Was Pride the most overrated organisation ever?

Comments like this signal that times are changing hardcore fans we are getting older, more tired, while younger fans are getting dumber I never thought I would read someone calling Pride “overrated”

That kind of comment has been around for years, the issue is the UFC promotes a very brand centric view of the sport and some viewers are essentially fans of that brand far more than they are MMA.

Makes perfect sense really as such fans are much easier to control and empty their pockets with sub standard product.

Its also a lot of the reason why MMA hasnt evolved as it should have over the last decade despite the massive amounts of money coming in, a large part of the fanbase will buy it when Dana tells them Derrick Lewis is a more evolved fighter than Fedor. No need to invest in talent if you can sell anything to the fanbase, invest as little as possible and pocket the rest,
 
PRIDE is completely overrated on Sherdog. But, viewed through a historical lens, it revolutionized MMA in many ways. PRIDE was the early days of MMA and shouldn't be compared to current MMA in terms of fighter skill, drug testing, legit competition, etc.. But, the presentation of events and how they treated their fighters was great.

Jarl
Where's the legit competition in the current UFC MW division?

Nobody denies that there were freak show fights in Pride. Those fight helped paying for the great fights and overall productions. Just compare the production values of a Pride show to the UFC.

This is worth $70.


A UFC card should not cost more than $7. A fair price for a low budget production.
 
For its time it was probably the strongest MMA promotion, competition wise. Especially at HW. And when it comes to spectacle and presentation its still yet to be topped. It had a larger than life feel and a great balance of legit stuff and freakshows.
 
Comments like this signal that times are changing hardcore fans we are getting older, more tired, while younger fans are getting dumber I never thought I would read someone calling Pride “overrated”
It's not that hardcore fans are getting older and more tired they've been dealing with threads like this one for years and are to lazy to make a counters to them. Younger fans have been making comments like this for years it's nothing new. If they wasn't around during that era all they got to go by is hearsay from ppl like Sonnen, Dana, and fighters records they find on the internet. They wasn't around to see Dana humble himself just so he could work with them just to try and show the UFC had fighter of the same caliber as Pride.
 
Where's the legit competition in the current UFC MW division?

Nobody denies that there were freak show fights in Pride. Those fight helped paying for the great fights and overall productions. Just compare the production values of a Pride show to the UFC.

This is worth $70.


A UFC card should not cost more than $7. A fair price for a low budget production.

Amazing!
 
Fixed fights, so yeah freak show and illegitimate organisation. UFC is so much better.
I know right? Fixed fights like Don Frye vs Mark Hall 3 and Oleg Taktarov vs Anthony "Mad Dog" Macias would have never happened in the UFC. Wait... <31>

Seriously, please name a PRIDE fight that was fixed (aside from Takada's 2 wins). Lots of people are happy to claim that PRIDE was full of fixed fights, but when asked for specific bouts, they log out...
 
I don't think this is a troll thread, I think new fans discover the sport and discovered PRIDE or these Conor McGregor fans decided to actually look at the history of the sport and then come to these ignorant conclusions, so I'm going to treat it as if it's serious. Plus, even if it's not, a lot of people genuinely believe this shit. So yeah.

Your ignorant and flawed logic makes no sense because PRIDE was the #1 organization in MMA at the time. The modern-day equivalent of this, even though it was more neck and neck back then and the difference between #1 and #2 is drastic nowadays, would be like saying "unless the UFC guys prove themselves in Bellator, you never know who's legit" ... which sounds fucking ridiculous.

A lot of fighters from PRIDE were put in an extremely challenging situation that will likely never be replicated again in the history of the sport. They spent their fighting prime fighting in PRIDE, PRIDE got bought out by the UFC with fresh and young and new top fighters, so the PRIDE guys get to the UFC and are expected to be just as good as they were in PRIDE... completely different organization, completely different environment, completely different rules as well. You're asking a lot of these guys.

Let's take Cro Cop as the prime example because he probably had it the worst. He came to MMA straight from K1, and on the back of a lengthy amateur career, kickboxing career and fighting in PRIDE, he came to the UFC, the new top org (because they bought out the old top org) in a new country and environment with fresh young fighters, new rules... a drastic change. He fought his entire career in a ring, which was the combat sports standard until the UFC came along. His entire fighting style, everything he did in a fight, his movement, his footwork, his angles... everything was based on cutting his opponents off in a ring. You could see it in his fights and his style. Just WATCH THE FIGHTS, they speak for themselves.

People bring up the Gonzaga loss, but let's look at his UFC debut against Eddie Sanchez instead. Even that Cro Cop is absolutely not the same fighter who fought in PRIDE. He didn't know how to fight in a cage and it was very clear. His entire style was rendered null. Eddie Sanchez was a cool fighter, brawler type, had a lot of fun fights but he was not very technical or a top-level guy by any means. But the way Cro Cop fought in that fight was just off. The way he was just following Sanchez around the cage (clearly because he didn't know how to cut him off in a cage) ... it was very bizarre, and the commentators even mentioned it on the broadcast. He got away with it because Sanchez wasn't very technical or high level. The way he followed him around was really not indicative of a high-level striker. It looked very amateurish. Despite dominating the fight, Cro Cop did not look the same. It was very clear.

Some people will say well everyone he fought in PRIDE just sucked and guys like Gonzaga and Kongo were just better than everyone he fought, that's why he lost... which is dumb. The guy was just coming off wins over Josh Barnett, who I'd consider better than both of those guys and a heavier Wanderlei Silva. Hell, even fights he lost against fighters clearly superior to those guys... Big Nog, Fedor. Or against Heath Herring, who beat Kongo in the UFC. Look at him in those fights. He is clearly not the same fighter in the UFC and it had little to do with the competition. Just watch the fights.

The top org being dissolved into an org in a completely different location, fighting environment, and with completely different rules..... this will likely never happen again. If RIZIN randomly became #1 and bought out the UFC, they wouldn't have the fighters or established roster that the UFC had at the time, but I guarantee you this, a lot of top guys in the UFC would look a lot different fighting in RIZIN, even if it's UFC fighter against UFC fighter. What if Bellator started rivaling the UFC with their roster and it was actually a close race... became #1, bought out the UFC and all their fighters, and decided to move all their fights to China and host them in sumo rings, change some rules up too. You think everyone in the UFC would look just as good? No, that shit fucks with a ton of guy's styles and everything they've been training and learned over the years. So yeah, I think those guys deserve a lot of credit honestly. A lot of them spent their entire primes in PRIDE, and then were asked to jump ship against a new wave of top fighters. Not easy.

PRIDE might be overrated in that some people claim that certain fighters who aren't too great are great (not the legends or the guys that went to the UFC) and that Fedor is still the GOAT and a god and whatnot... in that sense, sure, you can say that. The people that think Fedor is god are just as stupid as the PRIDE haters to me. I'm just objective about this shit.

But yeah, no, for the most part, it wasn't overrated and younger or newer fans should respect it and the legends of the sport rather than hate on them. I never really understood that, like what is there to hate about guys like Wanderlei Silva and Mirko Cro Cop? Seriously lmao... do you even like fighting? But idk, live your lives, I guess.
 
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Pride was way more exciting and worth watching than the UFC will ever be.
I can go on and on about the better rules for fighting, 10 minute first rounds, paying their fighters what they're worth, etc. but nostalgic UFC fanboys will never have the knowledge or mindset to understand this. You all missed out on the Golden era of MMA - I feel sorry for you. Nowadays is a joke run by money hungry savages. OneFC events in the Philippines are even more exciting than UFC events sometimes.

It's a darn shame that Sakakibara had to sell out Pride to Dana and the Fertittas. They could have made it a lot more better than what it is today.
 
Pride was way more exciting and worth watching than the UFC will ever be.
I can go on and on about the better rules for fighting, 10 minute first rounds, paying their fighters what they're worth, etc. but nostalgic UFC fanboys will never have the knowledge or mindset to understand this. You all missed out on the Golden era of MMA - I feel sorry for you. Nowadays is a joke run by money hungry savages. OneFC events in the Philippines are even more exciting than UFC events sometimes.

It's a darn shame that Sakakibara had to sell out Pride to Dana and the Fertittas. They could have made it a lot more better than what it is today.
Oh and Chael P Sonnen and GSP woulda got their asses knocked out if they ever stepped into the Pride ring imo.
10 minute first rounds and rules not catered to wrestlers- knees and kicks to the head of grounded opponents was no joke fool.
 
Where's the legit competition in the current UFC MW division?

Nobody denies that there were freak show fights in Pride. Those fight helped paying for the great fights and overall productions. Just compare the production values of a Pride show to the UFC.

This is worth $70.


A UFC card should not cost more than $7. A fair price for a low budget production.




This is because Pride loved their fans. They promoted their fighters to be larger than life. UFC promotes the UFC and that's it.


Watching Pride events on video, years later, is still very entertaining but it was amazing to watch them live back in the day.
 
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Pride was and always will be the best organisation that MMA ever had.

Talent wise, the sport was only ten years old or so when pride was doing events. The talent in Pride at that time was better than in it was in the UFC, especially at LHW and HW.

They also had a lot of the best talent that came over from the UFC, eg. Barnett, Dan Henderson.. the list goes on and on.

Pride put on spectacle events, where the UFC marketed itself in a trashy fashion, kind of like porn or something..

Agree totally! Pride had the magic to have you instantly interested in someone you never heard of before.
 
Fedors win streak wasn't as impressive as its made out to be. Half of them were Japanese no names
Everyone starts off fight no names, you don't start fighting named fighter until you yourself are one. So the same can be said for everyone. The difference fighters like Silva and McGregor lost to no names.
 
i've now realized that this sport is old enough, to where brand new fans have absolutely no idea about pride lol. there is no point in arguing back and forth about it. if you weren't around during that time, there is no way to convince you of it's importance and how top notch it was at the time.
 
TS has 1 like in 8 pages.

I believe the consensus here is that he is a clown.

You have no historical context here at all.
 
Fedors win streak wasn't as impressive as its made out to be. Half of them were Japanese no names

not to argue but give a list of UFC guys in the same era with superior records against better competition.

Sylvia? Arlovski? Ricco Fatburger Rodriguez?

maybe Couture but that’s about it.
 
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Seems to be a bit of noobage going on in here.
 
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