A lot of the Japanese fighters in the UFC get to fight in the pacific and don't have to fight guys like Cody Stevens and Arnaud Lepont to do it. 4 our of the last 5 Mizugaki fights will have been in the Pacific region. Gomi's last 3 all have been.
The odd thing is, if he ever wanted to fight on big shows in Japan ever again he would have to do it in the UFC most likely. He has come up with a bunch of different reasons why he won't fight here that make no sense to me. "It's not in Japan" neither is he. "He needs to be close to his family" he relocated to Singapore while his family lives in Japan so he can make money as an instructor. "He doesn't want to fight in the US" he has three times. I guess they have the best fans in a sense that they will accept a supposed top ten fighter fighting guys not even in the top 100.
It is what it is. He has a nice gig as an instructor at Evolve and his MMA career takes a huge backseat to that.