Gygax

Apparently, FEG, the promoter of K-1, has not received a promoter's license in California yet, putting into some doubt whether their portion of the Dynamite card, featuring Gracie-Sak 2 and Lesnar-Choi, will be allowed to occur.

FEG not granted a Promoter's license

This is not good news especially considering what a pain in the ass Armando Garcia and the CSAC has been to other promotions in the past. Not good at all. Garcia is notorious for not really being a fan of MMA and throwing a wrench into many plans.

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Gygax

Damn, more on this story over on the Fight Network.

Dynamite in Trouble

FEG is not coming through with the medicals as promised.

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AikaImmortal

MMA WEEKLY - Your #1 Source for Daily MMA News, Interviews, Multimedia, and More

See the addendum on the end. Apperantly those werent the papers. Garcia is a pompous ass for the most part. He wouldnt let PRIDE use a ring in California, thus preventing them from coming over.

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AikaImmortal

As if it wasent bad enough..
Choi's license denial jeopardizes MMA card - Boxing - Yahoo! Sports

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Crashsti

in some ways i think it is good that the AC's are not handing out fight liecenses like beer at happy hour. without knowing the exact reason for the denial i can't really agree with it or go against it. all i can say is that if its an MMA match i don't see how Hong Man Choi is even qualified to take part being first and foremost a kickboxer without ground skills.

AikaImmortal

Yeah, but he fought in Hawaii in a K-1 match in April and he had to have a medicial then ya know.. and as for MMA, Choi is a former Sseirum champion in Korea.. korean national wrestling sport.

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Gygax

While I don't understand why he would be denied, Hawaii does not have MMA sanctioning and thus does not require medicals on MMA participants. Its up to the respective promotions to ensure the fighters are healthy and qualified, not a problem when FEG is running the show.

This show is quickly crumbling just a week before the broadcast.

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Crashsti

do you think that the CSAC is denying the license for suspect reasons? or perhaps something occured during his last K1 match that could be the issue at hand? its hard for me to question the decision without knowing exactly why his license had been denied.

AikaImmortal

I will keep my mouth closed about CSAC because I have NOTHING nice to say about Armando Garcia.. this is the same guy who claimed a fight was worked because one competitor used a cartwheel guard pass amongst many other things.

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Crashsti

if you get wind of the official condition that is keeping Hong Man from fighting let us know. BTW, is this the same guy who denied Dan Severn and Marco Ruas a license just for being old?

AikaImmortal

Yes. I will keep an eye on the situation. As for FEG not coming with proper financials, I sent Gygax a PM about it.. right now I am not comfortable posting it in public but I may change my tune. Lets just say if you thought the Office Inoki/DSE feud was bad..

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Gygax

No doubt about it. Armando Garcia is a complete nightmare as far as MMA goes. He nearly single handedly destroyed the Strikeforce promotion before it ever got off the ground for the first event featuring Frank Shamrock and Cesar Gracie.

I have little doubt that this is the case as well. You know they are going to take a hit running their first MMA show. But with Garcia at the helm of CSAC, they damn well better have all their paperwork crystal clear. And with FEG's "background", that may be pretty difficult.

The guy who should shut up is the K1-USA guy that was quoted in that article you posted. Hey douchebag, sites like Fight Network are what help you sell some of those tickets to the huge LA Coliseum. Its like another Gary Millen! And if he thinks the CSAC will sanction a fight because the participant is part of the main event, they are kidding themselves.

Then you got Gary Shaw saying he's sure FEG would have a replacement for Choi. He's the clown who just two weeks ago said there would be no replacement or backup plan if Sakuraba failed his physicals.

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AikaImmortal

The facts are (blurred like on COPS when someone dosent want to be seen)

Kazushi Ishii is sitting in jail in Japan right now for massive tax evasion around the 2002-2003 era. Let's just say he consealed roughly 530 million yen of profits. Current FEG president Sadaharu Tanigawa had very close ties to Mr. Ishii.

When you have NO clear financial history.. at least not clear enough to be public record in the USA and potentially lose HUGE sponsors like Softbank Corp.. it takes times to.. err.. you know.

Putting an American president in on a company that has had no prior MMA events stateside is always a big problem. Gary Shaw also is always a big problem.

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AikaImmortal

addendum: 530 million yen in current exchange is roughly 4.36 million USD$. Yen in 2003 was near the amount it is now, but in 2002 the Yen was 133.89 to the $ so although I don't know an exact pinpoint number as to the amount of funds in question, it was a very sizeable amount.

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Crashsti

so why are you so down on this decision? is it because the Lesnar v. Choi fight is'nt going to happen or that the UFC and Zuffa is going to continue to maintain their stranglehold on the sport?

AikaImmortal

The second. As riddled with holes as FEGs financial statements may be, they are the top promoter in the world for Kickboxing and a growing force in MMA. If this falls thru more than likey we will not get to purchase future HEROs shows on PPV, meaning I have to resort to watching them via low quality feeds from Fuji TV.. not to mention this could stall any momentum in getting the K-1 kickboxing side of things rejuvinated in the United States. From Scott Coker on the K-1 side to this new guy on the FEG side, K-1 manages to choose some of the most ignorant people to represent the sport stateside.. and seeing as Kickboxing is my first love, it really ticks me off.

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FightingIrish

throw warpath in there , but seriously this sucks and i was really thinking about buying this but now it's a maybe at best.

AikaImmortal

FightOpinion.com - Your Global Connection to the Fight Industry.

(This adds more to the rumor that I talked to you about ealier Gygax)

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AikaImmortal

OK, its time to bust out what I have been speaking in private about.

Think about it. The venue is huge and they may very well have a problem making a legit profit from this thing.. and this is very negative conspiricy theory thinking but I almost wonder if they are pulling out on purpose by not submitting paperwork and then going to play the blame game? With what Zach posted earlier on FightOpnion it really got me thinking that maybe it has more to do with bailing out and less to do with covering up possible fraud on said financials, as we all know that Ishii is sitting in jail for tax evasion at 530 million yen, or 4.36 million USD$.

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Gygax

FEG has gone ahead and begun preliminary talks about a replacement opponent for Brock Lesnar. According to the Wrestling Observer, Tank Abbott, Ruben "Warpath" Villareal, Butterbean, and James Thompson have been contacted as potential opponents. What, is Warpath the standard replacement heavyweight fighter, LOL? Anyway, its highly unlikely that any of these names would be sanctioned by the CSAC to fight Lesnar based on their MMA experience compared to Brock's. At this point, its looking pretty grim for the Lesnar-Choi fight.

Also according to Meltzer, Hong Man Choi's condition will not allow him to fight. "An announcement is expected imminently but the medical condition discovered in his pre-fight physical requires immediate attention that would make it impossible for a commission to allow him to fight ten days."

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