Comments on: UFC vs. PRIDE 2

By: LiddellFan

LiddellFan — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 03:22:27 +0000

Lidell has a chance with Silva sure, but Lidell took a nasty beating from Rampage and Rampage took a nasty beating from Silva. -Armen Says

That means nothing, example: Forrest Griffins only KO loss is to Jeremy Horn by a kick to the head, yet Jeremy got tapped out in seconds by Elvis Sinosic who Forrest KO’ed in the first round. Any 2 fighters you put together will get different results reguardless of what hapened against someone else.
Also…Given those results, Silva has got to be the favorite plain and simple. -Armen Says

Under UFC Contract the champ is always the favorite and there cant be a pickem odds situation, even though I myself think Chuck has the worst of the matchup statisticaly, he’s still ,undoubtedly, the favorite.

By: FightOpinion.com - Your Global Connection to the Fight Industry.

FightOpinion.com - Your Global Connection to the Fight Industry. — Sat, 15 Jul 2006 03:30:36 +0000

[...] Let’s touch upon the claim made in the F4W newsletter regarding interpromotional scenarios with Japanese companies. As I touched upon in a previous posting, 1995 saw the biggest interpromotional feud of all-time in Japan as New Japan feuded against Nobuhiko Takada (ironically, the man who is the face of PRIDE right now) & UWF-International. The end result of that interpromotional war? New Japan made over $20 million USD on three Tokyo Dome shows, UWF-International got buried, and only Takada got protected somewhat. [...]

By: J.D.

J.D. — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 12:11:08 +0000

If UFC/Zuffa is planning on having 10 or 11 PPVs next year, as Sherdog reports, isn’t dipping into the Pride talent pool a no brainer? Looking at UFCs current talent pool, with all those PPVs plus all the TUFs finales, there certainly isn’t enough marketable match-ups to cover the whole year. UFC may not need Pride, but they DO need talent.

BTW, didn’t Tito already “kill the axe-murderer”???!!! haha!

By: fitch

fitch — Tue, 11 Jul 2006 19:41:05 +0000

Zach I fail to see how the UFC is “pushing” Pride in any way other than the unavoidable fact that Wand fights for them. If anything it looked to me like they did everything they could to continue the ban of the P word. White officially introduced him as “one of the most popular fighters in Japan”. It would be pretty tough for Dana to negotiate with Pride in good faith with terms like “oh by the way, when Wand comes out he can’t wear anything with the Pride on it”.

I’m guessing the story here is Pride is subcontracting Wand to UFC to help build their brand in the USA on someone else’s dime and at the same time defend against K-1 from buying Silva.

What does the UFC get out of it? 1)A marketable legitimate non repeat contender for Liddell. Let’s be honest, saving the upset, at this point in time does anyone believe Chuck wouldn’t beat Babalu and Ortiz in similar dominating fashion? 2)A legitimate MMA mega fight to further the UFC brand name. 3)Possibly what could be considered the first MMA title unification fight. 4)If Chuck wins, bragging rights at being the world’s top organization. Though Pride is stacked at LHW, take out the top guy and you make all the rest look grade B.

By: John

John — Tue, 11 Jul 2006 03:23:03 +0000

I think this is great for the fans but in my opinion Pride has the better fighters overall. The UFC is raising up toung good American talent but the fight quality is not as good. Did you see whatSilva did to Leben? A 49 second destruction and Leben is supposed to be one of the young guys the UFC is building around. This could end up biting the UFC in the ass. Do es anyone think that Tim Silvia would stand a chance against Fedor? Hell no they shouldn’t even make that match.

By: MMA T-shirts

MMA T-shirts — Tue, 11 Jul 2006 01:55:21 +0000

So excited that I literally can’t even explain.

By: Armen

Armen — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 21:50:25 +0000

Lidell has a chance with Silva sure, but Lidell took a nasty beating from Rampage and Rampage took a nasty beating from Silva. If these fights were closer, I would say the results meant little to nothing. But there was no question who was dominant in both fights. Given those results, Silva has got to be the favorite plain and simple.

I think the trouble that PRIDE is having is being exaggerated and a bit overstated. They don’t have the TV deal like they used to but that’s like the UFC before the Spike deal. And who is to say they won’t have one again sometime soon. They are selling 45 ,000 plus tickets for each show in Japan, plus the PPV. Plus, they are moving in to the N.A. market where there is plenty of room to grow for them.

It really remains to be seen though what kind of deal this is and if it is a one-time cross-promotion or something more extensive. It would be interesting to see lots of cross-promotion fights in the future but I have trouble seeing how the stalwarts at the UFC would take that kind of “hit” to their brand.

By: UFC 61 Roundup at johng Blog

UFC 61 Roundup at johng Blog — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 11:59:50 +0000

[...] The one promising thing that did come out of the show was the promise of Liddell vs Silva if Chuck can get through Babalu next. Amazing dream match stuff it is but it brings up more questions than answers about Silva’s status with the UFC. FightOpinion has the best article on it I have seen. [...]

By: FightingMajor

FightingMajor — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 02:14:58 +0000

The one thing that would seem obvious to me is, UFC must be holding the much better cards. There is no way that Pride is in any kind of position of strength in this deal. Just look at the reaction Silva got by the live audience. It was a silence, as if to say who the heck is this guy. Pride fighters, while highly talented, are virtual unknowns to mainstrem N.A. fans. Why would UFC bring in and give Pride fighters recognition? UFC must have something good cooking, or this entire deal could be a big mistake for them.

As for Liddell-Silva, I bet this fight opens a pickem. I would certainly play Liddell at any kind of near even odds or as the dog. I think he is more likely to catch up to Silva with a bomb first and he may have the better chin. Liddell is also a better wrestler and could fall back to this, if needed (although I don’t think he would).

By: xianzhong

xianzhong — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 00:48:46 +0000

it’s especially weird to have UFC let Silva promote Pride like that after the last UFC where they did not mention at all of Royces fight record in Pride and they didn’t even show or mention Sakuraba, who was among the celebrities watching the event live in the crowds. They have acted for a long time as if Pride didn’t even exist…even when UFC got Jens Pulver back, he didn’t even mention the name Pride…it’s always in Japan or oversees…the only reasonable explaination is that both Pride and UFC are really pissed off/scared of the WFA for taking Rampage and other top and well known fighters and are hoping to take them out of commission.