« Headline of the Day – Kimbo Slice | Home | Elite XC’s FSN/Comcast Sportsnet TV deal »
Just another day in the Japanese combat sports world
By Zach Arnold | October 5, 2008
First, Asashoryu denied allegations of match-fixing in Sumo in Tokyo District Court.
Meanwhile, all eyes are on Satoshi Ishii after he skipped participation in a team Judo competition at Tokyo Budokan (not to be mistaken with Nippon Budokan). The explanation is injury. Media reports continue to swirl about whether or not Ishii will fight in an MMA bout on NYE.
Topics: Japan, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 3 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
I read a few years ago (I can’t remember where) that a study was done, and it’s a mathematical certainly that sumo wrestlers throw matches.
When in a tournament format, wrestlers who can no longer be eliminated because of their winning record will ‘let’ someone who needs a victory advance by losing on purpose. They get (possibly?) a payoff, and they can’t be eliminated so it’s not a big loss to their career.
I know that this is different than the accusations that Asahoryu has been paying his opponents around $6,500 to lose a match, but it shows that the fix has been in for a long, long time, in one way or another.
Allegedly.
I believe that was a chapter in Freakonomics, Ultimo Santa.
Yep, I read it in Freakonomics a while back as well. Good book 🙂