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Shukan Playboy: Sengoku NYE production was going to cost too much money

By Zach Arnold | November 17, 2009

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Here is what the publication is claiming: The event at Ariake Colosseum in Tokyo featuring Hidehiko Yoshida vs. Satoshi Ishii was becoming a big-budget show and the company also reportedly needed money to purchase the television time for the event to air on January 3rd on TV Tokyo. (The history of TV-Tokyo as a pay-to-play network is well known. You can buy time on the network, but don’t expect them to finance a big-budget operation like Fuji TV or Tokyo Broadcasting System). When the financial numbers were thrown around for what it would cost to produce the show, Playboy says that Sengoku’s main sponsor Don Quijote (ran by Mr. Yasuda, a big supporter of fighters) balked at the price tag and pulled their support. With no big sponsor to foot the bill, Sengoku’s NYE show was doomed and they had to cut their losses and work with K-1.

I’ll have a more detailed article on this situation later this week.

Topics: Japan, Media, MMA, Sengoku, Zach Arnold | 15 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

15 Responses to “Shukan Playboy: Sengoku NYE production was going to cost too much money”

  1. Mark says:

    It would have been a failure at any cost. Running against the K-1/DREAM combo in today’s landscape is impossible.

  2. Alan Conceicao says:

    Well, K-1 gets Ishii (who they have coveted), we get one dominant MMA promotion in Japan, and they’re going to keep having their shows on TV in the US for free. Uhh….not too upset about that.

  3. 45 Huddle says:

    Die Sengoku Die!!!

    Should be interesting to see where their fighters go. I would assume a few might end up in the UFC or Strikeforce instead of DREAM.

  4. jr says:

    Money marks never learn

  5. Wolverine says:

    Suddenly competition is only good when it is direct UFC competition. Who cares about Sengoku fighters losing their source of income.

  6. Mark says:

    I highly doubt UFC is interested in too many of the fighters, as they’re B-level for the most part even for Japan (which means automatic prelim duty in America.)

    Guys like Nakamura, Yoshida, Nakao, Fujita and Misaki are much better off staying in Japan. And their heavyweights are more Strikeforce-bound if anything since the UFC is filled currently since a bunch of the TUF rejects will fill out the prelim space.

    I predict the UFC just takes Santiago, Gomi and maybe Hirota and Kitaoka. But if they’re really going to shuffle around the WEC they’re be more likely to raid.

  7. 45 Huddle says:

    Jorge Santiago killed all of his value by losing his last fight. He might still end up in the UFC, but at a much lower dollar amount then he could have been.

    “Suddenly competition is only good when it is direct UFC competition. Who cares about Sengoku fighters losing their source of income.”

    Their source of income was from a really rich guy who decided he didn’t want to lose anymore money.

  8. Wolverine says:

    I know how Sengoku works (or worked I guess), but it amazes me that usually the same people who are so strongly against UFC domination in the US, are now happy that Sengoku is going under.

    As for fighters they had some gems I’d like to see in UFC/WEC: Khalidov, Hornbuckle, Sandro, Hioki, Omigawa, Hirota, Yokota, Masvidal…

  9. 45 Huddle says:

    Jenna Jameson is on Oprah right now (East Coast). They are showing Tito’s twins. Big kids…. Future fighters?

  10. Joseph says:

    Most of Sengoku’s fighters will end up in the smaller Japanese shows. The big stars will end up with FEG/Strikeforce. A couple may go to the UFC.

  11. Cho says:

    SENGOKU News: TV Tokyo Makes Yasuda Pay!!

    Ace Japanese Reporter Gryphon just dug up some new news on the Sengoku situation and shares via twitter. It’s seems that Sengoku isn’t folding, but are being made to pay for their TV rights for New Year’s Eve:

    Although ISHII vs YOSHIDA is greatcard,By SENGOKU nagotiation mistake,No TV come.An only one station is TV TOKYO,but they demand money
    TV tokyo demand money,.to broadcast SENGOKU event…Anyway,Not TVstation pay SENGOKU but SENGOKU pay TV station……This is commedy!!
    SENGOKU owner YASUDA(billioner in japan)get angry finally!! So SENGOKU NY eve will fail……This is PLAYBOY article,post said so..

    It seems that Segoku is ready to put on an event, but can’t seem -to get iy it together on the TV.So that’s why WVR is co-promoting with FEG.

  12. Dave says:

    That isn’t really news, though. We all just assumed from what network they were on that they were forced to pay out their asses

  13. […] When we last spoke on this topic, we addressed the Playboy report that Don Quijote balked at the idea of how much the price tag was going to be for the Sengoku NYE event at Ariake Colosseum in Tokyo. For a mid-sized arena, it’s not that outrageously expensive to run. […]

  14. MikeJJ says:

    Hope those freakshows in japan die out completely.

  15. […] time on their own or by bringing sponsors to the table. Shukan Playboy, a weekly tabloid in Japan, reported that Don Quijote chairman Mr. Yasuda was allegedly so upset with the proposed bill for the … that he backed out of the project and that the show was doomed without money or television. The […]

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