At the customary casual junket session after the press conference, Akihiro Gono revealed, "There is no problem with my PRIDE contract. Besides this was an offer from President Pollack at PRIDE."

The next day, on September 26th, one of Japan's leading sports newspaper, Nikkan Sports, reported a shocking story based on this comment by Gono. Jamie Pollack, a Zuffa lawyer charged with overseeing the operations of the PRIDE office in Tokyo is now recruiting fighters for the UFC. The assumption of Nikkan Sports was that PRIDE is completely done and that is why the man who is supposed to be working to get PRIDE back on track is now making the calls for the UFC. When this report came out, most of the fans and people in the Japanese fight industry thought it was a little premature to assume the end of PRIDE solely based on a casual comment by Gono. No one really took this report seriously, or perhaps, nobody in Japan wanted to believe it.

This was just back in March 27, 2007. (from left to right) Nobuhiko Takada, Kazuyuki Fujita, Lorenzo Fertitta, Jeff Monson, and Dana White.

High Noon!

However about a week later on October 3rd Japan time, all employees at PRIDE FC Worldwide were informed of the phone conference taking place in the morning of October 4th. Then on Thursday morning, about twenty of all the PRIDE FC Worldwide employees attended this phone conference and were notified by Pollack that as of November 4th, that the PRIDE FC World Wide office is closed and therefore every employee is now officially terminated. According to the staff that attended the meeting, this phone conference was very short. Pollack notified everyone over the phone that it’s officially done, and at the end added, "if there is any additional question, each individual should contact via e-mail." Then everyone was told to clear his or her personal belongings by noon. And by 3:00 pm on the same day, no one was allowed to step back into the PRIDE FC Worldwide office. In fact, the elevator of the building wouldn't even stop at the third floor and the all of trophies and a Wanderlei Silva figure displayed at the lobby of the building were all gone.

Scrapped

Ever since Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta acquired PRIDE, it was apparent that getting PRIDE back on Japanese national television was the first thing that needed to be done. All Japanese national stations go through the process of "re-form" and announce the new line-ups for the season twice a year, in April and October. PRIDE wasn't included in the new line-ups started since April. The acquisition took place in March so this was expected. It was just not enough time to nail the national TV licensing deal. PRIDE FC Worldwide was hoping to get back on the national airwaves by October. But obviously PRIDE didn't make it. Every station announced the new programs starting in October and PRIDE was nowhere to be found on the list of new shows. Without any TV coverage, a mega show like PRIDE wouldn't function therefore, it was time to put an end to the biggest fight promotion in Japan's combat sport history.

In any business sense, regardless of American or Japanese, this decision was a clever one. Indeed the only realistic decision possible at this point. For the Japanese public, PRIDE already had too much dirt on its entity. In a country where only two nationally-owned stations and five private TV stations dominate public terrestrial broadcasting, every single one of their corporate sponsors is extremely sensitive with public consensus, therefore any MMA content needed, what is called in Japanese TV industry terms, a "cooling off period." Get MMA out of the air so the public would forget about the scandal.

Since the PRIDE office is closed, does this mean the Japanese MMA fans will never get to watch the UFC on their national television? I would have to say, not necessarily so. By April 2008, TV stations that sort of kept a distance from MMA content such as Fuji Television and Nippon TV, might determine that the necessary "cooling off period" is over and could well be open about putting MMA back on national air. The bottom line is that broadcasting the live show is much cheaper than producing your own variety show or drama, and MMA traditionally has been delivering good ratings. It indeed is a TV bankable content in Japan. Some corporate sponsors might have a little hesitation towards cage fights on prime time television. Fighting in the ring is accepted through boxing, kick boxing, K-1 and PRIDE but the cage may look "not suitable" to air on the hour when the entire family could be tuning in over the dinner table. However I believe this obstacle can be overcome with the right branding and marketing of "cage fighting as MMA." There is a rumor circulating in Japan that Zuffa's Japanese representative has finally teamed up with the mega advertising agency to put UFC on national television. If this is true, with all these PRIDE fighters entering the Octagon, and the right marketing by the mega agency, I would have to say that the possibility of some national TV stations in Japan broadcasting the UFC is quite high. On top of this, if more Japanese fighters create good results in the Octagon, or if Japanese fighters took titles, any sports fans in that country would want to see what is happening in the UFC. The same phenomenon took place back when Hideo Nomo came to major league baseball. The Japanese love to see their own country man doing well in, basically any sporting event in the U.S. and the population of not only the fight sports fans but also the die-hard MMA fans is still very large in that country.

More than 3,000 fans came to see the press conference announcing acquisition of PRIDE by Fertitta brothers.

Talent Casualty

Now does this mean all the other top Japanese fighters such as Takanori Gomi, Hayato "Mach" Sakurai, Shinya Aoki and Tatsuya Kawajiri will end up fighting in the UFC? This one is a hard to call. There is a rumor circulating in Japan that Kyoraku, one of Japan's biggest pachinko makers that sponsors Hustle shows by DSE, secured a 1.5 million USD sponsorship for DSE to promote one big show at the end of the year or in the beginning of the year 2008. Some believe that so-called "old PRIDE people" would control this show therefore it's going to be sort of like a "PRIDE reunion show." Some TV experts have unofficially stated that TV Tokyo is interested in broadcasting this show live on the night of January 3rd, 2008. However all of these are just rumors and I believe these rumors are circulating partly because there is still a passionate wish from the Japanese MMA fans that they want to see their own mega MMA show.

Well, then can HERO'S take the charge and dominate the entire Japanese market? This one is also a hard call. Today's Japanese young fighters know more than well that belonging to one promotion won't secure their professional career, and finally, most top fighters in Japan have started to look into the Octagon, elbow shots to the face, and the PPV shares that they could be earning if they do well. It’s a brand new generation of fighters in the Japanese MMA world.

Some thought it was harsh for Pollack to fire everyone over the phone but the reality is that this was also expected under American management. It happened in banking, real estate, and all the other industries in Japan. The new generation of Japanese are actually getting used to this type of business and life style. That is why it is very difficult to predict what is going to happen with the Japanese MMA world and the Japanese fighters in next six months or so. All I know is that almost all the fighters in that country are now getting ready for any circumstances, including fighting in the cage under the UFC's rules.

Related Article:

PRIDE / UFC - 'Lorenzo Fertitta Retains Control of PRIDE!' >>

'Big Announcement in April?' >>

'Interview with Ed Fishman Part I' >>