Was Pride the most overrated organisation ever?

[Qays Stetkevich]

This thread again. You know, even though the overall skill level was lower in PRIDE compared to today's UFC, it was just so much more fun and chaotic.

This thread does indeed suck (every time), yet here we are.
My 2 cents are in agreement with you: People who actually watched full Pride cards and tournaments were treated to a level of Japanese entertainment (going way above-and-beyond simply the fights being made, which were also awesome). It was a full, exciting, big-budget show, every time. With great interviews, great walk-outs and songs, great announcing, great production quality, tournaments, soccer kicks, the ring (which I always prefer), ref-cam, and plenty of Japanese cultural absurdity that you just.don't.get. in the UFC. If this topic is brought up without haters acknowledging the above points, then it's just trolling/whiney ignorance.

 

[Perry Willits]

A lot of guys came to the UFC from Pride and were completely destroyed. Wanderlei, Cro Cop and many more. Fedor has a bad record fighting in the US. Unless you prove yourself in the UFC you never know who is legit. You can't take an organisation seriously where the referee wears an earpiece. Chael summed it up perfectly

I watched every Pride card! I always enjoyed them more than the UFC!

 

[Doug Money]

Bellator is very overrated. SF underrated. Dream underrated. Rizin overrated. Pride is rated just fine...LEGENDARY STATUS

 

[The Big Babou]

Fair assessment. It was definitely fun to watch, but lets stop acting like the pride guys were unstoppable

Except for this guy:

 

[Dirge]

Anderson Silva, Rampage Jackson, Dan Henderson, Shogun, Werdum, Overeem all had a lot of success stateside

What is the criteria for being a "Pride" fighter?

Should be a certain number of fights. Lot of guys had a few fights in Pride, doesn't necessarily make them "Pride" fighters.

Anderson Silva for example only had 5 fights in Pride. He also had 5 fights in Meca. So is he a Meca fighter? He also had 4 cage rage fights.

Anderson Silva more than anything was a UFC fighter because thats where he spent the majority of his career.

Hendo on the other hand had 18 UFC appearances and 18 Pride appearances

Shogun had 13 Pride fights and 22 current UFC fights

Overeem had 15 Pride appearances 19 current UFC fights

Werdum had 6 Pride appearances and 18 UFC fights

Rampage had 17 Pride matches and 13 UFC fights

I'd agree that Hendo, Oveerm, Shogun and Rampage were Pride fighters but Werdum and Silva not so much. They had more fights in orgs other than Pride and UFC.

 

[TheAmericanGazelle]

It's only overrated by those fans who go out of their way to not appreciate the UFC and the value it brought to (and continues to bring) to the table.

In terms of fighters, it's hard to argue against them having better LHW and HWs during the time both organizations were around and viable.

In terms of Pride fighters losing in the UFC, they generally did better than UFC fighters of the same era...but of course they aren't going to be peaking forever...it's fighting FFS. Father Time and Mother Nature never lose.

 

[BForrester]

It's only overrated by those fans who go out of their way to not appreciate the UFC and the value it brought to (and continues to bring) to the table.

In terms of fighters, it's hard to argue against them having better LHW and HWs during the time both organizations were around and viable.

In terms of Pride fighters losing in the UFC, they generally did better than UFC fighters of the same era...but of course they aren't going to be peaking forever...it's fighting FFS. Father Time and Mother Nature never lose.

Not sure about you, but $70 ppv with two fights of any significance isn't a "value" in my book.

 

[TheAmericanGazelle]

What is the criteria for being a "Pride" fighter?

Should be a certain number of fights. Lot of guys had a few fights in Pride, doesn't necessarily make them "Pride" fighters.

Anderson Silva for example only had 5 fights in Pride. He also had 5 fights in Meca. So is he a Meca fighter? He also had 4 cage rage fights.

Anderson Silva more than anything was a UFC fighter because thats where he spent the majority of his career.

Hendo on the other hand had 18 UFC appearances and 18 Pride appearances

Shogun had 13 Pride fights and 22 current UFC fights

Overeem had 15 Pride appearances 19 current UFC fights

Werdum had 6 Pride appearances and 18 UFC fights

Rampage had 17 Pride matches and 13 UFC fights

I'd agree that Hendo, Oveerm, Shogun and Rampage were Pride fighters but Werdum and Silva not so much. They had more fights in orgs other than Pride and UFC.

When people say "Pride fighter", they generally mean the fighters that were in (and had a meaningful number of fights in) Pride compared to the UFC when Pride and the UFC were directly competing against each other.

 

[TheAmericanGazelle]

Not sure about you, but $70 ppv with two fights of any significance isn't a "value" in my book.

Fortunately, the people who write the checks disagree.

The simple fact that the UFC is still around (including 12 years after Pride folded) and expanding the sport is a value.

You can pick at certain business practices and choices the UFC has made, but there is zero doubt the world of MMA is better because the UFC exists.

 

[BForrester]

Fortunately, the people who write the checks disagree.

The simple fact that the UFC is still around (including 12 years after Pride folded) and expanding the sport is a value.

You can pick at certain business practices and choices the UFC has made, but there is zero doubt the world of MMA is better because the UFC exists.

I used to be an enthusiastic MMA fan until the last 4 or 5 years, so I personally disagree.

 

[GaryEric]

wow this is original

 

[dutch18022]

A lot of guys came to the UFC from Pride and were completely destroyed. Wanderlei, Cro Cop and many more. Fedor has a bad record fighting in the US. Unless you prove yourself in the UFC you never know who is legit. You can't take an organisation seriously where the referee wears an earpiece. Chael summed it up perfectly

Depends on what weight class. Gsp was better than anybody in the world at his weight class (Pride and later SF , Penn was better, ufc had the small weight classes locked down. Middleweight and up was Pride. Middle Anderson and Henderson was better than Franklin. Pride Rampage, Henderson, was clear pick better than Liddell. and the Ufc heavyweight was trash anyways. Fedor and Nog isnt really in the conversation with Timmy

 

[rawknob]

Anderson Silva, Rampage Jackson, Dan Henderson, Shogun, Werdum, Overeem all had a lot of success stateside

both Nogueira brothers

 

[TankAbbott4Eva]

I’ve been rewatching since lockdown and yea it’s great. And I think I understand the Sakuraba hype now too.

 

[Shaddows]

A lot of guys came to the UFC from Pride and were completely destroyed. Wanderlei, Cro Cop and many more. Fedor has a bad record fighting in the US. Unless you prove yourself in the UFC you never know who is legit. You can't take an organisation seriously where the referee wears an earpiece. Chael summed it up perfectly

Sorry, but that's only on biased haters who've been proven wrong so many times, they (you) became a joke.
There are many factors why some fighters didn't have success in the UFC.
There are plenty more than proved they belong.
Your hate simply makes you biased and blind.

 

[rawknob]

A lot of guys came to the UFC from Pride and were completely destroyed. Wanderlei, Cro Cop and many more. Fedor has a bad record fighting in the US. Unless you prove yourself in the UFC you never know who is legit. You can't take an organisation seriously where the referee wears an earpiece. Chael summed it up perfectly

old video, 2015. he was 4-3 when this was made, 6-5 in the states as of current. Chael doesn't know dick sometimes.

 

[acannxr]

A lot of guys came to the UFC from Pride and were completely destroyed. Wanderlei, Cro Cop and many more. Fedor has a bad record fighting in the US. Unless you prove yourself in the UFC you never know who is legit. You can't take an organisation seriously where the referee wears an earpiece. Chael summed it up perfectly

Took you awhile to get your yellow belt and your trolling is far too amateurish.

 

[Dirge]

When people say "Pride fighter", they generally mean the fighters that were in (and had a meaningful number of fights in) Pride compared to the UFC when Pride and the UFC were directly competing against each other.

That was my point. What is the meaningful number? Silva went 3-2 in Pride and other than a win over Newton, didn't really demonstrate what he would later become. He's more known for being a highlight reel from a submission loss.

Werdum went 5-1 in Pride but his only notable win was over Overeerm.

 

[rex kramer]

You can pick at certain business practices and choices the UFC has made, but there is zero doubt the world of MMA is better because the UFC exists.

I'd disagree with that. The UFC built the sport up, and back when they were doing that, they were great. But in hindsight, they were only so great back then because they had real competition. Once their competition folded or were bought out by the UFC, the UFC has done nothing but sold us watered down cards at inflated prices. Oh they also oversaturated the market and flooded it with so many mid to low tier fights that most casuals these days don't give a crap about mma and can't name more than 5 active fighters in the whole sport.

 

[mmacrisis]

Pride was bought when the majority of their talent was already beat up with all the tournaments.