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).
Vítor Vieira Belfort is a Brazilian, retired mixed martial artist who competes in the Heavyweight and Middleweight divisions. Belfort previously competed for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he fought in the Heavyweight, Light Heavyweight and Middleweight divisions. He is the UFC 12 Heavyweight Tournament Champion, as well as the former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion and Cage Rage World Light Heavyweight Champion. Known for his explosive knockout power, Belfort is tied for third for the most finishes in UFC history with 14. Belfort has also competed for MMA promotions Pride FC, Strikeforce, Affliction, and Cage Rage.
Wanderlei César da Silva is a Brazilian-American former mixed martial artist who competed in Japan's Pride Fighting Championships and the American-based Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He holds the record for the most wins, knockouts, title defenses and longest winning streak in PRIDE history. He is the former PRIDE Middleweight Champion and the 2003 PRIDE Middleweight Grand Prix Tournament Champion. He most recently competed for Bellator MMA in the light heavyweight and heavyweight divisions.
Jeremy Graham Horn is an American mixed martial artist. Horn is best known for fighting in smaller American promotions, he has also competed in some of the premiere mixed martial arts organizations around the world, including the UFC, WEC, PRIDE, Bellator, Pancrase, the IFL, King of the Cage, and the International Fighting Championships (IFC). Horn is the former King of the Cage Light Heavyweight Champion and has also competed in the Heavyweight and Light Heavyweight divisions.
Brazilian Top Team (BTT) is an academy and team specialized in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and mixed martial arts. It was established in April 2000 by Murilo Bustamante, Ricardo Libório, Mário Sperry and Luis Roberto Duarte, former members of the Carlson Gracie Academy, to develop and create new training techniques for Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, submission grappling and mixed martial arts.
Daniel Jeffery Henderson is an American retired mixed martial artist and Olympic wrestler, who last competed as a middleweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He was the last Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion and was the last Welterweight and Middleweight champion of Pride Fighting Championships. Henderson was the Brazil Open '97 Tournament Champion, the UFC 17 Middleweight Tournament Champion, the Rings: King of Kings 1999 Tournament Champion and the Pride Welterweight Grand Prix Tournament Champion. Henderson also challenged for the UFC Middleweight Championship (2x), the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship and the Strikeforce Middleweight Championship. Henderson was the first mixed martial artist to hold two titles in two different weight classes concurrently in a major MMA promotion. At the time of his retirement after UFC 204, he was the oldest fighter on the UFC roster.
Murilo Bustamante is a retired Brazilian mixed martial artist and former UFC Middleweight Champion. He is one of the founders of the Brazilian Top Team and is the current leader. In addition to competing for the UFC, he has also fought in PRIDE, making it to the Pride Shockwave 2005 Final, and also fought in Yarennoka!
Renato da Cunha Sobral, also known as "Babalu", is a retired Brazilian Luta Livre submission grappler, mixed martial artist, and was the former Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion. Sobral previously fought in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, where he posted a 6–4 record and has also competed for Bellator, RINGS, Jungle Fight, Cage Rage, Affliction, and ONE Championship. He is the Head Instructor of Babalu's Iron Gym Cerritos and has a Luta Livre black belt under Marco Ruas and also a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt under Carlos Gracie Jr.
Robert Lawler is an American professional mixed martial artist who has been competing since 2001. He is a former UFC Welterweight Champion, former EliteXC Middleweight Champion, and has formerly competed in Strikeforce, PRIDE, and the IFL. Known for his aggressive fighting style, Lawler is the only fighter to have won three consecutive "Fight of the Year" awards from Sherdog and MMA Fighting, for his bouts against Johny Hendricks, Rory MacDonald, and Carlos Condit.
The American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) is a martial arts gym based in San Jose, California. It is one of the pioneering schools of mixed martial arts (MMA). In 2014, AKA opened the AKA Thailand gym in Phuket, Thailand. Prominent trainers include Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu master Leandro Vieira, Bob Cook, Derek Yuen, Javier"Beaner"Mendez, and Andy Fong. Within the facility, Muay Thai, Kickboxing, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Wrestling and Boxing classes are taught. Additional programs include conditioning and circuit training with TRX Suspension and Combat Circuit. The AKA is one of the top professional MMA training camps.
Matthew James Lindland, also known as The Law, is an American retired mixed martial artist, Olympic wrestler, speaker, actor, coach, entrepreneur and politician. He won the Oregon Republican Party's nomination for the Oregon House of Representatives, District 52 seat on May 20, 2008. He also started an apparel company named Dirty Boxer. In mixed martial arts, Lindland competed primarily in the Middleweight division for the UFC, Strikeforce. Affliction, the IFL, Cage Rage, the WFA, and BodogFIGHT.
Black House is a mixed martial arts fighting team and gym based out of Brazil. Opened on November 27, 2006, Black House was started by former Brazilian Top Team member and black belt Carlos "Carlão" Barreto, Jorge Guimaraes and Rogerio Camoes. Guimaraes acted as the team's manager and Camoes was in charge of the team's training.
Chael Patrick Sonnen is an American submission grappling promoter, mixed martial arts (MMA) analyst, and retired mixed martial artist. Beginning his MMA career in 1997, Sonnen competed for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he became a top contender in both the light heavyweight and middleweight divisions and challenged for both the UFC Light Heavyweight and UFC Middleweight Championships. Sonnen has also fought in World Extreme Cagefighting, Pancrase, and most recently for Bellator MMA. Sonnen is often considered one of the best mixed martial artists never to have won a major MMA world championship and one of the sport's greatest trash-talkers.
Gegard Mousasi, is a Dutch mixed martial artist and former kickboxer, currently competing in Bellator MMA, where he is the former two-time Bellator Middleweight Champion. As of December 13, 2022, he is #10 in the Bellator men's pound-for-pound rankings and #1 in the Bellator Middleweight Rankings. 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 an overall six-time MMA 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 #9 middleweight MMA fighter in the world by Fight Matrix.
Nova União is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) academy and mixed martial arts team located in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is one of the top professional MMA training camps. Their BJJ black belts have participated in BJJ, submission grappling and MMA competitions all over the world.
Patrick "Pat" Healy is an American professional retired mixed martial artist who last competed in the Lightweight division of ACB. A professional competitor since 2001, Healy has also formerly competed for the UFC, Strikeforce, the WEC, the IFL, the MFC, King of the Cage, Titan FC and Shark Fights. His twin brother, Ryan, is also a professional mixed martial artist. Healy holds notable wins over Dan Hardy, Paul Daley, and Carlos Condit.
The Alliance MMA Gym is an American mixed martial arts training facility located in Chula Vista, California and is home to a number of professional mixed martial artists who have found success in organizations such as the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC), Strikeforce and Bellator. The Alliance MMA Gym is one of the top professional MMA training camps.
UFC 148: Silva vs. Sonnen II was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on July 7, 2012, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was the seventeenth UFC event of the year. The card consisted of eleven bouts, with six televised live on pay-per-view, four preliminary bouts on FX, and one on Facebook.
2017 in Bellator MMA was the tenth year in the history of Bellator MMA, a mixed martial arts promotion based in the United States. Bellator held 26 events in 2017.
Javier Mendez is a Mexican American mixed martial arts (MMA) coach and founder of the MMA Gym American Kickboxing Academy (AKA). A former ISKA kickboxing World Champion, he is best known for training multiple MMA world champions.
