DREAM, the MMA promotion that was made out of the destroyed remnants of PRIDE FC, has closed up shop in Japan. Reason: They lost their deal to run a New Years Eve show in Japan this year when they couldn’t put together a mega card for a show in July to appease Saitama Super Arena managers, the arena pulled out of it’s New Years Eve deal. Thus killing the one viable card of the year for the promotion.
After that news came down, Real Entertainment pretty much shuttered the doors on the promotion and have moved on. This leaves Japan with out a true major MMA promotion for the first time in years. (K-1 doesn’t count as it’s kickboxing rules) UFC has recently returned to the land of the rising sun, but with already a massive roster, who knows what fighters in DREAM can find work there. As of now, ONE FC is the only possible outlet for many of the Japan based fighters to continue on. Though on the upside, this will provide Bellator, the only real rival to UFC/Strikeforce, with a chance to expand upon their roster a bit when they move to Spike TV next year.
Sad times for MMA in Japan. The sport pretty much took over Pro Wrestling in the country, only to share it’s fate in decline over the last few years. Since the fall of PRIDE, things really haven’t been the same. Shame, real shame.