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Friday headlines: Japanese PR wars

By Zach Arnold | May 31, 2007

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Japanese marketing 101.

The Los Angeles Times on ticket sales for the K-1 Dynamite event at the LA Coliseum:

Kogan said FEG has sold at least 40,000 tickets ranging from $10 to $100. State athletic officials argue that in an outline of ticket distribution plans, FEG officials reported they planned to sell only 10,000 tickets, distributing 20,000 free tickets to stadium “entertainers” and another 50,000 to fans.

The true numbers will emerge Monday, when the state athletic commission releases its official gate report of tickets sold.

Kogan said despite costs that include a $500,000 bill to use the Coliseum, FEG expects to turn a profit.

Renting the Tokyo Dome is cheaper.

Sam Caplan on the race for Brock Lesnar.

Komikazee has a special radio show online now previewing tonight’s IFL Washington event and tomorrow’s K-1 Dynamite event. Yahoo Japan will stream the Dynamite show online.

Dr. J is weary about the mainstream media covering MMA.

Dave Meltzer on Urijah Faber in the LA Times.

Coverage in the Asian media (Japanese, Korean, etc.) of the California SAC not allowing Choi Hong-Man to participate on the K-1 Dynamite show is using the tone you would exactly predict. Not happy.

Yuki Kondo vs. Trevor Prangley for the Bodog Middleweight title and Yoshiki Takahashi vs. Josh “Buffalo Head” Curran was announced today by Pancrase for the Bodog 7/14 Sovereign Bank Arena show in New Jersey.

WP users: Do not use the Post Teaser plug-in with WP 2.1.3 or 2.2. It caused me problems on 2.1.3 and it won’t work for me at all with 2.2. I wish I could find a similar plug-in that did work.

The Wisconsin Kill Squad says F$&% MMA and f#&! you. Brilliant mastery of the language on display there.

Onto today’s headlines.

  1. Bloody Elbow: The IFL equals the future
  2. The Houston Chronicle: Randy Couture content at heavyweight
  3. Fight Report: TUF 5 Episode 9: Gray Maynard chokes out Brandon Melendez!
  4. Sam Caplan: Update on Gabe Ruediger
  5. The Shreveport Times: Marine Brian Stann continues to fight back home
  6. The Columbus Telegram: Ultimate fighting – does it fill the gap left by boxing?
  7. Doghouse Boxing: Aaron Jaco – ‘Tell the UFC that I’d fight one of their fighters in a heart beat!’
  8. Fox Sports: Urijah Faber ready for his biggest spotlight
  9. Gaming Today: Art of War comes to video games
  10. The Canadian Press: Patrick Cote looks for another MMA win – and a little love this time
  11. The Orange County Register: Scare tactics won’t work on this Marine (Brian Stann)
  12. Sprawl ‘n Brawl: Shamrock vs. Baroni – the event no one is talking about
  13. UFC HP: STACKED card complete
  14. The Guardian (Canada): Travis Axworthy takes on veteran fighter Jonathan Goulet in Montreal
  15. CBS Sportsline: An interview with Urijah Faber
  16. MSNBC: Sakuraba’s health saves MMA fight card
  17. 93X Rock News (Minnesota): UFC 73 features local fighter Sean Sherk
  18. Yahoo Sports: Gary Shaw not worried about Dynamite event
  19. Steve Kim: State of the Game – The Truest Promoters
  20. The Orange County Register: Starting over – former USC and NFL star Johnnie Morton embarks on an MMA career
  21. The Irish Whip: The Iceman and The Axe Murderer
  22. Extreme TKO: Versus: The new Spike TV for MMA?
  23. MMA Fever: TUF 5 reject Gabe Ruediger mentally challenged?
  24. The Oregonian: MMA notebook – After blockbuster, federations get back to their own business
  25. The Union of Grass Valley (CA): Pankration tournament comes to town
  26. The Gwinnet Daily Post (GA): Jeff Bedard set to fight Sunday in WEC
  27. The Long Beach Press-Telegram: Will Morton, Lesnar be worth their salt?
  28. The Montreal Gazette: Sarah Kaufman has something to prove
  29. The Iowa City Press-Citizen: City may knock out Fight Night
  30. The Everett Daily Herald: Pro-fight league (IFL) is a hit — and it’s coming here
  31. The Newark Star-Ledger (NJ): No one is better prepared than Brian Stann for battle
  32. The Fayetteville Citizen (Georgia): Fighter/promoter Cory Nestlehutt describes second go-round for Southside Slugfest
  33. The Halifax Daily News (Canada): Cory MacDonald, Jonathan Goulet to battle for King of the Cage title on July 14th

Topics: BoDog, Boxing, Canada, HERO's, IFL, Japan, K-1, Media, MMA, Pancrase, Pro Elite, UFC, WEC, Zach Arnold | 20 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

20 Responses to “Friday headlines: Japanese PR wars”

  1. Matthew Watt says:

    I am surprised by how people are reacting to the California athletic commisions stance with fighters. They are known as being hard asses, the toughest commission bar none in all of mma. FEG should have known this sooner and had all their ducks in a row awhile back, not a week before the show started.

  2. Mike says:

    Except, you never hear about them being hardasses with UFC. Ever. For any reason.

  3. Yes.

    God forbid we allow a 7 foot man to fight for being 7 foot.

    And, am I the only one who thinks that Garcia will suspend Saku for using pro wrestling moves?

  4. Matthew Watt says:

    For being 7 foot and with a tumor. Look, Armando Garcia is not perfect, but they are known hard asses, so why leave everything about the physicals to the last minute? Royce and Lesnar had all their work done ages ago, you cannot tell me that both Sakuraba and the “7 Footer” could not have been out a month and a half ago getting this done? Yes, I know about the jet lag and how it may screw up there training regiment, but they are also professionals and have a job to perform, and part of that job is getting cleared by notoriously tough commission.

    If I am not mistaken, and I could be, I remember this card being advertised and members of the mma world stating “good luck getting a freakshow cleared by the California commission”. Now that it is true it is the commissions fault for living up to its reputation? There was a warning, FEG just choose not to hear it.

  5. JThue says:

    “Royce and Lesnar had all their work done ages ago”

    – Royce was only cleared this week, after Sakuraba in fact.

  6. D. Capitated says:

    God forbid we allow a 7 foot man to fight for being 7 foot.

    I’m glad to see you have fighter safety in mind. Hey, if he has a pituitary gland tumor (common reason for gigantism), who cares? He could fight in Japan! Sure, he might die in 5 years as a result, but what does that matter?

  7. DarthMolen says:

    LoL. Anybody read that FileFront Game article?

    They got half of it right. “Art of War” is run by Sun Sports but then they said that it was out of China….

    There is an “Art of War” MMA out of China but it ain’t run by Sun Sports.

    The “Art of War” that is run by Sun Sports is out of Dallas, TX.

  8. List of fighters denied by CSAC:
    Hong Man Choi (medical)
    Gabe Ruediger (unknown)
    Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva (medical)
    Mu Bae Choi (medical)
    Ray Sefo (unknown)
    Marvin Eastman (unknown)

    Both Choi and Silva were rejected for the same kind of pituitary gland issue.

  9. D.Capitated says:

    Silva showed up with a pituitary tumor? Man, that sucks for both. Honestly, the way K-1 and his management dealt with it with Choi was disturbing. Both of those guys don’t need to fight: They need brain surgery, and they needed it yesterday. Anyone who complains about it really needs to have their heads examined as well.

  10. Grape Knee High says:

    Wait, wait, wait…there’s an article about mixed martial arts…on MSNBC…that announces a decrepit, gimpy Sakuraba as “saving a fight card” in the headline?

    MMA has officially jumped the shark.

  11. Body_Shots says:

    Sefo and Eastman weren’t denied by the commission, FEG took that fight off the card.

  12. Zack says:

    I’m really disappointed that they changed the Royce/Saku fight to 3 x 5 rounds instead of 5 x 5.

    I also think they should run that fight last, otherwise the card is going to be very anticlimactic.

    Any other Fight Opinion readers heading out to the event? I’ll be there in the cheap seats doing my best to move down.

  13. Tomer Chen says:

    I’m really disappointed that they changed the Royce/Saku fight to 3 x 5 rounds instead of 5 x 5.

    Aren’t all non-title fights supposed to be under 3 x 5 rules according to the CSAC?

  14. Zack says:

    Nope. I don’t think any of that is set in stone. For instance, the Johnny Morton fight is 3 x 3.

    Meltzer reported yesterday it was FEG that changed it too, not CSAC.

  15. Mike says:

    Again, I must ask why it is that you never hear about UFC having a problem with CSAC, but anyone else tries to promote in Cali, and there’s a laundry list of reasons why a bunch of fighters get denied a license before the show, and a bunch of suspensions for the most ridiculous reasons afterwards.

  16. Zack says:

    ^^^ In other news…the moon landing was staged.

  17. Because the UFC has been doing this for years in hostile environments and they know to get all of their shit together way in advance. They have the lineups set up 2 months in advance and i bet their paperwork is in the day the fighters sign on the dotted line.

    As well, I’m sure the UFC gets preferential treatment because they’ve earned it. They have a reputation with these sanctioning bodies and a trust has been built. It definately helps that they have Ratner, not because of a conspiracy but because no one understands the rules better than him and what’s expected.

  18. Matthew Watt says:

    “Because the UFC has been doing this for years in hostile environments and they know to get all of their shit together way in advance. They have the lineups set up 2 months in advance and i bet their paperwork is in the day the fighters sign on the dotted line.

    As well, I’m sure the UFC gets preferential treatment because they’ve earned it. They have a reputation with these sanctioning bodies and a trust has been built. It definately helps that they have Ratner, not because of a conspiracy but because no one understands the rules better than him and what’s expected.”

    My view exactly Fightlinker. Who knows, maybe the UFC does not have their ducks in a row right after the ink dries, but I guaranted it is done month’s in advance. And Ratner is a huge plus for them, a very credible and respectful name who in both boxing and mma look up to a lot.

  19. Matthew Watt says:

    And the ass clown comments on your website Fightlinker, what I mean is you can bash everyone for what they do for so long, and after awhile it gets boring. To me if you mixed some actual articles with your light-fluffy f-bomb laden pieces, your website would be a lot better. Some of what you say is funny, but other times you take it too far and get too far off base.

  20. Zack says:

    Fightlinker…why is good weather in Oakland good for the Dynamite USA show? I think you’re about 350 miles off.

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