The promotion held a presser today in Tokyo with Jamie Pollack (photo), counsel for Zuffa, leading the announcement of the fight card for their 3/31 event at Bojangles Arena in Charlotte, North Carolina. Pollack’s last time in Japan wasn’t so great — he was sent by Zuffa to try to head-up the shinsei (newborn) PRIDE resurrection attempt after the asset sale with Nobuyuki Sakakibara.
At today’s press conference at Wald 9 in Shinjuku (Tokyo), it was announced that the UFC Charlotte event would air on TV Tokyo, the smallest of the free-to-air broadcast networks in Japan. In other words, UFC will not make much of a dent in the Japanese marketplace. TV Tokyo is a pay-for-play station. You bring the sponsors and pay for the time, you get it. The 3/31 show will air on TV Tokyo on 4/8 in a one-hour slot from 10 PM to 10:54 PM JST.
Pollack at today’s presser (photo) said that UFC was aiming to expand into Japan and that signing “big names” like Gomi, Okami, and Uno were part of the marketing plan. OK. In usual grandstanding bluster, the TV Tokyo sports executive at the presser said he hopes the UFC show will draw a double-digit rating. (A realistic rating would be in the 4-to-6 % range.)
A taped video by Dana White was played at the press conference, saying that the three Japanese fighters (Gomi, Okami, and Uno) are “Japanese legend fighters.” Which means those fighters will all fight in the top 3 slots on the card, right? Nope — Okami fights 3rd and Uno 4th, both dark matches in America.
Source: http://www.fightopinion.com/2010/03/10/ ... -in-japan/