After revitalizing the struggling Ultimate Fighting Championship, and as a result lifting the sport of mixed martial arts world wide, Lorenzo Fertitta, a Station Casinos magnate alongside his older brother Frank, confirmed the purchase of the PRIDE Fighting Championships from Dream Stage Entertainment Tuesday in Tokyo.
DSE and PRIDE CEO Nobuyuki Sakaibara also announced that as part of the agreement he would resign effective April 8, following PRIDE 34 at the Saitama Super Arena.
Joined by UFC president Dana White and the company's matchmaker Joe Silva at the Roppongi Hills Arena, Fertitta discussed the creation of a mixed martial arts commission for which he would act as president.
PRIDE will run autonomously under the umbrella of Zuffa, which the Feritta brothers and Dana White created in 2000 when they purchased the UFC. "We have been talking to Pride for probably about 11 months," said Lorenzo Fertitta, according to an Associated Press report. "It's been a long, drawn out process but we finally we were able to put the two brands together."
Fertitta spoke of making mixed martial art equivalent to global sports such as baseball and soccer. "This is really going to change the face of MMA," Fertitta said. "Literally creating a sport that could be as big around the world as soccer. I liken it somewhat to when the NFC and AFC came together to create the NFL."
The NFL's Super Bowl came as a result of the NFC-AFC merger, and Fertitta envisions "Super Bowl" type cards between UFC and PRIDE fighters, including Randy Couture (Pictures), Tim Sylvia (Pictures), Chuck Liddell (Pictures), Matt Hughes (Pictures), Diego Sanchez (Pictures), B.J. Penn (Pictures) facing PRIDE stars such as Fedor Emelianenko (Pictures), Wanderlei Silva (Pictures), Mauricio Rua (Pictures), Dan Henderson (Pictures), Shinya Aoki (Pictures), Tatsuya Kawajiri (Pictures), Takanori Gomi (Pictures) and Hayato Sakurai (Pictures).
"We will be able to literally put on the fights that everyone wants to see," the former Nevada State Athletic Commission member said. "It will allow us to put on some of the biggest fights ever."
UFC president Dana White made curt statements, suggesting other MMA promoters pale in comparison to what Zufffa now offers with UFC and PRIDE, as well as the much smaller WEC, under its umbrella. The aggressive UFC boss received a warm reaction before discussing potential dream fights between the organizations' champions and stars.
One of those men is Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic, who was responsible for the first real battle won between Zuffa and DSE when he defected to the American company earlier this year. During a taped message to the nearly 1,000 fans in attendance, the 2006 PRIDE Open-Weight Grand Prix champion said he wanted to come back to PRIDE and get a second crack at PRIDE champion Fedor Emelianenko (Pictures), widely regarded as the world's best heavyweight.
But before "Cro Cop" and Fedor face one another again, the first in-ring clash following the merger will feature Jeff Monson (Pictures) against Kazuyuki Fujita (Pictures), who step into the PRIDE ring on April 8. |
