@brian2350739190 Yes, kickboxing is dead in the US, and Americans are god awful at kickboxing. If that's your measurement of success, sure, knock yourself out.
@brian2350739190 I think you're smarter than that, and are acting obtuse on purpose. Whole discussion is about there being interest, or a single name in kickboxing that people care about, which there clearly is. Don't act like Inoue can walk the streets of anywhere but Japan and get recognized.
@brian2350739190 Let's take it to The MATCH 2022. Two of Japan's biggest kickboxing stars of the last decade faced off, sold out the Tokyo Dome, and shattered PPV records in Japan. Biggest combat sports event in Japan up until that point.
https://t.co/bmVdFghEoo
'THE MATCH 2022' gate is announced as $25M.
For comparison, the biggest gate in UFC history was Conor McGregor's fight with Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205, which brought in $17,7M in ticket sales.
#THEMATCH2022
@brian2350739190 That's Chingiz Allazov, the former pound-for-pound number one kickboxer in the world, just like Usyk was before getting spanked for large parts of his last fight.
Again, you not following the sport in the slightest doesn't mean there are no marquee stars.
@brian2350739190 Your statement means nothing.
There are kickboxers with millions of fans, and fights with million of views, but you wouldn't know, because that's not your bubble. Obviously the sport is smaller than boxing, with no PPV culture, but your whole statement remains ridiculous.
@DilbyDoe@KillDozer44 Briggs opponent, Tom Erickson, was a wrestler and lost every single kickboxing fight he had by knockout.
Francois Botha ended up 4-12 as a kickboxer, and did the best of all those high-profile crossovers.
@Couldabeenrichh@26carlitoess Tenshin fought for the world title, and just beat Estrada to earn another world title shot. He's clearly at that level. And Yoshiki Takei, K-1 champion, did win a boxing world title recently.