Pride’s Invincibles Prove to be Human in the UFC

The debate between hardcore Pride FC fans and hardcore UFC fans drags on to this day in MMA forums. There are even phrases used to describe each faction.

Each organization seems to have extremely loyal fans who will stick up for their org. at the drop of a hat. Amazingly to this day, even after the demise of Pride, there are still two sides waiting in the wings to defend their sacred MMA promotion.

For a long time the debate of, which organization had the better fighters, existed. During Pride’s 10 year run as a successful MMA organization, Pride and the UFC were definitely recognized as the top two dogs of MMA both possessing a roster of the worlds elite mixed martial artists. Unfortunately many classic match ups never came to fruition due to the nature of competition between the two promotions.

Finally in 2003 we got a little taste of Pride vs UFC when Dana White brought Chuck Liddell to the Pride 2003 Middleweight GP tournament as the UFC’s representative. It was the first time we got to see one of the UFC’s top fighters go head to head with one of Pride FC’s top fighters. It was also an opportunity to possibly see two of the fiercest strikers in the world, Wanderlei Silva and Chuck Liddell, go head to head to see who was the undisputed champion of the world at 205lbs.

Unfortunately that fight would never happen as Chuck Liddell would never make it out of the second round of the tournament. After defeating Alistair Overeem in the first round, Liddell was eliminated via TKO by Quinton "Rampage" Jackson in the semi-finals of the Grand Prix. This would be the last fight we would see between the two organizations while they remained separate entities.

In 2007 Pride, as we knew it, was forced to close it’s doors forever and the organization was picked up by none other than Zuffa LLC. After originally planning to run the organization parallel with the UFC, Zuffa quickly found out that Pride was in more trouble than it was worth to keep it going. In the end, the best of Pride’s fighters ended up coming into the UFC which meant we would finally get to see some of the greatest match ups in the history of MMA.

A few previous Pride fighters did well which wasn’t surprising including Quinton Rampage Jackson who knocked out Chuck Liddell at UFC 71 to capture the light heavyweight title. However the majority of Pride’s elite seemed to struggle making the transition from Pride to the UFC.

Heath Herring was one of the first of Pride’s fighters to have trouble inside the octagon. He struggled in his first two UFC appearances and looked nothing like the aggressive fighter of old. Heavily favored to win his debut match against up and comer, Jake O’Brien, Herring went on to lose a unanimous decision and looked horrible doing it. He would go on to win his second bout against Brad Imes but it would take him all three rounds in a fight that he normally would have finished.

Japanese sensation, Mirko "Crocop" Filipovic was next in line for a swing at the UFC’s heavyweight division. As expected, he crushed Eddie Sanchez with his patented strikes in his UFC debut. It looked like only a matter of time until Crocop would be slugging it out for UFC gold. Unfortunately his climb up the UFC’s heavyweight ladder would end quickly and violently. In one of the biggest upsets of 2007, Crocop was nearly decapitated with a brutal head kick from Gonzaga that rivaled that of his own.

It was the beginning of the end for Crocop in the UFC. He would go on to lose his next match at UFC 75 to Cheick Kongo who actually out classed the Croatian in the striking department. It was a tough loss for Mirko who admitted that he had even considered retirement following the loss. In the end, Crocop left the UFC and signed with DREAM, a collaboration between FEG and former Pride staff.

Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, considered by many to be the #1 pound for pound 205lb fighter in the world at the time, was also expected to make a big splash in the UFC. Coming into his UFC debut against Forrest Griffin, he had only lost one fight in the last four years and it was due to an freak injury. As was the case with Herring and Filipovic, Rua looked completely out of his element in his fight with Griffin. Known for keeping a frantic pace throughout his fights, Shogun ran out of gas in the third and was submitted by Griffin with only 15 seconds left on the clock.

Of all the Pride fighters, the most anticipated UFC arrival was that of "The Axe Murderer", Wanderlei Silva. Unlike the other Pride fighters who were given somewhat of a warm up match, Silva would take on one of the UFC’s most dominant light heavyweight champions of all time, Chuck Liddell, in his first match back. Finally, after years of anticipation, two of MMA’s best 205lb strikers were going to settle the score once and for all. This was as close to Pride versus the UFC as it could get.

On December 29, 2007, Wanderlei Silva and Chuck Liddell earned "Fight of the Night" honors for one of the greatest battles in UFC history. Although Liddell took home the victory, both fighters came out a winner. Silva showed the heart of a lion and in place of a victory, took home the respect of UFC fans.

Many have speculated as to why former Pride fighters had so much trouble making the transition into the UFC. Some have attributed it to factors such as the cage or change of rules. Others have said it had to do with the pressure of succeeding on the worlds biggest stage for MMA. One well known fighter said it had to do with the fact that they were use to being in the rhythm of fighting every 4 to 8 weeks in Pride. While these are all plausible factors, it seems one factor was overlooked.

The human factor.