A press release was sent out to members of the Japanese media today (not on a public scale, but specifically addressed to members of the Japanese press) for a new company called World Victory Road Inc. in Japan. The press release states that there will be a press conference on the 2nd floor of Tokyos Prince Hotel on the 15th (this Monday at 3 PM JST). The press release states that representatives from Don Quijote (one of PRIDEs former sponsors and current sponsor of Kazuhiro Nakamura) and FILA are expected to be in attendance. The most interesting name listed as a guest for the press conference is Chairman Fukuda of the Japanese wrestling association. He was a figurehead that PRIDE tried to recruit before that organizaton hit troubled times. Also on the guest list is Mr. Kinoshita of the Kinoshita Group, a construction company. Interestingly enough, the cell phone number at the bottom of the private press release belongs to an employee of J-ROCK, the management group of Hidehiko Yoshida. One media source claims that a top figurehead for the new organization is former UFC-Japan promoter, Akira Sakata. In a separate J-ROCK news item, the California State Athletic Commission announced this morning that Kazuhiro Nakamuras appeal of his failed drug test (for marijuana) will happen on October 31st in Los Angeles. http://www.fightopinion.com/2007/10/11/a-new-japanese-mma-organization-is-coming-next-week/
Excellent, Japan needs a large org other than anything remotely related to K1, which is the single most corrupt entity in combat sports. There is such a rich talent pool in Japan thanks to the Shooto system of developing young fighters in a serious, merit based promotion, to have it all wasted on K1. I hate the 8 count, but Shooto is the best example of how mma should be handled in the future.
