UFC Owners Purchase PrideFC

If you're a mixed martial arts fan, you're probably sickApril 8, 2007 - Pride 34 Kamikaze
of that headline. You're sick of hearing how Lorenzo J.This event isn't nearly as interesting as it could be. The
Fertitta and Frank J. Fertitta have purchased PrideFCmain thing that does make it interesting is the 10th
from it's former Dream Stage Entertainment ownersanniversary and resignation of Sakakibara, all in the
and ousted former CEO Nobuyuki Sakakibara. Yousame show. Expect and emotional show with a lot of
want to hear more about what is possible the biggest"Pride Past" clips. If you're not a Pride fan, you soon will
month in Mixed Martial Arts history, April 2007.be, watching this show would be excellent research
There are four shows worth mentioning in April, ininto what the Pride fighters bring to the table.
addition to season 5 of "The Ultimate Fighter". TheseUnfortunately it's being shown live at 3:00am my time,
shows are:bring on the coffee! The feature bout will be
April 5, 2007 - Ultimate Fight Night 9Sokoudjou vs Arona. Sokoudjou KO's little Nog in his
This show features a bout between Joe Stevensonlast outing and Arona is a perennial contender. Perhaps
and Melvin Guillard. These two 155 pound fighters arehe has the most to win by the UFC owners
at the cusp of becoming superstars in the UFCpurchasing pride. His solid ground game could be
lightweight division. A win in this bout, then perhaps onetrouble for a lot of the UFC's current 205 pound
more and one of these guys might be ready for a titledivision.
shot. There is also another interesting match on thisPride is also featuring a freak show match between
card, featuring the return of Kenny Florian after hisButterbean and Zulu, personally, I'm not interested.
beat down, courtesy of UFC lightweight championApril 21, 2007 UFC 70: Nations Collide
Sean Sherk. Kenny Florian is facing DokonjonosukeFinally, the show which will determine the future of the
Mishima.UFC heavyweight division. Mirko Cro Cop vs Gabriel
April 7, 2007 - UFC 69: ShootoutGonzaga will determine who meets Randy Couture
Everybody is waiting to see what Georges St Pierrefor the title. Look for Cro Cop to dominate this one, but
has in store for Matt "The Terror" Serra. St Pierreas always in MMA, never count any fighter out of any
completely dominated Matt Hughes in his last outing,fight. There are a number of other interesting names
earning him the UFC welterweight belt. Serra on theon this card. Look for Michael Bisping "Ultimate Fighter"
other hand, barely squeaked by Chris Lytle to get theseason 4 winner facing Elvis Sinosic in a match,
season 4 "Ultimate Fighter" title at 170. This could be anseemingly designed to set up Bisping for a future title
interesting match, but most expect another St Pierreshot. Andrei Arlovski will face Fabricio Werdum which
blow out.could end up being the fight of the night. Cheick Kongo
The most interesting match of UFC 69 will put Diegowill try to redeem himself after a decision loss when
Sanchez' undefeated record on the line againsthe faces Assuerio Silva. Let's hope Cheick comes out
super-wrestler Josh Koscheck. These guys have metswinging.
before, but Josh was a pure wrestler at that point, he'sThat's it, a great month of great fights, and I barely
had a couple of years of MMA experience now, let'seven mentioned the big UFC - Pride purchase. For
see who's better now. Other big names on that cardthose of you sick of the UFC - Pride headlines, you'd
include Mike Swick, Kendall Grove, Heath Herring, Bradbetter get used to it, it's here to stay and will remain
Imes and expect a great match between Josh "Ithe big story in MMA for months.
never quit" Haynes and Luke Cummo.Take it easy and enjoy the fights!