Nippon Joho: Japanese MMA and the Market Dilemma

Honestly, why care about my solutions? Last time I tried to give opinions I saw my name surfing around the Sherdog.net forums with people demanding my head and asking Sherdog.com editor Josh Gross what he was smoking when he decided to hire me. But I say this: Why bother writing this if I’m not going to give my opinions right?

So without further ado, here is my list of points to help improve your Japanese promotion:

1) Stop overusing Grand Prix tournaments

I love tournaments. MMA fans love tournaments. But not one every year, and especially not two or three, please.

2) Champions should not be included in Grand Prix tournaments

Most likely you’re going to ignore my first point, but at least take into consideration not using division champions as regular participants in tournaments. Instead give the winner a title match against the champion.

3) Quality over quantity

I love how promotions give the local talent shots to the big events, but I would also love to see the best local fighters going head-to-head against similar foreign fighters and have a chance to win, rather than being fodder for improving a foreign fighter’s record.

4) Promotions are the mirror of the local talent

I almost fell from my chair while reading the Sherdog forums and how some “fans” were calling Kazuo Misaki (Pictures) a “can” or calling for Yuki Kondo (Pictures)’s retirement after the last results from Bushido 10.

What PRIDE fails to realize is how badly they affect the image of the Japanese fighters when they place them in impossible tasks such as the match between Misaki and Henderson.

While Misaki is far from being a “can” I need to agree with the fact that I also didn’t understand the logic behind this match. Misaki didn’t win and he will be remembered as a “can” for the majority of the international fans based solely on the fact that he couldn’t defeat a well-established fighter like Henderson.

The irony is that back in 2004, when the same Misaki fought and beat Jorge Patino (Pictures) at Bushido 3, international fans called the bout a possible “fight of the year” candidate. And many others were left wondering when the amazing Misaki was going to fight again in PRIDE again.

Go figure.

5) Top stars need to fight top contenders from time to time

Like I’ve said before, I love to see top fighters take on easy fights from time to time. But when this concept is overused the value of these very same fighters is lost. HERO’s needs to learn from PRIDE and place their top guys against real competition from time to time, instead of the latest trend of kickboxers or rookie fighters — and yes I understand it helps TV ratings to make them look good, but there are always limits.

6) Smart matchmaking

I touched on this point before, but just for the record 2000 is long gone. While skills and heart are necessary, it’s also important to realize that size and weight are playing a big factor in MMA, especially with today’s fighters, who are well rounded in all aspects of the game. So, please, no more open-weight matches or Japanese fighters overcoming difficult tasks.

7) It’s smart to promote your fighters

Hopefully PRIDE is going to take a page out of K-1/HERO’s book and start promoting their stars as something besides fighters. With PRIDE President Nobuyuki Sakakibara expressing interest in showing Bushido events the same day on primetime TV broadcasts, it’s important for the DSE office to start using strategies similar to K-1 MAX and HERO’s to promote their shows.

8) Local champions are important

HERO’s showed us the kind of impact a local champion like “Kid” Yamamoto and a handful of Japanese contenders can have in establishing your promotion with the Japanese media and fans.

While Japanese promoters like to present their shows as truly international spectacles, it’s also important to remember that their home base is Japan and the fans need a local champion to root for against the evil foreign hordes.

9) Leave the politics backstage

While this is most likely a pipedream rather than reality, it’s still obvious that big promotions like to play the “Promotion vs. Promotion” angle. Fine examples are Tatsuya Kawajiri (Pictures) and Yuki Kondo (Pictures)’s roles inside PRIDE. These two are always playing the role of “champions from another promotion” because Kondo represents Pancrase and Kawajiri represents SHOOTO. This in fact is correct. But PRIDE should realize they also need Pancrase and SHOOTO fighters, especially for the Bushido series, if they want to continue having Japanese talent to fight for them.

10) Listen to what fans want, not what you think fans want

Japanese fans love the sport, but they also need heroes to cheer for. This has proven especially difficult in PRIDE, where all local talent has been thrown in right away against top foreign fighters. On the other side, K-1 HERO’s loves to present their local fighters as unstoppable because they don’t really fight top contenders every time.

Obviously fans want to see the local guys fight top foreigners. They will root for them whether they win or lose. But don’t insult them by offering false hopes about a small guy beating the big guy, or promoting a bout as the ultimate display of Samurai spirit like pointless matches between Minowa-Filipovic. It’s easier to promote matches that fighters can actually win instead of leaving everything to “What if?”.