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Wacky Japanese happenings (plus UFC news & notes)

By Zach Arnold | October 12, 2010

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On Tuesday, Akira Maeda ran a big Outsider show at Yokohama Bunka Gym main. The main event was a 5 vs. 5 ZST vs. Outsider themed program. ZST won the series 4-1 and the main event featured the pro-debut of “Tattoo Man” Yoshinaga, who won the Outsider 65-70 kg tournament but lost to Masayuki Okude. My favorite photo from the event can be seen here. Main card results:

Our friend Mr. Sano has had a rough patch lately but we hope that he continues fighting and getting back on the winning side of things. His ZST opponent, Mr. Hamagishi, told the press after the fight that he thought Mr. Sano was pro-quality and that he’d like to fight him again in the future.

Also on the Yokohama card was an “Outsider vs. US Armed Forces” 5-on-5 series (in tribute to the 50th anniversary of the US-Japan accord.) The Outsider army won 4-to-1.

Antonio Inoki, political gadfly

I facetiously say that knowing his history as a politician and his roots in his dealings with North Korea, but if you want the extent of what he is up to these days in North Korea, The Wall Street Journal has you covered.

UFC 120, the card getting little advertising

I hope UFC promotes the show tomorrow heavily during The Ultimate Fighter because if I didn’t follow MMA as extensively as I do online, I wouldn’t know that this show is even taking place. ESPN Dallas did a panel prediction roundtable for the main fights on the card. On the ESPN Dallas site, Andrew Plante asks if the MMA scene in the Dallas/Fort Worth area is dead.

Meanwhile, at a press conference on Tuesday in Montreal, George St. Pierre says that Josh Koscheck’s remarks about him are an insult to ‘a lot of francophone people.’ I’m just waiting for Koscheck to bust out the cracks about the French Separatist movement shortly.

Dana White confirmed the obvious, which is that if Jake Shields can beat Martin Kampmann that he will become the #1 contender for the UFC Welterweight title.

Check out Elliot Worsell’s article today about Britain’s third wave of Mixed Martial Artists.

Other news & notes

Remember Dave Meltzer’s comments about just how big Batista would be if Strikeforce signed him? Yeah, I disagreed with him as well when he said it. However, Jim Ross keeps pushing this line of thinking as demonstrated in this article at Bloody Elbow, this time for a concept involving Batista vs. Herschel Walker.

WEC drew around 3,800 for their Denver-area event. Put that in perspective and think about what Urijah Faber drew last January at Arco Arena (around 10,000) and what he drew last April versus Jose Aldo.

The average amount of viewers for last weekend’s Strikeforce event in San Jose was 350,000 viewers. In other words, a little bit more than what they draw for the Challengers shows.

The Washington Times talks about how much money Zuffa has paid out for lobbying efforts.

Your two MMA newspaper headlines of the day:

Topics: Japan, Media, MMA, StrikeForce, UFC, UK, Zach Arnold | 21 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

21 Responses to “Wacky Japanese happenings (plus UFC news & notes)”

  1. Fluyid says:

    DFW MMA is not dead. Team Takedown just moved there and they have tons of MMA fighters. There has never been a thriving fight promotion there, but they do about as well as local MMA in other parts of the state.

    Andrew is a nice guy, but he’s apparently bored. That is really the only reason for that article.

    “Art of War was by far the most successful promotion based out of the DFW area. Multiple events at the AAC, solid fight cards, and even pay-per-view were among their success. Unfortunately for AOW and their die-hard fans, the parent company Sun Sports and Entertainment was not turning a profit and eventually went out of business last year.”

    They were overpaying to such a ridiculous extent that I don’t think people would believe it if they knew what Art of War was paying some of its fighters.

    • smoogy says:

      You should give us examples anyway.

      • Fluyid says:

        They paid out over $300K in fight purses for the main event of Art of War 3.

        • Art Of War 1-3 had some awesomely weird cards – Alex Andrade coming back, Wes Sims, Monson/Rizzo I, etc. But like a lot of promotions they spent way too much, couldn’t get anything out of doing cheaped out cards and folded. What Moosin and War of the Mainland were in 2010, that’s Art of War to 2007.

        • Fluyid says:

          In addition to that expenditure on the main event, they also had other guys on the show make six figures and they were paying some guys WAY down on the card $40K.

          Or so I’ve heard. 😉

  2. 45 Huddle says:

    1) These Pro Wrestling minds pushing for Batista is annoying. Batista has no business in MMA. He has no amateur background. The freak show has to end.

    2) The last WEC did poorly on attendance and gate numbers. That is a good sign for people who want to see those divisions mergered with the UFC. The WEC just isn’t making any progress and has hit a ceiling, despite having the UFC’s promotional machine behind it. The WEC fighters are more valuable under the UFC name then they currently are in the WEC.

    3) Nick Diaz once again proves he is not a draw. The show peaked at 509,000…. Which means if the show averaged 350,000…. That the number of viewers to start the show could have been as low as 250,000. Yikes!!

  3. Liger05 says:

    Antonio Inoki never fails to amaze me with what he gets up to.

  4. Mark says:

    I wish Inoki’s threats to run for mayor of NYC came true. Imagine Bloomberg versus Inoki. That would be the greatest political trainwreck since that California Governor’s race in ’03 with Gary Coleman, Larry Flynt, Mary Carey and other assorted freaks coming in.

    Not surprised Diaz-Noons wasn’t a huge success. If that fight was ever going to draw on Showtime, it would have to be by Elite XC being trashy enough to run the hell out of promos package of the Hawaiian brawl like it was pro wrestling.

    And speaking of which, Meltzer and Ross are setting pro wrestling respectability back by hyping Batista. Lesnar and Lashley were one thing since they at least has amateur wrestling credentials. Dave Batista was a jacked up bodybuilder who got into pro wrestling in his mid-30s and was never that great at that. He has the charisma to be viewed as a star. But so do Kimo and Kimbo and they don’t deserve to be on major MMA shows either.

  5. The Showtime numbers actually aren’t bad. And while 200,000-300,000 vieweres isn’t much more than on the UFC level, it is on the Showtime level, which is what is relevant.

    • 45 Huddle says:

      Even if you took all 350,000 viewers monthly subscriptions for the month of October…. Typically Showtime gets no more then $1.50 per subscriber per month…. This event lost Showtime money. The number of viewers doesn’t justify the large event costs. From the fee they pay Strikeforce to the production costs…. These events just aren’t generating enough viewers for it to make sense money wise.

      Doesn’t mean Strikeforce won’t sign a new contract with Showtime in the next 12 months. I could easily see some bullheaded executive trying to make a case that Strikeforce is ready to increase it’s viewers, yada yada yada. But it would all be half truths at best.

      Showtime was getting higher numbers from EliteXC, and at the time everybody, including Showtime, was saying it was a nice START. They have made zero progress after that. They can’t generate a nickle of PPV revenues for Showtime, can’t increase the ratings, and all during this time are taking in more money then EliteXC ever did.

      Right now Showtime can put on low level, extremely cheap Challenger Series cards and get basically the same number of viewers as their “Championship” level shows. It would be like a UFC Fight Night getting the UFC the same revenues as a Lesnar PPV. There would be no incentive to pay Lesnar those big dollars.

      Like I said, I could easily see one of the Showtime guys trying to talk a big game about Strikeforce on Showtime, but the numbers show zero growth, no room for profit, and no real difference in viewership from good vs. bad cards.

      • notthface says:

        I am not going to lie and claim to know what Showtime expects from Strikeforce or how profitable it is or is not for them, but if we compare their numbers to what boxing does than it seems as if they are at least crossing a minimum threshold. Showtime Boxing seems to do about twice the ratings as Strikeforce, but they pay out three times as much to do it. While I am sure they are unhappy that they haven’t been able to get enough traction to go into the lucrative ppv market they also seem to be at least breaking even.

        • 45 Huddle says:

          How can they be breaking even? The “Championship” events cost Showtime $700,000 plus production costs. I don’t see how that can work.

          By comparison, EliteXC’s first ever Showtime card got 365,000 viewers. That was over 3 years ago, millions fewer Showtime subscribers, and 3 years of opportunity to “grow the business” with no success.

        • How many millions fewer subscribers? How many of those subscribers are believed to have been added thanks to MMA programming?

          Those are metrics and you’re ignoring them.

        • 45 Huddle says:

          Ignoring them? I talked about them first. Your talking out of your #ss at this point.

          And the metrics are pretty simple. Around 300,000 to 350,000 viewers regularly watch Strikeforce on Showtime. That’s been shown for many shows over the last year.

          Guessing who has Showtime because of one programming is a guessing game at best. The ratings are still the best indicator what subscribers care about. And what Showtime has is a show that is costing a lot of money for the few people watching them.

          You are trying to complicate something that is not complicated. Costs are going up and ratings are staying the same. That’s bad business.

        • You stated that there are millions more subscribers. Are there? Note: I do not consider the words of 45 Huddle to be authoritative on this matter.

          Calling it “A guessing game” when it is done by every network in the world is lolable. TV ratings are a guessing game played under the guise of statistics. The WEC is still on Versus and it draws no one and costs Versus a bunch. Yet here we are pretending that they’re gonna pay millions for UFC programming.

  6. Show me growth in Showtime boxing over the last ten years and an equally appreciable difference between ratings for Shobox events and for Showtime Championship Boxing and the one you intune should exist for Challengers events and Strikeforce events. You can’t. In treating it like its a $1.50 PPV, you can certainly make an argument. Doesn’t work that way though.

    Showtime was getting higher numbers from EliteXC,

    Were they? I remember this discussion then and that Showtime would abandon MMA. Instead they’ve invested heavily in Strikeforce. I’m nowhere near a supporter of how Showtime has approached MMA, I’m not a “Strikeforce fan”, etc. But I realize they aren’t going anywhere and harping about coming apocalypse of Showtime’s MMA programming or Strikeforce is alarmist bullshit.

    • 45 Huddle says:

      Boxing has nothing to do with this discussion. Showtime has had Boxing since the Tyson days. It was necessary for them to carry it in order to compete with HBO in the premium channel market. It’s much harder to cut the cord on a channels mainstay for over a decade compared to looking at Strikeforce which is still on their first contract.

      EliteXC’s first ever show on Showtime got 365,000 viewers. That was 3 years ago, and absolutely no built in market. Showtime had fewer subscribers back at that time.

      3 years have gone by since MMA started on Showtime and it’s done nothing. Not 1 PPV. No increase in ratings. Expenses for Showtime have gone up during that time. Any “stars” they have created from the EliteXC days are gone with nobody to replace them. There is no way to spin that as a positive.

      Like I said, I could see some executive who doesn’t want to be proven wrong make a big push to keep SF on their programming when their contract is up. But anybody looking at this from a level headed perspective can see it’s one big failure with increased costs and no increased ratings to go along with it. That’s a recipe for disaster.

      • Boxing has everything to do with the discussion because its the business model Showtime uses for MMA.

        3 years have gone by since MMA started on Showtime and it’s done nothing. Not 1 PPV. No increase in ratings. Expenses for Showtime have gone up during that time. Any “stars” they have created from the EliteXC days are gone with nobody to replace them. There is no way to spin that as a positive.

        In spite of this, Showtime has continued to invest heavily in MMA with their conduits. Currently that conduit is Strikeforce, who is unlikely to lose that status. So bang on about what a failure it is; they are still there. They are not going anywhere.

        • 45 Huddle says:

          How are they investing heavily? They don’t advertise. They don’t do anything beyond what the contract states.

          There contract is up in like 14 months, which is why they are still there.

        • They’ve invested actual money and continue to invest actual money. Watching the broadcasts is pretty obvious too. Showtime doesn’t even attempt to have the announcers be independent or honest. The best part is that there are still people complaining that they’re not dishonest enough in promoting Strikeforce as a standalone promotion.

          I appreciate giving yourself the out of “Someone might reup them because they’ll invent a fake reason to justify it”.

  7. Robert Poole says:

    Whoa… a fire extinguisher and stomping? Sounds like it’s straight out of Gaspar Noe’s movie, Irreversible!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0Xj1JP1bXM

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