Explain please...

[Poacher]

I'm relatively new to this MMA business and I need to ask a few questions. Excuse my ignorance.



1. UFC/PRIDE/K-1; These are different entities right?

2. Which organization pays their fighters more money?

3. Fighters can switch from one org to anoher can't they?

4. Do the champions of the respective orgs ever fight each other?

5. What are the significant rule differences between the orgs?

6. Which do you prefer and why?



Found this video: <a href="http://media.putfile.com/Fedor77" target="_blank">http://media.putfile.com/Fedor77

</a>

That is one tough mother...

 

[White Shogun]

1. Yes, they're different entities. Pride and K1 operate out of Japan, UFC in the USA.

2. Everyone says that Pride pays more money. Judging by the number of fighters they've signed, I'd say that opinion seems pretty accurate. But I haven't personally researched the salaries of athletes in any of the organizations to do a comparison.

3. Yes, they can, but most of them are signed to contracts to fight for one org and that org only. Occasionally they will have an inter-org tourney, but rarely.

4. No, the champs do not fight each other, except as mentioned in number 3, above. The MMA orgs are not sanctioning bodies like the WBA, WBO, IBF, etc in boxing. They are separate businesses with their own stable of fighters.

5. K1 is primarily a kickboxing tournament, although the inclusion of high-profile fighters with famous styles, like the Gracies, can get rules changes added to suit the style of those fighters. Basically its a ploy to get them in the ring, they won't fight without them.

I believe Pride and UFC have similar rules, although I *think* Pride allows a few more varieties of strikes than the UFC. They have changed so much from the beginning though, I don't know what the actual differences are.

6. I prefer UFC, I guess, in that their fights are more readily accessible on television. You can see good fights, for free. Dana White scored a major coup, as far as the business end goes, by telecasting UFC fights on Spike TV. That was major. I'd love to see Pride bring live fights to FSN. Right now they have 'best of' shows, but they are ruined by poor play by play and announcing, in my opinion.

Most knowledgeable MMA people will tell you that Fedor Emilianenko, the guy in the clip you posted, is the best fighter on the planet, period. Hands down, end of discussion. This is across the board, generally, from fans who watch all the fights and even prefer one org over another.

Hopefully the rest of the crew here can fill in the blanks I've left in this response.

 

[Poacher]

Thanks a lot WS. Have you seen that clip before? I think
it's the coolest thing I've ever seen. That guy is a role model
for white youth everywhere. Very inspiring/ empowering. He
doesn't seem to have any fear. He seems very business-like and
unemotional.

 

[dkr77]

The main difference regarding Pride and the UFC is for one a ring
versus a cage. In the UFC you are more likely to observe a combatant
pin his opponent against the fence in order to limit his mobility to
move, therefore increasing the chances of ending the fight with
strikes. In Pride they recenter the participants in the middle of the
ring if they venture to close to the edge of the mat. Another
difference is in the striking rules of both organisations. In the UFC
you can use forearms against an opponent standing or on the ground, In
Pride you cannot. In Pride you can kick and knee a downed opponent to
the head. In the UFC you are only allowed to kick or knee a downed
opponent to the body. I prefer the UFC over Pride because I believe the
production is better and I think the cage makes it more entertaining.
In addition, the UFC allowing elbows seems to make the fight move at a
quicker pace. Just my humble opinion.

 

[White Shogun]

The main difference regarding Pride and the UFC is for one a ring versus a cage.

I read this and I thought, "Oops! Duh, how could I leave that out?" Didn't even come to mind although you're right, the cage is part of the strategy in the UFC. Guys will deliberately pin their opponent to the cage, standing and prone, whereas in a ring the ropes give leverage and a little maneuverability to the pinned fighter.

I didn't know that they cannot use elbows in Pride, though. Or uh, I mean, "forearms."

 

[dkr77]

Shogun, Unfortunately, Pride does not allow the use of forearms (elbows). In a perfect world both Pride / UFC would allow elbows, knees and kicks to an opponent in any situation, but I don't know if we will ever see that day.

 

[Guest]

I had no idea about the forearm rule, but I still prefer PRIDE simply because they have the best fighters. Other than the Welterweight and possibly middleweight Divisions inwhich the UFC has a star strutted cast. PRIDE has the best lightweights(no UFC division), light heavyweights(Chuck and Randy are great but they can only fight each other so any times), and heavyweights(Arlovski looks promising but hasnt fought any top notch competition as there is little in UFC at the moment).


However, I give props to the UFC for making MMA what it is today and for giving us The Ultimate Fighter and now free fights on a weekly basis. Problem is CASTE politicians such as John McCain, who cant stand to see a combat sport not dominated by minorities,have greatly hindered the potential of the UFC by trying to get it banned. McCain calls it brutal but is a big boxing fan, a sport which has killed far more individuals, resulted inmany more serious injuries, and requires no where near the skill level of MMA. As a result the UFC had to enforce stricter rules and has a much smaller budget than it once did.


PRIDE on the other hand is based in Japan where there is no caste system, or a demand for boxing so the Japanese fans flock to PRIDE shows like its their Super Bowl. Fighters are treated like celebs and get more money. Which is why that is where the best fighters are right now. Here is a run down of some of them:

 

[JD074]

Awesome Fedor clip! That's actually the most I've ever seen him fight. I had only seen two of his fights prior to that, the Randleman and Coleman fights (recently shown on FSN.) Of course both were early submission victories, so I didn't see that much of him. He has an interesting striking style during the ground and pound. It was particularly sweet seeing him knock the crap out of that Asian giant who disrespected him. It's weird but it seems like I've seen quite a bit of bad sportmsanship from some of these Asian fighters. I guess they've been watching too much American sports programming....

 

[dkr77]

There are rumors of the UFC bringing back the light weight division.

 

[Guest]

Others have pretty much explained everything, but I'll throw in a couple things...

1.  UFC/PRIDE/K-1; These are different entities right?

Those are the three main orgs, all seperate, and then there are a bunch of smaller orgs which these three kind of use as a minor leauge feeding system. A lot of UFC fighters start of in smaller orgs like, King of the Cage, Rumble on the Rock, TKO, World Extreme Cagefighting(WEC), Cage Rage, etc. Pride gets a lot of fighters from Shooto and Pancrase.

3.  Fighters can switch from one org to anoher can't they?
4.  Do the champions of the respective orgs ever fight each other?

Fighters are under contracts, but contracts end and sometimes fighters go off to different orgs.

The orgs rarely send fighters to opposing orgs to represent them. The UFC sent over Liddell to fight in one of Pride's grand prix in hopes of setting up a Wanderlei Silva - Chcuck Liddell fight, but Liddell didn't make it past 'Rampage' Jackson, he did beat Overeem though. That probablly wont happen anymore, especially with champs, becuase the risk of having a champion lose to an opposing champion is too much.

Basically, Each org wants to portray their fighters as the best and if one sends their top guys over and they get whooped, it looks bad.

Liddell has lost in Pride, but Wanderlei has lost in the UFC as well. Once to Vitor Belfort and again to Tito Ortiz.

6.  Which do you prefer and why?

Thats hard to say.

LW - Pride (UFC doesn't have one anymore)

WW - Both Pride and UFC have great champs (Gomi and Hughes). The difference is, Pride's WW talent pool doesn't go much further than Gomi. UFC here.

MW - A little closer than WWs, but not much. UFC here as well.

LW - Pretty much a toss up, it so even. Pride has Silva,Arona,Lil Nog,Shogun, etc. UFC has Liddell,Couture,Babalu,Horn, etc.

HW - UFC's HW division is pathetic. After Arlovski, it is barren. Mir and Sylvia are alright, but neither is at the level of Arlovski or Pride's HWs. Fedor, Cro Cop, Big Nog, Sergei, Aleksander... Pride clearly wins here.

Overall, I like 'em both. UFC is also on free TV, so they get a bonus there though.

 

[Guest]

Oh, I forgot, check out http://www.mmaweekly.com and http://www.sherdog.com

Those are the two best MMA sites, IMO.

Heres a tip, Stay away from the sherdog forums. The worst MMA forums around, although, suprisingly, the most popular.

 

[Poacher]

Thanks for all the help gents. I have a much better idea of what I'm looking at now.



One more question:



How do they determine who fights who? For example, Fedor
just fought some guy named Zulu and beat the crap out of him.
Surely there must have been a better oponent out there that that tub of
jelly. Don't they have any kind of ranking system to determine
who will challenge for the title or is it just whatever the orgs think
will make the most money?