K-1 Event Producer and FEG President Sadaharu Tanikawa released a statement of support and encouragement to all of the victims of the recent tragedy to strike Japan on the K-1 website.
Tanikawa also acknowledged that there would be tough times ahead for Japanese mixed martial arts as rival promotion SRC (Sengoku Raiden Championship) may fold, and the purchase of Strikeforce by Zuffa could create further problems for the sport.
Japanese MMA will certainly see some hard times as they rely heavily on sponsorship support for their events. One of the big supporters of the sport in Japan, Don Quijote, has pulled it’s financial backing from SRC which, at this time appears to be the final nail in the coffin for them. As well, it’s almost certain that many of the smaller promotions will see their sponsorship money dry up as companies focus on funneling their finances to aid and rebuilding efforts.
Here is the full Tanakawa statement:
First of all, I would like to express my condolences to the victims of the disaster. The victims and their families must be going through hell now. Please, stay strong and overcome this tragedy. I hope you will be able to return to normal life soon.
As we can all see, this disaster has caused massive damage to Japan. All we can do right now is to encourage people by harnessing the collective power of fight sports fans. Another major local organization SRC has stated the possibility of withdrawal from the scene. Additionally the organization we work closely with, Strikeforce, has been purchased by Zuffa/UFC recently. We have to say, fight sports in Japan is currently going through the hardest time that we’ve ever experienced before. However, we are not giving up! We know we have to keep moving forward. We will do our best to make it. So please stick by us, and support us.
We have received many messages from fighters, promoters and fans since the tragedy. It really shows their love for Japan and the Japanese fight sports scene. Now we are determined to fight for them! We will keep on updating these special messages from fighters to our official website, Twitter and Facebook. We hope these messages will go some way to cheering up the people of Japan. Let’s unite and overcome this adversity!
Sadaharu Tanikawa
Props to MMAFighting.com for the update