Japan will be getting a non-TUF new-format TV show from the UFC

Gong Kakutougi, which has authority in the Japanese MMA industry, published an article discussing the awaited Japanese UFC program. It includes speculation, but it also tells us a lot about what is planned for the new show in Japan.

The Japanese UFC TV show will be more of a documentary than a reality show because of terrestrial broadcasting that won't permit an extreme character-based show. As such, they won't use a "House" or have cameras chasing fighters. Because of that, the name of show won't be "TUF" and a new name remains to be announced.

Zuffa wants Vale Tudo Japan (VTJ) to run the event, and they want talent not only from Shooto but also from Pancrase and DEEP. DEEP's Shigeru Saeki has said that MMA becoming a major attraction again is completely beneficial to DEEP itself, and so he will cooperate with this TV program.

The show's format has four fighters competing in a league-style tournament with two leagues in total. The winners of the leagues will fight in the finale and the first season of the show will only include Japanese fighters.

I have made my personal list of fighters fit for the show's cast. The UFC uses age as an important factor, so I've used age (30 or younger) and cleaner records for the list, but those two factors do not always determine the best talent.

I want to see some veteran fighters on the show as well. My 145-pound list is very weak, so veterans and other fighters dropping down from 155 should make for a better list. I also think that selecting either 155 or 125 as the sole division for the show will result in a better competition.


155:

Yusuke Kasuya (Akimoto Dojo Jungle Junction)
Nobumitsu Osawa (Tsudanuma Dojo)
Kazuki Tokudome (Paraestra Hachioji) 
Yuki Kawana (Shinwa Total Combat)
Kota Shimoishi (BLOWS)
Akira Okada (Kugayama Rascal)
Takasuke Kume (ALIVE)
Tetsuya Yamada (Shinwa Total Combat)
Chuji Kato (Reversal Gym Yokohama Groundslam)


Yusuke Kasuya

145:

Yusuke Yachi (Krazy Bee)
Isao Kobayashi (Sakaguchi Dojo) 
Akiyo Nishiura (STGY)
Ryogo Takahashi (Krazy Bee)
Tatsuya Ando (Tribe Tokyo MMA)
Yuta Sato (Akimoto Dojo Jungle Junction)
Yutaka Saito (Paraestra Koiwa)
Hiroyuki Oshiro (Vos Gym)


Yusuke Yachi

135:

Shintaro Ishiwatari (Cave)
Teruto Ishihara (Chokushinkai)
Keita Ishibashi (Wajutsu Keishukai Duro) 
Takafumi Otsuka (AACC)
Daichi Takenaka (Paraestra Izumi)
Ryo Okada (Paraestra Matsudo)
Go Kashiwazaki (K-Place)
Shoko Sato (Sakaguchi Dojo)


Keita Ishibashi

125:

Yuki Motoya (Club Barbarian Impact) (Can go straight to the UFC)
Tatsumitsu Wada (Yoshida Dojo) 
Hiromasa Ogikubo (Paraestra Chiba)
Yusaku Nakamura (Alpha Male Japan)
Takeshi Kasugai (Shimura Dojo)
Hayato Suzuki (Brave)
Yuya Shibata (Style)
Seiichiro Ito (Reversal Gym Yokohama Groundslam)


Yuki Motoya

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.

2013 JMMA schedule

Every year in Japan, the MMA event schedule is held in a pattern. At the beginning in January, things don't look very active, and promotions try to build their way up to bigger events during the later part of year.

Here, I will break down this year's JMMA schedule.

First, Dream will stay with Glory at the Saitama Super Arena. Not many details have been released yet, but the kickboxing portion of the event will be separated. Other than that, not much is known.

For Shooto, they have started up VTJ again. I don't know how often they can hold these events in larger venues. They would like to have two or three events per year. If they hold two, April-May would work for the first VTJ and October-November can be used for the second VTJ if old patterns remain.

Shooto holds its annual rookie tournament every year. I recommend that foreigners watch the rookies at Shinjuku Face, where the Shooto Gig Tokyo events take place. Other regional events like Border, Shooto Gig Central and Shooto Gig North also have some of the tournament fights.
Shooto's Shinjuku Face events also include the Infinity tournament, which is designed for Class B shootors to step up to Class A, where fighters compete for three rounds instead of two.

The rookie tournament's early stages are also held in Osaka (Border or Shooto Gig West) or Nagoya (Shooto Gig Central), and the tournament final event at Shinjuku Face showcases the top Shooto rookies from the year.
Shooto rookies like Horiguchi and Tanaka fought at Shinjuku Face, won the tournament excitingly and then stepped up to bigger events at Korakuen Hall. Shooto's Korakuen Hall events still serve as most JMMA fighters' last step before signing with a major promotion.

Shooto can't offer enough money to make a living as a pro fighter only, so most fighters defend their belts a few times and then return them. Still, many young fighters nationally and internationally who love the sport will chase this tradition to become a major fighter.
Shooto's Vale Tudo Japan shows are caged events with unified rules. Last year, they brought in the Tachi Palace Fights champion to face Shooto talent as a test to see how close the Shootors were to being ready to fight for a major promotion.VTJ 2nd will hold on June 22nd, Tokyo dome city hall.

Pancrase normally holds its events at Differ Ariake. I recommend attending events if LW champ Isao Kobayashi and BW champ Shintaro Ishiwatari are fighting on the card.


Isao Kobayashi

This year's Pancrase schedule also includes a bigger event on September 29th that will commemorate the 20th anniversary of Pancrase. The event's venue, Yokohama Cultural Gymnasium, can seat 5000 people and we should see some great matchmaking for that event.
Pancrase is focused on bringing in foreign fighters in order to keep its events relevant, which is an interesting approach. They cooperate with AKA, Wand Fight Team and Cesar Gracie Fight Team. You can now see talented fighters from those teams in Pancrase.


Yokohama Cultural Gymnasium

DEEP constantly holds shows at Korakuen Hall with Dream dropout fighters. They will also hold a bigger event on April 26th when Satoru Kitaoka challenges for the LW title against Daisuke Nakamura, and Sengoku and Bellator veteran Dan Hornbuckle challenges Yuya Shirai for WW title. Also, Tatsumitsu Wada and Yusaku Nakamura fight in a flyweight title eliminator at this event.


Yusaku Nakamura

Generally, the bigger MMA events in Japan always take place in December. Dream's NYE show, of course, and also local organizations' landmark events. However, if you plan a trip to Japan during the rest of the year, check out the Sherdog Fight Finder for event listings and pick a good time to visit.

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