The Japanese tradition of having a fight card on New Year’s Eve is being kept thanks in large part to funding provided by popular pro wrestler Antonio Inoki and his company IGF. Along with DREAM’s production planners and Fields Corporation they plan to host Genki Desu ka 2011 a fight card including men’s and women’s MMA, kick boxing, and IGF rule pro wrestling. The company that funds DREAM events, FEG, will not be a part of the productions of this event.
Genki Desu ka is the Japanese way of saying “How are you?” which may seem strange for a fight event, however the phrase is meant to be a symbolic question to the island nation which suffered heavily from the earthquake and Fukushima incident this year. The word genki means energy and the producers hope to provide a show that will blow their fans away and fill the audience with positive energy, hence allowing the fans to a great start to a new year by answering the question “How are you?“ with “I am absolutely (expletive) great!”
The location is set at the Saitama Super Arena in Japan, and the producers are anticipating 20 fights, with a 9 hour schedule starting at 3pm and ending on new year’s day. However the only 2 confirmed match ups are in MMA with a featherweight title fight between Hiroyuki Takaya and Lion Takeshi and a featherweight match between Tatsuya Kawajiri and Kazuyuki Miyata.
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