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It’s been nearly three years since Zuffa bought PRIDE Fighting Championships, and at this point it’s been pretty much understood that PRIDE is dead. Or is it?

Apparently, Dana White is pleased with the ratings from the “Best of PRIDE” series premiere on Spike, and wouldn’t rule out a potential PRIDE event if the numbers grow.

“You never know, anything is possible,” said White when asked if he’d consider hosting an event or two in a ring under the Pride brand.

“For its time slot on Friday night, the first episode pulled a good rating so we’re excited about that. We’re hoping that series will continue to do well.”

“I don’t want to say the Pride name is dead. It’s still a strong powerful brand. But the reality is that us running Pride in Japan, that completely fell apart.”

As someone who fell in love with this sport because of PRIDE, it pains me to say this, but I’m not sure bringing back PRIDE would be the best idea. Not that it’s likely to happen anyways, but without DSE to produce the event, the soccer kicks, foot stomps, yellow cards, Lenne Hardt (screaming announcing lady), etc. it just wouldn’t be the same. I think I’d rather have no PRIDE than a watered down version. Some things are just better left in the past.

Story tip via BE

Ahh, the PRIDE music still gives me goosebumps. Epic.

The UFC has released a preview fight for Spike’s upcoming ‘Best of PRIDE’ series which premieres this Friday night at 10PM ET/9PM CT. Guess we shouldn’t be surprised the fight they picked just so happens to be one of UFC’s biggest stars, Chuck Liddell, knocking out Strikeforce’s heavyweight champion, Alistair Overem, who by the looked like a freakin’ stick back in 2003. Wow, I forgot how skinny he used to be.

“The Best of PRIDE Fighting Championships” premieres Friday, Jan. 15 at 10PM ET/9PM CT on Spike TV.

Zuffa is finally putting their epic PRIDE library to good use. On Jan. 11, Spike TV will premiere “The Best of Pride Fighting Championships.” The show will be hosted by Maxim model Kenda Perez.

A new series that features some of the top matchups from the now-defunct PRIDE Fighting Championships organization debuts Jan. 15 on Spike TV.

“Best of PRIDE,” which features the video library the UFC’s parent company acquired after its purchase of the organization in 2007, airs each Friday at 10 p.m. ET/PT with replays throughout the week.

“It’ll kind of be like ‘UFC Unleashed,’” said White, referring to Spike TV’s UFC-themed highlights show. “All the great PRIDE fights that happened with all the stars who are UFC guys now will be on it.”

Expect a ton of Wanderlei Silva, Anderson Silva, Shogun Rua, Rampage Jackson, Big Nog, Lil Nog, Cro Cop and Takanori Gomi fights and absolutely zero Fedor Emelianenko fights. MMA Junkie says he’s expected to be featured, but since he never actually lost in PRIDE or even looked bad I think there’s a better chance of Kenda showing up at your doorstep in her Maxim bikini than that happening. Would be sweet if they do though. Scott Coker and CBS would have to send Dana and Spike a pair of fruit baskets.

Image via Maxim

Haha, good one from LookOutWhale via Fightlinker

“Now there are lots of good guys in that division, including Brazilians, that are showing their strength, like Thiago Silva, Lyoto, myself, there are a lot of strong guys in the division, the Americans as well, like Jardine, Evans, the category is very strong. I hope that the Brazilians dominate the division. God willing, it will happen…I would like to have the fight with Shogun again. Shogun is a great fighter, a great champion and he was in the best stage of his career till today. He has his merits, at the end of the fight I tried to take his back… If I had finished the fight there at his back, I would have been able to change the story of the fight.”

—Antonio Rogerio Nogueira expressing his desire for a rematch with Mauricio “Shogun” Rua

Lil’ Nog and Shogun went to war at PRIDE Critical Countdown 2005 in the quarterfinals of the PRIDE 2005 MWGP that Shogun eventually went on to win. It was a great fight, the type that begs for a rematch down the road. Who knows, if Shogun beats Machida and Lil’ Nog wins one or two more, perhaps we’ll see Shogun vs Nogueira II for the UFC light heavyweight title in late 2010. It wouldn’t get much better than that.

Here’s video of yesterday’s UFC 104 pre-fight press conference via Sherdog. There’s also a bunch of news items and notes coming out of the presser. Here’s a rundown.

Alistair Overeem’s manager and Golden Glory head, Bas Boon, dropped a bomb on us a couple weeks ago when he called M-1 ‘a bunch of crooks’ and insinuated Alistair wouldn’t fight on any Strikeforce/M-1 Global co-promoted cards.