Random Fletch pre-Christmas Musings....

Published December 22nd, 2010



Weird week. Lots of rumours, rumblings, movings and shakings within the MMA world.
Mousasi vs Kyotaro booked for K-1 Dynamite. If you’re wondering why this may be strange, consider that a year ago Mousasi was an MMA middleweight, that Kyotaro is the K-1 Heavyweight champion, and that this fight will be contested under K-1 rules.

Mental. FEG strike again, playing on the fearlessness of their talent to book stupid matches. I’m not saying Mousasi has absolutely no chance whatsoever, but the cards are stacked, and a particularly vicious KO could perhaps make a dent in the career of one of MMA’s most promising “rising stars” under the age of 25 – that is, if the veteran can even still be labelled a ‘rising’ star!

In anticipation of what I deem to be the TRUE Sengoku Featherweight Grand Prix final, I watched both champ Sandro against challenger and Shooto champ Hioki, in their fights against the newly departed Omigawa. Halfway through the Hioki fight, I turned off the video, and struggled to avoid putting my screen through with my clenched, shaking fists. One thing the excercise did for me, however, is convince me that the Soul of Fight meeting between the Brazzo champ and the Japanese challenger will be contested between the very best  in Japan. These two are the creme de la creme, for sure.

UFC will host a 2011 event in Brazil. Clearly, with three Brazilian champions, they have the potential to stack a card and give us long-suffering fans a Pride-esque showing. Booking title defences for Aldo, Anderson and Shogun would top UFC 100 in terms of heavy, unwatered quality… but then again, Zuffa will likely book one of those men, and water the rest of the card down in order to promote another numbered event within three weeks. Money talks, and Zuffa are talkative. Stacked cards are Japanese only territory.

Fedor has been involved in a “will he, wont he” scenario concerning the January 29th 2011 Strikeforce card. It was loudly rumoured that Bigfoot Silva would be the man to face him, and that it would be part of the Strikeforce 8-man Heavyweight Grand Prix. As M-1 are currently negotiating, renegotiating and re-renegotiating, it is as yet unclear (there are many conflicting reports) if Fedor will actually face Silva, and if the bout would be part of the tournament if so.

Fingers crossed. Like it or not (personally, I like M-1 as an organisation) the protracted contract negotiations will undoubtedly stick in the memory once Fedor retires. This kind of thing gives the new breed of zuffa zombie MMA fan fuel to the fire that Fedor is such blasphemous things as “overrated”, “overhyped” and “not the greatest”.

Let us hope that – tournament apart – he fights soon, fights hard, and increases his activity. One fight a year these days just doesn’t cut it anymore.

As for the Strikeforce HWGP, what an epic tournament that could possibly be. It will mark the first time since 2006 that the organisation with the most stacked heavyweight division would put on a tournament featuring those fighters.

The expected names to be involved will draw from this talent pool:

*Alistair Overeem
*Fabricio Werdum
*Fedor Emelianenko
*Antonio Silva
*Josh Barnett
*Sergei Kharitonov
*Shane Del Rosario
*Andrei Arlovski
*Brett Rogers

Fantastic stuff.

There are rumblings that Satoru Kitaoka could be heading to the UFC. If you are unfamiliar with this man, let me cut a long story short and say that he was the Sengoku Lightweight champ, and it took a fired up pre-Aoki arm-snap victim Mizuto Hirota to relieve him of that belt. He also stretched Paul Daley with ease back in Pancrase, putting a true catch-as-catch-can clinic on the now top 10, dangerous and feared welterweight.
I hope he stays in Japan. Kid, Omigawa and Kitaoka to UFC, all within the same fortnight? What next, Aoki, Sandro and Hioki? Terrible.

Just on the Brazil UFC card – rumours are that Royce Gracie will be tempted out of retirement to fight on it. How ridiculous – people used his shambolic UFC 60 return to claim that it “proved” that the “new breed” of MMA fighter was more advanced. What exactly did it prove? Back in the day, the only art Royce used was Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, he had no other fighting skills. Matt Hughes was a well rounded fighter, this is true. But had he not trained for 11 years in BJJ himself, could he have beaten Royce? Besides, Royce was in his 40′s by then, it was ludicrous. The fight proved nothing, except that Royce Gracie himself was one-dimensional, and too old at that stage to match up with a current star.

Chael Sonnen is angling for a fight with Wanderlei Silva. This much is obvious, given the twitter messages the outspoken American has been sending. This would certainly be one fight that even the usual patriotic American fans would be cheering for Wand in. Personally, I find Sonnen’s schtick amusing, but this time it reeks of desperation to stay relevant and in the news. After being submitted late in his title bout with Anderson, Chael failed a drugs test, and the hype surrounding his name noticeably cooled. Clearly, he wants to stay in the limelight as long as possible, and twitter beefs may well – sadly – be a decent way of going about it in the technology age.
Stay tuned – World Victory Road presents: Soul of Fight, and K-1 Dynamite previews to come.
Fletch

Fletch Blog: Kid & Omigawa to UFC-land; This Japanophile Thanks God for Sengoku...

Published on various sites, December 20th 2010



Two more Japanese MMA superstars are heading stateside.
Now, whereas my American brothers from East to West now have an exponentially better chance of seeing P4P God Kid and the man “whom the featherweight division revolves around” (in his own mind), this simply means that I – a pathetically biased British Japanophile – now have to deal with yet another blow to the flagging Japanese scene. Thank the Lord above for World Victory Road’s epic Soul of Fight card: without it, I may not have made it through the Christmas holidays without turning into the fight game’s Ebeneezer Scrooge.

It should come as no surprise that Omigawa has left for the UFC. His ego is such that despite his obvious Yoshida Dojo ties helping him to gift decisions over the best two featherweights in JMMA, Marlon Sandro and Hatsu Hioki, he left for Dream, beat Takaya and some comparative cans, and then declared that the featherweight division ‘revolves around him’. He then called out Dream Lightweight champ Shinya Aoki to a fight at Dynamite, and has now decamped for America.

The guy is an animal, but I can no longer stand him. Any man who steals the perfect 18-0 record from my #1 featherweight in MMA, Marlon Sandro, depriving him of the chance to win the SRC Featherweight Grand Prix, and who defects from JMMA to the UFC, ain’t cool in my book. Disclaimer: this does not reflect the views of IFI as a whole, but FletchBlogs are ‘my book’.

No Cat No Life? Not for me, sonny Jim. For me it’s no JMMA no life, and the Japanese featherweight scene has suffered as a result of its two biggest and best dropping gift decisions to a man who promptly leaves for UFC. Now if Omigawa gets grapple-f*cked, or if Jose Aldo tears him apart, how does that reflect on Japan?
Horrible news for me. The best I can hope for is that he at least works his way to a shot against the mercurial Aldo, and then I can perhaps dare to dream. I may even forgive him for the darkness that was Sengoku 9.

Kid leaving for the UFC is one that I am a little more OK with. Yes, a star has left, but that star has faded in recent years. After taking a hiatus from the sport due to his desire to compete as a wrestler at the 2008 Olympics, Kid Yamamoto returned to the MMA world with two consecutive losses – unthinkable for the undersized juggernaut who had previously torn through a 22-1 record that included a K-1 Hero’s Middleweight (154lbs) Grand Prix triumph, despite having a ‘natural’ weight of around 135lbs or so. Kid was a phenom, and in losing to the talented rookie Joe Warren and Sengoku’s official Grand Prix champion Masanori Kanehara (a man who had lost in the tournament, and replaced a finalist due to injury) Kid clearly displayed a lack of motivation. Something just wasn’t there, and it was feared that he was a star that burned out fast. And one quick win over an over-matched opponent later, and the fears haven’t completely subsided.

Either way…whether or not Kid reclaims his place at the top of either the Bantamweight or Featherweight divisions, it will be a pleasure to watch him.

And the nostalgia in me can’t help but remember the fevered debate of the old days…’Kid vs Faber, who would win?’ Well, now we may just find out. I just hope they both have enough left in them to put on the epic showing that they both deserve from each other.

Though on saying that…I wouldn’t complain at another four second flying bicycle tiger knee knockout from Kid!

So what, you ask, have Sengoku got to do with the price of chips?

Well my lovelies, they happen to be putting on an epic end 0f year show. Last year was disastrous – the World Victory Road boys put their finest on the line in a co-promotion of sorts with Dream at K-1 Dynamite, and some of the top boys got stuffed. Sengoku lightweight champ Mizuto Hirota had his arm snapped by a copper lock from the imperious Shinya Aoki, and Kazuo Misaki got smashed by the fury of Manhoef. Kawajiri beat Yokota in a battle of contenders from either promotion, and Alistair Overeem kneed Kazuyuki Fujita so hard in the head that the big Japanese fella still has nightmares about horses. It was largely disastrous for WVR.

This year is different. FEG’s attempts to organise Dynamite have been shambolic, and World Victory Road presents: Soul of Fight looks to be more epic than all three (yes, three) Die Hard films combined with Con Air and The Rock. For y’all action junkies out thur’.

Sandro vs Hioki? THIS, my pedigree chums, is the TRUE final of the Sengoku Featherweight Grand Prix. With Sandro robbed (as aforementioned) and Hioki suffering concussion in his victory, the actual final was basically contested between the two guys that LOST their semi-finals!

The winner will be – in my honest opinion – the #1 featherweight in the world. Now, if only Sandro and teammate Jose Aldo had some kind of major falling out… wouldn’t that be nice?

I will be doing a piece on Soul of Fight this week, but for now lads, have a gander at this masterpiece, and anticipate it unfolding before our eyes on December 30th.

The card:

SRC Featherweight Title Fight – 5R x 5min
Marlon Sandro vs. Hatsu Hioki

SRC Welterweight Grand Prix Final
KTaro Nakamura vs. Yasubey Enomoto

SRC Middleweight Fight 3R x 5min
Kazuo Misaki vs. Mike Seal

Sengoku Muay Thai-boxing Rules 70kg 3R x 3min
Buakaw Por. Pramuk vs. Hiroki Nakajima

SRC Lightweight Fight 3R x 5min
Kazunori Yokota vs. Jadamba Narantungalag

SRC Heavyweight Fight 3R x 5min
Yoshihiro “KISS” Nakao vs. Dave Herman

Women’s MMA Rules Open-weight
Rin Nakai vs. HARI

SRC Bantamweight Asia Tournament Semifinals
Akitoshi Tamura vs. Taiyo Nakahara
Manabu Inoue vs. Shunichi Shimizu

SRC Jacket Rules Lightweight 1R x 5min
Yukio Sakaguchi vs. Jin Suk Jung

SRC Jacket Rules Lightweight 1R x 5min
Sotaro Yamada vs. Lee Sak Kim

SRC Jacket Rules 59kg 1R x 5min
Kiyotaka Shimizu vs. Ichiro Sugita

Sengoku Muay Thai Rules Heavyweight +86.18kg 3R x 3min
Fabiano Cyclone vs. Ryuta Noji

Sengoku Muay Thai Rules 73kg 3R x 3min
Musashi Miyamoto vs. Hiroki Komata

Sengoku Kickboxing Rules 70kg 3R x 3min
Yusuke Ikei vs. Shintaro Matsukura

Sengoku Kickboxing Rules 70kg 3R x 3min
Yutaro Yamauchi vs. Go Yokoyama

Sengoku Muay Thai Rules Lightweight 60kg 5R x 3min
Kanongsuk Weerasakreck vs. Genki Yamamoto

Sengoku Muay Thai Rules 52kg 5R x 3min
Arashi Fujihara vs. Mutsuki Ebata

Sengoku Kickboxing Rules 61.23kg 2R x 3min
Hironobu Ikegami vs. Yuji Tanaka

Women’s Sengoku Muay Thai Rules Mini Flyweight 47.62kg 5R x 2min
Erika Kamimura vs. Chiharu

PUJI Deal Dying: Will There Be A FEGless Japan?

Published on various sites, November 2010



It is not looking good.

With the Japanese businessmen and executives so camera shy during times of trouble, one sometimes has to turn to twitter, unreliable sites and the rumour mill. And concerning the failing PUJI deal – in which the Chinese investment bank were to find FEG investors to pump money through their ailing Dream (MMA) and K-1 (muay-thai boxing derivative) promotions, there seems to be no happy ending in sight for a promoter that smart money says will not be in existence long into the New Year.

Mike Kogan is playing the semantics game. No, PUJI never intended to simply pump £200million through FEG. Yes, they were just to find investors. No, they haven’t been able to do so, as yet. Yes, Dynamite is still on Tokyo Broadcasting Systems on New Years Eve. No, FEG aren’t looking for buyers.

This is as good as a death knell. The swirling rumour mill insists that certain potential investors backed out of any cash injection after being unable to find common ground with FEG management, and that any and all suggestions of change were “resisted” by the Japanese organisation.

If Dynamite is the end, where will this leave the flagging fightsports scene in the Land of the Rising Sun?

In MMA: the only hope we realistically had was Sengoku. The orgs execs publicly released statements claiming that they “would let Dream destroy itself”, thus becoming the #1 org in JMMA by doing absolutely nothing, simply allowing their rivals to be crushed under their own weight. While that may sound promising, it is far too late.

Sengoku WERE an ambitious, young and promising org once, but since 2008 they have lost a ridiculous amount of talent; both to Dream, and to international orgs that can afford to pay higher purses. At heavyweight, they once boasted Japanese Olympic heroes Hidehiko Yoshida and Satoshi Ishii, top ranked Pride veteran and UFC champion Josh Barnett, and another UFC champ in Kevin Randleman. Beyond that, they had the talented lightweight Satoru Kitaoka as their inaugural champ, they had featherweight standout Hatsu Hioki, rising star Michihiro Omigawa, and future Strikeforce Light-Heavyweight champion “King” Mo Lawal. They lost the services of ALL…. and many more besides. Dream snapped up some of their best talent, and they were condemned to putting on lower key shows and belonging strictly to the B-level.
Can Sengoku enjoy a turnaround, if Dream go? Who knows. My guess is that international talent will follow the superstar alumni of PrideFC, and go to the United States of America. SRC will snap up the remaining Japanese talent, but struggle with the current Japanese economy and the apparently faded public interest in fightsports.

Beyond that, DEEP are looking to step up their game, by venturing out to China. The last time Japanese warriors fought on Chinese soil, Nanking was destroyed, and the Chinese had to move their capital to Peking (Beijing). This time, hopefully it will be the beginning of a push for prominence from DEEP, who have been in the shadows for a long, long time.
As for K-1…. therein lies the REAL tragedy of this tale. Now, as a European, I know full well that thai-boxing (I refuse to use the American term “kick” for Full Contact Karate) will never die out. It is too popular in Holland and northern Europe, too popular in East Asia, and reasonably popular in England, the UK, the Americas, so on and so forth. But K-1, an org that allowed practitioners of all striking martial arts to compete to be the best standup fighter in the world…. it transcended martial arts, dojos, belt ranks, style vs style… it has a religious cult following, and to some it is a sport of its own.
How can that be replaced?
The answer: it cannot.

It's Showtime event: featuring K-1 big guns Schilt, Hari, Manhoef, Saki, Zimmerman, Souwer & Spong

Amsterdam might be the best means of filling the unbearable void left in fightsports, if K-1 goes. Even though the city is reportedly run by criminals, and thai-boxing shows are of course predictably linked to criminal activity and shady characters, it still represents the best hope should the local scene be able to overcome these issues and transcend itself. And why not? Dutch Muay Thai is as popular as football there.

It’s Showtime is an organisation that any fan of standup fighting should know and love. Any org that hosts Semmy Schilt vs Badr Hari to decide its first World Heavyweight Champion is either going to be huge, or be a bright star that burns out fast. Better yet, unlike K-1 it has multiple weight categories, giving a chance to fighters who cannot make 155lbs for K-1 MAX but who are too small to reach the top in K-1 itself. It has a 95kg category, called 95MAX for the Light-Heavyweights. None other than Melvin Manhoef is the World 85MAX champion. There are also divisions for 77kg, 70kg, 65kg and 61kg fighters, which should make for a very, very deep talent pool. This will allow for the very best standup fighters at a variety of weights to compete for this org. It’s Showtime could well be the future – and I hope they are.

This is not an optimistic piece. Believe me; if I had my way, I wouldn’t be writing it. For all their faults, FEG put on entertaining events with Dream, and Hero’s prior to that. And as for K-1, there is nothing like Dynamite. The World Grand Prix is damn hard to beat. The promotion hosts amazing fighters and fights. It will be tragic to lose it.

Pray that either PUJI somehow manage to come through, or that FEG can sell to someone interested in keeping K-1 – at the least – going. If not, we’re praying for the resurgence of Sengoku, Deep and Pancrase on one hand, and the emergence of It’s Showtime on the other. I know what I’d prefer.