Sakibara - Pride is in a life and death situation (and other MMA news)

[Bullock]

Loretta Hunt was just on Wrestling Observer and she said some interesting things to say

1 - Pride 34 is being called kamikazi cause Prides in a life and death situation. And that Kamikazi also means attack according to Sakibara.

2 - Pride 34 will take place at 1PM in Japan so that it can air live at 8PM in America. Loretta Hunt thinks its to little to late.

3- Fishman and Sakibara had a falling out. The April US show is off.

4 - She doesn't think Pride can even sell Pride at this point, its in real bad shape.

5 - HBO is still a possibility for the UFC UK show.

6 - HBO/UFC's major hurdle is who controls the broadcast.

7 - Loretta is writing Randy Coutures autobiography.

[Nate_Deezy]

I think Pride's days might be numbered. If the UFC does buy Pride though, I hope they keep it a seperate organization in Japan and use Pride's rule set. There's no point in keeping Pride up and running if they use the same rule set as the UFC. That and I would miss soccer kicks and head stomps too much

[dagreat1]

I agree Nate.

They made their move to the US 10 months too late and did not get a wise business man who knew how to market their US shows to draw in fans. Even with the poor marketing of their US shows I think they would've still been very successful here had they just had their first US show 10 months earlier and the fight card needed to be better. It's almost as if someone finally lit a fire under their asses and they put the card together in 10 minutes.

If they go under and the name and rules do not remain, MMA will be losing it's heart IMO (UFC is the brain).

[Twist of Lemon]

gah, if PRIDE ends up going under ill be really pissed, Theyre laxed rules really offered a nice change from what the norm is in the US and Canada. Hopefully they can find a way out of this hole and turn shit around because I'd hate to see a company who puts on the quality of shows that PRIDE does go under.

[halozero]

Originally Posted by Nate_Deezy

I hope they keep it a seperate organization in Japan and use Pride's rule set. There's no point in keeping Pride up and running if they use the same rule set as the UFC. That and I would miss soccer kicks and head stomps too much

for sure--100% agreed

[b0sH]

I don't necessarily agree that Pride is the needed competition to spur MMA on to continue pushing itself because there are countless examples of monopoly organizations putting out a top class product.

However I do think thats it's nice to have options and variety and Pride does provide that and do a very good job.

I agree with whats said above also that their USA show came 10 months too late and their first card was poor. That was their chance to show the US what they were about and instead of pushing the talented fighters they had in hard fought battles against each other, they fed them old timers, UFC rejects and sub standard american fighters to some of their top stars instead. If they could have re-created some of the classic matches they've had previously in Japan I think they could have created a larger buzz around themselves and taken a larger chunk of fans with that. They also needed to address how they would adapt to the USA rule set, instead of just ignoring it. Sadly it looks like we'll never know what could have been.

[chungt79]

Interesting quick summary of whats going on. Does that mean Pride is going to go out with a bang starting with Pride 34? Will they put up some insane matchups? It is sad that it seems like it is only a matter of time before Pride is done in the world of MMA. Hopefully, K-1 can take their top talents and have better marketing in the US. There is no way Dana will take all of their big names, so there will be load of fighters looking for a new home.

[gtijla]

Originally Posted by Nate_Deezy

I think Pride's days might be numbered. If the UFC does buy Pride though, I hope they keep it a seperate organization in Japan and use Pride's rule set. There's no point in keeping Pride up and running if they use the same rule set as the UFC. That and I would miss soccer kicks and head stomps too much

hmm sadly i dont see the soccer kicks and stomps staying if ufc purchases pride. remember what dana said about having ufc 70 (i think it is 70) in England or wherever and how the rules will be exactly the same as in america. i think that if ufc purchases pride dana will want to make the sport have a standard set of rules that is used internationally to legitimize the sport. i think dana used soccer as an example, he said something along the lines of "no matter where u play soccer, the rules are the same" and thats what he wants with ufc and mma. but i too will miss watching shogun leap in the air and have one foot land on the other guys head lol.

[Salvy_Mic]

Honestly, I never liked the stomps and soccer kicks, that's the sort of thing that's gonna get all those anti-MMA "crusaders" get on their soapboxes and start crying about how "brutal" MMA is. Not only that, but I say they are extremely dangerous for the recipient of those, with very little chance of defending themselves properly against those. I mean, how do you defend a stomp to the head or a soccer kick to the head, all you can really do is cover up and hope you don't get brutally KO'd. The one thing I do hope that gets legalized in the U.S. (and hopefully, included in an international MMA rule set) would be 4 point knees on the ground.

[willieshatner]

Originally Posted by Salvy_Mic

I mean, how do you defend a stomp to the head or a soccer kick to the head, all you can really do is cover up and hope you don't get brutally KO'd.

see Pride 32, Nakamura vs. Shogun. Nak gives a perfect demonstration of how to do it.

I like the stomps and soccer kicks. they eliminate a lot of potentially boring situations, and I'd venture to say that Mirko's standing kicks are more dangerous to his opponents than Shogun's stomps...