10 Days That Changed UFC Forever

The UFC has, over the years, made a habit of buying up rivals. From Affliction to Strikeforce, the company has acquired every asset it could. Its purchase of WEC paved the way for the promotion to adopt lighter weight classes. Yet no purchase mattered more than Pride.

The Japanese combat sports promotion had, for a time, eclipsed the UFC in terms of popularity. It had the biggest stars, among them Fedor Emelianenko, Mirko Cro-Cop, Shogun Rua, Dan Henderson, Rampage Jackson, Wanderlei Silva, the Nogueira brothers... the list went on and on.

When Pride lost a TV deal with Fuji Network over a breach of contract in 2006, however, the writing was on the wall. The following year, on 27 March 2007, the purchase of Pride by the UFC/Zuffa was announced. UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta told ESPN that the purchase could literally create "a sport that could be as big around the world as soccer." While that was a playful bit of hyperbole, it did give the UFC a stranglehold on MMA's top talent.

The original plan had been to run Pride as its own entity, but that changed almost immediately. Pride champions were booked in title unification bouts with their UFC counterparts. The roster was soon absorbed, something Dana White attributed to difficulty negotiating a TV deal in Japan.

However, White cast doubt as to the veracity of that claim when he tweeted to a fan in 2012 that "Pride is dead dummy! I killed em!!!" The tweet would later be entered as evidence in a class action lawsuit brought against the UFC by former fighters over anti-competitive practices.