More news on HEROs USA debut. - Fight Forum - MMA - UFC - Boxing - K1

AikaImmortal · 03-12-2007, 10:37 PM

Sadaharu Tanigawa, a HERO'S Executive Member, announced on 3.12 that HERO'S would hold a press conference in California at the end of March. It's been known for some time now that HERO'S will enter the US market, but the full details will come very soon. The first US event is scheduled for mid-June.

Tanigawa: "We will announce the full story at the March press conference. I want to hold a press conference that will overturn Dana White, so please look forward to it. Actually my only thought is to overturn Dana (laughter)"

Akira Maeda: "The epoch-making Nagoya event will solidify the foundation to set the stage for our entrance into the US market. We've already prepared some good prospective American fighters.

angryjonny · 03-12-2007, 10:48 PM

Let the "UFC buying Hero's/K1/my soul" talk begin.

Seriously though I can't wait.

AikaImmortal · 03-19-2007, 08:24 AM

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

(from article)

... K-1 is planning a Hero’s show for June 2nd in America, most likely at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum. The L.A Coliseum would be a rather bold move. The seating capacity for the L.A. Coliseum, according to their website, is 92,000. The current largest live audience to ever attend an MMA event in the U.S. is 19,079, which was set just recently by the Ultimate Fighting Championship in Columbus, Ohio.

It appears that Brock Lesnar, a former World Wrestling Entertainment professional wrestling champion and talent acknowledged to have caught the attention of UFC president Dana White, is one of the “star quality” fighters that K-1 has in mind for their Hero’s debut in America. He is on tap to face Hong Man Choi, the 7-foot 2-inch goliath from South Korea. Lesnar is sure to draw some attention when he makes his MMA debut against Choi, but it’s not likely the type of match that will put K-1 over in the U.S.

A more intriguing name that has surfaced, one that has much more drawing power when it comes to mixed martial arts in the U.S., is that of Royce Gracie. Sources have verified that Royce is indeed planned for the June 2nd Hero’s show in the U.S. A statement he seemed to confirm himself in a recent interview with MMAWeekly’s Scott Petersen. In the interview, Gracie stated that he does have an MMA fight coming up “for K-1, but not confirmed yet where the location [will be], maybe Las Vegas, maybe L.A.” And he did state that it would be under the Hero’s banner.

One of the more interesting bits of information about K-1 Hero’s coming to the U.S. is that it appears they will be doing so as part of an association with the ProElite/Showtime partnership that produces EliteXC. Although details of the association aren’t concrete, it appears that initial plans call for a combined event with a portion of it televised on Showtime’s premium channel (presumably promoted by EliteXC) followed by a broadcast on Showtime Pay-Per-View (promoted by Hero’s).

RebLMunkE · 03-19-2007, 10:00 AM

Sweeet.....But I hope they have another HEROs before june

hope thats just the first American show.

Sounds like they going to try and step up the game, Man it would be crazy if they sold out 92K in the first show !!!!

Wonder if Dana would book events right away at bigger places.

AikaImmortal · 03-19-2007, 10:17 AM

The biggest MMA/Kickboxing event of all time was when K-1 sold out Olympic Stadium in Tokyo for 2002's Dynamite event. I worry that shooting for such a big venue would be a problem but the fact that it is an outdoor venue would mean quite a few floor seats and possible bleacher seating configuration, even if they sold it all out they would have to devote a large section of seating to bigscreens so the people in nosebleed could see whats going on.. I think its more of a show of power and less of a 'we can sell it all out' sort of thing.

And also, they need some names that the non hardcore MMA fan knows.. Hideo Tokoros rags to riches story is awesome but thats something the Japanese audience can better appreciate, because fans here would see his average record and dismiss him. Rumors are.. and these are JUST rumors that I have heard thru the grapevine so put no real bearings on them yet.. but Royce Gracie vs Kazushi Sakuraba.

RebLMunkE · 03-19-2007, 10:27 AM

wow that would be pretty neat.....K1's MMA style is better for Kaz and Royce I think anyway.....I'd like to see what a crowd of 90k in the US would be like at an MMA event.

Wait and see I guess......It could be big for MMA here though if it was to sell out or sell like crazy at least it may make more people *ESPN* jump on the MMA bus if they see numbers at an event in the NFL like range.

AikaImmortal · 03-19-2007, 02:04 PM

Munkeyman here are some quick n dirty vidcaps from my 2002 Dynamite DVD showing what the full National Stadium looked like

RebLMunkE · 03-19-2007, 02:48 PM

Wow thats nuts.....I don't even see big screens !

AikaImmortal · 03-19-2007, 02:52 PM

Look to the upper left in the last picture.. these werent mega big screens. ill capture an image of one of the bigger ones but I think in the USA people are less about the experiance and more about seeing all of the details so a big screen would have to be stuck in

RebLMunkE · 03-19-2007, 03:00 PM

I see I thought that was a sign with lights LoL

AikaImmortal · 03-19-2007, 03:08 PM

lol do you mean the ones at the bottom in blue and red or the one at the very top that says dynamite.. cuz the dynamite one was one of the screens

RebLMunkE · 03-19-2007, 03:13 PM

Yeah the top one.....I thought it was a sign with a light pointing at it

Flying Triangle Choke · 03-21-2007, 02:55 PM

I really hope they make an impact with this show.

POKAI · 03-22-2007, 01:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AikaImmortal

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

(from article)

... K-1 is planning a Hero’s show for June 2nd in America, most likely at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum. The L.A Coliseum would be a rather bold move. The seating capacity for the L.A. Coliseum, according to their website, is 92,000. The current largest live audience to ever attend an MMA event in the U.S. is 19,079, which was set just recently by the Ultimate Fighting Championship in Columbus, Ohio.

It appears that Brock Lesnar, a former World Wrestling Entertainment professional wrestling champion and talent acknowledged to have caught the attention of UFC president Dana White, is one of the “star quality” fighters that K-1 has in mind for their Hero’s debut in America. He is on tap to face Hong Man Choi, the 7-foot 2-inch goliath from South Korea. Lesnar is sure to draw some attention when he makes his MMA debut against Choi, but it’s not likely the type of match that will put K-1 over in the U.S.

A more intriguing name that has surfaced, one that has much more drawing power when it comes to mixed martial arts in the U.S., is that of Royce Gracie. Sources have verified that Royce is indeed planned for the June 2nd Hero’s show in the U.S. A statement he seemed to confirm himself in a recent interview with MMAWeekly’s Scott Petersen. In the interview, Gracie stated that he does have an MMA fight coming up “for K-1, but not confirmed yet where the location [will be], maybe Las Vegas, maybe L.A.” And he did state that it would be under the Hero’s banner.

One of the more interesting bits of information about K-1 Hero’s coming to the U.S. is that it appears they will be doing so as part of an association with the ProElite/Showtime partnership that produces EliteXC. Although details of the association aren’t concrete, it appears that initial plans call for a combined event with a portion of it televised on Showtime’s premium channel (presumably promoted by EliteXC) followed by a broadcast on Showtime Pay-Per-View (promoted by Hero’s).

the reason why there doing something with elite xc is because bj penns brother is part owner of elitexc..penns brother is also in partnership with k-1..it used to be rumble on the rock k-1 but there is no longer ROTR because BJ Penn is with UFC and DJ Penn is with elitexc