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PRIDE GOES OUT FOR A RIDE

Of the 68 events promoted by the Pride Fighting Championships, all but two of them were held in Japan. The other two took place at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, part of Dreamscape Entertainment’s attempt to spread the brand into international markets on the heels of its loss of a television contract in Japan.

PRIDE 32: The Real Deal was held on October 21, 2006 and drew a paid crowd of 8079 and a gate of $2,056,444. Eric “Butterbean” Esch was featured on the undercard, as was former UFC heavyweight champion Josh Barnett. In the main event. Fedor Emelianenko defeated Mark Coleman by a submission in the second round. Pride came back to Las Vegas on February 24, 2007 in an event appropriately titled “The Second Coming.” In a thrilling main event, Dan Henderson knocked out Wanderlei Silva in the third round to win the organization’s middleweight championship.

That second U.S. Pride show drew 8334 paying customers, according to the Nevada State Athletic Commission, with a gate of $2.033,098, indicating that the brand had held its strength from one show to another.

Shortly thereafter, Pride’s assets were purchased by Zuffa LLC, owners of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

THE JOHN L. SULLIVAN OF PRIDE?
After weight divisions were established and tournaments gave way to individual matches (at least for the time being), the first heavyweight champion in the brief history of the Pride Fighting Championships was Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, who won the title by defeating Heath Herring at PRIDE 17 in the “Championship Chaos” show in the Tokyo Dome.

Nogueira captured the title over Herring on a three-round unanimous decision. He held the title through one defense against Enson Inoue in February of 2002 (PRIDE 19), then lost the crown to Fedor Emelianenko on March 16, 2003 at PRIDE 25: Body Blow in Yokohama.

Nogueira did register two more victories over Herring, winning by submission in June of 2004 and a decision in July of 2007 at UFC 73: Stacked.

LOST IN THE SHUFFLE
Two world champions were crowned for the first time at PRIDE 17: Championship Chaos, contested in November 2001 at the Tokyo Dome. Wanderlei Silva won the middleweight title when he TKO’d Kazushi Sakuraba, and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira beat Heath Herring on a decision to win the heavyweight title.

Those title bouts headlined what was one of the most star-studded cards in MMA annals. Also on the show were the likes of Renzo Gracie, Semmy Schilt, Mirko Cro Cop, Mario Sperry, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Dan Henderson. But one other competitor, whose appearance is probably forgotten by many, could one day be in line for what some consider to be the most prestigious title in all of sports - the world heavyweight boxing championship.

Matt Skelton of Great Britain was choked out by Tom Erikson in just a minute and 51 seconds of the first round on that show, but this wasn’t really Skelton’s arena. He was at first a kick-boxer, winning an IKF world title and going to the finals of K-1’s World GP 2001. The loss in Pride was his one and only MMA venture, but Skelton has made a name for himself as a hands-only boxer. As of the end of 2007 he was sporting a record of 21-1 with 18 KO’s, with rankings of # 6 by the World Boxing Organization (WBO) and #14 by the International Boxing Organization (IBO). He was also the British Commonwealth heavyweight champion.

Sometime in 2008, the heavy-hitting Skelton may yet get his chance to win a boxing world title. But he better hurry, because he’s 40 years of age.