Dear WVR, We appreciate it

Jordan Breen has an article up over at Sherdog.com outlining the "fight-lanthropy" of World Victory Road's promotion Sengoku. The article is a hardcore fan's viewpoint of what World Victory Road has been doing in a MMA market that is mostly aimed at trying to lure casual interests of fans that don't see the great value in grabbing up some of the young and up-and-coming talent around the world that we don't normally get from a promotion like DREAM:

Now a year old, Sengoku's matchmaking and product is still every bit as esoteric as it was to begin with. It's no secret that when it comes to MMA, Japan is amidst the latter part of its cultural boom-bust cycle. As with all things that become reinvigorated -- but especially sports -- it takes truly particular and engaging personalities to galvanize the Japanese public, the way that the likes of Bob Sapp, Hidehiko Yoshida, Masato and others played pivotal roles in the kakutougi boom in years past.

WVR have made nominal attempts to snare some casual interest, using popular figures like the aforementioned Yoshida and Josh Barnett, playing into historical storylines with the use of Brazilian jiu-jitsu stars like Roger Gracie and Alexandre "Xande" Ribeiro, and trying to build Japanese aces like Takanori Gomi and Kazuo Misaki. However, it's extremely telling that the first-ever bout the promotion staged was Nick Thompson against Fabricio Monteiro -- two rock-solid welterweights, both virtually unknown to non-hardcore fans.

These sorts of matchups typify Sengoku's product. Despite the fact the promotion has yet to do anything even remotely close to turning a profit, WVR has consistently continued to craft an event that caters mostly to the most ardent cadre of MMA fans, the sorts with accounts to multiple MMA torrent websites, who find joy in live streams of D-level shows from the Midwest, and who are excited by the fact that WVR consistently chooses some of the most deserving-but-overlooked Japanese fighters, and unheralded-but-outstanding foreign talent to populate its card. For casual fans on either side of the Pacific, the charm is lost.

This is a solid piece by Jordan Breen, and it hits home on the points that hardcore fans love to hear and watch as MMA fans. The article goes on to talk about some of the specific matchmaking. Omigawa, who is managed by J-Rock (J-Rock management essentially runs Sengoku), wasn't given an easy opening round matchup, but instead put into a challenging bout that saw him upset L.C. Davis with impressive clinch work.

Also, Breen talks about Tetsuya Yamada's opening round matchup with Ronnie Mann as not being a typical bout for a young phenom fighter who would normally get special treatment.

It reminds me much of Hiroya fighting on the K-1 cards in Youth tournaments. It seems like K-1's ultimate goal of the tournaments is to highlight Hiroya's potential talent as a future K-1 star, already building his value within the sport. Hiroya, while very talented, has seen some advantages to being pushed into the spotlight. In a number of fights, I would have thought he'd been given a bit of a gift in some of his decision wins, although they weren't easily deciphered as horrible judgment calls by the judges.

World Victory Road isn't a money making machine by any means. In fact, they are likely losing money in putting on these quality shows that don't appeal to the casual interests of fans in the Asian market. DREAM, on the other hand, has a much better deal in terms of exposure. They have been able to land a network deal, but haven't had huge success in ratings. They do have the services of many fighters that could potentially give them those ratings in guys like "Kid" Yamamoto, and there has also been rumblings that Shinya Aoki's stock is on the rise after his recent victories.

Nonetheless, the hardcore fanbase appreciates World Victory Road's efforts to bring quality bouts to the fans. The Featherweight Grand Prix alone has some top notch matchups in the making for their next round.

Their philosophy to the fight game truly hits at the constant complaint from many hardcore fans. We want to see the best take on the best, and while WVR wasn't able to lock in all the talent they were absolutely wanting in the Featherweight tournament, they did create some truly golden matchups that produced surprises, great matchups, and quality MMA.

What more can we ask from a Japanese market that normally produces freak show matchups and matchups aimed at luring the casual fan. With that said, let me leave you with a quote that Jordan Breen referenced in his article:

Instead, last week, (though I hate to gossip) when asked privately by a Japanese journalist why Yamada wasn't given a gimme in the first round despite his obvious upside with the media, Takahiro Kokuho simply replied, "That's not the kind of promotion I run."

Thank you, World Victory Road, for the "fight-lanthropy"