UFC vs. Pride – Part 4: Champions

These are the current (as of June 5, 2006) champions of UFC and Pride. Note that some weight classes do not currently have champions.

UFC Champions

1. Heavyweight – Tim Sylvia
2. Light Heavyweight – Chuck Liddell
3. Middleweight – Rich Franklin
4. Welterweight – Matt Hughes

Pride Champions

1. Bushido Welterweight Grand Prix – Dan Henderson
2. Bushido Lightweight Grand Prix – Takanori Gomi
3. Grand Prix 2005 – Mauricio Rua
4. Heavyweight – Fedor Emelianenko
5. Middleweight – Wanderlei Silva

UFC vs. Pride Blogging Series

UFC vs. Pride – Part 3: Rules

UFC Rules

There are five weight categories in the UFC.

1. Lightweight: 146 to 155 pounds
2. Welterweight: 156 to 170 pounds
3. Middleweight: 171 to 185 pounds
4. Light Heavyweight: 186 to 205 pounds
5. Heavyweight: 206 to 265 pounds

Championship fights last up to 5 rounds and non-title fights last up to 3 rounds, all 5 minutes each. The fight is in a trademarked octagonal shaped cage as opposed to the traditional square boxing ring. If you watch the earlier UFC events, fighters often wore upper body clothing and had shoes. Today, the only allowed pieces of attire are approved shorts, gloves and mouth guard. The approved gloves allow the fingers to grab.

There are a number of ways to win a fight.

1. Submission by physical or verbal tap out.
2. Technical knockout and thus a referee stoppage.
3. Judges decision (unanimous, split, majority, draw)
4. Technical decision
5. Technical draw
6. Disqualification
7. Forfeit
8. No contest

Three judges score the fight if it comes down to a decision. In each round, the winning fighter receives 10 points and the loser receives 9 or less. If it’s a tie, both fighters get 10 points.

Fouls are instituted by the Nevada State Athletic Commission. They include the following.

1. Butting with the head.
2. Eye gouging of any kind.
3. Biting.
4. Hair pulling.
5. Fish hooking.
6. Groin attacks of any kind.
7. Putting a finger into any orifice or into any cut or laceration on an opponent.
8. Small joint manipulation.
9. Striking to the spine or the back of the head.
10. Striking downward using the point of the elbow.
11. Throat strikes of any kind, including, without limitation, grabbing the trachea.
12. Clawing, pinching or twisting the flesh.
13. Grabbing the clavicle.
14. Kicking the head of a grounded opponent.
15. Kneeing the head of a grounded opponent.
16. Stomping a grounded opponent.
17. Kicking to the kidney with the heel.
18. Spiking an opponent to the canvas on his head or neck.
19. Throwing an opponent out of the ring or fenced area.
20. Holding the shorts or gloves of an opponent.
21. Spitting at an opponent.
22. Engaging in an unsportsmanlike conduct that causes an injury to an opponent.
23. Holding the ropes or the fence.
24. Using abusive language in the ring or fenced area.
25. Attacking an opponent on or during the break.
26. Attacking an opponent who is under the care of the referee.
27. Attacking an opponent after the bell has sounded the end of the period of unarmed combat.
28. Flagrantly disregarding the instructions of the referee.
29. Timidity, including, without limitation, avoiding contact with an opponent, intentionally or consistently dropping the mouthpiece or faking an injury.
30. Interference by the corner.
31. Throwing in the towel during competition.

If a foul is committed, the fighter gets a point deducted. With all the rules, you can see the UFC is not the NHB style of competition it once was. That being said, the rules are designed in a way to maximize the fight quality without sacrificing the safety of the fighters.

Pride Rules

There are four weight categories in Pride.

1. Lightweight: less than 160 pounds
2. Welterweight: less than 183 pounds
3. Middleweight: less than 205 pounds
4. Heavyweight: more or equal to 205 pounds

In Pride fights, the first round is 10 minutes and then rounds 2 and 3 are 5 minutes each. There are 2 minutes of break time between rounds.

There are several ways to win a fight.

1. Ippon – A fighter taps the opponent or the mat three times.
2. Technical knockout – Referee stoppage, doctor stoppage or forfeited match.
3. Decision based on three judges. Unlike the UFC, the decision is based on the entire match as a whole, not round by round.
4. Disqualification
5. No Contest

Fighters are disqualified if they receive three warnings for not abiding in any of the following rules.

1. No head butting, eye gouging, hair pulling, biting or fish hooking.
2. No attacking the groin.
3. No strikes to the back of the head. This does not include the side of the head.
4. No small joint manipulation.
5. No elbow strikes to the head and face.
6. No intentionally throwing your opponent out of the ring.
7. No running out of the ring.
8. No purposely holding the ropes. Fighters cannot purposely hang an arm or leg on the ropes. Hanging on the ropes will result in an immediate warning.
9. No kicks or knees to the head or the face of an opponent who falls face down.
10. No application of oil, ointment, spray, Vaseline, massaging cream, hair cream, or any other substances is permitted to any part of the fighter’s body before and during the fights.

Notice that kicking and kneeing the head of an opponent on the ground is allowed in Pride but not in the UFC. However, elbows to the head and face are allowed in the UFC but not in Pride. So apparently, UFC views using the feet as a weapon against the head as more serious than using elbows. It’s really hard to say what is worse. But if you take out the use of elbows, the fight definitely is not as exciting, as any Muay Thai fighter would attest to.

UFC vs. Pride Blogging Series

UFC vs. Pride – Part 2: History and Overview

UFC History

UFC was founded in 1993. Eight or sixteen men tournaments were hosted by Semaphore Entertainment Group. Fighters had to win 3 or 4 fights in a row to become the champion, all within the same evening. At the time, mixed martial arts (MMA) was not popular. Fighters typically trained in only one style and stuck with it. As well, there was no weight classes at the time. Many David-and-Goliath matches were particularly exciting when the little guy would be able to defeat the larger opponent using skill and technique instead of raw power.

The UFC was essentially a no holds barred (NHB) competition. That is, there were very little rules, which led many to claim that it was cockfighting and not a legitimate sport. It was soon banned in several states and TV stations started to pull the plug on the highly popular pay-per-view events. As a result, the UFC slowly started to implement rules and weight classes and has turned from NHB to MMA.

Today, the UFC has been re-packaged as a sport that many claim is safer than boxing. There are strict rules and referees to enforce them. The pay-per-view events are becoming larger and the venues are usually sold out well in advance of the fight dates. Probably the one aspect that has fueled UFC’s popularity the most is cable TV station SpikeTV. SpikeTV currently hosts the third season of the reality show the Ultimate Fighter. SpikeTV also airs other past UFC events in a variety of shows. Putting UFC on cable television has turned it from a niche interest to a cultural phenomenon.

Today’s UFC can largely be attributed to Dana White, current president of the UFC. He bought the ailing organization in 2001 through Zuffa LLC.

Pride History

Pride Fighting Championships was founded in 1997 in Japan. MMA is immensely popular in Japan and as a result, actually is bigger than UFC if measured by the number of people attending events. In 2005 Pride Shockwave drew an attendance of 90,000.

Like the UFC, Pride today has many rules and uses referees to enforce them. It also has seven ringside doctors for emergencies in events.

Pride is organized by Dream Stage Entertainment and has its headquarters in Tokyo. Pride has already begun to attack UFC’s market share. It has events on pay-per-view in the U.S. and even has a license from the Nevada State Athletic Commission, the same commission that recognizes the UFC.

Interestingly, UFC and Pride are not totally distinct. Ken Shamrock, one of the pioneer UFC fighters, has left UFC to fight in Pride and has recently returned.

UFC vs. Pride Blogging Series

UFC vs. Pride – Part 1: Introduction

In the next little while, I will be blogging a series on UFC and Pride. MMA has made leaps and bounds in recognition over the past couple of years. Much of that can be attributed to UFC and some would argue, to Pride also. So I will be comparing the two side by side in a series of posts. Please let me know if you want me to blog about anything specific regarding this topic.

I will use this post as an updated table of contents as I blog on each aspect of these two MMA organizations.

UFC vs. Pride

1. Introduction
2. History and Overview
3. Rules
4. Champions

Matt defeats Mike, then goes to hospital

As shown on SpikeTV, Matt Hamill defeated Mike Nickels in a unanimous decision after two rounds of sloppy slugfesting on the Ultimate Fighter.  The fight was extremely slow paced and both fighters seemed to have had very poor conditioning.  Matt dominated the fight but suffered exhaustion to the point that he was sent to the hospital after the fight.

Anybody who has sparred before knows that conditioning is vital to winning a fight.  Boxers know this and it is a huge part of their training.  Once you start running out of gas in a fight, you are too tired to put your guard up and from there it's usually quickly over.

Which strategy do you prefer in a fight?  Try to finish off your opponent quickly with strong blows and/or submissions?  Or try to tire out your opponent and conserve your own energy for an easy finish?