There are no stars left in ONE or Rizin

Lionheart7167 said:
I should have been more clear. Yes, I meant crossover appeal to the States and by, and large, global MMA. I understand that a few of those fighters are popular in the marginal reaches. When I say "star" I mean a fighter who has global appeal and who transcends MMA.
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There is no such thing as global appeal unless maybe you are Conor McGregor or Ronda Rousey...and even then I'm not really in a position to confirm it.

I can tell you that there are very few people in China or generally in Asia who give a flying fuck about the UFCs biggest stars Jon Jones, GSP, Bisping, Cyborg, Miocic, Weidman, Holloway or whoever.

MMA is not even on the radar in 90% of the worlds population and they probably they couldn't even tell you what it stands for. Even in Japan where MMA is very well known, they don't care about most of the UFC 'stars'.

If you mean "can anyone name fighters who are popular where I live?" You should just say that.

I can tell you with certainty that Aung La NSang is a national hero and an inspiration to young men in a country with 53 million people....which you refer to as "the marginal reaches" whatever that even means lol.

If u are talking about Global MMA then maybe you have a point but the tens of thousands of fans who show up to one shows in Manilla and Yangon are equally legitimate as those in London and last Vegas.
 
I barely follow JMMA, but I remember the last weekend of events having great fight after great fight. Horiguchi, Rena, Tenshin, Crocop, Gomi, McCall.

Then fighters like Kanna, Yachi, Kape and many more became names I wanted to follow.

I don't know if that's the scale of fighter you're talking or whether or not any of them are returning, but I thought Rizin nailed their last show and I can't wait for the next one because of it.
 
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Danespina said:
I barely follow JMMA, but I remember the last weekend of events having great fight after great fight. Horiguchi, Rena, Tenshin, Crocop, Gomi, McCall.

Then fighters like Kanna, Yachi, Kape and many more became names I wanted to follow.

I don't know if that's the scale of fighter you're talking or whether or not any of them are returning, but I thought Rizin nailed their last show and I can't wait for the next one because of it.
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Hell yes. And they keep nailing events, every single show from start to finish. I only ever bother with the main card for ufc shows (and these are often dull these days, anyway), but these events deliver 6+ hours of entertainment. I didn’t really know much about a lot of their fighters when I started watching rizin cards about 2 years back, but now I am just as impressed with and interested in guys like yachi, Rena, tenshin etc as with any of my favourite ufc guys.
 
LOL at Kos and Struve. Fulton by far.
 
Interesting fact.

In Europe during the early 2000's, guys like Wanderlei, Cro Cop and Fedor were very famous among fight fans, and people had no clue about UFC.

Now people have still no clue about UFC besides McGregor and the Mayweather fight.

UFC today is more famous because it has more exposure (UFC games and so on) but it doesn't reach people as Pride did,not the same aura.

Rizin is inexistant nobody heard about it.

We had an mma magazine in France, Fightsport, it started to decline as soon as Pride was sold and got cancelled. Now the only thing that keeps MMA alive there is all the merchandising around Venum.

Venum is the new Tapout
 
Hrvman said:
Interesting fact.

In Europe during the early 2000's, guys like Wanderlei, Cro Cop and Fedor were very famous among fight fans, and people had no clue about UFC.

Now people have still no clue about UFC besides McGregor and the Mayweather fight.

UFC today is more famous because it has more exposure (UFC games and so on) but it doesn't reach people as Pride did,not the same aura.

Rizin is inexistant nobody heard about it.

We had an mma magazine in France, Fightsport, it started to decline as soon as Pride was sold and got cancelled. Now the only thing that keeps MMA alive there is all the merchandising around Venum.

Venum is the new Tapout
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Man i remember the good times when we saw Vovchanchyn making the walk towards the ring with Red Spectacles on the background. Loved watching K-1 and Pride on eurosport.

I guess i am getting old...
 
You are probably not their intended audience. You may have a different opinion in regards to who is and is not a star. Is Ben Askren a ''star" in say Thailand? I doubt it.
 
Zanmato said:
You are probably not their intended audience. You may have a different opinion in regards to who is and is not a star. Is Ben Askren a ''star" in say Thailand? I doubt it.
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whenever Ben Askren walks through the streets of Bangkok.

 
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One got a lot of fighters from Burma.

And I'm pretty sure there's stars of David too.
 
Rizin should get Bob Sapp again. Not even joking, he probably doesn't cost much now and can draw a crowd.
 
InfinityLens said:
Rizin should get Bob Sapp again. Not even joking, he probably doesn't cost much now and can draw a crowd.
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they can probably make a decent profit betting on Sapp to lose in the first round too, it's a win-win situation
 
InfinityLens said:
Rizin should get Bob Sapp again. Not even joking, he probably doesn't cost much now and can draw a crowd.
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Bob Sapp isn't a huge draw anymore and would want a lot of money. Also RIZIN sounded like they want nothing to do with him following his recent scandal
 
What about Garry Tonon and the Filipino guy who TKO'd Shinya Aoki?
 
Lionheart7167 said:
One has Bibiano and Nguyen. Vera hasn't fought in over a year and Askren is effectively retired
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Why did Vera not get included because he hasn't fought in a year? He's not retired, and ONE's probably gonna have him compete in a kickboxing match soon (it'd be a smart thing to do in lieu of any unsuitable opponent for his heavyweight crown and considering ONE's expansion into kickboxing and regular-boxing).

GSP_37 said:
What about Garry Tonon and the Filipino guy who TKO'd Shinya Aoki?
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It's funny how many people on here don't pay attention to ONE at all when Aoki isn't fighting. It used to be "Aoki and Askren", but Askren's retired. Bibiano's somehow found a niche with being connected with ONE, though; Bibiano fans are typically guys who follow ONE enough to know the main guys...
Anyways, Tonon's about as big a star as Gilbert Burns is, and Folayang's very popular in the Philippines.

skylolow said:
Sure, do they have few guys, yes. But overall it is thin at best across all the weight classes when talking about stars or truly top fighters.
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If only popularity and ranking weren't mutually exclusive...
 
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What about a Kyoji Horiguchi vs. Masakatsu Ueda rematch?
 
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