WFA chasing British Welterweight
By Mark Pickering | May 10, 2006
British welterweight Paul “Semtex†Daley has revealed he’s in negotiation with the newly formed WFA and could debut for the promotion on July 23rd in Las Vegas. The FX3 Welterweight Champion has become a sought-after talent due to his continued run of victories over stellar opposition in his native England and America.
His latest triumph come against UFC veteran David Strasser at Cage Rage 16 which has been touted as the best performance of the young man’s career. The 23 year old could be joined in WFA by Matt “The Law†Lindland and Quinton “Rampage†Jackson who are both rumoured to have signed with the promotion.
Topics: All Topics, Mark Pickering, MMA, UK | 3 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
MMA fighting robots
By Zach Arnold | May 10, 2006
By Zach Arnold
The trend is gaining traction in Japan and South Korea. Meet your new fighting robots.
Here’s a SK article in Japanese talking about South Korean & Japanese fight robots, specifically in regards to a recent tournament called the Robo-One Grand Prix 2006 in which the Japanese robot won by KO. The event featured four South Korean and four Japanese teams competing against each other. The robots cannot be taller than 120 cm., but there are no weight limits.
Topics: All Topics, Japan, MMA, Zach Arnold | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Gendai: Company supplied PRIDE owner with mansion
By Zach Arnold | May 8, 2006
By Zach Arnold
A summary transcript of this week’s Shukan Gendai article about PRIDE, Fuji TV, and Nippon TV.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: All Topics, Japan, Media, MMA, PRIDE, Yakuza, Zach Arnold | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Are changes coming on New Year’s Eve?
By Zach Arnold | May 8, 2006
By Zach Arnold
The MMA wars (K-1 and PRIDE, with Inoki in 2003) have become a TV programming staple in Japan on New Year’s Eve since 2001. Tens of millions of dollars have been spent by the major networks (Tokyo Broadcasting System, Nippon TV, and Fuji TV) to compete with NHK’s Kohaku (Red & White Music Festival) program.
However, one major factor is starting to develop, which is the rise of the young (pre-20s) Kameda boxing brothers, who are starting to deliver major TV rating numbers for Tokyo Broadcasting System. Today, Daily Sports reports that there is interest in having a “Kameda Matsuri (Festival)” on New Year’s Eve. TBS has been the previous backer of the Kameda boxing shows, and would likely back this proposed event.
Such a proposed move would alter the landscape for MMA in Japan, especially on television. Several questions arise from this development:
- Would Tokyo Broadcasting System no longer air the K-1 Dynamite!! show and really replace it with the Kameda boxing brothers? And if so, does this mean that the TV networks are starting to lose interest in MMA as a flagship TV product?
- If K-1 does not have TBS as their home on New Year’s Eve, does this mean that they will transfer their New Year’s Eve show to Fuji TV? Or will PRIDE’s win in the rating wars last year force K-1 to find a new TV home (such as Nippon TV – the network embroiled in the current yakuza scandal from the disastrous 2003 Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye show – or TV-Asahi?)
- Because of the mounting pressure of the yakuza scandal from various media outlets on DSE/PRIDE, will PRIDE find itself as the lone man out of the New Year’s Eve wars?
Topics: All Topics, Japan, K-1, MMA, PRIDE, Zach Arnold | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Who will fall next?
By Zach Arnold | May 8, 2006
By Zach Arnold
Earlier this morning, reports surfaced that major members of the powerful Goto-gumi yakuza group were arrested. Just minutes ago, Nikkan Sports released a more detailed news article. The news outlet discusses, in passing, the influence of Goto-gumi on the fight game in Japan (something I alluded to on the message board). The nickname of the Goto-gumi group (a sub-unit of Yamaguchi-gumi, Japan’s largest crime syndicate) is the “economic yakuza.” Because of Goto-gumi’s ties to the fight game in Japan, it is expected that new details about the yakuza’s role in the Japanese fight business will be revealed soon.
Update: Gryphon notices this news, too.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: All Topics, Japan, Media, MMA, Yakuza, Zach Arnold | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
TV Ratings
By Zach Arnold | May 7, 2006
By Zach Arnold
There’s a wrestler in Puerto Rico named “Mr. Raytings” Ray Gonzalez. Now, meet Japan’s version of Mr. Ratings. 19-year old boxing star Koki Kameda, who’s May 5th fight was broadcasted on Tokyo Broadcasting System, drew a 40.8% QH peak rating according to Sports Navigator (Yahoo Japan). The overall average rating was a 33.0%.
The HERO’s 5/3 Tokyo, Yoyogi National Stadium Gym I show did a 14.5% average rating, with the high QH peak rating being a 20.5%. The PRIDE 5/5 Osaka Dome show drew a 17.6% average rating on Fuji TV (from 10 PM-12 AM), with a high QH rating of 22.9%.
According to a release on PRIDE’s HP, they claim that the following matches got the following ratings: Kohsaka vs. Hunt (17.8%), Fujita vs. Thompson (20.8%), Nogueira vs. Zulu (21.8%), Josh vs. Alexander (21.0%), and Yoshida vs. Nishijima (21.0%).
Topics: All Topics, Japan, Media, MMA, PRIDE, Zach Arnold | 5 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Dave “The Rockstar” Phillips Interview
By Mark Pickering | May 7, 2006
Dave Phillips is an exciting middleweight prospect who has amassed a 7-2 professional record in his native America since debuting in 2001. This week I caught up with “The Rockstarâ€.
Continue reading this article here…
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UFC’s “boxing” movement continues
By Zach Arnold | May 6, 2006
By Zach Arnold
Most people, by now, know that Dana White takes a lot of cues from boxing. It’s a positive on some levels, but unfortunately Zuffa’s latest move is not such a positive step if you’re an MMA fan. Boxing has, for the most part, relegated itself to a PPV-only product with exorbitant PPV prices of $40-50 a pop. Ivan Trembow reports that UFC’s PPVs will now be $40.
It’s one thing to strike while the market is hot, but it’s another thing to box your company into a position of being boxing lite on PPV. UFC shows are fun to watch, but is every show worth $40? We’ll find out, soon enough.
Topics: All Topics, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 3 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Gendai fires back at DSE
By Zach Arnold | May 5, 2006
By Zach Arnold
DSE President Nobuyuki Sakakibara responded with legal threats a couple of days ago in response to the long-term campaign of allegations made against him by Shukan Gendai in relation to yakuza influence. However, these new threats clearly have not deterred Kodansha (the publisher of Gendai) from their aggressive article series against DSE. The newest preview for the magazine lists the following teaser (in Japanese):
「ＰＲＩＤＥã€æš´åŠ›å›£ã‚ªãƒ¼ãƒŠãƒ¼ã«è±ªé‚¸ã‚’æä¾›ã™ã‚‹ä¸€éƒ¨ä¸Šå ´ã‚¹ãƒãƒ³ã‚µãƒ¼
In short, the focus will be on the alleged owner of PRIDE, Mr. I (Ishizaka), who Gendai has claimed is a major yakuza boss. The teaser refers to a “famous sponsor” who gave Mr. I a big house. I will post an article summary when the new magazine is made available to the public.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: All Topics, Japan, Media, MMA, PRIDE, Yakuza, Zach Arnold | 7 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Battle of Giants set in K-1
By Zach Arnold | May 5, 2006
By Zach Arnold
Digital Chosun reports that “Techno Goliath” Choi Hong-Man will face Semmy Schilt on June 3rd in Seoul, South Korea in the K-1 Asia Grand Prix tournament.
Update: An article in The Korea Times about the upcoming match.
Topics: All Topics, K-1, MMA, Zach Arnold | 3 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
PRIDE 5/5 Osaka Dome results
By Zach Arnold | May 5, 2006
By Zach Arnold
Click on the post link to read the show results.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: All Topics, Japan, MMA, PRIDE, Zach Arnold | 17 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
The IFL has new ownership
By Zach Arnold | May 4, 2006
By Zach Arnold
After a somewhat rocky debut on April 29th in Atlantic City, New Jersey, the IFL announced in a press release that the company has merged with Paligent Inc., a former biotech company. In short, the IFL is under new ownership before their first TV show (scheduled for May 21st on Fox Sports Net).
Topics: All Topics, IFL, MMA, Zach Arnold | 6 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Fight Opinion Radio: Episode 17 (Sakuraba leaves PRIDE)
By Zach Arnold | May 3, 2006
Kazushi Sakuraba & Akira Maeda (5/4/2006). Photo credit: Sports Navigator (Yahoo Japan).
This week’s one-hour show with Rob Sayers and Zach Arnold focuses on Kazushi Sakuraba’s departure from PRIDE to HERO’s. The original intent of this week’s show was to preview the PRIDE 5/5 Osaka Dome show, but Sakuraba’s departure clearly has overshadowed everything else taking place in the business. Is Kazushi Sakuraba the new version of Hulk Hogan? We take a historical look at famous jumps in the fight & wrestling industry. In addition, we have a full preview of the 5/5 Osaka Dome show and some of the problems DSE/PRIDE is facing as an organization.
The 17th edition of Fight Opinion Radio is now online and available to download. Here are your options for listening to the show:
Broadband (MP3) | Dial-up/Streaming
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: All Topics, Fight Opinion Radio, Japan, K-1, Media, MMA, podcasts, PRIDE, Rob Sayers, Zach Arnold | 9 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |