Sakakibara interview

First, Sakakibara talked about Tenshin Nasukawa, “If K-1 placed an offer to Tenshin and if he wants to do it then I won’t stop him. We do have a contract with Tenshin but I would like him to do whatever he wants to do. But instead of fighting Takeru (K-1 champ) I would like to propose a new challenge to him. I am talking to Takashi Ito (the chairman of TARGET) and Tenshin about a possibility of gathering world’s best kick boxers to do the GP. The four-men tournament we just did is a test for the future. I know many fans would like RIZIN to be MMA event but I think RIZIN should be like Makunouchi Bento (Lunch box with variety of foods) and something hot can be a spin-off so I think we could do all kickboxing event or kickboxing and MMA event”.

Then, Sakakibara talked about the event schedule for 2018.

The next event is May 6th at Fukuoka Marine Messe. Until then we are not promoting an event. I want to see fighters re-charge themselves and we are federations so we do not tie down fighters under the exclusive contract so I am fine if fighters want to fight in the other event. After May even we are doing event at end of July, end of September and end of December and that is going to be at Saitama Super Arena. If possible, I would like to add one event around August in Osaka or Nagoya. And also, I would like to do the event in overseas in mid October or November.

We have been doing two-day event at the end of December but this year I am thinking about doing only one event on December 31st. Grand Prix (tournament) can be difficult when we don’t have a fighter that can be the central axis. So, maybe we  can stop doing Grand Prix this year and it can be all regular fight with new fighters that would emerge this year. Or we can still do Grand Prix again this year. We could gather fighters like (Takanori) Gomi, (Satoru) Kitaoka and “Strasser” Kiichi to do the lightweight GP at around 72 kg. Horiguchi could go up one more weight class too.”

Sounds like RIZIN is cutting down the number of events in 2018 and maybe concentrate more on kickboxing event since their biggest star is Tenshin.


http://adcombat.com/rizin-sakakibara-revealed-plan-for-2018/

I thought they were planning 6 events. May be only 5 events if they cut out the 29th event. I hope they don't cut that event out.

I think that what matters most in the planning of these events is what is going to be the most profitable, in terms of attendance and TV.

I personally read it in such a way, as in Sakihabara is alluding to the strategic thinking that goes in.

It was interesting how he suggested Horiguchi might go up another weight class for the purpose of a lightweight grand prix.

Well if rizin is going to be a mixed bag are they going to do it like Bellator? , Bellator kickboxing or will it be separate thing entirely? Will One event will be mma and the next kickboxing? .

It sounds like they will be combined events like we been seeing. The kickboxing GP with Tenshin was a test run for it.

nodogoshi wrote:I think that what matters most in the planning of these events is what is going to be the most profitable, in terms of attendance and TV.

I personally read it in such a way, as in Sakihabara is alluding to the strategic thinking that goes in.

It was interesting how he suggested Horiguchi might go up another weight class for the purpose of a lightweight grand prix.

The commentators said they sold out the 31 December show. There TV ratings were comparable to last year. Not sure what their peak was or how they compared to TBS.

CDF47 wrote:It sounds like they will be combined events like we been seeing.  The kickboxing GP with Tenshin was a test run for it.

He didn't really get specific on anything.

He seemed to raise the possibility of doing either mixed shows, or separate kickboxing shows.

I think what he meant was that people who attend Rizin are largely MMA fans, but he thinks there may be sufficient interest in kickboxing to expand in that area. Expanding means either more kickboxing fights on the same cards, or perhaps even stand-alone events.

In any case, I expect their creative match making will continue to be a feature. They are probably also interested in fan feedback, and stuff.

As it were, 5 events does seem few, however they are not running their next event until May, which means 4-5 events (hopefully 5) over a space of 8 months.

I just hope that the shows are making decent money, and that this will spur growth.

nodogoshi wrote:

CDF47 wrote:It sounds like they will be combined events like we been seeing.  The kickboxing GP with Tenshin was a test run for it.

He didn't really get specific on anything.

He seemed to raise the possibility of doing either mixed shows, or separate kickboxing shows.

I think what he meant was that people who attend Rizin are largely MMA fans, but he thinks there may be sufficient interest in kickboxing to expand in that area. Expanding means either more kickboxing fights on the same cards, or perhaps even stand-alone events.

In any case, I expect their creative match making will continue to be a feature. They are probably also interested in fan feedback, and stuff.

As it were, 5 events does seem few, however they are not running their next event until March, which means 4-5 events (hopefully 5) over a space of 8 months.

I just hope that the shows are making decent money, and that this will spur growth.

Yeah, we shall see. I hope they keep the kickboxing combined with the MMA, at least for NYE. I like it that way. I was hoping they were going to do the 6 events previously rumored but it is looking like 5 events now. The first event is May 6th which is a ways out there.