Pride FC had their own “Ultimate Fighter” show before TUF

I always knew Pride FC was ahead of the curve, but I never realized just how ahead they were!

According to the “Secret Files of Pride” book (which the last time we poked into revealed that Shinya Aoki had almost quit MMA forever and it was Dana White who got the “Baka Survivor” interested once more), Pride began a reality-television series much like “The Ultimate Fighter” ten years ago that ran until the demise of the organization. Here are some interesting facts from the book (although not a ton of info as most of this is still hidden inside the book, which we are waiting patiently to be translated by the excellent people over at MMA-Japan)!

The show, which was broadcast on Toyo TV and debuted in 2000, was originally called “PRE-PRIDE” and was later changed to “PRIDE KING” the following April. The concept was events for amateurs from throughout Japan to get into a PRIDE ring and audition to move into the PRIDE organization. The first coaches on the show were Masaaki Satake, Daijiro Matsui, Akira Shoji, and Alexander Otsuka. The fighters started and trained at various gyms around Japan for two months, being evaluated along the way. These evaluations dictated how the tournaments would stack up as the show progressed. Much like the winner of TUF receiving a contract with the UFC, the winner of the PRE-PRIDE tournament would move up into the real PRIDE ring as the prize.

Hit the jump for some more interesting facts about “PRIDE KING”!

* First tournaments were 8 man tournaments with the first one taking place in December 2000 at a club in Shibuya

* There were no public ticket sales – it was only viewable on television

* The first winner of the PRE PRIDE chose to compete in Rings, then fought in THE BEST. Consequently, he never fought again after that (MMA-Japan has not revealed this winners name yet, have to wait for the full translation still to see that).

* The second winner of PRE PRIDE was Soukun Koh, who has fought in Sengoku

* Yushin Okami was the fourth winner

* Katsuya Inoue was the fifth winner and went on to become a Pancrase champion

* The semi-final winner of the 2nd tournament went on to become the rule director for HERO’s and CAGE FORCE

* Anglo-saxon Oba was in PRE PRIDE during the second season, along with Mitsuoka

* During the second season, Mitsuoka and Isono were forced to fight in the final – both were from the same camp which raised eyebrows in Japan at that time (camp loyalty is huge in Japan)

* Only Mitsuoka and Okami actually went on to fight in PRIDE, one time each at Bushido events

* PRE PRIDE went on for six years and ended when FUJI TV terminated their contract with PRIDE in 2006

* Lastly, PRIDE had a third type TUF like show – Cristiano Kaminishi won – and as with other winners, he never went to PRIDE

* The show was restricted to the Chubu region, and as stated above, was only aired on Toyo Television

* There was also a time when it was broadcast on Samurai TV