Who Should You Know? - Ryo Chonan (MMA: Edition 2)

In my second edition of 'Who You Should Know in MMA', I introduce to you Ryo Chonan. Chonan, the 31 year old Japanese fighter will be competing at UFC 88, and for the second time in the octagon against a familiar foe in Roan Carneiro. The reason I chose Chonan was simple, he is new to the UFC, has some incredible victories, and is a fantastic fighter to watch. His fights never have a dull moment.

Chonan sits on an MMA record of 14-8, but dont let the record fool you, he losses come to the likes of Paulo Filho (Armbar), Dan Henderson (KO), Phil Baroni (KO), Ricardo Almeida (Unanimous Decision), and most recently to Karo Parisyan in a tough decision in his octagon debut.

But with those defeats, he has also amassed a few impressive victories with wins over Joey Villasenor (Split Decision), Carlos Newton (Unanimous Decision) and the current pound for pound best fighter in the world, Anderson Silva via Flying scissor Heel Hook (Submission). Chonan and Silva battled to a 3 round stalemate until Chonans amazing takedown and subsequent heel hook submission of Silva gave him the victory.

The last 5 fights for Chonan date back to June 2006, where defeated Joey Villasenor via split decision with a broken orbital bone and 2 months later fought but was submitted by Paulo Filho via armbar. He then returned to DEEP and defended the DEEP Middleweight Championship by majority decision against former champion Ryuta Sakurai in February 2007 and then defended it against Korean Seo Do Wong in June of 2007 where he won by TKO. That all led up to his debut in the octagon where he was defeated by veteran Karo Parisyan in a 3 round decision at UFC 78.

Chonan now finds himself training with Team Quest here in the U.S., under a man who defeated him once before in Dan Henderson. Under his tutelage, Chonan hopes to find the winning way in the octagon at UFC 88 against Roan Carneiro this saturday. He has once faced and defeated Carneiro back in February 2005 via TKO due to a cut. 

Now fighting in the Welterweight Division, a more natural and comfortable weight class, one would assume he may return to his winning ways. Chonan, whose 14 victories have come by an even 7 decisions and 7 by Knockout or submission, looks to expand on his winning ways once again with a second victory over Carneiro. Just cross your fingers that the UFC airs this preliminary as Chonan, win or lose, is never a disappointing fight.