By Bryan Lee
In late 2006, as the Pride Fighting Championships began to unravel with rumors of money troubles and Yakuza ties, we began to see the first influx of top fighters arriving in the U.S. from all corners of the world.
The World Fighting Alliance was able to snag Rampage Jackson from Pride as well as Lyoto Machida who had only fought in Brazil and Japan up to that point (Martin Kampmann, who’d only fought in Europe, also debuted on the WFA’s final card). The UFC would end up buying out the WFA, leading to the UFC debut of the two future champions at UFC 67. This was also the stateside debut of Pride and K-1 star Mirko “CroCop” Flipovic. Kampmann saw his UFC debut at UFC 68. As 2007 progressed and the final nails were laid into Pride’s coffin, more and more fighters began popping up, including some of the greats like Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Wanderlei Silva. 2011 looks to be going the same way.
With the recent announcement of Bellator’s signing of top ten feather weight Marlon Sandro, the writing appears to once again be on the wall. I remember back in 2006 when the first rumors of Pride’s troubles began surfacing. Most believed them to be exaggerated, but as impossible as it seemed, there were several anonymous insiders who were predicting their fall. Once again, there are several rumors going around about the Japanese organizations and the feeling in the air is oddly reminiscent of 2006/2007.
In just the past year, we’ve seen Japanese mainstays like Takanori Gomi and Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto make their UFC debuts, along with the return of Michihiro Omigawa. The WEC was graced with the “Korean Zombie”, Chan Sung Jung. The StrikeForce cage has seen fighters like Shinya Aoki, Gegard Mousasi, Alistair Overeem, Melvin Manhoef, Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, Gesias Cavalcante and Marius Zaromskis.
With Marlon Sandro leaving WVR Sengoku for Bellator and Hatsu Hioki rumored to be going to the UFC, not much will be left in Japan. Bibiano Fernandes and Hiroyuki Takaya (a WEC vet) are still associated with Dream/FEG, but I feel that it’s just a matter of time before they leave as well. Lightweight Tatsuya Kawajiri is rumored to be meeting Gilbert Melendez in the StrikeForce cage this Spring and frankly has no other fights worthy of his ranking in Japan (same goes for Aoki).
The last five years have seen a wave of fight immigrants, arriving on our shores from all over the world. Some have struggled in the states, while others have become champions. The mecca of MMA has passed from the vale tudo fights in Brazil to the modern marvels of the Saitama Super Arena and the Tokyo Dome in Japan, and now to the fertile lands of the US. Perhaps it has been inevitable the whole time, but reality is becoming quite apparent. 2011 will see the UFC, StrikeForce and Bellator bolster their rosters with fighters from overseas as the Japanese promotions begin the unstoppable circling of the drain.
Much of Pride’s success in Japan has been accredited to the rise of Kazushi Sakuraba. The country became enthralled by the Gracie Killer and the Pride hype-machine built an aura around him. Former Pride commentator Bas Rutten recently attributed much of the demise of the scene on Sakuraba’s inevitable decline as age set in. Maybe it will take another Sakuraba type fighter to revive the scene in Japan.
I’d love to see it.
Sakuraba is a once in a generation type of fighter (if you’re lucky!) and I’d hate to have to wait that long. Guess we’ll just wait and see.
