Maybe you're right. But hardly any spectators would want to sit there and watch two guys lying still on the ground for long periods of time. PRIDE is doing well in Japan because the fans there are knowledgable, they like to see subs, but even they have a threshold of patience that gets exhausted in long drawn out ground battles. I think standups are good for the sport and help to open things up and take care of stalemates. Even though PRIDE is popular in Japan, it's nowhere near as popular as K-1. I have Japanese friends who don't train or have interest in fighting, and most haven't heard of PRIDE but they've all heard of K-1. And the few that have heard of PRIDE have only heard of it because of the crossover of certain famous pro wrestlers.
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