Started in Japan in 1997, the now defunct Pride Fighting Championship was a mixed martial arts (MMA) organization, which hosted some of the top fighters in the world. It was running for 10 years and held over 60 events. Pride Fighting Championship was bought out by Zuffa in March 2007. Zuffa also owns the Ultimate Fighting Championship UFC and World Extreme Cage fighting WEC. When bought, the intention was to have Pride FC fighting and UFC to operate side-by-side but instead Pride FC was shut down and the staff laid off.
This left a sour and bitter taste is peoples’ mouths, especially fans of Pride FC Fighting Championships. Some of the staff came together and created a new mixed martial arts organization that is also headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. The company behind this creation is named Fighting and Entertainment Group and also co-produced the now defunct Pride Fighting Championship. The new mixed martial arts organization is called DREAM. Read more about the DREAM organization in our article directory.
A company called Kakutougi Revolution Spirits started Pride FC Fighting Championship in 1997. They wanted to set up a match between Nobuhiko Takada, who is a popular Japanese professional wrestler along with Rickson Gracie. Rickson Gracie is part of the Gracie family, which is renown for creating Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
This event amassed a huge audience of 47,000 people inside the Tokyo Dome on October 11th 1997. Because the success of the first event, there were fights that were scheduled regularly and it evolved into Pride FC.
K 1 Kickboxing was already prominently successful in Japan at that time, so it would not take long for Pride FC to skyrocket to having tons of fans. Ultimately, Pride FC was run by Dream Stage Entertainment, which was a promotion company for mixed martial arts events. On a side note, there were also rumors about Pride FC being linked to the Japanese yakuza organization. Since Dream Stage Entertainment operated the Pride Fighting Championships, it was linked to the Japanese yakuza organization as well. It was alleged that Dream Stage Entertainment was used as a front for the yakuza.
Having all their fights in Japan, Pride FC expanded into the US because of its huge popularity. The first Pride FC fight was held in the States on October 21st, 2006. With a fan audience of 11,727, the event was called Pride 32: The Real Deal. This was a big deal at that time as it was the very first Pride FC event to be held outside of Japan.
In addition to their main events, Pride FC also had special events for different purposes: Pride Grand Prix GP, Pride Bushido, and Pride The Best.
Pride Grand Prix
Pride Grand Prix was a tournament series where the winner would get prize money and crowned with a championship belt. It would run just once a year and rotate between the different weight classes each year.
Pride Bushido
Pride Bushido focused on the lighter weight classes: Lightweight and welterweight. After about 13 events, they just merged these two weight classes with the main Pride FC.
Pride The Best
Pride The Best was a short-lived spin off where it showcased up-and-coming fighters with an octagon-like ring.
