Why Satoshi Ishii Will Change Western MMA

When most athletes, coming from other sports, start to try their hand at MMA, there is something to be said for failure, something to be considered in whether or not they will really have any success in a sport that is physically demanding and requires techical versatility. In considering those things, it is difficult ever to assert that a fighter will have a serious impact on the sport as a whole.

But if Satoshi Ishii joins the UFC, this will be the easiest prediction I’ve ever made.

Judoka have a difficult time translating to MMa, and with the exception of Karo Parisyan, all have fallen short in their ventures in the UFC, but Satoshi Ishii isn’t Sokoudjou and he isn’t Nakamura. Hell, he isn’t even Karo Parisyan. And that’s why this is the most important pick up the UFC has looked at since the disbanding of Pride and the failure to sign Fedor.

If nothing else, signing Ishii puts the UFC in a position to say that they are looking ahead, that they care about the future of the sport more than their competitors because at 22, Ishii holds an Olympic gold medal and a willingness to learn, two things that almost never go together. Ishii is looking to make the move to Florida to train with American Top Team, the place where any fighter looking to create a versatile game needs to go.

The move to ATT, though, is smart on multiple levels, as it gives Ishii the opportunity to work with the grappler who can teach him the most, given their similar body types: Jeff Monson. It also opens up some great thai training partners and the chance to translate his gi grappling prowess to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (which he already has a background in, as well as a strong understanding of the fundamentals of submissions that attack the elbows and the neck).

Ishii is young, he is an elite athlete, and he is putting himself on the mat with the most knowledgable fighters in the world. At 5’11 and 240 pounds, he would be the shortest guy in the UFC heavyweight division, but with many of the giants gone, that may be more of an advantage than a problem, especially given his power in taking opponents to the ground.

There are rumors that Ishii passed up 500 million yen (that’s about $6 million) from K-1 (though I’ve seen it miss sourced around the internet as “Dream,” I’ve only seen a Japanese print source verify the K-1 offer). He wants to do this.

I’ve seen people point out that many great grapplers have issues translating their games to MMA. Most of the time, though, that’s because they can’t get a fight to the ground. Satoshi Ishii has a clinch game that is going to make an American Roman Greco wrestler look like a 6 year old girl stepping on the mat with the assistant instructor at her first jiu-jitsu class.

The question is whether or not Ishii can adjust to fighting without the gi, and I think he’ll work it out. That’s why it’s important for him to train with ATT, make sure he knows how to integrate strikes, and then start tossing people.

The only issue is size, but it’s not as though Ishii is small. I just look at Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin and Cain Velasquez and wonder how he’ll do against guys that big, then I compare the technical abilities and wonder how it translates. That’s an issue that we’ll all have to look at close if Ishii and Dana announce his signing with the UFC, which I fully expect them to do at UFC 92.

If Ishii shows up in this division with the skills that he’s looking to develop and cultivate, and figures out how to work that together with his judo and his jiu-jitsu, we’re looking at a fighter that can do what Karo was doing to opponents who outweigh him by 20 or 30 pounds, and this is a guy who walks around at 240.

Ishii is going to be a force, make no mistake. He’s the top prospect for 2009, if he sets himself up to make his debut at some point in the near future. Like Hidehiko Yoshida, this is a fighter that knows how to use his art. Unlike Yoshida, this is a fighter who wants to learn everything, and that’s what makes him volatile.