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.
Fights can certainly be fixed even under regulation, but athletic commissions do suppress it, investigate it, and punish it. Look at that boxer who recently was caught with concrete in his gloves, for instance.
The problem with the Las Vegas analogy is that gambling is inherently "fixed" to favour the house. Rigging the gambling would actually drive gamblers away and undercut their business. When organized crime involves itself in sports, it's to control the outcomes for betting purposes.
B_Goetz - Fights can certainly be fixed even under regulation, but athletic commissions do suppress it, investigate it, and punish it. Look at that boxer who recently was caught with concrete in his gloves, for instance.
The problem with the Las Vegas analogy is that gambling is inherently "fixed" to favour the house. Rigging the gambling would actually drive gamblers away and undercut their business. When organized crime involves itself in sports, it's to control the outcomes for betting purposes.
Concrete? LOL, you might want to double-check what exactly he was caught with. (Plaster of Paris.)
Organized crime involves itself in any business it sees as being profitable. That might be running casinos, selling drugs, acting as a bookie, or any number of other things. The fact organized crime owned the business just means they thought they could turn a profit doing so, not that fights weren't fixed.
In any case, I don't know WTF you're arguing about. Everyone knows Pride had fixed fights (in the early years). But again, Rampage is being an idiot by making an allegation everyone already knew.
Why are all of you hatin' on him so much, lol. You guys tellin me u mofos dont ever complain about shit in ur life? He's a just like u & me, so what if he complains, its his oppinions. They're the ones asking the questions. You act like u hang out with him & all he does all day is complain. Rampage is funny as shit & a beast in the cage, i'm still a fan. You guys need to stop acting like u know him, or holding him to a higher standard when u know ur asses go home and bitch about ur lives & jobs, too.
I stopped watching pride after the ricco Nog fight. It was obvious that Pride did some underhanded things. The more people bitch about Rampare the more I want him to win.
I'm not saying I completely agree with rampage however I see where he is coming from.
In his first fight vs silva rudimar fedrigo was telling the ref to stand the fight up when rampage was actually being active on the ground and the ref actually listened.
I know that some pride fights have been fixed. (takada vs coleman) which is why im not surprised by his statements.
Finally I have to admit that during all of the grand prixs I always had a feeling like they were set up in wandy's favor.
So Pride matched up Wanderlai and Rampage so that Wanderlai could win. damn, if only Rampage was in a position to stop Wanderlai from winning everything would be so different now.