Hero's

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Japanese mixed martial arts promotion

title: "Hero's" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["k-1", "hero's-events", "2005-establishments-in-japan", "2008-disestablishments-in-japan", "organizations-established-in-2005", "organizations-disestablished-in-2008", "defunct-mixed-martial-arts-promotions"] description: "Japanese mixed martial arts promotion" topic_path: "geography/japan" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero's" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Japanese mixed martial arts promotion ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox company"]

Field	Value
name	Hero's
logo	[[Image:K1-heros.jpg
type	Defunct
location_country	Japan
industry	Mixed martial arts promotion
parent	Fighting and Entertainment Group
::

Hero's was a Japanese mixed martial arts promotion operated by Fighting and Entertainment Group, the parent entity behind kickboxing organization K-1. Grown from and branched off of K-1's earlier experiments in MMA, including the K-1 Romanex event and various MMA fights on its regular K-1 kickboxing cards, it held its first show on March 26, 2005. The promotion was handled by former Rings head Akira Maeda. At a press conference on February 13, 2008, FEG announced that they discontinued Hero's and were creating a new mixed martial arts franchise, Dream, in collaboration with former Pride FC executives from Dream Stage Entertainment.

History

Although not as popular worldwide as the Ultimate Fighting Championship or the now defunct Pride Fighting Championships, Hero's was very recognizable in the Japanese mixed martial arts scene, thanks in large part to the visibility and resources of FEG and K-1. Hero's events were sometimes co-sponsored and broadcast on the TBS national television network in Japan. In contrast to PRIDE and the UFC, Hero's promoted only three weight classes: middleweight (-70 kg/-154 lbs), light heavyweight (-85 kg/-187 lbs) and heavyweight (+85 kg/+187 lbs)

United States

On March 27, 2007, FEG (the Fighting Entertainment Group) held a press conference at the Los Angeles Coliseum to announce their first US event which was to be held on June 2, 2007. The show, named K-1 Dynamite!! USA, was a joint operated venture with the newly formed Elite XC, British MMA organization Cage Rage, BoDog Fight and the Korean-based Spirit MC. The show was broken down into two parts, with the first part (made up of three fights) being aired for free Showtime and the second part on pay-per-view.

Reformation into Dream

At a press conference on February 13, 2008, FEG announced that they discontinued Hero's and were creating a new mixed martial arts franchise, Dream, in collaboration with former Pride FC executives from Dream Stage Entertainment. In addition to established Hero's stars, (such as Calvancante, Akiyama, and Yamamoto) many other top fighters from around the world (such as Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipović and Shinya Aoki) joined the new promotion.

Notable fighters

Many notable mixed martial artists competed in Hero's, including:

Hero's Grand Prix Champions

::data[format=table]

Year	Weight class	Champion	Runner-up
2005	Middleweight (70 kg)	JPN Norifumi Yamamoto	JPN Genki Sudo
2006	Light heavyweight (85 kg)	JPN Yoshihiro Akiyama	NED Melvin Manhoef
2006	Middleweight (70 kg)	BRA Gesias Calvancante	JPN Caol Uno
2007	Middleweight (70 kg)	BRA Gesias Calvancante	BRA André Amado
::

Events

::data[format=table]

Event	Location	Venue	Attendance
Hero's 1	JPN Saitama, Japan	Saitama Super Arena	13,000
Hero's 2	JPN Tokyo, Japan	Yoyogi National Gymnasium
Hero's 3	JPN Tokyo, Japan	Ariake Coliseum
Hero's 2005 in Seoul	KOR Seoul, South Korea	Olympic Gymnastics Arena	7,460
Hero's Lithuania 2005	LIT Vilnius, Lithuania	Siemens Arena
K-1 PREMIUM 2005 Dynamite!!	JPN Osaka, Japan	Osaka Dome	53,025
Hero's 4	JPN Tokyo, Japan	Nippon Budokan
Hero's 5	JPN Tokyo, Japan	Yoyogi National Gymnasium
Hero's 6	JPN Tokyo, Japan	Ariake Coliseum
Hero's 7	JPN Yokohama, Japan	Yokohama Arena
Hero's Lithuania 2006	LIT Vilnius, Lithuania	Siemens Arena
K-1 PREMIUM 2006 Dynamite!!	JPN Osaka, Japan	Osaka Dome	51,930
Hero's 8	JPN Nagoya, Japan	Nippon Gaishi Hall
Dynamite!! USA	USA Los Angeles, California, USA	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum	18,340
Hero's 9: Middleweight Tournament Opening Round	JPN Yokohama, Japan	Yokohama Arena
Hero's 10: Middleweight Tournament Final	JPN Yokohama, Japan	Yokohama Arena
Hero's 2007 in Korea	KOR Seoul, South Korea	Jangchung Gymnasium
Hero's Lithuania 2007	LIT Vilnius, Lithuania	Siemens Arena
K-1 PREMIUM 2007 Dynamite!!	JPN Osaka, Japan	Osaka Dome	47,928
::

Event locations

*** Total event number: 19**

JPN Japan (13) : Tokyo – 5 : Yokohama – 3 : Osaka – 3 : Nagoya – 1 : Saitama – 1
LIT Lithuania (3) : Vilnius – 3
KOR South Korea (2) : Seoul – 2
USA United States (1) : Los Angeles, California – 1

References

(13 March 2007). "TBS mata fushōji". J-Cast News.
Takagi, Hiromi. (1 March 2005). "3-26 Saitama 'Hero's' kaisai kettei". Yahoo.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::