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NYE MMA event in Saitama confirmed
By Zach Arnold | November 21, 2007
By Zach Arnold
Update: My post on this topic is now re-written on the M-1 site.
A press conference was held today by former PRIDE staff members to announce that there would be an MMA show on 12/31 at Saitama Super Arena. The promoters are labeling the event as being “Yarennoka! supported by M-1 Global Mixed Martial Arts.” Takada, Sasahara, Saeki, Lenny Hardt, Kei Grand, Daisuke Sato, and major names from DSE’s management past are involved in the show. Fighters announced included Fedor, Hayato “Mach” Sakurai, Shin’ya Aoki, Tatsuya Kawajiri, and Mitsuhiro Ishida. Photo mugshot of DSE management here.
Take notice of the NYE logo for Yarennoka, which uses the exact same font as the past DSE-produced Otoko Matsuri (Man Festival) shows did. Furthermore, the web page for Yarennoka is only a slightly modified format as compared to the old PRIDE web site.
By the way… As Fightlinker points out, take a look at this wallpaper image on the Yarennoka site. The image is copyrighted by DSE.
Other potential names floated include Joachim Hansen, Ricardo Arona, Gilbert Melendez, Luiz Azeredo, Kazuo Misaki, and Hidehiko Hasegawa.
The event will be broadcasted on SkyPerfecTV PPV. It will not be seen on free-to-air television.
Topics: Japan, M-1, Media, MMA, PRIDE, Zach Arnold | 38 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Could we see Barnett vs. Fedor here?
Sweet!
I’ve heard rumors of Barnett vs. Fedor, but I wonder if Barnett would really do this on such short notice. The names mentioned in the article are pretty intriguing though. This may be a pretty damn good NYE card.
Hong Man Choi vs Fedor is more likely than Josh Barnett
The Barnett/Fedor thing has already been shot down by everyone. Hong Choi Man will be the opponent.
Some people are saying Hong Man Choi vs. Fedor…
*shudder*
Techno Goliath? What happened to his K-1 contract? By the way, what’s Kei Grand’s real name again?
Aren’t there non-compete clauses in Zuffa’s buyout of DSE? Why are these former PRIDE VPs allowed to run MMA companies?
It’s Japan – you move from one umbrella to the next.
Hell, look at PRIDE’s past history with Fedor. PRIDE used to do contracts with teams rather than just individuals, so you would have PRIDE making deals with Russian Top Team, etc. and Fedor ended up working the Inoki 2003 show because he left RTT and went to Red Devil, hence PRIDE had no deal with Red Devil and the rest is history.
Ok, I see. What about the Yakuza taint? Is it attached to the PRIDE brand or former PRIDE management as well?
I’m surprised they were able to get a PPV deal. Also, will there be enough time to promote this show in Japan?
Only the hardcores will really support this deal.
The obvious goal, in my view, is that Sak… I mean Hustle is using this as a loss leader to try to get tickets sold for Hustle, which is the bigger deal since that will air on TV Tokyo via tape delay (9:30-11:30 PM JST) on NYE, running head-to-head against the powerhouse K-1 Osaka Dome show on Tokyo Broadcasting.
There are other goals (some noted, some not noted) that are probably self-explanatory as to why they only have one month to push this deal. Come up with your best guess and you’ll probably be somewhat on target.
Anyone can be on SkyPerfecTV PPV really as long as you have the cash and production to pull it off.
Barnett is gonna be Pro-Wrestling at the 12/20 Tokyo, Ariake Colosseum Inoki IGF show so it will be interesting to see if he is booked for M-1 NYE also.
What is the actual name of the event? As in the bit before “supported by M1 Global”. Is Takada having wet dreams of another single event turning into a decade lasting dynasty?
If nothing else it WILL be awesome to hear Lenny and Kei again, and to see some of the dust-collecting talent in action, even if it is against cans(a year of EXC can-fights makes a Japanese can-fight look oh so good in comparison). Sure it reeks of Bom-Ba-Ye, but there’s no company or even bunnies left to kill this time, so I don’t really care.
If this were a loss leader to promote Hustle, wouldn’t it result in a major deficit for the HUSTLE show? The fighters listed on the Japan MMA blog (link below) are all famous top 10 talent. The cost of renting Fedor alone must have been well over a million.
http://mmamanjapan.blogspot.com/2007/11/1231-m-1-saitama-superarena-is.html
Seems like a long-term project to me.
Also, check out the official website for the event:
http://www.yarennoka.com/
I certain wouldn’t want to transfer any disparaging remarks against these fine folks with no past transgressions known to the public… I’m sure they take their dirty laundry and clean it like everyone else…
Haha, ok.
[…] being reported by MFC M-1 and FightOpinion.com, several former PRIDE staff members held a press conference in Japan today along with newly formed […]
How is Hong Man Choi a lock? Doesn’t he have a fight coming up? If he gets brutalized by Lebanner, then we won’t be seeing Hong Man Choi on NYE. I wouldn’t jump to that conclusion that the fight will be happening just yet.
Apparently, all those names above are confirmed to be fighting, not rumored. If that is true, that’s a huge card.
For a building configured for 10,000-12,000 seats, sure.
Well, I don’t exactly believe what M-1 says, but hey, I’d love to see that card happen.
[…] Zach Arnold is having a field day pointing out the similarities between this event and past PRIDE events. He pointed out that the event is using the same font, although I found that they’re using more than just the same font. […]
[…] The event will be broadcasted on SkyPerfecTV PPV. It will not be seen on free-to-air television. FightOpinion.com – Your Global Connection to the Fight Industry. Fedor To Earn 1.5 Million For New Year’s Eve Fight In Japan By Jason Perkins | November 21, 2007 […]
Man, after seeing the undercard I’m wavering on whether or not to take the shinkansen to Osaka or hop on the subway to Saitama. Good thing I haven’t bought tickets yet…
Zach, how much time is between the HUSTLE and Yarennoka shows? Surely not enough to reconfigure the super arena seating-wise, but will they be able to change the ring or put up a different entryway set? If not, the show will be even more puroresu-flavored than usual.
Given the way DSE has handled the 12/31 deal, you might get a discounted or paper ticket on that thing.
Go to the K-1 show if you can. Once in a lifetime deal, especially with Funaki vs. Sakuraba having nuclear heat from the crowd.
Hustle I think is an afternoon start, with a few hours in between before the MMA show. SSA is very configurable, if not the most state-of-the-art in terms of reconfiguration and in such a quick manner.
Remember, Sakakibara owns his own production company.
What about Arona? He is the only fighter on the site now I can see put against Fedor. When we had our interview with Fedor he mentioned Rickson Gracie as well….
Would K-1 let one of their biggest stars fight for a rival org on NYE?
I knew I saw that logo for the NYE show before…Thanks for reminding me…What does yarennoka mean anyways?
Sorry about the double post above, bit of a mindslip. I need to point out that. If you watch the PRIDE Bushido 13 Opening Movie and Opening Ceremonies, Fumihiko Tachiki (the voiceover man) keeps saying “YARENNOKA!” in the beginning. I think they did that for one of Tatsuya Kawajiri’s movies as well on another show.
if this is a long term thing how do they expect to get tv deal with all the same DSE figureheads running the show?
Are the Japanese fans really gonna care about this or the Hustle thing when K-1 have a mega main event.
[…] Tatsuya Kawajiri, Gilbert Melendez, Kazuo Misaki and Hayato Mach Sakurai. The list originated at FightOpinion.com, though, and Zack Arnold reported that they?re just rumored names at this point. Other former […]
http://www.yarennoka.com/news/detail.php?id=1195652919
There’s now a Q&A thing on the site that mentions Fujita and Yoshida dojo, but I don’t read Japanese and it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense when machine translated.
yarenoka = “Can you do it?”
Inoki’s old catchphrase or something?
Ricardo Arona told Graciemag.com that it isn’t him.
but, dudes, we might see Aoki vs. Melendez. AWE. SOME.
yeah i take Aoki beating Melendez on that one
Shin’ya Aoki!
Does anyone know how to watch this event live in america.
Why do Japanese mix up first and last names?
“Why do Japanese mix up first and last names?”
In Japan, and some other asian countries like China and Korea, you have your family name first, then your ‘given’ name second. Basically the opposite of how we do it. As a result, people screw up the nomenclature when translating names from Japanese to English and vice-versa.