Japanese MMA Fighters to Watch Out 2015

Here is the 2015 edition of Fighters to Watch For. Michinori Tanaka and Uruka Sasaki landed themselves a spot in a major organization (UFC) last year. There is, of course, a few new faces this time around and we have more fighters with clean records. How I evaluate is based upon who won against whom, but if a specific performance convinced me, I’ve done a more risky pick. I hope that, with this list, hardcore MMA fans will take note of who are JMMA's up-and-comers.

Yuki Motoya 

Motoya's 2014 was an active one and perfect for what he wanted. He avenged a loss against Tatsumitsu Wada and won his first international fight against former RFA champ Matt Manzanares. He used a variety of kicks to make his movements harder to read and his front kicks stopped Manzanares's pressure. Motoya is the most highly-touted rookie who remains in local Japanese promotions and he will soon move on to fight in a major organization.

Tatsumitsu Wada

Wada lost his DEEP flyweight strap against Motoya this past year, but his year-end performance against Ryuichi Miki defined him as a top-three Japanese flyweight. Wada is known for his boxing skills and often continuously jabs his opponents. Not only that, he avoided Miki's strike-takedown combinations and finished Miki with a rear-naked choke.

Hiromasa Ogikubo

Ogikubo's year was all about winning the VTJ flyweight tournament. He had a competitive fight against Takeshi Kasugai, but after that he choked out Kana Hyatt and showed positional grappling superiority against Czar Sklavos. Ogikubo asked for a fight against Yuki Motoya, but his injury prevented the fight.

Koji Ando

Ando signed with One FC and his wins against Rafael Nunes and Zorobabel Moreira both ended with finishes but in different ways. He choked Nunes and tapped him out, then fought a striking battle against the huge-framed Moreira. Ando forced Zoro to fight passively after pressuring him and, with Zoro’s mind weakened, Ando finished him with a body shot.

Taiyo Nakahara

Nakahara's 2014 did not go well because he did not have an opportunity to fight. He was supposed to face Honggang Yao, but the fight was scrapped because Yao missed weight. When I think about Nakahara’s record and improvement curve, he remains here on this list.

Hisaki Kato vs Yuki Niimura

Hisaki Kato

Kato is not yet well-known, but he is the current HEAT middleweight champion and also a Daidojuku champion. HEAT is a Nagoya-based organization, so I haven't watched his fights yet, but from his record and quick finishing times he should be seen as at least a top-three Japanese middleweight. Another reason why I am interested in him is his Daidojuku skill. The first Japanese fighter in the UFC was Minoki Ichihara and he had no solution against Royce Gracie's grappling, but after all of these years of MMA evolution, perhaps Daidojuku can contribute to major MMA's style diversity? That's not a pure fighter evaluation, but I am interested in him for such a reason, too.

Ayaka Hamasaki

Ayaka's 2014 was about testing herself in a new division. She dominated former Jewels featherweight champ Naho Sugiyama in striking and on the ground, then fought and defeated Mei Yamaguchi. We can expect that she will soon fight in the U.S. since she did not participate in the DEEP Jewels featherweight GP, which is being held in her new division.

Mizuki Inoue 

Mizuki's 2014 did not go how she had wanted. She missed weight in the finals of the DEEP Jewels lightweight GP and lost by DQ even though she submitted Emi Tomimatsu. She avenged her “loss” against Tomimatsu in her next fight to become Deep Jewels featherweight champion. Mizuki next fought Karolina Kowalkiewicz at Invicta FC 9, but her precision striking was not favored against Karolina's volume of strikes. She will begin 2015 against Alexa Grasso at Invicta FC 11. Mizuki is still only 20 years old, but she needs to develop more physical strength to give her precision striking more value.

Kento Kanbe vs Suguru Hayakawa fight from 10:10

Kento Kanbe

Kanbe may not be expected to be on this list because he is so early in his career at 18 years old, but his dominance over opponents with his grappling made me convinced that he needed to be included here. Kanbe trains at Alliance Square and is a grappling-based prospect at the moment. His strong point is obviously his ground game, but we know that current fighters in major promotions can't rely too much upon grappling. Alliance Square’s coach, Tsuyoshi Kosaka, knows how to build MMA talent, so I think that Kanbe will develop considerable striking skills but I don't know how far he can go. I think we will someday see him challenge for a Pancrase title.

Ryohei Kurosawa vs Tateo Iino

Ryohei “Ken Asuka”  Kurosawa

Kanbe is Pancrase's lightest weight prospect. I don't know if he will fight in the upper divisions in the future, but Shooto's lightest prospect is Ryohei Kurosawa. His nickname, “Ken Asuka,” is from Karate Manga. His style is karate, which he began training at age six, but what impressed me most was his sprawl against the takedowns of Ryuto Sawada, who is a top prospect.

Tatsuya Ando

Ando's career is too short yet, with only three fights so far, but he was a top-three wrestler in college. In his third bout, he beat Takahiro Ashida, who has 16 fights on his record and fought to a split decision against Miguel Torres. It shows Ando’s potential and what kind of athlete he is.




Ryuto Sawada vs Masayoshi Kato

Ryuto Sawada

Sawada had a breakout performance after his loss against Kurosawa. He outpaced and outwrestled Yuki Shojo for the entire fight and ground-and-pound KOed him. That was surprising for me since Ryuto is small for Shooto’s flyweight division. He displayed big KO power against Shojo, who only had one prior TKO loss in his career. Sawada is expected to face champion Yoshitaka Naito next year.

Big thanks to Robert Sargent  (MMA Rising) for English editing.

Japanese MMA scene Fighter to watch out 2014

Here is the 2014 edition of Fighters to Watch For. Kyoji Horiguchi landed himself a spot in a major organization (UFC), but there are many newcomers on this year's list.

Michinori Tanaka

Tanaka's 2013 campaign involved winning a championship in Guam/Philippines promotion PXC and carefully developing his career. While fighters he has defeated have begun to land themselves positions in the UFC, Tanaka's coach Katsumura has a conservative plan for his career. I think he needs improvement in his striking, but his grappling is already top-level. Tanaka went to donate money to the Philippines embassy for victims of Haiyan and I am looking forward to his 2014 campaign.




Yuta Sasaki

Sasaki beat Wajyutsu Keisyukai mentor Tetsu Suzuki and took Shooto's Pacific rim title during his 2013 campaign, and he beat Naoya Uematsu in a grappling match. He has become Japanese MMA's best grappler in his weight class. I am curious about what will happen when he can't take opponents down. He struggled against Kota Onojima when he could not get him down. His 2014 campaign starts with a fight against Keisuke Fujiwara, who is ZST champ.



Shintaro Ishiwatari

Ishiwatari's 2013 campaign did not go the way that he had wanted it to. He lost to Shooto champ and current UFC fighter Kyoji Horiguchi in the Japanese fight of the year and best comeback in Japanese local MMA history. His 2014 campaign begins with a title defense against Yo Saito, who is known as a guillotine specialist.



Mizuki Inoue

Inoue's 2013 campaign is best remembered for her first appearance in Invicta FC. She showed continuous improvement in her striking against Bec Hyatt. In that fight, she won clearly, but it wasn't a perfect game since she get overpowered in the clinch. After that, Inoue faced Emi Fujino, who has outstanding power for a Japanese female MMA fighter, but Fujino never got a chance to use that power. I saw drastic improvement in Inoue and I am looking forward to her next fight against Emi Tomimatsu.



Koji Ando

In 2013, Ando was best known for becoming a champion for Legend FC. Not only that, but he became champ by defeating Jadamba Narantungalag, who is considered to be one of top talents in the Asian MMA scene. Their fight ended due to an unfortunate ankle injury when Jadamba's weight was only supported by his right leg and his ankle broke, but Ando's win is legit since he led the fight at that point. His 2014 campaign will decide how his new contract goes and hopefully he will fight again soon.


Taiyo Nakahara

Nakahara's only fight in 2013 was against UFC veteran Marcos Vinicius Borges Pancini for Rebel FC. He finished Pancini, but I want to emphasize that his left body shot determined how the fight went. It's hard to land effective body blows in the lower weight classes.


Takaki Soya

Last year's Shooto Rookie tournament MVP was Paraestra Matsudo's Takaki Soya. 2012's MVP Masatsugu Sakaki, 2011's MVP Michinori Tanaka and 2010's MVP Kyoji Horiguchi are all still unbeaten in their professional MMA careers. Before entering the tournament, Soya won the East Japan Amateur Shoooto tournament and became the youngest professional Shooto fighter at age 17.

This year's rookie tournament's number of participants was reduced because of Shooto's policy change for non-Tokyo fighters who build their early careers in the regions where they live. That reduced regional promoters' expenses, but at the same time I can't say that this year's rookie tournament was the same as the previous three in terms of quality.
Still, I can say that Soya is a good finisher. I can't say that he'll become a local Japanese champ because bantamweight is the most crowded division in this country and the fighters he faced in the tournament aren't as good as the ones that Horiguchi and Tanaka faced in their tournaments. Shooto Rookie tournaments are still high quality and they bring about awareness of young talent like Soya.



DEEP Flyweights (Photo is Yuki Motoya)

I said last year that I was looking forward to the DEEP flyweights and Tatsumitsu Wada vs. Yuki Motoya was one of the best fights of 2013 in DEEP. Wada took down Shooto striker Haruo Ochi for a decision win. Former champ Yuki Motoya got a decision win over Pancrase champ Kiyotaka Shimizu. With those wins over rival organizations' champs and contenders, I feel that DEEP's most high-level weight class is flyweight.



Mikihito Yamagami

Last year, one of the best upsets was Mikihito Yamagami's decision win over Mamoru Yamaguchi. Yamagami succeeded by continuously taking the back of Mamoru. Allowing back-takes is considered to be a primary fault in Mamoru's fighting style, but people did not expect that Yamagami would be able to exploit that so well. Yamagami used 2013 to build up his body for a new weight class and he will appear for Road FC this year.



SKILL MMA : Japanese MMA scene Fighter to watch out 2013

Big thanks to Robert Sargent  (MMA Rising) for English editing.

Japanese MMA scene Fighter to watch out 2013

I write annual up and coming Japanese MMA fighters to stay on the look out for. Specifically I focus on those outside of the major MMA organizations.



Kyoji Horiguchi

Horiguchi went 3-1 in 2012, including his biggest win to date against Ian Loveland. His game is not without holes, however. When he's taken down, he normally tries to defend against submissions and works at his opponent's pace.He's a bantamweight with a flyweight frame, so it's harder for him to defend takedowns with a sprawl. He either has to control the distance completely or bank on his opponent having poor takedowns.



Michinori Tanaka Vs Russell Doane

Michinori Tanaka

From a grappling perspective, Tanaka is ahead of all other Japanese MMA rookies. His 2012 campaign saw him fight just two times, as many Shooto Class B opponents and even some Class A fighters did not want to fight him.Because of that, Tanaka and his management chose to sign with Pacific Xtreme Combat. Tanaka defeated Russell Doane with chain grappling in his PXC debut in November. He has power, but he needs to work on making fewer mistakes while he builds up cage experience. He'll next face Joe Taimanglo at PXC 35.



Shintaro Ishiwatari

One of the most enjoyable local fights of the year took place in September when Ishiwatari faced veteran Caol Uno. Ishiwatari knew how to control the fight. His distance, takedowns and striking were all well-coordinated.Ishiwatari's style most closely resembles the current American fighting style. His gym, Cave, is worth checking out and is also home to standouts Mizuto Hirota and Ryuichi Miki.



Ayaka Hamasaki vs Lacey Schuckman

Ayaka Hamasaki

Hamasaki was active in 2012 and picked up a big win against legendary opponent Yuka Tsuji. While it is unfortunate that the fight happened so late in Tsuji's career, Hamasaki still dominated with better wrestling skills.Hamasaki was also successful in her cage debut at Invicta FC 2 in July. She tested herself in the cage environment and that was a smart decision. Previously, her career had been developed in Jewels, where a ring was used for all fights until very recently.
Hamasaki closed out the year with a win against Emi Fujino, who had more power than her, but Hamasaki showed a nice variety of wrestling and positional skills. She was able to counter Fujino's strikes with takedowns and controlled the grappling exchanges.After a strong 2012 campaign that included the two fights in a cage, it is likely that Hamasaki will continue to have a bright future in international competition.



Mizuki Inoue

Known for her sensational striking skills as a rookie, Mizuki Inoue had two MMA fights in 2012 and also won the 53.5 kg division of the Shoot Boxing Girls S-Cup. She is still best-known for her striking, but has also worked hard to improve her ground game.All of Inoue's MMA victories, including 2012 wins over Hyo Kyung Song and Alex Chambers, have come by way of armbar submission. Whether she stays in Japan to face the upper tier of Japanese female fighters - such as Mei Yamaguchi and Kyoko Takabayashi - or travels abroad, we will see interesting challenges ahead for her.



Isao Kobayashi

"Isao" debuted in 2008 and belongs to the Sakaguchi Dojo, which is led by Yukio Sakaguchi. Because Sakaguchi's father, Seiji, is a pro wrestler, fans were skeptical about how serious Yukio and his gym really were. After Yukio's hard-fought bout against Kotetsu Boku, however, the Sakaguchi Dojo attracted more attention.At the time, Pancrase had interesting lightweight prospects and they staged a grand prix for a lightweight title shot. Kobayashi won the tournament and went on to defeat champion Koji Oishi in a rematch, avenging his only loss in the process. He also holds a TKO win over Kazuki Tokudome, who will join the UFC this year.
The UFC offer to Tokudome first went to Isao, but Sakaguchi Dojo has a conservative plan for building Isao. Ideally, he will get more experience training and fighting in a cage if he chooses to maintain a conservative plan before joining a major promotion like the UFC.



DEEP Flyweights (photo is Tatsumitsu Wada)

Last year, flyweight Yuki Motoya was crowned as the youngest DEEP champion at 22 years of age, but he has tough oppositon ahead of him in the near future. DEEP bantamweight contender Tatsumitsu Wada has indicated that he plans to drop to flyweight and he has his sights set on the championship.As well, another bantamweight contender, Yusaku Nakamura, is also considering making the move down to flyweight. This means that there is a strong division developing. We must see where these flyweights become ranked on the regional scene, but it is shaping up to be quite interesting.


SKILL MMA : Japanese MMA scene Fighter to watch out 2012

Big thanks to Robert Sargent  (MMA Rising) for English editing.

Japanese MMA scene Fighter to watch out 2012

I write about up and coming Japanese MMA fighters to stay on the look out for.  Specifically I focus on those outside of the major MMA organizations.  Most likely, only die-hard MMA fans will know about the following fighters.

Kyoji Horiguchi

Horiguchi is on a three fight KO streak in 2011 after winning the Shooto Rookie tournament.  Horiguchi will next face world-ranked fighter and upcoming Bellator tournament contestant Masakatsu Ueda.  With his tremendous speed, karate skills, and knockout power, Horiguchi definitely has a chance to pull off the upset over Ueda.



Doo Ho Choi

After gaining attention from his decision victory over Ikuo Usuda in 2010, Choi seeks to improve on a breakout 2011.  He showcased vicious knees and an impressive sprawl during his wins over Mitsuhiro Ishida and Nobuhiro Obiya.  He will next face Kazunori Yokota for the vacant DEEP featherweight title and should be a strong favorite.  I’m curious to see how he will fare against a strong and powerful striker.



Jon Shores

From very early in his career, Shores has been known for his submission finishing skills.  This year, he seeks to bring his striking up to a similar level.  He defeated Tomonari Kanomata by maintaining a steady striking pace and will likely now square off against Takumi Nakayama for the Pancrase interim featherweight title.



Yasuaki Kishimoto

You might recognize this name after his victory over Un Sik Song, who currently trying to rediscover his prior form from before his military stint, Kishimoto is now in the mix for the DEEP lightweight title. After beating veteran Jutaro Nakao, I’m guessing that he will likely get a title shot soon.


Yuta "Uruka" Sasaki

Uruka’s 2011 campaign was hard fought.  He got a pair of close decision nods over Yoshifumi Nakamura and Kosuke Kindaichi.   His lack of finishing skills needs to be improved upon, which could be seen in his loss to Guy Delumeau’s wrestling/BJJ style.  Fortunately he is young enough that there should be plenty of time for improvement.



Michinori Tanaka

Tanaka is the MVP of this year’s Shooto Rookie tournament, which was actually one of the more stacked rookie tournaments in recent history.  By consistently attacking with chain grappling, Tanaka completely dominated runner-up Teruto Ishihara, who was clearly the second best rookie in Shooto this year.



Hideto Tatsumi

Although the dearth of talent in the Japanese heavier weight classes makes for some difficult comparisons, Hideto Tatsumi’s impressive judo background warrants a closer look.  After losing his debut to Christian M’Pumbu, Tatsumi upset veteran Hiromitsu Kanegara in just his third fight.  While still too early to judge, his performance is definitely promising.  Currently training with Japanese star Yushin Okami, his next test will be against Yang Hae Jun at Legend FC.


Also DEEP will crown flyweight champ with tournament.If Tatsumitsu Wada drop flyweight,it guarantee tounrament's winner quality.

SKILL MMA : Japanese MMA scene Fighter to watch out 2011

Big thanks to Dean Ryuta Adachi  (Deanadachi.com) for English editing.

Japanese MMA scene Fighter to watch out 2011

I do same thing as 2010.Who going to get attention? I don't make major list cause it's almost same as last year.You need attention Omigawa,Hioki,Sandro,Kanehara,Kikuno,Parky,Jung,Maxi as last year.(Kanehara and Jung's career in tough situation though)

If SRC do Bantam weight world grand prix.I think it will be interesting. It depend on what talent they bring,but think about how there Feather weight grand prix turn out and they seems to have at least one top ten Bantam weight. (Masakatsu Ueda　(Paraestra Tokyo))

Who is up and comer at local level.

Let's make a list.

from local

Yuta "Uruka" Sasaki (Wajyutsu Keisyukai Suruga Dojo).
Trained by Kenichi Serizawa who is referee.Have great sense of grapple at young age.Won Shooto rookie tourny and will participate March's Shooto.Of course need time for major even he grow fast.

Battle for flyweight.

Pancrase have Kiyotaka Shimizu 　(SK Absolute) as a champ.
ZST clowned Ryosuke Tanuma　(Reversal Gym Yokohama Groundslam) as a champ.

DEEP recently started division.Guy like Hirotaka Miyakawa (Alliance Square) fought at that weight.But I want give attention Yusaku Nakamura (Style) who fought at Bantam weight expected to drop.Who looking good at three fight fighter.

Of course Shooto have longest history at that division.But recently match making are limited for them.So I want cross over match ups for Shooto's that division.

I can see fight for top of division get tougher.Jussier, Urushitani and Mamoru rank is still higher, but may they will get challenged.

Rambaa "M16" Somdet (M16 Muay Thai Style) vs Junji "Sarumaru" Ito (Shooting Gym Yokohama)
First most significant fight for minimum weight.After flyweight developed.Minimum weight (or Straw weight) is the last place for new weight division for Men's MMA.


Junji "Sarumaru" Ito

Female prospect improvement.

Last year have many prospect for Japanese female MMA.Crops are become more significant when they got title.(Ayaka Hamasaki (AACC),Rin Nakai (Shooto Dojo Shikoku))

SKILL MMA : Japanese MMA scene Fighter to watch out

Japanese MMA scene Fighter to watch out

At 2010 who can be break out MMA fighter in Japanese scene?I choice fighter who worth to watch out for your 2010 Japanese MMA scene joy.I don't think all of them will have great 2010 but find your favorite fighter before everyone and enjoy those succeed is always hardcore fans joy.

I pick many fighter already have establish position in Japanese MMA scene.But you can expect more evolve from those fighter.I think I pick many Sengoku feather weight tourny participant,but that is best MMA tourny in last year's Japanese scene.So I think I can justified that.

Michihiro Omigawa (Yoshida Dojo)

One of most improve fighter in 2009.Especially in boxing (offense and defense)and chaining submission.If he improve his skill like last year,he can claim top of division.



Hatsu Hioki (ALIVE)

He didn't win Sengoku tourny what home country people hope for.But he shows his true skill sometime overlook by some people cause of some lose.His grappling clinic against Sengoku champ Masanori Kanehara show his real potential.

Marlon Sandro (Nova Uniao)

KO artist with ridiculous power and good balance.Put sleep some fighter not many known but talented like Yuji Hoshino.Need watch out if you like Jose Aldo who is same gym's development.

Masanori Kanehara (Paraestora Hachiouji)

No one think he will take major tourny when it started, but his rapid improve and fortunate reaches it.Show improve at strike, wrestle and submission.



Katsunori Kikuno (Alliance)

One of karate practitioner who got real MMA skill.He enter major and face Andre Dida who is many think too high caliber fighter to face at that time point.He beat him with crescent kick.Lose to Eddi Alvarez but still worth checking for improve.He will return DEEP before goin Dream again.Probably meet against Parky.

Wong Sik "Parky" Park (CMA Korea)

Beat up two Japanese (Yuichi Ikari, Atsuhiro Tsuboi) and high reputation make him major debut to meet Kuniyoshi Hironaka.He fought better than everybody thought but lose by injury.He suppose to meet DEEP champ Kikuno at this year.

Chan Sung Jung (Korean Top Team)

Already known for knock out FanJin Son for major organization eliminator make him
notice for hardcores.But knock off Shintaro Ishiwatari who is known for relentless striker make him real interest for fans.His hard fought against current Sengoku champ Masanori Kanehara define himself as a major quality fighter.

Mitsuhisa Sunabe (freelance)

He fought as a mediocre feather weight for MMA career but finally he find his best weight at flyweight.If he fight Shooto's flyweight at this year,that make big motivation for hardcore to go event.

Jussier Formiga (Nova Uniao)

Not notice by many people,But Jussier Formiga taking of no1 flyweight label from Japan is one of memorable thing at 2009.He will face Kojima again for this year to make this weight getting more establish.

Maximo "Maxi" Blanco (Yoshida Dojo)

Show his huge raw athlecism make him as interest to see future potential.He show improve at strike department.Responsible by Katsuhisa Tashiro make him beat Katsuya Inoue who is Pancrase Light weight champion.



Yusuke Honma (Paraestra Sapporo)

One of highest archive at grapple department.Debut this year's Shooto.Honma is Mundial finalist.

Tashiro Akai (Nova Uniao Japan)

Recently fight decent opponent but never touch major.Feather weight fighter become bantam weight and take Seiya Kawahara Who is last years local watchers attention.Gunning Inoue who is Pancrase bantam weight champion.

That's my choice of fighter to watch out at 2010 Japanese MMA scene.I personally think MMA team Alliance (run by Tsuyoshi "TK" Kohsaka) can make title run at Japanese locals.Because of Katsunori Kikuno who belongs to gym give back his experience to gym mate. But I can't make that much confidence.

I ask Jordan Breen for your Japanese MMA fighter (as rookie) to watch out.Comment for fighter added by me.

Koji Matsumoto (Master Japan)

Train under Kuniyoshi Hironaka,Matsumoto have good leg submission and won Shooto rookie tourny.

Junji "Sarumaru" Ito (Shooting Gym Yokohama)

Shooto's striker factory,Shooting Gym Yokohama's newest development add whole design of MMA game.

Thank you to Jordan Breen for pick ups.