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Don’t forget tomorrow at 8am ET, ONE FC: War of the Lions takes place live and streams for free on the ONE FC Youtube page.

Post-PRIDE five years later: What happened to the main players? | Fight Opinion

ONE Fighting Championship: A Preview of the Stacked Main Card | Bleacher Report

Invicta FC making debut in style with free live stream on April 28 | Five Ounces of Pain

Dana White Has No Interest In Signing Fedor | FightLine

Sadly, Lee Murray’s Days of Impregnating Women in Prison May Be Over | Cage Potato

Dana White: Nick Diaz Would be Insane to Retire | 5thRound

Canadian Prime Minster gives counterpart GSP gloves | MMA Payout

King Mo Says He Did Not Play the Race Card Against NSAC | TheFightNerd

Rafael Cordeiro gives us his thoughts on TUF: Brasil and Shogun heading back to the top | MiddleEasy

Dana White: Dan Henderson will get next title shot at Light Heavyweight or Middleweight | MMA Mania

Vadim Finkelstein: We are ready to have Fedor fighting in the UFC | LowKick

PRIDE was amazing. PRIDE was also infected with the Japanese mafia which ultimately led to its downfall. With the exception of Zach Arnold’s extensive coverage over at Fight Opinion, this story has largely been untouched, so it was quite the surprise to see Spike TV’s new MMA show MMA Uncensored Live dive right into it in their premiere episode. I don’t fully understand the entire story, but I do know there were many players, moving parts and details that the show didn’t cover. Nevertheless, they did manage to land an interview with Fedor Emelianenko and Mirko Cro Cop’s former manager Miro Mijatovic who played a key role in bringing the organization down after he claims he was basically forced to sign over his rights to Fedor at gun point. Spike released more of his interview below.

Like I said, no one has covered the fall of PRIDE like Fight Opinion has. If you want to learn more, definitely check out Arnold’s work on it.

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Rundown of news and notes from Dana White’s chat with the press at yesterday’s UFC 144 pre-fight conference. Also, be sure to check out Ariel Helwani’s video interview with Dana above.

— There was a lot of concern over how the UFC would do at the gate this weekend when UFC 144 was first announced. They certainly had a lot going against them coming into what has been perceived as enemy territory for nearly the last decade. The early morning Japan start time was concerning as well. Well, it seems all that worrying was all for naught because according to Dana White, the event is practically a sell-out.

“This is the first show back in 12 years. You heard ‘Rampage’ and [a reporter] saying the UFC isn’t as big as PRIDE was here, and for us to come in and do an event and sell out the way we have, we’re very happy with the results. I know what we’re going to do on Sunday and what kind of show we’re going to put on for the Japanese fans. I think they’re going to be very excited and this is going to help spread the word in Japan.”

As for hard numbers, Dana White says their somewhere in the 20,000 tickets sold range. It’s a strong enough of a start that UFC Asia’s Mark Fischer is cautiously optimistic that they’ll do well enough to at least come back annually.

“I think it’s a little bit wait-and-see but certainly we do feel based on the strength of what we’ve seen so far leading into the event – the buzz, the ticket sales so far – that I think it’s a market we’d love to come back to with a big event at least annually,” Fischer said. “Whether or not we complement that with maybe one or two smaller events – perhaps ‘Fight Nights’ – and we think there’s quite good potential for an ‘Ultimate Fighter,’ maybe in a slightly different format here.

“That’s a little bit wait-and-see, but I do think that in some shape or form, we will be coming back on probably a semi-annual basis – a big event and, ideally, a second event, whether that be a ‘Fight Night’ event or ‘Ultimate Fighter’ format.”

It’s far too early to say it now, but it would be something if the UFC managed to revive the Japanese MMA scene considering everything that’s happened there in the past 10 years.

— The inevitable PRIDE questions came up at the press conference yesterday. Dana immediately addressed the perception in Japan that Zuffa killed PRIDE.

“Oh, you’re saying I’m not very popular over here,” White responded, a smile on his face. “I don’t know. Listen, I can take some boos. We didn’t kill PRIDE. I’ve said this many times. PRIDE is the only other organization that I’ve ever respected. PRIDE was an organization here in Japan that did huge sellout shows. They had tons of fans in the U.S., and a lot of the big stars not just in Japan but worldwide came form Japan. It’s the only other organization I’ve given respect or credit to. If I get some boos, I can handle it. I’m pretty thick-skinned.”

Just because Zuffa owns the PRIDE brand and they’re finding in success in Japan though doesn’t mean they’re thinking about running another PRIDE show. PRIDE is dead and that’s probably for the best.

— Dana opened up a little bit about the Nate Marquardt-Strikeforce signing. He certainly hasn’t forgotten what went down last year, but he’s at least now willing to give Marquardt a chance to “get his sh*t together.”

“Right when he was first exiled, or kicked out of the UFC, whatever you want to call it, cut from the UFC, MC Hammer is in his team. He called me up and asked me if we could meet in [Los Angeles], so I met him there, we had dinner. He was lobbying to get Marquardt back in and I said, ‘Ya know, I love you man, but he’s gotta get out there and fight in other shows.’ He opted to not fight in any other shows. He wanted to sit out and he wanted to be back in the UFC. So we talked, we’re putting him back in Strikeforce and we’ll see what happens. I like Nate Marquardt, he’s a really good guy. But professionally, he needs to get his shit together. He needs to come into Strikeforce and he needs to make weight, he needs to pass all the tests and do all the other shit, so we’ll see how it goes.”

A shot in Strikeforce is better than nothing. If things go smoothly and Nate wins, perhaps will see him back in the UFC before too long.

— Below Dana White talks to reporters about international versions of TUF following TUF Brazil, plus his comments from the press conference. Videos via MMA Weekly.

PRIDE never die!

The rumors were true. There is a separate PRIDE roster in UFC Undisputed 3 and THQ has revealed which fighters made the list.

Several PRIDE staples like Fedor Emelianenko, Alistair Overeem, Josh Barnett, Ricardo Arona and Kazushi Sakuraba (to name a few) are missing, but their absence is more than made up with the inclusion of one name — Don Frye. I might buy it just for him!

Check it out the roster below.

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Michael Chandler put forth an inspired performance against the über-dangerous Patricky Freire on Saturday night, and the path that led us to that bout – a path first tread upon in March – saw along the way knockouts, submissions and drama galore.  But that’s often what we get when we invest our attentions on a tournament.  For when eight warriors with varied skill sets, talents and backstories assemble, and clash on the field of battle until only one remains, there’s an innate sense of theater to the proceedings.  In a multiple-man melee, we can play witness to domination and destruction, to utter beatdowns and unlikely comebacks, and when it’s all over, there’s real accomplishment there, regardless of whether it took place in the span of a few events or was compressed into a single night.  The tournament is how the UFC first hooked us back in 1993, the tournament is how Pride FC captivated the world, and it’s the cornerstone on which Bellator is built upon.  So let’s take a walk down memory lane and recall some of the best MMA tournaments ever, shall we? 

Ultimate Ultimate 1996 – At the time, every UFC featured a tournament.  But what set the second Ultimate Ultimate apart from the rest was the roster, which featured the best of the best.  There was Ken Shamrock, who easily smashed young upstart Brian Johnston but broke his hand and had to bow out, and there was Kimo Leopoldo, who gutted out a win against the giant Paul Varelans but couldn’t continue.  The evening belonged to David “Tank” Abbott and Don Frye, though, with Tank almost tossing Cal Worsham out of the cage and pulling off a Mortal Kombat “fatality” on karate man Steve Nelmark before falling – literally and miraculously – in his bout against Frye.  To watch it as it happened was to capture raw excitement in a bottle.  Yes, it was awesome.

Pride 2000 Grand Prix – Japanese superstar Kazushi Sakuraba added Royce Gracie to his list of defeated Brazilians, punishing the legendary fighter for 90 minutes until Gracie’s corner threw in the towel.  And that wasn’t even the best part of the tournament!  In 2000, most thought former UFC champ Mark Coleman was washed up, but he proved he still had a lot more to do in the sport, defeating the hard-headed Kazuyuki Fujita and kneeing knockout artist Igor Vovchanchyn into oblivion to win the whole shebang.

International Fighting Championships “Global Domination” Light-Heavyweight Tournament – In September of 2003, the most promising 205-pound up-and-comers clashed in the kind of tournament we can only dream about today.  Some of the cool things that happened included: Jeremy Horn submitting Mikhail Avetisyan and knocking out Forrest Griffin with a kick to the head to make it to the finals, and Renato “Babalu” Sobral defeating Trevor Prangley, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Horn to win it all.

Pride 2004 Heavyweight Grand Prix – Kevin Randleman was supposed to be fodder fed to the fierce and deadly Mirko “CroCop” Filipovic, and then Randleman knocked him out in under two minutes.  Yet Pride’s 2004 Heavyweight Grand Prix was all about Fedor Emelianenko, who submitted Mark Coleman, survived Randleman’s “suplex of doom”, defeated Naoya Ogawa, and after a “no contest” due to a cut, beat Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira by decision.  If any noob wonders aloud why Fedor is so well-respected, point out this tournament and smack him in the head.

SuperBrawl 13 Heavyweight Tournament – If you took a time machine back to September of 1999 and looked at the Internet, you wouldn’t recognize what you saw.  But that’s what we had back then, and we used it to follow the SuperBrawl 13 Heavyweight Tournament in Hawaii, which pitted the world’s best non-UFC heavyweight fighters against each other.  Josh Barnett took top honors, defeating Juha Tunkasaari, John Marsh and Bobby Hoffman along the way, but other competitors in the event included Travis Fulton, Heath Herring and Ricco Rodriguez.  Recognize any of those names?

Pride Total Elimination 2003 – The UFC loaned out “the Iceman” to Pride, and as a result we got to watch Chuck Liddell KO a young (and much smaller) Alistair Overeem before Liddell was pounded out by Quinton Jackson.  However, the man to beat back then was Wanderlei Silva, and in the end, he was unbeatable.  After decisioning Japanese judo star Hidehiko Yoshida, the “Axe Murderer” and “Rampage” had the kind of striking battle that would’ve made the gods weep, and Silva wound up kneeing Jackson until the American was an unconscious pile of humanity tangled in the bottom ropes.  It was simply amazing.

State of WEC, PRIDE Titles Following Zuffa Acquisitions | MMA Fighting

Ariel Helwani’s official MMA rankings | NBC Sports

Chief of US Anti-Doping Agency Calls MMA Drug Testing ‘Horrific’ and ‘a Joke’ | Cage Potato

The Top 15 Heavyweights in MMA History: Does Brock Lesnar Make the Cut? | Bleacher Report

Wanderlei Silva has ten fights left in his career | MiddleEasy

Lew Polley talks about ‘getting cut’ from TUF 13 by Junior Dos Santos | LowKick

Manny Pacquiao a Fan of Jon Jones, BJ Penn and Bruce Lee | 5thRound

Danny Downes: ‘If I wanted to play it safe I’d be doing something else.’ | Five Ounces of Pain

Image via MMA Weekly

You’ve probably heard the rumors about a past his prime Mike Tyson being in talks to fight for PRIDE at one point or another. Turns out those rumors were true according to the “Pride: Secret Files” that were recently released. As the story goes, PRIDE planned to use Tyson as a part of a “World Tour” that included boxing matches against PRIDE stars Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic and Fedor Emelianenko. The US was one of the stops on this tour where PRIDE hoped to use Tyson to reach a segment of the US market that the UFC couldn’t. Here’s an excerpt from MMA-Japan (via MiddleEasy).

The first meeting with Sakakibara and Mike Tyson took place in April of 2006. The location was China. Mike Tyson, during his imprisonment, had become deeply inspired by revolutionary Mao Zedong. He was in China getting a tattoo of the notorious former leader of China. Sakakibara’s killing words were “creating a world tour.”

Tyson was a huge MMA fan from the very beginning. He had even worn a Vitor Belfort t-shirt at a meeting with reporters. One drawback, as we have seen most recently, an accomplished boxer could not go into the PRIDE ring solely with one skill, for the competition pool was very deep at this time. Two other major draw backs were the fact he had his license suspended by the NSAC and Japan frowned upon allowing convicted felons to fight in their country.

This is where the idea of a “world tour” came into Sakakibara’s mind. His matches would be boxing matches, first with Mirko Crocop, and eventually with Fedor Emelianenko, two strikers that had a chance at boxing with Tyson in the PRIDE ring. The plans were for these fights to be held in Russia, China, and other venues in Europe.

A fight in Japan and the United States were planned for the future, pending the results of the legal hurdles involved in getting him licensed.

Using Tyson in this fashion, PRIDE would be grabbing a share of the market that the UFC was unable to attain.

Apparently, Tyson was all about it when the deal was made, but like he had done with other business dealings, he changed his mind after the fact.

In terms of freak show matches, Tyson vs. Cro Cop and Tyson vs. Fedor boxing matches would have been epic, but like most things with PRIDE towards the end, it just didn’t work out. Crazy story though.

A few links from our friends to help those last few hours of the work week fly by.

The UFC Planned to Have PRIDE Crossover Fights Back in 2006 + More PRIDE FC secrets revealed | Cage Potato

Urijah Faber, Team Alpha Male Shine at WEC 52 | Versus’ MMA Beat

Urijah Faber not promised title shot after divisional debut, but it’s coming | MMA Fighting

Urijah Faber: I’ve Been Wanting to Fight for the UFC Belt Since I Started in This Game 7 Years Ago | FIGHT! Magazine

UFC 122 “Marquardt vs. Okami” Preview and Predictions | Five Ounces of Pain

Jorge Rivera: Calling Alessio Sakara a “World Class Striker” is a bit of a stretch | LowKick

Watch a tipsy Bas Rutten dominate Las Vegas for his bachelor party | MiddleEasy

Jeremy Stephens Welcomes Marcus Davis To Lightweight Division At UFC 125 | Heavy.com

Daniel Roberts v. Greg Soto Planned For UFC 125 | SB Nation

Fedor Emelianenko training with Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza and Gegard Mousasi | MMA Scraps

Here’s Dana White at a recent Q&A confirming Fedor Emelianenko will be featured in season two of Spike TV’s “Best of Pride” series. It’s a little unusual considering the Zuffa typically makes it a point not to promote other organization’s fighters, and well, Fedor never lost or even looked bad in PRIDE, so it’s not like they’re going for that angle… Maybe they’re running low on fights to feature?

HT: MMA-Roundup via MMA Scraps