The Japanese Invade China Again!

Published on MMA-Japan.com, January 12th 2011

A JMMA event in China! Who would have thought!!!

The last time Japanese warriors crossed the Pacific and visited their western neighbours, they raped, pillaged and slaughtered for eight years, before events elsewhere in WWII dictated that it was time to leave China – as the vanquished. Now, the Deep boys are crossing the Pacific in peace to visit a Chinese province, where they will hold their event “Mayhem in Macau” on an undisclosed date in early 2011, a postponement from their original date of Saturday 8th January.  

This is welcome news. Japanese MMA – barring Pride – has always been notoriously xenophobic when it comes to the markets they aim to serve. Even Pride was not broadcast in Great Britain, Ireland nor many other major European countries and potential lucrative markets. And to this day, many Japanese orgs seem to have little interest in promoting their brand outside of the Land of the Rising Sun.

And now with FEG reportedly in such dire financial straits that it was heavily rumoured that K-1 Dynamite would be their last event featuring MMA bouts, it is absolutely imperative that other orgs step their game up. How ironic, then, that it is DEEP that takes the initiative; the same promotion criticised by some for being little more than a glorified feeder org for Dream.

God has a sense of humour…

Leading the Japanese charge into China will be the glorious DEEP Megaton division. Those men upwards of 100kg fight in this illustrious weight class, for a title only seconded by the magnificent Super Hulk. Of the Megaton taking a brief holiday across the East China Sea, first and foremost will be the champ, Yasuke Kawaguchi, who will defend the Megaton belt against hulking Kazuhisa Tazawa. No other fights have been officially announced as yet, though touted BJJ competitor Marcos Souza will reportedly make his MMA debut at the event. Other participants are rumoured to be Welterweight champ Yuya Shirai, Ryuta Sakurai, and Luiz Andrade.

Art of War are seemingly on hiatus, so there must be a clear market in the world’s most populous country and of course the largest economy. DEEP are stepping their game up; let us hope that more Japanese promotions can do the same.

Fletch