History
PRIDE Fighting Championships was initially conceived in 1997 by Kakutougi Revolution Spirits to match popular Japanese pro-wrestler Nobuhiko Takada with Rickson Gracie, the purported champion of the Gracie family of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioners. The event, held at the Tokyo Dome on October 11, 1997 attracted 47,000 fans, as well as Japanese mass media attention. The success of the first event enabled its promoters to hold a regular series of mixed martial arts events, and a year later in 1998, promote a rematch between Takada and Gracie. With K-1 enjoying popularity in Japan, PRIDE began to compete with monthly showings on Fuji Television, as well as pay per view on the newly formed satellite television channel SKY PerfecTV.In 2000, PRIDE organized the first ever PRIDE Grand Prix, a two-part openweight tournament held to find the "world's best fighter". The tournament was held over the course of two events, with sixteen fighters competing in an opening round, and the eight winners returning three months later for the final round. The second round of the tournament marked the first time PRIDE was broadcast in the United States, and featured American fighter Mark Coleman winning the tournament by defeating Igor Vovchanchyn in the final round.
In August 2002, PRIDE teamed up with Japan's leading kickboxing and fight promotion, K-1, and held the worlds biggest fight event, Shockwave (known as PRIDE/K-1 Dynamite!! in Japan), which attracted over 90,000 fans.
On January 13, 2003, the PRIDE organization was thrown into turmoil when DSE President Naoto Morishita was found dead hanging by his neck in his hotel room, apparently after his mistress told him she wanted to end their affair. Speculation still looms whether this could possibly be the real reason, as trouble with tax authorities and the yakuza have also been speculated to play a role. Nobuyuki Sakakibara later assumed the presidency.
In 2003 PRIDE introduced the Bushido series of events, which focused on the lighter weight classes of lightweights and welterweights. The Bushido series also stressed a faster pace, with bouts consisting of only one ten minute round and one five minute round, as well as quicker referee intervention of stalling tactics, using the new "yellow card" system of purse deduction.
Also in 2003, PRIDE returned to the tournament format, with a middleweight grand prix spanning two events, Total Elimination 2003 and Final Conflict 2003. The format would be expanded to three events in 2004, adding Critical Countdown 2004 as the second round. PRIDE would go on to hold annual tournaments, a Heavyweight tournament in 2004, Middleweight in 2005, and Openweight in 2006.
In 2006 PRIDE announced it would cooperate with the Ultimate Fighting Championship, North America's largest MMA organization, and would be showcasing their fighters, including Wanderlei Silva and Kazuyuki Fujita, at a UFC event in November. However, Dana White, president of the UFC has since commented that the announced bout between Chuck Liddell and Wanderlei Silva is unlikely to happen because "the Japanese are very hard to do business with".[7] This statement is likely due to the failure of previous attempts between White and DSE to organize a fighter exchange agreement. Specifically after entering Chuck Liddell in PRIDE's 2003 middleweight tournament, which was also with the intention of Liddell eventually fighting Silva, which fell through when Chuck Liddell lost in the semi-finals to Quinton Jackson (Jackson subsequently lost to Silva by technical knockout in the finals.)
PRIDE has continued to enjoy success, holding roughly ten events per year, and even out-drawing rival K-1 at the annual New Year's Eve show PRIDE Shockwave 2005. On October 21, 2006, PRIDE held its first MMA event in USA, PRIDE 32: The Real Deal took place in front of an audience of 11,727 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, and was the first PRIDE event to be held outside of Japan.
On June 5, 2006, Fuji Network announced that they were terminating their television contract with PRIDE Fighting Championships effective immediately due to a breach of contract by DSE. This leaves PRIDE with only SKY PerfecTV, a pay-per-view carrier, as a television outlet in Japan, and the loss of the substantial revenues from the Fuji deal threatened its sustainability. DSE has been surrounded by speculation in the Japanese media, especially in Japanese tabloid Shukan Gendai, that it may be a front for the notorious yakuza crime organization. DSE responded to the loss by stating they will continue with their schedule as currently planned, including an event in Las Vegas, Nevada, PRIDE 32: The Real Deal which took place on October 21, 2006, PRIDE's first event outside of Japan.
In late 2006, PRIDE officially announced plans for Mike Tyson to fight in the organizations New Year's Eve show. Tyson would face a PRIDE fighter under boxing rules. Since Tyson is not allowed to fight in Japan because of his criminal record, PRIDE wants to stage the fight in an alternate country, possibly Macau, China. The fight would be broadcast live on large television screens in the Saitama Super Arena, where the regular mixed martial arts bouts will be held.
On November 29, 2006, PRIDE announced the discontinuation of its Bushido events, with the intention of integrating the matches from lighter weight classes, mainly featured in Bushido, into regular PRIDE events. PRIDE also announced that future Grand Prix tournaments would take place on a four year weight class cycle, with one Grand Prix per year. The first expected one, a Lightweight Grand Prix, has been cancelled.
PRIDE Worldwide era
On Tuesday, March 27, 2007, Nobuyuki Sakakibara announced that Station Casinos Inc. magnate Lorenzo Fertitta, co-owner of Zuffa and its subsidiary Ultimate Fighting Championship, had made a deal to acquire all assets of PRIDE Fighting Championships from Dream Stage Entertainment after PRIDE 34: Kamikaze in a deal reportedly worth under USD$70 million, though the figure was not publicly disclosed. Managing the assets under the newly created PRIDE FC Worldwide Holdings, LLC, including their video library and the contracts of the fighters currently on the PRIDE roster, the new management company had originally planned to continue to promote PRIDE events in Japan and keep to its previously announced schedule. Lorenzo Fertitta announced they planned to operate PRIDE separately from Zuffa's two MMA brands, the UFC and WEC, planned on having occasional crossover shows and matches, pitting fighters from PRIDE against fighters from the UFC, using the metaphor of the AFL-NFL merger to compare the situation.
Recent remarks by UFC President Dana White however cast doubt as to what the new owners will actually do with PRIDE. After the sale officially closed on May 25, 2007, White remarked that he planned on bringing PRIDE's biggest names into UFC competition instead of keeping them in PRIDE and that they were still deciding on what to do with PRIDE itself. In later comments made in August 2007, White expressed doubt that Zuffa can resurrect PRIDE in Japan, saying, "I’ve pulled everything out of the trick box that I can and I can’t get a TV deal over there with PRIDE. I don’t think they want us there. I don’t think they want me there."
Rules
PRIDE's rules result in similar styles of fighting as seen in Ultimate Fighting Championship in the United States. Unlike the UFC, where matches take place within an octagonal cage, PRIDE holds its bouts within a square roped ring. Other notable differences between PRIDE FC and the UFC are:
* Kicking and kneeing the head of a downed opponent is allowed in PRIDE but not in UFC.
* Stomping a downed opponent is allowed in PRIDE but not in UFC.
* (Non downward pointed) Elbows to the head/face are allowed in UFC but not in PRIDE.
Weight classes
It should be noted that PRIDE Fighting Championships does Not divide their fighters with weight divisons, a fighter may be booked to fight an opponent of any weight class. Weight divisions are only used for championship title bouts to crown a champion among that weight class.
* Heavyweight (more than or equal to 93 kg / 205 lb)
* Middleweight (less than 93 kg / 205 lb)
* Welterweight (less than 83 kg / 183 lb)
* Lightweight (less than 73 kg / 160 lb)
Match length
* PRIDE matches consist of three rounds, the first lasting ten minutes, and the second and third lasting five. There are two-minute intermissions between each round.
* PRIDE Bushido events, and tournament bouts, involving fighters who fought in an earlier bout in the same night do not have third rounds, and end after the second round. There are two-minute intermissions between each round.
Victory
Matches are won via:
* Submission
A fighter taps either his opponent or the mat three times.
A fighter may also verbally submit
* Knockout
a fighter falls from a legal blow and is either unconscious or unable to immediately continue.
* Technical Knockout
o Referee Stoppage---If the referee sees that one fighter is completely dominant to the point of endangering his opponent, the referee will stop the match.
o Doctor Stoppage---In the event that a fighter is injured (via fair methods) and cannot continue the match, his opponent will be declared the winner. The ring doctor will be the one to determine whether the fighter can continue or not. In the event that an injury was caused by illegal methods, the perpetrator will be disqualified.
o Forfeited Match---A fighter's corner throws in the towel.
Decision
If the match goes the distance, then the outcome of the bout is determined by the three judges. A decision is made according to the following: the effort made to finish the fight via KO or submission, damage given to the opponent, standing combinations & ground control, takedowns and takedown defense, aggressiveness and weight (in the case that the weight difference is 10 kg/22 lb or more). The above criteria are listed according to priority. The fight is scored in its entirety and not round by round. After the third round, each judge must decide a winner. Matches cannot end in a draw.
Disqualification
A "warning" will be given in the form of a yellow card (along with a 10% deduction in fight purse) when a fighter commits an illegal action or does not follow the referee's instruction. Three warnings will result in a disqualification.
No Contest
In the event that both sides commit a violation of the rules, the bout will be declared a "No Contest."