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Originally Posted by Not Right Now
I read about this, but I wanted to sit back and wait until everythign was confirmed and it's looking like this is all true, and completely unfortunate.
PRIDE fighting is officially dead. UFC had been trying to run it as a second tier organization kind of likethey do WEC, but that failed apparently.
Fedor Emelianenko Pride's HW champion, signed to M-1 a Russian MMA company, this comes as terrible news because The UFC has been after Fedor all year, btu they didn't want to let him compete in Combat Sambo tournaments, Fedor represents him country at Sambo, he is a part of the national team, this was a mistake on the UFC's part. Signing to this company, Fedor has no one to fight, maybe a new star will be born, but until then, he has nothing. This killed the possiblity of a dream fight with Randy Couture as wel as many other match-ups fans wanted to see; Gonzanga, Arlovski, Vera, Sylvia, Cro-Cop, Werdum, etc...
To make this week even worse, Randy Couture, severed all ties wiht the UFC over the Fedor fight not being signed and the "lack of respect" the company has for him, a man who helped build the company/sport up to what it is today. Good job Dana White. I agree in saying that the only person in the company who should POSSIBLY make more money than Randy is Chuck Liddell. That trilogy heped build MMA into what it is today, and after that Chuck helped send the company into a boom and has been one of the more marketable faces in the UFC. Yet they offer Fedor 8 times what they pay Randy.
Dana White, I am not too happy with you at the moment.
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Well. I think its good for business to have a strong competition. This will allow UFC to strive to be better and the consumer will win in the end. With the demise of Pride it looked as though UFC would be the only serious game in town, however with the signing of Fedor by M-1 and the others in Fedor's camp that will certainly follow M-1 could grow to be a serious competition for UFC - hopefully they tour internationally.
I think Couture is going to end up there as well. I think there is also a good chance that Shogun, Ninja, Henderson, Cro Cop and other Pride alumni may end up there as well.
I don't want to see any more attrition in the UFC ranks to head to M-1, but I'm not thinking this is a bad thing. Fighters will go back and forth between the two companies and we'll see some great fights in the end.