【Top5】Greatest Japanese Fighters in MMA history

1. Miku Matsumoto
2. Megumi Fuji
3. Takanori Gomi
4. Kazushi Sakuraba
5. Yuka Tsuji
Honorable mention: Horiguchi (his career isn't finished, so it's hard to evaluate it)
Jarl
 
Katsumi Yamada said:
Good names in terms of the most elite fighters during their primes, good #1

I'd probably put aoki at the bottom of those 5 though..
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You'd have to put Sakurai over Aoki, for sure. I mean, especially given that an old Sakurai KO'd a prime Aoki, even if an oldish Sakurai arguably got a gift against a greenish Aoki.

Masakatsu Funaki, Kiyoshi Tamura, Kazushi Sakuraba, Yuki Kondo and Hayato Sakurai are all people that should have consideration. Japan has produced a ton of great fighters though, so its hard to really put it down to just five. Kawajiri, Gomi, Minoru Suzuki, Masakazu Imanari, Satoru Kitaoka...all of them have done great things inside the ring. Caol Uno is another one. Hideo Tokoro has a bunch of losses but also some incredible wins.

In terms of accomplishments though, I think Imanari is very underrated. In my book, he was the top featherweight in the world around the time people were claiming that Brown and Faber were #1 and #2. He was one of the few people to ever actually unify titles in two major promotions and then actually defend those titles (Cage Rage and DEEP) and he's had amazing longevity as well.
 
JohnMandick said:
Minowa, Fujita, TK, and Tamura are valid too. I forgot about Fujita to be honest.

If we want to be super technical, I think Inoki might be up there too. 1st huge mma ever (kinda) and then his NYE events.
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Fujita would have probably been a total world-beater if he'd started fighting right after he ended his amateur wrestling career. Professional wrestling can really take a lot out of person, especially strong-style professional wrestling.

Not many people are aware of just how good Fujita was as an amateur wrestler. Fujita and Takahashi are two guys with amateur wrestling backgrounds that are often overlooked by fans and commentators. Takahashi was 4th in the World Cup in freestyle and Fujita went to the world championships for freestyle multiple times, placing I believe 6th and then 11th and also doing well in number of other major international competitions.

I'd imagine that, straight out of amateur wrestling, Fujita's shot would have been even faster than what we saw in his MMA career. And unlike guys like Sakuraba or Takahashi, he wasn't doing shoot-style professional wrestling, so he wasn't getting the detailed education in striking and submissions that those other guys were. It was still more than what you would have gotten from the WWF/E, but certainly not on the same level of the UWF and its many splinters, where you were basically being trained as a fighter and martial artist as much as a performer.

In Takahashi's case, I think perhaps the rule-set he competed under wasn't necessarily an ideal place to capitalize on his strengths. He had submission skills, but he wasn't a wizard like his fellow freestyle stand-out Suzuki, and probably would have benefited from a place like Shooto or the UFC where he could hold people down and punch them in the face.
 
Kforcer said:
You'd have to put Sakurai over Aoki, for sure. I mean, especially given that an old Sakurai KO'd a prime Aoki, even if an oldish Sakurai arguably got a gift against a greenish Aoki.

Masakatsu Funaki, Kiyoshi Tamura, Kazushi Sakuraba, Yuki Kondo and Hayato Sakurai are all people that should have consideration. Japan has produced a ton of great fighters though, so its hard to really put it down to just five. Kawajiri, Gomi, Minoru Suzuki, Masakazu Imanari, Satoru Kitaoka...all of them have done great things inside the ring. Caol Uno is another one. Hideo Tokoro has a bunch of losses but also some incredible wins.

In terms of accomplishments though, I think Imanari is very underrated. In my book, he was the top featherweight in the world around the time people were claiming that Brown and Faber were #1 and #2. He was one of the few people to ever actually unify titles in two major promotions and then actually defend those titles (Cage Rage and DEEP) and he's had amazing longevity as well.
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Rumina Sato was the first Japanese fighter to submit a BJJ black belt if I'm not mistaken
 
gono btw said:
09/11/1937:

George Gracie vs Yassuiti Ono > L via choke




10/06/1934:

George Gracie vs Wladek Zbyszko > L via armlock
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Doggone it, Gono, you know we're talking the modern era, doggone it.
 
I don't care to look through 14 pages so sorry if this was asked before.

Where does Funaki stand?
 
JarlSkuld said:
1. Miku Matsumoto
2. Megumi Fuji
3. Takanori Gomi
4. Kazushi Sakuraba
5. Yuka Tsuji
Honorable mention: Horiguchi (his career isn't finished, so it's hard to evaluate it)
Jarl
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Haven't read the entire thread. Are these names appearing on other posters' lists? I'm new to watching mma compared to those who have been watching many years. Interested in seeing if some consensus is forming about the excellence of fighters. I've heard of the names on your list. Did not watch them live, in their respective primes.
 
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