Pride FC
| Pride Fighting Championships | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Seat |
 Tokyo , Japan
|
| Event | 1997-2007 |
| sport | Mixed martial arts |
| Website | pridefc.com |
Pride FC (Pride Fighting Championships) was an organizer of MMA competitions from Japan , which belonged to the Japanese marketing company Dream Stage Entertainment (DSE) and was bought in April 2007 by Zuffa , the owner of the Ultimate Fighting Championship .
The competitions, which used to take place exclusively in Japan, were attended by up to 90,000 spectators. Pride had the most viewers with Shockwave 2002 at Tokyo National Stadium (91,107 spectators).
The events were broadcast on pay-per-view in Japan and the United States . In North America, the PPV was broadcast on InDemand, The Dish Network and DirecTV . DSE had held a license from the Nevada State Athletic Commission to hold fights in the United States since June 2002 , but it was not until October 2006 that the first Pride FC show was held. In February 2003, a contract was signed with THQ , since then Pride games have been released for the Playstation 2. In German-speaking countries, Pride FC was broadcast by Eurosport.
The star at Pride was the Russian Fyodor Jemeljanenko , who was unbeaten in the heavyweight division from his debut in 2002 until closing in 2007 at Pride.
In contrast to various cagefighting competitions such as UFC (organizers from the USA) or various other events, the Pride competition was fought in a standard boxing ring. Head butts, blows to the genital area, eye stitches, larynx blows, and blows to the neck and back of the head were not allowed.
Pride closure
In June 2006, Dream Stage Entertainment (DSE) lost its TV deal with Fuji TV in Japan in the course of the Yakuza scandal . With that, DSE lost its most important source of income and got into more and more financial difficulties over the next few months.
In March 2007, DSE announced at a press conference that Pride FC had been bought up by the Fertitta family, which under Zuffa LLC already runs the MMA organization Ultimate Fighting Championship .
In the beginning, both organizations continued to run under separate management, before Zuffa LLC decided in October 2007 to fire the Japanese employees of Pride FC. This also ended the further promotion of fighters and other events under the Pride banner.
regulate
Competition rules
Each fight lasts three rounds, the first of which lasts ten minutes and the other two last five minutes each. There is a two-minute break between each round. Open gloves, a face mask and a jockstrap are mandatory for a fighter .
Weight classes
- Heavyweight (more than 93 kg / 205 lb)
- Middleweight (less than or equal to 93 kg / 205 lb)
- Welter weight (less than or equal to 83 kg / 183 lb)
- Lightweight (less than or equal to 73 kg / 161 lb)
decision
- Submission
- knockout
- Technical knockout
- According to points
- disqualification
- No value
Former champions
After the last Pride FC event ran on April 8, 2007 , the belts were left with their former champions. With the takeover of Pride, the previous titles are combined with the titles of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).
| division | champion | United |
|---|---|---|
| Heavy weight |
 Fedor Emelianenko
|
|
| Middleweight |
 Dan Henderson
|
UFC Light Heavyweight title |
| Welterweight |
Dan Henderson
|
UFC middleweight |
| Lightweight |
Takanori Gomi
|
notes
On September 8, 2007 , the world middleweight title was combined with the UFC Light Heavyweight title at UFC 75. Here the previous title holder Dan Henderson lost to the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Quinton Jackson .
The world welterweight title, also held by Dan Henderson , was united on March 1, 2008 at UFC 82 with the UFC middleweight title. Anderson Silva , the previous UFC Middleweight Champion, defeated Henderson via surrender at minute 4:52 in round 2.
| Year / division | champion |
|---|---|
| 2000 open weight |
Mark Coleman
|
| 2003 Middleweight |
 Silva hiking trail
|
| 2004 heavyweight |
Fedor Emelianenko
|
| 2005 middleweight |
Mauricio Rua
|
| 2005 Welterweight |
Dan Henderson
|
| 2005 lightweight |
Takanori Gomi
|
| 2006 Openweight |
 Mirko Filipović
|
| 2006 welterweight |
Kazuo Misaki
|