Kicks - The Turmoil surrounding an ex-J League player

Back in June 11th of this year, major newspapers in Japan that usually don't report MMA and MA, such as Yomiuri and Mainichi, news-wired the professional debut of this one particular Martial Art fighter. A focal point of this was a fighter with only half year of amateur experience.
His amateur record is 6 – 2. Not by any means, even looking at the content of these fights, is he a rising new star. Honestly, that was nothing more than media hoopla but the secret behind this has something to do with his previous life.

Michael Yano is a former player of J League, Japan's professional soccer (Futbol) league. Naturally, this indeed is an incident considering today's "MMA/MA boom" so I could see why the general public was curious about it. Already, athletes from "major Japanese sports," such as Judo and Sumo, are converting to MMA/MA therefore, from the society's point of views this was "Wow, finally from soccer too!"
MMA/MA, partly because the sport was considered to be in a "minor category," there is no organized structure, from younger ages, of reaching the top by going through a series of competitions filled with high quality athletes. To be brutally frank, it's fair to say that there are only a handful of "real top athletes" in the sport. Just recently, the participations of an Olympic medal-winner level of top athletes such as Hidehiko Yoshida and Naoya Ogawa finally boosted the standard. However, even they converted to MMA way after their peak as athletes.
The main protagonist of this story, Michael Yano, is an extremely rare case because he is only 25 years old. Much more, Michael's physical performance level, his mother is Ghanaian, is very very high. 10.38 seconds in the 100-meter dash and a vertical jumping ability of over 110 centimeters, was top level even in the J League.

Here, I am only talking about his natural abilities.
Just because soccer is a competition built around "kick" discussing about applying these "kick" in kickboxing to achieve success is way too premature.
The "Kicks" used in soccer require a delicate touch in order to control the ball. On the other hand, the primary purpose of the "kicks" used in kickboxing is to effectively demolish the opponent.
Even just looking at how to place a pivoting foot, these two are fundamentally different because soccer players have to kick in different situations running, while in kickboxing, you must lift the heel, then spin the body, just like a compass, to throw the kick. Naturally, they use different muscles too. Beyond that, stamina and game-mind is completely distinct between team sports which require running on a field for 90 minutes and individual competition where athletes are in the ring punching and kicking at each other for 3 minutes for at least 3 rounds.
Yes, Michael is one-promising athlete, but he should be considered a rookie fighter waiting for his first professional bout.

Considering the fact that I am the who wrote the report of Michael in "Number" magazine which ended up triggering this media hoopla, I am not in the position of throwing cold water on this "Michael Yano Phantasm" but looking at the way he was reported by the Japanese media just after IKUSA distributed this one-page press release, I must wonder.
It was apparent that all reports, in major newspapers and other magazines, were written by only looking at this one-page press release. Of course, fans and the general public don't care about that. By reading all these reports by the media however, I am concerned that some fans or public might've created this expectation that Michael belongs in the top class of professional kickboxing, and Is already prepared to face Masato. I could see general press treating it this way but even the MMA/MA media did not directly interview Michael and obviously without doing much research, came up with these irresponsible rhetorical pieces. I felt I caught a glimpse of what I believe are the "worst habits" in Japanese MMA/MA media world.

"Ex-J League player" is not a medal

My interest with Michael came from a completely opposite vector then the other media.
It was the middle of May, I believe.
I received this e-mail from Mr. Ryu Yamaguchi, the leader of The Striking ISHIN, saying, "We have this interesting fighter. Would you like to come and check him out?"
He is a former J League player, half Ghanaian and half Japanese. He is currently competing in amateur competition and is someday hoping to compete in K-1 MAX. Of course this information was included in this e-mail but I thought, for people in this business, Michael Yano is not that rare of a story. I've heard of similar backgrounds before.
In truth, some media reported Michael as "the first ex-J League player converted into professional Martial Arts," but that is absolutely false. I know this fighter who fought in IKUSA who used to play in the J League. This fighter however had tough luck in his soccer career and was not even close to making the national team or anything like that. Therefore, he doesn't want to be open about his previous life.
Mr. Yamaguchi however has a very good eye looking at fighters, and I trust his instinct and judgment, therefore, I decided to stop by at Toshio Fujiwara Cup on May 23rd.

Daito Ward Sports Budokan was filled with supporters from various dojos but there wasn't much press. This is no wonder, since PRIDE Bushido is taking place at Yokohama Arena on the same day. I just spotted one chief editor of this fight publication but he was there because I assume, he is a good friend of the chairman Toshio Fujiwara. Above all, I see no one from sports newspapers or MMA/MA Internet publications that huddle behind the scenes of PRIDE or K-1. By understanding the dynamics of Japan's MMA/MA industry, this is no surprise.
Of course, it's not impossible to cover both events but after all, there aren’t many journalists with whim and fancies enough to spend a Sunday afternoon covering amateur competition. The public is buzzed with this blown-up "MMA/MA boom" but no matter how fancy the industry looks; the low-ride of the scene is usually like this. Within unknown amateur athletes, of the sort, sweating on the tatami floor, I spotted this young man who stood out prominently. Jet-blacked skin and his hair, belted with cornrows, caught my eye. And surrounding him were - may be they are his brothers and sisters - this skin-headed black man and a black female with an incredible figure, and a bunch of young Japanese boys with bandanas, B-Boy, Hip Hop like fashion style.
It was like a dance club after midnight and obviously a little incongruous with the atmosphere of Budokan filled with MMA/MA people.
Without these elements however, I thought Michael’s physical condition, long arms and legs covered with solid but flexible muscle, stood out. He definitely was a towering stature other amateurs in the place. And yet at the same time, I was mostly struck with his cool and gentle eye. It didn't look like the eye of a man who is about step in for a knuckle-buster.

Part 2 >>