Monday, November 15, 2010

Japanese MMA referee list

People have really started to pay attention to referees recently, so I made a list of Japanese MMA referees.

I won't critique these referees here, but knowing the background of these officials should help create a greater interest in the third man in the ring or the cage, especially in Japan, where many fans don't know the individual officials.


Dream



Yuji Shimada
: A famous referee since the Pride era, who gets booed when he's introduced (because of his pro-wrestling character). He did his own gym, BCG, in Hamamatsucho, Tokyo.

Daisuke Noguchi
: Noguchi also belongs to Yuji Shimada's BCG gym.



Ryogaku Wada: Wada started his career with UWF International, a shoot-style pro-wrestling organization, eventually moving to Rings. He made the Rings King of Kings rules, as well as ZST's official rules. He's also a personal physical trainer; Akihiro Gono, Eiji Mitsuoka, Hideo Tokoro and Kazuyuki Fujita have trained under him.

Minoru Toyonaga: Toyonaga started a pro-wrestler in Kingdom, eventually becoming a Pancrase 1999 Neo-Blood Tournament finalist and a Pride veteran. He founded the martial arts school Try.



Moritaka Oshiro: Oshiro started his career within Kingdom, eventually moving to Kenichi Yamamoto's Power of Dream gym, where Hideo Tokoro started his career. He founded and leads the gym Core in Kamata, Tokyo.



Shooto


 

Toshiharu Suzuki: For a long time, Suzuki was Shooto's only referee.

Taro Wakabasyshi: (retired from referee world) Wakabayashi started his career in Rings and eventually was an event coordinator with K-1, but those were short periods in his career. He is known for being a Shooto referee and being a founding member of the Paraestra gym network, with Yuki Nakai. His greatest contribution is the development of Shooto's amateur system, creating a system in which amateur Shooto is contested in every city and prefecture in Japan.



Pancrase



 Kenichi Serizawa: The leader of Wajutsu Keishukai Surugua Dojo in Numazu, Shizuoka. In his fighting career, Serizawa actually challenged for the welterweight King of Pancrase title against Kiuma Kunioku. He has recently come out of retirement and started to fight again.

Ryogaku Wada: See above.

Kenji Kosuge: A former amateur wrestler and judoka, Kosuge debuted as a Pancrase referee in 1995.

Yoshifumi Oyabu: Oyabu fought in amateur Pancrase events before becoming a referee for the promotion in 2004.

Tomoki Matsumiya: A Kokushikan University alum, Matsumiya studied sports systems and rules as a graduate student. He believes MMA should have two basic rules sets: MMA, the fusion of martial arts and vale tudo, a real 'fight' with less restrictions and.

Samio Kimura: Kimura is the head of the CMA Ikusa Gym. CMA is an MMA management company who also rents rings and cages. The company is led by Hidekatsu Morooka; CMA Korea is part of this company. Japanese event Gladiator in run by CMA, as well.

 

Yoshinori "Chiba" Umeki: Umeki originally wanted to be a Pancrase fighter, but in 1995, he suffered a head injury and had to abandon his fight career. He debuted as a referee in 1996. He's the head of Pancrase's official gym, P's Lab Tokyo, and is responsible for the development of the fighters from the gym. He became famous for being the third man in the ring for the Kazushi Sakuraba-Yoshihiro Akiyama incident. He is Sengoku Raiden Championship's chief referee. He has recently taken on the stage name "Yoshinori Chiba".

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

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Female MMA History

MMA has history. It’s not a very long history, and it’s constantly changing, so sometimes people don’t think it’s important, but I think examining the sport’s history is essential to understanding its present and future.


There hasn’t been much written on the history of female MMA. Here, I’ve attempted to construct a history, pieced together with all the information I could research. Most of the information comes from Japanese sources, so the history must be slightly Japanized. But, this was a piece that needed writing, so I’ve written it to the best of my abilities. If you have the will and knowledge to write something similar, please write it.

Japanese women’s MMA has its roots in female pro wrestling. In 2010, you can still find many current and ex-pro wrestlers competing in Japanese women’s promotions like Jewels and Valkyrie. The thin female scene has also acquired much of its talent from kickboxing. I don’t judge those fighters by their backgrounds, but I do think elite martial artists are a special breed. Martial artists who convert from other disciplines only truly shine against stiff competition, and the Japanese female MMA scene isn’t at that level yet, aside from a handful of top-tier fighters.

Female MMA in Japan began when the promotion Ladies Legend Pro Wrestling (LLPW) started its “shoot fighting” Ultimate L-1 Challenge tournament in 1995. The first L-1 tourney was ruled by Svetlana Goundarenko, a Russian Olympic judoka who tipped the scales at 150kg (330 lbs.).

After a few shows, LLPW discontinued its experiment, but in that era, female pro wrestling orgs couldn’t ignore MMA. Therefore, Neo Women’s Pro Wrestling started an event named ReMix in 2000.

The first ReMix World Cup offered a huge bonus of $100,000 to the tournament winner. That type of money had never before been offered in female MMA, so many foreign fighters came to participate in the events, including current stars like Marloes Coenen and Erin Toughill.

L-1 ruler Goundarenko also took part in the tournament since, like men’s MMA, there were no weight classes in the early stages. One would think that the heavier fighter would have an advantage, but Goundarenko lost in the tournament semifinals to 60kg (132 lbs.) fighter Megumi Yabushita. How? ReMix rules prohibited ground-and-pound, and featured a 20 second time limitation for ground fighting. Yabushita was able to avoid Goundarenko’s submission game with the turtle position, and Goundarenko’s stamina proved to be less than impressive, having competed in Olympic judo at 72kg (158 lbs.). So, Yabushita outstruck the Russian with low kicks, and then tried to take down the gassed Goundarenko. After this bout, female MMA began to favor small-but-athletic fighters over heavyweight fighters. Of course, there aren’t many heavyweight female competitors anyway, compared to the number in men’s MMA.

Neo recognized that it couldn’t continue to hand out the huge cash bonus which drew many competitors to the ReMix tournament, and therefore made a new brand for female MMA.

From 2001 to 2008, Japanese women’s MMA was ruled by one promotion: Smackgirl. Founded by Neo Women’s Pro Wrestling head Daiki Shinosaki, Smackgirl operated with a limited rule set, prohibiting ground-and-pound and setting a 30-second time limit for ground work. The ground limitation was eventually lifted in 2007, but it stunted the level of skill improvement in the early stages of women’s MMA. Still, Smackgirl was the only all-female MMA organization in the world to continuously hold events; therefore, almost all of the day’s well-known female fighters passed through the Smackgirl ring.

Koichiro Kimura is the man who developed the ground rules for women’s MMA in Japan. He started an event separate from Smackgirl, named AX. It would run for less than one year, but AX did host some crucial matches. Early on, Smackgirl’s Ikuma Hoshino was considered the Japanese female fighting ace. However, Hoshino lost to Yuka Tsuji via armbar at AX’s second event. It was Tsuji’s first fight, and Hoshino’s first loss.

Tsuji would prove to be Japan’s first elite female fighter, notching 22 wins between 2001 and 2009. Her only loss in that period came at the hands of Ana Michelle Tavares in July 2003, and that memory was erased when Tsuji won a rematch via first-round TKO in September 2009.


Yuka Tsuji

Tsuji’s loss to Tavares took place in Deep, and set a new standard for local Japanese MMA promotions, who began mixing female fights into previously male-only cards. Also during that period, a new rookie beat Tavares and assumed Tsuji’s position at Japan’s female ace. Her name was Megumi Fujii.

After dissolving AX, Koichiro Kimura continued trying to promote female MMA events. He worked with Shooto to start G-Shooto, which opened doors for female fighters to participate in the world’s longest-running and most sporting MMA promotion. Despite Shooto’s reputation for churning out top fighters, G-Shooto never reached its potential, running for just two years before folding.

It was in G-Shooto that Megumi Fujii became the first fighter to defeat Tavares. Fujii was known for her participation in sambo and BJJ competitions, and did not debut in MMA until the age of 30.


Megumi Fujii

If you’ve watched local female MMA in Japan, you’ve probably realized that the lower tier of female fighters is simply not well-trained. It’s no great secret. Male MMA fighters often point to this fact when asked why they refuse to treat female competitors as equals.

Fujii was the opposite of that stereotype. She told her students, “we need to be well-trained in order to not be looked down at by males.”

In December 2004, lightweight fighter Takumi Yano refused to participate in a Pancrase event. His reasoning? Yano had a philosophy about female fights, and therefore would not take part in a card which involved female fighters.

Pancrase, itself an offshoot of professional wrestling, began holding female fights in 2004 under the specially devised “Pancrase Athena” division. The rules consisted of three-minute rounds (as opposed to the standard mens’ five), but did allow for ground-and-pound.

Pancrase began cooperating with the All-Japan Kickboxing Federation (AJKF), bringing in kickboxing converts such as “Windy” Tomomi Sunaba. However, the Athena division had only one true prospect, and that was Hisae Watanabe.

Watanabe made her debut with Smackgirl in 2002. She lost to rival Satoko Shinashi in the 2002 Smackgirl tournament, but audiences were interested in Watanabe because of her “gal” style.

Watanabe’s weak area was on the ground, so she began working out at Gutsman Shooto Dojo and cross-training with male fighters to develop her submission game.

In 2006, at Deep’s 25 Impact, a rematch between Watanabe and Shinashi drew huge attention in the Japanese MMA scene. Four years after their initial meeting, Watanabe outgrappled Shinashi and scored a huge first-round knockout win. Until that point, elite Japanese female fighters had been mostly dependent on submission styles. This type of striking and grappling fusion at a high level was really a first for Japanese female fighters.

However, Watanabe would lose her next match to Seo Hee Ham, a South Korean kickboxing convert with a background in Sanshou. Watanabe showed confidence in her striking, but Ham still outstruck her. Watanabe tried to work her newly-developed ground game, but that wasn’t enough to finish Ham either, and the Korean debutante eventually took a two-round unanimous decision.


Seo Hee Ham

Ham made her name in the Watanabe fight, but her grappling game was not strong enough to hang with Japan’s elite female fighters. She would lose bouts to both Fujii and Tsuji after being outgrappled. Immediately after her win over Watanabe, Ham also lost to a young up-and-comer named Miku Matsumoto.

Hailing from Toyama, Matsumoto was not well-known in Tokyo, since half of her early fights were held in her hometown. She also didn’t participate in Smackgirl, which drew the most attention from women’s MMA fans at the time, being female-only.

Matsumoto became known following a controversial loss to Carina Damm wherein the Brazilian scored an armbar submission, secured in part by grabbing Matsumoto’s glove. Deep promoter Shigeru Saeki -- who sent Matsumoto to the fight in the now-defunct promotion MARS -- got angry and demanded a rematch from the organization’s head, Yuki Amano. One month later, Miku beat Damm by unanimous decision.

Matsumoto’s next fight would be a submission loss to Lisa Ward in Smackgirl. Afterward, Miku said Ward was on a “different level” from herself. This loss drove Matsumoto to become a more complete fighter.

Matsumoto went on to claim the Deep title by outstriking the striker Watanabe to a majority decision in August 2007. Matsumoto showed a technical prowess and brutal knockout power which is rarely seen in female MMA. In August 2008, having armbarred Misaki Takimoto in three previous meetings, Matsumoto knocked Takimoto out with vicious kicks to the body. Six months later, she destroyed Nicdali Calanoc in 21 seconds with similarly nasty knees from the Thai clinch. Matsumoto was not only showing a new level of striking in female MMA, but simultaneously building a viral video fanbase.

Putting her Deep belt on the line, Miku rematched Lisa Ward in front of a supportive hometown crowd in June 2009. This time, Matsumoto totally outgrappled Ward, eventually submitting her via armbar in the third round.

After this, many fans called for Matsumoto to fight Fujii, since they were now considered the top two pound-for-pound female fighters in Japan. Miku intended to fight Fujii, but Fujii changed weight classes and Matsumoto made a sudden decision to retire. Matsumoto didn’t explain to fans why she chose to retire, stating only that there was nothing left for her. However, she said, if there was enough money for top-tier female mixed martial artists, she might return someday.

On April 17, 2010, Fujii and Matsumoto took part in a special exhibition match at Deep’s 47 Impact, after which Miku relinquished her title and retired. Near the same time, Fujii took her act stateside and began participating in Bellator Fighting Championships’ 115-pound women’s tournament.

When Smackgirl folded in 2008 due to financial issues, it gave way to two separate all-female organizations: Jewels and Valkyrie. The result has been a diluted talent pool too shallow to support either organization.

The separate promotions created a horrible situation. A few years before, every female MMA fan thought of a dream match between Meguji Fujii and Yuka Tsuji; now, it was prevented from happening by organizational politics. (Fujii worked with Deep-affiliated Jewels early on, while Tsuji sided with the Greatest Common Multiple-ran Valkyrie.) It’s unacceptable for fights like this not to materialize because of political reasons. Female MMA doesn’t have an endless supply of fighters to help boost popularity. With such a small amount of quality fighters, organizations simply can’t afford to avoid these matchups.

Still, today’s local female MMA scene is the best ever. There are more prospects than ever before, with fighters like Rin Nakai, Hiroko Yamanaka, Ayaka Hamasaki and Sakura Nomura all steadily rising in the ranks. I can say that more real talent with all-around MMA knowledge will continue to rise up, both locally and in the world.



Ayaka Hamasaki


Hiroko Yamanaka


Rin Nakai

With the American MMA market expanding in the post-TUF era, the women’s MMA market in the U.S. has also grown. With Strikeforce creating major women’s titles, female fighters are receiving more attention than ever before.

At first, the stateside scene didn’t get much attention at all, since there was no stable organization holding all-female MMA events. Some investors tried to develop a female MMA scene after watching the success of “The Ultimate Fighter.”

Internet casino owner Calvin Ayre started bringing elite female competitors onto his BodogFight events, including Tara LaRosa, Amanda Buckner, Hitomi Akano and Shayna Baszler. While it made many dream matchups possible, the events were mostly held outside of the U.S. market and didn’t generate much attention.

After BodogFight, fans saw two fighters as sitting atop the women’s 60kg (132-pound) division: Tara LaRosa and Amanda Bucker. (No, I didn’t forget Laura D’Auguste, but she chose not to continue her career.) In April 2008, one Japanese fighter beat Buckner and shook up that situation. Her name was Takayo Hashi.

Hashi had won the Smackgirl title against Hitomi Akano, and although that was a sound accomplishment, Hashi was not considered among the super elite. Hashi went in underweight against Buckner, but outstruck the American with superior kickboxing technique.

I’m not sure if I need to explain Gina Carano to visitors of this website, so I’ll just talk about the basics. Carano was known for her charm and beauty, and gained great popularity on MMA forums. She fought for EliteXC and became something of an idol, maintaining an unbeaten record while beating mostly undersized opponents.

Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos was first known for being the wife of Pride veteran Evangelisa “Cyborg” Santos, but she became known as the first female fighter to combine a stunning physique with actual striking skills. Her impressive early performances against the likes of Baszler and Yoko Takahashi gave people the idea of “Cyborg” vs. Carano.

In 2009, Strikeforce purchased EliteXC’s assets and held a 145-pound female championship bout between Santos and Carano. It was the first female title fight to be held within a major MMA organization.

“Cyborg” used her physical strength to put Carano down and pound her out. Watching Santos’ power, people couldn’t help but think that a new generation of athlete had entered female MMA.

After the event’s success, Strikeforce started a second women’s title division at 135 pounds, where Sarah Kaufman became champion. “Cyborg” and Kaufman were seen as the new evolution of female fighters.

Because of the money and attention available there in the early days of MMA, most elite female fighters have fights in Japan on their records. Roxanne Modafferi, on the other hand, always had ambitions to live and fight in Japan.

Roxanne is known as an optimistic character, so she’s gained a lot of support from fans and those around her. She started in Japan teaching English at a private school, or eikawa.

Modafferi continued to evolve as a fighter with support from her Wajyutsu Keishukai teammate, Ryan Bow, and his Kaminari Dojo people. Despite always having a popular online presence, her first real fan attention came after the 2007 K-Grace tournament.

The eight-woman K-Grace tournament was held by Japanese sports newspaper (or tabloid) Naitai Sports on May 27, 2007, and carried a $10,000 bonus for the winner. It was there that Modafferi beat Megumi Yabushita in the semifinals, then went on to defeat Marloes Coenen by a close decision in the final round. Coenen knocked Modafferi down in the first round, but Modafferi took the Dutchwoman down in the second and worked her ground-and-pound, avoiding Coenen’s armbar attempts.

Coenen had a tough time at 66kg (145 lbs.), losing a unanimous decision to the debuting Cindy Dandois in January 2009. However, Coenen signed with Strikeforce and, in November of that year, took her revenge on Modafferi with a first-round armbar submission. She next stepped up to face the champion “Cyborg,” but couldn’t handle Santos’ striking and physical pressure and, like many others, was TKO’d.

In October 2010, 10 years after winning the first ReMix tourney, Coenen dropped to 135 pounds and armbarred Sarah Kaufman to take the Strikeforce title.

It was this nice coincidence and timing which made me think it was a good time to look back at female MMA history. In 10 years, we’ve confirmed that actual divisions can develop when elite fighters face one another often enough, such as in Strikeforce and Bellator. Having finally jumped that hurdle, female MMA can look forward to having even greater success.

Big thanks to Chris Nelson (write for Bloody Elbow and Sherdog) for English and editing.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Martial Arts's spread and MMA

How has MMA grown as a sport? When it started, the sport was a mix of unorganized fighters from different backgrounds. Now, MMA has evolved, and fighters have started their own gyms and teach "MMA" itself. Children learning "MMA" from a young age has become an ordinary thing in this generation.

But, is that the best way to start an MMA career? I don't think your IQ is the most important part of MMA, but I do think it's beneficial for fighters to at least dedicate themselves to high school.

As a child or a teenager, the body is a lot weaker than an adult male, so trainers have to take care of the health of their younger pupils. There are chances for more serious injury, or even death, if you're training when you're young. That's true even with stick-and-ball sports, and we all know there are greater risks associating with fightsport.

So, it's not a surprise that martial arts has tried to resolve these issues long before MMA. That's why judo teaches ukemi first, and why judo and jiu-jitsu both teach students to tap out.

Wikipedia Ukemi

Some evaluate gyms and dojos by how effectively they instil discipline in children. That's not wrong, but self-defense is important for education. Education isn't discussed a lot, but it's necessary. Athletes need to find stable ways to grow up as fighters, and mature as people. Gyms need to learn to cope with this, as the development of their young students is directly connected to that gym's reputation.

Gyms and dojos aren't regulated by government or commissions, only by the owners and trainers. However, giving MMA strong, rich diversity is dependent on having trainers who, from a young age, can mold adolescents into well-rounded, mature adult athletes. Even if it's not a flashy topic, this kind of knowledge and relationship with trainers is crucial.

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

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

More official DEEP 50 card coming

Today DEEP 50 announce new match ups.As expected from E-plus's unintentional match ups.Many match up become reality.Here it is.Chonan's match up change from Yoshiyuki Yoshida to Jung Hwan Cha.Other than that,same as E-plus list.At least for now.

Yuya Shirai vs Shigetoshi Iwase (WW Title)
Takafumi Otsuka vs Yoshiro Maeda


Takafumi Otsuka

Ryo Chonan vs Jung Hwan Cha
Shoji Maruyama vs Tatsunao Nagakura
Hidetaka Monma vs Yoshihisa Yamamoto
Ryuta Noji vs Hiroshi Nagao
Isao Terada vs Yoshiki Harada

participate Sanae Kikuta, Katsunori Kikuno

Sunday, August 29, 2010

How many match ups become truth at DEEP 50's unintentional match making introduce?

Yesterday I introduce DEEP 50's match making from E-Plus.It introduce by many major MMA web and had a massive interest.I need edit post cause E-Plus withdraw card they announced online and said we have wrong announcement.

So I need explain how much we can trust those information.

I basically think those card are planned but not official yet.So if there is reason to avoid match ups those can change.Saeki said he plan 13 to 14 fights so mathematically E-plus match ups have more than 14 match ups if they doing all those fight plus making match for participants fighters.We should think some of those fight just seeking possibility at now.

Ryo Chonan said on his twitter,"(Watching E-Plus list)There is many card undecided yet.My one too." Since Yoshiyuki Yoshida had fight at Bellator before DEEP 50's event day.That's not really surprises me.

Shiya Aoki said at magazine "I have high priority on participate DEEP's commemorate event.But if my high salary effect event's profit,I need think about that part."Aoki thinks he want to be part of this event,but his high salary and his potential match ups at Dream 16 is risk for him to participate event.

Kuniyoshi Hironaka said on his twitter "Yoshihisa Yamamoto come to train at my gym.He have fight at October, same as mine" I feel this remark secure Yamamoto at least participate this event.How about you?

DEEP already officially announce some of match ups and participants.

Yuya Shirai vs Shigetoshi Iwase (WW Title)
Takafumi Otsuka vs Yoshiro Maeda

participate Katsunori Kikuno,Ryo Chonan,Sanae Kikuta

You are sure about what is already official now.It's rare to see plan match ups leaked in Japan.So you can enjoy how much those match ups can be official.

Trivia
1 : Hiroshi Nagao is former pro wrestler fight for event "Hustle" as ring name "Giant Babo".His debut for MMA if it will happen.

2 : There is plan other guy debut MMA at E-plus list (I'm just forget cause after I introduce E-plus list to western world.Too many response to handle.)Katsuaki Furuki will debut if list is true.He is former NPB professional baseball player.He doing MMA training since December 2009.

Bloody Elbow : Tentative Mega-Card for DEEP's 10th Anniversary Show Includes Shinya Aoki, Minowaman

MMA Fighting : Shinya Aoki, Ikuhisa Minowa, Kazuo Misaki, Ryo Chonan and More Planned for Deep 50

Head Kick Legend : Shiroobi of SkillMMA is reporting that DEEP has announced several bouts

Saturday, August 28, 2010

DEEP 50 Impact card take shape

note (must read): DEEP 50 card announced by web ticketing services.But after many people spread information,They just change to we have wrong announce.Currently ticketing web just show us Takafumi Otsuka vs Yoshiro Maeda and participant Kikuno, Chonan, Kikuta.But I guess they did mistake introduce fight they don't want at now.Cause Shirai vs Iwase's title fight is already confirm by Saeki.We will see what is truth in near future.

October 24 DEEP celebrate own 10th anniversary with own bigger card at Tokyo JCB Hall.Here is card introduce by ticketing service.


Katsunori Kikuno

Katsunori Kikuno vs Nobuhiro Obiya (LW Title)
Yuya Shirai vs Shigetoshi Iwase (WW Title)
Shinya Aoki vs TBA
Sanae Kikuta vs TBA
Ikuhisa Minowa vs TBA
Takafumi Otsuka vs Yoshiro Maeda
Ryo Chonan vs Yoshiyuki Yoshida
Toshikazu "ISE" Iseno vs Won Sik "Parky" Park
Kazuo Misaki vs Akira Shoji
Daiki "DJ Taiki" Hata vs Tomomi "Taisho" Iwama
Shoji Maruyama vs Tatsunao Nagakura
Hidetaka Monma vs Yoshihisa Yamamoto
Isao Terada vs Yoshiki Harada
Ryuta Noji vs Hiroshi Nagao

participate Kazunori Yokota,Yoshiyuki Nakanishi,Jutaro Nakao,Syunsuke Inoue,Hiromitsu Kanehara,Hisae Watanabe,Seigo Mizuguchi

DEEP org's head Shigeru Saeki said DEEP 50's card will around 13 to 14 fight.So I can imagine some plan card won't happen.

Friday, August 13, 2010

Japanese MMA Stream list

Stream is new media for live streaming.MMA organization start to using that.It's small list,but I will add new channel if other organization add own channnel.

DEEP Official Ustream

FEG Official Ustream (Dream and K-1)

Pancrase Official Ustream

GCM Official Ustream (Cage Force and Valkyrie)

Nihon Shooto Kyokai Twitcast (Amateur Shooto)

M-1 Global Japan Ustream

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Traceability in MMA

Traceability is important for breakdown what's happen in the fight.Chris Nelson (from Bloody Elbow) find interesting concept web.So I introduce that web.

MMA Decisions

It include comprehend judge card list of UFC event.You can find how judge's tendency in the card.I hope they improve add other major event's judge, match to major MMA web's score card.

I hope this web add math to indicate more tendency to audience.But we should give props to the people who built new data base for the web.

Fight Metric

I think you can think more about judges decision with this MMA Decisions and Fight Metric.

Thursday, July 29, 2010

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.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

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.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

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)

Thursday, July 1, 2010

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

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

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.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

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.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

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.

Friday, May 14, 2010

How to apply SRC Asian bantam weight tournament

When I found out that SRC (formerly named Sengoku) will hold a Bantamweight Asian MMA tournament and that it was open for applicants (with certain conditions),
I thought it was a brilliant idea because many Asian fighters outisde of Japan lack a route into Major MMA events.

But there is a problem: SRC didn't translate their conditions for entry into the tournament from the original Japanese notification.

I have translated the details of the entry conditions, but I'm not a professional translator, so keep in mind that I can be wrong. You will need to read the original text in Japanese to know how to fill out the application.

(the original Japanese notification and entry conditions by SRC)

【SRC Bantamweight ASIA Tournament 2010 entry requirements】

● Tournament's purpose

1 To define who is the Bantamweight champ in Asia, which is the most competitive class in the region.

2 To hold an open tournament, and to give opportunities to more pro-fighters to participate in a Major MMA event. We aim to give fighters a chance to win substantial prize money and fair fight purses which will help them realize their dreams and hopes.

3 To display difficult survival matches that will move a wider audience and elicit their sympathy, which will broaden the MMA market.

● Prize money and Purse

1 Tounamet Winner : 3000000 yen (32000USD)

2 Fight purse : All fighters' first purse of the tournament will be 100000 yen (1070USD)

● Qualifications for entry into the tournament

1 Weight limit: 61.2 kg and under (SRC's Bantamweight class will be in effect from the next SRC event, SRC 13)

2 Experience: Applicants must have verifiable Japanese citizenship, citizenship in an Asian country, or must have lived in the Asia region for 10 years. Applicants must also fulfill at least one of three conditions below:

・Have a professional license in a Japanese or overseas professional MMA organization.

・Have at least five professional mixed martial arts fights with a better than .500 overall record.

・Have a recommendation from the gym or promotion to which the applicant belongs.

3 Age:  Applicant must be 35 years old and under (as of June 30, 2010)

4 Medical examination: Applicants who pass the above documentation selection must pass a medical examination by SRC within the designated application acceptance period.

● Method to apply for particpation in the tournament:

1 Fill in the application and submit it to the SRC Committee by FAX.

2 Application acceptance period :  10/5/2010 to 5/6/2010

● Examination and results announcement

Fighters participating in the tournament will be decided by the SRC Committee by examination of their applications. The final number of participants in the tournament will be decided by the number of applicants received by SRC. However, SRC basically plans to host 16 fighters for the tournament, including some seeded fighters and some reserve fighters.

SRC will render decisions on or before June 12, 2010 and contact the participating fighters.

● Fight date and match-ups

1 The first round of the tournament will be held on July 4, 2010 at SRC Asia vol.1

SRC plans to hold the second and future rounds of the tournament at SRC 14 and SRC 15. 

2 Match-ups and the order of fights will be decide by a random draw at SRC's upcoming press conference.

● other

※ SRC will pay travel and living expenses in region as per our tournament regulations (1 fighter and 1 cornerman). (shiroobi's note: "region" in this sentence means a Japanese region not near to Tokyo.)


You can download the application from here (shiroobi's note: there is only a Japanese version of the application)

(shiroobi's note: 81-3-5725-7109 is the FAX Number you need to send the application to from outside of Japan. I recommend that you confirm the transmission of your fax by getting an e-mail (info@src-official.com) receipt from SRC.)

How to write application



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

Monday, May 3, 2010

How to use SKILL MMA's link section?

SKILL MMA is known as bring new view point for westerners MMA audience.But not only that.I make biggest misc information database of Japanese MMA.I make amount of photo section about Japanese MMA.I make link section connect to useful MMA Data web or nice MMA photo web or international MMA web.I give explanation about how to use SKILL MMA as a MMA portal.All of those can access from SKILL MMA's link section.

At first watch SKILL MMA's link section right side of this web just below blog's archive.

SKILL MMA relate

SKILL MMA's Picasa
(SKILL MMA's photo section.)
SKILL MMA's Digg
(SKILL MMA's social bookmark.I plan to introduce quality MMA article)
My Twitter Account
(I tweet when I get news or I watch live MMA event)
Sherdog's SKILL MMA readers group
(SKILL MMA's Social group at Sherdog forum)

MMA News
(Those are MMA news web.SKILL MMA isn't news web.So if you want news,use those web.)

Sherdog
Bloody Elbow
TATAME
BLOODY KNUX
Head Kick Legend
MMA For Real

MMA Data

Upcoming events list from Sherdog
(Future event list.I hope you using this for find future event you plan to go.)
Fight Finder from Sherdog
(Fight record)
Fight Metric (fight stats)
(You can confirm your score is right or wrong)

MMA Data from SKILL MMA (I update those list when I need to.)

Japanese MMA Fighter blog list
(List of Japanese MMA scene fighter's blog.Most comprehensive one.)
Japanese MMA venue list
(list of Venue where MMA event hold and explanation)
Japanese MMA gym list
(list of Japanese MMA gym include nearest station and gym's head information)
Japanese MMA Fighter twitter list
(You can find Japanese MMA fighter's tweet)

Other Martial Arts Data by SKILL MMA

Martial Arts exist in Japan list
(list of martial arts exist Japan and link to headquarters web)
Japanese Kick Boxing and Muay Thai event list
(List of Japanese Kick Boxing and Muay Thai.Introduce not only official web but also include official youtube channel or blog anything related)

MMA TV
(You can watch official MMA movie for those TV web)

SPIKE : UFC
VERSUS : WEC
Showtime : Strikeforce
HDNet : Dream and SRC aka Sengoku
iaTV : Pancrase

MMA Book
(MMA instruction book)

Victory Belt

MMA Photo
(Introduce MMA photographer's official web)

Daniel Herbertson Photography
All ELBOWS (Esther Lin and E. Casey)
Susumu's Gallery (Susumu Nagao)
one day sugi 2 (Hirofumi Sugi)

MMA ORG
(Link to world's regional MMA web)

North America

UFC
WEC
Strikeforce
Bellator
Shine Fights
UWC
MFC
KOTC

Japan

Dream
SRC aka Sengoku
ASTRA
Shooto
Pancrase
DEEP
Cage Force
Valkyrie
Jewels

SKILL MMA's Japanese MMA event list (More event listed)
(One of most popular section at SKILL MMA.Introduce not only official web but also include official youtube channel or blog anything related)

Europe

M-1 Grobal
Ultimate Challenge UK
KSW
Bushido

South America

Jungle Fight

Central America

Combate Exteremo

Asia

Art Of War
URCC
Legend FC

Oceania

XPLOSION
Shooto Australia

Friday, April 30, 2010

One Year Of SKILL MMA

This site has finally reached its one-year anniversary. It surprises me. It's a hell of a lot of work me, and requires a lot of time, especially since English isn't my primary language. I wasn't sure I'd make it this long.

After one year of SKILL MMA, I want to give some credit to those who helped me make it one year.

First is none other than Jordan Breen. I met him just a bit before he started writing for Sherdog. I never thought he'd become famous. I talk a lot with him, and really enjoy improving one another's knowledge about this sport. I must admit, I always want to tell him my viewpoints, because I love this man's passion for the sport. He does a nice job translating my writing. I don't think it's easy: it includes sports, culture, and having to know my thoughts and meanings. He's a professional, so he adds so nice editing to my writing. I couldn't imagine the site's quality without him.

I also want to thank Tony Loiseleur of Sherdog and Daniel Herbertson of Fanhouse. They are both great professionals with great minds. Tony is the heart and soul of Sherdog in Japan, and he's helped advertise my site, too. Daniel is an awesome photographer. Both are helpful when I'm around MMA venues, and I must say they an important part of this site, too.

I want to thank everyone who links to thie site. Bloody Elbow is first major MMA website to link to SKILL MMA. I've always appreciated the quality of the site. Head Kick Legend focuses on the Japanese MMA and kickboxing. They followed me at twitter, and I asked about bout mutual linking. I thank them for the opportunity. MMA For Real is a North Carolina MMA website. I realized they mention my twitter, so I asked them about a mutual link exchange. Tokyo and North Carolina get linked via MMA. How great is that?

I don't think I' the most knowledgeable MMA writer, but I think I can still contribute unique pieces. Generally, English language MMA writers haven't impressed me. That doesn't mean they aren't good writers per se, or not knowledgeable. However, there is a large focus on pro- or anti- opinion and editorial writing in the MMA media. Writing opinions about organization's business or what martial arts are "best" aren't interesting writing.

With this site, I've used my words to examine traditional martial arts in MMA, pro-wrestling's effect on MMA, the history of Machida karate and so on. I choose topics like this because I want there to be a diversity in MMA discussion, a uniqueness that fits the most chaotic and culturally hybrid sport in the world. MMA is a combat sport where often power appears to trump skill. However, power exists only in the framework of skill, and the differentiation in these skills is what makes MMA so exciting. That is why this is is called "SKILL MMA".

Expanding that idea, I do feel maybe contemporary MMA is not enough to show all MMA's charms. The Best of Pride is doing good ratings on Spike. Why? Well, you could say that casual fans don't realize that quality fights ever happened outside the UFC, but I don't think that's it. Pride allowed knees to the head on the ground, soccer kicks, and stomps. These rules allowed more freedom, and made different fight structures and strategy. These fights had their own charm, just as fights under the Unified Rules.

Many say that MMA's rise in Japan owes a lot to Kazushi Sakuraba, but I would also add that it's not just about Sakuraba himself. Sakuraba showed MMA could be innovative, while being easy to understand for a casual audience. I love to see those sorts of moves I think just short video clips from that early era created many now-lifelong MMA fans, before "The Ultimate Fighter" ever started.

Pride's rules were unordinary, and might offer ammunition for an opponent of the sport. But MMA, or fightsport in general, are not made with social justice in mind. That is part of the reason why the sport has become cool for young people. The MMA community is filled with individuals behaving anti-socially, and many become more popular for that reason. Consciously or unconsciously, that behavior gets supported. I'm never surprised that the MMA media makes a big deal out of Nick Diaz or War Machine, even if it's immature.

This is all why I try to introduce unordinary subjects about MMA. I don't always give my opinion, but often want to give information, viewpoints and stories from others. Putting those stories together is my work, I leave it up to others to create their own views and opinions.

I'm not sure how often I'll write in this second year, but if you want to help this site continue, please sponsor, donate, or link to the site.

Lastly, I need to thank the biggest part of this site: you. I thank everyone for reading this site, and motivating me to continue.

Big thanks to Jordan Breen for English and editing.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Japanese Boxing gym relate to World champ list

Japanese boxing scene struggle by luck of talent at rate 80s.Japanese failed to get world boxing title 21 times continuously at 88 to 90.So it's amazing to see 6 world boxing champ in Japan now.I list up gym which produce Japanese boxing champ or gym currently run by former Japanese boxing world champ.

Watanabe Boxing Gym


Takashi Uchiyama official blog (Watanabe Gym)

Kohei Kono official blog (Watanabe Gym)

Ryoichi Taguchi official blog (Watanabe Gym)

Ioka Boxing Gym


Kazuto Ioka official blog (Ioka Gym)

Ohashi Boxing Gym


Naoya Inoue official blog (Ohashi Gym)

Katsunari Takayama official blog (Nakazato Boxing Gym)


Former champ

Kadoebi Boxing Gym


Yusuke Kobori official blog (Kadoebi Boxing Gym)

Teiken Boxing Gym


Takafumi Aoh official blog (Teiken Boxing Gym)

Toshiaki Nishioka official blog (Teiken Boxing Gym)

Yota Sato official blog (Teiken Boxing Gym)

Kyoei Boxing Gym


Takefumi Sakata official blog (Kyoei Boxing Gym)

Kohei Kono official blog (Watanabe Gym)

Nobuhiro Ishida official blog (Kanazawa Gym)

Shinsei Boxing Gym


Hozumi Hasegawa official blog (Shinsei Boxing Gym)

Nobuo Nashiro official blog (Muto Boxing Gym)

Daiki Kameda official blog (Kameda Gym)

Koki Kameda official blog (Kameda Gym)

Hideki Todaka official blog (Studio Bee)

Todaka Hideki Boxing Gym


Katsuo Tokashiki Boxing Gym


Katsuo Tokashiki official blog (Tokashiki Boxing Gym)

Kawashima Boxing Gym


Box Fai


Satoshi Iida official blog (Box Fai)

Celes Boxing Sports Gym


Celes Kobayashi official blog (Celes Boxing Sports Gym)

Kaneko Boxing Gym


Tomonobu Shimizu official blog (Kaneko Boxing Gym)

Hideyuki Ohashi official blog (Ohashi Boxing Gym)

Akira Yaegashi official blog (Ohashi Boxing Gym)

Katsushige Kawashima official blog (Ohashi Boxing Gym)

Ryo Miyazaki official blog (Ioka Gym)


SKILL MMA's article about Hozumi Hasegawa