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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.