The 2007 Abu Dhabi Combat Club Championships were held this year in Trenton, New Jersey.
Although the fighters who participated are world class in their specific disciplines, The ADCC Championship continues to be as unspectacular as possible.
I watched the fight this year on the Proelite.com video feed and am super glad I did. I think if I would have spent flight money and hotel money to watch this tournament in New Jersey, I might have been really disappointed.
Proelite did a great job with the video feed for the fights but promotion wise the stands were still sectioned with huge gaps of empty rows of unused seats.
This year ADCC upped their prices to $350, $200, $150 respectively for seating. But why sell a $350 seat if theres no demand for it?
The promoters of ADCC have perfected their scoring system, but not their attendance record. People get excited when they know their going to a packed sports event. The original Pankration events were like that but thats a far cry from today.
After Robert Drysdale tapped Marcelo Garcia I was unable to see Drysdale interviewed regarding his astounding victory against Marcelo the Magician. Perhaps if I were attending the event I would have seen that but I dont even know what Drysdales gameplan was against Garcia.
I still havent seen any documentaries of people training for this event. That also might generate interest. We always want to see what happens to a competitor after getting to know him/her personally.
The promoters get grapplers from all over the world to participate but fail to see that the larger spectator support they have the greater the event attendance. World class fighters fought yesterday in what might be called a sparsely attended travelling carnival.
There wasnt a magazine published in 2005 of the list of spectators and their brief biographies. Too expensive to publish? I thought $350 seats were pretty expensive. Supply and demand baby.
While the promoters were busy scheduling ADCC competitions throughout the world to find the best competitors for their final destination in Trenton New Jersey, potential spectators were ignored.
What if the day after the Absolute Champion and Division Champions gave a seminar to all the participants who came to Trenton, New Jersey? Do you think that might have brought in a larger crowd.
Maybe ADCC could just stick with ONE location for a few years because it may create a sense of home to an event that has never had a home. Instead, ADCC seems to adopt the hobo perspective, which is holding an event in Brazil, Saudi Arabia, United States and who knows where it will be next? Who cares. I'll probably just buy the video and laugh at the people who waste their money traveling to the event to buy $150-$300 tickets that are in NO demand.
The promoters, who are they again? I have no idea and they certainly don't know me. They need to start focusing on drawing a crowd and creating an intense interest in their tournament or else nothing will change. Just like they way its been for the last 9 years.
Thus, another ADCC and another day. Few people will see a young Mike Fowler dethrone a multiple times world champion, Saulo Ribeiro. And only a sparse crowd will only see the Magician Marcelo work men twice his size to say UNCLE in one way or another.
And finally, no one will appreciate the enormous efforts and thousands of hours many of these athletes prepare for these events.
I remember at the 2005 ADCC watching Baret Yoshida lose in the first round. This year he did remarkably better. What has Baret been doing the past two years to prepare for this ADCC? He isnt an Abu Dhabi champion YET, but I would love to know his story and learn more about this relentless warrior.
I watched Rani Yahya defeat his arch nemesis Leo Vieira with a solid Rear Naked Choke! Rani came in with a different gameplan as did Mike Fowler. Let not let these incredible matches diminish with time. Some attempt at documenting this world class event needs to be done.
How come Grappling Magazine or Tapout hasnt devoted an entire issue to this? Cant be done you say? I bet it could if someone really made the effort.
And finally, dont have ADCC in some other country in two years! If its to be successful, pick a place and stick with it a few years to draw popularity. If I see that they are planning ADCC in Japan or Europe in the next two years, you can bet I wont be there buying $350 tickets and sitting 10 feet away from the next closest spectator.