PrideFC Sold to UFC Owners?

Off Topic
21

Sounds like it is a done deal

[i]Report: Sakakibara Informs Staff of Pending Sale

PRIDE CEO Nobuyuki Sakakibara informed staff inside the Japanese promoter’s Los Angeles office Wednesday that he was stepping down as part of an agreement to sell the company to Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta, who own the UFC.

According to a report by Dave Meltzer at wrestlingobserver.com, Sakakibara suggested only minor points separate the deal, which Sherdog.com first rumored on Monday, from reaching its conclusion. No contract has been signed, the report said.

While Sakakibara appears to be leaving a company he’s been a part of since its inception in 1997, the man who stepped in as PRIDE CEO after Naoto Morishita committed suicide told his staff that the company would remain intact and autonomous from the UFC, but that hurdles no longer remain between UFC versus PRIDE cards, Meltzer reported.[/i]

22

[quote]slimjim wrote:
I’m having a hard time with the number that has been tossed around simply because 65 million cannot include fighter’s contracts. If it did, there would have to have been some serious competition from Bodog or Elitexc, both of whom are looking to make a strong push into the MMA market and have sizeable financial backing. Collecting that stable of fighters would make them instant players in MMA.

There must be something going on that lessens Pride’s value somewhat to make the sale at 65 million, maybe the organization is in debt and Zuffa will have to eat that as part of the deal. Either way, 65 million seems fairly low for one of the top MMA organizations in the world, with or without financial troubles.[/quote]

The negotiations to sell do not just have to be about money. Autonomy, keeping Pride in Japan for example. I doubt Pride would sell to someone who simply wants to raid their fighter stable and leave Pride to die in Japan.

23

hm. the italian mob is making it’s presence felt in asia too. interesting. i wonder if landry’s will start catering at the fights?

24

the yakuza will not allow this :slight_smile:

http://www.okinawan-shorinryu.com/okinawa/yakuza.html

25

[quote]Altered Beast wrote:
the yakuza will not allow this :slight_smile:

http://www.okinawan-shorinryu.com/okinawa/yakuza.html
[/quote]

yeah, i don’t know. the yakuza may be ruthless and brutal, but those sicilians can be pretty underhanded and sneaky. they would take over before the yakuza knew what to uzi.

26

This is pretty huge…it gives Zuffa the ability to control the biggest names in the sport. They have locked down the American market with the UFC, and can transition coverage and marketing to bring Pride to the forefront as well.

My hopes are that this will turn out well for the fans and we will be treated to the matchups we’ve always wanted, but the possibility of watered down MMA due to their monopoly and attempts to corner the mainstream market remains. I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed that this is going to turn out to be a good thing.

27

In somewhat related news, the WEC, Zuffa’s minor league(of sorts) organization is having a fairly decent card. If you haven’t seen Carlos Condit fight you should give it a look, he is a very good up and coming guy who will threaten for the top of the food chain at 170 lbs in the future. Urijah Faber is on there as well and is always good to watch

28

[quote]Donut62 wrote:
Hawkson101 wrote:
Competition breeds excellence

now UFC will have a stranglehold on what we see and how much we pay for it

this is not good news for the mma world

any chance at innovation, creativity and new leagues/venues will be stifled if the power rests in the hands of one

This talk of a monopoly is for the most part irrelevant. Pride and the UFC never shared the same market, except in the eyes of a handful of hard core fans who went the extra mile to follow Pride.

Pride had the best talent and the best production values in the world but in the past 10 years they never made a dent in the American market while the UFC has grown exponentially. As Steve alluded to the IFL and EliteXC are much more competition for UFC than Pride ever was.[/quote]

it certainly is a monopoly issue. they are in the same business and do have crossover fans.

economies have been globalizing for years now, and it will be interesting to see how international acquisitions are handled as precedents are set during our march to a unified political and economic system.

29

It’s official now.

31

[quote]Mick28 wrote:

The next event that will take place (well I guess it could be first with the new younger talent) is the underpaying of the fighters. I fully understand that certain fighters have contracts that must be fulfilled. However, those contracts will eventually run out and when it’s renewal time BLAM the boom will be lowered!

Where else are they going to fight? What other choices do they have? [/quote]

K-1 Heroes
Bodog Fight
EliteXC
Strikeforce

The ‘monopoly’ argument is complete & total bunk. There are more financially sound MMA promoters today than at any other time in history.

Strikeforce has already featured bouts with big names like Shamrock, Belfort, Overeem, Le, & Buentello. Bodog has booked Fedor vs Lindland, and Fedor is rumored to have signed a long-term deal with Bodog. EliteXC is supposedly just waiting for Brandon Vera’s UFC contract to expire before inking him to a phat new deal. K-1 has the deepest pockets of any MMA promoter, and you can be damn sure they will be looking to acquire new talent to aid them in their efforts to break into the american market.

[quote]Mick28 wrote:

And as far as the new guys coming up getting paid well. FORGET IT.
[/quote]

Oh please.

The new guys have all of the aforementioned promotions to fill, plus the IFL, and all the other little promotions (ICON, ROTR, KOTC, TKO, 2H2H, etc.) that dot the MMA landscape.

The fact of the matter is, there are a lot more ‘entry level’ jobs out there for MMA fighters today than there have ever been in the history of the sport. Three years ago, UFC & Pride were holding about 20 shows a year combined.

Today, there are about 50 shows a year by the major promoters (Pride, UFC, IFL, Heroes, Strikeforce, EliteXC) and countless other shows held by smaller promotions.

32

Steve addressed Mick28’s long, depressing post quite well. Pride was on it’s last legs and would have collapsed in a few short months. The best fighter in the world was signed to fight in a rival promotion before the merger happened. Brandon Vera is leaving a 6 figure contract in the UFC for a 7 figure one in EliteXC.

Pride wasn’t going to be a force for much longer, and they had little buying power for the past year and were living on pre-existing contracts. And, keep in mind, that Pride isn’t even the biggest Japanese promotion. K-1 Hero’s has money and resources probably greater than Zuffa’s.

Hero’s pulls in close to 20 share in ratings on NYE on public televesion in Japan and Korea. You want to see a REAL sad day in MMA? Watch a K-1 Hero’s show and imagine Pride folding into them, instead of an organization with people who actually care about MMA like the Fertitta’s.

Another thing I’m finding funny is that Pride, at best, did about 30,000 PPV buys in the USA. If half the people up in arms about this (this is directed at no one in particular) were actually financially contributing to the Pride FC organization because they believe in more competition, Pride would be standing on a mountain of money right now. If you’re watching you’re fights on Youtube or downloading them the next day then you can go ahead and shut up about a fair market because you already voted with your dollars. Perhaps they should go on a boxing forum and complain about the consolidation of rules and sanctioning bodies, and see how amused they are with their alphabet soup list of champions.

33

some more info

35

You know,in a perfect world I wanted PRIDE to buyout UFC and take the world by storm. But in reality,its the other way around. I hear Dana White wants Pride to use UFC rules. Meaning no knees to ground,no Head stomps or Soccor kicks. The scoring will change as well.

36

http://www.pridefc.com/pride2005/index.php?mainpage=news&news_id=1035

Sakakibara: Yes, the men I have chosen as the new owners of PRIDE are … Lorenzo and Frank, the Fertitta brothers.

  • You mean UFC!!
    Sakakibara: Don’t go too fast. This is the conclusion I have reached after long consideration. It’s NOT that PRIDE is being acquired by UFC. UFC is managed by Zuffa Entertainment and Mr.Dana White is the president of that company. The Fertitta brothers are the owners, and they will also be the new owners of PRIDE.
  • In short, PRIDE will belong to the same group as UFC, being of equal rank to UFC.
    Sakakibara: Right. Since the Fertitta brothers own the capital, PRIDE can now stand on an equal footing with UFC, officially able to meet it in head—to-head competition. It’s not exciting at all for fans if UFC takes in PRIDE, and fighters cannot see any dream in that kind of setting. Needless to say, PRIDE and UFC cherish their own characteristics and will have fierce clashes for the better.
  • Then PRIDE Light-Weight Grand Prix planned in May will be…

Sakakibara: … held as planned. And the biggest reason I have chosen them as the new owners is that they are in some ways my brothers in arms, fighting together to make MMA a popular sport worldwide. We have been the biggest rivals and competitors, but respected each other. Our competition has actually contributed to the growth of this sport to match other major sports such as boxing, football, and American football. Lorenzo and Frank love this sport, and they have experienced many hardships and learned a lot.

  • No matter how rich he is, he has to love your “daughter” to marry her.
    Sakakibara: That’s why I can’t give my “daughter” to a spoiled rich kid like BodogFight or Elite XC (laughing).

In Sakakibara we trust…