Jerry Millen (also known as Gary Millen) announced recently that Pride was in fact, not sold.
Early unsubstantiated reports have the Fertitta brothers (majority owners of Zuffa LLC) purchasing Pride FC for 65 million including the fighter contracts, video library, and the name of the organization.
This rumour has buzzed through the MMA online community since it originated from Sherdog.com's "The Savage Dog Show" early Monday morning.
From Graciefighter.com:
In an exclusive interview, Pride USA Vice President, Jerry Millen, commented on the speculation that Pride has been bought by the Zuffa organization.
"It's bullshit. You can't beleive what you read on the internet and as a matter of fact I just got off the phone with Japan and unless I'm being lied to Pride has not been sold and is not being sold to anyone, especially to Zuffa. We are in the process of making some ground breaking deals that will be bringing in large sums of revenue to the company and making it stronger than ever."
Here is a recent article on the Fertitta brothers from CNN Money
Honestly, I cannot see Pride going tits up THAT easily. There is definitely more to this rumour and MMA Fever will be on top of the action as usual. Stay tuned!
*** That's Frank Fertitta on the left and Lorenzo Fertitta on the right in the photo above***
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Pride Sold? "It's Bullshit"
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Myself, I hope Pride stays afloat and seperate from Zuffa. Competition is a good thing.
ReplyDelete- the Mujahid.
Apparently it is confirmed to be true as of today. It is on the front page of UFC.com.
ReplyDeleteThey say that the two organizations will be kept separate and PRIDE will continue to use a ring as opposed to a cage but the organization will now fight under the Unified Rules of MMA as opposed to the current PRIDE rules.
PRIDE's magagement has been a complete disaster from the start. They do seem to cater more to the sport of MMA as opposed to the business end of it, but they ran the organization into the ground over the last couple of years and failed to expand beyond Japan until recently.
All in all I hope that this ends up as a benefit for the sport of MMA and not an opportunity for Zuffa to completely monopolize it. I would like to see fighters continue to be able to hold more than one belt (like Henderson) and even be allowed to hold two belts from two different organizations (like a PRIDE and UFC heavyweight champion). However, judging by Dana White's commentary on the matter, I wouldn't be surprised if they made Henderson relinquish one of his titles.