DEEP 67 Impact to stream on international iPPV

DEEP 67 iMPACT iPPV official purchase web

DEEP decide do iPPV event for there event, DEEP 67 Impact .

Of course, most looking forward fight is main event between Yuki Motoya vs Yoshiro Maeda.Motoya is expect as golden prospect for DEEP organization but he  lose his belt against Wada.Beating Maeda value him as a challenger for Wada, because Maeda had beaten Wada.It's cross road fight for young vs old.You can looking forward it.Also it added Masakazu Imanari vs Haruo Ochi.It defines Imanari can still claim local title challenger or become mid tier fighter.But you can always think about this is still watching Imanari's fight at live, you can't expect many when think about his ages.

Also there is Kenji Osawa's retirement exhibition match and ceremony.You can expect special guest for exhibition opponent.


Yoshiro Maeda

TTF CHALLENGE 01 to stream on international iPPV

ＴＴＦ CHALLENGE 01 iPPV official purchase web

After his retire, Ryo Chonan's gym Tribe Tokyo MMA started own event. TTF challenge is for young prospect and fighters try to rebound.This kind event is hard to run because not as flashy as championship.But personally I enjoy watching prospect grow than anything. Also I know  everybody loves huge comeback story in sports.

I looking forward prospect crush, Yuya Shibata vs Yasutaka Koga most. I find Yuki Suzuki get evaluated from veteran fighter.It's rare to see this kind of event get ppv.So if you interest,spend dollars for make you fun.



Yuya Shibata

DEEP Jewels 4 to stream on international iPPV

DEEP Jewels 4 iPPV official purchase web

Recently, Japanese MMA organizations have tried to reach foreign fans with iPPV streams. It is a constant struggle to attract more fans and viewers, but at DEEP 66 Impact, Shigeru Saeki said that the event had performed better than he had initially thought. There is still a ways to go in order to meet his expectations and that has led him to the challenge of using PPV for DEEP and DEEP Jewels events. On May 18, DEEP Jewels 4 debuts on iPPV at Ustream.tv.

I hope that WMMA fans encourage others to watch the event because the number of people that watch will decide whether DEEP Jewels continues or not. You may remember that Pancrase did trial streams on Ustream, but it was short-lived. It's all about business. Saeki took over Jewels business when it was heavily in the red and many were against his decision to do so. If you see yourself as a WMMA fan, it's a do-or-die situation in defending one of the few all-female MMA promotions that still exists.


Seo Hee Ham

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

DEEP 66 get international iPPV

DEEP 66 iMPACT iPPV official purchase web

DEEP decide do iPPV event for there landmark event, DEEP 66 Impact .It include 5 title fight.BW, FW,LW,WW.MW. That's almost every championship they can offer.Price is around 9 US dollars.Also there is chance to watch free if you follow DEEP's this twitter account and retweet designate tweet.

All title fights they do at this event are

LW Satoru Kitaoka vs Naoto Miyazaki
FW Kazunori Yokota vs Katsunori Tsuda
BW Kenji Osawa vs Takafumi Otsuka
MW Yoshiyuki Nakanishi vs Shunsuke Inoue
WW Taisuke Okuno vs Yuta Watanabe

If prospect beat major name.There is a possibility fighter can make himself into majors.So it's not only for JMMA lovers.It can be prospect check.DEEP 66 Impact will be hold at April 29.


Kenji Osawa

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 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.

Will Chope interview

After the Tohoku earthquake happened in 2011, there were many people who stood together in a charity effort and that included the MMA community. Many Japanese and international efforts helped Japan. I assisted with Tony Loiseleur’s report on how Shuichiro Katsumura stood for Tohoku earthquake charities.

On November 8, typhoon Haiyan hit the Philippines and more than 5000 people became victims. The city's many structures were crushed by the storm. I know that Shuichiro Katsumura already donated to the Philippines and many fighters including Shinya Aoki and Ryo Chonan have talked about donations for the Philippines on Twitter. Mark Munoz and Brandon Vera have also tried to help their fellow countrymen.

I thought about who is the best fit to encourage people to support the Philippines and I realized that one person stood out from the rest: Will Chope, who recently got picked up by the UFC. He is the first UFC fighter ever who has a primary gym based in the Philippines. He is not Kababayan (Filipino), but he is based in South East Asia and has matured his skillset. He talked with me about his career in South East Asia and about how the people of the Philippines need help. Will has taken a new step in his career with the UFC and Filipino people need new steps for their lives as well, but they need help in order to do so.

(note: After We know Will Chope had incident when he was young, we decide close link to donate for red cross.I say there is nothing wrong with donation. But I don't want people misunderstand what we intent. We really thankful about what people did when link exist and hopefully continue to support natural disaster's damage for future. )

You are the first UFC fighter whose training is based in the Philippines. As an American, what motivated you to train in the Philippines or elsewhere in Asia when the United States has larger MMA events and bigger gyms?

I have been living in South East Asia for the last 3 1/2 years. I first came to Thailand to learn Muay Thai, then ended up traveling around and have based my camps out of Malaysia, Taiwan, as well as the Philippines also. I consider Baguio City, Philippines, my home in Asia, but I am constantly traveling around. The Muay Thai in Thailand and Boxing in the Philippines is the best in the world, so I have always enjoyed living and training in these parts. I prefer living in South East Asia because the people are just more warm, and the cost of living is low enough to where I can live off of my fight purses.

What is your life like when you are not training and fighting? Do you enjoy other sports or sightseeing when flying to other countries for training? Please talk a bit about your life outside of MMA.

Outside of training, of course I enjoy traveling and seeing the sights and experiencing the cultures in the different places I live. Also, I enjoy spending time with my family. My wife is Thai and we have a son, so it is good to travel to new places with them. She has taught me a lot about Thai culture and the language, so I feel every day I learn something new about life in Asia.

Please tell us about your team and your coaches who teach you striking and grappling, as well as your teammates whom you spar with. You, Mark Striegl, A.J. Lias Mansor and Yuji Hoshino all come from different countries. How did you meet them and form your current team?

I am originally from the United States but have spent the last 4 years living in different parts of Asia. My training camps vary, but I spend most of my time at Phuket Top Team in Thailand or training with Mark in Baguio. Here in Phuket, I have Andrew Leone who coaches my wrestling and BJJ, and I have two striking coaches. Piotr Leib, I work my boxing with. I am lucky also to do a lot of Muay Thai work with Thai trainers here, and I have Boyd Clarke who works with me to put everything together.

As far as Team Buffet, we are like family. Mark Striegl started the team and I joined when I went to live with him in Baguio City for 9 months. Then when we went to Malaysia we met AJ Pyro, and Yuji Hoshino was Mark's long-time coach from when he grew up in Tokyo. We are four very different fighters, each with unique skillsets, and we’re all based at different camps/countries. Every couple of months, two or three of us will meet up and train together and we always have at least one member helping to coach or corner us in a fight.

Who is the best prospect in South East Asia besides you, and which part of his or her game impresses you the most? 

Mark Striegl and Andrew Leone. Both guys have phenomenal wrestling and ground games. I expect them both to be signed by the UFC very soon.

You had six fights in 2011, ten in 2012, five in 2013, and you’ll have your 25th career fight when you make your UFC debut on January 4th. That is quite a large number of fights for someone still early in his career. How has that affected your skill improvement? Experience is obviously beneficial, but what about other factors such as damage taken? Also, do you need to fight that often in order to make a living in MMA in South East Asia?

When I first started training Muay Thai and MMA, it was back in 2010, and after a couple months of training I had my first fight and went pro. Looking back, I was very naïve and overeager to fight and was not ready at that time, but at the same time I believe my experience fighting has definitely made up for the time I have spent training compared to other fighters. I have had 52 pro fights total in MMA, Muay Thai, K1, Sanda, and Boxing combined. I love to fight and wanted to fight, but also living out here young and on my own with no college education, it was the only way I could earn money. I fight for mine and my family’s income. I am lucky to make my passion a career, but in doing that it also adds extra pressure. For when I lose, my whole family fills the impact. And as far as injuries, I would be lying to say that 52 fights in 3 1/2 years hasn't taken a toll on my body, but at the same time I am lucky to not have suffered any severe injuries.

In your last fight against Pancrase champion Takumi Nakayama, you showed that you could adapt well by using your frame and strength when grappling offensively and defensively, but Nakayama managed to get inside of your range and he landed some solid shots on the feet. What do you feel are your primary strengths as a fighter and which areas do you feel that you need to improve upon now that you are fighting in the UFC?

I need to improve everything, to be honest. I have won a lot of fights just by fighting awkwardly and by being the tallest fighter in the world in my weight class. I am blessed with a decent chin and a willingness to engage and always walk forward, but I do need to improve my boxing, wrestling and BJJ a lot.

Your upcoming opponent, Max Holloway, is a striker who likes to throw combinations and flying knees. What is your opinion of Max and how do you see this fight going? Without giving away your game plan, what would be an ideal scenario for you in victory?

Max is an interesting fighter. He is super tall and lanky like me and has crazy standup. Ideally, I'd like to choke him out fast and make a statement and show everyone I am ready for the UFC.

The Philippines was recently devastated by Typhoon Haiyan and the country still requires a large amount of support for citizens who were affected. As the first fighter based in the Philippines to fight in the UFC, could you please talk about what the Philippines means to you and what the MMA industry and audience can do to aid in the relief and reconstruction efforts?

I have Filipino family in Baguio City and many close friends in different parts of the country. I am grateful that none of them were affected by the Typhoon, but there were so many people who were affected and many who lost their lives. Filipino people are some of the nicest, warmest and most welcoming people you could ever meet. The Philippines to me is my home in Asia. So I ask that if anyone is interested in helping the Philippines and the affected families of the Typhoon, please donate to the Red Cross so that they can continue their ongoing support in rebuilding.

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