Clouds Of Childishness

In the past, I wrote about the supremacy of Lyoto Machida's karate. He then lost immediately.

Does that mean what I thought was wrong? I say yes and no.

Karate fighters know better how to create length with their kicks. But Shogun is not heavily reliant on his boxing skill; he has tremendous kicks, and was able to outkick Lyoto. Lyoto couldn't use his counters and hand work because he got stopped by Shogun's kicks.

Also, Lyoto has great clinchwork and he has the ability to determine the distance of a fight. However, Shogun has the strongest clinchwork in the light heavyweight division and was able to take that part of Lyoto's game away.

I still believe diversity is the major charm of the sport, but single martial arts can't win in MMA, and I underrated that aspect. But, karate will remain an important skill for effective MMA because of what Lyoto was able to do with his particular skillset. How to adapt a fighter's background skills to MMA is important, but it will remain an interesting theme to watch how these fighters show off their backgrounds.

I do think that there's a huge value to people who understand MMA and can try to predict the sport by evaluating fighters' skills and fundamentals. However, MMA can't be broken down by theory.

For instance, takedowns and judo throws are completely different skills, but their goal is the same: to take the opponent to the ground. There are different ways to take fighters down, knock them out, to submit them. Considering what kinds of skills comes from what martial arts and what foundations can make this sport's discourse much richer. The more exotic skills of fighters can't be judged by the most common analysis, yet, those skills will determine the new generation of fighters and contenders.

People in MMA claim that MMA itself is the almighty fighting skill. However, MMA can't run from other martial arts and their impact. Their effect will change MMA and for the better. MMA charms people with the whole package -- the idea that a fighter has all the skills necessary to win a fight -- so people want to draw the insane conclusion that MMA itself has all the answers about fighting. In order to not sound ridiculous, you need to be conscious where different elements of MMA come from and how they impact the sport.

MMA is notorious for this kind of behavior, though. It's childish, but then again, MMA has always had a immature essence going back to the style versus style days. That kind of argumentative childishness is in all of us, whether we're conscious of it or not.

If you want to watch my childishness, look at my Twitter.

Big thanks to Jordan Breen (from Sherdog) for English and editing.

Kazuyuki Miyata's Reaction to HDNet K-1 Commentary

On July 23, HDnet's North American broadcast of July 5's K-1 Max 2010 contained frank and critical commentary from Michael Schiavello and FEG USA president Mike Kogan. This was covered by MMA media outlets like MMAFighting.com and BloodyElbow.com.

A Refreshing Piece of Candor on a K-1 Broadcast

Honest Moments in Combat Sports Commentating: Michael Schiavello and Mike Kogan Do K-1 Edition by Bloody Elbow

Since then, Miyata seems to have found out about it and has reacted on his blog.

Kazuyuki Miyata's blog July/27/2010

Here is a translation of his reaction (note: he only names Mike Kogan in his blog entry):

"K-1 USA's commentary man Mike Kogan was insulting me.

"He knows me but he's still saying things like that? I have confidence at 63kg. Of course, I have confidence in K-1 too. I have many weapons. I can win with my body strength alone at that div. I'm so pissed off that I'll fight in the next K-1 as well. I'll even fight anybody.

"I really want to kick someone's ass. It's been a long time since I've felt that way."


Kazuyuki Miyata

My personal opinion is that Miyata should not be the one blamed by the commentators. I think Miyata is better at MMA and should be fighting in MMA. However, the reason he is doing K-1 is that he was offered a fight from the organization. Miyata probably found it difficult to decline since he has a long history and relationship with K-1 Hero's, which is the promotion that produced him and made him popular in Japan. However, the organization's responsibility should still be to make the best kickboxing-oriented matchups, and not a match pitting a boxer versus an MMA fighter.

Alas, why must we still be saying these kinds of things in 2010?

Big thanks to Tony Loiseleur (from Sherdog) for English editing.

SKILL MMA want English editor

(Thanks for apply for English editing. We have English Editor now.But in future,if people leave from Editing Job I will accept new people who apply. So still I will apply editing.But you need sure I can't work with you immediately.)

SKILL MMA run by myself and sometime get help from Jordan Breen.That work really well.But I want edit my old work as better English.Jordan is basically busy so I want another people to make him work less (At new writing, I think I want get help from him though.).I can't pay money for work,but if you help this web and finish editing every old works web with quality,I will credit you as English editor and send you Japanese some MMA collectable(like pamphlet).I'm sure you can't get those thing at abroad.

I want quality as a work (I'm probably severe about it.Because I get help from professional daily.).So I want test translation quality.If you interest it, please send me as a mail of better English editing version of link below.It's famous Japanese MMA story.

Cult Martial Arts In MMA

Warning:I can't pay anything from English editing and this testing.I just say if I apply many of your English editing work to SKILL MMA,then I can give some my collectable.

(shiroobimma@gmail.com)

Japanese Kick Boxing / Muay Thai Scene Gym List

This is Japanese Kick-boxing or Muay Thai version of gym list.I know this isn't comprehensive list.But I think it's still best list at English language.Kick Boxing / Muay Thai is not specialty on this web so please understand it.

I mention gym's official links,what prefecture they belong,what railway station is nearest and Notable Fighters .

Attention.Some of gyms really luck to have ability to welcome foreigner due to luck of language skill or just teacher's capacity to run gym.I think you better go gym get welcomed.So I think better ask it at phone before you go.

Silver Wolf Official (Tokyo Sangenjyaya)
Notable former fighter "Masato" Kobayashi



Nagoya JK Factory Official (Aichi,Amagasaka)
Notable figher Yoshihiro Sato



Dragon Dojo Official (Tokyo,Machida)
Gym's head Kensaku Maeda
Notable figher Kyotaro,Daisuke Uematsu,Keiji Ozaki,Ryuji Kajiwara



Caesar Gym Official (Tokyo,Asakusa)
Notable Fighter Takaaki Umeno,Kenichi Ogata,Hiroki Shishido



Fujiwara Gym Official (Tokyo,Minowa)
Notable fighter Masahiro Yamamoto,Hisanori Maeda



Seishun Juku Official (Tokyo,Keiseiaoto)
Notable fighter Yuya Yamamoto,Naoki Ishikawa,Sakon Terada

Bungeling Bay Official (Tokyo,Ebisu)
Notable Fighter Hiroki Nakajima,Naoki Samukawa



Oikawa Dojo Official (Osaka,Chidoribashi)
Notable fighter Tomohiro Oikawa,Rena Kubota

M & J Kick Boxing Gym Official (Osaka, Nihonbashi)
Notable fighter Kizaemon Saiga

Taniyama Gym Official (Kanagawa,Isehara and Kanagawa,Sobudaimae)
Notable fighter Yasuhiro Kido



Try Hard Gym Official (Kanagawa,Kobuchi)
Notable fighter Hiroya Kawabe



Musashi Sports Center (Kanagawa,Aikoishida)
Coach Tomoyuki Mori （Akio "Musashi" Mori's brother）



Yamato Gym Official (Aichi,Kanayama)
Yamato Gym youtube channel
Notable fighter Tetsuya Yamato



Oguni Gym Official (Tokyo,Ikebukuro)
Notable fighter "Tomonori" Sato,Takashi Yoneda



Weerasakreck Fairtex Muay Thai Gym (Tokyo,Mikawajima and Tokyo,Minowa and　Saitama,Warabi and Chiba Makuhari and Tokyo,Ochiaiminaminagasaki and Fukuoka,Shimoyamato and Tokyo,Higashiyamato and Chiba,Tennodai)
Notable fighter Wanrop Weerasakreck,Kuntap Weerasakreck,Kanongsuk Weerasakreck

Sugawara Dojo Official (Chiba,Aohori)
Notable fighter Yuji "Mad Fist" Takeuchi

Jiseikan Official (Chiba,Sango)
Notable fighter Kozo Takeda



DC Lab. Gym Official (Tokyo,Ebisu)
Notable fighter Yuta Kubo



Ihara Dojo (Tokyo, Ebisu)
Notable fighter Mutsuki Ebata,Rui Ebata



Real Deal Official (Tokyo,Omori and Fukuoka,Heiwadori and Fukuoka,Hakata and Fukuoka,Nishijin and Fukuoka,Tenjin)
Notable former fighter "Yuki" Taguchi

TARGET Official (Tokyo,Sugamo)
Notable fighter Fabiano Cyclone,Erika Kamimura



STURGIS Shinjuku Gym Official (Tokyo,Okubo)
Notable fighter Koji Yoshimoto



Meguro Fujimoto Gym Official (Tokyo,Meguro)
Notable fighter Hiroki Ishii



Rikix official (Tokyo, Ookayama and Kanagawa, Yurigaoka)
Gym's head Riki Onodera



Phoenix Official (Tokyo,Akihabara)
Gym's head Masaaki Kato



Hayato Gym Official (Tokyo,Gakugeidaigaku)
Gym's head Yuji "Hayato" Miyake



King Gym Official (Tokyo,Ojima)
Notable fighter Ryoichi "Rasyata" Sakiyama



Fire Takadanobaba Official (Tokyo,Takadanobaba)
Notable former fighter Toshimasa "Fire" Harada

Japanese Defunct MMA Event List

The Japanese MMA scene has been through a lot of turmoil in the past. There are some organizations that have been and gone and are now defunct.

They are listed here to remind people of the history of Japanese MMA.

Major promotions:

PRIDE
This was the biggest Japanese MMA promotion and arguably ruled the MMA world from 1997 until 2007.

PRIDE official (archived)

Hero's
Hero’s was created by FEG, K-1’s parent organization, to try and compete with PRIDE. DREAM is the spiritual successor to this promotion.

Hero's official (archived)

--------------------------------

Local-level promotions

Smack Girl
Smackgirl was the only stable women’s MMA organization and ran from 2001 to 2008. It was known for its 30 second ground limit.

Smack Girl Official (archived)

Seikendo
Seikendo was created by Satoru Sayama (Tiger Mask and founder of Shooto.) It was focused on realistic “street fight” style fighting.

Seikendo Official (archived)

MARS
MARS was an MMA organization created by Korean residents of Japan. It was thought to be able to give Korean fighters a chance to succeed. However, the organization fell apart due to inexperience and poor management.

MARS Official (archived)

AX
A women’s MMA promotion. Not that well known, but it was where Yuka Tsuji broke out of a crowd of talented fighters. She beat Ikuma Hoshino who was the most accomplished female Japanese MMA fighter at that time.

AX Official (archived)

---------------------------

Regional-level promotions

Real Rhythm
MMA organization in Osaka that was connected with DEEP.

Real Rhythm Official (archived)

J-Do
This organization had a mixture of MMA and Judo rules. It resembled Judo with strikes. Throws were awarded points, two ippons would be the equivalent of a KO.

J-Do official (archived)

TITAN fight
TITAN fight official
TITAN fight official youtube channel
TITAN fight's org head Kenichi Yamamoto blog

King of the Cage Japan
King of the Cage Japan official (archived)

M-1 Global Japan
M-1 Global Japan official (archived)

Voltage
Voltage official (archived)
Voltage official youtube channel
Voltage official blog

---------------------------

Japanese gangsta fight and other small organization

Hearts Crush
Hearts Crush Official (archived)

Ken-Oh
Ken-Oh official (archived)
Virginity's youtube channel(Which make Ken-Oh video material)

TSUWAMONO
TSUWAMONO official (archieved)
TSUWAMONO's youtube channel

Ga-Chi (former Ya-Oh)
Ga-Chi Official (archieved)

Kamikaze Pounders
Kamikaze Pounders Official



SKILL MMA's Current Japanese MMA Event List

Big thanks to Matt Benyon (from The Grappling Dummy) for English editing.

Fight

Slowly but surely, MMA has become a fightsport -- emphasis on "sport". However, people might be forgetting another aspect of the game: it's a fight. It's one of MMA's roots, and the reason themes like "vale tudo", "samurai" and "gladiators" are popular.

In 1999, Shooto founder and pro-wrestling legend Satoru Sayama started his own martial art, Seikendo. In Seikendo, it defined throws as finishes for a fight. Why? Because a throw is effective in a real fight if you're standing up. Seikendo didn't succeed as a sport, largely because it focused on budo and real fighting purpose, and lacked business sense.

It's one of the things that makes "freakshow" fights appealing. In the early days, there was no mind paid to an opponent's weight, just like in a real fight, there are no weight classes. It's impossible to explain or excuse all "freakshow" fights in this way, but that thought definitely effects the minds of fans.

I heard Jordan Breen's radio show, and he was talking about Mauricio "Shogun" Rua. He said that he couldn't explain why he had such a large and dedicated fanbase compared to some other more known fighters. I say that charm comes from the versatility and imaginative fight style he brings. He, like Sakuraba, gained global support because of that point. Their viral video popularity proves it.

One of MMA's charms is that wild things you could never imagine happen in fights. But this mystique has been lessened recently. People know MMA better, fighters are more well-rounded, better prepared and have well-developed backgrounds.

This isn't necessarily negative; I'm not against MMA becoming more of a sport. I'll always support that. But I am worried MMA is becoming less imaginative. Of course fighters need to improve, so they take the more well-known blueprint to success. But, that's what made me excited when Lyoto became champ. I wanted to see MMA be imaginative. I still want MMA to have wild, stylistic twists. Lyoto's success was dependent upon his efforts to make karate fit MMA. MMA's imagination allows these turns to happen.

In the UFC, Shogun is definitely showing his versatile skills. But, his fighting charm was greatest in the Pride era. With soccer kicks and stomps, he could really show his imagination as a fighter. Because of fighters like him, you don't heard many fans complain about soccer kicks and stomps; the concerns are always about the sport's reputation from those outside the MMA world.

Moreover, when you think about going for a takedown, and you put your head down as an opponent's legs, you risk getting kicked in the head. In a real fight, it would be foolish to go for a weak takedown like that.

We need knees to the head on the ground first, but after people realize they're safe, I would like to introduce soccer kicks and stomps. I think it should work, since there is proof called "Pride" that it's not as dangerous as it seems.

Giving people freedom creates fighting imagination. That's fightsport: it makes profit like a true sports competition, but also satisfies our ideas about what a "fight" really is.

Big thanks to Jordan Breen (from Sherdog) for English and editing.

5 fighter decided for Sengoku Bantam weight tournament

Wataru Inatsu
Hiryu Okamoto
Wataru Takahashi
Takuya Eizumi
Kyu Jin Choi


Takuya Eizumi

SRC planned other 4 fighter get recommended from Shooto,Pancrase,Cage Force and ZST.

One candidate can imagine.

Winner of Manabu Inoue vs Seiya Kawahara from Pancrase.

I hope Philippine,China and Mongolian fighter enter tournament.Win and lose isn't that much matter.When Korean fighter come to Japan many of them lose before but they improve lately and clearly become strong MMA country.