PRIDE
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PRIDE or PRIDE Fighting Championships in Japan is the world's most popular mixed martial arts championship. Its inaugural event was held at the Tokyo Dome on October 11th, 1997. The Pride Final Elimination 2003 event had 65,000 people in the audience. The audience record is 90,000 people on the Pride and K-1 co-production called Shockwave/Dynamite held August 2002.
Pride's rules result in similar styles of fighting as seen in Ultimate Fighting Championship in the United States. Unlike the UFC, where matches take place within a cage, Pride holds its bouts within a ring similar to a boxing ring.
Pride Rules
(taken from PrideFC.com (http://www.pridefc.com))Fights take place over three rounds. The opening round lasting 10 minutes, whilst rounds two and three are 5 minutes each.
Matches are won by:
- Knock out
- Submission, (a fighter taps either the mat or his opponent three times)
- Technical knock out, (referee stoppage, doctor stoppage or a fighter's corner throws in the towel)
- Decision. If the match goes the duration then it is scored by three judges. They will look for, (in order of priority), the effort made to finish the fight via KO or submission, damage given to the opponent, standing combinations & ground control and aggressiveness. Pride matches are judged over the entire match length, not scored round by round. This can lead to fighters winning matches by ending strongly, despite not being in control for the majority of the match. Fights cannot be declared a draw.
- Disqualification. Rule infractions result in the issuing of yellow cards. Three such infractions will result in a fighter being disqualified.
- No Contest. In the event of both fighters committing rule infractions the match may be declared a no contest.
Illegal moves:
- No head butting, eye gouging, hair pulling, biting or fish hooking.
- No attacking the groin
- No strikes (kicks, elbows, punching) to the back of the head (which includes the occipital region and the spine). The sides of the head and the area around the ears are not considered to be the back of the head.
- No small joint manipulation (control of four or more fingers/toes is necessary).
- No elbow strikes to the head and face.
- No intentionally throwing your opponent out of the ring.
- No running out of the ring.
- No purposely holding the ropes. Fighters cannot purposely hang an arm or leg on the ropes. Hanging on the ropes will result in an immediate warning.
- No kicks or knees to the head or the face of an opponent who falls face down.
- No application of oil, ointment, spray, Vaseline, massaging cream, hair cream, or any other substances is permitted to any part of the fighter's body before and during the fights. The discovery of any of these substances will result in a disqualification.
Matches held in the Bushido, or Grand Prix tournaments may take place under slightly modified rules. (Number of rounds, no judges decision, more than one match for a fighter in an event).
Notable Pride Fighters
- Ricardo Arona (Current PRIDE FC Middleweight contender)
- Mark Coleman (PRIDE FC 2000 Grand Prix Champion)
- Fedor Emelianenko (Current PRIDE FC Heavyweight Champion & PRIDE FC 2004 Heavyweight Grand Prix Champion)
- Mirko Filipović (Faced Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at PRIDE Final Conflict 2003 for the PRIDE FC Interim Heavyweight Championship)
- Kazuyuki Fujita (Former PRIDE FC Heavyweight contender; Nearly KOd Fedor Emelianenko at PRIDE 26)
- Takanori Gomi (Current top PRIDE FC Lightweight)
- Gary Goodridge (Former PRIDE FC Heavyweight gatekeeper)
- Dan Henderson (Current PRIDE FC Middleweight contender)
- Heath Herring (Faced Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at PRIDE 17 for the PRIDE FC Heavyweight Championship; Former PRIDE FC Heavyweight gatekeeper)
- Quinton Jackson (PRIDE FC 2003 Middleweight Grand Prix finalist)
- Sergei Kharitonov (Current PRIDE FC Heavyweight contender)
- Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (Current PRIDE FC Middleweight contender)
- Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (First PRIDE FC Heavyweight Champion; Former PRIDE FC Interim Heavyweight Champion; PRIDE FC 2004 Heavyweight Grand Prix finalist)
- Mauricio Rua (Current PRIDE FC Middleweight contender)
- Kazushi Sakuraba (Gracie Hunter, defeating Royler, Royce, Renzo and Ryan Gracie; Faced Wanderlei Silva at PRIDE 17 for the PRIDE FC Middleweight Championship)
- Semmy Schilt (Former PRIDE FC Heavyweight gatekeeper)
- Wanderlei Silva (Current PRIDE FC Middleweight Champion & PRIDE FC 2003 Middleweight Grand Prix Champion)
- Nobuhiko Takada (First PRIDE FC drawing card; Puroresu legend)
- Igor Vovchanchyn (PRIDE FC 2000 Grand Prix finalist)
- Hidehiko Yoshida (Current big PRIDE drawing card)
External Links
- Official Pride FC Site (http://www.pridefc.com)
- Official PRIDE FC Rules (http://www.pridefc.com/pride2004/about/rules.htm)
- PRIDE Championship History (MMAReview) (http://mmareview.com/pride_championship_history.htm)
- PRIDE Tournament History (MMAReview) (http://mmareview.com/pride_tournament_information.htm)ja:PRIDE