Did anyone here not see this show? Manhoef fought Ben Ackah on it and KO`ed him (the same Ben Ackah that KO`ed Jonnie Morton in K1 Dynamite.. maybe he should stick to standup comedy:yep) Caol Uno was also on the bill along with Vitor (shaolin) Riberio and Ralek Gracie. The line up was farily mediore with alot of Japanese fighters id never heard of but the presentation was very very reminiscent of PRIDE. Plus you gotta to love the way Manhoef comes to the ring!!! He comes out to Fat Joe - Make it rain and one of his entourage has him on a leash with a giant dog collar around his neck whilst he goes barmy chomping at the bit.Dam i wish this guy would come to the UFC.A bout between him an Rampage would one for the ages.:| Both Ben and Manhoef are proving to be very popular in Japan and i believe Ackah actually lives there and speaks fluent Japanese.
Yes, the K-1 entrances and opeings are even more extravagent than the PRIDE ones, I think maybe a little too much, they go over the top alot of the time. But yeah, without the top fighters in the world fighting I can't say i'm too interested in this tournament, but the winner of the whole thing should be considered in the middleweight rankings.
Yes in this current tourny that isnt the case.But i believe that the K1 maybe the better future for MMA.I know Overeem has signed for them.Did you notice Sakuraba was a guest commentator aswell?
Hmm......UFC is sucking everyone up....Shogun/Wanderlei/Henderson/Rampage/Fedor/Crocop/Nogueira Pretty much everyone, K-1 just can't compete with the UFC anymore when it comes to MMA nor can any other MMA organization.
True but the Japenese audience imo is key in MMA and this is certainly something Dana hasnt tapped.Traditionally the best fighters have always fought there.The UFC is only popular right now because of its aquistion of the WFA and PRIDE.And has now positioned itself as the main MMA org.This as much as it may be a good thing is certainly my eyes a bad thing aswell.I much prefer the Japenese format and dont really care much for the whole UFC approach to MMA.
I agree with you about the format but the reason why all the best fighters fought in Japan is because the UFC was in the doldrums and never popular. PRIDE become popular when UFC was banned from cable thats what made UFC stop being the number 1 organisation, from then on UFC was always playing catch up with PRIDE until the buy out. Now that the UFC(and MMA) has gone mainstream in the American media and in the general public, money is flowing in like crazy. Not many fighters will want to go back to Japan when they can become mega stars in the US. It will be a very, VERY long time before a rival organisation grows larger than the UFC. I honestly don't see a Japanese organisation doing it. With China's booming economy and massive population we might eventually see the center of the MMA world go back to Asia in time but whether MMA is as popular in China as it is in Japan, we don't know. UFC may be on top for a very long time.
