Japanese MMA falls on hard times
Japan, which was the business center of mixed martial arts starting around 1997 and stayed that way for nearly a decade, has been struggling, unsuccessfully, to remain competitive with the growing U.S. market over the past five years.
Of late, the situation has deteriorated to the point the sport itself has been hanging by a thread, as some fighters aren't being paid, others have defected to the UFC, and the annual New Year's Eve blowout show has yet to be finalized with less than two weeks remaining.
When MMA and kickboxing's popularity peaked during the heyday of stars like national icon Kazushi Sakuraba and the freak-show popularity of former University of Washington football star Bob Sapp, the scene was beyond the scope of what anyone in the North American end of the industry could imagine.
The big fighting stars were household names in the culture and the biggest events were must-see, network prime-time spectaculars. When the 6-4, 350-pound Sapp fought Akebono, the 6-8, 468-pound sumo grand champion on Dec. 31, 2003, 54 million people in a country of 128 million tuned in.
But it’s a different world today. Fighting, like many things in Japanese pop culture, was a fad. The novelty of Sapp, who was not a top fighter, ran its course. Sakuraba, who is generally considered a legend in the sport, was physically brutalized over the years by constantly fighting against bigger men. It became a sad sight watching him and his popularity faded. Most of the top foreign fighters left for the more lucrative U.S. market.
Japan's trademark New Year’s Eve big events remain, as Dream, the mixed martial company under the Fighting Entertainment Group umbrella, which also promotes K-1 kickboxing, is in the midst of putting together the 10th annual Dynamite! event.
In past years, Japan's general public by this point would already be abuzz in anticipation of the event. The sports fans would talk about Olympic athletes or people who were stars in other sports, as well as well-known pro wrestlers, fighting. And the hardcore fight fans would sink their teeth into matches involving many of the best fighters in the world.
But instead of talk about who was going to win what match, this year most of the talk is about the future, and whether big-time MMA in Japan even has one.
It’s not a secret that FEG has been battling financial problems stemming from the decline in interest in both kickboxing and MMA. Ratings are down. Attendance is down. Money is beyond tight. Fighters, who often have to wait months before getting paid after a fight, are looking to get out.
The most telling news about the scene was UFC’s signing of Dream’s biggest drawing card and best known current star, Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto, earlier this month, eliminating him from appearing on the December 31 show.
Yamamoto (18-3, 1 no contest), who will compete as a bantamweight and debut on Feb. 5 in Las Vegas against Demetrious Johnson, was Japanese MMA's biggest remaining draw. He was a key ratings draw because of his popularity with younger women fans. He came from a well-known and respected amateur wrestling family – his father wrestled in the 1972 Olympics and was later the country’s Olympic team coach. His two sisters, who both looked like models, were both world champions in wrestling.
"It’s pretty bad," K-1 U.S. representative Michael Kogan said about Yamamoto depature for the UFC. "It’s not deadly. But it’s certainly not a good thing. He was a big draw, both with TV ratings and ticket sales. It’s obviously going to hurt."
It’s telling that Yamamoto, like Yoshihiro Akiyama before him, walked away from a scene in which they were major celebrities, to start from scratch in a place where they were not going to be pampered and where it would be almost impossible to maintain their level of success and popularity.
Another Dream fighter, Michihiro Omigawa, arguably Japan’s top featherweight, although someone who is not a star past the very small hardcore audience, also just signed with UFC. It’s hardly a secret in the industry that most of the top MMA names in Japan are making inquiries about coming to the U.S., where things are more financially stable.
"Yamamoto was sponsored by Reebok and everywhere he went he turned heads," said Kogan, who felt Yamamoto was given bad advice in leaving Japan. "It’s not like Jose Aldo walks down the street in the U.S. and every head turns."
The main issue, of course, is money. Veteran Gary Goodridge, who has fought in Japan for more than a decade, recently noted that he had yet to be paid for his fight with Alistair Overeem on last year’s New Year’s Eve show.
Adding to the air of uncertainty is that after the New Year’s Eve show, neither Dream nor K-1 have announced any future dates, although that’s not as bad as it sounds. The major dates are determined by network availability and it’s usually in January when the details of the next year’s schedule and plans start coming out.
There may be light at the end of the tunnel. Those involved with the promotion were told at the Dec. 11 K-1 World Grand Prix show, the annual year-end kickboxing tournament, that new money was coming in from investors in France and China. This money would be used to expand into new markets, such as Europe and the Pacific Rim, and not have to rely so much on the declining Japanese market.
A few months back, when FEG head Sadaharu Tanigawa talked about trying to raise capital, he specifically noted that they don’t plan on expanding into the U.S., feeling that it would be impossible on their home soil to compete with UFC and World Wrestling Entertainment, which he called the company’s two leading competitors on the world stage.
"But I haven’t seen the money yet," noted Kogan.
For now, the company is attempting to finalize the New Year’s Eve bash at the Saitama Super Arena, just outside of Tokyo. The show will air live at 3 a.m. Eastern time on the morning of Dec. 31 on HDNet in North America.
Even with all the obstacles, last year’s event was a big success, built around the MMA debut of 2008 Olympic super heavyweight judo gold medalist Satoshi Ishii facing aging 1992 gold medalist Hidehiko Yoshida. The show drew 35,000 fans live, and the main event did almost 26 million viewers. But there is no such mainstream attraction this year on the schedule.
Less than two weeks before the event, they are attempting to find a match for Ishii (3-1), who at one point was the hoped-for savior of the sport. The idea is to find a big-name fighter, perhaps a kickboxer or pro wrestler from the past, whose name will mean something, but who wouldn’t embarrass Ishii. Ishii has not been able to translate his judo skill well into the sport, and has shown no indications of being a top-level heavyweight. And he doesn’t have the "it" factor promoters banked on, as his subsequent matches haven’t drawn nearly the public interest as his debut.
Promoters are also attempting to find a match for Alistair Overeem (33-11, 1 no contest), the Strikeforce heavyweight champion who won the K-1 World Grand Prix. A number of names, including Fabricio Werdum, Antonio Silva, Andrei Arlovski and Bobby Lashley were brought up in recent weeks as possible opponents. Werdum is recovering from elbow surgery. Strikeforce is looking at using Silva and Arlovski on early 2011 shows on Showtime and wouldn’t allow them to fight on New Year's Eve. Negotiations with Lashley fell apart at the end of last week because of what Kogan called outrageous financial demands. The biggest attraction they do have lined up is Sakuraba (26-14-1, 2 no contests), 41, who is years past the point where he should be fighting, being put in the position for a last career hurrah when challenging Marius Zaromskis for the Dream welterweight title. Zaromskis (13-5, 1 no contest), who was knocked out by both Nick Diaz and Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos this past year in the U.S., is considered a very beatable champion. Sakuraba, who spent most of his career as an undersized light heavyweight, has never cut to 170.
They also have a featherweight title match with Bibiano Fernandes (8-2) defending against Hiroyuki Takaya (14-8-1), a rematch of their 2009 title match that was a close split decision and of match of the year caliber.
The rest of the show has a wide variety of attractions. For the U.S. audience, the most interesting is a lightweight battle with former Strikeforce champion Josh Thomson (18-3, 1 no contest) vs. Japanese slugger Tatsuya "The Crusher" Kawajiri (26-6-2).
They are also a number of novelty fights. The two biggest involve Shinya Aoki, Dream’s lightweight champion, and Gegard Mousasi, the former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion.
Aoki has a unique fight with kickboxer Yuichiro Nagashima. They will alternate four rounds, with one round under MMA rules and the next round they change gloves and fight under kickboxing rules. A coin toss will determine what rules they start under and which man has a huge advantage.
Mousasi, who has competed in the past as a kickboxer, faces K-1 world heavyweight champion kickboxer Kyotaro under kickboxing rules.
