Article: Marketing of MMA in Japan
Apr 25, 2006 17:48:45 GMT -5
Post by LWPD on Apr 25, 2006 17:48:45 GMT -5
Below is an interesting article on the marketing of MMA in Japan. Some of the problems are unique to the culture...while others are more universal in scope.
Courtesy of sherdog.com
Nippon Joho: Japanese MMA and the Market Dilemma
by Stephen Martinez (smartinez@sherdog.com)
Five years later I’m still asking myself the same questions.
Is Japan the mixed martial arts dreamland? Is business so good in Japan and MMA so mainstream that even smaller promotions can hold monthly shows while powerhouses don’t tire of delivering mega-cards with top fighters? Is the Japanese MMA boom long gone and are we left with promotions literally fighting each other to survive in an always-changing Japanese market?
Well, last time I checked I wasn’t a fortuneteller or the proud owner of a magical crystal ball that peered into the future. The only thing I can tell you for sure — based in my current experience in Japan — is that MMA and kickboxing are still misunderstood and sometimes confused with each other. And while traditional K-1 events are still the king of the hill, other promotions, still struggling with the fragmented MMA market in Japan, are little by little becoming part of the everyday routine for most Japanese’s citizen thanks to the marketing machine.
I take my hat off to K-1 for being the proud owner of the best marketing office among all Japanese fight promotions. Like any foreign resident in Japan — and probably anyone out there who likes to read about Japan — it’s not news that Japan is a consumer-based culture and pretty much everything the “superstars” use and sponsor is followed by the younger masses.
To be more specific, let’s pretend that I’m rich and love to go out on shopping sprees. Let’s start with MP3 players. Who doesn’t find a MP3 player one of most useful tools when you want to go out with your favorite songs?
Well, I do. So I came upon this popular electronics store with branches all over Japan named “Yodobashi” just to find an intimidating Norifumi Yamamoto (Pictures) poster advertising MP3 players for the company IRIVER.
What if I kept walking around the same store and checked out the CASIO G-Shock brand of watches? Now there are Genki Sudo (Pictures) and Caol Uno (Pictures) on posters promoting the G-shock brand.
What about sports? Who likes Adidas or Nike? Nike Japan currently uses Caol Uno (Pictures) and Yoshihiro Akiyama (Pictures) in a gallery of Japanese athletes to promote their new line of fitness/training clothes. Meanwhile Adidas uses Hideo Tokoro (Pictures) and Musashi to promote their respective Spring/Summer clothing lines.
What about jeans? Everyone wears them because they are so comfortable and practical. So now you too could dress like Genki Sudo (Pictures) with EDWIN Jeans or be as gangsta as “Kid” Yamamoto with your brand new pair of DICKIES.
This is just the tip of the iceberg when we talk about how mainstream MMA and K-1/HERO’s fighters has become in Japan.
Talking about PRIDE, sadly, I can’t provide any good examples of fighters, or more specifically PRIDE Bushido fighters, being used in large advertising campaigns in Japan. To this day I’ve tried to figure out the PRIDE marketing department and why they don’t use their local talent more often to promote the PRIDE Bushido series.
There is a big difference between the K-1 and PRIDE markets, considering K-1 is built around their TV broadcast and couldn’t care less if one person showed up to the live events as long as they pull 20% TV rating. PRIDE is more of a house show that doesn’t rely on same-day TV broadcasts, but instead depends more on fans coming to watch live shows.
Obviously you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to realize there is something wrong when a promotion that heavily depends on house names to bring fans out can’t figure out how to promote their local talent.
Still more amazing is the fact that Bushido’s main ace, Takanori Gomi (Pictures), was literally wasted since joining the promotion back in 2004, despite putting together an amazing 10-0 run before the shocking moment when Brazilian’s Marcos Aurelio hit the brakes on Gomi’s bandwagon and stopped the Japanese fighter at Bushido 10.
On his personal blog Gomi announced his desire to face Aurelio as soon as possible, likely in Bushido 11, just to get over with the fact that he lost the first time. But from a marketing point of view the magical time when Gomi appeared unstoppable in Bushido has passed.
So it’s time to rebuild him again.
Recently I had the shocking surprise of seeing Gomi announced as a special guest for the upcoming MTV Japan music awards, but this is only a sporadic case of the Japanese star being promoted outside local MMA magazines. We can all argue about how Gomi is not a marketable fighter in the same mold as “Kid” or Genki, but I guess the bigger question here is why doesn’t PRIDE try to promote Gomi like a superstar outside of hardcore Japanese MMA fans?
Yamamoto’s bad boy look appeals to girls and boys alike, especially with the current flow of Hip-Hop and Reggae music in Japan. Sudo just wrote a book titled “The Theory of Happiness” and also hosts his own variety and music show for a local video music channel, similar to MTV. Hideo Tokoro (Pictures) is promoted like “The HERO’s Cinderella Man” with K-1 playing video of his life as janitor/MMA fighter. Finally we have Caol Uno (Pictures) the fashion guru, who has his own clothing store in Yokohama.
Their Bushido counterparts like Gomi, Hayato Sakurai (Pictures), Ryo Chonan (Pictures), Ikuhisa Minowa (Pictures) and Tatsuya Kawajiri (Pictures) get basically zero attention from the mainstream media because no one bothers in promote them.
Every once in a while the promotions need to understand the golden rule of smart matchmaking. While I advocate that top 10 fighters face quality opponents as often as possible, I don’t mind seeing the promotion’s “darlings” fight a not-so-qualified opponent just to improve his record or market a fighter as the next big thing.
I believe, with obvious differences, that the kings of smart matchmaking are UFC and K-1.
While the UFC found their goldmine with The Ultimate Fighter and used some questionable matchmaking to make the TV show’s stars more marketable with regular fans, K-1 has become a pure marketing machine by placing their superstars, on more than one occasion, against unknown fighters, kickboxers-turned-MMA fighters or guys from different weight divisions.
While some fighters receive full support from their promotions, others seem to receive the short end of the stick, like for example Kazushi Sakuraba (Pictures) and Ikuhisa Minowa (Pictures).
I know it came a couple of years late but I still wonder why Sakuraba never became the PRIDE champion at 183 pounds. OK, I know all the facts like PRIDE didn’t have the weight division back then, he fought Wanderlei Silva (Pictures) for the title, he wanted to fight heavy guys, etc. But still my bigger surprise is how everyone failed to notice that Sakuraba hadn’t beat anyone from Brazil not named Gracie since 1999. So you know there is less of a chance for him to become the PRIDE middleweight champion, especially when the three top fighters in the weight division are from Brazil.
Now this leads me to the Bushido welterweight division, which is starting to get dominated, like their middleweight and heavyweight counterparts, by foreigner talent.
Dan Henderson (Pictures) is on top of the weight division and when we look at the fighters behind him you see names like Paulo Filho (Pictures), Dennis Kang, Murilo Bustamante (Pictures) and Phil Baroni (Pictures).
Japanese stars are nowhere to be found. Chonan fell twice in back-to-back knockouts. Gono and Misaki are always game but too small to go against the top guys. Kondo is unlucky. And Minowa is busy playing the Giant Killer. So why not bring Sakuraba instead and try to save face for the Japanese side?
Back in reality, we will probably see Sakuraba participate in the upcoming open-weight tournament against the likes of Mirko Filipovic (Pictures), Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (Pictures), Josh Barnett (Pictures), Mark Hunt (Pictures) and Wanderlei Silva (Pictures). What makes PRIDE believe Sakuraba can get past those fighters when he can barely make it out alive against the likes of Ricardo Arona (Pictures), Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (Pictures) and, his arch nemesis, Silva?
And then there’s Ikuhisa Minowa (Pictures)’s situation. In case fans have the chance to watch the Japanese broadcast or attend a Bushido show please pay attention to the overwhelming welcome Japanese fans give to Minowa.
Whatever angle PRIDE wants to play with him about being a little bit loose in the head is paying dividends because Minowa is one of — if not the most — popular Japanese fighters, including current champion Takanori Gomi (Pictures), currently in Bushido.
So instead of focusing Minowa in the welterweight picture and having him chase Dan Henderson (Pictures) for a title match, which by all accounts is going to be more beneficial for the promotion in the long run, we have found instead that Minowa is going to face none other than “Cro Cop” in the opening round of the Open-Weight Grand Prix.
I fail to see what possible explanation there is to match Minowa against “Cro Cop,” besides the obvious reason that it will help sell tickets for the Osaka show and probably give Minowa head damage. I know Minowa submitted heavyweight opponents in the past like Stefan Leko (Pictures), Gilbert Yvel (Pictures) and Kimo Leopoldo (Pictures), but these three are nowhere near the level of the Croatian kickboxer.
Miracles can happen and Minowa can pull a crazy submission over Filipovic for the upset of the century. But then what? What’s next? Silva again? Or better yet Mark Hunt (Pictures), Josh Barnett (Pictures), Minotauro or Fedor Emelianenko (Pictures)?
Smart matchmaking can make or break a fighter, but with the latest obsession to place lighter fighters against heavy opponents just for the sake of selling tickets, a Japanese fighter is literally going to break in the middle of the ring one of these days.
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?”.
Courtesy of sherdog.com
Nippon Joho: Japanese MMA and the Market Dilemma
by Stephen Martinez (smartinez@sherdog.com)
Five years later I’m still asking myself the same questions.
Is Japan the mixed martial arts dreamland? Is business so good in Japan and MMA so mainstream that even smaller promotions can hold monthly shows while powerhouses don’t tire of delivering mega-cards with top fighters? Is the Japanese MMA boom long gone and are we left with promotions literally fighting each other to survive in an always-changing Japanese market?
Well, last time I checked I wasn’t a fortuneteller or the proud owner of a magical crystal ball that peered into the future. The only thing I can tell you for sure — based in my current experience in Japan — is that MMA and kickboxing are still misunderstood and sometimes confused with each other. And while traditional K-1 events are still the king of the hill, other promotions, still struggling with the fragmented MMA market in Japan, are little by little becoming part of the everyday routine for most Japanese’s citizen thanks to the marketing machine.
I take my hat off to K-1 for being the proud owner of the best marketing office among all Japanese fight promotions. Like any foreign resident in Japan — and probably anyone out there who likes to read about Japan — it’s not news that Japan is a consumer-based culture and pretty much everything the “superstars” use and sponsor is followed by the younger masses.
To be more specific, let’s pretend that I’m rich and love to go out on shopping sprees. Let’s start with MP3 players. Who doesn’t find a MP3 player one of most useful tools when you want to go out with your favorite songs?
Well, I do. So I came upon this popular electronics store with branches all over Japan named “Yodobashi” just to find an intimidating Norifumi Yamamoto (Pictures) poster advertising MP3 players for the company IRIVER.
What if I kept walking around the same store and checked out the CASIO G-Shock brand of watches? Now there are Genki Sudo (Pictures) and Caol Uno (Pictures) on posters promoting the G-shock brand.
What about sports? Who likes Adidas or Nike? Nike Japan currently uses Caol Uno (Pictures) and Yoshihiro Akiyama (Pictures) in a gallery of Japanese athletes to promote their new line of fitness/training clothes. Meanwhile Adidas uses Hideo Tokoro (Pictures) and Musashi to promote their respective Spring/Summer clothing lines.
What about jeans? Everyone wears them because they are so comfortable and practical. So now you too could dress like Genki Sudo (Pictures) with EDWIN Jeans or be as gangsta as “Kid” Yamamoto with your brand new pair of DICKIES.
This is just the tip of the iceberg when we talk about how mainstream MMA and K-1/HERO’s fighters has become in Japan.
Talking about PRIDE, sadly, I can’t provide any good examples of fighters, or more specifically PRIDE Bushido fighters, being used in large advertising campaigns in Japan. To this day I’ve tried to figure out the PRIDE marketing department and why they don’t use their local talent more often to promote the PRIDE Bushido series.
There is a big difference between the K-1 and PRIDE markets, considering K-1 is built around their TV broadcast and couldn’t care less if one person showed up to the live events as long as they pull 20% TV rating. PRIDE is more of a house show that doesn’t rely on same-day TV broadcasts, but instead depends more on fans coming to watch live shows.
Obviously you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to realize there is something wrong when a promotion that heavily depends on house names to bring fans out can’t figure out how to promote their local talent.
Still more amazing is the fact that Bushido’s main ace, Takanori Gomi (Pictures), was literally wasted since joining the promotion back in 2004, despite putting together an amazing 10-0 run before the shocking moment when Brazilian’s Marcos Aurelio hit the brakes on Gomi’s bandwagon and stopped the Japanese fighter at Bushido 10.
On his personal blog Gomi announced his desire to face Aurelio as soon as possible, likely in Bushido 11, just to get over with the fact that he lost the first time. But from a marketing point of view the magical time when Gomi appeared unstoppable in Bushido has passed.
So it’s time to rebuild him again.
Recently I had the shocking surprise of seeing Gomi announced as a special guest for the upcoming MTV Japan music awards, but this is only a sporadic case of the Japanese star being promoted outside local MMA magazines. We can all argue about how Gomi is not a marketable fighter in the same mold as “Kid” or Genki, but I guess the bigger question here is why doesn’t PRIDE try to promote Gomi like a superstar outside of hardcore Japanese MMA fans?
Yamamoto’s bad boy look appeals to girls and boys alike, especially with the current flow of Hip-Hop and Reggae music in Japan. Sudo just wrote a book titled “The Theory of Happiness” and also hosts his own variety and music show for a local video music channel, similar to MTV. Hideo Tokoro (Pictures) is promoted like “The HERO’s Cinderella Man” with K-1 playing video of his life as janitor/MMA fighter. Finally we have Caol Uno (Pictures) the fashion guru, who has his own clothing store in Yokohama.
Their Bushido counterparts like Gomi, Hayato Sakurai (Pictures), Ryo Chonan (Pictures), Ikuhisa Minowa (Pictures) and Tatsuya Kawajiri (Pictures) get basically zero attention from the mainstream media because no one bothers in promote them.
Every once in a while the promotions need to understand the golden rule of smart matchmaking. While I advocate that top 10 fighters face quality opponents as often as possible, I don’t mind seeing the promotion’s “darlings” fight a not-so-qualified opponent just to improve his record or market a fighter as the next big thing.
I believe, with obvious differences, that the kings of smart matchmaking are UFC and K-1.
While the UFC found their goldmine with The Ultimate Fighter and used some questionable matchmaking to make the TV show’s stars more marketable with regular fans, K-1 has become a pure marketing machine by placing their superstars, on more than one occasion, against unknown fighters, kickboxers-turned-MMA fighters or guys from different weight divisions.
While some fighters receive full support from their promotions, others seem to receive the short end of the stick, like for example Kazushi Sakuraba (Pictures) and Ikuhisa Minowa (Pictures).
I know it came a couple of years late but I still wonder why Sakuraba never became the PRIDE champion at 183 pounds. OK, I know all the facts like PRIDE didn’t have the weight division back then, he fought Wanderlei Silva (Pictures) for the title, he wanted to fight heavy guys, etc. But still my bigger surprise is how everyone failed to notice that Sakuraba hadn’t beat anyone from Brazil not named Gracie since 1999. So you know there is less of a chance for him to become the PRIDE middleweight champion, especially when the three top fighters in the weight division are from Brazil.
Now this leads me to the Bushido welterweight division, which is starting to get dominated, like their middleweight and heavyweight counterparts, by foreigner talent.
Dan Henderson (Pictures) is on top of the weight division and when we look at the fighters behind him you see names like Paulo Filho (Pictures), Dennis Kang, Murilo Bustamante (Pictures) and Phil Baroni (Pictures).
Japanese stars are nowhere to be found. Chonan fell twice in back-to-back knockouts. Gono and Misaki are always game but too small to go against the top guys. Kondo is unlucky. And Minowa is busy playing the Giant Killer. So why not bring Sakuraba instead and try to save face for the Japanese side?
Back in reality, we will probably see Sakuraba participate in the upcoming open-weight tournament against the likes of Mirko Filipovic (Pictures), Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (Pictures), Josh Barnett (Pictures), Mark Hunt (Pictures) and Wanderlei Silva (Pictures). What makes PRIDE believe Sakuraba can get past those fighters when he can barely make it out alive against the likes of Ricardo Arona (Pictures), Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (Pictures) and, his arch nemesis, Silva?
And then there’s Ikuhisa Minowa (Pictures)’s situation. In case fans have the chance to watch the Japanese broadcast or attend a Bushido show please pay attention to the overwhelming welcome Japanese fans give to Minowa.
Whatever angle PRIDE wants to play with him about being a little bit loose in the head is paying dividends because Minowa is one of — if not the most — popular Japanese fighters, including current champion Takanori Gomi (Pictures), currently in Bushido.
So instead of focusing Minowa in the welterweight picture and having him chase Dan Henderson (Pictures) for a title match, which by all accounts is going to be more beneficial for the promotion in the long run, we have found instead that Minowa is going to face none other than “Cro Cop” in the opening round of the Open-Weight Grand Prix.
I fail to see what possible explanation there is to match Minowa against “Cro Cop,” besides the obvious reason that it will help sell tickets for the Osaka show and probably give Minowa head damage. I know Minowa submitted heavyweight opponents in the past like Stefan Leko (Pictures), Gilbert Yvel (Pictures) and Kimo Leopoldo (Pictures), but these three are nowhere near the level of the Croatian kickboxer.
Miracles can happen and Minowa can pull a crazy submission over Filipovic for the upset of the century. But then what? What’s next? Silva again? Or better yet Mark Hunt (Pictures), Josh Barnett (Pictures), Minotauro or Fedor Emelianenko (Pictures)?
Smart matchmaking can make or break a fighter, but with the latest obsession to place lighter fighters against heavy opponents just for the sake of selling tickets, a Japanese fighter is literally going to break in the middle of the ring one of these days.
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?”.