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. The event, held at the Tokyo Dome on October 11, 1997 attracted 47,000 fans, as well as Japanese mass media attention. The success of the first event enabled its promoters to hold a regular series of mixed martial arts events and grew up to be the most popular mixed martial arts event in Japan.