Media Japan leads the world in wrestling gold medals. How will this affect MMA?

[markys00]

How will it impact mma?

In no way, whatsoever

 

[gosuasus]

In the case of some MMA renaissance, Japan can be competitive up to WW at best. They are tiny nation. Quite competitive but tiny people. They mostly dominate women's divisions in wrestling.

 

[Big Al's Texas BBQ]

The story here is not that Japan won the most gold medals. They've always been great in wrestling... The story is the fact that Russia didn't even participate and the US failed to win even ONE gold medal...
Really disappointing showing by the US, who until this tournament, had really narrowed the gap between Russia and themselves. They should have feasted and instead, they shit the bed.

The U.S. won a couple of gold medals in women's freestyle. None of the men won gold.

 

[Dorkman]

Great to see. Hope that pedigree spills over into the local mma gyms in Japan. Start a culture of great mma wrestling for Japan.

 

[TRYHARD 2001]

The Women's wrestling gold medalists will have zero observable effect for me, whether they come to WMMA or not. Did the men win any in a division above 125 pounds? In that case maybe. BIG maybe.

 

[JustHereToLurk]

The Women's wrestling gold medalists will have zero observable effect for me, whether they come to WMMA or not. Did the men win any in a division above 125 pounds? In that case maybe. BIG maybe.

There were 4 male Japanese gold medalists. 2 in freestyle and 2 in Greco-Roman. 1 of them did indeed win in the smallest weight class equivalent to flyweight. The other 3 however won in the equivalent of bantamweight, featherweight, and welterweight.

 

[Koya]

good for japan but again this olympics sucked bad, no russia in wrestling just cause of politics, too much hypocrisy

This. All the old medals could have been silver, or they could really have been gold, but we'll never know

 

[HHJ]

Its possible that we see more japanese make the move, we already have two very promising prospects in Taira and Rei Tsuryua

 

[chinarice]

good for japan but again this olympics sucked bad, no russia in wrestling just cause of politics, too much hypocrisy

I mean, if they're gonna let other people in who are clearly cheating, might as well let those cheaters compete too.

 

[Hog-train]

Japanese fighters never do that well in the UFC because they don't really cut much weight. So they always tend to be undersized.

 

[TeenageMutantLesnarTurtle]

Doubt its gonna do much. Japanese fighters tend to stay fighting in Japan. And because JMMA isnt all that highly regarded anymore whatever they do there wont really ever get them on the radar internationally.

 

[don't ask]

Japan has always had the technical ingredients to own MMA: they've always had a rich wrestling and submission grappling history (as well as a rich striking history). I've always heard it was the proficiency in PEDs they were lacking. I love watching Japanese grapplers.

 

[BJJ4Tone]

The U.S. won a couple of gold medals in women's freestyle. None of the men won gold.

I feel like with no Sidakov, Dake should have been the easy favourite. And, even though Tazhudinov is an absolute beast, with no Sadulaev, Snyder had his best chance for another Olympic gold.
I realize it's the Olympics and is insanely hard to win, but I was hoping for much, much more from our guys.

The women were amazing. Two golds and neither of them were Maroulis or Gray. That bodes VERY well for them, moving forward.

 

[moosaev]

Can Japan become the new Dagestan of MMA??

It would still be russia when you factor in all the Dagis and Chechens who won gold for other countries lol. Bahrain and Uzbekistan for example, both won gold with a Chechen and Dagi wrestler. The IOC should really crack down on passport shopping countries.

 

[kfighter]

While Japanese wrestling has top technique and ring IQ, they're MMA ring IQ doesn't transfer over due to different rulesets. Unless they master this, they can't evolve as a country in MMA. It will take time before they become a powerhouse in MMA again.

 

[BigSexy444]

 

[Bojka]

Is the popularity of freestyle/greco-roman wrestling in Japan a crossover from the popularity of sumo?

 

[Bobby Boulders]

Most likely, if some of these Olympians slid to MMA, yall would never see them fight, bc you don't watch RIZIN.