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.

Japanese MMA Fighters to Watch Out 2015

Here is the 2015 edition of Fighters to Watch For. Michinori Tanaka and Uruka Sasaki landed themselves a spot in a major organization (UFC) last year. There is, of course, a few new faces this time around and we have more fighters with clean records. How I evaluate is based upon who won against whom, but if a specific performance convinced me, I’ve done a more risky pick. I hope that, with this list, hardcore MMA fans will take note of who are JMMA's up-and-comers.

Yuki Motoya 

Motoya's 2014 was an active one and perfect for what he wanted. He avenged a loss against Tatsumitsu Wada and won his first international fight against former RFA champ Matt Manzanares. He used a variety of kicks to make his movements harder to read and his front kicks stopped Manzanares's pressure. Motoya is the most highly-touted rookie who remains in local Japanese promotions and he will soon move on to fight in a major organization.

Tatsumitsu Wada

Wada lost his DEEP flyweight strap against Motoya this past year, but his year-end performance against Ryuichi Miki defined him as a top-three Japanese flyweight. Wada is known for his boxing skills and often continuously jabs his opponents. Not only that, he avoided Miki's strike-takedown combinations and finished Miki with a rear-naked choke.

Hiromasa Ogikubo

Ogikubo's year was all about winning the VTJ flyweight tournament. He had a competitive fight against Takeshi Kasugai, but after that he choked out Kana Hyatt and showed positional grappling superiority against Czar Sklavos. Ogikubo asked for a fight against Yuki Motoya, but his injury prevented the fight.

Koji Ando

Ando signed with One FC and his wins against Rafael Nunes and Zorobabel Moreira both ended with finishes but in different ways. He choked Nunes and tapped him out, then fought a striking battle against the huge-framed Moreira. Ando forced Zoro to fight passively after pressuring him and, with Zoro’s mind weakened, Ando finished him with a body shot.

Taiyo Nakahara

Nakahara's 2014 did not go well because he did not have an opportunity to fight. He was supposed to face Honggang Yao, but the fight was scrapped because Yao missed weight. When I think about Nakahara’s record and improvement curve, he remains here on this list.

Hisaki Kato vs Yuki Niimura

Hisaki Kato

Kato is not yet well-known, but he is the current HEAT middleweight champion and also a Daidojuku champion. HEAT is a Nagoya-based organization, so I haven't watched his fights yet, but from his record and quick finishing times he should be seen as at least a top-three Japanese middleweight. Another reason why I am interested in him is his Daidojuku skill. The first Japanese fighter in the UFC was Minoki Ichihara and he had no solution against Royce Gracie's grappling, but after all of these years of MMA evolution, perhaps Daidojuku can contribute to major MMA's style diversity? That's not a pure fighter evaluation, but I am interested in him for such a reason, too.

Ayaka Hamasaki

Ayaka's 2014 was about testing herself in a new division. She dominated former Jewels featherweight champ Naho Sugiyama in striking and on the ground, then fought and defeated Mei Yamaguchi. We can expect that she will soon fight in the U.S. since she did not participate in the DEEP Jewels featherweight GP, which is being held in her new division.

Mizuki Inoue 

Mizuki's 2014 did not go how she had wanted. She missed weight in the finals of the DEEP Jewels lightweight GP and lost by DQ even though she submitted Emi Tomimatsu. She avenged her “loss” against Tomimatsu in her next fight to become Deep Jewels featherweight champion. Mizuki next fought Karolina Kowalkiewicz at Invicta FC 9, but her precision striking was not favored against Karolina's volume of strikes. She will begin 2015 against Alexa Grasso at Invicta FC 11. Mizuki is still only 20 years old, but she needs to develop more physical strength to give her precision striking more value.

Kento Kanbe vs Suguru Hayakawa fight from 10:10

Kento Kanbe

Kanbe may not be expected to be on this list because he is so early in his career at 18 years old, but his dominance over opponents with his grappling made me convinced that he needed to be included here. Kanbe trains at Alliance Square and is a grappling-based prospect at the moment. His strong point is obviously his ground game, but we know that current fighters in major promotions can't rely too much upon grappling. Alliance Square’s coach, Tsuyoshi Kosaka, knows how to build MMA talent, so I think that Kanbe will develop considerable striking skills but I don't know how far he can go. I think we will someday see him challenge for a Pancrase title.

Ryohei Kurosawa vs Tateo Iino

Ryohei “Ken Asuka”  Kurosawa

Kanbe is Pancrase's lightest weight prospect. I don't know if he will fight in the upper divisions in the future, but Shooto's lightest prospect is Ryohei Kurosawa. His nickname, “Ken Asuka,” is from Karate Manga. His style is karate, which he began training at age six, but what impressed me most was his sprawl against the takedowns of Ryuto Sawada, who is a top prospect.

Tatsuya Ando

Ando's career is too short yet, with only three fights so far, but he was a top-three wrestler in college. In his third bout, he beat Takahiro Ashida, who has 16 fights on his record and fought to a split decision against Miguel Torres. It shows Ando’s potential and what kind of athlete he is.




Ryuto Sawada vs Masayoshi Kato

Ryuto Sawada

Sawada had a breakout performance after his loss against Kurosawa. He outpaced and outwrestled Yuki Shojo for the entire fight and ground-and-pound KOed him. That was surprising for me since Ryuto is small for Shooto’s flyweight division. He displayed big KO power against Shojo, who only had one prior TKO loss in his career. Sawada is expected to face champion Yoshitaka Naito next year.

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

DEEP 68 Impact to stream on international iPPV

DEEP 68 Impact iPPV official purchase web

DEEP 68 Impact iPPV offer biggest JMMA flyweight battle for late half of 2014. Yuki Motoya was not favorite when DEEP flyweight tournament which crown first DEEP flyweight champ. But he rapidly improve and won the belt.This tournament can watch stream when it happen and now upload to youtube.When he capture DEEP title, he is youngest fighter ever take DEEP belt.


Yuki Motoya vs Akito Sakimura


Yuki Motoya vsNaoyuki Kato


Yuki Motoya vs  Akira Kibe

Tatsumitsu Wada do not have attention at early stage of career.He have five losing streak till get first victory.But he change his career with his strike trainer Katsuhisa Tashiro.Tashiro, known by improve boxing for Yuki Kondo, Michihiro Omigawa HidehikoYoshida and many other MMA fighters.He did coach for Yoshida Dojo at that time. He had winning streak with improve strike skill but that was stopped by Bellator Veteran Hiroshi Nakamura.Nakamura succeed take down Wada and secure decision.After that fight he understand importance of sprawl. He succeed avoid Takafumi Otsuka's ground game.

Wada and Motoya's first match ups hold at DEEP 63 Impact. Wada succeed taking top with Judo throws and leg trips.But Motoya succeed scrambles and make fight close.But Wada have enough position control to get unanimous decision.

Both are known for striker but I interest how much Motoya can sprawl against Wada.Wada become more total fighter. At last fight Wada take down Haruo Ochi to avoid trade. At other side Motoya completely crushed Yoshiro Maeda at last fight. Maeda known for his inconsistency.But at that fight Motoya make it like not competitive fight.Maeda often suffer KO lose but during the strike fight he never look like dominate by opponent.That make Motoya's odds higher at before fight prediction.But I should remain the question about Motoya can solve his lose at positional grappling.

This is most competitive and high level flyweight JMMA fight for later half of 2014.I can't convince myself who is winner cause both improve rapidly but let's confirm this big local fight with us. Japanese side already access major organization's match maker for prepare after the fight situation.

DEEP 68 Impact will stream August 23 17:30 (Japanese time)

Japan will be getting a non-TUF new-format TV show from the UFC

Gong Kakutougi, which has authority in the Japanese MMA industry, published an article discussing the awaited Japanese UFC program. It includes speculation, but it also tells us a lot about what is planned for the new show in Japan.

The Japanese UFC TV show will be more of a documentary than a reality show because of terrestrial broadcasting that won't permit an extreme character-based show. As such, they won't use a "House" or have cameras chasing fighters. Because of that, the name of show won't be "TUF" and a new name remains to be announced.

Zuffa wants Vale Tudo Japan (VTJ) to run the event, and they want talent not only from Shooto but also from Pancrase and DEEP. DEEP's Shigeru Saeki has said that MMA becoming a major attraction again is completely beneficial to DEEP itself, and so he will cooperate with this TV program.

The show's format has four fighters competing in a league-style tournament with two leagues in total. The winners of the leagues will fight in the finale and the first season of the show will only include Japanese fighters.

I have made my personal list of fighters fit for the show's cast. The UFC uses age as an important factor, so I've used age (30 or younger) and cleaner records for the list, but those two factors do not always determine the best talent.

I want to see some veteran fighters on the show as well. My 145-pound list is very weak, so veterans and other fighters dropping down from 155 should make for a better list. I also think that selecting either 155 or 125 as the sole division for the show will result in a better competition.


155:

Yusuke Kasuya (Akimoto Dojo Jungle Junction)
Nobumitsu Osawa (Tsudanuma Dojo)
Kazuki Tokudome (Paraestra Hachioji) 
Yuki Kawana (Shinwa Total Combat)
Kota Shimoishi (BLOWS)
Akira Okada (Kugayama Rascal)
Takasuke Kume (ALIVE)
Tetsuya Yamada (Shinwa Total Combat)
Chuji Kato (Reversal Gym Yokohama Groundslam)


Yusuke Kasuya

145:

Yusuke Yachi (Krazy Bee)
Isao Kobayashi (Sakaguchi Dojo) 
Akiyo Nishiura (STGY)
Ryogo Takahashi (Krazy Bee)
Tatsuya Ando (Tribe Tokyo MMA)
Yuta Sato (Akimoto Dojo Jungle Junction)
Yutaka Saito (Paraestra Koiwa)
Hiroyuki Oshiro (Vos Gym)


Yusuke Yachi

135:

Shintaro Ishiwatari (Cave)
Teruto Ishihara (Chokushinkai)
Keita Ishibashi (Wajutsu Keishukai Duro) 
Takafumi Otsuka (AACC)
Daichi Takenaka (Paraestra Izumi)
Ryo Okada (Paraestra Matsudo)
Go Kashiwazaki (K-Place)
Shoko Sato (Sakaguchi Dojo)


Keita Ishibashi

125:

Yuki Motoya (Club Barbarian Impact) (Can go straight to the UFC)
Tatsumitsu Wada (Yoshida Dojo) 
Hiromasa Ogikubo (Paraestra Chiba)
Yusaku Nakamura (Alpha Male Japan)
Takeshi Kasugai (Shimura Dojo)
Hayato Suzuki (Brave)
Yuya Shibata (Style)
Seiichiro Ito (Reversal Gym Yokohama Groundslam)


Yuki Motoya

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

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.

Richer Flyweight Scene for Latter Half-Year of Japanese MMA

Japanese flyweights have received attention for quite a long time because no such division existed in other countries, and the quick movement that is only provided by lighter weight fighters has charmed audiences recently.

We've regarded Shinichi Kojima, Yasuhiro Urushitani and Mamoru Yamaguchi as the "Top 3" flyweights in the local scene. No other Japanese fighters could threaten them, but now foreign flyweight divisions have grown and developed to become more challenging.


Shinichi Kojima

Shinichi Kojima lost to Jussier Formiga. Yasuhiro Urushitani entered the UFC with confidence and said that he would match up well against Demetrious Johnson, but he went winless in the UFC.

Urushitani also became upset when Mikihito Yamagami said that he wanted to compete in the UFC next year after Yamagami choked out Junji Ito, but after watching this year's VTJ 2nd when Yamagami won a decision against Mamoru (Urushitani's long rival), Urushitani became more interested in Yamagami and said that he was a good fighter.


Mikihito Yamagami

As I watched DEEP 63 Impact, I was curious about how Yuki Motoya would fight. Compared to opponent Tatsumitsu Wada, who has already fought major names like Daiki Hata and Takafumi Otsuka in DEEP, people saw Motoya as untested against highter level opponents.


Yuki Motoya

When I watched the fight, however, I was certainly impressed by Motoya's performance and his ability to use a variety of kicks and combinations against a better boxer. He lost a close decision, but when we think about his age (23), we can still expect him to be a solid prospect.

Tatsumitsu Wada is young (24), too, and he will have many challenges from veterans. Yoshiro Maeda, who beat Wada in August 2012, will drop to flyweight. As will leglock-oriented fighter Masakazu Imanari. With those moves, I feel that flyweight will become DEEP's most interesting division.


Masakazu Imanari

On October 20, at Ryo Chonan's retirement event "Tribe Tokyo Fight," Yoshiro Maeda debuts at flyweight against Mamoru Yamaguchi. Hideo Tokoro also makes his flyweight debut against Will Campuzano at VTJ 3rd at October 5.


Hideo Tokoro

Many veterans have chosen to move to flyweight in order to find new success, but younger talent has begun to rise up there as well. This makes for interesting matchups in Japan during the latter half of 2013.

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

2013 JMMA schedule

Every year in Japan, the MMA event schedule is held in a pattern. At the beginning in January, things don't look very active, and promotions try to build their way up to bigger events during the later part of year.

Here, I will break down this year's JMMA schedule.

First, Dream will stay with Glory at the Saitama Super Arena. Not many details have been released yet, but the kickboxing portion of the event will be separated. Other than that, not much is known.

For Shooto, they have started up VTJ again. I don't know how often they can hold these events in larger venues. They would like to have two or three events per year. If they hold two, April-May would work for the first VTJ and October-November can be used for the second VTJ if old patterns remain.

Shooto holds its annual rookie tournament every year. I recommend that foreigners watch the rookies at Shinjuku Face, where the Shooto Gig Tokyo events take place. Other regional events like Border, Shooto Gig Central and Shooto Gig North also have some of the tournament fights.
Shooto's Shinjuku Face events also include the Infinity tournament, which is designed for Class B shootors to step up to Class A, where fighters compete for three rounds instead of two.

The rookie tournament's early stages are also held in Osaka (Border or Shooto Gig West) or Nagoya (Shooto Gig Central), and the tournament final event at Shinjuku Face showcases the top Shooto rookies from the year.
Shooto rookies like Horiguchi and Tanaka fought at Shinjuku Face, won the tournament excitingly and then stepped up to bigger events at Korakuen Hall. Shooto's Korakuen Hall events still serve as most JMMA fighters' last step before signing with a major promotion.

Shooto can't offer enough money to make a living as a pro fighter only, so most fighters defend their belts a few times and then return them. Still, many young fighters nationally and internationally who love the sport will chase this tradition to become a major fighter.
Shooto's Vale Tudo Japan shows are caged events with unified rules. Last year, they brought in the Tachi Palace Fights champion to face Shooto talent as a test to see how close the Shootors were to being ready to fight for a major promotion.VTJ 2nd will hold on June 22nd, Tokyo dome city hall.

Pancrase normally holds its events at Differ Ariake. I recommend attending events if LW champ Isao Kobayashi and BW champ Shintaro Ishiwatari are fighting on the card.


Isao Kobayashi

This year's Pancrase schedule also includes a bigger event on September 29th that will commemorate the 20th anniversary of Pancrase. The event's venue, Yokohama Cultural Gymnasium, can seat 5000 people and we should see some great matchmaking for that event.
Pancrase is focused on bringing in foreign fighters in order to keep its events relevant, which is an interesting approach. They cooperate with AKA, Wand Fight Team and Cesar Gracie Fight Team. You can now see talented fighters from those teams in Pancrase.


Yokohama Cultural Gymnasium

DEEP constantly holds shows at Korakuen Hall with Dream dropout fighters. They will also hold a bigger event on April 26th when Satoru Kitaoka challenges for the LW title against Daisuke Nakamura, and Sengoku and Bellator veteran Dan Hornbuckle challenges Yuya Shirai for WW title. Also, Tatsumitsu Wada and Yusaku Nakamura fight in a flyweight title eliminator at this event.


Yusaku Nakamura

Generally, the bigger MMA events in Japan always take place in December. Dream's NYE show, of course, and also local organizations' landmark events. However, if you plan a trip to Japan during the rest of the year, check out the Sherdog Fight Finder for event listings and pick a good time to visit.

Big thanks to Robert Sargent (from 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.

Local prospects are in Bantam weight

Who are next generation of Japanese Mixed Martial Artist?At local Japanese organization,I can find Bantam weight prospect. Dream doing Bantam weight grandprix now..There are usual Japanese member who are former feather weight.But we will see new talent of clops in that division.I will list who is worth attention.

Shooto

Kyoji Horiguchi 20 years old

Krazy Bee's most promising prospect.At first heard about there is rookie fighter sparring partner for "Kid".It's sound wired when heard Major level fighter sparring with 2 to 3 fight rookie.Horiguchi show improve with fit his Karate skill to MMA.Currently have 4 KO streak. "Kid" says he should get Shooto title in one year.Horiguchi had only 4 armature shooto fight experience because too strong at categoy.


Kyoji Horiguchi

 He will face Naohiro "Chokugekigamon" Mizuno at September 23, Shootor's Legacy 04.

This year's Shooto rookie tournament have high level competition too.So we will see. Shooto's  Feather weight division (same as international Bantam weight division) will stacked.

DEEP

Tatsumitsu Wada 22 years old

Yoshida Dojo's prospect have experience karate and judo at childhood.He won 2007's future king tournament.He already have major win against Dream veteran Daiki "DJ Taiki" Hata.Hata can't handle Wada's punch speed.He will fight for DEEP title soon against Takafumi Otsuka. He can drop to Flyweight.


Tatsumitsu Wada

Yusaku Nakamura 25 years old

From Seiichi Ikemoto's style gym,Nakamura have Nihon Kenpo background.He stepped up as a late replacement of Darren Uenoyama at Dream. He had only 3 pro fight before he step up for Dream.This is shortest record of fight amount to fight Dream. His condition is not good since his injury didn't heal yet.But he shock people with knock down Atsushi Yamamoto.He lose but his reputation rise.


Yusaku Nakamura

He will face Seiji Akao at Septemvber 4 DEEP Osaka Impact.

ZST

Shunichi Shimizu 26 years old

From Uruno Dojo, Shimizu evaluated win against Manabu Inoue at SRC Asia Bantam weight tourny.He succeed to chain grapple against Inoue. He fought at feather weight recently.But he should fight for higher tier Bantam weight.

Pancrase

Motonobu Tezuka 24 years old

It's hard to choice Bantam weight prospect from Pancrase since their champ lose to ZST's Shimizu.But if I choice,Tezuka.From Dokonjonosuke Mishima's Cobra Kai.Tezuka show variety of takedown and lose split decision against Shintaro Ishiwatari.