

Who watched Fedor vs. Lindland?

I fucking hate cuts. That match could have completely gone the other way if it didn't finish when it did.

[renski]

i missed it, but who say crocop gonzaga? wtf was that?

[ktothe]

Gonzaga is severely underated and Crocop, as a UFC competitor, is slightly overated. He's a world class fighter, this much is clear, but the guy refuses to train in a cage. Gonzaga put him against it and pounded him. Maybe he'll work on it for his next fight?

[RobotRock]

"I got what I deserved after a performance like this, that seems to be the cross I'm carrying. I fall down every once and a while and I don't know why. I've been through two times of crisis. Against Kevin Randleman, I came back; against fedor Emelienanko; I came back. I'll come back after this. It's part of my career."

CroCop on the Gonzaga loss. He also said that plans on doing the other 4 fights on his contract.

[MrFrizz]

bring fedor to ufc!!!!!!!!

[alex_844]

all the primarily striker fighters end up with ridiculous losses like this once in a while. if gonzaga and cro cop fought again i would bet on cro cop in a second.