Say you were a world-class MMA fighter, and you wanted to showcase your skills. Before 2007, there was only one organization you needed know: Pride Fighting Championships.

Pride was a Japan-based MMA organization that held more than sixty events, one of which, Shockwave/Dynamite in August of 2002, held the largest live MMA event audience record of over 70,000 people. So how did this hugely successful organization come to an end? Read on to find out!

Conceived in 1997, Pride Fighting Championships held events that searched for ‘the world’s best fighter.’ The Pride Grand Prix was one of the first events to pose the competition, with American fighter Mark Coleman winning national fame and recognition, as well as the tournament.

In August 2002, Pride teamed up with Japan’s leading kickboxing and fight promotion, K-1, and held the world’s biggest fight event, Shockwave, (known as Pride/K-1 Dynamite!! in Japan), which attracted over 70,000 fans. That’s more fans than the Washington Redskins and the Cleveland Browns combined have attracted all season! (Probably).

Riding it’s new millennium success, Pride introduced multiple new events in 2003: Bushido (Japanese for ‘way of the warrior’), a series of events focusing on the lighter weights of lightweight and welterweight fights; Total Elimination 2003 and Final Conflict 2003, a two-event middleweight grand prix that added Critical Countdown 2004 a year later as a third event; and annual tournaments in the following years for all weight classes. Needless to say, Pride was at the top of its game.

So what happened to Pride? It became so popular that it realized it’s own success and looked to go even higher. By 2007 UFC had already established itself as the premier fighting organization. In March, Pride was sold to UFC, they merged, and Pride had realized it’s full potential. Today, the only true way you’ll get to see a Pride event is on DVD. UFC is now a dominant force, and Pride is now a member of the strongest MMA promotion family in the business.

Check out more about Pride here, as well as the video embedded below.

Attention, Charlotte, North Carolina: Hayastan Grappling East Coast Championships is coming October 10th! The Naomi Drena Recreation Center will host what will be the proving grounds for many MMA amateurs and hopefuls.

The divisions will be Gi and No-Gi, with all championship belts being awarded in the No-Gi division. There will be 10 championship belts for winners, and a $500 cash prize up for grabs. Want a custom medal? Then place 1st, 2nd or 3rd in any of the regular divisons! Competitors can compete in up to 3 divisions (Gi, No-Gi and Championship), so start training, improve your odds and go for the gold!

Need another reason to come out and show what you’re made of? How about World Champion Gokor Chivichyan’s two-day seminar the 10th and the 11th! Don’t miss a chance to learn from the world class grappler who came out of retirement to take home the gold at the 2008 USJA/USJF Winter Nationals!

Sat. 10th
Gokor Seminar 8 am – 10 am
Weigh Ins 8 am – 10 am
Rules Meeting 10:30 am
Tournament 11:30 am
All competitors must be present by 10:30am for bracketing and rules meeting.

Sun 11th
Gokor Seminar 10 am – 2 pm

For more information, visit the event site or contact Paul Booe at 704-575-9688.

The MMA world received a blow to the gut this past week, as Mirko ‘Cro Cop’ Filipović and Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson announced they were hanging up their gloves.

Jackson, having recently been cast as B.A. Baracus in the new “A-Team” remake film, is looking for greener pastures, as well as a few more zeroes on his paycheck, on the big screen rather than in the ring.

“I’m hanging it up,” Jackson wrote in his blog. “I’ve been getting negative reviews from the dumba– fans that don’t pay my bills or put my kids though college.”

Jackson, who was known for his powerful body slams and power bombs, was 30-7 all-time and beat former UFC Light Heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell in 2007 for his own Light Heavyweight championship.

Filipović’s retirement came as no surprise; he told reporters on Saturday that his fight with up and coming UFC heavyweight Junior Dos Santos was probably his final professional MMA bout.

“Maybe the ones who have said that I’m done are right,”  he said.  “Obviously, I can’t break my mental block in the Octagon. I have twenty years of training like a spartan behind me. It has caught up with me, my body is broken down. I’ve been worn out.”

Filipović had a career that most fighters would envy; he had a left high kick that opponents shuddered to think about, he won the Pride 2006 Open Weight Grand Prix, and, with a 35-7 record, was a UFC regular beginning in 2007.

Filipović‘s manager, Zvonimir Lucic, released all Team Cro Cop members from their respective duties, ending an era spanning 15 years.

Both fighters will be missed, but hey, NFL QB Brett Favre retired 20 different times. I’m sure we haven’t seen the last of these guys.