VIDEO: Genki Sudo’s IKKIUCHI Tourney 2015
Fight fans!
In this space, you’d usually be reading “Who Takes It?” – an ongoing series of articles, which look to break down the most compelling fight of the weekend.
It’s had… well, varying degrees of success, as far as handicapping goes.
The last few weekends were pretty good though. The main event at GLORY saw Nieky Holzken score a TKO victory over Raymond Daniels, as predicted here. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua defeated Rogerio Nogueira, as predicted here, the week prior.
It can be tough. It’s an intricate game with a lot of variables.
But sometimes what’s tougher has been deciding which fights to choose from, especially with the current glut of UFC product. So I’ve tried took keep it diverse: moving away from MMA to everything from boxing’s lineal middleweight title bout between Miguel Cotto vs. Daniel Geale, to GLORY’s 185 lb kickboxing title bout between Art Levin and Simon Marcus, in recent weeks. (Cotto won as predicted, but Levin/Marcus went to a draw.)
I won’t have that problem this week – because, well, I don’t have much of anything to choose from.
But just in case you’ve got an extra ten minutes in front of a screen and you’re looking for some great action – here’s an idea.
If you don’t know who Genki Sudo is, you have some catching up to do. Wikipedia will tell you he is a Japanese singer, composer, choreographer, actor and author… the lead vocalist, producer and director of the music group World Order, which is known for their techno music style and highly synchronized robotic choreography.
That’s not the half, though.
As a professional MMA fighter (and sometime kickboxer) between 1998 and 2006, the showman Sudo was one of Japan’s best-loved — not just for wins over the likes of Royler Gracie and Nate Marquardt, but for his elaborate choreographed ring-walks, fueled by a Buddhist, “We Are All One,” philosophy.
Here’s his MMA bout with Butterbean from 2003 at K-1 Dynamite! Go to 1:23 to see Sudo’s ring-walk tribute to the 1989 Charlie Sheen flick Major League, mixed with his message of world peace:
Sure, we still have lots of characters in the fight game, and a few different events. Bellator’s own “Dynamite!” event, which will feature both MMA and kickboxing, is on the way. But in an era where fighters are wearing uniforms and styles are increasingly homogenous, it may be hard to imagine the kind of unique personality that Sudo presented back then.
So, luckily, he started a jiu-jitsu tournament.
Genki Sudo presented the second edition of his IKKIUCHI One-to-One Fight jiu-jitsu tournament at Zenryuji Temple in Japan back in May – and finally released a highlight reel last month.
Like all things Genki Sudo, it is awesome – in this case, a combination of traditional Japanese motifs and beautiful jiu-jitsu. Daisuke Sugie, known mostly for a long career in the pioneering Japanese MMA promotion Shooto, is among the participants.
Watch, enjoy, and we’ll see you next week.