MMA in Japan

I arrived at the dojo in the middle of the summer of 2001, the hottest summer on record in Japan for 80 years they said. Coming from Scotland, my hottest ever holiday taken in the Mediterranean, the heat coupled with high humidity was ferocious. No air-conditioning, the gym in set at basement level with little circulation of air. Since it was the day after Pride 15,

In May 2001, 5 months after arriving in Japan, I met Nobuhiko Takada right after Pride 14 through a mutual friend. We ate yakiniku in Roppongi and I expressed my interest in training with Kazushi Sakuraba. He asked me why I was interested in MMA