Another possible FEG scandal on the horizon

[SHOGUN]

http://www.fightersonlymagazine.co.uk/news/viewarticle.php?id=6021

“Certain Japanese MMA pundits are predicting another scandal to rock the sport in Japan very soon, following the publication of a report entitled “Pro-Wrestling: Crime & Punishment” in the popular and respected BESSATSU TAKARAJIMA magazine.

Among the subjects the report tackles is the financial crisis currently affecting FEG, parent company of DREAM and K-1, the MMA and kickboxing brands.

Production of DREAM events is handled by a company called Real Entertainment, which was formed by former staff members of Dream Stage Entertainment – the company which produced MMA goliath PRIDE FC.

PRIDE FC went under because its yakuza connections were exposed, a scandal it could not recover from. Now this report reveals that FEG is heavily in debt to Real Entertainment, the ’new’ DSE, and that will serve to remind Japanese readers of the initial DSE scandal.

In addition, the report claims that one of the main reasons K-1 boss Sadaharu Tanikawa has been talking about selling the brand recently is to reduce the power of Kazuyoshi Ishii and his family, who founded K-1 in 1993 as a karate tournament.

That would make the move a political one rather than a business one and is yet more ‘cloak and dagger’ activity that will not do much to remove the taint from the Japanese MMA scene.

Of course there is no doubt that FEG is in dire straits financially and there is no shortage of reports of fighters and staff not being paid for months at a time. Six months was recently declared to be a reasonably quick period in which to receive payment from FEG for fighting at one of their shows.

Translation Monkeys are hard at work on the article; more news as we have it.”

via MiddleEasy

We've just witnessed the death of FEG. If not the death, the slow, excruciating process of dying once the Yakuza eviscerates the corpse of FEG for whatever it's worth. In short, FEG is done. Now that it's over with, no one really knows what will happen. The Yakuza has already dipped their hands in the organization and, as Enson Inoue said on The Underground, it's impossible to run an MMA organization without the the Yakuza being involved. Tanigawa is considered somewhat of a 'marked man' by the Yakuza, and apparently it's just going to get worse.

Apparently FEG won't even respond to Mike Kogan's calls, despite him being the director of FEG USA.

We first placed it in the Sunday Morning Rumor Mill last year, but it looks like Shinya Aoki will jump ship and join Strikeforce exclusively.

FEG needs to remove Tanikawa from the equation. He's obviously been bad for business.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

FEG is dead. DREAM is likely dead, and who knows what happens to K1. The kickboxing division has more value than the MMA.

 

[Bigpapa42]

This has been coming for awhile, it seems, but it still makes me a sad papa bear.

 

[EmpireWF]

Amazing that it appears K-1 is knocking on deaths door.

If MMA/K1 is dead in Japan (Sengoku, Deep, I know, but still)...what's next?

 

[SHOGUN]

Amazing that it appears K-1 is knocking on deaths door.

If MMA/K1 is dead in Japan (Sengoku, Deep, I know, but still)...what's next?

I doubt K-1 completely goes kaput. That's still their biggest cashcow If it does come to fruition my bet is that It's Showtime swoops in, take the rest of guys not already under their umbrella and take over as the top dog promotion. I highly doubt they would run shows in Japan. The Japanese guys will likely stick to KRUSH and possibly fight under Sengoku if they get their plans for running kickboxing shows off the ground.

MMA in Japan will still thrive, but at a lower scale. There won't be that 'premier' organization. There are some guys who understand the business in FEG, but I don't know if they can overcome the economy and lack of domestic draws in the sport to make something happen immediately. They will have to go the SRC route and rebuild.

 

[Liquidrob]

Don't worry, Strikeforce is here to pick up the pieces of JMMA

In Coker we trust

 

[Liquidrob]

I doubt K-1 completely goes kaput. That's still their biggest cashcow If it does come to fruition my bet is that It's Showtime swoops in, take the rest of guys not already under their umbrella and take over as the top dog promotion. I highly doubt they would run shows in Japan. The Japanese guys will likely stick to KRUSH and possibly fight under Sengoku if they get their plans for running kickboxing shows off the ground.

MMA in Japan will still thrive, but at a lower scale. There won't be that 'premier' organization. There are some guys who understand the business in FEG, but I don't know if they can overcome the economy and lack of domestic draws in the sport to make something happen immediately. They will have to go the SRC route and rebuild.

I agree that It's Showtime will be the number 1 kickboxing org