Published on various sites, November 2010
It is not looking good.
With the Japanese businessmen and executives so camera shy during times of trouble, one sometimes has to turn to twitter, unreliable sites and the rumour mill. And concerning the failing PUJI deal – in which the Chinese investment bank were to find FEG investors to pump money through their ailing Dream (MMA) and K-1 (muay-thai boxing derivative) promotions, there seems to be no happy ending in sight for a promoter that smart money says will not be in existence long into the New Year.
Mike Kogan is playing the semantics game. No, PUJI never intended to simply pump £200million through FEG. Yes, they were just to find investors. No, they haven’t been able to do so, as yet. Yes, Dynamite is still on Tokyo Broadcasting Systems on New Years Eve. No, FEG aren’t looking for buyers.
This is as good as a death knell. The swirling rumour mill insists that certain potential investors backed out of any cash injection after being unable to find common ground with FEG management, and that any and all suggestions of change were “resisted” by the Japanese organisation.
If Dynamite is the end, where will this leave the flagging fightsports scene in the Land of the Rising Sun?
In MMA: the only hope we realistically had was Sengoku. The orgs execs publicly released statements claiming that they “would let Dream destroy itself”, thus becoming the #1 org in JMMA by doing absolutely nothing, simply allowing their rivals to be crushed under their own weight. While that may sound promising, it is far too late.
Sengoku WERE an ambitious, young and promising org once, but since 2008 they have lost a ridiculous amount of talent; both to Dream, and to international orgs that can afford to pay higher purses. At heavyweight, they once boasted Japanese Olympic heroes Hidehiko Yoshida and Satoshi Ishii, top ranked Pride veteran and UFC champion Josh Barnett, and another UFC champ in Kevin Randleman. Beyond that, they had the talented lightweight Satoru Kitaoka as their inaugural champ, they had featherweight standout Hatsu Hioki, rising star Michihiro Omigawa, and future Strikeforce Light-Heavyweight champion “King” Mo Lawal. They lost the services of ALL…. and many more besides. Dream snapped up some of their best talent, and they were condemned to putting on lower key shows and belonging strictly to the B-level.
Can Sengoku enjoy a turnaround, if Dream go? Who knows. My guess is that international talent will follow the superstar alumni of PrideFC, and go to the United States of America. SRC will snap up the remaining Japanese talent, but struggle with the current Japanese economy and the apparently faded public interest in fightsports.
Beyond that, DEEP are looking to step up their game, by venturing out to China. The last time Japanese warriors fought on Chinese soil, Nanking was destroyed, and the Chinese had to move their capital to Peking (Beijing). This time, hopefully it will be the beginning of a push for prominence from DEEP, who have been in the shadows for a long, long time.
As for K-1…. therein lies the REAL tragedy of this tale. Now, as a European, I know full well that thai-boxing (I refuse to use the American term “kick” for Full Contact Karate) will never die out. It is too popular in Holland and northern Europe, too popular in East Asia, and reasonably popular in England, the UK, the Americas, so on and so forth. But K-1, an org that allowed practitioners of all striking martial arts to compete to be the best standup fighter in the world…. it transcended martial arts, dojos, belt ranks, style vs style… it has a religious cult following, and to some it is a sport of its own.
How can that be replaced?
The answer: it cannot.
It's Showtime event: featuring K-1 big guns Schilt, Hari, Manhoef, Saki, Zimmerman, Souwer & Spong
Amsterdam might be the best means of filling the unbearable void left in fightsports, if K-1 goes. Even though the city is reportedly run by criminals, and thai-boxing shows are of course predictably linked to criminal activity and shady characters, it still represents the best hope should the local scene be able to overcome these issues and transcend itself. And why not? Dutch Muay Thai is as popular as football there.
It’s Showtime is an organisation that any fan of standup fighting should know and love. Any org that hosts Semmy Schilt vs Badr Hari to decide its first World Heavyweight Champion is either going to be huge, or be a bright star that burns out fast. Better yet, unlike K-1 it has multiple weight categories, giving a chance to fighters who cannot make 155lbs for K-1 MAX but who are too small to reach the top in K-1 itself. It has a 95kg category, called 95MAX for the Light-Heavyweights. None other than Melvin Manhoef is the World 85MAX champion. There are also divisions for 77kg, 70kg, 65kg and 61kg fighters, which should make for a very, very deep talent pool. This will allow for the very best standup fighters at a variety of weights to compete for this org. It’s Showtime could well be the future – and I hope they are.
This is not an optimistic piece. Believe me; if I had my way, I wouldn’t be writing it. For all their faults, FEG put on entertaining events with Dream, and Hero’s prior to that. And as for K-1, there is nothing like Dynamite. The World Grand Prix is damn hard to beat. The promotion hosts amazing fighters and fights. It will be tragic to lose it.
Pray that either PUJI somehow manage to come through, or that FEG can sell to someone interested in keeping K-1 – at the least – going. If not, we’re praying for the resurgence of Sengoku, Deep and Pancrase on one hand, and the emergence of It’s Showtime on the other. I know what I’d prefer.
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