PRIDE Fighting Championships

PRIDE Fighting Championships (also known as PRIDE or PRIDE FC) was a Japan-based mixed martial arts organization founded in 1997. During its ten years of activity, PRIDE stood out as the largest and most successful MMA promotion in the world, holding more than sixty events that were broadcast to around forty countries around the globe and breaking historical audience records, with around seventy thousand people in the co-production between PRIDE and K-1 “Shockwave/Dynamite” carried out in August 2002. PRIDE brought together the best fighters in the world in its roster, and was called "the Mecca of MMA".

In March 2007, “Dream Stage Entertainment” sold PRIDE to Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta, co-owners of Zuffa, which owned rival organization “UFC”. While still legally separate entities with separate management, the two organizations met to create a merger, however the aforementioned arrangement never materialized, and in October 2007 PRIDE Japan's staff were laid off; Thus marking the end of PRIDE as an active MMA fighting organization; Consequently the staff that made up PRIDE joined the company patent Fighting and Entertainment Group. This new organization founded in February 2008 titled “DREAM”.

History

In 1997, after the popular Union of Wrestling Forces International (UWF-i) shoot-style company closed its doors, its director Nobuhiko Takada contacted businessmen Hiromichi Momose, Nobuyuki Sakakibara and Naoto Morishita to form Kakutogi Revolution Spirits, a mixed martial arts (MMA) company, with the aim of pitting Takada against Brazilian fighter Rickson Gracie. The latter was already known in Japan for having defeated another UWF-i representative, Yoji Anjo, years before, and Takada was expected to avenge him.

Fedor Emelianenko and Mark Coleman in a fight.

The first KRS event was called PRIDE and featured some of the best fighters of the time, including kickboxing matches; the culmination of him was the fight between Takada and Gracie, in which the Brazilian emerged victorious. Despite this, the event had drawn more than 47,000 fans to Tokyo Dome, and had introduced what would become the new face of MMA internationally.

Building on the success of the first, KRS produced more events with the same dynamic, bringing in Ultimate Fighting Championship veterans like Mark Kerr and Marco Ruas, professional wrestlers like Kazushi Sakuraba and Yuhi Sano, and fighters from various backgrounds. The main event of PRIDE 2 had been scheduled as Kerr against Rickson's brother, Royce Gracie, but the latter was unable to compete due to injury, and had to be replaced by Branko Cikatić. PRIDE 3 marked the return of Takada and the first major victory for Sakuraba, who would eventually become PRIDE's ace. After three successful events, KRS held a rematch between Takada and Rickson, in which, after a long and bitter fight, Gracie won again.

Shortly before PRIDE 5 in 1999, Kakutogi Revolution Spirits disappeared, and another parent company for PRIDE was founded, called Dream Stage Entertainment. Pride FC signed a contract with Fuji TV to broadcast one event each month on television, also signed an agreement with SKY Perfect TV to broadcast the events worldwide on pay per view. This brought the golden age of Pride FC with champions in 4 divisions and the dispute of the first Grand Prix in 2000, changes also came to the format of the events: rules and 3 judges were added and the events began to be televised on important television networks. Japan. PRIDE introduced 4 weight classes, something that had not been used until then, but still imposed no limits on fights so it was easy to see fights between contenders of different weights, something almost entirely new in mixed martial arts.

Weight Categories

Although wrestlers of different weight categories could compete within PRIDE FC, there were four different categories that defined the fight for the champion belt of said weight, and the Grand Prix, which also differed by weight category. The categories were the following:

• Heavy weight (+93 kg - no limit)
• Average weight (+83 kg - 93 kg)
• Battery weight (+73 kg - 83 kg)
• Light weight (-73 kg)

Rules

Entry of a fighter in 2005.

Aside from the traditional sporting rules (no gouging in the eyes and crotch, biting, pulling hair or twisting fingers), PRIDE had an unusually open MMA rulebook in early Japan, which it differed from the one used in the United States by the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Outfit

• It is not allowed to wear spinilleras, or shoes that do not consist of low slippers or fight shoes.
• Guantillas are required, of various forms, as well as oral protection.
• It is allowed to carry gi, both complete and only a part.
• The application of oil, lotion, spray, vaseline or any type of substance is not allowed to make it difficult to grip, skin or clothing.

Technique

• The elbows are not allowed. Only in events taking place in the United States
• The heads are not allowed.
• Shots are not allowed with the forearm.
• Shots are not allowed to the back of the neck or neck.
• The kneels are not allowed to the head of an opponent on the ground. Only in events taking place in the United States
• The low kicks or the tramps are not allowed to the head of an opponent on the floor. Only in events taking place in the United States
• It is not permitted to intentionally throw the opponent of the quadrilateral, even if it was considered as a result of a legal technique.
• It is not permitted to abandon the quadrilateral intentionally.
• It is not permitted to intentionally touch the strings of the quadrilateral.
• It is not permissible to exercise conduct evidently not intended to try to win the struggle.
• If one or both participants in the canvas get too close to the ropes, they must rest in the center of the quadrilateral as they were.

Victory

Combats could have multiple outcomes.

• Submit
  • The participant surrenders, either by tapout or verbally.
• Technical submission
  • The participant falls unconscious in a submission.
  • Arms, legs or any other part of the participant's body have been damaged or are in imminent danger of serious damage.
• KO
  • The participant falls unconscious or cannot immediately continue the struggle as a result of a legal coup.
• TKO or Technical KO
  • Arbitr's stop: the referee stops the fight when a participant is being beaten without having the ability to defend himself intelligently.
  • Doctor's stop: the referee stops the fight when the quadrilateral doctor certifies that a participant cannot continue the fight.
  • Team stop: the referee stops the fight when the team of a participant throws the towel.
• Decision
  • After the time of the struggle has come to an end or other result, the judges provide the winner on the basis of their performance. The fight is judged in its entirety and not round (except for events taking place in the United States). Decision criteria are, in order of priority:
    • The effort made to end the fight for nocaut, TKO or submission.
    • Damage inflicted on the opponent.
    • Control of the wrestling standing and loin.
    • Depleted and avoided.
    • Aggressiveness.
    • Weight, in case the weight difference between participants is 10kg or more.
  • If the arbitrator stops the struggle in the second or third round when a participant has carried out an illegal, but clearly unintentional action, which results in the impossibility of continuing the struggle, the judges stipulate the winner on the basis of their performance according to those criteria.
• Description
  • The arbitrator stops the struggle when a participant is performing or has carried out illegal actions beyond the three warning cards (yellow, yellow and red; on special occasions, the yellow is replaced by the green, which subtracts 10% of the stipend of the penalized participant) or with full intentionality.
• No result
  • Both participants are disqualified.
  • The arbitrator stops the struggle in the first round when a participant has made an illegal, but clearly unintentional action, which results in the impossibility of continuing the struggle.

Duration of the fight

In PRIDE, matches consisted of three rounds, the first one lasting ten minutes and the other two lasting five minutes. Rests between rounds consisted of two minutes. At events held in the United States, non-headlining bouts consisted of three five-minute rounds, and headlines consisted of five five-minute rounds, both with a minute's rest between rounds.

When two tournament fights took place at the same event, or when they were part of PRIDE Bushido, they consisted of only two rounds, one of ten and the second of five.

PRIDE Events

Final Champions

Divisions by weight

Division	Weight	Champion	From the	Title defences
Heavy weight	without limit	Fedor Emelianenko	16 March 2003 (PRIDE 25)	3
Average weight	93 kg (205 lb)	Dan Henderson	24 February 2007 (PRIDE 33)	0
Weight wélter	83 kg (183 lb)	Dan Henderson	31 December 2005 (PRIDE Shockwave 2005)	0
Light weight	73 kg (161 lb)	Takanori Gomi	31 December 2005 (PRIDE Shockwave 2005)	1

Tournaments

An asterisk (*) indicates that the tournament was also a title match.

Division/Year	Champion	Finalist	Event
Open weight 2000	Mark Coleman	Igor Vovchanchyn	PRIDE Grand Prix 2000 Finals
Average weight 2003	Wanderlei Silva	Quinton Jackson	PRIDE Final Conflict 2003
Heavy weight 2004	Fedor Emelianenko	Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira	PRIDE Shockwave 2004*
Average weight 2005	Maurício Rua	Ricardo Arona	PRIDE Final Conflict 2005
Battery weight 2005	Dan Henderson	Murilo Bustamante	PRIDE Shockwave 2005*
Light weight 2005	Takanori Gomi	Hayato Sakurai	PRIDE Shockwave 2005*
Open weight 2006	Mirko Filipović	Josh Barnett	PRIDE Final Conflict Absolute
Battery weight 2006	Kazuo Misaki	Denis Kang	PRIDE Bushido 13