The majority owners of Ultimate Fighting Championship are buying their chief rival, Pride Fighting Championships, in a move that serves notice–if that notice hadn’t already been served– that UFC is looking to corner the MMA market.

“This is really going to change the face of MMA,” said UFC owner Lorenzo Fertitta to the AP, “literally creating a sport that could be as big around the world as soccer. I liken it somewhat to when the NFC and AFC came together to create the NFL.”

An unnamed source told The Associated Press that brothers Lorenzo and his brother Frank Fertitta will purchase the Japanese-based Pride for less than $70 million.

The deal was done on Tuesday, the AP says.

“We have been talking to Pride for probably about 11 months,” Lorenzo Fertitta said. “It’s been a long, drawn-out process but we finally were able to put the two brands together.”

The Fertittas will not retire the Pride name.

This deal is the largest move as UFC continues to snap up rivals; they purchased World Extreme Cagefighting and World Fighting Alliance last year.

On the downside, because one company controls so much of the MMA product, fighters’ bargaining power in negotiating fees could be lessened.

But with the explosive growth of the sport, it’s probably only a matter of time before some deep-pocketed businesspersons will look to get a piece of the MMA pie, and create a high-profile competitor to UFC.