Glory Intends to Make Dream NYE Bigger Than Ever; Plans Full Assault on the U.S. Next Year...

For a brief period, it had appeared that major MMA in Japan had seen its final days when Dream’s parent company Real Entertainment closed its doors earlier this year. But then things quickly changed.

In stepped Glory, announcing that the promotion would revive Dream for at least one more New Year’s Eve show from the Saitama Super Arena.

“Dream has a great name in Japan – it has a great name around the world – but it’s a very strong Japanese product, so it allows us from the get-go to be more dominant in the Japanese market, which is an important piece of the puzzle in our global quest,” said Glory Managing Director Marcus Luer.

“Taking over the Dec. 31 date also is very significant with what MMA and K-1 had done in the past on NYE in Japan. It’s a big day for the martial arts world, and we like the combination of being able to get in that slot and being able to do what we bring in the stand-up fighting world bigger and better.”

According to Luer, Glory had set its eyes on expanding world-wide, and Dream’s availability just happened to come at the right time.

“Glory as a brand has always had a global approach and global vision,” said Luer. “Japan has always been part of the plan to expand into this marketplace, and Dream has allowed us to be quicker, bigger, better in Japan. It just fell nicely into what we were looking for.”

For Dream 18: Special NYE 2012, Glory will be bringing together the best of Japanese MMA with their own 16-man heavyweight kickboxing tournament to form one big night of fighting.

Luer tells MMAWeekly.com that not only will the fights themselves follow in the tradition of big NYE cards, but the production values will match as well.

“We’re going to spend a lot of money on production and bring some new technology into it as well,” he said. “We’re trying to take it a step higher, (and these shows) have always been very large and very grand. That’s exactly the direction we’re going to take it as well and try to make it a big spectacle.”

Currently Glory is set to back this one Dream show, but there is a possibility of more if things work out between the promotions.

As for Glory itself, Luer says the company will be headed to the United States in the coming year and has plans to continue to become a world-wide brand for combat sports.

“We just spent the week here trying to finalize some pieces to make a ‘full assault’ on the U.S.,” said Luer. “We’re rolling out some events early next year; we’re going to be on TV and will be launching our first full big Glory show there next year as well.

“We’re hitting on as on many cylinders on as many parts of the world simultaneously here. The U.S. is very important to us and is a very big piece of the puzzle, and so is Japan.”

http://www.mmaweekly.com/glory-intends-to-make-dream-nye-bigger-than-ever-plans-full-assault-on-the-u-s-next-year

If they got they money it will work, going against zuffa on thier home turf will be tough, prepair for Dana and his zombies to start up that hate and propoganda campaign.

Also hope they dont feel the pressure to switch to a cage, we have enough of those orgs already, I love variety and Dream will bring that imo.

PRIDE NEVER DIE wrote:Also hope they dont feel the pressure to switch to a cage, we have enough of those orgs already, I love variety and Dream will bring that imo.

yeah i hope they can stick to their mold in dream and glory, use the ring that can help with the fanbase also!!!

They have exactly 0 names right now that would get any casual to in America to watch.

I hope GLORY have a lot of cards up their sleeve

MR.WILLIE wrote:

PRIDE NEVER DIE wrote:Also hope they dont feel the pressure to switch to a cage, we have enough of those orgs already, I love variety and Dream will bring that imo.

yeah i hope they can stick to their mold in dream and glory, use the ring that can help with the fanbase also!!!

exactly man in america there is no one that has a ring this instantly will stand out to new and old school fans, they need to keep themselves as different as zuffa as possible. Zuffa mafia is not going to make this easy, watch as the media bias and Zuffa brainwashing kicks in gear.

IQ Wrestler wrote:They have exactly 0 names right now that would get any casual to in America to watch.

I hope GLORY have a lot of cards up their sleeve

i agree with they want to enter the difficult market of the states they have to sign some good talent that the american fans can recognize...or big names as you say!!! true

This is great news.

I think they plan on just bringing GLORY kickboxing to the U.S. and holding DREAM MMA in Japan.

Will Brooks vs Shinya Aoki in Dream this New Years in Japan. Mentioned on Twitter and Facebook.

http://www.sherdog.com/fighter/Will-Brooks-76241

What a waste of Aoki. I'd rather not see him fight at all against that kind of opposition.

The only way I can see Glory being half way successful in America is if they use all of their major heavyweights and guys like Petrosyan, Van Roosmalen, and Askerov. Regardless, they need to keep their scope low.

Jesus...It's getting so hard to get excited for Aoki's fights.
Daisuke, Kotani & Boku are the only guys i'm interested in him fighting

I honestly can't believe Aoki hasn't been matched up with Daisuke yet. What a missed opportunity. That just has fireworks all over it.

I would've even been fine with Kikuno, which I honestly expected.

IQ Wrestler wrote:They have exactly 0 names right now that would get any casual to in America to watch.

I hope GLORY have a lot of cards up their sleeve

Zombies, Zuffa and Dana will make them public enemy number 1, term them shady, and do a hate campaign the same as they did to M1.

I for one would support Glory in their conquest of America, from the tyranny of UFC.

IQ Wrestler wrote:Jesus...It's getting so hard to get excited for Aoki's fights.
Daisuke, Kotani & Boku are the only guys i'm interested in him fighting

Those would be some solid fights. A cross-promotion vs. Chandler or Musa would be great as well in the future.

CDF47 wrote:This is great news.

I think they plan on just bringing GLORY kickboxing to the U.S. and holding DREAM MMA in Japan.

I think this is the case and it´s a wise move.

I say stay out of the states. There's an entire world out there and even if you say the us is the
biggest market, it's already mostly taken by zuffa and bellator. On top of that interest in mma in
the states seems to be on the down.

I don't know how much it matters anyway. I don't hold Glory in particularly high esteem.