It sounds like the organization is doomed. I really hate to see it happen but regardless it looks like the beginning of the end for PRIDE. The top talent will sign with the UFC because of the cash and recognition. It’s the logical thing to do. These guys need to support their families. As for the rest of the fighters I see dwindling out or falling into low budget organizations that will soon be eliminated as well.

You didn’t mentioned the rumored appearances of Big Nog and Dan Henderson. I believe with these two on-board it could be a pretty damn good event – if Dana does not prevent it from happening. But UFC 74 seems like a strong enough card so he shouldn’t worry too much I guess.

[quote comment="85038"]You didn’t mentioned the rumored appearances of Big Nog and Dan Henderson. I believe with these two on-board it could be a pretty damn good event – if Dana does not prevent it from happening. But UFC 74 seems like a strong enough card so he shouldn’t worry too much I guess.[/quote]

Apperances not fighting right??

No, the rumor is they are going to fight. Additionally they will book some of the fighters who would have appeared at the canceled PrideFC lightweight Grand Prix, so we could expect quite exciting fights, as the LW division of Pride is arguably the strongest in the world with Mach, Aoki, Gomi, Diaz and so on.

[quote comment="85038"]You didn’t mentioned the rumored appearances of Big Nog and Dan Henderson. I believe with these two on-board it could be a pretty damn good event – if Dana does not prevent it from happening. But UFC 74 seems like a strong enough card so he shouldn’t worry too much I guess.[/quote]

I didn’t mention it because as of right now, they are both contracted to fight in the UFC.

Dan Henderson is scheduled to face Rampage at UFC 75 in London on September 8th. How would he be available to fight in Japan on August 18th?

I don’t want to go too crazy with this (match-ups, etc.) until we get something confirmed from the UFC.

[quote comment="85038"]You didn’t mentioned the rumored appearances of Big Nog and Dan Henderson.[/quote]

[quote post="2488"]No, the rumor is they are going to fight. [/quote]

So Dan Henderson is going to fight in Japan just one month before he is officially booked to fight Quinton Rampage Jackson on September 8 in London?

I don’t think so. Horrible rumor that doesn’t take much to dispel.

I merely tried to provide all the information that are being passed along from all over the MMA world. Of course I declared them rumors, as they are nothing more right now and I was aware of the scheduled fights, as I pointed out in my blog:

[quote]
With Minotauro and Hendo being under contract with UFC for two upcoming fights it seems like the show has been put together by both the current PrideFC management as well as the UFC representatives. We’ll soon enough find out if this turns out to be true, so stay tuned.
[/quote]

prides done whos gonna get it on pay per view all the big name stars are gona move to ufc

Real confidence builder for the Pride organization when the CEO of the parent company can’t decide whether you should exist or not. What’s to say he doesn’t get a hair up his bung next week and dissolve it. Oh.. no hair.

I mean that list right there could sell out an audience Josh Barnett is a great fighter.

[quote comment="85081"]Real confidence builder for the Pride organization when the CEO of the parent company can’t decide whether you should exist or not. What’s to say he doesn’t get a hair up his bung next week and dissolve it. Oh.. no hair.[/quote]

It’s hard to tell what Dana White’s role is right now. During the acquisition it has been stated, that Pride will be under the control of Zuffa, not UFC and therfor Dana White. The Fertittas and Dana are good friends and so I don’t really understand the strategy they are pursuing here.

If they wanna make something out of Pride and its assets, then Dana White’s interviews that mention dissolving the organisation certainly do not increase its market value. Its hard to believe they purchased Pride for $75 million just to let it die and salvage it by signing Prides top fighters.

I wonder if the pride fighters are going to recieve the same pay that they did when Dream Stage owned the pride. I am not sure but I had heard that they (Pride) paid their fighters more than the UFC.

Fedor and the Japanese fighters could easily keep PRIDE FC alive, maybe not thriving and growing, but alive none-the-less.

I like yoshida, he won a gold medal in judo at the 92 olympics. I would like to see him in the UFC. Did anyone see how he submitted tank abott?

Pride will never die…boxing might!

[quote comment="85062"][quote comment="85038"]You didn’t mentioned the rumored appearances of Big Nog and Dan Henderson.[/quote]

[quote post="2488"]No, the rumor is they are going to fight. [/quote]

So Dan Henderson is going to fight in Japan just one month before he is officially booked to fight Quinton Rampage Jackson on September 8 in London?

I don’t think so. Horrible rumor that doesn’t take much to dispel.[/quote]

Agreed this is so stupid i wouldn’t even classify it as a rumor. Rumors are things that might actually happen. Henderson fighting twice in a 21 day period is just plain BS.

god when are they gonna make up their minds, I swear they just put out misinformation just to keep people wondering.

They definitely need to recycle people back and forth between the two venues. Let us see our favorite fighters fighting in different environments.

So if they do “dissolve” pride and their fighters join the UFC what happens with the champs? Does Gomi get a title shot right away? What about Henerdson will he even try for the UFC middleweight belt? Fedor would probably get a shot with no tune up fight I guess…

Awesome is all i can say. I enjoy watching Pride(not as much as UFC of course) and i think Zuffa would benift more is they kept the seperate companies.

[quote comment="85277"]god when are they gonna make up their minds, I swear they just put out misinformation just to keep people wondering.[/quote]

I smell Bloody BUBU!!!!!!! i agree wat is wrong with this multi millioners, they should make up their mines already. DEAL OR NO DEAL.

[quote comment="85236"][quote comment="85062"][quote comment="85038"]You didn’t mentioned the rumored appearances of Big Nog and Dan Henderson.[/quote]

[quote post="2488"]No, the rumor is they are going to fight. [/quote]

So Dan Henderson is going to fight in Japan just one month before he is officially booked to fight Quinton Rampage Jackson on September 8 in London?

I don’t think so. Horrible rumor that doesn’t take much to dispel.[/quote]

Agreed this is so stupid i wouldn’t even classify it as a rumor. Rumors are things that might actually happen. Henderson fighting twice in a 21 day period is just plain BS.[/quote]
If he’s fought in one of those Pride Grand Prix’s, then he’s fought multiple times in one day. It could happen.

[quote comment="85322"]Awesome is all i can say. I enjoy watching Pride(not as much as UFC of course) and i think Zuffa would benift more is they kept the seperate companies.[/quote]
totally agree

[quote comment="85091"]I mean that list right there could sell out an audience Josh Barnett is a great fighter.[/quote]
Josh Barnett looks a little soft and slunky like Tim Sylvia but the dude has mad jujitsu skills. I’d like to see him fight in the UFC again- steroid free of course.

glad they’re gonna try to keep it going…i hope fedor finds his way on the card, maybe against a jeff monson, even though he’d destroy monson, maybe thats what pride needs in its first show back, a shot in the arm so to speak, a showing that the champ is back…a gomi/diaz rematch would be nice too…i also like that dude joachim hansen, i’d like to see him fight again, him against aoki would be tight…i think they need to have a good show to show the japanese fans they are committed to giving them a good product…

i wish the lw grand prix was still happening, does anyone know if its still a possibility or is it officially canceled????

Nog fights in July already and Hendo is fighting rampage in september and they’re not even in the same weight class. Highly doubt this should actually be considered a rumor.

[quote comment="85492"]Nog fights in July already and Hendo is fighting rampage in september and they’re not even in the same weight class. Highly doubt this should actually be considered a rumor.[/quote]

They wouldn’t be fighting each other, although the time frame is still an issue.

They did fight twice in Pride, but UFC has strict weight classes.

I don’t believe this Japo-newspaper.

Sorry, Pride is dead, mark my words.

Pride is a tainted product (due to the involvement of the Yakuza, or Japanese mafia) Pride will never be prominent in Japan ever again.

I call bull-shit on this story.

(I hope I am wrong, Pride was awesome, but its over, I think)

[quote comment="85139"]Fedor and the Japanese fighters could easily keep PRIDE FC alive, maybe not thriving and growing, but alive none-the-less.[/quote]
Fedor is going to stay with PRIDE because he’s too scared to get KTFO in the UFC.

I wish they would turn Pride into a tournament only organization. They could hold an 8 man tournament for every weight class in a year. Take the top ranked fighters in the world for each division, except the number one contender, and have them fight 2 times an night on 2 separate occasions. This would leave the number one contender to fight the champ in the UFC while its going on. Then have the winner of the tournament square off against the current UFC champ once it’s over. If they scheduled it right you could have a Pride tournament fight almost every month as well as the current UFC champs fight the already number 1 contenders through out the year until the tournament is over. They could use the under cards in the UFC to determine who the next top 8 are in each division during the rest of the year. When the tournament champ and the UFC champ would square off it would be a huge event. They could do that for every weight class. I know this is a crazy idea, and will never happen but, IMO it would be awesome if somehow they could keep the tournaments in Pride, and then somehow incorporate them into the UFC.

[quote comment="85919"]I wish they would turn Pride into a tournament only organization. They could hold an 8 man tournament for every weight class in a year. Take the top ranked fighters in the world for each division, except the number one contender, and have them fight 2 times an night on 2 separate occasions. This would leave the number one contender to fight the champ in the UFC while its going on. Then have the winner of the tournament square off against the current UFC champ once it’s over. If they scheduled it right you could have a Pride tournament fight almost every month as well as the current UFC champs fight the already number 1 contenders through out the year until the tournament is over. They could use the under cards in the UFC to determine who the next top 8 are in each division during the rest of the year. When the tournament champ and the UFC champ would square off it would be a huge event. They could do that for every weight class. I know this is a crazy idea, and will never happen but, IMO it would be awesome if somehow they could keep the tournaments in Pride, and then somehow incorporate them into the UFC.[/quote]
great idea. i like the tournament format as well. your’e right though that it will probably never happen.

Yeah, Pride doesnt ‘need’ Japan.
Great idea to keep Pride as a Japanese MMA league… keeps a stronghold on that area if they can maintain popularity.

[quote comment="85892"][quote comment="85139"]Fedor and the Japanese fighters could easily keep PRIDE FC alive, maybe not thriving and growing, but alive none-the-less.[/quote]
Fedor is going to stay with PRIDE because he’s too scared to get KTFO in the UFC.[/quote]
Actually its a contract issue… and Im guessing before Fedor’s contract is over, we will see him fight a top UFC HW in Pride.

Fedor’s already been ‘KTFO’ as you so put it… and came back to win the fight. Search ‘Fedor Fujita’