The 'Best of PRIDE' unleashed on Spike TV Jan. 15
by Jesse Holland on Jan 2, 2010 11:56 AM EST
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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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Should be great.
Hopefully they dont have a standards department that cuts away when someone is getting a beating like Fox Spots net did when they would show these.
Also, I hope they show both Rampage vs Wandy fights and Rampage vs Shogun. I love watching Rampage get the crap kicked out of him in those fights.
@fjbar75 on twitter...formerly El Mexicutioner
i will have to watch this..
seeing how i know more about ufc fighters,which is embarassing, so i will be all over this..i do make a point of at least looking up fighters i have not heard of..and obviously this site has done wonders for knowing who is who..etc etc.
ahh memories
i miss pride, it was good having another mma brand that was just as good.
No way they show a Fedor fight.
Don't eat yellow snow.
by BNF on Jan 2, 2010 12:44 PM EST via mobile reply actions
Agreed
Fedor’s going to get the Frank Shamrock treatment from the UFC 100 Greatest Fights show i.e. completely ignored, seeing how Fedor never lost (unless they just show a quick clip of the Randleman slam or Fujita rocking him). Rampage will get his brutal KO losses to Wandi and Shogun repeated and Gomi will probabaly get introduced to the masses through this show but I’m dubious about what they’re actually going to show in this special. Take away the bias and this should be a superb show and Pride fights on TV are long overdue.
"Anderson Silva is the best fighter on the planet...any Anderson Silva fight that is on, people should be buying that PPV, not because he’s my fighter but you know what, he to me is like the Muhammad Ali of MMA...the UFC has been around since 1993, nobody (else) has 10 consecutive wins in the UFC. Anderson has had 10 fights in the UFC, only 1 has ever gone to a decision."
Ed Soares on why Andy is the best fighter in the world
Most importantly Fedor taking the mantle of best HW and (IMO) best P4P fighter...
status from Big Nog at that point. I still get the shakes watching the Body Blow event, just absolute tension even though back then you’d be a giant idiot who knows nothing about MMA for picking Fedor.
by NNR (formerly NameNotRequired) on Jan 3, 2010 5:41 PM EST up reply actions
Japan?
Does anyone know why the UFC isn’t putting on shows in Japan? They buy pride and then cease to have mms fights for a country with a hugely developed fanbase.
by C O R on Jan 2, 2010 1:18 PM EST via mobile reply actions
there’s a little thing called the yakuza standing in the way. you don’t think the ufc would love to tap into the japanese market? the best they can do and have done is by signing guys like gono,chonan,akiyama, uno and gomi. other than that their hands are tied. kinda like why they haven’t gone to mexico yet, politics.
by bdw on Jan 2, 2010 2:23 PM EST up reply actions
only 1 gripe
and that is there is going to be no Aoki, Fedor, Hendo, Hansen, Melendez, Diaz vs. Gomi, etc etc… as someone that gets how business works, I completely understand and I would do the same thing. However, as a fan I think I have the right to be disappointed.
Still looking forward to it though. It would be sweet if they re-showed the 2000 OW GP to get people into the epicness of the Pride FC tournaments.
well
they did just sign gomi, so i would espect to see a ton of him. i would love to see it as a whole as well, but there is just no way they are going to give pub to fighters in another org. i hope fighters that are no longer relevant, like bob sapp and done frye get shown. frye vs takayama goes without saying.
by bdw on Jan 2, 2010 2:28 PM EST up reply actions
I don't know were some of you are getting your information but I'm sure I read
last year shortly after the announcement that Fedor and Barnett and some others that were not on the UFC contracts would be shown on Spike and a list of names were shown that would be aired during one of the Best of Pride shows on Spike, don’t be surprised to see a Fedor vs. NOG counter program against SF next big show? The best HW battles included NOG, Fedor, Cro Cop and Barnett as many of their fights included fighting LHW because of the lack of HW talent during that time but those four were considered the best HW during that time and I think Spike may not air as many of Fedor fights as some would like they will air a few of his.
Thank God for this........
All the people who think Cro Cop is a nobody, will get to see what he’s really all about!!
WILD BOYS, WILD BOYS, WILD BOYS………………….Love that entrance music from Duran Duran.
WAR CRO COP!!!
I"m no Ned Flanders punk!!
