SATOSHI ISHII comes to MMA

**v1y** · Posted On: 9/15/2009 9:14pm

yoshida is seriously underrated... but ishii will kill him imo.

**Nefron** · Posted On: 9/16/2009 6:01am

Originally Posted by wingchundo

Here's to hoping they wear full gis during their match.

Ishii said he is done with Judo and he will not wear his gi.

**Little Lamb** · Posted On: 9/16/2009 9:46pm

This makes me sad for Yoshida. There must be a better way for a 40 year old former judo great to make a buck. Photo found on judoforum:

**Res Judicata** · Posted On: 9/25/2009 2:42pm

Saw this conditioning training video with Ishii on judoforum.

YouTube - Satoshi Ishii Ben Moreland Phil Baroni MMA Conditioning

I need to buy a prowler. Those things are awesome.

Ishii/Yoshida promo video (in Japanese) (also from Judoforum):
YouTube - æˆ¦æ¥µGSPã€€0920 1/3

**PizDoff** · Posted On: 5/17/2010 5:41pm

Olympian judoka Ishii records first MMA victory

Score one for Olympic champion Satoshi Ishii.

Nineteen months after officially quitting judo for mixed martial arts, Ishii recorded his first win this past weekend with a first-round armbar submission of kickboxer Tafa Misipati at a show in New Zealand, a MMA news site reports. The victory evens Ishii's professional MMA record at 1-1.

Ishii won a gold medal for Japan in judo at the 2008 Olympics. Soon after he announced that he would enter professional MMA. His credentials made him a highly sought after free agent -- the Ultimate Fighting Championship courted Ishii heavily and was close to signing him, but he opted for a more lucrative deal to compete for World Victory Road, which runs the Sengoku Raiden Championships promotion in Japan.

World Victory Road hoped to push Ishii as the next great Japanese fighter, but he lost a decision in his debut against the popular Hidehiko Yoshida on New Year's Eve. Against the veteran Yoshida -- himself a Olympic judo champ in 1992 -- Ishii's inexperience showed with an unrefined stand-up game and lack of endurance as the fight wore on.

http://content.usatoday.com/communit...-mma-victory/1

**Just Guess** · Posted On: 5/18/2010 11:51am

Here's video of his last fight. It looks like a really small venue. I'm pretty sure I can see a basketball backboard in the background. Not surprisingly Ishii dominated in the clinch and on the ground.

YouTube- XPLOSION Satoshi Ishii vs Tafa 'Thumper' Misipati

**Res Judicata** · Posted On: 5/18/2010 12:45pm

It looks like Ishii's management is now doing it right. Throwing him to a veteran with similar core skills like Yoshida was a mistake, albeit likely a lucrative one. Letting him fight progressively harder opponents and working his way up is a better way to go. The other guy was out of his league, though.

**alex** · Posted On: 5/18/2010 4:00pm

funnily enough i was at that fight.

and yeah, his opponent Thumper has afaik pretty much no grappling experience.

**Little Lamb** · Posted On: 5/19/2010 8:22pm

It seems like most times I see an event involving New Zealanders, whether the event is in New Zealand or not, there's Maori drum playing. I realize Maoris make up almost 15% of the population and I enjoy the drums. I'm not being critical of the drums.

I'm just curious if the drums are ubiquitous in NZ. Does the 85+% of the population that isn't Maori truly embrace the drums, is it a branding/tourism thing to impress foreigners, or something else entirely?