Personally I read it as a joke on how it’s gettting harder to catch these Japanese shows and follow who’s really good, especially when ZUFFA and Strikeforce are coming at you from all angles. Yeah, it’s all on the net if you look, but there’s only so much time in the day.

Japan was a big part of my fix when I first got interested in MMA — way before PRIDE tried to break into the US market. My local Japanese video store carried some commercial tapes, all of PRIDE’s network TV broadcasts, and even a bit of Shooto and Pancrase back when I started following in the late ’90s.

Now? I catch a bout on the net here and there, and caught a Sengoku replay when I was at a hotel with HD Net last year. But it’s just not nearly as big a deal.

The arm-breaking and Aoki’s post-fight antics aside, the bout itself was well outside the realm of “freak show” and doesn’t really deserve to be lumped in with stuff like Overeem/Fujita.

I also really liked how quiet the crowd would get during a fight. In America, you can’t hear anything, but in Japan, you can hear a pin drop. PRIDE most definitely had it’s freakshow element but they didn’t hesitate on booking otherwise insane matchups. As much as you hear talk about Anderson Silva bumping up to heavyweight or GSP fighting Silva, if the UFC was PRIDE, that already would have happened.

On the drug testing note, yeah, true, but Japan’s never been big on testing for controlled substances in combat sports, as none of the big promotions do it today. Though I think AO’s potential career in the west could end before it starts - if that guy’s not munching steroids I’ll eat my hat.

Ask me if I miss it, and actually, I’ll say no. If anything their best fighters are easier to watch for me now, and with the added benefits of drug testing (etc). But it was good to have options for a world class show, with a different look than anything from ZUFFA. That’s what I miss.