With the official closing of the Pride offices in Tokyo on Thursday, prominent Japanese MMA figures have been openly divulging contrasting views on how Dana White and the Fertitta Brothers have handled the acquisition of the foreign fighting promotion. While it is certainly easy to blame the UFC for the demise of the largest Japanese MMA promotion, a lot is relatively unknown behind the scenes of the Pride offices aside from the corruption and mob ties.
Although my opinions in the past may have unintentionally set the precedent that I am a critic of the largest MMA production and those who individuals who run the show, I do enjoy most of the decisions that emerge from the Feritta’s and Mr. White.
Many enthusiasts, me included, are quick to criticize the Japanese organized crime families for the downfall of Pride, but you still have to remember that the Fertitta brothers are not far removed from their own family’s mob past and it didn’t take long for the Fertitta’s to establish themselves financially thanks to their father, Frank Fertitta Jr, who had ties to Vegas gambling since the 1960’s.
If you ever watched the movie Casino, you were looking at the father of the Fertitta brothers who ran the casino and the skimming operation that came with it in Vegas during the 1970’s. Now while this doesn’t help one’s reputation as a legitimate business owner, things changed in the last 30 years and once Frank Fertitta Jr. became a respected member of the community again, his sons were able to safely invest their money in fighting and keep the sport of MMA alive - at least for now. In 2001, with the help of their cousin Blake Sartini, the brothers used their earnings to purchase the UFC from SEG. Currently, they are legitimately organizing MMA fights across the country. These televised fights are helping to maintain the sport of MMA in the United States. What makes them so much better than their Japanese counterparts is that they are running a fighting business without resorting to mob tactics which assisted in the downfall of Pride. Now that the history lesson is over, it’s time to move forward to March of 2007.
Dana White and the Fertitta’s were working with the Pride organizers for almost a year before the deal was finally sealed. Pride owner Sakikabara said he trusted the Fertitta brothers with his “baby girl†and the bid from UFC was accepted over many others. But even after acquiring the rival organization for only $70 million, it wasn’t easy for the American’s to take control of company. Fighters were still under contract, payouts and bonuses were different, and setting up productions in Japan was a whole different story. White even divulged that he didn’t really have much control over what the company did until recently, but it was already too late. After financing two very expensive productions in the United Kingdom, UFC 70 and UFC 75, Standard & Poor’s released financial data which made the future of UFC very clear. Considering the two recent UFC productions in the UK put a substantial dent in their budget, why would the UFC continue to expand at this time?
The story broke on Sports Navigator, a Japanese site, on October 4th and FightOpinion was quick to interpret the news; Pride was now officially shut down with a single phone call. The media backlash was immediate and mostly biased against the UFC. Although it was understandable that many in the Japanese MMA scene could be upset that an American competitor purchased and demolished their biggest fighting production, but can the UFC really be blamed for saving themselves? And while nobody likes to see an MMA organization just disappear; the cuts were necessary for the American-based company to continue moving forward in the very new sport of MMA. I’m sure White and the Fertitta’s had the intention of creating super-fights and unifying title belts during the 11 months of negotiations with Sakikabara and his team, the realization that Pride could ultimately be the financial downfall of the UFC was too much for the Fertitta’s and White to stomach. So for the time being, there really is only one big worldwide MMA organization, but keep in mind that the sport is new and like the Pride offices being closed overnight; things can quickly change.
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October 8th, 2007 at 2:39pm
Very well written, fair and balenced. History is hard to tell w/o the time of a book, but this is an interesting overview.
Pride was a great organization that made alot of fighters wealthy and entertained alot of fans. But there is a reason why fighters were paid in cash the night of the show, lack of commissions left to mismatches and “freak show” fights, hometown decisions were made by judges w/o credentials to protect fighters, booking was done for entertainment and not sport (the Japanese see no difference w/ MMA and Pro Wrestling, something rarely mentioned in MMA sports influenced writers), and finally, that PRIDE was probably going to fold if UFC didn’t buy the libary, though I do take issue w/ you writing 70 million USD. The highest price quoted was 65 million, but the actual price is said to actually be about 10-15 million, since due dillegence is done after the sale is announced, so between March and September things changed. A quote would have satisfied my admittedly sensitive eyes.
With so many Pride fighters filtering in to UFC, and the UFC remaining strong at the PPV box office, slowly they will recover there loses. Wether they should have let the company die and recover the tape library and tradmarks in bancrupcty is a better question, but they survive regardless.
Finally, would like to add that Dave Meltzer reported the reasons for the financial report by Standards and Poor. It comes down the loans owed years from now, with alot of smoke that actually leads to no fire (unless Zach Arnold uses details to make a story out of nothing, which is always possible..oops, he did). if UFC defaults on loans in 2015, then there’s a story:)
Good article!
October 8th, 2007 at 2:48pm
One final note. i know, I must be such a UFC homer! Funny thing is, I’m from the Pro Wrestling world, and Meltzer called it years back (’01-02). He said Dana White is a Vince McMahon waiting to happen. And though non-wrestling fans take that in a very flat (”so it’ll be scripted John? Characters?”) that’s not what I actually mean. Fighting is pro wrestling, always has been, it’s just a shoot instead of a work. Dana is a Vince in the way you are starting to see as far as domination of the industry, blackballing, profit sharing, branding, ego, and all that comes with being a brilliant but self centered business man. You make an industry, but only in your image. Dana has been more progressive though, so far.
No, the actual note to be made here is the idea that UFC screwed up and they are “ruined” in Japan, and oh, are they screwed. Truth is Zach Arnold, the leader of this type of nonsense, is on record saying the Japanese market is pretty dead. SHOOTO and Pancrase will exist, and do well for small productions. But UFC is in America, and puts on “western” shows. Why waste so much money in a market that doesn’t want Americans, w/ a Pride name that’s tainted, and a fanbase diminished. PRIDE lost money for years running shows in domes for TV simply because in Japan the idea of flash is more important than making money. It’s all image. Japan is dead. Dana White is going there anytime soon regardless. There are maybe 4-6 Japanese fighters that the UFC would want, and frankly, if they aren’t signed, Jordan Breen and six other people who are smart mark MMA fans will cry foul. no one else will know or care.
October 11th, 2007 at 12:58am
I don’t know what’s funnier - the commentator who described the article as “well-written” or the author who managed to make a grammatical error in every sentence.
October 11th, 2007 at 7:53am
I blame MS Word for the grammar errors and the Sherdog forums for your comment.