Dana White calls UFC 144 a sell out, already planning return to Japan
by Jesse Holland on Feb 23, 2012 11:03 AM EST
in UFC News
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For all the negative Nancys who didn't expect a main event featuring Frankie Edgar vs. Ben Henderson to pull any kind of respectable numbers, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President Dana White has news for you.
UFC 144 is a sell out.
The Las Vegas fight boss will bring the Octagon to the Saitama Super Arena this Saturday night (Feb. 25, 2012), for a live pay-per-view (PPV) event that also features former PRIDE FC stars Quinton Jackson, Mark Hunt and Takanori Gomi, as well as K-1 "Hero's" Yoshihiro Akiyama and Norifumi Yamamoto.
White breaks down the numbers to Kimura.se:
"We were gonna come here earlier. We had a deal in place but everything fell apart. Now, here we are. We got this one worked out. We got it figured out, came in, sold this event out and I'm excited. We're looking at 22,000 (capacity), so when we sell 20,000 and there's 2,000 tickets left, we consider that a sell-out. What's today, Thursday? We still got three days before the event happens (Sunday in Japan). The Saitama Super Arena is where all the big mixed martial arts fights have happened. It's the place to go. We're coming back to Japan again, Rampage could be fighting here again."
PRIDE FC, the last bastion for Japanese mixed martial arts (MMA) fighters, was acquired by ZUFFA back in 2007. Since that time, the UFC has planned a return to the "Land of the Rising Sun," but faced obstacles along the way.
Hear White detail the long journey back to Japan, after the jump.
For more on UFC 144: "Edgar vs. Henderson" click here.
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rampage/shogun 2 in japan would be INSANITY!
Fuck It Dude, Life's A Risk
http://fidlar.bandcamp.com/
THIS
Mike Goldberg: "You know Joe, When Matt and his brother Mark Hughes were growing up, they would pound each other behind the barn."
@xFenixKnightx on teh Twitter
by xFenixKnightx on Feb 23, 2012 11:13 AM EST up reply actions
I'll also take page vs lil nog, Hendog 2, or thiago silva.
Mania is not quite Mania without Lester the pimp. Come back soon, les. Copy this sig if you agree.
I’d take Fitch-GSP with yellow cards
"with a good physique and explosiveness anybody can perform a takedown"
-RoBerto
by Lesnar's striking coach on Feb 23, 2012 11:32 AM EST up reply actions
no yellow cards were needed in their first match
"I'm recognized for being a great fighter but more importantly a great father"-letter19
by letter19 on Feb 23, 2012 11:37 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
it was a mere joke!
"with a good physique and explosiveness anybody can perform a takedown"
-RoBerto
by Lesnar's striking coach on Feb 23, 2012 11:43 AM EST up reply actions
yeah but you could do better
"I'm recognized for being a great fighter but more importantly a great father"-letter19
by letter19 on Feb 23, 2012 12:05 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
-19
I chuckled
FREE A.B.B.
by 10thDegreeWhiteBelt on Feb 23, 2012 12:34 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
I did too
"I'm recognized for being a great fighter but more importantly a great father"-letter19
by letter19 on Feb 23, 2012 12:53 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
We know
" What would Sakuraba do ? " - Ivan Menjivar
by wooly shambler on Feb 23, 2012 1:09 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
I would like to see page vs lil nog or thiago
More than rematches with shogun or hendo
"I'm recognized for being a great fighter but more importantly a great father"-letter19
by letter19 on Feb 23, 2012 11:39 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
page vs thiago silva sounds really nice ..
So every morning this guy comes to my apartment complex to collect cans out of the dumpster he then crushes them .. turns out the guys name is fedor ..
by Nightmare83 on Feb 23, 2012 11:59 AM EST up reply actions
Post-retirement debuts are rare
Sakuraba would get jabbed to death by GSP if they were to fight in a prime vs. prime fantasy match. Beating one dimensional Gracie's is cool and all, but without wrestling you ain't shit.
packing an arena that large of course the ufc is going back to japan
"I'm recognized for being a great fighter but more importantly a great father"-letter19
by letter19 on Feb 23, 2012 11:19 AM EST via mobile reply actions
I just realized...
Thanks to UFC’s crappy dark lighting (yes I know they like it like that) during shows, you won’t even be able to tell this is in Japan. It will be quiet as fudge and dark. lol What a waste. I wish they would do the blue tint crowd lighting like Top Rank does. Looks real nice. My .02
Mike Goldberg: "You know Joe, When Matt and his brother Mark Hughes were growing up, they would pound each other behind the barn."
@xFenixKnightx on teh Twitter
I expect a crazy crowd much different than Pride FC, i don’t know why a 100% but just a feeling. They’d want to be like Brazil or Canada, very trend-culture there.
Theye ven sell packages to go see Jeremy Lin..they didn’t even care when he was at Harvard.
"with a good physique and explosiveness anybody can perform a takedown"
-RoBerto
by Lesnar's striking coach on Feb 23, 2012 11:23 AM EST up reply actions
Only the early days of pride were quiet as fuck.
The crowd went crazy as fuck all the time. Remember the don fry vs takyama fight? They went nuts when iron head rocked fedor. They went nuts all the time. They never boo’d I don’t think. Respected everybody.
Mania is not quite Mania without Lester the pimp. Come back soon, les. Copy this sig if you agree.
Good that Japan came around to the UFC. I was afraid that the fad of MA in Japan would be dead. Lots of things in Japan go missing trend wise and never come back.
"with a good physique and explosiveness anybody can perform a takedown"
-RoBerto
by Lesnar's striking coach on Feb 23, 2012 11:22 AM EST reply actions
one trend i wish would go away, octopus/schoolgirl sex
Fuck It Dude, Life's A Risk
http://fidlar.bandcamp.com/
by theoregonduck on Feb 23, 2012 11:34 AM EST up reply actions
It’s simple, Go to your computer history and delete it or put on a parental control. ;)
"with a good physique and explosiveness anybody can perform a takedown"
-RoBerto
by Lesnar's striking coach on Feb 23, 2012 11:36 AM EST up reply actions
it honestly frightens me that someone was fucked up enough in the brain to think that was a good idea
“hey man i like watching these cartoon girls fuck, but here’s just a thought, what if we put octopi in there and let em have at it with the womens?”
Fuck It Dude, Life's A Risk
http://fidlar.bandcamp.com/
by theoregonduck on Feb 23, 2012 11:39 AM EST up reply actions
The Japanese have a very sexually supressed culture. They have some very odd sexual thoughts to us N.Americans, i don’t dig that shit.
"with a good physique and explosiveness anybody can perform a takedown"
-RoBerto
by Lesnar's striking coach on Feb 23, 2012 11:44 AM EST up reply actions
you know the old saying, "anything goes in saitama!" and by old saying, i mean the saying i just made up right now
Fuck It Dude, Life's A Risk
http://fidlar.bandcamp.com/
by theoregonduck on Feb 23, 2012 11:48 AM EST up reply actions
19 years and running strong, the moon isn't going to burn my skin!
Fuck It Dude, Life's A Risk
http://fidlar.bandcamp.com/
by theoregonduck on Feb 23, 2012 11:54 AM EST up reply actions
haha nice
"with a good physique and explosiveness anybody can perform a takedown"
-RoBerto
by Lesnar's striking coach on Feb 23, 2012 11:58 AM EST up reply actions
Good for japan! I wish they would do one in mexico city!!
by Padriza on Feb 23, 2012 11:28 AM EST via mobile reply actions
Yeah
Shame they haven’t already.
Mike Goldberg: "You know Joe, When Matt and his brother Mark Hughes were growing up, they would pound each other behind the barn."
@xFenixKnightx on teh Twitter
by xFenixKnightx on Feb 23, 2012 11:34 AM EST up reply actions
if boxing could do 45-50k in a stadium, im sure Cain as a headliner would be well recieved..
Along with the many Latin lower weight class fighters. Torres, Garcia, it would be a wild crowd…however the logistics would be a nightmare. When they pack up to leave, You’d have to check each & every box for stow-away Mexicans! They’d be under the sound stage, hiding in Joe Rogan knuckle hair! Jk, jk…just jokes folks!
"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man." George Bernard Shaw
by Fat Daddy Doobs on Feb 23, 2012 12:25 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
Hahaha but that is fucked up
Also, u know us Mexicans love boxing, so of course boxing can sell that, I don’t know if they love ufck that way though, there’s only one way to find out Dana
"I started out with a hundred tapes, if you wasn't down then get the fuck out my face" - South Park Mexican
by antone04 on Feb 23, 2012 1:11 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
lol..j/k
But with a chicano & latino heavy card they’ll do good numbers. The Brazil card was a line up like Brazil Vs the world. They could play it that way. And I’m sure Mexico has an Olympic sized stadium they could use. On of those stadiums I see during a soccer match match would hold do the job & numbers just fine.
"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man." George Bernard Shaw
by Fat Daddy Doobs on Feb 23, 2012 1:23 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
hehehe that was messed up,,
And yea, we have estadio azteca, second biggest soccer stadium in the world, a card with cain, torres, garcia, maybe tito, would be awesome!!!
by Padriza on Feb 23, 2012 2:04 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
holy jeebuz!
Description: The greatest paid attendance at any boxing match is 132,274 for four world title fights at the Aztec Stadium, Mexico City, Mexico on 20 February 1993, headed by the successful WBC super lightweight defence by Julio César Chávez (Mexico) over Greg Haugen (USA).
MMA’s popularity is in question, but Dana would love to have 1/4 of those numbers! Actually he’s crowing “sellout” with less!
"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man." George Bernard Shaw
by Fat Daddy Doobs on Feb 23, 2012 2:26 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
insane right!!!
My dad was watching that fight live from el azteca, he said that the crowd was going wildd,,, julio cesar chavez is the best mexican boxer ever, and one of the greatest in the history of boxing, if dana makes an event in mexico city and it fills up 1/2 that, he would be doing shows there every month hahaha
im quite familiar with Chavez.
Watched a lot of his fight with my pops when I was younger. The Haugen, Meldrick Taylor, Frankie Randall fights are all really memorable for me, But being so young I never really paid attention to the business side. When I went checking , I was thinking Erik Morales would’ve held the record for attendance bcuz I remember them saying on the promos “50K people in a former bullring in Mexico” for one of his fights(I think it was Plaza de Toros?). But That 132K is a promoters dream. Dana’s so damn happy with his 20K near sell out in Japan that idk now why he hasn’t considered Mexico yet. With the right line up I think he sells out a 20K stadium easy & EARLY! Mexicans have a long standing history of supporting their sports teams & figures, I remember anytime some of our Puerto Rican boxers had to go into Mexico to either defend or take a championship it was a big event. We still took most of them home so HA! Lol..but Show casing latin stars in Mexico would be huge.
"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man." George Bernard Shaw
by Fat Daddy Doobs on Feb 23, 2012 10:11 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
Whatever happened...
…to Dana’s idea of running two UFC events for their first Japanese show? I thought he originally said they would do an event in Japan and another in the US on the same day.
Logistics. We ain’t missing out, we got one great pay per view instead of two average or below average.
"with a good physique and explosiveness anybody can perform a takedown"
-RoBerto
by Lesnar's striking coach on Feb 23, 2012 11:34 AM EST up reply actions
sheer genius!
we call it a sellout, even if it’s not sold out.
Nice
" What would Sakuraba do ? " - Ivan Menjivar
by wooly shambler on Feb 23, 2012 1:11 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
The
This new UFC game is seriously annoying the fuck out of me!! Online not working at all now…seriously how many years do u need???!!!!
by the real mo on Feb 23, 2012 12:39 PM EST via mobile reply actions
It's not a good game, UFC tapout was way better imo
"I started out with a hundred tapes, if you wasn't down then get the fuck out my face" - South Park Mexican
by antone04 on Feb 23, 2012 1:08 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
lol no f’n way. I liked the Pride game a lot at the time.
"with a good physique and explosiveness anybody can perform a takedown"
-RoBerto
by Lesnar's striking coach on Feb 23, 2012 1:13 PM EST up reply actions
Yeah, wand was the only one who could stand up in someone's guard and throw bombs
I know tapout isn’t better ( I wish they had a sarcastic font) but these undisputed games are terrible
"I started out with a hundred tapes, if you wasn't down then get the fuck out my face" - South Park Mexican
by antone04 on Feb 23, 2012 1:16 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
Terrible?
Give em a break this is only the 3rd UFC game ever. There doing a damn good job considering how complex martial arts are. And each game is miles better than the last. By UFC 4 or 5 these games will be bananas.
FREE A.B.B.
by 10thDegreeWhiteBelt on Feb 23, 2012 2:13 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
actually 10th, it is getting better each time, but not exactly the 3rd game *ever*, they've been at this for a while
Ultimate Fighting Championship (Dreamcast and PlayStation)
UFC: Tapout (Xbox)
UFC: Throwdown (Nintendo GameCube, PlayStation 2)
UFC: Tapout 2 (Xbox)
UFC: Sudden Impact (PlayStation 2)
UFC 2009 Undisputed (PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360)
UFC Undisputed 2010 (PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 3,Xbox 360, iPod Touch, iPad, iPhone)
UFC Personal Trainer (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii)
UFC Undisputed 3 (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360)
"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man." George Bernard Shaw
by Fat Daddy Doobs on Feb 23, 2012 2:49 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
I was guna get that game yesterday cuz it came w/ the new knock out DVD included.
But I haven’t heard many gud things about it & I have the last game.
Mania is not quite Mania without Lester the pimp. Come back soon, les. Copy this sig if you agree.
i like the game alot actually .i havent tried online cause i dont know the sub and wrestling game yet .. but its pretty good .. i wish it had more fighters tought its crazy how many guys are not in the game .. ellenberger,hendricks,werdum,big foot silva,jorge santiago,weidman, and im sure im missing alot of guys ..
So every morning this guy comes to my apartment complex to collect cans out of the dumpster he then crushes them .. turns out the guys name is fedor ..
Anybody knw how to get into a camp in undisputed 3?
by chicken845 on Feb 23, 2012 1:10 PM EST via mobile reply actions
You’d have to be wanted, you are not. Sorry.
"with a good physique and explosiveness anybody can perform a takedown"
-RoBerto
by Lesnar's striking coach on Feb 23, 2012 1:13 PM EST up reply actions
haha
Sakuraba would get jabbed to death by GSP if they were to fight in a prime vs. prime fantasy match. Beating one dimensional Gracie's is cool and all, but without wrestling you ain't shit.
Yeah
I actually think the game itself is fun to play…but the online completely sucks!!! Either cuts off or just doesn’t work, iv got 23 losses because of it!!
Why can’t u go fighters like chuck?
by the real mo on Feb 23, 2012 1:57 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
Saitama Super Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in Chuo-ku, Saitama City, Saitama, Japan.
Its spectator capacity is 37,000 at maximum settings.
The artful muppet formerly known as KrmtDfrog.
Please read my sardonic wit and over-blown sense of self over at http://www.headkicklegend.com
"What if Lin was a Water Polo star?"
"I would dress as a seahorse and let him ride me until his thighs are bleeding" - nywins46
by Cory Braiterman on Feb 23, 2012 1:44 PM EST reply actions
I think he is confirming the fact that, once again, DW is full of lies.
We got it figured out, came in, sold this event out and I’m excited. We’re looking at 22,000 (capacity), so when we sell 20,000 and there’s 2,000 tickets left, we consider that a sell-out.
Mania is not quite Mania without Dakatak. Come back soon, Dak.
Please copy this sig if you agree.
"If you seek truth you will not seek victory by dishonorable means, and if you find truth you will become invincible." - Epictetus
The UFC also considers Fedor’s entire a career a joke, True, no? lol
"with a good physique and explosiveness anybody can perform a takedown"
-RoBerto
by Lesnar's striking coach on Feb 23, 2012 2:28 PM EST up reply actions
I don't want shows in Japan anyway
The time difference is a cunt and a whore (and not the good kind either)
Even tho I initially acted like a small child, I have been forced to come to my senses. enzo-enormous is better at calling fights than I am, by far. I am a little immature but am working on it. Also, I love dudes and cant wait to get a reach around from the 209
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