www.SCIENTIFICWRESTLING.com UWFi descendant PRIDE FC Acquired by the Owners of the Ultimate Fighting

Good or bad? Time will tell I suppose.

While the acquistion means we will get those dream match ups and the UFC will have a great heavyweight line-up

(Arlovski vs. Barnett, Couture vs. Fedor, etc) there also is the homogenization of rules (elbows added to PRIDE rules and stomps, soccer kicks, and knees to a downed opponent elimated), and problems associated with a monopoly (see WWE).

We live in interesting times, that is for sure. Now that the Fertittas own the Pride FC libraries will the legend of Sakuraba get its due or be downplayed like a red-headed stepchild in favor of UFC-generated lore like Randy Couture's accomplishments? Maybe the will do follow our lead and do something like what we are doing with the UWF with the old Pride FC footage...


There sure is a ton of main stream media attention:

http://blogs.usatoday.com/sportsscope/2007/03/taking_pride.html http://msn.foxsports.com/boxing/story/6615122 http://www.aolsportsblog.com/2007/03/27/big-fights-coming-ufc-buys-pride/

I wonder if Kurt Otto, Gareb Shamus of the IFL, Gary Shaw of EliteXC, and FEG of K-1/HERO's can survive the Fertitta MMA juggernaut or if we are looking at a MMA version of the WWE (let's hope not). United, with a strong leader, these companies most certainly could win a war with the Fertittas but not divided. Smart money is on UFC in the long run.

Time will tell. I just hope nobody tells the WWE to get involved with MMA.

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