Rizin VP Jerry Millen Talks About Rekindling the Days of Pride in Japanese MMA

After nearly a decade, the spirit of Pride FC returned last year with the newly formed RIZIN Fighting Federation promotion.

Along with former Pride President Nobuyuki Sakakibara, RIZIN included other former Pride executives such as Jerry Millen, along with legendary fighters of Pride’s past such as Fedor Emelianenko, Kazushi Sakuraba, and recently Wanderlei Silva.

Speaking to MMAWeekly.com prior to RIZIN’s first event of 2016, Senior Vice President Millen spoke about the promotion’s formation, recapturing the spirit of Pride, and what impact he feels the company will have on the MMA scene in 2016.

MMAWeekly.com: Firstly, Jerry, tell how you became involved with RIZIN.

Jerry Millen: When Pride went away, I was one of the vice presidents of the company, mainly working on the North American stuff. When Sakakibara had to go away for seven years after signing a non-compete, I didn’t, so I stayed in the business knowing one day things would come around.

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I kept all my connections and travelled all over the world, meeting up with promoters knowing one day things would come back in Japan. It did. Sakakibara asked me to come back and he gave me the position of Senior Vice President of RIZIN.

MMAWeekly.com: Is it difficult at all to be in America while the majority of the promotion is in Japan?

Jerry Millen: It’s a team effort. 99 percent of the team is in Japan and I’m the 1 percent that’s not, but we work together really well. With the world the way it is now with the internet, smart phones, and Facetime, it’s pretty much like being in the office. It’s not that much different.

The biggest challenge is the time change. It’s like a 12-hour difference, so sometimes I have to get up at four in the morning for a conference call. But whatever it takes, we do. We work well together with a passion for Japanese MMA.

Since Pride has been gone, the world of television and the internet, the world has become a smaller place. I get messaged and tweeted all the time by people asking how they can watch our product. That’s good. I think with the proliferation of social media it really helps our product get out to a whole new audience.

MMAWeekly.com: During the time between Pride and RIZIN, did you ever think this might not happen?

Jerry Millen: I knew it would come back. Sakakibara is very smart. He knows the business. I knew once his non-compete was up, he’d be back, and I waited for that because I respect him. He’s one of the best people I’ve worked with in my whole life. As a promoter, he is the most honest person I’ve ever worked with.

MMAWeekly.com: Prior to the April 17 show in Nagoya, Japan, RIZIN held a series of New Year’s Eve shows. What was that like, and did it feel any different than the Pride days?

Jerry Millen: Anytime you do something new, you’re never sure how it’s going to play out. We did something like 27 fights over two days, and I figured anything can happen. We had our first night, and with some of the fights I was like, “Wow.” I was just excited to see it back. I got goosebumps when the Pride music played. It was kind of like saying goodbye to Pride. Takada came out and did the drums; it was just very emotional. I was there with Mark Coleman and Heath Herring and they loved it too.

For the next fights on New Year’s Eve, we were wondering how we could do better? Because if the fights weren’t as good as the first night, the things people would say, but thankfully, things went great. I think everybody performed. I was blown away by the shows, the production, and all the hard work everybody put in.

MMAWeekly.com: RIZIN has signed former Pride legends like Fedor, Sakuraba, and Silva. What is their role in connecting the past to the present, while also keeping an eye to the future?

Jerry Millen: It’s important to bring the old fans back and sprinkle in some of the legends of Pride to get the attention, and then they open the doors for the new guys. Wanderlei has some guys he wants to see compete in RIZIN down the road, Fedor has some guys we are using, and they’re opening doors for the guys of the future. We’re looking for the next Fedor, for the next (Antonio Rodrigo) Nogueira, the next (Mirko) Cro Cop, and I think we can build them.

MMAWeekly.com: What can you tell us about the possibility of seeing RIZIN events here in the U.S.?

Jerry Millen: For the April show, we’ve not 100 percent locked in on our plans right now, but for future shows, the only thing I can tell you is that we are working on some really cool things. I can’t tell you too much, but we’re working on some cool partnerships for our September event. We’ll have some news in the coming months on what we’re working on. We have some really cool things in the works for how the world will watch our events, for sure.

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MMAWeekly.com: Thanks for taking time out for us, Jerry. Did you want to add anything in closing?

Jerry Millen: RIZIN is a new business and there’s going to be hiccups along the way, but if you love fighting, you’ll love Japanese MMA. If you don’t know it, you’re in for a big surprise for what’s coming down the road. We are here to make MMA great again.

MMA has lost its character. It became just a bland sport and like everything else with uniforms and all those things. The characters were taken out of it. You need those characters because people need to care about the fighters. You put them in uniforms, the fighters become interchangeable. You see a guy (like Chris Barnett) come out in a bear suit, you’re going to remember that guy, especially if he’s a badass.

You need to create characters, because people have to have emotion. Whether good or bad, love or hate the fighter, they have to have an emotional attachment to want to watch them fight. We want guys who are all characters. Be yourself, bring what you’ve got. I think this is going to be a great opportunity for a lot of young fighters to come to Japan and fight. Japan is the home of martial arts, so there’s not a better place to do it.

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