In 2007, a Yakuza scandal led to the demise of Pride Fighting Championship and thus the end of a decade of influential mixed martial arts events. There were rumblings of organized crime involvement as early as 2003 when the original president of the organization, Naoto Morishita committed suicide, rumored to motivated by his debts. Pride co-founder, Nobuyuki Sakakibara became the president of Dream Stage Entertainment, the promotional company for Pride FC and the organization flourished, setting an attendance record for the "Final Conflict" event later that year. Names such as Fedor, Crocop, Nogueira, and others were involved in epic battles that made them legends in the sport. Just a few years later, Japanese media reports of the Yakuza involvement prompted Pride's television deal to get dropped and the domino effect began towards the collapse of the company. Sakakibara saw the writing on the wall and a deal was in place to sell the organization to owners of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. While it was initially planned to keep Pride open as its own entity, the Zuffa corporation's attempt to expand into Japan on a full time basis was met with political red tape and the Pride FC organization officially folded in October 2007.
Last weekend during the Bellator Dynamite event that featured a co-promoted show with Glory Kick Boxing, similar to the Pride/K1 events, there were certainly reminders of Pride FC throughout the night. The popular Lenne Hardt brought her unique ring announcing style to the show and the legendary Sakuraba was shown in attendance. Amid speculation of some type of announcement about an event in Japan, it just seemed too coincidental and that proved to be the case. Prior to the main event, Sakakibara made an appearance to announce a working agreement with Bellator for a new promotion that he was launching in Japan and the inaugural event would be broadcast live on Spike TV on new year's eve. It was then revealed that the legendary Fedor Emelianenko has signed to fight in the main event of the historic show and there was a buzz among MMA fans about The Last Emperor's return to the sport. A live American broadcast of the Japanese tradition of the new year's eve show is great for the sport of MMA, but several questions still remain about the entire situation.
First, will Sakakibara be able to recreate Pride? The Pride Fighting Championship brand established itself as unique because of the different rules, production, and match ups than the UFC. Arguably, there was a time when Pride was the better organization, in terms of quality fights, but can that type of organization be promoted again in Japan? On the surface, the answer is no because Zuffa acquired the rights to the Pride name and video library when it purchased the company for a reported $60 million eight years ago, but will the draw of a Pride inspired organization get off the ground? In my opinion and this is more of a guess than anything, I would have to say that while the initial event could make a splash, I don't think there will be another resurgence of Pride FC in Japan. The main reason being it would be difficult to recapture the Pride environment because many of the stars that built the promotion are past their prime or retired. Another aspect to consider is, will the Japan public support Sakakibara's company after the Yakuza scandal? While his involvement wasn't ever completely clarified, the stain of the scandal could still be upon him and the downfall of Japan's top mixed martial arts company happened on his watch. Granted, time has passed, but it will be interesting to see the perception of his new venture, specifically on a long term basis. Keep in mind, the Dream promotion was supposed to revive the Pride style, but folded within a few years so success isn't guaranteed for Sakakibara in 2015. Regardless, it should be very interesting to see who is signed to fight for the event and at the very least, it provides a unique broadcast on Spike TV for MMA fans.
Regarded by many as the greatest MMA fighter of all time, Fedor Emelianenko originally announced his intention to return to MMA a few months ago and since then, there was much speculation about where he would sign. Truthfully, I assumed he would fight in Russia for a promotion that most people hadn't heard of against an opponent that less people had heard of so I was surprised when he appeared during the Bellator event. Many MMA fans are assuming the announcement to fight in Japan closes the door on Fedor fighting for the UFC, but I don't think that's necessarily the case. While it hasn't been confirmed, it's rumored that Fedor only signed a 1-2 fight deal with Sakakibara's promotion and if that's the case, a potential UFC deal could still be a possibility. In fact, the Japanese deal could be a way for Fedor to test the waters or be considered a tune up fight to determine if he could still be competitive with the level of UFC competition. That being said, I've always found it to be a conflict that Fedor's manager is also the president of M-1 Global and that if a UFC deal was put in place, Vadim Finkelchtein would essentially sign his top star to the competition. I'm just guessing here, but Fedor doesn't seem to be too concerned with compensation at this point in his career and his humble background probably allows him to security from the money he made during the prime of his career so I think Finkelchtein was more of an obstacle than anything in the Fedor/UFC negotiations from years previously. However, Finkelchtein is no longer Fedor's manager so it at least seems possible that some type of UFC deal could be done before he retires. Regardless of what happens in the future, it's great to see Fedor return to the sport and it will be interesting to see if the return leads to another run in his career.
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