I’d expect more from a user name like yours.
They really didn’t care that much about the western audience in PRIDE either until the very end to save the product and secure a deal.
I like that PRIDE, DREAM and RIZIN did their own thing in that part of the world tbh.
RIZIN did have USA exposure through Bellator co-promotions etc. I think that’s a pretty good effort at least.
ONE isn’t nearly in the same league as the three above Japanese orgs on mma alone. It’s entertaining and has variety but RIZIN is much more polished and just better overall regional or not.
Definitely a reason RIZIN sells tickets, people pay for it and ONE gives out their tickets and had to take a last resort deal worth half the previous deal with Amazon.
Dead on the nail with the part about PRIDE not really being for anyone outside of Japan. They weren't looking to compete with anyone, necessarily (maybe they were once Dana and Co. took over the UFC, but not in 1997; originally PRIDE was going to be a one off, like ASTRA or some shit), they simply got a fanbase from overseas bc they happened to have the money to sign fighters with names, where even the UFC couldn't really pay anyone anything worthwhile at the time. When the name fighters started signing with them, the Western crowd just followed them there, organically. It was really just to make the product interesting for the Japanese crowd, which is historically fond of international competition and watching their guys battle the best of the best from outside of Japan. Later you saw baby steps, like "PRIDE FC 'FUCK YOU, WE SOCCER KICK'" hour on FOX Sports, but, as you said, they didn't really care about the West until they lost their TV deal at home.
RIZIN playing the long game with the world crowd. We're not making or breaking anything, the home crowd is. I expect that, should they expand, it will be calculated, as we have already seen. Maybe the Floyd/Manny fight, if it happens, bc that fight will draw eyes, no matter what banner it is under, and from everywhere, and especially from a place which I believe is in Japan's timezone, or like one over. RIZIN would do well to focus on foreign places closer to home before worrying about the West. If they make that Floyd/Manny rematch, SE Asia is going to watch (ONE territory). The Philippines will probably shut the entire country down for the day. Getting those people, the ones on their own side of the world, to pay attention, it will benefit them more than worrying about people in the West.
