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Frank Trigg talks about the PRIDE asset sale
By Zach Arnold | May 11, 2007
By Zach Arnold
Related link (Lay and Pray): Trigg – UFC Probably Won’t Own PRIDE, plus Japanese translation of post at GAME AND MMA and NHB News
A summary of some of the comments he made on an internet radio show on Friday morning US time (time mark starts at 23:30 and ends around the 31 minute mark).
- Not only is the deal between PRIDE & UFC not done yet (7-10 days away from being done), ‘it more than likely might not ever be done.’ Trigg claims that he thinks the deal will fall apart because he doesn’t think PRIDE was honest and up front in presenting all of their company information to the Fertitta Brothers. Trigg didn’t use the term due diligence, but he was alluding to it (he made a comparison to someone buying a house and using an inspector before a purchase). He compared the PRIDE asset deal situation to digging deeper into layers of an onion, finding out that the further you dig deeper the more you find out that not everything is what it was presented to be.
- He issued a bunch of qualifiers (said it was all conjecture, all rumor, not 100% positive on ‘any of this stuff’), but elaborated that big business deals like this are sensitive, just like the UFC/HBO deal which isn’t quite done yet. He said there are some things out there right now that if they are not arranged favorably for Zuffa in the 24-48 hours, the deal will be off. Trigg said that If even half of what he is hearing in bits and pieces is true, it’s a smart move for UFC to dump the deal.
- Regarding the differences between dealing with Americans and Japanese on business matters… Americans are in your face (here’s what I want, here’s what I’ll pay, here is what I expect) and get upset if things aren’t straight. The Japanese say yes, yes, yes to your face, but when they walk away they know that didn’t mean everything they are saying. It’s very weird to deal with them, but they (Japanese) are fierce negotiators and it’s frustrating for an American to get a direct answer.
- Trigg said that he was led to believe (while working for PRIDE) that UFC was never going to purchase PRIDE, and that blanket denials were issued multiple times until they finally admitted that it was UFC wanting to buy the PRIDE assets. He said they were told that the reports of them being in debt weren’t true, but then he found out that they were.
Cross References
- May 8th – Source: PRIDE assets allegedly not sold to UFC – yet
- April 27th – Exclusive: Big names listed for Fishman deposition
- March 30th – Saturday side suplex: Contracts not assignable for you! (touching upon the issue of PRIDE fighter contracts)
- March 27th – Wacky Wednesday: Zuffa takes over the world (touching upon the issue of due diligence)
- March 20th – Fishman Companies vs. DSE Inc.
Topics: Japan, Media, MMA, PRIDE, UFC, Zach Arnold | 25 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
FightOpinion.com rules.
You’ve got to take Trigg’s comments with a grain of salt. Trigg loves broadcasting, and he knows that as long as the Fertittas own PRIDE, Trigg won’t be able to get near a broadcast booth for PRIDE shows. He’s been professional about it, but you know there have got to be bitter feelings toward the UFC mgmt. from Trigg.
No matter what happens with the Fertittas’ interest in PRIDE, it’s a guarantee that Sakakibara and DSE will never control PRIDE again. The look on Sak’s face at the sale ceremony said it all. Sak is done.
I understand your sentiments about Trigg (and agree with most of the assertions). I wanted to make sure to do a write-up on it because Trigg’s comments were already gaining traction on various MMA boards and people were wondering what his comments really were.
Great coverage Zach, keep it up.
I wanted to make sure to do a write-up on it because Trigg’s comments were already gaining traction on various MMA boards and people were wondering what his comments really were.
I agree with the move, we’ll see what happens.
[…] Zach Arnold, over at FightOpinion.com, digs into the current status of the Zuffa – Dream Stage Entertainment sale of PrideFC. […]
How is Frank Trigg privy to all of this inside knowledge and no one else has reported it. I understand that Trigg is a fighter and worked as a broadcaster, but I guess I am wanting to know if anyone else close to Pride or that is familiar with the Pride deal can back any of this up. Also, I agree with the first poster’s sentiments.
Also, and I am serious about this, has anyone heard anything recent about Jerry (Gary) Millen?
I suspect Millen reads the major MMA sites and boards – just a hunch. 🙂
Is he still associated with Pride at all?
I know I’ve given you shit before about all this due dilligence stuff. If this turns out to be true, I’ll be the first to acknowledge you were right. Nonetheless, I would like to believe this is just Trigg talking and I don’t think he has access to any insider information regarding the Zuffa-Pride talks. Plus, he’s clearly in sour grapes mode after being dismissed by Zuffa.
The other thing that bothers me is that the official announcement portrayed the whole thing as a done deal and it was reported as such by the AP and other mainstream outlets who even went as far as to talk about the amount of money involved in the operation. It’s true that the whole thing could still fall apart, but it would nevertheless be unusual. Although these things happen, it’s not the norm for serious companies to trumpet a merger or an acquisition through the press and then back out of the deal and make fools of themselves. It doesn’t make them look good or responsible in the eyes of current and prospective partners, sponsors, etc.
Some people are seeing this as the equivalent of the aborted Wanderlei Silva-Chuck Liddell fight but I don’t think so. That announcement might have been precipitated and it certainly won’t be the last bout to fall through for undisclosed reasons, but this operation has much more at stake.
AB – I’d echo your sentiments on the UFC/DSE press conf. at Roppongi Hills Arena, but the reality is that we’ve seen Dana flaunt a lot of hot air and little substance on big deals in the last year.
If UFC backs out, they killed PRIDE without paying a cent. And Dana White got to smile on stage while his rival (Sakakibara) was a wreck. My opinion — I don’t suspect he would regret backing out of the deal now.
Half of the Pride fighters will be forced to go to the UFC, even if the deal falls through. No other organization can pay a large number of fighters as high of wages as Zuffa can. The IFL is financially going down hill. Pro Elite has never turned a profit. K-1 honestly is more worried about kickboxing. And their US show is going to fail.
Guys like Noguiera are already signed with Zuffa. Rua has signed. Even if the deal doesn’t go through, Zuffa got their clamps on the most valuable asset, and that is the fighters. They might not get them all, but enough to make the rest aware that you have to be with Zuffa to be in the big leagues.
Also, I don’t trust everythin Trigg says. He made statements about the merger before the press conference, and half of it was BS.
I don’t see how the “Trigg dislikes the UFC” angle can be played here. If anything, his comments were very anti Pride.
– Americans (aka UFC) were upfront. Pride was hiding skeletons in their closet.
– Pride had mislead him in the past on their debt status and the status of a UFC/Pride merger.
45 Huddle….where is it printed that Rua is signed to a deal with the UFC? I have not seen it anywhere.
Considering May 1st was the date it was all supposed to happen I dont see it as a surprise that maybe things aint going to well.
Zuffa is not buying PrideFC for the BILLIONTH TIME. A new corporation, Pride World Wide, LLC is purchasing the assets of PrideFC from DSE.
As for Trigg, he knows nothing. Conjecture is just that – conjecture. Trigg is screaming for relevancy now. Even if he did hear rumblings of problems with the deal, it doesn’t mean it’s going to fall through.
Just sit back, enjoy the next few PPVs and let this all shake out. And no matter what, ignore Frank Trigg.
Mauricio Rua being signed was reported a while back. I now ufcjunkie.com had a story about it. Recently, Josh Gross talked about it (and confirmed a new contract) on Beatdown.
I was also reported that Silva was offered a similar contract, and turned it down.
The rumor about Shogun way back before the PRIDE deal was announced was that he signed a 2-fight pride, 2-fight UFC deal. To date, I have never seen any confirmation on that deal, and I believe Shogun denied it, saying it was a PRIDE deal all the way.
This deal was always win-win for the UFC. If PRIDE is worth the money they pay it, if its not, they just publicly neutered the competition. A great business move.
Dana has denied that Mauricio has signed any deal with the UFC.
If the sale of Pride falls apart they’re done for, so Pride will just be screwing themselves.
Honestly, if they can just get their hands on Pride’s video library, I’ll be happy.
Then they can sign whatever fighters they want to individual contracts one by one…
That’s an interesting question you bring up on the video library — the natural assumption was that DSE owned rights to their own footage, but what if it turns up that they don’t own all the rights and Fuji TV owns some or all of the rights?
Good work on this Zach
How many times do you have to be right before some of the so-called MMA media start to do their job
Other than you, what is described as the “mma media”, in Japan, and in the US is an absolute disgrace and a bunch of date lickers for Dana White and Sakakiyakuza
I for one am rolling around laughing at how Sakakiyakuza has been placed for an idiot by Dana White
That’s a great point, Zach.
If Fuji owns some or all of the rights, I think the chances of them selling would be pretty high, no?
I mean, if they wanted to distance themselves from Pride enough to drop their TV deal, I don’t think they would want to hang on to the video library and try to make money of that…
I’m just a huge fan of most of WWE’s career-spanning sets (Flair, Rhodes, Hart, etc.) and while most of the fighters that would warrant that sort of treatment (Ortiz, Liddell, Couture, Silva) had have most of their fights in one organization or the other, career-spanning retros on MMA fighters would be awesome.
Fuji TV owns TV broadcast rights for all PRIDE events
However, this does not extend to DVD, video or PPV sales- so since UFC is mainly a PPV business, this shouldnt be a problem for them – but if they want to try to get another japanese TV broadcaster, it makes the deal less attractive
Fuji TV will not sell its right to any other Japanese tv station – this just doesnt happen in japan