Home
UFC stealing Asian Superstars?
Written by Joshua Taylor   
Sunday, 03 May 2009 16:09
Lately the UFC has either signed or shown interest in many Asian superstars such as Yoshihiro Akiyama, Denis Kang, Kid Yamamoto, and 2008 Olympic Gold Medal winning Judoka, Satoshi Ishii. Obviously these fighters are all very talented and certainly deserve a shot in the UFC, but why the sudden interest from the UFC brass? Originally Dana White had stated a goal of staging a show in Japan, and wanted to obtain talent which could sufficiently draw.
However Lorenzo Fertitta was recently quoted as saying that “Japan is impossible to deal with” and “The UFC will likely never hold a show in Japan”. If this is the case, why sign big contracts with stars that are much more popular in Japan than stateside? I believe Dana and the UFC have ulterior motives.

Since the demise of PRIDE Fighting Championships, interest in MMA in Japan has waned. Both live gates and television ratings have taken a significant hit. Currently the only thing which is keeping organizations like Dream and World Victory Road afloat is stars which still have huge drawing power such as Shinya Aoki, Yoshihiro Akiyama, Kid Yamamoto, Takanori Gomi and Tatsuya Kawajiri. Could the interest shown by the UFC in these stars be based simply on crippling these competing organizations?



In the U.S. we have seen the UFC try and cripple their competitors such as Affliction, EliteXC, and Strikeforce by hosting live shows or replaying recent PPV’s on basic cable at the same time as competitor's events. This particular action would not be as effective in Japan as the UFC does not have the same broadcast deals as they do in the U.S. so they must take other action. That action, I believe, is to steal enough top draws from these organizations to force them into closing down.

Competition in any industry is a good thing as it creates a better overall product, but the UFC seems intent on destroying any serious threat to their spot as the top MMA organization. I for one hope organizations such as Dream and WVR stick around but I believe the UFC will continue to do everything they can to prevent that from happening.