UFC Buying Pride FC
WOW. I just learned that the UFC is Buying Pride FC. I bet most people who see this have no idea what that means. UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) is that no-holds-barred, human cockfight, bloodlust, super-violent sport fought in a cage. Well, that’s what the critics say. I love it. To me, it’s far more interesting than boxing. There’s boxing, kickboxing, martial arts, wrestling, submissions. Yes, there’s blood. But there are only three rounds and multiple ways to win the fight other than pummeling your opponent into a stupor.
UFC has become extremely popular over the past few years with their show on Spike, The Ultimate Fighter. That’s a reality show where a bunch of fighters live and train together for a few weeks, with the victor of the matches ultimately getting a lucrative contract with the UFC. Last year, UFC made over $200 million in pay-per-view events. Why ESPN and Sports Illustrated covers boxing but not this is just ridiculous on their part. This is a major up and coming sport.
And it just got bigger. There’s a competing organization, Pride FC, in Japan that has arguably superior fighters than the UFC. Fedor Emalianenko, Wanderlei Silva, Shogun Rua (pronounced Hua), Dan Henderson. All unbelievable. Those events can draw over 60,000 people. The purses were also much greater in that league, so they tended to draw the top fighters.
Well, UFC just bought them for $70 million. UFC has had such huge growth over the past couple of years that they were already starting to draw fighters away from Pride with big contracts. They just got Mirko CroCop for a six fight deal and almost had Wanderlei. Pride was in a weak position because it had been suggested that it was owned by Yakuza (Japanese organized crime).
This is going to bring it all together and create true world champions. I’m clearly very excited.
