Of course, I’m hoping Zach’s second scenario is correct — that after hearing the outcry against changing PRIDE’s rules, that they’re now reconsidering. Unfortunately, I think this is pretty unlikely.

I think what is being lost in the translation here — or maybe it’s just wishful thinking on the part of the Japanese press — is that Dana does not want the UFC to come across as the “meddling foreigner” who immediately comes in and changes a core part of the PRIDE promotion (or namely, the rules).

So what Dana does is that he pretty clearly says “unified rules” out of one side of his mouth and “we’re not changing PRIDE” out of the other. This has served to confuse both fans and Japanese press. Intentionally, I think.

If you examine the line of questions/answers in the conference call transcript that Zach linked to a few days ago, it’s pretty obvious that when Dana says “PRIDE rules are not changing”, he means according to the PRIDE rules that were in effect in the US, which obviously were run under unified rules and not PRIDE Japan rules.

I do feel he is obfuscating intentionally to soothe any potential anti-Gaijin sentiment that might (or will) come with rule changes.

In regards to Hustle, I heard that Hustle was going to be operated ‘independently’ although they have continued angles in the press at the DSE offices… which would indicate to me that not a lot has changed. I know they are going forth with their May event schedule.

Of course, he’s also been clear that he wants knees on the ground reintroduced in the U.S. Maybe that’s what he was talking about, and this is just the result of a translation error.

i.e. “Josh Barnett is a marketable fighter in the US”

It was worth staying up until 4 a.m. to watch.