It’s not easy for all of us in the United States to easily find and watch Japanese MMA without the aid of the internet. And with the recent news that Tokyo Broadcasting Station (TBS) had dropped the Dream promotion from it’s slot on network television, things were looking even worse for us. Not to mention that the organization itself would have lost potential viewers and future fans by not acquiring any television coverage.

It’s our lucky day, again, as HDNet comes to the rescue with some potentially exciting Japanese MMA to be aired on May 2nd. Granted it’s not live, but we will be watching Dream 2 even before Japanese viewers will get a chance to see MMA action in their own homes. Sure, you can read about the results, chat on the forums, or try to watch grainy videos, but nothing comes close to watching the event in high definition.

So where is the love for HDNet? I don’t routinely find people writing about how much HDNet has done for MMA in the short time that the channel has been airing MMA fights. Do we take the channel for granted or is it just another expensive HD channel that only a few of us can barely afford?

Mark Cuban isn’t on the receiving end of many compliments either these days. As the head of the company, Cuban has rose through the ranks as an entrepreneur who went from being an average joe to a billionaire, but people still write him off as someone who is just cashing in on the sport. While it’s certainly questionable that Cuban began airing MMA fights as soon as the sport began to take off, his company has also taken many risks by airing so many small domestic fights along with the big international fights like Yarennoka. Even the IFL is shown on HDNet after being dropped from their spot on MyNetworkTV. Cuban gets points just for being that guy who is taking a chance on the small MMA promotions that would otherwise receive no reputable television coverage.

Not only does HDNet go out and capture all of these events for our viewing pleasure, their HD feed is amazingly clear. Although the UFC 83 HD quality improved slightly from the previous live pay per view events, they still didn’t even come close to what can be seen on HDNet on a random weeknight. You also can’t find a worthwhile MMA news show on Spike TV like Inside MMA with our friends Bas Rutten and Kenny Rice.

So what’s not to love about HDNet right now? You get both local and international fight cards in high definition with a weekly news show to boot. There’s no Bill Goldberg, no expensive pay per views, and the organization might just stick around for a while. I’m off to watch Reckless Abandon 2 from Dallas Texas. You know, the one with Frank Trigg and Edwin Dewees?

During the UFC 82 post-fight press conference, Dana White talked a bit about how the other organizations like HDNet Fights and the IFL don’t compare to the UFC in terms of love for the sport of MMA. The quotes from White on Five Ounces of Pain look something like this:

“The IFL was gonna take us out last year and they’re offering stock options and other stuff to all of the fighters,” White continued. “Some guys we had long-term relationships with left and went there. A year later it’s gone.

… Now the big scary guy was Mark Cuban. Mark Cuban is coming in. Mark Cuban doesn’t give a [expletive deleted] about mixed martial arts. Mark Cuban has dumped millions of dollars into HDNet and he wants subscribers. He’s a businessman. He’ll build up the subscribers and sell it to Comcast and get out. I think he’s passionate about basketball (but) I don’t think he’s interested in mixed martial arts and he’ll be onto the next business venture.

Now CBS is getting involved. CBS bought ProElite, which was going out of business and about to fail. And they bought them and now they’re going to give them a shot.”

While Dana White has every right to express his opinion, as Sam Caplan also mentioned in the article, “but does White have a plan to keep the talent pool going if these organizations fail?” asked a commenter. And it’s a great question to ask. Where will all of the fighters go to put food on the table? Will the UFC expand to hold 36 fights a year to do so? Will the WEC finally act like a minor league farm team to the UFC? Not likely. Maybe White should take a step back, look around, and realize all of the untapped talent that the UFC has yet to even consider if he cares so much about the sport and keeping alive past these eight years. Maybe it’s a good idea to work with your competitors for a little while to keep MMA going strong, Dana. After all, it’s how other similar organizations stayed alive.

John Philapavage had mentioned to me in the past that Vince McMahon knew how to do business in the pro wrestling world by keeping his competitors alive. Then he’d buy them and their fighters up to keep his organization strong. Now you can watch WWE weekly. It’s a great thing for pro wretsling, but what about MMA?

After all, if all of the organizations die out and the UFC is the only show left, do I really want to watch MMA just once a month? I don’t care that Dana White is getting rich by developing the sport, I’m worried he wants to get rich by killing it now. Perhaps those rumors that Zuffa, the parent company of the UFC, is looking to sell to McMahon could be the one thing to save the sport? It’s going to be a interesting year for MMA in 2008.