Tanikawa-san.

"Presenting MMA to the world = television. MMA became a business and for that reason it has continued until today. So to lose television, that is, to lose the connection with the general population [casual fans], would mean MMA is over."

"Every time I go to look at the new TV ratings, I have goosebumps."

"This isn't a threat or anything. If we lose the TV deal, we will continue MMA activities in some fashion, but I don't see any phenomenon or stars coming from that."


"In Japan as it is today, it would be the greatest thing for a business to not have to depend on cable broadcasting. I am jealous [of the UFC] for just being able to thrive off PPV and the gate."

"The main problem is, with the feeling I get from TV these days, there isn't time to slowly and properly build up your contents. For example, when PRIDE and K-1 started, MMA was so fresh, so there was a lot of time to build them up right."

"From here, I don't think there is a need to change our path, but first we have to get results and then I can say something."

"TBS' people, including their producers, loved Aoki vs Uno, and there great reactions. But as a whole TV company, TBS doesn't think like that. They only look at the ratings for how many people watched. Of course, that is not just TBS but all TV companies."

"Doing K-1 MAX... doing MMA... doing K-1 GP... The ratings were usually 20% so the tv stations really believed in us. But now, the golden average has become around 13%. Even K-1, whatever we do, it hangs around 12-13%... Now, if we were able to do above 15% it would be amazing. In a week, there are less than 10 shows that do above 15%. So to do above 20% these days would be a spectacle."

"As the head, I shouldn't talk like this but.. Mirko, Akiyama, Kid getting injured... Joachim Hansen winning... that is all interesting if you look at it from the perspective of the hardcore fans, but for the general population, the impetus is entirely falling apart. So I think if Misaki appeared in the middleweight GP and Akiyama didnt get injured, things would've turned out different. It's really true, the drive to watch is falling, and it hurts."

"Awhile back prowrestling felt screwed by MMA. Now Japanese MMA feels screwed by boxing." (Due to the popularity of famous boxers in recent matches like Shiro Kameda vs. Daisuke Naito)

"In any case, I want to change the mood surrounding the world of MMA. I want to change it so that new people see it and say 'that looks interesting!'."

"I need a 15% rating for Dream.6 in September."

* Extra on PRIDE:

"PRIDE was such a mysterious thing - They had the casual fans and the hardcore fans. It is because they 'befriended' the casual fans and made matches [also for the hardcore fans]. I think even at the start, PRIDE was looking to casual fans in their concept and matchmaking... For example, you could watch a drama series on TV, and you would see Kimutaku (Takuya Kimura, a very famous star in Japan) notice PRIDE on television and say so naturally 'oh, I gotta watch pride!' or you would see PRIDE posters in a television series."

"Fuji is just a corporation that believes 'sports = the casual fans'. So they were against PRIDE's appealing to the hardcore fans. They didn't believe in making a balance between the hardcore fans and the casual fans as PRIDE tried to do. So they were lucky to have people like Nogueira and Fedor that [sort of automatically] appealed to both."

"Because they are TV, they want Bob Sapp vs. Akebono, Yoshida vs. Royce Gracie, etc. That is 100% imprortant to think about. "