Japanese MMA scene Fighter to watch out 2014

Here is the 2014 edition of Fighters to Watch For. Kyoji Horiguchi landed himself a spot in a major organization (UFC), but there are many newcomers on this year's list.

Michinori Tanaka

Tanaka's 2013 campaign involved winning a championship in Guam/Philippines promotion PXC and carefully developing his career. While fighters he has defeated have begun to land themselves positions in the UFC, Tanaka's coach Katsumura has a conservative plan for his career. I think he needs improvement in his striking, but his grappling is already top-level. Tanaka went to donate money to the Philippines embassy for victims of Haiyan and I am looking forward to his 2014 campaign.




Yuta Sasaki

Sasaki beat Wajyutsu Keisyukai mentor Tetsu Suzuki and took Shooto's Pacific rim title during his 2013 campaign, and he beat Naoya Uematsu in a grappling match. He has become Japanese MMA's best grappler in his weight class. I am curious about what will happen when he can't take opponents down. He struggled against Kota Onojima when he could not get him down. His 2014 campaign starts with a fight against Keisuke Fujiwara, who is ZST champ.



Shintaro Ishiwatari

Ishiwatari's 2013 campaign did not go the way that he had wanted it to. He lost to Shooto champ and current UFC fighter Kyoji Horiguchi in the Japanese fight of the year and best comeback in Japanese local MMA history. His 2014 campaign begins with a title defense against Yo Saito, who is known as a guillotine specialist.



Mizuki Inoue

Inoue's 2013 campaign is best remembered for her first appearance in Invicta FC. She showed continuous improvement in her striking against Bec Hyatt. In that fight, she won clearly, but it wasn't a perfect game since she get overpowered in the clinch. After that, Inoue faced Emi Fujino, who has outstanding power for a Japanese female MMA fighter, but Fujino never got a chance to use that power. I saw drastic improvement in Inoue and I am looking forward to her next fight against Emi Tomimatsu.



Koji Ando

In 2013, Ando was best known for becoming a champion for Legend FC. Not only that, but he became champ by defeating Jadamba Narantungalag, who is considered to be one of top talents in the Asian MMA scene. Their fight ended due to an unfortunate ankle injury when Jadamba's weight was only supported by his right leg and his ankle broke, but Ando's win is legit since he led the fight at that point. His 2014 campaign will decide how his new contract goes and hopefully he will fight again soon.


Taiyo Nakahara

Nakahara's only fight in 2013 was against UFC veteran Marcos Vinicius Borges Pancini for Rebel FC. He finished Pancini, but I want to emphasize that his left body shot determined how the fight went. It's hard to land effective body blows in the lower weight classes.


Takaki Soya

Last year's Shooto Rookie tournament MVP was Paraestra Matsudo's Takaki Soya. 2012's MVP Masatsugu Sakaki, 2011's MVP Michinori Tanaka and 2010's MVP Kyoji Horiguchi are all still unbeaten in their professional MMA careers. Before entering the tournament, Soya won the East Japan Amateur Shoooto tournament and became the youngest professional Shooto fighter at age 17.

This year's rookie tournament's number of participants was reduced because of Shooto's policy change for non-Tokyo fighters who build their early careers in the regions where they live. That reduced regional promoters' expenses, but at the same time I can't say that this year's rookie tournament was the same as the previous three in terms of quality.
Still, I can say that Soya is a good finisher. I can't say that he'll become a local Japanese champ because bantamweight is the most crowded division in this country and the fighters he faced in the tournament aren't as good as the ones that Horiguchi and Tanaka faced in their tournaments. Shooto Rookie tournaments are still high quality and they bring about awareness of young talent like Soya.



DEEP Flyweights (Photo is Yuki Motoya)

I said last year that I was looking forward to the DEEP flyweights and Tatsumitsu Wada vs. Yuki Motoya was one of the best fights of 2013 in DEEP. Wada took down Shooto striker Haruo Ochi for a decision win. Former champ Yuki Motoya got a decision win over Pancrase champ Kiyotaka Shimizu. With those wins over rival organizations' champs and contenders, I feel that DEEP's most high-level weight class is flyweight.



Mikihito Yamagami

Last year, one of the best upsets was Mikihito Yamagami's decision win over Mamoru Yamaguchi. Yamagami succeeded by continuously taking the back of Mamoru. Allowing back-takes is considered to be a primary fault in Mamoru's fighting style, but people did not expect that Yamagami would be able to exploit that so well. Yamagami used 2013 to build up his body for a new weight class and he will appear for Road FC this year.



SKILL MMA : Japanese MMA scene Fighter to watch out 2013

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

Japanese MMA scene Fighter to watch out 2013

I write annual up and coming Japanese MMA fighters to stay on the look out for. Specifically I focus on those outside of the major MMA organizations.



Kyoji Horiguchi

Horiguchi went 3-1 in 2012, including his biggest win to date against Ian Loveland. His game is not without holes, however. When he's taken down, he normally tries to defend against submissions and works at his opponent's pace.He's a bantamweight with a flyweight frame, so it's harder for him to defend takedowns with a sprawl. He either has to control the distance completely or bank on his opponent having poor takedowns.



Michinori Tanaka Vs Russell Doane

Michinori Tanaka

From a grappling perspective, Tanaka is ahead of all other Japanese MMA rookies. His 2012 campaign saw him fight just two times, as many Shooto Class B opponents and even some Class A fighters did not want to fight him.Because of that, Tanaka and his management chose to sign with Pacific Xtreme Combat. Tanaka defeated Russell Doane with chain grappling in his PXC debut in November. He has power, but he needs to work on making fewer mistakes while he builds up cage experience. He'll next face Joe Taimanglo at PXC 35.



Shintaro Ishiwatari

One of the most enjoyable local fights of the year took place in September when Ishiwatari faced veteran Caol Uno. Ishiwatari knew how to control the fight. His distance, takedowns and striking were all well-coordinated.Ishiwatari's style most closely resembles the current American fighting style. His gym, Cave, is worth checking out and is also home to standouts Mizuto Hirota and Ryuichi Miki.



Ayaka Hamasaki vs Lacey Schuckman

Ayaka Hamasaki

Hamasaki was active in 2012 and picked up a big win against legendary opponent Yuka Tsuji. While it is unfortunate that the fight happened so late in Tsuji's career, Hamasaki still dominated with better wrestling skills.Hamasaki was also successful in her cage debut at Invicta FC 2 in July. She tested herself in the cage environment and that was a smart decision. Previously, her career had been developed in Jewels, where a ring was used for all fights until very recently.
Hamasaki closed out the year with a win against Emi Fujino, who had more power than her, but Hamasaki showed a nice variety of wrestling and positional skills. She was able to counter Fujino's strikes with takedowns and controlled the grappling exchanges.After a strong 2012 campaign that included the two fights in a cage, it is likely that Hamasaki will continue to have a bright future in international competition.



Mizuki Inoue

Known for her sensational striking skills as a rookie, Mizuki Inoue had two MMA fights in 2012 and also won the 53.5 kg division of the Shoot Boxing Girls S-Cup. She is still best-known for her striking, but has also worked hard to improve her ground game.All of Inoue's MMA victories, including 2012 wins over Hyo Kyung Song and Alex Chambers, have come by way of armbar submission. Whether she stays in Japan to face the upper tier of Japanese female fighters - such as Mei Yamaguchi and Kyoko Takabayashi - or travels abroad, we will see interesting challenges ahead for her.



Isao Kobayashi

"Isao" debuted in 2008 and belongs to the Sakaguchi Dojo, which is led by Yukio Sakaguchi. Because Sakaguchi's father, Seiji, is a pro wrestler, fans were skeptical about how serious Yukio and his gym really were. After Yukio's hard-fought bout against Kotetsu Boku, however, the Sakaguchi Dojo attracted more attention.At the time, Pancrase had interesting lightweight prospects and they staged a grand prix for a lightweight title shot. Kobayashi won the tournament and went on to defeat champion Koji Oishi in a rematch, avenging his only loss in the process. He also holds a TKO win over Kazuki Tokudome, who will join the UFC this year.
The UFC offer to Tokudome first went to Isao, but Sakaguchi Dojo has a conservative plan for building Isao. Ideally, he will get more experience training and fighting in a cage if he chooses to maintain a conservative plan before joining a major promotion like the UFC.



DEEP Flyweights (photo is Tatsumitsu Wada)

Last year, flyweight Yuki Motoya was crowned as the youngest DEEP champion at 22 years of age, but he has tough oppositon ahead of him in the near future. DEEP bantamweight contender Tatsumitsu Wada has indicated that he plans to drop to flyweight and he has his sights set on the championship.As well, another bantamweight contender, Yusaku Nakamura, is also considering making the move down to flyweight. This means that there is a strong division developing. We must see where these flyweights become ranked on the regional scene, but it is shaping up to be quite interesting.


SKILL MMA : Japanese MMA scene Fighter to watch out 2012

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

Japanese MMA scene Fighter to watch out 2012

I write about up and coming Japanese MMA fighters to stay on the look out for.  Specifically I focus on those outside of the major MMA organizations.  Most likely, only die-hard MMA fans will know about the following fighters.

Kyoji Horiguchi

Horiguchi is on a three fight KO streak in 2011 after winning the Shooto Rookie tournament.  Horiguchi will next face world-ranked fighter and upcoming Bellator tournament contestant Masakatsu Ueda.  With his tremendous speed, karate skills, and knockout power, Horiguchi definitely has a chance to pull off the upset over Ueda.



Doo Ho Choi

After gaining attention from his decision victory over Ikuo Usuda in 2010, Choi seeks to improve on a breakout 2011.  He showcased vicious knees and an impressive sprawl during his wins over Mitsuhiro Ishida and Nobuhiro Obiya.  He will next face Kazunori Yokota for the vacant DEEP featherweight title and should be a strong favorite.  I’m curious to see how he will fare against a strong and powerful striker.



Jon Shores

From very early in his career, Shores has been known for his submission finishing skills.  This year, he seeks to bring his striking up to a similar level.  He defeated Tomonari Kanomata by maintaining a steady striking pace and will likely now square off against Takumi Nakayama for the Pancrase interim featherweight title.



Yasuaki Kishimoto

You might recognize this name after his victory over Un Sik Song, who currently trying to rediscover his prior form from before his military stint, Kishimoto is now in the mix for the DEEP lightweight title. After beating veteran Jutaro Nakao, I’m guessing that he will likely get a title shot soon.


Yuta "Uruka" Sasaki

Uruka’s 2011 campaign was hard fought.  He got a pair of close decision nods over Yoshifumi Nakamura and Kosuke Kindaichi.   His lack of finishing skills needs to be improved upon, which could be seen in his loss to Guy Delumeau’s wrestling/BJJ style.  Fortunately he is young enough that there should be plenty of time for improvement.



Michinori Tanaka

Tanaka is the MVP of this year’s Shooto Rookie tournament, which was actually one of the more stacked rookie tournaments in recent history.  By consistently attacking with chain grappling, Tanaka completely dominated runner-up Teruto Ishihara, who was clearly the second best rookie in Shooto this year.



Hideto Tatsumi

Although the dearth of talent in the Japanese heavier weight classes makes for some difficult comparisons, Hideto Tatsumi’s impressive judo background warrants a closer look.  After losing his debut to Christian M’Pumbu, Tatsumi upset veteran Hiromitsu Kanegara in just his third fight.  While still too early to judge, his performance is definitely promising.  Currently training with Japanese star Yushin Okami, his next test will be against Yang Hae Jun at Legend FC.


Also DEEP will crown flyweight champ with tournament.If Tatsumitsu Wada drop flyweight,it guarantee tounrament's winner quality.

SKILL MMA : Japanese MMA scene Fighter to watch out 2011

Big thanks to Dean Ryuta Adachi  (Deanadachi.com) for English editing.