Save_Us.Necro
07-15-2010, 04:29 AM
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/ff/Pride_Logo.jpg
PRIDE as we once knew it began with a feud. Nobuhiko Takada was one of Japan's most well known pro wrestlers for his much heralded work in UWFI, a shoot style pro wrestling organization which for a short time was the hottest thing in Japan. This shoot style represented one of the several emerging kinds of mixed martial arts across the world. In the United States, the Ultimate Fighting Championship drew major headlines, pitting fighting styles versus fighting style and made names of men like Ken Shamrock, Tank Abbott, Mark Coleman and most notably a family from Brazil, The Gracies. The Gracies were world renown masters of the art of jujitsu and they showed off this skill in early UFC's as Royce Gracie dominated during his time there. However by 1997 the Gracies were gone from the UFC and Takada and many of his fighters were done following UWFI's invasion of New Japan and the eventual closing of the promotion. This would lead to a very public feud between the Gracies, more so Rickson Gracie and Takada. Takada's UWFI was, before it's shut down, deal with stiff competition in the shoot wrestling promotions PANCRASE and SHOOTO and Takada wanted Rickson to come to the UWFI to compete in a pro wrestling bout against Takada, something that would never happen according to Gracie. Takada, furious sent UWFI star Yoji Anjo to Rickson's dojo to challenge and embarrass him. Rickson, not happy with the disrespect, beat Anjo within an inch of his life. When news of this made it to Japan, it would do irreversible damage to UWFI, which despite it's shoot rules, was a pro wrestling company and fans no longer saw Takada and his roster as the badasses he portrayed them as. Takada was pissed and challenged Gracie to a bout formally, not a wrestling match but an MMA contest. With UWFI all but dead, this major contest would take place in a new promotion led by Kakutougi Revolution Spirits, named PRIDE Fighting Championships. The first PRIDE event, which saw Gracie defeat Takada, attracted over 47,000 to the legendary Tokyo Dome. Needless to say it was a huge success and spawned more shows. The team behind PRIDE would change and soon Dream Stage Entertainment was leading PRIDE and would take PRIDE into the stratosphere along with a former wrestler named Kazushi Sakuraba who became an icon in Japanese MMA for an amazing string of victories over members of the Gracie family. PRIDE was now the talk of Japan and the MMA world.
For nearly a decade PRIDE became the place to be if you were the best in MMA. PRIDE's amazing production values made every fight have a HUGE fight feel and unlike the UFC utilized this production use to it's fullest extent. Names like Cro Cop, Silva, Nogueira, Henderson, Jackson and Emelianenko made up a tremendously stacked PRIDE roster. Even the UFC, which had a new lease on life thanks to new owners Dana White and The Fertitta Brothers and it's wildly successful "The Ultimate Fighter" reality show, got involved sending UFC Icon Chuck Liddell to PRIDE and engaged in major talks for a Wandelei Silva/Liddell fight. However, around this time PRIDE would have major troubles. It would lose it's biggest Japanese TV outlet in Fuji Network. Then a major scandal as Japanese tabloid Shukan Gendai published reports of major yakuza ties in DSE. PRIDE was reeling as a result as DSE's office would soon enough close up for good. Rumors were spreading all over the world on what would become of PRIDE, with the most shocking, much like what ended up happening in the wrestling world years earlier, being the UFC was the leading contender to buy PRIDE.
However, this would not happen and the course of MMA history would change forever and PRIDE as we once knew it would end with a feud....
PRIDE as we once knew it began with a feud. Nobuhiko Takada was one of Japan's most well known pro wrestlers for his much heralded work in UWFI, a shoot style pro wrestling organization which for a short time was the hottest thing in Japan. This shoot style represented one of the several emerging kinds of mixed martial arts across the world. In the United States, the Ultimate Fighting Championship drew major headlines, pitting fighting styles versus fighting style and made names of men like Ken Shamrock, Tank Abbott, Mark Coleman and most notably a family from Brazil, The Gracies. The Gracies were world renown masters of the art of jujitsu and they showed off this skill in early UFC's as Royce Gracie dominated during his time there. However by 1997 the Gracies were gone from the UFC and Takada and many of his fighters were done following UWFI's invasion of New Japan and the eventual closing of the promotion. This would lead to a very public feud between the Gracies, more so Rickson Gracie and Takada. Takada's UWFI was, before it's shut down, deal with stiff competition in the shoot wrestling promotions PANCRASE and SHOOTO and Takada wanted Rickson to come to the UWFI to compete in a pro wrestling bout against Takada, something that would never happen according to Gracie. Takada, furious sent UWFI star Yoji Anjo to Rickson's dojo to challenge and embarrass him. Rickson, not happy with the disrespect, beat Anjo within an inch of his life. When news of this made it to Japan, it would do irreversible damage to UWFI, which despite it's shoot rules, was a pro wrestling company and fans no longer saw Takada and his roster as the badasses he portrayed them as. Takada was pissed and challenged Gracie to a bout formally, not a wrestling match but an MMA contest. With UWFI all but dead, this major contest would take place in a new promotion led by Kakutougi Revolution Spirits, named PRIDE Fighting Championships. The first PRIDE event, which saw Gracie defeat Takada, attracted over 47,000 to the legendary Tokyo Dome. Needless to say it was a huge success and spawned more shows. The team behind PRIDE would change and soon Dream Stage Entertainment was leading PRIDE and would take PRIDE into the stratosphere along with a former wrestler named Kazushi Sakuraba who became an icon in Japanese MMA for an amazing string of victories over members of the Gracie family. PRIDE was now the talk of Japan and the MMA world.
For nearly a decade PRIDE became the place to be if you were the best in MMA. PRIDE's amazing production values made every fight have a HUGE fight feel and unlike the UFC utilized this production use to it's fullest extent. Names like Cro Cop, Silva, Nogueira, Henderson, Jackson and Emelianenko made up a tremendously stacked PRIDE roster. Even the UFC, which had a new lease on life thanks to new owners Dana White and The Fertitta Brothers and it's wildly successful "The Ultimate Fighter" reality show, got involved sending UFC Icon Chuck Liddell to PRIDE and engaged in major talks for a Wandelei Silva/Liddell fight. However, around this time PRIDE would have major troubles. It would lose it's biggest Japanese TV outlet in Fuji Network. Then a major scandal as Japanese tabloid Shukan Gendai published reports of major yakuza ties in DSE. PRIDE was reeling as a result as DSE's office would soon enough close up for good. Rumors were spreading all over the world on what would become of PRIDE, with the most shocking, much like what ended up happening in the wrestling world years earlier, being the UFC was the leading contender to buy PRIDE.
However, this would not happen and the course of MMA history would change forever and PRIDE as we once knew it would end with a feud....