The FtF Pride Primer

With the recent acquisition of Pride by the Fertitta's and their comments that there will be a once a year 'super show' between Pride and UFC a lot of UFC fans will be paying more attention to Pride and the Pride fighters. This is a great thing since Pride has a truly awesome array of talent. Here is the Following the Flow primer to get you 'in the know'.

THE RIVALRY
Probably the biggest rivalry in Pride is the one between the two major camps, Chute Boxe & Brazilian Top Team. I feel somewhat ashamed to care but it does make for some compelling fights! It only helps that these are two loaded camps with power players aplenty.

BTT boasts Antonio Rogerio Nogueira who is a dangerous Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner with wins over some top talent, but not nearly as dangerous (in my eyes) as his twin brother Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. Rodrigo, or Big Nog, is the former heavyweight champion of Pride but had his belt stolen by Fedor Emelianenko and has not been able to get it back. Big Nog is a top notch submission expert with improving boxing skills and a chin that would make a sledgehammer cry. Partly due to his chin, mostly to his skill the guy is damn near impossible to finish and remains one of the best heavyweights in the world.

Ricardo Arona is another BTT guy to watch for, holding wins over notables such as Sakuraba, Wanderlei Silva and Dan Henderson. Even Arona's list of victiorious foes reads like a who's who of MMA. Arona's strengths are his great takedowns, among the very best in MMA, and his jiu-jitsu. He's a younger guy who hasn't peaked yet and could be a champion one day.

Murilo Bustamante, Vitor Belfort and Allan Goes are a few other BTT members UFC fans might know.

Chute Boxe may not have the depth of great fighters that BTT has but it could be argued that the top ones are better than BTT's. Wanderlei Silva is the marqee attraction of both Chute Boxe and maybe Pride as well. This is the guy that has been talking about fighting Chuck Liddell and his record speaks for itself. He and Liddell are the apex predators at 205lbs but the Axe Murderer's style couldn't be more different from the Iceman's. It's obvious to me that Silva's philosophy is that if he goes after his opponent 110% at the beginning of the fight using kicks, knees, stomp kicks, soccer kicks and anything else that comes to mind until said opponent has to be scooped up off the floor along with the pooling blood.

The other stud from this camp is Mauricio "Shogun" Rua who, while very young, is already fighting the big dogs and looks to get better. Coming from Chute Boxe you know he's going to stand up and use those kickboxing skills but in all honestly I think it's his groundgame where he really shines. More of a position fighter than a submission artist he nonetheless is exciting to watch even on the mat. He's as promising a young fighter as Georges Saint-Pierre and that is most definitely good company to be in.

THE CHAMPS
Fedor Emelianenko has been ruling the roost at heavyweight for quite some time and it really doesn't seem like that reign will end anytime soon. The Russian's groundgame is flawless, he is MMA's version of the terminator (yes it sounds corny, no you won't think so after seeing his fights), and his record is devastating to opponents. Cro Cop will be his next big challenge but Fedor has already beaten him once.

Wanderlei Silva has been the dominant Pride LHW for quite some time but has lost two in a row, albeit to topnotch fighters, and even lost his belt to Dan Henderson a few months back. Still Silva can beat anybody on any given day. And that's real.

Dan Henderson recently added his name to the list of fighters who has held two belts at different weightclasses with a stunning upset of Wandy last new years. Henderson has that Olympic wrestling ability and a right hand that deserves mention in the same breath as Liddell's, albeit at the end of the sentence.

the lightweight Champ is Takanori Gomi and while he has just recently been upset by former UFCer Nick Diaz it wasn't a title shot and in the past Gomi has shown that ability to turn things around when that belt is at stake.

HONORABLE MENTION

Alistair Overeem
The young guy is a lethal, rangy kickboxer who gave the Iceman a good fight, years ago.

Mark Hunt
A huge kickboxer with a concrete skull and athleticism for a 290 pounder.

Fujita
A Japanese hero with great strength, wrestling ability and a titanium jaw.

Josh Barnett
Longtime UFC fans will know this former heavyweight champ who defeated Couture for the belt. The big man has quick hands and excellent submissions to go with his giant size, 6'4 250lbs.

THE SKINNY
Like some people I was a little worried about the UFC buying Pride. The fact that the Fertitta's bought it on their own seems to me that they will have someone besides Dana White run it. Don't get me wrong White is amazing and has done wonders for both the UFC and MMA but I would hate to see Pride become UFC Europe. Pride has a different feel, different spirit. The UFC is WWE meets boxing whereas Pride is the love child of old school martial arts (think karate, tae kwon do & judo) and Japanese shootfighting. Pride's tournaments are a breath of fresh air and the open weight tournament is unlike anything the UFC can do, do to restrictions here in the states. I'm not knocking UFC, I love it and have watched it since the mid-90's but Pride is different. To me Pride can be summed up in just one word. Bushido