Before A Fall: A History of PRIDE Fighting Championships

by Lee Daly, John Sheehan, Eamonn Dalton (Illustrator)

Before A Fall is the first book in English on the history of the PRIDE FC MMA promotion from beginning to end! Starting out with the story of how the first PRIDE came together, the book covers the history of the promotion in detail and -Exclusive interviews with Bas Rutten, Stephen Quadros, Dan Severn, Frank Shamrock and many others. -Illustrations by professional illustrator John Sheehan. -A fully researched and cited text with quotes, facts and stories.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Sports, Mixed Martial Arts

246 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 30, 2018

Reviews

[Robert O'Sullivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic dive through the history of Pride. Most of my memories of the promotion come from skipped-over passages of pro-wrestling magazines, and hushed whispers about Frye-Takayama, so I was really essentially a blank slate when it came to the topic.

Daly writes simply but effectively, making the sometimes confusing build-ups to fights during the early days of MMA somehow make sense, and describe the literal blow-by-blows of key fights in such a way to be descriptive & evocative while avoiding the trap of being too mired in nitty gritty details.

Recommend it to any classic grapple fans or complete strangers to the weird, bizarre history of PRIDE

[Adam Golden · Rating 3 out of 5]

(3.5/5★)
Great book on the beginning and end of the infamous Japanese MMA fighting organization, PRIDE. Daly clearly has a passion for martial arts, as he paints in vivid detail some of the best matches that PRIDE had to offer. While the company will be missed, the shady Yakuza dealings, underhanded tactics, and weird freak-show fights (while fascinating) ultimately led to their downfall, even after being obtained by the UFC.

[Andre · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very enjoyable book about the rise and fall of Pride FC and Japanese MMA in general. I was not expecting the book to go so deeply into the roots of MMA as a whole, and that was a bit of a double edged sword as it was a lot of new information (I had no idea how deep the ties to pro wresting are or that Pride 1 was basically built around Rickson Gracie) but as someone who doesn't care much for pro wrestling, it felt like a little too much at times.

I really enjoyed the more in depth looks at fighters such as the Gracie Family, Don Frye, Sakuraba, Wanderlei Silva, Cro Cop, and Fedor, and I only wish there was more of that, in a way that would make the narrative about Pride more sequential. I am a bit shocked there was no mention of Takanori Gomi, and I wish Dan Henderson, the original double champ, got more of a spotlight instead of just passing references. I especially enjoyed the look at the collapse of Pride, as I knew the general story but not the deeper details. I'm glad the book also did bring up the real physical toll and sacrifice that the MMA pioneers went through. The illustrations were a great touch. Just an overall great look at a lost era that will never happen again. 4.5 stars out of 5 (and if I cared about pro wrestling it would be an easy 5 stars). Pride Never Die!

[Sir Nicho · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you weren't already acquainted with PRIDE the constant jumping around in time may confuse you. Not really as in depth as I'd like it to be, but a solid effort. Taking over 50 pages to get to the first event seems like a poor choice. I don't see this book appealing to many people who weren't already fans of MMA or PRIDE. If you can stomach the author's repeated use of the word "irregardless" it will probably inspire you to dig up some of your old PRIDE dvds and relive some great fights from a bygone era of MMA.

[Lucas · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting approach to a history of a promotion. The first third of the book is all historical context prior to Pride FC, literally starting with the Meiji Restoration in the 19th century. And then rather than a show by show history of Pride, each chapter focuses on a fight or set of fights. There’s no super in depth exploration of any one person or moment necessarily, but if you’re looking for a quick and fairly comprehensive history of the company I think it hits the mark.

[Christopher Aguiar · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent primer on this history of PRIDE and its subsequent downfall, with fun insights from Bas Rutten and others. The breakdowns of some of the formative - and most important - fights in the history of mixed martial arts were incredible.

[Joseph Siskey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book

Highly recommended for fans of MAN who remember the spectacle that was "Pride." Well researched and reported the author who has an obvious love for his subject.

[Billy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great history of a lost era of MMA

[Ricardinho · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book if you are a MMA junkie interested in MMA history

[Oliver Bateman · Rating 4 out of 5]

a solid overview of the PRIDE era, and something that can be read in a short amount of time. mostly review for diehards, and if you've read widely in the field, you'll recognize where some of this is coming from