彫心鏤骨 五味隆典の覚悟とpride榊原元社長の思い – Yesterday's Heroes, Tomorrow's Legends

You never forget the UFC once you've seen it. It's real fighting. Plain and simple. The level of the UFC is this high. All the fighters taking part are at a very high level. I think the UFC has a good chance of becoming popular in Japan. I think we changed the history of MMA for the entire world, not just Japan. 10 years. Before I knew it, I'd been running PRIDE for 10 years. I don't think I'll ever have a more exciting decade in my life, so each of those 10 years is a precious memory for me. I quit because I thought it was what needed to happen to allow PRIDE to keep going. That's why I think it's very unfortunate that there aren't any popular platforms for MMA like PRIDE left in Japan. But, as long as everyone's heart is in the right place, I think another promotion will naturally come into being. So, it might be all for the best if this becomes the UFC, which is currently the most popular promotion in the world. But, they may need to localize the content for Japan a bit more. The lifestyle and backstories of the fighters really resonate with people in Japan. I mean, the type of pro fighter everyone wants to get behind is a guy like Rocky, right? With some of the fighters it's all numbers and intense training. But then you have the guys who are still just punching slabs of meat in the freezer, like Rocky. I knew I wanted to be a pro athlete from around the time I finished middle school, before I started high school. That's when I started training. Then one day I was watching boxing on TV and started to wonder if I could handle the intensity of what those guys were doing. I wanted to see if I could do it. When I actually went to a boxing gym everyone turned out to be really cool. That's when I started going to practice at a boxing gym. PRIDE was really popular at the time. And then you had others like the UFC and Shooto. I really wanted to give MMA a shot, so I made my debut at Shooto when I was 20. Takanori Gomi!! I was happy in PRIDE, and I was happy in Shooto. I'm happy anywhere as long as I'm winning. A lot of the guys in PRIDE were strikers. But in the UFC it's all about the mix of techniques and the takedowns. It's the biggest promotion out there and has all the top fighters. The UFC has events all over the world. The quickest way of drawing attention to MMA in Japan is for someone to become champion. Like if I were to become champion of the UFC. If that happened everyone in Japan would know about it. Winning isn't easy, though. There're lots of tough fighters out there. The reason fighters from PRIDE couldn't win in the Octagon is that, while it's all the same MMA, the strategies for winning in the Octagon and the strategies and approaches for winning in a regular ring are completely different. It changed the way they had to train, so they didn't have the offensive and defensive skills they needed. I was a bit too used to the PRIDE style of fighting. All my matches had been in Japan, so I was also a bit nervous about fighting in America. I was thinking too much. I should've just relaxed and enjoyed it. I also didn't know enough about the UFC back then either. I'm getting more fans in America, though. It doesn't make the fights easier, but it does make me happy to know that I have people supporting me. On September 20, I'm going to fight one of the top ranked fighters. Myles Jury has a long reach, good jiu jitsu and kickboxing. I've heard he wins by knockout a lot. One of the guys from my gym will be fighting at the Shooto event tonight. He (Hirakawa) joined the gym with no MMA experience, but this is his second match as a pro. He lost his debut match, but I think he can make it in the pros if he gets a win under his belt. So today is a big day for him. I'm sure he eventually wants to try his hand in the UFC, too. The number of fighters out there is growing. There are more gyms, too. I think that means that we're going to see more tough competitors coming out of Japan. I approached it a bit like a street fight tonight. I'm glad I was able to get out there and catch him in an armbar. I think every fighter here in Japan hopes to fight in the UFC in America someday. MMA has been in a real slump here since the loss of PRIDE and K-1, but I think we're already on the road to recovery. The biggest reason for this is the UFC coming to Japan. Once the fans here see the UFC in action, it'll remind them of PRIDE and they'll be pumped. Today's show features Gackt, one of Japan's top musicians. He's starring in a historical fantasy play. I'm helping with the overall promotion. I'm both a promoter and a producer. We always make things from the perspective of the customer. That goes for fighting sports and everything else. It's entertainment, after all. I spent the entire 10 years I was at PRIDE thinking of how to package real fighting as entertainment that people would watch. I didn't want people to think they were just coming to see a fight. I wanted them to feel that a show was about to begin once they got in the venue. Japan has a history spanning some 2,000 years, and it is also the country that gave rise to the samurai several hundred years ago. The samurai are a part of the Japanese DNA. So, I think we Japanese are very well suited for 1-on-1 competitions like PRIDE, K-1, and the UFC. The market for MMA and fighting in general has shrunk in Japan. But, if we instead look at things from a global perspective, the market in America has gotten much larger. So, there's a good chance it'll catch on here. The market is ready to wake up again. I'm not doing things as fast-paced as I did when I was younger. I fight maybe twice a year. Are you scared before your matches? Hey, it's going to get burnt! Good stuff. He (Gomi) is really cool. He's a nice young man. And big eater and drinker to boot. The very picture of a hot-blooded man. Is it okay if I get a picture with you? What it all comes down to is whether or not a fighter has what it takes to be a star. I could already see a star in the making when Gomi was still fighting for Shooto. He just had to polish his straight forward, no-fear fighting style somewhat. I was sure he would make it. His talent is off the charts. Sometimes I'm not sure if I should keep on doing this at 35. But more than that, my desire to win is still strong and I would want to go out on a high note. I think this match is going to be a big turning point for me. I'm going to win by KO, on the ground or wherever. I'm going to get that knockout. I just have to be aggressive. I think Japanese MMA still needs fighters like Gomi. If a Japanese fighter can become champion, then it means we can still make it on the world stage. If Gomi still has the same fighting spirit as back in the day, then I think he has more than enough talent to be number one in the UFC.