All UFC fans its a done deal UFC buys PRIDE Fighting

[tugboater]

After revitalizing the struggling Ultimate Fighting Championship, and as a result lifting the sport of mixed martial arts world wide, Lorenzo Fertitta, a Station Casinos magnate alongside his older brother Frank, confirmed the purchase of the PRIDE Fighting Championships from Dream Stage Entertainment Tuesday in Tokyo.

DSE and PRIDE CEO Nobuyuki Sakaibara also announced that as part of the agreement he would resign effective April 8, following PRIDE 34 at the Saitama Super Arena

Fertitta spoke of making mixed martial arts equivalent to world-wide sports such as baseball and soccer, and also "Super Bowl" type cards.

UFC president Dana White offered curt statements, suggesting all other MMA promoters pale in comparison to what Zufffa has now become with UFC and PRIDE, as well as the much smaller WEC, under its umbrella. The aggressive UFC boss received a warm reaction from the near 1,000 fans in attendance before discussing potential dream fights between the organizations' champions and stars.

 

[AK-74me]

Well this is a double edged sword for me, now Pride will have UFC's watered down rules imposed and you won't get to see the "no holds barred" type fighting offered in Pride, then again UFC was starting to lure some of the good Pride fighters over anyway so......

 

[Larry Gude]

This is probably not good...

Well this is a double edged sword for me, now Pride will have UFC's watered down rules imposed and you won't get to see the "no holds barred" type fighting offered in Pride, then again UFC was starting to lure some of the good Pride fighters over anyway so......

...for the sport; no competition.

I won't miss Pride's ring nor will I miss their restarts, the whole 'now get back in the position you were' bit. I also don't like Pride's 'kick a man when he's down' rules.

UFC could take this opportunity to liberalize their stalemate rules and have more restarts where they return the fighters to standing.

Fedor.

 

[Lugnut]

...for the sport; no competition.

I won't miss Pride's ring nor will I miss their restarts, the whole 'now get back in the position you were' bit. I also don't like Pride's 'kick a man when he's down' rules.

UFC could take this opportunity to liberalize their stalemate rules and have more restarts where they return the fighters to standing.

Fedor.

I actually prefer Prides standard ring to the "Octagon" or cages used by other organizations. The standard ring alows more venues to host events and gives less of an advantage to the more dominant opponent (i.e. more even matches)

I think a fusion of the rules would be a good thing. Do away with kicking while down in PRIDE, but keep the elbows from UFC. Also, more training for the referees. PRIDE referees tend to let fighters take MUCH more punishment than necessary before stopping a fight by TKO.