Mixed martial arts has been a global sport for as long as it has existed. The first UFC event featured a Brazilian defeating a Dutchman in the final. The current UFC champions are two Americans, two Brazilians and a French Canadian, and the sport's top fighters outside the UFC include one from Russia and several from Japan.
But while the sport has always been global in the sense that the athletes come from all over the world and fight all over the world, its fans are still segmented by language barriers. The internet gives fans access to MMA news, but there's not a lot of English-language coverage of MMA events in Japan.
A blogger named Suki Kubo is changing that. A 31-year-old woman who was born in Kyoto, Japan and has lived in the United States for six years, Suki figured that being an MMA fan fluent in English and Japanese put her in a unique position to help American fans learn more about what's going on with the sport in Japan.
So she launched her blog, Suki MMA, which translates Japanese MMA articles into English. In the interview below, Suki answers my questions about how she got the idea to start the site, and what the differences are between the way MMA is covered in Japan and in the United States.
How did you get the idea to start this web site, and what are your goals for it?
I have a friend who has been a big MMA fan since UFC 2. He often asked me about Japanese MMA news and suggested that I should start this blog to help out MMA fans like him. I like watching MMA as well as translating, and so it would be awesome if I could get a job related to MMA some day.
I'm from Kyoto and live in San Francsico, but I lived in New York City for three years. I went to Renzo Gracie Academy in New York one day and saw Kyra Gracie's women's class. I wanted to join but my work schedule didn't allow me. The first fight I watched was Andy Hug vs Masaki Satake in K-1 on TV. Andy Hug was the greatest. I remember the Gracies vs Japanese fighters, too. I like B.J. Penn, Fedor Emelianenko, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Ricardo Arona, Dan Henderson and Akihiro Gono. Gono's blog is always fun to read.
How is coverage of MMA in Japanese media different from coverage of MMA in American media?
Major news sites in Japan have MMA subcategories in their sports sections, and we see all the major MMA news, results and short interviews. There are three or four MMA magazines which have fighter interviews and we check them out when we want to get more information. Interviews in magazines sometimes ask interesting questions, but mostly they ask the same things we always see in the media.
Fighters' personal blogs are the only source that let us get to know about our favorite fighters' personalities and what they are up to. I wish interviewers would ask more of the unique questions that pull out the fighters' personalities.
How was the UFC's purchase of Pride covered in Japanese media? How do you think the disappearance of Pride has affected Japanese MMA fans?
I think Japanese media pointed out the business of Pride and what kind of contract Pride and Zuffa agreed to. I don't know what the truth was, but I think Japanese media wasn't told what exactly happened, like Takada didn't know anything.
I think some MMA fans lost their interest in Japanese MMA and switched to the UFC because so many Pride fighters now fight in the UFC. Pride had some fans who didn't watch other MMA events, so they were gone the minute Pride disappeared. Now FEG and SENGOKU are trying to get the fans' attention back.
Do you think the UFC should do a show in Japan? Do Japanese fans like the UFC?
Absolutely. The UFC has many great fighters, even Japanese fighters and fighters who used to fight in Japan. So why not? If the UFC believes they are the best MMA organization in the world, then they should show their quality and prove it to Japanese fans.
Do you personally prefer watching American MMA or Japanese MMA?
I have no preference. I watch any MMA event if they have good matches and my favorite fighters fight. I hope DREAM and SENGOKU combine and make one big MMA organization in Japan, then they will be financially stable, gain more exciting fighters and show us better matches. They shouldn't create an event by letting many anonymous fighters fight if they want to compete with the MMA events in the US.
You recently translated a blog post from Shinya Aoki, the Japanese lightweight, saying he would like to fight in the United States. How do you think he would fare against B.J. Penn and other top American
lightweights?
Japanese fans sometimes discuss whether Aoki is really good or not. He fought J.Z. Calvan and won, but that fight didn't show how good he was. We will find out in his next fight with Caol Uno [at Dream.5 on July 21 in Osaka]. I personally think Aoki needs striking skills to be a champion. Therefore, he has potential and is a very technical fighter, but he is not ready for B.J. Penn.
In the United States, MMA is growing in popularity but is still nowhere near as popular as football, basketball or baseball. Where does MMA rank in popularity in Japan?
I believe there are still many people who consider MMA as a part of pro-wrestling events like Antonio Inoki promotes. MMA is not as popular as major sports in Japan either, but everybody knows MMA, even my parents. MMA is about as popular in Japan as Formula 1 is. Major news sites have a category of MMA and some famous fighters are popular enough that they appear in TV commercials.
But while the sport has always been global in the sense that the athletes come from all over the world and fight all over the world, its fans are still segmented by language barriers. The internet gives fans access to MMA news, but there's not a lot of English-language coverage of MMA events in Japan.
A blogger named Suki Kubo is changing that. A 31-year-old woman who was born in Kyoto, Japan and has lived in the United States for six years, Suki figured that being an MMA fan fluent in English and Japanese put her in a unique position to help American fans learn more about what's going on with the sport in Japan.
So she launched her blog, Suki MMA, which translates Japanese MMA articles into English. In the interview below, Suki answers my questions about how she got the idea to start the site, and what the differences are between the way MMA is covered in Japan and in the United States.
How did you get the idea to start this web site, and what are your goals for it?
I have a friend who has been a big MMA fan since UFC 2. He often asked me about Japanese MMA news and suggested that I should start this blog to help out MMA fans like him. I like watching MMA as well as translating, and so it would be awesome if I could get a job related to MMA some day.
I'm from Kyoto and live in San Francsico, but I lived in New York City for three years. I went to Renzo Gracie Academy in New York one day and saw Kyra Gracie's women's class. I wanted to join but my work schedule didn't allow me. The first fight I watched was Andy Hug vs Masaki Satake in K-1 on TV. Andy Hug was the greatest. I remember the Gracies vs Japanese fighters, too. I like B.J. Penn, Fedor Emelianenko, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Ricardo Arona, Dan Henderson and Akihiro Gono. Gono's blog is always fun to read.
How is coverage of MMA in Japanese media different from coverage of MMA in American media?
Major news sites in Japan have MMA subcategories in their sports sections, and we see all the major MMA news, results and short interviews. There are three or four MMA magazines which have fighter interviews and we check them out when we want to get more information. Interviews in magazines sometimes ask interesting questions, but mostly they ask the same things we always see in the media.
Fighters' personal blogs are the only source that let us get to know about our favorite fighters' personalities and what they are up to. I wish interviewers would ask more of the unique questions that pull out the fighters' personalities.
How was the UFC's purchase of Pride covered in Japanese media? How do you think the disappearance of Pride has affected Japanese MMA fans?
I think Japanese media pointed out the business of Pride and what kind of contract Pride and Zuffa agreed to. I don't know what the truth was, but I think Japanese media wasn't told what exactly happened, like Takada didn't know anything.
I think some MMA fans lost their interest in Japanese MMA and switched to the UFC because so many Pride fighters now fight in the UFC. Pride had some fans who didn't watch other MMA events, so they were gone the minute Pride disappeared. Now FEG and SENGOKU are trying to get the fans' attention back.
Do you think the UFC should do a show in Japan? Do Japanese fans like the UFC?
Absolutely. The UFC has many great fighters, even Japanese fighters and fighters who used to fight in Japan. So why not? If the UFC believes they are the best MMA organization in the world, then they should show their quality and prove it to Japanese fans.
Do you personally prefer watching American MMA or Japanese MMA?
I have no preference. I watch any MMA event if they have good matches and my favorite fighters fight. I hope DREAM and SENGOKU combine and make one big MMA organization in Japan, then they will be financially stable, gain more exciting fighters and show us better matches. They shouldn't create an event by letting many anonymous fighters fight if they want to compete with the MMA events in the US.
You recently translated a blog post from Shinya Aoki, the Japanese lightweight, saying he would like to fight in the United States. How do you think he would fare against B.J. Penn and other top American
lightweights?
Japanese fans sometimes discuss whether Aoki is really good or not. He fought J.Z. Calvan and won, but that fight didn't show how good he was. We will find out in his next fight with Caol Uno [at Dream.5 on July 21 in Osaka]. I personally think Aoki needs striking skills to be a champion. Therefore, he has potential and is a very technical fighter, but he is not ready for B.J. Penn.
In the United States, MMA is growing in popularity but is still nowhere near as popular as football, basketball or baseball. Where does MMA rank in popularity in Japan?
I believe there are still many people who consider MMA as a part of pro-wrestling events like Antonio Inoki promotes. MMA is not as popular as major sports in Japan either, but everybody knows MMA, even my parents. MMA is about as popular in Japan as Formula 1 is. Major news sites have a category of MMA and some famous fighters are popular enough that they appear in TV commercials.