What's the reasoning behind Kai Asakura title shot?

[Rhood]

Was this designed to make Rizin look bad?
Rizin is basically below Bellator, which is below the PFL.

Pantoja is basically putting his belt on the line against a fighter that should've been selected for the Contender series.
I still can't figure out why he's getting an instant title shot after fighting in a C-Level organization against C-Level competition.

Can anyone explain the Asakura hype?

 

[CobraCobretti]

Asakura got fucked up by Manuel Kape, who won't touch the gold ever. Asakura's biggest wins are Kape, Ougibogo and Horiguchi but all of them beat him in the remaches, decisively.

 

[Red Lantern]

Kai is a popular fighter. UFC wanna get the Asian market.

Rizin is basically below Bellator, which is below the PFL.

You cant judge it as a whole like that. It should be per division. Rizin FLyweight is good. They have Horiguchi, Kape is from there too. Look at Bellator, they may be bad as a whole but their welterweight have some fighters I think would be top 10 in UFC like Magomed Umalatov, Shamil Musaev.

ACA has some great 155 fighters like Eduard Vartanyan. Too bad UFC fucked him over even though he declined the biggest contract in ACA history just to negotiate with UFC.

 

[RockyLockridge]

Umm Japan has better small fighters than other weight classes so even though Ryzen and bellator are below pfl in small fighters and small female fighters Japan excels

 

[Trabaho]

Why not. It's 125. People won't think Rizin is better. At 125 you can give a debuting title shot. 125 is the least important division.

 

[SuperAlly]

Why not. It's 125. People won't think Rizin is better. At 125 you can give a debuting title shot. 125 is the least important division.

For the men perhaps

 

[Doctor Grudge]

Because he's one of the most popular fighters in the world. Pretty obvious.




And Bellator is not "below" PFL unless you somehow mean that PFL is its parent company. Bellator beat PFL in their crossover just like it did Rizin.



The UFC doesn't care about making Rizin look bad. Most MMA promotions don't care about each other.


No Rizin champion is going on the contender series. Champions from large orgs do not go on the contender series, the UFC has to offer them big contracts to poach them. I don't think you understand what the contender series is, or how MMA booking works.

 

[Trabaho]

For the men perhaps

I think Valentina is tons more.interesting than Pantoja. Also the new Brock Lesnar Chick from PFL. Kayla Harrison.

 

[NoSmilez]

They don't have many contenders. Asakura is exciting and he has a huge youtube following. He is a stand and bang guy and if he wins then the promotion can get back into Japan. Personally I think he has holes in his TDD and grappling. He has been working on it but it might not be enough time.

 

[MMAProfessional]

Was this designed to make Rizin look bad?
Rizin is basically below Bellator, which is below the PFL.

Pantoja is basically putting his belt on the line against a fighter that should've been selected for the Contender series.
I still can't figure out why he's getting an instant title shot after fighting in a C-Level organization against C-Level competition.

Can anyone explain the Asakura hype?

Rematches and Asakura has like 2mill youtube followers and is a finisher.

 

[uled]

Was this designed to make Rizin look bad?
Rizin is basically below Bellator, which is below the PFL.

Pantoja is basically putting his belt on the line against a fighter that should've been selected for the Contender series.
I still can't figure out why he's getting an instant title shot after fighting in a C-Level organization against C-Level competition.

Can anyone explain the Asakura hype?

Ufc to Japan if he will win.

 

[SuperAlly]

I think Valentina is tons more.interesting than Pantoja. Also the new Brock Lesnar Chick from PFL. Kayla Harrison.

1 fighter each in a division who is interested to you doesn't mean those divisions are more interesting that men's 125 though

And Nunes old divisions don't even count as "divisions". One has like 2 or 3 worthwhile fighters maybe, and the other one zero.

 

[Trabaho]

1 fighter each in a division who is interested to you doesn't mean those divisions are more interesting that men's 125 though

And Nunes old divisions don't even count as "divisions". One has like 2 or 3 worthwhile fighters maybe, and the other one zero

I only know Brandon and Pantoja from 1
25. 125 womens is essentially wmma. 125 135. Had a lot of stars.

 

[Tweak896]

FLW is desperate for new blood. This decision makes all the sense in the world. UFC probably rather had Kape win and put him in, but now they are digging deep for someone to fight Pantoja. This division needs new players in it and soon.