It was announced today that Takanori Gomi has finalized a deal with World Victory Road and is signed on to fight on the star studded March 5 show. “The Fireball Kid” is coming off a year long lay-off and looks to regain his winning ways and silence the critics. Gomi is shrouded in controversy especially when it comes to the usually chaotic issue of rankings. Some feel that he is the consensus number 1 Lightweight Fighter in the World, while others seem enraged at the notion of putting a 1 next to his name. It’s very hard to find another fighter in his weight division who has faced as much current World Class competition and come out victorious.Wins over Tatsuya “Crusher” Kawajiri, Mistuhiro Ishida, and Hayato “Mach” Sakurai give Gomi a strong case but recent droughts of inactivity leave it open for discussion, not to mention 1 loss and 1 NC in the last 2 years in which Gomi looked less than spectacular in.

The Fireball Kids start in SHOOTO to his future stint in WVR seem like complete opposites when you reflect on his past and current skill sets. It’s really weird to think of Gomi as a wrestler using takedown to secure positions and also winning decisions seems kind of a thing of the past. He became SHOOTO’s World Welterweight Champion at 20 years old beating Rumina Sato by Decision. His reign as World Champion would last about 2 years until he was derailed by Joachim “Hellboy” Hansen, whom squeezed out a very close decision. Desiring to pursue different ventures he ended up fighting the talented BJ Penn in Hawaii, where he suffered his 1st stoppage loss.

I think many people would agree that Gomi’s rise was due to the push of the BUSHIDO series in PRIDE. He would make his PRIDE debut at PRIDE 2 were he was part of Team Japan against Team Chute Boxe. He was the only successful Team Japan member to secure a win. His came over Jadson Costa and little did anyone know that a mini feud with Chute Boxe would ignite his career. He was also the 1st PRIDE Lightweigh to headline an event at BUSHIDO 5 were he took on the colorful Charles “Krazy Horse” Bennett and secured a submission win. Also at Shockwave 2004 he shocked many when he knocked out former UFC Lightweight Champion, Jens “Lil’ Evil” Pulver in which basically was a Kickboxing match because of the lack of takedown attempts by either men.

Bushido 7. Other than being one of the best shows in MMA History, it holds a real turning point in Gomi’s career. I think if you hadn’t heard or seen him before that you would get a rude awakening after this event. It pitted the Fireball Kid against Chute Boxe’s Luis Azeredo, who had just come off a great showing against Luis “Buscape” Firmino in one of the best bouts in BUSHIDO history. It was very evident that neither men wouldn’t necessarily look to put the fight on the floor but rather keep it completely on the feet. Azeredo’s style and quick pace pushing looked like it was throwing Gomi completely off his game and comfort zone until eventually the 2 “legal” punches that caught Azeredo put him to sleep. Even a sleeping Azeredo wasn’t ready for what occured next as Gomi continued to strike at him even though he was knocked out and wouldn’t stop until he was constrained by Daisuke Noguchi and many others of the PRIDE reffing and judging staff. One thing I’ve also noted about this fight is the need of Pres. Sakakibara to enter the ring to cool emotions, which is something rarely ever seen in PRIDE. Sakakibara almost never entered the ring unless for a Title Match or GP Final, unlike other certain attention loving Promoters/Presidents.

This ignited a short Feud with Chute Boxe that even saw PRIDE bring in former Cage Rage Champion Jean Silva to fight Gomi. But 2005, his 2005 was definitely marked by his perfect performance at the Inaugural BUSHIDO GP, BUSHIDO 9. He faced and displayed massive heart and sportsmanship against Tatsuya “Crusher” Kawajiri and again rematched Azeredo and eventually won a decision that saw him face the other bracket winner and former mentor, Hayato “Mach” Sakurai at Shockwave 2005. Gomi would go on to beat Sakurai by Knockout and go on to crown himself Grand Prix champion and the 1st (and only) PRIDE Lightweight.

As high as he got, the Fireball Kid would be extinguished when he was dramatically and unpredictably submitted by Marcus Aurelio. He would need to a comeback fight, which presented itself in the shape of David Baron, which he won. He faced Aurelio for the Title at the final BUSHIDO show, BUSHIDO 13, were Gomi looked like anything but himself. Unwilling to really engage and ultra-hesitant, Gomi secured a lack luster decision win over Aurelio. It seemed that the secret was out there. Gomi had no submission defense and was incredibly weak on his back. He faced Mitsuhiro Ishida at Shockwave 2006, and just steam rolled him in what was expected to be a very competitive fight. Gomi would again experience the bitter taste of defeat in what was one of the best fights of 2007 against Nick Diaz. This fight was a back and forth battle for the 1st couple minutes until a very weak and gassed Gomi would become target practice against Nick Diaz’s peppering boxing style. Gomi was stopped by the than rare Gogoplata, but the loss would be changed to a no contest due to Diaz testing positive for banned substance.

Ok… If you’ve never seen Gomi fight or even heard of him (I hope not) than there’s kind of a breif summary of his career and accomplishments. Why 1 year? Why did it take a whole year for the number 1 lightweight in the world to see action again? I think its very sad that fighters like Gomi, Ishida, Kawajiri, Hansen, Aoki, and Sakurai went over 8 months without seeing action and I think it was the than understandable notion that PRIDE would return. There were hints that PRIDE would in fact make a comeback and all the fighters and public may have been mislead into believing this myth. Sadly, the fans suffer but the fighters are completely helpless and ill-informed. The T-Blood fighters in PRIDE just sat around thinking that PRIDE would eventually reemerge and basically waited and waited. They saw nothing happening and just still waited. They didn’t make any money due to this inactivity. It’s sad to think that talent is just waiting around and waiting for things that weren’t going to ever happen to occur.

Sadly, I think that Gomi, like others, may not get to comfortable in their new World Victory Road home. The promotion is yet to secure a TV Deal and seems destined to fade away sooner than later. I do hope that it will stick around and give fighters a home and a decent way to pay for things they need. As for his 1st opponent, I do believe they will secure somebody of a decent caliber. Maybe somebody like a Yusuke Endo or Artur Oukmahanov is possible but maybe someone even up the food chain like maybe a rematch with Joachim Hansen. Any of these would prove to be great. I’m just anxious to see the Fireball Kid getting back to what he does best, which is putting on some epic fights.

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