.

[BluntForceTrama]

never saw the dude again. im not even sure if my parents know about the incident as i imagine i was in a bit of a haze that day. i completely forgot about it until i was in my late 20s and ran into my korean friend

Oahu bra? Kahala side here

 

[BluntForceTrama]

There are plenty of great Japanese fighters. But most of them fight closer to home. The Asakura brothers, Kyoji Horiguchi, Yuya Wakamatsu, Tatsumitsu Wada, Hiromasa Ougikubo, Shinya Aoki, etc.

I think there's a number of reason why you don't really see them in the UFC.
1. Culture barrier. Japan is one of the more homogeneous society in the world. not very interested in moving to Florida to train. I'm sure UFC are offering peanuts.
2. Japanese fighters populate a less popular UFC demographich. If you want to build a BADASS Flyweight/Bantamweight division with no-names, then Asia is the go-to region. However UFC does not. Horriguchi was 6-1 in the UFC and they just let him leave.
3. Japan (and perhaps more so Korea) has this Bite-down style: Gomi/Zombie/superboy/maestro, all value grit and chin way too high, and that does not work the moment they fight a tank of a fighter who does not get hit, and has the power to break any chin.

The Japanese who've come to the UFC have performed horribly tho Horiguchi included

 

[You Will Vote For Dreyga]

Tbh I dont think its worth factoring wmma into the discussion. Wieli is very talented but shes only one person and wmma is not as deep or competitive

Huh? The Straw Weight division is very competitive. There were 3 chaMpions last year. And it’s pretty deep too. By far the deepest Women’s division

 

[BluntForceTrama]

Japan doesn't care about MMA after PRIDE folded

MMA is still pretty taboo in China

This seems to be a common fallacy amongst some for whatever reason

there are other promotions chalk full of Japanese Rizin being one of them Fighting is there to stay

 

[Noraaq]

Maybe they don’t like the idea of fighting inside of a cage

 

[Gio]

Passion. I think it's a cultural thing. Koreans give their all in whatever they are passionate about, they go all in. Heart, mind, body, emotions, they give 100% to excel and achieve a goal. Whether it be in sports, entertainment, businesses etc. they're in it to win it and they want the world to recognize their country. The government and higher powers also supports the athletes/artists etc. and not hesitate to fund and promote them if they show great potential and promise. I agree that the mandatory military service is a factor too for it trains them discipline, survival, toughen them, and knowing that everyone will go through this hardship process no matter who you are and what state you are in life. We really can't say that they're "better" but when it comes to that one factor, I think it is passion. They put everything on it and go all out.



Plus they have Girls' Generation.

 

[BJ@LW&WW]

Oahu bra? Kahala side here

i went kaiser

 

[Gio]

I think Kpop music really fuels these korean fighters

Lol, but on a serious note, there's actually a documentary on their mandatory military training and guys in there have posters of kpop artists on their lockers, like everyone of them. They mentioned and I quote "they give us the strength to go on." I'm not even kidding.

 

[Chael_Sonnen]

Japaneses are not into MMA after the fall of Pride. They still had some top class fighters like Gomi and Okami.
Chinese? Look for Zhang, she is the best Asian MMA fighter (if you consider WMMA as a MMA fighter).
Korean.. Aside from KZ there is nothing to root... And KZ has never been a champ.
So your thread is just wrong.

Come on, KZ is way better technically than Weili. Weili gets by with her state sponsored "hydration" program, that makes her Cardio and Strength ridiculous.

 

[KID Yamamoto]

Korea literally only has Zombie. Historically Japan is the strongest asian country for MMA. Not to mention guys like Horiguchi and the Asakura Brothers are still around. Outside of Zombie i can only name like STUNGUN and kinda superboy.

Dunno why korea gets so much love around here. Zombie is the man but you K pop weirdos are off...

 

[wildbulls]

The notable Korean fighters cut crazy amount of weight (Hyun Gyu Lim, Dong Hyun Kim) and you see the Japanese fighters are more stubborn in this aspect and fight closer to their natural weight class and often looking undersized.

That's just my take because I think Japan has better talent but they just don't travel abroad

 

[Phisher]

they have 3 billion fn people and this post is still struggling to be true Lol

They'd probably be much better at it if the government weren't making a concerted effort to prop up traditional martial arts in order to preserve China's cultural history.


That MMA fighter who was going around exposing fraudulent martial arts masters had his life destroyed by the CCP.




Hopefully, Zhang's success will open things up there.

 

[Pancake Sprawl]

how are Koreans better? Japanese historically have had lots of great and even legendary fighters. you must be new. China doesn't have a strong showing in MMA because their government wants everyone to believe kung fu and chi energy blasts can defeat opponents.

 

[dipstickjimmy]

China and Japan have such a strong Martial Arts Tradition. Countless styles and many different Martial Artists practicing. They are basically world famous for there Martial Arts.

But how is it that there is more Korean Fighters in UFC and alot of them are higher caliber fighters that have better UFC Careers like Korean Zombie, Dong Hyum Kim, Doo ho Choi, Kang Kyung Ho etc.

Seems to me that Korean fighters have had more success in UFC far than Japanese and Chinese fighters. Usually most Japanese fighters get cut after a handful of fights and Chinese are nonexistent in UFC.

Makes no sense, you would think both nations being so widely renowned for Martial Arts would have better success than Korea and more fighters in UFC.

Japanese fighters do not cut weight.
Chinese have had little exposure to "Modern" MMA. Also China has a UFC champion. Neither Korea or Japan have had a UFC champion.

 

[Blanqa Blanqua]

Lol, but on a serious note, there's actually a documentary on their mandatory military training and guys in their have posters of kpop artists on their lockers, like everyone of them. They mentioned and I quote "they give us the strength to go on." I'm not even kidding.

that’s extraordinary

 

[Broad Blade]

Chinese UfC champs - 1

korean ufc champs - 0

even vietnam has a strikeforce title and korea 0 lmao!

There were very notable champs in the UFC with Korean DNA...

TS, I would say Koreans have more anger, emotions, and are more driven... Perfect recipe to be an mma fighter.

 

[jaquis]

id say on average, korean men are more aggressive than chinese/japanese, and getting into real scuffles as children is more common in korean culture. at least thats the impression i get.
grew up in hawaii and my high school had large cliques of all 3 nationalities, and my parents (taiwanese) had some racism towards koreans because of the stereotype of hot-headed men


also, when i was like 7 and went to my korean friends birthday party, one of his 'church friends' who im meeting for the first time grabs me by the head and headbutts me unconscious pretty much on introduction

i wake up to my friends mother in a panic, while the rest of the korean church group seem like theyve been playing video games for quite some time while my body was laying next to them

I’m Korean, when I moved out of the Midwest I discovered they call it K Rage. They have fun with it in So Cal

 

[Soma]

Koreans are known as the more aggressive, tall, and physically stronger of the Asian countries.

 

[teamfox223]

Does Bendo count as Korean?

 

[pankrat]

Even when pride fell, I always thought that Japanese fighters would still show up. Like Okami did by coming thru a different route via Europe circuits.

Okami did not come thru any European circuit.

He made a name for himself in Japan even if he only fought in Pride twice. His best showings in the internatinal stage prior to signing for UFC were vs Vitale in SuperBrawl and Jake Shields in ROTR, both in Hawai