I’ll bet that when the fifty-eighth DEEP card on June 15th was booked and scheduled, Shigeru Saeki didn’t imagine that it would be the most high profile event in Japan. The death of DREAM is perhaps the final death knell in the chronically stagnant scene of kakatougi in Japan. Not PRIDE, not K-1 in its […]

As the news was first broken by our friends over at MMA-Japan.com DREAM has officially gone under. The organisation is Bankrupt and has closed the doors. After DREAM delayed the date of there last show, many started to have real concern about how things were going for Japan’s largest MMA organisation. The concerns were answered with news that […]

He holds more top 10 wins than any lightweight past or present, and his résumé stands him in good stead to be considered the #1 lightweight of all time. The “Tobikan Judan”, Master of Flying Submissions, Shinya Aoki. He is obviously on the brink of becoming a fully fledged One FC fighter, not merely participating […]

At the start of the century, two MMA promotions stood alone at the top of the mountain, leaders of the pack, promoting the world class talent the sport had to offer almost in its entirety, with rosters that American, English and European organisations could only dream of. They were the pinnacle, the peak, and their […]

Shooto 5th round came and went, another Shooto event with the usual (or perhaps very slightly less) lack of international fanfare, but be that as it may, it was another solid card to await a full download for – spoiler ridden as ever. Sigh. Nice one to my old partner in e-crime Stuart “Hello Japan” […]

Having sat on this rumour for about three weeks, it’s good to finally put to paper. A bout between Evolve MMA’s superstar and the man with more top 10 wins at lightweight than any other, Shinya Aoki, versus pound-for-pound demi-God of Mixed Martial Arts and the pick of many longtime fans for the #2 spot […]

DEEP are a frustrating organisation – immensely enjoyable shows, but no advancement, no international streams available, only a tedious wait to download the event (when possible) after which the results are more than likely already spoiled. However, they’ll always hold a soft spot in my heart, and have hosted some of the truly great J-MMA […]

MMA’s best thighs return this month (unless you’re gay or female, and have a bunch of old Ken Shamrock tapes) when pocket rocket and undefeated MMA starlet Rin Nakai returns to the ring on May 20, in Pancrase. Nakai is not just a bonny little beauty from Matsuyama, Japan, she’s a damn fine fighter. A […]

Yamato Damashii Diaries In the wake of the March 11 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, former Shooto heavyweight champion Enson Inoue has been on a one-man charity mission, repeatedly traveling to northeast Japan to directly help those in need. MMA Fighting joined Inoue to document his journeys through the ruins of the coastal villages of Tohoku, […]

DARE are not a promotion prone to quiet marketing. With bare-knuckle fights announced, statements pronouncing that ‘mornings after DARE are sweet hangovers’, and signings such as Mark Striegl and Irshaad Sayed, the Bangkok organisation refuse to exist in silence. Last night the results from Bangkok were as follows; Arnaud LePont def Cris Haja, round 1 guillotine Andre […]