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The Future of the UFC and Pride FC
The two circle each other. Neither blink as they prepare to wage war against each other for supremacy. Inevitably one will win and one will lose. The one that loses will either fight to the death or simply accept his place as the lesser of the two. Its a scenario we've all seen time and time again. We've seen it on animal planet when the two lions fight over control of the pride. We've seen it in our place of work when the possibility of advancement emerges. We've seen it inside the octagon or ring when the two fighters compete against one another for glory.
This is exactly what we're seeing between the UFC and Pride right now. And to be honest with you i can't wait until there's only one major professional mixed martial arts organization. Not only will one singular professional organization create the most exciting matches, but it will put a rest to all the bickering between the fans of the two organizations.
In the next several years one of the two organizations will reign supreme and become THE PROFESSIONAL Mixed Martial Arts organization. For those old enough to remember the whole UFC vs. Pride FC competition is eerily similar to the days of NFL vs. USFL, the NBA vs. ABA or even the WWF vs. WCW. And each time a competing organization collapsed, the result was always the same. The remaining organization absorbed the talent of the other and the end product to the consumer was always better than either product the two organizations individually produced.
And when this day comes i will blow my wad (as joe rogan says). Not only will i be excited, but i truly think its what this sport needs to become truly mainstream as well. Once there's a singular entity controlling the promotion and marketing, ala the way the NFL does, then you can actually start to create a true image of what mixed martial arts should be. Not the barbaric no holds barred cock fight that it was made out to be when the UFC first started. But a Professional organization of athletes that compete at the highest level against one other. With more star athletes under one organizations there would be more top level pay per view events or even more lucrative tv contracts. If handled by the right marketing executives, Mixed Martial Arts could be bigger than the NFL.
Not only will it help the image of the sport but once there's a true Professional League, we the fans will start to see the matches that well all want. A Liddell vs. Silva. A Fedor vs. Sylvia. And to me that's the most important thing out of all of this. To finally put an end to all the bickering and ridiculous arguing about which fighter is better or which organization is better. It doesn't surprise me that there as much arguing as there is though about which promotion is better because i guarantee you that the same people that fight over whether the UFC or Pride is better are the same people that fight over whether Playstation 3 or Xbox 360 is better.
While i do love both organizations because they offer different things and both organization put on great shows. I do feel that the UFC will eventually prevail in all of this. One of the biggest reasons why is because of the UFC's domination in the US Market. Every major professional organization in the world is based in the USA. I don't think that's just a coincidence either. There are probably a hundred socio-economic reason that could be listed as to why this is the case, but probably the one that sums it up with the most ease is money.
Now i don't think Pride will just collapse and go away. I think what we'll see will be similar to baseball here in the US and Japan. The UFC will be like MLB and Pride will be like Japanese professional leagues. And what will probably happen is the best of the japanese athletes will want to see if they can come to the US and compete with the best of the best.
Even though i don't think this will all happen anytime soon, i do think its just a matter of time before it does. But until then 2007 will be a great year for both organizations with a number of great fights to look forward to this year. So as Big John McCarthy would say, "Let's get it on!"
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