When the YAKUZA controlled MMA - PRIDE FC

[@anikihistory]

Turns out that "Rickson" is pronounced as "Hickson", and of course i mispronounced "Fedor" as well! Apologies to all Brazilian/Portuguese and Russian viewers, hope y'all enjoyed the video anyway 😄

[@w8ngr]

Unless you say “feour-dor” we are all wrong because it’s not “Fay-dor” ether

[@w8ngr]

Top tip ALL Brazilians say their “R’s” for “H’s”

[@w8ngr]

And “nogera” not norgeillia welcome to the fight world my friend lol

[@michael.waddell]

I'm from Scotland, our first language is English and we can barely even speak that😂 don't worry about it!

[@w8ngr]

Actually gene lebebells fight was the 1st mma fight in modern times

[@azoozalwar3711]

It's criminal how underrated this channel is. Production and research quality is top notch. It's definitely the type of channel that will grow much much more in a few years. Keep up the good work!🔥

[@anikihistory]

Patience and hard work is key with this KZbin thing, and comments like this make it a lot easier to keep going 😁 Thanks for the support and thanks for watching!

[@lukebyrd8406]

A a hardcore MMA fan, this was a very well researched video! Pride had some of the best fighters of all time and put on some of the best fights of all time!

[@SAseeker101]

As a hardcore MMA fan. It was not well researched. Checkout the Pride history.

[@Lazyp00lturtle]

I am absolutely loving these videos. I’m being so serious when I say I recommend them all the time to friends. Keep up the incredible work

[@anikihistory]

That's so cool, seriously. I'll make sure to make good stuff for you and your friends for many years to come 😎

[@ellendolloff9127]

Would love to see Pride comeback. The beating of the drums, the wonderful announcer at beginning. It was theatrical with great fights.

[@slavetothesystem1100]

Have you checked out Rizyn FC ? its the spiritual successor to Pride

[@rico14]

@@slavetothesystem1100I definitely enjoy watching Rizin even though the talent level isn’t the same. It’s also free to watch the fights on KZbin.

[@cl-vision5029]

Thumbs up man 👍 what a story. I used to watch "pride fighting" all the time. I even had the ps2 game 😁.This is one of my new favorite channels.

[@anikihistory]

Oh i watched some gameplay of that when i was looking for footage hahaha Thanks for watching btw, glad you're enjoying the content 😁

[@mvieira13]

It's interesting to think what the world of professional MMA would like if Pride FC would keep going and be what UFC is today. Another great video, this channel is truly a hidden gem! Please cover the ties of the Yakuza with Sumo!

[@anikihistory]

Thanks for the comment 😁 i'll look into Sumo for sure, i quite enjoy the sport myself so i'm curious what i can find!

[@xThePrinceOfPeace]

UFC is too ghetto, too many ghetto dudes. Japan didn't put that image out to people. Muay Thai is better and more elegant, NOW WATCH IT PEASANT 😂

[@iminsideyou2717]

Probably what happened anyways, UFC would buy PRIDE and branch out over to the Asian audiences

[@loois3431]

The thing with the Gracie clan goes way before that with the Hélio Gracie vs japanese judokas in the 60s I think, their fights were even on TV at that time.

[@michael.waddell]

Dude, your content and channel is fast becoming my favourite

[@anikihistory]

Glad to hear that, i'll make sure to keep it that way 😁

[@PeterB-o8u]

I'm always amazed at how great you are at researching all these stories and communicating so well. Thank you

[@anikihistory]

Thanks for watching 😁

[@gwyn8590]

appalling, how's this channel not at 500k subscribers?

[@anikihistory]

Let's take it there 😁

[@ferdinand59]

I was fortunate enough to watch Pride 7 & 8 live. It was a well run event. I’m shocked that Kazushi Sakuraba’s name was not mentioned once during this video. He was the face of Pride in the late 90’s early 2000’s.

[@Dev-qs7ss]

I'm blown away at the quality and attention to detail in this video. I just liked the video and subscribed. Keep up the great work. Your channel is going to be very successful.

[@anikihistory]

Glad the hard work is paying off, thanks for watching and subbing!

[@numbersevenforthewin]

Dude these videos are fantastic. Keep going!

[@anikihistory]

Yes sir 🫡 thank you!

[@JCRS92]

They actually screened some Pride fights on saturday or sunday mornings here in Brazil. I remember waking up early sometimes, turning on the tv and watching guys beat the shit out of each other. Great times.

[@WrestlingColin]

Trying to figure out how this video doesn’t have more views. Great work.

[@caramelldansen.]

i don't know a thing about mma and have never been interested in it, but this was such a fascinating video!! so glad your nintendo and sega video came up in my recommended, have really been enjoying going thru the rest of your content :]

[@anikihistory]

It was the same for me, totally unfamiliar with MMA but this was such a fun story to research 😁 thanks for watching my content, appreciate it!

[@ashleybanks-wm4cg]

You gotta make more videos bro Anything about Yakuza man we need more

[@Iamcg3]

thanks for putting this together. it probably didn’t get the most views but it’s needed as a critical piece of mma history 💯

[@matiasmunoz8059]

You deserve more suscribers, please keep up this quality of work

[@NYKgjl10]

I was a big fan of Pride and Pancrase. Fun times with so much MMA talents in Japan from all over the globe.

[@Alienjujitsu]

I would like to add that I've liked and subbed to your channel pure genius

[@obscuredictionary3263]

Keep going man. Great, well edited, well spoken videos. Honestly you’re gonna blow up don’t worry. Perhaps I should post your vids on some subreddits. Anyways I hope you do some more zoom ins on the history of particular yakuzas.

[@anikihistory]

Thank you! Feel free to share my stuff around to your heart's content haha I'll definitely do more Yakuza bosses and stuff, i guess Susumu Ishii might be the next one to cover 🤔

[@Alienjujitsu]

Just stumbled upon this channel and thought it was a great watch, very well researched very accurate and very on point, Pride Never Dies!!!! Peace out from 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

[@Shadowrulzalways]

Miyada was not a jujutsu practitioner. He was a Judoka. He was trained in the Kodokan and brought Judo to Brazil. But Miyada used the name “Jujutsu” because 1. Judo is a modern form of Jujutsu. 2. He broke from the Kodokan after leaving Japan. So what the Gracie’s learned was Kodokan Judo and they took the art as “jiujitsu” and stole the credit. As they are known to be infamous for making up stories and fixing fights.

[@BigBackInk]

I watched this video shortly after it was published. I must not have been paying attention then because I missed that tidbit about Quentin Jackson. Thank goodness the announcer told him not to take the hat, otherwise I don't think Jackson's career would have lasted as long as it did. He became one of my favorite fighters in the UFC. Talk about dodging a bullet!

[@anikihistory]

Absolutely! But tbh i do wonder what really would have happened if he actually took his hat 👀

[@fattiger6957]

I did not know Pride Fighting came out of pro wrestling. But I guess it makes sense. MMA and Pro Wrestling has had a weird relationship for a long time, especially in Japan. Back in the early 2000s the then owner of Japan's current biggest wrestling promotion, New Japan, was pretty obsessed with MMA and was adamant in mixing it with his company. Long story short, a lot of his biggest wrestlers were exposed as not so great real fighters and his company almost died. Then he was forced out and now New Japan is bigger than ever. But a lot of early MMA stars started out as wrestlers because that's where they could make money. Dan Severn and Ken Shamrock were pro wrestlers when MMA was still a sleazy back alley affair. A lot of wrestlers now practice MMA as a hobby and incorporate some of it into wrestling (though safe, dramatized versions) Now the UFC's parent company owns WWE. Weird how things work out. PS, while I'm talking about wrestling, how about a video about how the Yakuza has been involved in the Japanese pro wrestling industry. I'm sure there has been a lot, but the one thing I know for sure is the father of Japanese pro wrestling, Rikidozen, was actually murdered by a Yakuza member.

[@anikihistory]

I'm completely new to MMA and this video was a blast to research, made me wanna start watching Rizin and UFC tbh I'll do more videos like these for sure! Pro wrestling and Sumo especially 🙏🏻

[@asamiyashin444]

Yeah, Japanese pro-wrestling is definitely shaddy. A lot of nationalistic ultra-right wing ideology there. And what about Kyokushin karate? I'm not saying that all of it is tainted by gangs, there are many good people in Japan practicing it but I think that there are some dojos which maybe are shaddy. Oyama himself was very nationalistic in favour of Japan (ironically he was Korean). And the whole muay thai vs Kyokushin karate was full of ultra-nationalistic feelings. And Japanese extreme nationalism and the yakuza usually are related.

[@jermaineevans6910]

Pride was fun to watch because it had the presentation of pro wrestling with the unpredictability that comes with watching MMA fights. It's unfortunate it came with so much shadiness behind the scenes. Great video

[@anikihistory]

I wasted so much time watching the opening ceremonies, absolutely wild!

[@CapitanPeso]

Definitely would love a separate video about Pride FC as well as other Japanese fights. Really curious as to how much impact pride had culturally to Japan. Maybe on some video game characters or manga. Like its crazy living through that time but being a kid, i remember my dad watching some fights on PPV but never paying attention lol. Also love the flawless editing and Street Fighter OST

[@AyubuKK]

They can never resist wanting to cash in on an extremely lucrative franchise. It's kind of sad that it got Pride FC cancelled for good. How unfortunate and kind of frustrating.

[@stillgotyourmom]

Now italian mafia holds it 😂

[@adogg281]

You may already be aware that Rizin FC is considered a successor to Pride FC. It is gaining popularity globally, and I hope to see more people watching MMA in Japan and around the world. In my opinion, this growth could extend to Europe and South America as well.

[@SurgeCess]

Great narration, very engaging, thank you.

[@UkraineJames2000]

Great video, as usual. 😁

[@anikihistory]

Thanks buddy! As always 😁

[@Alienjujitsu]

I definitely think that Pride would be UFCs equal if not better that was definitely the case when Pride was at it's peak, again my friend great video amazingly researched great content and a new channel for me you have a sub sir peace out from 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

[@whitegylden]

I have never been into boxing, MMA, ... but nevertheless the video was absolutely interesting to watch, thank you! Looking forward to some other yakuza related scandals in sports 😁

[@harlemdeni]

AMAZING VIDEO. Almost made me cry like a reverse Don Fry there at the end. If documentaries were shoot like this, I would've watched each and every one. Beautiful work, bro! Cheers from Macedonia!

[@Han_Cholo420]

Pride was the best mma league/organization!! The caliber of fighters, the inclusion of head stomps and the grand-prix tournaments with all weight classes fighting in the same tournament made it incredible!!

[@shirtstillithurts2814]

The SoR4 music is a nice touch

[@anikihistory]

Fantastic game, fantastic soundtrack!

[@shirtstillithurts2814]

GotY contender for 2020 imo. Happy to find another fan. You've got good taste.

[@anikihistory]

@@shirtstillithurts2814 Likewise my friend! Thanks for watching btw 🙏🏻

[@shirtstillithurts2814]

Hey thanks for giving me something entertaining to watch

[@mariomene2051]

😂 I was so confused when Pride shut down. I'd always thought it was such a spectacle, and that the Japanese had loved it (the crowds were so energized). Now it makes sense, and I know who to blame. Lol

[@devriestown]

How about doing a video on masahiko kimura. Ae absolute Japanese judo legend.

[@anikihistory]

I just started doing Samurai history and i actually wanna do general Japanese history while i'm at it. I thought about covering martial arts from Japan in more detail so that's a great recommendation! Added to my topics list 🙏🏻

[@yakuzapedia]

Like your content, colleague :)

[@anikihistory]

Wow that's an interesting channel you got there, subbed! Thanks for commenting and helping the algorithm btw 😎

[@nilsbrown7996]

Thank you. Great video..

[@kiddsaga]

Loved the video not much content on PRIDE

[@ilmizarnanda]

Pride was wild..pure action not only in stage but also backstage Even the yakuza thing make priede more interesting.till this day,i always favor pride than UFC.

[@janbunz6421]

thanks to pride we got some of the most iconic mma fights ever. but i always suspected some fixed fight were mixed in with the real ones.

[@loois3431]

Capcom vs SNK 2 OST? wow Pride FC didn't escape the yakuza too? lmao

[@anikihistory]

The only one who recognized the CvS2 soundtrack so far, hats off to you 😌 No one escapes the Yakuza it seems! Haha

[@loois3431]

@@anikihistory yeah CvS2 is one of my fave fighting games, even though I lost so many matches lol. I wonder if the anime industry escaped that fate but I don't think so.

[@rastaxpchannel]

Hey, ANIKI. Excellent content! Your accent sounds familiar. I'm curious, where are you from?

[@anikihistory]

Thank you! I'm from Austria 🇦🇹😁

[@gunsnrosesforever100]

It was helio who taught his brother Carlos and then they passed it on to their children, one of which was rickson Gracie.

[@slavetothesystem1100]

Great Video ! Would Recomend Napoleon Blownapart videos " Pride Never Dies: The rise and fall of Pride FC " if some want to know more about the promotion.

[@moneybags733ify]

I thought it was gary goodridge that told rampage not to mess with the guy with the hat

[@jaysonb.6669]

I always winced at the knees, head stomps & soccer kicks, but at the same time it's a legit part of standup fighting and taking it away gives grapplers in UFC an unfair advantage.

[@illusionxmuta]

At the beginning, the photo on the right is not Takada, but Keiji Mutoh, also known as The Great Muta.

[@Bozar069]

Pride FC best FC.

[@thaistomp]

fax bro

[@thisisallthereis]

I loved Pride FC.

[@carlosaugustodinizgarcia3526]

Wait, the guy greeting the yakuza sponsor looked a lot like Saint Seiya mangaka Masami Kurumada (who is martial artist fan)😂

[@genaroayala8100]

I miss Pride FC 😞

[@winddragonmma]

Fighting in Japan, is life. The Japanese love to watch a great fight!!!

[@anthonybird546]

"deep-fried pork filet"...just say tonkatsu. 😂

[@anikihistory]

Ikr? They gave it a cool name, we should use it! Haha

[@carlgustafemilmannerheim5661]

​@@anikihistorywhere are you from Aniki?

[@anikihistory]

@@carlgustafemilmannerheim5661 i'm from Austria! 🇦🇹

[@InVinoVeratas]

I think it had a better potential for expanding conpared to the UFC, but we'll never know now, will we.

[@kategrant2728]

Do you have a patreon, or plan to open one?

[@anikihistory]

I set myself a milestone of 10k subs before i open a patreon, but it's definitely planned! Glad to see that some people are interested in donating 😁

[@4VRFIERCE]

This was basically baki irl

[@asamiyashin444]

There is a mistake here, I think. The Gracies named their style Gracie Jiu-jitsu. Brazilian Jiu-jitsu is another thing.

[@asamiyashin444]

Wait, "Capcom vs SNK 2" music 😂?

[@asamiyashin444]

I draw an interesting conclussion from this. Against what MMA fanboys think, MMA spectacles are not the absolute measure to know which is the best martial art or who is the stronger. When money is involved corruption follows. For example, Sakuraba won several matches against the Gracies and now they call him "the Gracie hunter" but was it really so? How can we know that those matches were fair? In fact, the Gracies complained about it. To me it is suspicious that the guy the Japanese promoters wanted to win won. Same with Yoshida vs Royce Gracie when the referee stopped the fight suspiciously. Only the fighters and the promoters know what happens before the fights. We can't know how many dirty tricks they use to make one guy have advantages over the other. To me the main moral of the story here is: don't believe all what you see on TV. The majority of the content is rigged. Sometimes by very bad people who are not interested in the truth.

[@am3aichjam33]

The revenues of these violent tournaments are estimated at billions of dollars I have been following this violent sport closely since its inception in the cages of America among these crazy people, but the marketing of this sport by yakuza in Japan was amazing to the point of insane What made marketing merchants in America pay millions to acquire the Japanese brand of this sport and indeed Dana White was shrewd However, getting rid of the consequences of this violence in society was in Japan's interest.

[@dookietechbug3250]

Repect to the 3rd strike track

[@Icspiders247]

Delicious content. 😋

[@youngimperialistmkii]

Learned about this from the Napoleon Blownapart channel.

[@Snookajab]

Wow cvs2 music in a yakuza video!

[@shawnamiller191]

Is that Kuze in the thumbnail?

[@wolfstyle8945]

Yo what’s Hiromichis website link?

[@anikihistory]

It's only accessible through the WayBackMachine now, but here it is web.archive.org/web/20030801082132fw_/hiromichi-momose.jp/onore/index.html

[@absalonmma]

That was great !

[@anikihistory]

Glad you liked it! Thanks for watching 😁

[@Shinji0Ikari007]

It is pronounced Hickson Gracie. Spelled Rickson.

[@anikihistory]

Noticed that after i did the voiceover 🥲

[@FunnyClipsToEnlightenUrDay]

I found some of the books written by Hironori Momose on ebay for 80 bucks.

[@Cardan011]

Rickson was beast!

[@iiNgONYaMa]

Can you please do a video on what is nippon kaigi and how they worked with yakuza then turned against them.

[@anikihistory]

Added to my list of potential topics! Thanks for the recommendation 🙏🏻

[@giantred]

Hmm, well based on what you said without their involvement the fighting company likely would have folded pretty quickly, right?

[@anikihistory]

Hard to say tbh, seems like the Yakuza ties really prevented them from getting a new TV deal. It's interesting to think about what Zuffa could've done with the brand if things turned out differently. But then again, without the Yakuza they probably wouldn't have been forced into selling to Zuffa in the first place 🤔

[@a_ya5555]

Questions, do you have any Fedor yakuza stories and is it true that they wanted him to impregnate certain Japanese women so they could create more elite japanese like they supposedly do on certain parts on Japan? Also do you think Rizin could start buying out the best fighters in the world and bring them to rizin? Because it seems like even one fc has fizzled out.

[@ddevenba6r288]

The Pride FC Yakuza era was way better than today's ESPN/Disney/WWE owned U Fight Cheap joke of an MMA era...

[@RayyyRay]

its not good because of the yakuza its good because of the promoters lol

[@scottmcfarlane7524]

LOL rickson ...HICKson ...you need to do FMW falling

[@SAseeker101]

You were not kidding about your lack of MMA knowledge. Mixed martial arts means different skills sets so fighters prepare for all styles. To claim that Herring prepping for a wrestler and the switch to Cro Cop was a `fix` is BS and shows no understanding of how often opponents change due to injuires or how betting is placed. I have watched your videos and you have just ripped off Kaplan`s book (for your history of the Yakuza) and others and you skim through the history, missing vital information.You don`t acknowledge Kaplan and if you are going to make a video about MMA-at least know its history. Rings, Pancrese etc. Stolen valour-comes to mind.

[@Alexander-Kurtz]

I am very suspicious of the claim that Momose spent 7 hours a day reading book during his incarceration. You cannot spend 7 hours reading books in Japanese prisons, the Japanese detention system doesn't allow inmates to do that. Each and every one has to work during the day, and free time is extremely limited, even after completed the tasks that you are supposed to do during the day. Miatowich story is absolute bullshit, ” 100 to 200-armed Yakuza guys.." ready to battle in a public area?, without the police doing anything?. Those who are willing this story don't know anything about Japanese society. Yakuza occasionally fight in the open, but never on this scale, and the police would never allow anyone to be "armed" in public, even less of having 200 guys armed in public. I have been living in Japan for more than 34 years, I know quite a bit about Japanese society. I am not buying these embellished sensationalistic stories...

[@stillgotyourmom]

This is all fake and BS! Around the world families holding these showfights and hands and spreading false claims to irritate the public.

[@Alexander-Kurtz]

@@kookoo9235 I don't want to turn this conversion into something related to a position of authority, but I have been living in Japan for 35 years, mostly in Tokyo, I have now Japanese nationality, and I suppose I have a decent understanding of Japanese society, and what is going on here. This story is absolute horse crap, as far as I am concerned.

[@rehiza]

God it was hard for me to keep watching after he mispronounced Ricksons name

[@enij1657]

Lol this is too funny to hear.

[@CasperHanma]

Great Channel