PRIDE FC represented the wild Wild West of mixed martial arts, a place where 250-pound Croatian special forces fighter Mirko Crocop could fight Minowaman, a 170-pound Japanese dude in a red speedo. Or the 400-pound boxer Butterbean could take on the 350-pound Zuluzhinho.
There were a lot of freakshow fights, and there were a lot of legit fights. But anyway, almost everyone was absolutely shredded to the gills on the performance-enhancing drugs.
Is it just a guess? A Diaz-like accusation that “everyone takes steroids? » How would we know? Well, that’s because a lot of the athletes who have competed in PRIDE have said so. And now, 55-year-old legend Enson Inoue has pulled out his old PRIDE Fighting Championship contract from 1998, and it contains a clause specifically excluding steroids from a post-fight drug test.
The multi-fight deal was for a series of events, with PRIDE signing Inoue to compete in PRIDE 9, 10, and PRIDE 11 or PRIDE 12. PRIDE agreed to notify Enson of an opponent 40 days prior to each event. PRIDE agreed to take out a 50,000,000 yen (about half a million US dollars) insurance plan to cover post-fight medical expenses. Pretty normal MMA contract stuff…and then it gets weird.
“Check out my old fight contract Pride,” Inoue wrote on Twitter along with the video. “Can you believe he actually said….”
Under a section titled “Illegal Narcotic Use,” the contract stated that “the fighter agrees to be tested immediately following the fight of each fight event to confirm the absence of marijuana, cocaine, heroin and barbiturates. If the test result is positive, Fighter will forfeit all amounts payable under this Agreement.”
“Performance-enhancing stimulants of the steroid family are specifically excluded from the scope of the test.”
Inoue would eventually fight for PRIDE five times between April 1999 and February 2022. He went 1-4 with losses to several international heavyweights including “The Smashing Machine” Mark Kerr, Igor Vovchanchyn, Heath Herring and “Big Nog” Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.
It was a difficult result for “Yamato Damashii”, which translated into the Japanese fighting spirit. But Enson Inoue brought such passion and courage with him into the PRIDE ring that he remains a respected legend in combat sports to this day.
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