With the Ultimate Fighting Championship showing limited interest in bidding for top Japanese talent, the San Jose, Calif. based Strikeforce promotion has been aggressive in bringing high level talent from Japan to America. On Saturday night at the Playboy Mansion, those efforts began to produce fruit.
Kazuo Misaki and Mitsuhiro Ishida made their Strikeforce debuts in impressive fashion, setting up potential title fights with middleweight champion Cung Le and lightweight champion Josh Thomson.
Mitsuhiro Ishida accumulated an impressive 16-4-1 record in Japan with wins over the likes of Gilbert Melendez and Marcus Aurelio. However, the biggest question mark for Ishida coming to the United States was his style. Ishida is a wrestler who tends to grind out decision wins, a style not particularly marketable in the United States.
If there were questions about Ishida's ability to entertain, Ishida went a long way towards answering them on Saturday, trapping Justin Wilcox in a deep arm bar for a quick submission win. It was an emphatic statement from the debuting lightweight contender.
"I was really, really nervous before the fight," Ishida said through a translator. "It was my first fight in the United States, and I'm very relieved to have won. I was expecting a long fight, so I was surprised for it to end so quickly."
Ishida's sight is now set on Strikeforce champion Josh Thomson, who upset Gilbert Melendez to win the title, and defeated Ashe Bowman Saturday via TKO in even shorter order than Ishida beat Wilcox. Thomson and Ishida are both strong and experienced grapplers.
"If there is the opportunity," Ishida said, "I would definitely like to fight Josh Thomson."
Former Pride middleweight champion Kazuo Misaki returned to the United States for his second American fight following a previous loss to Frank Trigg. Misaki also had to contend with a tougher opponent than Ishida, UFC veteran Joe Riggs.
In the first round, Misaki and Riggs patiently felt each other out. The slow first round led to action in the second, with both men striking much more aggressively. Riggs tagged Misaki with a punch that floored the Japanese fighter, but Misaki quickly rebounded and scored a knockdown punch of his own moments later. Misaki followed with punches on the ground, and the referee stepped in to signal Misaki's first victory on American soil.
"I'm kind of relieved," Misaki said through a translator after the fight, "since [the fight with Trigg] was my first impression. The first fight I lost, but here I had the opportunity for a unique fight at the Playboy Mansion and to debut for Strikeforce, so there was a lot of pressure."
Misaki acknowledged that Riggs had him in trouble, but that trouble did not last for long.
"It was a clean hit, a counterpunch," Misaki noted. "I tried to hit him and he countered. I lost consciousness for a second. But the right straight was the punch that knocked him down."
Like Ishida, Misaki is already planning for bigger things. While a Thomson-Ishida fight would likely be a ground battle, a fight between Misaki and Cung Le would be a standup war. Both men like to strike, and have unique standup styles. Misaki identified Le as a fighter he would like to fight prior to his bout with Riggs, and reiterated that afterwards.
"I feel like this is a good start," Misaki said. "Of course the goal is to beat the champion. Cung Le's the champion, so that's who I would like to face."
The infusion of Japanese talent may not be over. Highly regarded lightweight Tatsuya Kawajiri traveled to the show to support his teammate Ishida, and expressed interest in coming to the United States to prove his skills.
"Of course I want to compete in the United States," Kawajiri noted through a translator. "I want to beat all the American fighters. Come and get me U.S.A."
Todd Martin has covered mixed martial arts for the Los Angeles Times, Wrestling Observer, SI.com and CBSSports.com. He can be reached at ToddMartin4L@aol.com.
