Nippon Joho: The Lightweight Tournament Aftermath
Lightweight Tournament Aftermath
Stephen Martinez Sep 29, 2005
TOKYO — Dream Stage Entertainment President Nobuyuki Sakakibara was
loud and clear when in the past he’s expressed his feelings about
the current condition of the Bushido series, offering hard words
towards the fighters: “Do your best or Bushido will sink.”
I guess Sakakibara must be sitting somewhere in Tokyo right now laughing in happiness considering that Sunday’s Bushido tournament ranked among the top five PRIDE cards since the promotion started in 1997.
Now I don’t want to take anything away from Murilo Bustamante (Pictures), Dan Henderson (Pictures), Akihiro Gono (Pictures), Ikuhisa Minowa (Pictures) and the rest of the PRIDE
welterweights that did their best to make the card memorable, but
the night simply belonged to the lightweights in terms of
excitement and drama.
Once upon a time in SHOOTO
Confused, the young judo black belt from the same dojo as other popular fighters like Sanae Kikuta (Pictures), Naoya Ogawa (Pictures) and Hidehiko Yoshida (Pictures), joined this gym looking to cross train. After a while he realized his mistake and switched to Gutsman Dojo where he finally found what he was looking for since he left judo competition: a real MMA gym to start his bright career.
“Mach” Sakurai went to become the 1996 All-Japan Amateur SHOOTO champion in the welterweight (154-pound) division with a younger Caol Uno (Pictures) taking the No. 2 spot in the same tournament and weight class.
He made his professional debut in the 154-pound division the same year against none other than Uno. Two fights later Sakurai went up in weight to 167 pounds, where he found a new home and did much of the work that helped build his name into a SHOOTO and MMA star.
Up until 2001 everything was perfect for the SHOOTO middleweight champion. He was without doubt one of the most dominant pound-for pound-fighters in the world, but still not many fans knew Sakurai was fighting all this time against bigger guys who cut weight in order to fight him. The main reason why Sakurai jumped SHOOTO divisions from his natural weight class was because he didn’t like all the weight cutting and physical training many pro fighters go through day by day in order to make weight and fight in the different weight divisions.
Place all this next to Sakurai believing his own hype as a SHOOTO superstar and suddenly we have a lazy champion without much time spend training holding one of the most important belts in his weight division.
This quickly changed when Brazilian Anderson Silva (Pictures) got a title shot against the dominant Sakurai. What followed next was an out-of-shape Sakurai getting dominated by the lanky Brazilian fighter and losing a unanimous decision back in 2001.
The rough road and bad luck was not over for the skillful Sakurai.
Getting brutally dominated by Matt Hughes (Pictures) and Jake Shields (Pictures) while recovering from back pains due to a car accident didn’t make him any better. A change of scenery was needed in order to bring the old fire back, so Sakurai took a difficult decision to leave behind the safety of SHOOTO and join another Japanese promotion named DEEP.
After suffering a broken orbital bone at hands of Ryo Chonan (Pictures) back in DEEP 12, Sakurai was prevented from making his long-awaited PRIDE debut. Only later did he get the chance to jump into the biggest Japanese promotion to help build a new venture under the name Bushido, where fighters in lower weight divisions would get a chance to perform inside the PRIDE ring.
Sakurai went to perform with a mixed record of win and losses until in early 2005 he decided to make a significant change on his life. Finally realizing that fighting bigger guys in today’s MMA was not the best path for his career, Sakurai decided to take a big step and leave Japan in order to train overseas and regain that old fire back.
With close to no English skills, Sakurai got on to a plane and made several trips to America in order to train with Matt Hume (Pictures) and the rest of the AMC Pankration members in Seattle, Washington. His new goal was to cut weight back to his original 155-160 frame and once again try luck in another weight division not strange to him.
Now why I’m telling you all this?
Because I would like every fan to stop for a while and see that fighters are not only these “cool” icons every one wants to become. They also have problems like everyone else and struggle with their own personal demons while trying to give us their best performances. Sakurai at one point on his career was this fast, relentless and lethal machine who blasted his way through the SHOOTO rankings until 2001.
What we witnessed on Sunday was a “back to basic” Sakurai. What “Mach” specifically did in Seattle only Hume and he know, but Sakurai looked to be in excellent shape. His ground game still is one of the best in the division and his low kicks in combination with spinning kicks and punches were something to give flashbacks to any hardcore SHOOTO fan.
Sometimes we like to give total credit to the fighter for the excellent performances they display for the delight of many fans. But rarely have we stopped to see how these fighters get to the point when they perform the way they did. While Sakurai is not a rookie to MMA we clearly can see there was something else beside Sakurai’s skills in the ring with him.
His old fire from the SHOOTO days were there as well. His condition was almost perfect and the way he dominated and performed inside the ring was something to sit back and talks for months or years. All this could not be possible without the help of Hume, who helped Sakurai go through the rough days from early Bushido shows to carefully mold him back into the amazing fighting machine that Sakurai is now.
For all this, Matt Hume (Pictures) deserves recognition for bringing the “old” Sakurai back for all the fans across the globe to enjoy.
I guess Sakakibara must be sitting somewhere in Tokyo right now laughing in happiness considering that Sunday’s Bushido tournament ranked among the top five PRIDE cards since the promotion started in 1997.
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Once upon a time in SHOOTO
Once upon a time a young judoka by the name of Hayato Sakurai (Pictures) joined the ranks of a
Shoot-Boxing gym. The young Sakurai was looking for the ultimate
knowledge. He knew judo alone was not enough to take him into the
next level to become a strong person.
Confused, the young judo black belt from the same dojo as other popular fighters like Sanae Kikuta (Pictures), Naoya Ogawa (Pictures) and Hidehiko Yoshida (Pictures), joined this gym looking to cross train. After a while he realized his mistake and switched to Gutsman Dojo where he finally found what he was looking for since he left judo competition: a real MMA gym to start his bright career.
“Mach” Sakurai went to become the 1996 All-Japan Amateur SHOOTO champion in the welterweight (154-pound) division with a younger Caol Uno (Pictures) taking the No. 2 spot in the same tournament and weight class.
He made his professional debut in the 154-pound division the same year against none other than Uno. Two fights later Sakurai went up in weight to 167 pounds, where he found a new home and did much of the work that helped build his name into a SHOOTO and MMA star.
Up until 2001 everything was perfect for the SHOOTO middleweight champion. He was without doubt one of the most dominant pound-for pound-fighters in the world, but still not many fans knew Sakurai was fighting all this time against bigger guys who cut weight in order to fight him. The main reason why Sakurai jumped SHOOTO divisions from his natural weight class was because he didn’t like all the weight cutting and physical training many pro fighters go through day by day in order to make weight and fight in the different weight divisions.
Place all this next to Sakurai believing his own hype as a SHOOTO superstar and suddenly we have a lazy champion without much time spend training holding one of the most important belts in his weight division.
This quickly changed when Brazilian Anderson Silva (Pictures) got a title shot against the dominant Sakurai. What followed next was an out-of-shape Sakurai getting dominated by the lanky Brazilian fighter and losing a unanimous decision back in 2001.
The rough road and bad luck was not over for the skillful Sakurai.
Getting brutally dominated by Matt Hughes (Pictures) and Jake Shields (Pictures) while recovering from back pains due to a car accident didn’t make him any better. A change of scenery was needed in order to bring the old fire back, so Sakurai took a difficult decision to leave behind the safety of SHOOTO and join another Japanese promotion named DEEP.
After suffering a broken orbital bone at hands of Ryo Chonan (Pictures) back in DEEP 12, Sakurai was prevented from making his long-awaited PRIDE debut. Only later did he get the chance to jump into the biggest Japanese promotion to help build a new venture under the name Bushido, where fighters in lower weight divisions would get a chance to perform inside the PRIDE ring.
Sakurai went to perform with a mixed record of win and losses until in early 2005 he decided to make a significant change on his life. Finally realizing that fighting bigger guys in today’s MMA was not the best path for his career, Sakurai decided to take a big step and leave Japan in order to train overseas and regain that old fire back.
With close to no English skills, Sakurai got on to a plane and made several trips to America in order to train with Matt Hume (Pictures) and the rest of the AMC Pankration members in Seattle, Washington. His new goal was to cut weight back to his original 155-160 frame and once again try luck in another weight division not strange to him.
Now why I’m telling you all this?
Because I would like every fan to stop for a while and see that fighters are not only these “cool” icons every one wants to become. They also have problems like everyone else and struggle with their own personal demons while trying to give us their best performances. Sakurai at one point on his career was this fast, relentless and lethal machine who blasted his way through the SHOOTO rankings until 2001.
What we witnessed on Sunday was a “back to basic” Sakurai. What “Mach” specifically did in Seattle only Hume and he know, but Sakurai looked to be in excellent shape. His ground game still is one of the best in the division and his low kicks in combination with spinning kicks and punches were something to give flashbacks to any hardcore SHOOTO fan.
Sometimes we like to give total credit to the fighter for the excellent performances they display for the delight of many fans. But rarely have we stopped to see how these fighters get to the point when they perform the way they did. While Sakurai is not a rookie to MMA we clearly can see there was something else beside Sakurai’s skills in the ring with him.
His old fire from the SHOOTO days were there as well. His condition was almost perfect and the way he dominated and performed inside the ring was something to sit back and talks for months or years. All this could not be possible without the help of Hume, who helped Sakurai go through the rough days from early Bushido shows to carefully mold him back into the amazing fighting machine that Sakurai is now.
For all this, Matt Hume (Pictures) deserves recognition for bringing the “old” Sakurai back for all the fans across the globe to enjoy.
