February 27, 2011, Riki Fukuda – team Grabaka’s DEEP Middleweight Champion – fought in the UFC for the first time.
The match which went to a judge decision in the favour of his opponent, Nick Ring (Canada), was widely accepted as Fukuda’s win and it has been reported that Dana White has offered to compensate Fukuda with the same purse as the winner.
MMA-in-Japan will interview Fukuda shortly and get his thoughts on
DEEP Welterweight Champion Yuya Shirai faced Paul Daley at BAMMA5 in Manchester, England on Feb. 26.
Daley used his reach and jab to stick and move. Shirai had
UFC 126 in Las Vegas, Nevada, is headlined by Anderson Silva vs Vitor Belfort. At the weigh ins the crowd seemed to be behind the challenger, Belfort, but the fight itself could shape up to be an epic battle. Both fighters are undoubtedly at the top of the middleweight division so we will have to wait and see on Saturday, February 5th.
This UFC also sees two top class Japanese fighters, Michihiro Omigawa (12-8-1), and Norifumi Yamamoto (18-3-0), who face
MMA-in-Japan.com went along to Wajutsu Keishukai’s A3 gym in Wako-shi to see Rikuhei Fujii, the new Pancrase Middleweight Champion, do his strength and conditioning workout, and we were lucky to get the chance to ask him a few questions afterward.
Fujii trains at A3 but is often at Wajutsu Keishukai’s RJW gym training under Yushin Okami. Recently crowned the middleweight King of Pancrase Fujii is an up-and-coming fighter with experience in the ring and the cage (Cage Force) and can be seen in the corner of Okami when he fights in the UFC.
Check the video and interview!
MMA-in-Japan.com spent a few days with Swiss fighter, Yasubey Enomoto during his recent visit to Japan. Yasubey fought Keita (K-Taro) Nakamura in the welterweight division tournament final of Sengoku Raiden Championship (SRC) at Ariake Colloseum in Tokyo Japan on December 30, 2010.
This video is from the weigh in and the pre-fight warm up.
The following interview was taken immediately after the weigh in, the day before the fight.
December 30, 2010 will see an exciting mix of MMA and kickboxing matches on a day long card of 28 fights at Sengoku Raiden Championships (SRC).
MMA-in-Japan.com was at the weight ins and photo shoot at the arena a day before.
Sengoku (SRC) Ring
Also present was Roxanne Modafferi who will face Hitomi Akano at 61kg.
Roxanne Modafferi overseeing the SRC ring set up!
Coming soon – an exclusive interview with Yasubey Enomoto who will fight K-Taro Nakamura for the welterweight title.
Dream Dynamite!! 2010 Fight Card – Dec. 31st, 2010 – Saitama Super Arena – Japan
Have a look at some of the shots from UFC 122 on Nov. 13, 2010 at the Konig Pilsener Arena in Oberhausen, Germany.
MMA-in-Japan.com would like to congratulate Yushin Okami on his win in the main event and wish him all the best with his fight next year against the winner of Anderson Silva vs. Vitor Belfort.
With Chael Sonnen seemingly out of the running in the middleweight division, Japan’s Yushin Okami is firmly back in the running. Facing Vitor Belfort in UFC 122 in Germany and winning will give Okami a title shot against Anderson Silva.
MMA-in-Japan would like to wish Yushin all the best!
*UPDATE*
Vitor Belfort is apparently getting a title shot before the end of the year and Nate Marquardt steps in to fight Yushin Okami.
