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The one-year anniversary of PRIDE’s death
By Zach Arnold | March 30, 2008
It was a year ago when the death of PRIDE, Japan’s largest MMA play, became a reality. A company that was ultimately sunk by charges of corruption eventually met its fate. That fate is still playing out in a Clark County, Nevada courtroom with PRIDE FC Worldwide Holdings LLC suing Nobuyuki Sakakibara and his production company, Ubon Inc.
The death of PRIDE itself is a symbolic reminder of what Japan used to be and what it has become. In the 1990s, the Japanese marketplace was as vibrant as you could get for professional wrestling. The start of vale tudo and MMA tournament events took hold. If you wanted to go watch a major event at the Tokyo Dome, you could do so. The 1990s were unquestionably the golden era of the Japanese fight business.
As New Japan struggled in the mid-to-late 1990s and the rise of PRIDE from the ashes of UWF-International took place, it became evident that pro-wrestling fans were making a large transition to MMA. These fans still loved wrestling, but they were more and more supportive of a business that included elements of pro-wrestling style marketing.
And how have these fans been rewarded this decade? With scandal after scandal. Kazuyoshi Ishii, the grandmaster of the circus known as K-1, is sitting in a jail cell because of corporate tax evasion and destruction of evidence related to the case. The Godfather of PRIDE, Hiromichi Momose, is now dead. The first President of PRIDE, Naoto Morishita, is dead. The mystery owner of PRIDE, Mr. I (Ishizaka), is supposedly gone from the business.
It’s a hell of a burden to place on loyal, dedicated Japanese fight fans to expect them to continue to support a product when the people behind that product are some of the worst individuals in terms of character on the face of this planet. It becomes much harder for your casual fan to try to compartmentalize what happens in the ring as opposed to what happens outside the ring. In Japan, the lines are always blurred, so it is impossible not to expect the fans to feel a sense of shame in supporting a corrupt entity.
The perfect example of the symbol of today’s Japanese fight marketplace is watching the new DREAM project at work. Kazuyoshi Ishii is trying to run a major fight operation while sitting in a jail cell, as his muscle (admitted yakuza fixer Seiya Kawamata) is trying to run the show with Sadaharu Tanigawa somewhere in the background.
When I’m asked by MMA fans about what lessons we should all learn from the death of PRIDE, I summarize those lessons in the following fashion:
What happens outside of the ring is as important as what takes place in the ring. Organized crime should not be supported and it is nothing but a cancerous activity that will eventually help a fight promotion self-destruct. You can’t expect outlaw thugs to run a clean company and maintain a stable operation over a long-period of time because the risk of volatility is just too high. You also can’t expect the average fight fan, especially in Japan, to compartmentalize the good from the bad and the ugly. One of the greatest aspects about the Japanese fight business is that there are so many hard-luck stories and so many stories of people who came out of nowhere to rise to the top, only to manage to lose it all. Eventually, there is a level of fatigue that fight fans suffer from. There is such a thing as too much drama, after all.
As the remnants of PRIDE’s history and name continue to get dragged through examination in a Las Vegas court room, I am reminded that ignorance may be bliss, but naiveté is also profoundly stupid. There should be little acceptance of rampant stupidity in the fight business; even if it may be entertaining, sometimes.
Topics: DREAM, Japan, MMA, Media, PRIDE, UFC, Zach Arnold | | Permalink | Trackback | Share This
Good stuff Zach.
Very well written, responsible article.
good article. with all the fights, it’s easy to forget all the bad stuff that goes underneath, and you’re the internet leader at reporting this news.
“You can’t expect outlaw thugs to run a clean company and maintain a stable operation over a long-period of time because the risk of volatility is just too high.”
Don King has promoted wildly successful boxing events for the past 30+ years.
He has been convicted of many crimes over the years including murder and manslaughter (talk about bad character). Clearly that disproves your argument to some degree.
Also, I am not claiming it to be untrue, but how do you know that Ishii is still controlling K1/Dream from jail? Evidence?
Samscaff are you new to this site? Zach’s written a lot of articles on this subject, you can find them through the search.
good article
No, actually I am not new to this site.
I have read every single article relating to this matter and I dont recall ever seeing proof or evidence that Ishii was still controlling K1.
This isnt sherdog. You are not a moderator.
In fact, ttt, why dont you explain it to me since you seem to be a resident know-it-all.
Pride was sunk by Mr Dana White and the Fertitta brothers. The scandals (although I wouldn’t be as dramatic as you) were the end of DSE, but not Pride, which White promised to continue. I suggest people see the press conference where White and L.Fertitta spoke and see how much of their words have they held.
excellent article Zach
you hit on the main points on the betrayal of Pride/K1 of their fans.
1. their ownership by organised criminals
2. their encouragement of doping
3. their setting up of protected fighters whom they would protect through matchmaking, refereeing and decisions
all of these factors combined simply lost the faith of the japanese fans in the underlying product. Dream aint going to get that back with the disgraced ex PRIDE team running production, yakuza fixer Kawamata running the show and the joker Tanigawa as the media front man
Uhhh….where exactly did he hit points “2. - 3.”??
Or are these just your opinions, b/c I didn’t read one sentence that touches on those. The only thing that remotely comes near what you’re talking about is talking about pro wrestling fans migrating to mma and bringing with it a pro wrestling marketing style.
His article was about the company being filled with organized criminal yakuza behind the scenes and the inability for people to continue turning a blind eye to the corruption they were supporting, regardless of how appealing the in-ring product was. But that was a nice attempt to plug your biased opinions into Zach’s story to make them sound legitimate
Japanese fans have lost interest in the fight industry. I would argue that despite of Japanese fans love of prowrestling, it was ultimately the embrace of pro wrestling by fight promoters - especially the need by the TV producers to produce an easy to understand and consistent story line, that doomed fight sports as a long term success/business model
K1 and PRIDE both promised a consistent story line about mythical fighters - Andy Hug, Sakuraba, Nog, Fedor, Crocop, Yoshida and the Kameda boys.
When these mythical and manga-like characters couldnt deliver - despite all of the biased matchmaking and refereeing - people saw these characters for what they were - flawed and tainted - and they felt ripped-off and stupid when they found out about it all
the yakuza scandal and the rampant drug use in Pride/K1 just put the icing on the cake
I dont know if those guys you listed were mythical, but most of them sure were great.
Especially Sak, Nog and Fedor.
Those guys are surely top-10 (or 5) on the list of all-time greats.
I think a big problem was that DSE/K-1 tried multiple times to find the next “Saku” and rammed a lot of fighters who were nowhere near as talented or charismatic down the fans throats, leaving a bitter taste in their mouth.
I just don’t think there’ll be another figher like Saku, b/c he came during the time of transition b/w the old 1-d style vs. style and was one of the first big-time/mainstream “hybrid” fighters. His style allowed him to fight legends like the Gracies and to beat much larger opponents (giving him the old Gracie-aura to the audience), but once the learning curve caught up and others were cross training he lost that big advantage.
“K1 and PRIDE both promised a consistent story line about mythical fighters - Andy Hug, Sakuraba, Nog, Fedor, Crocop, Yoshida and the Kameda boys.”
Uh, the Kameda brothers? Daiki and Koki? Uh brother, they are professional boxers, not MMAists nor kickboxers and neither of them (nor their younger brother Tomoki) ever fought anything that wasn’t boxing (but Tomoki has competed on Sasuke, aka Ninja Warrior as it’s known on the G4 Network). Why did you mention the Kameda brothers?
And I don’t think Andy Hugg quite fits with your point because Hugg died way before the Japanese fight industry got big. He only ever fought in kickboxing matches (and I’m sure KyokushinKai Karate rules matches. You know, the fights where there are taped fists but no gloves, and no punching to the face. They are fun fights to watch but are usually slugfests to the chests).
Actually Andy was really big for K1. A great story, modern day samurai. Larger than life if you will. He was far and away one of the most popular fighters ever in the sport.
chuck - in japan combat sports are combat sports. the deep divisions between boxing and other martial arts are not as pronounced as in the US. The kameda are very relevant in that the fight production team from TBS (now doing DREAM) also was responsible for the farce that was the Kameda boom/bust including the dodgy matchmaking and officiating which disgusted even the local Japanese fans
ilostmydog - Hug was never as popular when alive compared to the mythical image built of him by K1 following his tragic and untimely death. Yes, a “great story, modern day samurai” “larger than life” are all part of the mystique created around him by K1
“chuck - in japan combat sports are combat sports. the deep divisions between boxing and other martial arts are not as pronounced as in the US. The kameda are very relevant in that the fight production team from TBS (now doing DREAM) also was responsible for the farce that was the Kameda boom/bust including the dodgy matchmaking and officiating which disgusted even the local Japanese fans”
Yeah but you mentioned the Kameda brothers alongside with K-1 and PRIDE fighters and specifically mentioned PRIDE and K-1 building up mythical legacies for their fighters. I mentioned that even the the Kameda brothers are big in Japan they are boxers and have never fought in PRIDE and K-1. I’m sure readers who aren’t as fight history savvy as I, you, Zach Arnold, etc. would read that and think there were Kameda brothers who fought in either PRIDE or K-1.
I find it ironic how the Japanese public doesn’t buy into Japanese lightweight MMA fighters as “aces” but yet they rally behind the Kameda brothers, who fight at 112 and 108, in the ratings.
Well done article! You are correct, what goes on outside the ring is as important as what goes on inside, especially when we’re dealing with real fighting, people who put their bodies and their minds on the line.
Samscaff has a good point: here in America, Don King has been pretty much given a hall pass to run boxing into the ground, to the point where I can no longer watch it, with an eye mostly toward the heavyweight ranks. His connections, political and otherwise have allowed him to remain a major player, with the government choosing to look the other way.
I suppose we expected a bit more of Japan, to be more honorable and do things the right way, but there is so much money, so much riding on it all. I am not surprised it’s come to this.
Regulation of some sort has to come into play, to protect the integrity of the sport, but also especially to protect the fighters. We tend to forget how much they sacrifice, physically and mentally.