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K-1 suspends Akiyama
By Zach Arnold | January 17, 2007
K-1 matchmaker Sadaharu Tanigawa addressed the Japanese media on Wednesday to discuss the Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama scandal. Tanigawa stated that he has indefinitely suspended Yoshihiro Akiyama (due to him using an oil-based substance) and that Akiyama told him he would accept whatever length the suspension would be.
Topics: All Topics, HERO's, Japan, K-1, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 9 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
good …so Pride will be able to draft him
Holy crapola!
Indefinitely? Seems a bit overboard… Like Zach said previously, they are totally destroying one of their only poster boys…
Akiyama is like kryptonite in Japan right now. You’d be hard pressed to find a kind word being said about his on Japanese forums/blogs at the moment. I think K-1 might have been better off (in a business sense, not a moral one) to sweep this under the rug. There was more future income in Akiyama than in Sakuraba.
Now that they’ve admitted Akiyama’s oiling, he’s going to be too hot for them to touch for a while and they have little choice but to stand on the side that makes the most current business sense (if not moral, too). If nothing else, K-1 learned from the DSE debacle what can happen when (internet) fans get motivated to exact “revenge” on an organization.
Wow, this really is the scandal that won’t die.
“Indefinitely? Seems a bit overboard…”
Uh… as with Thomson, I wonder how people perceive “indefinite” as being strict when it means the suspension can be lifted at any freaking time. It could mean anthing from he never fights in K-1 again to him being back in silence the minute K-1 MAX is done and other K-1 news are out there.
When this whole thing started, wasn’t there something about Akiyama being caught for greasing a few times in the past?
“When this whole thing started, wasn’t there something about Akiyama being caught for greasing a few times in the past?”
Yes, but there was never any evidence in those cases.
“When this whole thing started, wasn’t there something about Akiyama being caught for greasing a few times in the past? ”
Are you talking about back then in his Judo matches?
I saw the entire fight on “Youtube”.
Most of the fight was standup. The only time Sakuraba went for the single leg was in desperation, only AFTER getting rocked by Akiyama.
Either way, Sakuraba got “punked”, his face looked brutally bad.
NEXT: Akiyama -vs- Wanderlie Sivla!!