If Pride won the war...

[wandshogun09]

It's some alternate universe shit but hear me out, I'm bored.

 

If Pride ruled the world (imagine that), and their dodgy dealings with the tattooed, pinky fingerless Japanese gangsters never came out, and their television deal never went kaput (not asking much, am I?). Then imagine it's the UFC who went bust. I don't know, fight fixing or Lorenzo went all Frank Maloney and became Lorraine Fertitta or something. And Dana returns to teaching boxercise to the Real Housewives Of Boston. He's considerably less rich but he hasn't lost so much hair in this version of reality, so swings and roundabouts, it is what it is and all that jazz.

 

 

So Pride's the only show in town. How fucking different would things have been?

 

1) I think we'd definitely have seen more of those UFC vs Pride dream fights than we got. Assuming all the Pride guys stayed in Pride, you'd still have all the guys UFC got (Wandy, Shogun, the Nogs, Hendo etc). But because there'd be no having to negotiate with Arsey Dana, there'd have been Fedor and Overeem in the mix immediately as well. You'd also have Sakuraba.

 

And if Pride's branching out into America ended up taking off, they'd have no doubt swooped in and thrown mental money at Brock Lesnar the fucking nanosecond he expressed interest in jumping to MMA. Brock was perfect for Pride and they'd have loved him. Kimbo too, and there were actually rumblings that they were after Kimbo before they folded. Oh and Don Frye probably would've came back at some stage. K-1 HERO'S was never going to be around too long.

 

Fedor vs Randy

Fedor vs Brock

Sakuraba vs Hughes

Chuck vs Wandy and Shogun vs Hendo in the Pride ring!

Frye vs Kimbo

 

FUCK!

 

2) Drug testing wouldn't have ever got in the way of us seeing the fights we wanted to see because, as we know, Pride never gave a shit what you were on. So you'd get less fights cancelled there. No fights called off because someone failed a test because, guess what, there are no tests. And you wouldn't get so many fights cancelled through injury because they'd be healing quicker on the cocktail of PEDs at their disposal. We'd have seen that Wanderlei vs Chael fight. Nick Diaz would've never been suspended. Dan Hardy would've been allowed to fight on with his wolf heart condition thingy, fuck Pride would've probably promoted him as some real life Wolverine. It's all a win-win.

 

3) No more Facing The Pain. We'd have never heard that audio AIDs again after 2007! Instead the theme music of the biggest MMA organisation on the planet would've been this...

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&persist_app=1&v=FQl1JbuYrLk

 

Majestic.

 

Production values as a whole would be better. Pride knew how to put on a show. The massive arenas. The giant ramps lit up like a hooker's window in Amsterdam. The video packages. The overall more fun vibe from the announcers and in the backstage interviews. I'm fully aware that some of this is with the benefit of rose tints but it can't be just me who misses that more fun side of MMA that Pride brought. I love the UFC but it's their presentation is so sterile and lifeless sometimes, it's as serious as a cancer ward and it doesn't need to be, obviously. It's just a sport.

 

4) The ring. This will divide opinion and there are pros and cons to both in the Ring vs Cage debate. And I get all of them. But for me, and you can fire up your Kenneth Williams jpegs for this sentence - I prefer my action in the ring. What of it? It's just how I roll. Don't judge.

 

The only thing I don't like about MMA in a ring is the rope breaks. But at least you can't get dull cunts stalling against the fence in a ring. It's a lot more difficult to pull that shit against ropes. Plus I just always found fights in a ring more aesthetically pleasing. I guess it's the years of watching boxing and kickboxing before getting into MMA that have conditioned me to be that way. Don't get me wrong, I have no gripe with the cage. I'm fine with that as well, it doesn't harm my enjoyment one bit and it's the UFC's identity now. But given the choice, I like the ring better and Pride winning the MMA war would've provided that.

 

5) And this is the one I'm 50/50 on. The rules. I would miss the elbows. I love seeing a good well placed elbow strike. But we'd gain knees to the head on the ground, stomps and soccer kicks. Just picture Lesnar vs Mir with stomps allowed! The 10 minute first round could be problematic though. Just envision 10 straight minutes Jared Rosholt or Ryan Bader? Then again, that's where Pride's yellow/red card system comes in. They could've always tweaked the rules slightly, I guess.

 

I don't even know how you're supposed to respond to this post, apologies. Just had some time to kill this afternoon, stuck Final Conflict 2003 on and it got my brain doing overtime.

 

Answer if you want. Or don't. Hopefully it'll trigger something of a discussion, even if this just turns into the 'I miss Pride' thread.

[Keith Houchen]

As long as we have shouty Pride lady instead of Bruce Buffer, I'm in. Also would this keep Mauro from going to Smackdown?

[jimufctna24]

Pride was always a ticking timebomb. MMA was a bit of a fad in Japan. It was always going to be downscaled at some point. My guess is that someone else would have tried to get MMA to stick in America (Gary Shaw, Vince, Dana again?) How successful they would be is open to debate. As stated, they would have had the likes of Lesnar and Kimbo to incite interest. That said, it's probable that MMA wouldn't be as big today. Dana struck gold with TUF in 2005, as he produced a model that nurtured repeat business. 

 

In regards to the UFC dream fights - it depends on when the UFC went out of business. In 2004, the time period where the UFC was most likely to go under, who was worth raiding. GSP was a prospect at the time. The only big names the UFC had that you could put into dream matches were Tito, Chuck, Randy, Hughes and sadly Tim Sylvia. The rest of the emerging talent might have been tempted to jack MMA in altogether, rather than fly to Japan. We might have also seen less wrestlers get involved in MMA, as the rewards for Americans wouldn't be on their doorstep.

 

As stated, the production values would be much better. UFC's production has never quite escaped the yokel stigma. There's something very Nascar about it. While Pride's production could be a little too anime for my tastes at times, it was done with a lot more class and refinement. It had character, and a good one at that. It's stood the test of time as well. 

 

Regardless of the pluses and minuses of the thread topic, I bloody miss Pride. While it wasn't perfect, it really was something special. 

[ColinBollocks]

I think there would have been a better shot at Kurt Angle dipping into MMA if Pride was about and thriving. No real medicals and he could shoot up as much as he wanted. Koba v Fedor!

[jimufctna24]

I think there would have been a better shot at Kurt Angle dipping into MMA if Pride was about and thriving. No real medicals and he could shoot up as much as he wanted. Koba v Fedor!

That reminds me of a contradiction. 

 

Hardcore fans these days tend to take MMA deadly seriously, and want it to be a straight sport with no funny business. Yet Pride - that hardcore fans adored - was based as much on spectacle as it was on sport and was all the better for it. 

 

Another thing I forgot to mention was that the UFC did thrive after Pride's demise. From a commercial and critical perspective, the company got rave reviews between early 2008 and late 2010. Not only that, but Strikeforce and Elite XC kept things swinging outside the UFC.  During this time, it was easier not to miss Pride (although some still did, including myself). By early 2011, the initial boom was slowing down at a vast rate, and these sort of threads started popping up. 

 

I will say this though. If the UFC went under in 2004, few would be yearning for it in 2016 like they do Pride. Sure, some would be longing for the mid-nineties era like Butch and others do. However, would anyone be longing for what the UFC was offering from 2001-2004? I seriously doubt it. 

[Egg Shen]

Who knows how it might have gone. I imagine there would have plenty of fun to be had if the post-Pride crop of UFC based fighters had had to goto Japan rather than have it the other way around.

 

I still have hopes for Rizin doing good things, i read things about them pissing money up the wall but i still love seeing shows with that Pride feel to them. There was lots of fun to be had with Dream and Sengoku too though when they were about, they never captured the imagination the same way as Pride, but going back and looking at those cards though they were pretty stacked.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

Pride was amazing. Their presentation and style is unmatched. Why anyone in pro wrestling hasnt stole that parade of fighters gimmick since Pride went under is beyond me. If you were going to do an alternative promotion, and had a line up of matches, opening your show with Lenne Hardt going screaming her lungs out introducing the wrestlers would be class. It would totally get you into the matches.

 

The Pride song, as has been mentioned, is unbelievable as well. I remember then opening one PPV with "TIme to Say Goodbye" by Andrea Bocelli, with highlights of the fighters and footage of a lovely summers day, and then it broke into the Parade of Fighters with the drums *DUSH DUSH DA-DUSH* and then the Japanese announcer going mental. It made WrestleMania look like Bobby Davro's Sketch Pad Live.

 

I miss Pride.

[Keith Houchen]

To this day, I still launch into the victory theme in my head when I do something spectacular.  Actually that isn't true, it could be something like crossing the road and it'll go off.  I also want the opening theme as my darts walk on music.

[Egg Shen]

Pride was amazing. Their presentation and style is unmatched. Why anyone in pro wrestling hasnt stole that parade of fighters gimmick since Pride went under is beyond me. If you were going to do an alternative promotion, and had a line up of matches, opening your show with Lenne Hardt going screaming her lungs out introducing the wrestlers would be class. It would totally get you into the matches.

yeh, that's a good point, has that ever happened in Wrestling? hell of a way to open a show.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

WCW did something like that at Starrcade 89, but it wasnt to that degree. It was more "here's Doom and the Road Warriors" and they'd trot to the ring afterwards. I dont think anyone has tried it in the modern era.

[wandshogun09]

The parade of fighters at the start of the shows was brilliant. As was Lenne Hardt. Other MMA companies have tried to do the parade of fighters thing since, including Affliction, but it wasn't quite the same. I wish the UFC would do it though, even if only on their special shows like 194 and 200 coming up.

 

Hardcore fans these days tend to take MMA deadly seriously, and want it to be a straight sport with no funny business. Yet Pride - that hardcore fans adored - was based as much on spectacle as it was on sport and was all the better for it.

Absolutely. And you touch on what I was getting at in my opening post. Pride was such a fun show to watch. They didn't take themselves too seriously in their presentation and I think that's important because it's professional fighting. In Pride's case it was professional fighting where stamping on your opponent's head was legal. It's serious enough bell to bell. You don't have to do the deadly serious, all business shit in your presentation as well. Lighten the mood a bit. I loved the mix on Pride's shows. You'd get Bas doing or wearing something silly in the show opening, then the parade of fighters to get the old nipples hard, you might see Giant Silva arsing about early in the card, a couple of killer fights in the middle of the show, a freakshow fight for something to laugh at and give you a breather, then you'd get the violence of Wanderlei or Cro Cop or someone like that on top. MMA how it should be done, in my opinion. Put the 'mix' in mixed martial arts.

[Egg Shen]

The parade of fighters at the start of the shows was brilliant. As was Lenne Hardt. Other MMA companies have tried to do the parade of fighters thing since, including Affliction, but it wasn't quite the same. I wish the UFC would do it though, even if only on their special shows like 194 and 200 coming up.

 

Bellator do it for their bigger shows now as well.

[jimufctna24]

 

Hardcore fans these days tend to take MMA deadly seriously, and want it to be a straight sport with no funny business. Yet Pride - that hardcore fans adored - was based as much on spectacle as it was on sport and was all the better for it.

Absolutely. And you touch on what I was getting at in my opening post. Pride was such a fun show to watch. They didn't take themselves too seriously in their presentation and I think that's important because it's professional fighting. In Pride's case it was professional fighting where stamping on your opponent's head was legal. It's serious enough bell to bell. You don't have to do the deadly serious, all business shit in your presentation as well. Lighten the mood a bit. I loved the mix on Pride's shows. You'd get Bas doing or wearing something silly in the show opening, then the parade of fighters to get the old nipples hard, you might see Giant Silva arsing about early in the card, a couple of killer fights in the middle of the show, a freakshow fight for something to laugh at and give you a breather, then you'd get the violence of Wanderlei or Cro Cop or someone like that on top. MMA how it should be done, in my opinion. Put the 'mix' in mixed martial arts.

Exactly. They knew when to reel it in as well. Mauro and Bas treated Fedor vs Cro Cop with the seriousness it deserved. They conveyed to the audience that the fight was something out of the ordinary. If they did that during every fight, it wouldn't carry as much meaning.

 

Let's face it. Pride just did MMA better than the UFC. Whereas UFC did business better than Pride (in the long-run)

[theringmaster]

Pride was amazing. Their presentation and style is unmatched. Why anyone in pro wrestling hasnt stole that parade of fighters gimmick since Pride went under is beyond me. If you were going to do an alternative promotion, and had a line up of matches, opening your show with Lenne Hardt going screaming her lungs out introducing the wrestlers would be class. It would totally get you into the matches.

 

The Pride song, as has been mentioned, is unbelievable as well. I remember then opening one PPV with "TIme to Say Goodbye" by Andrea Bocelli, with highlights of the fighters and footage of a lovely summers day, and then it broke into the Parade of Fighters with the drums *DUSH DUSH DA-DUSH* and then the Japanese announcer going mental. It made WrestleMania look like Bobby Davro's Sketch Pad Live.

 

I miss Pride.

I can answer this question.

 

At least 50% of the cheer when a wrestler comes out is because the audience are happy to see them, they are happy to see their heroes in the flesh. If all the guys came out at the start the cheers for their entrances would be much less.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

Probably should drop that opening 15 minutes of Raw every week if they are worried about that. Overexposing their wrestlers isnt something that is taken into account in 2016. You see them all the time throughout every show.