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By Marc Staehling

With the recent confirmation of the North American Debuts of Korea’s Dong Hyun Kim, and Japan’s Yoshiyuki Yoshida at UFC 84, I thought it would be appropriate to take a glance at last few years of international(Asian) acquisitions made by the UFC and WEC.

Historically, the best Japanese fighters in the world have plied their trade at home. Whether it be in Pancrase, Shooto, Pride or K-1, they have remained in Japan where the paydays were bigger and more sponsorship opportunities lied. This is beginning to change. Two examples of guys who have spent time stateside, and at the time, could have been dubbed “UFC Fighters” are Tsuyoshi Kohsaka and Caol Uno. ‘TK’ split his time between the UFC and RINGS, and had six fights in the Octagon, going 3-3, including a heavyweight title bout against Bas Rutten. Uno fought seven times in the UFC from 2001-2003, going 3-3-1 in the process. It hasn’t been until recently that we’ve seen more Asian fighters in the UFC, and more importantly top Japanese fighters.

There really aren’t any great Japanese heavyweights to speak of. Kazuyuki Fujita comes to mind, who I guess could be considered top fifty at that weight, but otherwise the pickings are very slim. Yoshihiro Nakao anyone?

At light heavyweight, the best Japanese fighter is Kazuhiro Nakamura. Guess what, he’s in the UFC. I know there are some big Hidehiko Yoshida fans around *cough*Kendall Shields*cough*, but he’s old, over-weight, and hasn’t had a significant win in a looooong time.

At middleweight it gets a little more interesting. Yushin “Thunder” Okami has made his home the UFC, and gone 6-1 in the process, his only loss being a razor-thin decision to Rich Franklin. It’s safe to assume that Okami will be the next challenger to Anderson Silva’s title later this year. Strikeforce’s recent signing of Kazuo Misaki brings another top ten middleweight to North America. The only other top Asian fighter in that weight class is Yoshihiro Akiyama who remains in Japan to fight for the Dream promotion, and will take part in the GP at the end of April. Okami is an interesting fighter, because he brings a skill-set to the octagon that is not reminiscent of other Japanese fighters that came before him. He has physically overwhelmed several of his opponents, and possesses a strong ground and pound game, which is not all that common a trait in the heavier Japanese fighters.

Before the recent additions of Kim and Yoshida, the UFC had already bolstered the welterweight division with the additions of Kuniyoshi Hironaka, Akihiro Gono and Ryo Chonan. While none of these men are necessarily going to challenge the division’s elite, they are very tough, top-thirty caliber fighters that really strengthen the depth of the division.

With it looking like Shinya Aoki will remain at 154 lbs. for the forseeable future, it’s safe to say that Yoshiyuki Yoshida is the top Japanese fighter in the world at 170 lbs. His tremendous run through Cage Force last year is well-documented, and solidified him as a legitimate top-twelve welterweight. Like Okami, Yoshida has a very nasty ground and pound game, just ask Akira Kikuchi, and like few Japanese imports, has previous experience with the cage and use of elbows. Yoshida shouldn’t have much trouble taking out Jon Koppenhaver in May.

Korea’s Kim has torn through DEEP, and was robbed of a title victory over Hidehiko Hasegawa in October(the bout was declared a draw). Having previously competed at 183 lbs., Kim will be cutting to 170, and faces Jason Tan at UFC 84.

The lightweight division is a different story all together, that I’ve covered on more than one occasion. There isn’t a top Japanese lightweight in the UFC or WEC, nuff said.

In the WEC’s featherweight and bantamweight divisions, great strides have been made to bring in top fighters from overseas. After his fantastic win over Antonio Carvalho, Hiroyuki Takaya was considered by many, including myself, to be a top five 145′er in the world. The excitement of his WEC debut was quickly snuffed out by a drubbing at the hands of Leonard Garcia, but Takaya is still a very talented and dangerous fighter who will be back later this year to try and regain his momentum. On the same card that Takaya debuted, Pancrase veteran Yoshiro Maeda(fighting at 135) finished the tough Charlie Valencia with a body-kick in a fight that sadly hasn’t made air yet. At WEC 33 Shooto-vet Kenji Osawa will debut against Chris Manuel.

The highly anticipated Cage Force featherweight and bantamweight tournaments will continue on April 5th, and should offer up an excellent crop of future WEC fighters.

I think the massive influx of not only Asian, but international talent is emblematic of a shift that has been ongoing for the past few years. The United States, and specifically the UFC is THE place to be in MMA. While the Japanese scene will never die, and continue to produce impressive shows(despite shitty ratings), it won’t surprise me to see more top Asian talent coming to American shores in the coming months and years.