5 Things You Might Not Know About Pride 1

The combat sports landscape was forever changed when Pride Fighting Championships arrived on mixed martial arts scene on Oct. 11, 1997. Over the course of the next decade, the organization set countless attendance records, emerged as the chief rival for the Ultimate Fighting Championship and served as a staging ground for various MMA superstars, from Fedor Emelianenko, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic and Quinton Jackson to Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Wanderlei Silva, Dan Henderson, Kazushi Sakuraba and Takanori Gomi. It all started with Pride 1 and the 47,860 spectators who were there to witness it.

Now more than a quarter of a century removed from the groundbreaking fight card, here are five things you might not know about Pride 1:

1. Larger-than-life characters shouldered the marquee.

Brazilian legend and cultural icon Rickson Gracie took the first of his two career Pride Fighting Championships assignments in the main event, where he toed the line against Nobuhiko Takada. Gracie disposed of the well-known Japanese professional wrestler and actor with an armbar a little less than five minutes into their encounter. They rematched at Pride 4 a year later; and while Takada managed to put up more resistance, he met the same fate, this time in 9:30.

2. Diversity provided a boost.

In addition to the five Japanese fighters—Takada, Hiroki Kurosawa, Kojia Kitao, Akira Shoji and Kazunari Murakami—on the bill, Pride 1 featured competitors from six other countries: Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago, the United States, Russia, Croatia and Australia.

3. It took place on hallowed ground.

Pride 1 was the first of seven events the promotion staged at the Tokyo Dome, thought it was not the best attended. That distinction belongs to Pride 17, which drew 53,200 fans on Nov. 3, 2001. The Tokyo Dome was also the site of one of the biggest upsets in sports history when James “Buster” Douglas knocked out Mike Tyson on Feb. 11, 1990. Douglas was a 42-to-1 underdog and stopped Tyson in the 10th round to win the WBC, WBA and IBF heavyweight championships.

4. A real-life giant partook in festivities.

Nathan Jones made his only professional mixed martial arts appearance at the landmark event, as he submitted to a keylock from the aforementioned Kitao just 2:14 into the first round of their pairing. The 6-foot-11 Australian has since gone on to enjoy a successful movie career, perhaps most notably as Boagrius in the Wolfgang Petersen-directed “Troy” in 2004.

5. Two stalemates lengthened the exercise.

A pair of 30-minute draws—Kimo Leopoldo vs. Dan Severn and Shoji vs. Renzo Gracie—accounted for roughly 82% of the total fight time (1:13:31) at Pride 1.