The long awaited debut of Satoshi Ishii the judo Olympic gold medalist in 2008 appears set to take place on New Years Eve against former gold medalist in the same sport, Hidehiko Yoshida. Nightmare of Battle chimes in:
Olympic Gold Medalist Judoka Satoshi Ishii To Make MMA Debut vs. Hidehiko Yoshida
Ishii provocatively said: “I’ve respected Yoshida since I was young, and it’s a good thing that I’m able to fight him. To be able to nail the tip of his chin with my punch is also a good thing.”
Yoshida said: “I think this is a good chance to teach (him) about the degree of difficulty of MMA, I want to teach him that.”
Clearly a battle between two Japanese gold medalists is going to do huge business in Japan but there is a huge risk that a bad loss ruins Ishii who is the great hope of the Japanese MMA scene at the moment. Chris Nelson from BloodyElbow with more:
That WVR has abandoned its generally metered approach to building its prospects in favor of making Ishii’s debut a guaranteed attraction is interesting, especially when coupled with the fact that PR director Takahiro Kokuho also mentioned that Sengoku could undergo a name change beginning with the New Year show. Rumors have swirled since the promotion’s inception last year regarding possible deals with big time Japanese networks such as Fuji TV, but nothing has come to fruition.
I’m of the line of thinking that this is a move to guarantee a big rating to ensure that a TV deal can get done. The question is, does putting this fight together set unrealistic expectations for main events in the promotion going forward.
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