Forgotten MMA fighters....
- Thread starter Lionheart7167
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Kazuo Misaki: beat Hendo, Riggs, Paul Daley, Denis Kang, Jorge Patino (Oliveira's bjj coach), Baroni, Akira Shoji. Impressive how long he stayed relevant.
Mamoru Yamaguchi (already mentioned)
Joachim Hansen. Maybe not so forgotten.
Joe Warren: Bellator champ around 2010, Div1 all-american, greco world champion.
Kiuma Kunioka: never heard of this guy, but saw him on Misaki's record. Pancrase wins over Frank Shamrock, Funaki, Genki Sudo, win/loss Nate Marquadt, win/loss over Guy Mezger and fought Yuki Kondo five times! (draw-loss-draw-win-loss). Also fought Sean Sherk and Shonie Carter.
Mamoru Yamaguchi (already mentioned)
Joachim Hansen. Maybe not so forgotten.
Joe Warren: Bellator champ around 2010, Div1 all-american, greco world champion.
Kiuma Kunioka: never heard of this guy, but saw him on Misaki's record. Pancrase wins over Frank Shamrock, Funaki, Genki Sudo, win/loss Nate Marquadt, win/loss over Guy Mezger and fought Yuki Kondo five times! (draw-loss-draw-win-loss). Also fought Sean Sherk and Shonie Carter.
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Miguel Torres was championship level at 135 when the global weightclass had about 14 fighters and half of them were Flyweights.
Cung and Rory I agree with, kinda, Cung was really old and got to MMA super late. He also should have been a 170lber. He used to be the striking coach at AKA 20 years ago and Rumble was one of his students.
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Misaki was always a favourite of mine. I think I saw him cornering Kleber Koike the other day, which was disappointing.
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Misski also beat Akiyama but got changed to NC due to a technicality.
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Yes, I was a big Bellator mark. For several years it was a viable major alternate promotion for fans and fighters.
Those ONE champions were dominant long before that promotion got an American TV deal.
Probably why little has been mentioned about them.
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Oh man, Akiyama vs Misaki was one of the most important fights of the year for me! It was particularly Big in Japan©
It was also the subject of one of Highlight legend Genghis Con's "Bitter Feud" highlights collections alongside Wanderlei vs Rampage, Gomi vs Chute Boxe, Krazy Horse vs Wand,
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The storytelling at that point in JMMA was wild.Oh man, Akiyama vs Misaki was one of the most important fights of the year for me! It was particularly Big in Japan©no question about it.
It was also the subject of one of Highlight legend Genghis Con's "Bitter Feud" highlights collections alongside Wanderlei vs Rampage, Gomi vs Chute Boxe, Krazy Horse vs Wand,
Akiyama cheating against legend Saku goes from hero to villain overnight.
Gets a homecoming back in S Korea against Kang to lose but wins.
Then gets beat in Japan by Misaki who humiliates him post fight only to have it changed to a NC ironically later.
But I must say I dont know what these Highlight legendnCon Bitter Feud thing is.
What is it?A documentary series or?Can you help me with a link or?
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Oh man, what made the Sexy/Saku debacle even worse is that Akiyama walked toward the ring in his entrance accompanied by a gaggle of his youngest adoring judo student and they all do a collective zarei
the PBP thread was full of "what a guy, he's sharing the spotlight with his the future of Japon's judo, this passing-of-the-torch-fight against Sakuraba is so wholesome, I'm not crying you're crying
"... proceeds to maul poor Saku while the IQ Wrestler desperately tries single-leg after single-leg while the ref is just happy to be there; and when Saku finally gets his attention and asks him to check Akiyama's legs for grease, the ref checks eeeevery part of the his body except the legs
Thankfully
Thankfully, then the Grabaka Hitman, Kazuo Misaki himself decides to take matter in his own hands, pwns Sexy, but sadly during the finisher move, one of Sexyama's fingers was still in conctact with the canvav when the soccer kick took place (followed by a lesson from Mizaki about "showing good example to the children no cheating I hope you'll reflect on your actions for the future of Japan's judokas" while Akiyama was still wobbly and everyone clapped (nah for real this time).
Next day: Sexyama contest result of the fight, on the 174'th angle you clearly see his
oh shit, forgot to answer your question about Genghis Con
The dude (who'd post his highlights on sherdog first) was one of the first on the market when it comes to sophisticated HLs, not just a random compilation of fights in 144p (if yer lucky) with Linkin Park or Eminem blaring in the background.
Genghis Con was an artist, using rare footage and music that actually corresponded with what was on the video (It's a given these days, but during the UFC vs JMMA war it was luxury...),
Lemme check if said highlight is still online... I'm not too optimistic since he made that one in 2008 and sadly it didn't make as many numbers as some of the others, so it's harder to find it online almost 2 decades after it's been made ><
Fook yeah, dat's his youtube channel! https://www.youtube.com/user/GenghisConFIlms
But sadly, "Beef Vol 3 – Yoshihiro Akiyama vs Kazuo Misaki – A Japanese Conflct" ain't in it, the only "Beef" still uploaded is
BEEF Vol. 6: Wanderlei Silva Vs Charles "Krazy Horse" Bennett
Gengis' HLs are scattered all over youtube, I'm sure I'll find it some day, but in the meantime... ah yes, since Misaki showed it on twitter account, there's still a vimeo link with the full vid inside!
Cheers
RF
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Oh man, what made the Sexy/Saku debacle even worse is that Akiyama walked toward the ring in his entrance accompanied by a gaggle of his youngest adoring judo student and they all do a collective zarei
the PBP thread was full of "what a guy, he's sharing the spotlight with his the future of Japon's judo, this passing-of-the-torch-fight against Sakuraba is so wholesome, I'm not crying you're crying
... proceeds to maul poor Saku while the IQ Wrestler desperately tries single-leg after single-leg while the ref is just happy to be there; and when Saku finally gets his attention and asks him to check Akiyama's legs for grease, the ref checks eeeevery part of the his body except the legs
Thankfully
Thankfully, then the Grabaka Hitman, Kazuo Misaki himself decides to take matter in his own hands, pwns Sexy, but sadly during the finisher move, one of Sexyama's fingers was still in conctact with the canvav when the soccer kick took place (followed by a lesson from Mizaki about "showing good example to the children no cheating I hope you'll reflect on your actions for the future of Japan's judokas" while Akiyama was still wobbly and everyone clapped (nah for real this time).
Next day: Sexyama contest result of the fight, on the 174'th angle you clearly see his
oh shit, forgot to answer your question about Genghis Con
The dude (who'd post his highlights on sherdog first) was one of the first on the market when it comes to sophisticated HLs, not just a random compilation of fights in 144p (if yer lucky) with Linkin Park or Eminem blaring in the background.
Genghis Con was an artist, using rare footage and music that actually corresponded with what was on the video (It's a given these days, but during the UFC vs JMMA war it was luxury...),
Lemme check if said highlight is still online... I'm not too optimistic since he made that one in 2008 and sadly it didn't make as many numbers as some of the others, so it's harder to find it online almost 2 decades after it's been made ><
Fook yeah, dat's his youtube channel! https://www.youtube.com/user/GenghisConFIlms
But sadly, "Beef Vol 3 – Yoshihiro Akiyama vs Kazuo Misaki – A Japanese Conflct" ain't in it, the only "Beef" still uploaded is
BEEF Vol. 6: Wanderlei Silva Vs Charles "Krazy Horse" Bennett
Gengis' HLs are scattered all over youtube, I'm sure I'll find it some day, but in the meantime... ah yes, since Misaki showed it on twitter account, there's still a vimeo link with the full vid inside!
Cheers
RF
Great post.
Can u believe it that I still do stairmaster on that entrance?Altough it s kinda ghey it pumps me up.
I think the ref thought what everyone did,that Saku was a sore loser at that point.Creating excuses because that s what it looked like.
Btw the taking off the gi was a major jaw dropping moment,cant rememeber if it was the first fight Akiyama fought without it but it was a tale tell sign.Shocking at the time.
Gonna save your post for later and check that one out thanks.
