So long, grainy YouTube footage.
In news that’s sure to excite both PRIDE fanboys and MMA enthusiasts alike, PRIDE FC has finally made its return to television on Friday nights this January via Spike TV featuring a "Best of" format that will highlight some of the greatest moments in the now-defunct promotion.
UFC President Dana White first made the announcement on Aug. 7 at the UFC 101 Q&A session.
Zuffa — the parent company of the Ultimate Fighting Championship — purchased the Japanese mixed martial arts promotion (and its biggest rival) in 2007. With no television deal and most of its top fighters signing UFC contracts, the entity known as PRIDE became no more.
Now fans will have an opportunity to relive the glory days beginning Jan. 15 -- and perhaps get a closer look at some of the hoopla surrounding famed heavyweight and recent Strikeforce acquisition Fedor 'The Last Emperor' Emelianenko.
From White:
"It will kind of be like 'UFC Unleashed.' All the great PRIDE fights that happened with all the stars who are now UFC guys will be on it."
Some of those stars include Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson, Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua, Antonio Rodrigo 'Minotauro' Nogueira, Mirko 'Cro Cop' Filipovic, Wanderlei 'The Axe Murderer' Silva and even Anderson 'The Spider' Silva -- who tapped out to Ryo Chonan at 'Shockwave 2004' in one of the craziest submissions you'll ever see.
Hosted by Maxim model Kenda Perez, "Best of PRIDE" debuts Jan. 15 on Spike TV and will air Fridays at 10 p.m. ET with replays throughout the week.
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