Review of Pride FC 7 And 8

Introduction

FightDVD send us back to 1999 for this release, Pride FC 7 & 8, a 2-disc set. Pride 7 was held on 12th September 1999 at the Yokohama Arena in Yokohama, Japan, and was headlined by a main event of Mark Kerr vs Igor Vovchanchyn.

Pride 8 was held on 21st November 1999 at the Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo, with a main event of crowd favourite Kazushi Sakuraba vs Royler Gracie. Here is the card in full:

PRIDE 7
Mark Kerr vs. Igor Vovchanchyn
Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Anthony Macias
Akira Shoji vs. Larry Parker
Branko Cikatic vs. Maurice Smith
Enson Inoue vs. Tully Kulihaapai
Carl Malenko vs. Wanderlei Silva
Daijiro Matsui vs. Bob Schrijber

PRIDE 8
Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Royler Gracie
Alexander Otsuka vs. Renzo Gracie
Igor Vovchanchyn vs. Francisco Bueno
Gary Goodridge vs. Tom Erikson
Mark Coleman vs. Ricardo Morais
Carl Malenko vs. Allen Goes
Frank Trigg vs. Fabiano Iha
Daijiro Matsui vs. Wanderlei Silva

Video

Video is presented in 4:3 fullscreen PAL and is of average quality, albeit quite good for a DVD of this genre.

The source appears to be the American pay-per-view broadcast, as some post-production and editing is clearly evident. The image has been transferred from NTSC, meaning that it is quite soft, yet it is nowhere near as good as more recent Pride events, for which the production values of which are a million miles away from this darkly-lit event.

Audio

Audio is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 and is not up to the usual high standards of Pride. However, this is not a transfer issue, but an issue with the source material.

Unlike more recent Pride events, commentator Stephen Quadros and Bas Rutten (who to their credit, do a good job here) are clearly not there live at the arena, as the audio mix pushes everything down into the ground so that they can be heard clearly. The Japanese fans, quiet and respectful under normal circumstances, are even further buried in the mix, meaning that the event has no atmosphere whatsoever.

Features

Extras are limited to a glossary of fight terms, a small photo gallery, and a list of the rules of Pride. This is just about excusable given the length of the main feature.

Conclusion

As a fan of mixed martial arts (MMA), I don`t mind admitting that these days, we are spoilt. Not only do we have three excellent mixed martial arts promotions in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), Hero`s, and Pride itself, but the sport has become so big that the production values on the newer events are truly spectacular.

Ironically, then, there are occasions when I look back at older events, that I wonder how on earth MMA ever became so popular. Pride FC 7 & 8 highlight almost all of the problems.

In around 5 hours of action here, I can honestly say that I didn`t witness any exciting bouts whatsoever. Certainly, good technique was displayed by the likes of Enson Inoue, Kazushi Sakuraba and Vanderlei Silva, but so many of these matches were "fought" on the ground, with the combatants jockeying for position, rather than going out to win the fight. Simply put, here is only so much mat wrestling that the viewer can tolerate.

To be fair, there were a couple of great knockouts on this set, but they themselves matter so much less when the match is a one-sided, mis-matched event, as they were here.

The event also isn`t helped by the aforementioned production values, especially on this, the American-ised version of the event. The audio mix is horrible and takes away the atmosphere of the shows, and the arena lighting has been set up so you can`t see any of the crowd; away from the ring area, it is just black.

Pride FC 7 & 8 are examples of why it was often said that MMA was a flawed concept, with too much boring, "war of attrition" ground technique being employed. Thank goodness then, that those in power realised its deficiencies, and quickly amended them before the sport died a death.