"The UFC treats me better than Pride. I don't know what their [PRIDE] problem was but they wouldn't promote me at all, they cheated me out of money from dolls and t-shirts, not paying me... when my contract was up and we were negotiating and I wanted more money and they were telling me ‘oh, but you're a nobody.' This was after I had fought in the Grand Prix and beat Igor Vovchanchyn. Even after I went to that K-1 fight and represented them in K-1, they were mad I won that K-1 fight! Just stuff like that... Igor Vovchanchyn, I got two weeks notice [for the fight]. Ninja, two weeks notice. It was bad. The tournaments were fixed. They said they drew numbers from a hat. It was all set up for Wanderlei to win. It was really bad. Even in some fights they would stand you up when you were winning, different stuff like that."
Former Pride FC and UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton Jackson talked to Fighters Only Magazine about the not-so-good old days of the Japan based mixed martial arts promotion. "Rampage" implies some pretty serious wrongdoings on the part of Pride, including cheating him out of money and fixing fights. Of course, this isn't the first time we've heard about certain questionable practices employed by the folks in the "land of the rising sun." So, is this just "Rampage" being "Rampage," or are there some legitimate gripes to be had on behalf of Jackson and other Pride FC veterans?
One thing he's completely right about is the late fight announcements. IMO, that was by far the worst part of PRIDE. It sucked for the fighters AND the fans.
That said, I take everything he says with a grain of salt.
Wait, Pride announcers constantly talked about the matchups that the promoters chose in the GPs, and why they did so. For example, if two Japanese fighter got into the semifinals but weren't matched up with each other, the announcers would comment that they should have been, so a Japanese guy would make the finals.
They never claimed they were random at all, at least not on the English broadcasts, that I remember. They were pretty clearly not random, in fact.
Pride was an unregulated organization run by the mafia, yet most fans still have difficulty understanding that it wasn't a legit organization. That says something about the intelligence of the average mma fan.
B_Goetz - Pride was an unregulated organization run by the mafia, yet most fans still have difficulty understanding that it wasn't a legit organization. That says something about the intelligence of the average mma fan.
LOL @ thinking that "regulation" is in place to keep fights from being fixed. Hint: It's a government money grab, for the most part.
Las Vegas was run by the mafia for 50 years, and yet, the vast majority of the gambling was not rigged in any way.
Pride had fixed fights. But Rampage is just making some retarded allegation that everyone already knew.
B_Goetz - Pride was an unregulated organization run by the mafia, yet most fans still have difficulty understanding that it wasn't a legit organization. That says something about the intelligence of the average mma fan.
I've read this often and don't doubt it, but is it clearly documented anywhere that the yakuza were involved? Inoki alone becuase of his pro wrestling made me wonder about fixes
by James Kimball
