FEG Declares "WAR" Complete Restructure and Future of Dream and K-1

After the conclusion of K-1/DREAM DYNAMITE, FEG President Sadaharu Tanikawa has shed some insight on what DREAM and K-1's plans are moving forward into 2011 onward. While not disclosing major details Tanikawa has confirmed an investor in PUJI Capital a Shanghai based investment bank which is rumored to have a deal worth an estimated 230 million dollars. Although PUJI won't be in control of day to day operations, they will be in control of fund raising and global expansion. Tanikawa has stressed that FEG has not been sold and it’s quite the opposite.FEG has set its sights on a global level Tanikawa previously stated "This is a declaration of war against the WWE and UFC. From Asia, We will take the world." It is no secret that the UFC has plans of becoming an international juggernaut but FEG may have beat them to the punch. Tanikawa although admitting trying to come into the American market and compete would be a futile mistake, the rest of the world wouldn't be. Drastic change was a must since the hit took by Japanese MMA after the collapse of Pride FC shifted power to the states, a subject Tanikawa has spoke on stating.

"When K-1 and PRIDE were competing against each other, 80% of the martial arts market was in Japan. It is now the opposite and Japan is only 20%. We were worried that Japan would be left behind if we let this continue, it is unacceptable. We needed to change our business model." "We've let Dana White get a lead on us. Before (Shinya) Aoki beats (Gilbert) Melendez, we must win as promoters."

Tanikawa has announced a three month hiatus for FEG to restructure after closing out 2010."As promoters, we caused a lot of problems for fighters, venues, and the fans last month," Tanikawa stated pointing out the highly publicized issues their promotion has been experiencing in the past. "But I’d like to make sure that 2011 is a comeback year for us. We will restructure the company for three months and start holding events in the spring."

Despite rumors that FEG refused restructure and PUJI would not be backing them financially, Tanikawa has addressed this by claiming "We’ll make an official announcement soon, but Puji will serve as an intermediary, We’re in negotiations with Shanghai Media Group, and Puji is helping us work out a deal with them. There’s also investment coming in from the United States. We’ve signed deals with multiple companies, though I’m not sure how much I can really talk about it yet. I’m hoping to have a press conference for all of this in January."

Tanikawa is hoping to revamp the roster by bringing in new talents from other promotions as well as making a legitimate heavyweight division. Tanikawa is also planning to push Alistair Overeem as one of the main draws, with Overeem holding the Strikeforce title, the K-1 World GP title, and the DREAM title the first triple crown winner in history is going to be very busy in 2011."I've committed myself to the comeback of martial arts in Japan. Right now, martial arts are a sport for hardcore fans. However, we need to attract casual fans, too. Alistair Overeem’s fights, in particular, attract the general public," Tanikawa said in a post-Dynamite interview continuing on into detail "I want Alistair Overeem to become the strongest man amongst six billion. I plan to offer him fights in both K-1 and MMA; he’s going to be very busy in 2011. Andrei Arlovski, Josh Barnett, Semmy Schilt, Badr Hari and Jerome Le Banner -- they all want to fight Alistair, and I want Alistair to crush all the challengers."

Tanikawa also addressed that even though Hiroyuki Takeya took the DREAM featherweight title away from Bibiano Fernandes at Dynamite, his assessment of MMAs current state in Japan is less than a shed of optimism. Tanikawa feels Takeya did more to drive away the casual fan than attract it.Thus leading and contributing to his desire to push Overeem as well as other fighters to fight outside of their element hoping to duplicate the successes Overeem has already made.Tanikawa's vision for this is to take MMA fighters and let them try K-1 to boost success, An example that was used was none other than former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Gegard Mousasi, who was impressively victorious at Dynamite 2010 over K-1 heavyweight champion Kyotaro."I want Mousasi to fight for K-1 if he’s interested. If you think about how things are in Japan, I think it’s better to fight in K-1 because it makes fighters very popular and famous. MMA fighters like [Norifumi] "Kid" Yamamoto and Genki Sudo won and lost in the K-1 ring, but they still became famous from it. I want Mousasi to become very famous," Tanikawa said.

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This does not conclude that FEG is going to scrap all DREAM or MMA bouts moving forward.Both Tanikawa and DREAM Event Producer Keiichi Sasahara firmly pointed out their desire to fill out all divisons. An immediate plan being put into action is for DREAM to hold a 2011 bantamweight tournament. Sasahara came to this decision with Takeya winning the DREAM title stating "Takaya just won the belt, so we are thinking that, since he is the featherweight champion, we might just have a bantamweight tournament this year. We still have to figure out what comes next for Takaya, so we’re going to take some time before deciding who will be his next challenger."

The current state of Japanese MMA is capable of a resurrection bigger than that of which Pride FC ever was- if played right and Japan can partner with China first which looks like the case, and can expand into Europe, the Americas, Africa and the rest of Asia. The UFC may have no choice but to sell just like Pride FC, especially with the Station Casino debt, the 10 percent sale of Zuffa LLC to Flash Entertainment as well as the constant mockery of state athletic commissions by UFC President Dana White. Tanikawa already stated interest in the UFCs purchase in 2009 The UFC is currently considered the best MMA event," he acknowledged. "However, I believe we can make our event better than the UFC. We’ll save money and will buy the UFC someday." Someday is sooner than believed.

By Curt Meyer
ProFighting-fans.com MMA Staff Writer