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K-1: Hey, maybe Yoshihiro Akiyama won’t fight on NYE for us
By Zach Arnold | October 18, 2008
I love how K-1 plays out any sort of bad news coming from their camp — they send out former PRIDE PR guy Sasahara to deliver it. Big fighter cancelation for a DREAM show or anything MMA-related? Have Sasahara deliver some bad news to the Japanese media. And make sure it happens a lot at the DEEP gym, too, and not a K-1 office.
If UFC was able to sign Akiyama, they could run a show in South Korea. Japan? Tougher call. Of course, both countries have problems in terms of dealing with local promoters and the mafia. We’ll see what UFC does next. If they sign Akiyama away from Japanese promoters, it would be a move reminiscent of the raids Vince McMahon made on the territories in the 1980s to make WWE the super-power it is now.
No Akiyama, unlikely any participation from Fedor… how the mighty have fallen fast in Japan.
Topics: All Topics, DREAM, Japan, K-1, MMA, Media, UFC, Zach Arnold | | Permalink | Trackback | Share This
Zach, the PC I am using (my dad’s) doesn’t support the Japanese kanji and other characters. Why was Akiyama pulled? Do you really think UFC will nab him up?
If Michael Jackson not fighting at your year end event is a fail, then please let me fail like FEG’s year end supershow. Also I like how you deleted my post linking the Fertitta’s to their mafia background which is well proven. Please delete this one also
Realistically, Akiyama offers a lot more to WVR than he does to the UFC, to say nothing about the UFC’s general difficulties breaking through anywhere people don’t speak the english language. I expect Akiyama in Strikeforce before he’s in the UFC.
“Also I like how you deleted my post linking the Fertitta’s to their mafia background which is well proven”
I have often thought how much the mafia in Vegas invests in the UFC… casinos, advertising, betting… Dana White is scum, great promoter, doing something
right…
I like the Akiyama to Strikeforce idea… So he can rematch Misaki after he puts Joe Riggs out of his misery
Well, Strikeforce has non-exclusive contracts for pretty solid money. For the UFC to sign Akiyama and do South Korea is a huge capital investment with the possibility of losing a lot of money very quickly. Hell, for them to sign Akiyama away from WVR or K-1 or someone else would mean that they’d be paying him more than about 98% of the guys in the organization right off the bat. Can’t imagine they’d do that.
Would it not make sense for Pro Elite to sign Sexyamma, seeing that they not only own the MMA promotion Spirit MC based in South Korea?
[...] too bad Mousasi won’t get a shot at DREAM anti-star #12 Yoshihiro Akiyama anytime soon but word is Akiyama is headed to WVR or somewhere else. If he does go to to WVR/Sengoku he’ll be in prime [...]
[...] too bad Mousasi won’t get a shot at DREAM anti-star #12 Yoshihiro Akiyama anytime soon but word is Akiyama is headed to WVR or somewhere else. If he does go to to WVR/Sengoku he’ll be in prime [...]