[Thaispider]

Satoshi Ishii, the prospect who was supposed to revive Japanese MMA has announced he's leaving the sport to return to Judo competition. He is working on getting American citizenship and hopes to compete for the American judo team in the 2016 Rio Olympics. Ishii won the gold medal at the Bejing Olympics in 2008 at age 21.

When he announced he was leaving the sport to try his hand at MMA, a feverish bidding war began to secure his services and Ishii managed to alienate nearly everyone in the sport before even having his first pro fight. First he verbally committed to fight for Dream. Then he announced he was going to sign with the UFC. Then he signed with World Victory Road to fight in their Sengoku promotion.

When Sengoku couldn't get it together to put on a major event, he ended up making his debut for Dream's parent company at Dynamite! 2009. That was a bust as he lost a decision to his fellow Olympic gold medalist, the 39 year old Hidehiko Yoshida. He went on to completely alienate Japanese fans while winning his next four fights against a mix of middleweights, aging kickboxers and not very good fighters.

Along the way he completely burned his bridges with the tight-knit Japanese Judo community.

Most recently he had been scheduled to fight at Strikeforce Challengers on April 1st but pulled out of that fight due to visa issues, a divorce and difficulties arising from the recent disaster in Japan.

Zach Arnold comments:

The career shift puts an end to what was one of the most heavily mismanaged prospects ever to hit the Mixed Martial Arts scene. He had all the tools and the power base to make it work. He may have came at the wrong time (with a dying Japanese MMA scene), but he still had lots of potential for high-profile television matches and commercial work. He was even aligned with the Antonio Inoki political machine to get things done. However, in the end, he was largely a colossal dud. He hated taking a punch and that's not a good thing if you're fighting in this sport. He also has a very mercurial personality and few fans could relate to his life story or his demeanor. He came off as aloof, goofy, and at times insulting - so much so that fans booed him and cheered Jerome Le Banner on New Year's Eve 2010.

It's easy to say that his career was mismanaged, but the larger truth is that you can only control someone to a certain extent. It's clear, so far, that Ishii makes rash decisions in his life. I don't know if impulsive is the right word, but undisciplined might be a more accurate term. On paper, he has all the talent in the world. That talent was certainly alluring to K-1 and he could have been a cornerstone for the promotion. However, he didn't want to play the political games. He marched to the beat of his own drumt. Whatever he was doing for training, it didn't pan out for him. Nothing clicked.

There was a lot of money on the table. However, to get that money, Ishii would have had to play by the rules and be disciplined about it. In the end, he didn't want to be a Japanese mainstay. Furthermore, the money we thought that was on the table may have been nothing more than a mirage with K-1.

It's the end of a very frustrating MMA career that left this fan very disappointed. In a way Ishii was the representative star for his era of MMA in Japan -- an era of empty promises and disappointed fans.

i think its a smart move, he wasnt adapting to MMA even with the highest level of training he was recieving. but he is young enough to still be a huge force in Judo again.

and representing the USA.

[JT42]

Yeah definitely a smart move for him imo. If he can qualify and compete at the olympic level then he will have more success and make more that way than in MMA because he didnt seem to be progressing well in MMA. I was never excited to see him in MMA anyways so no big loss for me.

[cplmac]

Kind of sad that he is so divorced from the Japanese people that in this time of tragedy he is actively looking to abandon his country. I really hope this is more due to his young age than the actual relationship he shares with his countrymen. Either way, just sad.

[Wise]

Originally Posted by cplmac

Kind of sad that he is so divorced from the Japanese people that in this time of tragedy he is actively looking to abandon his country. I really hope this is more due to his young age than the actual relationship he shares with his countrymen. Either way, just sad.

Yeah, this guy was supposed to be the savior of Japanese mma and all I ever saw was a tubby guy with no cardio who looked like he wasn't taking his training seriously. I get that some guys don't like to get hit and mma isn't for everyone but its pretty shitty how this all turned out.

I hope maybe Japan can't support Olympic athletics right now so hes forced to look somewhere else to compete rather then him just deciding he wants to do it for USA.

[randyspankstito]

Hell yeah!! Can I get a USA!! USA!! USA!! bringin' home the gold bitches!

[XitUp]

Probably a good thing that he's going back to judo, but...

Originally Posted by cplmac

Kind of sad that he is so divorced from the Japanese people that in this time of tragedy he is actively looking to abandon his country. I really hope this is more due to his young age than the actual relationship he shares with his countrymen. Either way, just sad.

This.

[plazzman]

All respect for him has been promptly lost

[MKZ]

Good for him. Getting OutJudo'd by a Kickboxer isn't looking cool. But if he's an American now, he can fuck right off.

[Brad.Taschuk]

He better hope Teddy Riner isn't still competing in 2016, because I think he loses that match 9/10 times.

[*TN*]

I rewatched the leBanner fight today, certainly not terrible, some nice takedowns.

Jesus, he looked tiny compared to JLB though. He weighed in at only like 233 and was clearly out of shape. I wonder if he could have made LHW.

Most dissapointing prospect in MMA in a while, that's for sure.