Score “MoreThanUFC” with the assist.

It seems to me that Pride may not exist in a few years. That or it keeps Zuffa out somehow and makes some kind of miraculous comeback and buys the UFC. I dont think there is any gray in this stories future.

J’ai mis vraiment le soin de la fierté. Mais j’aime le UFC bien que. AMOUR

[quote comment=”63294″]J’ai mis vraiment le soin de la fierté. Mais j’aime le UFC bien que. AMOUR[/quote]
Why? In recent fights, UFC fighters have proven their mettle against top Pride fighters. I think Pride A fighters (Nog, Hendo, Fedor) are tops in MMA, but across the board the UFC has better competition.
Regarding the CAS, alot of Japanese fighters are going to get stiffed (oh well), but if Zuffa truly operates Pride as a separate entity why the need for litigation?

[quote post=”2201″]if Zuffa truly operates Pride as a separate entity why the need for litigation?[/quote]
Well, man, thats pretty much the point. There isnt going to be Pride at all if the CAS pans out. I hope it does personally. I loved Pride, way more than the UFC, but it was a first rate show with first class fighters and third world management. The only fair thing for the Wandys ( 4-5 fights left on his contract ) of the org is to let them all out, and close shop. The UFC will still get to buy selected assets, and to sign whatever free agents they create when they void the rest of contracts.
Something tells me that Pancrase, Shooto, and DEEP are gonna do very well from this also. A lot of these guys are not gonna wanna move to the US and the smaller size shows are gonna get much better overnight.
I alluded to this whole thing earlier this week. A training partner of mine has a friend who is a friend to a signed Pride fighter ( got that ). I got a whiff of this last week, but with the unreliability of it, I really didnt think about it. Then Monday, the winds started blowing about what was going on with the Sale, and more specifically, with Fishman and his lawsuit. Then, all these Pride fighters start flying into the US. Ppl were creating all kinds of fantastic stories over on the underground forums. But I gotta tell ya, I knew it was this.
That is why I’ve spent all day on my frigging computer not doing my online training for my new job. I was waiting for this to break today. Sad fuuuuucking day for me. But I hope it works out for the fighters.

Dima dima UFC

Maybe it was the UFC’s plan all along. Reducing Pride to something like the minor leagues, further underscoring ‘ULTIMATE’ in Ultimate Fighting Championship (since many of their top fighters are now headed to the UFC). If you cant beat ‘em. Buy ‘em, right? From a business standpoint monopolies have always RULED and protecting/differentiating yourself in the market is top priority. If i owned the UFC, i’d do the same.

This situation doesn’t add up and/or make sense for all parties involed. Looking out for business is important, but more important looking out for the employees of your business. I’m intreseted to see how this will pan out. I don’t think the Pridefc will continue with their events if all the top players are fighting in the UFC.

If the UFC had not ‘bought’ Pride, then it is likely that Fishman or someone else would have taken control of the organization. With the right management, Pride could be a formidable opponent in the Asian market. Now that the deal is in limbo, it’s best fighters are looking for a payday and their only viable option is to sign with the UFC.

So, now the UFC doesn’t have to go through with the purchase of Pride because it can sign the best fighters at will at a much cheaper cost then $70 million. If the UFC wants to get into the Asian market, they would be much better off starting in China anyway.

With no Pride, this leaves smaller organizations to pick up the pieces and allows the UFC to focus on their brand image. Fedor is the wild card in this deal. Will he sign with BoDog, UFC, or wait for a new Pride to come through? Where ever, you can be guaranteed that it will be for the biggest contract in the history of MMA.

Since the only piece of Pride that the UFC would possibly want to purchase is the video library the only question remains is, “How much do you spend for something that is already free on YouTube?”

Unless there are different laws regarding this stuff in Japan they have no grounds for this lawsuit. In order for this fighters to have a legitimate case each and every one of them would have to have a clause in their contracts that specifically says that the contract is not “assignable” which I highly doubt because then the fact that pride holds those contracts, becomes much less valuable from a business perspective.

In short it doesnt matter if your a fighter, or a computer programmer, if you work under contract and your company gets bought one of a few things can happen, you can go work for the new company, you can get fired, or you could choose not to live up to your end of the contract and then get sued by the company for damages they incur as a result of your non-compliance with the contract.

thats awesome, the ufc was never going to buy pride they just fucked their shit up and stole their best fighters.

[quote comment=”63631″]Unless there are different laws regarding this stuff in Japan they have no grounds for this lawsuit. In order for this fighters to have a legitimate case each and every one of them would have to have a clause in their contracts that specifically says that the contract is not “assignable” which I highly doubt because then the fact that pride holds those contracts, becomes much less valuable from a business perspective.

In short it doesnt matter if your a fighter, or a computer programmer, if you work under contract and your company gets bought one of a few things can happen, you can go work for the new company, you can get fired, or you could choose not to live up to your end of the contract and then get sued by the company for damages they incur as a result of your non-compliance with the contract.[/quote]

I think their issue is that the PRIDE FC company is being dissolved and reborn as PRIDE FC Worldwide. If PRIDE FC were continuing to operate as it was they would have no case, but because they want to assign the contracts to the new company the fighters may have something to argue.

[quote post=”2201″]Unless there are different laws regarding this stuff in Japan they have no grounds for this lawsuit.[/quote]
Nope, not different laws, per se, but most Pride fighters are under Personal Service Contract. PSEs are not enforceable in court. Those fighters are suing for back pay, release, free agence, etc. Other fighters, like Wandy ( not sure if he’s a part of this or not ) are under more solid US style contract. They would sue to be released from their contract.

[quote comment=”63663″][quote comment=”63631″]Unless there are different laws regarding this stuff in Japan they have no grounds for this lawsuit. In order for this fighters to have a legitimate case each and every one of them would have to have a clause in their contracts that specifically says that the contract is not “assignable” which I highly doubt because then the fact that pride holds those contracts, becomes much less valuable from a business perspective.

In short it doesnt matter if your a fighter, or a computer programmer, if you work under contract and your company gets bought one of a few things can happen, you can go work for the new company, you can get fired, or you could choose not to live up to your end of the contract and then get sued by the company for damages they incur as a result of your non-compliance with the contract.[/quote]

I think their issue is that the PRIDE FC company is being dissolved and reborn as PRIDE FC Worldwide. If PRIDE FC were continuing to operate as it was they would have no case, but because they want to assign the contracts to the new company the fighters may have something to argue.[/quote]

I understand what your saying, but that is typically what happens when one company buys another, think AT&T and Cingular, now know as AT&T only, or Srpint/Nextel, or pretty much any other merger. When one company buys another they get all their assests (fighters) and all their Liabilities (debts) and they all get assigned automatically to the new purchasing company, unless individual contracts with fighter have specific verbiage stating what will happen in the event of a sale. If there are fighters with this specific language in their contracts either the UFC knew before hand (by law this must be disclosed) that the fighters would have grounds to back out of their current contracts, or if DSE somehow did not disclose this information it is grounds for the UFC to back out of the deal and sue DSE for all costs they incurred as a result of pursuing the purchase of Pride because they misrepresented their assets and liabilities.

[quote comment=”63621″]So, now the UFC doesn’t have to go through with the purchase of Pride because it can sign the best fighters at will at a much cheaper cost then $70 million. If the UFC wants to get into the Asian market, they would be much better off starting in China anyway.
[/quote]
This is like Pride and UFC making a deal in an alley and as they were shaking on it, UFC knifed them in the belly and left them to die. I totally agree- UFC has no incentive to go through with the purchase now. $70 million for what? Pride has Henderson, the Emelianenko’s, ninja Rua, Coleman, Gomi… well okay, that is still quite a bit but not $70 million worth. Let Pride collapse and stand at the exit door handing out new (cheaper) contracts.

Usually on Wall Street there are safeguards against predatory takeover bids- so one company can’t just pledge to buy another, transfer some assets and then pull out of the deal. Maybe the Pride organization didn’t do their homework or thought too highly of themselves to think they might be bled dry.

I love it cause this is gonna mean that alot of these guys could end up with EliteXC and that would be good for competition.

[quote comment=”63558″]Maybe it was the UFC’s plan all along. Reducing Pride to something like the minor leagues, further underscoring ‘ULTIMATE’ in Ultimate Fighting Championship (since many of their top fighters are now headed to the UFC). If you cant beat ‘em. Buy ‘em, right? From a business standpoint monopolies have always RULED and protecting/differentiating yourself in the market is top priority. If i owned the UFC, i’d do the same.[/quote]

This is exactly whats going on. I’m sure deep in our guts we all knew that PRIDE was going to get pushed to the side until something like this came around. This being contract issues, organization, those other than the big names being left out. I feel it was all set up to eventually eliminate PRIDE all together. Fighters become unhappy the easy way out is to compensate by cutting a check and releasing, therefore creating free agency. Guess who comes around to sweep all the key pieces. I agree with someone above who said that UFC has held it’s own in comparison to the supposed fighter supremacy PRIDE onced possed. Those days are gone, and with UFC fighters standing up and making things happen it’s changing the whole spectrum of the game. Only a couple more big names and it won’t matter where everyone else goes. Some careers might even be over. It Sucks! but it’s exactly how monopoly works

[quote comment=”63738″]I love it cause this is gonna mean that alot of these guys could end up with EliteXC and that would be good for competition.[/quote]

Forget this idea…..if any fighter is stupid enough to fight the current than they are destined to lose. The UFC is and will continue to be the biggest stage in MMA.

Pride had large crowds in Asia. If Pride is in some way shape or form to be dismantled completely, then the UFC needs to establish a presence in that part of the world realitively quickly.

Legit. Make it all be one organization. Like Football, basketball, all other sports have one unified org where everyone competes, MMA needs that, looks like its that much closer to happening, why not have it be the organization that started it all?

There are so many organizations out there now… it’s a big friggin land grab.

I emailed “Pramit Mohapatra” (I pasted his name in to make sure I didn’t botch it), the reporter who covers MMA at the Baltimore Sun a little while back and he sent me his take on the acquisitions that are and will be going on:

“UFC/PRIDE and maybe one other conglomerate (comprised of the current EliteXC, K-1 Hero’s, Cage Rage, Strikeforce, etc.) will be the absolute top-level (= NFL) product and all the other promotions will serve as minor leagues. Most of these promotions will not enjoy the financial success of UFC or PRIDE but will be able to sustain at a lesser level because the interest in the sport is definitely there. Between UFC and/or PRIDE super cards, the hard core fans will have plenty of secondary choices to whet their appetite.”

Interesting to see if it plays out that way.
Thanks Pramit!

(p.s. I hope Pramit is okay with me quoting from his email. Don’t sue me dude! I’m poor!)

This is a sad situation. I’ve got a gut feeling that we’re going to permanently lose the possibility of some Dream Matches over this.

Go UFC i hope u guys buy everything and unify one champ. N that champ would be the champion of the world. U guys know what i mean. No more Pride champ, no more icon champ etc. Only UFC champs.

i had a pretty good idea something like this was going to happen a long time ago. like when dana denied having anything to do with the supposed takeover and thn shortly after was smiling like the cat that swallowed the canary. they woulndn’t let any wws or lws compete in the gpx from the ufc and signed alot of the best fighters from pfc. it was all a matter of time. the writing was on the wall.

its actually happening alot sooner than i expected though.