PRIDE Fighting Championships was initially conceived in 1997 to match popular Japanese pro-wrestler Nobuhiko Takada with Rickson Gracie , the purported champion of the Gracie family of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioners .
PRIDE Fighting Championships was first started in 1997 by the match popular Japanese pro-wrestler Nobuhiko Takada with Rickson Gracie , champion of the Gracie family of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioners .