Report: Fertitta-DSE deal regarding PRIDE still on

by MMAmania.com on Mar 21, 2007 5:10 PM EDT in UFC News

Despite claims to the contrary, Sherdog.com is sticking to its guns that not only have the Fertitta brothers — majority owners of Zuffa — reached an agreement with Dream Stage Entertainment (DSE) — the company that owns PRIDE FC — to purchase the Japanese mixed martial arts promotion, but an announcement could come soon.

Here's a snip:

"... sources continue to suggest the sale is imminent, going so far as to say an announcement could come a week from Tuesday."

Reports that an announcement was expected today, which we posted here, were incorrect.

PRIDE FC officials have done their best in recent months, weeks and days to dismiss this monster rumor as just that, a monster rumor.

However, several reputable sources — all of which are in the know — are reporting, essentially, the same news.

In fact, PRIDE FC USA President Ed Fishman, who today filed a $10 million lawsuit against DSE for breach of contract, confirms in the article that the $65 million figure is "similar to what he offered to control" the organization.

One major concern, according to the sources, are "sub-standard" PRIDE fighter contracts, which could make them instant free agents.

But, as MadSquabbles correctly points out, "Yeah, and go where?"

And, that could prove to be a major issue for fighters if this deal is ever consummated. With possession of the two superpower MMA promotions, the Zuffa boys would wield tremendous power and influence over how much fighters get paid, among other things.

We're not going to go there just yet. For all we know, this is one major snowjob on the part of PRIDE CEO Nobuyuki Sakakibara and his cronies.

Having said that, this story, which would be the biggest in the relatively short history of the sport to date, is constantly developing. Therefore, I just want to apologize for the conflicting reports.

I'm on the rollercoaster, too, trying to keep an open mind.

Even though it's hard not to trust these statements.

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Comments

Thanks for this update. I must say I agree with the concerns of giving Zuffa too much power. There are already fighters at UFC events that get paid $4.000 – $6.000 per fight in which they could get seriously injured. For example Frank Edgar in UFC67, who got $3000 to show against Tyson Griffin (did anyone else thought the UFC ruined his career with such a matchup?).

Once there is no alternative promotion to (threat to) go to, the newcomers will be paid even less. The popular and top-notch fighters will always get by with ads and whatsoever. Its a bit of a scary scenario from a fighter perspective.

by YouTapped on Mar 21, 2007 5:58 PM EDT reply actions

Ok, I have a question…does K-1 pay that bad that everybody thinks that Zuffa would be able to pay chump change to its fighters? Didn’t Excite or whatever that one is called just offer a million bucks to Vera, who isn’t yet an A level fighter? (or at least he hasn’t proved he is). There are tons of other organizations…and any who want to compete with Zuffa will have to offer pretty hefty salaries to pull talent their way…which means Zuffa will have to offer competitive salaries to keep them.

Right?

by Vox on Mar 21, 2007 6:35 PM EDT reply actions

This deal seems to be IMO imperative for MMA fans. The UFC and PFC have a handfull of amazing and popular fighters. But, as it stands their class of fighters is light of late because of just that. who can challenge Chuck in the UFC right now? honestly, no one. Now who can challenge chuck right now if any fighter from either organization could fight him? I can think of a few. My point being this deal would only strengthen each and every fight card and provide much more competative match ups. The depth in each division of both of these organizations is dwindling in comparison to the absolute dominant champions. If they merge, I can’t think of a PPV card that wont make MMA fans drool for a long time. Please say it so, Please.

by SoCalMMA on Mar 21, 2007 7:01 PM EDT reply actions

If Zuffa lowers the salaries of fighters then MMA would be over. These guys train full time and only fight 4 or 5 times a year, so the dont have time to get another job to pay for bills. Look at other sports salaries compared to MMA fighters, its a joke. Over here in the uk there’s a football(soccer) player called Wayne Roonie who gets Ã‚Â£90k a week for kicking a ball a pitch and that dosen’t include sponcers. MMA is a really dangerous sport to compete in and these guys risk their bodies for pennies. I think the salaries need to raise just incase the fighters get injured so they have something to fall back on.

by jason bang on Mar 21, 2007 9:36 PM EDT reply actions

i’m gonna come out and say it right now. i am not overly impressed by ANY pride fighter. fedor is the one i would give the most respect to but other than that sorry. everyone kept name dropping pride fighters whenever a pride v ufc post was made so i started researching, watching fights etc and im not impressed. like people say shogun rua would be the end of chuck and i dont think so at all. people say takanori gomi is the best lightweight in the world, yet bj penn and nick diaz embaressed him. they say chuck cant handle rampage, well he handled couture, one of the best wrestlers in mma, tito the big ground and pound guy(which is rampage’s area) and countless others. basically i see pride as the underdeveloped and early stages of the ufc. when all the fights are just brawls and those with skill in one area get big. and one more thing, the ring v cage arguement will always go to the cage, the ring causes way more problems then it fixes. bring on the pathetic counter

by storhaug on Mar 21, 2007 10:40 PM EDT reply actions

storhaug

I’m a UFC fan and always will be but you need to give credit where credit is due. There are alot of talented fighters in Pride. When Chuck was over in Japan doing his thing in Pride he was getting rocked all over the place, in all the fights i have seen Chuck in i’v never seen him get knocked down apart from the ones when he’s Pride. There heavyweight’s out shine our guys by far(apart from the new edition of Cro Cop). There might be some upset from your point of view if they do decide to have a showdown.

by jason bang on Mar 21, 2007 11:09 PM EDT reply actions

no dont get me wrong there is definite talent but im just saying to all those pride hardcore fans that if there was a big tournament i think the ufc would surprise them. and i’m not a diehard chuck fan was just using him since he was the first to come to mind. bj is my favorite fighter

by storhaug on Mar 22, 2007 12:30 AM EDT reply actions

Sorry to burst the bubble, but Pride has alot more interesting fighters to watch. I won’t even name Fedor – think about the Josh Barnett, a better wrestler than Randy who even submitted Mark Hunt (not an easy task, trust me). Then you got Wanderlei Silva, just watch his matches against Rampage. Now if people consider Rampage a contender against Chuck, Wanderlei definetly is too. Then you got Shogun Rua, who won every recent fight I can think off, even against Minotauro and Arona (ok, lost to Coleman due to an broken arm). I could continue for hours.

I am not advocating here, that Pride FC is better than the UFC or anything – just (like jason said) give credit where credit is due. I wish MMA would be a little bit more like boxing, where you can have unification fights and hole titles of both organizations.

by YouTapped on Mar 22, 2007 3:25 AM EDT reply actions

Although, the problem with boxing is that you very rarely see the two best fighters fight each other.

by nvandy89 on Mar 22, 2007 4:03 AM EDT reply actions

Well, neither do you in MMA in the current setup in my opinion. Lets walk thru the weight divisions real quick:

Heavyweight: Fedor (PRIDE) vs. Cro Cop (UFC)
Light HW: Chuck (UFC) vs. Shogun/Arona/Hendo/Silva (all PRIDE)
Middleweight: Anderson Silva (UFC) vs. Lindland/Filho (both PRIDE)
Welterweight: ok, GSP vs. Penn/Sanchez – this is the only UFC dominated weightclass
Lightweight: this on the other hand with Sakurai, Gomi, Aoki, etc. is in all PRIDE

So I really dont think we see the best matchups there are out there. I’d give me left arm for an event with the above matchups in one evening.

by YouTapped on Mar 22, 2007 7:33 AM EDT reply actions

I hope they stay separate. It will be better for the fighters and it will keep mma competive by encouraging ufc and pride to compete in producing better shows.

by zack on Mar 22, 2007 8:11 AM EDT reply actions

The only way a UFC-Pride merger works is if the Fertittas hold live weekly or bi-weekly events to showcase young up-and-coming fighters. With all the fighters they would have between the two organizations that shouldn’t be a problem. Then use the PPVs for title fights and matches between fighters who are legitimate established superstars. Eventually everything would shake out regarding who is really the best in each weight class. And weekly TV would generate enough revenue to where they could easily afford to pay the fighters a good wage. They might be dicks and choose not to, but the money would be there.

by PW on Mar 22, 2007 10:23 AM EDT reply actions

so whats the deal, are we gonna see fedor and them or are we gonna suffer in what if eternity??????

by tha spida on Mar 22, 2007 5:27 PM EDT reply actions

you tapped is out of his damn mind if he thinks pride dominates the lightweights, gomi is the most over rated fighter in the world…any of the top ufc lw’s would go over there and dominate(daddy, melvin, bj, sherk, ty griffin, frank edgar, shit even spencer fisher hermes franca and jens pulver could beat his ass) think again buddy, ufc dominates here too

by tha spida on Mar 22, 2007 5:31 PM EDT reply actions

The spida

Take it you haven’t seen the fight with Gomi and Pulver. Pulver got knocked the fuck out. Gomi has beating some the best fighters look up his record and you’ll see.

by jason bang on Mar 22, 2007 8:23 PM EDT reply actions