Japanese underground MMA blogger Gryphon recently posted an interview with PRIDE head honcho Nobuyuki Sakakibara. I’m a little confused as to who conducted (or, for that matter, translated) the interview, but I don’t really care. This is the greatest broken English I’ve read since my last e-mail from Lei Tong.
All kidding aside, Sakakibara has some very interesting things to say about Dana White and Ultimate Fighting Championship. The following interview is unedited, and straight from Gryphon’s blog.
Q:What is tha relation between UFC and PRIDE? We hear Dana White get agry with PRIDE
“maybe He get angry with us because He can not control us,haha
i can send W.Silva to UFC,as PRIDE’s hitman….,3matchs contract is no problemAnytime OK.Liddel? Tito? Ken Shamrock?,All ok.
We can send Mirko Cro-cop to Nov UFC,It is my pleasure If Our opponent level are like this,no problem at all.”
“mybe UFC noticed.now,Thier popularity is growing up,but Silva come,Chuck is beated beated, KOed!! This is nothing but promotion for PRIDE event.So I hope this fight”
Q:you insisted UFC escape from PRIDE?
“Yes,They do not want to awknowledge They are underdog,I says Silva go to Octagon.
And tim Silvia,Andoei……..Anyone Ok,If UFC has a opponent,Mirko Cro-cop come to Octagon too.
To say the truth,I hope UFC send PRIDE USA(10.21) Tim Silvia as opponent of E.Fedor.
but Tim run away,hahaha!!!
but it is reasonable,if These two men fight 100 times,Fedor get 100 win,haha”
Q;but some fan guess,like this.
UFC send Chuck Liddel to PRIDE 2003 GP,but PRIDE did not help UFC,nobody come to UFC.Toda’s Silva trouble is same case too……
“No,no in 2003,UFC has no popularity,and no money,They ask us to give Chuck fighting field,So We allow it,that all,and We recommend many fighters,They reject them”
Q:It means UFC is afraid of PRIDE??
“yes,I can bet PRIDE brand and honor.
maybe UFC says “We are No.1 MMA promotion!”But it is only popularity,it is not Quality nor Fighter’s skill.
In Octobor,USA fans watch PRIDE USA.And Fans notice that the money for UFC PPV is nothing but waste.Prodction,fighters……..and Ring is better than Octagon for Audience.So they Feel UFC is low level Entertainment!! “
If that isn’t enough PRIDE vs. UFC shit-talking for you, then you’ll love this.
There was an unannounced and impromptu UFC vs. Pride showdown last [week] on the Scott Ferrall show on Sirius Satellite radio Ch. 101. I didn’t hear it, but Jerry Millen, who is the producer of the Pride shows, was guest. He’s the guy whose voice you hear when they translate the fighters who can’t talk English like Fedor or Wanderlei Silva in the interviews. He was running down UFC for a while. I guess Dana White heard about it and called up. They want at it. Millen accused White of being afraid of putting on Wanderlei Silva vs. Chuck Liddell. White brought up Silva lost to Vitor Belfort and Tito Ortiz and Millen said that was ten years ago (well, seven and eight to be exact). Lots of swearing. Millen kept talking about how much bigger Pride was world wide, and White said that Pride was going out of business.
Credit: Dave Meltzer
Ferrall stinks on ice, but I would love to hear this. Dana White is a really smart guy, but he says some stupid shit when his temper gets the best of him.
Frank Shamrock, younger brother of Ken Shamrock, recently weighed in on his brother’s upcoming bout with Tito Ortiz.
“It’s great for Ken, it’s great for the sport, and it’s great for the Shamrock brand. Tito is going to mash him and that will be that. I don’t keep contact with him; he doesn’t think a relationship with me is important. I’m just happy that the boy is on TV and reaching the mainstream in that way. I hate to see him get mashed again but it’ll be a great set up for when I whoop Tito’s ass.”
Shamrock was chosen as a coach for the IFL this past June, and just two weeks ago signed a multi-million dollar contract with startup MMA organization The World Fighter. I think it’s going to be a long time before we see a rematch with Ortiz (their first fight was at UFC 22 in 1999).
It was announced last week that former UFC fighter Jeremy Horn has retired.
From GracieFighter.com:
Jeremy Horn has retired from MMA fighting. Well at least temporarily. After an astounding 98 fights and a record of 78-15-5, Horn has walked away from competition and will be taking at least a year off before possibly returning. During this time he will continue training fighters and will be very active in his teammate’s preparations for upcoming bouts.
There has been speculation that after his losses to Chuck Liddell and Matt Linland, Jeremy decided he needed time to re-focus and assess his future in the sport he has been fighting in since 1996. We wish him the best and hope he returns soon.
I feel the same way about this that I did when Trigg retired. I don’t care, but I’ll miss making fun of the guy. However, you don’t “temporarily” retire (unless you’re Terry Funk). You either retire, or you take an extended sabbatical. Fuckin’ fighters are such drama queens sometimes.
