Pride OWGP 9/10

[jmillerdls]

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Now someone answer me this. Why doesn't one of the second tier heavyweights (Fedor's brother, Kharitonov, etc.) just head over to the UFC. Those guys would completely obliterate the competition over there. I think I'd rather be a champion than forever lower than the big 4...

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Pretty sure that Pride pays much more than UFC. I know that's true for the top fighters (Cro Cop I think got $200K+ for tonight), so I would assume it's also true for the lower tier fighters.

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The top guys in the UFC, i.e. Chuck, Tito, Randy, Hughes make a comparable amount to the top guys in Pride. The pay is structured differently, while Pride guys are generally paid a fixed amount plus a bonus for winning, the big names in the UFC usually get a piece of the PPV/Gate. Dana White has said a few times that fighters in the biggest UFC fights have been paid over 1M after all that was figured in.

2nd tier and lower fighters get much much less in the UFC, and Americans don't care if your Fedor's brother or what have you, the 2nd tier Pride HWs would all be completely unknown, and would probably start out at like 10k/10K or something for thier first few fights, thats probably 1/3-1/4 of what they make in Pride. They'd also lose thier Japanese sponsors, and it would take some time to build a name for themselves and get US sponsors. So while they would definetly have a chance to build themselved up to the Chuck level, it would take a few years and its not guaranteed to ever happen. Right now there's no incentive for the UFC to build up thier HW division, they're making money hand over fist doing what they are doing, so they're not going out of their way to increase the number of quality fighters in the stable. The Pride show in Vegas in October could start to change that if it begins to eat into UFC market/mind share, but until then they're going to stick with the TUF/Spike strategy thats worked for them so well the past 2 years.

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Well, I'd like to counter, but all of this seems more than valid. Hard to blame the UFC when they have brought the orginization to such popularity...but it is a bit disappointing to me for them to have one division that is so embarrassing...and all the other divisions with unbeatable champions (minus Franklyn).

Will be interesting to see how it all plays out though. I've much preferred Pride events, including Bushido events to the UFC for several years now...but that has not stopped me from watching UFC events (and betting them).