PRIDE Fighting Championships was a Japanese mixed martial arts promotion company. Its inaugural event was held at the Tokyo Dome on October 11, 1997. Pride held more than sixty mixed martial arts events, broadcast to about 40 countries worldwide. PRIDE was owned by the holding company Dream Stage Entertainment (DSE).
Kazushi Sakuraba is a Japanese professional wrestler, mixed martial artist and submission wrestler, currently signed to Rizin Fighting Federation and Pro Wrestling Noah, where he was formerly one-half of the former GHC Tag Team Champions with Takashi Sugiura. He has also competed in traditional puroresu for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and shoot-style competition for UWFi and Kingdom Pro Wrestling (KPW). He has fought in MMA competition in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Pride Fighting Championships, Hero's and Dream. He is known as the Gracie Hunter or the Gracie Killer due to his wins over four members of the famed Gracie family: Royler Gracie, Renzo Gracie, Ryan Gracie, and Royce Gracie. Sakuraba is famous for beating 15 champions of different top MMA organizations; opponents who were often many weight-classes above him.
Vale Tudo Japan (VTJ) is an annual mixed martial arts competition held in Japan. Originally arranged by promoter and former professional wrestler Satoru Sayama, he had previously created a hybrid martial art organization named Shooto in 1985. He arranged VTJ in 1994 with the objective of creating a more rules-free event similar to the early Ultimate Fighting Championship events in the United States and Vale Tudo competitions in Brazil, previously to this tournament, Shooto did not feature striking in ground position. The fighters were composed by the best Japanese MMA fighters drawn from Shooto, the Shoot Wrestling circuit as well as foreign invitees, one of them and most famously begin the older brother of UFC champion Royce Gracie, Brazilian jiu-jitsu legend Rickson Gracie. Some other notable fighters to fight at Vale Tudo Japan include Sanae Kikuta, Takanori Gomi, Enson Inoue, João Roque, Carlos Newton, Rumina Sato, Royler Gracie, Dan Severn, Vladimir Matyushenko, Frank Shamrock, Jean Jacques Machado, Randy Couture, Frank Trigg, André Pederneiras, Rafael Cordeiro, Alexandre Franca Nogueira, Hayato Sakurai, and Yuki Nakai. Vale Tudo Japan events ran from 1994 to 1999, a pair of editions held in 1994 and '95 were single-elimination tournaments, both of which were won by Rickson Gracie. Afterwards, from 1996 to 1999 the events were invitationals.
Hideo Tokoro is a Japanese mixed martial artist who last competed in the Bantamweight division. A professional competitor since 2000, Tokoro has also formerly competed for Vale Tudo Japan, ZST, Shooto, Rings and K-1 Hero's. He is notable for holding the record for most weight divisions competed in by a professional MMA fighter, at seven, ranging from flyweight through to heavyweight.
Rolles Gracie is a Brazilian professional mixed martial artist, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner, and professional wrestler. As the son of Rolls Gracie, he is a third generation martial arts member of the Gracie family, and a 5th degree black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
K-1 PREMIUM 2005 Dynamite!! was an annual kickboxing and mixed martial arts event held by K-1 and Hero's on New Year's Eve, Sunday, December 31, 2005 at the Osaka Dome in Osaka, Japan. It featured 7 HERO'S MMA rules fights, and 4 K-1 rules fights.
K-1 PREMIUM 2004 Dynamite!! was an annual kickboxing and mixed martial arts event held by K-1 on New Year's Eve, Friday, December 31, 2004 at the Osaka Dome in Osaka, Japan. It featured 7 K-1 MMA rules fights, 3 K-1 rules fights, and a special mixed K-1 & MMA Rules fight.
The year 1997 was the 1st year in the history of the Pride Fighting Championships, a mixed martial arts promotion based in Japan. 1997 had only 1 event, Pride 1.
The year 1999 was the 3rd year in the history of the Pride Fighting Championships, a mixed martial arts promotion based in Japan. 1999 had 4 events beginning with, Pride 5.
The year 2001 was the 5th year in the history of the Pride Fighting Championships, a mixed martial arts promotion based in Japan. 2001 had 6 events beginning with, Pride 13 - Collision Course.
The year 2002 was the 6th year in the history of the Pride Fighting Championships, a mixed martial arts promotion based in Japan. 2002 had 10 events beginning with, Pride FC: The Best, Vol. 1.
The year 2003 was the 7th year in the history of the Pride Fighting Championships, a mixed martial arts promotion based in Japan. 2003 had 6 events beginning with, Pride 25 - Body Blow.
The year 2004 was the 8th year in the history of the Pride Fighting Championships, a mixed martial arts promotion based in Japan. 2004 had 10 events beginning with, Pride 27 - Inferno.
The year 2005 was the 9th year in the history of the Pride Fighting Championships, a mixed martial arts promotion based in Japan. 2005 had 10 events beginning with, Pride 29 - Fists of Fire.
The year 2006 was the 10th year in the history of the Pride Fighting Championships, a mixed martial arts promotion based in Japan. 2006 had 10 events beginning with, Pride 31 - Unbreakable.
The year 2008 was the 8th year in the history of Deep, a mixed martial arts promotion based in Japan. In 2008 Deep held 27 events beginning with, Deep: 28 Impact.
The year 2009 was the 2nd year in the history of DREAM, a mixed martial arts promotion based in Japan. In 2009 DREAM held 7 events beginning with, Dream 7: Featherweight Grand Prix 2009 First Round.
The year 2016 was the second year in the history of the Rizin Fighting Federation, a mixed martial arts promotion based in Japan. The first event of the year was Rizin 1 on April 17, 2016, in Nagoya.
The year 2019 was the fifth year in the history of the Rizin Fighting Federation, a mixed martial arts promotion based in Japan. The year began with Rizin 15 in Yokohama on April 21, 2019.
The year 2021 was the seventh year in the history of the Rizin Fighting Federation, a mixed martial arts promotion based in Japan. Rizin events are broadcast through a television agreement with Fuji Television. In North America and Europe, Rizin events are available via PPV on LIVENow.
Royce Gracie 
Nobuhiko Takada 
Guy Mezger 
Igor Vovchanchyn 
Gary Goodridge 
Hans Nijman 
