HDNet to Air Sengoku Live, Dream.7 on Tape Delay

For American fans of Japanese MMA, having HDNet is an absolute must, as it's the exclusive U.S. home of the Japanese Dream and Sengoku promotions.

But as much as I like HDNet's MMA coverage, I was disappointed when I saw the news today that the upcoming Dream.7 card won't be shown live on HDNet. In fact, even though it takes place on March 8, it won't be shown on HDNet until March 14.

I e-mailed Andrew Simon, the CEO of HDNet Fights, to ask him why Dream.7 won't be on live. Here's what he told me:

HDNet would love to show DREAM live, but the issue is that they are having the event on a Sunday night in Tokyo...it makes for an awful time for people to watch in the U.S. I would love if DREAM held events on Friday or Saturday, then we would air it LIVE. We try to keep our new MMA programming primarily on Fridays and some Saturdays so fans always know when they can catch MMA on HDNet. The Friday the 13th weekend will be incredible on HDNet -- DREAM 7 and Affliction Day of Reckoning. With over 35 events planned for this year, HDNet is THE Home for MMA. We are very excited to show the debut of Sengoku LIVE on HDNet in March as well. No decision has been made on DREAM 8 airtime as of today.

So there you have it. Personally, I'd prefer to be able to watch Dream.7 live (I was awake and watching HDNet from 2 AM to 7 AM for Dream.6), but that's not an option this time around. At least we get to watch Sengoku live.