Recent fights/results/news from Japan II

I have been binge watching K-1 Max tournaments for nostalgia's sake, and my goodness. The number of
robberies Masato got away with is just ridiculous.

Just obvious ones:
Gifted a decision in the first Zambidis fight (2003).
Gifted an extra round in the first Buakaw's fight (2004).
Protected by the ref against Kid (2004).
Gifted a decision gainst Zambidis (2005)
Robbed Sato and Kyshenko in the same night (2008) (Judges refused to deduct a point for knock down)

And I totally forgot the obsession of Masato and K-1 producers in trying to prove their superiority against boxing.
Matching Masato against one shot boxer after another, then Masato kept on calling out a boxing fight
in Las Vegas against Oscar De Lahoya.

Crazy years of kickboxing.
 
I have been binge watching K-1 Max tournaments for nostalgia's sake, and my goodness. The number of
robberies Masato got away with is just ridiculous.

Just obvious ones:
Gifted a decision in the first Zambidis fight (2003).
Gifted an extra round in the first Buakaw's fight (2004).
Protected by the ref against Kid (2004).
Gifted a decision gainst Zambidis (2005)
Robbed Sato and Kyshenko in the same night (2008) (Judges refused to deduct a point for knock down)

And I totally forgot the obsession of Masato and K-1 producers in trying to prove their superiority against boxing.
Matching Masato against one shot boxer after another, then Masato kept on calling out a boxing fight
in Las Vegas against Oscar De Lahoya.

Crazy years of kickboxing.

Japanese gotta Japanese.

It's been the same in Kyokushin tournaments in Japan for a long time. A lot of time the Japanese fighters get easier routes to the finals by being seeded against weaker opponents, or if there's 2 strong Japanese fighters the organisers make sure that they're as far from each other as possible in the seeds so that they can only meet in the finals, and the amount of bended hometown decisions is insane. I mean I even remember one of the UK team coaches saying to the UK fighters going to fight in Japan: "you'll never win a decision in Japan against the Japanese, so better go for the KO or you won't win."
 
I actually have been thinking about the economics of Japanese fight sports promotions lately.
Because Japan is such a large economy, they never really need to rely on promoting their events abroad.
All of their promotions are home based (Boxing, K-1, Pride/post-pride MMA) and just need to get Japanese people
to buy the tickets or watch their events at home.
So they do what make sense to them, getting the Japanese stars either easy or most marketable fights, whether it is
boxing, K-1 or Pride, then rinse and repeat.

The result is that once these promotions die, Japanese fighters then perform so poorly abroad that it is kind of sad.
They are used to having home-town advantage that the challenges of 1. jet lag 2. unfavorable match up 3. unbiased judges/refs
result in them losing fights after fights. (This is super obvious in UFC).

I mean we as a fan rarely think about it, but it is kind of crazy to fly from the US or Europe a few days before,
then go fight in Saitama Super Arena lol. One of Tenshin's opponents was actually featured in Japan's TV show
and dude was doing sightseeing and chill before days before fight.
 
I actually have been thinking about the economics of Japanese fight sports promotions lately.
Because Japan is such a large economy, they never really need to rely on promoting their events abroad.
All of their promotions are home based (Boxing, K-1, Pride/post-pride MMA) and just need to get Japanese people
to buy the tickets or watch their events at home.
So they do what make sense to them, getting the Japanese stars either easy or most marketable fights, whether it is
boxing, K-1 or Pride, then rinse and repeat.

The result is that once these promotions die, Japanese fighters then perform so poorly abroad that it is kind of sad.
They are used to having home-town advantage that the challenges of 1. jet lag 2. unfavorable match up 3. unbiased judges/refs
result in them losing fights after fights. (This is super obvious in UFC).

I mean we as a fan rarely think about it, but it is kind of crazy to fly from the US or Europe a few days before,
then go fight in Saitama Super Arena lol. One of Tenshin's opponents was actually featured in Japan's TV show
and dude was doing sightseeing and chill before days before fight.
What Japanese star came into the UFC at his peak other then Mach, Horiguchi, and Okami? I'm not saying you're wrong but guys like Gomi and Kid were on the down swing of their careers when they came to the UFC. Then there is guys like Akiyama who started late and fought in the wrong weightclass.
 
Akiyama was still pretty much in his prime when he came to the UFC. He actually started at heavyweight/light hw.
Apart from the Belfort's fight, Akiyama's defeat was all the result of poor fight IQ
e.g. not using his judo in Jake Shields fight or not managing his stamina well against Leben.
Akihiro Gono was also in his prime when he came to the UFC.
Sakurai was obviously in his prime.
Hatsu Hioki was in his prime and was touted as the man to beat Jose Aldo.

I think you miss my point that I am talking about Japanese fighters that used to fight in top Japanese promotions.
Not fighters who have obviously been accustomed to fighting abroad like Okami or newer generation talents
based abroad like Horiguchi.
 
I would love to see a sparring footage even less than a minute.

Wonder how well Takeru did.
 
I just realised that RISE just made up a new FW belt for Tenshin in this Rodtung's fight.
I suppose it is only a matter of time before he becomes three-weight world champ like Takeru.

This is going to be Mayweather VS Pacquaio of kickboxing, isn't it? Inb4 both finally fight each other in
their 40s 2 decades from now.
 
I meant Takeru's style sparring...if you know what I mean...
 
What is the situation between Tenshin VS Takeru anyway?
I mean both are now being heavily promoted by AbemaTV with Tenshin getting his own TV show,
being involved in pro wrestling storyline, etc.

I don't think they are even paid that much compared to UFC fighters/boxers, just make this fight happen
for christ's sake.
 
K-1 apparently sued Rizin/Tenshin for calling out Tenshin so often.


So probably not anywhere near close to being done. Rizin needs Takeru more, than K1 needs Tenshin. Good thing they are still young.
 
Souwer will fight Gomi under Rizin mma rule on July 29th.

Gomi is on 6 fight losing streak, all of them by finish.
 
1 week to go.

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