Top 10 - Greatest Japanese Fighters in MMA

House Adams said:
Okami has to find a place on this list.... Also, and I know I’ll the Saku supporters will want to tar and feather me... But Both Gomi and Aoki probably achieved more in a deeper more talented division.. And it’s not that I don’t love me some Saku.. I just think guys that are able to be argued as some of the best LW’s of all time, and the talent they faced and beat over their careers, put them just a fraction above Saku... In my humble opinion.. He’s definitely top-3, no doubt... Just think it can be argued... He definitely gets bonus points for fighting at HW when he could have made 185lbs / 183lbs with no problem... Guys a straight Legend and a killer.. Gods don’t make them any tougher then Saku.
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SAKU G. historically fought around 182-183 lbs.
 
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Gomi should be number one, he actually won the pride belt.

Saku was tough, but never a champ.

Aoki has a bunch of b level titles.
 
Pierced7681 said:
Gomi should be number one, he actually won the pride belt.

Saku was tough, but never a champ.

Aoki has a bunch of b level titles.
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Yeah but Gomi was in the right weighclass, he was actually one of the biggest guys on the tournament... Sakuraba have to fight open weight for his pride stint, we he beat Belfort, Belfort had dismantled Wanderlei Silva and was probably as high regarded as it get's... Saku belt it's the real belt, i don't even know who hold it now unoficially but that is the only belt that matter :D.
 
TheWalrusNo9 said:
1. Saku

- IMO the most talented fighter to ever come out of Japan. His natural weight class by today's standards would be WW. He fought LHWs and HWs for the vast majority of his career. He would've easily handled Hughes, Miletich, Trigg & Lawler. I would personally favor him vs GSP as well. Thats the top WWs of his prime.

2. Gomi

- Possibly the most "decorated" fighter out of Japan. His 2004-2005 was the best streak of any LW in history. He had insane natural gifts and one can only imagine his peak had he truly took training seriously and evolved.

3. Kyoji Horiguchi

- Was hard to place him above his mentor Kid, but he surpassed him terms of accomplishments. Kyoji is extremely young and has a long career ahead of him. That being said he has already accomplished a ton and has shown an elite level of athleticism and technique. He isn't smashing cans either and would easily be a top 3 FlyW in the UFC right now.

4. Kid

- Easily the most naturally gifted fighter in BW/FlyW history and possibly out of any weight class. He never met his full potential due to injuries and taking a long break from MMA to pursue a medal for wrestling in the 2008 Olympics.

5. Hayato Sakurai

- Similar to Gomi in terms of just needing to train harder and more disciplined. Even so he was an elite WW and has some insane wins on is record.

The 5 above are the best by a large margin. Aoki, Fujita, Misaki, Funaki & Yoshida can fill out the list in any order.
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This is a great list. I’d put Aoki slightly higher, just not sure above who. It’s good to see gooch getting some rec as well. I’d like to see him back.
 
Pierced7681 said:
Gomi should be number one, he actually won the pride belt.

Saku was tough, but never a champ.

Aoki has a bunch of b level titles.
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SAKU G. was more than "tough", some legit ahead-of-his-time skills...
 
gono btw said:
SAKU G. was more than "tough", some legit ahead-of-his-time skills...
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Dude had serious talent, under developed talent by the way, he was very natural to punching, kicking, wrestling, his timing was good and had great capacity for improvisation...
He would take down guys like Crocop and Mezger, even being outmatched in strenght departament by a lot... His striking was SWIFT, i wonder if he had actually learned some technical striking what could he be... But early Sakuraba would make any trainer salivate.

At his era japanese meentality demanded that fighter believed in talent and warrior spirit too much, too much preparation, conditioning was for pussies.
 
GalegodoVeneno said:
Dude had serious talent, under developed talent by the way, he was very natural to punching, kicking, wrestling, his timing was good and had great capacity for improvisation...
He would take down guys like Crocop and Mezger, even being outmatched in strenght departament by a lot... His striking was SWIFT, i wonder if he had actually learned some technical striking what could he be... But early Sakuraba would make any trainer salivate.
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SAKU GOAT had underrated striking, for sure...

On a sidenote, I have to keep it real here: he did struggle to take Mezger down (stalemate position)...
 
gono btw said:
SAKU GOAT had underrated striking, for sure...

On a sidenote, I have to keep it real here: he did struggle to take Mezger down (stalemate position)...
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He strugled a lot, Mezger had great takedown defense, even being smaller he put Mezger on his ass for a brief time a couple of times. Can you phantom if they were actually the same size, and their strenght was closer in gap. Mezger was a striker and Sakubara was casually dodgin his punches like it was easy, that fight was boring by the way.
 
Megumi

megumi-fujii.jpg
 
Kind of sobering to see this top 10.

This just isn't a great top 10 considering how big MMA was in Japan, as well as the whole martial arts background in that region. I'm not that impressed. I loved PRIDE, I even liked DREAM and now RIZIN to some extent - but Japan was a let down in terms of talent - simple.
 
GalegodoVeneno said:
He strugled a lot, Mezger had great takedown defense, even being smaller he put Mezger on his ass for a brief time a couple of times. Can you phantom if they were actually the same size, and their strenght was closer in gap. Mezger was a striker and Sakubara was casually dodgin his punches like it was easy, that fight was boring by the way.
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IIRC:

1st 5 mns : Saku completely dominated Guy, mainly with head-kicks (Bas & Quadros were a lil bit biased in their commentaries, sayin´ they were [partially] blocked...)

then: 4-5 mns where Saku tried his single-leg take-down, didnt really get it but put Guy on the defensive

Obs: Guy didnt even counter these TD attempts with punches on the ground. Hence, technically, Guy couldnt be the winner of these 4-5 mns

Last 5mns: Guy completely dominated Saku with jabs.
 
gono btw said:
IIRC:

1st 5 mns : Saku completely dominated Guy, mainly with head-kicks (Bas & Quadros were a lil bit biased in their commentaries, sayin´ they were [partially] blocked...)

then: 4-5 mns where Saku tried his single-leg take-down, didnt really get it but put Guy on the defensive

Obs: Guy didnt even counter these TD attempts with punches on the ground. Hence, technically, Guy couldnt be the winner of these 4-5 mns

Last 5mns: Guy completely dominated Saku with jabs.
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I think Guy won because i'm a damage guy and at least he hit like 3 or 4 punches, not Strong ones tough... But Sakuraba got some flashh single legs takedowns and got to his back at least twice quickly shrugged... Sakuraba was slipping most punches, this fight was close, no robbery, nothing happen so a draw is cool to go... The only problem being Guy signed for only 1 round.
 
GalegodoVeneno said:
I think Guy won because i'm a damage guy and at least he hit like 3 or 4 punches, not Strong ones tough... But Sakuraba got some flashh single legs takedowns and got to his back at least twice quickly shrugged... Sakuraba was slipping most punches, this fight was close, no robbery, nothing happen so a draw is cool to go... The only problem being Guy signed for only 1 round.
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yeah, but was a short notice fight... SAKU fighting around 180 lbs, for sure Guy was a LHW there, so the weight difference could have compensated for Guy´s stronger finish, which would explain the draw... tough fight 2 score tbh...
 
gono btw said:
yeah, but was a short notice fight... SAKU fighting around 180 lbs, for sure Guy was a LHW there, so the weight difference could have compensated for Guy´s stronger finish, which would explain the draw... tough fight 2 score tbh...
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Ken Shamrock was the definition of OVER REACTING.
 
gono btw said:
SAKU G. historically fought btw 178 & 183 lbs.
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Sure... what’s he admired for tho.... those fights at 183? Or when he was fighting LHWs and HWs... you can’t tell me that he wasn’t fighting way outside his best weight during a large portion of his prime...

And I’m not referring to what he himself tipped the scales at...
 
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