| The UFC deal transfers all Pride assets, including fighter contracts, fight video library and trademarks, to the new company. White said he would retain Pride's Japanese employees and that the company's planned April 7 show would go on as planned in Tokyo.
Pride has many of the sport's best fighters, including heavyweight champion Fedor Emialenenko, Wanderlei Silva, Dan Henderson, Shogun Rua, Takanori Gomi and Hayato Sakurai, signed to promotional contracts.
White said Pride would adopt the same rules that are used in the United States and expressed a desire to use the so-called unified rules around the world. Soccer kicks and knees to the head were legal in Pride fights in Japan, but they were outlawed in two shows that were held at the Thomas & Mack Center.
However, White said any fight held with the Pride banner would continue to be in a ring. UFC fights are in a cage.
"This is a sport and we're going to follow the unified rules that were established in New Jersey and then in Nevada," White said. "It's a sport -- mixed martial arts -- and the sport should have the same rules everywhere. As far as I'm concerned, if an organization doesn't follow these rules, it's not MMA. It's something else, but that's not MMA." |