Tbh, I’ve always enjoyed the theatrical pro wrestling presentation of organizations like PRIDE and DREAM. It builds stars more than the UFC does even if that comes at the loss of some sporting legitimacy. And when you think about it, it’s not completely fake. The fighters may be fed cans in order to build some hype and highlight footage, but what makes a fighter a star are real victories against legit opponents—in other words, real career moments.

You correctly state that this system can sometimes consume a promising prospect like Satoshi Ishii who has the fame but not the experience. At the same time, I think Ishii was more the victim of timing on DREAM’s part because they had no big draws other than an aging Sakuraba and Shinya Aoki, who for his many missteps is a questionable draw. Ishii was the only guy who they could promote that wasn’t complaining about not being paid. They just as easily could have given him more 1-0 guys to slowly build up his record (Remember Brock Lesnar fighting Min-Soo Kim at K-1 Heroes?), but I think they were just out of options—they had to give their dwindling TV audiences a face they could recognize and quickly convince them that he was the real deal. They just struck out again that time.