The Man Festival

Here are my random thoughts about the day:



I arrived at Saitama Super Arena around 3pm. There were a lot of people outside buying t-shirts/souvenirs etc. Pretty comparable to any pro wrestling event.








It was a ridiculously snowy day.






Here's a pic of me beside one of the bigger Pride signs. This show is called "Otoko Matsuri", which translates to "Man Festival". The kanji (chinese character) behind me means, "Man". This kanji was all over the place at the arena...I don't know why, but seeing a ton of signs that just said "MAN" amused me.








These guys are a great part of Japanese sporting events...you are allowed to bring in your own food....and even beer! They don't let you bring in bottles or cans, so you give the beer to these guys, and they pour it into cups for you.





Okay...Time to debunk a myth. I've read numerous articles saying that the Japanese MMA audience is primarily female. This is utter nonsense. Want evidence? Scroll down!














Men's Room








Ladies' Room







The show itself was a major disappointment as the matches in the ring failed to deliver the goods.

I took a lot of pictures and video inside the building, but it didn't turn out too well. You can get good pics of the action at Sherdog.com or MMAweekly.com.

After the show I had one of the strangest New Year's Eves of all time. I was on a packed train (heading to Tokyo to meet friends), when the clock struck midnight. Nobody on the train even acknowledged it. I wanted to shout, "HAPPY NEW YEAR"...but bit my tongue. I went to a club with some friends until 5 am. Then for breakfast and caught a bullet train home at 7am.

Anyway, hope everyone here had a Happy and safe New Years.