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Report: PRIDE to have two US executives

By Zach Arnold | April 16, 2007

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By Zach Arnold

First, a quick PRIDE-related sidenote (this news is dated as of 4/16): The next court hearing in the Fishman Companies vs. Dream Stage Entertainment Inc. lawsuit (Clark County, Nevada) is scheduled for May 17th at 9 AM. The discussion will center around the defendant’s motion to dismiss the case or a summary judgment. The main attorney for Fishman Companies is Todd Bice (this may be his information) and the main attorney for DSE Inc. is Patrick Reilly (this may be his information).

Nikkan Sports reports that Zuffa LLC will name two American executives to run management for the ‘shinsei’ (newborn) PRIDE organization. The expectation is that the two executives will come from UFC and will arrive in Japan at the end of April.

On IBJ Cafe, writer Tarzan Yamamoto wrote a rather incendiary column about Zuffa postponing the PRIDE 5/20 Saitama Super Arena show. I call the column incendiary because it’s the typical Japanese media spin that anyone could have predicted would be coming once Zuffa took over ownership. Expect more of these tactics from Japanese MMA writers, as they will try to make the image of PRIDE out to be more and more foreign as opposed to a Japanese product.

In the column, Yamamoto said that the 5/20 Saitama show being postponed confirmed his bad feelings that he had going into the PRIDE asset sale. He claims that with PRIDE under foreign ownership, the priority is profit-driven first and not with providing a Japanese-style human touch like DSE did. Yamamoto claimed that the ‘new’ PRIDE will be operated like a foreign company, with the bottom-line being the only thing that matters — which is why the 5/20 Saitama Super Arena show was postponed.

Topics: Japan, Media, MMA, PRIDE, UFC, Zach Arnold | 12 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

12 Responses to “Report: PRIDE to have two US executives”

  1. John Griffin says:

    I have a bad feeling about this. Two US ex-UFC executives will not be endearing to the Japanese public. What happened to the talk of getting a guy from Japanese TV to head up the company?

    And Yamamoto’s comments are ridiculous. Zuffa\UFC\Pride are businesses and they need to make money to stay alive. Pride were bought because they were losing too much money!

  2. white ninja says:

    well, if you were zuffa would you trust ex DSE or hand picked DSE guys to run the new company? now come on, they cant be that silly

    and however said that the media needed to be reasonable – this is just part of building the legend of PRIDE while making sure that the foreigners dont make any money

    its going to be a disaster

  3. iain says:

    White ninja. With the energy you expend on playa hating you could have at least gotten to purple belt in BJJ , re shingled your roof and reduced green house gas emission in your community. Brother, stop quenching you thirst with hateorade and do something positive with your life!

    But apart from that Barnett is right, Pride is dead 🙁

  4. Liger05 says:

    Pride is dead. Anyone who thinks Pride is going to rise from the grave to glory is crazy. This is UFC Japan, simple as that.

  5. TorontoMike says:

    “Expect more of these tactics from Japanese MMA writers, as they will try to make the image of PRIDE out to be more and more foreign as opposed to a Japanese product.”

    LOL… isn’t that exactly what’s happening??? Let’s condemn the MMA journalists for reporting the truth??? That’s a weird comment.

  6. Stu says:

    Anyone who thinks Pride is going to rise from the grave to glory is crazy.

    Funny, the same thing was said about UFC a couple of years ago.

  7. Kev says:

    :Let’s condemn the MMA journalists for reporting the truth??? That’s a weird comment.

    The truth is that PRIDE has no business existing in the first place, and the folks that killed them are their own countrymen. Japanese writers should be thanking their lucky stars or whatever they like to thank that they don’t have a K-1 monopoly. Instead, they’re fretting about gaijins and back-patting themselves for tarring and feathering Akiyama–xenophobia anyone?

  8. GassedOut says:

    This is UFC Japan, simple as that.

    I’m not sure anyone should have expected otherwise, as sad as that amy be. I hate to say it, but that’s business. If it costs them a few lumps along the way, I don’t know we could stop that anyway.

  9. Grape Knee High says:

    What a bizarre move. Maybe what they’re planning is to make Takada the talking head, but just have these two Americans as the guys behing the curtain actually running things.

    On another note, anyone else notice that Dana said that PRIDE would have a “huge” US TV deal? I’m not sure whether to take him seriously or not.

  10. Zach Arnold says:

    LOL… isn’t that exactly what’s happening??? Let’s condemn the MMA journalists for reporting the truth??? That’s a weird comment.

    The Japanese writers are not telling the truth for the sake of the truth. They’re playing the old “evil gaijin invading our territory” card, the same political spin that has been prevalent in the Japanese fight game since Yoshio Kodama and Rikidozan in the 1950s. It’s 2007, not 1950 anymore.

  11. jason says:

    People close to the japanese side of things, tell me that a lot of the japanese employes of the new “pride world wide” have put in their “2 weeks”

  12. Zetsurin says:

    I’m an American and I lived in Japan for 9 years. I currently work for a Japanese company in Bangkok. I know Japan and management culture.

    Putting two gaijin (American) executives to direct Pride in Japan is a massive mistake. They won’t understand the culture or what the fans want. HUGE mistake that may doom the whole event.

    I agree though 100% with Zach, Japanese are paranoid and still play the “gaijin invading our territory” card and this works there. Best is to put a Japanese in charge who is advised by an American behind the scenes.

  13. […] Last Monday, the next court-approved meeting for the Fishman Companies vs. DSE Inc. was originally set for May 17th at 9 AM PST in Clark County (Las Vegas), Nevada. However, there is a new court hearing scheduled for Wednesday, April 25th at 9:30 AM PST. […]

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