Pride and UFC

[enthusiast]

I hear a lot of people(older people) say that pride was a better promotion than UFC. I also saw a lot of exciting pride fights. What makes people say that Pride was better than the UFC? Or is it just because Pride was for their generation and UFC is for the younger ones?

 

[Steve]

I hear a lot of people(older people) say that pride was a better promotion than UFC. I also saw a lot of exciting pride fights. What makes people say that Pride was better than the UFC? Or is it just because Pride was for their generation and UFC is for the younger ones?

It was mainly to do with the fighters and the ruleset. In its heyday, Pride had Shogun Rua, Wanderlei Silva, Cro Cop, and a whole lot of fighters who were beasts. What people didn't appreciate at the time is how much of the dominance was due to steroids.

The rules were a little different. No elbows to a downed opponent, not because it was dangerous. Rather, it was because the elbows aren't dangerous but can cause a fight ending cut. It's cheesy. I still agree with that. The only point of elbows is to cut your opponent and cause a fight stoppage.

Pride did, however, allow stomping kicks, knees and soccer kicks to a downed opponent. Diving in for a single leg wouldn't save you from a fight ending knee to the top of the head in Pride. Another difference is that the first round was 10 minutes long and the second 5 minutes. The long first round added a different element to the fights.

The different ruleset made for some exciting fights. One other difference is that Japan loves spectacle. This includes novelty fights. So, you'd have two giants in the ring, or one sumo guy vs a judo guy. Stuff like that.

 

[KingDiesel]

in my opinion it breaks down into a few things

1. the ruleset: Prides ruleset was awesome it was for Hardcore fight fans it mixed in the reality of the sport not just the sport aspect, by that i mean you knew what Wanderlei silva would do to a guy on the street who was on his back and Wandy still standing not go into his guard hes gonna stomp him or soccer ball kick him. the ufc on the otherhand showcases more of the sport aspect in that they want to be a household name so they do their best to try to censor in a way some of the violence
2. The Talent pool: now Prides was good because back when pride was dominant MMA was still emerging to consumers over here it was already HUGE in Japan with that being said Prides talent pool was Stacked Most of the dominant fighters of this past decade where once Pride fighters not saying the ufc doesnt or didnt have awesome talents but pride was a step ahead. by that i mean where the ufc had a few big names that fought there but pride had lots of them and even had some of the ufc guys come over to pride to compete

this basically the same thing that Steve just said and pride was fight for a different generation the ufc fits the now generation better and i cant lie i LOVED pride and i also now like the ufc but PRIDE WILL ALWAYS BE THE WORLDS MOST DOMINANT FIGHTING BRAND IN MY HEART FOREVER

 

[enthusiast]

I saw a video in UFC where wandy almost soccer kicked a guy, good thing he retracted his feet hahaha. I love watching old pride videos

 

[oaktree]

Pride brought us the sakuraba vs gracies fights to me those
Were epic and to see the gracies get defeated changed mma forever.

 

[KingDiesel]

heck yeah kazushi the gracie hunter sakuraba vs the gracie fam. but Wandy Knocked him smooth out lol