judoka

Satoshi Ishii signs with Sengoku

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One of the sport’s most sought after free agents has finally made his decision. Sherdog.com is reporting that 2008 Olympic Judo gold medalist, Satoshi Ishii, has signed with World Victory Road to fight for their Sengoku brand.

Back in August the 22-year-old followed up his championship performance in Beijing by announcing that he wished to convert to MMA and fight Fedor Emelianenko. With MMA seemingly flickering out in the land of the rising sun, he was considered a choice prospect for both of Japan’s leading promoters, DREAM and Sengoku.

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Satoshi Ishii meets with Dana White in Vegas

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We told you a couple of weeks ago that 2008 Olympic judo gold medallist, Satoshi Ishii had made it very clear he only wanted to fight for the UFC and Dana White having got word of this, invited Ishii to UFC 92 this weekend.

MMAFighting.com is reporting that Ishii arrived in Las Vegas and met with UFC president Dana White at the MGM Grand on Friday. Ishii expressed a desire to train in the U.S. and asked White for recommendations. White suggested AKA in San Jose or Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas to the Japanese judoka.

Ishii mentioned that he had considered training with Fedor and Team Red Devil in Russia. White assured Ishii that the best training for MMA was not to be found in Russia, but in the United States. In fact, White invited Ishii to stay in Las Vegas and train at Xtreme Couture for one month. White told him he would learn about real MMA fighters through training with the best and then he would evaluate Ishii based upon feedback from the Xtreme Couture trainers.

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Satoshii Ishii to attend UFC 92 at White’s invitation

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We told you on Thursday of Olympic judo gold medalist, Satoshi Ishii’s single-minded desire to fight in the UFC.

UFC president, Dana White got word of the Judoka’s statement and reached out, inviting him to attend UFC 92 as a guest of the UFC.

According to a Nikkan Sports report, White issued a statement through the Japanese television station WOWOW applauding Ishii’s desire to fight in the UFC and that he believes Ishii has the potential to become a great mixed martial arts fighter.

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Judo gold medalist Ishii offered $5 million by DREAM

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Olympic judo gold medalist Satoshi Ishii will be tranistioning into the world of Mixed Martial Arts according to various reports.

Ishii, who won a gold medal at the Beijing Olympics in the men’s over 100-kilogram event follows in the footsteps of Hidehiko Yoshida and Makoto Takimoto as Japanese judo competitors to switch to professional MMA.

According to our friends over at Japan-mma.com Ishi has been offered a whopping $5 million to sign with Japanese MMA promotion, DREAM, making him the most sought after fighter in Japan if not the world.

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Frank Trigg faces Olympic Gold-Medalist, Makoto Takimoto, at Sengoku 4 on August 24 in Japan

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by:  Jack Bratcher When Frank Trigg steps into the ring on August 4th to face PRIDE veteran and Olympic Judo Gold-Medalist, Makoto Takimoto, he will be coming back from a nine month layoff.  On the other hand, Takimoto’s last fight was in March of this year.  Rumors ran rampant, negotiations were stifled, and contracts fell … Read more