Why has the UFC not been more interested in the Japanese market?

Since the purchase of Pride they have only held 3 events there. I'm aware that pretty much every major MMA org based out of Japan has gone under, but regardless there still seems to be a huge market there. Pride routinely promoted events that dwarfed the UFC's average attendance.

They hold events in Brazil, the UK, and Canada at least a few times a year as these are obviously huge markets. I don't see why Japan wouldn't be up there as a priority.

I know some will point to the lack of marketable Asian fighters, but if you look at Prides biggest events, they weren't headlined by Asian fighters.


Thoughts?

 

80 BAZILLION PEOPLE IN SAITAMA ARENA is a myth pushed around by new fans who like to act like PRIDE sold 90million PPV's and had arenas so full people had to stand out in the parking lot

 

It isn't the early 2000's any more. The market in Japan has stagnated.

 

because the crowd is fucken boring to death.

 

Combat sports as a whole--not just MMA--have been on the downturn in Japan. K-1, which was a bigger fight promotion than PRIDE, died and they don't have the Yakuza excuse that PRIDE had in regards to their demise.

Even Sumo, one of the traditional combat sports of Japan, is dying and/or is dead.

So why should the UFC focus on a country which isn't all that interested in combat sports, let alone MMA, anymore?

 

total fucking world fucking domination you goof

 

They are trying to introduce new markets to MMA. Japan has been exposed to the sport.

Do you see the Japanese demanding the UFC hold an event there? No demand, no supply.

The UFC grows by introducing new fans to the product. A very small percentage of fans that have watched the UFC for at least 5 years sustain their interest.

 

this.

Also, I think japanese MMA fans never liked UFC format and the production style

 

Japan is a country with many "fads" that come and go much more quickly then other countries. MMA was just one of them, doesn't help there's been no real upcoming Japanese fighters in UFC.

Entertainment wise MMA could be popular again in Japan but a very strict sport oriented MMA we have here doesn't translate well into their culture for some odd reason. Japanese people like Japanese people kicking ass (Sakuraba) and crazy freakshow matchups, 2 things the UFC doesn't have.

 

Actually, hes right...they did dwarf UFC attendance. And Pride didnt sell PPVs. They were on network TV. Hence their demise when the Yakuza scandal surfaced.

 

Not having a really good TV deal hurts.

 

Lol
91,107Pride Shockwave

UFC highest Rated Attendances, UFC 129 - 55K.

Pride beat that on Three seperate Occasions.

 

Because you HAVE to buy into the Yakuza and that is a stick situation to say the least.

 

MMA in Japan vs. MMA everywhere else in the world is viewed totally different. I'll point them out here and you'll see why the UFC doesn't run events in Japan on the regular.

-In Japan, MMA was treated as a spectacle more than a than an actual sport. Professional wrestling was treated more as an actual sport than MMA was. That's why you saw all the professional wrestling like "storylines" for certain fighters[Rampage was a bum living in a van on the streets of Japan who they'd drag out and have fight for example]. Even the production value of Pride FC was more along the lines of professional wrestling ala WWE than traditional sport. Big opening ceremony, fighter introduction, even Lenne Hardt with her over the top fighter introductions are a stark contrast to the "normal" Bruce Buffer introduction.

-Combat sports events are heavily influenced by the Yakuza. If you want to run anything combat sports related in Japan, you have to deal with the Yakuza, because a lot of the stadiums, arenas, and halls in Japan are in some way involved with the Yakuza on some level. Even the famed Kouraken Hall has Yakuza ties.

-Japan has no athletic commissions that govern combat sports at all. So the UFC has to bring their own people, who will do their own testing, and that costs extra money to put on a show along with doing independent testing.

-It's very hard for MMA to get on TV in Japan due to the fallout with Pride FC and the TV stations over there in Japan. A lot of stations lost a lot of money when Pride FC and its parent company DREAMSTAGE were outed as a Yakuza front. So MMA isn't a "Safe bet" in Japan like it is in many parts of the world, even markets that the UFC is just now getting into.

-Lack of Japanese fighters that are doing well. In Pride FC days, even though there weren't many Japanese fighters at the top of the ladder, you still had guys like Sakuraba, Gomi, Kid Yamamoto, and Shinya Aoki putting on competitive fights. Now, MMA has evolved to a point where it is extremely unlikely for a Japanese fighter to be competitive against an American counterpart. Japanese fans do not want to see Japanese fighters get constantly destroyed by American fighters.

 

I watch MMA for the crowds

 

Only combat sport doing really well in Japan nowadays is boxing. MMA isn't as big as it used to be.

 

You are an idiot. lol

Japanese crowds are the best in the world. EAAAASY!!

No drunken morons booing. Respecting fighters and the fights they watch.

 

Good thread TS

 

As others have mentioned, the whole Yakuza situation really prevented them from entering the market. If my memory serves me correctly, I believe the UFC had mentioned plans to maintain PRIDE simply because of the huge revenues it would have brought in, but, when the TV deal soured, they had no choice but to pull out.

Now, the Japanese market for MMA is much, much smaller. They have a different appetite for the sport than we do; they tend to prefer freak show fights, and superfights. These cannot happen all the time for obvious reasons. They also really like Japanese stars, which we haven't really seen shine in the Octagon.

 

You look pretty stupid here.