The UFC returns to Japan this weekend for the country’s first major MMA event of the year. Pride FC is no more, and its replacements, Dream FC and the Sengoku Raiden Championships, are out of the picture too; now is the perfect time for the UFC to return.
Since the UFC’s acquisition and disbandment of Pride, the country that was once home to the world’s greatest heavyweights, exciting grand-prix tournaments and the occasional freak-show fight, has seen interest in the sport plummet.
Few of Pride’s stars were able to live up to their hype on this side of the Pacific. Most top Japanese fighters have likewise underwhelmed audiences after making the transition.
Fighters like Michihiro Omigawa, Shinya Aoki, Jorge Santiago, and Marlon Sandro all became stars in Japan, but faltered fighting in America. Wrestling is not a big part of MMA culture in Japan as it is in North America; it’s clear that fighters with good wrestling are kryptonite for fighters accustomed to the Japanese style of MMA. After watching their countrymen fall, the Japanese public appear to have lost interest in MMA.
The UFC plans to reinvigorate Japanese fans with American MMA. There will be no cartoon character or pro-wrestler appearances, no mismatches; just the exciting product fans are accustomed to seeing from the UFC. There’s little chance of MMA becoming an overnight sensation in Japan, but the UFC has the right plan.
UFC 144 features a number of big Japanese stars, some Pride veterans, and a pair of pivotal lightweight matchups, which together could cause the resurgence of MMA in Japan.
Seven bouts will feature a total of nine Japanese fighters; most, including Yushin Okami, “Kid” Yamamoto, Riki Fukuda, and Takeya Mizugaki, have received favorable matchups. Issei Tamura and Eiji Mitsuoka were brought on as late replacements and though Tamura was essentially brought in to make Zhang Tiequan look good, look for Mitsuoka to upset Takanori Gomi, arguably the biggest Japanese star on the card.
Things don’t look as good for the remaining two Japanese fighters Yoshihiro Akiyama and Hatus Hioki. But by featuring fighters that the Japanese audience will want to support, along with fighters that may not be known in Japan but who come to put on a show (like Benson Henderson and Anthony Pettis, both part of the memorable “Showtime Kick” at WEC 53) the UFC has a chance to rebuild MMA in Japan.
The spectacle that was Pride needs to be left in the past to make way for the sport MMA has become; it remains to be seen if the next generation of Japanese fighters can adapt as well.