What lies ahead for Japanese MMA in 2014

Shooto's main promoter, Sustain, runs Vale Tudo Japan (VTJ) as an upper-tier MMA promotion now, and the most interesting bout at their recent event, Yuta "Uruka" Sasaki vs. Teruto "Yashabo" Ishihara, became Fight of the Night. Uruka scored a choke-out win over Yashabo. After the fight, Uruka called out Shintaro Ishiwatari. On the other hand, when Kim Soo-Chul knocked out Motonobu Tezuka, his training partner Yashabo said he was going to fight Kim. I am curious to see whether a match will be made between them.


Yuta Sasaki

Hideo Tokoro vs. Will Campuzano became a controversial decision at VTJ 3rd. After an official argument against the decision was denied, Tokoro and his team refused to fight for VTJ in the future if the problem was not resolved. This argument also led to Shooto's official authority, Toshiharu Suzuki, refusing to referee at VTJ 4th because that judging problem hurt the Shooto Commission's image. Therefore, VTJ invited Larry Landless to come to VTJ 4th not only to referee but also to open a seminar to explain the Unified Rules to Japanese officials.


Hideo Tokoro

We learned recently that World Series of Fighting has affiliated with Pancrase. If you follow Japanese MMA news, you can watch the press conference with SRC Entertainment. WSOF Japan will be run by Pancrase president Masakazu Sakai, but SRC Entertainment is also involved. So will the new organization perhaps be known as a revived Sengoku or SRC?

At the press conference, we were informed that SRC Entertainment is no longer related to Don Quijote, which was the main sponsor for Sengoku, but SRC Entertainment will take part in running events for WSOF Japan and will also distribute classic Sengoku and SRC fight videos. At same press conference, Ray Sefo announced that the first WSOF Japan event will be in August or September, and Emi Fujino will participate in that event.

Finally, DEEP promoter Shigeru Saeki has said that he wants to hold a New Year's Eve event because right now only IGF does a NYE event with MMA in Japan and it's not a pure MMA event.

Shooto, Pancrase and DEEP are each trying to hold bigger upper-tier events and adapt more to American ideals, and that is the theme of 2014's Japanese MMA scene.

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

Details of the deal between WSOF and Pancrase

Pancrase just announced a new business deal with World Series Of Fighting, the third-largest MMA promotion in the United States, which means that Pancrase CEO Masakazu Sakai will start up WSOF Japan with the new license agreement. WSOF Japan will hold WSOF events in Japan, and they can also run events like "Road to WSOF."


Pancrase Fighters

Also with this deal, Pancrase has changed itself. The promotion will use a WSOF-style cage and Unified Rules for its numbered series events. Kings of Pancrase (champions) automatically have the right to fight for WSOF. Upper-tier ranked fighters can also fight for WSOF with permission from Pancrase.

Japanese fighters must go through Pancrase in order to fight for WSOF, but Pancrase fighters will still have the freedom to choose to fight for another major organization (UFC or Bellator) in the United States if there is an offer.



Explain deal at video (Japanese)

I examine this type of decision because, in Japan, most organization leaders aren't willing to risk trying to expand their promotions' notoriety to fans and other promoters outside of the country.

Sakai is working hard in that regard both inside and outside of Japan. That should earn him praise because most Japanese MMA promoters normally don't even try to do so. They just continue to shrink their organizations.

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

Japanese MMA video list by organization

There are many free fight videos available online that have been posted by Japanese MMA organizations in order to increase their presence in the rest of the world. These are legal to watch. Some are classic fights, while others are designed to build up new prospects.

Normally, people's primary interest is in bright prospects who have the potential to win fights on the international scene. At the same time, fighters who compete locally for many years and finally win a Shooto or Pancrase title can also produce excitement and drama for fans who may not have seen them before.

Also, local JMMA organizations' belts have history within them and fighters want to be part of that. It may not be top league on the local scene, but the basic fun of watching MMA is always there, and watching fights from other countries can sometimes compel us to plan trips to travel there.

Hopefully people will watch these videos and buy event DVDs or come to Japan in the future to watch a JMMA event.


Official Event Videos:
Deep - Nagoya Impact: Kobudo Fight 2012/03/25

DEEP Flyweight Tournament Fights Takeshi Kasugai vs. Takumi Murata

DEEP Flyweight Tournament Fights Yuki Motoya vs. Akito Sakimura

DEEP Flyweight Tournament Fights Akira Kibe vs. Takashige Hirukawa

DEEP Flyweight Tournament Fights - Naoyuki Kato vs. Hirotaka Miyakawa


Deep - Nagoya Impact 2012: Kobudo Fight 2012/07/22


DEEP Flyweight Tournament Semi-Finals: Akira Kibe vs. Akito Sakimura

DEEP Flyweight Tournament Semi-Finals: Yuki Motoya vs. Naoyuki Kato

DEEP Flyweight Tournament Final: Yuki Motoya vs. Akira Kibe (starts at 1:05:00)


Deep - Nagoya Impact: Kobudo Fight 2013/05/05

Sotaro Kojima vs. Akira Kibe


Deep - Nagoya Impact 2014 2014/2/9

Naoki Inoue vs. Gaku Sakamoto




Shooto - Border: Season 3 - Roaring Thunder

Akihito Ishihara vs. Kenji Yamamoto


Shooto - Border: Season 4 - First

Akihito Ishihara vs. Jong Hoon Choi


Shooto - Border: Season 4 - Second

Kenji Yamamoto vs. Kosuke Eda

Kentaro Watanabe vs. Nam Jin Jo

Shinji Sasaki vs. Kota Shimoishi


Shooto - Border: Season 4 - Third

Masaaki Sugawara vs. Junya Kodo


Shooto - Border: Season 5 - First　

Yosuke Saruta vs. Kentaro Watanabe


Shooto - Gig North 6

Bae Young Kwon vs. Daisuke Ishizawa


Shooto - Gig North 7

Fumihiro Kitahara vs. Junya Kodo


Shooto - Gig Central 20

Yuta Sasaki vs. Shinji Maeguchi


Shooto - Gig Central 24: Love and Courage

Takasuke Kume vs. Shane Nelson


Pancrase (Miscellaneous Fights)

Mitsuhisa Sunabe vs. Takuya Eizumi

Satoru Kitaoka vs. Paul Daley

Carlos Condit vs. Tatsunori Tanaka



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

Sneak Peek into the P's Lab with Yuki Kondo

I received mail again from a customer who was wanting to do some personal training with fighters. Last time, it was regarding a kickboxing gym, but this time it was for MMA.

I brought my customer to P's Lab, which is the gym for the Pancrase organization, and arranged for the customer to train with Yuki Kondo.


P's Lab

JMMA fans commonly associate Rumina Sato as a symbol for Shooto, and Yuki Kondo is that symbolic person for Pancrase. Early Pancrase did not have weight classes and Kondo took many fights against opponents who were much bigger than him.
These days, Kondo's performances look poor because of the damage that he has incurred over time, but he remains an active fighter for the Pancrase organization. Even in the worst of times, he continued to compete for Pancrase and won championships in multiple divisions.


P's  Lab

When I asked Kondo why he didn't make his own gym, he humbly said, "I'm not good at teaching." However, I heard my customer say that he had never been instructed with so much detail before. I was also impressed by Kondo's spirit of service and humbleness while I translated between him and my customer. My customer paid 10,000 yen ($100 USD) for two hours of personal training. $60 USD plus expenses ($40 USD this time) for my guidance and coordination fee. I don't believe that you can get a deal like that in the United States. Kondo teaches striking combinations, takedowns, sprawling, positioning, submissions and a special grappling session.


Yuki Kondo

 I recently talked about Japanese MMA's prospects and future because I felt that it was not discussed enough in the Japanese scene, but I also respect historical fighters like Kondo. Not only for his legacy but also for his personality. I hope that people don't forget that fighters who fall out of major promotions still have a life after that, and many of them still contribute to MMA and local MMA businesses.


Submission Wrestling Greats

Pancrase has struggled financially for long time, but now, finally, Pancrase's new leader Masakazu Sakai has decided to offer Pancrase events on international online PPV at Ustream. This also provides opportunities for foreign fighters to make a name in the Japanese scene like they could in the old Pancrase. Since Sakai is now more inclined to sign foreign fighters with this decision to use online PPV, I hope that international Japanese MMA fans will support it. While I don't think that this first PPV card is the best that Pancrase can offer, international Japanese MMA fans have waited a long time for this opportunity. The PPV (Live May 19. Can watch recorded video until June 18) link is here: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/pancrase-mma

Big Thanks to my anonymous customer, Yuki Kondo for cooperate.Robert Sargent (MMA Rising) for English editing.

JMMA in Cage

Vale Tudo Japan 2012 trailer

Shooto promoter Sustain announced that it will hold its Vale Tudo Japan event on December 24, 2012 at Yoyogi Gymnasium.  Vale Tudo's concept is to bring together a wide range of talent from throughout the world, starting with inviting Rickson Gracie.

Of all the Japanese fighters currently on the UFC's roster, Yushin Okami has the most wins, followed by Takeya Mizugaki.  These two fighters share a similar history, having both fought at GCM events (e.g. Cage Force and D.O.G.).  Naturally, the global success of Japanese fighters such as Okami and Mizugaki are crucial towards maintaining the popularity of MMA in Japan.  For the Vale Tudo Japan event, Shooto promoter Sustain will be holding their fights in a cage, rather than the more commonly used ring.  They hope to hold two to three events per year, possibly utilizing the unified rules of MMA.  Sustain is open to fighters coming from other organizations, and will also encourage Zuffa fighters to participate in Vale Tudo Japan.

Pancrase, which is now under a new organizer, as well as DEEP will also begin to use a cage for its fights.  It is the hope of promoters such as DEEP's Shigeru Saeki that experimenting with a cage will help increase the global popularity of Japanese MMA.

Big thanks to Dean Ryuta Adachi  (holler at scholar) for English editing.

Watch current Pancrase scene with my description

There is not many Japanese around MMA English forum for years.I can easily count those people and it never passed 10 peoples who continuously posting forum for years.I start posting at small forum,that make lot changes for my MMA audience life.

I have limited English knowledge.So I try to make a certain point when I start English conversation.Because I need people to admit my value of posting even when I'm not good at English.I bring relevance and logic from Japanese MMA culture and myself.I need severe view about fairness.I have bad memory about posting English forum with more worse language skill at non MMA forums before.

I'm start posting at English forum since 2006.I start it for my English studies.When I into MMA forums Japanese local MMA is about talking about Shooto.There is no surprise about it.Pride Bushido's main attraction is about who experienced Shooto's best division.

On the other hand other Japanese local promotion didn't catch many international fans.Pancrase is one of those orgs.DEEP and GCM always exist but DEEP isn't enough to build own talent at that era,GCM is about Wajyutsu Keisyukai's gym show,so there best talent often fight at outside.

English audience lose interest about Pancrase cause fighter struggle at Major.Yuki Kondo lose close dec at majors.Yoshiro Maeda get KOed by Bennet.I catch feeling Pancrase become local but certain product and I like it.

So I introduce that part of Pancrase with fighter's list.What foreign people evaluate local promotion is how they can produce major level talent.I like fundamental long time audience cheered Pancrase but sametime MMA organization need to be severe about match quality.I evaluate Pancrase's match making because they bring foreign talent when they struggle and secure quality.

I try to defend Yoshiro Maeda with word "randomness" that's best single word description for fighters I ever made.I'm amazed how my old fighter's list description is describe that era of Pancrase.Those are minimum description but it tell how this organization will go.

Simply I want Japanese local organization secure quality and keeps foreign media's enough attention.That's my hope.

Current Pancrase's most interesting division is flyweight.I hope this division get more attention with Shooto's crossover.

I recommend Tony Loiseleur and Jordan Breen's live Japanese MMA Play by Play series at Sherdog (it include Pancrase) for your hardcore joy.

Sherdog's article search by word "chat"

Latest Pancrase's event chat by Sherdog

2010/15/2 version Pancrase fighter's list

Light Heavy Weight

Champ Ryo Kawamura
Wasting time with being Light Heavy Weight.Sengoku Veteran.Have beat Daniel Acacio
Syunsuke Inoue Yoshida Dojo's Megaton fighter.

Middle Weight

Champ Ichiro Kanai
Like Boxing.People happy him being a champ but I want champ can fight at major with quality.
Yuki Kondo
Had a legend status at this local organization.Best perform is going distance with Hendo?



Izuru Takeuchi
I burst out laughed against Breen when he almost beat Dorksen.
Shiroobi : buwahahaha
Breen : Shiroobi, MMA conspiring against me is not funny.
Takenori Sato
Sakurabas top student never had teachers finish skill.
Yuji Hisamatsu
Somehow improved lately?The PINK TYPHOON.
Keiichiro Yamamiya
Long time veteran beat some major fighter at there local era.

Welter Weight

Champ Takuya Wada
Had beat Shooto ex-champ Shiko Yamashita recently,but there is no credibility for that division.
Kengo Ura
Debut at stateside.
Shingo Suzuki
Not much to say
Tomoyoshi Iwamiya
watch one above
Masahiro Toryu
watch two above

Light Weight

Champ Maximo "Maxi" Blanco
One of prospect get international attention.World class wrestle back ground with athletic sensation.Still rough specially on ground.
Koji Oishi
Drop division make decent ranker.
Katsuya Inoue
Satoru KItaoka's Kryptonite.
Satoru Kitaoka
Somehow managed major belt.Limited but have fatal finish submission.
Isao Kobayashi
One of those Sakaguchi Dojo's hard brawler.I prefer watch Kotetsu Boku vs Yukio Sakaguchi for that kind of fighter.
Daisuke "13" Hanazawa
Gate Keeper

Feather Weight

Champ Marlon Sandro
Hard hitter with quality submission.I doubt he will fight for local again.
Tomonari Kanomata
Have a decent fight history but pass the peak.
Kenji Arai
See one above.

Bantam Weight

Champ Manabu Inoue
I don't think he is bad fighter but don't think he will get a win at major.



Seiya Kawahara
He still have a lot expectations from organization.Explosive striker with still need improve ground skill.
Tashiro Akai
His gym is Nova Uniao Japan,but can't finish Kawahara.Decent ranker.

Flyweight

Champ Kiyotaka Shimizu
Recently fight former Shooto Champ Mamoru Yamaguchi and surprisingly fought well.



Isao Hirose
Top stundet of Naoyuki Taira who is inspiration of character of "Baki".
Mistuhisa Sunabe
Drop two weight class make him champ,but technically still room to improve.



Takuma Ishii
Grappler like take opponent's back.Tsuyoshi Kohsaka's pupil.
Takuya Eizumi
Have a KO power but struggle with division get quality with development.

2007/21/8 version Pancrase fighter's list

I heard Pancrase get broadcast in Canada.I know people get more interest with other scene.Pancrase is not Major,but not many but they produce major level talent.You can enjoy to watch this little planet with gain some info.

Heavy Weight

Champ
Assuerio Silva
UFC drop out

Arbocius Tiger
Latvian Karate champ
Mizuno Tatsuya
Japanese Gate Keeper

Light Heavy Weight

Champ
Yuki Kondo
Most pitiful fighter next to Sakuraba now.He have history though.

Fabio Silva
Beat Kawamura,his natural weight is LHW.
Ryo Kawamura
Get attention with beating Chute Box's Daniel Acacio.He can make MW.

Middle Weight

Champ
Yuichi Nakanishi
Goin fight in Bodog. Champs Biggest win "Izuru Takeuchi".

Izuru Takeuchi
Benchmark guy.He had some dance girl cheer him.
Brayane Rafiq
Riki Fukuda
I dunno he is ready for major.Soon we will find.


Gadzhiev Alavutdin
I think he or Fukuda is best fighter in this div.
Ichiro Kanai
Getting long way but seem decent fighter now.
Kozo Urita
Benchmark guy.Some good hands.Seem already pass peak.
Hikaru Sato Your cosplay guy.

Welter Weight

Champ
Daizo Ishige
Current champ get beat by Dan Hardy.So he need rest now.

Katsuya Inoue
Current interim champ.
Satoru Kitaoka
Best profile fighter in div without clown.notable win is Condit and Pellegrino.
Koji Oishi
Gate Keeper.

Light Weight

Artur Oumakhanov



Get beat by Dida.His strike skill need improve at defense and offense.
Takafumi Ito
Gate keeper.
Eriya Matsuda
KOing Kenji Arai.New comer.
Sa Jin Kwok

Jose Aldo
Explosive striker.

Yuji Hoshino
Decent WK guys.
Shoji
Have a fastest KO record in Japan.Always enjoyable.
Kenji Arai
That's speedo dude.

Feather Weight

champ
Yoshiro Maeda
King of randomness.Sametime win or lose,he can make fun.notable win is Paixao and Batten.

DJ.taiki
He have One of finest record if count him as BW.Notable win is Osawa and Imaizumi.
Miki Shida
One of FW top 3.notable win is Damacio Page.
Manabu Inoue
Benchmark guy.
Mitsuhisa Sunabe
Naoji Fujimoto

Daichi Fujiwara
Fun to watch.Good hands.Submission seem not bad also.Against Emmanuel Fernandez is real test for him.
Kentaro Imaizumi
Shooto drop out.
Danny Batten
I think he can put good fight against Taiki or Shida.
Jameel Massouh
Breen's best Reggie Cleveland All Stars fighter.
Jung Jin Suk
Koing AJ kick fighter.May he can show something.

Japan Martial Arts Federation start

Japan martial arts federation start at October 20.Reception and press conference will be hold at that day.It's 8th affiliate federation under Japanese wrestling federation.Japanese wrestling federation's head Tomiaki Fukuda will be leader of new federation too.

Sengoku,Pancrase,Shooto,ZST are participate by pro organization.Muay Thai,Sambo,BJJ,Combat Wrestling,Pankration,Belt Wrestling,Kurash,Silat are paticipate as amateur organization.

Purpose for foundation is bring competitor for event controlled by Japanese Olympic committee.FILA (Federation Internationale des Luttes Associees aka International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles) start MMA committee and it makes wrestling and other martial arts's exchange is important reason too.

At first Japan martial arts federation will bring competitors for Asian Indoor Games.

It will be the third and the last annual asian indoor games event before merging with asian martial arts games.

Next is bring competitor for world grappling event hold by FILA in Florida in 2009 December and world martial Arts games hold in Beijing in 2010 Summer.

2009 Asian Indoor Games

My article about World martial arts games and Asian martial arts games

Revolutionary "Exchanges"

At Shooto's "Revolutionary Exchanges 2" event on sept. 22, the event pamphlet included some interesting lines. Shooto will be holding two events at JCB Hall this year, one in October and one in November. The Oct. 20 card is "Vale Tudo Japan 2009," and the Nov. 23 card is "Revolutionary Exchanges 3". The pamphlet also hinted that with two events this close together, there must be a "secret plan".

Unlike the usual Shooto venue of Korakuen Hall, which has a capacity of just over 1800 people, JCB Hall has a capacity of around 3100 people.

The Vale Tudo Japan card has fights like Takanori Gomi and Rumina Sato who can bring a crowd. However, "Revolution Exchanges 3" doesn't have enough star power for the venue. The Rambaa "M-16" Somdet and Noboru "Shinpei" Tahara fight is important to start Shooto's 115-pound division, but that's not enough to fill JCB Hall.


In the past, Shooto and Pancrase have not had a great relationship, which you can read about their history is here:. However, in recent years, that relationship has improved. Recently, Kazuhiro Sakamoto, a former Shooto world champion who now leads the largest Shooto promoter Sustain, told Japanese MMA magazine Kakutougi Tsushin that he wanted former Sengoku champion and Pancrase fighter Satoru Kitaoka for the Vale Tudo Japan card. Maybe Pancrase fighters in Shooto is the "secret plan"?

I know Pancrase is holding their own event in October, so maybe fighters who don't take any damage can fight on the Nov. 23 Shooto card. If that happened, here the Pancrase-Shooto fights I'd like to see, including fighter that would be physically able to fight on that date.

My wish-list of (macth ups)

Yuki Shoujou vs. Mitsuhisa Sunabe
Hiroshi "Iron" Nakamura vs. Tashiro "Akai" Nishiuchi
So Tazawa vs. Seiya Kawahara
Ganjo Tentsuku vs. Katsuya Inoue
Siyar Bahadurzada vs. Ryo Kawamura (at middleweight)

I ask Jordan Breen about your wish-list and his answer is.

Shiroobi : Hey could you make me five match ups?

Breen : On the five match-ups... I don't know if I can. It's like the UFC thing at this point. When there's so much possibility, I don't care. I just want good MMA.Literally take Sunabe, and put him against any of Shooto's Class A flyweights, and I would be totally content.
Not even just content. Ecstatic. Ecstatic for the fight in and of itself, the excitement therein, but also ecstatic for the crossover and what it means for moving forward in MMA.
And giving clarity to a developing weight class.
I find it virtually impossible to use quality talent from either promotion, and make unappealing fights. I would literally have to try to do such a thing.

Shirrobi : So you can just fight each other flyweights.

Breen : It's not even necessarily just flyweights though. I feel the same way at 135.If you took Manabu Inoue, should he beat Oishi, and put him against any decent 132'ers in Shooto, I'd love it.For both the fight itself, and for what it represents.

I know that's sort of a lame answer, but that's really my outlook on any potential crossover there.

I also ask Tony Loiseleur about your wish-list too.

Shiroobi : Do you have any hope about Shooto Pancrase match ups?

Tony : Ah, you have Seiya Kawahara already in there. I was going to say (Yuta) Nezu vs Kawahara.

Shiroobi : Fmm That's interesting.

Tony : One hit kill versus blitzing type striking.
Tony : Hey, do you know how heavy Kyoko Takabayashi is?Maybe around 115 lbs?I was thinking maybe Kyoko Takabayashi vs Windy Tomomi.For at least one G-Shooto fight.Oh snap, they fought already.

Shiroobi : Yup.

Tony : And she RNCed Windy.okay, rematch.

Special Thanks to Jordan Breen for English support and actual answer for list.Also Special Thanks to Tony Loiseleur for answer for list.