Report: Fertitta Brothers Purchase PRIDE

[Head Booker]

Report: Fertitta Brothers Purchase PRIDE Fighting Championships for $65 Million
Posted by UFC Junkie on March 19, 2007 at 2:59 pm ET

Slow down. Take a deep breath. And promise me you won’t go overboard or take this as gospel.

I’m serious now.

Remember: this isn’t a report from UFCjunkie.com, and doubters shouldn’t direct their anger and criticism toward us. We’re just delivering the message.

According to today’s episode of Sherdog’s The Savage Dog Show/BeatDown, UFC majority owners Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta have purchased the Japenese-based PRIDE Fighting Championships for a startling-low price of $65 million. (You can find a heated discussion on the Sherdog Forums.)

The show is relying an anonymous source that is said to be “very reliable,” and an official announcement is expected to come on Wednesday.

PRIDE, the UFC’s biggest competitor and perhaps the world’s most recognizable MMA organization, has reportedly suffered a variety of hardships during the past year. Rumors of its potential sale have circulated constantly in the past couple months, with current PRIDE USA Vice President Ed Fishman and the Zuffa LLC-owned UFC emerging as the two most-likely suitors.

The fact that the Fertittas, not Zuffa, are the rumored buyers is surprising at first take. Surely there’s more to the story, but we’ll have to wait.

PRIDE has publicly stated — numerous times — that the organization wasn’t for sale despite the reports saying otherwise. Today’s rumors would obviously hint otherwise.

So what would this mean for the UFC?

It’s hard to say without knowing the particulars. But of most importance would be the UFC’s access to PRIDE’s thoroughly impressive list of international fighters. The purchase could open the door for cross-promotion superfights that could destroy previous records for gates, attendance and pay-per-view revenue.

In any manner, I’ll have more news as it becomes available. For now, sit tight and try not to let the specualation get too far out of hand.

* * * *

UPDATE: Should the sale happen, there could be an additional layer of problems, according to Zach Arnold at FightOpinion.com.

Anyone who’s followed Arnold’s site for any amount of time knows there’s some potentially shady happenings going on behind the scenes of PRIDE. To find out about Fishman’s pending lawsuit against Dream Stage Entertainment (PRIDE’s parent company) and the details it could reveal, surf over to FightOpinion.com.

[Head Booker]

(Another) Report: Fertittas Did, Indeed, Purchase PRIDE Fighting Championships
Posted by UFC Junkie on March 20, 2007 at 9:24 am ET

Lorenzo and Frank FertittaYesterday I passed along a Sherdog.com report that stated that UFC majority owners have purchased the Japanese-based PRIDE Fighting Championships for a startling-low price of $65 million.

And today, we have further confirmation of the purchase coming from MMAWeekly.com.

(This, of course, is major news. Sherdog.com and MMAWeekly.com are two of the biggest and most-accurate media outlets when it comes to breaking MMA news.)

From MMAWeekly.com:


MMAWeekly has confirmed with our own sources, including sources in Japan that are extremely close to the situation, that the deal has indeed been reached. From what we understand, Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta have come to an agreement that would put Pride in their hands. But remember, that is an agreement, not a finalized transaction.


As I had mentioned yesterday, the reported $65-million price tag seems awfully low. As someone who’s spent his entire working career in professional sports, I can’t help but think that the purchase price for such a premier organization seems like peanuts in the big scheme of things. I surmised yesterday that the video library alone would be worth countless millions.

However, I’m sure there’s more to the story, and there’s no telling how much (if any) debt the company was carrying.

In any manner, for those of you drooling over the possibility of dream UFC vs. PRIDE match-ups, I must pass along a word of caution.

From MMAWeekly.com:

According to our sources, the purchase is believed to include fighter contracts, Pride’s video library, and the Pride FC name brand. The issue of fighter contracts is one of the more touchy points, as there can be variables in each individual contract that will have to be dealt with, and no information has come forth that states which fighters would be included.
Surely this purchase is looking more likely, and I’d expect the rumor mill to really heat up the next couple days.

If news breaks, I’ll have it here.

In the mean time, for those of you clamoring for the purchase, I wouldn’t celebrate quite yet. But you may want to have a change of shorts handy.