JAPAN JUDO GOLD MEDALIST ISHII SIGNS WITH SENGOKU

While it went completely unnoticed in the United States sports media, in Japan the biggest story of the past 48 hours has been the announcement by Satoshi Ishii that he’s finally signed a deal with the World Victory Road promotion to fight on their ‘Sengoku’ events.  Ishii had announced his plans to become a professional MMA fighter some time ago, but until Sunday’s press conference in Tokyo had been fielding offers from both major Japanese promotions as well as the UFC. 

It may be a bit of a stretch to call Satoshi Ishii the “Michael Phelps of Japan”, but not by much.  His victory in the heavyweight judo competition at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing was easily the defining moment of the games for his countrymen and was considered by most media outlets the #1 highlight of the year in all of sports.  Though Japan does well at the Olympics for a country of its size and has won gold medals in a number of sports, it’s important to keep in mind that until the late 1970’s judo was the country’s most popular sport.  While its popularity in the intervening decades has been supplanted by imported team sports like soccer and baseball, judo still holds especially high prestige among the Japanese sports fans and general public.

Ishii himself is also a marketing dream.  He’s especially big by Japanese standards with 240 pounds packed on his bulky 5’11” frame.  Not surprisingly, he’s tough as nails and a terror on the mat but away from the gym he comes off like an awkwardly cheerful overgrown boy.  He definitely seems younger than his 22 years, but gives off the vibe of a nice neighbor boy who you’d gladly pay to mow your lawn.  Unlike his telegenic American gold medalist counterpart Phelps, who acts as if he spent as much time working on media relations as his backstroke heading up to the Olympic games, Ishii’s demeanor is of an athlete who literally spent the bulk of his life in a gym only to emerge and find himself a national hero and superstar.  He alternately seems to be having the time of his life at the vortex of a media frenzy as he is somewhat overwhelmed by the attention.

More specifically, he’s a Japanese marketing dream.  He’s also in a position where he would be set for life financially via endorsements and appearances even should he decide that he never wanted to wear a gi again.  After the Olympics, however, he announced that he was taking the same path as other recent superstar judoka like Hidehiko Yoshida and Yoshihiro Akiyama and would begin training for a career in mixed martial arts.

With the ability to offer him the most money and exposure, it seemed almost a fait accompli that Ishii would sign with DREAM and K-1 parent group FEG.  Obviously it’s a good idea to keep your options open in negotiations, so he also reportedly talked to Sengoku parent World Victory Road and Antonio Inoki’s Inoki Genome Federation pro wrestling group.    As expected, however, FEG reportedly presented Ishii with the most lucrative offer:  500 million yen (roughly $5.5 million US) to fight on DREAM and K-1 cards, with ‘incentive bonuses’ based on his drawing power and performance.  He would very likely become the highest paid mixed martial artist in the world before he’d even stepped into the ring for the first time.  The tentative plan was for Ishii to appear on the year end K-1/DREAM Fields Dynamite! joint show, if not fighting at least in a heavily hyped opportunity for FEG to unveil their investment.

Ishii then shocked the Japanese fight sport world by categorically rejecting FEG’s offer, saying that it was his “lifelong dream” to fight in the UFC.  While this rationale might sound plausible to a US based fan, it’s akin to a top college baseball player from a SEC school turning down a big offer from the Atlanta Braves saying that it’s his “lifelong dream” to play for the Yomiuri Giants in Japan’ Central League.  It frequently comes a shock to US MMA fans when immersed in Japan’s culture for the first time just how low the UFC ranks in the country’s fight sport pantheon.   In MMA, their profile is lower than DREAM and Sengoku, but even smaller groups like Shooto and DEEP.  Overall, the interest in and prestige of the UFC is well below not only boxing but even Japanese pro wrestling (puroresu).  The UFC is making some progress, and big fights like GSP/Penn and Lesnar/Couture now get higher profile coverage (Lesnar/Couture owed most of its interest in the Japanese press to Brock’s run as IWGP pro wrestling champ) but by no means is the #1 US MMA promotion considered on par with any of the major Japanese fighting groups. 

Ishii travelled to Las Vegas for UFC 92, with the Japanese media in tow covering his every move.  There were countless photo opportunities with Dana White, who spoke of Ishii in glowing terms, along with top UFC stars.  Upon his return to Japan, he was repeatedly photographed wearing UFC t-shirts while speaking enthusiastically about Dana White, Lorenzo Fertitta and everyone else involved with the promotion.  He appeared at the Sengoku card in January addressing the audience from the ring and wearing his ubiquitous UFC shirt; his message was that he was “going to fight in America for awhile” but would eventually return to Japan.

The announcement on Sunday that he’d signed a deal with Sengoku was yet another surprising reversal based on his previous statements, but it makes sense for everyone concerned.  Ishii will clearly make more money in Japan, and will benefit from training with Hidehiko Yoshida (who also made the transition from Olympic judo gold medalist to MMA professional).  It also gives Sengoku a shot in the arm in their competition with DREAM for the #1 Japanese fight promotion.