I had a fun time at the Saitama Super Arena on New Years Eve. Have you guys seen the videos I shot backstage at PRIDE Shockwave 2? It must be fun to see what the fighters say after the fight. So check ’em out at the Sherdog video page, backstage pass section. You might read fighters' minds through what they say. Enjoy!
What is Minowa?
Who’s the expert? Let’s start with this guy Ikuhisa Minowa. (He’s got more than 50 fights in his career. He’s an expert.) Yes, I wanna talk about the first bout of the night. This man Minowa, he’s just fun to watch. I just can’t take my eyes off of this red Speedo trunks, man! Everything he says doesn’t necessarily make sense. The way he fights is unorthodox. People say Genki Sudo’s fight style is completely unorthodox, but Genki intends to act like an unorthodox fighter.
How about this man Minowa?
I think Minowa is naturally unorthodox. He’s not acting. He doesn’t even look Japanese. Did you see he just somersaulted in the middle of the ring and tried to shoot a single-leg, double-leg, or maybe triple-leg? And he ended up hitting the rope and bouncing back in the ring. Luckily he got Stefan Leko’s leg so that he could finish the fight. But, I thought, he jumped into Hell.
I asked Minowa if that was the strategy against a puncher like Leko, because he was saying that he aware of Leko’s right hand a lot. “That was the strategy not for striker," Minowa answered, "but that is for taller opponent. I used that technique once in Pancrase when I fought Semmy Schilt. I took him down with that technique.”
Wow, he fought Semmy Schilt; that itself sounds scary. But, more surprising, in his mind Schilt and Leko are in same category. Priceless.
At the interview space, media people just had fun with him. Every time he spoke, people chuckled. I mean, I can understand what he meant, but I think his brain already got enough whacks by those brutal punches when he fought a guy like Semmy.
I was gonna write what Leko said about this fight, but it’s already posted on the site, so please check that video. Aside from Leko’s comments, I just want him and the matchmaker to remember that a lot of people pay to watch the show. And every time he loses, he also loses his fans. And if fights are not exciting, PRIDE will lose fight fans. This time, as his nickname is “Blitz,” he lost in 27 seconds of round one. Quick job was done by Minowa.
I wonder how Leko’s gonna come back to PRIDE next time. Do we need him in PRIDE? Can he continue to fight in PRIDE? I don’t think UFC wants him. Maybe Mark Hunt versus Leko with MMA rules?
Takimoto, who defeated Sentory in the fifth bout of the night commented, “I thought MMA is much easier than I felt today.” That’s very honest words from Makoto Takimoto (even I don’t give any credit to him). Does Leko think the same as Takimoto? If so, he chose the wrong path for his fight career, eh? Let’s see how he’ll fight in 2005. I’m looking forward to using his nickname in positive way this year.
MC Battle
Because most of the post-fight interviews are already posted on the site, let’s talk about something else. How about the lame MC-battle between Ryan Gracie and Kazu Nakamura. That was the worst MC Battle I’ve ever seen. I’ve seen some other lame mic performances in the past. For example, at WEC 7, Anthony Hamlet against Cole Escovedo. That time I learned the word, “lame.” But this time at Shockwave 2, I learned a new word: “suck.” Anyway, folks, I have a little story about this MC Battle between Ryan G and Kazu Nakamura.
On Christmas eve, we had one of those dating shows on TV. And this time the TV production featured “famous" people. Then Kazu Nakamura was on this TV program and entertained us with his love battle against other real famous people. The bottom line, he was dumped on his ass. Amen. But before his heart was shattered, when he asked a girl to be his girl, this line came out from his mouth: “I’m fighting one of the Gracies next year. So please support me for this fight, bla bla bla. ...”
Okay, again, this was broadcast on December 24. So it must be filmed even before that. Then we had that lame mic performance in the ring on New Years Eve. So was it all staged? Was it really just a performance? Either way, seems like PRIDE has already decided on having Kazu vs. Gracie in a future show.
I pushed Kazu Nakamura as a fighter a few writes up ago. Even though his fight record doesn’t look awesome, he’s got some soul for his job (not dating show job). And I’m very sure that Kazu can fight 100 times better than Yoji Anjo. What do you guys think? Well, PRIDE will have a middleweight tourney this year. Then sooner or later, I guess these two will exchange their punch and heart, I believe. So let’s wait and see.
Mino at Interview
I’ve attended so many post-fight interviews. Both K-1 and PRIDE. I’m always there. But this time when Minotauro came out and had an interview, the atmosphere of the interview space was like that of a funeral.
Usually Brazilian Top Team interviews don’t have such a sad air. Have you checked out his interview? He doesn’t even speak clearly. Looks like his soul was stolen by Fedor with the championship belt. That shows you how he took this loss in his fight career.
Before the fight, luckily, I could see him warming up. And I could tell his whole team put some special zeal in this fight. I heard that Minotauro caught a cold the day before. Or he had to come to Saitama Super Arena by public transportation because the heavy snow we had that day stopped all the traffic. So he got off the car or bus and jumped on train and came to the arena. But still he and his team looked very focused on this fight. Then after 20 minutes, he lost. He did everything he could before the fight, and during the fight. But lost. That’s a deep loss for him. Imagine how deep he’s hurt.
Fighter ... it’s such a tough job. I really wish he comes back with better technique, motivation and a bit of smile. Well, I don’t ask for a smile. But as a fight fan, I would like to see this very skillful Brazilian fighter in my country again and again. Because he is one of those Casca Grossa guys, you know!
New Year’s Eve Show Behind-the-Scenes
Anything else? To my shame, I missed most of Takanori Gomi versus Jens Pulver, Yuki Kondo against Dan Henderson, and Wanderlei Silva fighting Mark Hunt because I was videotaping somebody’s interview. So I can’t write about those fights. But, hey, let me write some background/context of both the K-1 and PRIDE New Year’s Eve shows.
Last year -- I mean New Year’s Eve 2003 -- I was partying like a rock star in Hungary with Hungarian beauties, and this year is the first time I became a spectator of New Year’s Eve show in my country. So, I can write bit about what is happening in Japan.
What’s wrong with them? How many people enjoyed watching those gold medallists fight? How many people enjoyed those Olympic stars “style against style” fight when mixed martial arts has developed this much?
(Fighters still have their background, but they all well-trained in different aspects of MMA fighting. It’s not the 90s anymore. We want to see totally brushed-up, finely-tuned mixed martial artists battle, don’t we? Why now wrestling against Judo? Don’t get me wrong. I have a giant respect for Olympic athletes. And if you look at Rulon Gardner’s interview video, you can tell he is such a great guy. Speak from his heart, concerned for his opponent, etc etc. But, it’s just the wrong place to perform if PRIDE is the ring of MMA; why are there so many MMA rookies in this big show?)
In this country, fortunately, we can watch fight shows like K-1 or PRIDE on normal TV, right? You know that. And I’m really appreciative that television companies broadcast the fight shows. The reasons why we can watch them are (No. 1) people love martial arts, and accept a fight show as a sports show, and (No. 2) TV companies support and sponsor the show as their content. But if I tell you specifically about this New Years Eve show, I think these shows were made for those TV companies to get more ratings.
After the show, I’ve seen so many media reports about the viewer rating of New Year’s Eve. Like, NHK Music show earned 39 percent. PRIDE got 10 percent. And K-1 was 20 percent on New Year’s Eve.
Traditionally, in this country, on New Year's Eve people watch this music program that started in 1951. This music show has a long history and is very popular. Therefore this music show had been dominating New Years Eve TV viewer ratings for a long time. Then other TV companies tried to catch up with this music show, and they found K-1 or PRIDE as their content. Then, they thought, how can they catch up with that Music show? Then their answer was to bring the famous athlete in the show! That’s what all this is about. So the bottom line is, PRIDE and K-1 were used by TV companies to earn more viewer on this special night.
At the same time, it is true that PRIDE and K-1 have gotten more promotion because of the coverage. And that works well for each fight organization and TV company. But that’s what my concern is. If a fight organization insisted on promoting their show, while the TV company insists in programming designed for higher ratings, these fight shows may go the wrong way -- for some time K-1 has been heading the wrong direction for me.
This organization promotes their show as fight entertainment, but not as a s-p-o-r-t. Isn’t it such a disappointment? The organizations don’t make an effort to bring better, skilled fighters, but just follow viewer ratings -- just bring big-name athletes even if their fight skill is very low? What do you think? Even K-1 MAX fighter Masato was upset that his fight wasn’t the main even of K-1 Dynamite.
(By the way, the highest rating the Dynamite show earned this year was the moment when Masato’s fight was just finished, at 31 percent.)
What was the main event of Dynamite? Oh, Akebono vs. Royce. Akebono commented after being twisted, “Royce’s leg came up in the air, and I was submitted next moment. I had no idea what was going on." Priceless. And he was the main eventer? Yet, K-1 still pushes Akebono as their valuable commodity because he brings casual fans to the show.
I can imagine that, across the Pacific Ocean from Japan, in the desert of Nevada, Mr. Dana White is laughing about the direction of Japan's two big fight organizations while " The Ultimate Fighter" show is starting in a few days. (The Ultimate Fighter video looks very good, by the way. I wish I lived in America now.)
Oh well, maybe I worry too much. I mean PRIDE had lots of good fights, K-1 as well. (Suck it up Masa! Suck it up!) Not all fights were terrible. And if I look at the Royce-Akebono fight, it could be good promotion for Gracie jiu-jitsu. People may be interested in how Royce finished Akebono. That may be able to train a casual fan's brain to be a real MMA fan, if I look at this fight 200-percent positively. Who knows?
Alrighty, no more complaints. According to the 12th sign of Japanese zodiac, this year is the year of the “cock,” I mean “rooster”. And “the rooster” re-sets all the negative things from the year of the Rat through Monkey (1996-2004). So it’s gonna be alright. Yes, I already have been to two shows. One was SMACKGIRL and second was pro jiu-jitsu called “Gi-Feminino,” on January 8. And both shows were great. So this year started very good for me. Then let’s expect good shows from other organizations, too.
At last, I really wish all of you have a great year of 2005. And let’s enjoy being a witness to MMA history. Stay tuned to Sherdog.com! We’re gonna come stronger than eva this year.
Peace out.
P.S. I’m in the Japanese MMA magazine called “Gachi” as an MMA Journalist. Feels like I’m cheating 120 million people in Japan. But if you live in Japan, check it out. No, don't only check -- buy it!