[MMA Lover]

I agree with the people that believe it will benefit both organizations equally.

It is kind of funny how people think that most casual martial arts viewers will jump ship on the outcome of this "Liddell vs. Silva" dream match.




To be quite honest, even though Pride has better fighters, the Pride Shows need alot of work...

Do they have the better fighters? Overall, yes.

Are there pay-per-views more interesting? No.





For a new viewer, the first time I saw a Pride event, it was quite laughable. I mean, come on, it is hard not to laugh as the Japanese ring announcers introduce the fighters on the card. It really sounds like an extremely bad anime cartoon. I keep expecting one of them to shoot off a "Dragonball Z" fireball as they scream and shriek out a fighter's name.

Further, the special effects fireworks and turning platform are very tacky. They remind me of the of those low budget wrestling shows shown on rinky-dink channels late at night.

Third, the Pride shows lost alot when they lost Bas Rutten as the announcer. Bas Rutten was intelligent, witty, and knew what was going on.

Frank Trigg? LOL. About the only thing he can really comment on is submitting to rear naked chokes.

Finally, they televise their events with some really bad "hand-me-down" bargain basement cameras. I am not kidding, they have some of the worst angles and fuzziest images of any pay-per-view I have ever seen.


The UFC's production makes Prides production look like if it were being shown from some kid's basement at a local cable channel.




With that being said, I cannot argue that, overall, Pride really does have a bigger talent pool of greater fighters on their roster. About the only fighters that could compete on Prides level would be Hughes, Franklin, and Liddell (possibly Tito and a few others that I am forgetting). Other then that, many of UFC's fighters still need quite a bit of experience before they can fight at the normal Pride level (I would hate to see another TUF fighter like Quarry or Leben get another wake-up call that being on the show does not make you a top-level martial arts fighter).




The main point is that despite Pride having a better roster, the casual martial arts viewer will still watch UFC due to the better overall look of the Pay-Per-View shows and their brilliant Ultimate Fighter show that keeps you wanting to follow the careers of these up and comers.




As I think of it now, that may be one reason that the UFC keeps people wanting for more. Those sappy human interest stories where you learn more about the fighters and what has brought them to where they are now.

In Pride, all you know is that they kick ass but nothing more then that. In a sense, you could care less if your favorite fighter gets knocked out or not because you know little more about the fighter other then which academy he belongs to and what style of fighter he is.




Just think about this, even though the UFC puts quite a few lame fighters on their cards (such as Leben and some other c-rate fighters), it still manages to hype it up so that viewers are eager to see these d-list fighters fight.





Either way, I will continue to buy both UFC and Pride simply because I like MMA in general. Pride for the better overall roster of fighters and UFC for the better overall hype and production in their shows.