Takanori Gomi and Yushin Okami Didn't Save Japanese MMA

According to the official story, Takanori Gomi saved Japanese MMA last weekend with one punch.

Ridiculous.

Last weekend, two Japanese fighters fought on a UFC card, and both were victorious, but that's as far as it goes.

When Shinya Aoki was hyping up his fight with Gilbert Melendez, he said that Japanese MMA would be dead if he lost. In a sense, losing to Melendez did deal a blow to the perception of Japanese MMA, but realistically, even that did not kill it.

Aoki's loss made a man seen as the No.2 lightweight look like he didn't even belong in the top 10, as he was out-classed by Melendez. That said, it's insane to say that a single loss for a fighter kills everything that he represents, especially in the case of Aoki.

Much like Demian Maia, Aoki isn't a well-rounded fighter, yet he has been very successful with his submissions.

Maia was brutally knocked out by Nate Marquardt and completely nullified by Anderson Silva. That doesn't wipe out a record that includes a submission win over the current No.1 contender, Chael Sonnen.

Due to his style, Aoki will win some fights in a spectacular fashion, and will lose some fights in a brutal fashion, and both of those truths are a reflection on him alone more than on Japanese MMA.

When we talk about Japanese MMA, though, it's important to properly articulate what we mean.

Let me explain.

Saving Japanese MMA

When people talk about "Japanese MMA", they may be referring to any one of at least four different things.

Japanese MMA can refer to:

1. The current Japanese fighters

2. Current Japanese MMA promotions

3. Fighters currently fighting in Japanese promotions

4. The legacy of old Japanese MMA promotions

When speaking about Japanese fighters, the argument is fairly simple. Look at the rankings, and you'll see that there simply aren't many Japanese fighters in the top 10 of each division except for flyweight, and even that number will soon shrink when the demand for flyweight MMA picks up in North America.

Had Okami lost, he might have been knocked out of the top 10 on many rankings, but in any case, he would still have to be considered a quality middleweight.

In victory, Takanori Gomi will rise up the rankings, but may still not be in the top 10 at lightweight, considering that Tyson Griffin was already coming off of a loss to the fast-rising Evan Dunham.

Obviously Gomi and Okami can have little effect upon current Japanese promotions, considering that they're under contract with Zuffa.

Aoki's stateside success, or lack thereof, does have some impact upon the second and third types of Japanese MMA. But, even then, he's only one man, and as already argued, we can only take so much from a single stateside loss.

The fourth definition is one that is talked about most in America, and more specifically, it usually refers to the way people remember Pride FC, and how it compared with the UFC.

On this level, many people felt that Takanori Gomi was representing Pride against the UFC.

Aside from what has already been said, there are a few things worth considering.

It's a bit silly to have an old star from the Pride days come into the UFC and use that as a "UFC vs. Pride" argument.

Pride FC became defunct in October of 2007, and Takanori Gomi's best years were probably 2004 and 2005, when he went undefeated.

If we are to make any fair comparison between Pride and UFC fighters, we should at least be doing so between contemporaries.

Although it's only been a few years, too much has changed since then to make a fair comparison between current contenders and the fighters from the glory days of Pride.

That said, some of the best current UFC fighters like Anderson Silva, Quinton Jackson, and Mauricio Rua are former Pride fighters, so it's not as if Pride fighters have been wholly unsuccessful against UFC competition, or the new crop of contenders.

What We Learned Last Weekend

When Gomi knocked out Griffin, it showed that Gomi can hit really hard.

We already knew that. The issue was always going to be whether he'd be able to compete with UFC fighters on a technical level.

Griffin didn't show a ton of respect for Gomi's standup, and he wound up paying for it.

Going forward, Gomi still has a lot of work to do if he's going to establish himself in the UFC.

Okami's win over Munoz also didn't show us anything we already didn't know.

Despite some heavy credentials, Munoz's MMA wrestling is still lacking, and so it's no surprise that Okami was able to thwart his takedowns attempts, for the most part.

Most fans expected Okami to defeat Munoz, and he did.

Going forward, the success of Okami and Gomi will help the UFC somewhat in an attempt to expand into Asia, but their successes and failures in the future will ultimately still be their own, and not necessarily the be all and end all of Japanese MMA.