Official MMA News/Discussion Thread

[CaptainCharisma]

heres the accompanying article translated from Croatian:

World Famous kickboxer Mirko Crocop has been sited out on the town with fallen action icon Jean Claude Van Damme in recent weeks. As they saw the sites, discussing kickboxing and film, they stopped to chat with us and shared some future plans and the details of their new relationship.

"Forming a bond"

Apparently Mirko and Van Damme had a mutual acquiatenance, Mirko's manager and long time friend: Zvonimir Lučić, who introduced them after discovering their mutual admiration for each other. Immediately the two hit if off, having a similiar fighting background, fame, and a rare chemistry. They referred to themselves as inseparable since their eyes first met. Mirko appeared to joke, pointing out how much he liked Van Damme's stylish comb over and chiseled quadracep muscles, while Van Damme, admittedly quite intoxicated, responded that "he better mean that."

"A joyous day."

They were also accompanied by a child they recently adopted together, the details on this were not clear due to Van Damme's intoxication, however Mirko beamed and remarked family is everything.

Mirko talked about his upcoming fight in the UFC, and that Jean Claude had been invaluable in helping maintain his spirit and drive while training for a fighter he really didn't see as a worthy opponent.

-"The important thing is that you stay focused," said Crocop, "sometimes I don't feel like training, but now I have Jean Claude to lean on, sometimes his approval is what keeps me going. He's my rock. He never loses his strength."

-Jean Claude added a few more words, but by that time he was barely able to stand, although he seemed very happy as Mirko hefted him onto his broad shoulders and said goodnight.



LOL Mirko is such as asshhole sometimes he sees Gonzaga as like no threat whatsoever...I love Cro Cop

oh and, Cro Cop with Van Damme "inspiring & motivating" him = things that reek of so much awesomeness that they cant even be put into words

 

[fistacuffs]

^^ wow.. really homo-erotic

 

[fallen]

that is a whole lot of gayness there and that scares me lol

 

[onebigeric]

C'mon Mirko, no need to bat for the other team

Maybe there's something lost in the translation

 

[CaptainCharisma]

you guys gotta remember that Cro Cop is European, their a bit more "closer" with each other if you know what i mean, if you watched his first documentary you'll know what i mean, alot of European dudes are very open and all that with each other, its a cultural thing i guess

 

[CaptainCharisma]

theres a rumor going around right now, strictly a **RUMOR** that Shogun Rua has 2 fights left on his PRIDE contract and after it is up he's signing to have 2 fights in the UFC...pretty interesting

 

[CaptainCharisma]

oh and also there is a huge rumor that Zuffa has/is close to buying PRIDE, a figure has been given ($65 million) and supposedly the announcement will come sometime next week (if its true) also it should be noted that if indeed Zuffa has bought PRIDE that alot of the international fighters contracts will not automatically come with the purchase of PRIDE, PRIDE fighter contracts are structured in a way that if the company were to be sold/cease to exist they would then become free agents

 

[onebigeric]

This is all theoretical, of course, but where else would they go? The IFL is not receptive to a huge influx of fighters, and the UFC is the largest name in America by far. KOTC, ROTR, and GC would probably be drooling at this, but their exposure is so laughable that the big names would pass them right by.

Although if Dana does get said brand, maintaining it as a seperate entity with cross-promotional fights sounds like a huge moneymaker to me

 

[CaptainCharisma]

Theres still BoDog and EliteXC, they may be newer orgs but they have alot of money. But most likley i think alot of the better fighters will end up in UFC, its just alot more exposure.

 

[fallen]

Well I had read that the brothers wtf there names are were the one's buying Pride and that Dana would have nothing to do with it at all and it would be ran seperate except some cross fights

 

[CaptainCharisma]

You mean the Fertittas. Ya their the ones who own Zuffa, which owns UFC. Essentially their Dana's bosses. It's believed that most likely they won't buy PRIDE as a company, rather instead buy assets of PRIDE (video library, contracts, brand name, etc) that makes more sense from a business view point, because if they bought the entire company they would have to deal with the MASSIVE amount of debt that PRIDE is in.

 

[CaptainCharisma]

--Nobuyuki Sakakibara yesterday told several members of the U.S. Pride staff that the company is in the proces of being sold to Lorenzo & Frank Fertitta. He said the agreement in principal is done but there are still some minor points to be worked out and the contract is not signed. Sakakibara said he would be leaving the company but that everyone would be keeping their jobs. The company would be operated separately from UFC, but obviously UFC could use any Pride fighter for a big match that it needed.

Something is definatley up. It may not really be a buyout, but theres waaaaaayyyy too many rumors from different sources going around. To offer an analogy, with this much smoke theres gotta be a fire somewhere.

 

[CaptainCharisma]

some of the PRIDE FC footage has been removed from youtube by Zuffa...

 

[onebigeric]

Looks like it's for real

 

[CaptainCharisma]

i really hope this is true, and that the UFC scoop up a good majority if not all of the top fighters from PRIDE, that would mean we get to see a ton of dream matches and we can finally have set rankings in MMA....that so would reek of awesomeness

 

[fallen]

it would be great if it all works out good but i think keeping them seperate is a great idea and maybe only have a few "dream" matches

 

[onebigeric]

Crossovers would be huge. Pride vs. UFC cards would draw in insane amounts of money, and maintaining two seperate labels would allow for the development of a lot more fighters. One can hope

 

[CaptainCharisma]

their gonna remain seperate, have PRIDE take Asia, Europe etc, and have UFC take N/S America and England, and the plan is to promote world class fights every now and then, which i think still is for the best

 

[onebigeric]

^^I agree completely

 

[CaptainCharisma]

i just realised something about Fedor possibly being in the UFC...can you guys imagine Fedor with ELBOWS!!!! Add the cage to that....i cant even begin to imagine wtf he'll do to the HW's in the UFC...its a scary thought