see pride fighting championships video game . pride fighting championships former type private industry mixed martial arts promotion fate merged with ultimate fighting championship successor ultimate fighting championship founded tokyo japan october 11 1997 1997 10 11 defunct october 4 2007 2007 10 04 headquarters tokyo japan owner wme img website http www.pridefc.com pride fighting championships pride or pride fc founded as krs pride was a japanese mixed martial arts mma organization founded by nobuyuki sakakibara and nobuhiko takada . its inaugural event was held at the tokyo dome on october 11 1997 . pride held more than sixty mixed martial arts events broadcast to about 40 countries worldwide . 1 pride held the largest live mma event audience record of 91 107 people at the pride and k 1 co production shockwave dynamite held in august 2002 2 as well as the audience record of over 67 450 people at the pride final conflict 2003 . for ten years pride was one of the most popular mma organizations in the world . in march 2007 dream stage entertainment dse sold pride to lorenzo fertitta and frank fertitta iii co owners of zuffa which owns the ultimate fighting championship ufc . 3 while remaining as legally separate entities with separate managements the two promotions were set to cooperate in a manner akin to the afl nfl merger . however such an arrangement did not materialize and in october 2007 pride worldwide s japanese staff was laid off marking the end of the organization as an active fight promoter . as a result many of the pride staff left to form a new organization alongside k 1 parent company fighting and entertainment group . that new organization founded in february 2008 was named dream . 4 in 2015 pride s co founder and former president nobuyuki sakakibara established rizin fighting federation in japan with the same philosophy and ambition as for the defunct pride organization . 5 contents 1 history 1.1 origins 1.2 pride worldwide era 1.3 multimedia 1.3.1 video 1.3.2 video games 2 rules 2.1 match length 2.2 weight classes 2.3 ring 2.4 attire 2.5 victory 2.6 fouls 2.7 match conduct 2.8 matches between fighters of different weight classes 2.9 pride bushido 2.10 differences from the unified rules of mixed martial arts 3 pride events 3.1 pride grand prix 3.1.1 format 3.1.1.1 exceptions 3.1.2 list of events 3.2 pride bushido 3.3 pride the best 4 final champions 4.1 weight divisions 4.2 tournaments 5 notable fighters 5.1 heavyweight 5.2 middleweight 5.3 welterweight 5.4 lightweight 6 see also 7 references 8 external links history edit origins edit pride fighting championships was initially conceived of in 1997 to match popular japanese pro wrestler nobuhiko takada with rickson gracie the purported champion of the gracie family of brazilian jiu jitsu practitioners . the event held at the tokyo dome on october 11 1997 and organised by the krs kakutougi revolutionary spirits promotion attracted 47 000 fans as well as japanese mass media attention . the success of the first event enabled its promoters to hold a regular series of mixed martial arts events and a year later in 1998 to promote a rematch between takada and gracie . 6 with k 1 enjoying popularity in japan pride began to compete with monthly showings on fuji television as well as pay per view on the newly formed satellite television channel sky perfectv . the series was taken over by the dse after the dissolvement of the krs following the fourth event and it was accordingly renamed as the pride fighting championships . in 2000 pride hosted the first pride grand prix a two part openweight tournament held to find the world s best fighter . the tournament was held over the course of two events with sixteen fighters competing in an opening round and the eight winners returning three months later for the final round . the second round of the tournament marked the first time pride was broadcast in the united states and featured american fighter mark coleman winning the tournament by defeating igor vovchanchyn in the final round . in august 2002 pride teamed up with japan s leading kickboxing and fight promotion k 1 and held the world s biggest fight event shockwave known as pride k 1 dynamite in japan which attracted over 71 000 fans . 2 on january 13 2003 the pride mma production was thrown into turmoil when dse president naoto morishita was found dead hanging by his neck in his hotel room apparently after his mistress told him she wanted to end their affair . 7 speculation loomed whether this could possibly be the real reason as trouble with tax authorities and the yakuza have also been speculated as playing a role . 6 nobuyuki sakakibara later assumed the presidency . in 2003 pride introduced the bushido series of events which focused mainly but not exclusively on the lighter weight classes of lightweights and welterweights . the bushido series also stressed a faster pace with bouts consisting of only one ten minute round and one five minute round as well as quicker referee intervention of stalling tactics using the new yellow card system of purse deduction . also in 2003 pride returned to the tournament format with a middleweight grand prix spanning two events pride total elimination 2003 and final conflict 2003 . the format was expanded to three events in 2004 adding critical countdown 2004 as the second round . pride would go on to hold annual tournaments a heavyweight tournament in 2004 a middleweight in 2005 and an openweight in 2006 . a pride fighting championships fighter introduction in 2005 in 2006 dse announced it would showcase pride alongside the ultimate fighting championship north america s largest mma event and would be integrating their fighters including wanderlei silva and kazuyuki fujita at a ufc mma show in november . 8 however dana white speaking on behalf of zuffa then commented that the announced bout between chuck liddell and wanderlei silva was unlikely to happen because the japanese are very hard to do business with . 9 this statement was likely due to the failure of previous attempts between zuffa and dse to organize a fighter exchange agreement . specifically after entering liddell in pride s 2003 middleweight tournament which was also with the intention of liddell eventually fighting silva which fell through when liddell lost in the semi finals to quinton jackson jackson subsequently lost to silva by technical knockout in the finals . pride continued to enjoy success holding roughly ten events per year and even out drawing rival k 1 at the annual new year s eve show pride shockwave 2005 . on october 21 2006 pride held its first mma event in us pride 32 the real deal took place in front of an audience of 11 727 at the thomas & mack center in paradise nevada and was the first pride event to be held outside japan . 10 on june 5 2006 the fuji network announced that they were terminating their television contract with pride fighting championships effective immediately due to a breach of contract by dse . 11 this left pride with only sky perfectv a pay per view carrier as a television outlet in japan and the loss of the substantial revenues from the fuji deal threatened its sustainability . dream was surrounded by speculation in the japanese media especially in the japanese tabloid shukan gendai that it may be a front for the notorious yakuza crime organization . dream responded to the loss by stating they will continue with their schedule as currently planned including an event in las vegas pride 33 second coming which took place on february 24 2007 pride s second event outside japan . 12 in late 2006 dse hinted at plans for mike tyson to fight in the organization s new year s eve show . 10 tyson was to face a pride fighter under boxing rules . since tyson is not allowed to fight in japan because of his criminal record pride wanted to stage the fight in an alternate country possibly macau china . the fight would be broadcast live on large television screens in the saitama super arena where the regular mixed martial arts bouts were held . 13 the fight did not occur however . on november 29 2006 pride announced the discontinuation of its bushido events with the intention of integrating the matches from lighter weight classes mainly featured in bushido into regular pride events . pride also announced that future grand prix tournaments would take place on a four year weight class cycle with one grand prix per year . 14 the first expected one a lightweight grand prix ended up being cancelled . 15 pride worldwide era edit on tuesday march 27 2007 pride executives nobuyuki sakakibara and nobuhiko takada announced that station casinos inc. magnate lorenzo fertitta co owner of zuffa and its subsidiary mma production ultimate fighting championship had made a deal to acquire all assets of pride fighting championships from dream stage entertainment after pride 34 kamikaze in a deal reportedly worth usd 65 million 16 17 though the figure was not publicly disclosed . 18 managing the assets under the newly created pride fc worldwide holdings llc including their video library and the contracts of the fighters currently on the pride roster the new management company had originally planned to continue to promote pride events in japan and keep to its previously announced schedule . lorenzo fertitta announced they planned to operate pride separately from zuffa s two mma brands the ufc and wec planned on having occasional crossover shows and matches pitting fighters from pride against fighters from the ufc using the metaphor of the afl nfl merger to compare the situation . 17 subsequent remarks by zuffa spokesperson dana white however cast doubt as to what the new owners would actually do with pride . after the sale officially closed on may 25 2007 white remarked that he planned on bringing pride s biggest names into ufc competition instead of keeping them in pride and that they were still deciding on what to do with pride itself . 19 in later comments made in august 2007 white expressed doubt that zuffa can resurrect pride in japan claiming i ve or we pulled everything out of the trick box that i can and i can t get a tv deal over there with pride . i don t think they want us there . i don t think they want me there . 20 on october 4 2007 pride worldwide closed its japanese office laying off 20 people who were working there since the closing of dse . 21 multimedia edit video edit the final pride events have been released on dvd under the pride worldwide label . past fights from pride are shown on best of pride fighting championships . the program premiered january 15 2010 on spike tv . the program s host is kenda perez . video games edit pride fighting championships released two licensed video games during its time in business . as well as being featured in an ultimate fighting championship game in 2012 . the first game pride fc fighting championships was developed by anchor inc. and released by thq for the playstation 2 in february 2003 in japan and north america and april 2003 in europe . 22 the game received an aggregate score of 73 100 on metacritic based on 19 critic reviews . 23 the second game pridegp grand prix 2003 was developed and released by capcom also for the playstation 2 in november 2003 but was only released in japan . pride fighting championships was also featured in the video game ufc undisputed 3 . featuring main pride event rules and 33 pride fighters not counting the pride alumni on the ufc roster to date the mode also has commentary