JarryPark’s 15 Moments Of ’07 – #3: The Death Of WCW, er, Pride
December 31, 2007
2008 is upon us but we’re still stuck in 2007. For our complete list of the Top 15 Combat Sports Moments of 2007 click here.
#3: The Death Of WCW, er, Pride
What: The UFC purchases Pride and then quietly puts it to sleep
Where: Las Vegas & Japan
When: Spring 2007
The similarities between the fall of World Championship Wrestling and Pride Fighting Championships are eerie. Let us count the ways:
* WCW was purchased by its top competitor – World Wrestling Federation. Pride was purchased by its top competitor – the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
* When the WWF acquired WCW they vowed to rebuild the brand into a better and stronger promotion. When the UFC acquired Pride they vowed to rebuild the brand into a better and stronger promotion (ha).
* WWF signed some of WCW’s biggest stars only to have them fail in their ring. UFC signed some of Pride’s biggest stars only to have them fail in their Octagon.
* WWF planned to run WCW as a seperate entity but quickly scrapped those plans. UFC planned to run Pride as…well, you get the picture.
Oh, and both purchases went down in the month of March (I know the Pride deal took a while to get finalized but it was pretty much official in March).
The jury is still out on who will now become the top MMA promotion in Japan. Will it be K1 Hero’s? Yarennoka? World Victory Road? Will the sport suffer the same hardships as Japanese pro wrestling? Who knows. But one thing is for sure in spite of all it’s political issues outside the ring (and there were many) Pride will be missed. On the other hand, I can’t say the same for WCW anymore since it’s pretty much back in the form of TNA.
Further Enlightenment:
Zuffa-Controlled: DSE Cedes Pride To UFC Bosses [Sherdog]
UFC Buys Pride – How It Can Avoid WWE’s Mistakes [Associated Content]
Did Dana White Blow it in 2007? [Sam Caplan]
Seems to be standard procedure nowadays for title holders under the Zuffa banner to experience long layoffs between title fights. WEC Lightweight champion 
Earlier this month, Joachim Alcine retained his WBA Light Middleweight title. Tonight, Georges St. Pierre became the interim UFC Welterweight champ when he defeated Matt Hughes at UFC 79. And next Saturday, Herman Ngoudjo looks to dethrone the IBF Light Welterweight champion, Paulie Malignaggi. Forget about Edmonton, Detroit, Boston, Pittsburgh and any other city who has declared itself “The City Of Champions” in the past because, the way we see it, Montreal, Quebec, Canada is the new owner of that title. (At least when it comes to combat sports, ok?)
There was no way we could divide these two stories apart. For the record, we have slotted Couture’s title victory of Tim Sylvia as the fifth biggest moment and his resignation from the UFC as the fourth. The reason for this is that most believed Couture would eventually return to fight at least one more time following his first retirement in February 2006 (at least I did). There were rumors that he would even challenge Tito Ortiz if he would have beaten Chuck Liddell for the UFC Light Heavyweight title at UFC 66. Obviously that never happened but once an opportunity materialized to challenge Sylvia at UFC 68 for his Heavyweight crown, Couture jumped all over it. While it probably won’t be remembered as the greatest technical MMA fight of all-time no other bout has ever possessed the kind of emotion Couture-Sylvia had. There’s just something about Randy, I guess. After defeating Sylvia, Couture knocked off Gabriel Gonzaga at UFC 74. Another inspiring victory and this time he finished off his opponent with a broken arm. At 44-years-old, Randy Couture was sitting firmly atop the MMA world.
As if you already didn’t know, we’re counting down the top 15 combat sports moments of 2007. The entire list can be found 
Despite the growing popularity of the sport, I am always pleasantly surprised to see a national newspaper cover MMA. So you can imagine how I felt when 
For the next couple of weeks, JarryPark.com will countdown the 15 most memorable combat sports moments of 2007. Some will be positive while others will be negative. Some will have happened in a ring or cage while others on the outside. Every day, we’ll feature a single moment as we bid adieu to ‘07. As we present each moment, feel free to agree or disagree with any of our selections in the comments section below. 
Several weeks ago we presented our 
For the next couple of weeks, JarryPark.com will countdown the 15 most memorable combat sports moments of 2007. Some will be positive while others will be negative. Some will have happened in a ring or cage while others on the outside. Every day, we’ll feature a single moment as we bid adieu to ‘07. As we present each moment, feel free to agree or disagree with any of our selections in the comments section below.
Let us review how rough last weekend was for one Tristan Yunker:
