I really think Pride was the Golden Age of MMA. They were still figuring things out on the fly in those fights—real flashes of genius and creativity. You just see less of that now.

Stuff like this is really a testament to PRIDE’s aesthetic mastery. They certainly had their share of absurd bullshit—perhaps more than any other promotion—but they wrapped it all, good and bad, in presentation that created an unparalleled atmosphere of excitement.

Just look at the intro to the OWGP finals (from which a lot of the footage in this video is taken). There’s no way a tournament featuring the likes of James Thompson, Zuluzhino, Yosuke Nishijima, and Minowaman (who I love, but come on), and that is conspicuously absent the organization’s own heavyweight champion, deserves trappings like “1/6,000,000,000.” But you forget all that when you watch the video. It really makes you believe.

I realize it’s becoming a cliche to say “UFC, take note,” but: UFC, take note! There’s nothing stopping you from doing stuff this cool!

(While we’re on the topic of aesthetics—what’s up with the comic sans?)

one thing i loved about PRIDE is the mat: bright white and simple, and it rattled with every movement. You HEARD the footwork, you heard the slams and transitions, the feints and stomps.

That video is great. Pride had so many spectacular fights.

best pride HL video. ever.

Man I miss PRIDE. Don’t get me wrong I love watching the UFC and all but PRIDE just seemed to do things right even when they were doing stupid stuff (zulu comes to mind). I miss the entrances, I miss Lenne Hardt, I miss the ring, I miss the rules, I miss the crowd reactions.

The way I look at it is the UFC puts on a fight card while PRIDE always put on a full out event, and it’s easy to see that it wasn’t for everyone but man I’ll never forget watching PRIDE FINAL CONFLICT ABSOLUTE. That was one of if not my favorite event of all time. I hooked 3 new MMA fans that day with that event alone.

Thanks for the video, brought back a lot of memories, and it’s always hilarious to see Krazy Horse.