Japanese MMA Fighters To Watch Out For In 2023

This is the annual prospect list series for 2023. This edition has six prospects from Shooto, Pancrase, DEEP and Fighting Nexus.

Current Japanese MMA organizations can offer direct communication to fans with fight videos. This has especially been true with Mikuru Asakura's YouTube popularity, so this is the best time to enjoy a Japanese MMA rookie’s videos.
 

Rei Tsuruya  (6-0-0)

Rei was included in last year’s list, but he has not yet been picked up by a major organization. He chose Pancrase to build his career because he wanted stronger opponents, and he beat Satoru Enomoto to win the flyweight King of Pancrase title. Rei has become one of the faces of Pancrase, but he will surely land himself a spot in a major organization soon. His hope is to sign with the UFC, but he also has an interest in facing John Dodson, who fought at Rizin's NYE event.




Wataru Yamauchi  (5-0-0)

Wataru's 2022 ended with a TKO win against Kiyotaka Shimizu. That fight impressed me. Kiyotaka is a veteran who has had many fights against big name flyweights. Wataru's TKO of him was only Kiyotaka’s second KO/TKO loss in his long career. Defeating Kiyotaka at such a young age automatically placed Wataru on my rookie list.


Takeji Yokoyama  (4-0-0)

Takeji was known from the grappling scene where he was a rival of Kleber Koike (Kleber was the winner of this rivalry, though). This year, he beat Sora Yamamoto, who is one of the young up-and-comers in Rizin. The win earned Takeji the Fighting Nexus featherweight title. Takeji’s main focus is on jiu-jitsu, and I am curious whether he may have better jiu-jitsu than Rizin’s featherweight roster (except Kleber).


Hiroto Gomyo  (3-0-0)

Hiroto has a Shotokan Karate background. He was the 2019 All-Japan Karatedo Champion. Hiroto is a gym mate of Japanese MMA star Mikuru Asakura, and he has adapted takedowns well. He can choose to strike or take opponents down, and has clever distance making and counterattacks. Hiroto will next fight Kouya Kanda for the DEEP interim featherweight title.




Ayaka Watanabe  (2-1-0)

Ayaka is from the Japanese MMA gym AACC, which has a reputation for training and developing female fighters. She surprised many audience members at Shooto’s first event in 2023 when she KOed durable former champion Mina Kurobe, who had only been stopped by strikes once before this during her 25-fight career. Ayaka has taken on the hardest route for her career. Her second fight was against Emi Fujino, which is Ayaka’s only loss, and then she got her biggest win in only her third pro fight. I think she will have more big fights soon in her career.


Yannick Yuji Ephoeviga  (3-0-0)

Yuji scored a TKO win against Tatsuya Tanaka in just 80 seconds at Shooto’s first event of this year. He won the 2022 Shooto Rookie tournament at welterweight with that victory. Yuji declared that he will drop to lightweight, He already showed TKO power at 170, but dropping down a division will create more of a power advantage and more violence for sure.

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