Shady Aspects About Pride Fighting
Let’s just get it out there and talk about the shady aspects of the Pride FC organization. We’ve already talked about steroids in Pride fighting, which wasn't really that big of deal. But there are other, more serious shady aspects about Pride that resulted in the collapse of the organization and changed the history of MMA. We will discuss in detail:
1. Fixed Fights
2. Fighters given short notice for fights
3. Freak Show Fights
4. The organization was heavily influenced/borderline owned by the Japanese mafia
Fixed Fights: This got blown way out of proportion and turned into a sort of propaganda against Pride. Yes, in the very early Pride events 1-7, some of the fights were fixed involving the Japanese fighters. And by the term “fixed” I mean where one of the fighters agrees to lose in exchange for more money. It was primarily when two Japanese fighters fought each other, so who cares; they were lower level fighters any way. It was for entertainment purposes for the Japanese audience. Those fights were of little significance to MMA.
None of the fights were fixed in fights between two non-Japanese fighters.
From Pride events 1 through 15, certain fights between a Japanese vs. a non-Japanese fighter were fixed, or were attempted to be fixed. The most famous and obvious example was Mark Coleman vs. Takada. Coleman said he did it for the money and he had a family to support. I don’t blame Coleman for doing it, this was 1999, MMA was just coming out of the dark ages. Nobody was making much money fighting back then, and Pride’s money offer was good. I probably would have done the same thing.
Both Gary Goodrich and Quinton Jackson said they were offered more money to lose their fights against Ogawa and Sakuraba, but neither man says they accepted the offer. (Correction: Quinton Jackson stated he was offered more money to not tap out if he lost, rather than lose the fight - there's a difference). Both men lost their fights, but it truly looks like they were legitimately beaten by the Japanese fighters, compared to Mark Coleman’s dive against Takada. So I believe what Goodrich and Quinton Jackson said.
Considering the Japanese fighters only won around 30% of their total fights against non-Japanese opponents in Pride Fighting, we cannot say that fixed fights were widespread between Japanese vs. non-Japanese fighters. And those fights where the Japanese did win certainly looked like real victories.
It must be stated that some of the early UFC fights were fixed as well, particularly some of the fights involving Dan Severn. No one seems to complain about that, and it helped the sport grow.
Starting at Pride 16, none of the fights in Pride were fixed anymore. Pride didn’t have to by then; they were blowing up in popularity because they were showing real fighting at the highest skill level.
Fighters given short notice for fights: This is the most serious and shady thing that Pride did. Definitely not cool. In general fighters should have at least 5-6 weeks to prepare for a fight, and Pride blatantly ignored that unwritten rule. Often it was only 2 weeks’ notice. It was so prevalent that almost all the Pride fighters had this happen to them at least once.
On the other side, fighters often had no idea who they were going to fight until 2 weeks before; Pride would just tell them “you are going to fight at this event and your opponent hasn't been decided yet.” This kind of sucks for a fighter because it doesn’t give you adequate time to prepare for the type of fighter you are facing.
Of course it happens naturally sometimes when a fighter gets injured during training and a last minute replacement is needed, but Pride was doing it intentionally. One could argue that when real fights break out you don’t have time to train for your opponent, but there is a shadier reason why Pride did this...
While Pride didn’t “fix” a lot of fights, they did try to “influence” fight outcomes by having one fighter take the fight on short notice. Obviously the fighter who took the fight on short notice is at a disadvantage because he may not be in top shape and training as intensely as a guy who knew he had a fight coming up. Pride giving fighters short notice was so widespread that some fighters became smart enough to just train hard all the time, because they never knew when they would be called on to fight.
The reason Pride did this was related to the huge gambling interests of the Japanese mafia (Yakuza). Multi-million dollar illegal bets were going down that were handled by the Yakuza. The Yakuza controlled Pride enough that they could have one fighter for sure on the card, and then contact three other fighters and ask them who wants to take the fight on short notice. At least one fighter would always step up, and the pay was good anyway.
So if you are a high roller gambler and you know one of the fighters took the fight on short notice, the smart money would go with the other fighter who had more time to prepare, all else being equal.
So yes, this is very shady Pride did this. And I feel bad when I hear about one of the fighters taking the fight on a couple weeks (or days) notice and then proceeds to get annihilated during the fight. The fighter was not able to fight at his full potential because he didn’t have enough time to prepare.
It must be stated though that sometimes even fighters who took the fight on short notice still won the fight. Wanderlei Silva is a great example. And sometimes both fighters only had a couple weeks’ notice for a fight.
Also, sometimes the fighter who took the fight on short notice was still a much superior fighter than his opponent and would still win. So you couldn’t say across the board that all fighters who took the fight on short notice ending up losing the fight. But it probably happened more than 50% of the time. The big shot gamblers still lost a lot of money sometimes even when trying to “influence” fight outcomes. Fights that were the main event were never “influenced” like this because it would have been too obvious.
Freak show fights: Anybody who complains about Pride having freak show fights, yet watches women fighting in MMA, is a hypocrite. I was never a fan of those freak show fights in Pride and never watched most of them. I can clearly see how it gave Pride a weird/freakish image if that is the only Pride fight you ever saw. Giant Silva and Zuluzhino come to mind as the main culprits. There was no entertainment value in those fights if you are looking for skilled fighting. Shoji vs Semmy Shilt is another, but they were better trained fighters. But really, there weren’t that many freak show fights in Pride anyway; less than 25 out of the 500+ total fights they had were freak show fights.
Honestly, when you compare this to watching women fighting in MMA, you cannot say Pride was any more freakish than that.
Women fighting in MMA is the definition of a freak show fight. And if the girls are attractive, that adds to the freak show. You know this is true.
Pride was heavily influenced/borderline owned by the Japanese mafia: This is very shady - but is it really that different from the Las Vegas mafia influencing NFL games in America? It's what caused the collapse of Pride, and it’s a legitimate reason to shut down any business. Pride had three main sources of income: TV Contracts (the most lucrative), ticket sales from live events, and the Yakuza (Japanese mafia). The Yakuza provided some of the funding for Pride's overhead expenses, including the fighter’s salaries. Pride fighters were the best paid MMA fighters in the world at that time. The Yakuza did this because they knew they could make a ton of money from gambling on the fights and also from bookie fees. They crossed the line when they started purposely influencing fight outcomes by giving fighters short notice.
This was fine as long as it was all behind the scenes, and it was unknown to the public until 2006-07. What happened was different factions of the Yakuza were competing with each other to control the gambling game, which was a multi-million dollar racket. (Similar to a Bloods vs. Crypts rivalry.)
The first president of Pride sided with the wrong Yakuza faction, and he was murdered in his hotel room. They made it look like a suicide. So if you can murder the President of the largest MMA organization in the world and get away with it, there really is no fucking around with those people.
The new president of Pride took over and allied with the other Yakuza group and this continued for several more years. Finally, the Japanese TV companies discovered the Yakuza connection in Pride and it was all over. To this day MMA has never fully recovered in Japan after the collapse of Pride.
--
So those are the shady aspects of Pride. It’s important to get this out there so people are educated about it. But it really shouldn’t tarnish the image of Pride that much.
Pride still has to be remembered as a great MMA organization. The production and spectacle of the events, the fights, and the fighters were all awesome. All things considered, I am very thankful Pride Fighting existed. It was a nice run.
Written: September 2013
1. Fixed Fights
2. Fighters given short notice for fights
3. Freak Show Fights
4. The organization was heavily influenced/borderline owned by the Japanese mafia
Fixed Fights: This got blown way out of proportion and turned into a sort of propaganda against Pride. Yes, in the very early Pride events 1-7, some of the fights were fixed involving the Japanese fighters. And by the term “fixed” I mean where one of the fighters agrees to lose in exchange for more money. It was primarily when two Japanese fighters fought each other, so who cares; they were lower level fighters any way. It was for entertainment purposes for the Japanese audience. Those fights were of little significance to MMA.
None of the fights were fixed in fights between two non-Japanese fighters.
From Pride events 1 through 15, certain fights between a Japanese vs. a non-Japanese fighter were fixed, or were attempted to be fixed. The most famous and obvious example was Mark Coleman vs. Takada. Coleman said he did it for the money and he had a family to support. I don’t blame Coleman for doing it, this was 1999, MMA was just coming out of the dark ages. Nobody was making much money fighting back then, and Pride’s money offer was good. I probably would have done the same thing.
Both Gary Goodrich and Quinton Jackson said they were offered more money to lose their fights against Ogawa and Sakuraba, but neither man says they accepted the offer. (Correction: Quinton Jackson stated he was offered more money to not tap out if he lost, rather than lose the fight - there's a difference). Both men lost their fights, but it truly looks like they were legitimately beaten by the Japanese fighters, compared to Mark Coleman’s dive against Takada. So I believe what Goodrich and Quinton Jackson said.
Considering the Japanese fighters only won around 30% of their total fights against non-Japanese opponents in Pride Fighting, we cannot say that fixed fights were widespread between Japanese vs. non-Japanese fighters. And those fights where the Japanese did win certainly looked like real victories.
It must be stated that some of the early UFC fights were fixed as well, particularly some of the fights involving Dan Severn. No one seems to complain about that, and it helped the sport grow.
Starting at Pride 16, none of the fights in Pride were fixed anymore. Pride didn’t have to by then; they were blowing up in popularity because they were showing real fighting at the highest skill level.
Fighters given short notice for fights: This is the most serious and shady thing that Pride did. Definitely not cool. In general fighters should have at least 5-6 weeks to prepare for a fight, and Pride blatantly ignored that unwritten rule. Often it was only 2 weeks’ notice. It was so prevalent that almost all the Pride fighters had this happen to them at least once.
On the other side, fighters often had no idea who they were going to fight until 2 weeks before; Pride would just tell them “you are going to fight at this event and your opponent hasn't been decided yet.” This kind of sucks for a fighter because it doesn’t give you adequate time to prepare for the type of fighter you are facing.
Of course it happens naturally sometimes when a fighter gets injured during training and a last minute replacement is needed, but Pride was doing it intentionally. One could argue that when real fights break out you don’t have time to train for your opponent, but there is a shadier reason why Pride did this...
While Pride didn’t “fix” a lot of fights, they did try to “influence” fight outcomes by having one fighter take the fight on short notice. Obviously the fighter who took the fight on short notice is at a disadvantage because he may not be in top shape and training as intensely as a guy who knew he had a fight coming up. Pride giving fighters short notice was so widespread that some fighters became smart enough to just train hard all the time, because they never knew when they would be called on to fight.
The reason Pride did this was related to the huge gambling interests of the Japanese mafia (Yakuza). Multi-million dollar illegal bets were going down that were handled by the Yakuza. The Yakuza controlled Pride enough that they could have one fighter for sure on the card, and then contact three other fighters and ask them who wants to take the fight on short notice. At least one fighter would always step up, and the pay was good anyway.
So if you are a high roller gambler and you know one of the fighters took the fight on short notice, the smart money would go with the other fighter who had more time to prepare, all else being equal.
So yes, this is very shady Pride did this. And I feel bad when I hear about one of the fighters taking the fight on a couple weeks (or days) notice and then proceeds to get annihilated during the fight. The fighter was not able to fight at his full potential because he didn’t have enough time to prepare.
It must be stated though that sometimes even fighters who took the fight on short notice still won the fight. Wanderlei Silva is a great example. And sometimes both fighters only had a couple weeks’ notice for a fight.
Also, sometimes the fighter who took the fight on short notice was still a much superior fighter than his opponent and would still win. So you couldn’t say across the board that all fighters who took the fight on short notice ending up losing the fight. But it probably happened more than 50% of the time. The big shot gamblers still lost a lot of money sometimes even when trying to “influence” fight outcomes. Fights that were the main event were never “influenced” like this because it would have been too obvious.
Freak show fights: Anybody who complains about Pride having freak show fights, yet watches women fighting in MMA, is a hypocrite. I was never a fan of those freak show fights in Pride and never watched most of them. I can clearly see how it gave Pride a weird/freakish image if that is the only Pride fight you ever saw. Giant Silva and Zuluzhino come to mind as the main culprits. There was no entertainment value in those fights if you are looking for skilled fighting. Shoji vs Semmy Shilt is another, but they were better trained fighters. But really, there weren’t that many freak show fights in Pride anyway; less than 25 out of the 500+ total fights they had were freak show fights.
Honestly, when you compare this to watching women fighting in MMA, you cannot say Pride was any more freakish than that.
Women fighting in MMA is the definition of a freak show fight. And if the girls are attractive, that adds to the freak show. You know this is true.
Pride was heavily influenced/borderline owned by the Japanese mafia: This is very shady - but is it really that different from the Las Vegas mafia influencing NFL games in America? It's what caused the collapse of Pride, and it’s a legitimate reason to shut down any business. Pride had three main sources of income: TV Contracts (the most lucrative), ticket sales from live events, and the Yakuza (Japanese mafia). The Yakuza provided some of the funding for Pride's overhead expenses, including the fighter’s salaries. Pride fighters were the best paid MMA fighters in the world at that time. The Yakuza did this because they knew they could make a ton of money from gambling on the fights and also from bookie fees. They crossed the line when they started purposely influencing fight outcomes by giving fighters short notice.
This was fine as long as it was all behind the scenes, and it was unknown to the public until 2006-07. What happened was different factions of the Yakuza were competing with each other to control the gambling game, which was a multi-million dollar racket. (Similar to a Bloods vs. Crypts rivalry.)
The first president of Pride sided with the wrong Yakuza faction, and he was murdered in his hotel room. They made it look like a suicide. So if you can murder the President of the largest MMA organization in the world and get away with it, there really is no fucking around with those people.
The new president of Pride took over and allied with the other Yakuza group and this continued for several more years. Finally, the Japanese TV companies discovered the Yakuza connection in Pride and it was all over. To this day MMA has never fully recovered in Japan after the collapse of Pride.
--
So those are the shady aspects of Pride. It’s important to get this out there so people are educated about it. But it really shouldn’t tarnish the image of Pride that much.
Pride still has to be remembered as a great MMA organization. The production and spectacle of the events, the fights, and the fighters were all awesome. All things considered, I am very thankful Pride Fighting existed. It was a nice run.
Written: September 2013
