Satoshi Ishii Wants to Fight in the UFC

by skeed on Dec 17, 2008 9:26 AM EST Comment 19 comments

This Fan Post was promoted to the front page by Nick Thomas.

Suki of MMAFighting.com reports about Judo Olympic gold medalist Satoshi Ishii's MMA career plans:

After training on Dec 17, he told his decision to the press:

"I made up my mind finally. The UFC is where I fight. If I'm an unknown judo-ka, I will definitely built up MMA experiences in Japan first. However, I decided to use my title of the Judo gold medalist. I believe my name value will attract the UFC. I'm sorry that my indecisive and expressive behavior confused DREAM staff and fans."

"I'm a white belt in MMA. I understand the possibility of starting from WEC. I go to the US first, and work on contracting with the UFC. I plan to go next March for training at American Top Team."

UPDATE by Kid Nate: Zach Arnold has some commentary on what may actually be going on with Ishii:

Daily Sports newspaper in Japan has everyone buzzing about the possibility of Satoshi Ishii signing with Zuffa instead of with DREAM. The paper’s angle is that if Ishii signs with UFC, he won’t be fighting in Japan.

It’s an intriguing story. It’s not uncommon for a Japanese fight star to use the name value of an American promotion (think: WWE and Japanese wrestlers) to try to build up credibility back home. The “oh, look, WWE is interested in me! But I stayed home in Japan because I’m loyal to you” spin.

That said, if Ishii signs with UFC, there’s only one reason for Zuffa to make this move — to run shows in Japan. The problem for UFC is that the climate on the ground for them is hostile — they’ll need someone like a Total Sports Asia or someone else to promote events on the ground for them. If Zuffa goes alone into Japan, they will bleed cash heavily and lose face. Japan is a very delicate situation.

Maybe I'm being a naive fanboy, but I'm taking a slightly less cynical take on this. With Akiyama leaving DREAM and talking smack about fighting for the UFC, there are some actual possibilities for Zuffa in the Land of the Rising Sun.

An Ishii vs Akiyama match would certainly be a huge draw in Japan, is it possible that Zuffa could pull it off?

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He will disappointed to find the WEC does not have a heavyweight division.

However, if he were to get built up in Japan and get himself a decent record, I think the UFC will be salivating over him. Having said that, if you have name recognition in Japan you don’t get built up as a mixed martial artist. You get fed to the wolves to see if you can judo flip them.

by SamCupitt on Dec 17, 2008 12:04 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Why don’t they just give him Randy Couture? Sounds like a good fight to me. He did just lose to a pro wrestler and this guy is a gold medal winning judoka

by skwirrl on Dec 17, 2008 12:18 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

I honestly believe this is a big deal.

I thought Olympic Judo Champions were a big deal in Japan. This would be a good way to get more awareness and media coverage and even possibly increase ratings for future or current shows that are seen in Japan.

I think he would be a great addition to the UFC as they continue expanding to new markets.

by mattman73 on Dec 17, 2008 12:24 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Very interesting.. I wonder if this is indicitative of a paradigm shift with international fighters that is growing beyond the UK. I’d love to see more Asian fighters in the UFC, both due to the fact that many of them are favorite fighters of mine, as well as my desire to see all of the worlds best fighting under one roof.

by Blackout612 on Dec 17, 2008 12:25 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

This is awesome news. I would love to see Ishii in the UFC.

I agree with Blackout612, this is really indicative of a shift toward the US as the center of MMA. Sucks for the Japanese promotions, especially considering Sengoku and Dream could use all the help they can get from big names. It’ll probably be a year or two until the shift becomes so great that everybody starts coming over, but I don’t doubt that it’ll occur.

by Rundownloser on Dec 17, 2008 12:36 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

DREAM on...

Japanese fighters have nowhere near the stature or name recognition in the US that they do back home…especially for Olympic medalists.

You really think they’d risk taking $20,000 + 20,000 or even an $80,000-100,000/fight contract where they can be cut after one loss (ask Werdum) when they can easily command $800K for some big fights? They don’t have the drawing power in the US to go outside the UFC salary structure.

While they may be big tools towards an expansion into Asia, you have no clue if you think they’ll be happy to trot over to the US to fight for 1/5th of what they can command in Japan.

by The_Gaijin on Dec 17, 2008 10:13 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

The Kakutogi boom is over in Japan, and with DREAM and Sengoku’s financial woes, especially in this harsh economic climate, for how long will they be able to continue paying $800,000 for those big fighters? And if Zuffa has some good Japanese talent who could draw some in Japan, like Ishii, I don’t think I would be long until they attempt a Japanese show. And they’d pay him $800,000 (mostly off the books) for that show.

by Rundownloser on Dec 17, 2008 12:23 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

We’re in full agreement that he’d be huge for them and probably make big money if UFC goes to Japan.

What I was disagreeing with was whether he’d (a) be a big draw and (b) make the type of money like that, in the U.S. Which for all intents and purposes – I believe I am solidly based on my points. After reading your comment directly above I think I just mis-interpreted your stance.

Looking at the numbers from the last K-1 show, I think there’s a solid argument that you can still pull very strong ratings and money if you have the right people being promoted. So while the boom as in nothing can fail, is definitely over, I think there’s still lots of room to make lots of money and generate lots of interest if you have the right fighters (i.e. Ishii, Akiyama etc.).

by The_Gaijin on Dec 17, 2008 2:57 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Agreed

I just wonder whether that K-1 card is evidence that MMA can still do well or if its gonna be remembered as the last hurrah. It’ll be awhile before we know, but my guess is the latter.

by Rundownloser on Dec 17, 2008 3:19 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

This is either an attempt to extract more money from Dream, or a total burn of their ass.

As Cupitt says, he needs to get at least a couple fights under his belt, not least to give the UFC more time to lay the groundwork for a real movement into Japan. If they can do a show with Ishii on it, they’ll take over the Japanese market.

by Michaelthebox on Dec 17, 2008 3:27 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Maybe I’m being a naive fanboy, but I’m taking a slightly less cynical take on this. With Akiyama leaving DREAM and talking smack about fighting for the UFC, there are some actual possibilities for Zuffa in the Land of the Rising Sun.

An Ishii vs Akiyama match would certainly be a huge draw in Japan, is it possible that Zuffa could pull it off?

I don’t think he’s saying there’s no possibilities for Zuffa in Japan. He’s just stating that Japan is a difficult place to run shows in successfully, especially if you use the UFC’s business model of – “we’re coming in and doing it all our way or f#$k you!”. You need to have someone over there that’s plugged in in order to be able to get things done.

by The_Gaijin on Dec 17, 2008 10:02 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Damn you improper blocked quoting.

by The_Gaijin on Dec 17, 2008 10:02 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah I agree with Zach’s take on the facts of the matter, but I choose to have a different attitude about what it all means — I’m a glass is half-full kind of guy!

by Kid Nate on Dec 17, 2008 10:06 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

LOL…compared to him it wouldn’t take much! :)

by The_Gaijin on Dec 17, 2008 10:15 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Say he goes to the UFC…. There goes Japanese MMA’s next big star and with that there goes Japanese MMA.

by Discman2 on Dec 17, 2008 10:17 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

I doubt it…he only goes to the UFC if they’re planning on running shows in Japan, in that case, he’ll spike interest in Japanese MMA again.

He’s a rookie and an absolute unknown in the US. It makes zero economic sense for either party if he’s just out right going to fight for the UFC in the US/Europe.

by The_Gaijin on Dec 17, 2008 10:23 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Some things that I’ve been thinking about:

People here still haven’t forgotten that it was Zuffa that closed Pride (regardless of who was really responsible, most fans here point the accusatory finger at Zuffa like they were disingenuous about keeping Pride alive in the first place), and for all the people in Japan who would show up at a UFC show, most of them would be the hardcore contingent who loved Pride. Would Ishii and/or Akiyama be enough for them to not need the hardcores, even in Japan?

Also, there’s the question of who else Zuffa will pick up besides Ishii, since it might be a good idea to get at least more than one judo gold medalist if they’d want to make an impact here. Word on the street is that Akiyama has been trying to position himself as Ishii’s manager, perhaps to enable him a better position to bargain with the different promotions here. If that’s the case, would there even be an Akiyama versus Ishii bout?

Further, there’s also big doubt insofar as to Ishii’s abilities in an MMA capacity. The people he trains with have been apparently saying he needs so much work to transition over to MMA that fighting on NYE would be a bad idea (thus the origin of the rumor that his intent was to only announce his entry into MMA on NYE, and that he’d fight after his graduation from college in the spring). Even if he does improve by next spring, he’d still be pretty raw I would imagine. In a promotion where winning is everything, would Zuffa be able to protect their investment in him when anyone in the anemic HW division could pose a serious threat?

by ikari47 on Dec 17, 2008 7:54 PM EST reply actions 0 recs