Issue 112

March 2014

Around New Year’s Eve, Japan has a thing for making strong dudes arm-wrestle on TV. They asked MMA veterans Mark Hunt and Kazushi Sakuraba to do it in 2012, and this past December they had Fedor Emelianenko and ‘Kid’ Yamamoto.

But when you’re looking to do something weird in Japan, you can’t leave out Bob Sapp. The former K-1 kickboxer turned MMA heavyweight was once legitimately feared by all but now has to lug around an 11-18 record. 

The six-foot-five, plus-300lb’er, who was once so popular in the Land of the Rising Sun he released a single (It’s Sapp Time), could fill arenas with him fighting other freakishly large men.

Of course, he was invited to Fuji TV’s arm-wrestling bonanza, Giant Killing, both times. Last year he beat Alistair Overeem on route to losing in the finals. This year he walked through opponents such as leading strongman Terry Hollands, before facing heavyweight great Emelianenko in the semi-final.

The result? Sapp beat Fedor. Let that sentence gestate in your brain for a second.

Despite being outweighed by not far off 100lb, Emelianenko gave Sapp a better run for his money than any of his previous foes on the night – resisting him for nearly 15 seconds. ‘The Last Emperor’ even lasted longer than 430lb Kaido ‘Baruto’ Höövelson, an Estonian sumo wrestler (yes, there was a weirder entrant than Sapp), who the former NFL player beat in the final. 

There are probably stranger things to watch on TV for New Year’s Eve, but we can’t think of any. 

Korean media giant to boost global profile of Road FC

South Korea’s largest MMA organization, Road FC, has formed a partnership with national media giant CJ Entertainment and Media (CJ E&M) to improve its worldwide footprint.

Road FC’s 15 fight cards in 2014 will continue to be broadcast on the mainstream, CJ E&M-owned Super Action channel, but they will also now receive increased promotion outside Road FC’s home country, including a boost to its international streaming efforts.

Involved in film and cable, CJ E&M is the largest entertainment company in South Korea and linked to the Samsung group.

Chinese promotion Ruff drawing good ratings

The only central government sanctioned MMA promotion in China, Ranik Ultimate Fighting Federation (RUFF), recently released impressive viewing figures for a selection of its events. 

The two-and-a-half-year-old firm’s sixth, seventh and eighth shows, held a year ago, have been seen by an average of 6.5 million people across TV and online, suggesting there’s a big market for MMA in China.

And RUFF’s recent reality series, RUFF Journey, pulled in 3m viewers an episode. The unverified numbers provide an interesting benchmark for the UFC’s first season of The Ultimate Fighter: China as the Las Vegas group tries to break into the region. TUF just finished airing in China.

10%

Just over 10% of Poland’s entire 38.54 million population tuned in to watch the Mamed Khalidov vs. Ryuta Sakurai main event of KSW 25 in December. That’s the equivalent of 31m people tuning in for the UFC in the US.

7

Up to seven UFC events will be held in Asia this year, says Mark Fischer, the managing director for UFC Asia.

Chicago, United States: Kenneth Allen retiring with 1-34 record

When do you know you really, really like MMA? Is it when you stay up until 5am watching a card beaming live from the other side of the world? Is it when you drop a few hundred notes on fight shorts used at Pride 21? Or is it when you’ve won one bout, lost over 30 and you just keep going? 

US welterweight Kenneth Allen appears to have retired following a December 2012 loss that moved his career record to an astounding 1-34. Allen gained cult status on the internet with his undeniably terrible fight career – which bests several notoriously bad records thanks to its .028 win percentage. 

Debuting in 2005 with a TKO loss, a 54-second submission in 2006 was Allen’s sole win – while the same route caused 76% of his losses. There being little to no video available on the five-foot-eight Chicago native only added to his legend.

For unrelenting enthusiasm for MMA in the face of severe demotivation, we salute you, Kenneth Allen.