UFC buys PRIDE for 70mil. Plans MEGAFIGHTS!

[»Rob Content«]

The world of MMA is about to get a lot more interesting.

http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/news/story?id=2814235

[Phoenix]

now we just need to give them swords and build a colliseum

rome....burning?

[Brad]

that's good news. Everyone knew this was coming soon enough. thank you Spike TV for making this happen.

[Makingcoin]

NEW YORK -- The majority owners of Ultimate Fighting Championship have agreed to buy their biggest mixed martial arts rival, Pride Fighting Championships, in a deal that will establish megafights among the outfits' titleholders and possibly attract huge pay-per-view audiences.


"This is really going to change the face of MMA. Literally creating a sport that could be as big around the world as soccer. I liken it somewhat to when the NFC and AFC came together to create the NFL."
-- Lorenzo Fertitta, one of UFC's majority owners
Company executives declined to comment on the sales price, but a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press that brothers Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta will purchase the Japan-based Pride for less than $70 million. The person was not authorized to speak to reporters and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The deal was completed Tuesday and was announced during a news conference in Tokyo, where Lorenzo Fertitta has been negotiating with Nobuyuki Sakakibara, the majority owner and chief executive of Dream Stage Entertainment Inc., Pride's owner.

"We have been talking to Pride for probably about 11 months," Lorenzo Fertitta said. "It's been a long, drawn-out process but we finally were able to put the two brands together."

To buy the company, the brothers created a new entity called Pride FC Worldwide Holdings LLC. The newly formed company will take over Pride assets, including its trademarks, video library and valuable roster of fighters, from Dream Stage. The Fertitta brothers, who own Las Vegas-based Zuffa LLC, the parent company of UFC, intend to keep the well-known Pride name and promote fights under that brand.

The acquisition marks a new phase in the brothers' quest to dominate the burgeoning world of mixed martial arts since they bought the struggling UFC in 2001.

"This is really going to change the face of MMA," Lorenzo Fertitta said. "Literally creating a sport that could be as big around the world as soccer. I liken it somewhat to when the NFC and AFC came together to create the NFL."

The deal allows the Fertitta brothers to broker the biggest MMA fights possible in the near future, increasing their influence in this sports entertainment business.

"We will be able to literally put on the fights that everyone wants to see," Lorenzo Fertitta said. "It will allow us to put on some of the biggest fights ever."

In the past, there has been at least one case in which Pride and UFC couldn't hammer out a deal to put their top fighters in the ring together. With Pride in their pocket, the Fertitta brothers intend to ensure that never happens again.

The sale gives Pride more financial backing to expand the business internationally after suffering a recent financial blow.

Major sponsor Fuji Television Network Inc. dropped Pride in June after a tabloid linked Pride to the Japanese mob -- something Sakakibara has denied vigorously. To help bolster Pride, the company staged two PPV fights in Las Vegas. Neither was a financial success. The fights gained exposure for Pride but lost money, making the sale of Pride more likely.

"I think it certainly weakened their position," Lorenzo Fertitta said. "One of our goals is to get back on a major platform back here in Japan."

Lorenzo Fertitta said he'll be looking to expand Pride internationally.

Buying Pride is the latest in a series of acquisitions that the brothers have made in the last six months. Zuffa snapped up World Extreme Cagefighting and World Fighting Alliance last year.

Similar to Pride, buying WFA gave UFC the rights to a popular fighter named Quinton "Rampage" Jackson. Jackson will face UFC's most popular fighter, Chuck Liddell, the current light heavyweight champ in Las Vegas, on May 26 on PPV.

In the combat world, the Pride deal leaves a fragmented group of upstarts and K-1, another Japanese company that promotes fighters skilled in various forms of kick boxing.

Thanks to a surge in popularity, the brothers' investment in UFC and MMA in general has begun to pay off.

Last year, UFC cracked $200 million in PPV revenue, putting it on par with World Wrestling Entertainment Inc.

UFC stages fights in arenas across the country and airs a clutch of successful television shows on Spike TV. It has also opened an office in London, looking toward establishing itself internationally.

The brothers also run Station Casinos Inc. in Las Vegas. Lorenzo Fertitta is president and Frank Fertitta is chairman and chief executive of Station Casinos, a public company that was recently agreed to be purchased by a private equity investor group that includes key members of the Fertitta family.

Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press

[Vegas Ken]

From the Las Vegas Review Journal.

The owners of the Ultimate Fighting Championship scooped up their primary rival Monday, reaching a multimillion-dollar deal to purchase the Japanese-based Pride Fighting Championship.

UFC president Dana White said he and partners Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta formed a new company, Pride Worldwide, that purchased the assets of the Pride FC.


White, who said the deal was completed about 1:30 p.m. PDT Monday, would not reveal the purchase price, but intimated it was an eight-figure deal.

"I don't like to talk about money, but it was a lot of money, I can tell you that," White said by telephone from Japan. "It was a hell of a lot more than Barry Bonds is making."

Bonds, the second-leading home run hitter in baseball history, signed a $15.8 million, one-year deal with the San Francisco Giants in February.

The UFC deal transfers all Pride assets, including fighter contracts, fight video library and trademarks, to the new company. White said he would retain Pride's Japanese employees and that the company's planned April 7 show would go on as planned in Tokyo.

Pride has many of the sport's best fighters, including heavyweight champion Fedor Emialenenko, Wanderlei Silva, Dan Henderson, Shogun Rua, Takanori Gomi and Hayato Sakurai, signed to promotional contracts.

White said Pride would adopt the same rules that are used in the United States and expressed a desire to use the so-called unified rules around the world. Soccer kicks and knees to the head were legal in Pride fights in Japan, but they were outlawed in two shows that were held at the Thomas & Mack Center.

However, White said any fight held with the Pride banner would continue to be in a ring. UFC fights are in a cage.

"This is a sport and we're going to follow the unified rules that were established in New Jersey and then in Nevada," White said. "It's a sport -- mixed martial arts -- and the sport should have the same rules everywhere. As far as I'm concerned, if an organization doesn't follow these rules, it's not MMA. It's something else, but that's not MMA."

White said he will create a "Super Bowl" of MMA that will match the best fighters in Pride against the best in the UFC. White said he hadn't had time to think through the logistics, but said the concept could become the biggest annual event in the sport.

He said he has the option to use Pride fighters in UFC shows if he chooses, but plans to run distinct brands.

"Pride is a powerful brand," White said. "The winners in this are the fans, because they're going to see the question answered. How many times have I heard someone say, 'Pride is better,' or 'UFC is better?' Well, wherever you come down on that, we'll answer the question because we'll make certain we put them in with each other and get an answer."

One of Pride's downfalls in the last year in Japan was the loss of its contract with Fuji TV. White said it was one of the new ownership group's leading priorities to negotiate a new television deal in Japan.

[chodadog]

Originally Posted by Makingcoin

"Literally creating a sport that could be as big around the world as soccer"

I love MMA, but c'mon. Bigger than football? This Fertitta guy is a little insane.

[WebTitan]

very cool. should make for some awesome matches