Acquisition is huge boon to MMA

While the sport of boxing continues to splinter, mixed martial arts is surging ahead by consolidating rival promoters in a move that will enable the sport's biggest fights to be made.  In Tokyo, it was announced that Nevada-based UFC has acquired Japan's Pride Fighting for "less than $70 million".  The deal became possible according to the Associated Press, when Pride lost a major sponsor in Japan because of rumors that it had ties to the Japanese equivalent of the mafia. An example of how this transcation helps the sport can be seen from UFC's recent purchase of WFA, which gave UFC the rights to Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, who will face UFC's most popular fighter, Chuck Liddell, the current light heavyweight champ in Las Vegas, on May 26 on PPV. Compare that to boxing, where the heavyweight titles keep switching hands without a chance at unification and one of the biggest fights currently out there, Pacquiao-Marquez II, might never get made due to rival promoters. source: associated press