UFC courting Gomi and Kid for Japanese "debut"??

[mdhan]

I just read a Korean article on this that quoted Nikan sports.
According to the article, Lorenzo Fertitta and Dana White asked Gomi and Kid to participate in the UFC's "debut" in Japan, scheduled for summer (but Dana wants to hold it in spring) of 2009. They supposedly said that they're OK with a one-fight deal, as long as they participate in the event.

The article also said that a representative of Sengoku was supportive of the offer, allowing Gomi to fight in the UFC if he wishes to. Sasahara Keiichi, on the other hand, wasn't as receptive to the idea.



Any confirmation/corrections would be very much appreciated. A lot of things could have been lost in translation.

[miscmisc]

Yes, I never read actual so-called "Sports shimbun (newspaper)", but it seems that that has been reported here. Gomi vs. BJ Penn, Kid vs. Faber, and so on. Japanese fighters vs. Zuffa fighters seems to be the theme, in a nutshell. A Sports Houchi article says that White or Fertitta even mentioned Saku and Yoshida.

I doubt it's anything with real substance at this point. They (mostly Zuffa) say all kinds of stuff all the time. Zuffa say they will "aggressively" expand into the foreign/European market next year, but we already heard that last year. "Wake me up when that actually happens" is probably the good attitude. ;)

[Lord Gaul]

I am with you MM. I must say a that the Faber/Kid fight and maybe a Roger Huerta/Gomi fight would be the ultimate for me.

[migs]

If only a 5% chance, I am still excited with hope. I would consider flying to Japan for that.

[GravityEyelids]

So now Dana wants to co-promote, but only if he gets the fighters. I hope WVR and Dream refuse.

[SVED]

i'd love to see why any Japanese promotion would agree to a 1 fight deal???

you want to earn a 1 fight superfight=====Win a Tournament now...and then you earn the right to a 1 fight superfight

most UFC competitors in their 20's have never won a major MMA tournament

and in japan+Korea_ + most of ASIA tournaments legitimize MMA the same way that olympics legitimize other sports

[sweeptheleg]

I will ONLY believe that this is true when Gomi and Kid are sitting on either side of David Spade at the next UFC Fight Night Live.

Spade is the final decider!!!!

[Soulrise]

Unless they were able to lock Gomi, KID, Yoshida, etc. into long term contracts I don't see how Zuffa would risk letting them fight their top draws. And without top Japanese draws to face their fighters I don't see how a UFC show could possibly be successful in Japan.

[majorcunningham]

well lets presume that gomi, kid and yoshida all sign for a minute...

gomi would fight bj penn and almost certainly lose again imo...

yoshida would fight god knows who (lets say wanderlei silva for arguments sake) and almost certainly lose...

then we have kid vs faber, a really competitive fight that could go either way although id personally pick kid...

i dont see this as a huge risk for the ufc, just a moderate one :)

[loreia]

But if they fighters do win, it is a great way to advertise UFC on Japanese market. Typical Dana style : "There is a new MMA promotion in town, and we are kicking ass"