verslag persconferentie pride/ufc.+deel match up pride 34

[ICON]

Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Sherdog.com's Stephen Martinez reports live from Tokyo, Japan where it is expected that Dream Stage Entertainment will announce at a press conference that it has ceded control of the PRIDE Fighting Championships to UFC owners Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta.

5:27 Tokyo Time: Little movement on stage, which is a miniature version of the production PRIDE was famous for during shows at Saitama Super Arena. More than 1,000 fans are present at the Roppongi Hills Arena, along with a strong contingent of Japanese and International press. There are two big screens featuring PRIDE bouts.

5:44: PRIDE highlights continue to play on the giant televisions. The attitude in the area feels more like PRIDE is saying "thanks for everything" rather than promotion. Fedor Emelianenko's (Pictures) manager, Vadim Finkelstein is here.

5:55: Japanese fighters have begun to arrive. Recent fan favorite Shinya Aoki (Pictures), whose gogoplata victory over Joachim Hansen (Pictures) made the world know it was possible, as well as Ryo Chonan (Pictures), and leglock master Masakazu Imanari (Pictures) have started to file in.

6:02: Virtually all of the Japanese fighters who have participated in PRIDE throughout the organization's decade-long history appear to be here.

6:07: Ultimate Fighting Championship matchmaker Joe Silva has shown his face. He is the first UFC representative to appear at the press conference. This is the first indication that the rumor Sherdog.com first reported on March 19 is indeed true: DSE and Zuffa have agreed to a deal of some sort that would have the companies working together.

6:24: PRIDE CEO Noboyuki Sakakibara is addressing the media. It's heartbreaking. He talks about PRIDE's history and his goals during his tenure of the organization's boss after Naoto Morishita committed suicide on Dec. 31, 2002.

Sakakibara announced his resignation and has just introduced UFC co-owner and Station Casino magnate Lorenzo Fertitta. There is discussion of a mixed martial arts commission, which Fertitta will act as president. PRIDE will be run separately but under the umbrella of Zuffa, which also controls the WEC.

Sakakibara becomes very sentimental and says he will step down following PRIDE 34 on April 8.

6:46: Current PRIDE president Nobuhiko Takada (Pictures) will remain with the new company. Takada has joined the stage, and begins to address the audience. Pride will run separate from UFC but under Lorenzo Fertitta, said the main who fought Rickson Gracie in the main event of the debut PRIDE Oct. 11, 1997.

Fertitta has the microphone and said PRIDE will continue world-wide. He discusses his love for the style of MMA PRIDE promoted, and wants to make the sport of MMA like baseball or soccer. Fertitta discusses a mixed martial arts "Super Bowl" with UFC fighters like Randy Couture (Pictures), Tim Sylvia (Pictures), Chuck Liddell (Pictures), Matt Hughes (Pictures), Diego Sanchez (Pictures), B.J. Penn (Pictures) facing PRIDE stars such as Fedor Emelianenko (Pictures), Wanderlei Silva (Pictures), Mauricio Rua (Pictures), Dan Henderson (Pictures), Shinya Aoki (Pictures), Tatsuya Kawajiri (Pictures), Takanori Gomi (Pictures) and Hayato Sakurai (Pictures).

6:56: Last year's PRIDE Open-Weight Grand Prix winner Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic says he wanted to come back and fight Fedor again in a recorded.

UFC president Dana White has come on stage and says that all mixed martial arts organizations are a joke next to UFC or PRIDE. White receives a good reception from Japanese fans. He is now talking about potential dream match-ups becoming a reality:

Fedor Emelianenko (Pictures) vs. Randy Couture (Pictures)
Takanori Gomi (Pictures) vs. Georges St. Pierre (Pictures)
Dan Henderson (Pictures) vs. Anderson Silva
Chuck Liddell (Pictures) vs. Wanderlei Silva (Pictures)

Also official PRIDE 34 matches have been revealed:
Jeff Monson (Pictures) vs. Kazuyuki Fujita (Pictures)
Ikuhisa Minowa (Pictures) vs. Don Frye (Pictures)
Wanderlei Silva (Pictures) vs. TBD

7:02: Jeff Monson (Pictures) and Kazuyuki Fujita (Pictures) have appeared on stage and are being billed as the first UFC vs. PRIDE encounter. Fujita promises to crush the UFC.

7:16: The press conference is over.

[paspoes]

thx

[Influcted]

Leuke match-ups alleen jammer dat Couture een heel erg pak slaag kan verwachtten.

[Lee Hottie # 1 fan]

cro cop vs Fedor part 2\??

[ICON]

dat hoort niet bij pride 34 he.. dat zijn potentiele matchups die nu mogelijk gaan zijn

[Remco]

Interessant wat er nu gaat gebeuren! Gevoelsmatig vind ik het wel kloppen dat de UFC uiteindelijk aan het langste eind trekt. Tenslotte zijn zij de grondleggers.

[Kaun]

staan zeker een paar hele vette partijen tussen,,hoop egt zooooo op Liddel vs. Silva!! (en denk dat ik vast niet de enige ben)

[The Bulldog]

---klinkt gewoon allemaal in orde...ben benieuwd..

[Evilman]

minowa tegen frye.. man.
Ben bnieuwd.. ik wil m echt weer zien winnen.
Kvin dat zon kewle gast.. net zon anime figuur.

En ja.. reuzen verslaan als giant silva of butterbean ok.
daar kan k wel inkomen.. maar frye is toch wel stukje sneller
en meer capabele vechter dan de lompe reuzen.

Zou wel te gek zijn als hij dan wint. Krijgen we dan ook seminar met
minowa ipv fry? giantkilling seminar

[Tony]

ja ik geef ze ook allemaal de voordeel van de twijfel. Ik was erg huiverig in het begin.

Klagen kan altijd achteraf nog. laten we nu maar hopen op een goed vervolg.

mijn grootste twistpunt zit hem in het feit dat knieen naar hoofd van downed opponent, soccerkicks, footstomps voor mij echt bij pride horen. Lijkt me heeel heel jammer als dat nu niet meer zou mogen. Net zoals de eerste ronde van 10 minuten.

we zullen zien

laten we het beste er van hopen.