PRIDE FC - The Globalization of MMA

[dubb93]

PRIDE FC - The Globalization of MMA

The year is 1997 and the MMA landscape has under gone many changes since the lawless days of 1993 when sumo wrestler Teila Tula was crowned the winner of UFC 1. Today the UFC uses a 5 minute round format, has weight classes, and employs rules such as no kicking a downed opponent.

The fighters of today are more well rounded than the fighters of 1993 as well. Newcomers such as Randy Couture appear to have no weaknesses and have made quick work of the old timers. Some have evolved, Ken Shamrock is without a doubt the most dynamic and well rounded fighter today.

PRIDE FC was started in 1997 with the goal of captivating the Japanese audience by pitting Japanese professional wrestling/MMA hero Kazushi Sakuraba against MMA legend Bas Rutten.

Kazushi Sakuraba is a former Main Event level professional wrestler for UWFi and KPW in Japan. He has recently made the transition to MMA going 4-1 in the process. After a rough start Sakuraba has become Japan's biggest MMA star with a four fight win streak over the likes of Wallid Ismail and Minoki Ichihara among others.

Bas Rutten was at one time considered the greatest fighter in the world. In 1996 not a single person questioned this claim after Bas's brutal TKO of Rickson Gracie in the UFC octagon.

Bas got his big break in the UFC at UFC 3 when he was brought in to fight Teila Tuli in a Superfight. Bas was brought in to be an easy fight for Tuli, who won the tournament at UFC 1. The UFC brass was looking to get Tuli back to winning so they went outside the company for a newcomer. Someone forgot to fill Bas in as he submitted the overmatched Tuli after 8 minutes.

Bas was rewarded with a spot in the tournament at UFC 4 where he defeated Kimo Leopoldo, Dan Severn, and Guy Mezger in a single night to claim the UFC 4 crown.

At UFC 5 Bas was matched up against UFC Super Fight Champion Oleg Taktarov. Oleg was the winner of the UFC 3 tournament and had defeated Royce Gracie at UFC 4 to become the UFC Super Fight Champion. The fight lasted eight minutes. Most of the fight saw Bas savagely beat Oleg around the octagon. By the time Oleg got a takedown around the seven minute mark he was bruised and bloody from the hands and feet of Bas. On the ground Bas showed that, shockingly, he had a better ground game than the Russian Sambo expert as he quickly was able to get a sweep and finished the fight with a rear naked choke.

At this point Bas was on a huge role, but all he heard from MMA fans was the name Rickson Gracie. Rickson was considered to be the greatest martial artist and jujitsu artist in the world. Everyone wanted to see this fight, however there was just one holdup. Money. Rickson was asking for more than the UFC was willing to pay.

At UFC 6 Bas was matched up against top contender Jon Hess. The fight showed the one chink in Bas Rutten's armor. It showed he could be controlled by a huge wrestler. At 6'7 295lbs Hess was in fact one giant wrestler. The fight went to a 30 minute razor thin decision won by Bas.

In December of 1995 the hopes of the world had been answered, Rickson Gracie had signed on to enter the Ultimate Ultimate 1995. The Ultimate Ultimate was a UFC tournament designed to feature the best of the best. In fact Rickson was the only man in the tournament who had not fought in the finals of a previous UFC tournament. After the brackets were set it appeared to everyone that Rickson and Bas would meet in the finals.

In the Tournament Bas defeated Ken Shamrock and Dave Beneteau and Rickson got past Marco Ruas and Tank Abbott to set the stage for the biggest fight in MMA history. The fight did not disappoint as Bas was able to drop Rickson while standing, however as he went to finish the fight Rickson promptly was able to get a sweep and a submission win.

To make matters worse for Bas following the event Rickson left the UFC. At the start of 1996 Bas defended his championship with a TKO win over Gary Goodridge. Rickson on the other hand went to EF where in his only fight for the company he defeated the company's Middleweight Champion Jason Delucia.

Due to pressure from the MMA world the rematch was set for September 1996. They were rightfully billed as the two best fighters in the world. Rutten vs. Gracie II was a one sided affair that saw Bas Rutten win by TKO.

Bas would next return to the Octagon in February of 1997 against Ken Shamrock. Bas had previously defeated Ken Shamrock by KO in January of 1996, however this was not the same Ken Shamrock. This Shamrock was on a 6 fight tear including a victories in the Ultimate Ultimate tournament over Don Frye, Mark Schultz, and Tsuyoshi Kohsaka. The scary part? None of the fights were even close. Shamrock beat Frye by a quick TKO standing and then submitted Schultz and Kohsaka while racking up less than a single round of ring time for the three fights combined!

Shamrock would continue his tear at UFC 12 with a vicious and savage beating of Bas Rutten that was ended after five minutes by submission.

Bas would return at UFC 14 to finish out his UFC contract with a submission victory over Mark Schultz. In the fight Bas looked like vintage Bas Rutten peppering the Olympic gold medalist at the 1984 games with punches standing before knocking him to the mat and grabbing an arm for the finish.

Following this fight a bidding war for the services of Bas Rutten was won by Japan based MMA startup PRIDE FC.

Now the fight that will define PRIDE FC is set. Bas Rutten will take on Kazushi Sakuraba in the main event of PRIDE 1.

Note: This is a fictional dynasty using Adam Ryland's WMMA 2 and an edited version Lucien Sanchez's mod "Dawn of MMA". The mod was edited by myself and has not been released in its edited form to anyone.

[dubb93]

History of MMA Tournaments

UFC 1
November 1993
Teila Tuli over Ken Shamrock

UFC 2
March 1994
Royce Gracie over Ken Shamrock

UFC 3
September 1994
Oleg Taktarov over Murilo Bustamante

UFC 4
December 1994
Bas Rutten over Guy Metzger

UFC 5
April 1995
Jon Hess over Royce Gracie

UFC 6
July 1995
David "Tank" Abbott over Tsuyoshi Kohsaka

UFC 7
September 1995
Marco Ruas over Dave Beneteau

Ultimate Ultimate 1995
December 1995
Rickson Gracie over Bas Rutten

UFC 8
February 1996
Gary Goodridge over Ebenezer Fontes Braga

***There was no tournament at UFC 9***

UFC 10
July 1996
Mark Coleman over Jon Hess

UFC 11
September 1996
Igor Vovchanchyn over David "Tank" Abbott

Ultimate Ultimate 1996
December 1996
Ken Shamrock over Tsuyoshi Kohsaka

***UFC splits to two weight classes. 200lb+ is now the Heavyweight Division and 199lb and down is the Middleweight Division***

UFC 12
February 1997
Middleweight Championship Tournament
Vitor Belfort over Jose Landi-Jons

UFC 13
May 1997
Heavyweight Tournament
Randy Couture over Pedro Rizzo

UFC 14
July 1997
Middleweight Tournament
Guy Mezger over Wanderlei Silva

***Single night tournament format banned by the Nevada State Athletic Commission***

[dubb93]

History of MMA Championships
*This only includes title changes, successful defenses will not be noted*

Ultimate Fighting Championship

UFC Superfight Championship

UFC 3
September 1994
Royce Gracie over Ken Shamrock

UFC 4
December 1994
Oleg Taktarov over Royce Gracie

UFC 5
April 1995
Bas Rutten over Oleg Taktarov

***Belt is retired in January 1997 when the UFC creates weight classes***


UFC Heavyweight Championship

UFC 12
February 1997
Ken Shamrock over Bas Rutten
Current Champion


UFC Middleweight Championship

UFC 12
February 1997
Vitor Belfort over Jose Landi-Jons

UFC 13
May 1997
Igor Vovchanchyn over Vitor Belfort
Current Champion


Extreme Fighting

EF Heavyweight

EF 1
January 1996
Teila Tula over Art Jimmerson

EF 5
July 1996
Zane Frasier over Teila Tula

EF 7
December 1996
Dave Beneteau over Zane Frasier
Current Champion


EF Middleweight

EF 1
January 1996
Jason Delucia over Adrian Hinkle

EF 4
May 1996
Rickson Gracie over Jason Delucia

Belt is vacated when Rickson Gracie leaves EF

EF 6
November 1996
Renzo Gracie over Jorge Patino
Current Champion


Superbrawl

Superbrawl Heavyweight

Superbrawl - Reckless Life
August 1996
Patrick Smith over Hans Nijman

Belt is vacated in February 1997 when Patrick Smith leaves the company


Superbrawl Light Heavyweight

Superbrawl - Reckless Life
August 1996
Rudyard Moncayo over Roland Payne

Superbrawl - Kill City Kills
February 1997
Mark Hall over Rudyard Moncayo

Superbrawl - Aggravated Assault
May 1997
Alberta Cerra Leon over Mark Hall
Current Champion


Superbrawl Middleweight

Superbrawl - Livin' On A Prayer
November 1996
Igor Zinoviev over Adrian Hinkle
Current Champion


Superbrawl Welterweight

Superbrawl - Trompe Le Monde
October 1996
Thaddeus Luster over Brian Gassaway

Superbrawl - Into The Void
March 1997
Akihiro Gono over Thaddeus Luster
Current Champion


Superbrawl Lightweight

Superbrawl - Violent Conduct
April 1997
Caol Uno over Kiuma Kunioku
Current Champion

[dubb93]

September 1, 1997

The PRIDE roster is starting to take shape. PRIDE has scored a PPV deal in Japan. This is huge as it means more money for PRIDE to spend on fighters.

Lets take a loot at the PRIDE rules. PRIDE fights consist of a ten minute first round and then two five minute rounds. All PRIDE fights will follow this round format. PRIDE fights will also be fought in a ring rather than a cage. PRIDE rules differ from the unified rules of combat by allowing kicks and stomps to a grounded opponent and allowing knees to a grounded fighter.

PRIDE will feature two weight classes:

Heavyweight 206lb - unlimited
Middleweight 183lb - 205lb

Now here is the card for PRIDE 1

PRIDE 1


Main Event
PRIDE Heavyweight Championship
Bas Rutten vs. Kazushi Sakuraba

Middleweight Division Super Fight
Royce Gracie vs. Ikuhisa Minowa

Plus

Zane Frasier vs. "The Monster" Kevin Randleman
Frank Shamrock vs. Dave Menne
Dave Beneteau vs. Josh Barnett
Wanderlei Silva vs. Naoya Ogawa

And in Preliminary Action
Akira Shoji battles Scott Fielder

[dubb93]

September 20, 1997

After long hours at the negotiating table PRIDE is pleased to announce that the following fighters are under contract to PRIDE FC at this time:

Akihiro Gono
Akira Shoji
Bas Rutten
Carlos Newton
Dave Beneteau
Dave Menne
Evan Tanner
Frank Shamrock
Ikuhisa Minowa
Josh Barnett
Kazushi Sakuraba
Kevin Randleman
Melvin Manhoef
Naoya Ogawa
Pat Miletich
Royce Gracie
Scott Fielder
Semmy Schilt
Tra Telligman
Vladimir Matyushenko
Wanderlei Silva
Zane Frasier

[dubb93]

Saturday Sept. 27, 1997

UFC 16 results

Igor Vovchanchyn (6-2) over John Lewis (1-3) by unanimous decision to retain the UFC Middleweight Championship (Decent)

David "Tank" Abbott (8-4) over Oleg Taktarov (10-6) by TKO at 2:48 of rd. 2 (Great)

Gary Goodridge (6-3) over Tsuyoshi Kohsaka (4-6) by unanimous decision (Decent)

Murilo Bustamante (6-4) over Scott Bessac (2-5) by submission at 4:02 of rd. 1 (Great)

Don Frye (5-2) over Pete Williams (1-2) by submission at 4:49 of rd. 2 (Good)

**Prelims**

Ebenezer Fontes Braga (3-4) over Marco Ruas (6-5) by split decision (Good)

Randy Couture (3-0) over Elvis Sinosic (0-2) by TKO at 2:15 of rd. 1 (Fantastic)


Following the show Randy Couture, Don Frye and David "Tank" Abbott all enter the negotiating phase of their contracts and as such are all free agents. Elvis Sinosic, Scott Bessac, and John Lewis all see their contracts get canceled by the UFC brass.

[dubb93]

As always feel free to commit if you would like.

[Travis]

What fighters are you hoping to try and sign along the way? Any that you'd break the bank for as a personal favorite or anything like that?

[sovereignstar]

Originally Posted by dubb93

The year is 1997 and the MMA landscape has under gone many changes since the lawless days of 1993 when a sumo wrestler Teila Tula was crowned the winner of UFC 1.

ROFL

[dubb93]

Sunday September 28, 1997

SuperBrawl: Lashing Out took place tonight in Hawaii. The main event of the evening saw Alberta Cerra Leon defend his title against Rudyard Moncayo. Leon was able to stop Rudyard by TKO early in the second round.

In other action potential Japanese superstars Masakatsu Funaki and Hayato Sakurai were both victorious.

Former UFC standout Jose Landi-Jons was also on the card as he made short work of journeyman Light Heavyweight Scott Baker.



In major MMA and PRIDE FC news PRIDE FC has signed world #6 ranked heavyweight Don Frye to a four fight deal.

In other news world #4 ranked Heavyweight Randy Couture resigns with the UFC.

*I'm not going to cover lesser signings of the CPU controlled feds as this dynasty would turn into a fighter signing dynasty as every day there is alteast one fighter coming or going. Of course if Ken Shamrock would leave the UFC and go to EF you would know about it.*

[dubb93]

Originally Posted by Travis

What fighters are you hoping to try and sign along the way? Any that you'd break the bank for as a personal favorite or anything like that?

I'd like to try and showcase guys that really were stars in Japan. If I wanted to I could basically sign every fighter I wanted to, however I will leave the UFC guys so I have some competition. There really is no house rule per say.

Like the three free agents the UFC just had after the last show. I passed on Couture and Abbott since they really were in the UFC at this time, yet I picked up Don Frye since IRL he was out of the UFC in 1997. That isn't to say i won't violate this rule to have a super fight along the way. Alas, it isn't the game I want, it is the game I got so I'm going to have fun and try to work around the games limitations.

[dubb93]

Originally Posted by sovereignstar

ROFL

Isn't it great!

[dubb93]

October 1, 1997

I plan on doing this yearly in January but I'm doing it in October this year so you guys get a sense of what the world looks like at this point.

Company Rankings



1. PRIDE FC

As you can see PRIDE FC, despite having not ran a single show is the number one promotion in the world. The Japanese fans are extremely into MMA and the promise of a huge promotion like PRIDE FC has them coming out of the woodwork at this time.

2. UFC

3. Extreme Fighting

4. SuperBrawl


At this point in time only two weightclasses really have any kind of presence in the MMA landscape so I will only list the Heavyweight and Light Heavyweight divisions.

Heavyweights



1. Ken Shamrock (12-4)

Ken Shamrock is on a seven fight winning streak with wins over ranked heavyweights Bas Rutten and Don Frye. Shamrock will be tested at UFC 17 as he puts his title on the line against Mark "The Hammer" Coleman.

2. Bas Rutten (11-2)

3. Mark Coleman (7-0)

4. Randy Couture (3-0)

5. Gary Goodridge (6-3)

6. Don Frye (5-2)

7. Zane Frasier (9-4)

8. Oleg Taktarov (10-6)

9. Murilo Bustamante (6-4)

10. Mark Schultz (2-3)

To be fair two of his losses are to Ken Shamrock and Bas Rutten and he does have a big win over Guy Mezger.


Light Heavyweight Rankings



1. Royce Gracie (13-4)

Against the heavyweights in UFC Royce was a successful fighter going 8-4, winning the UFC SuperFight Championship, and winning the tournament at UFC 2. Since he left UFC and dropped to the new Light Heavyweight division Royce has been unstoppable. Infact in five fights with Extreme Fighting in the Light Heavyweight division he has yet to be taken beyond the first round. Royce truely is the worlds greatest Light Heavyweight.

2. Renzo Gracie (3-0)

3. Kazushi Sakuraba (4-1)

4. Jerry Bohlander (4-0)

5. Igor Vovchanchyn (6-2)

6. Wallid Ismail (4-1)

7. Vitor Belfort (2-1)

8. Pat Miletich (4-2)

9. Guy Mezger (6-4)

10. Alexander Otsuka (3-1)

[dubb93]

Saturday October 18, 1997

UFC 17

Ken Shamrock (13-4) defeats Mark Coleman (7-1) by submission at 1:26 of rd. 1 (Great)

*My Comment: WOW! This guy isn't human. He's beating a who's who of the top heavyweights in the world and he's doing it so fast and making it look so easy it is hard to imagine him getting beat by anyone right now.*

Mark Schultz (3-3) defeats Harry Mosokowitz (0-1) by TKO at 1:38 of rd. 3 (Decent)

Guy Mezger (7-4) defeats Vitor Belfort (2-2) by unanimous decision (Average)

Dave Berry (3-0) over Fred Ettish (3-6) by split decision (Good)

Kevin Jackson (1-2) defeats Sean Daugherty (1-4) by TKO at 1:50 of rd. 1 (Great)

*Prelims*

Brian Gassaway (1-3) over Dave Strasser (0-4) by unanimous decision (Poor)

Kiuma Kunioku (1-3) over Luiz Azeredo (1-2) by unanimous decision (Poor)

Following UFC 17 Mark Coleman and Dave Berry are free agents. The UFC has canceled the contracts of Mark Schultz, Kiuma Kunioku, Brian Gassaway, Luiz Azeredo, Dave Strasser, Fred Ettish, and Sean Daugherty. Some of these cancellations won't go into affect until after the fighters next fight with the company.

*My thoughts: Most of these guys aren't of much interest to me, however I would be very interested in Mark Coleman and Mark Schultz. If the UFC is going to let a ranked heavyweight walk in Schultz(and they are) then I will be more than happy to give him a roster spot with PRIDE.*

Pride FC has signed Heavyweight professional wrestler Nobuhiko Takada and ranked Middleweight fighter Masakatsu Funaki.

Masakatsu Funaki is on a four fight winning streak, although it remains to be seen how he will adjust to the heavier fighters in the PRIDE FC Middleweight division.

Elsewhere around the world of MMA SuperBrawl - Painkiller will see Caol Uno put his SuperBrawl Lightweight Championship on the line against jouneyman Chris Brennen.

Extreme Fighting has announced EF 14 and the main billing will see undefeated Renzo Gracie put his EF Middleweight(205lbs) Championship on the line against Jutaro Nakao. Jutaro is coming off a split decision victory over John Lewis.

The real news at EF 14 isn't even the main event. Also on the card Jon Hess will battle Teila Tuli for the EF Heavyweight Championship that was vacated with Dave Beneteau's PRIDE FC signing. This fight will put Teila Tuli, the UFC 1 winner, against Jon Hess, the UFC 5 winner.

Expect both of these cards in early November.

[dubb93]

Saturday October 25, 1997



PRIDE FC presents

PRIDE 1

*Note: For fighter records in PRIDE FC fights I will use the fighters record in PRIDE rather than their record in MMA. This is to follow more in line with real life PRIDE.

Preliminary Fight:

Akira Shoji (1-0) over Scott Fielder (0-1) by unanimous decision in the Heavyweight division (Decent)

*Thoughts: Shoji came out in the first and was the aggressor obviously not wanting to stand with Fielder who is a kickboxer. The fight played out with Shoji controlling the action with his wrestling and Fielder being unable to launch any type of offense as a result. Shoji will have to get better if he is going to be a factor in the PRIDE Heavyweight division.*

Main Card

Kevin “The Monster” Randleman (1-0) defeats Zane Frasier (0-1) by TKO at 2:26 of Rd. 1 in the Heavyweight division (Fantastic)

*Thoughts: Zane Frasier came into the fight as the #7 ranked Heavyweight fighter in the world, but he had to know he was in for an extremely dangerous fight against the 26 year old wrestler. Randleman is a former two time national champion at Ohio State and it showed in this fight as the Karate expert was out of his element. Randleman was able to score a quick takedown and from there is was all about ground and pound. Frasier had no defense for the punches and the referee rightfully stopped the fight. Kevin Randleman appears to be one for the future.*

Frank Shamrock (1-0) over Dave Menne (0-1) by submission (arm bar) at 2:59 of Rd. 2 in the Middleweight division (Good)

*Thoughts: Shamrock and Menne spent the first round in what seemed like a feeling out process with neither really willing to engage beyond a punch or two at a time. In the second Shamrock got a quick takedown and worked his way easily to an arm bar for the finish. After this performance Shamrock will most likely be on the short list of fighters to be matched up against the Gracie/Minowa winner. Some may call me insane, but I think Shamrock has the tools to beat Gracie if that were to be the Middleweight Championship fight.*

Josh Barnett (1-0) over Dave Beneteau (0-1) by TKO at 2:06 of Rd. 1 in the Heavyweight division (Fantastic)

*Thoughts: Barnett was just way too much for Beneteau which really says a lot for the newcomer. Barnett was able to score an easy quick takedown and pass at will. Beneteau gave up his back and Barnett pounded him out until the referee stopped the fight. This is a huge win for Barnett as Beneteau is a massively experienced heavyweight fighter. Beneteau made the final of UFC 7 and was the former Extreme Fighting Heavyweight Champion. Barnett may be a future champion.*

Wanderlei Silva (1-0) defeats Naoya Ogawa (0-1) by unanimous decision in the Heavyweight division (Average)

*Thoughts: Ogawa was just too damn big for Wanderlei to showcase his talents which is what this fight was supposed to be about. Ogawa came in about 280lbs and used his weight to shove Wanderlei around and lean on him. Wanderlei would get a chance to score some damage points with the judges when the referee would separate them but then it would be back to the lean and pray from Ogawa. I think we need to move Wanderlei down to his more natural Middleweight division and get him someone who will stand in front of him to really make the Japanese fans fall in love with him. As for Ogawa? I think he may be done. Was really a dreadful performance from him here.

Royce Gracie (1-0) is victorious over Ikuhisa “The Punk” Minowa (0-1) by submission (arm bar) at 2:39 of Rd. 1 in the Middleweight division (Fantastic)

*Thoughts: Vintage Royce Gracie here. Minowa had no answer for Gracie who scored a takedown, pass, and submission seemingly without breaking a sweat. I'm not sure there is an equal for Gracie in the 205lb division.

Main Event

PRIDE Heavyweight Championship

Bas Rutten (1-0) defeats Kazushi Sakuraba (0-1) by TKO at 0:25 of Rd. 3 to become the new PRIDE Heavyweight Champion (Decent)

*Thoughts: Bas Rutten was treated like royalty in Japan leading up to this fight. Japan has never seen an MMA star like Bas and boy do the Japanese know how to treat stars of the combat sports. But it was all business when the big lights hit the ring and he was across from Kazushi Sakuraba.

The first round saw Sakuraba win the stand-up battle at the start landing straight jabs to the face of Rutten. Sakuraba quickly changed levels around the four minute mark of round one and scored a takedown. Sakuraba spent the rest of the round on top of Rutten doing damage.

The first round was clearly won by Kazushi Sakuraba. No doubt about that.

In round two the fighters were once again facing off to start and once again Sakuraba was landing straight jabs inside of Bas Rutten's looping power shots. Around the two minute mark Sakuraba once again was able to score a takedown and spent the rest of the round working offense from on top of Bas.

The entire world was smelling upset. After losing the first 15 minutes of this 20 minute fight in Japan there was no way Bas was getting the decision win over the hometown hero Kazushi Sakuraba.

The third round was short but sweet for Rutten. He was able to clip Sakuraba behind the ear with a power shot causing Sakuraba to lose his balance. Sakuraba stumbled into a corner and Bas moved in for the kill causing the referee to stop the fight after it was clear Sakuraba wasn't going to be able to recover.

Next up for Bas is most likely a UFC import in either Don Frye or Mark Coleman. I'm not sure anyone else on the roster other than Sakuraba himself is quite ready for Bas at this time.

As for Sakuraba? I'm not sure he didn't earn himself either an immediate rematch or a match-up with Gracie for the Middleweight Championship.*

[dubb93]

Sunday October 26, 1997

PRIDE FC bosses used the PRIDE 1 post fight press conference to announce the signing of world #3 ranked Heavyweight Mark "The Hammer" Coleman. Coleman will bring his 7-1 record to the PRIDE FC ring. Coleman made his debut in 1996 at UFC 10 where he won three fights in the same night to claim the tournament crown.

PRIDE FC also annouced the signing of Mark Schultz. Schultz 3-3 was recently let go by the UFC based on back to back losses to world #1 and #2 Heavyweights Ken Shamrock and Bas Rutten. Schultz has recently bounced back with a victory inside the octagon. Schultz won the gold medal at the 1984 Olympic games in freestyle wrestling.

[dubb93]

Monday October 27, 1997

The Ultimate Fighting Championship today announced UFC 18 set for Saturday November 22. The event will be headlined by Rickson Gracie (7-2) taking on David "Tank Abbott (8-4) in the Heavyweight Division. Also on the card is Randy Couture who will be going against 3-4 Ebenezer Fontes Braga in the Heavyweight division.


Pictured is David "Tank" Abbott

PRIDE FC officially released Naoya Ogawa today following his fight with Wanderlei Silva. It is being reported that Ogawa himself asked to be let out of the contract feeling he wasn't quite ready for PRIDE level fighters at this time.

[dubb93]

Saturday November 1, 1997

PRIDE FC today announced they will return to action on Saturday January 24, 1998 for PRIDE 2. The Main Event of the evening was announced as Frank Shamrock taking on Royce Gracie for the PRIDE Middleweight Championship. They also announced that Bas Rutten would return to the PRIDE ring that night against an opponent to be named later.

PRIDE also announced that Zane Fraiser has had his contract picked up for another fight with the company. One would assume that he would be on the PRIDE 2 card as well.

In disappointing news Kazushi Sakuraba will not be on the PRIDE 2 card due to a medical suspension handed down by the Japanese Mixed Martial Arts Committee.*

*Yes in 1996 in this game Japanese MMA became regulated. This goes against real life where MMA in Japan is still not regulated, but it is just something I am going to have to learn to deal with.

[dubb93]

Sunday November 9, 2007

This weekend saw two MMA cards take place as both SuperBrawl and Extreme Fighting staged events.

In Hawaii SuperBrawl ran an event entitled Pain Killer that saw Caol Uno successfully defend his SuperBrawl Lightweight Championship in the main event. In the Co-Feature Ken Shamrock's Lion's Den product Thaddeus Luster increased his win streak to 3 and captured the SuperBrawl Welterweight Championship for the second time by defeating Orland Weit by brutal KO in the first frame for the vacant title.

In North Carolina, Extreme Fighting ran EF 14 which saw Renzo Gracie retain his title by quick submission.

In the fight that brought the fans in UFC 1 winner Teila Tuli defeated UFC 5 winner by TKO in just over a minute to claim the EF Heavyweight Championship.

Also on the card ranked 205lb'er Wallid Ismail submitted Ryan Jensen.

[dubb93]

Sunday November 23, 1997

UFC 18 Results:



Main Card:

David “Tank” Abbott (9-4) defeats Rickson Gracie (7-3) by unanimous decision (Good)

*After the fight Rickson Gracie announced his retirement from MMA.

Randy Couture (4-0) beat Ebenezer Fontes Braga (3-5) by TKO at 2:04 of Rd. 1 (Fantastic)

Tsuyoshi Kohsaka (5-6) over John Dowdy (3-5) by TKO at 2:50 of Rd. 1 (Fantastic)

*Kohsaka, TK for short, is much better than his record would imply. That record is a product of all 11 of his fights coming inside the UFC octagon. Here is a brief list of some of the guys he has fought so far in his career; Gary Goodridge, Tank Abbott x2, Ken Shamrock, Guy Mezger, Marco “The King of Streets” Ruas, and Dave Beneteau. Needless to say with a list of previous fights like that the guys 5-6 record looks a hell of a lot better than it is. This is a guy who made the finals of the Ultimate Ultimate 1996 which is basically a UFC all star tournament.

Amaury Bitetti (2-2) defeats Marcus Bossett (0-6) by TKO in 4:31 of Rd. 1 (Good)

Murilo Bustamante (7-4)0 beat Jerry Bohlander (4-1) by unanimous decision (Poor)

Prelims:

Mark Kerr (2-1) over Roland Payne (1-6) by submission at 2:20 of Rd. 1 (Fantastic)

Adrian Hinkle (5-3) defeats Eldo Dias Xavier (0-4) by unanimous decision (Decent)


Following the show the UFC resigned Jerry Bohlander, Adrian Hinkle, and Amaury Bitetti. The UFC failed to pick up the option for Tsuyoshi Kohsaka, John Dowdy, Eldo Dias Xavier and Roland Payne.

*I have no interest in any of these guys except TK. I think a change of scenery(back home to Japan) would be great for him and I have no idea why the UFC would want to left him go considering he has victories over some of their top guys.

In other news PRIDE FC has signed Jiu Jitsu expert and world #4 ranked Light Heavyweight(205lbs) Wallid Ismail. Wallid, thought to be the number one contender for Renzo Gracie's EF Middleweight Championship, brings a 5-1 record into PRIDE with his only career loss coming against PRIDE ace Kazushi Sakuraba earlier this year. He will join the PRIDE FC Middleweight(205lbs) division.

Contrary to prior reports that Bas Rutten would be on the PRIDE 2 card reports coming out of PRIDE FC now state that Bas will be held off the card and instead we will see the world #6 heavyweight Don Frye battle it out against former Olympic gold medalist Mark Schultz for the right to become the number one contender to Rutten's Heavyweight Championship. Also on the card will be world #3 ranked Heavyweight Mark Coleman making his PRIDE debut.

The card will feature Coleman (7-1, ranked #3 in the world) who is coming off a loss to Ken Shamrock in his last outing. Coleman earned his shot against Shamrock by going on a seven fight win streak to start his career including winning the UFC 10 tournament. Coleman was not always an exclusive UFC fighter as a disagreement over pay saw him bolt to SuperBrawl in 1996 for two fights before he returned to the UFC in early 1997 defeating Dave Beneteau and Gary Goodridge to earn the shot against Shamrock. Coleman fights for the American Kickboxing Academy, the camp he joined to help refine his striking. Coleman is a world class wrestler who looks to finish his opponents with ground and pound.

Fighting for a shot at Bas Rutten will be Don Frye. Frye (5-2, ranked #6 in the world) burst onto the MMA scene at UFC 9 with a brutal TKO of Igor Zinoviev. The biggest challenge of Frye's career came at the Ultimate Ultimate 1996 when Frye was matched up against Ken Shamrock in the first round. Unfortunately for Frye no one was going to beat Shamrock on that night as Shamrock was victorious by TKO in just over two minutes. Frye has not lost since that night. Frye is known for his devastatingly powerful hands. Frye is also a former collegiate wrestler.

Across the ring from Frye will be Mark Schultz (3-3). Schultz is a massively experienced mixed martial artist having fought both Ken Shamrock (#1 Heavyweight in the world) and Bas Rutten (#2 Heavyweight in the world). Schultz made his debut at UFC 9 shocking the world by defeating then highly ranked Heavyweight Guy Mezger in the first UFC event to not feature a tournament format. Schultz is know for his wrestling ability (:cough: gold medal :cough and his ground and pound.

Schultz, 37, is the older fighter here. It will be interesting to see if that plays a factor in this fight.

The rumor mill is running rampant with accusations that Mark Coleman refused to fight American Kickboxing Academy instructor Don Frye and PRIDE settled for Schultz as a replacement.

SuperBrawl announced the main event for their Full Force card set for early December. Alberta Cerra Leon puts his SuperBrawl Light Heavyweight championship on the line against Alexander Otsuka in the main event of the evening. Also on the card are former UFC fighters “Pele” Jose Landi-Jons, Kiyoshi Tamura, and Igor Zinoviev. Will anyone ever forget Igor's stunning upset of Tank Abbott at UFC 8?

*I brought Mark Coleman in to give me a big contender for Bas Rutten. Now Coleman is being a pain in my ass and says he will not fight Bas or Frye since all three of the fighters train with the American Kickboxing Academy. I have no idea what I am going to do with Coleman.

[dubb93]

Thursday December 4, 1997

Last night saw SuperBrawl run their Full Force card in front of a crowd of roughly 300. The main event of the evening saw Alexander Otsuka upset Alberta Cerra Leon to capture the SuperBrawl Light Heavyweight Championship with a nasty submission in the third round.

Speaking of submissions, in the co feature Pele, Jose Landi-Jons, was able to submit Kiyoshi Tamura in 185lb action.

Both of these winners are under non exclusive contracts and word around the rumor mill that PRIDE FC has sent feelers out about bringing both fighters in to their 205lb division.

In other action from the card Igor Zinoviev submitted Kiechiro Yamamiya to retain the SuperBrawl Middleweight Championship.


The Ultimate Fighting Championship announced UFC 19 set for Saturday December 20. The main event of the evening will see world #5 ranked Gary Goodridge (6-3) go toe to toe with world #7 ranked Oleg Taktarov (10-6) in the Heavyweight division. This fight is a rematch from UFC 8 back in early 1996 when Gary Goodridge won a hard fought unanimous decision victory over Oleg.

In the co-feature “The King of the Streets” Marco Ruas will fight newcomer Heath Herring. This fight will also be in the Heavyweight division.

PRIDE FC announced earlier this week that they had signed veteran Heavyweight Tsuyoshi Kohsaka (5-6) to an exclusive contract rumored to be for an initial three fights and with a company option for a forth fight as well.

PRIDE FC also announced the finalized main fight card for PRIDE 2 scheduled for Saturday January 24, 1998. The company made it clear they will announce the preliminary fights in the coming weeks.

PRIDE 2
*All fighter records are PRIDE FC records rather than the fighters MMA record*

Main Card

Main Event
PRIDE Middleweight Championship
Royce Gracie (1-0) vs. Frank Shamrock (1-0)

Heavyweight Division

Don Frye (0-0) vs. Mark Schultz (0-0)
Josh Barnett (1-0) vs. Akira Shoji (1-0)
Zane Frasier (0-1) vs. Mark Coleman (0-0)

Middleweight Division

Akihiro Gono (0-0) vs. Dave Menne (0-1)
Ikushisa Minowa (0-1) vs. Wanderlei Silva (1-0)

[DaddyTorgo]

what sort of edits did you make to the mod?

[dubb93]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

what sort of edits did you make to the mod?

I edited all of the fight camps. I googled each camp in the mod and set them to come in as close to there real start date as I could. For some of them I had to make an educated guess and for others there was no data available so I set them to random.

I added The Lion's Den fight camp.

I set any fight camp with no focus to have atleast one focus.

I also edited the popularity of every promotion in the game. Simply put, promotion popularity is broken and the mod maker said in the mod thread that he sent the wrong version of the mod for upload and that the only difference between this version and the one he meant to upload are the popularity of the companies.

I also fix any errors that I encounter during the course of running the game.

[dubb93]

Sunday December 21, 1997

UFC 19 Results:



Main Card:

Oleg Taktarov (11-6) defeats Gary Goodridge (6-4) by unanimous decision (Good)

*Oleg's wrestling ability really shined here. He was able to close the gap with the striker and control the fight from the inside. Oleg was also able to take the fight to the ground seemingly at will.*

Heath Herring (1-0) beats Marco “The King of the Streets” Ruas (6-6) by TKO at 2:27 of Rd. 1 (Fantastic)

*Clearly at 36, Marco Ruas is finished as a competitive MMA fighter. This is not the same guy that defeated three guys on the same night at UFC 7. This is the third straight loss for Ruas. Ruas will most likely go to either EF or SuperBrawl and be a huge draw for them.*

Anthony Macias (3-2) over Onassis Parungao (0-6) by unanimous decision (Decent)

Hayato Sakurai (2-0) defeated Mikey Burnett (1-2) by submission at 3:49 of Rd. 3 (Good)

*I need to get Sakurai on a sumo diet and bring the 168lb fighter in to my 205lb division. In all seriousness I wouldn't do that to him, but when I expand to lighter weight classes in the future this is one of the guys I plan on building around.*

Jorge Patino (3-3) beats Dave Berry (3-1) by submission at 1:33 of Rd. 1 (Great)

Preliminary Fights:

Sanae Kikuta (3-2) is victorious over Dennis Hallman (1-2) by submission at 1:53 of Rd. 1 (Great)

Yuki Kondo (2-3) defeated Tony Fryklund (0-2) by submission at 3:38 of Rd. 1 (Great)


Following the show the UFC resign Hayato Sakurai, Anthony Macias, Jorge Patino, Dave Berry, Tony Fryklund and Sanae Kikuta. The UFC decide to let Gary Goodridge, Marco Ruas, Yuki Kondo, Mikey Burnett, and Dennis Hallman all walk.

*I'm honestly shocked that the UFC would give Gary Goodridge his walking papers. Absolutely crazy to let the guy go. Of his four loses three of them are to the top 3 Heavyweights in the world(Bas Rutten, Ken Shamrock, and Mark Coleman). If I were running the UFC still I think I would have held onto the guy and used him in a gatekeeper role, but what the hell. I'm more than happy to start negotiations with the man.*

Earlier in the week the UFC resigned world #7 205lb fighter Guy Mezger (7-4) to a new contract.

PRIDE FC signed 205lb fighters Alexander Otsuka(#9 in the world) and Jose Landi-Jons(#2 in the world at 185lbs).

SuperBrawl announced “Times of Trouble” which will feature Thaddeus Luster taking on Jackie Lee for Luster's Welterweight Championship. Also on the card is Jeremy Horn making his MMA debut.

Extreme Fighting announced EF 15. In the main event the #2 ranked Light Heavyweight in the world Renzo Gracie, an exclusive EF fighter, puts his EF Middleweight Championship on the line against Brian Gassaway. This is the last fight on Renzo Gracie's contract with EF. It is very doubtful the company will be able to afford him after this event. A bidding war is sure to ensue between the UFC and PRIDE FC for his services.

Both of these cards are scheduled for early January 1998.


PRIDE FC announced the Preliminary fights for PRIDE 2:

Heavyweight Division:

Nobuhiko Takada (0-0) vs. Dave Beneteau (0-1)

Middleweight Division:

Melvin Manhoef (0-0) vs. Carlos Newton (0-0)

[dubb93]

Tuesday December 23, 1997



The UFC announce UFC 20 and the main event will feature a super fight for the UFC Heavyweight Championship.


Ken Shamrock is pictured.

Ken Shamrock (13-4, #1 Heavyweight/Pound for Pound) will put his UFC Heavyweight Championship on the line against Randy Couture (4-0, #4 Heavyweight) in the main event.

PRIDE FC announced today that they signed powerful Heavyweight Gary Goodridge.

[dubb93]

Thursday January 1, 1998

It is time once again for the end of the year MMA awards presented by the MMA journalists.

Fighter of the Year:



Ken Shamrock (Two Years in a Row)

Rise of the Year:

Renzo Gracie

Fall of the Year:

Rickson Gracie

Promotion of the Year:

Extreme Fighting

Team of the Year:



American Kickboxing Academy

Show of the Year:

UFC 12 (Ken Shamrock vs. Bas Rutten, Mark Coleman vs. Dave Beneteau, Vitor Belfort wins 205lb tournament)

*This was a UFC show that was booked by myself prior to bolting to PRIDE when they started up. It may have been the best show that I have ever booked.*

Fight of the Year:

SuperBrawl “Kill City Kills” - February 1997
Ray Wizard defeats Brian Gassaway by submission at 0:59 of Rd. 3

Worst Fight of the Year:

SuperBrawl “Kill City Kills” - February 1997
Mark Hall over Rudyard Moncayo by unanimous decision

Knock Out of the Year:



UFC 13 – May 1997
Wanderlei Silva KO's Kevin Jackson

Submission of the Year:

UFC 17 – October 1997
Ken Shamrock submits Mark Coleman

Main Event of the Year:

SuperBrawl “Full Force” - December 1997
Alexander Otsuka defeats Alberta Cerra Leon by submission at 4:58 of Rd. 3

Upset of the Year:

SuperBrawl “Violent Conduct” - April 1997
Masakatsu Funaki beats Rickson Gracie by unanimous decision

[dubb93]

Friday January 2, 1998

Up to date promotion rankings as well as Heavyweight and Light Heavyweight rankings.

Company Rankings:



1. PRIDE FC

2. Ultimate Fighting Championship

3. Extreme Fighting

4. SuperBrawl


Heavyweight Rankings:

1. Ken Shamrock (13-4)



2. Bas Rutten (12-2)

3. Mark Coleman (7-1)

4. Randy Couture (4-0)

5. Oleg Taktarov (11-6)

6. Don Frye (5-2)

7. Gary Goodridge (6-4)

8. Carlos Berreto (3-0)

9. Zane Frasier (9-5)

10. Kevin Randleman (1-0)


Light Heavyweight Rankings:



1. Royce Gracie (14-4)

2. Renzo Gracie (4-0)

3. Wallid Ismail (5-1)

4. Igor Vovchanchyn (6-2)

5. Kazushi Sakuraba (4-2)

6. Murilo Bustamante (7-4)

7. Guy Mezger (7-4)

8. Jerry Bohlander (4-1)

9. Alexander Otsuka (4-1)

10. Pat Miletich (4-2)

[dubb93]

Saturday January 3, 1998



PRIDE FC Roster:

Heavyweights:

PRIDE FC Heavyweight Champion
Bas Rutten (1-0)

Akira Shoji (1-0)
Josh Barnett (1-0)
Kevin Randleman (1-0)
Dave Beneteau (0-1)
Scott Fielder (0-1)
Zane Frasier (0-1)
Don Frye
Gary Goodridge
Mark Coleman
Mark Schultz
Nobuhiko Takada
Semmy Schilt
Tra Telligman
Tsuyoshi Kohsaka

Middleweights:

PRIDE FC Middleweight Champion
Vacant

Frank Shamrock (1-0)
Royce Gracie (1-0)
Wanderlei Silva (1-0)
Dave Menne (0-1)
Ikuhisa Minowa (0-1)
Kazushi Sakuraba (0-1)
Akihiro Gono
Alexander Otsuka
Carlos Newton
Evan Tanner
Jose Landi-Jons
Masakatsu Funaki
Melvin Manhoef
Pat Miletich
Vladimir Matyushenko
Wallid Ismail

[dubb93]

Sadly more known errors have cropped up with this data particularly with fighter pop and rep. Progress has been slowed down on this as I go in and hand edit all the fighters that have yet to have a fight in the database and I will be editing fighters as they come into the game world going forward.

The problem, fighters debut with 0 popularity and 0 reputation and the CPU is unwilling to sign these guys and give them a chance to develop. I discovered this issue when I was wondering why the UFC was using guys that were 0-6 on their cards instead of bringing new guys in. This is the reason and today I am going to be fixing it.

Current Progress:

Finished

[dubb93]

What I did:

I assigned every fighter currently in my game world a popularity level between 10% and 50% regional in both Japan and USA. I compared the number I assigned them based on how they did in real life to how popular they currently are in the game and if the number in the game was lower than the number I assigned I bumped the popularity number up to what I assigned.

For example I bumped Tito Ortiz up from 0% popularity everywhere to 50% regional popularity in the US.

Why I did it:

The AI for the computer promotions is unwilling to use characters with 0% popularity which roughly 70% of the fighters in my game world had.

Every fighter in the game now has a popularity of atleast 10% regional in atleast one zone in the game.

What I didn't do:

I wanted to increase fighter reputation to a number between 0% for fighters who never amounted to anything IRL all the way up to 30% for fighters who were great IRL such as Wanderlei Silva, Chuck Liddell, etc, however the game does not allow you to edit reputation inside a save game.

What I will do from now on:

As fighters debut in my game world I will assign them a popularity number between 10% and 50% regional in the game zones and I will increase their popularity the day they debut to that number.

[dubb93]

The dynasty will now continue from where I left off.

[dubb93]

Sunday January 11, 1998

This weekend saw two huge MMA cards take place.

In Hawaii, SuperBrawl staged “Times of Trouble.” In the main event Welterweight Champion Thaddeus Luster scored a brutal TKO at 3:19 of Rd. 4 to retain his title against Jackie Lee. Also on the card Pedro Otavio claimed the vacant SuperBrawl Heavyweight Championship and Jeremy Horn submitted Minoki Ichihara in his MMA debut.

Extreme Fighting ran EF 15 which saw Renzo Gracie improve his record to (5-0) with a first round TKO over Brian Gassaway. On the undercard Vitor Belfort made short work of Dave Strasser.


Upcoming MMA Cards:

UFC 20 - Saturday January 17
PRIDE 2 - Saturday, January 24

[dubb93]

Saturday January 17, 1998

UFC 20 Results:



Main Card:

Randy Couture (5-0) defeats Ken Shamrock (13-5) by unanimous decision to become the new UFC Heavyweight Champion. (Average)

*WOW! Just wow. Ken Shamrock's two year run as the unquestioned best fighter in MMA is over and the UFC has a new face in Randy Couture.*

Ebenezer Fontes Braga (4-5) is victorious over Mark Kerr (2-2) by submission at 1:02 of Rd. 3 (Fantastic)

Guy Mezger (8-4) over Jason Delucia (3-5) by knock out at 4:26 of Rd. 1 (Good)

*I look for Mezger to climb the Light Heavyweight ladder and possibly even claim the UFC Light Heavyweight championship. He is probably the most talented guy the UFC has in the division.*

Amaury Bitetti (3-2) defeats Keith Mielke (0-1) by unanimous decision (Poor)

David “Tank” Abbott (10-4) beat Pete Williams by unanimous decision (Good)

*The UFC drops Tank down the card here for the final fight of his contract. Don't worry UFC fans, I'm sure the UFC will bring back one of their most popular fighters.*

Preliminary Fights:

Murilo Bustamante (8-4) defeats Kevin Jackson by submission at 4:38 of Rd. 2 (Good)

Sam Fulton (2-2) over David Hood (0-5) by submission at 4:12 of Rd. 2 (Good)


Following the show the UFC resign Randy Couture, David “Tank” Abbott, Sam Fulton and Keith Mielke.

The following fighters are listening to offers from both PRIDE FC and the UFC: Murilo Bustamante, Guy Mezger and Amaury Bitetti,

The UFC fails to retain the following fighters: David Hood, Jason Delucia, and Ebenezer Fontes Braga.

*Any of the Bustamante, Mezger and Bitetti trio would be a great addition to my 205lb division. I have no interest in any of the fighters the UFC cut loose following this show.*

In other news Renzo Gracie signed a new contract with Extreme Fighting saying he didn't like the idea of leaving a company where he was the champion. It was reported that both the UFC and PRIDE FC were losers in the Renzo Gracie sweepstakes.

Tito Ortiz joined the recently opened Hammer House training camp to improve his skills. His new team-mates include Mark Kerr and Matt Lindland.

[dubb93]

Friday January 23, 1998

Today saw the weight ins for PRIDE 2 set to take place tomorrow. We will break down the main card and handicap the fights today starting with the main event of the evening.

Royce Gracie takes on Frank Shamrock for the vacant PRIDE Middleweight Championship. This is not Frank Shamrock's first meeting with a Gracie. Frank has twice faced Royce's brother and EF Middleweight Champion Renzo Gracie in the United States. Both of those meetings ended the same way, Renzo got Frank to the mat and submitted him.

So IMHO the breakdown of this fight is more about Renzo vs. Royce than it is about Frank vs. Royce. So how does Renzo compare to this brother? Sadly for Frank, Royce has both better takedowns and better submissions than his brother. There is only one way to predict this fight. Royce should win by submission. Don't completely count Frank Shamrock out though. He has a punchers chance against any guy that he fights and in this fight the difference in striking skill may be the largest we have even seen in the PRIDE ring. Royce, unlike his brother Renzo, chooses to rely entirely on Gracie Jiu Jitsu and has received absolutely no formal boxing training.

The co-feature of the evening will see Don Frye matched up against Mark Schultz in the Heavyweight Division. The winner of this fight will be the mandatory number one contender for Bas Rutten's PRIDE Heavyweight Championship. Both fighters will be making their debut in the PRIDE ring.

This fight will be a classic boxer versus wrestler with a twist. The boxer in this case was also a collegiate wrestler while the wrestler was actually an Olympic gold medalist in free style wrestling. Whichever fighter is able to impose their will will be declared the victor. The longer this fight goes on the more you have to favor Schultz and his incredible cardio.

The undercard features Middleweight fights between Akihiro Gono and Dave Menne as well as Wanderlei Silva taking on Ikushisa Minowa. Both of these fights appear to be attempts by PRIDE to groom future stars as both Gono and Silva overmatch their opposition.

Also on the undercard are Heavyweight fights between Mark Coleman and Zane Frasier as well as Josh Barnett taking on Akira Shoji.

The former is easy enough to predict as Coleman should make short work of Frasier with a quick takedown and some vicious ground and pound. The latter pits two up and comers with all around skills against each other. Expect to see Josh Barnett work for a takedown and finish the fight with a submission.

The preliminary fights for the night are Melvin Manhoef vs. Carlos Newton and Nobuhiko Takada vs. Dave Beneteau.


In other MMA news the UFC have announced that they have agreed to a new contract with Murilo Bustamante.

The UFC announced UFC 21 set for late February. The main event matches up Igor Vochanchyn against Hayato Sakurai for the UFC Middleweight Championship. Also on the card is Dan Henderson.

SuperBrawl announced “Reach Down” for early February and the main event will see the top two 155lb fighters in the world square off for the companies Lightweight Championship when Royler Gracie goes toe to toe with Caol Uno.

[dubb93]

Saturday January 24, 1998



PRIDE FC presents

PRIDE 2

*Note: For fighter records in PRIDE FC fights I will use the fighters record in PRIDE rather than their record in MMA. This is to follow more in line with real life PRIDE. *

Preliminary Fights

Melvin Manhoef (1-0) defeats Carlos Newton (0-1) by knock out at 4:30 of Rd. 1 (Good)

*Melvin Manhoef gives PRICE FC their first highlight reel KO. It figures that the fans won't see it live on the pay per view broadcast.

The fight itself was all Manhoef. Manhoef dropped Newton twice and finished the fight with a leaping, diving punch over the legs of Newton and smack on the chin.

Melvin Manhoef has made a huge name for himself here and I assure you his next fight won't be on the prelims.*

Dave Beneteau (1-1) over Nobuhiko Takada (0-1) by TKO at 4:08 of Rd. 1 (Decent)

*Huge win for Beneteau as he really needed this one to get back on track. Takada, a professional wrestler, spent the early parts of the fight working for a takedown to no avail as he was not able to get past the defense of Beneteau. Beneteau's striking seemed to be on a different level than Takada's and allowed him to score the TKO victory.*

Main Card

Mark Coleman (1-0) is victorious over Zane Frasier (0-2) by TKO at 4:28 of Rd. 1 (Good)

*There was a huge difference in the caliber of fighter here and it was obvious as Coleman looked like the top five heavyweight in the world that he is. After a feeling out process Coleman scored a takedown and finished the fight with vicious ground and pound.

It is hard to say what is next for Coleman as he refuses to fight both Don Frye and Bas Rutten since they all train at the American Kickboxing Academy together.*

Wanderlei Silva (2-0) beats Ikuhisa Minowa (0-2) by unanimous decision (Great)

*The Japanese fans love to see their countryman engage in wars with foreigners and they were not disappointed here. In what was most likely the fight on the night Wanderlei Silva dropped Minowa with a flurry of punches early causing the majority of the first round to be fought on the ground. And what a great ground fight it was, at one point Minowa was able to improve his position to the point where he had Silva's back and was working for a rear naked choke. Obviously he didn't get it as Silva was able to spin around and end up on top of Minowa.

In the second round once again Silva floored Minowa with a flurry of violence. On the ground once again Minowa and Silva battled it out with Silva eventually choosing to stand up and the round finished with both fighters on their feet.

In the third Minowa scored a takedown and rode the fight out from the top position of Silva.

With this win Wanderlei has established himself as one of the top contenders for the Middleweight Championship.*

Josh Barnett (2-0) defeated Akira Shoji (1-1) by TKO at 2:10 of Rd. 1 (Fantastic)

*Young Josh Barnett improves his stock with a quick destruction of Akria Shoji. Barnett scored a quick takedown and finished the fight off with some ground and pound.

The future for Barnett appears limitless, but I'm not going to get ahead of myself. I'll continue to bring Barnett along, probably for the rest of this year before I most likely give him a fight against someone like Mark Coleman.*

Akihiro Gono (1-0) over Dave Menne (0-2) by submission (rear naked choke) at 6:18 of rd. 1 (Good)

*Gono, a fighter who barely makes the bottom end of the 184-205lb weight class walked into the ring giving up close to 20lbs to the bigger Menne. At the end of the day it wouldn't matter as Gono showed great skills against Menne getting him to the ground with a judo toss, securing Menne's back, and finishing with a rear naked choke. What Gono did not display here is the great power he is said to have in his hands.

Gono is a guy I would really like to build around, however I have to wonder if he is going to be able to have success in the 205lb weight division. Gono may be the guy that makes me add a lower weight class sooner rather than later as the guy is like a freaking rock star in Japan.*

Don Frye (1-0) defeats Mark Schultz (0-1) by submission (guillotine choke) at 3:44 of Rd. 2 (Decent)

*One thing was obvious during this fight. Mark Schultz has failed to evolve with the sport of MMA. While guys like Frye started out with a wrestling background and combined that with both boxing and jujitsu, Schultz is a guy who is trying to get by on wrestling alone. That much was very obvious in this fight.

In the first round Frye had the distance closed on him by Schultz who tried to control Frye with wrestling against the ropes. Frye showed his versatility that makes him one of the top ranked heavyweights in the world by actually taking the fight to the ground against the wrestler. On the ground Frye actively looked for a submission until Schultz reversed positions and stood up wanting the fight to return to the standing position. The round ended with Schultz controlling Frye against the ropes, but being unable to inflict any damage.

In the second round Frye was getting the better of Schultz standing when a desperate Schultz shot in and was able to score a takedown. From his back Frye was able to put Schultz in a guillotine and force the tapout.

With this win Frye becomes the number one contender for Bas Rutten's PRIDE Heavyweight Championship.*

Main Event

PRIDE Middleweight Championship

Royce Gracie (2-0) bested Frank Shamrock (1-1) by unanimous decision to become the new PRIDE Middleweight Champion (Decent)

*Royce Gracie cruises past Shamrock here en route to a rather pedestrian unanimous decision over Frank Shamrock. The ten minute opening frame belonged to Gracie. After an extended feeling out process Gracie was able to score a takedown, although he wasn't able to do much with it. If nothing else the first round showed that Shamrock had taken his submission defense training seriously.

In the second round Shamrock was able to drop Gracie about two minutes in with a big right cross, however he was tentative to dive in for the finish knowing he would be potentially putting himself in Gracie's guard. Gracie was allowed to stand up and he scored a takedown, that once again, he was unable to do anything with.

There would be no magic for Shamrock in the third round as Gracie was able to score two takedowns and comfortably control Shamrock to seal the win.

Gracie will most likely make his first title defense later this year against either Wanderlei Silva or Akihiro Gono.*

[DeToxRox]

Love this dynasty, keep it up!

[dubb93]

Sunday January 25, 1998



PRIDE FC and its president Scott Avatar used the post PRIDE 2 press conference to touch on fighter contracts. It was announced that the company had agreed to new contracts with Dave Beneteau and Akira Shoji.

Avatar avoided questions about the future of newly crowned Middleweight Champion Royce Gracie who has entered the matching phase of his contract. Gracie is said to already have received an offer from American MMA promoter Extreme Fighting.

Avatar went on to announced PRIDE 3 will take place Saturday March, 28 and feature a PRIDE Heavyweight Championship fight between champion Bas Rutten and challenge Don Frye.

Towards the end of the press conference Avatar fielded questions regarding the difference between the UFC and PRIDE and his experiences as president of both companies.

[dubb93]

Sunday February 8, 1998



PRIDE FC today announced they have agreed to a new contract with their Middleweight Champion and world #1 ranked 205lb fighter Royce Gracie. Gracie had been free to negotiate with other companies following his submission victory over Frank Shamrock in late January.

In other PRIDE FC news the company has agreed to contracts with former UFC fighter Amaury Bitetti and SuperBrawl Heavyweight standout Carlos Barreto (4-0).

PRIDE FC parted ways with with Dave Menne following his second straight loss with the company.

On Friday the UFC announced they have agreed to an extension with heavy handed Light Heavyweight Guy Mezger. Mezger saw lots of interest from PRIDE FC.

On Saturday SuperBrawl held “Reach Down.” In the feature bout Caol Uno defeated Royler Gracie by unanimous decision for the SuperBrawl Lightweight Championship. Uno and Gracie had been ranked 1-2 in the world at 155lbs. Also on the card BJJ superstar and #5 ranked Heavyweight in the world Carlos Barreto fought his last bout in the SuperBrawl cage showing off his punching power with a first round TKO victory over Asbel Cancio. It will be interesting to see how Barreto fares under the bright lights in Japan.

PRIDE FC added two more bouts to the PRIDE 3 card. In the Middleweight division rising star Akihiro Gono will battle it out with PRIDE newcomer and top five ranked 205lb'er Wallid Ismail. In the Heavyweight division Josh Barnett returns to the ring against Mark Schultz.

[dubb93]

Saturday February 21, 1998



UFC 21 Results:

Main Card:

Hayato Sakurai (3-0) defeats Igor Vovchanchyn (6-3) by submission at 2:29 of Rd. 3 to become the new UFC Middleweight Champion (Fantastic)

*No doubt this will be an alternate reality, and to be honest seeing this angers me. This result looks odd, so I will explain it. I was under the impression after reading on the GDS forums that once the CPU got control of a promotion that they would create/retire titles to fit their weight classes. I guess this isn't entirely the case and is a perfect example of why you should be careful before you take advice from people on random message boards. Basically following this advice, when I left the UFC I created five weight classes that matched today's modern day weight classes but I didn't touch the titles expecting the CPU to retire the old titles (like this Middleweight one) and create a title for the new weight classes. Well that never happened and I don't think it is going to happen. What we are going to be left with is the UFC with modern day weight classes and just two titles one for 200lb+ and one for 199lb and below. Sakurai was given this title shot by having the highest repuation among the fighters under the 199lb mark even though he fights at 170lbs.

Now I'm at a crossroads here. I can edit weight classes but the game won't let me edit titles in a save game (Really? Why is it possible to edit everything except titles?) so I can either leave this as is or I can edit the UFC to two weight classes. Another option that I'm weighing over is starting over and using what I have learned about this game/data so far with this dynasty to start a second dynasty. The second dynasty option would most likely start out with me at UFC 1 and I would switch over to PRIDE when they open. What do you guys think I should do? This one has really pissed me off. I'm just not sure how much I will be able to get into this going forward when I am going to be seeing 155lb fighters going up against 205lb fighters in the UFC.*

Dan Henderson (2-0) over Jerry Bohlander (4-2) by TKO at 2:22 of Rd. 1 (Fantastic)

*Of course in another reality Dan Henderson would go on dominate in PRIDE capturing gold in both the 205 and 183 pound divisions at the same time.*

Pedro Rizzo (3-1) beats Oleg Taktarov (11-7) by unanimous decision (Average)

Chris Brennan (2-2) is victorious over Tetsuji Kato (0-1) by split decision (Very Poor)

Matt Lindland (1-0) defeats Joe Slick (0-1) by TKO at 3:32 of Rd. 1 (Good)

*Glad to see Lindland getting a shot. Goes to show that my edits a couple of days ago really did work*

Prelims:

Katsuhija Fuji (1-0) beats Yoji Anjo (0-3) by unanimous decision (Good)

LaVerne Clark (1-0) over Ray Wizard (5-6) by submission at 1:49 of Rd. 3 (Decent)

[dubb93]

Question posted in post 39 incase anyone overlooked it here it is again:

Now I'm at a crossroads here. I can edit weight classes but the game won't let me edit championships in a save game (Really? Why is it possible to edit everything except titles?) so I can either leave this as is or I can edit the UFC to two weight classes. Another option that I'm weighing over is starting over and using what I have learned about this game/data so far with this dynasty to start a second dynasty. The second dynasty option would most likely start out with me at UFC 1 and I would switch over to PRIDE when they open. What do you guys think I should do?

If you want the context of the question read the UFC 21 recap in post 39.

[DeToxRox]

Either way I am fine with. It'd be interesting to say how it all unfolds redone though knowing what you know now.

[Travis]

Personally I'm good with following either, but I'd probably vote for a restart. I know how frustrating that type of stuff can be, but hopefully with as much as you've done here it should give you a good base to work off for the restart.

[dubb93]

Right now my plan is start over from scratch. I would like to wait for Lucien Sanchez to upload the final build of this mod and give it a test run b/f I do actually start up again. The mod maker claims the mod is finished and that he uploaded the second to last build rather than the finished product. Still not sure why he hasn't gone ahead and put the finished product up yet.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by dubb93

Right now my plan is start over from scratch. I would like to wait for Lucien Sanchez to upload the final build of this mod and give it a test run b/f I do actually start up again. The mod maker claims the mod is finished and that he uploaded the second to last build rather than the finished product. Still not sure why he hasn't gone ahead and put the finished product up yet.

I read that thread today & contented myself with waiting it out. No chance in hell I'm willing to make the degree of changes it sounds like this needs myself, just not worth the time investment to me.

[dubb93]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

I read that thread today & contented myself with waiting it out. No chance in hell I'm willing to make the degree of changes it sounds like this needs myself, just not worth the time investment to me.

Sadly given the fact that he has been active every day since he claimed he uploaded the wrong version combined with the fact that he has abandoned the game data thread and will not respond to questions about the finished data I am thinking that he never did actually finish this mod. I guess now the question is if it is worth it to go ahead and finish this mod on my own.