UFC Buy Pride: The Truth…

… The truth is no one outside of the concerned parties really knows 100% what is going on in the secretive behind-closed-doors meetings. But here is more on today’s hot topic:

If you logged on to any of the MMA news sites or message boards this morning you will have read that a well respected and connected source is claiming beyond reasonable doubt that the owners of the Ultimate Fighting Championship have agreed to buy ailing Japanese MMA goliath Pride FC for $64 Million USD.

Breaking down the information as it has come in, we gather that owners of Zuffa LLC Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta have reportedly come to an agreement with Pride CEO Nobuyuki Sakikabara where the Las Vegas based operation will be in a position to buy Pride, as in The Pride brand, Pride’s Fighter Contracts and the Pride FC video and image back catalogues.

It is known that Sakikabara is travelling to Las Vegas this week and it is believed to be in relation to this matter.

If this is indeed the case, it is believed that the majority of Pride’s existing structure will stay intact but Nobuyuki Sakikabara will be forced to step down as CEO then will be replaced by a new high profile TV executive.

However before anyone starts getting too ahead of themselves, Pride’s Vice President Gary Millen was keen to throw water on the fire of this rumour. He told GracieFighter.com:

"It's bullshit. You can't believe what you read on the internet and as a matter of fact I just got off the phone with Japan and unless I'm being lied to Pride has not been sold and is not being sold to anyone, especially to Zuffa. We are in the process of making some ground breaking deals that will be bringing in large sums of revenue to the company and making it stronger than ever."