UFC buys Pride FC !!!! What do you MMA fans think of it???

Despite month after month of rumours it looks like the UFC owners Zuffa have actually acquired their biggest competitor in the form of the Japanese based PFC promotion. The last few years I've become more of a fan of Pride than the U.S. promotion for a number of reasons:
more of an international field of fighters
better paydays for the fighters
stomps and soccer kicks allowed but no to elbows
the yellow cards for stalling (recipient loses 10% of purse)
better overall production
much more knowledgeable fans = no beer swilling obnoxious Bubbas lol.

Hopefully this all won't be thrown out with the new ownership in place. For now Zuffa says that Pride will run as always but just under the umbrella-ship of it's American owners. Time will tell I guess. The upside is we will finally get to see some of the dream match ups that a lot of folks were salivating for:

Fedor vs. Couture
Gomi vs St. Pierre
Lidell vs. Wanderlei Silva, Dan Henderson or Arona
Shogun vs. Anderson Silva

The possibilities are mind boggling .What do you guys think??? Yea or nay???

THey are doing the opposite of what killed boxing with their 200 belts. I like it.

I dont. Pride is what turned me on to MMA. The rings,the soccer Kicks,the head stomps and knees to head on ground..Without that,we have the lame ass,boring-as-hell UFC medicore fights.

Potsy, you are right about the comparison to boxing with it's zillion champs and no unification. But I see that MMA already has a natural pecking order of sorts. Watch enough different promotions and you would be able to distinguish between who is an A level fighter to say a B or C level fighter. Both promotions already acquire talent from B level promotions. These other promotions act as feeding grounds-- for e.g. guys going from Gladiator Challenge to King Of The Cage then on to the big shows being the UFC or Pride. Sure it would be ideal to see the best of the best square off but the guys from Zuffa are already saying they want to create a commission which of course they themselves will lead. It smacks too much of monopoly for me. Also the fact that UFC should stand for "U Fight Cheap" since nearly all of the guys fighting their first and second fights under Zuffa do so for a measly ass $3000 ---that's before taxes, before paying for medicals ,paying your corner people, training camp expenses!!!! I just don't trust the future of the sport to just this one company.

Boxing lost it's appeal not only because of the hundred or so "paper" World champions it also just did not reach out to a younger audience either. For me MMA is much more entertaining in that there are so many ways to win (or lose) at any given time. Funny thing is even with soccer kicks and knees it's a hellva lot more humane than boxing with the athletes taking blow after blow to the head.

:|

got mixed feelings. on the plus side, we get to see who's truly the best in their division. on the minus side, pride might turn into a ufc type show. i guess we'll just have to wait and see.

I was involved on the fringes of both kickboxing and the Toughman contests when they first got going in the late 70's/early 80's. Kickboxing was a mess(and still is,IMO.) because every promoter and his brother had different organizations with separate,rules ,qualifications,and titles? The lingering effects of that era have kept it as a fringe sport,IMO.

Toughman was a top down organization from day one,and while it had spin-offs,the rules were basically the same in each organization. Once the safety regs were tightened up,it became a profitable and popular format.

I think the merger will help it go to the next level in the short-term. The sport is ready to go huge and this should help make dealing w/ TV contracts much easier. It could be similar to the WBA/WBC quasi-merger in boxing in the 70's which pushed that sport to a new golden age in that era.

If the sport wants to make that big jump it has to have rules that will allow it to be approved in most jurisdictions. Free-for-all rules in the ring keep that from happening in many states and countries.

I just hope it doesn't turn into another form of "rasslin' "?