Japanese MMA fighters' title history in the international scene

Japanese local MMA's history well achieved compared to other countries.But what they done at other countries.Unfortunately, Japanese MMA fighter never achieve major MMA title outside of Japan.But they did get belt at local organization.If you're hardcore long time MMA fans.You can feel nostalgia and discover at this list.

Masanori Suda Super Brawl MW champ against Egan Inoue

Takumi Nakayama King Of The Cage LW champ against Charlie Kohler


Takumi Nakayama

Hatsu Hioki TKO FW champ against Mark Hominick


Hatsu Hioki

Masakazu Imanari Cage rage FW champ against Robbie Olivier

Mamoru Yamaguchi King Of The Cage Junior Flyweight champ against Frank Baca

Shinya Irei Fury MMA LW champ against Ryan Dunstan


Shinya Irei

Shungo Oyama Road FC MW champ against Hae Suk Son

Yusuke Kawanago Legend FC FW champ against Xian Ji



Yusuke Kawanago

Kotetsu Boku One FC LW champ against Zorobabel Moreira


Kotetsu Boku

Shinya Aoki One FC LW champ against Kotetsu Boku

Koji Ando Legend FC LW champ against Jadamba Narantungalag

Michinori Tanaka PXC BW champ against Crisanto Pitpitunge

Koji Oishi One FC FW champ against Honorio Banario


Koji Oishi

Kengo Ura MMA World Series WW champ against Brad Terry

Shunichi Shimizu Bushido FC FW champ against Yerzhan Estanov

Hirotaka Yokoi HOOKnSHOOT AFC Absolute Fighting Championships LHW champ against Wilson Gouveia

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

Richer Flyweight Scene for Latter Half-Year of Japanese MMA

Japanese flyweights have received attention for quite a long time because no such division existed in other countries, and the quick movement that is only provided by lighter weight fighters has charmed audiences recently.

We've regarded Shinichi Kojima, Yasuhiro Urushitani and Mamoru Yamaguchi as the "Top 3" flyweights in the local scene. No other Japanese fighters could threaten them, but now foreign flyweight divisions have grown and developed to become more challenging.


Shinichi Kojima

Shinichi Kojima lost to Jussier Formiga. Yasuhiro Urushitani entered the UFC with confidence and said that he would match up well against Demetrious Johnson, but he went winless in the UFC.

Urushitani also became upset when Mikihito Yamagami said that he wanted to compete in the UFC next year after Yamagami choked out Junji Ito, but after watching this year's VTJ 2nd when Yamagami won a decision against Mamoru (Urushitani's long rival), Urushitani became more interested in Yamagami and said that he was a good fighter.


Mikihito Yamagami

As I watched DEEP 63 Impact, I was curious about how Yuki Motoya would fight. Compared to opponent Tatsumitsu Wada, who has already fought major names like Daiki Hata and Takafumi Otsuka in DEEP, people saw Motoya as untested against highter level opponents.


Yuki Motoya

When I watched the fight, however, I was certainly impressed by Motoya's performance and his ability to use a variety of kicks and combinations against a better boxer. He lost a close decision, but when we think about his age (23), we can still expect him to be a solid prospect.

Tatsumitsu Wada is young (24), too, and he will have many challenges from veterans. Yoshiro Maeda, who beat Wada in August 2012, will drop to flyweight. As will leglock-oriented fighter Masakazu Imanari. With those moves, I feel that flyweight will become DEEP's most interesting division.


Masakazu Imanari

On October 20, at Ryo Chonan's retirement event "Tribe Tokyo Fight," Yoshiro Maeda debuts at flyweight against Mamoru Yamaguchi. Hideo Tokoro also makes his flyweight debut against Will Campuzano at VTJ 3rd at October 5.


Hideo Tokoro

Many veterans have chosen to move to flyweight in order to find new success, but younger talent has begun to rise up there as well. This makes for interesting matchups in Japan during the latter half of 2013.

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

Sneak Peek into the Alliance Square with Tsuyoshi Kohsaka

What are you reminded of when you hear the name Tsuyoshi Kohsaka? The win over Fedor by cut stoppage? His fight against Bas Rutten with a prejudicial referee during the SEG era?



I must point out that with "The Alliance," Kohsaka made up the very first MMA team that was comprised of fighters from different backgrounds, like Maurice Smith and Frank Shamrock. They taught each other how to be complete MMA fighters.



I was asked about personal grappling training in Japan, and my customer was interested in catch wrestling grappling when I suggested a Japan-esque training opportunity. So I recommended the "Alliance-Square Gym," which is run by Tsuyoshi Kohsaka.



Kohsaka offers quite a few services in personal training. He teaches details of leg locks, as well as his created and trademarked move, the "TK scissors," which he used to escape from mount position against Kimo.



Kohsaka is also known for his technical commentary during Japanese UFC broadcasts, where he can teach details of both catch wrestling and cage fighting at the same time.



Big Thanks to my anonymous customer, Tsuyoshi Kohsaka for cooperate.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.

Sex and Death in a Man's World

When I watch interviews on TV, fighters often talk about their parents' deaths and about having a rough life. This is set up by TV producers to try to target the audience's emotions.

Of course, we have an interest in what a fighter's life is like. A fighter being human is why we take an interest in MMA. Fighters aren't robots, and covering their training, philosophies and sacrifices is an essential part of what MMA media does.

Lately, it has become more common for MMA media to cover emotional fighter stories on a regular basis. If there is an opportunity to use a personal story to make money and further one's career, whether about the death of a relative or about who dated whom, many fighters will take it.

People are interested in sex and death, which is natural because everyone is born because of sex and everyone will die in the future. I'm not surprised that many female MMA fighters do sexy photo shoots, but they are mostly just catering to the demands of male fans.

Martial arts create violence and injuries. Because of that, sadistic and masochistic emotions are quite common. When fighters and the audience face emotions like that, sex and death become more frequent talking points in the media.

I don't think that fighters must act like "normal" men and women. Human beings can develop any image for themselves that they like. MMA already provides enough interesting personalities that we don't normally see.

We encounter female MMA fighters with a variety of personalities in MMA, but those fighters are surrounded by a male audience in a man's world.

I want competition and performance to have a greater value because that is the core of sports, but demand for sex and death results in fewer discussions about competition. In that regard, I don't think that fighting sports are the same as other other sports and I know that there can be a lack of humanity in this community.

I feel that media should be prudent about how much we talk about sex and death. Websites, TV and MMA organizations can affect how fans perceive fighters and that can have a significant impact on the fighters' careers.

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

Marlon Moraes interview

I recently interviewed Marlon Moraes, who is a World Series of Fighting rising star. In this interview, I asked about the use of kicks. Recently in MMA, with good sprawls and footwork, kicks have become a bigger part of the striking game. After watching Josh Thomson vs. Nate Diaz, I became more interested in that.

I asked Marlon several questions with that in mind. Some answers were as I expected but others were not. That is the fun of an interview. I hope you enjoy how my outlook and Marlon's intersect here. Of course, he surprised me with his unexpected charm.


- You learned striking from Mark Henry and kicks make up a key part of your striking style. You used your kicks often in the Miguel Torres fight, but never got taken down even when he caught them. What are your thoughts on using kicks and still maintaining good takedown defense?

Actually, I first learned striking with my coach from Brazil, Anderson Franca, who was with me for 15 years. I have been working with Mark since my Torres fight and I’m learning a lot every day. He is an amazing coach and person, and he is now my head coach. My thoughts about kicks and keeping good takedown defense are that I’ve kicked all of my life and kicks are a part of my game. How can I stop kicking? We are mixing it up with kicks, boxing, wrestling and BJJ, but for us the timing is very important. The time after the kick; speed and movement.

- Despite Torres’s long reach, you outstruck him by using angles and a variety of strikes. Is being unpredictable an important part of your striking game?

Yeah, it is. I have been working every day, because I know that a good MMA fighter has to be ready in all areas of the fight. If your opponent doesn't know what you are going to do, he’ll be in trouble.

- In recent times, the jab has become a more clear way to control fights on the feet, but some fighters include kicks to control the exchanges because they provide a greater reach than punches. Do you think that this trend will continue in the future?

I don't know. In my opinion, if you have a good jab you can control the fight.

- Please tell us about Valor Martial Arts. In New York where you train with Ricardo Almeida, Mark Henry and Frankie Edgar. In Florida, you train with fellow Brazilian Edson Barboza, but who is your main coach there?

Valor Martial Arts is a new gym in Palm Beach Gardens. I teach kickboxing with Edson and we have Raphael Chaves, who is Checkmat's black belt, running the BJJ program. We are growing and hopefully we can get some more training over here. When I am in New Jersey, I train at RABJJ for MMA sparring and BJJ. At Mark's, I do boxing, and Frankie does help me with wrestling sometimes at Elite, Hoboke and Rutgers.

- You train your grappling with Ricardo Almeida, who is an excellent teacher, but your last loss came via submission in 2011. How much has your grappling improved since then?

I did make a couple of mistakes in the past, but I’m working hard every day here in Florida with Raphael Chaves, Pablo Popovich and Vagner Rocha. And also, when I’m in camp, Ricardo is helping me every day. I’ll be ready wherever the fight goes.

- You got married last year. How has that affected you as a fighter and a person?

We have been together for six years, and living together for three. Izabella is my best friend and she is my number one supporter. I'm so happy and I think without her everything is harder.

- What is your favorite non-sports activity? Favorite book and music?

Movies, the beach and eating good food. Falcao Meninos do Trafico, and my favorite music is Brazilian Rap (Mv Bill, Racionais, Pregador Luo, etc.), Reggae and Gospel. I like lots of types of music.

- You have fought and beaten Miguel Torres and Tyson Nam, who are well-known in the fight world, and you are now one of the World Series Of Fighting’s first stars. However, you have not fought in a WSOF main event yet. Do you think that you deserve main event status when you return to World Series Of Fighting or would you first like to build up a greater name recognition by fighting more former UFC fighters?

I have my dreams and I’ll be training hard to get there! Right now, whatever WSOF decides, I’ll do.

- Joe Murphy, Fabio Mello, Chris Beal and Carson Beebe are all on the World Series Of Fighting bantamweight roster. Do you have a special interest in facing any of them? Is there any other fighter you would like to face in World Series Of Fighting or are you mainly interested in fighting UFC talent in the future?

I don't know. Carson Beebe is fighting on the next show against another guy. I think it makes sense to have me fight against the winner in the August 10 main event. lol.

Marlon Moraes Official Twitter


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.