Vice TV’s ‘Dark Side of the Cage’ returns this Wednesday (Feb. 19th, 2025) with the second part of their two-part series on Japanese MMA promotion PRIDE FC. Last week featured the rise of Pride, and this week focuses on the dramatic fall.

Pride’s collapse came after news of its Yakuza connections hit the presses in Japan, but the criminal organization had its tendrils sunk deep into the promotion from the beginning. In 2003 it’s alleged they murdered original company president Naoto Morishita, putting in power the more pliable Nobuyuki Sakakibara. And with competition heating up in the Japanese fight industry, the Yakuza used their muscle to try and keep control.

This is where Australian manager Miro Mijatovic comes in. He managed Mirko Crocop and helped the Croatian kickboxer reach a big money deal to jump from K-1 to Pride. At the time he was warned that the Yakuza were very active within Pride, but that didn’t stop him.

“I didn’t buy into it, I basically ignored it,” Mijatovic told ‘Dark Side.’ “To me, there was no reason why I wouldn’t sign him to what I saw as the up-and-coming promotion. There’s gangsters all over the world, and it hadn’t spilled into business practices at that stage.”