jiggyjaguar
03-27-2007, 10:58 PM
http://www.sherdog.com/_images/pictures/42/42115.jpg
Today Pride Fighting Championship lost the Mixed Martial Arts war with it's USA rival, The Ultimate Fighting Championship. This could be the best day for MMA fans or the worst day in the history of MMA. I felt today like I did the day that Vince bought WCW from AOL Time Warner. I felt like the sport of my youth would never be the same. I began watching the UFC in 1993 like the rest of the planet and I followed it from it's days of Royce Gracie dominating the sport to the underground era of Frank Shamrock and Tito Ortiz to the rise of “The Beast” Bob Sapp. However today in my outlook the great era of MMA died a terrible death.
The boys from Vegas who happen to be Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta gained a Mixed Martial Arts monopoly with the purchase of Pride. Now this was something that had been rumored for weeks now since some talent had come to UFC and others were on their way over to the brand. The Fertitta's have swindled there way into the world of MMA back when they bought the UFC and now they have pretty much done the same thing to the Pride promotion. Now will this become like Vince and anything Pride they crush or will the become like some other promotions and build on it.
I see all the time on MMA boards that this or that is “good for the sport”. Well guess what the question has to be asked is this good or bad for the sport? I think on some points it is good and bad, let's look at the good first. Dream matches, we will see such fights as Silva vs. Randy and others like Chuck vs. Shogun. Another good news item for the MMA fan, talent we have not saw in the UFC will get a shot, I am talking guys like Zulu's son and Butter bean from tough man fame. 3rd point from a good stand still of ufc and Pride getting together and that is cross promotion from guys from the reality show fighting in the pride ring to guys from Pride facing off with legendary UFC figures. unified titles and this could be very good. Why have a World Heavyweight Champion when there are 2 guys holding the belts. Another thing which could bring back old school fans who have turned their backs on more rules and time limits, tounry and one night events. Pride does this all the time and I think it would be awesome to see a Heavyweight Grand prix of the best heavyweights from UFC and Pride duking it out. Another thing is how do fighters compare, you have Tito fighting in a ring and see how his style does and also people like Tito will not get all the title shots with more talent comes more title chances for guys who we should see in title scene like Rampage and Shogun and others like that.
Why this could be bad for the sport, you have UFC favorites getting judges win's where they do not deserve them. You have changes from rules to fighting areas. You have people like Fedor who could come to the US and get handled in a cage and then go back and regain some rep back in a ring. You have fighters who can get any steam because others are hogging the spotlight. You also have poss. Talent leaving because they can not gain attention. Example a guy like Butter bean is branded a freak show and can not fight in MMA cause he is who he is.
Now if the shoe was on the other foot, we have Pride winning with UFC. Due to Pride not managing their company good enough to stay afloat. You may now see UFC go out of biz quickly. Pride did not have a TV deal in place so UFC would be effected by Pride's lack of TV deal. Something else you always tend to do when you talk about the shoe being on the other foot. Well if UFC was bought by Pride, Pride would have a TV deal in place and they would have money cause, how did they buy UFC. So this argument does not really work with this situation. However it is fun to think about in this instance.
How this does not become a monopoly is you have people like Bodog fight who are around and King of the Cage and others like that. Plus the Fertitta's are running Pride sepearte from the UFC so this will not just become another UFC brand. Similar to the current farm system that UFC has with WEC in Arizona. The Fertitta's know that people are not fans of Dana White and this would be a backlash to the new company. Finally the new company has and does make tons of ticket sales in Japan and is expanding Eastward so why would they give up on that idea by letting Dana run the show. One more thing, The Fertitta's have to have saw what Ted Turner let others run part of Turner Broadcasting and other Turner products. It was not long before he was forced to merge with AOL Time Warner.
My take on this is simple, this creates an outlet for Pride to get more traction in the USA and make The Fertitta's more bank. This will provide the dream matches we have wanted to see and maybe find a guy who can take down the Russian Fedor. Pride/UFC is not the only ballgame in town, with K-1 and their Hero's promotion coming onto Show time with the first MMA fight of former WWE World champion, Brock Lesner. The talent that has been banned or deemed crap by UFC will go other places and build up more promotions to combat the new Pride/UFC promotion.
Finally the UFC/Pride company can do great things in MMA, the first day is always the hardest with people bitching on both sides of the coin. The so-called MMA know-it all's coming in and saying what they will say. No one will know for sure for about 6 months but considering MMA moves slower than Pro-wrestling. We may not know for a year or so, plus if UFC is smart they will take all that old Pride footage and put the stuff to use with DVD's and building up new people coming into the UFC so we do not have the cricket noise's when Silva challenged Chuck and the no video on Cro Cop. Whatever happens from this it could be a very exciting time to be a MMA fan or it could be something that triggers the downfall of MMA's high. However we all know once you come down off a high you get the munchies.
-The Jiggy Jaguar-
Editors Note
The Jiggy Jaguar Show can be heard Monday Nights on Kjagradio.com
E-mail The Author (http://www.jiggyjaguar.com/contact.php)
The Website (http://www.jiggyjaguar.com)
Today Pride Fighting Championship lost the Mixed Martial Arts war with it's USA rival, The Ultimate Fighting Championship. This could be the best day for MMA fans or the worst day in the history of MMA. I felt today like I did the day that Vince bought WCW from AOL Time Warner. I felt like the sport of my youth would never be the same. I began watching the UFC in 1993 like the rest of the planet and I followed it from it's days of Royce Gracie dominating the sport to the underground era of Frank Shamrock and Tito Ortiz to the rise of “The Beast” Bob Sapp. However today in my outlook the great era of MMA died a terrible death.
The boys from Vegas who happen to be Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta gained a Mixed Martial Arts monopoly with the purchase of Pride. Now this was something that had been rumored for weeks now since some talent had come to UFC and others were on their way over to the brand. The Fertitta's have swindled there way into the world of MMA back when they bought the UFC and now they have pretty much done the same thing to the Pride promotion. Now will this become like Vince and anything Pride they crush or will the become like some other promotions and build on it.
I see all the time on MMA boards that this or that is “good for the sport”. Well guess what the question has to be asked is this good or bad for the sport? I think on some points it is good and bad, let's look at the good first. Dream matches, we will see such fights as Silva vs. Randy and others like Chuck vs. Shogun. Another good news item for the MMA fan, talent we have not saw in the UFC will get a shot, I am talking guys like Zulu's son and Butter bean from tough man fame. 3rd point from a good stand still of ufc and Pride getting together and that is cross promotion from guys from the reality show fighting in the pride ring to guys from Pride facing off with legendary UFC figures. unified titles and this could be very good. Why have a World Heavyweight Champion when there are 2 guys holding the belts. Another thing which could bring back old school fans who have turned their backs on more rules and time limits, tounry and one night events. Pride does this all the time and I think it would be awesome to see a Heavyweight Grand prix of the best heavyweights from UFC and Pride duking it out. Another thing is how do fighters compare, you have Tito fighting in a ring and see how his style does and also people like Tito will not get all the title shots with more talent comes more title chances for guys who we should see in title scene like Rampage and Shogun and others like that.
Why this could be bad for the sport, you have UFC favorites getting judges win's where they do not deserve them. You have changes from rules to fighting areas. You have people like Fedor who could come to the US and get handled in a cage and then go back and regain some rep back in a ring. You have fighters who can get any steam because others are hogging the spotlight. You also have poss. Talent leaving because they can not gain attention. Example a guy like Butter bean is branded a freak show and can not fight in MMA cause he is who he is.
Now if the shoe was on the other foot, we have Pride winning with UFC. Due to Pride not managing their company good enough to stay afloat. You may now see UFC go out of biz quickly. Pride did not have a TV deal in place so UFC would be effected by Pride's lack of TV deal. Something else you always tend to do when you talk about the shoe being on the other foot. Well if UFC was bought by Pride, Pride would have a TV deal in place and they would have money cause, how did they buy UFC. So this argument does not really work with this situation. However it is fun to think about in this instance.
How this does not become a monopoly is you have people like Bodog fight who are around and King of the Cage and others like that. Plus the Fertitta's are running Pride sepearte from the UFC so this will not just become another UFC brand. Similar to the current farm system that UFC has with WEC in Arizona. The Fertitta's know that people are not fans of Dana White and this would be a backlash to the new company. Finally the new company has and does make tons of ticket sales in Japan and is expanding Eastward so why would they give up on that idea by letting Dana run the show. One more thing, The Fertitta's have to have saw what Ted Turner let others run part of Turner Broadcasting and other Turner products. It was not long before he was forced to merge with AOL Time Warner.
My take on this is simple, this creates an outlet for Pride to get more traction in the USA and make The Fertitta's more bank. This will provide the dream matches we have wanted to see and maybe find a guy who can take down the Russian Fedor. Pride/UFC is not the only ballgame in town, with K-1 and their Hero's promotion coming onto Show time with the first MMA fight of former WWE World champion, Brock Lesner. The talent that has been banned or deemed crap by UFC will go other places and build up more promotions to combat the new Pride/UFC promotion.
Finally the UFC/Pride company can do great things in MMA, the first day is always the hardest with people bitching on both sides of the coin. The so-called MMA know-it all's coming in and saying what they will say. No one will know for sure for about 6 months but considering MMA moves slower than Pro-wrestling. We may not know for a year or so, plus if UFC is smart they will take all that old Pride footage and put the stuff to use with DVD's and building up new people coming into the UFC so we do not have the cricket noise's when Silva challenged Chuck and the no video on Cro Cop. Whatever happens from this it could be a very exciting time to be a MMA fan or it could be something that triggers the downfall of MMA's high. However we all know once you come down off a high you get the munchies.
-The Jiggy Jaguar-
Editors Note
The Jiggy Jaguar Show can be heard Monday Nights on Kjagradio.com
E-mail The Author (http://www.jiggyjaguar.com/contact.php)
The Website (http://www.jiggyjaguar.com)