I do.

I'm an incredible doofus

I had to get Google to help me on this one.

No, I don't have any of these.

What a way to break in a new forum

I do, but not because of sports.

yeah, It seems so. I can only enter it by directly clicking in the topic name, if I enter the forum there are no topics appearing.

Good series for the Jays against Texas this past weekend (3-0), but I their weakness is starting to become very apprant, such as in their loss to the Yankees the other day. Too often I see them leading and then fuck it up late in the game, like when the Yankees scored 4 runs in the 6th yesterday or a few days ago the Jays let in 2 runs in the 9th. I seriously hope my Jays getting their pitching togther because Muttonchops McGowen doesn't seem to have the stamina to close out his games.

Alright, so a couple months ago Zuffa (parent company of UFC and WEC) bought their main competitor PRIDE FC.  This was, and is, a huge deal in Mixed Martial Arts, but at the time Zuffa and UFC President Dana White were saying that PRIDE would be kept alive as its own entity in Japan.

Fast forward to today, however, and that really doesn't seem to be the case. UFC has already started bringing over PRIDE's top fighters (Crocop, Big Nog, Rampage, the Ruas) and those that haven't gone to the UFC have fallen into free agency (Fedor Emilianenko, Josh Barnett). UFC is even having a UFC and PRIDE 205lbs title unification match in September and any time a rumour that a PRIDE event is coming up, Dana White squashes it.

So does anyone think that PRIDE is coming back? Does anyone think it even SHOULD come back at this point? Or that UFC should just start running shows in Japan? Let's see some opinions (looking at you Mori).

I'm a big fan of jock straps.

That Bill Buckner's a faggot.

Personally, I don't think that PRIDE is going to come back. UFC has already migrated a lot of the top talent and big names to itself (as in, fighters that were identifiable as PRIDE fighters) and the title unification just SCREAMS that they are trying to phase out PRIDE. I really doubt that Zuffa would alternate title defenses between two different promotions, it just doesn't translate to good business.

Is whoever is left under PRIDE contract even worth watching? Let's break it down:

Heavyweights

UFC absolutely RAPED PRIDE of their heavyweight division. The top heavyweights of who are left are like Aleksander Emilianenko, who is good, but isn't that great; Kaziyuki Fujita, who is fun to watch because he can take a hit like no one else, but has lost to all the top guys; Kevin Randleman, at one time UFC champ, but isn't completely relevant these days; and Mark Coleman who is WAY past his prime. Not exactly a money division. The title is also on a free agent.

Middleweight (205)

PRIDE champ Dan Henderson is unifying the title with UFC champ Rampage Jackson (another PRIDE guy) in September. Vitor Belfort, Shogun Rua, and Wanderlei Silva are all fighting in UFC soon, so this division is really dead.

Welterweight

They still have Dennis Kang and Phil Baroni, so that's something. Dan Henderson the champ, though, and he is in UFC now.

Lightweight

Hey a division that still has its champ! With Takanori Gomi, Gilbert Melendez, Hayato Sakurai et al, this is still a really good division and the only division that has fighters that can rival UFC in terms of quality right now. I expect UFC to bring all these guys in, especially with UFC champ Sean Sherk recently failing a steroid test.


So really at this point, the name PRIDE has lost all its value as all its top names are currently at the top of the UFC, and if Zuffa decides to hold a PRIDE how in Japan, I expect they will only use second rate guys they don't feel like brining into the UFC and it will ultimately become a place for guys not "good enough" for the UFC to fight.

Really, I expect, and hope, that UFC just starts running a couple shows a year in Japan to keep that audience happy, because right now "PRIDE" coming back would just be a slap in the face.

I still have the one I used while I played goalie in hockey.  It saved me a few times.

Yeah, I've been reading up on it many places, but they all assume I know something about it beforehand, when it reality, I don't know SHIT about poker, or hell, card games in general. My roomate in college was a major poker player, and it always looked fun, but I don't know anything about it. Can someone show me the ropes?