Caged In

‘The Best of Pride’ debuts Friday on Spike

Jan 15, 2010 | by MattE | No Comments

Nearly three years after Zuffa LLC bought the Pride Fighting Championships, U.S. MMA fans will get their first true televised taste of the former promotion on Friday.

“The Best of Pride Fighting Championships” makes its debut on the Spike TV cable network Friday at 9 p.m. Central and will feature classic fights from the now-defunct Japanese promotion.

Zuffa, owner of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, bought Pride in March 2007 and initially planned to keep it as a separate banner apart from the UFC. But nothing came of it and Pride was officially disbanded later that year. Many of its star fighters wound up in the UFC, and Zuffa retained control of the Pride library.

One of the results of the ownership of that library starts tonight on Spike. Hosted by model Kenda Perez, “The Best of Pride” debuts tonight with the 2003 match between Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Wanderlei Silva. And Hall of Famer Chuck Liddell meets current Strikeforce heavyweight champ Alistair Overeem in another 2003 bout. Also on the show will be classic fights with newly signed UFC lightweight Takanori Gomi, Anderson Silva, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and former UFC welterweight champ Carlos Newton.

The show is likely to be similar to current UFC highlights show “Unleashed” and World Extreme Cagefighting highlights show “WEC WrECkage.” As the show goes on, it is possible that other non-UFC fighters — particularly Fedor Emelianenko, who famously turned down an offer to join the UFC — could be featured on the show.