K-1 Capitulation: Badr Hari to fight on New Years Eve after avoiding suspension

Written by Lyman Hoyt   |   Wednesday, December 24 2008

FEG chairman Sadaharu Tanikawa is all smiles as he introduces the anime character that will face Bob Sapp on New Years Eve.  The total control that Japanese fight promoters have over their fighters and events make the claim that K-1 lacked the "authority" to suspend Badr Hari a tough sell (Photo: DREAM)

After several weeks of delay, K-1 parent company FEG finally announced the official sanctions against Badr Hari for his antics in the championship match of the World GP 2008 Finals.  Hari’s purse for the event was withheld and he was stripped of the K-1 Heavyweight Title.  He avoided suspension, however, and will reportedly be in action at the New Years’ Eve Fields Dynamite! event in a K-1 rules match against Mirko Cro Cop’s most recent foil, Alistair Overeem.

If you haven’t been keeping up to date on this epic soap opera, here’s a quick synopsis:  after two impressive performances in the quarterfinals and semifinal matches at the K-1 World GP 2008 Finals, Badr Hari faced Remy Bonjasky in the championship match.  Hari suffered a flash knockdown in the first round, then came out aggressively in the second and within the first minute had wrestled Bonjasky to the ground, mounted a punishing “ground and pound” attack punctuated with one of the best stomps seen since the demise of PRIDE.  The only problem was that all of these tactics are highly illegal under K-1 kickboxing rules.  Bonjasky was given time to recover from the foul and after he indicated that he couldn’t continue, Hari was disqualified.

An unrepentant Hari made no effort to apologize or mitigate his behavior, suggesting that Bonjasky wasn’t “the best fighter” but was “the best actor”.  FEG chairman Sadaharu Tanikawa was outraged more by Hari’s defiant attitude than anything else, and quickly decided that he would be stripped of the K-1 heavyweight title and suspended “indefinitely”.  This was reported in numerous Japanese sports media outlets, with the indication given that an announcement of the punishment by FEG would be forthcoming within days.

At some point, however, Tanikawa realized that he had the biggest “heel” in Japanese fight sports at his disposal.  Within 72 hours of Hari’s disqualification, FEG was trying to put together a fight that would allow them to profit from the situation.  Rumors circulated that Hari would rematch Peter Aerts in a MMA rules match, or take on Mirko Cro Cop under K-1 rules.  There was even some talk that Kimbo Slice would fight Hari at the New Years’ Eve event. 

FEG’s response to the Hari situation was such a profoundly brilliant example of “spin” and political triangulation that it makes James Carville and Karl Rove look like rank amateurs.  Tanikawa knew full well that whatever outrage there was in the Japanese public and media would quickly dissipate.  Afterwards, it would be business as usual with the fight fans wanting to see Hari back in the ring and the sports media not demanding any accountability for his actions.  By immediately leaking the story of the “indefinite” suspension and suggesting that Hari’s actions were “unforgivable”, Tanikawa placated the few within the Japanese fight community that were incensed by Hari’s behavior. 

At this point, all Tanikawa had to do was bide his time until the controversy had blown over amidst a busy December in the fight sport world.  On December 17th with no fanfare whatsoever in the Japanese sports media, K-1 issued a press release outlining the official sanctions against Hari.  This press release should be mandatory reading for any aspiring politician or public relations specialist, as it weaves an intricate storyline that allows K-1 to tie up any loose ends while simultaneously allowing them to deny culpability for not suspending Hari.  Here’s the best part:

Under the current K-1 Official Rules, there is no provision for the suspension of fighters. After consideration in light of this incident, we have decided to add to the rules new provisions for fighters' suspensions of three months to one year. These measures can be implemented when a fighter receives a red card/disqualification, in order to punish the fighter more strictly.

This is such a bald faced lie that even the sleaziest politician would be ashamed to include this in a press statement.   We’ve discussed extensively in the past how there is virtually no regulatory oversight of Japanese fight sports.  Without a formal sanctioning body such as the Nevada Athletic Commission here in the states, Japanese fight promotions can basically do whatever they want.  Maybe on a semantical level, what Tanikawa is saying is true:  since there’s no formal regulatory body to facilitate the suspension, it is somewhat meaningless.  If K-1 did suspend Hari, there would be no controlling legal authority to prevent him from fighting anywhere else in the world or perhaps even in Japan for another promotion.   It’s basically the same reason that Antonio Silva can fight in Japan for Sengoku despite being under suspension in the US, only in reverse.  Without the necessary regulatory oversight body, “suspensions” as such are hollow.

On a practical level, however, K-1 has complete authority to run their business how they see fit.  If they didn’t want Hari to compete for a year, all they need to do is not book him on any of their events for a year.  While not technically a suspension it would serve the same purpose, but the reason that wasn’t a viable option should be readily apparent to anyone who has been paying attention:  a “suspended” Hari doesn’t make them any money.
Lest one doubt just how much total power K-1 has over their fighters, consider that within the past few weeks they’ve “demoted” Hong Man Choi claiming that his kickboxing skills had eroded significantly.  That may be true, but since they didn’t want to lose the ability to use him in “freak show” type matches they claim that he’s “better suited” for MMA and will fight Mirko Cro Cop on New Years’ Eve.  More recently, of course, they booked a fight between Bob Sapp (who has no business in the ring at this stage in his career) against a cartoon character.   The photos accompanying the article is from the press conference announcing the Sapp/Kinniku Mantaro fight.  If you want a more detailed explanation of what's going on with *that* we do the best we can to provide one here.

The result of this is that K-1’s sanctions are less of a punishment than a storyline for 2009.  Hari becomes a bigger “heel” and will bring in more money at the box office.  The tournament to fill the vacant heavyweight title is obviously good for several high profile events.  More significantly, once the title is filled it sets up a huge fight between the new K-1 heavyweight champion and Hari, who’ll be able to claim that he’s the “real” heavyweight champion.  It’s very likely that whatever monetary loss that Hari had to eat when his GP Final purse was withheld will be made up and then some with his high profile presence in the 2009 K-1 “storyline”.

Perhaps the greatest irony in K-1’s handling of the Hari situation is that it might end up being the best solution for everyone concerned.  Hari gets to fight, the fans get to watch him fight and the promotion makes a lot of money which is good for the fighters.  K-1’s convoluted explanation of what they were and weren’t able to do vis a vis Hari is more comical than surprising.  Its business as usual in Japanese fight sports and in this case at least there’s little harm from FEG putting profits over principles. 

“The bell that tolls for all in boxing belongs to a cash register”
--Bob Verdi

With K-1’s handling of the Badr Hari situation it’s clear that this axiom applies to other forms of fighting as well.

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