Why PRIDE is the greatest thing in MMA history.

[sforza]

The presentation makes UFC look pathetic

Every pride event felt like you were witnesing something epic
99% of ufc events are generic copy paste snorefests

This 100%.

Pride was as much a show as it was a sporting event. UFC is just a sporting event.

 

[Okajima]

It's better now than it's ever been, and if you don't think so, that genuinely sucks. No shit talking. I wish you could enjoy today's sport as much as I do.

Sure, the talent is better, it's ten years since Pride folded. But it doesn't make the overall product better. Like I said, neither is better. People prefer one to the other, and I do it enjoy it today. I just enjoyed Pride much more.

 

[Magnum1978]

People just cling on to Proid because of nostalgia. The game is at a much higher level today with virtually all the top players under one umbrella.

Sorry, UFC is better.

Yeah I probably only think the original Star Wars trilogy was amazing because of nostalgia. I'm sure the the prequel movies were much better, newer with better special effects and all that but I'm probably just blinded by nostalgia and can't see it.

 

[BloodAxe793]

Sure, the talent is better, it's ten years since Pride folded. But it doesn't make the overall product better. Like I said, neither is better. People prefer one to the other, and I do it enjoy it today. I just enjoyed Pride much more.

I almost wouldn't say the talent is better. There may be more pure well round fighters in the ufc roster, but guys like the nogs, shogun, wandy, CC, and the GOAT fedor. Their skills are more than enough for today its just wars and for some age just caught up to them quick. I'd say even most of the guys in the ufc currently that are great would only be mediocre under pride rules.

With that I'd even say Pride rules and ring were far far above our current unified rules and cage. All the stalling and using the cage as basically a weapon to hold guys against escape subs is horrid. The yellow/red cards, knees to the ground, no elbows, judging the fight as a whole, and ring favors more intense fights. Unified favors grinder, stallers, point fighters (Hendricks of now) IMO.

Pride was something special as well. You knew when that song started and the lights flashed that something epic was about to be witnessed. Today they are all just copy and paste except for 189 that was meh in presentation terms. Also that horrid reebok thing but that's a whole different topic.

 

[Hans Gercmiov]

Yeah I only think the original Star Wars trilogy was great because of nostalgia. I'm sure the the prequel movies were much better, newer with better special effects and all that but I'm probably just blinded by nostalgia and can't see it.

Well, enjoy your roided up, freakshow Bushido DVDs from 2005.

Btw, the 1930's Scarface was way better, bro.

 

[Goodfella86]

I vote for PRIDE. IMO, PRIDE consistently put on the best shows from 2003-07. I bet at least 7 of my top 10 events are PRIDE events, and they went under 8.5 yrs ago. The whole production really just put it on another level too. Every event, especially Shockwave and the Final Conflict shows, was like the Kumite.

I can't post the video, but watch the intro video and parade of fighters for Final Conflict Absolute. I get chills thinking about how I felt that night.

 

[BloodAxe793]

Well, enjoy your roided up, freakshow Bushido DVDs from 2005.

Btw, the 1930's Scarface was way better, bro.

So every single ufc fighter is clean? Also unhealthy drastic weight cutting is much much better for the sport right?

 

[BloodAxe793]

I vote for PRIDE. IMO, PRIDE consistently put on the best shows from 1997-07. I bet at least 7 of my top 10 events are PRIDE events, and they went under 8.5 yrs ago.

fixed

 

[kikikhan]

People just cling on to Proid because of nostalgia. The game is at a much higher level today with virtually all the top players under one umbrella.

Sorry, UFC is better.

You don't understand what I wrote. Read it again until you understand it.

A hint:

When Anderson front kick KOed Vitor it was epic, when someone does it today, it's a copy and is never going to be as impressive.

Do you understand?

When the first guy tamed fire it was epic, when you create it today, using matches it's not epic at all

Try and understand.

 

[ItSaGiFt]

In terms of an Org I preferred PRIDE back when they had the GP's and NYE Cards. They just felt 'special' but in terms of talent overall (especially now) I'd say that the UFC is far and away the better Org.

PS: LOL at Leko being the No.1 PFP Kickboxer at that time... Not even close!

 

[Strikes Again]

They didn't always have the best, but damnit, it was fun.

 

[BloodAxe793]

You don't understand what I wrote. Read it again until you understand it.

A hint:

When Anderson front kick KOed Vitor it was epic, when someone does it today, it's a copy and is never going to be as impressive.

Do you understand?

When the first guy tamed fire it was epic, when you create it today, using matches it's not epic at all

Try and understand.

Blind hate of the UFC or blind love of the UFC blocks all vision and understanding.

 

[shinobimusashi]

Speaking as a hardcore fan.

There are things in history that are unique and can't be repeated. They happened at the right place at the right time. I consider Pride one of these things.

Pride brought in the most top MMA fighters at the time, which made it the top MMA competition. But this is not all they did.

PRIDE brought in many elite masters of most major martial arts (wrestlers, judokas, BJJ guys, ADCC guys, kickboxers, boxers, karatekas, sumos, street fighters, vale tudo, MMA champions...)and answered HUGE questions by pitting them against each other. When did the UFC have 2 olympic medalist judokas fighting each other at HW? When did they have an olympic gold medalist in greco-roman fighting a judo olympic gold medalist? These are huge fights in itself. But these fighters also crosstrained and helped develope MMA as a martial art by itself, because they showed what works and what doesn't.

They also brought in a huge number of famous pro wrestler with martial arts credentials. Americans got all crazy over 1 (Brock) and are anticipating the second one (Punk, who has no martial arts credentials BTW) in the UFC.

They showed the importance of elite wellroundedness and showed the talent that had it. PRIDE fighters showed what it means to be welrounded on an elite level. Pride top HWs showed the highest level of wellroundedness already. There has been no improvement since then. On the contrary. The HW division is dying.

FFS MMA community today shits on Ogawa vs Leko, but the f*cking fight had the Nr.1 kickboxer on the planet (who trained ground game for 2 years already) vs a judo legend (as well as a huge pro wrestling star in Japan) with years of MMA experience and was undefeated as well. Both were huge stars too.

It's like the UFC potentially bringing in Rico Verhoeven with 2 years of ground training (You know like they brought in Punk? Only that Leko was already trained and K-1 champion when he entered Pride and he started to fight right away) and pitted him vs Jang Sung-ho (Who was potentially a huge WWE star, with the potential 5-0 MMA record with potential MMA wins over Kongo and Khasan Baroyev).

The UFC would promote the sh*t out of this fight, yet ZUFFA zombies ridicule this fight.

FFS Ronda is hyped because of her bronze medal in the Olympics. She is popular too, because women MMA still has that freshness in it. There are still huge questions to be answered in WMMA. Which is exciting.

PRIDE was the true golden era of male MMA.

Now it's just male MMA, without any big questions and big surprises.

I wish the UFC used some money to bring in some olympians, world champions and WWE guys and try to get some top athletes.

FFS the alpha male division that is the HW division feels like recycling now.

Great post. Pride was my favorite for many years. It's only recently that I've learned to appreciate the history of Pride and where and how it came to be. I watched pro wrestling when I was a kid but I lost interest in it around the time I got into Pride so I never fully realized the full context of Pride and what it was. Over the past couple of years I've dug deep into the history of Pride and learned that the influence that the Japanese UWF wrestling promotion had on MMA is pretty substantial. Any Pride fans should check out some UWF, UWFI, Rings, and Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi. It ALL came from UWF. Pride essentially became what UWF would have been had it not died in 1990.

 

[Magnum1978]

Well, enjoy your roided up, freakshow Bushido DVDs from 2005.

Btw, the 1930's Scarface was way better, bro.

See that wasn't too hard, we can have differing opinions, bro

Don't be too defensive about today's UFC though bro, I still like it. Just not as much as I did Pride. The rules and scoring primarily. The rest was icing on the cake, but that's the point, each to their own...

You never know, you might look back at today's UFC is looked back up with nostalgia someday too

 

[MusterX]

People just cling on to Proid because of nostalgia. The game is at a much higher level today with virtually all the top players under one umbrella.

Sorry, UFC is better.

Not to mention Pride went bankrupt, didn't test for steroids, and fixed some fights. Overall it was a joke in terms of how sports operate. Fun to watch but not impressive by any means.

 

[BloodAxe793]

They didn't always have the best, but damnit, it was fun.

Mustache vs Mullet


(lets see if I remember how to embed pictures lol its been years)

 

[ilfirin]

Hear ye, hear ye.

 

[BloodAxe793]

Those who watched will NEVER forget!

 

[sky]

One of the things I've missed is how they pause and restart the match to move the fighters to the center of the ring. In the cage, fighters are constantly concerned about getting trapped against the cage and taken down, then smashed by GnP. In a PRIDE ring, the only real threat about getting cornered is if you get beaten on the standup. Restarting in the center of the ring and standing them up due to prolonged inactivity (excessive top control) made the fights a lot more entertaining.

 

[skold]

Pride didn't try to pretend that it was a major sport of any sort.