Second Anniversary of Pride purchase

Today is the second anniversary of Zuffa's purchase of Pride and a lot of people are questioning whether the purchase was worth it. Of course hind sight is 20/20, but fans are correct in bemoaning the lack of oft-hyped "mega-cards", that would feature top UFC talent vs. top Pride talent.

Many view that this promise never came to fruition. Unfortunately that isn't the whole picture. The mega-fights did happen, they just didn't happen in the way we had imagined. The Pride fighters that have found success in the UFC all fought each other and when they did fight their UFC counter parts the bouts fell short of the hype for a variety of issues.

The big questions is whether the Pride fighters were a success or a failure? Considering that three Pride fighters, Anderson Silva, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, were champions we should count this as a success (I count Silva as a Pride fighter though he was not a part of the purchase just for consistency). It should also be remembered that Dan Henderson fought for two titles, both against former Pride fighters. I consider that another win for the Pride combatants.

But this illustrates a larger point, that the UFC used the Pride fighters to fight mostly each other. For instance: Nogueira-Herring III, Sokoudjou-Nakamura , Henderson-Silva, Silva-Jackson III, Jackson-Henderson and Rua-Coleman II, are all examples of Pride-on-Pride violence. Were these the fights we were promised? No, but they made sense for the UFC matchmakers at the time.

Another fact that we tend to forget is that many of the promised mega-fights involved Chuck Liddell, and we are in fact, getting those fights. However, Liddell's recent slide has affected the prominence of these match-ups. The first Liddell mega-fight involved a rematch with Quinton "Rampage" Jackson. Liddell was knocked out in the first minute. Liddell did defeat Wanderlei Silva in a great three round bout but since both fighters were coming off two fight losing streaks, the bout had lost some of its luster. Now Liddell is getting a chance to fight his third Pride light heavyweight in Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, at UFC 97.

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira also got to fight in several significant bouts. He defeated former UFC heavyweight Tim Sylvia to become the interim heavyweight champion. Then he lost to Frank Mir a former champion, two significant bouts. But since they don't involve Randy Couture or Fedor Emelianenko, we don't consider them "mega-bouts."

Part of the lack of the mega-fights was Zuffa's inability to sign the mega-fight. Couture-Nogueira is just now happening two years after the purchase. There is also the holy grail of MMA signings in Fedor Emelianenko, which the UFC was never able to complete.

Another factor that one needs to consider was the UFC's eagerness to cut fighters. Tim Sylvia, Andrei Arlovski, Tito Ortiz and Fabricio Werdum were all let go. Werdum is a particularly interesting case when one considers he defeated Gabriel Gonzaga and Brandon Vera only to be suddenly cut after his loss to Junior dos Santos. But the exodus of these names affected potential match-ups with Pride fighters. Also the rise of the TUF alums occurred simultaneously with the departure of previous stars. The presence of new fighters that were never apart of the old Pride vs. UFC debates, thus these math-ups lacked the same hype.

Of course there were disappointments within the Pride ranks. Mirko ‘Cro Cop' Filipovic is easily the most prominent example. His losses to Gabriel Gonzaga and Cheick Kongo prevented him from fighting Couture or Sylvia.

There is also the case of Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou. While he showed excellent ability in Pride, the UFC threw him to the wolves; something the UFC would most likely not have done with a homegrown talent e.g. Shane Carwin, Cain Velasquez. Of course Sokoudjou failed himself with the lack of adequate cardio, but his lack of focus could be forgiven when one considers his age and potential ceiling.

Some consider Mauricio "Shogun" Rua a disappointment, but considering his torn ACL and long rehab we won't be able to make a judgment regarding his UFC run, as a success or failure until after UFC 97.

We also tend to forget that the UFC had their pick of Pride fighters and several prominent names were not picked up: Ricardo Arona, Josh Barnett, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Takanori Gomi to name a few.

Once we consider these factors it shows us that grading the Pride purchase as simply successful or unsuccessful doesn't show the whole picture. Luke Thomas correctly points out that the purchase did cost $70 million, a huge sum of money when one considers the UFC didn't get everything from Pride and a stable Japanese promotion to generate revenues in a previously untapped market.

In the end the Pride purchase was a mix bag of success and failure, much like any major merger.