Possible locations for World Lethwei Championship’s Japan spectacle
Earlier last month, World Lethwei Championship made a blockbuster announcement that the leading lethwei promotion would be holding its spectacles across multiple countries throughout the 2020/2021 season, including a historic showcase in Tokyo, Japan.
The plan by World Lethwei Championship is to hold its show in late June or early July, as a precursor to the official start of the rescheduled Tokyo Olympics next year. We look at possible venues that this historic event could possibly take place in.
Tokyo Dome
The Tokyo Dome is an indoor arena that doubles as a baseball ballpark. It is the preferred destination for the world’s leading organizations in sports, music, and the arts.
Just in sports alone, it has hosted several National Football League Preseason games, Major League Baseball regular-season games, a regular home for mixed martial arts organization PRIDE, and was the venue where Mike Tyson infamously was upset by James ‘Buster’ Douglas in 1990.
It is the largest venue in this list with a maximum capacity of 55,000.
Yokohama Arena
Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan after Tokyo and is just 20 miles southwest of the capital. The Yokohama Arena was modeled after Madison Square Garden in New York, USA, and is a popular venue for concerts.
It has also held historic martial arts events such as the K1 World Grand Prix Final in 2008 and the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s (UFC) first foray into Japan in 1997.
It has a capacity of 17,000.
Ryōgoku Kokugikan
Ryōgoku Kokugikan is most famed as a sumo hall. The original building was built in 1909 due to the growing popularity of sumo in the Meiji period in the late 1800s and early 1900s and has since become synonymous with the best sumo events in the world.
The official capacity is 11,098, although it can be fitted for smaller audiences of around 5,000 as ONE Championship has done for its recent events. It will be used for boxing in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Saitama Super Arena
The Saitama Super Arena is a popular venue for martial arts organizations, and it has made holding a New Year’s Eve event an annual tradition, dating all the way back to 2001. It has also hosted an episode of World Wrestling Entertainment’s Monday Night Raw and four Ultimate Fighting Championship events.
The venue is also a popular choice for concerts, with megastars like Madonna, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Guns N’ Roses, Beyonce, Linkin Park and Coldplay playing at this sacred venue
It has a capacity of 36,500.
Roberto Villa is the CEO, Founder, Executive Writer, Senior Editor of FightBook MMA. Has a passion for Combat Sports and also a podcast host for Sitting Ringside. He’s also a former MMA fighter and Kickboxer.
