It's Official

The Fertitta brothers now own Pride. Sherdog has three articles on the subject, but it was this piece in the New York Times that caught my attention since it was on the main web page (albeit below the fold). Good to see the 'real' media covering the world's greatest sport, although I wonder where the article appeared in the print edition.

This looks like good news for the fans to me. The Fertittas plan on running Pride as a separate organization and keeping a Japanese flavor to it, which seems like a smart idea to me. There's a reason UFC was more successful in the US and Pride in Japan - culture matters. Now we can finally see Wanderlei (or maybe Hendo now?) VS Chuck and Fedor VS someone from the UFC (please Randy, don't, it's not a good matchup).

For the fighters, however, this represents a loss of bargaining leverage. I even heard Brandon Vera re-signed with the UFC. Aside from EliteXC, BodogFight, and a host of other orgs that have dubious staying power, there's no gigantic "other" that fighters can threaten to flee to if the Zuffa doesn't pony up. Fortunately, salaries have been rising though, and if the trend continues I won't worry. As more and more money flows into the sport I have to imagine some of it will make it's way to the fighters. And remember, Tito negotiated a raise way back when not by fleeing to Pride, but by not fighting at all. At least that's still an option.