To all MMA fans
 

Is saying that you like UFC rather than MMA the same as saying you like WWE rather than wrestling? In other words, is the UFC the mainstream, overrated, bastardised equivalent of the WWE in its industry?

Who would be the ROH's and TNA's of the MMA world? Answers please.

PRIDE, I guess? I don't know it's kind of different. I only get to watch UFC though.

no UFC = good for the most part.

Pride and K-1

UFC is awesome, but Pride is overall the bigger I always though. Maybe that's changed though. But I guess if you're equating UFC to WWE, Pride would be ROH (ie: awesome) and King of the Cage would be TNA (ie: crap) .

So I wouldn't be lynched by MMA fans by saying that I watch only UFC, like the same way wrasslin fans would lynch a WWE mark? Good.

Nah, UFC is the goods.

UFC is now bigger then PRIDE. No one even knows if Pride will even be around much longer.

also UFC has a soon to be British Superstar in Michael Bisping. So just for that everyone in England should love UFC

Just because UFC has a reality show and a few highlight shows on Spike, that does not mean it bigger than PRIDE..

Pride, pound for pound, has better fighters.. Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge Liddell mark and a few others but no one from UFC is touching someone like Fedor..

UFC is the big North American promotion, like WWE I guess, while Pride is huge over seas and in Japan..

(In terms of American popularity)

UFC = WWE
Pride = TNA
K-1 = RoH

But in all honesty UFC is the goods, there is some interesting debates to be had over who has the better fighters, I think unquestionably the greatest fighter alive today is Fedor, and he is Pride's pride and joy.

TOVO Fact: Tovo's favorite fighter is Tito Ortiz.

No, what makes them bigger is the fact that they actually can make a profit and actually have TV.

Unlike Pride which can't do either.

Based on the above. UFC is bigger than Pride

O_o

Pride held the biggest sporting event of all time..

Don't let an american cable tv deal fool you..

Bigger than the Superbowl, Olympics and World Cup of Soccer?

The guy is from Liverpool so he's a favourite. The guy deserved to win Ultimate Fighter 3 without doubt. Truly awesome.

There is no comparison to wrestling really.

UFC is the undisputed #1 company now. Not too long ago, they were number #3 and had no hope of catching either UFC or K-1. Ultimate Fighter was make or break for them. If the show was a failure, UFC would have gone under instantly.

Pride is more like WCW than TNA. They still do monster numbers at the gate. TNA doesn't even have a paid gate. No comparison.

K-1 is probably as big, if not bigger than Pride now. Ring of Honor are a fucking two bob indy group. That's it. Wrestling fans are blind when it comes to defending what they like. ROH doesn't even make money with wrestling gates. Hook 'n' Shoot (an indy MMA group) is at least ten times more sucessful.

Broke some record for an indoor sporting event ala Wrestlemania 3..

UFC is stacked in the welterweight, middleweight and lightweight division. Their LHW and HW division leave much to be desired. What I find is all they have, is Chuck, Forrest Griffin and whoever is fighting either guy. Tito Ortiz is a showcase guy, but I don't see him beating Chuck, and after that, what else is there to do with him?

PRIDE is stacked in LHW (MW) and HW. Their lightweights are good, but UFC is just as good and as entertaining, and their middleweights (WW) are as good as the UFCs but again, they are both hand in hand. What separates UFC from PRIDE is the 170 division. PRIDE does not have something that matches the speed mixed with the power of the 170 division.

I don't even know what I'm saying lol. They both have their plusses and minuses, and I hate how fanboys of either are so gay about it. It's all MMA.

I would bet the World Cup final and the Superbowl would pack a 200,000 seat indoor stadium if such thing existed. Pride would not.

Plus Pride's figures were worked by about 20,000. Their legit numbers were still impressive but once you lie about one, they lie about others.

Find the stats then..

I don't really care, just saying something I heard...

Find what stats?

What's the pride "Stats" for most people at an indoor sporting event?

The reason I love Pride is the variation of weight classes. I can respect having a Champ of a weight class, but I think UFC is missing some BIG money matches by not allowing big man/little man matches again. But where they make up for it is UFC does WAY more title defenses than Pride does.

Rob is partially right in that it is kind of hard to compare the MMA companies to Pro Wrestling. It's similar in a way, and yet miles a part. It would be like asking someone to compare football (soccer) team to some hockey teams. You can draw certain comparisons, but ultimately it just doesn't come out right. I don't know what he is talking about that UFC was smaller than K-1 for a while. That is just kind of silly IMO, but he is right that had it not been for Ultimate Fighter, Zuffa and Dana would all be out either a lot of money or out of a job.

And why is everyone saying Pride doesn't have any kind of TV deal? They have a hour long show every night hosted by Best Damn on FSN. Maybe it's just a regional thing, but I can readily see more Pride than I can UFC.

TOVO Fact: Tovo thinks MMA Video Games suck.

Right before Liddell vs. Couture II, UFC was losing money and K-1 was doing huge ratings, drawing huge crowds and making millions of dollars on single shows. That's how it was bigger.

Someday soon on the TPWW message boards:I think UFC 600 is make it or break it for the UFC

The indoor sporting event record..

Yes. I'd love to be in a fight just to see how good/bad I could take a punch.

Been doing MMA for like 12 years actually.

I use to bare knuckle box, when the Jager was flowing just right..

Pride is pretty huge in Japan and has a decent following in America. UFC while popular in america has not really caught on in Japan.

I could be wrong, as I havn't had the time to follow either that closely in the last year or so.

Also, is Kazushi Sakuraba still fighting? I know he kind of went downhill after losing to Wanderlei Silva.

Hes in some other Japanese promotion and in his first fight for them he got Koed but...

The ref didn't stop it and Sakruba was able to regain his composure and win with a submission.

lol awesome.

Yeah hes getting older, and I think hes had some injurys, but in his prime he was amazing. His fight against renzo gracie was fantastic. Easily the most innovative mma star of all time.

Barring UFC on Dreamcast of course