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 held the largest live MMA event audience record of 91,107 people at the Pride and K-1 co-production, Shockwave/Dynamite, held in August 2002, as well as the audience record of over 67,450 people at the Pride Final Conflict 2003. For ten years PRIDE was one of the most popular MMA organizations in the world.
Heath Herring is an American professional mixed martial artist currently competing in the Heavyweight division of Rizin. While perhaps best known for competing in PRIDE, he has also formerly competed for the UFC and K-1.
Norifumi Yamamoto was a Japanese mixed martial artist and kickboxer who competed in the bantamweight division of the UFC. He quickly gained popularity in the Shooto organization due to his aggressive, well-rounded style and controversial persona. He moved on to K-1 Hero's, where he became the K-1 Hero's 2005 Middleweight Grand Prix Tournament Champion in December, 2005 after defeating Genki Sudo via a controversial TKO due to punches.
K-1 PREMIUM Dynamite!! is an annual kickboxing and mixed martial arts event held in Japan by the Fighting and Entertainment Group. It began as a co-production between PRIDE Fighting Championships and K-1 held on August 28, 2002. The event was called K-1 Dynamite! by K-1 and PRIDE Shockwave by PRIDE Fighting Championships', though in Japan it was simply called Dynamite!. The live audience totaled 91,108 people, and is the largest on record for either organization or any professional fighting event.
K-1 World Grand Prix 2001 Final was a kickboxing event promoted by the K-1. The event was held at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan on Saturday, December 8, 2001, in front of 65,000 spectators. It was the ninth K-1 Grand Prix final, involving eight of the world's top fighters, with all bouts fought under K-1 Rules (100 kg/156-220 lbs). The eight finalists had almost all qualified by winning preliminary tournaments, while two additional fighters were invited as reserve fighters in case of any injuries.
Yoshihiro Akiyama, also known as Sung-hoon Choo (추성훈), is a Japanese mixed martial artist and judoka. Akiyama won the gold medal at the 2001 Asian Championships for South Korea, and for Japan at the 2002 Asian Games. A fourth-generation Japanese of Korean descent, he acquired Japanese nationality in 2001. He is the former K-1 HERO's Light Heavyweight Grand Prix Tournament Champion.
Melvin Manhoef is a Surinamese-Dutch professional mixed martial artist and former kickboxer. In kickboxing, he is a former It's Showtime Champion, and in MMA he was the Cage Rage Light Heavyweight Champion. In mixed martial arts, he is currently competing in Bellator's Middleweight division and has also formerly competed for Strikeforce, DREAM, RINGS, It's Showtime, K-1, ONE FC, and KSW. 28 of his 30 wins have come via knockout, the highest percentage of any MMA fighter with at least 15 wins.
Yarennoka! was a mixed martial arts (MMA) event that took place on December 31, 2007 at the Saitama Super Arena in Tokyo, Japan. The event was promoted by the Yarrenoka! Executive Committee, composed of former Pride Fighting Championships executives, and held in association with Fighting and Entertainment Group, DEEP, and M-1 Global. The event aired on HDNet and was billed as "Fedor Returns" in the United States; while it was shown on SKY Perfect, a Japanese pay per view network.
K-1 PREMIUM 2007 Dynamite!! was an annual kickboxing and mixed martial arts event held by K-1 and Hero's on New Year's Eve, Monday December 31, 2007 at the Kyocera Dome Osaka in Osaka, Japan. It featured 7 HERO'S MMA rules fights, 4 K-1 rules fights, and 4 fights in the K-1 Under 18 Tournament.
Dream.1 Light Weight Grandprix 2008 1st Round was the inaugural event of the mixed martial arts promotion, Dream. It took place on Saturday, on March 15, 2008 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama City, Japan.
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.
Gegard Mousasi, is a Dutch mixed martial artist and former kickboxer currently competing in Bellator MMA where he is the former Bellator Middleweight World Champion. He is also the former DREAM Light Heavyweight Champion, former DREAM Middleweight Champion, former Cage Warriors World Middleweight Champion and the former Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion, thus making Mousasi a five-time World Champion. At the moment of his departure from the UFC in July 2017, he was #4 in the official UFC middleweight rankings, and he is currently ranked the #5 Middleweight MMA fighter in the world by Fight Matrix.
Yoshihiro Nakao is a Japanese semi-retired professional mixed martial artist and former K-1 kickboxer and PRIDE FC fighter who has defeated the likes of Don Frye, Choi Mu-Bae, Jim York, Wesley Correira and Edson Draggo. Nakao is a World Victory Road veteran and signed a contract with DREAM in 2011 before the promotion closed in mid-2012. Nakao lost to Antônio Silva at World Victory Road Presents: Sengoku Rebellion 2009 after suffering an ACL injury as a result of a leg kick from Silva in the first round. Nakao most recently fought Dave Herman at Sengoku: Soul of Fight, losing by unanimous decision. In 2012 Nakao has decided to briefly retire from mixed martial arts to let some of his recent injuries heal and focus on family more. Nakao earned the nickname "kiss" after he infamously kissed Heath Herring on the lips and was subsequently knocked out by Herring before their fight even began at K-1 PREMIUM 2005 Dynamite!!.
Dynamite!! 2008 was the annual kickboxing and mixed martial arts event held by K-1 & DREAM on New Year's Eve, Wednesday, December 31, 2008, at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. It featured eleven DREAM mixed martial arts rules fights in a variety of weight classes, four K-1 rules fights, and the inaugural K-1 KOSHIEN Under 18 high school tournament.
K-1 World MAX 2004 World Tournament Final was a kickboxing and martial arts event promoted by the K-1 organization. It was the third K-1 MAX final for middleweight kickboxers involving eight finalists and two reserve fighters, with all bouts fought under K-1 rules. Seven of the eight finalists had won elimination fights at the K-1 World MAX 2004 World Tournament Open, while the last finalist and both reserve fighters were invited despite suffering defeats. As well as tournament matches there was also an opening fight, fought under K-1 rules and a super fight fought under K-1 mixed rules. In total there were fourteen fighters at the event, representing nine countries.
K-1 PREMIUM 2006 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, 2006 at the Kyocera Dome Osaka in Osaka, Japan. It featured 10 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.
K-1 PREMIUM 2003 Dynamite!! was an annual kickboxing and mixed martial arts event held by K-1 on New Year's Eve, Wednesday, December 31, 2003 at the Nagoya Dome in Nagoya, Japan. It featured 6 K-1 MMA rules fights, and 4 K-1 rules fights.
Tatsuya Mizuno is a Japanese mixed martial artist currently competing in the Middleweight division. A professional competitor since 2006, he has fought for DREAM, Pancrase, DEEP, M-1 Global, ProElite, ONE FC, K-1, and also participated in the Dynamite!! 2010 event.
The year 2000 is the 4th year in the history of the Pride Fighting Championships, a mixed martial arts promotion based in Japan. 2000 had 6 events beginning with, Pride FC - Grand Prix 2000: Opening Round.
