A Look Back at Pride
It has been 3 ½ years since the UFC purchased the rights to Pride Fighting Championships and it is amazing how quickly the brand has grown since. With the merger, the UFC not only eliminated its primary competition, but added some serious star power to its lineup, as well. Fighters like Wanderlei Silva, Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson had serious fight fans licking their chops at potential matchups that were previously impossible. Many envisioned the previously named fighters imposing their will on the big-time stars in the U.S. as they had in Japan under the Pride banner, but time has shown that this simply is not the case.
The one-man wrecking crew overseas known as Cro Cop has been anything but here in the United States and some question why. Cro Cop has a very pedestrian 4-4 record inside the Octagon, defeating lower level fighters and losing to top-tier heavyweights. This is a drastic change from the Cro Cop that Pride fans were accustomed to seeing: Cro Cop owns victories over Josh Barnett, Mark Coleman, Alex Emelianenko, Kevin Randleman, and Wanderlei Silva, though all of them came while he was employed by Pride. On several occasions, Cro Cop has cited lack of cage experience (Pride fights were contested inside a ring with ropes), injuries, and lack of passion for the sport as reasons for his lesser success inside the UFC. While he has not mentioned it specifically, it is important to remember that Cro Cop has been fighting professionally (kickboxing and MMA) since 1996 and 14 years of brawling has to take a toll both mentally and physically. The same can be said for the likes of Wanderlei Silva; Silva was Pride’s long-time middleweight champion, but has yet to taste the same success in his latest exploits inside the Octagon (Silva fought in the UFC prior to signing with Pride). The possible explanation for “The Axe Murderer’s” disappointing results (though he defeated British golden boy Michael Bisping, which makes him a champion in my book) inside the UFC are the limitations placed upon his violent striking. While Pride and UFC are very similar, Pride allowed for a more diverse set of strikes, such as soccer kicks, knees to the head of a downed opponent, and stomps to a downed opponent that are banned within the UFC (probably to allow the UFC to be sanctioned in more places). These attacks were a critical part of Silva and Cro Cop’s arsenal, and without them, the fighters are missing a critical element to their fight game.
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Though Silva and Cro Cop have slightly faltered during their time in the UFC, such is not the case for all of the fighters that came to the UFC from Pride. Fighters like Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Rampage Jackson, Shogun Rua, and Dan Henderson have all experienced great success within the Octagon. Big Nog, Rampage, and Shogun have all won a title in the UFC, while Henderson was the first fighter in the UFC to demonstrate any level of success against longtime middleweight kingpin Anderson Silva. These fighters, as well as numerous others, have had little or no growing pains in adapting their fighting styles to the rules of the UFC. Though Nogueira and Rampage both quickly relinquished their titles (and Rampage now calls himself an actor), they are still competing at a very high level. With a big fight against Lyoto Machida, Rampage is poised to make another run at the UFC Light Heavyweight Title, which is currently held by Pride veteran Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. While Henderson has moved on from the UFC to greener pastures in Strikeforce, he has also shown that he is among the best in any organization.
Though many of the fighters from Pride have not had the highlight reel knockouts or barnburner slugfests that they once had, it is quite unfair to say that they are washed up or not the same caliber of fighters that they used to be overseas. I would argue that the depth of the fighters in the UFC is greater than that of Pride and even the non-title contenders are extremely well-rounded. As fight fans, it should be important to appreciate the fighters and not look down our noses if they don’t produce the same results as they once did.
By Curt Heinrichs
ProFighting-fans.com MMA Staff Writer