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I was high and saw this pic the other day and it blew me away. I thought to myself what a random and awesome picture and then thought about how it's a great representation of the greatest era in mixed martial arts ever and how dynamic the talent was in those days. The Japanese were brilliant promoters who cultivated a unique and diverse product which featured a great mix of professional sports, fighting skill and absolute spectacle entertainment. A much more dynamic model than what you see in the UFC today.
Semmy Schilt is 7'0 and looks tiny next to OG Bigfoot Silva who was like a Brazzo Andrei The Giant who did MMA. Where the hell did they find this guy? Semmy Schilt was a multi time K-1 HWGP champion. This man killed a man in sparring before. No cap. Absolute savage. People are hyped on Poatan but imagine if Semmy Schilt was around today and trained with Glover for 5 years. Hed certainly be better than guys like Volkov whos a top 5 HW today. It's crazy how Pride was able to land a K-1 level GIANT and a REAL GIANT who did MMA too.
Then you have FEDOR. The GOAT of MMA. The greatest HW fighter to ever live. Your favorite fighters favorite fighter. A HW who had a more complete arsenal of skills than 95% of HWs today- 20 years ago. Watching him in his prime mixing it up with strikes and judo throws to armlocks ever so seamlessly in front of 60,000 quietly clapping Japanese fans like he was a cyborg 20 years from the future was something you had to behold in the moment. It demonstrated the element of skill and evolution which was a part Pride's product.
Then you have Kevin Randleman. A D1 wrestling champion. One of the most athletic fighters you will ever see. An ex UFC champion who knocked out a prime Mirko Cro Cop with a left hook, threw Fedor 8 feet in the air in spectacular fashion and slammed him on his head, nearly killing him and also dominated a prime Bas Rutten in the UFC.
People say Randleman was small but look at his fucking head. He was an absolute CHAD who could kill a man with his bare hands and he was an insane attraction who fought to the death. Imagine this guy with today's coaching, sports science and approach to training and preparing for a fight. Imagine his best moments being shared on social media. He'd be viral and marketable af.
Then you have Heath Herring. The TEXAS CRAZY HORSE who was 6'5 250lbs and lived in Holland and trained at Golden Glory and sparred with Dutch Killers daily. He was well rounded and won 10 fights by submission and 10 fights by KO. He beat guys like Igor Vovchanchyn, Mark Kerr, Tom Erickson and went to war with Big Nog twice. He's only been submitted once in 45 fights and that was by Minotauro. Herring wasn't elite but you had to get through him to see a Fedor, a Minotauro, a Mirko or a Barnett. He was kind of like the Travis Browne of those days. Underrated fighter and athlete.
This picture illustrates how Pride had EVERYTHING: talent, athleticism, elite K1 strikers, well rounded mixed martial artists, scrappy gate keepers with legit skills and absolute spectacle FREAKSHOWS.
If you wanted elite talent, high level fighting skill and epic Grand Prix tournaments where guys had to fight multiple times in one night then they had that. If you wanted to be entertained they had Bobb Sapp and Andre The Giant like characters stomping on a 175lbs Japanese fighters head to kick off a card and get you juiced up. They wheeled out a 450lb Zuluzinho for Fedor to Zulu heem on New Years Eve just to see what it would look like and this was just a few months after Fedor beat Mirko.
If you wanted high level grapplers they had a slew of D1 and Olympic wrestlers, Olympic judo guys, Sambo guys and BJJ world champions to tickle your fancy. If you wanted the Takayama- Frye style dogfight they had that too.
Even the lower level fighters they had that were sent out to the ring to die as sacrificial lambs still had skills. Daiju Takase was a 170lb Japanese grappler who would be fighting at 145lbs today. He had a record of 7-13. Most fans today would assume he sucked but they fail to understand that he fought way out of his weight class and got smashed a lot because of that. This man submitted Anderson Silva when Silva was already an extremely high level fighter. I dont care what anyone says, guys like Takase were still more watchable than 90% of women's MMA.
Absolute Chads from all over the world and from all kinds of martial arts backgrounds, fighting in a heaven white ring with ocean blue gloves in front of 60,000 of the most intelligent and appreciative MMA fans in the world in 10 minute rounds with stomps and soccer kicks. No elbows because elbows are cheap and perfect for U FIGHT CHEAP but not PRIDE.
Pride didn't hide behind the facade of pretending that their product was strictly a professional sport. They had the purest elements of Profesional sports within their product and you could feel this when watching someone like Fedor, Shogun, Rampage, Mirko and many others fight but they also had other elements which diversified their product and made their events a dynamic blend of high level professional sports, a spectacle of insane entertainment and the old ULTRA VIOLENCE.
You can't put a fight like Big Nog vs a guy like Bobb Sapp in a bottle of "Professional sports" Sapp was a 375lb super athlete, juiced up on steroids. He beat Ernesto Hoost in K-1 and trained his grappling with Eric Paulson and Josh Barnett to prepare for Nogueira That fight was much more than just a "professional sport." It was a fight to the death.
Nog legit nearly died in that fight and came back to win by submission in triumphant fashion in front of 60,000 fans. No social media, no cheesy ass Dana White and Joe Rogan type chumps, no hype, no mainstream coverage. People knew about Pride because they wanted to know, not because they were forced to or because it was "cool" Dont get me wrong it WAS cool but not in a modern day cheesy hype way. It was cool because as a fan you had to seek it.
Was Pride better than the UFC of today? I dont know for sure, its subjective. It definitely wasnt a worse product IMO. Its up to the people to decide. It was different and unique and based on my criteria, it was a purer product in terms of atmosphere and MMA culture. For reference, in those days UFC was the Bellator of MMA but that doesn't mean they didn't have great talent too.
Id happily rather watch todays elite UFC fighters fighting in a heaven white ring while wearing ocean blue gloves in front of 60,000 fans with 10 minute rounds and the violence that comes with stomps and soccer kicks to the face of a downed opponent who is either half KOd or made a poor entry on a takedown and for this he must be punished. No pussy ass "hand on the mat" rule to reward cowards. No home field advantage for anyone except for Japanese fighters. Everyone had to make the JOURNEY to Japan and acclimate to the foreign environment. U FIGHT CHEAP is a good product too and they're great at what they do and they're great at telling THEIR story but their sotry will never be able to match the vibes of and the STORY of PRIDE.
The blend of talent, skill, violence, production and freakshow spectacle made it a more unique in my opinion. The scouting of Pride office built an impressive roster which was filled with skilled fighters and comic book like personalities.
This was pretty damn impressive considering it was 20+ years ago and because they probably had a small fraction of thefunding that U FIGHT CHEAP has today.
They also didn't have the benefit of social media to help their content go viral as easily as things go viral today to insta promote their product. Very impressive with all things considered.
RIP Pride-O
*wipes TEARS*
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