FEG Collapse Imminent: A Look At The Details Surrounding The Death Of K-1

I held off on posting about this long enough. I was told by a friend that there's no use kicking a man when he's down, especially if he's trying to build himself up again. Unfortunately, it seems that there is no way to rebuild FEG at this point. The wheels are in motion and the collapse is pretty much a sure thing. I feel pretty comfortable writing about this now and will make this the last post on the subject. It's been beaten to death and it looks like so has FEG. 

The first thing people need to know is that the K-1 brand will most likely be safe. It has strong enough name recognition world wide that there will be someone coming in to rebuild the event. It's owned by Kazuyoshi Ishii who can sell the brand to a different company. K-1 MAX is a different story though. K-1 MAX was originally created as a way for TBS to build up Masato as a Japanese heartthrob. It worked out that he was also an amazing fighter but that was the main purpose of K-1 MAX, to put the lighter weight fighters on TV shows. I don't want to get too into the subject because I will be discussing the history of MAX sooner rather than later, but the event hasn't been able to find another Masato to carry them into the future. You can use the dismal ratings of the events as proof. 

Now, a lot of JMMA fans will be asking "What about DREAM?" I'm going to let Michael Hackler of MMA-Japan.com field that question:

The entity that brings us K-1 and DREAM is deeply in debt to Real Entertainment. Real Entertainment is the organization that was started by DSE, the former PRIDE executives, as a production company. They are responsible for payment of certain aspects of the business operation. We all know the history of DREAM STAGE ENTERTAINMENT. If you don't, google can enlighten you. FEG is in debt to Real Entertainment around $7 million USD. Real Entertainment's involvement is a large reason why there are problems getting a TV deal done, due to the fact they still have management from DSE. FUJI has no interest in a television deal, solely for this reason. Real Entertainment is also responsible for paying the fighters (as to what extent, I do not know). Many fighters contracts are with Real Entertainment and not FEG.

FEG is stuck. Ishii owns the rights and the brand names with FEG. This makes reorganizing the company extremely difficult, if not impossible. That said, it has been confirmed that PUJI has backed out of this altogether. As any private equity does, FEG is reluctant to allow for managerial changes to take place. This creates a brick wall for outside investors to get involved.

Dave Walsh on Liverkick.com explains what this means even further: 

What many people tend to forget is way back to the death of PRIDE, the one-off event known as "Yarennoka" and the formation of DREAM. DREAM is not simple a FEG production. There is a company called "Real Entertainment" that was formed by what was left of DSE, and all of those great video packages on those DREAM events, Lenne Hardt screaming out fighters' names and even lots of the fighters themselves participating in DREAM? Thank Real Entertainment. DREAM is a co-production between RE and FEG, which is why you'll never see DREAM on Fuji TV.

This beautifully articulates how FEG is stuck in a tough position, and some of the power struggles that are going on during this downtime for K-1 and DREAM. Many people I've spoken to have talked about (off the record, as always) Tanikawa wanting to form a new company and leave Ishii out of the business entirely, but as long as Ishii owns the name "K-1" it will be impossible to break away from his influence.

Enson Inoue has even more on the subject from the Underground Forums: 

Mma in japan is not dead. Maybe K-1s Tanigawa was just talking about himself that f*cken crook. he has 2 Y(akuza) organizations pissed and after him...It would be impossible to run a big MMA promotion without getting involved with the Yakuza.

So there you have it. A comprehensive post on what's going on with FEG/K-1. The PUJI deal is dead and any potential investors would be coming into such a difficult situation with FEG executives reluctant to resign and Ishii owning the K-1 brand. With Tanigawa heading the company, FEG will be unable to run shows as they will have to deal with Yakuza organizations in various parts of Japan. The entire situation just goes to show how different the combat sports scene in Japan is compared to the Western world and how much of a lost cause saving the company really is. This will be my last post on the subject until the official "Death" of FEG.