Ishii Officially Announces MMA Turn! Organization Undecided

Satoshi Ishii finally announced his turn from Judo to MMA today. He said that the organization he will compete in is not decided yet and that he will discuss with his family and other persons concerned before deciding.

He is also very modest and understands the preparations needed for entering MMA. When asked about Dynamite!! and NYE Ishii just answered that he thinks that he will go on his customary first shrine visit of the new year.

Ishii To DREAM?! Appearance At Dynamite!!

In a new article at the Sponichi website it says that it became clear on the 28th that Satoshi Ishii will enter DREAM and that he will greet the fans in the ring at Dynamite!! on NYE. Apparently he has already contacted DREAM in absolute secrecy. There is a celebration party by his support group/fan club on November 3rd in Osaka where people are predicting that Ishii might comment on this.

Ishii Stories! Hard Worker And/Or Genius?

First of all, at a garden party yesterday Ishii was asked by the emperor of Japan if his next aim is London 2012. The answer was that it is not his aim.

As the chances of Ishii’s aim being MMA are very high, here are some stories by a few fighters who have met and trained with Ishii.

The first one is from when Andre Galvao visited Axis Jiu-Jitsu Academy in Japan. This is from before the Olympics:

I even had the opportunity to train with the Judo world champion, Ishii, who practices Jiu-Jitsu at Axis now. He is pretty good on the ground and I hope he wins the Olympics. I wish him luck. I was really glad to be able to train with an athlete like him, a professional Judo athlete from Japan. – JJFJ

Ishii Challenges! …Kids In An Obstacle Race

Today was Health & Sports day in Japan and Satoshi Ishii challenged some children in an obstacle race.

You can watch the race here.

Yoshida Pitched At Baseball Opening Ceremony Today!

Hidehiko Yoshida pitched with his judogi on at the opening ceremony of the central league final baseball game between the Yomiuri Giants and the Yakult Swallows today.

He answered questions by the press afterward. He talks about Akiyama, Ishii, and that he is currently training to fight in the New Year event. You can read what he said in this article.

(Photo By: Kamipro)

D&S Links! Tanigawa Not Happy With Akiyama

Tanigawa Not Happy With Akiyama

In the latest Kamipro special magazine, FEG president Sadaharu Tanigawa talks about his dissatisfaction with Akiyama’s recent attitude. This has to do with Akiyama’s comments after his victory at DREAM.6 when he said that he wants to fight Hidehiko Yoshida, but there might also be other resons behind it…

No Broken Bones For Cyborg

Tatame.com reports that Evangelista Cyborg doesn’t have any broken bones following his fight against Siyar Bahadurzada at SENGOKU V. Cyborg is looking to get back to training soon and hopes to participate at SENGOKU VI in November if he can recover until then.

Xande Talks MMA Debut

Here is another Tatame.com article where Xande Ribeiro talks about his debut fight and says that he might be back in November.

English Articles About Ishii Press Conference

There are a couple of English articles about Ishii’s press conference on the 7th. Read them at Japan Times and AFP.

Ishii Concentrated On Graduating Right Now!

Satoshi Ishii held a press conference a few hours ago where he said that he wants to concentrate on graduating from Kokushikan University right now but that he is interested in MMA in the future. He is not impatient and he wants to slowly think about which course to take.

(Photo By: Sanspo)

Big News! Satoshi Ishii Most Likely To MMA

A couple of days ago Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun reported that Beijing 2008 gold medalist in Judo (+100 kg division) Satoshi Ishii will make his MMA debut on NYE. Yesterday at the Judo World Team Championships, Ishii denied this. However, today, All-Japan Judo Federation’s Kazuo Yoshimura told the media that Ishii told him yesterday night (after denying it) that he wants to enter MMA.

Here are some of the Japanese newspapers and sites reporting this:

http://www.nhk.or.jp/news/k10014562091000.html
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/news/20081006-OYT1T00575.htm
http://www.asahi.com/sports/update/1006/TKY200810060261.html
http://mainichi.jp/enta/sports/news/20081007k0000m050087000c.html
http://sankei.jp.msn.com/sports/baseball/081006/bbl0810062024002-n1.htm
http://www.47news.jp/CN/200810/CN2008100601000694.html
http://sports.nikkei.co.jp/index.aspx?n=SSXKB0525%2006102008
http://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/s/article/2008100601000694.html
http://www.jiji.com/jc/c?g=spo_30&k=2008100600824

This has also been reported on an American site.

Ishii will be interviewed at 10 a.m. (Japanese time) tomorrow on a sports news show.

We should be excited about this because Ishii is only 21 years old, he just won the Olympics, he is a BJJ brown belt, and for some other interesting reasons discussed here.

Road To Dynamite!! 2008! Part 4

Unknown Event

Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun reports that Satoshi Ishii will make his MMA debut on NYE.

DREAM/K-1

It seems that Masato vs. Akiyama in a K-1 rules fight is possible for the Dynamite!! event.

Final Preparations! Getting Ready For The Sixth Dream

This post will be on top until the event on Tuesday, but there might be newer posts below.

#18: The All-Japan Judo Federation Stops Fedor X Ishii?

It seems that the all-japan judo federation were the ones who stopped the Fedor X Ishii meeting from happening yesterday. Maybe we’ll see them brought into the ring at the event today instead? Royce Gracie might also be there.

#17: New CroCop Article, Videos, And Translations

Thanks once again to Robert at betwwx for translating this Mirko CroCop article (check article for training footage and pictures).

” I am ready” – said to us the most famous croatian special police officer before one of the most important fight in his career.

Two operations in last few months did not allow him to train with full strength and we were skeptical about his “I am ready. But after watching his last training we got confirmation on what we heard from CC team.

K1 trainer Zizanovic (from CC K1 days) and professor Jukic said: “Mirko has never been this ready, Overeem has no chance!”

20 minutes of fight simulation he did “like a joke”, his high kicks sounded literally like an earthquakes and hand-boxing tehniques are again Mirkos strong weapon like in K1 days.

” I am max. motivated again. To me every fight is important and this fight could bring me title fight.”

About Overeem

“A very experienced fighter who has won big names. He is very motivated, but I am also motivated. Physically I am better prepared then him. We will see on Tuesday evening, but I think that I’m the favorite. ”

“I believe that I am gonna knock him down in 1st round. I am excellent prepared, but I am not disparaging him. This is sport where one detail or one punch decides who is the winner.
Overeem is dangerous fighter and I must give the best of me.”

In addition, there is a subtitled video on YouTube with more training footage of Mirko. However, in this interview he says that there will be a DREAM event (actually, he says tournament, but I’m assuming that it’s DREAM) in Seoul, Korea in November and that he is interested in participating in a grappling match against Ralek Gracie there.

#16: Surprise Supposed To Have Been Fedor X Ishii Introduction?

It seems that the surprise today was supposed to have been a Fedor X Satoshi Ishii “kaoawase” (e.g. cast members introduction to each other), but it was discontinued 2 hours prior (I don’t know why).

There might be some interesting people present at the event tomorrow…

#15: Weigh-In Results

11. HW: Mirko CroCop (102.7 kg) vs. Alistair Overeem (109.9 kg)
10. LW: Shinya Aoki (69.9 kg) vs. Todd Moore (69.8 kg)
9. MW: Yoshihiro Akiyama (84 kg) vs. Masanori Tonooka (83.7 kg)
8. WW: Hayato “Mach” Sakurai (76 kg) vs. Kuniyoshi Hironaka (75.9 kg)
7. MW: Minowaman (87.9 kg) vs. Masakatsu Funaki (90 kg)
6. FW: Hideo Tokoro (62.9 kg) vs. Atsushi Yamamoto (62.8 kg)
5. HW: Sergey Kharitonov (115 kg) vs. Jimmy Ambriz (132 kg)
4. LW: Ktaro Nakamura (70 kg) vs. Adriano Martins (70 kg)
3. MW: Ronaldo Jacare (83.8 kg) vs. Zelg “Benkei” Galesic (83.9 kg)
2. MW: Gegard Mousasi (83.9 kg) vs. Melvin Manhoef (84 kg)
1. MW: Yoon Dong Sik (84 kg) vs. Andrews Nakahara (83.5 kg)

The Minowaman vs. Funaki bout is still called a Middleweight fight but it’s basically free weight in the contract (open-weight).