Questions on the various competitions

[Edmund BlackAdder]

The UFC is the "name", especially with their recent successful run on SPIKE. But there are other promotions out there, Pride and K1 (I believe) to name a few.

What are the major differences between them?

What major rules differences do they list, and do they actually enforce them?

Can a fighter compete in more than 1 or are they 'locked' into 1 brand?

Which would you recommend to a newbie and which is the most "intense"?

 

[Marginal]

Most have the rule sets posted on their sites.

http://www.pridefc.com/pride2004/about/rules.htm
http://www.kingofthecage.com/rules.html
http://www.ufc.com/index.cfm?fa=LearnUFC.FactSheet

Generally the rules are enforced.

The UFC tends to be the most posessive of its fighters. Pride tends to have less trouble retaining fighters ('cause they pay more). K-1's venture is still fairly new, but they tend to get cross promotional drift, and Pride has brought in K-1 fighters etc in the past.

I think Pride can be the most entertaining. The best matches are dynamite. It also has a tendency to muster some hideous mismatches which degrade into loooooooong snoozefests where one guy gets pummeled or laid on while the other guy never gets around to putting them away at the same time. While the same can likely be said of the other promos, I don't recall seeing a match consisting of one guy laying facedown in another guy's crotch for 15 minutes straight (could've been hours, it was really hard to care even via fast forward) in the others...