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Monday lowlights: A pathetic display by K-1 and the Japanese media
By Zach Arnold | June 3, 2007
By Zach Arnold
The MySpace page of the K-1 Dynamite DJ?
I would copy some text from the following Japanese articles, but apparently WP 2.2 doesn’t support the Japanese text unlike past versions of WP.
How the Japanese media covered the K-1 Dynamite show (Part II): Part I discussed how Sports Navigator spoke about the show in glowing terms in terms of the ‘positive momentum’ coming out of the event. Sankei Sports has one main story about the show, which is Kazushi Sakuraba’s poor showing against Royce Gracie. Sadaharu Tanigawa is stated to be interested in booking Royce/Sakuraba III in the rubber match. The article claimed that in Japan, vaseline is prohibited in usage whereas in America it’s a requirement. In other words, this was excuse-making by the media for Sakuraba (similar to the vain of what happened with Yoshihiro Akiyama – which the paper brought up).
Nikkan Sports focused on Sakuraba vs. Royce, talking about this fight being Sakuraba’s American debut. The paper also brought up the issue of vaseline (so this is starting to sound like a K-1 talking point). The publication also mentioned the battery of ‘obstinate’ medical tests that Sakuraba had to undergo before the fight, plus the bad traffic in transporting fighters to the Coliseum before the show. NS further claimed that despite the fans booing the fight and the live DJ, Sakuraba showed his popularity in the States with his Stars-and-Stripes mask.
Daily Sports had an article on the Sakuraba/Royce fight and they brought up, you guessed it, the vaseline excuse. Plus, the article said that the three 5-minute rounds was too short for any conclusion to be made in the Royce/Sakuraba fight because of their 90-minute marathon match in 2000. The paper said a rubber match would be definitely booked.
Sports Nippon also had an article on Royce/Sakuraba and, surprise, vaseline became the main topic. It was put in context with the Yoshihiro Akiyama ‘cream’ scandal.
Yomiuri Hochi (Yomiuri Shimbun) also had an article on Royce/Sakuraba and vaseline took center stage. Plus, Sakuraba appealed for a no-time limit rubber match against Royce in Japan.
In the end, K-1 and Tanigawa tried to shift the heat onto the California SAC for Sakuraba’s loss based on the differences between HERO’s rules and the Unified rules. Plus, not one Japanese media outlet raised an eyebrow or questioned the 54,000 fan attendance claim by K-1. Funny how that works.
So, let’s break down the Japanese logic here. Kazushi Sakuraba and Yoshihiro Akiyama had a match on NYE that was deemed controversial because Akiyama used Oil of Olay (skin cream) to make himself slippery. Akiyama was branded a cheater and Sakuraba was branded as a victim in the scandal. Therefore, because the CSAC rules state that fighters should have vaseline on to prevent cuts during fights, Sakuraba was a victim because the vaseline (mixed with sweat) made his opponent slippery.
Jake Rossen on the K-1 Dynamite show.
Luke Thomas debuted his brand new MMA talk show on Sunday night. Check it out.
Sam Caplan on WEC’s debut on Versus and how it compares to the IFL Battleground TV show.
On Thursday, a new Internet MMA TV channel with Bas Rutten makes its debut.
Check out the amateur Chute Boxe fights from yesterday.
Onto today’s headlines.
- MSNBC: MMA suspends ex-NFL star Morton after bout
- The LA Times: Previous sample from Morton will be tested
- Yahoo Sports: Fight by fight from the WEC
- The Orange County Register: Urijah Faber retains title
- The Houston Chronicle (Steve Sievert): Dynamite didn’t blow me away
- Fox Sports: Wrapping up a busy MMA weekend
- Deadspin: Ladies and Gentlemen, football great Johnnie Morton
- Sam Caplan: K-1 Dynamite USA thoughts
- The FW Daily News: State of Indiana will regulate MMA starting July 1st
- The Canadian Press: Canadian Mark Hominick choked out in WEC debut
- MMA California: Why I liked the Dynamite show
- MMA on Tap: UFC signs Marcus Aurelio
- UFC Mania: Sokoudjou interview – he wants to fight Shogun
- The Houston Chronicle: Tough year for Team Jackson
- Yahoo Sports: Urijah Faber – Best of the best?
- Jordan Breen: Big Ticket Bantamweights added to July Shooto event
- Komikazee: K-1 Dynamite duds
- UFC HP: Spencer Fisher looks for redemption in rematch with Sam Stout
Topics: Canada, HERO's, Japan, K-1, Media, MMA, Pro Elite, UFC, WEC, Zach Arnold | 21 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
If this is any indication of how Zuffa fairs in it’s foray into a foreign country…. boy oh boy. Speaking of Zuffa in Japan, any word on wether it’s a lock if they’re running Pride World Wide full time? Last I heard it may be a deal where they do select spot shows, which isn’t a bad idea.
Fuck the “mainstream” Japanese MMA scene. It’s a circus.
I’ll stick with organizations like SHOOTO, thank you very much.
Tony – I’ve heard that Zuffa is going to close Pride down completely.
so, what was always obvious should be becoming clear-
– the Japanese cant promote in the US. they just dont get the cultural nuances
– the Americans cant promote in Japan. for the same reasons
its not about money, its about understanding your customer
I’m sure you will volunteer your services to keep the ketsu mochi (yakuza fixers) away from me and also provide me with a bankroll to run a show there. Isn’t that how it works in America, too? 🙂
hey, culture covers a wide arrange of things – from what gets the localts interested (look at the thinly veiled homoerotic imagery that pervaded PRIDE) through to how business is financed and run
I agree with Daily Sports that the 3 5-minute rounds formate is unsuited to Gracie-Sakuraba. Neither of them is a knock-out artist, and both are too good defensively to be submitted quickly. Considering their 1.5 hr stalemate in Pride, what made anyone think the new format would work?
white ninja,
What thinly-veiled homoerotic imagery?
“There’s as much chance of Manchester City winning the European Cup as Mayweather fighting in the UFC! “
“I’m a big fan of the UFC but not when they start grappling and wrestling and rolling around on the floor for three minutes at a time. But when they’re stood toe to toe and having a go at it I think you’d be hard pushed to find anything as exciting really.”
Ricky Hatton article.
Klown – if I’m not mistaken, it was K-1 who made the call to shorten the rounds from 5 to 3 for the Sakuraba/Royce II fight in LA. If that’s the case, then the claims of not enough time is certainly a different spin.
I made a quick little video showing the worst of the commentary and a little focus on the terrible DJ talking through Royce/Saku.
klown – the people who put on the Festival of Men (this sounds as gay in Japanese as it does in English), promoted it with sperm themed posters, Takada’s bare arse, pushed hard gay and real gay and the rest of the cross dressing Hustle crap dont seem to have a slight bent to them to you?
I hope that video includes Bill Goldberg saying, “Oh my god, what is that thing?” when the camera showed the person sitting next to Tracey Ullman.
Among all the ridiculous things in those Japanese media reports, this may be the most silly:
“The publication also mentioned the battery of ‘obstinate’ medical tests that Sakuraba had to undergo before the fight, plus the bad traffic in transporting fighters to the Coliseum before the show.”
If by “obstinate” they mean “wanted to make sure he wasn’t being put into the ring with significant brain damage” then yes it was “obstinate.”
Also, you mean to tell me there is traffic in Los Angeles? They seem shocked by that, and I’m guessing that Royce must have had a magical teleportion device that allowed him to skip the traffic, thus putting Sakuraba at a disadvantage.
I found that myspace link, give me my props damn it!
Great video fightlinker.
If you got a web page or a blog MMA-related, tell me and it shall be linked.
The “Vaseline Defense” sounds almost as good as the old “Twinkie Defense”. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twinkie_defense)
I went to the show live…had a great time.
This does not bode well for a future Rickson Saku match.
LoL at the homophobic Hatton.
I enjoyed the K-1 show. The Saku vs. Royce fight was not fun but just because of the fans. Those folks weren’t mma fans, and they had no idea who sak or royce were. 90 percent of the people there had no idea what mma was and disrespected the hell out of royce and sakuraba. That’s what dissapointed me. Other than that – Great show. I enjoy the Japanese flavor.
I live in Japan and a lot of us MMA fans in Japan are fed up with FEG and Tanigawa’s showboating and excuses.
Any news on Morton and why he refused the drug test?