One Championship Japan March 2019

Let's see:
Horiguchi: 25-2, 7-1 in UFC. 27 year old. Fights in flyweight and bantamweight with a large talent pool.
Naito: 13-1, have not fought in UFC. 34 year old. Fights in strawweight with a small talent pool

"arguably ahead but not by much" uuummm...

Not "arguably", its definitively, by alot. Nobita is a good fighter but he is no way even near Kyoji in terms of his resume. Kyoji had DOMINATED and blasted everyone out of the water in his 10 win streaks so far, including the deep champion (with a record of 21-5, who was on a 10 win streak), pancrase champion (25-7, who was on a 7 win streak), and shooto champion (17-4, who was on a 7 win streak), and first round TKO'ed an undefeated FEATHERWEIGHT challenger who knocked out UFC vet Kawajiri who was ranked top 25 in the world. Kyoji is 7-1 in the UFC, with the only loss to Mighty Mouse (#1 p4p in the world), and if you look at the scoring board, he OUTSTRUCK Mighty Mouse on the feet (total strikes minus ground & pound). Since Mighty Mouse, he permanently moved to American Top Team and had became massively better at TDD. Shortly after, he outwrestled Ali Bagautinov, a two time Sambo/wrestling world champion. If you look at Nobita's resume, his opponents don't even have worldwide rankings (aka cans) and the guy who defeated him was a dude with a current record of 7-2... Meanwhile most of Horiguchi's opponents are ranked top 100 in the world and his only loss was to Mighty Mouse (27-3), and Masakatsu Ueda (26-6) when Kyoji had just started (was 6-0 at the time). Bottom line... Are we really comparing a 25 wins and 2 losses guy who is #3 ranked flyweight / #8 ranked bantamweight in the world (UFC inclusive) to a 13 wins and 1 loss guy who hasn't even competed in UFC?

In short, Nobita need wins against better competitions to be considered in the "best" discussion. Also he is not getting any younger. Think about it, how can you be world class without fighting world ranked fighters? Being #1 in a small pond is not good enough, especially when there isn't much MMA talent in men's strawweight to begin with. I personally think he should move up a weight class, I mean Kyoji did in order to fighter better opponents... But at flyweight, it is highly questionable if Nobita can beat Yuki Motoya and Ulka Sasaki. There is very unlikely that he can beat Hiromasa Ogikubo (fyi the TUF finalist, beat first seed who is #8 flyweight in UFC). Consider this: If Kyoji fights John Lineker or John Dodson at bantamweight, the overall bets according to reddit will put Kyoji as the favourite. You can try this with Nobita at flyweight. Even against Wilson Reis, I'd bet people will put him as the underdog.

You haven't watched enough of Nobita's fights. You wrote three paragraphs on Kyoji's detailed career but your knowledge of Nobita is limited to a parroted "he's a big fish in a small pond" and "hasn't even fought in the UFC" narrative.
Also, out of curiosity, why were the bantamweights you picked for Kyoji to fight in your hypothetical scenario two modestly-sized bantamweights who spent most of their careers at flyweight-- not someone like Caldwell, who's at least outside the UFC-- but your opponent for Nobita, a strawweight, was a gigantic flyweight who spent the first half of his career fighting at featherweight and fought at bantamweight for a few years after that?

Big fan of Nobita but it's not even particularly close. He's arguably not even the #1 Japanese fighter in his division while Horiguchi is clearly the #1 Japanese Flyweight and is top 10, maybe top 5, in the world at 2 weight classes. Suggesting he has a more varied skill set than Kyoji is borderline comical

"More varied" may have been a poor choice of words-- I forgot about Kyoji's ground-and-pound for a second-- but I stand by that he's beaten a wider variety of guys than Kyoji has and has shown more skill.
Kyoji's last three fights have literally been against two guys he's already beaten pretty soundly (the first Ishiwatari fight was competitive, but Kyoji TKO'd him in the end, and I don't think his close war with Otsuka helped him the second time around) and a guy who was on a two-fight losing streak whose two-fight win streak before that was against guys ranked outside the top-15 a division beneath where he fought Kyoji, and I doubt the 3-year break between fights separated by a 90-second loss benefited Mccall.
Kyoji's winning streak has gotten more attention in large part because it's been so one-sided, but that's because they've been fighting the kind of guys he's had one-sided fights against his entire career; less-varied, slower strikers than him whose wrestling-footwork's too shitty to take him down with any regularity (Seery, Bagautinov, Camus, Mccall, Ogikubo, Kape, Motoya, Oliveira, Tokoro). If you go by before he lost to Demetrious, it looks even less impressive, cuz' those guys took him down more often before Kyoji got better.
People put all this emphasis on him winning the grand prix at bantamweight (oooooh), but he was the heavy favorite to win the entire thing from the beginning. So he did something people expected him to do in the division, and why is it so impressive?
And really, whose Kyoji beaten at flyweight or bantamweight to earn a top-5 ranking? Really? As much as I like Ogikubo-- I was genuinely surprised he was the 5th favorite to win TUF and not #1-- he's his best victory, the fight happened 7 pounds above flyweight (Shooto bantamweight), and Ogikubo's a top-15 flyweight at his highest, and it takes more than beating him to deserve a top-5 ranking. And hasn't he fought like 7 times in a row above flyweight now, with an 8th coming up?

One thing you can't deny about Nobita is that he's beaten strikers that are way more skilled on the feet than anyone Kyoji's beaten-- Dejdamrong was a Lumpinee champion, and even without him Pacio has that crazy Team Lakay Wushu style, and Onibozu actually strikes very similarly to Ishiwatari-- and the grapplers he's beaten have been very skilled. The best ones have been easily as skilled as Ogikubo is; really, Ogikubo's better on the mat than a Jiu-Jitsu national champion? Exactly how much better is he a grappler than Shinya Murofushi and Ryuuto? And he beat the grapplers by outgrappling them. A grappler beating a striker by outgrappling them isn't really surprising, but you've watched this sport enough to know how it is: it showcases a lot more when someone outgrapples a high-level grappler than to outstrike a striker.
Not only that, but you're the one that made all those gifs of Sarumaru's knockouts, right? Aren't there a lot of stylistic similarities to Sarumaru and Kyoji? Kyoji's better, but they're both sprawl-and-brawlers, both on the average side of their division's size, both put their hips into everything, both known for their knockout power, both have very good footwork, and they throw their punches in that loose-armed way very similarly, too.
Ryuto's also pretty similar in style and skillset to Ogikubo...

Kyoji also sold out and moved to America. Nobita's still training in Japan and getting better-- he gets extra points for that.

Vera is a big boy nowadays.
Can he make 225 without cutting weight?

Duh. He's only like 240 at heavyweight. You don't think he can diet off 15 pounds?
 
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You haven't watched enough of Nobita's fights. You wrote three paragraphs on Kyoji's detailed career but your knowledge of Nobita is limited to a parroted "he's a big fish in a small pond" and "hasn't even fought in the UFC" narrative.
Also, out of curiosity, why were the bantamweights you picked for Kyoji to fight in your hypothetical scenario two modestly-sized bantamweights who spent most of their careers at flyweight-- not someone like Caldwell, who's at least outside the UFC-- but your opponent for Nobita, a strawweight, was a gigantic flyweight who spent the first half of his career fighting at featherweight and fought at bantamweight for a few years after that?



"More varied" may have been a poor choice of words-- I forgot about Kyoji's ground-and-pound for a second-- but I stand by that he's beaten a wider variety of guys than Kyoji has and has shown more skill.
Kyoji's last three fights have literally been against two guys he's already beaten pretty soundly (the first Ishiwatari fight was competitive, but Kyoji TKO'd him in the end, and I don't think his close war with Otsuka helped him the second time around) and a guy who was on a two-fight losing streak whose two-fight win streak before that was against guys ranked outside the top-15 a division beneath where he fought Kyoji, and I doubt the 3-year break between fights separated by a 90-second loss benefited Mccall.
Kyoji's winning streak has gotten more attention in large part because it's been so one-sided, but that's because they've been fighting the kind of guys he's had one-sided fights against his entire career; less-varied, slower strikers than him whose wrestling-footwork's too shitty to take him down with any regularity (Seery, Bagautinov, Camus, Mccall, Ogikubo, Kape, Motoya, Oliveira, Tokoro). If you go by before he lost to Demetrious, it looks even less impressive, cuz' those guys took him down more often before Kyoji got better.
People put all this emphasis on him winning the grand prix at bantamweight (oooooh), but he was the heavy favorite to win the entire thing from the beginning. So he did something people expected him to do in the division, and why is it so impressive?
And really, whose Kyoji beaten at flyweight or bantamweight to earn a top-5 ranking? Really? As much as I like Ogikubo-- I was genuinely surprised he was the 5th favorite to win TUF and not #1-- he's his best victory, the fight happened 7 pounds above flyweight (Shooto bantamweight), and Ogikubo's a top-15 flyweight at his highest, and it takes more than beating him to deserve a top-5 ranking. And hasn't he fought like 7 times in a row above flyweight now, with an 8th coming up?

One thing you can't deny about Nobita is that he's beaten strikers that are way more skilled on the feet than anyone Kyoji's beaten-- Dejdamrong was a Lumpinee champion, and even without him Pacio has that crazy Team Lakay Wushu style, and Onibozu actually strikes very similarly to Ishiwatari-- and the grapplers he's beaten have been very skilled. The best ones have been easily as skilled as Ogikubo is; really, Ogikubo's better on the mat than a Jiu-Jitsu national champion? Exactly how much better is he a grappler than Shinya Murofushi and Ryuuto? And he beat the grapplers by outgrappling them. A grappler beating a striker by outgrappling them isn't really surprising, but you've watched this sport enough to know how it is: it showcases a lot more when someone outgrapples a high-level grappler than to outstrike a striker.
Not only that, but you're the one that made all those gifs of Sarumaru's knockouts, right? Aren't there a lot of stylistic similarities to Sarumaru and Kyoji? Kyoji's better, but they're both sprawl-and-brawlers, both on the average side of their division's size, both put their hips into everything, both known for their knockout power, both have very good footwork, and they throw their punches in that loose-armed way very similarly, too.
Ryuto's also pretty similar in style and skillset to Ogikubo...

Kyoji also sold out and moved to America. Nobita's still training in Japan and getting better-- he gets extra points for that.



Duh. He's only like 240 at heavyweight. You don't think he can diet off 15 pounds?

Are we really compring Nobita's level competition to Kyoji? His biggest win (and loss) was against a washed up muay thai convert.

Kyoji's fought fucking DJ. Has Nobita even fought anyone at Ishiwatari's level, at Ogikubo's?

Compring them is ridiculous.
 
I was honestly fearing the death of Rizin with this post but now that I have actually read through it, not so much.

Honestly it might actually help, they won't be stepping on Rizin's toes too much and they will up MMA interest in Japan.
 
Honestly it might actually help, they won't be stepping on Rizin's toes too much and they will up MMA interest in Japan.

Actually I don't think it will at all. No one really cares about Aoki in 2018. He's too old and actually got more boring as a fighter as he aged.

Literally no one cares about Nobita and his otaku schtick. Also too old.

I don't see how they will ever be successful without a potentially big Japanese name. Chatri's good at fundraising but he's a terrible promoter so I have no faith that he'll manage to build anyone up

I hope Tenshin doesn't give them exclusivity at any point. Imagine if they have to comp a huge % of their Tokyo show tix (and this is not unreasonable for them) and make financial losses and not run a show there again. It may actually prevent him from fighting in Japan, killing the market.
 
You haven't watched enough of Nobita's fights. You wrote three paragraphs on Kyoji's detailed career but your knowledge of Nobita is limited to a parroted "he's a big fish in a small pond" and "hasn't even fought in the UFC" narrative.
Also, out of curiosity, why were the bantamweights you picked for Kyoji to fight in your hypothetical scenario two modestly-sized bantamweights who spent most of their careers at flyweight-- not someone like Caldwell, who's at least outside the UFC-- but your opponent for Nobita, a strawweight, was a gigantic flyweight who spent the first half of his career fighting at featherweight and fought at bantamweight for a few years after that?



"More varied" may have been a poor choice of words-- I forgot about Kyoji's ground-and-pound for a second-- but I stand by that he's beaten a wider variety of guys than Kyoji has and has shown more skill.
Kyoji's last three fights have literally been against two guys he's already beaten pretty soundly (the first Ishiwatari fight was competitive, but Kyoji TKO'd him in the end, and I don't think his close war with Otsuka helped him the second time around) and a guy who was on a two-fight losing streak whose two-fight win streak before that was against guys ranked outside the top-15 a division beneath where he fought Kyoji, and I doubt the 3-year break between fights separated by a 90-second loss benefited Mccall.
Kyoji's winning streak has gotten more attention in large part because it's been so one-sided, but that's because they've been fighting the kind of guys he's had one-sided fights against his entire career; less-varied, slower strikers than him whose wrestling-footwork's too shitty to take him down with any regularity (Seery, Bagautinov, Camus, Mccall, Ogikubo, Kape, Motoya, Oliveira, Tokoro). If you go by before he lost to Demetrious, it looks even less impressive, cuz' those guys took him down more often before Kyoji got better.
People put all this emphasis on him winning the grand prix at bantamweight (oooooh), but he was the heavy favorite to win the entire thing from the beginning. So he did something people expected him to do in the division, and why is it so impressive?
And really, whose Kyoji beaten at flyweight or bantamweight to earn a top-5 ranking? Really? As much as I like Ogikubo-- I was genuinely surprised he was the 5th favorite to win TUF and not #1-- he's his best victory, the fight happened 7 pounds above flyweight (Shooto bantamweight), and Ogikubo's a top-15 flyweight at his highest, and it takes more than beating him to deserve a top-5 ranking. And hasn't he fought like 7 times in a row above flyweight now, with an 8th coming up?

One thing you can't deny about Nobita is that he's beaten strikers that are way more skilled on the feet than anyone Kyoji's beaten-- Dejdamrong was a Lumpinee champion, and even without him Pacio has that crazy Team Lakay Wushu style, and Onibozu actually strikes very similarly to Ishiwatari-- and the grapplers he's beaten have been very skilled. The best ones have been easily as skilled as Ogikubo is; really, Ogikubo's better on the mat than a Jiu-Jitsu national champion? Exactly how much better is he a grappler than Shinya Murofushi and Ryuuto? And he beat the grapplers by outgrappling them. A grappler beating a striker by outgrappling them isn't really surprising, but you've watched this sport enough to know how it is: it showcases a lot more when someone outgrapples a high-level grappler than to outstrike a striker.
Not only that, but you're the one that made all those gifs of Sarumaru's knockouts, right? Aren't there a lot of stylistic similarities to Sarumaru and Kyoji? Kyoji's better, but they're both sprawl-and-brawlers, both on the average side of their division's size, both put their hips into everything, both known for their knockout power, both have very good footwork, and they throw their punches in that loose-armed way very similarly, too.
Ryuto's also pretty similar in style and skillset to Ogikubo...

Kyoji also sold out and moved to America. Nobita's still training in Japan and getting better-- he gets extra points for that.



Duh. He's only like 240 at heavyweight. You don't think he can diet off 15 pounds?
I didn't make up hypothetical scenarios. I saw these comparison on Reddit and it reflects what people think. I didn't see people poll Kyoji vs Caldwell so I didn't talk about it. Lineker is built like a freaking tank and the hardest hitter in bantamweight and Dodson is the fastest guy in UFC with knockout power. Both are much more dangerous than Wilson. I compared Nobita with Wilson b/c Wilson is a respectable fighter but not as good as others, he lost to everyone who is elite and is who I consider the gate keeper to top 10 flyweights. Regarding the rankings, its not my own opinion. I state it as it states on Sherdog. Also happen to be p4p Japanese fighter on mmascorecard. I can't believe you said Ali's wrestling is shitty, he is a 2 time world Sambo champ for godsakes (yet you emphasize national level for some reason). Kyoji making them look shitty doesn't mean they are... have you seen Ali's other fights? Ali is a better wrestler than Ogikubo. Kyoji also made Ogikubo and Shintaro look bad, who looks good against other oppnnents. I am not taking away that Nobita is legit, otherwise I wouldn't even say he should move up and fight world class fighters.
 
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Strawweights coming in

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