SuperKombat's Eduard Irimia Gives His Opinion On "K-1/It's Showtime vs. GLORY"

Wednesday, 18 April 2012 15:57

Written by Rian Scalia

With the recent isolation of some sorts between It's Showtime/K-1 and GLORY in regards to fighters, Eduard Irimia, the promoter of SuperKombat has been in the background watching. He gave his opinion on the situation between the three promotions to luptatorii.ro today and had some interesting things to say. 

Irimia outlined what he thought were the negatives of the separation of It's Showtime/K-1 and GLORY fighters and also offered his thoughts on a solution, for the benefit of the sport:

Negatives:

1. "Unfortunately, none of these promotions, especially It's Showtime can organize any more big events in Holland, which is a stain on their image. There is a problem if they are not respected in their own country. In addition, currently, on the list of events lie neither Japan and South Korea, countries where the sport really took off. It's a great loss!

2. The product will be diluted by dividing the fighters. After that there are few left compared with the period of glory of the K-1, now many other promotions have also appeared. Before in the K-1, the most valuable fighters gathered under one brand. Later, the public will sift and certainly one of the products will be destroyed. And the televisions will decide in the end on which hand they will go.

3. Clearly, at K-1 events the influence of Simon Rutz will dominate, while at the United Glory the balance will be tilted in favor of Bas Boon. It is clear that they will protect their athletes. For example, the Final 16 includes fighters who in the past couldn"t even enter the qualifying tournaments.

4. The experience of production, is much lower than in FEG. Now, they collaborate with all kind of promoters. Some of them do not meet the requirements for the high level.

5. K-1 has already announced a large prize money, but for example, they have a site now where there are sometimes only PDF files with their "official" announcements. At this level when you boast that you are juggling millions, I think it's not normal to have a well done website. 

6. It is not normal that a global event is attended only by fighters from a single country (almost) or promotion. All the athletes should get chances. Every valuable fighter should receive the chance to qualify."

Solutions:

"I wish to work (to cooperate) with both promotions, but the best would be for It's Showtime and United Glory to merge. To have a supreme event, which will show the true value of the fighters. It is a pity that in a one year circuit, the winner will be a predictable one. A compromise should be reached like in the case of Robin van Roosmalen. K-1 remains a strong brand at stand-up level, and United Glory have almost 80% of the valuable athletes therefore a union would be ideal. Moreover, it will benefit from a television company with experience, so there will be no production problems."

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