Japanese MMA Fighters to Watch Out 2017

It's baaack! This is the 2017 edition of the annual Fighters to Watch For series.

Yoshitaka Naito is excluded from this year’s list because he fought for One FC and won their world title, but will we see his long-awaited match against Mitsuhisa Sunabe? I hope so. Tatsumitsu Wada competed for Rizin and defeated Kai Kara-France, so I left him off of this prospects list as well.

Since UFC Fight Pass has added Shooto and Pancrase, I think that you'll enjoy this list even more than before.

Shintaro Ishiwatari

Ishiwatari's 2016 campaign was defined by avenging his loss to Jonathan Brookins. He defeated Brookins in spite of Brookins missing weight, which is worth more than an average win. Ishiwatari was continuously taken down and lost a decision to Brookins in their first fight, but he defeated his overweight opponent with sprawls in the rematch that showcased his improved takedown defense.

Takumi Tamaru vs Kohei Haruka

Takumi Tamaru

Tamaru earned his biggest career win in 2016 against Yasuhiro Urushitani. He did not allow Urushitani to use his striking pressure and submitted Urushitani with an armbar. Even though Urushitani is in the twilight of his career and declared that he will retire after his next fight, Tamaru needed just one round to become the fastest man to ever finish him.

Kento Kanbe

Kanbe battled injuries throughout 2016, but he did engage in a semi-brawl situation with Jarred Brooks. I look forward to major promotions building strawweight classes so that they can face each other.

Mizuki Inoue

Mizuki continued her winning streak with three finishes in 2016 before suffering a knee injury. She is not yet in the UFC rankings due to being outside of the organization, but we all know she should be in there.

Naoki Inoue vs Naoyuki Kato

Naoki Inoue

Mizuki's little brother scored his biggest win to date in 2016 when he defeated Yuya Shibata, who is a former DEEP title challenger. Of course, the Inoue siblings are best known as strikers, but Naoki has used his excellent submission skills to finish seven of his nine professional opponents, and remains unbeaten.

Hayato Suzuki

Suzuki’s lone fight in 2016 ended in a first-round submission victory over Seok-Yong Kim. We need to see him compete for higher stakes this year. Hopefully the rumored Rizin Flyweight Grand Prix picks him up.

Ryohei "Ken Asuka" Kurosawa

Kurosawa captured Shooto gold in 2016 when he defeated Ryuto Sawada again. He is a teammate of Yoshitaka Naito, who is One FC champion. I expect Kurosawa to face international opposition this year, which will hopefully help to develop and showcase atomweight competition around the world.

Kanako Murata

Even though she lost to Rin Nakai, Murata is still very early in her MMA career. I do not think that she was in the best physical condition against Nakai, and I expect that she will face appropriate opponents in fights that allow her to develop her skills this year.

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

Japanese MMA Fighters to Watch Out 2016

We're back with the 2016 edition of Fighters to Watch For.

The most pleasant thing from last year's list was Hisaki Kato's knockout of Joe Schilling in Bellator. I mentioned Kato in the 2015 list and he was quite unknown beforehand due to the fact that his fights in HEAT were not well-known. I personally believe that I contributed to increasing his recognition.

Hisaki Kato is now in Bellator, so he is excluded from this list. Ayaka Hamasaki (Invicta champ) and Yuki Motoya (Rizin) should get attention without my inclusion, so I excluded them this year. I hope you enjoy watching rookie fighters grow like I do.




Koyomi Matsushima

Matsushima debuted in February and he fought five times in 2015. He finished all of the fights and four of them ended in the first round. He has not had any competitive fights yet, and I want him to have good striking training because I think there is danger if he can't get a proper striking coach. Other than that, he is physically the best rookie since Kyoji Horiguchi.

See video of his slam KO in PXC:  and his KO in Shooto:




Tatsumitsu Wada

While Motoya had a no contest in Rizin, Wada had two fights against Korean fighters in 2015. He has not recently faced quality opponents in Japan besides Motoya and Ogikubo. He will face Jae Nam Yoo at Deep: 75 Impact.




Shintaro Ishiwatari

Ishiwatari suffered an injury early this past year. He fought Victor Henry in December and it was Japanese MMA's Fight of the Year. He has been unable to win against some of the elite opponents in his career, but I still want to see him in the major MMA scene because his fights are almost always very entertaining.


Kento Kanbe

Kanbe was crowned as the Pancrase light flyweight champion this past year with a one-sided beating of Yukitaka Musashi. He needs to change divisions now since Pancrase adopted the unified weight classes. I'm looking forward to watching him face the champion in a different weight class.




Yoshitaka Naito

In 2015, Naito beat younger strawweight fighters like Ryuto Sawada, and I previously named Sawada as a fighter to watch out for. Naito is always looking for takedowns and ground and pound to set up submissions, and he engages in fun scrambles during fights. I hope he appears in a major promotion to help build a new division. He has the gimmick of "Nobita," which is derived from the famous manga character "Draemon."




Mizuki Inoue

Mizuki had a rough 2015 with a loss against Alexa Grasso and a difficult fight against Emi Fujino. She began 2016 with a win against Lacey Schuckman, but I hope that she improves her physical power and wrestling.


Hayato Suzuki

Suzuki is not well-known as a prospect because he fights for Grachan, which has a small fan base, but his win against Shooto ranker Yosuke Saruta definitely gave him recognition in the JMMA world. He was crowned as Grachan champ in September. I hope he will face other organizations' champions in order to further elevate his status.


Ryohei "Ken Asuka" Kurosawa and Ryuto Sawada

Kurosawa was knocked out by Junji Ito and Sawada was submitted by Yoshitaka Naito in 2015, but both are young and talented. Sawada is only 20 and Kurosawa is 22.


Kanako Murata

Murata has not yet debuted in MMA, but she is the first Japanese female athlete with such a high amateur status to convert to MMA. She had a wrestling match against Saori Yoshida and almost won the match before losing it in the late stages. Of course, I don't know how well she can adapt to MMA, but I can't hide my anticipation.

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