Asian MMA Podcast

Thoughts on ONE Championship’s Agent Certification Program - Asian MMA Podcast Episode 24 This whole announcement was def a head-scratcher for a lot of people. It came just a week after ONE made a big splash by announcing their new production studio that will create movies and shows for digital distribution. On the surface, the underpinnings of the certification program seem reasonable for the most part. But the very first point causes pause… Currently a resident in Asia for at least one (1) year No prior criminal record No history or current ongoing matters of legal or lawsuit activity with any athlete A minimum of 10 years of related experience in the martial arts industry Must possess a College or University Degree Now Chatri would go on to explain in some social media posts that lacked any significant details that this program was being put into place because of some issues several fighters have gone through recently and that exceptions to the criteria could be made on a case by case basis. I came across an article from Low Kick MMA of comments from Chatri that goes into a bit more depth about the stated motivations for the certification program and ONEs willingness to make exceptions to the criteria, I’ll have that linked below in the show notes. Again, on the surface, this all looks like it is being put in place for the benefit of the fighters, and if that is the case then the motivation is great, but it raises some serious questions. One of the comments in the low kick article that I want to quote here because it throws up some red flags for me is. “We started with Asia, because if there is an unethical agent it’s very easy for us in Asia to seek justice because we have strong government and business relationships all over the continent,” Again, even if this is motivated with the best of intentions that quote alone sounds a bit thuggish. I think it would come as a surprise to no one to know that the type of behavior that Chatri talks about does exist, there are a lot of stories, especially in Asia of agents and managers taking horrible advantage of fighters, but there are also the same stories with regards to promotions. It cuts both ways. The biggest issue that comes from all of this is, at least in my opinion is that ONE now has a great deal of control and influence over the fighters and the way they do business, both in and out of the organization. And a clear lack of oversights and transparency just makes the waters more turbulent. There was a fantastic article by MMA Journalist Anthony Walker that was published on Sherdog where he dives into this even further and highlights some of the big conflicts of interest with the whole program. I’m going to link to his article and his twitter account down in the show notes, def check it out and follow him on Twitter he shares a lot of great MMA Content. Anthony points out in his article that US sports organizations like the NFL, NBA, MLB all have some type of agent certifications program, but those standards are not set by the league themselves, they are set by the players association to ensure that it is in the best interest of the players, not the organizations. Something like a players organization is clearly missing from the equation in MMA and is even further from reality in Asian MMA. That doesn’t mean that a promotion should step in and enforce such standards, it’s clearly a conflict of interest and the overwhelming lack of transparency in the way ONE operates makes it that much more concerning. I recently spoke with several ONE fighters who told me their contracts require them to promote the sponsors of ONE Championship without any further compensation, that in itself if it’s true, would se

Asian MMA Weekend Recap for May 10-12 2019 - Asian MMA podcast Episode 23 There was a fair amount of action going on this weekend in Asian MMA focused around Thailand and Japan. We likely won’t see anything from Malaysia or Indonesia for a month due to Ramadan being in full swing and both of those being Muslim majority countries so just about everyone from there is fasting. Let’s start off in Japan where we had DEEP 89 Impact go down, This was a fun card that saw Satoshi Yamasu overcome early adversity to stop Daiki Hata and retain his DEEP Featherweight belt. Hata came out strong, and was pressuring Yamasu throughout the first and had him in some serious trouble towards the end of the round.   When they came out in the second Hata looked to pick up where he left off but a hook from Yamasu floored Hata. Yamasu then jumped on his back and put the challenger away with some ground and pound. Another interesting fight on this card saw Trevin Jones from Guam take home a second-round submission win via RNC against  Takafumi Otsuka. In other news, this weekend, ROAD FC, World Series of Fighting and TUF veteran Jake Huen signed a multi-fight deal with Rizin. I think that Rizin is a great fit for him given his style and that he’s a big dude, I am excited to see what matchups they put him in. Next, we jump to Bangkok, where ONE Championship held their Warriors of Light card. This was a very Muay Thai heavy card, and I did a full review in the previous episode with Leon Jennings from APMMA. Overall it was a really fun card, It was just really light on MMA. The MMA fight that stood out the most for me was Shoko Sato against Mark Fairtex Abelardo. Mark has been on an absolute tear recently but Sato just looked amazing, he controlled the range and timing of the fight masterfully and at times it seemed like Mark was just swinging at air. Sato was able to pick Mark apart throughout the first round before getting the TKO stoppage in the second. This was one stoppage I thought was offensively early. You could even see Mark arguing with the ref right as it was stopped. Despite the very questionable stoppage, I was just incredibly impressed with Sato’s performance and I will be excited to see what ONE has in store for him next. Another fantastic fight on the card was Pongsiri vs Robin Catalan. Pongsiri just showed amazing standup but also a much improved, well-rounded skill set. But it was his dominance in the clinch and devastating knees that put and end to Robin Catalans night with knees to the body. The fight I was very excited for on the card ended up having an anticlimactic ending, that was Kazuki Tokudome squaring off with Adrian Pang. Pang who is generally an aggressive beast in the cage just seemed as though he wasn't able to turn it on as he was getting picked apart by Kazuki, who opened up a gash on his forehead. The ref called a pause in the action to have the doctor check the cut and that was the end, it got waved off. A very anti-climatic ending to what could have been an amazing fight. What did you guys think of the fights this weekend? What w

ONE Championship Warriors of Light Recap with Leon Jennings from APMMA - Asian MMA Podcast Episode 22 On this special episode, I sit down with a friend of the show MMA journalist and founder of APMMA.net Leon Jennings to discuss what went down at ONE Championship Warriors of Light in Bangkok, Thailand.  Leon is in press row for just about every ONE Championship event and has a lot of great access to fighters and gyms so is always able to offer some unique insights.  Results from the event: ONE Bantamweight Muay Thai World Championship bout: Nong-O Gaiyanghadao defeats Hiroaki Suzuki by Unanimous Decision after 5 rounds ONE Flyweight Kickboxing World Championship bout: Petchdam Petchyindee Academy defeats Elias Mahmoudi by Technical Decision Mixed Martial Arts Bantamweight bout: Shoko Sato defeats Mark Fairtex Abelardo by TKO (Strikes) at 1:58 minutes of round 2 Muay Thai Flyweight bout: Rodtang Jitmuangnon defeats Sok Thy by Knockout at 1:36 minutes of round 2 Mixed Martial Arts Strawweight bout: Pongsiri Mitsatit defeats Robin Catalan by Knockout at 3:05 minutes of round 1 Kickboxing Bantamweight bout: Zhang Chenglong defeats Panicos Yusuf by Unanimous Decision after 3 rounds Mixed Martial Arts Lightweight bout: Kazuki Tokudome defeats Adrian Pang by TKO (Doctor Stoppage) at 1:27 minutes of round 2 Prelims: Muay Thai Flyweight bout: Savvas Michael defeats Singtongnoi Por Telakun by Unanimous Decision after 3 rounds Muay Thai Flyweight bout: Superlek Kiatmoo9 defeats Rui Botelho by Unanimous Decision after 3 rounds Mixed Martial Arts Lightweight bout: Pieter Buist defeats Kota Shimoishi by Knockout at 3:55 minutes of round 2 Kickboxing Women’s Atomweight bout: Janet Todd defeats Wang Chin Long by Technical Knockout at 2:59 minutes of round 2 Mixed Martial Arts Strawweight bout: Hexigetu defeats Ovais Shah by Unanimous Decision after 3 rounds    You can follow Leon's work at https://www.apmma.net    Host: dana blouin Producer: Emily Barner Executive Producer: dana blouin   Follow Asian MMA Podcast Everywhere: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AsianMMAPodcast YouTube: http://bit.ly/AsianMMA_YouTube Twitter: https://twitter.com/AsianMMAPodcast iTunes: http://bit.ly/AsianMMAPodcast_iTunes GooglePlay: http://bit.ly/AsianMMAPodcast_GooglePlay Spotify: http://bit.ly/AsianMMAPodcast_Spotify Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/asian-mma-podcast Website: http://www.AsianMMAPodcast.com

Interview with President of TMMAF Plai Jitinat  In this episode, I sit down with Plai Jitinat the president of TMMAF the local Thai chapter of IMMAF.  We talk about the recent Asian Open Championships held in Bangkok, The role of IMMAF in global MMA, The Value of amateur MMA, The hot spots for fighters in Asia and how far MMA has come in Thailand over the past few years.  More from Plai: https://www.facebook.com/IgniteFightClub/  https://www.facebook.com/ThaiMMAFederation/    Host: dana blouin Producer: Emily Barner Executive Producer: dana blouin   Follow Asian MMA Podcast Everywhere: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AsianMMAPodcast YouTube: http://bit.ly/AsianMMA_YouTube Twitter: https://twitter.com/AsianMMAPodcast iTunes: http://bit.ly/AsianMMAPodcast_iTunes GooglePlay: http://bit.ly/AsianMMAPodcast_GooglePlay Spotify: http://bit.ly/AsianMMAPodcast_Spotify Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/asian-mma-podcast Website: http://www.AsianMMAPodcast.com

Asian MMA Weekend Recap May 3-5 2019 - Asian MMA Podcast Episode 20    Before we get right into the fight action from the weekend, I’ve got to give a shout out to two fighters who have cut their teeth in the Asian MMA scene over the years and have been making some serious moves as of late. First up a big shot out to Cole Smith who made a successful UFC Debut over the weekend. The Cole Train spent a lot of time training up in Chiangmai Thailand with Team Quest Thailand, under the tutelage of Dylan Fussell. Cole cut his teeth in the Bangkok based promotion Full Metal Dojo, having an amateur fight under their banner, and making his pro debut with Thailand Ring Wars back in 2016. This isn’t on Coles record, but if my memory serves me correctly I saw Cole fight in a very underground promotion out in Pathum Thani, Thailand called Ring Wars, this was pure grit, they set up mats in a parking garage, slapped some cage around it and held a one-day tournament. Amature, pro, it didn’t matter. You just showed up and banged. The second shout out is to another FMD Alumn and Rizin Heavyweight Grand Prix finalist Amir Aliakbari who signed with the UFC over the weekend! Amir is an Iranian beast who other than his only loss to the legend of CroCop has smashed everyone else he has faced, having gone the distance just once in his 10-1 career. He was basically the most feared heavyweight in Asian MMA for a long time, Also happens to be one of the nicest dudes in the game. He was training out of AKA Thailand with Mike Swick for a while, I’m not sure if that is still the case, I have heard conflicting reports, and have not had that confirmed by Amir as of yet. It looks like he will be making his UFC debut on their upcoming Abu Dhabi show in September, no opponent has been announced, but I am looking forward to that one for sure. One thing that has to be pointed out regarding Amir is that he has a lifetime band from wrestling due to a positive PED test. Of course, we all assume that fighting for Rizin and ACB these types of things are not an issue, but signing with the UFC means he will have to enter their USADA testing pool. My hope is that this won’t impact his ability to compete in the UFC, but only time will tell. But my fingers are crossed. On to this weekends events. The first one is the IMMAF Asian Open Championships held right here in Bangkok. Now Bangkok was a last minute replacement location for the championships. They were supposed to be held in China, but there were some administrative difficulties so the Thailand branch of IMMAF stepped up and organized the tournament on about two months notice. The event went really well. It was held right in the middle of the city, so it was easy to get to. And they put on three days of amazing fights. The tournament was full representative of the Asian members of IMMAF, but what we saw when you look at the results were that for the most part Kazakhstan and Bahrain pretty much dominated every single division. Of the 15 divisions, just 3 were won by fighters from other countries, and of the 15 division, Kazakhstan won 7 of them. There is something special in the water there. Clearly, the wrestling base played a very big role in the Kazak teams success, as did their overall conditioning.

Asian MMA Weekend Recap - Asian MMA Podcast Episode 19 Your listening to the Asian MMA Podcast where we talk about everything and anything going on in the world of Asian MMA. This episode is brought to you by the false sense of security that a cup gives you…   I’m dana blouin and this episode is your Asian MMA weekend recap. There was SOOOOO Much fight action in SE Asia over the weekend, and some crazy 3 on 3 action to talk about. Before I get started though, If I don’t cover your event, but you had one this past weekend or you’re gonna have one sometime soon, reach out and let us know that you are putting on events because I want to cover them and bring eyes to your event and the fighters putting it all on the line. Hit me up at asianmmapodcast@gmail.com so I know what's going on. Also, there won’t be a video version of the podcast this week because I am traveling. But that should be back next week.   Let’s get it started This first one wasn’t on the weekend, but just before and that was ONE Warrior Series in Singapore on Thursday the 25th. I’ve said before that I am a really big fan of OWS, I think they are doing a lot of good things In the main event Phuket, Thailand based Brazilian Carlos Prates stopped previously unbeaten EFC Welterweight champ Gunther Kaluda in the second round with a body shot. It was a wild two rounds leading up to the stoppage, but Prates was just too much for Kaluda. This whole card was stacked with great fighters from the regional scene. I know it’s a development league for ONE Championship, but DAMN they put on good cards. ONE Hero Series 5, Singapore, April 25th Carlos Prates def. Gunther Kaluda by TKO in round two Ahmed Faez Anuar def. Pardeep Kumar by Submission (Armbar) in round two Shinechagtga Zoltsetseg def. Chan Samart by Decision Jerry Olsim def. Hiroyasu Sakurai by Decision Min Jong Song def. Alan Philpott by Submission (Neck Crank) in round two Punnya Sai def. Shafkat Khodzhkulov by Decision Kieran Joblin def. JD Hardwick by TKO in round three Kristy Obst def. Claudia Diaz by TKO in round two Ricky Alchin def. Koji Shikuwa by Decision Mohamad Norhidayat def. Sanya Kongkatonk by Submission Ismael Bandiwan def. Arif Izzudin by TKO at the end of round two Neha Kashyap def. Roshnee Khaira by Knockout in round one Yuko Suzuki def. Ji Yeon Seo by Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) in round one Philip Kim def. Taeho Bak by submission (Rear-Naked Choke) in Round 3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cBnOA2u1nk With that, I jump to Saturday, April 27th

today we are talking about this absolute bizarre press release that ONE Championship sent out last week. It popped into my email titles ONE Championship announces a partnership with Global Association of Mixed Martial Arts Now, I had never heard of the Global Association of Mixed Martial Arts, Or GAMMA since that’s a mouthful. So before i even read the press release I went over to the good old google to see what would come up. The first result, the very first thing at the top of the page, not a sponsored ad, was the site for IMMAF, and trust me, I’ll get to why that is so funny, that's not what google returns now, now their site is the first result, but at the time it wasn’t. But I go down to the second result which is their site, and I click it, their homepage is the damn ONE Championship press release. Not like a  news page, or and about page, their home page has a picture of Chatri and a copy and paste of the same press release I have in my inbox. So now I figure they must not really have anything to say about themselves, because everything seems to be about ONE First red flag. So I decided to read the press release. And it gives you the typical flowery stuff about ONE that's in every press release and then it goes on to talk about GAMMA, and says they were founded in 2018, that’s almost a red flag, it’s in my hand, I haven’t thrown it yet, but I’m about to. Then it gets to describing the GAMMA mission: “GAMMA’s objective is to obtain international recognition for mixed martial arts as an Olympic sport, in order to give all amateur mixed martial artists the platform and opportunity to fulfill their dream of competing on the Olympic stage.” Now hold on, that sure sounds A LOT like the mission of the one organization I have known for years has been working towards getting amateur MMA in the Olympics, the one organization whose president has been to every country in Asia meeting with sports ministries to get approval in each country. The organization that if you go to Wikipedia page for mixed martial arts is actually listed as a governing body for amateurs… That's not GAMMA, it’s IMMAF. GAMMA isn’t listed there because they are too young to actually qualify as a governing body. In my experience, no organization has been more involved in helping to develop amateur MMA than IMMAF, I’ve run into their president Kerith Brown in 4 different countries in Asia as he has traveled to help promote and the sport. So knowing what I do about IMMAFs involvement in global amateur MMA and the major role they have played in developing amateur MMA in Asia and that I have never heard anything, at all about GAMMA until ONE sent out a press release which is now their homepage. I have to wonder… what the fuck is going on? Out of nowhere, GAMMA shows up, pretty much has the same mission as the key player in the game, IMMAF and now ONE is their partner? If that doesn’t sound shady, I don’t know what does. Of course, I don’t have all the answers, I don’t have all the information. But when something smells fishy, you have to assume there is something going on. I just don’t

Rizin 15 recap, Road FC 53 Card, ONE Heros Series, Rich Franklin UFC Hall of Fame - Asian MMA Podcast Episode 17 Over the weekend we had some good action with Rizin 15, I love these Rizin cards, I was actually saying to Enson Inoue in our interview on the previous episode that I wish Rizin would do more shows. Rizin is probably my favorite promotion in Asia. The main event of the Rizin card was King Mo vs Jiri Prochazka for the inaugural Rizin Light Heavyweight strap. These guys have actually fought before in Rizin back in 2015, in that fight, King Mo finished Jiri in the first with a KO. That wasn’t the case this time around, and I love when rematches play out in a great story like this. Right out of the gate Mo was throwing heat at Jiri, but he was able to use his distance and timing to stay out of range. It was that early heat by Mo and expending all that energy that would come back to bite him. As Jiri kept a solid game plan until the third round when King Mo who was visibly tired at this point and was having trouble moving became a sitting duck and Jiri was able to put him away for the TKO finish. Road FC has finalized their card for Road FC 53 which takes place on May 18th and will be headlined by Kwon A-Sol against Mansour Barnaoui to cap off their lightweight tournament to crown a champion and the winner gets the million dollar cash prize. I’m really excited for this because the tournament has been fantastic and Road puts on some fantastic cards. Of course, I will be covering the results on the podcast after the event. If I get time I might put together a full recap of the tournament before the finals. But that's a big if. ONE Championship held one of their Heros events in China over the weekend, I’ll be honest, I’ve really only been following these casually, but I really should take a deeper dive in and pay attention because they have some really good fights. Heros is basically ONEs all Chinese version of their Warrior Series, which also has produced some fantastic fights and fighters. On a final note for today, I have to shout out Rich Franklin who was announced as being inducted into the UFC hall of fame. Rich is currently an executive with ONE championship, but was previously a UFC middleweight champ and at one point when the sport was just coming out of the dark ages he was the face of the company. Congrats Rich! That’s it for today but To stay up to date with all things Asian MMA Be sure to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, Sticher, YouTube, and Facebook. I’ll have all the links in the show notes. Check it out. Follow Asian MMA Podcast Everywhere: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AsianMMAPodcast YouTube: http://bit.ly/AsianMMA_YouTube Twitter: https://twitter.com/AsianMMAPodcast iTunes:

Enson Inoue Discusses the State of Asian MMA - Asian MMA Podcast Episode 16 MMA Legend Enson Inoue sits down with Asian MMA Podcast Host dana blouin to talk about Rizin, ONE Championship Shooto and the state of Asian MMA. We talk about the recent ONE Championship event in Japan and how the events team gave him free tickets for the worst seat in the house and the founder of Shooto saved the day.  Follow Enson Inoue:  https://www.facebook.com/Enson-Inoue-178254262213276/  https://www.instagram.com/ensoninoue/  Be sure to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Google Play, YouTube and Facebook. I’ll have all the links in the show notes. Check it out. Follow Asian MMA Podcast Everywhere: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AsianMMAPodcast  YouTube: http://bit.ly/AsianMMA_YouTube  Twitter: https://twitter.com/AsianMMAPodcast  iTunes: http://bit.ly/AsianMMAPodcast_iTunes  GooglePlay: http://bit.ly/AsianMMAPodcast_GooglePlay  Spotify: http://bit.ly/AsianMMAPodcast_Spotify  Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/asian-mma-podcast  Website: http://www.AsianMMAPodcast.com 

ONE Champions Ship A New Era Recap - Asian MMA Podcast Ep 15 This week I recap all the happenings of ONE Championship A New Era, their first ever event in Japan, and to be honest it really did feel like a new era on their part. It felt like we are seeing the second coming of Asian MMA, and it was awesome. The event saw the previously unstoppable Angela Lee get her first lost via TKO against a very game Xion Jing Nan, who put Angela Lee away with body shots in the 5th and final round after surviving a brutal armbar in the 4th. Former UFC champion and pound-for-pound great Demetrious Johnson had a harder time than expected with Yuya Wakamatsu, but did get the submission victory. Probably the biggest shock of the night was that former UFC champ Eddie Alvarez lost his one championship debut against a very tough Timofey Nastyukhin who put the former UFC champ away in the first round. Of course there was the controversy in the DQ finish in the Bibiano Fernandes vs Kevin Belingon fight giving Bibiano the win and making him the new champion. After Aung La Nsang made quick work of Ken Haegawa former UFC fighter and current ONE championship Heavyweight champion entered the cage to issue a challenge for Aung Las light heavyweight strap, which is quickly accepted. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Google Play, YouTube and Facebook. I’ll have all the links in the show notes. Check it out. Follow Asian MMA Podcast Everywhere: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AsianMMAPodcast YouTube: http://bit.ly/AsianMMA_YouTube Twitter: https://twitter.com/AsianMMAPodcast iTunes: http://bit.ly/AsianMMAPodcast_iTunes GooglePlay: http://bit.ly/AsianMMAPodcast_GooglePlay Spotify: http://bit.ly/AsianMMAPodcast_Spotify Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/asia... Website: http://www.AsianMMAPodcast.com

IMMAF Moves Asian Open - Abu Dhabi Warriors 5 - ONE Heros Ascent and Saku Returns - Asian MMA Podcast Episode 14   I’ve got to start out with the big news on the amateur scene. IMMAF The International Mixed Martial Arts Federation has been forced to pull their 2019 Asian Open Championships out of China. The good news is that it will be landing here in Bangkok, they will announce the new date soon. I am going to try and set up an interview with Plai the president of the Thai Mixed Martial Arts Federation to get his take on it, but I am sure he is super excited for this. IMMAF has had bureaucratic issues with MMA in China in the past and I am sure this is no different. Of course, it’s a massive market that everyone wants to tap, but there are barriers to entry there, even ONE Championship and the UFC have struggled with China at various times. Personally, I think IMMAF under Kerith Brown's leadership has done some fantastic things for the sport, and to the same effect TMMAF here in Bangkok under the leadership of Plai has been fantastic so I think Bangkok is the absolute best options for the Asian Open Championships. I’ll definitely have more info on this as it develops. Over the weekend we saw Abu Dhabi Warriors 5 take place in, well Abu Dhabi. The biggest outcome there was UFC vet Oli Thompson get a second round stoppage against Cage Rage vet Roman Webe via TKO. Another notable fight on that card was UFC vet Rolando Dy out of the Philippines who also pulled a second round stoppage via TKO. This is the 5th outing for Abu Dhabi Warriors, but this was also their first event since 2016. unfortunately, this type of promotional inactivity is a common thread across Asia as the economics of the fight game are clearly difficult to figure out at a smaller scale. With any luck, we will see some more shows from Abu Dhabi Warriors in the near future. On to ONE Championships Hero’s Ascent in Manila over the weekend. The main event saw Adriano Moraes face off against the champ Geje Eustaquio, this was an amazing fight that went back and forth, at the end, I fully expected this to go in the Champs favor, but I was surprised, as I think a lot ware that the decision went to Moraes. I’ve taken a lot of issues with ONEs judging over the years, I am not a fan of judging a fight as a whole, It’s not a street fight, it’s a sport and they fight in rounds for a reason. I don’t think that the whole 10 point must system is the best judging criteria out there either, but judging by round is a much better fit for the format of the sport. I’ve seen a lot of judging decisions in ONE that were very questionable over the years. The most recent Angela Lee vs Mei Yamaguchi fight from 2018 comes to mind, after 5 rounds everyone I was sitting with in the press section thought for sure Mei had just easily handed Angela her first defeate but when the decision was announced Angela won via Unanimous Decision. It’s all a conversation for another day, if you guys want to see me do a whole episode on Judging Criteria let me know. Lastly, in super fanboy news, the legend, the Gracie Killer, Sakuraba will hit the mats for Quintet Fight NIght 2 for a submission grappling match on February 3rd. Who doesn’t want to see Sakuraba come back and do just about any

I’m dana blouin and today we are talking about The debuts of Mighty Mouse and The Underground King in ONE Championship. By now just about everyone knows that ONE Championship has announced the first matchups for Demetrious Johnson and Eddie Alverez which are both slated to fight on their first ever show in Japan, entitled “A New Era” on March 31st next year. Which was already a stacked card before they added DJ and Eddie to it. Let’s kick it off with Eddie Alvarez whos last fight had him suffer a KO defeat to Dustin Poirier and he’s only tasted victory in a single outing in his last four fights. That being said he is a former UFC champ and has been fighting exceptional talent for years. His first opponent in ONE will be 12 and 4  Timofey Nastyukhin, who is coming off a first-round KO loss to Saygid Arsianaliev earlier this year. I wouldn’t call Timofey a top tier fighter just yet in his career, he has notable wins over Rob Lisita and Eduard Folayng, but he hasn’t put together a body of work that would make me think he is ready for Eddie Alvarez at this juncture. That doesn’t mean he’s hands down outmatched here, he’s at a point where this could be the win that shoots him into that top tier. He’s got all the tools, we just need to see if he can execute against someone of Eddie's caliper. We’ll find out in March. Now, that brings us to DJ. And this is where we have to jump into a much more detailed conversation. Now Demetrious Johnson might be coming off a loss to Henry Cejudo, But he is still considered by many, myself included, to be one of the greatest fighters to ever strap on 4oz gloves. The things he accomplished at 125lbs in the UFC, against the best in the sport are amazing. So no matter who he faces first it’s going to seem like an unfair fight. But when I see he is facing 10 and 3 Pancrase veteran Yuya Wakamatsu I have to scratch my head. I understand that ONE probably doesn’t want DJ to jump right into the title picture, but he has to be in that top tier right off the bat. I was a bit surprised that he wasn’t matched with Danny Kingad who actually handed Wakamatsu his most recent loss. Or the fight I really want to see would be against former Flyweight champ Karait Akhmetov. Who is an absolute beast. Now that is the fight I think everyone who follows Asian MMA wants to see in ONE Championship. Unfortunately, I have to bring this up, but one of the things that will always be a concern with DJ fighting in ONE Championship until it’s addressed is that his coach, Matt Hume is also the matchmaker and VP of Operations for ONE Championship, that is a clear conflict of interest. I’ve yet to hear anything form ONE on if they will be putting a system in place to ensure that Matt Hume isn’t involved in any of DJs matchmaking or any other aspect of his fights, and I reached out to ask that question to several people at ONE and they basically told me it’s not something they are addressing at this point. To be clear, I’ve never observed anything from Matt Hume that would make me think there is something underhanded going on or that there would be. The few times I’ve met him he’s been great, and all the people I know who work with him on a regular basis at ONE have nothing but positive things to say about him. But that conflict of interest is still a reality that ONE

New Years MMA Recap Rizin 14 and ONE Championship - Asian MMA Podcast Episode 12 This episode is brought to you by New Year's resolutions you have no intention of keeping.   I am sure a lot of you know that New Year MMA is a sort of tradition in Asia going back to the Pride days, and it seems that RIzin has picked up that mantle. And while we didn’t have any fight action from ONE Championship we did get some interesting news from them that we’ll get into a bit later. First things first we have to talk about Rizin 14 and Floyd Mayweather and his “fight”, or as I have taken to calling it, drive by worth 9 million dollars. He finished. Tenshin in the first round after three knockdowns the corner threw in the towel. I’m not sure how much of a fight this actually was, I don’t want to say it was a work, but it was fairly suspect… I’m just saying. If, and this is a big if it wasn’t a work. Floyd Mayweather was bigger, more experienced and fighting under a ruleset he was comfortable with. Tenshin wasn’t able to utilize the kicks he’s known for and Floyd was never in trouble. Other fights worth mentioning on the card: Kyoji Horiguchi claimed the first ever Rizin bantamweight championship by choking out Bellator champ Darrion Caldwell in the 3rd round. Former Invicta FC champion Ayaka Hamasaki defeated Kanna Asakura to claim the Rizin women’s super-atomweight title, via second-round armbar. Openweight woman's fighter Gabi Garcia tapped out Barbara Nepomuceno with a first-round Americana. These are both big women, but Gabi was still a full 10kg heavier than Barbara, But at the end of the day this is the type of fight you expect in Japan, I guess I’m just happy that there is a platform for this type of freakshow fight still. What is hands down one of the nastiest eye injuries I have ever seen Yusuke Yachi got a nasty cut to the right eye that ended his fight with UFC vet Johnny Case, google this, it’s just crazy. In ONE Championship news over the holiday break, they announced that they have inked a broadcast deal with TV Tokyo for weekly content, both live and recorded that will have them on free TV analog and digital as well as their cable platform. This is the second major broadcast deal we have seen ONE sign to round out the year. This is a major win for ONE who I know sees Japan as a key market in their plans for global domination. Of course, they are going to Japan with their first event there next march in a stacked card that not only has three titles on the line but also the debut of DJ and Eddie Alverez, But I’ll talk more about that in the next episode. Chatri Sityodtong also announced that ONE Championship will have a crazy schedule with 45 events in 2019, it will break down like this -24 ONE Championship events -12 ONE Hero Series events -6 ONE Warrior Series events-3 ONE Esports events That is an insane schedule, That is great for me though, ton’s of Asian MMA to cover! In other news, I am now contributing to the rankings discussion at Asian Persuasion MMA, you c

In this special holiday episode of the Asian MMA podcast, I sit down with Asian based fight photographer John Walsh. John Walsh is the co-founder of California based MMA news site The Clinch Report. While he started his career covering the talent-rich MMA scene of California, he moved to Asia a few years back to expand his horizons and quickly fell in love with the off the wall nature of the Asian MMA fight scene. John talks about some of the odder events he has shot, the amazing talent he has come across in the region and how some of the more outlandish things he has photographed have far surpassed any expectations he had. We talk about everything from MMA to Muay Thai, Kickboxing, Boxing and even armature wrestling. To stay up to date with all things Asian MMA Be sure to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Google Play, YouTube and Facebook. I’ll have all the links in the show notes. Check it out. Check out Johns Work: https://theclinchreport.com/  https://www.facebook.com/TheClinchReport/  https://www.instagram.com/clinchpikz/  https://www.instagram.com/theclinchreport/    Follow Asian MMA Podcast Everywhere: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AsianMMAPodcast YouTube: http://bit.ly/AsianMMA_YouTube Twitter: https://twitter.com/AsianMMAPodcast iTunes: http://bit.ly/AsianMMAPodcast_iTunes GooglePlay: http://bit.ly/AsianMMAPodcast_GooglePlay Spotify: http://bit.ly/AsianMMAPodcast_Spotify Website: http://www.AsianMMAPodcast.com

Today we are revisiting the coverage of the ONE Championship TV deal in the US, specifically how it will impact the ONE app users in the states, Which is something that listener Kennedy Serafica asked me over on YouTube. I looked into this a bit more, and when Chatri was on Ariel Helwanis show he had indicated that the app would no longer be free in the US at some point next year. I reached out to some of my contacts at ONE to ask for clarification and it seems as though the app will no longer be available in the US after January 1st because Turner Broadcasting will have exclusive broadcast rights in US market. It will be interesting to see if ONE follows this same strategy with other western markets as they continue to negotiate TV deals. 2019 will most likely give us a better view of that. If you are a US user of the app, keep in mind that you have many mobile VPN options available to you… Just saying. In other news ROAD FC has confirmed that ROAD FC 52 on February 23rd of next year will be the finals of their $1 Million dollar lightweight tournament where Shamil Zavurov and Mansour Barnaoui will fight for a shot at reigning lightweight champ Kwon A-Sol and the US$1 million purse that is up for grabs. It’s been a great tournament and that cash prize at the level that ROAD FC is at for a promotion is fantastic. And that's the type of stuff that makes Asian MMA interesting, we have all this fringe stuff going on that you just wouldn’t see in something like the UFC or probably not even in Bellator.   And also soccer kicks and knees to the head… come one now. Lastly, for this episode ONEs first show of 2019 will see the return of one of my favorite fighters, Kotetsu Boku aka No Face as he takes one Bruno Pucci. He hasn’t fought since a brutal knockout by suplex at the hands of Christian Lee back in December of 2017 in Bangkok. I was cage side at that event and Christan slammed him one section of cage away from me and you could see Boku stiffen right up, at one point it looked like he was having a seizure. Even if you watch the video of that fight, ONE does a great job not to show the doctor attending to Boku but you can see everyone looking over at him. They took him out on a stretcher as a precaution, but he ended up being ok in the end. I saw him back at the fighter's hotel that same night. I am super excited to see him back in action, and I am really happy that he took this much time off before fighting again after a KO like that. I would love to see that be more of a norm for fighters. Follow Asian MMA Podcast Everywhere: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AsianMMAPodcast YouTube: http://bit.ly/AsianMMA_YouTube Twitter: https://twitter.com/AsianMMAPodcast iTunes: http://bit.ly/AsianMMAPodcast_iTunes GooglePlay: