“We’re still trying to figure out this whole Pride and UFC thing. The deal is done. We acquired the company yesterday or the day before…. Talking about all the Pride stuff, we’re going to work on that stuff over the next [weeks] now that the deal is officially closed. You can’t start running a business when you don’t own it yet. We’ve owned it for two days. I know we made the big announcement [on March 27], but it might have been a little premature. The deal wasn’t done yet. The deal was pending, but we were far enough along where we felt comfortable announcing the deal. Now that it’s closed two days ago, we’ll get that straightened out.”

They say  - In a new interview on his homepage (http://fedor.bel.ru) Pride FC heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko has stated that he currently has no standing contract with any fight organization, including the UFC and Bodog Fight organizations.

You say  - Ok so Fedor says he’s a free agent. Dana has said that he is under contract with Pride. I know Fedor loves fighting in Russia, Bodog may be able to sway him on that fact alone. I think he could do more for Russia by fighting outside Russia. I’m sure the boys at Zuffa will make him an offer to fight that he can’t say no to. Fedor will fight for Pride. Zuffa will make Fedor happy to stay. He won’t fight in or for the UFC until after the MMA ’superbowl’. - Beatts35, forums.mmanews.com

I love the fact that the ball is in Fedor’s corner, he’s got all the cards….he can ask for as much money as he wants and either Bodog or UFC/Pride will have to pay it. Hope he makes at least a mill per fight. - KaroThrow101, Sherdog.net

We say

Damian: I wouldn’t say the ball is entirely in Fedor’s court. It takes two fighters to have a truly great fight, and while Bodog may be able to lure Fedor in, the same can’t be said for every other top fighter. The reality is that Zuffa Inc. is holding some major cards right now, but Fedor has also cemented his own demand as the #1 fighter in the world. Yet both sides are bound by a simple business need that makes them bedfellows whether they like it or not: Zuffa needs the best fighters, which is Fedor, and Fedor himself needs the best competition which Zuffa has. So in the end, I think both sides will negotiate strongly but there is no reason an agreement can’t be reached.

Jose: I don’t know what Bodog could do long term for Fedor, but the man has really done it all in this sport. If he wanted to take a couple of multimillion dollar fights a year, who’s to say he’s wrong about that? The fans would miss out on some potentially great fights for however long Fedor chooses to stay out of the Zuffa picture (and who says that has to be permanent?) but lets be honest, for five years Fedor has destroyed all top contenders to his throne. If he’s got something good going with Bodog for a while, I don’t see how that should shed a negative light on him. I do think we will see him eventually make a deal with Zuffa, I just hope the interim isn’t long enough that he would be stripped of the Heavyweight title. But Fedor is such a bad man; it probably wouldn’t be too much trouble to get his property back.

On Saturday night, The UFC was coming off probably the biggest two weeks in their short history. The parent company of the UFC, Zuffa purchased the rival PRIDE Fighting Championships promotion out of Japan which completed UFC’s unbelievable journey to become the number one MMA promotion in the world. UFC 69 was supposed to be a transitional show to showcase the two most marketable welterweights against quality opponents.

Oh, what 18 minutes and 25 seconds can do.

Diego Sanchez was in position to capitalize on the most desired demographic that any promotion would love to get. The Hispanic demographic has shown time and time again to bring in huge revenues for WWE as well as boxing. Diego Sanchez since winning the Ultimate Fighter Season One competition has been rolling with wins over such fighters as Karo Parysian and Joe Riggs. On this night, he was facing fellow TUF alumni Josh Koscheck. Koscheck, who Sanchez defeated on the first season, has improved on every part of his game since entering the sport as a pure wrestler with very little striking training. Koscheck out struck Sanchez for a unanimous decision in this heated grudge match that didn’t live up to the hype. Sanchez seemed tentative and Koscheck played the safe route to the win.

For the past five months, George St. Pierre has been promoted at the best pound for pound fighter in the world since his destruction of Matt Hughes in November. Matt Serra won the lowest rated Ultimate Fighter, "The Comeback" season, with a boring three round decision of Chris Lytle. Serra, a Gracie Ju-Jitsu Black Belt out of Long Island was only getting this shot due to winning a tournament with fighters who basically were on the verge of retiring or fighting for the smaller MMA promotions around the world. The fight only took 3:25. Everything you would expect if your name is Matt Serra. Serra knocked out St.Pierre after dominating him standing and finishing him on the ground. The UFC was treating this fight as a mismatch to the point where Dana White and Joe Rogan both stated that the only way Serra would have a shot was to land a lucky punch. They were half right; Serra landed about 15 lucky punches.

The UFC was planning on the big St. Pierre vs. Hughes 3, which was going to take place in Montreal, which would be reminiscent of the Bret Hart-Shawn Michaels (without the screw job) level heat with Diego Sanchez waiting in the wings as the undefeated Latino star. Instead we have Josh Koscheck who is a very good wrestler who 95% of the fan base does not like to the point where he is actually embracing it with a promo after his fight against Sanchez that every heel in wrestling should study for the way to get heat. We also have the flagship of the UFC Welterweight division who was winding down his career until entering a reality contest.

This is the perfect example of how MMA and professional wrestling are so alike. They can take a money making angle and totally kill it. Only the UFC is a shoot and can probably rise above and make this into a positive. At least, no one is related Dana White.

I hope you enjoyed my first article and I will be planning on more

 The first match announcements for PRIDE Fighting Championships "THE REAL DEAL", PRIDE’s first American event, have been announced. The event, held on October 21st at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, will feature PRIDE Heavyweight Champion Fedor Emelianenko and Middleweight Grand Prix Champion Mauricio "Shogun" Rua!

PRIDE Heavyweight Champion
Fedor Emelianenko (Russia/Red Devil)
VS
PRIDE Grand Prix 2000 Champion
Mark Coleman (America/Hammer House)

Fedor Emelianenko’ comeback match will be held in Las Vegas! The "emperor", unable to compete in the Open Weight Grand Prix due a slow-to-recover injury, has chosen America as the location to get back in the game. His opponent will be veteran Heavyweight fighter and the pride of America, Mark Coleman.
Mark Coleman comes from a wrestling background in the great wrestling state of Ohio, winning a silver medal in the 1991 freestyle wrestling world championships’ 100kg division and placing 7th in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics freestyle division. Wrestling is a popular sport in America and Coleman use that wrestling to gain fame when he twice dominated UFC tournaments. In short, Mark Coleman is a real American hero. On the other hand, Emelianenko’s background is sambo, the national martial art of Russia. This match will pit the American hero against the Russian emperor and American wrestling against Russian sambo. In Rocky 4, the Russian boxer Drago destroyed Rocky’s friend Apollo Creed in the ring and Rocky went on to take his revenge on Drago. Can Coleman become the modern-day Rocky? Or will he be sent to the mat like Apollo?
Coleman has made it clear that he won’t stop fighting until he has become the PRIDE Champion again. Although this is a non-title fight, a rematch with the current Champion is Coleman’s big chance. Coleman is on fire as he aims for the American dream.

PRIDE Grand Prix 2005 Champion
Mauricio "Shogun" Rua (Brazil/Chute Boxe Academy)
VS
Former UFC Heavyweight Champion
Kevin Randleman (America/Hammer House)

Mauricio "Shogun" Rua will make his comeback in Las Vegas. Shogun’s popularity was proven at the frenzied autograph session held recently and in his seminars, which were packed with students eager to learn from the master. Shogun dislocated his arm in an Open Weight Grand Prix preliminary match against Mark Coleman in February of this year and with that, his dreams of conquering two weight classes disappeared. Shogun’s opponent this time will be Kevin Randleman, a student of Coleman, the man who stole Shogun’s dreams.
When Randleman is on his game, he’s even more dangerous than Coleman. Will Shogun be able to make his comeback against Randleman, a man with superhuman physical abilities and wrestling techniques?

 PRIDE Fighting Japan or PRIDE Fighting Championships is a major mixed martial arts organization based in Japan. It is currently promoted by Dream Stage Entertainment (DSE). Its inaugural event was held at the Tokyo Dome on October 11, 1997, promoted by Kakutougi Revolution Spirits (KRS).[1] It is the most popular MMA organization in the world based on the number of event attendees: the PRIDE Final Conflict 2003 event had over 67,000 people in the audience. The audience record is 91,107 people on the PRIDE and K-1 co-production Shockwave/Dynamite, held in August 2002.

On June 5, 2006, Fuji Network announced that they were terminating their television contract with PRIDE Fighting Championships effective immediately due to a breach of contract by DSE. [2]. This leaves PRIDE with only SKY PerfecTV, a pay-per-view carrier, as a television outlet in Japan, and the lack of the substantial revenues from the Fuji deal threatens its sustainability. DSE has been surrounded by speculation in the Japanese media, especially in Japanese tabloid Shukan Gendai, that it may be a front by a notorious yakuza group. DSE responded to the loss by stating they will continue with their schedule as currently planned, including an event in Las Vegas, Nevada, PRIDE 32 on October 21, 2006, PRIDE’s first event outside of Japan