Video: PRIDE, WEC or Strikeforce: Which promotion proved best for the UFC?

Nate Diaz is on the verge of potentially his final fight in the UFC.

Before he joined the global leader in MMA after winning “The Ultimate Figher 5,” Diaz made his pro debut in 2004 under the WEC banner, which was one of the largest promotions around that housed talents like Donald Cerrone, Jose Aldo, Dominick Cruz, and many more.

Diaz also fought once under the Strikeforce banner, another storied promotion that was once home to the likes of Cris Cyborg, Ronda Rousey, and his brother, Nick Diaz.

One thing Nick did that Nate did not, however, was fight under the storied Pride banner, which saw Mirko Cro Cop, Mark Coleman, Wanderlei Silva, and Shogun Rua, among others, compete in memorable grand prix tournaments.

All of the names mentioned above had success in their respective promotion before continuing their legacies with UFC. All three promotions were eventually absorbed by Zuffa, helping form the superpower in the MMA space that it is the UFC today.

Given Diaz’s early history with two of the three now-defunct organizations and considering most of the talent from those promotions are now retired, it begs the question: Which of the three promotions did the UFC get the most from?

We asked our “Spinning Back Clique” panel of Brian “Goze” Garcia, Dan Tom and Danny Segura, to debate this topic with host “Gorgeous” George Garcia. You can watch their conversation in the video above, or check out this week’s full episode below.