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© Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.One Championship announces 1st show in Japan for March 2019
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goldorak
I don't think that Pride was 'that' popular overseas tbh. Fedor, Crocop, Jackson and a few others were internet sensations (bit like kimbo) rather than popular/mainstream athletes (mma was in its infancy in the early 2000s).
theFritzX
Pride and Prejudice. Google the excellent article by that name. Pride was heavily biased towards getting 'wins' for their japanese competitors and they used many little tricks.
Ricky Kaminski
Yep Pride started it all, then it was gone. A real shame that was. Japan could have been the center of the world for the MMA revolution as they pretty much did the groundwork for everything. One day it was here, the next gone.
The very average attempts to bring it back under different names and associations here have been marred by some very suspect decisions , either that or the referee jumping in way too soon to stop the fight in favor of the Japanese fighter when it was obvious the fight should continue. All that did was leave a sickly taste in the mouth. No one wants to watch a fight that is swayed or fixed, and I reckon the Japanese audience are mature enough to want to see the best fighter win. There was some disgraceful moments in their attempt to get MMA back in the mainstream, like really really bad. To a figt savy international audience this type of carry on is unacceptable and duely noted.
Let’s see if One can deliver.