Rebirth of Pride Fighting Championships?

Pride Fighting Championships, one of the world's premier mixed martial arts events folded in Japan several months ago due to its alleged involvement with the Yakuza.
Shamed in Japan, it lost its ppv and TV deals, and in doing so, a huge chunk of its revenue.
The UFC bought it out, and attempted to restore the public's faith. An American owned company doining business in Japan is no small task. It hasn't worked out, and the result is that the Japanese have lost a large fighting organisation and the UFC and several other fighting organisations have gained some talented fighters.

One of those companies, entitled "M-1 Global" acquired the services of arguably the best fighter on the planet, Fedor Emelianenko.
Once again, the forums were awash with Fedor signing with a so-called "small and young, even shite, yet to prove itself" org.
It looks like M-1 has had the last laugh though, teaming up with a Japanese Pro-Wrestling org HUSTLE to loan Fedor out to them for an MMA New Years event called Yarennoka.
M-1 drafted in ex-Pride staff to spearhead the "traditional" New Years Eve fight event that has long been familiar with fight fans in Japan, and worldwide.

Fighters scheduled to fight include: Fedor Emelianenko, Shinya Aoki, Mitsuhiro Ishida, Tatsuya Kawajiri, Gilbert Melendez, Hayato Mach Sakurai, Hidehiko Hasegawa, Ricardo Arona, Kazuo Misaki, Joachim Hansen and Luis Azeredo.
Note: at time of writing, Ricardo Arona has pulled out of the event and is set to fight for M-1 Feb. 2008.

M-1 had been, as is often the case, getting bad reactionsfrom a mixed group of "fight fans" on the forums.
Some were concerned with the lack of fighters on its roster, in particular, opponents for Fedor.
Whilst there are still a lot of free agents out there, I'm optimistic this is the right direction for M-1.
Unlike the UFC, M-1 seems set to loan out its fighters to appear on other shows. UFC makes its fighters exclusive. A determining factor in why Fedor didn't sign for UFC.

As I mentioned, there has been a big hole in mma left by the demise of Pride, especially in Japan.
I used to go to the bar every month to watch it live,and you couldn't move for fans. Young and old, male and female(which was nice). 90% of these fans were knowledgable about fighting and applauded each punch, takedown, transition, submission and ko as if they had studied mma at university.
It goes without saying, that the involvement of ex-Pride staff, and heavy number of Japanese fighters, especially Sakurai, Kawajiri and Aoki, that this event is being promoted to raise the Japanese public's thirst for mma once again.
Just needs arguably Japan's most popular fighter to step forward, Tatsunori Gomi, and we are onto a winner.
It has secured a PPV and TV deal, and will take place at the Saitama Super Arena on New Years Eve 2007.

UFC 78: Michael Bisping v Rashad Evans

17 November 2007. Headlining fight at Ultimate Figthing Championship 78: Validation was between Michael Bisping and Rashad Evans.
Lot of history building up to this fight.
Hailing from England, 28 year old Bisping shot to fame in the States after appearing on US-based The Ultimate Fighter reality TV show. He ended up winning season 3 and landed a contract to fight in the UFC.
During the TUF season 3, he was being touted as an early favourite to win the show amongst posters on numerous mma forums.
He picked up a lot of fans, mostly down to his outgoing personality, novelty British slang and take-no-shit attitude.

On the show, one man stood in his way. A young, deaf wrestler named Matt Hammil.
Hammil was pulled from the show due to injury sustained in training.
Hammil claimed he was the "real winner of the show" and would later fight Bisping in UFC 75, in which Bisping won a controversial split decision.
Mike's attitude after that fight infuriated fans, and message boards exploded as "internet warriors" wrote their disgust and called Bisping all the names under the sun.
The once-popular Bisping was now a hate figure for many in the mma community.
This lead up all the way to the announcement that Bisping would fight TUF season 2 winner Rashad Evans.

During the filming of TUF season 2, Evans was regarded as the "underdog". Evans went on to win the show and earn a contract to fight in the UFC. Evans has also been scrutinsed. His style of "lay and pray", as some "fans" have labelled it, has gave him a reputation of being a fighter who does just enough to win a fight by controlling them on the ground, but at the same time not attempting to finish the fight, or pushing if he gains a dominant position.
His draw with Tito Ortiz in UFC 73 cemented his reputation.

Leading up to the fight between Evans and Bisping, the Bisping-hating crowd were at their best, posting on forums how Evans would "tko" Bisping, "smash him" "fuck him up"...etc...
The Bisping hate was at its peak.
Both fighters posted pre-fight reports on UFC at regular intervals and a war of words began between the two.
At the pre-fight weigh-ins, Bisping went to shake Evans' hand, only for Evans to press his head into Bpisping's, then shove him back. All this, once again, caused concern amongst the forums, and Bisping had won a few fans back because of Evans' behaviour.
It seems that much like rugby football, fighting should be watched by gentlemen, and fighters should act accordingly.

The fight was very close.
Evans scored some takedowns, as he has a wrestling backgound.
Mike defended very well, better than most thought. He was constantly on the backfoot and spent most of the fight being wary of takedowns to launch any offense himself.
The stand up was pretty even. I slightly edged it to Mike on my unnoficial scorecard.
Going into the third, I had Evans winning the first round, due to aggression and takedowns, and Mike taking the second.
The fight was up for grabs going into the third and final round.
A visibly tired Evans' looked like he might not last the 5-minutes.
Instead of pressing the fight, Bisping seemed cautious of Evans' takedowns, knowing that one or two more could lose him the fight.
That's what happened. Bisping's lack of aggression cost him the fight and Evans secured it with 10 seconds left, taking Mike down.
Rashad Evans took it 29-28 29-28 28-29 and Bisping suffered his first loss.

Out of both fighters, I think Michael Bisping has the best potential, despite losing.