Tenshin vs. Takeru’s “The Fight of the Century” was Cancelled for TV broadcast

The top-level battle between Tenshin Nasukawa and Takeru is finally approaching tomorrow. Advance tickets were sold out as soon as they went on sale, and the event is attracting a great deal of attention, even among martial arts fans.

The event is sure to be a heated battle, but as you know, there was a big confusion when Fuji Television announced just before the event that it would not be broadcasted on TV, and although the event will be streamed online through ABEMA, you will have to pay to watch it.

Both fighters were hoping that many people would be able to watch this match for the future of the martial arts, and the fact that it would not be broadcast on terrestrial television affected their motivation in no small way.

Needless to say, the “Weekly Post” report was fatal. It was in May that the personal problems of Nobuyuki Sakakibara, 58, the chief executive officer, were reported. After Fuji Television examined the reports closely, they had no choice but to decide that the program could not be broadcast. There was also a concern that sponsors would leave even if the program was aired.

Even so, Sakakibara’s side did not give up on terrestrial broadcasting, and after Fuji refused, he approached TV Tokyo and other stations to see if they could somehow broadcast the program. However, it seems that the other stations also decided that they could not broadcast it, and time ran out. As a result, we had no choice but to give up terrestrial broadcasting.

It is a fact that no one can deny that it was Fuji TV that created the martial arts boom, including K-1 and PRIDE. RIZIN, which had a “win-win” relationship with Fuji TV, must have believed until the very end that Fuji would overcome the weekly magazine reports and broadcast the match. The shock that this was no longer possible must have been considerable, but even so, the management must have had hope that TV stations would not give up on such strong content.

However, other TV stations also decided that they could not broadcast it. At first, there were some who were open to broadcasting the event, but after the second and third arrows came out, mainly from the Weekly Post, they decided that ‘this was too risky’ and gave up on the idea.

It is unfortunate that troubles always accompany martial arts entertainment. We can only hope that a new era will come in the world of martial arts, following in the footsteps of Tenshin and Takeru, who decided to fight to usher in a new era.