Dec 27, 2008 - 2008 Olympic judo gold medallist Satoshi Ishii met Friday with UFC president Dana White at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
In a conversation transcribed by Kamipro (White's quotes here are translated from Japanese print), Ishii expressed his desire to train in the US and asked White for recommendations, to which the UFC head suggested Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, Georges St. Pierre, the American Kick Boxing Academy in San Jose or Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas.
One place White didn't recommend was when the judoka brought up Russia.
"If you are serious about MMA, Russia is not the place you should go," White said. "Stay in the US. The best fighters and trainers are in the US now.
"I want to invite you to Las Vegas for a month and let you train at Randy's gym. What do you think?"
"Awesome," Ishii replied.
"You will learn about real MMA fighters through training with best fighters," White said. "I will evaluate you based on what Randy's trainer think about you."
Ishii had planned on training with Fedor Emelianenko and the Russia Red Devil Team in St. Petersburg, Russia. Ishii has also previously talked about training with Yoshihiro Akiyama's Team Cloud and the American Top Team in Coconut Creek, Florida.
In addition to training at Xtreme Couture, White also presented the option of fighting his way up on a season of "The Ultimate Fighter" on Spike TV.
Ishii said he weighs around 108 kg (238 pounds) and wants to fight at heavyweight, but White said Ishii should instead fight as a light heavyweight.
"When fighters in your size fight in the UFC, they better lose weight and fight in the lighter weight," White said. "[Start training first] and you'll figure it out."
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