Rizin garnered some traction, peaked at 10.3% on FujiTV during Tenshin vs Fujita

[DrGlaze]

He's with a good grappling team (same gym as Kanna Asakura, Nobita Naito, Hiromasa Ogikubo and others), problem is he only trains it when he has a MMA fight coming up. He has also been training it for less than a year. Little to no chance he goes stateside when he's fighting back in Japan every month. ATT is the only western team I'd be interested in seeing him with anyways, a bunch of Japanese guys have gone to TAM and made little to no improvements in their game. ATT seems much better at getting strikers to pick up defensive wrestling skills (just look at Horiguchi's improvements since training there)

True, TAM is better at teaching wrestlers to strike than vice versa. Hopefully he fully commits to MMA at some point in the future.

 

[MiroHa]

I really hope it gains traction and eventually becomes Pride 2.0. Right now the presentation and feel is there but the talent is not. They need to bring in a bunch more gaijins who have name value and/or are considered credible.

Why would they do that when it's going to make them lose money?

 

[TeenageMutantLesnarTurtle]

?

 

[MiroHa]

?

So many organizations have been labeled as the next Pride or Pride 2.0 that it's basically a joke or even considered bad luck to say that nowadays.

 

[lukeuidswords]

This. Those grappling exchanges were fun and all, but a great wrestler is going to eat his lunch. Get him to TAM or something. They need to try and build more stars in the meantime. I think Jiri and Aliakbari could be a big stars over there.

Zero chance Jiri or Aliakbari ever break out as stars like Tenshin and RENA will (and have). Foreigners don't shift coin in Japan like natives do, save a very small number of exceptions.

 

[skylolow]

I really wish they'd get some type of US TV deal.

You can't tell me they make much money off the stream. I won't doubt if they break even at best.

You'd think any US TV deal would be worth more. Someone like AXS, NBCsports,CBSsports, or whatever random channel would be willing to pay a little for some MMA content. Even if its just 50K an event(really cheap for what would be a good 3hrs content) with like a couple optional rebroadcasts at lower rate would be better than nothing. Maybe overtime it parlays into something bigger, anything is better then a streaming option for someone in there position.

 

[leto1776]

I really wish they'd get some type of US TV deal.

You can't tell me they make much money off the stream. I won't doubt if they break even at best.

You'd think any US TV deal would be worth more. Someone like AXS, NBCsports,CBSsports, or whatever random channel would be willing to pay a little for some MMA content. Even if its just 50K an event(really cheap for what would be a good 3hrs content) with like a couple optional rebroadcasts at lower rate would be better than nothing. Maybe overtime it parlays into something bigger, anything is better then a streaming option for someone in there position.

Streaming could be their method of testing the waters. They may look at how many pay for the stream, then estimate how many more would watch if it were free, or on tv.

 

[Edwin]

I really wish they'd get some type of US TV deal.

You can't tell me they make much money off the stream. I won't doubt if they break even at best.

I highly doubt you'll get anyone to debate this as it's obvious that streaming isn't a priority and what little they can make off their stream would be considered a bonus...

 

[JohnMandick]

I really enjoyed the event. There is always craziness in JMMA.

Problem is that Japanese fighters (generally) can't compete with the rest of the world, and they seem to only really support their own.

 

[tinobar]

not terrible

 

[UhHuhSure]

He's with a good grappling team (same gym as Kanna Asakura, Nobita Naito, Hiromasa Ogikubo and others), problem is he only trains it when he has a MMA fight coming up. He has also been training it for less than a year. Little to no chance he goes stateside when he's fighting back in Japan every month. ATT is the only western team I'd be interested in seeing him with anyways, a bunch of Japanese guys have gone to TAM and made little to no improvements in their game. ATT seems much better at getting strikers to pick up defensive wrestling skills (just look at Horiguchi's improvements since training there)

He showed some good scrambles and abilities off his back. His TDD could use some work.

Thought Japan had a strong amateur wrestling pedigree in the lower weight classes. Dont think the US would be a good move for him considering where he fights.

 

[InfinityLens]

I really enjoyed the event. There is always craziness in JMMA.

Problem is that Japanese fighters (generally) can't compete with the rest of the world, and they seem to only really support their own.

They should get the highest ranked Japanese prospect in various divisions and put them up against increasing competition.

 

[leto1776]

I really enjoyed the event. There is always craziness in JMMA.

Problem is that Japanese fighters (generally) can't compete with the rest of the world, and they seem to only really support their own.

I know, it's weird, right? It's like people prefer to see and cheer for their own.

 

[GranNaniwa]

I know, it's weird, right? It's like people prefer to see and cheer for their own.

Except K-1 was built almost entirely on foreign stars, so was RINGS, and many of Pride's biggest stars in Japan were also foreigners. Japanese promotions have always created foreign stars, it's been that way since the first Pancrase. Even Tenshin Nasukawa became famous because he started beating Thais in Knock Out. The Japanese fans love nothing more than to see their local fighters compete against strong foreigners, so there's always a need to build up foreign stars. When Takada put up a good showing against Rickson it did much more for him than if he would have beaten some Japanese fighter. That's the reason why Pride had their biggest Japanese draw fight pretty much only foreigners.

 

[JohnMandick]

I know, it's weird, right? It's like people prefer to see and cheer for their own.

I don't. Thus my love for JMMA.

I don't care where someone is from at all.

 

[leto1776]

Except K-1 was built almost entirely on foreign stars, so was RINGS, and many of Pride's biggest stars in Japan were also foreigners. Japanese promotions have always created foreign stars, it's been that way since the first Pancrase. Even Tenshin Nasukawa became famous because he started beating Thais in Knock Out. The Japanese fans love nothing more than to see their local fighters compete against strong foreigners, so there's always a need to build up foreign stars. When Takada put up a good showing against Rickson it did much more for him than if he would have beaten some Japanese fighter. That's the reason why Pride had their biggest Japanese draw fight pretty much only foreigners.

K-1 didn't have any decent Japanese fighters besides Masato and Musashi. If they could have had more Japanese stars, they would have.

The biggest stars have always been Japanese, though, and they tried to help Japanese fighters as much as possible.

Ah ha. You're about to make my point for me.

It's about the Japanese fighters taking on (and hopefully defeating) the foreign fighters. They want to see "their guy" beat the "other guy." Us versus them. They may cheer on foreign fighters, but the homegrown guys will always be more popular. Who fought for the inaugural Pride middleweight title? Sakuraba (Japanese) vs Silva. Who were Silva's first two title defenses against? Japanese fighters. When the UFC goes to Brazil, you can pretty much guarantee every fight will be Brazilian vs foreigner, or Brazilian vs. Brazilian. People prefer to cheer for their own. They prefer to cheer for the familiar.

I don't. Thus my love for JMMA.

I don't care where someone is from at all.

Hardcore fans are not the norm.

 

[GranNaniwa]

K-1 didn't have any decent Japanese fighters besides Masato and Musashi. If they could have had more Japanese stars, they would have.

The biggest stars have always been Japanese, though, and they tried to help Japanese fighters as much as possible.

Ah ha. You're about to make my point for me.

It's about the Japanese fighters taking on (and hopefully defeating) the foreign fighters. They want to see "their guy" beat the "other guy." Us versus them. They may cheer on foreign fighters, but the homegrown guys will always be more popular. Who fought for the inaugural Pride middleweight title? Sakuraba (Japanese) vs Silva. Who were Silva's first two title defenses against? Japanese fighters. When the UFC goes to Brazil, you can pretty much guarantee every fight will be Brazilian vs foreigner, or Brazilian vs. Brazilian. People prefer to cheer for their own. They prefer to cheer for the familiar.


Hardcore fans are not the norm.

If K-1 could have made more Japanese stars they would have, but the point is that they didn't have to. K-1 became the most popular fighting organization in Japan based primarily on the selling power of their foreign stars. Masato and Musashi were certainly never bigger stars in Japan than Andy Hug and Bob Sapp.

Now look at Pride FC 1, only half the matches had a Japanese fighter in them. And Pride FC 2 had all foreign main and co-main events. The most watched fight of all time in Japan was Bob Sapp vs Akebono, 2 foreign stars. Half the nation tuned in for that one, not just the hardcore fans. I agree with you that it's important for any fighting organization to have local stars, but at least in Japan all of the popular fighting organizations were built largely on the marketability of their foreign stars.

 

[manboy<3]

If K-1 could have made more Japanese stars they would have, but the point is that they didn't have to. K-1 became the most popular fighting organization in Japan based primarily on the selling power of their foreign stars. Masato and Musashi were certainly never bigger stars in Japan than Andy Hug and Bob Sapp.

Now look at Pride FC 1, only half the matches had a Japanese fighter in them. And Pride FC 2 had all foreign main and co-main events. The most watched fight of all time in Japan was Bob Sapp vs Akebono, 2 foreign stars. Half the nation tuned in for that one, not just the hardcore fans. I agree with you that it's important for any fighting organization to have local stars, but at least in Japan all of the popular fighting organizations were built largely on the marketability of their foreign stars.

Akebono was not some foreigner he was a local Celebrity way before getting into MMA

Same with Ologun

Both guys are celebrities that did MMA/Kickboxing and not were not Elite level fighters


The only real all foreigner match up in Japan that did good ratings was Sapp vs Lebanner but Bob Sapp was a once in several decades sensation and was a celebreity and not an elite level fighter

90% of the top viewed matches had either a Japanese fighter fighter or someone who was a celebrety and not an Elite fighters

Look at the TV ratings for fights between two elite foreigners in MMA/Kickboxing and compare it to the ratings for Japanese/Celebrety fights and you will see that the interest in watching elite foreign fighters fight is just not there

It is the same in the UFC. English speakers typically dominate the PPV records

 

[Jay_Winter]

Slow and steady isn't bad. As long as they can keep building and building, establishing a larger and more steady niche incrementally, the field should open up naturally.

MMA is in, or seems to be heading towards, a bit of a lull. There's no grand, romantic narrative to grip the imagination of those all important masses like the pro wrestlers going after the nigh mythical Rickson. The big money is in the US organizations. So, they might as well build up appealing homegrown talent.

 

[KOskater]

According to a Japanese user on /r/MMA (/u/hachimitsukasutera)

"Also Fukuoka TV channel TNC, which is the Fuji TV affiliate in Fukuoka Kyushu where the event was held, had a even higher peak rating of 12.5% for the Tenshin fight.

The same TV network had an average rating of 9% (more than the 7.1% reported in Kanto).

So it seems the rumours that the show did very well locally were true."

is RIZING over ?