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The UFC has only recently brought mixed martial arts to the mainstream in the US, but in Japan there’s a long tradition of fights pitting contestants from different disciplines against each other. While they’ve only been called MMA or ‘mixed martial arts’ in recent years, the sport clearly has its roots in these early contests between wrestlers, judo fighters and boxers. In Japan, Antonio Inoki’s fights against world famous martial artists brought great notoriety to the still evolving sport.

Inoki would often face other martial artists in fights that are widely accepted to have been “worked” (having a predetermined outcome) in the same manner as professional wrestling matches. While Inoki faced a number of karate, judo and boxing champions his most famous match was certainly his fight against world heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali.

Had things happened differently, Nick Diaz would forever be part of MMA history. Regardless of how his career transpired after February, 2007 he should have been remembered as part of one of the greatest fights ever. His PRIDE 33 matchup against Takanori Gomi should have created an indelible legacy. It was a mixed martial arts version of Gatti/Ward or Castillo/Corrales 1. It should have been the biggest victory of Diaz’s career and the centerpiece of his highlight reel.

On April 10th, the Nevada Athletic Commission announced that he’d failed a drug test. The Nevada Athletic Commission considers a THC level over 50 a positive result for marijuana usage. Nick Diaz’s THC level was an astounding 175 and that led NSAC Chairman Dr. Tony Alamo to speculate that in this situation marijuana was a performance enhancing drug. The rationale was that during the fight Diaz was feeling no pain”literally. Diaz was fined, suspended and the result of the fight against Gomi changed to a no decision.

The UFC is of borderline relevance in Japan. This isn’t to disparage the UFC, which has done a great job growing MMA in North America and parts of Europe. It’s an effort to put Dana White’s claims of Zuffa’s inevitable worldwide dominance into perspective. Without traction in the #2 fightsport market in the world, UFC’s hopes for ‘world domination’ are doomed to failure.

Here are the three essential qualities for doing business in Japan, along with an analysis of what they mean to Zuffa’s efforts to build the UFC brand there:

Group Orientation/Collaboration: Japanese businessmen are notorious for sublimating their individual talents and personalities to the greater good of the group. For US businesses seeking to enter the market, a certain degree of partnership with existing Japanese firms is almost mandatory. The UFC worked with Germany s largest concert promoter (MLK) to enter that market with a fair degree of success. Even if the UFC didn’t want to go promote with one of the major players in Japanese fight sports, they’d be well advised to seek some sort of a partnership similar to their German initiative to help smooth their way.

BJ Penn entered his main event battle against welterweight kingpin Georges St. Pierre looking to become the first man in UFC history to simultaneously hold titles in two weight classes. GSP never gave him the chance to make history, as he stopped Penn after four increasingly dominant rounds to retain his belt with a TKO victory and make a compelling case for being the pound for pound best fighter in mixed martial arts.

During ring introductions, both men received enthusiastic cheers tempered with a few boos. After the opening horn sounded, however, the Penn backers had little to cheer about . The first round was fairly evenly contested, with St. Pierre trying to get a first hand feel for Penn’s often unorthodox takedown defense. GSP made several takedown attempts, but had them repeatedly stuffed.

Boxing guru Freddy Roach recently praised Penn as the best technical puncher in MMA, but he had no opportunity to bring this weapon to bear as he had trouble finding the range from the outset. St. Pierre was unable to complete any takedowns during the first round, but easily dictated the pace and style of the bout.

On July 15th, former WWE superstar turned MMA fighter Bobby Lashley announced that he had signed a deal to return to full time professional wrestling competition with the US #2 promotion TNA. Lashley’s last in-ring pro wrestling appearance came in Mexico on a show for Lucha Libre promotion AAA.

Hes not planning to give up his MMA career. In interviews prior to the TNA signing Lashley left open the possibility of a return to pro wrestling for its significant financial upside, while remaining committed to his shoot fighting efforts. Lashley trains in Florida with the prestigious American Top Team, and ran his record to 4-0 with his victory over Sapp in late June. A press release issued by TNA this morning further validated his suggestions that he planned to do both sports. Lashey himself is quoted as saying:

I want to do both because I can. TNA is giving me the opportunity to compete in both sports which I have a passion for. I will bring MMA fans to wrestling and wrestling fans to MMA

TNA President Dixie Carter also praised Lashley in announcing the signing:

When golf legend Jack Nicklaus was still a young upstart in the sport and only starting to tear up PGA courses, legend Bobby Jones commented following ‘The Golden Bear’s”65 Masters win that “he plays a game with which I am not familiar”. Following Lyoto Machida’s absolute destruction of Rashad Evans in the main event of UFC 98, there’s likely a few MMA fighters saying the same thing. Machida completely befuddled Evans en route to a 2nd round TKO victory after which ‘The Dragon’ looked as if hed barely worked up a sweat.

The fight started slowly, with each man trying to get a feel for his opponent and wait him out to see who blinked first. Late in the first round, Machida went on offense with frightening suddenness, flooring Evans with a nice straight right hand. Evans was able to recover and survive, but it only delayed the inevitable as Machida used another right hand to send his opponent down again. Evans gamely tried to fight back, but a final right hand from the Shotokan Karate master left him out cold.

Should you wrestle with a grappling dummy? I think so. It teaches you conditioning, you can work on throws and it increase your strength. I think it is a great training tool for MMA.

It takes a lot of work to become a great grappler. You need to maintain a fluid movement to excel on the mat. This happens by repetition. The grappling dummy works while your are by yourself. It allows you to get many repetitions in and condition your body for grappling as well.

There are numerous skills that the dummy teachers. Precision, enhanced cardio, and stamina are a few. How is this you ask? Just look at a common and traditional arm bar drill for the answer.

If you perform 100 reps of a spinning arm bar, you are going to get good. This is what is possible with the dummy. You would never do that many in class or on a partner. When you can do this, your cardio will sky rocket. And what if you cannot do 100 reps? This is where that attitude training starts. You work until you can. You press on and when you can do this, your confidence will soar.