More on Pride Sale Finalization

You can read Dave Meltzer's update Here

It appears, as I started to suspect awhile ago that Pride could simply be absorbed into the UFC. Originally, it was said that they would be kept separate and Pride would continue to run in Japan. With Rua signing with UFC and Henderson challenging Jackson last night, I wondered if Pride would have any stars left and it appears that it will not. However, this is not set in stone and appearances can be deceiving so don't put it in the grave just yet.



However, if Pride is folded in to the UFC then here's what I think business could look like and probably should.

I think if the stable of fighters is large enough, business will not drag too badly provided they go the WWE route and hit international hard. UFC running shows in Japan and expanding further in to Europe popularizing the company would help offset the fall in domestic business that I fear is coming due to the influx of programming with the UFC name attached, not to mention other MMA groups like EXC, Bodog and IFL in the mix. It used to be that watching fights on U.S. TV was a novel concept but with UFC running more dates and with the WEC and other groups making it on to networks, it is now a common thing. Hence, why the ratings have leveled off to the degree that they have.

However, the fact they've appeared to give up on running Pride separately does mean that this is more like the WWF buyout of WCW. Of course, I think Pride run competently could've still meant something overseas but really nobody in UFC was real entrenched in the Japanese way of doing things so its more than reasonable to wonder if it would've been run competently.