Dana White Invites Satoshi Ishii to UFC 92; FEG President Disappointed
by skeed on Dec 19, 2008 9:12 PM EST
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Suki of MMAFighting.com reports about Dana White's response to Satoshi Ishii's UFC plans:
White has invited Ishii to watch UFC 92 "The Ultimate 2008" live in Las Vegas on Dec. 27.
Ishii thanked White and accepted the invitation.
FEG president Sadaharu Tanigawa is obviously not too happy about Ishii's intentions. From Sherdog.com:
"It's unfortunate that the man with the Japanese MMA world on his shoulders is going abroad," said Tanigawa.
"We'd like him to become a pillar of Japanese MMA," Tanigawa continued. "I think it's important to have dreams but we want him to understand that the world has an expectation of him, and this is his destiny. We want to foster his growth to a level where he can be an athlete that's one in six billion."
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Wow..
I didn’t necessarily expect Dana to reply to Ishii so quickly. Maybe he’s actually entertaining the idea of letting him come in relatively quickly after introducing him to a good camp.
Yep. I specially like the American flag in the background. Got the photo from here: http://www.nikkansports.com/battle/news/photonews_nsInc_p-bt-tp0-20081217-440935.html
Ha. I Enjoy.
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by Eugene Schelfaut on Dec 19, 2008 11:00 PM EST up reply actions
This is actually some huge news because it hints at the possibility that Zuffa is considering a run into Japan by using Ishii, if in fact they are interested in signing him. Very odd that they would consider it potentially with no bouts under his belt, but this is likely just a preliminary feeling out period.
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Rec'd
This is big. I really expected the UFC to settle for Germany and Ireland and conquer the rest of the Western Hemisphere before going to Asia (particularly Japan).
Grab your popcorn – this is gonna be fun.
by Derek Suboticki on Dec 19, 2008 6:12 PM EST reply actions
This would be huge for Zuffa in Japan.
It’s also a sad statement that the head of FEG is claiming a guy that’s never fought an mma match before is “the Japanese MMA world on his shoulders.” If that’s really true and he signs with Zuffa, it seems likely that Dream and WVR could be failing and Zuffa would be able to jump in because they’d be the only option.
damn straight.
but it is a bit ironic, yeah? Dream and WVR are shitty because he shows no loyalty to them but they were the driving force in him turning his back on Japanese Judo less then six months ago.
by Ronnie Liddle on Dec 19, 2008 11:10 PM EST up reply actions
"We want to foster his growth to a level where he can be an athlete that's one in six billion."
And I bet that means throwing him in with top 10 fighters in all of his first fights…
Contributing Editor - BloodyElbow.com - SBNation's mixed martial arts headquarters.
by Brent Brookhouse on Dec 19, 2008 11:46 PM EST reply actions
After how they threw Brock to the wolves
It’s going to be hard for the UFC to baby anyone else. Hell, it’s almost like the more time you spend in the minors, the easier the fights you get when you actually make the Show (see Kang, Denis).
by Derek Suboticki on Dec 20, 2008 1:56 PM EST up reply actions
That comment from Tanigawa was made before any news of this invitation from the UFC. And despite sounding grim, this is very much in line with the traditional Japanese school of promoting MMA. Even if UFC becomes a legitimate suitor for Ishii’s services (which is possible, but not a foregone conclusion), FEG will be the most likely to sign him. Since the first rumours about his possible MMA career, Ishii has really been shameless about trying to pump up his market value, and posts like this prove its working. This is the kind of stuff the puroresu-minded Japanese MMA Media eats up without hesitation.
by smoogy on Dec 20, 2008 1:28 AM EST reply actions 1 recs
Fightlinker is now reporting Ishii wants to sign with the UFC – now.
by Derek Suboticki on Dec 20, 2008 1:57 PM EST up reply actions
Didn’t Dana White say a while ago, after the sale of Pride, that trying to get started in Japan was almost impossible? Or was that just because he was trying to relaunch the Pride brand under ZUFFA’s rule?
He also later stated that the plan was to kill PRIDE all along. I wouldn’t really trust him on that topic. But even since the purchase, they have been working towards re-establishing the UFC brand in Japan.
He said they signed Cro Cop to try and kill Pride not that they bought Pride in order to kill a already dying company.
And signing CC worked beautifully to that end. Then they bought the PRIDE roster and put a bunch of their fighters to work. I hope we see a UFC-Tokyo before the end of the decade.
by Derek Suboticki on Dec 20, 2008 1:58 PM EST up reply actions
I think it would still be difficult for Zuffa to come to Japan, even if they had Ishii. Dream and Sengoku are still around (though for how much longer, no one really knows), and most MMA fans here don’t know the UFC unless they already subscribe to WOWOW (and most don’t since I’ve been told over and over that it’s not particularly popular).
Until Ishii signs something, I don’t know that we should be getting too excited just yet.
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