Knock out punch for Bodog Fight? UFC buys Pride for less than $70M

Bill Dozer · 03-27-2007, 03:50 PM

(yes, came up with the thread title myself

)

NEW YORK -- The majority owners of Ultimate Fighting Championship have agreed to buy their biggest mixed martial arts rival, Pride Fighting Championships, in a deal that will establish megafights among the outfits' titleholders and possibly attract huge pay-per-view audiences.

"This is really going to change the face of MMA. Literally creating a sport that could be as big around the world as soccer. I liken it somewhat to when the NFC and AFC came together to create the NFL."
-- Lorenzo Fertitta, one of UFC's majority owners
Company executives declined to comment on the sales price, but a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press that brothers Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta will purchase the Japan-based Pride for less than $70 million. The person was not authorized to speak to reporters and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The deal was completed Tuesday and was announced during a news conference in Tokyo, where Lorenzo Fertitta has been negotiating with Nobuyuki Sakakibara, the majority owner and chief executive of Dream Stage Entertainment Inc., Pride's owner.

"We have been talking to Pride for probably about 11 months," Lorenzo Fertitta said. "It's been a long, drawn-out process but we finally were able to put the two brands together."

To buy the company, the brothers created a new entity called Pride FC Worldwide Holdings LLC. The newly formed company will take over Pride assets, including its trademarks, video library and valuable roster of fighters, from Dream Stage. The Fertitta brothers, who own Las Vegas-based Zuffa LLC, the parent company of UFC, intend to keep the well-known Pride name and promote fights under that brand.

The acquisition marks a new phase in the brothers' quest to dominate the burgeoning world of mixed martial arts since they bought the struggling UFC in 2001.

"This is really going to change the face of MMA," Lorenzo Fertitta said. "Literally creating a sport that could be as big around the world as soccer. I liken it somewhat to when the NFC and AFC came together to create the NFL."

The deal allows the Fertitta brothers to broker the biggest MMA fights possible in the near future, increasing their influence in this sports entertainment business.

"We will be able to literally put on the fights that everyone wants to see," Lorenzo Fertitta said. "It will allow us to put on some of the biggest fights ever."

In the past, there has been at least one case in which Pride and UFC couldn't hammer out a deal to put their top fighters in the ring together. With Pride in their pocket, the Fertitta brothers intend to ensure that never happens again.

The sale gives Pride more financial backing to expand the business internationally after suffering a recent financial blow.

Major sponsor Fuji Television Network Inc. dropped Pride in June after a tabloid linked Pride to the Japanese mob -- something Sakakibara has denied vigorously. To help bolster Pride, the company staged two PPV fights in Las Vegas. Neither was a financial success. The fights gained exposure for Pride but lost money, making the sale of Pride more likely.

"I think it certainly weakened their position," Lorenzo Fertitta said. "One of our goals is to get back on a major platform back here in Japan."

Lorenzo Fertitta said he'll be looking to expand Pride internationally.

Buying Pride is the latest in a series of acquisitions that the brothers have made in the last six months. Zuffa snapped up World Extreme Cagefighting and World Fighting Alliance last year.

Similar to Pride, buying WFA gave UFC the rights to a popular fighter named Quinton "Rampage" Jackson. Jackson will face UFC's most popular fighter, Chuck Liddell, the current light heavyweight champ in Las Vegas, on May 26 on PPV.

In the combat world, the Pride deal leaves a fragmented group of upstarts and K-1, another Japanese company that promotes fighters skilled in various forms of kick boxing.

Thanks to a surge in popularity, the brothers' investment in UFC and MMA in general has begun to pay off.

Last year, UFC cracked $200 million in PPV revenue, putting it on par with World Wrestling Entertainment Inc.

UFC stages fights in arenas across the country and airs a clutch of successful television shows on Spike TV. It has also opened an office in London, looking toward establishing itself internationally.

The brothers also run Station Casinos Inc. in Las Vegas. Lorenzo Fertitta is president and Frank Fertitta is chairman and chief executive of Station Casinos, a public company that was recently agreed to be purchased by a private equity investor group that includes key members of the Fertitta family.

http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/news/story?id=2814235

LargeMouthBass · 03-27-2007, 04:34 PM

So this wasn't just a rumor... This should be good for the fans.

sportsfanatic · 03-27-2007, 05:07 PM

One of the things I've always hated about Pride fights was their use of tournament fighting. UFC has one fight for each fighter per night. Makes total sense and fair to the fighters. Japanese Pride tournament fights sometimes has the fighter fight 3 fighters in one night! Elimination tournament fighting is just stupid. Often times a fighter would be too injured to fight the next fighter. You can't crown champions like that. What if one person gets easy fights and the other gets hard fights that night. When they finally meet, the one who got hard fights would be too exhausted or injured to really compete for the championship.

Bill Dozer · 03-27-2007, 05:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sportsfanatic

One of the things I've always hated about Pride fights was their use of tournament fighting. UFC has one fight for each fighter per night. Makes total sense and fair to the fighters. Japanese Pride tournament fights sometimes has the fighter fight 3 fighters in one night! Elimination tournament fighting is just stupid. Often times a fighter would be too injured to fight the next fighter. You can't crown champions like that. What if one person gets easy fights and the other gets hard fights that night. When they finally meet, the one who got hard fights would be too exhausted or injured to really compete for the championship.

Sounds like that old Van Dam movie. He would get whooped and show up the next day fresh without a scratch, like a video game.

Illusion · 03-27-2007, 05:34 PM

I never thoughts the rumors would come. This is certainly a great day for MMA fans.

SBR_John · 03-28-2007, 11:25 AM

How does Bodog figure/ not figure into this?

ukgaz · 03-28-2007, 01:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SBR_John

How does Bodog figure/ not figure into this?

Calvin Ayre's MMA company will not have the UFC worried in the slightest. Sure they may or may not have ( depending on who you listen to) the number one heavyweight fighter on the plant in Fedor but I don't think they have any long term future. They may have the opportunity to pick up some of the talent that may be unsigned at this stage but K1 and Elite are bigger rivals than Bodog but that's not saying much

Anyway when the Americans get there hands on Ayre there may not be any bodog....

Shuswapper · 03-29-2007, 03:40 AM

Isn't Bodog's stated goal to get publicity of any kind playing into this. No one really believes Calvin has the money he claims, do they?

JoshW · 03-29-2007, 08:56 AM

Surprised Calvin didn't go after Pride at that price.

ShamsWoof10 · 03-29-2007, 06:24 PM

The problem I have with this is it will be good for the sport and very bad for society... Society in the last 50 years has become MUCH more violent and a lot of it is due to the media... Throw some prescription drugs in there that make cocaine look good along with influential music and you are on your way to an ultra violent society.. What is really interesting is when "Americans" because media says so wonders why other groups (so called terrorists) or whatever are so violent but never stop to think that the US's violent crime rate is nothing to sneeze at... They lead the league in many of those catagories...