Sakakibara discusses athlete outfitting
Nobuyuki Sakakibara: “The fighters all look the same in their costumes now. In order to stand out, you need to become unique and get all tatted up like Conor McGregor or speak up.”
There is a look and feel to the UFC that is hard to define, but is key to the company’s extraordinary success. The same was true of PRIDE – it was amazing. The architect of the PRIDE look and feel was Nobuyuki Sakakibara, who now runs RIZIN Fighting Federation.
In a culture that prizes itself on uniformity as captured in the proverb “A nail that sticks out will be hammered,” PRIDE stood out like nothing else.
Yes, those are every brave sperm in the world, swimming towards the 2006 PRIDE Grand Prix championship.
During a lunch meeting on Friday, Sakakibara was asked about the UFC Outfitting Policy?, which mandates Reebok apparel.
Critics charge that the Reebok Fight Kits have all the visual excitement of:
Sakakibara sat down with media members for lunch on Friday, to discuss plans that include an eight-man, open-weight World Grand Prix tournament which will take place at two events in September and on New Year’s Eve.? Sakakibara said he will not be pursuing an exclusive apparel provider in building the next generation of stars in Japan.
“We feel like we need to respect each individual,” said Sakakibara through an interpreter, to Dave Doyle for MMA Fighting. “Each athlete’s character and personality matter more.”
“The UFC doesn’t respect the individual. The fighters all look the same in their costumes now. In order to stand out, you need to become unique and get all tatted up like Conor McGregor or speak up, those are the things you can do to stand out.”
There is remarkable irony in a culture that prizes itself on individuality producing a uniform look, while a culture of uniformity celebrates individuals like Saku. And all in the most individual of sports, one in which two fighters enter an arena, and fight alone.