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Report: Fertitta Brothers Purchase PRIDE Fighting Championships for $65 Million

Posted by UFC Junkie on March 19, 2007 at 2:59 pm ET

070111pride1.jpgSlow down. Take a deep breath. And promise me you won’t go overboard or take this as gospel.

I’m serious now.

Remember: this isn’t a report from UFCjunkie.com, and doubters shouldn’t direct their anger and criticism toward us. We’re just delivering the message.

According to today’s episode of Sherdog’s The Savage Dog Show/BeatDown, UFC majority owners Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta have purchased the Japenese-based PRIDE Fighting Championships for a startling-low price of $65 million. (You can find a heated discussion on the Sherdog Forums.)

The show is relying an anonymous source that is said to be “very reliable,†and an official announcement is expected to come on Wednesday.

PRIDE, the UFC’s biggest competitor and perhaps the world’s most recognizable MMA organization, has reportedly suffered a variety of hardships during the past year. Rumors of its potential sale have circulated constantly in the past couple months, with current PRIDE USA Vice President Ed Fishman and the Zuffa LLC-owned UFC emerging as the two most-likely suitors.

The fact that the Fertittas, not Zuffa, are the rumored buyers is surprising at first take. Surely there’s more to the story, but we’ll have to wait.

PRIDE has publicly stated — numerous times — that the organization wasn’t for sale despite the reports saying otherwise. Today’s rumors would obviously hint otherwise.

So what would this mean for the UFC?

It’s hard to say without knowing the particulars. But of most importance would be the UFC’s access to PRIDE’s thoroughly impressive list of international fighters. The purchase could open the door for cross-promotion superfights that could destroy previous records for gates, attendance and pay-per-view revenue.

In any manner, I’ll have more news as it becomes available. For now, sit tight and try not to let the specualation get too far out of hand.

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UFC.com Confirms Liddell-Rampage II For May 26th PPV

It's been rumored for a while now and recently seemed like a sure thing when additional reports surfaced from Sherdog and PPV distributor websites.

Well now you can officially pencil in the most anticipated rematch in quite a while, as Light Heavyweight" The Iceman" Chuck Liddell will be defending his belt against the only man left to beat him that he hasn't beaten-back in a rematch - Quinton "Rampage" Jackson.

UFC.com confirmed today the rematch for UFC 71, which is being appropriately dubbed "Liddell vs. Jackson."

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PROELITE.COM DELIVERS FREE LIVE STREAMING MMA FIGHTS ONLINE FOR MARCH 31st ICON FIGHT

Leading MMA Internet Community Features Twelve Fights with Title Fight

MMA Powerhouses Frank Trigg and Robbie Lawler

(LOS ANGELES) March 20, 2007 • ProElite, Inc. [PELE.PK], a leader in the Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) arena and dedicated to producing world-class, professional MMA events and MMA community tools, today announced that ProElite.com, the premier MMA community site and the online division of ProElite, Inc., will partner with ICON Sport, a full-service athlete management and sports marketing firm specializing in the Olympic and Action Sports markets, to bring a live online MMA broadcast of the March 31st Epic fight; headlining top MMA fighters Frank Trigg and Robbie Lawler.

This fight will mark Trigg’s first defense of his middleweight championship belt that he won in a December 2006 fight against Jason “Mayhem” Miller. Looking to regain the ICON middleweight championship belt, Lawler has won five out of his last six fights.

Also appearing on the action packed card of 12 fights, will be MMA stars Mayhem Miller, Renato “Charuto” Verissimo, and Jeremy Williams, former top pro boxer and trainer from ESPN’s THE CONTENDER.

To view this event online, visitors must register for free on www.ProElite.com. Included will be a live stream of the fights, real time polling, integrated photos from the event, and links to fighter pages.

“ProElite.com is the online community for mixed martial arts fighters and fans around the world regardless of league allegiance,” said ProElite.com president Kelly Perdew. “ICON Sport: ‘Epic’ bouts are a perfect example of how ProElite.com can provide rich MMA content to fans and fighters alike. We are proud to work with MMA organizations such as ICON Sport to deliver the best of live events and fight content that this sport has to offer.”

“As Mixed Martial Arts is one of the fastest growing sports in the United States, its fans are looking to ProElite.com to provide a community for MMA enthusiasts to watch premier MMA fights and content and connect with one another,” said T. Jay Thompson, president and CEO of ICON Sport. “There is no better partner to Web cast this line up of thrilling fights.”

ProElite.com is building a comprehensive and inclusive online community for MMA fighters, fans and organizations, regardless of the MMA league, fighter organization or fan loyalty. ProElite.com is able to capitalize on the growing popularity of the sport of mixed martial arts and build a community of enthusiasts around the world through video and blogging tools, social networking and exclusive fight content from ICON Sport and others.

ProElite, Inc. and its EliteXC and ProElite.com divisions are headquartered in Los Angeles and ICON Sport is headquartered in Honolulu, HI.

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yo stymie...the other night i saw some type of mma on my local fox channel at like 8pm...not sure but i think it was IFC or something...never heard of it...you know anything about it? and why would MMA be on a local fox channel?

if it was on fox sports it was Pride Fighting

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Its International Fight League and PRIDE. IFL is a team fight league coached by old school MMA guys like Bas, Newton, Shamrock, its kinda weak... B/C level fighters. FSN does a pride show every sunday too with Frank Trigg (see above posts about his upcoming fight) and Jay Glazier... it shows old fights and tries to hype upcoming events.

They both re-broadcast alot of shows which kinda sucks tho.

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Its International Fight League and PRIDE. IFL is a team fight league coached by old school MMA guys like Bas, Newton, Shamrock, its kinda weak... B/C level fighters. FSN does a pride show every sunday too with Frank Trigg (see above posts about his upcoming fight) and Jay Glazier... it shows old fights and tries to hype upcoming events.

They both re-broadcast alot of shows which kinda sucks tho.

Come on, you can't hate on the IFL. It's great to see different schools go at each other. Even though the poor Pitbulls suck. :rofl:

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Report: Fertitta Brothers Purchase PRIDE Fighting Championships for $65 Million

Posted by UFC Junkie on March 19, 2007 at 2:59 pm ET

070111pride1.jpgSlow down. Take a deep breath. And promise me you won’t go overboard or take this as gospel.

I’m serious now.

Remember: this isn’t a report from UFCjunkie.com, and doubters shouldn’t direct their anger and criticism toward us. We’re just delivering the message.

According to today’s episode of Sherdog’s The Savage Dog Show/BeatDown, UFC majority owners Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta have purchased the Japenese-based PRIDE Fighting Championships for a startling-low price of $65 million. (You can find a heated discussion on the Sherdog Forums.)

The show is relying an anonymous source that is said to be “very reliable,†and an official announcement is expected to come on Wednesday.

PRIDE, the UFC’s biggest competitor and perhaps the world’s most recognizable MMA organization, has reportedly suffered a variety of hardships during the past year. Rumors of its potential sale have circulated constantly in the past couple months, with current PRIDE USA Vice President Ed Fishman and the Zuffa LLC-owned UFC emerging as the two most-likely suitors.

The fact that the Fertittas, not Zuffa, are the rumored buyers is surprising at first take. Surely there’s more to the story, but we’ll have to wait.

PRIDE has publicly stated — numerous times — that the organization wasn’t for sale despite the reports saying otherwise. Today’s rumors would obviously hint otherwise.

So what would this mean for the UFC?

It’s hard to say without knowing the particulars. But of most importance would be the UFC’s access to PRIDE’s thoroughly impressive list of international fighters. The purchase could open the door for cross-promotion superfights that could destroy previous records for gates, attendance and pay-per-view revenue.

In any manner, I’ll have more news as it becomes available. For now, sit tight and try not to let the specualation get too far out of hand.

PRIDE was failing miserably financially, and it’s great to see the league saved, but let’s not hope that they try to incorporate the leagues together. Cross-promotional are great, but I don’t want to see PRIDE adapting UFC rules, etc.

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Its International Fight League and PRIDE. IFL is a team fight league coached by old school MMA guys like Bas, Newton, Shamrock, its kinda weak... B/C level fighters. FSN does a pride show every sunday too with Frank Trigg (see above posts about his upcoming fight) and Jay Glazier... it shows old fights and tries to hype upcoming events.

They both re-broadcast alot of shows which kinda sucks tho.

that was it...IFL...it was on before seinfeld the other night...i thought that was strange...both fighters seem to move slow as shit...but the one fighter they said had never had an opponent take him into the second round...

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Report: Mauricio “Shogun†Rua Signs with PRIDE and UFC (UPDATED)

Posted by UFC Junkie on March 22, 2007 at 1:58 pm ET

070322rua.jpgWhile on Wrestling Observer’s Web site today, I noticed Dave Meltzer pulled out an interesting tidbit first reported by Sherdog.com’s Josh Gross.

Apparently, PRIDE superstar Mauricio “Shogun†Rua (16-2 MMA, 0-0 UFC) has signed an interesting contract that calls for him to fight twice in PRIDE and twice in the UFC.

How is that even possible?

Rumors from earlier this week about the possible sale of PRIDE may have something to do with it.

From Wrestling Observer:

It was reported today by Josh Gross that Mauricio Shogun Rua had signed a unique contract with two fights in Pride and two fights in UFC. If this is accurate, that would certainly seem to indicate a deal with both under the same umbrella would have been completed.

If true, that means the Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta, the majority owners of the UFC, are wasting no time getting at least one PRIDE fighter signed and secured for the near future. Surely the value in purchasing the rival PRIDE organization rests largely with its stable of world-class fighters.

Rua, PRIDE’S 2005 Grand Priz winner, is one of the world’s top-ranked light heavyweights. The Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu expert has posted wins over notables including Quinton “Rampage†Jackson, Kevin Randleman, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Alistair Overeem.

Rua, fairly small for a light heavyweight (205 pounds), could likely drop to the UFC’s middleweight division (185 pounds) with few problems. The 25-year-old would become a serious contender in either weight class.

Despite this credible report, it’s worth nothing that neither the UFC nor PRIDE has made an official announcement about the reported contract.

* * * *

UPDATE: The following bulletin appeared on AllAboutMMA.com this afternoon:

After a brief telephone conversation with Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua today, we can inform you that he has denied all rumors that he has signed with the UFC and confirmed to All About MMA’s Brazilian correspondent that he instead took advantage of Pride President Nobuhiko Sakakibara’s visit to Curitiba and has in fact signed a new four fight deal with Pride.

This obviously contradicts the report from Gross, but if PRIDE is sold as has been rumored, the point is basically moot. Still, though, should PRIDE stick with its current ownership group or be sold to another one without UFC ties, the organization just locked up one of its best fighters.

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ufc 71 may

chuck vs rampage

jardine vs lambert

karo vs burkman

mcfedries vs eastman

salaverry vs martin

t.silva/irvin

salmon/schafer

ramirez/marrero

perosh/rothwell

ufc 72 july

silva vs nate

ortiz vs evans

franca vs sherk

lister vs sobral

fisher vs braga

guida/stout

m.cruz/sanchez

leben/starnes

luigi/lytle

ufn 10 ireland june

vera vs o brien

t.griffin vs d.thomas

m.davis vs goulet

terrel vs rivera

herman vs singer

stout vs sareivara

smith vs lutter

gurgel vs dent

reiner vs torres

ufc 73 august

coutoure vs crocop/gonzaga

hughes vs fitch

sylvia vs mir

franklin vs cote

kampmann vs macdonald

dezouza vs joslin

edgar vs hazelett

wellish vs shockman

varner vs tibau

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PROELITE.COM DELIVERS FREE LIVE STREAMING MMA FIGHTS ONLINE FOR MARCH 31st ICON FIGHT

Leading MMA Internet Community Features Twelve Fights with Title Fight

MMA Powerhouses Frank Trigg and Robbie Lawler

(LOS ANGELES) March 20, 2007 • ProElite, Inc. [PELE.PK], a leader in the Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) arena and dedicated to producing world-class, professional MMA events and MMA community tools, today announced that ProElite.com, the premier MMA community site and the online division of ProElite, Inc., will partner with ICON Sport, a full-service athlete management and sports marketing firm specializing in the Olympic and Action Sports markets, to bring a live online MMA broadcast of the March 31st Epic fight; headlining top MMA fighters Frank Trigg and Robbie Lawler.

This fight will mark Trigg’s first defense of his middleweight championship belt that he won in a December 2006 fight against Jason “Mayhem†Miller. Looking to regain the ICON middleweight championship belt, Lawler has won five out of his last six fights.

Also appearing on the action packed card of 12 fights, will be MMA stars Mayhem Miller, Renato “Charuto†Verissimo, and Jeremy Williams, former top pro boxer and trainer from ESPN’s THE CONTENDER.

To view this event online, visitors must register for free on www.ProElite.com. Included will be a live stream of the fights, real time polling, integrated photos from the event, and links to fighter pages.

“ProElite.com is the online community for mixed martial arts fighters and fans around the world regardless of league allegiance,†said ProElite.com president Kelly Perdew. “ICON Sport: ‘Epic’ bouts are a perfect example of how ProElite.com can provide rich MMA content to fans and fighters alike. We are proud to work with MMA organizations such as ICON Sport to deliver the best of live events and fight content that this sport has to offer.â€

“As Mixed Martial Arts is one of the fastest growing sports in the United States, its fans are looking to ProElite.com to provide a community for MMA enthusiasts to watch premier MMA fights and content and connect with one another,†said T. Jay Thompson, president and CEO of ICON Sport. “There is no better partner to Web cast this line up of thrilling fights.â€

ProElite.com is building a comprehensive and inclusive online community for MMA fighters, fans and organizations, regardless of the MMA league, fighter organization or fan loyalty. ProElite.com is able to capitalize on the growing popularity of the sport of mixed martial arts and build a community of enthusiasts around the world through video and blogging tools, social networking and exclusive fight content from ICON Sport and others.

ProElite, Inc. and its EliteXC and ProElite.com divisions are headquartered in Los Angeles and ICON Sport is headquartered in Honolulu, HI.

Today... free

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Bodog airs at nights on what is now iTV (used to be pax)

BodogFight is helping to revitalize the PAX Network (now IO) - once known for its religious programming. The network has since regrouped and is seen in more homes than SpikeTV. BodogFight is also watched by more federal inmates than any other show on television according to sources.
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Fuck dude, you're the Dana White of CP. :rofl: Only a couple of months ago, you were still debating if MMA compared at all to boxing.

haha I still watch and get every fight tho (boxing)

just nobody wants to talk/post about them

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I have never watched UFC or whatever this sport is called.

Where do i begin? Is there one I should watch to get me into this sport? Any suggestions? Can i find this on netflix? I seems so macho....lol

??

Its called MMA and a great place to start would be the reality show thats starting soon on Spike

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I have never watched UFC or whatever this sport is called.

Where do i begin? Is there one I should watch to get me into this sport? Any suggestions? Can i find this on netflix? I seems so macho....lol

??

check ufc.com for the tv listings.... watch a fight night replay or unleashed (like a compilation of good fights) or like john said the show

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