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High stakes at K-1 Dynamite
By Zach Arnold | May 22, 2007
By Zach Arnold
Loretta Hunt has more details about what is turning out to be a major implosion of the K-1 Dynamite show. For those of you who studied the DSE yakuza scandal carefully, compare and contrast the way DSE & K-1 do business.
Two hours following the story, the CSAC says they received documents from FEG, though after careful review, the state agency announced this afternoon the paperwork is far insufficient to accommodate a request for a promoters’ license and is “not what we asked for.â€
“We have drawn a line in the sand,†says Bill Douglas, CSAC Staff Analyst who has handled the majority of the last two month’s interaction with the Japanese company trying to bring its first MMA event to the US. “If they do not deliver us the financial information by the end of this week, this is going to be a big problem.â€
There are big implications for K-1 if the California show is canceled. A damaged brand image and losing face is the least of their troubles.
The storyline that you should pay close attention is the Japanese TV situation between Tokyo Broadcasting System and K-1. TBS is paying K-1 a lot of money for the broadcasting rights in Japan to air the show on free TV, which is supported by advertisers and sponsorships. Without the Japanese TV money, the K-1 Dynamite show would likely not be happening. If the California show is canceled, it will cause major headaches for K-1 in regards to their relationship with Tokyo Broadcasting System. That could cause damage in regards to promoting their World MAX and normal K-1 kickboxing events on TBS.
Without major Japanese free-to-air television support, K-1 would be crippled.
An intriguing element to this story is the fact that Kazuyoshi Ishii, who was involved with K-1 events promoted at the Bellagio ballroom in Las Vegas, is sitting in a jail cell right now in Japan. He can’t physically help out K-1 in terms of doing business in America.
The implosion of PRIDE and the debacle of the K-1 Dynamite show within the timespan of one year…
For those of you who want to do podcatching of The Fight Network Radio show, use this link as the feed source. Go out of your way to download Part 1 of the Tuesday, May 22nd show. Start listening at the 15 minute mark, as the discussion is about the PRIDE asset sale. Everything said on the show is what we’ve been writing and discussing on Fight Opinion for a long time.
Topics: HERO's, Japan, K-1, Media, MMA, PRIDE, Zach Arnold | 24 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
“Dynamite”, how approrpriate.
yet, if I’m a betting man, I’d still bet on the event happening. Too much is at stake for FEG. I think they’re just trying to keep their cards close and seeing how much they can get away for now, and when the heat is on they’ll fold em.
I think “K-1 Nitroglycerine” would be more appropriate. Just a few more shakes, and the whole thing blows up in their faces…
Hasn’t Sakuraba taking his physical already? Any word on the results?
I agree that this could still go on, but this will hurt K-1’s ability to put on shows in the future in the US. California is only going to be more stringent on them the next time around. The NSAC would know of these issues and cause them more problems as well.
The UFC could make 10 stumbles this year, but with nobody competent behind them in competition, who will be there to make them pay for their mistakes?
TBS only airs MAX, Dynamite and Hero’s. Not the K-1 WGP series which is aired by FujiTV.
Sakuraba is supposedly due to fly in today (the 23rd) for his CSAC physical.
If FEG didn’t want to release full financial details to the CSAC, why did they even plan to run the show in the US to begin with? It’s not like they didn’t know what would be expected from. Is potentially burning future bridges into the US worth a bait & switch ploy like this?
Thanks for the Fight Network podcast feed. And thanks for last week’s tip about MMA Weekly’s RSS feed 😉
Tomer, why attribute something to a bait and switch ploy that could be better explained by sheer incompetence?
Zach, another great read. Makes me wonder what exactly has K-1 done since they announced the show. You would think all efforts would be put into making the show a great spectacle in the North American market. Definetly does not seem like the case though.
Didn’t K-1 run a number of shows in Las Vegas? I would imagine the NSAC expected financial statements as part of their licensing process as well. Here’s what the NSAC site lists as the criteria to get a Professional Promoter license:
Criteria 2 is pretty close to the financial statement rule in the CSAC and unless the only person at FEG who knew that they had to give financial information in the past to the commissions was Kazuyoshi Ishii, it seems a bit odd that they’d just completely blow it off. Maybe they are that dumb, but I would like to think the company would have sank after Ishii went to jail if they were that bad at business management…
Tomer, they technically didn’t run any shows in Las Vegas. According to the NSAC, the Bellagio (the casino where the events were held) was the official promoter for those bouts. They secured the license and were the official “matchmakers” in the eyes of the athletic commission. FEG found a nice route around the problem in Nevada, and most likely intended to do the same in California with Pro Elite, which is already licensed as a promoted. Unfortunately (for FEG), the CSAC was only willing to recognize Pro Elite as the promoter for their 3 undercard fights, and insisted on a separate license for the FEG portion of the card.
That explains why FEG didn’t have to previously given any paperwork to the commissions previously, although I wonder why FEG didn’t just say “Never mind…” and cancel the card during the planning phase when the CSAC demanded them to give the paperwork and accept the role as official Promoter of the card. To me, it seems like they were hyping up something that they had no intention of really going through with at the end. After all, if you’re seriously intending to promote a card, you would get all the paperwork in order months before, not try to get it in within the last 2 weeks. In addition, having a shadow promoter on the “Battle at the Bellagio” cards reeks of Frankie Carbo having Jim Norris act as his shadow promoter for the MSG & Chicago cards in the 40s and 50s when he essentially controlled Boxing.
Either FEG were complete idiots with regards to realizing that they had to get the paperwork in to get the license and run the show or they were trying to get attention to themselves by hyping a card with Lesnar, Royce, Sakuraba, etc. and then saying “Licensing problems!” as their reason to cancel it. Both scenarios are going to be bad for FEG’s long term relationship with the US in terms of current and future promotion plans and it may hurt their image back in Japan (though I’m not as confident in saying so since I’m not sure on their mindset with regards to backing out of cards or being sloppy with paperwork).
Hong Man Choi denied license … failed medical exam
Wow, I remember when they announced this show a long time ago and the president said “this will shock EVEN Dana White”… I think White is shocked haha!
Morons. Idiots. Doofuses (doofi?).
“Either FEG were complete idiots with regards to realizing that they had to get the paperwork in to get the license and run the show or they were trying to get attention to themselves by hyping a card with Lesnar, Royce, Sakuraba, etc. and then saying “Licensing problems!†as their reason to cancel it.”
Tomer, my vote, in case it wasn’t obvious before, is for “complete idiots”. 🙂
Rgarding Hong Man Choi, I’ll bet it had something to do with his recent KO loss to Mighty Mo. This show is clearly unraveling as we speak.
Makes sense … anyone know the standard suspension time for a fighter who’s been KO’ed? Tomer?
90 days generally.
I think it’s about three months, but don’t quote me on that. Any who, who wants to bet that if the Dynamite!! portion of the card gets cancelled, that Brock Lesnar will just be transferred over to the Pro Elite card, because that was a;ready cleared as a go. Because the Pro Elite card is a seven fight card (only three fights being televised) and I would imagine that, because Lesnar was cleared to fight, they will find him a fight on the Pro Elite card. That would kind of reming me of what happened to Great Muta’s wrestling debut in England. When 1PW originally went in liquidation, and RQW decided to have Muta wrestle on their card. or maybe I am just talking out of my ass, I don’t know.
Somehow, I doubt Sakuraba will get OKd to fight in the US as well (both due to his non-existant knees and neck and the bad beatings he’s taken in the last few years). Some of the other fighters and fights (Manhoef-Sik comes to mind) will likely get shot down as well.
Maybe Dana White and co could buy K-1 and then get all the MMA talet and also start a flagship Kickboxing promotion.
First no gina now no hong man choi. Theyve lost their 2 biggest draws. This show is done.
Is Carano really that big of a draw? I know she’s popular among fans who’ve seen some of her fights, but it’s not like Brock went down here. I’d say Hong Man Choi and Brock were there two biggest draws — Hong for the Korean market they’re wooing in LA, and Lesnar for both the US and Japan. Carano’s an afterthought, but an attraction in the US. At least they’ve still got Royce…
(and let’s pray for Saku…)
(if the show even happens…)
God, what a disaster this is. Say what you will about PRIDE — for all their mismanagement at least they found someone who got their shows off in America (and then they screwed him, but that’s another story entirely).
I dont really know if Brock is a draw. He did main-event one of the lowest-buyrate Wrestlemania’s of all time. And he has pissed off alot of Japan by refusing to give back the IWGP title. Gina’s got her pervs errr i mean fans who love her very much and would love to see her fight. Choi Man’s got his koreans who supposedly theyre are alot of out in California. Brock’s got….Sable.